Reaching Grelangen is your first priority

You stand hunched on the path, the eyes of your companions on you as you debate with yourself, prudence and righteousness warring within you. Eventually you reach a conclusion.

"If the goblins have prisoners and are abusing them, that is a horrible fate to abandon them to, but nothing a pack of savage greenskins could subject a person to could ever compare to what nightmares are taking place back in the abbey.

Every moment we dawdle is a moment longer that Thoros and his horde solidify their foothold in this land. And we have dawdled plenty already.

We head straight for the High Abbey, we see Thoros slain and destroyed, and I will personally see to it that all other matter of fell beasts in these lands are struck down in his wake!"

You are snarling by the end of your speech, and turn away from the shocked faces of your fellow Sisters to march down the path in rapid strides. Your mind assures you that your decision has the most garuntee of the most good in the long run, but your heart condemns your callousness.

It is a long and silent walk through the rest of the Blauwalt, but eventually you exit the dark forest to see the road continue down towards a small lake, the glare of the sun bouncing off its surface as it begins to sink to the horizon.

Xallia looks to the lake with apprehension that grows starker with each step, until she stops about three-quarters of the way down.

"That lake is befouled. I can sense the energy of something vile in its depths."

"What do you mean?" Anya breathes out, terror creeping into her words. "Have the demons extended their reach to it?"

"There are things more wretched than demons, from planes more unearthly than Hell," Xallia mutters, eyes on the lake, "whatever is under that water is one of them."

Yet more unclean aberrations laying waste to your countryside. You grasp the sword of St. Magdalena in a white-knuckled fist, and stalk off the path.

"Sabine, wait," Glenda grabs your shoulder and makes you turn to meet her gaze, "we all share your disgust and outrage, but your rage is scaring us and clouding your mind. We can cleanse this land, but to succeed we must be considerate."

You shut your eyes and struggle to regain control of your breath. After an agonizing eternity, that to an observer likely only lasted some seconds, you unclench and look back at the elf.

"My mind is clear now."

The four of you walk around the western bank of the lake, giving the shoreline a wide berth and keeping your senses honed to spring back at the first hint of movement out of the surface.

A good half an hour passes before you reach the opposite side of the lake and continue onward with the path. It's another several minutes of walking into the plains straight away from the lake before you all start breathing easier.

"How much farther to Grelangen?" Anya speaks out plaintively.

"Two days and two nights by horse from the abbey." You state. Xallia scoffs at the answer.

"That's quite an imprecise answer Sabine: What breed and in what condition is the horse? How much is it carrying? How hard are you riding it? Do you swap it out along the way? How many rest stops are you-"

"Is there a point to this?" You growl out, not in the mood to tolerate her prattle.

"Distance would be more helpful than a vague time period on a method of travel we don't have." Xallia sums up, peeved.

"I don't know, something over a hundred miles? Around 150? What do you expect out of me, to have memorized the trip and be able to map it into our current pace? As far as I am able to tell, it could be 200 miles, can you wheedle out a way to make that go by faster?!"

"Sabine, Xallia please! Fighting is the last thing we need." Glenda and Anya get between the two of you, faces beseeching.

After a short stand-off, Xallia is the first to look down.

"I'm sorry for the provocation; we're all tired and on edge."

You grunt, not trusting your mouth to form non-inflammatory remarks.

"C'mon, let's think. Horses go what, thirty to forty miles a day? So 150 miles is a reasonable high-end estimate, if you run whatever horse you're riding on to **** that two days and nights. How long would it take to cross the forest?"

"A good number of hours, but not a whole night." You answer, begrudging to listen to the succubus think out loud some more.

"Okay, we'll call that about 25 miles under our belts. That's a sixth of the way there. We left the abbey late last night, it's dusk now, so we've walked about three-fourths of a day. So our pass should get us there in another..." at this point Xallia starts mumbling under her breath, "four and a half days? I think. My math's not that good in my head."

"Unacceptable! Do you have any idea what kind of havoc those demons could cause in that amount of time!?" You burst out, feeling helpless behind you ire. Xallia brings her hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Look, we can only walk so fast like this, it's easily remedied. At the next town over we can get ourselves some proper riding gear like you're used to and be on our way at double speed. I just wanted to know what we were looking at in terms of distance left. Sorry it distressed everyone."

"Sabine, where's the next town?" Glenda asks, and you sigh.

"There's an old outpost called Dirk Peak up in the hills between here and Grelangen, but it's off the path and still about a day away."

"If we can get more supplies there, I think the detour is called for," Anya remarks, with agreement from your mutual non-human lovers.

"That'll be decided as we go." You're too tired now to take your anger out on them anymore. You lead your little band down the road, and after a ways, you spot a thick copse by the side of the path. With a groan of relief you head for it.

Making it under the branches, you strip off the green dress. Glenda hands you a short shift as Anya sets out the bedrolls. The three of you lie down together, but Xallia stays up, until she gets down over you.

"I'm sorry for causing you such difficulty Sabine. You're under enough strain as it is."

"No Xallia," you reply, cupping her cheek, "I am the one at fault. Nothing I labor under weighs any lighter on the three of you, I was lashing out childishly."

"I think what we all need right now is a little release of tension. Just to start tomorrow with more of a spring in our steps?"

Xallia looks at you hopefully, as do Glenda and Anya when you turn your head to the side.

Well now you'd just feel like a plain spoilsport if you turned this down. Still doesn't change how exhausted you are though.