《Valediction》 Chapter 1 One does not say no to a Goddess lightly... Chapter 1 one does not say no to a goddess lightly... ¡°No,¡± the words echoed around the hall, bouncing and sounding again and again, but instead of receding they seemed to grow in volume and strength. No No NO NO! At the time I didn''t know how profoundly those words could change my life. One does not say no to a god lightly. I remember watching as her face twisted in anger, the beauty of it falling to reveal a horrible visage of the ancient twisted thing within. It was this that doomed me, not the refusal, not the fact that I had no wish to do her bidding again, but the fact that I had seen her in her true form, at her most primal, with all the beauty stripped away. And for it she damned me. ¡°I think you forget Ahalfar,¡± her mask back in place. ¡°We have a deal with one another, you keep being my champion, I keep rewarding you the world...¡± thirteen times, I have lived thirteen times, and in it, I have been the hero, the savior, the conqueror, the golden general and countless other titles. Each higher than the last, all of them the heroes of the time, written in history books as examples of perfect men. The only life that was not this way was my first, a simple monk, surrounded by peace and searching for enlightenment. I had found it, much to my current disappointment. She had asked me if I would use my knowledge to help people, had directed me, had blessed me, and in the end, when I was dying of old age she had asked me if I would be her champion. I had been a fool. Surely there is no existence more lonesome than one at the peak. As a monk, I was able to have my colleges, my peers. As a champion, not even that was allowed or ever granted. I had been married many times, but never loved. It was not love I saw in my wife¡¯s eyes as she looked at me, it was worship. It is lonesome at the top. Each life I simply wanted someone I could talk to, someone who saw me for who I was, not what I did, each incarnation growing more and more resentful. More and more envious. Envious of the people I was supposed to serve and protect, to lead and guide, every one of them had the opportunity to find peers, to find love. To not be alone. ¡°Find another to do your dirty work,¡± I said the words, turning and walking away. I didn''t know where I was walking to, seeing as there was nothing around, only that I was walking away. The motion was telling in itself¡­ I breathed in, the foul taste assailing my mouth and lungs as the air rushed in. Someone was grasping me by the hair, painfully and the water was running down my face, falling into the basin below me. In the rippling surface, I could make out my own reflection. The violet eyes, smooth dark skin, pointed knife like ears, I was a Dark elf. A D?kk¨¢lfar. ¡°Still not willing to confess bitch?¡± a voice growled deep and low leaning down over me and the basin. I could see his reflection in the water as well, his face right next to mine, the ugly twisted nose, the curling horns. A Droji. Malen, the Duke¡¯s torturer. The name came to mind as I stared at the man, this body''s past life flashing through my mind at an almost painful speed. It was always like this, I would awaken all my past memories coming to me, the memory of my refusal to the Goddess Altel, and then the memories of the body I had been reincarnated in. perhaps that was the wrong way of looking at it or thinking of it. Seeing as I had been the owner of this body since it was born. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Always a woman, always used and abused in the worse most degrading way possible, and always before my death I would remember and know that this was my punishment, this was the fate of a man who had chosen to refuse the Goddess of life. Ah, the irony. ¡°What is so funny you whore?¡± Malen growled next to my ear, his hands tightening in my hair, pulling it harder I hadn''t even noticed I was chuckling. ¡°I was just remembering the Duke¡¯s death,¡± I smile, blood leaking out of the corner of my mouth to fall into the already pink basin. I watched fascinated as the blood turned into a cloud dispersing slowly like a fog burned off by the sun. ¡°The way he pleaded, the way he screamed as I stabbed him again and again and again.¡± This bodies name was Orasi, long ago, many many deaths before I had decided to separate my life from that of the bodies that carried me before my awakening. This distancing allowed me to put the life in a perspective, made it feel like it was something that had happened to someone else. I was not sold by my parents at the age of seven, I was not raped repeatedly from my tenth birthday up to now by the Duke. I had not become pregnant, only to have the Duke beat me within an inch of my life, causing me to lose my child. That was Orasi¡¯s. And neither the pain nor the joy she felt when she had killed the man was mine either. I had not won his graces back, I had not butchered him, stabbing him for hours and hours on end from one evening to the next morning, leaving nothing more than a bloody mess that could barely be recognizable as a man. And I did not pray to the Goddess. Never that. ¡°You fucking bitch!