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The forest had been too quiet for hours. That was usually the first sign that something was wrong. Keyleth moved deeper into the trees, using her staff to steady herself as she walked.
Somewhere off to the west, Vex was scouting a parallel route through the forest. Not far enough to be out of reach if something happened, just far enough that they could cover more ground. The arrangement had been Vex's idea.
"Try not to get distracted," she'd said.
Keyleth had rolled her eyes.
"By what?"
Vex had adjusted her bow over her shoulder and started walking backwards down the trail.
"I don't know. Strange plants. Injured animals. Anything you might happen to find interesting, really."
"That rarely happens."
"It happened enough times that I've been keeping track."
Keyleth had laughed despite herself. Vex pointed at her.
"See? You're already not taking this seriously," Vex teased.
The memory tugged a reluctant smile from her. Then it faded. Something felt wrong as she continued her journey through the trees. The woods felt abandoned. She couldn't hear any noise from any creature, just silence.
Keyleth crouched beside a patch of disturbed earth. She found tracks, humanoid tracks, and they were recent. As she followed them downhill, the trail led her to a narrow ravine hidden beneath the trees.
At first glance, it appeared abandoned, but upon closer inspection, she could see people had been here recently. They had just been trying to cover up evidence. There was ash scattered across the ground. Someone had also scratched symbols into the rock faces.
Most had been hacked apart afterward. Evidence destroyed, or attempted to be destroyed. This was exactly what they were looking for. Not a full ritual site, just signs of the hidden infection spreading through Tal'Dorei.
Keyleth stepped cautiously between the ruined symbols. A scrap of parchment fluttered near a firepit. She bent to pick it up.
The attack came instantly.
Keyleth barely had time to register movement before a figure dropped from the rocks above her.
Her instincts took over immediately. She threw herself sideways as steel flashed through the space where her head had been a second earlier. The blade missed her face by inches.
She hit the ground hard, rolled across loose stone. She used her staff to help her off the ground, readying herself for whatever came next.
Her attacker was now standing where she had just stood.
He was tall and painfully thin beneath dark robes stained with dirt and old blood. A dagger gleamed in each hand, and the symbol of the Whispered One had been carved directly into his forehead. The skin surrounding it was angry and infected, as though the mark itself was rotting him from the inside out.
He smiled when he saw her looking and It was not a pleasant smile.
Keyleth adjusted her grip on her staff. as the man's smile vanished. Then he charged, moving faster than she expected.
The first dagger slashed toward her throat. Keyleth knocked his arm aside with her staff and twisted sharply, forcing him off balance. Before she could capitalize, the second blade went for her ribs. She managed to jump backwards just in time. The dagger sliced through her cape instead.
The cultist pressed forward relentlessly after that. Every opening she created vanished before she could use it. Every step she took backward seemed to encourage him.
The man wasn't particularly skilled. That was the frustrating part, but he was desperate enough to pose a threat.
The cultist lunged again, and Keyleth spun away, bringing her staff around toward his shoulder. He ducked underneath it and stumbled awkwardly across the uneven ground.
For a split second, Keyleth thought she'd finally gained the advantage, but the stumble was a feint.
The cultist's sleeve shifted, and a his dagger appeared, cutting straight into her side. Pain exploded through her.
Keyleth froze. For one impossible moment, she couldn't process what had happened. She looked down to find the blade buried in her ribs.
The cultist ripped it free and that hurt far more than the initial attack. Heat flooded down her side immediately as blood soaked through her tunic. The world started to spin and he began to laugh.
The sound echoed through the ravine, and something inside Keyleth snapped. The last bit of patience she had left.
A violent gust erupted outward, tearing leaves from branches and sending debris spiraling through the air. The cultist's laughter cut off abruptly as the blast slammed into him.
He flew backward into the ravine wall with enough force to crack stone. Before he could recover, roots burst from the earth beneath him. Wrapping around his wrists, his legs, his chest.
For the first time since the fight began, he looked afraid.
Keyleth staggered forward.One hand was pressed tightly against her wound. Blood leaked steadily between her fingers.
She said nothing, she simply stared as the roots tightened. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth as he looked up at her
"The Whispered One rises."
Anger surged through her chest. That had done it. The roots obeyed before she consciously told them to. A sharp crack echoed through the ravine. And he stopped moving.
Silence settled over the forest once more.
For several moments, Keyleth simply stood there staring at him, breathing hard. With her side still bleeding, reality caught up with her.
"...Dammit."
