Lyla was staring, for seconds or minutes she didn't know, but she was staring at a horse, black as midnight, a thing of wild beauty and…and it looked exactly like Max.
She couldn't move. She had been rooted to the ground the minute she came outside and saw it. She had to be dreaming. Horses looked similar, yes, but she knew Max, and the animal before her was a complete replica.
The horse studied her, and she dared a step closer; it huffed. A warning to back off, so she did
Lucien found her minutes later, still staring
"Is he yours?" she asked once he stood beside her
"Yes, this Maximilian. Max for short."
Her heart dropped, and the world seemed to go silent. "What?"
This was definitely a dream. I mean, her Max was Maximus, but still.
"Laura? Laura?" Wait, that was her
"I…"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, he…he just looks like a horse I knew. It's…it's so uncanny."
"What was his name?"
"Max," she answered, staring at Max's twin
"Oh," was his reply
*
That afternoon, Lyla found herself rushing as an elf threw instructions at her. The man sighed whenever she didn't do something right, and when she did, he just hauled another instruction. The man wasn't necessarily rude or scary, but he was the kind you didn't want to make angry, she'd learnt that when she accidentally knocked a glass down. She still got the job, though.
Her advantages were far more than her failures, Mor had whispered, although the man just said it was because he was in urgent need of a waitress and she was readily available.
Earlier, Mor had dropped by rumbling about her workload since a coworker resigned, so Lyla had taken the opportunity and now she was officially employed in a nice, as good as it can get around here, bar.
*
A week passed, and she fell into a routine. Work starts at 3 pm to midnight. After that, she went to the cottage and slept until 9, then she woke up and practiced her illusion magic from what she had learned from Felix. Then she'd go for a jog, come back and shower, have breakfast, rest, and head to work thirty minutes earlier.
She used those minutes to befriend some vendors in the market nearby and she had gained two; one was a chatty round face woman who was a vital source of information about Umbraeth and the other was an old man who Lyla had approached because he always seemed lonely, so she had made it part of her routine to spare him some minutes to chat.
In that week, she had gained information about the different towns in Umbraeth; where they were located, what they were most known for, the kind of people who lived there, and more.
Regarding her host's secrets, she had been lucky to eavesdrop on a singular conversation where Lucien was reporting to Mor and Felix that the mysterious Livie had been able to ascertain that the person whose body they had taken had truly died by hanging, she also found traces of drugs in his blood and there was the odd black coloring in his brain. She'd have to do more analysis, especially with CE now in their hands.
Lyla wasn't sure how to take the information. For one, they had stolen a body. Two did that mean they weren't watchers? Because if they were, why did they have to steal the body? Three, they had been suspicious of the person's cause of death, meaning they suspected foul play, and four, she now knew CE was a drug.
She was yet to find out Lucien's and Mor's gifts, and that added to the many questions she already had
Working in the bar had proven useful, though; interacting with its patrons made it possible for her to understand the people of Umbraeth more. She had a few favorite clients who gave her the pleasure of conversation, which sometimes proved to be insightful, and she also got some extra coin in tips.
Her relationship with Mor had also gotten friendlier, although she could tell that the woman was still cautious of her. Either way, it had been a good week.
Lyla had just made it a few feet into the woods when she saw something racing towards her. She readied herself, her dagger already at hand; she kept it with her at all times. A neigh sounded, and a familiar horse came to a stop in front of her.
"Maximilian," the horse who had gotten less hostile to her, neighed again, looking panicked.
Turning its body, it neighed to the path it had just come from. There was only one person the horse cared enough for
"Lucien!"
Lyla didn't let herself think about it as she hauled herself onto the horse, and Max didn't complain; he just sprinted.
"Heavens," the sight of him made her gut twist.
Lying on a tree was Lucien; his clothes were tattered, his hair messy, and blood leaked from the gash on his thigh. She scrambled beside him.
"What happened?"
"I told you something worse might claim the cave," he breathed, exhaustion weighing on him.
Tearing her shirt, she quickly wrapped the piece around his leg to help stop the bleeding and to keep it from getting infected.
"I'll need you to get on the horse, can you?"
"Yeah," he whispered.
Lyla balanced his weight on hers as she helped him up onto Max, who remained firm even as Lucien clumsily got on. Once she was behind him, the horse did not wait before racing to the cottage.
Placing him on the couch, she rushed to the storage room where she had seen a kit with some tonics. Undoing the clothe, she almost gasped at the deep wound. She quickly read through the bottles, taking what she needed, and poured it on his thigh. He hissed, jerking up.
"Sorry, sorry," she mastered herself enough to clean the wound as best as she could, even though sight made her want to spew the contents of her stomach. At least the blood ceased flowing so much.
"You need a healer. Can you tell me where Petra lives? I'll go fetch her."
Lucien lifted his hand, showing her the bracelet she had seen on the three friends, "call Mor."
"This…this is a communication device? Ah, okay, what should I do?" The bracelet seemed normal
He raised a tired finger and tapped it at a particular spot. A faint red glow circled the edges.
"This better be important, it's late," came his friend's voice
"Mor it's Laura. Lucien got hurt, bring a witch quickly."
"Shit"
"Lucien? Hey…stay with me, don't you dare sleep." his eyes blinked before starting to close again, "Hey!"
Mor burst into the door minutes later with Petra in tow. The witch quickly went into work as they stood watching.
"What happened?" Mor asked, worried
"I don't know, he said something worse had occupied that cave."
The room fell silent again, the only sound coming from Lucien groaning or Petra working.
The witch turned to them when she was finally done, "he'll be sore for a while, but luckily, you were able to stop an infection from forming. I'll come back to check on him tomorrow." With that, the black haired female left
"We should move him to his room," his friend suggested, and they worked to support him as he stood half asleep.
It was the first time she saw his room, and from the little she was able to glimpse, there was nothing that stood out other than the black trunk at the foot of his bed. It seemed heavy and well crafted, but what stood out was that it didn't seem to have any locks or handles on it, so how then was it opened? And what was inside?
Mor quickly ushered her out the minute they laid Lucien in bed as if her spending even a second more there wasn't allowed, and wasn't that even more suspicious?