¡± Malen growled, slamming my head against the metal basin¡¯s side and as my mouth was open to cry out he slipped me back under the water. I will not beg. I will not cry. This is not the worst death I have had. As he pulled me back up he threw me against the back wall, the hands bound behind me were of no help as I slammed against the cold bricks of the cell, my head bouncing twice as it impacted. The arms behind my back twisting at a strange angle as I tried in vain to arrest my fall. ¡°That is enough Malen,¡± a voice said, and both Malen and I looked up to see a Droji man standing looking through the cell bars at the both of us. ¡°I don¡¯t recall giving you permission to interrogate our prisoner,¡± he was a tall man, clad in black iron armor trimmed in gold, the sigil of the house, a two-headed dragon emblazoned on the front of the chest. His long black hair hanging loose behind him. ¡°Jaltan, this bitch-¡± ¡°Is not your concern, and should I find you down here again I will personally see to it that you share her fate,¡± Jaltan growled the words. ¡°Fine, but you and I both know you just want to fuck her-¡± Malen spat at me, the disgusting glob landing on my face. ¡°Not that I wouldn''t mind it myself-¡± ¡°OUT.¡± Jaltan didn''t say the words loudly, but they held a command in his voice, one that Malen followed. Jaltan looked at me once, and just like that he turned on his heels and left. Alone in the dark, I cannot help but chuckle to myself. So many lives, so many deaths, because I had said a single word. No. Apparently, one does not refuse a god lightly¡­ *** It was done, finally done. My magnum opus. The spell that would set me free. Each incarnation I spent all the effort I could between my awakening and my death to carve my soul, each moment of life I pushed myself to carve more and more of the spell into my very soul. The soul is the only thing I take with me when I die, the only thing that stays with me. And finally I have it, it is done. This is the only way to free me of the curse she has laid on me. It will mean losing most of my memories, most of my personality, but I cannot risk losing my hatred, so I carved that into my soul as well, the hate, the reason for it, and the few moments of my lives that are worth keeping. I look up at all the people come to see my execution. I can see the torturer sharpening his blades, the thin knifes coated in salt and inferis venom, designed to burn as they slid into my flesh. For this, they have decided to shame me as well as hurt me as much as possible. I even heard some of the guards talk about the gambling ring they set up to see how long before I cry out. Someone even bet that I would never cry out, he would likely make quite a small fortune today. I choose to not see the guards, the crowds, the duke¡¯s wife. No, I look at her, it is amusing, her attempt to look sad, clearly, she used drops of water to smear her makeup, the only issue is her eyes are not bloodshot, not puffy. She didn''t cry. Can''t blame her¡­ After that I let the memories take me as they march me forward, one guard on either side and one behind, as they parade me out naked in front of the entire crowd. I choose to sink into the memory, ignoring the hungry eyes of the men in the crowd as they look over my body. I remember this old man, long ago locked in a cell for some crime forgotten even to the guard captain, Olan was his name. The filthy man was wearing rags, long rat nested hair covering most of his face as he sat there unmoving in the cell, beard hanging down to mid sternum. The guard had thrown me into the cell after having used me, I remember sitting there, curled up in a ball, crying, tears sliding silently down my face, body shaking with each sob. Covered in dirt, blood, and other fluids I didn''t want to think about. Just wanting to die. He had reached through the bars, pulled me over and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, rocking me back and forth, a dirty hand caressing my hair, his old threadbare blanket wrapped tight around my body as he spoke of anything and everything. His family, the sun, the sky, and how the next life would be better. Olan the saint. I blinked away the tear that filled my eyes with the memory and realized I was now strapped into the leather harness, limbs splayed with the masked man before me. This was going to hurt like hell. The first blade slit in, fire spreading through my thigh as my nerves told my brain something was wrong. The poison on the blade and the salt making it burn even more, I refused to scream, I will not be defeated so easily. The second one was in my calf on my left leg, the blade sheathed there in my flesh, the blood running down my leg in thick red fingers, painting rivers on my dark skin. I smile as I feel the third blade sliding into my arm. Each blade brings me closer. Each one brings me to my Valediction, I will say goodbye to this world, to this goddess¡¯s curse. The spell itself was a complex thing, my own version of a soul rend, with the conditions set to be activated on my death. It will rip my soul apart, shredding it and then piecing it back together, making it so unrecognizable that even the goddess wouldn''t know who I am. It took 27 blades to release me, not once did I utter a sound, not even a moan. I¡¯m absolutely positive that guard is extremely rich now¡­ Chapter 2 And so it begins... Chapter 2 And so it begins... I sigh as my mother once again combs my fur. The thick bone brush in her paws carefully pulling the tangles and smoothing it. ¡°Ma,¡± the words come out of my throat, each one tinged with a slight purr as she so carefully makes sure I am presentable. ¡°Ma, if we don''t go now we will be late.