She squeezed her eyes shut. She shouldn't have killed him, she should have questioned him gotten something out of this encounter. Vex was probably going to be disappointed. An interrogation would have been useful, but she hadn't really been given many alternatives.
Keyleth sighed and immediately regretted it when pain flared through her ribs. She looked down at the wound. That was another mistake she'd made. The injury was significantly worse than she'd originally thought. Blood was soaking through everything. Vex would probably be worried about this too. This would slow them down even more.
"...That's not ideal."
A wave of dizziness rolled through her. She swallowed hard and pressed her hand tighter against the wound. She could heal it. Atleast enough to keep moving.
And if she couldn't, there was absolutely no reason to worry Vex yet. That thought seemed perfectly reasonable right up until she took a step and nearly collapsed. Keyleth caught herself with her staff before she hit the ground.
She stood there for a moment waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Then, because she was stubborn and because Vex would never let her hear the end of it otherwise, she started walking toward their rendezvous point. One slow step after another. Trying not to think about the pain. Or the increasingly likely possibility that Vex was going to be furious with her. She probably wasn't going to even notice.
They hadn't wandered particularly far from their rendezvous point. At most, twenty minutes apart if they kept a steady pace. Keyleth had crossed continents, planes, and entire realities. Twenty minutes through a forest should not have been a challenge.
Unfortunately, twenty minutes through a forest became considerably harder when every step felt like somebody was driving a knife between her ribs.
The wound throbbed with every heartbeat. Blood continued to seep through her tunic despite the quick healing magic she'd managed to use on herself. It hadn't managed to fully heal it. Just enough to keep herself moving. That was all she needed.
The others needed to know about the ritual site. They needed to investigate before any remaining cultists disappeared. There would be time to deal with the injury later.
A wave of dizziness rolled through her.
Keyleth stumbled against a tree and pressed a hand to the rough bark until the world stopped spinning. When her vision finally steadied, she pushed away from the trunk and kept walking.
"You're fine," she muttered to herself.
Several more minutes passed before she heard movement ahead. Fast and purposeful.
A figure was cutting through the trees with a bow already drawn, an arrow nocked and ready as they scanned every shadow around them.
Relief hit Keyleth so quickly that it almost made her laugh. Vex spotted her a second later. Her reaction was immediate. Her shoulders loosened. The tension around her eyes disappeared, but only for a moment.
Then the expression vanished beneath practiced confidence.
"There you are."
She lowered the bow and started walking toward her.
"I was beginning to think you'd found some rare flower and forgotten all about me."
Keyleth smiled faintly.
"As if i could forget you, you're must to memorable."
Vex smiled.
"True. Did you manage to find anything?"
"I found something," she said quickly. "A ritual site."
Vex's expression sharpened instantly. Any trace of teasing disappeared.
"Wonderful."
"There were signs somebody had been trying to destroy evidence. Symbols carved into the ravine walls. Burned documents. One cultist."
Vex crossed her arms.
"One?"
"He was either lookout or cleanup."
"And where is he now?"
Keyleth hesitated.
"...dead."
Vex sighed.
"Keyleth."
"In my defense, he stabbed me first."
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
Vex's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Keyleth immediately regretted everything.
"He stabbed me."
"You got stabbed?"
"It wasn't that bad."
Vex stared at her.
Then slowly looked down.
Followed the hand Keyleth had unconsciously pressed against her side.Followed the blood soaking through her tunic. A horrified expression now on her face.
"Keyleth."
The tone of voice made Keyleth want to disappear into the forest.
"It's fine."
"Move your hand."
"It's really not a big deal."
"Move. Your. Hand."
Keyleth obeyed.
The moment she pulled her hand away, Vex saw how much blood there actually was. The color drained even further from her face.
"Okay," Keyleth said quickly. "In fairness, it looks worse than it is."
Vex looked genuinely offended by the statement.
"It is actively bleeding. Gods."
Keyleth took a step toward her and as she did the world immediately tilted sideways. For a moment, she genuinely thought the trees were moving. Then her knees buckled. Strong hands caught her before she hit the ground.
Pain ripped through her side so violently she couldn't stop the sound that escaped her throat.
Vex was fully panicking now. Real panic, the kind Vex rarely showed anyone.
"How long?" she demanded.
"What?"
"How long have you been walking around like this?"
Keyleth looked away.
"Keyleth."
"Maybe twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes?"
"Possibly thirty."
"Thirty?"
“You're bleeding to death!” She shouted, but it was a frantic sort of yell.
That got Keyleth's attention. Vex rarely sounded frightened. Angry, yes. Annoyed, constantly. But genuinely Terrified? That was rare.
