It had been two weeks of traveling for the mercenary duo, Lila and Tyremus: an arduous journey through a snowy mountain pass to reach the small town of Davensbrook on the other side. The client requesting their services there was said to be a portly bald man with missing teeth but very full pockets teeming with gold. Getting to the town had been more of an annoyance than the two suspected the actual job would be. Poor weather, sleepless nights, and a variety of monster attacks all stacked together to make the journey quite miserable.
The mercenary company Lila and Tyremus were a part of sent them specifically because they had complementary skill sets. While Lila was skilled in the use of a variety of magics, Tyremus was an adept warrior who specialized in melee combat -- specifically with a spear.
"Is it much farther?" Groaned Lila, whose knees felt like they were about to crumble.
"No. It's just up ahead." The burly centaur Tyremus responded, the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice.
Much like the two had different specialties, their appearances were vastly different as well. Anyone who spotted the unusual duo walking side by side tended to either gawk or quirk a brow. Some were simply prone to moving away quickly from them, afraid of the two unfamiliar races.
Lila was an amalgamation of a human and a lioness, the unusual result of a spell gone awry. Her head was feline, similar to a lioness, including everything from a muzzle to sharp white fangs. But her soft hazel eyes -- a remnant from when she was fully human -- were inviting and betrayed her body's rather animalistic nature. Most of her entire hourglass-shaped figure was covered in soft, short white fur, and swaying behind her was a long tail that often helped with feats of balance. Despite being an oddity among human folk, she still had no difficulty entrancing men with her curvy form, including her lush breasts and shapely backside. This was especially true when she often playfully goaded them on with some suggestive body language.
Tyremus was an uncommon humanoid as well, and not completely unlike Lila's fusion of two species. But he was instead born a centaur, which most could immediately recognize as a combination of horse and man. The species was known as generally being rather reclusive in their ways, keeping to themselves in the deep forests and living off the land.
Tyremus himself was particularly imposing even among centaurs, tall and stocky, with a hair-dappled barrel chest covered with various scars from battle. His face looked like it had been chiseled from granite, framed with shoulder-length black hair and a full thick beard. Many would find themselves trembling beneath his stoic gaze, his vigilant eyes unceasing in their search for impending dangers.
His lower half was entirely equine, albeit most horses would have difficulty matching up to his chestnut brown, burly form, which exuded raw strength. Resting along his back and haunches was a long grey caparison that housed multiple attached bags as well as served to cover his genitals from prying eyes.
The duo was trekking along a snow-covered road, surrounded by rows of pine trees and further beyond the unyielding walls of the mountain pass. Above them, the setting sun dictated a sense of urgency, lest they be caught traveling in the dark with both the frigid temperatures and unfriendly wildlife to deal with.
"Now you said you owned this cabin, right?" Lila asked, bundling her arms across her chest to alleviate the cold. Even with fur and her oversized coat, the still air nipped at her flesh.
"It was a gift." Tyremus began, his voice deep and authoritative. "A human I helped many years ago gave it to me as recompense." He turned his head down to look upon his ally as they walked. "Of course, we had to make some adjustments to better suit it for a Centaur such as myself..."
The two turned the corner of a wall of trees, revealing an unassuming little cabin nestled beneath a snowy hill. It seemed ordinary enough, composed of many stacked logs and having a few frost covered-windows embedded between the walls. A little chimney poked out from the top of the blanket of snow covering the roof. Perhaps the most striking feature was the metallic front door, which took up the majority of the wall and looked entirely out of place.
"...Such as the entrance." He stifled a chuckle and transitioned into a trot towards it.
Lila smirked and followed behind him quickly, needing no incentive to escape from the cold. She didn't care what the cabin looked like so long as it offered shelter and comfort, both things that their journey so far had lacked.
As the two drew closer to the massive door, an arrow suddenly sliced through the air over Lila's head, sinking into a snow bank nearby.
