《Of Frost and Steel》


 Prologue

    I closed the front door of the old house behind me and my nose was immediately assailed by the smell of homemade apple pie and chicken broth.


    "Gertrude! I''m home!" I shouted as I took off my sneakers.


    The face of the old lady who had become like another grandma for me peeked from the kitchen door. Her curly white hair was kept short over a round face that sported a beaming smile. "Emily! You''re back early!"


    "My boss called. Apparently someone thought well to dump a tin of plaster down the drain." I said as I removed the rainbow colored t-shirt.


    "Have some decency, young girl!" she said, hitting my thigh with a wooden spoon that was probably covered in the same chicken broth I could smell, hard enough to get her point across but not enough to actually hurt me, smearing fat over my leg.


    I jumped forward and took for the stairs to go to my room. I had almost reached the top of the flight of stairs when I heard her say behind me, "And don''t forget to eat a slice of pie before leaving!"


    I entered my room and quickly changed out of my shorts, dropping them, along with the rainbow shirt, on the bed. Then I quickly wiped away the fat smeared on my leg and the rainbow flags painted on my cheeks with some baby wipes and put on the thick cotton long sleeved short and denim jeans I used for work, along with a pair of long woolen socks.


    Ready for work, I went back downstairs, where Gertrude was waiting for me. I tried to squeeze past the large woman saying that I would be late for work but she grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me to the kitchen saying, "you know the rules, after every march, we eat apple pie."


    I sighed and let her drag me to the kitchen, where the large dining table able to fit a dozen people was sitting in the middle of the room, with a slice of apple pie on a plate placed on it = in front of one of the many chairs.


    I sat down and grabbed the fork that came with the plate. "Thank you."


    She nodded. "Much better. Do you want ice-cream on it too?"


    "No, thank you," I said, before putting a piece of the still warm pie in my mouth. "Did you add cinnamon this time?" I asked.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Yes, now that Josh went back to his parents there''s no one complaining about it."


    "It''s good to see not everyone has shitty parents," I said, before eating another piece.


    "She still won''t talk to you?" she asked, obviously worried.


    I shook my head. "No. The last time I called her she told me I will end up dragging her to hell. Of course she ranted for half an hour to get her point across. I don''t even know why I bother anymore."


    "Let''s talk about something else, shall we?" She smiled at me. "How was the parade?"


    "It was pretty fun. I think there were almost ten thousand people this year. We spent most of the time close to a wagon made by a group of drag queens that spent all the march singing Queen songs. At one point they hoisted Mike-"


    "Emily" she said, interrupting me with a stern look on her face.


    "Michelle," I said, correcting myself, "they hoisted Michelle up on the cart to sing with them."


    "Oh, that was so nice of them, I bet he had a lot of fun."


    I nodded, trying to push down the last piece of pie. Having finished the slice, I got up from the chair saying, "Sorry Gertrude but I really have to go now."


    "Yes, yes, go," she waved me away.


    I rushed to the front door and put my safety boots on before exiting the large house. I then ran to my old ford windstar that was parked on the street, hopped in and started the engine.


    I had just made it past a few blocks when my phone rang. I looked at it and, sure enough, it was our secretary. I accepted the call and, before I could even say anything, her voice came shouting through the phone, "where the hell are you?! The boss has been waiting for half an hour!"


    "I''m on my way, I''ll be there in ten."


    I heard her talking to someone on the other side of the phone, then she got back to me. "He says he''s tired to wait and will go ahead at the place."


    "Sure, just give me the address," I said and closed the call before she could say more.


    Moments later, I received the text with the address on it and I started typing it in the gps. I was looking at the best route to take when I saw a car coming at me from my right. The world slowed down as it crashed against mine, throwing me off road and into a street light.


    As the car slammed into to the pole on the side, I was thrown off my seat to meet it through the shattered window. That was the last thing I saw before my vision went black.


    When I came to my senses again, my mind felt hazy and I struggled to form coherent thoughts. My eyes could see nothing but distant blurred images. Something large and warm was holding my body in place, body which felt wet, cold, and naked.


    Something hit me, making me cry out in pain. The act made me cough out some kind of liquid, freeing a breath I hadn''t even realized I was holding. Apparently that was what whoever was handling me wanted, as they soon wrapped a warm cloth around me and let me down to rest.

 Chapter 1

    A baby. It took me a while to accept my condition, but my inability to move, the fact that I had to feed off a tit and that anyone who entered my very limited field of vision looked like a giant to me, coupled with my little chubby limbs made it pretty clear.


    I didn''t know if I was in an hospital bed dreaming everything while my body was stuck in a coma, if my previous life had just been the bad dream of a baby in her mother''s womb, or if I had been reincarnated, and I didn''t know if I cared.


    Whatever the case, I was definitely not on Earth anymore. This was made pretty clear when I became able to focus on my mother''s face and my own body. Our skin was light grey, with blue lines running across the body in smooth patterns. My mother''s face was heart shaped but showed some hardness to it despite her still youthful look. Her eyes were completely white and lacked any pupil or iris, yet she could see without any issue, which made me think my eyes had to be the same as hers. Her black hair was shaved off on the left side of her head, while on her right side they formed long braids that fell over her shoulder, finally, the rest of her hair was let to flow down her back where it was then loosely tied together with a string.


    She was definitely beautiful, but her beauty also had an intimidating aura to it, aided by the fact that she was built like a brick house. The fact that she was also dressed in animal skins that barely covered the important bits like some kind of barbarian probably helped too. Despite her primitive appearance she seemed to be a pretty good mother, as she''d often talk or sing to me in a language I did not know, and never seemed to get angry even when I ended up crying in the middle of the night when my baby needs won over my self control.


    In my past life I would have definitely had the hots for her, but any thoughts of romanticism tend to get thrown out of the window when you feed off the tits of a woman and shit and piss yourself in front of her for days.


    With my vision somewhat back I was also able to confirm that I was, in fact, still female. I was glad to know that I didn''t have to familiarize myself with any new bits, but the fact that the people I was now part of seemed to have a pretty primitive culture, if my mother''s clothing and the fact that we lived in a tent with little furnishing besides the furs we slept on were of any indication, made me fear of what role women had in society.


    As the days went on more people like us started showing themselves in the tent. Usually they stopped for a quick chat in that same unknown language after presenting my mother some gift or another, many of which were simple toys for me. Sometimes they''d say a few things to me with a big smile on their grey and blue face and, in those occasions, they were close enough for me that all of them looked just as muscular as my mother, if not more, suggesting once more that these probably weren''t people who worked in accounting for a living. None of the men who came to visit mother ever stopped for the night. If I had a father he was either away from home or didn''t think he needed to spend time with his daughter. The only person who came to visit more than once was an old woman who brought my mother food in abundance once per day, every time stopping only for a few minutes.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I was probably a week old when my mother decided I could get some use out of the toys she had received as gifts. Her first choice was a toy made by a leather strip with two small wooden bits attached at one end that made noise hitting each other when one waved the toy around. Despite its simplicity, it was a really good toy for a baby so young and soon I found myself trying to catch the wooden bits as my mother waved them in front of me, sometimes letting me grasp them, sometimes moving the toy away before I could grasp my hand around it.


    Sure, a grown ass woman playing around with kids toy might seem a bit weird, but the fact remained that I was in a body with some really bad hand-eye coordination in dire need of training and, even more important, I was bored out of my mind. The simple playing still managed to tire me a lot, and the playing sessions never lasted long before I found myself drowsing off.


    The simple toy was soon joined by some animals carved in wood. They had some similarities with animals I already knew, yet they also had something that differentiated them from what one would normally find on Earth. The animal that looked like a tiger had long fangs that reminded me of a saber-toothed tiger, what looked like a wolf had a horn sticking out of its forehead, one animal looked like a mix between a rabbit and a frog, and so on. The only one that was exactly like an animal from earth was one that looked like a bear.


    She wouldn''t let me play with them by myself, instead she''d play out fights between the animals, mimicking their roars and cries, while talking in those usual unknown words. When she stopped her little marionette plays she''d always put the toys back in a crate with a simple locking mechanism so that I wouldn''t go and grab them myself.


    When the playing sessions stopped being enough to tire me before she''d get bored, she took out another toy, a small ball made of leather that seemed to be filled with hay or dried leaves to keep it soft, if the noise it made was of any indication. The soft ball was the first toy she would let me use by myself and I was glad to have something to do when I got bored. Now, again, I know it might sound ridiculous but, if there is one thing sport has taught us, is that pushing a ball around never gets old, also, it was a good exercise for my developing chubby body.


    Thus, between naps and toys, I spent the first few weeks of my new life.

 Chapter 2

    I was about five weeks old when my mother decided to bring me outside for the first time. She put on some simple sandals, wrapped me up in some warm furs and held me against her chest as she went out of the tent. I can''t say I wasn''t expecting what I saw once we got outside, but I had been definitely hoping for something better.


    We were living in a small village made up of a few dozens tents and a large permanent wooden structure, which probably served as some sort of town hall. The village was situated in a large, probably artificial, clearing in the middle of conifer woods. Compacted snow made up the ground it rested upon and everything around us was painted white. The peaks of the mountains we were on could be seen not too far in the distance, probably only a couple of hours of march away for a grown man, if it weren''t for the snow. Considering that, despite the weather, my mother was still barely dressed, it was obvious that our species had quite the resistance to cold.


    She made her way through the snow up to the doors of the large wooden structure and entered. Immediately my nose was assailed by the smell of cooking food and raw meat. Most of the floor of the only room in the building was occupied by short wooden tables with furs for cushions next to them. On one side of the room there was what was probably some sort of kitchen, where some people, one of which was the old woman who always brought food to my mother, were butchering a beast that had to be some twelve feet long and looked like some kind of moose. At the far end of the room there was an elevated platform where a man was sitting on a wooden throne behind a table. He was clad in more furs than what was usual among the members of the tribe but, like all the other men, he too had a completely bald head and a beardless face.


    Mother walked all the way up to the man and stopped short of the elevated platform. She bowed her head to him and waited to be addressed, then they started talking back and forth about something I could not understand. The talk went on for a few minutes before my mother left with a smile on her face.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    We returned to our tent but, unlike the other days up to then, the old lady didn''t come to bring mother food, instead, mother wrapped me up in some furs again after a few hours and made her way back to the hall.


    When we got there, this time around, what was probably the whole tribe was present. There were a little more than a hundred people and, for the first time since being born, I saw other children, and there were a lot of them. Over a third of the people present were children, which, coupled with a good chunk of adolescents, meant that little more than half the tribe was actually made up of adults. This was really bad news for me, as it meant that child mortality was probably very high and I had to be extra careful. A curious fact was that there didn''t seem to be any babies under one year old, as all the children around were able to at least walk by themselves.


    When the adults present saw us, they quieted down and urged the kids to do the same. In the now dead quiet hall, my mother made her way to the one who was probably the tribe chief. On his table there were now two bowls, one that contained what looked like blood, while the other contained ash.


    My mother bowed her head to the chief and deposited me on the table between the two bowls. The chief then held a speech for the tribe, which finished with loud cheers by all the tribe members. Having finished his speech, he dipped his hand in the bowl containing the blood, before smearing it over my forehead, soon followed by a sprinkle of wood ash. He then closed his eyes and murmured what seemed to be some sort of prayer.


    As soon as he finished his prayer, pain assailed all my body, like fire going through my veins. I started crying, uncaring of trying to control my reactions as the pain got the better of me. Soon the pain was too much to handle, and I passed out.

 Chapter 3

    I slowly opened my eyes while my mind tried to recollect what had happened. I soon saw the tent I was familiar with behind the figure of my mother, who was wearing a soft and caring smile on her face.


    "Anya! You''re awake!" she said, her smile growing even more.


    I blinked a few times as I processed the fact that I could perfectly understand her words. "Mama?"


    "Yes, I''m your mama." she said with a soft giggle. "How do you feel?"


    "Tired." I rubbed my eyes with my palm and, in doing so, I noticed how I now was noticeably bigger. I struggled a bit with my mouth but I managed to let out a, "what happened?"


    "You passed your first infusion ceremony!" she said, still beaming. "Come now, we have to get you used to your big body."


    She picked me up then propped me upright on the floor. From my new position I could see that I was probably as big as a one year old, maybe even a few months older. I could also start to feel the presence of hair on top of my head and a few teeth already peeking out of my gums. My mother slowly shifted her hold on me until she was only holding my hands, then said, "try to walk."


    And walk I did. What had been impossible for me until that moment suddenly felt incredibly easy. I walked forward for a few meters, then my mother made me turn around to walk the way I came. This time, after only a few steps, she released my hands to let me walk on my own, while being ready to catch me at any moment. There was no need for her attention, though, as I had no trouble walking the few meters to the other side of the tent and turn around on my own.


    As I walked through the tent for the third time she said, "the power of the elk is already showing."


    "Elk?" I asked, almost falling because of the distraction.


    She nodded. "It''s one of the five spirit animals of the tribe. Its power makes you faster and more agile."


    I looked at myself again and moved my limbs around a bit. I could certainly move better than I could before, but I was practically just a clumsy one year old.


    My mother laughed seeing what I was doing. "It takes time, but," she flexed her muscles a bit, "one day you will be as strong as mama." She booped my nose, making me fall on my butt on some soft furs. "If you train, of course."


    I nodded, got back up on my feet, and started walking around again.


    She had me walk around for what was probably half an hour before letting me rest a bit. After the short rest she had me go at it again, then again and again. We spent all day in the tent like that, exercising my new ability to walk, sometimes turning into more of a game with the aid of the small soft ball I used to play with, with short rests between the sessions during which I would sometimes feed off my mother. The presence of my new baby teeth meant that I had to be extra careful, and the first time I actually got scolded from her for not doing so.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    When evening came, once again the old woman who brought mother dinner didn''t come, instead we walked to the communal hall together. Despite the snow on the ground and the freezing cold weather, my mother made me walk all the way to the hall on my own, wearing only a loincloth of fur and some leather strips tied around my feet for shoes. Despite my initial horror, I soon found out that I did not, in fact, feel cold outside, something that I should have expected considering that clothing wasn''t a big thing in the tribe.


    When we entered the hall, instead of quieting down like the day before, people got up to greet and congratulate my mother and I finally managed to learn her name, Irina. They then talked about what were probably common topics around here, the weather was cold, the hunt was still good, et cetera. As they talked, everyone started to sit at their spot and I followed my mother to sit next to her.


    Soon everyone had a plate of hot meat in front of them. The portions of the adults were enormous, but I had already gotten used to them seeing my mother eating in our tent. From their plates came a faint smell of spices and nuts, something that I couldn''t say about my own portion. I had in front of me a tiny wooden plate with a few bits of boiled, unseasoned meat that had been torn up into tiny bits. Sure, it was probably more appropriate for a toddler but I suddenly felt like I finally understood children who cried out because they wanted to eat their parents'' food.


    I got to eating anyway using, like everyone else around me, my hands to bring the food to my mouth. My mother watched attentively as I did so, ready to help me or make me expel a piece if it got stuck where it shouldn''t have. There was no need for her help, though, as, while I still wasn''t in complete control of my mouth, I still remembered how to eat.


    Seeing that I had no trouble eating, my mother relaxed a bit and started talking more with the adults around her. Soon a conversation made me perk up a bit as, when my mother inquired where another woman, apparently named Zhanna, was, the answer that she received was, "her boy didn''t make it through his second infusion. She retired to her tent after the ceremony and hasn''t come out in two days."


    "Her line is too weak," an old woman added, "she should ask the chief for a child or she''ll end up burying her fourth one too."


    "Hey! I gave my seed four times and this is the first one who doesn''t pass a ceremony!" a man a few seats away from the woman shouted at her.


    "Yeah, yeah, you''re a big manly stallion, Anton, we get it."


    Laughter erupted around me as I stopped eating to wrap my head around what they had just said. Apart from the fact that these people obviously had no problem talking about spicy topics around children, the information about these infusion ceremonies was the part that really caught my attention.


    I looked around me and noticed, for the first time, how, despite the huge number of children and teens in the hall, it looked like they were all part of well defined age groups. From what I could see, it looked like a first ceremony would make a child grow to have the appearance of a one year old, or slightly more, another one would bring them to look about four or five, a third one would make them jump up to eight, then a fourth one to twelve, then to fifteen. The sixth one was probably the last one, as everyone else looked fully matured and it didn''t look like there were the same sharp separations between the adults.


    More important than having a fastened growth, was the other information that transpired from what they had said. There was a very real possibility of not surviving those ceremonies.

 Chapter 4

    When we got back from dinner, I tried asking my mother about the infusions. It took me a while to get the point across as my mouth somehow refused to form phrases that were more than a few words long without fumbling, but, after some trial and error, I managed to and she got to explaining.