"We need to check the site," Keyleth said. "There could still be evidence there."
Vex looked at her like she'd completely lost her mind.
"The site can wait."
"No, Vex, if there are more cultists nearby, then..."
"The site can wait."
Keyleth fell silent. For a moment, they simply stared at one another.
Then Vex carefully shifted her grip and wrapped one of Keyleth's arms around her shoulders.
"We're finding shelter first."
"Vex."
"No."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
The argument lasted exactly three more steps before Keyleth nearly collapsed again.
After that, Vex stopped pretending she had a choice in the matter.
The cave she found wasn't much of a cave.
More of a hollow tucked into the side of a rocky hillside, hidden behind hanging branches and thick undergrowth. It was dry, protected from the wind, and just large enough for two people.
By the time they reached it, Keyleth was shaking. Whether from blood loss or exhaustion, she wasn't entirely sure.
Vex guided her down against the stone wall before immediately kneeling beside her.
"Let me see it."
"It's not that bad."
The look Vex gave her mad her regret her words and Keyleth wisely stopped talking. Vex carefully moved her hand away from the wound. The second she saw it properly, her jaw tightened.
For several seconds, she didn't say anything at all. Which somehow felt worse. Finally, she exhaled sharply through her nose.
"Keyleth." She lectured.
"It's very deep."
"I noticed."
"Not helping."
"Sorry."
Vex rubbed a hand over her face before immediately getting to work. And Keyleth let her. She wouldn't admit it but it was nice to stop pretending, to let somebody else take care of things.
Even if Vex looked absolutely furious while doing it.
Vex immediately started searching through Keyleth's belt pouch while muttering what sounded suspiciously like insults under her breath.
Keyleth rested her head against the cave wall and watched her. It was strangely comforting seeing Vex direct all of her panic into having something to do.
"My healer's pouch," Keyleth said. "There should be yarrow in there. Bloodleaf too. And a blue packet with powdered herbs."
Vex pulled several pouches free.
"These?"
"Yeah."
Vex immediately got to work crushing herbs between her fingers before carefully cleaning the wound. The process was significantly more unpleasant than Keyleth would have preferred. Every time Vex pressed against the injury, pain shot through her side hard enough to make her grip her staff.
"Sorry," Vex muttered.
"It's fine."
"You are actively grimacing."
Keyleth opened her mouth to argue before another sharp wave of pain cut the attempt short.
Vex looked deeply vindicated.
Several minutes passed as she worked. Eventually, fresh bandages were wrapped around Keyleth's ribs, and the bleeding finally began to slow. Not stop completely, but slow enough that neither of them had to keep staring at the growing amount of blood on the cave floor.
"There," Vex said.
Keyleth looked down.
The bandaging was surprisingly neat.
For the first time since the attack, things felt manageable. Then the nausea hit. It rolled through her stomach so suddenly she doubled over. The cave tilted.
A chill raced through her despite the sweat covering her skin.
Keyleth squeezed her eyes shut.
Not now.
Not after they'd finally gotten the bleeding under control.
"Keyleth."
Vex was beside her immediately.
"I'm okay."
The words came out weaker than intended.
Vex's expression suggested she was considering physically banning Keyleth from ever saying those words again.
Another wave hit.
Worse this time.
The edges of her vision blurred.
Her stomach twisted painfully.
Everything felt wrong.
Vex pressed a hand against her forehead.
The contact made Keyleth freeze.
Not because she disliked it.
Quite the opposite.
The simple warmth of Vex's hand felt embarrassingly comforting.
"You're burning up."
"I'm probably just tired."
"You don't get a fever from being tired."
Keyleth looked away.
Vex's eyes immediately dropped to the wound.
Her expression slowly changed.
Concern.
Confusion.
Then fear.
"The dagger."
Keyleth frowned.
"What about it?"
"The wound should be stabilized."
Vex carefully loosened part of the bandage and examined the injury again.
Instead of looking reassured, she looked more alarmed.
"The bleeding is slowing, but everything else is getting worse."
Keyleth thought back to the fight.
The dagger.
The strange discoloration she'd briefly noticed on the blade.
The way the wound had continued burning long after it should have.
"...Oh."
Vex's head snapped up.
"Oh?"
"Maybe there was poison."
The silence that followed was impressive.
Vex simply stared at her.
"You are only mentioning that now?"
"In fairness, I was distracted by the stabbing."
"Gods give me strength."
Keyleth almost laughed.
Almost.
The nausea ruined the attempt.