She jerked her head back, eyes widening at the sight: a pack of scowling, unkempt men had emerged from the cover of the trees and were closing in on them. Many were armed with swords or daggers, but a few of them carried bows that were poised to fire.
"Bandits! It's an ambush!" She shrieked at Tyremus and rushed to his side.
Tyremus whirred around to face them immediately while drawing the iron spear from his back. Lila ducked behind his massive frame, her head poking out behind his caparison to keep the bandits in sight.
"I should have known this pass would be prone to robberies. It does see frequent travel by merchants," Tyremus muttered. Tightly holding his spear in front of his chest, he was ready to strike at a moment's notice. He glanced from bandit to bandit, sizing them up both in armaments and physical appearance, planning out his attack.
"We're good in a fight, but not that good!" Lila stated with a panting breath. "We should retreat into the cabin. I have a spell that should be able to hold them off!" Her hand jabbed inside one of the small bags attached to her companion. It rooted around inside it for a moment before pulling from it a simple silver key.
Another arrow was loosed, soaring towards Tyremus this time. It was precisely aimed, but he twirled his spear gracefully and deflected it with ease. A few of the bandits exchanged worried glances as the muscled Centaur grew continuously more intimidating by the moment.
"Hmph. I think we could take them." He huffed. "But I will follow your lead." He began stepping back towards the door, still acting as a shield for Lila. More arrows flew at him sporadically but were unable to breach his adept handling of the spear.
Lila turned to unlock the door with as much haste as she could muster. She knew it was only a matter of time before the bandits with melee weapons surrounded them, and she wagered that when it got to that point even Tyremus and all of his skill wouldn't be able to appropriately defend from multiple angles.
Her slender fingers were nearly numb from the cold, but still able to unlock the door nonetheless, prying the massive iron construct open partially with a metallic groan. But upon hastily removing the key from the hole, it slipped between her fingers and fell into a small, icy crevice.
"Shit." Lila cursed, giving a glance down at the key which was clearly beyond her reach.
She ignored it and slipped inside the cabin, pushing the door further open so that her larger ally could follow suit. Tyremus glanced behind him to verify the way was open before nimbly hopping backward through the opening Lila had created. Safely inside, he slammed the door shut with both hands, blocking another flying arrow that struck against the metal exterior and fell limply to the ground.
Loud, commanding shouts rang outside between the bandits from different directions as they all began to swarm the cabin. Tyremus clutched the hefty door handle tightly and looked at Lila with gritted teeth.
"Best hurry it up with whatever it is you were planning!" His muscled arms flexed as he felt the first attempt at a bandit trying to pry open the door. But the single man was simply no match against Tyremus' robust form. A dozen bandits combined, however, would likely be a problem.
Lila nodded, weaving her hands through the air in a dazzling display of blue magical energy. After a moment, she slammed both the palms of her hands into the floor with a booming crackle. Blue tethers of the energy radiated outwards along the cabin's floor and collided with each of the walls and ceiling, radiating through them in an ominous glow.
There were faint sounds of the confused bandits outside conversing over what this sudden development meant when they were interrupted by the thunderous crack of ice shattering, which rang out from the cabin's walls.
Thick spires of ice rose from the exterior of the dwelling, shooting up into the air like thick daggers and surrounding the cabin like that of a prison cell. The few bandits who had set upon the structure narrowly managed to stumble away in time to avoid getting impaled upon the jagged arching ice.
Tyremus peered out from one of the nearby windows to watch the magic unfold. He quietly observed how the bandits fled from the ice like they had experienced being caught in a mage's spell prior. It wasn't long before the window itself was blocked by one of the many ice spires, obstructing his view and leaving him disappointed. He had hoped to continue watching the unprepared highwayman in their likely futile quest to overcome the magical obstacle.
The distinct sound of cracking ice faded shortly after, the traces of blue energy fading and signaling the completion of the spell.