    She told me that the infusions were necessary for us to grow strong and survive up in the mountains and confirmed my speculation on the number of infusions. There was an infusion for each of the five spirit animals of the tribe: elk, wolf, eagle, tiger, bear. The fifth would bring a child to the point where she''d be strong enough to go out hunting with the other members of the tribe and this was important, as there was a sixth and final infusion that would change from individual to individual and would use the blood of a beast one had to hunt herself, although it was usually done in a small group so that stronger monsters could be used and infuse more people.


    When I asked about the dangers of the infusion, she explained, with a smile on her face, that they also served to remove the weak members from the tribe. She probably saw how shocked I was from the revelation as she quickly tried to calm me by saying that she was one of the strongest hunters of the tribe and she had taken down a roc with her companions for her last infusion, and that, on top of that, the one who gave her seed to make me, as apparently there was no real concept of father in the tribe, was the chief himself, who had taken down a storm giant in his youth. Since my line, as she called it, was so strong, as long as I trained well, I would be sure to survive through the infusions.


    Her speech didn''t really convince me on the safety of the infusions but it certainly convinced me about one thing, if I had to go through those ceremonies, I had to be prepared for them. Thus, starting the next day, I put my all into training my chubby toddler body.


    From then on, I spent my days doing only three things, training, eating, and sleeping. My uncertain walking soon became an awkward run, and I would run around the tent and race my mother to the hall and back before and after dinner. Inside the tent I''d train by kicking the ball around as strong as I could, by hanging from my mother''s hands trying to lift myself up, by rolling around on the furs that made the floor of the tent, or by jumping around like a spring. Despite the reason that had made me start on my intense toddler training, I had to admit that I was actually having fun playing around all day like that.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    After little more than a week of my solo training, my mother decided that I was ready enough to join the other kids in what was practically the tribe''s version of daycare, which was a tent larger than ours full of toys to play with. Inga, the old woman who looked after the kids my age, complained when my mother brought me there the first time, saying that I was too young, but my mother insisted that I was ready for it. Inga conceded pretty quickly, probably thanks to the standing of my mother in the tribe, and I was allowed to join the other kids.


    The daycare was honestly pretty fun. The other kids still didn''t really grasp the concept of playing together, so I soon stopped bothering with them and just played by myself. The daycare tent offered more ways to exercise than my tent, in particular I spent a lot of time climbing on a series of what were practically inclined ladders that became steeper and steeper until the last one that was completely vertical. Of course, under said ladders there was a mattress of furs and pine needles to soften the fall in case something went wrong.


    Another thing I really came to appreciate about the daycare was that the best behaved children, which meant the ones who trained or played the most and didn''t spend their time picking their nose or crying, got a handful of pine nuts twice a day as reward. Thanks to the fact that I spent all the time there jumping around like a frog or climbing on the ladders, I was always one of the children rewarded with the sweet treat. If I was determined on training before, being given something to eat that wasn''t breast milk or unseasoned boiled meat really made my determination jump through the roof.


    I didn''t spend all day in the daycare though, around noon my mother would come pick me up and we would race to our tent where she''d feed me and make me sleep for a bit, before bringing me back to the tent where I would stay for a couple of hours until dinner time. Apparently her and the other women who had children so young took care of various duties inside the camp or would go out for only a few hours to pick berries and herbs instead of going on a hunt.


    So I spent my days practically living the responsibility-free dream of many adults, while my body got stronger and stronger. Certainly, there were bad moments, like when my other teeth decided to come out and I practically had to keep a piece of leather to chew in my mouth all the time for weeks to keep the pain away as they made their way through my gums, but I was certainly living quite the carefree life.


    A shower of cold water came to snuff out the fire of my joy at the beginning of summer, when the snow had just barely melted away, and a hunting group came back to the village bringing with them an eagle the size of a small car.

 Chapter 5

    With the capture of one of the spirit animals, it meant that it was time again to infuse the children of the tribe. Dinner time started as usual with chatter and merriment, but, instead of immediately bringing out the food, everything was prepared to hold the ceremony.


    We had been in the hall only for a few minutes when the doors opened and a woman entered carrying a baby that had to be only a couple of weeks old. Everyone in the hall quieted down and she made her way to the chief, where he went through the same process he went through when I had my first infusion. He first held a speech about the strength of the tribe and its growth, which was soon followed by cheers by the crowd, then smeared the blood and ash on the baby''s head.


    After the first baby, another one came, then another, and another. In the end some ten babies went through the ceremony, all of them crying as loud as they could for minutes until they didn''t. The youngest were only a few weeks old, while the oldest already had a few months on them. I had never seen them around my village, which meant it was probably customary for mothers to live alone with their babies until they received their first infusion.


    When there were no more babies, the chief turned to look at me and said, "Anya Irinado, come to receive your second infusion."


    My mother pushed my butt up with a smile, prompting me to walk to the platform of the chief, and so I did. When I reached the platform, the chief walked around the table to stand in front of me.


    "Anya Irinado, I have heard nothing but praises for you from both Inga and your mother. It seems you are already bringing pride to your mother''s line." he said with a smile.


    "Thank you, chief," I said, bowing my head to him.


    The chief laughed a bit. "I can see that those praises were not empty words. Lift up your head, child, so that I may give you the blessing you deserve."


    I looked up, locking my eyes with his and seeing that they were somehow both stern and gentle at the same time, like those of an old shepherd who is both ready to spend the night caring for an ewe giving birth to her first lambs, and to slaughter those same lambs. He turned to dip his right hand in the blood in the bowl behind him, then smeared my forehead with it. He then took the ash from the second bowl and sprinkled it over the blood.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    He closed his eyes and mumbled a short prayer, which this time I could understand was addressed to the ancestors and the spirits of the mountain. When he opened his eyes again, pain rushed through my veins like liquid fire, just like it had the first time. It soon got the better of me and I found myself screaming until I passed out once again.


    I woke up back in my tent, with my mother watching over me. When she saw I was awake, she smiled at me and ruffled my hair, which I now felt had become quite long. "I knew you would make it."


    She helped me to sit upright and asked, "I bet you''re hungry, do you want something to eat?"


    I just nodded and, moments later, she presented me a plate full of cold meat dressed with spices, berries, and nuts. "Be careful, it''s your first meal with your new body."


    I slowly savored the flavorful meal, while I examined my body. Like I had expected, I now looked like a four year old, I was definitely taller than I was before and a bit of the fat that as a toddler wouldn''t go away, despite all the moving around I did, had now gone away, although not completely. As I ate I also noticed that all my baby teeth were now in their place, even those who had not managed to come out normally during the previous months.


    "Do you feel like going to play with the others or do you want to stay at home today?" my mother asked once I had finished my meal.


    "I want to go play!" I said, eager to resume my training.


    She nodded, sporting a huge smile on her face. "Let''s go then." She took my hand and brought me outside.


    Instead of racing her to the old daycare, I followed her to another tent, where the kids who had gone through their second infusion played. The tent wasn''t any larger than the previous one, but had a fenced section outside with an obstacle course and an open space where a few kids were wrestling against each other. I was surprised to see that the one looking after the kids here wasn''t a woman but an old man. I already recognized him from the dinners in the communal hall and knew his name was Igor. He exchanged a few pleasantries with my mother then saw her off together with me.


    He gave me a quick tour of the structure, even though I had already seen everything when entering, then let me free to play how I wished. Before jumping on the toys that were available to me, I took a second to look at the kids who were in what I would call a kindergarten. I recognized most of them, which meant that they were the ones who weren''t deemed fit to undergo a third infusion yet, but a few of the faces were somewhat new, or, rather, they were kids I knew who had changed drastically over a single night, just like me.


    Not feeling like socializing at the moment, I just made my way to the start of the obstacle course. My wishes weren''t met, though, as another girl came up to me just as I was about to start on the course. I recognized her despite the fact that the day before she looked like a one year old. Her name was Tasha and, like me, had successfully just gone through her second infusion.


    When she reached me she didn''t even try to introduce herself, instead she just said, "wanna race?"

 Chapter 6

    The first race on the obstacle course with Tasha was an awkward and slow endeavor as we both tried to overcome the obstacles for the first time. It ended in a draw, and that was enough to spark a rivalry between us. Now, I know I was supposedly an adult as far as my mind was concerned, but spend some months in the body of a baby and you''ll start to think like one too, also, friendly rivalries are always a good thing.


    As days passed both our rivalry and our friendship grew stronger. We would challenge each other to the obstacle course many times a day. When we were not racing on the course, we would be wrestling against each other, or compete in a number of ways, be it who could jump higher, who could run faster, who could kick a ball further, et cetera. In no time we grabbed the attention of other kids in the playground, but none could keep up with us, except for two boys, Ivan and Andrei, who could barely do so.


    Soon the four of us became a group and the challenges became harder, especially the wrestling matches, as they now were almost always two versus two matches or one versus three, with the odd one versus two mixed in when one of us wanted to take a break, although it happened fairly rarely.


    Because of the nature of the tribe, our behaviour received nothing but praises from the adults, and every day we would receive either nuts or berries as rewards. The rewards, no matter how small they could seem, would only help to push us to try even harder and do even better. In a few months we were leagues above any other kid in the playground.


    Summer went as it came, lasting only a couple of months before snow covered the village again which, couple with the fact that for a few weeks during summer the sun never set, suggested that the village was quite close to one of the poles of whatever planet I was now in.


    The first snow was still fresh when some hunters returned to the village with another spirit animal. This time, it was again an elk, if what actually looked like a giant moose could be called such, so the four of us didn''t get the chance to go through another infusion and I was instead able to see the whole ceremony from start to finish. There was little I had not witnessed already, as it was the same for every age group, with even the older children passing out at the end of it, although some of them managed to contain their screams. After the ceremony the table of the chief was cleaned up of the blood and ash used during the rite and dinner resumed as usual.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    More months passed and soon my mother decided I could have some minimum of independence, which meant that, while she would accompany me to the kindergarten every morning, she would wait in our tent for me to come back by myself in time for dinner.


    It was thanks to this change that, one evening, I had quite the culture shock, although a welcome one. I was returning home by myself when I heard some loud cries and moans from our tent. Worried about my mother, I ran to the tent, only to open the flaps that shielded it from outside to reveal her naked body over a just as naked Ivanka, Tasha''s mother. When they saw me, they apologized with mild embarrassment painted over their faces and Ivanka left to go back to her tent. Apparently they had lost track of time and thought they still had a while before dinner.


    When I inquired my mother about it, she said that adults sometimes had to have fun in their ways too. Not content with the answer I pressed further, asking why she wasn''t doing it with a man. From her reaction it was obvious that my question surprised her and that she probably didn''t expect a child to know how certain stuff worked, but she smiled and explained anyway. She told me that, as long as I was still a child and living with her, she wasn''t allowed to mate again with a man, so sometimes she would meet with one of the other mothers of the tribe to blow off some steam.


    I then asked her what would happened if I only wanted to be with girls and never with men when I grew up. She just smiled and told me that, while it wasn''t good for the tribe to not have children, no one was going to force me to mate until I wanted to.


    The ease with which she explained it and the simplicity with which such an apparently primitive culture approached such a matter blew my mind for a bit and I practically froze in place. My frozen moment didn''t last long as my mother soon defrosted me by ruffling my hair and reminding me that we had to go have dinner with the others.

 Chapter 7

    It was in the middle of the weeks with no sun that characterized the beginning of true winter that some hunters finally managed to bring to the tribe two wolves from a pack that had attacked them during a hunt. These were definitely not the wolves I was used to. They were completely black and had a long obsidian horn sticking out of their heads. More importantly, they were easily twice as big as an Alaskan Malamute.


    With the new catch it was obvious what awaited us. As the best by far in our group, all four of us were easily deemed ready for our third infusion. This time around Tasha was the first one of my group to receive the ceremony, as, apart from the first infusion, the order for the ceremony was from the strongest to the weakest, and she had managed to best me in our last two contests on the obstacle course. I went second immediately after her and, like the first two times, I ended up passing out after a couple of minutes of screaming in pain.


    The change this time around was as noticeable as the other times, if not more. I now had the body of an eight year old, with a bit more muscle on than one would expect from a kid. But the biggest change wasn''t one of the body, but one of lifestyle.


    Kids that had gone through their third infusion successfully were expected to leave their mother''s tent and all sleep together in what was practically the boarding school of the tribe with one of the older members of the tribe looking after them. In total there were eight of us, under the watchful eye of Ian, plus six who had gone through their fourth ceremony and lived in another tent that shared a fenced yard with ours. This was done to allow the women of the tribe to go back to hunting once their kids were old enough, or have another child if they wished to. Despite the arrangement being similar to a boarding school, we still joined the rest of the tribe in the communal hall for dinner.


    Unlike the free play that filled our days before, now we had more structured lessons. In the morning we would start with some body exercises, then have lessons about the traditions of the tribe and general knowledge of life on the mountains in the early afternoon, followed by weapon training using wooden replicas of the weapons normally used by the tribe, which were maces, hammers, hand axes, great axes, knives and javelins.


    At first Ian just taught us the correct way to use grip them, keep some form of stance, and in general how to swing effectively. Then the lessons turned to practice against wooden mannequins reinforced with strong metal bars. Finally, Ian decided we were ready for some actual combat practice and made us practice against each other, either in one on one duels or in group fights.


    As the weeks went by my tiny body soon became faster and stronger than I had ever been even as an adult in my previous life. The additional gifts of the infusions also started to show themselves. If I concentrated I could see way further beyond and in greater detail than it should have normally been possible, thanks to the eagle. If I wanted, I could harness the power of the elk for short bursts of speed that made me much faster than I could normally sprint. Finally, the power of the wolf allowed us to empower each other when fighting together, making a group of us much stronger than the sum of the individuals.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    From the theoretical lessons we learned how to recognize edible plants. Ian pointed out that the infusions made us resistant to most poisons but poisonous plants could still play a number on one''s toilet visit the day after, so it was better to avoid them to not waste the food we ingested with them. He then told us about the various fauna that lived on the mountains. The true staple food of the tribe was a species of giant sloths that ate the nutritious needles of the pine trees that grew there and bred like rabbits.


    I questioned him on why we didn''t eat the needles ourselves if they were so nutritious, in all response he made me try chewing on some of them. What came out of them was a fatty and sugary mix that tasted like the most bitter cough syrups imaginable. My reaction to biting down on them gathered quite a few laughs from everyone around me but Ian still complimented me for asking about something I didn''t know.


    Other common animals we found in our plates were actual rabbits, which were usually caught with traps that were checked about once a week, and bisons that lived further down the mountain.


    As before, I and Tasha competed for everything and were often joined in our competitions by Ivan and Andrei. With the introduction of the theoretical lessons, we would often find ourselves competing to see who could remember things better before going to sleep in the evening.


    It was with the progression of those lessons and our competing that I realized that there was a serious lack of writing in our lessons. Indeed, since I had been born over a year before, I had never seen anything that could be called proper writing. Sure, the tribe didn''t really need reading and writing with such a simple life, but the complete absence of it rubbed me the wrong way. It was for that reason that I decided to adapt the English alphabet to the sounds of our language and started teaching it to Tasha and the boys as well.


    When Ian saw us writing in the snow he laughed and said we were scribbling like humans. That was another shock for me. I inquired him about it and he explained me how, far south from the mountains where we lived there were many other races. From humans to elves, from lizardfolks to dwarves, there was a whole array of different sapient races out there in the world. It was obvious from the way he spoke about them, though, that he held none of them in high regard, except for the dwarves, who he described as courageous, honorable, and awesome smiths. The fact that they too usually lived on mountains, or, rather, underneath them, probably helped raise his opinion of them.


    After his quick introduction to the people of the world, I asked him what we were called, and he said we were Gorchevs, the people of the mountains, and he proudly talked about how we were the strongest of the races in the world.


    Despite his disdain for the other races and their cultures, I kept writing anyway, either using a stick on snow or pieces of charcoal on bark. He let me free to do it, as long as my passtime didn''t interfere with the lessons. After his interruption and subsequent explanation, the boys stopped trying to learn writing, discouraged by his words, Tasha, on the other hand, kept studying, not wanting to accept that I was better than her at something, despite the fact that I had brought the alphabet to the tribe myself.

 Chapter 8

    The time of my fourth infusion came with the end of my second summer, when the tribe successfully hunted down a saber-toothed tiger. By then our ''age group'' had increased to twelve and the four of us had taken upon us the role of big siblings, helping Ian teach the new kids.


    When at the beginning of my new life the prospect of a new infusion caused only worry because of the dangers of the ceremony, now it caused only excitement. Be it my new body, be it the teachings that were being indoctrinated into us, as time passed, I found myself forgetting my old life more and more and feeling like a true member of the tribe.


    Because of that, I proudly walked to the platform of the chief with my chest held high when he called me as the first to receive the blessing of my group. By then, I fully knew what to expect, and I tried my best to hold in the pain, but I still found myself shouting in pain before passing out like the times before.