Vex pinched the bridge of her nose and took several very deliberate breaths.
"What kind of poison?"
"I don't know."
"Can you identify it?"
"Not unless I saw the dagger again."
"The dagger is currently attached to the dead cultist."
"...yes."
Neither of them spoke for several seconds.
Outside the cave, the forest remained unnaturally quiet.
Inside, Keyleth could practically hear Vex thinking.
Calculating.
Running through every possible solution.
The realization should have reassured her.
Instead, it made her uneasy.
Because Vex only got this quiet when she was running out of options.
Another wave of dizziness rolled through her.
This time she couldn't hide it.
Vex caught her shoulder before she could slump sideways.
"Hey."
The concern in her voice was impossible to miss now.
Not hidden.
Not disguised behind sarcasm.
Just there.
Raw and honest.
"Look at me."
Keyleth did.
Immediately regretted it.
There was panic in Vex's eyes.
Carefully controlled panic.
But panic all the same.
And somehow that frightened Keyleth more than the poison.
Vex glanced toward the cave entrance.
Then back at her.
Then toward the entrance again.
The pattern repeated enough times that Keyleth knew exactly what she was thinking.
"No."
Vex looked at her.
"We need help."
"We can handle this."
"No."
"We've handled worse."
"No."
The answer came so quickly that it startled both of them.
For a moment, silence settled over the cave.
Then Vex stood and began pacing.
Only a few steps.
The cave wasn't large enough for more than that.
Still, the movement felt restless.
Nervous.
Like she couldn't sit still anymore.
Finally, she stopped and looked back at Keyleth.
"I think we need Pike."
The words landed heavily between them.
Because they both knew what that meant.
Vex had exhausted the list of things she could personally fix.
And that list was usually very long.
For the first time since the cultist had attacked her, genuine fear started creeping into Keyleth's chest.
Not because of the poison.
Not because of the wound.
Because Vex looked scared.
And Vex did not scare easily.
Keyleth stared at Vex while the fever made everything feel slightly distant and unreal. The cave seemed smaller than before. The air felt too warm. Every time she blinked, it took a little longer for things to come back into focus.
"We can handle this," she said.
Vex immediately shook her head.
"No."
"Vex."
"No."
The response was sharp enough that it startled both of them.
For a moment, neither spoke. Vex looked away first, her eyes dropping to the bloodstained bandages wrapped around Keyleth's ribs.
"You should have told me."
The words were quiet.
Not angry.
Just hurt.
Keyleth swallowed.
"I didn't want to slow us down."
"You were bleeding through your clothes."
"I could still walk."
"You collapsed."
"I made it back to you."
The second the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back.
Because something changed in Vex's expression.
Not visibly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough that Keyleth knew she'd accidentally said something important.
Vex looked down at her hands.
"I thought I was too late."
Keyleth frowned.
"What?"
"When I couldn't find you."
Vex laughed softly, but there wasn't any humor in it.
"I kept finding signs somebody had been through the area. Broken branches. Footprints. Then I found blood."
Her jaw tightened.
"At first I told myself it could have belonged to anything."
Keyleth didn't say anything.
Vex wasn't really talking to her anymore.
Not completely.
She was talking because the words had finally gotten too heavy to carry around by herself.
"Then I found more."
The cave fell silent.
"I thought I was going to find a body."
The admission seemed to surprise even Vex.
She immediately looked away afterward.
As if she regretted saying it.
Keyleth's chest tightened painfully.
Not because of the wound.
Something else.
"Vex..."
"You don't get to do that."
Vex looked back at her.
This time there was no sarcasm.
No confidence.
No mask.
Just fear.
"You don't get to decide that you're a burden and then almost die because you don't want anyone helping you."
"I wasn't trying to die."
"I know."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
"That's the problem."
Keyleth looked down at her hands.
The fever was making everything harder. Harder to think. Harder to keep walls standing where they belong.
"I just..." She swallowed. "I didn't want you worrying about me."
That actually made Vex look offended.
"Keyleth, I am always worrying about you."
The words escaped before she could stop them.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Vex looked just as surprised as Keyleth felt.
Then she rubbed a hand across her face.
"Gods."
A weak laugh escaped Keyleth.
"You are."
"Yes."
"You worry a lot."
"You routinely throw yourself at problems."
"I don't."
"You absolutely do."
Despite everything, they both smiled.
Only slightly.
The moment faded quickly.
Vex's eyes found the wound again.
The fever.
The way Keyleth was struggling to stay upright.
And all the fear came rushing back.
"I'm getting the others."
