“I promise I won’t be mad. Just tell me: are we lost?” Lilia asked, staring down Directions as he perched on a branch. After a moment of hesitation he nodded. “I thought you said you knew the way home!”

  Directions chirped back angrily, bouncing up and down in the process. Lilia rubbed at her temples to calm herself down. She did say she wouldn’t get angry.

  “Calm. I’m calm. I’m not mad at all.” She sighed. “When did you realize you didn’t know where you were going?”

  That seemed to be too open ended a question, as Directions just tilted his head to the side.

  “Just chirp once for every day.”

  Eight chirps were her answer.

  “We’ve been going in some random direction for eight days!?” Lilia exclaimed. “Uuuuu, what do I do now? If you don’t know where we are, I definitely don’t…”

  Lilia had realized she didn’t recognize the area four or five days prior, but she hadn’t thought much of it at the time. She had an awful sense of directions. She’d also been asleep at times during the coach ride to Master’s town, so she reasoned that she may have simply slept through the area they were passing through.

  As the days passed, though, she started to have an inkling that something might be wrong. Mostly because she hadn’t seen a settlement in days. Traveling on foot might be slow, but they should have been running into a town or village every two or three days at worst. After more than half a week with no signs of civilization Lilia had finally decided to interrogate Directions.

  Now that she knew the truth, though, she had no idea what to do about it. Instead of deciding immediately, Lilia plopped herself down on a rock and pulled a handful of berries out of her pocket. She stuffed her mouth with the tiny morsels while thinking things over.

  Wandering aimlessly wouldn’t get her anywhere. She could try asking Directions to take her back the way they’d come, but right now she didn’t trust his memory enough to rely on it. As for the other two, Cyclops tended to be very distractible and Mr. Bearbones had a selective memory. They wouldn’t be much more help than Directions.

  But where did that leave her? Sending Directions out to scout for villages? Picking a single direction to walk in? It would probably be best to stick to the roads if nothing else. As much time as she’d spent in the forest growing up, Lilia had never really learned much in the way of survival skills aside from letting her familiars protect her and knowing which plants were edible.

  “Raowwww.”

  Following the sound of Cyclops’ voice, Lilia looked to the side to find him staring at her. From the way he stood, Lilia got the impression of a dog trying to get someone to play with him, which seemed odd to her as he’d never done that before. Then, the moment he had her attention, Cyclops turned to look over his shoulder.

  “Are you trying to tell me something is following you?”

  “Rrrrgh.” Cyclops shook his head, then repeated the over-the-shoulder movement a few times.

  “You want to show me something?”

  “Raow!” Cyclops did a spinning hop to face the other direction, then looked back at Lilia.

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” Lilia said, wiping berry juice off of her fingers as she stood to follow. “Mr. Bearbones!”

  Hearing his name, Mr. Bearbones stopped scratching at a nearby tree and trotted over to Lilia. She patted him on the head and started walking after Cyclops. The bobcat led them off the road they were on—actually, it might have just been an animal trail, now that Lilia thought about it—and into the woods.

  Although she didn’t have the grace of a bobcat, Lilia knew well enough how to keep up. She dodged low branches and placed her feet carefully, wary of anything that might trip her. Keeping Cyclops in sight proved a bit more difficult, but she could still hear him and there didn’t seem to be many other animals nearby to confuse her.

  Cyclops had apparently ranged out pretty far while Lilia was preoccupied with Directions, as he continued leading her through the forest for at least half an hour before finally stopping. When Lilia finally caught sight of him again, she found Cyclops hiding in the bushes at the edge of the tree line. She crept up to join him and looked around to find what he’d wanted to show her.

  Beyond the trees ran a broad, paved road. She and Cyclops were on the outside of a curve in the road, allowing them to see a long distance in both directions. She didn’t see anything to her right, but when she checked the other direction she spotted a body lying down the road. It seemed to be a soldier judging by the armor. Mostly she just felt surprised that this one wasn’t walking around.

  “Just a body…?” Lilia questioned. But when she checked her soul sense, she realized she’d been mistaken. “Wait, they’re alive!”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Lilia hesitated. She did feel a bit excited at seeing a living person for the first time in a year, and given that they were passed out in the middle of the road it seemed obvious they needed help. But could she reveal herself without giving away that she was a necromancer? That would go against what Master had told her to do.

  “Mmmm…” Lilia hummed, mulling it over. On one hand she might be able to ask for directions to the nearest town. That would help her get her bearings. But what if the soldier wanted to show her the way? It would be hard to say no, and she’d have to keep Cyclops and Mr. Bearbones a secret along the way. She could also just follow this road to town, so it wasn’t as if she absolutely needed this soldier’s help.

  Just as Lilia was about to make the decision to leave the soldier alone, though, something forced her hand. A flash of motion drew Lilia’s attention to the other part of the road where she spotted a creature straight out of the stories her mom used to tell her to make her behave. Before now she hadn’t even thought trolls were real, but this creature fit the description perfectly.