    At my awakening, the first not to happen inside my mother''s tent but instead in the communal tent of the kids who had gone through their fourth infusion, I found myself in the body of a twelve years old, showing the first signs of puberty. A bit embarrassed now to go around wearing only a loincloth like I used to, I was happy to find that Olga, the woman in charge of our group, had some pieces of leather and furs ready for the girls who had successfully passed the ceremony.


    Not all of our little brothers and sisters passed the ceremony, as two of them didn''t make it but, where the loss of a child at their first or second infusion was seen as a tragedy, especially by the child''s mother, a child not managing to pass the ceremony at an older age was merely seen as the spirits of the mountain curbing the weak and lazy from the tribe and rarely their death was mourned.


    It still wasn''t a happy occurrence and, for that reason, Olga took it easy with our training on the first week, barely replicating what we were already used to. It was only after that first week of had passed that we really got into what was the true training for our group. To the training that we were already used to, that was itself made more strenuous to match our improved physical ability, Olga added actual learning on the field, during which her and two other adults would accompany us outside the camp to put into practice what we had learned in theory.Stolen novel; please report.


    At first we went to pick berries and nuts in the woods, so that we could recognize the edible plants in the field. The simple training also served as a way to teach us how to navigate the impervious terrain of the mountains and to do so without losing our sense of direction. Soon the gathering of berries and nuts was joined by the collecting of rabbits from the traps, which pushed us further away from the camp and also helped to make us experience our first kills, so that we wouldn''t hesitate on a hunt.


    After a few months, we were split in groups of two and made to accompany hunters on their hunts. I ended up being paired with Andrei, while Tasha was paired with Ivan. Of course, our two groups ended up competing on the number of kills brought back even though it depended very little on our performance, as the adults were there to correct any mistake we made and ensure the food supply of the tribe.


    As the months progressed, each of us started preferring one melee weapon over the other. Andrei, who hunted with me, liked to go out with a mace and a large wooden shield, which he would use to block the way of our preys and to defend from the sharp claws of the giants sloths that were way less slow and docile than I had first thought. Tasha and Ivan both settled for two-handed hammers that allowed to put a lot of weight behind one''s blows. As for me, I decided to go with an axe that was long and heavy enough to pack a good punch when used with two hands, but that could still be used with only one hand if necessary.


    On top of our melee weapon of choice, all of us, as per the rules of the tribe, had to carry with us a knife as an emergency weapon and a couple of javelins to use if there was ever a need to attack from range.


    As winter came, the groups were shuffled around so that we could build up experience working with different people, and with it came my first scolding in a long while. I had been paired with Tasha, which had initially made both of us over joyous. The issue came when we went on our first hunt. Because of the competitiveness that had formed between us, instead of collaborating like we should have, we ended up trying to best one another until we ended up fighting against each other, interfering with the hunt and forcing us to return empty-handed. As punishment, we were relegated to kitchen duty for a whole week, not being allowed to go on a single hunt nor train with the others.


    The punishment did serve to cool our heads and, when we next went out to hunt, while our competitiveness hadn''t been curbed out, we put our focus not on besting the other on the single hunt in front of us, risking to make a mistake in the process, but to become a better hunter than the other overall. Soon, our actions started receiving praises again, although the odd comment on how maybe putting us on kitchen duty every now and then might be good for us never failed to make us shiver.

 Chapter 9

    At the beginning of my third summer the tribe held a ceremony to see off some of our members who would leave to set another camp of their own somewhere else. The change had become necessary with the increase in numbers of the tribe, as the food the mountains around us could provide might have not been enough to go through another winter.


    During the ceremony the chief nominated the strongest hunter of the adults who were leaving as the chief of the new tribe, thus giving him the right to perform the rites of our people for his new tribe. Thirty people in total volunteered to leave the tribe, of which only eighteen were adults. One of the adults was Tasha''s mother, Ivanka.


    She saw her off with the rest of the tribe, managing to hold back tears to show how she had grown up from being a kid. Despite her act, it was obvious she was going to miss her, and in the following weeks she had a bit of a melancholic air around her and had lost a bit of her usual competitiveness.


    I tried to talk to her multiple times, but she would always say that she was was fine. In the end I had to resort to the only way I knew I could get her to open up, challenge her. Despite not being completely into it, she still couldn''t refuse an actual challenge for me, thus we found ourselves racing to one of the peaks that towered over the village and back to settle it. Thanks to her slacking off in the previous weeks I had a bit of an easier time winning than normal, although it still took almost everything I had to do so.


    Having cornered her with my win, I made her talk about it. She struggled at first, but in the end she finally managed to open up and admit that she was going to miss her mother while crying on my shoulder. On the next day, her old self was already coming back and, a couple of weeks and a few more talks later, she was back on her feet.


    From there, our training resumed as usual, until, just before the days with no sun, some hunters managed to find and bring back an enormous cave bear. The whole tribe celebrated the find with a large feast, unusually letting even those who were going to receive an infusion partake in the food. The reason was the rarity of bears, which made them the most prized spirit animals for our people. Because of that, even those who would normally not be considered ready to go through the ceremony received the boon anyway, so as to not waste an opportunity that came only once every few years. Not that it was the case for the four of us, as we had been ready to take the next step for months by then. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    When it came the time for the actual ceremony, for the first time since I was born, I was also able to contain my reactions despite the pain caused by the infusion, which was something I was actually quite proud of.


    With our fifth infusion, our childhood officially ended. Our bodies transformed to that of a fifteen year old, if a fifteen year old was a towering mountain of muscles. We were definitely forces to be reckoned with, but we were still missing one final step before truly being considered adults.


    Andrei and Ivan shaved their heads, like all male hunters in the tribe did, while I and Tasha decided to style our hair as it was common between the women, that is, with one side of the head shaved and the other braided, with free flowing hair on top. I shaved the right side, while Tasha shaved her left, making us a sort of mirror picture of each other. Another noticeable change we girls went through was that the furs that covered our breasts had definitely become more necessary and, although not by much, Tasha was definitely the winner in that field between the two of us, which caused her to have a smug grin on her face for days until I won a bout against her.


    As fully-fledged hunters of the tribe we could no longer live with the other kids, instead we formed a four people hunting group and started sharing a tent between the four of us, as the only ones allowed to have a private tent were mothers and the chief.


    We still weren''t required to keep up with the adults when it came to bring back home food, as one of the main jobs of someone who had gone through all the five infusions of the spirit animals was to find a beast worthy to be slain and brought back for the sixth and final one. For this reason we''d often find ourselves spending multiple days away from the tribe, sleeping outside, in search of a worthy opponent.


    Something that could be considered such wasn''t easy to find, as there were few things that could really pose a worthy challenge to us. The powers of the elk, wolf, and eagle had become even more powerful as time passed, and in addition to those we now also had the power of the tiger, that allowed us to sneak through the forest and leap over obstacles that no one should be able to jump over, and the power of the bear, that increased our strength and allowed us to shrug off most injuries.


    It was during one of those long trips when, two days of travel away from the tribe, we finally spotted our prey, circling in the skies above us.

 Chapter 10

    We were walking through the woods when a shadow passed over us. Ivan was the first to look up and we all soon followed his gaze. We immediately saw what was the cause. A white dragon was circling above us, high up in the sky, its wings fully extended to catch the wind while it looked for prey.


    "Do you think we can take it down?" Andrei asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.


    Tasha was the first to answer, "If we''re careful about it and manage to surprise it. I suggest we keep an eye on it and see how it behaves, maybe we can find its lair or catch it while it''s eating."


    "I agree. We have enough to stay out for a few more days, and we''re not going to find anything better than a dragon," I added.


    Ivan nodded in approval and we went back to observing the large beast while hiding beneath the canopy of the trees. After circling a few times above us, it started moving north, and we followed, keeping to the shadows of the woods.


    After a few hours we saw it dive to the ground not too far from us and we rushed to see what he was doing. Only a few seconds later, though, we saw it soaring the skies again, now with a giant sloth in its talons. Confident that it was going to bring its prey to its lair, we kept our pace to keep with its flight that now followed more of a straight line, compared to the erratic flying it had exhibited before.


    We came in sight of its lair after twenty minutes of running, when we saw it enter a cave on the side of a peak. Tasha, who was leading the group, raised her hand, and we all came to a stop at the edge of the forest.


    "I suggest we rest for a bit," she said.


    "Agreed," Andrei said, removing his pack from his shoulders before sitting on the snow.


    "We might lose our occasion," Ivan said.


    Tasha shrugged. "We know where its lair is, if it flies away, we''ll just wait for it to come back."


    I dropped my pack and sat next to Andrei. "Sounds good enough to me."


    Since we had decided to take a break, we all took out our rations, which consisted of a mixture of shredded meat, fat, and berries pressed together that was practically the tribe''s version of pemmican, and had a quick lunch.


    When we had finished eating, the dragon had not yet come out of its lair, so we decided to leave our packs there to travel more lightly and made our way towards the cave, bringing with us only our weapons and a few first aid supplies, which consisted only of a few strips of leather, a few sticks in case someone broke a limb, and some herbs that numbed the pain, contained in a small pack that Ivan had volunteered to carry.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    As we made our way up the slope of the mountain, we slowed our pace, being careful not to make too much noise and using the power of the tiger to mask our presence. When we reached the mouth of the cave, Andrei went first to peek inside to assess the situation. When he turned back to us, he motioned to our javelins and we all readied one in each hand.


    When he saw we were all ready, he nodded and we all went to stand in front of the cave, where we saw that the dragon was sleeping in front of the skeleton of the giant sloth it had just eaten, bits of flesh still hanging from both the bones of its prey and its mouth. Seeing it from up close, it truly appeared as the terrifying beast it was, over fifty feet long, with snow white scales and radiating the cold of winter itself with every breath.


    We all prepared to throw our first javelin and, after Tasha counted to three, we all threw at the dragon that was about a dozen yards away from us.


    Being woken by four javelins was definitely not a welcome experience for the dragon, as it shot up on its limbs with a roar of rage. We didn''t let the roar intimidate us and the second volley soon struck true inside its body.


    Now out of javelins and with our prey fully awake, we rushed inside the cave, Andrei going first with his shield held in front of him. The simple tactic proved effective, as the shield covered us from the brunt of the icy breath that the dragon spewed against us. It still managed to hit us here and there, especially Andrei on its uncovered parts, but our resistance to cold meant we could take a few hits like that without too much of an issue.


    With the end of its breath, the real fight started. Andrei positioned himself right in front of the dragon, trying to keep it busy with its shield and stun it with its mace. Tasha and Ivan went for its sides, trying to smash its ribcage into puncturing a lung. As for me, I went charging with my axe against one of its front limbs.


    My move proved effective as the dragon soon tried to rotate to disengage Andrei, while going for a bite on Tasha and a tail swipe against Ivan, but instead collapsed over its front limb halfway through its maneuver. Sadly, I had not managed to dislodge my axe completely in time, and was forced to leave it hanging from the half-severed dragon leg and roll away before it could fall on me.


    While I recollected myself, Tasha and Ivan capitalized on the opportunity and managed to place two solid hits each on its vertebrae, while Andrei went back to keeping its head occupied, meeting the dragon with a powerful hit from his mace to the jaw, dislodging it.


    In desperation, it tried to bash Ivan, who was now positioned between the dragon and the entrance, away and escape. While the first part was successful, it could no longer run as fast as it was used to, and I had all the time to jump on its neck and stick my dagger into it. Out of a pure stroke of luck, I managed to sever a large blood vessel, which sprayed blood all over me.


    The hit made the dragon stagger and fall to the ground. Because of the fact that it was already trying to run away, though, it didn''t stop immediately, instead sliding out of the cave and down the slope of the mountain with me still hanging from its neck.


    It rolled a few times in the fresh snow, bring me along for a ride, until it stopped about two hundred yards away from the cave, with me buried under one of its shoulders as it gargled blood in its death throes.


    The others quickly reached me and immediately started laughing when they saw me trying to push the body of the dying dragon away from me.


    "Stop laughing!" I snapped at them, "go get something to collect all this blood and get me out of here."


    Ivan quickly went to retrieve the stuff while Tasha and Andrei dragged the dragon off of me, although none of them even tried to stop laughing at me.

 Chapter 11

    It took us almost three days to return to the village while dragging the huge body of the slain dragon with us. When we arrived, people started cheering at us and calling other members of the tribe to come see our catch. Even the kids were let out of their lessons to see the body being dragged through the tents.


    When we reached the communal hall, the chief came to meet us outside, which was quite the rare occurrence. We dragged the body all the way to him, put the sac with its blood next to it, and took a step back, leaving the body between him and us. He bent down and started examining the dragon, looking at its claws, at its teeth, at its wings.


    When he was finally satisfied he let out a vigorous laugh before addressing us, "you have certainly found quite the catch!"


    "Thank you, chief. The spirits of the mountain must have been smiling on us," Tasha replied.


    The chief nodded in approval of her somewhat humble reply and said, "go rest now, the ceremony will take place at dinner like usual," and dismissed us.


    We gladly went back to our shared tent to drop our luggage and get some well deserved rest. When we were all sprawled on the furs of the tent, enjoying what was the closest thing to an actual bed that existed on the mountains, Tasha started giggling. Soon Ivan followed, then Andrei, then I too got swept up in the moment. Moments later we were all laughing as if we had suddenly gone crazy.


    "We killed a fucking dragon!" Ivan shouted.


    "I know!" Tasha replied.


    "Not a wyvern, an actual dragon!"


    "I know!"


    Andrei covered his eyes with his arm as he continued laughing. "Ancestors, that thing was gigantic."


    "Hey, do you think dragon beats giant?" I asked.


    "I don''t know, I think it would depend on the giant, why?" Tasha said.


    "Because the chief defeated a storm giant for his last infusion," I explained.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Oh shit," Ivan said, "that dragon is definitely a contender."


    "Mmh mmh," Tasha mumbled in approval.


    "Wait." Andrei shot up and turned to look at us. "Does that mean one of us could be the next chief?"


    "I don''t know if I want a chief who falls into rabbit traps," Ivan said.


    "One time! It happened one time!" he snapped, making us laugh even more.


    "Still," Tasha said once the laughter quieted down, "that was definitely a good hunt."


    "Do you think we would have managed if it hadn''t been sleeping?" Ivan asked.


    "I wouldn''t bet on it," Tasha said.


    "Yeah, eight javelins tend to make quite the difference," I added, receiving more nods from the others.


    We kept talking about our latest achievement like that for a while until, one by one, we fell asleep from the exhaustion of the trip. It was only at dinner time that someone finally came to wake us so that we could go attend the ceremony.


    The dragon had been left outside the hall, as it was too big to go through the doors of the hall and the cold outside was more than enough to keep it fresh for weeks. A few pieces were missing from it, sign that that night the tribe would have feasted on dragon meat.


    When we entered the hall, cheers welcomed us, instead of the usual solemn silence. This was a rare occurrence, even for the killing of a prey for a last infusion. Most people, after all, settled for preys like yetis, manticores, giant snakes, or the odd goblin chieftain that had made camp too close to the feet of the mountain. A few pushed themselves further and sometimes a group would return with an ice troll, or a cyclops, but to hunt a beast as strong as a dragon when one had yet to go through their last infusion was seen as practically suicidal by most. Still, someone, every few years, would manage such a feat, like the chief and his mates had with a storm giant, or my mother had with a roc. When that happened, rarely the crowd could contain its enthusiasm.


    We walked through the hall accompanied by the cheers up to the platform of the chief. When we finally reached it, he made everyone quiet down with a motion of his hand before addressing us, "I congratulate you, Tasha Ivankado, Anya Irinado, Ivan Lidiyasy, Andrei Nikasy, on your successful hunt. You have proved your worth to the tribe, and the blood of your own prey will serve to bring you to adulthood."


    He took the usual bowl, now filled with dragon blood and walked in front of us, smearing our foreheads with the blood as he went. He then took the bowl of ash and sprinkled it over the blood.


    When all of us had a well breaded forehead, he closed his eyes, standing between us and the table on his platform, and recited the words of the rite. Unlike the other times, there was no pain accompanying the ceremony, instead power frigid like the breath of the dragon entered my body and coursed through my veins.


    There was no passing out this time around, instead, we joined the rest of the tribe to the feast of dragon meat, while the blood and ash on our foreheads slowly disappeared, as if it was being absorbed by our bodies.

 Chapter 12

    It was during the summer after our last infusion that my time with the tribe came to an abrupt end. We had gone down the mountains and into the valleys where the bisons lived to hunt, when we found what was a rare sight on the mountains. Humans.


    A large company of almost two hundred men, over half of which were armed combatants were camped in a large clearing in front of a section of forest. The fact that they were all wearing their equipment suggested that they were ready to fight at a moment''s notice.


    "What do you think they''re here for," Tasha asked while we observed them from a hiding spot in the woods.