The words hit Keyleth harder than they should have.
"No."
Vex blinked.
"No?"
"No."
"I'm not asking."
"You can't leave."
The response came out too fast.
Too desperate.
Keyleth knew it immediately.
So did Vex.
The cave went very still.
"You think I'm leaving."
It wasn't really a question.
Keyleth looked away.
Because hearing it out loud made it sound ridiculous.
Because she was an adult.
An archdruid.
A member of Vox Machina.
Not somebody who should be panicking because her friend needed to leave for twenty minutes.
But the thought of Vex disappearing into the woods made something inside her seize with terror.
The fever wasn't helping.
Everything felt too immediate.
Too raw.
"I know you'd come back," Keyleth said quietly.
Vex waited.
"But I don't want you to go."
The honesty surprised both of them.
Keyleth closed her eyes.
Mortified.
When she finally looked up again, Vex was staring at her.
Not confused.
Not embarrassed.
Just looking at her.
Really looking at her.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Vex stepped forward and crouched in front of her.
Close enough that Keyleth could see every detail of her face.
Close enough that neither of them could really pretend this was just about the poison anymore.
"Keyleth."
Her voice had softened completely.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Something painful twisted in Keyleth's chest.
"You're not?"
"No."
Vex smiled sadly.
"Gods, have you really not figured that out yet?"
The question felt bigger than it should have.
Keyleth's throat tightened.
Vex reached forward before seeming to think better of it.
Then she did it anyway.
Her fingers brushed a curl away from Keyleth's face.
The touch was gentle enough to make her heart ache.
"I was terrified when I couldn't find you."
The confession came quietly.
Almost reluctantly.
"I thought about every stupid thing you've ever done and convinced myself one of them had finally gotten you killed."
Keyleth laughed weakly.
"That's romantic."
Vex rolled her eyes.
"You know what I mean."
Maybe she did.
Because suddenly neither of them was talking about the injury anymore.
Or the cultists.
Or Pike.
Or any of it.
They were talking about the thing they'd both been carefully avoiding for years.
The thing sitting between them every time they stood too close or lingered too long.
The thing neither of them had been brave enough to name.
"You scared me too," Keyleth admitted.
Vex froze.
"You did?"
Keyleth nodded.
"I thought if I didn't make it back to you..."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"I didn't like that thought."
Something warm and vulnerable crossed Vex's face.
For one brief second, it looked like she might say something.
Really say it.
Whatever *it* was.
Instead, she glanced toward the cave entrance and groaned.
"Wonderful timing."
"What?"
"We are having this conversation later."
Keyleth blinked.
"We are?"
"Yes."
The certainty in Vex's voice made her stomach flip.
Then Vex slid one arm behind her back and another beneath her knees.
Keyleth stared.
"Vex."
"No."
"Vex."
"No."
Despite everything, there was the faintest smile on her face.
"If you're too stubborn to let me leave and too poisoned to walk, then we're compromising."
Before Keyleth could argue, she was being lifted off the ground.
The sudden movement made the cave spin.
She instinctively grabbed onto Vex's shoulder.
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
Keyleth rested her forehead against Vex's shoulder.
She could feel Vex's heartbeat beneath her armor.
Steady.
Certain.
Present.
The last thing she remembered before darkness finally pulled her under was Vex's voice.
Still talking. Still reassuring her that she was there.
Warmth was the first thing she noticed.
The second was the smell of woodsmoke.
The third was the realization that she was no longer in the cave.
Keyleth opened her eyes slowly.
A campfire crackled nearby, casting warm orange light across the campsite. Her side still ached, but the sharp agony was gone. In its place was the dull soreness that came after powerful healing magic.
Pike.
That explained a lot.
A blanket had been draped around her shoulders. Someone had even tucked it around her properly.
Probably Pike.
Definitely not Grog.
As her thoughts slowly untangled, she turned her head.
Vex was sitting beside her.
Exactly beside her.
Bow resting nearby.
Eyes tired.
Watching.
The moment she realized Keyleth was awake, relief flooded across her face before she quickly tried to hide it.
Too late.
Keyleth saw it.
Without thinking, she reached out.
Vex's hand met hers immediately.
Their fingers intertwined naturally, as if neither of them had even considered another option.
For a few moments, neither spoke.
The fire crackled softly nearby.
Keyleth could feel her friends moving toward her with obvious relief that she was alright, voices beginning to overlap somewhere beyond the firelight.
But she barely noticed them.
Because Vex's hand was still wrapped around hers.
And this time neither of them let go.