  It stood twice as tall as Lilia and had rough, scaly skin with short spikes protruding from its arms and legs seemingly at random. Thick fur covered the troll’s torso. Its ears were long like a rabbit’s but hung limp, swaying with every step it took, and a prominent horn stuck out from its face where a person’s nose would be.

  Lilia knew at a glance that even Mr. Bearbones wouldn’t stand a chance against this creature. This wasn’t a mere animal; it was a monster that lived in the mountains and occasionally ventured down to terrorize rural villages. Fortunately, Lilia’s soul sense told her that this particular troll was one of the not-dead she’d encountered so often since leaving Master’s basement. She could tell it to ignore her easily enough.

  But this sighting made Lilia realize that, while she could protect the soldier from this not-dead, she wouldn’t be able to do anything if another found them after she left. If that happened before the soldier woke up they would surely die.

  “…I’m going to tell that troll to ignore me and the soldier and then wake the soldier up after it leaves, okay? Cyclops, Mr. Bearbones, please stay out of sight. If they see you they’ll know I’m a necromancer,” Lilia instructed, already sending a mana pulse towards the troll carrying her orders.

  Though she’d said that as if she intended to leave cover immediately, Lilia actually waited for the troll to pass first. The big, slow monster took quite some time to lumber on past her hiding place and even longer to pass the soldier by. She had to send another quick order to the troll to stop it from walking right over the unconscious soldier, too, but eventually it disappeared down the road.

  With the troll gone Lilia finally went out to check on the soldier. They were laying facedown, their head wrapped in a chainmail coif and their body ensconced in full plate. Lilia had never seen a soldier this heavily armored.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, crouching down next to the soldier. No answer. Next she decided to try rolling them onto their back, so she reached down, placing her hands on the underside of the soldier’s armor, and lifted.

  As a farmer’s daughter Lilia had never been weak, so she didn’t try particularly hard at first, expecting this to be easy. When the soldier didn’t even budge, she really put her back into it. Soon Lilia was heaving with everything she had, arms burning with the strain, but she only managed to lift the soldier by a few centimeters at best.

  At that point Lilia remembered that she’d spent the last year lazing around a basement and gave up.

  Panting from the exertion, Lilia fell backwards onto her rear. “Wake. Up,” Lilia forced out, kicking the soldier in the side childishly out of frustration at being thwarted. She ground to a stop when the soldier suddenly inhaled sharply and rolled away, then practically leapt to their feet, drawing their sword in the same motion.

  “Oh, hi,” Lilia said lamely, staring at the sword now pointing at her face.

  “Who are you?” demanded the soldier in a congested-sounding but feminine voice. The only features Lilia could see right now were the woman’s blue eyes and a few strands of hair peaking out from under her hood. Her lips were pressed thin, and both they and the woman’s broken nose were coated in blood.

  “Lilia?”

  “Your entire name,” the woman pressed.

  At that, Lilia actually had to think for a moment. It wasn’t something that came up often. She also wasn’t exactly accustomed to calling her parents by name, which made things even harder.

  “Um…Lilia Torvaldsdottir,” she managed after finally remember her father’s name. The soldier blinked a few times before sheathing her sword.

  “You’re not from any of the noble houses, then,” she concluded. “What in the world are you doing out here?”

  “I’m on my way home.”

  “The only place that lies down this road is Saltrvatrmarr Fortress, which I’m afraid has fallen into enemy hands,” the soldier pointed out. She offered Lilia a hand and helped her to her feet.

  “I’m also very lost,” Lilia admitted. “My friend told me he knew the way, but apparently he didn’t.”

  “And where is this friend of yours…?” the soldier asked, looking around.

  “Up there, probably. Directions!” Lilia called out, looking up to the sky.

  At her call, Directions swooped down from above to perch on her head.

  “Your friend is a bird?” the soldier questioned. “You named a cardinal Directions? As in…cardinal directions?”

  “When we met, he gave me directions. So his name is Directions,” Lilia explained, not understanding what the soldier was getting at. The woman seemed like she wanted to say something more but decided not to.

  “Never mind. It’s not important right now. How have you survived out here all alone? This area shoulder be swarming with undead.”

  “I haven’t seen any undead. Oh, do you mean those not-dead things? Those are kind of different. I’ve been, um, managing, though. I’m actually really resourceful!” Lilia answered proudly, entirely failing to notice her mistake.

  “Not-dead? I’ve never heard that term before. What do you mean they’re different than undead?” Belatedly, Lilia realized no one but a necromancer would be able to see the difference. She remembered too late what Master had said; that most people couldn’t see souls the way she did.

  “Um…I don’t know. They just are,” she said evasively, looking away. The soldier sighed.

  “Did you see an army pass through here recently?” the woman asked instead of continuing that line of questioning. Lilia shook her head. “I see. You said you were lost, correct? Then I believe it would be best if you came with me. It’s not safe here, but I will protect you until we reach the Stryk line.”

  “Okay, I guess,” Lilia said with a sigh, having seen that coming. She decided to just be thankful she’d managed to avoid outing herself as a necromancer, even if she still didn’t understand why Master had told her to do so. “Oh, uh, what’s your name, anyway?”

  “You may call me Cinna.”