    "Nothing good. We have to go warn the chief," I said, ready to turn heels.


    "I agree," Ivan said, soon followed by Andrei.


    We turned away from the camp and started making our way up the slope when we heard a loud explosion coming from somewhere on our left, followed by the sound of a horn. We didn''t even manage to turn around before a web of chains crashed into me and started tightening around my body.


    "Run!" I shouted.


    Instead of listening to me, Ivan and Andrei drew their weapons, while Tasha dropped down to try to get the chains, off of me.


    "For fuck''s sake, run! You have to warn the chief!" I shouted again, more desperate this time as the sound of the now moving company approached.


    "We''re not leaving you here!" Tasha shouted back, while she kept struggling with the enchanted chains.


    "There are children at the village, Tasha! We can''t beat them all here!"


    Another explosion came and with it another set of chain. This time, we were prepared for it and Andrei, who was their second target, managed to dodge it, making the chain envelope around a tree.


    I looked Tasha straight in the eyes and, with tears streaking down my cheeks, I said "get them home, please."


    She stopped struggling with the chains and looked at Andrei and Ivan, then back at me. "We''ll come back for you."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Thank you."


    She got up on her feet and said, "let''s go."


    Ivan turned to say something, outrage in his eyes at the thought of abandoning me, but, when he saw the pain in her face, he just nodded.


    "If you die I''m going to kick the shit out of you!" Tasha shouted at me as they ran away.


    I kept struggling against the chains as the sounds of the men drew closer, but every time I managed to make the chain give some, it would tighten again around me.


    After a few more minutes of struggling, the first men finally reached me, weapons drawn. When they saw me there alone they became evidently confused, but soon formed a perimeter around me, with some keeping an eye on me while others scanned the woods in search of opponents.


    I had always known that Gorachevs were larger than humans but now, seeing the men up close, I could confirm that I was probably close to nine feet tall.


    More came, and two were sent back while the others kept guard around me. Soon they returned with a man that looked to be in charge, if the ornate plate armor he was wearing, when most of the other men wore gambesons, with a few wearing chain mail, was of any indication. He was accompanied by more men who were dragging some kind of sled.


    He barked some orders in a language I couldn''t understand and six men lifted me up holding me from the chains and deposited me on the sled. They then dragged me away towards the camp, pulling the sled by hand.


    Once in their camp I saw that the men were already returning back instead of chasing down my companions, making me breathe a sigh of relief. They kept pulling the sled until we reached a tall covered wagon. They opened its flaps, revealing a cage made of a golden red metal. Just like before, six people lifted me up and put me inside the cage. They then locked the chains with heavy locks, before exiting the cage and closing me inside.


    I was left alone in the dim light that entered from the gaps in the cover for what was probably half an hour before a man in his forties dressed in casual warm clothes opened the flap, accompanied by a few soldiers. In one of his hands was what looked like some kind of iron stick.


    He waived the stick and his free hand around for a few seconds, while chanting in that same language I didn''t know. When he finished what was obviously some kind of spell, I instantly felt my body fall limp.


    The soldiers then entered the cage and removed the chains from me, replacing them with two pair of shackles, one for my hands and one for my feet, made of the same golden red metal as the bars. It was obvious to me by then that they wanted to keep me alive and that the golden metal was probably something that had been chosen on purpose to contain someone of my people. As for why, various ideas came to mind, although slavery was the one that seemed to make more sense, as the tribe had little to offer in way of ransom.


    I was afraid they would try to target the rest of the tribe, but I was instead relieved when, after another hour of solitude, I felt the cart moving in what seemed to be the direction opposite to the forest, accompanied by the sound of the marching company.

 Chapter 13

    Our trip took a month and half. The interactions with the soldiers of the company were kept to a minimum. They would give me food three times a day through the bars of my cage and change my chamber pot twice a day, nothing more. They didn''t even try to speak with me and kept even those short interactions as short as possible. It was obvious that, even chained and caged as I was, my build was able to strike fear in their minds.


    Through the gaps in the cover of the wagon I was able to see a bit of the world outside. We encountered the first real village only after a whole week of travel, and it was entirely populated by humans. As the days went on the climate became warmer, conifers gave way to deciduous trees and the settlements grew larger and more varied. Sometimes I''d see small people that could look like children at a first glance but were obviously adults once one looked more carefully, beastmen of any shape and form, reptilian people, and even the odd elf.


    After the third time that, when entering a city, some guards opened the flaps of the wagon to check what was inside and the company was let through without any issue, it became obvious that the law was not on my side, at least for the moment.


    Our trip finally came to an end in a city full of buildings of sand-colored bricks with red tiled roofs. They left my wagon in what, from what I could see from the gaps, looked like the inner yard of a building. I waited there for hours before a man that looked to be in his fifties came to speak with me. He had well groomed salt and pepper hair and beard and was wearing fine, elegant clothes, accompanied by a multitude of golden rings on his fingers.


    "Good afternoon, I''m Denzel Smith, may I have the pleasure to know your name?" he said in my language.


    "No, but you may have the pleasure to go fuck yourself with a branding iron."


    He frowned at my answer, then produced a rolled up piece of parchment from a pocket in his jacket. He opened it and turned its written side towards me before saying, "I command you to obey my orders."


    The writing on the scroll lit up and my mind suddenly felt hazy. When the scroll stopped shining he said, "tell me your name."


    I felt something tugging at my mind, compelling me to answer him. It was still not enough to win over my current anger so I managed to reply, "Fuck. Off."


    Immediately pain struck my mind, making me wince. Fortunately, it lasted only a second and I was able to quickly shake it off, while I watched the scroll burn away in his hands.


    He sighed. "That geas scroll costed me over three thousand crowns, you know?"


    "Well, sucks to be you," I said, with a grin on my face.


    "We clearly started on the wrong foot here, why don''t we try again," he said.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    I nodded. "Sure, just bring me back to my home, I''m sure my tribe would love to have a nice conversation with you."


    "I did you a favor by bringing you to civilization," he said, exuding arrogance.


    "Oh, right, sorry." I bowed my head. "Thank you very much, I was so looking forward to becoming a slave, how may I ever repay you?"


    He let out a long sigh and rubbed his nose between his eyes with two fingers. After a few seconds of thinking, he said, "what can I even do to make you work for me?"


    "My freedom, first of all, then it depends on the type of work."


    "You would become one of my gladiators," he said, his tone making it sound as if it was obvious.


    I thought about it for a bit. On one hand I really didn''t want to work for the guy who had commissioned my kidnapping and had tried to magically enslave me. On the other hand, I was over a month away from home, who knows where, and he was the only one I had met up to that point who knew my language.


    "I have some conditions," I finally said.


    "Please," he said, gesturing me to continue.


    "As I said, I want my freedom." He nodded and let me continue. "This means that I''ll be free to move as I wish and that you will have to inform me of any incoming match at least one day before."


    "That''s fine for me, but may I add that you will have to notice me in case you plan to be unavailable for more than one day?"


    I nodded. "Yes, that''s fine. My second condition is my pay. You will provide adequate food, lodging, and pay."


    "How does twenty percent of the profits from you matches sound?" he asked.


    "I have no idea how much that would be, so we will go over that again down the line."


    "Of course, of course."


    "My third condition," I continued, "is that I will not fight any slaves, only paid volunteers, beasts, and criminals."


    "We don''t have cri-" He stopped himself as a lightbulb seemed to lit up over his head. "Oh gods! You''re a genius! Please continue."


    "Thanks? I guess? Anyway¡­ I also ask that you provider a teacher for the language you people speak around here, I''m getting pretty tired of not knowing what is going on."


    "Sure, I can arrange some lessons for you."


    "My next condition is that I get to beat the shit out of the people who kidnapped me."


    He sucked in air through his teeth before saying, "I''m afraid that won''t be possible, they''re a mercenary company I employed only for this job, they don''t normally work for me."


    I shrugged. "Oh well, I can always beat the shit out of them when I find them around."


    "Is that all?" he asked.


    "I have one last condition," I said, raising a finger, "you will provide me something to write a letter with, you will have it delivered to my tribe, and have the answer delivered back to me. I suggest sending a dwarf for the job."


    He gave me a look of incredulity as he said, "you brutes can''t-"


    I raised an eyebrow.


    "Sure, I''ll have your letter delivered."


    "Good, that was all," I said, crossing my arms and giving him a triumphal look.


    He smiled. "Perfect, I''ll have someone come and attend to you while I prepare everything. It was a pleasure to do business with you, miss¡­?"


    "Anya, Anya Irinado."

 Chapter 14

    As Denzel had promised, about ten minutes after he left, a petite girl wearing simple brown servant clothing came to get me out of my cage. It was obvious that he didn''t trust me enough to meet me unrestrained for the moment. Not that I could blame him, my fist was quite eager to introduce itself to his face after all.


    As for the girl who came to free me, she was obviously not happy to have been given the task. She was practically shaking as she opened the cage and removed the shackles on my wrists and ankles, and, at every little movement I made, she would shrink back for a moment before continuing with her task. Understanding that there was little I could do to calm her, I simply tried to stay as still as possible as she worked the locks.


    Once my restraints were removed, she motioned me to follow her, saying something that I could not understand. When I followed her out of the wagon, she gulped loudly seeing me standing next to her, something that I could well understand as she reached just over my hips and I could only imagine what I looked like from her point of view.


    She then guided me through the yard of packed dirt and under the colonnade that surrounded it. From there, we walked under a tall and wide archway that connected the yard I had been brought to to another, larger yard with a square patch of grass and flowers in the middle with a fountain at its center, but otherwise made with the same compacted dirt as the one before. On my left it was closed off by a mansion that was way too big, in my opinion. On the other sides it was surrounded by a wall that was actually shorter than me, interrupted here and there by various buildings. One of them was the one we had come from, which looked to be more or less square and sat in a corner of the yard in front of the left wing of the mansion. In front of it there was a simple rectangular building with no columns or particular decorations, on its right there was what looked to be the stables, which were the only building made of wood that I could see in the complex, and were shaped like a horseshoe, nested into the wall, making it lose the rectangular shape it would otherwise have. On my right, in line with the garden and the main entrance of the mansion, here was a gate made of steel that was currently open but manned by four guards, two on each side.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The guards, along with what I could only assume was the estate''s gardener, kept staring at us, or rather, at me for the whole time it took the girl to show me the way to a door in the rectangular building close to the stables. The door showed signs of recent work, as the color of the bricks and mortar around it was a slightly lighter sandy color compared to the rest of the building. The fact that it was also the only door to be over eight feet tall of the building and was also quite larger than the others suggested that the room had been prepared for me well in advance and Denzel had planned to have me live here from the start.


    The girl opened the door for me, and I entered, still having to bend my head a bit to pass despite the changes. The room was simple, composed by a wooden drawer, a table with a chair that I doubted was able to support me and a more robust wooden armchair that had a severe lack of cushions. The final element of the room was a large rectangular sac with rounded edges, probably full of hay or something similar that was probably meant to be a mattress, on it there were a folded sheet and a blanket. The room completely lacked any sort of decoration, it at least had two windows in the form of two holes in the walls that could be closed off with wooden shutters, one close to the door and facing the garden, while the other on the left side of the room, facing the mansion.


    The girl said something, that I obviously didn''t understand. Seeing as I wasn''t answering in any way, she said something else and bowed her head before leaving me, closing the door behind her, but not locking it.


    I shrugged and, not really having anything else to do in a city I didn''t know where people spoke a language I didn''t understand, I jumped on the mattress, sinking a bit as the hay gave way. It was a bit too soft for me after being used to sleeping on a simple fur on the ground for years, and the fabric, probably hemp, was a bit coarse, but it wasn''t too bad.


    As I lay there, I thought a bit about the situation I was in. I had no idea how I would be able to return home, nor where I were. I also had no idea what the job of a gladiator was really like. The only one I had met up to that point who could speak my language was Denzel, who was probably a noble of some kind, or at least dirty rich, to be able to afford such an estate in the middle of a city. For the moment I at least had a place to sleep and the promise of food and pay, but I needed information, and allies.

 Chapter 15

    I was in the middle of my musings when Denzel peeked through the window further away from the door and called out to me.


    "What do you want now," I asked him.


    "I just wanted to inform that your first match will be in two days. You will be fighting against some giant scorpions. How many do you think you can take?"


    I shrugged, not even bothering to get off the mattress. "I don''t know, the only scorpions that live on the mountains are as big as my thumb. How giant are we talking? Do they have any special abilities?"


    He shook his head. "They have a venomous stinger, but their venom shouldn''t pose too much of a problem to you, if you resisted that spell like that, you could probably take a few dozen doses before you''d need a healer. As for how big, they''re about fifteen feet long from the tip of the tail to the head."


    "I think three should be a good number to get me used to them."


    "Ehm, are you sure?" he said with a bit of worry in his voice, "their claws are pretty sharp, I''ve seen them behead a man once."


    "Are you worried about me?" I said, almost laughing at him.


    "I''m trying to protect my investments. You are of no use to me dead."


    "Don''t worry, three should be fine."


    "If you say so¡­" he said, still not entirely convinced, "anyways, food will be delivered to you at sunset, at dawn, and at noon, unless there''s a match, in which case it will be moved to an hour before the match. Do you have any preferences?"


    I thought about it for a second before answering, "I''d prefer if there was a lot of meat, any cut is fine, except liver, I can''t stand it, other organs are fine though. Fruits, berries, and nuts are all welcome too."


    "Perfect, now¡­" he produced a bottle of ink that he put on the border of the window, a quill, and a piece of papyrus.


    "Is that for my letter?" I asked.


    "No, I''ll get you parchment later, papyrus doesn''t tend to last." he said, annoyed that I had interrupted him. "Since I can''t present you as a slave anymore, we have to construct your tale."


    "My what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "You''re an entertainer now, you need some backstory," he said as a matter of fact.


    "Oh¡­"


    He tapped his chin with the barbs of the feather a few times, deep in thought, before saying, "how does ''the daughter of a chief in search for adventure'' sound?"


    "Can''t say that I''m looking for much adventure, but my mother did mate with our chief before birthing me."


    He smiled. "Oh, it''s actually true! This is even better. Don''t worry about it being true or not, though, it''s not like the crowd has any way to check."


    I shrugged and let him continue.


    "Next, we have to add something to get the people pumped up. How does a troll sound?"


    "Like... a troll?" I said, not getting what he meant.


    He nodded to himself. "We''ll add in a desperate battle with a troll that you barely got out from alive."


    "Wait!" I said, jumping up from the bed, which made him jump a bit.


    "What?!"


    "What do you mean, ''what?'' I could probably take down a troll with my bare hands before I even became an adult!" I shouted at him.


    "Don''t be ridiculous, that would make you as strong as a¡­" something seemed to click in him at that moment, "chief, right. Out of curiosity, what did you hunt for that ceremony you people hold when you become an adult?"


    "An adult ice dragon." I said, presenting him a smug grin.


    He stared at me wide-eyed and said, "you''re kidding me."


    "No, I''m not! Although I did do it with three companions," I admitted.


    "I see¡­ well, you definitely won''t have a problem with the scorpions then." He jotted down a few lines on the papyrus. "I think I can work with this, it should gather quite the crowd." He lifted his eyes from the sheet and looked at me. "Do you have anything to ask me before i go?"


    "Yes, actually. I''d really like to take a bath."


    He thought about it for a bit then said, "I''ll have Yvonne accompany you to the closest bathhouse. Just give me a bit to warn the city guard so you don''t end up causing a scene."


    I nodded. "Ok."


    He put back his writing instruments and said, "well then, have a nice evening," before leaving.


    About half an hour later the girl who had led me to my room reappeared to accompany me to the bathhouse. She was still tense around me, but at least she wasn''t visibly shaking. She led me out of the estate and into the street that led to it and many others similar to it, although most seemed to be smaller than Denzel''s. As we walked down the street, people parted to let us pass, looking at me with a mixture of awe and fear, while some armored guards followed us at a distance.


    The bathhouse ended up being only a ten minutes walk away from the estate. It was a large building that reminded me of the drawings I had seen of Roman thermae, with high ceilings supported by columns and open air pools of hot water where people bathed together, although in two different sections for men and women. The walls and the bottom of the pools were decorated with detailed mosaics of marine animals and scenes of daily life. In short, it seemed to be quite the high-end establishment.


    As I bathed, the women in the pool with me would not stop staring, as would the female guards who were standing against the room, who, something told me, were probably not a common sight inside the bathhouse.

 Chapter 16

    The day of my first gladiatorial match finally came. The match had been set to take place in the mid-afternoon. When the time came, a covered wagon came to the estate to bring me to the arena, as Denzel didn''t want to parade me around the city just before the match, but wanted to instead to introduce me to the larger public directly in the arena.


    The arena was an amphitheater made of stone over two hundred yards long and a few dozen yards less wide than it was long. Denzel''s men had me enter from a secondary entrance and guided me to an underground area where contestants could prepare for their match.


