Her shout went unanswered, and her heart began to race for a different reason. Could it be that they had the wrong destination entirely?
Lily soon shook her head. “No, Carmilla said they’d be here. She must be right!”
That they’d been ambushed by those men was the best evidence of that. But then, where could they be? Lily thought back on the wraith’s words: “To win this war of feminine wiles, she would doubtless choose a location that is meaningful to both of them.”
“The secret base,” Lily murmured. At the dinner table, a while ago, Zenos and Liz had talked about a secret base in the mountains. A special place. That had to be it. “But then...”
She looked around frantically. The pair had mentioned there being a spring near this secret base, but Lily saw nothing of the sort. Maybe it was a ways away from the orphanage, making it less likely to be found by the adults.
“What do I do? What do I do?!” she mumbled, clutching her head as she sank down.
Lily couldn’t give up. The others had bought her precious time—there had to be something she could still do. Convincing herself of this, she carefully surveyed her surroundings and found what seemed to be two sets of footprints tracking through the mud.
“Oh! This must be it!”
She sprang to her feet and followed the footprints, which led out the orphanage’s back gate deeper into the mountain. As she exited out the gate, however, the overgrown grass covered the mud, and the trail vanished. Lily groaned as she saw three faint paths, barely distinguishable as animal trails, branching off in different directions.
One of them had to lead to Zenos.
Lily stood there for a moment, listening to the rainfall as she slowly closed her eyes. “Zenos...”
Memories of the days since meeting the shadow healer surfaced in her mind: Zenos saving her the day she’d been shot by a slaver’s arrow. Lying about not being hungry so he could use what little coin he had to treat her to a meal. The two of them, covered in soot after cleaning up the dilapidated clinic. Him continuously healing the demi-humans during their coliseum match. How nervous they’d been when the royal guard Krishna came by. Their group trip to the hot springs. The stew they’d eaten at the Royal Institute’s dorms. Zenos telling her that her cold dish was delicious.
“And there’s so, so much more,” she murmured as the memories kept coming, one after another.
Maybe their time together couldn’t hold a candle to his childhood with Liz. But Lily knew their memories were just as precious. They were. They were.
Finally, her eyes snapped open, and she leaped onto the middle path.
“Zenos is ahead. I know he is!”
***
Meanwhile, Zenos and Liz were halfway up the mountain. Beyond the rough animal trail was a small spring, with a dimly lit cave beside it.
“Wow. Our secret base,” Zenos said in an emotional tone as they stepped inside. “This takes me way back.” His voice echoed off the walls, the sounds of the rain outside growing more distant. He gently brought a hand to the faint lines on the rocky surface, thinking back on how they’d all been so ravenous that they’d even drawn pictures of bread. “Our drawings are still here.”
Sometimes, their group had gathered here to avoid their daytime chores. They’d staved off hunger with nuts and berries, washed themselves in the cold spring, started fires with manastone fragments, and shared their woes and dreams. What was it that they’d all talked about, again?
Turning around, Zenos saw that Liz had taken off her jacket. “Um, Liz? Why are you undressing?”
“Hmm?” she replied, now down to a thin layer of clothing. “Oh, my clothes are soaked from the rain.”
“I mean, they are, but—”
“It’s fine. We used to play together naked in the spring as children.”
“Yeah, but we were kids,” he pointed out with his hands on his hips. “How’s your memory, by the way?”
“It’s still hazy, but I’m gradually recalling more.” After a moment’s silence, Liz looked straight at Zenos. “One thing I did remember is how special you are to me, Zenos.”
“Me?”
Liz tried to take a step forward and stumbled, falling over Zenos. “Ah!”
“Whoa!” Zenos exclaimed, now with a practically half-naked Liz on top of him. “You okay, Liz?”
“Yes,” she murmured.
Zenos could feel her damp skin against him as a strangely sweet scent tickled his nostrils. Atop him, Liz gripped his shoulders.
“Hey, Zenos,” she cooed. “Won’t you be with me? Forever?”
***
“He’s just ahead! I know he is...!”
Under the never-ending rain, Lily pushed her way through the vegetation, following along the unmarked path. Her feet were covered in mud, the multiple scrapes on her bare skin stinging painfully. But she didn’t care. She kept spurring her heavy legs, gripping branches, forcing her small frame to keep going, until she finally reached a somewhat open clearing.
“There it is!” Ahead of her was a spring, tinted green with algae, the raindrops tracing countless ripples along its surface. Next to it was a small cave.
Heaving, Lily staggered closer to the cave. Just as she was about to enter, however, a voice echoing from within stopped her.
“Hey, Zenos. Won’t you be with me? Forever?”
Lily hesitantly peeked in and saw a half-naked Liz lying atop Zenos. Wah! Oh! Oh my! Covering her mouth, she flinched away from the scene, her heart pounding like a hammer. I need to hurry!
Well, she knew she had to, at least, but her feet were frozen in place. If Liz really was trying to ensnare an unwilling Zenos, Lily had to put a stop to it.