    The staff of the arena then took over and brought in front of me a selection of weapons. There wasn''t any weapon just like my axe, so I set for a four and a half feet tall battle axe, which was the closest thing available, adding a mental note to ask Denzel about a blacksmith.


    Once I was ready, they guided me through a set of stairs that brought us to a large room separated from the grounds of the arena by an iron portcullis. Through the bars, I could see the thousands of spectators sitting on the bleachers of the arena and hear what was probably the announcer work up the crowd.


    The announcer called my name, followed by an introduction I could not understand as the portcullis was raised. Soon I was out into the arena, axe raised high above my head in one hand while I waved at the cheering crowd with the other.


    He continued talking as the portcullis on the other side of the arena was raised, revealing three scorpions that ranged between fourteen and sixteen feet long. From one side of the arena to the other there were almost a hundred yards, so there was no hurry in engaging the beasts.


    I observed them as they walked into the arena, spurred by staff holding long poles, while chains kept their claws shut and their tails immobile. When they were about a dozen feet away from the entrance of the room on the other side, the portcullis was closed, and the chains that held their weapons magically fell off to let them fight at their best. They didn''t rush at me immediately, looking around the arena and inspecting the new environment, clicking their claws nervously.


    I started walking towards them, axe in hand. That soon got their attention, and they stopped letting their gaze wander around, focusing on me instead, their claws still clicking.


    Their formation opened up, as one scorpion remained what it was, while the other two made their way towards me. One went into a straight line, its eight legs allowing it to run fast over the sand that covered the ground, while the other decided to circle around more slowly.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I held my axe with both hands and rushed towards the one that was coming straight at me, meeting it in the middle of the arena. It tried to hit me with its claw, but I jumped up, intending to go over it.


    As I was in the air, it lashed out with its tail too, and I parried it with the axe, directing it away from me, managing to land safely between the last two legs on his side. In one fell swoop I cut them both with the axe, the jumped back as it turned to address me again.


    Despite losing two of its legs, it was still able to stand, and immediately tried to grasp me between its claws. I crouched down to avoid the hit and came back up burying the axe into the joint of its left claw, severing it.


    As I addressed the first scorpion, the one that had decided to circle around a bit had reached us, so I disengaged from the fight and distanced myself from both, while also glancing at the one that kept its distance, clicking its claws nervously.


    Now having to face them both, I decided it was a good time to start showing some of my real power. With a scream of rage, I planted the butt of the axe into the ground, summoning the power of the ice dragon to send a wave of cold around it, that soon crashed into the two scorpions while the axe itself was covered in frost.


    It was not enough enough to actually damage the scorpions, but, just like with their smaller cousins, the cold made them slow and lethargic.


    I then summoned the powers of the elk and the bear and moved.


    My first target was the already injured scorpion. I entered its range and, before it could even act, I cut its other claw off, leaving layers of frost on its severed limb. I then followed by cutting the other two remaining legs on its side. It fell down and tried to lash out with its tail again, but I dodged it and brought my sxe up to sever it halfway through its length.


    I then jumped to one side to avoid the claw of the other scorpion behind me, ending up rolling on the now freezing cold sand a few times before standing again.


    As the still healthy scorpion turned to try to hit me again, I ran to meet its blow, but, at the last moment, slid down under its claw, using my axe to severe it.


    I then rolled out from under it and found myself behind its back, so I used the opportunity to cut off its dangerous tail.


    It jumped forward, away from me, while shrieking in pain. Not wanting to make the fight last much longer, I ran the few steps that separated us and jumped on it, then buried my axe into its head, again and again.


    When I was sure it was dead, I went to finish off the other scorpion, which now only had four legs to try to wiggle its way away, cutting off its head.


    With the two more aggressive scorpions, I turned to the one that was still standing in front of the portcullis.


    It never stood a chance.

 Chapter 17

    When I returned to the room behind the portcullis, with the crowd still cheering behind me, I found Denzel waiting for me with a smile on his face and arms opened wide to welcome me back.


    "That was amazing!" he said, walking towards me, "the crowd loves you! What was that ice power, is that from the ice -"


    He couldn''t finish his sentence as my fist planted itself firmly on his face, sending him tumbling a few feets on the ground. It was something I had wished to do since the first day, but I never could as he wisely always talked to me behind some barrier or another, be it bars or walls. Seeing my burst of violence, the staff of the arena tensed up, but remained still, deciding to observe from a distance after seeing my performance.


    He immediately sat up, blood dripping from his nose, and shouted, "what the fuck?! That could have killed me!"


    "It didn''t tho," I said, as a matter of fact.


    He spat out some blood. "Are you going to do shit like this again or can we talk like civilized people?"


    I shrugged. "No, I''m fine now, feel free to talk."


    "Good." he said, getting up from the dusty ground, before wiping away the blood on his face with a handkerchief, revealing a completely healed nose, "As I was saying, you performed way better than I was hoping, and definitely better than anyone in the crowd expected."


    He snapped his finger and a boy came running with a small leather pouch. He gave it to Denzel, who then threw it at me. When it landed, it revealed the gold coins it contained.


    He pointed at the bag. "That is your portion from the entrance fees, plus your portion of the bets placed against you. Every volunteering gladiator gets a five percent of the cut."


    I picked up the pouch, which, despite its small size, had quite some weight to it. "I would have expected you to keep the portion of the bets to yourself. You''re being awfully honest for a slaver bastard."


    He smiled at me. "Please, our relationship is now that of business partners, isn''t it?"


    I crossed my arms. "I don''t buy it. What do you want?"If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    He sighed. "During your match I received some offers."


    "Well, spit it out."


    "One came from the city guard, they asked if they could employ you to train their ranks. They rarely have the chance to train with something, or someone, much stronger than a normal person in relative safety."


    "I have no problem with it, if the pay is good and they aren''t complete idiots. Let''s do it like this, they will pay me and I will give you ten percent as a commission for finding me the job, and you haggle for the price, sounds good?"


    "I was thinking of -"


    "It''s outside the arena, take it or leave it," I cut him off.


    "Fine." He raised two fingers. "The second offer comes from another patron of the arena like me, he wants you to fight against a cyclops, but this time it will be bare-handed. He doesn''t want you to kill one of his best fighters."


    I shrugged. "Sounds fine to me."


    He nodded, then raised a third finger. "The third offer is to fight against ten men in the arena. They will be fully equipped."


    I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are they slaves?"


    "They were legal-"


    "No."


    He joined his hands as if in prayer and said, "please, just this one time. I swear it will be the first and last."


    I scoffed, "as you will swear it will be the last, the next time you ask me to, or the time after that. I said no."


    He clicked his tongue. "Fine."


    "Is that all?" I asked, as I started to feel like a second punch would do him good.


    "Yeah, sure, you can go home," he said, waving me away.


    I nodded and walked past him, back towards the covered wagon that had brought me to the arena.


    The ride back was uneventful. When I returned to my room, I found two pieces of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill sitting on the table of my room. I wanted to sit down and write to Tasha immediately, but I also didn''t want to botch it and, since I had limited resources, I couldn''t write copy over copy of the letter until I found one I was satisfied with, so I decided to try something a bit unorthodox.


    I had taught Tasha how to write mostly by tracing the letters on the snow, so I was no foreign to using the ground as my sheet. I went outside my room and, using a small twig from one of the short bushes in the garden, I started writing the draft of my letter on the ground.


    I was at my second attempt when Denzel returned with his small escort, seeing me crouching in the middle of the yard with a stick in my hand, he was curious enough to come up to me and ask me what I was doing.


    "I''m trying to write a letter I''m satisfied with. I didn''t want to waste any parchment." I answered him.


    "I''ve never seen those characters," he said.


    I nodded. "It doesn''t surprise me. I made them."


    He didn''t say anything else, choosing to instead leave me there to do my thing as he went into his mansion, a pensive look on his face.

 Chapter 18

    On the morning of the day after the match Denzel came to see me, accompanied by a dwarven woman. She was stout, at only four and a half feet tall, and dressed in simple cotton clothes, with a leather bag hanging from her shoulder. Her hair was already grey, but her brown eyes held a firm determination. He introduced her as Arvia Flatstone, my new language teacher, then introduced me to her before leaving to our thing.


    I welcomed her inside my room and made her sit on the chair at the table, then sat on the larger armchair opposite to her.


    "So," she said, crossing her arms, "Mr. Smith told me you needed a teacher. You know no language apart from your own, right?"


    I nodded. "That''s right."


    She raised an eyebrow. "How did you even manage to get all the way here from your lands up north without not even knowing Commercial Common?"


    "Tied up in a cage."


    She closed her eyes and sighed. "I should have figured." She looked back at me. "I''m sorry."


    I shook my head. "Don''t worry about it."


    She just nodded, not pressing the issue further, then said, "so, is there anything you''d like to ask before we start our lessons?"


    "Yes, actually," I said, a bit embarrassed, "what is Commercial Common?"


    She gave me a blank stare for a few seconds but quickly recomposed herself and got to explaining. Commercial Common was apparently the lingua franca that merchants used when dealing with clients of different countries. It was called commercial because another lingua franca existed, called Academic Common, which was used mostly by mages and scholars, although some countries wrote their laws in it too.


    She then explained how the commercial version was actually an evolution of the much older academic one, and that many languages on the continent shared similarities with it, including Emestrian, the language spoken in the Kingdom of Emester, or at least the area closer to the capital, which was where we were now. As for her lessons, she would focus on Emestrian initially, but would also point out similarities and differences with Commercial Common whenever they''d pop up.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    When she had finished her quick explanation, she asked, "is that all you wanted to ask?"


    "Actually¡­" I said, a bit hesitant, "I was wondering if you could tell me something more about Denzel. Or Mr. Smith, if you prefer."


    "He''s rich. So rich that, despite not being a noble, he''s more influential than many of them. He''s also an asshole with little regard for the wellbeing of other people."


    "I figured that."


    She nodded in affirmation. "But," she raised a finger, "he is also very strict when it comes to adhering to a contract. When he signs a paper or gives his word, you can be sure he will maintain it, which is why so many merchants like dealing with him, despite the person he is. Mind you, it''s not like he goes around eating children and kicking horses, he''s just an asshole. If he does something good, or he does you a favor, you can be certain that it''s for profit and profit alone."


    "So¡­?"


    "Try to stay on his good side, which means, bring him money, and you will be practically untouchable inside the city."


    "What if I decide to stop working for him?" I asked.


    She shrugged. "It depends. He might just ignore you or try to find a way to bring you back into his schemes. Considering that he probably went through quite some trouble to get you here and he''s now accomodating you so much, you''re probably very valuable to him, at least right now, which means I advise against trying to cut him off."


    "I see¡­ Oh well, it''s not like I can do much without even knowing how to speak with people here."


    "Exactly." She pulled out a piece of papyrus from her bag. "Let''s start the lesson, then, shall we?"


    Her lesson was pretty easy to follow. Being the first lesson, she kept her vocabulary to a minimum, teaching me first about subject pronouns, then articles, then simplet words like man, woman, child, et cetera. She then went on to teach me about the nouns of some objects in the room.


    It was a lot of stuff for a first timer, but she made sure to repeat things time and time again, and have me do the same after her. After every few words she introduced, she''d ask me the translation for one she had introduced ten, twenty, forty minutes earlier, or even more, so that I wouldn''t just forget them.


    After two whole hours of lesson, I was finally able to say things like, "I am Anya," or, "the papyrus is on the table."


    Satisfied with my progress, she left for lunchtime, saying that she would be back in a couple of hours. After learning that I was supposed to go train with the guards of the city in the afternoon, she had proposed to accompany me to both serve as a translator, and help me ease into the language by trying to understand actual speech with her help.

 Chapter 19

    When the time came to go to train with the city guards, Yvonne and Arvia came to get me and be my guides through the streets of the city. Since I now knew how to introduce myself properly, I tried to do so with Yvonne. She went along with it, although her expression somehow reminded me of a terrified cat.


    Unlike Yvonne, it seemed that the cityfolk had already started to change their mind on me. Where only a few days before my sight invoked fear in those I passed, now people looked at me with simple curiosity, sometimes whispering something at each other as they looked at me.


    "It seems like you''re already famous," Arvia said.


    I nodded. "Looks like it. Now I just have to make them love me too."


    Arvia laughed. "Love, huh?"


    "Yes. Things tend to be a little bit easier when you have a whole city cheering for you."


    "Can''t say you''re wrong there," she conceded.


    Our little talk ended there as, for the rest of our walk, she made me repeat the lesson of the morning, making me go over everything I had learned. This got a few chuckles by a few passersby, but I decided to ignore, taking their reaction to mean that at least what I was saying was understandable to them.


    We finally reached the barracks of the city guard after over twenty minutes of walking. Arvia told me how there were other, smaller stations in various strategic points of the city, but they didn''t have any training grounds, serving as little more than a resting point for the guards close to where they were supposed to have their shift.


    When we entered the yard that served as training ground on the side of the large building, a man in chainmail with a helmet that left his face open came to meet us. He said something, that I couldn''t understand, and Arvia translated for me, going over the sentence a few times to make me learn the language too.


    The man was a captain of the guard assigned to supervise the training of the recruits and guards that had signed up for the special training session, and his name was Caleb.


    I introduced myself with my simple, "I am Anya," and shook his hand.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Going once again through Arvia, he asked me when we could begin, and if I had a weapon of choice.


    When i told Arvia my answer, which was that I could start whenever and I preferred large axes, instead of translating for the captain, she told me the translation and made me say it word for word, which I often butchered, slowing down our conversation even more.


    The captain was evidently annoyed by this, but didn''t press us to hurry, waiting for me to get the sentence right instead. He finally nodded when I managed to do it and, through Arvia, told me to wait at the benches that sat on a side of the yard so that they could fetch a weapon for me and get the recruits ready.


    He soon returned carrying what for him was a large battle axe, or rather, a replica made of wood with the head covered in a layer of leather and padded with hay. Because of the modification it was a bit light for my tastes, but it was probably the best thing I would get, and it was still just a training exercise.


    With some difficulty, I then asked him how far I could go and if they had a way to heal the injured.


    He told me that if someone ended up with a broken bone or two it was no issue, but to please refrain from injuring the recruits in a more severe way.


    I accepted and followed him to the center of the yard. Once there, he shouted something at his men, who had gathered in four ordered lines of five. Arvia helpfully shouted at me that he had told the first line they were to go first.


    The first five men came towards me, while the other fifteen went to rest at the borders of the yard while observing how their companions fared. The captain then said something at me, which Arvia once again translated, saying that he had told me I could start whenever I wanted.


    I let them leave the field, then moved. I dashed into their disorganized formation, and swung my axe, sending the first two flying across the yard. Before their companions could even react, I rotated on one foot, kicking a guard with the other, sending him flying too.


    I then planted my elbow on the one who had tried to stab into my side with his makeshift wooden sword before he could do so, stunning him for a moment. I then grabbed him and threw him on his companion.


    The whole thing had lasted only a few seconds, leaving the remaining recruits wide-eyed with their mouths hanging open.


    The five I had my first little bout with quickly rose back to their feet, showing only a few bruises from sliding on the sand and dust that covered the yard, and a light headache in the case of the one I had elbowed.


    I turned to Arvia and said, "tell him to send them all against me at the same time."


    I heard her mutter, "show-off," before translating for the captain, who nodded before giving the order to his men.


    They quickly fell into a makeshift formation, obviously not yet used to fight alongside so many men, nervousness now visibly showing on their faces.


    I smiled at them, and started my show.

 Chapter 20

    Soon I fell into a routine. In the morning I would receive lessons from Arvia, and in the afternoon I would train with the guards. After the first days, more guards joined in on the special training and soon the group was over fifty men large, who took turns during the training as fifty men was way too much even for me. The actual number of guards taking part in it was over a hundred, but those who were already part of the city guard rotated to participate on their days off.


    A week after my first arena match, it was time for my second one. The arena held matches almost daily, but the more entertaining or bizarre matches were held on the weekly holiday so that more people could attend and the entrance fee raised.


    As the previous time, I was brought to the arena in a covered wagon which, this time around, had a snowflake motif painted on it, something which I had to assume Denzel had chosen to be my trademark and to advertise my matches as the wagon traversed the city.


    Unlike before my first match, this time I wasn''t offered a weapon, instead I was made to enter the grounds of the arena directly. For the fistfight between me and the cyclops a rope had been fixed to the ground to form a circular ring around forty feet in diameter. On my side of the ring, a few dozen feet from it, Denzel was sitting seven feet off the ground on a tall chair and, opposite to him on the other side, another man was doing the same. He was talking to my adversary, a fat, twelve feet tall cyclops who was wearing only a loincloth.


    Denzel called out to me and I walked up to him to hear what he had to say.


    "Ok, listen. You will have to position behind that line of chalk," he said, pointing at a white line inside the ring, a few feet away from an identical one, "and wait for the sound of the gong, then the match will start, ok?"


    I nodded and let him continue.


    "There are four ways to win this, you can push him out of the ring, pin him down to the count of ten, make him pass out, or have his sponsor concede the match. If, after ten minutes, none of the four happen on either side, the judges," he pointed at five men who were sitting on the first row of the stands, separated from the rest of the crowd by a low barrier, "will decide the winner. All clear?"Stolen novel; please report.


    "Sure. Do you have any pointers on him," I said, nodding towards the cyclops.


    "He''s dumb and easily angered."


    "Good, wish me good luck," I said, walking towards my spot.


    My opponent had finished talking with his sponsor too, and was waiting for me at his line. When I was finally in position, the announcer gave a short speech to excite the crowd, after wich they sounded the gong.


    The cyclops immediately rushed at me, his hands in front of me, ready to push me down. I stepped on a side and crouched down to deliver a low spinning kick to his legs, making him fall face first into the sand.


    I immediately seized up my occasion and jumped on top of him, putting an arm around his neck, while the other went under his arm to lock it away from the ground.


    I had underestimated his strength and agility, as he quickly pushed himself up with only his remaining arm, then threw himself against the ground on his back, crushing me underneath.


    I quickly pushed him away on a side and shot up, deciding that trying to pin down a twelve feet tall monster that weighted much more than me was probably not the best idea.


    As he got up from the ground too, I hit his head with a rounding kick, then closed in to throw in a jab at his nose and an uppercut under his chin.


    I had been too confident in my quick succession, though, as he used the opening to throw himself at me, crushing me underneath his massive body again.


    I used the opportunity to punch at his jaw repeatedly, while the crowd counted down.


    At three seconds from my loss, I pushed him away again, and rolled out from underneath him.


    This time around he was much slower at getting back up on his feet, probably due to all the hits at his head. I chose to capitalize on the occasion and activated the powers of the elk and bear.


    With inhumane speed, I pushed him back on the ground and started stomping on his head with my heel. Once, twice, thrice. I kept hitting him again and again like a jackhammer, making it impossible for him to push himself back up.


    The gong sounded again, making me stop with my foot in the air, about to stomp again against his skull. I looked up and saw the sponsor of the cyclops waving a red flag high over his head.


    I stepped away from the cyclops who, I was only now noticing, was foaming from his mouth and raised my fists to the sky to welcome the cheers of the crowd.

 Chapter 21

    On the day after the match, when Arvia came to teach me, instead of going with the usual lesson, she had a proposal to make.


    "I was thinking that today we could go at the market, so that you can listen to some actual conversations that aren''t about fighting in a yard and also get an idea on how things work around here. What do you think?" she said.


    "Sure. Just let me grab my coins," I said before going to lift the mattress to get the pouches of gold coins hidden underneath it.


    When Arvia saw the bags of coins her eyes bulged out. "Holy shit, girl! How much money do you have?!" she shouted at me.


    "Ehm¡­ just under a hundred gold coins from the arena matches and bets, plus ninety silver coins from sparring with the guards. Why?"


    She facepalmed and shook her head. "Damn gladiators." She let out a sigh before looking back at me. "We need to go to a bank first. You can''t just stash all that money under your bed."


    "It''s a lot of money, huh," I said, feeling the weight of the coins in my hand.


    "That''s putting it mildly, it would take me ten months of teaching you to make that much. And my services aren''t cheap."


    I looked at the coins in my hands. "I probably need to go to a bank, huh?"


    The bank Arvia guided me to was situated not too far from the bathhouse. Seeing that it was in what was the upper district of the city, and that there seemed to be quite a bit of traffic, it was probably one of the more trustworthy in the city. She further recommended it, saying how they had an office in any city and large town of Emester, and that their bank notes were almost always accepted even by banks outside the kingdom.


    When it was time to enter, Arvia told me to wait outside and went in by herself, even though the large doors of the bank were tall enough to let me enter. Her reasoning was that the nobles and rich of the city might not want someone who could splatter them against a wall like a mosquito to be queueing behind them, at least until I had a good enough reputation.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    She returned a few minutes later with a tall, slim man in his forties who was wearing fine cotton clothes. He introduced himself, and, with Arvia''s help, asked me to follow him to the back of the bank.


    I accepted and he guided us around the building to a small yard where a few carts were being unloaded. On a side of the yard, away from the busy workers, a small round table had been prepared for our little meeting. Around the table there were two chairs and a sturdy bench, which was obviously for me, and a gazebo shielded it from the sun.


    He invited us to sit and we did so. When we had made ourselves comfortable, he explained, through Arvia, how the fares of the bank were a bit steep compared to most other banks, but that they served to ensure a level of security that no one else in the kingdom could provide. Said measures were the registration of a client''s magical signature which he said was so precise that even a doppelganger wouldn''t be able to get through the safety measures of the bank, and the fact that all transactions were magically communicated in real time to their central office, so that clients could keep their movements in check. He then said how the bank would assume full responsibility of any mistake or loss of money.


    As for the price, it was a full gold coin to even open an account, and any transaction would have a fee of two silver coins, except for transaction under one gold, which were free but had a limit of one every two days to avoid scams. Finally, there was a yearly fee of fifty silver coins.


    He made a point of ensuring that I had the money to pay both the registration fee and the fee for the first year before continuing with the registration. When I took out two gold coins and put them on the table, he nodded and gestured for one of the workers in the yard to come at the table. He told him something and sent him into the building, before getting out some papers from his bag.


    A few minutes into the tedious filling of the documents, made even longer because of the language barrier, a girl came out of the bank with a tray containing a few pastries, both sweet and savory, fruit juice, and a weird device made of glass and metal. She deposited the tray on the table, gave us a small bow, then went back into the building.


    In the end, it took us half an hour to get through all the documents, which made the treats even more welcome. At the end of the procedure, he had me prick my finger with a small nail and drop a few drops of blood on a section of the weird device, which soon came alight with shades of white and azure. After a few seconds, it spat out three metal cards, which he explained contained the details of my magical signature. One was my copy, one was the working copy of the bank, and the third was the safety copy, in case the other bank copy went missing.


    With my account now set, I proceeded to put the pouches full of coin on the table to make my first deposit, making the clerk give me a wide smile.

 Chapter 22

    After our stop at the bank, we left the upper district and made our way to the largest market of the city, my pouches now much lighter and containing only a few dozen silver coins and a couple gold coins.


    The market itself was held every day in one of the largest squares. Countless merchants sold their wares from stalls or from simple carpets where they displayed their goods. Being mid morning, it was bustling with activity and people of all races were present.


    We decided to have a bit of a tour, starting on one side of the market and looking at the stalls as we walked through it. The stalls seemed to have no real order to them, merchants who sold clothes were next to pot sellers, wood carvers sat next to food vendors, and variety was the keyword of the market.


    We hadn''t even managed to go through the first line of stalls that I had already bought a few sheep meat skewers for both me and Arvia, which she made me order myself, helping where it was needed, so that I could exercise with the language.


    The next stall that had me stop to look was one that sold furs and leathers. I was in some real need for more clothing, Denzel had provided me with some cotton clothes, but they were really just rags to wear at home while I made my furs air out a bit. When I told Arvia I wanted to stop to take a look, she asked me why I didn''t just buy normal clothing. The question made me freeze for a second, as I hadn''t even entertained the idea. I looked around me, seeing the clothes that the people mingling about were wearing. Despite the fact that they weren''t too different from clothes I used to wear in my previous life, somehow, imagining myself wearing them now just felt wrong.


    I told her that I preferred the way I dressed and got to examining the wares on display. There was all kind of stuff, from leather strips to whole animal furs. The merchant selling them was also kind enough to tell me that he could cut larger pieces to size on the spot. I took him up on his offer and bought three sets of top and short skirt, two made of leather, one dark brown and one grey, and one made with the fur of a sandy brown wolf. In all, it all cost me just shy of a gold coin, and he added in a hemp sack to store them while I went on with my shopping as a freebie.


    The next stall I stopped at was that of a woman who sold tiny wooden shapes and essential oils to wet those small bits to use as ambient perfume. I decided to buy two wooden pyramids, so that I could set them on the table without them risking to roll somewhere like the apparently much more popular spheres, plus a small flask of pine oil to pour on them.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Every time we stopped, Arvia made a point of making me talk by myself, helping when I got stuck, and always waited a bit before translating what the other person had said, so that I could try to wrap my head around the foreign words by myself first.


    We had walked only a few yards from the perfume seller when a kid, who had to be nine years old and was wearing much better clothing than most people around, ran up to me and stopped a few feet away, mouth wide and eyes shining with excitement. He was soon reached by what looked like a servant, who bowed at us apologetically and tried to bring the kid away. As kids sometimes do, he didn''t want to listen to what the man said, and decided to throw a tantrum.


    I couldn''t decipher the fumbling words of the kid, so I asked Arvia and she told me how the kid was resisting his strict servant because he wanted a memento from me.


    "Wait!" I said, making the servant stop in his tracks. "Wait," I repeated.


    I turned around and went back to the perfume seller and bought a small, flat piece of wood off her and asked to borrow her carving knife for a bit in my broken Emestrian. She conceded without a problem, wearing a soft smile on her face. I quickly carved my name in the piece of wood, in the letters I was familiar with, along with a stylized snowflake underneath it.


    When I got back to the kid and his servant, who were now waiting for me, I crouched down to be more on level with the kid, although I was still over one full head taller than him and showed him the piece of wood.


    I then placed a hand on my chest and said, "I am Anya." I then pointed at the name written on the piece of wood. "This is my name."


    He was beaming when I gave the piece to him and his servant bowed again to thank me, then he said something I didn''t quite manage to check, so I turned to Arvia, who now was much more nervous than a moment before.


    She looked at me and said, "he is thanking you for the gift you have given to his young master, the count, and that he is sorry for the trouble caused, but he is a huge fan of yours," using the Emestrian word for the noble title that my language was lacking.


    I smiled at the kid and bowed my head a bit saying, "you''re welcome."


    The servant then excused himself again and dragged him away from us, having probably reached his limit after allowing his master to be so close to a towering giant for so long.


    "Who was that?" I asked Arvia after waving the kid off.


    "He was probably the first son of Duke Victor, the King''s cousin, although I''m not sure."


    "Do the King and the Duke get along?"


    "As far as I know, yes, why?"


    "Nothing," I took my eyes off the crowd the two had disappeared into and looked at her, "shall we go on? I wanted to buy some kind of lamp too."

 Chapter 23

    The day of my third match finally came, although it would be appropriate to say matches. Denzel had organized, with the help of some summoners, a special event which consisted of various waves of summoned creatures, of increasing difficulty, with a small break between waves. It was a pretty rare kind of event, but it was standardized enough to allow spectators to bet on what wave the contestants would quit.


    Three raised platforms had been built on the opposite side of the arena from my entrance spot, where a mage on each platform was standing, ready to summon the creatures for the wave.


    The first wave consisted of nine imps, that flew around, trying to sting me with their venomous tails. They were so small it was like killing flies. Exactly like flies, though, they were extremely annoying, buzzing around me faster than I could catch them, sometimes turning invisible before stinging me, and outright being annoying little fuckers. I still managed to crush them all, but it took me way longer than I liked.


    After a short break, during which I cured my wounds and healed from the little remaining poison using a potion provided by Denzel, it was time for the second wave. This time, the three mages had summoned three dark wolves, that could disappear into the shadows of the platform or the border of the arena and reappear inside my shadow. They didn''t have any more annoying abilities, and weren''t otherwise any more powerful than normal wolves so, after the first bite to my shin, I managed to hunt them down without suffering any injuries.


    The third wave consisted of a cave bear and two giant boars. It was quite the step up from the previous fights, as the cave bear tried to keep me busy, while the boars built up speed to charge at me, over and over again. They did actually manage to hit me and send me rolling on the sand twice, one time when they first used the tactic, and the second when I chose to let me open to the attack to finish off the bear. After the bear had been killed, though, the boars had no chance.


    The fourth wave was actually quite troublesome. They had summoned a dryad along with two satyrs. The satyrs wore loincloths and were armed with bronze short swords, while the dryad was very much naked, and very hot. The moment she smiled at me, I suddenly lost the will to fight and found myself staring at her while smiling like an idiot, until the satyrs stabbed their short swords into my thighs. The pain immediately snapped me out of the charm of the fey, but I was already bleeding profusely.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I let out a shout, calling upon the bower of the bear, which temporary stopped my blood loss as it slowly healed the wound. I then charged straight at the dryad, who was obviously the most dangerous of the three. As I was charging at her, I tripped on something, that I soon realized was the root of an unexisting tree. The two satyrs capitalized on the occasion, but even while on the ground, as I was no longer charmed, they had little chance to hurt me, and I quickly put them in their place with a few hits to their head.


    When I got up, I saw that the dryad was preparing a barrage of magical thorns to throw at me. I shouted again, making the power of the tiger join the bear, and I leaped the over twenty yards that separated us, meeting her way too hot face to be real with the steel of my axe. As soon as the steel touched her bark skin, it started to smoke and melt away because of the iron in the blade. With the dryad gone, I made quick work of the two satyrs. I went back behind the portcullis to tend to my wounds, with a newfound hate for the fae.


    The next wave consisted of three hellhounds, which were quite larger than the previous shadow wolves, almost reaching the size of the wolves on the mountains. I enjoyed my fight with them much more than the previous one. They used simple tactics and charged head on, trusting on their strength and fiery breath to do the job. I actually found myself playing a bit with them, in a clash of ice against fire, before dispatching their summoned bodies after they had burned a bit too much of the soft fur of my clothing.


    The next challenge were three earth elementals. They were slow as snails, but could hit like a bulldozer, and they were able to meld into the earth to travel much faster through the arena. My initial tactic of trying to hammer them down with the back of the blade of my axe soon proved fruitless, as the elementals were able to simply heal back any damage. By pure chance, I was able to notice that they couldn''t heal their wounds when separated from the ground, so I dropped my axe, and got to lift the piles of rocks off the ground, before crushing them with a bear-charged hug.


    The seventh challenge was a single large horned fiend, twice as large as me and a couple of feet taller, with red skin, hooves for feet, and a large battle axe as his weapon. He welcomed me with a shout that spewed bolts of fire throughout the arena, which stuck to the ground. Knowing that I could not take him lightly, I immediately activated the powers of the bear, the elk, the tiger, and the ice cold power of the dragon. Where his axe hit, it would leave charred marks, while mine left behind layers of frost. The fight soon became the fiercest I fought since leaving the mountains, as the demon was almost comparable to Ivan in power. Unfortunately for him, he was nowhere close to Tasha''s level.


    That ended up being the last wave, as the summoners were not powerful enough, even when working together, to summon anything stronger without risking it slipping out of their control.

 Chapter 24

    When I returned to my room, for some reason, I felt restless despite being tired from the fights, yet I didn''t really want to do anything. I kept rolling around on my bed, trying to focus on various things. Be it how to improve the training with the guards, what I could have done better during the recent fights in the arena, or how to get closer to the young son of the duke and his family, any thought seemed to elude me, and I easily found myself distracted thinking about useless things.


    At one point, after looking at a fly buzzing around the room for what were probably twenty minutes, I tried to entertain the idea of going over my language lessons. After only a few minutes of practice, though, I found myself trying to juggle the scented wooden pyramids that I had put on my table.


    Soon the sun started to set, and with it dinner came and went, yet I still felt restless and at the same time as lazy as a sloth. It was while I was trying to turn the hemp sace I was given to bring my clothes home to make a supersized sock puppet that I finally had an idea.


    I exited my room with a few gold coins on me and went towards the gates of the estate. The guards there immediately questioned where I was going, to witch I simply responded, "drinking," while mimicking the motion with my hand.


    The two guards looked at each other for a second, then one asked me to please wait a second before rushing into the manor. Since he had asked nicely and I was in no hurry, I decided to wait  there, with the more and more nervous remaining guard.


    He returned shortly after, with Yvonne following him. Slowly, and trying to make sure I would understand, they explained me that she would be my guide so that I wouldn''t risk getting lost, or in trouble.


    I was fine with it, and having some sort of familiar face around was still better than nothing. Yvonne was also starting to get used to me by now, and only jumped a bit if I made some sudden movement or raised my voice, something that usually happened without me even noticing. So we departed for our odd girls night out.


    She guided me away from the upper district, which had little in terms of businesses, and into the area closer to the daily market, which seemed to be the true heart of the city life. People were mingling about everywhere through the streets, some drinking from wooden cups, some playing simple games on improvised tables. Every now and then a man could be seen entering a building with a scantily dressed woman under his arm.


    As we started going through the more busy streets, people would sometimes call out to me, often by name, and raise their cups to me, or cheer at me in other way in the lack of one. I already had an idea about the popularity of gladiators in the city, but the more matches I was part of, the more it seemed like good free gladiators enjoyed the same fame of famous football players inside the city. The fact that after only three matches people would already call out to me like that was testament to that fact.


    Yvonne kept walking, guiding me through the busy streets until we reached what seemed to be the largest tavern around. As to why she had decided on that particular tavern, it became fairly obvious once I noticed how it seemed to be the only one to have the first floor taller than nine feet in the vicinity, and a door frame that I could easily pass through.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    I pushed the saloon doors open and entered the building. As soon as I entered I was hit by the loud chatting of the multitude of customers sitting on the wooden benches of the many tables on the floor. The sound of a violin and a melodious voice filled the room, managing to be heard over the voices. I looked at the stage, where a young woman with red skin and long black hair was playing the energizing tune. A pair of brown horns started from her temples and curved over her head, above a pair of pointed ears. Her completely yellow eyes devoid of any iris or pupil were fixed on her violin. She was wearing dark blue robes that tightened around her torso, enhancing her curves, and a pair of black boots. A muscular red tail ending in a spearhead shape waved behind her back following the rhythm of the music.


    I froze for a second seeing what looked like a demon playing in a tavern, but I soon had my attention grabbed by an old plump barmaid who came to us and told us to follow her. She guided us through the tables until we reached one closer to the back that had only two men, who looked to be in their forties sitting at it.


    As we went by, the diners turned their attention to us, sometimes whispering among each others. Hearing how the volume in the hall had lowered, the musician looked up from her violin and met my gaze, smiling at me.


    After we sat down at the table, the customers slowly returned to their chatting, while the barmaid asked for our order. Since I still didn''t know much about the customs of the city, or what the establishment offered, I told Yvonne, "you ask. For you too. I pay. I want drink and small food."


    She nodded, and got to talk with the barmaid, ordering for the both of us. When the barmaid left the table, having taken our orders, the two men at the table with us tried to start a conversation with us. They were dressed in pretty good clothing, suggesting they were probably merchants or the owners of some business. Their body language suggested friendly curiosity rather than flirting, so I wasn''t too bothered by it. It also helped that they made an effort to speak slower and using easy to understand words after my, "I no speak well."


    The barmaid returned shortly after bringing with her two cups of ale and a tray with various types of cheese, bread, and some fried battered vegetables. I stopped her before she went away and, using my broken language, asked her for some meat too.


    The cheese was really good, but my taste buds had grown unused to the taste of vegetables after living so long on the mountains, although I found that what looked like fried carrots were an exception. Still, I was really glad when she brought another tray, this time filled with various cured cold cuts and more bread.


    I was somewhat surprised when, before leaving the tray on the table, she asked to pay immediately. I simply gave her a gold coin, and ordered a second round of ale for all the table, since by then our cups had run dry.


    After the second cup of strong ale, conversation became somewhat easier and the language barrier thinner. I soon found myself telling stories of my hunts back on the mountains to whom I now knew were a baker famous for his sweets and a spice merchant.


    At the fifth cup I found myself spinning Yvonne around in the area empty of tables that served as dance floor at the tune of the violin, without even trying to give to what we were doing the semblance of an organized dance.


    At the twelfth cup I had all but forgotten the sadness and restlessness that remembering Tasha during my fight had made surface in me.

 Extra - Bard Song - Commercial Common ConLang

    La alain nocta mi intrir in nu taverno


    Ek mi petir credito al la tavernora


    Ela dir "Vi net ricir nu guto do min


    Prenir la via ek ir hema"


    La alain nocta mi trovir min ante nu domo


    Ek mi dir al la vira "Mi restir tie"


    Mi dir al elan "La luna brilir ek mis violono sir preto par ludir"


    Vi dir al min ke la nocta sir longa


    Vi dir al min ke la luna brilir


    Vi plenir mis glaso ek mi kantir al vin nu kanto


    Ek la muzika komencir al fluir


    Net vi zorgir vin de la luma estere


    Net ce sir signo de lo tago uk de lo agigo


    In mis coro eli sir nocta ankoru


    Ek ni durir haso al lo agigo


    Net eli sir tago, net, mis amo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigoIf you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momiento sir in la Luna


    Net eli sir tago, net par nu po tempo ankoru


    Mi vir la luma de la steyas brilir


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momieto sir in la Luna


    Vi plenir lo glasos na vota ankoru


    Ek net vi zorgir de la botela malplena


    Vi turnir la akva in vino


    Ek vi turnir la festa in jubilo


    Net vi elir estere in lo frio


    Diende blovir lo viento ek lo pluvo


    Intro lo foco sir ankoru varmo


    Ek la muzika ludir


    Net eli sir tago, net, mis amo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Vi dir al min ke la nocta sir longa


    Vi dir al min ke la luna brilir


    Vi plenir mis glaso ek mi kantir al vin nu kanto


    Ek la muzika durir al fluir


    Haso al ke totos lo kantos sir kantir


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momiento sir in la Luna


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momiento sir in la Luna


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momiento sir in la Luna


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso haso al lo matigo


    Net eli sir tago ek net eli sir-haso ankoru


    Lo momiento sir in la Luna

 Chapter 25

    When I woke up, I was surprised to find that I had little in therms of hangover, just a light, easily ignorable headache and a bit of diffused tiredness. I sat up on my mattress and stretched my arms out with a yawn, before putting my hands on the mattress to keep keep me up while I took in the morning light.


    Or at least that had been my intention, instead my hand ended up on something soft and warm. I quickly turned around to see that my hand was resting on Yvonne''s naked thigh. Not that the rest of her was much more covered, as she was barely wearing her underwear, while her disheveled brown hair covered half her face.


    I jumped a bit, seeing her there on my bed, which woke her up and made me finally realize how the only thing covering me was the sheet trying to cling at my waist. She slowly opened an eye groaning something, before burying her face in the mattress to hide from the light of the sun entering through the windows. Just a second later, though, she jumped upright shouting something, before falling back down holding her head while murmuring something else.


    "You ok?" I asked.


    "What happened?" she let out with another groan.


    "No know," I confessed, "did we, ehm¡­"


    I tried to find the words by myself, to no avail. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for me Arvia chose that moment to enter my room, letting out an universally understandable, "what the fuck?!"


    "Arvia! Perfect time!" I said, getting up from the bed while using the sheet as an improvised gown, "I need you to translate for me."


    She put her hand in front of me to signal me to stop and took a deep breath, "wait, wait. What the hell happened?"


    "I don''t know!" I said, throwing my hands in the air, almost making the sheet fall, "We went out for some drinks yesterday. The last thing I remember is us dancing in a tavern. Well¡­ trying to dance¡­ I''m not really good at it."


    She sighed. "That explains it, I guess. What do you want me to translate?"


    "I want you to ask her if we had sex," I said, pointing at Yvonne, who was massaging her head.


    She stared blankly at me. "I think I need a minute."


    I blinked a few times. "Ok¡­?"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    She finally managed to ask, "How?"


    "How what?"


    "How would you even do it with another woman?"


    "Till there are tongue and finger, the fun is never over," I said with a smile.


    "I''m going to kick you," she said with a flat voice.


    "Still, can you ask her? I remember nothing." I said, putting my hands together in prayer.


    "Yes, yes," she said, walking towards Yvonne, who was looking around the room probably much more disoriented than me.


    Arvia told her something, after which she turned to look at me, and I just waved at her. She bleached, before bringing a hand to her crotch as if to check something, then asked Arvia something in what I too could understand was a really worried voice. In all response Arvia burst out laughing.


    "What did she say?" I asked, now a bit worried.


    Arvia dried away a tear from her eye and said, "she asked me if gorchev women have dicks."


    "No!" I shouted in Emestrian.


    Yvonne looked at me confused while shaking her head. She then got off the bed and took her clothes before leaving, still giving me a look as if I was some kind of alien who had just dropped from the sky.


    "I think that''s a no," Arvia said.


    I clicked my tongue. "Dammit."


    "What?"


    "I wish we did," I confessed, as I watched her ass get away.


    She slapped me on a thigh with her leather bag and said, "get dressed instead of gawking, you have a language to learn. Seriously, the hedonism of you gorchevs is astonishing."


    "Hey, we just know how to have fun," I said, winking at her. "Honestly, though," I continued as I put on my skirt, "I didn''t think much about it, but you''re taking this fairly well."


    "Taking what well?" she asked, perplexed.


    I finished tightening my top and said, "Me wanting to have sex with another woman."


    "Honestly? I wouldn''t really call it sex, you''d be just messing around. I used to teach at an academy for noble girls once. I found quite a few kissing each other, or more, when they thought no one was looking throughout the years." She shrugged. "It''s just girls messing around, they always grow out of it when they get married. You will too one day."


    "Well¡­" I said, sitting down on my armchair, "good thing marriage isn''t a thing for us then."


    With the spicy girls talk over, we started our lesson as usual. I had a bit more trouble following Arvia than usual because of the light hangover, but the practice of the night before had apparently been quite useful, as having to communicate without any translator at hand had forced me to put that bit more effort in understanding the language.


    After the lesson had ended, Yvonne came to bring me lunch as usual. This time around, though, she seemed to avert her eyes from me even more than she used to during my first week in the city. When I took the plate from her she even let out a little yelp as our hands touched and practically ran away flustered immediately afterwards.


    Although I could not understand what caused her to change her reactions so much in such a short timespan, I could not deny that I found them quite cute.

 Chapter 26

    On the third day of the week, instead of having Arvia knock on my door for my usual lessons, when I opened the door I found Denzel waiting for me. He had already told me about the match I was supposed to have on Sunday, and, now that I had Arvia helping me with the language he almost never visited, so it was quite the surprise.


    I crossed my arms and asked him, "what is it?"


    "Do you know who Duke Victor of Thraka is?"


    "Not really, why?"


    "Because he invited us at a luncheon. His messenger made it clear that I was to bring you too."


    I took a step back. "Wait a second. What the hell does a duke what with me now?"


    He threw his hands up. "Hell if I know. But he''s the cousin of the king and arguably the third most powerful man in the kingdom. If he say-"


    "Wait," I interrupted him as the hamster in my brain finally made its wheel turn, "I think I know why. I think I met his son at the market the other day with Arvia. He asked me some kind of memento and I gave him one."


    He blinked a few times then burst out laughing. "Excellent! Excellent! You''re truly a natural at this!"


    "Thanks?" I said, unsure what he was referring to.


    "Anyway, we have to get you dressed for the occasion," he said, before shouting something I didn''t quite catch.


    A timid Yvonne and another maid then appeared from another door in the building, carrying a wooden crate that they brought into my room. They then closed the door, leaving Denzel out and closed the blinders, leaving just a fissure to let some light in. When they opened the crate, I was immediately filled with dread. Inside it there were a red dress dress and various utensils to do my hair.


    When I came out my room again, wearing the flowing gown and with my hair curled by an iron, Denzel looked at me for a moment, before laughing so hard he hand to hold his stomach. I just sighed and said, "can I take it off now?"


    He nodded, waving me away, his laughter showing no signs to stop.


    I quickly took the dress off, deciding to go with my sandy brown fur set instead. While I was at it, I took the opportunity to shave the side of my head again, and restyle my hair in the way of the tribe.


    This time, when I came out, Denzel was already waiting next to a carriage ready to depart. He looked at me, and motioned me to get in, saying, "let''s go."


    The carriage was barely high enough for me to not hit the ceiling with my head while sitting, and it took quite some effort to get in. At least the padded seat was comfortable enough, and I had it all to myself while Denzel sat on the one opposite to me.


    "I can''t say it''s the most elegant attire I''ve ever seen, but we can just say that it''s a ceremonial dress of your people, if someone complains," he said as the carriage started moving.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "Well, we do dress like this during ceremonies too, if it helps."


    He shrugged and said, "it doesn''t really matter if it''s true or not, few know your people down here," before turning to look out of the window.


    The ride only lasted a few minutes, as the estate of the Duke was in the same part of the city, which made me think that the carriage was meant more for appearances than actual utility. We were met out of the carriage by a servant, who guided us through the yard up to the entrance of the mansion, which was somehow even larger than Denzel''s.


    Waiting for us there, there were a man in his late thirties with tanned skin and a clean-shaved chiseled jaw, a beautiful woman who had to be ten years younger than him with pale skin and hair tied in an updo held by a braid, who was wearing a yellow gown, and the kid I had met at the market. Denzel bowed to them, and, after taking notice of the custom, I followed soon after him.


    The duke said something to Denzel, part of which I understood was the duke thanking him, after which he raised from his bow and replied with more thanking and a question. The duke said something in return, and Denzel then told me to rise from my bow and that we had been invited because the duke''s soon was apparently a huge fan of me and was really grateful for the small piece of wood.


    More pleasantries followed, then the duke guided us to a side of the mansion, where an archway led into an inner yard, in which a gazebo with a table ready for lunch had been prepared. He had us sit and soon a servant with a food cart came to the table to deliver a variety of dishes. I waited for the others to get served so that I wouldn''t make any faux pas, then, seeing how anyone requested what they wanted off the cart, I too asked for what looked like it would fit my tastes the best.


    With our food now in front of us, Denzel and the duke got into a lively conversation, which i could only understand snippets of, and it sounded like they were trying to organize some kind of event. It finally became clear what they were talking about when Denzel decided to sum up what they had been talking about and told me that there was going to be a large fair to celebrate the year''s harvest and many nobles used to sponsor various events for this kind of fair, as well as individuals to take part in tournaments.


    "So, he wants me to take part in a tournament?" I asked him.


    He shook his head. "No, those tournaments are usually reserved to knights. We can''t risk you squishing a noble''s son like a ripe tomato. He still wants you to take part, since you''re the attraction of the moment, but we''re still thinking about what we could have you do."


    I thought about it for a second then said, "I might have an idea or two, actually."


    He raised an eyebrow. "Let''s hear them."


    "We could have people challenge me to an arm-wrestling match and offer a prize to those who win, everyone who wants to participate would have to pay a fee, and even if they lose, they get some memento from me as a participation prize, to make more people participate," I explained.


    He nodded. "That''s actually not bad. What else did you have in mind?"


    "The city guard is starting to get pretty good. We could give a small demonstration. Or," I continued, "we could have an event for children during which I dress up as a frost giant and they would try to ''kill the monster''. Any kid likes to be the hero of a story, after all."


    He blinked a few times, surprised. "You actually surprise me sometimes. Those are all pretty good suggestions."


    I scoffed at him. "What, you thought we gorchevs were all brainless brutes?"


    "Yes, actually," he admitted without showing a hint of remorse.


    ¡°Do you want to be punched again?" I said, giving him a smile.


    "Ah, no, sorry," he said, obviously not sorry at all, before turning to tell the duke my various proposal.


    He ended up liking all of them, and, since the fair would last three days, he asked me if I could do hold the arm-wrestling event every morning, while the children event would take place for a few hours on the first and last afternoon and the demonstration with the guards on the second one. He also told us not to worry about getting the city guard on board and that he would be the one to talk them into it.

 Chapter 27

    After the talk with the duke, my daily routine ended up being changed quite a bit. The lessons with Arvia had been somewhat suspended, as my mornings were occupied by things like being measured by a squad of seamstresses sent by the duke, trying on costumes, enacting some mock fights with some kids Denzel had picked up from the slums of the city, and deciding on the shape and size of the table for the arm wrestling matches.


    It seemed that what Arvia had told me about Denzel was somewhat true. To convince the kids to help preparing for the fair he had promised them a place to sleep and three portions of food a day and had immediately delivered on his promise, but he had also made it quite clear that the deal would last only until the fair itself.


    While my mornings had been completely turned around, the afternoons were still spent with the guards, but instead of training like usual, I was to keep practicing a choreography over and over for hours every day with the same group of guards. While less physically tiring than the normal training, the monotonous repetition was much more mentally tiring.


    For this reason, during the weekend, I found myself going again to the same tavern I had visited before, accompanied like last time by Yvonne, who seemed to have managed to quiet down her newfound anxiety about me.


    When we arrived at the tavern, we were welcomed again by the same plump barmaid, who now seemed overjoyed to see us there. If there chants of "Anya" that came from some of the customers were of any indications, it was probable that the reputation of the tavern had risen even more after my last visit.


    This time around, when the devil-looking woman who was playing for the crowd saw us, she stopped playing her song and, after giving me a smile, started playing a much more melancholic one. I couldn''t understand most of it, but I managed to grasp the words "ice woman" from it which, coupled with how Yvonne became much more bashful a few lines into the song, almost trying to distance herself from me, made me think it was probably about me.


    The song ended shortly after with an applause by the customers and the usual liveliness of the tavern returned with a new, much more energetic song. By then we were already enjoying our first cup of ale and a tray of food in a table close to the back that had no other diners beside us yet.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Our peaceful time ended quite soon when the bard suddenly dropped on the bench in front of me where Yvonne was sitting. I did a double take when I saw her there but cold still hear the music playing, although with no lyrics accompanying it. When I looked over at the stage, I saw the violin floating in mid-air, still playing.


    My reaction made the devil girl let out a short laugh before she started speaking like a train, making it practically impossible to follow her. Luckily Yvonne quickly intervened telling her that I didn''t know the language well. She nodded, then turned back to me and gave me her hand, saying, "my name is Phoebe," making sure she was speaking slowly and clearly enough for me to understand.


    I nodded and shook her hand, which was surprisingly hot, as if she had a high fever. "Anya."


    The barmaid then came to the table bringing three more cups of ale, one for each of us and, like last time, the alcohol slowly helped me loosen up my tongue. Phoebe seemed to be quite interested in me, asking where I came from, how long I had been in the city, and other simple questions that I knew how to answer.


    Both her and Yvonne were quite shocked when i told them that I was still technically only three years old. Yvonne even tried to take my cup away, but I quickly explained that I was indeed an adult for the tribe, telling them that we grew fast as I had no way to explain the details of the infusion with the little I knew of the language.


    The conversation was getting a bit awkward after that, so I got up and told them that I wanted to dance. Remembering the awkward fumbling attempt of the previous time, Yvonne was quick to deny me, vigorously shaking her head. Phoebe instead was much more into it and quickly changed the song to one with a much more clear and easier to follow rhythm, somehow even adding the sound of drums to it, despite the lack of drums in the room.


    The ability I had when it came to fighting, Phoebe had in dancing, and then some. She even managed to turn my awkward movements into an actual dance simply by making me follow her movements, gifting the customers with the sight of a grey brick house gracefully dancing with a short red devil that barely reached her waist. To make the height difference between us less prominent, a few minutes into the song she started levitating off the ground, so that she could at least be on level with my shoulders.


    After our second song, she leaned in to whisper into my ear, "Anya, do you like women?" then gave me a wide grin that exposed her long canines.

 Extra - Bard Song 2 - Commercial Common ConLang

    Mulkas votas mi mirir do la peu alta colena


    Par trovir seu mi podir vir la vira de glacio


    Vi venir-haso titago uk vi venir-haso dotago?


    Ek seu net vi venir afune, mi sir-haso miserabla


    Oh, vira de glacio, ek netnu alain


    Oh, vira de glacio, ek netnu alain


    Oh, vira de glacio, ek netnu alainThe narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Estir benu, ke bona sana akompanir al vin todende vi ir.


    Mis coro sir malsano ek roto


    Ek mulkas votas la lagrimas fluir do lo mis ojos


    Vi venir-haso tinocta uk mi dovir-haso atendir uk mi sarir-haso la porta cum nu malgayo sospero


    Mis kara promitir a min nu glaso de cerveja


    Ela promitir kelo ek uno balo frenetico


    Nu sirio brilanto ek ojos in coi mi podir vir mis refracto mak mi sir paventa ke ela desmentir-haso


    Do tago mi sir-haso malgayante lagrimosa


    Como uno cinio malante ferido


    Mi habir-haso uno planto de morta sur nu lago herbozo


    Kuando totos desmentir elan

 Chapter 28

    I woke up to the sound of banging at my door and Danzel''s voice repeatedly calling at me. I opened my eyes in the room dimly lit by the light that managed to enter through the cracks in the blinders. I tried to sit up on my bed, but two surprisingly warm arms wrapped themselves around my neck and shoulders as the soft, sleepy groan of a certain devil-looking woman reached my ear.


    Memories from the previous, hot night soon flooded my mind, but they were quickly interrupted when Denzel shouted, "that''s it. I''m entering," from the other side of the door, before opening it wide, letting the light of day invade the room.


    I squinted my eyes at the sudden brightness, before my mind registered the situation in full and I quickly covered myself with a sheet, with way too much delay. When I finally managed to look at Denzel without my eyes complaining about the light, I saw how he was frozen at the door, staring, not at me, but at the woman next to me.


    "Phoebe Akather," he said, with hatred in his voice, following with what I understood was him asking why she was here.


    She waved him off and gave him a half laugh, before replying.


    He shouted, "get out!" at the top of his lungs, his face red from the strain.


    Phoebe laughed again and said, "yes, yes." The next moment she was out of the bed, fully clothed, even though I was sure that just a moment before she was stark naked. She casually walked out of the room, giving a little boop on Denzel''s nose as she exited.


    "What¡­ was that?" I asked, very confused.


    "None of your business, that''s for sure," he snapped at me.


    "Excuse me?! I think it is my business if you start having issues with who I bring in my bed," I said, just a bit pissed off.


    "Oh, fuck off, it''s not all about you." He probably saw my raising eyebrow accompanied by a good degree of anger as he quickly added, "I''m just not on the best terms with her, ok? It''s late, go to work," before leaving.


    I was still way too curious about what had happened so, after playing around with the kids, I went to the only one that could have helped me. Arvia was still tagging along for my choreographing training with the guards, and had told me that I could go to her place in the middle district, not too far from the guards'' barracks, to ask her anything I might have had doubts on, in exchange for a lunch out. She had obviously meant it as helping me with the language, but she seemed to know enough about the gossips of the city to be able to tell me something.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    As we were eating some meat and vegetables skewers, together with some light beer, on the benches in front of a stall, I asked her about the relationship between Phoebe and Denzel.


    She laughed a bit before saying, "oh, that''s actually an amusing story. When Denzel was barely over twenty years old, he was already a well known merchant and land owner around the city. The opportunity came for him to become even richer when a war started and families became unable to pay their debts, since their men were at the front. He started buying houses and buildings left and right. One of those buildings happened to be an orphanage that had stopped receiving funding because of the costs of the war. When he bought it, he kicked out the kids and staff to fend for themselves in the slums and turned the building into a brothel.


    "What he didn''t know, was that the King''s Lyre, that''s what people called Phoebe Akather at the time, and some still do now, although the name King''s Bitch was also popular, especially between the kingdom''s enemies, used to play with the kids at that orphanage and bring them gifts and food from time to time. When the war ended and she returned from the front, she found out what had happened to the orphanage. In the span of a single year, Denzel, the official of that district of the city, a few magistrates, and the king''s regent during the war found themselves in the middle of a street with only a pair of pants to their name. Denzel was actually the only one who managed to recover from that, but it still took him fifteen years to regain the amount of wealth he had during the war."


    "Holy shit! No wonder he hates her guts!" I said, almost spitting out the meat in my mouth. "Wait a moment, though," I said, as I realized something was off, "you''re saying that she was some kind of important military figure when Denzel was in his twenties?"


    She nodded. "Yeah, she held a special rank that put her directly under the king, as did a few other powerful mages. She still does, although now she mostly spends her time screwing around."


    "Wait, how old is she?" I asked, a bit unsure if I wanted to know the answer.


    Arvia shrugged. "She''s probably around two hundred years old."


    I spat out my beer. "Two hundred?!"


    "Well, that''s one of the shorter estimates, actually, as the records of her working for the kingdom go back about a century and a half ago. The others are much higher, some even say that she''s over five hundred, but that''s unlikely as helelins don''t remain that youthful for that long."


    "Helelin?" I asked


    She nodded. "That''s what she is, probably. They''re half demons. But it''s difficult to say, as there are very few around and they vary a lot depending on the demon and the race they''re a mix of. Still, I''ve never heard of helelins living longer than elves, so she must be at most four hundred. The bets are still open, though, and they''ve been for decades. If you go to any tavern in town, they probably have a tab with all the bets."


    "And I thought I was getting popular," I said, before taking a sip of my beer.


    She scoffed. "Humans just like to gossip and mind other people''s businesses a lot. It helps distract them from their own problems."

 Chapter 29

    The days of the fair finally arrived. A miniature, temporary town of tents and stalls had been constructed outside the walls of the city. Dozens of thousands of people were already mingling about early in the morning of the first day. A few were workers, hurrying to finish setting everything up before the rush hours, but most were just folks who had decided to start enjoying what the fair had to offer at an early hour.


    As I went to my stall, I too stopped to buy a second breakfast, consisting of a loaf of bread that had been cut and filled with tripe, vegetables, and a spicy sauce. It was definitely not the lightest of breakfasts, but the smell had been just too good to pass on it, and I didn''t regret it. The crust of the bread was crunchy but not hard at all, the soft, hot filling paired perfectly with it and the spiciness was just enough to be felt without overwhelming the other tastes.


    My booth consisted of a wooden table with a chair on one side for the contestants and a thick cushions on the other side for me, to even the height difference. A small gazebo made of white cloth held up by four wooden poles shielded the table from the sun. The stem of the duke hang high hrom the cloth while a wooden sign facing away from the stall displayed the prices and prizes of the challenge. Behind the sign a small table and a chair had been prepared for Yvonne, who Denzel had once again assigned as my escort, so that she could welcome challengers and manage the money.


    Its location was in the martial area of the fair, which was further away from the walls, so that it could attract customers coming from the city through the maze of vendors with its popular attraction. Both Denzel and the duke were supposedly around, the former managing his gladiators and the latter his sponsored knights and the stalls selling products typical of his territories away from the city, but I had yet to see them.


    We had just managed to make ourselves comfortable in our seats when the first challengers started to tickle in, one every few minutes. Sometimes, when someone bulky enough to look like they''d have a chance tried their hand at it, a few people would stop to look at the short match, then walk away shaking their heads at the losing challenger.


    The gladiator matches were popular with children too, despite, or maybe because of, their violence so we decided to have a reduced challenge for kids too, which had a greatly reduced fee and prize, but was also much easier, as I rested my wrist on the table and the kid could use both hands to try to push my raised index against it. Every time a kid stopped by, Yvonne would also advertise the event in the afternoon tailored just for them.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    After a few hours, when it started to look like beating me was impossible for a normal human, a famous gladiator who worked under a sponsor Denzel often dealt with came to challenge me. As we had previously agreed, we made a big show of the match, both of us holding the table for support while blood rushed at our heads, until I finally let him win, so as to attract more customers.


    We closed the booth around noon and took a break to eat and tour the stalls a bit. Apart from the festive atmosphere and the higher amount of food stalls, the fair didn''t look too different from the normal market held in the city. There were a few booths that sold clothes, fabrics, and novelties from farther regions of the kingdom, but nothing really caught my eye.


    As I was eating bits of fried fish out of a skewer, an otherwise rare treat in the capital, I spotted a certain horned red figure strolling through the stalls. Phoebe quickly spotted us too and walked our way waving at us, causing Yvonne to let out an annoyed groan.


    "Anya! You''re here too?" she said with a wide smile.


    "Wait," I said, a bit taken aback, "why can I understand you?"


    She raised her hand and showed me her pinky, which now had a new golden ring on it, "I got myself a ring of tongues. No matter the language, I should be able to understand and be understood by anyone."


    "That''s a thing?!" I shouted, startling a few of the people around us.


    She laughed. "Yeah, but they cost a lot, and only the Church of Knowledge sells them. I actually rented this for a month and it still cost me over forty golds."


    "Holy shit! Why would you spend so much on it?!"


    She shrugged. "It was starting to get annoying to not be able to speak with you properly."


    I blinked a few times. "You¡­ You did it for me?"


    "Well, yeah," she said, as a matter of fact, "I already know ten languages, and kind of understand a few more. Unless a really interesting lizardman who knows no Common at all pops up out of nowhere, I don''t really need something like this."


    "I don''t know what to say¡­"


    "How about, ''would you like to have lunch with us?''" she said with a wink.


    "Ah, yes, right, sorry," I said, a bit embarrassed, "would you like to have lunch with us?"


    She smiled and said, "I would love to."

 Chapter 30

    After lunch, it was time to entertain children with the ice giant game. I wore the costume, complete of horned helmet, and made my way to a space that was used in the morning to show the abilities of esquires in training. Like that morning, Yvonne accompanied me and managed the payments and customers. Phoebe, on the other hand, had to leave us short after lunch, as she too had places to be.


    We had decided that each session would last about twenty minutes and that up to twenty five kids could take part at the same time. The first hour and a half was a bit slow, with barely a handful of children managing to convince their parents to let them play for each session. The word spread fast tho, and soon we found ourselves completely booked, as parents found it a perfect way to leave their hyperactive kids somewhere where they could tire themselves out without tiring their parents.


    We continued all afternoon until the sun set. By the time it was over, I was more exhausted than any hunt had ever left me. Gladly there was no lack of stalls to buy food and ale from, or spectacles to watch while unwinding from the day''s work.


    As we went through the stalls, we found a temporary open air theater, where a play of sort was being held. Actors would only mimic action, while a narrator told the story and played a lyre. The narrator just happened to be Phoebe, who was still wearing her ring, which meant that, for once, I could actually enjoy something like that too.


    When the play ended, she joined us in our girls night out. I used the occasion to talk to Phoebe about the kids who had helped practice for the fair, figuring that she might have a way to keep them off the streets, after what Arvia had told me. She thanked me for telling her about them and told that she would see that they were placed in an orphanage whose staff she knew treated children well, using the occasion to also pitch the financing of an expansion project for the orphanage to me.


    With the important talks over, we got to drinking but we didn''t go all out, as we all still had work to do the next day, so we bid each other farewell at a somewhat early hour, to go sleep the exhaustion of the day off.


    The second day of the fair started much like the first, and Denzel dropped by to check how things were going in the middle of the morning. After our lunch break, unlike the first day, I went to meet the town guards I had practiced with in one of the larger areas dedicated to martial shows.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The show with the guards was about twenty-five minutes long, with an half an hour rest between shows. The choreographed spectacles attracted quite the crowd of people, who amassed themselves behind the fence showing the duke''s insignia that surrounded the makeshift arena.


    The third day went much like the first, with the morning dedicated to arm wrestling and the afternoon to entertaining children. When the sun started to set, we went to meet with Phoebe, who had asked us to watch with her a magical lights spectacle that closed the fair every year.


    As soon as the sky turned the deep blue of twilight, a red and purple shimmering oval opened in the distance behind the trees far away from the city. I turned towards Phoebe to ask if that was the start of the show, only to see her frozen in place.


    "What is it? Isn''t that the show?" I asked her.


    "That''s a gate spell," she said with worry in her voice.


    She quickly summoned her lyre and played a few strings. In a matter of seconds, a multitude of insignias, identical to those that were painted over every gate of the city and I suspected represented the royal family, appeared in the air over the crowd.


    She then spoke, her voice carried by the wind all over the city. "This is Magister Arcanum Phoebe Akather. Until further notice I am to assume the king''s stead. What is believed to be a gate to another plane has appeared south-east of the city. We expect to meet armed hostile forces.  All civilians are to evacuate inside the walls. The city guards not previously assigned to the defense of the city walls are to regroup east of the martial section of the harvest fair. All trained combatants are to report to the city guard for further instructions."


    As they had come, the insignias disappeared and the chaos spread through the now escaping crowd. Ignoring the people rushing around her, Phoebe turned to me and asked, "do you have a weapon?"


    "No, I''ve been using whatever I was provided with since I got here."


    "Take this, then," she said, summoning a semi-transparent purple battle axe.


    "Wait, shouldn''t we all go behind the wall and deal with the siege from there?" I asked, still unsure of what was actually going on.


    "If it''s what I think it is, we have to close that thing as soon as possible," she said as her feet left the ground. She then motioned me to follow her and started flying over the crowd.


    I turned towards the terrified Yvonne and said, "go!" before sprinting after Phoebe.

 Were on Trending!

    So... I definitely chose the wrong time last week to take a break as the last four days were really hectic. I should have just kept writing last weekend so as to not slow everything down so much.


    I opened the site for the first time today after posting the last chapter and hoooly shit! My followers, favorites, and ratings all doubled or more. I definitely wasn''t expecting this.


    We''re on treding!


    Damn.


    Not even the expanded trending list. First page trending!


    Double damn.


    I still haven''t gone through all the comments that I''ve received in the last week, but I''ll so so as soon as I can. I have read a few, and saw that some really appreciated the conlang extras, which makes me really happy. Coming up with that language and translating those two songs took quite a bit of effort even though I went with the easy route, so it''s nice to see that people liked it.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    I have read the reviews. I appreciate that those who have rated the fiction low have taken the time to point out the issues in detail. This fiction is something that I''ve tried to keep easy to write and (hopefully) easy to read. Something to keep an hour or two of my time occupied during this lockdown. That said, I will try to slowly change my style to make the story a bit slower and go more in detail, especially for what concerns character interactions. Don''t expect something radically different from the get go though, and don''t expect anything mindblowing from the next chapter, as I had already started to write it before this all blew over.


    I should be able to post the next chapter between tonight and tomorrow evening. Things are becoming more busy as work is really picking up now, although most of it is still from home, so I probably won''t be able to return to daily chapters. I will try to post as often as I can, but, as always, I make no promises.


    Anyways, thank you all for all the support up to this moment, I hope you will continue to enjoy this story going forward.