¡± She sighs and turns me around, holding me at arm''s length to look at me. ¡°You look, beautiful daughter,¡± she purrs, the whiskers on her face twitching as her eyes half close in happiness. I feel my own chest start to rumble as she says the words, the purr deep in me rumbling up my throat. ¡°Thank you,¡± I smile, making sure not to reveal the sharp teeth in my mouth, which could be interpreted as a threat. I don''t remember much about my past lives, only small snapshots, pain, rape, torcher, death. The ones I remember the best, however, are the best ones. Olan, the girl Reesia, and Talhuri. Each of there faces burned into my very soul, scorched there so I might never forget. And the goddess¡­ I don''t even know why she cursed me, that memory is lost to me, as was all my lives before the curse. It was the price I had to pay to free myself from the never-ending loop of her anger¡­ The result was me being born as Rinmua, the second daughter of a Khatan Shaman. The Khatan people are a tribalistic people, for the most part, they form clans that roam the upper Poliff valleys and plains three quarters of the year, before settling down in more permanent residences during the colder winter months. My people can be described as humanoid cats. Soft white fur covers my body, long and thick like the pelt of a lynx, all over my body are grey spots like that of a snow leopard, black grey spots outlined in black that cover my back and the sides of my arms and legs. My chest area and between my legs is a pure white color, as is the inside of my arms and the inner part of my tail and thighs. Well, to call them paws is not quite accurate, they are shaped like normal hands, even if they are covered in fur and have pads on the tips of the fingers and the palm, I even have a set of rather sharp retractable claws, they come out when I tense my fingers. Even though we are essentially cats that walk on two legs I have actual hair on my head, not just fur, though it is grey and I like to keep it short so it does not get in my way when I do things. And I definitely have womanly curves. My chest is rather well developed for a woman of fifteen if I do say so myself, nothing massive, but a good handful, and I have a nice wide set of hips, long digitigrade legs that are powerful and designed for running. Though everyone seems to compliment me on my tail most, the damn thing is just ridiculous, and I have contemplated cutting it off more than once¡­ it is nearly as long as I am tall, and is fluffy enough that I often use it as either a blanket or a bed depending on my need at the time. And it is so damned heavy, the weight of it causes my hips to sway back and forth in a rather eye-catching way, it''s not like I am intending to do that, it just causes it on its own you know? Also, I may have six nipples. Two are like a normal person''s, attached to breasts like any human or elf, but the other two sets are under the fur, and apparently only swell to feed kits when they are needed. I look around the little tent that I spent the past 15 or so years in, our people call it a Cham, it is a big circular structure, like a sphere cut in half with a large overhang that acts as a porch of sorts. Inside there are three rooms, one for my parents, the other for me and my sister. And the largest is a family communal area, where the cooking, lounging and afternoon naps are typically handled/ And man were those afternoon naps nice¡­ If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The Cham itself was a pretty neat structure, and at this point in my life I and my sister could tear one down and put it back up in under twenty minutes. The outside was made of the hid of mountain Juji, which are large creatures over twice my size, that look something like bears, if bears were evil. The monsters eat anything, including us, and have blood red eyes and large horns sticking out of its fur like a porcupine. It takes a skilled shot to the eye in order to take out that monstrosity. Though I have to admit it¡¯s thick white fur is quite pleasant on a cold day... My sister and I are the only kits our parents have had, not for a lack of trying I might add. Tent walls are thin you know? Today was a big day, not just for me but also for the tribe, myself and three other Khatan youths are going on our Hurasi. The Hurasi is the right of passage that is required for those of us that have yet to carve our place in the tribe. Well, perhaps that is inaccurate, seeing as it is not that we have not really found a place it was that there was no place for us. A tribe is a closed environment, and like any closed environment people had to be careful who they breed with, which meant that the first born children were the ones that stayed, learned the parent¡¯s trades and took wives and husbands in the tribe, any other children were typically raised with the expectation that they would be sent on a Hurasi, which was a journey where we went to other tribes and presented ourselves, showing off our skills and talents, and if we caught the eyes of someone we were offered a place in that tribe. It kept the bloodlines diversified, and prevented war between the tribes of the upper Pontiff. All in all a good thing, and quite the elegant solution to a number of problems, I, however, was not going to be participating in it. I might act like I was going to, but as soon as I was free of the tribe¡¯s hunting ground I was going elsewhere. As I walk out of the Cham I see my older sister, well I say older, but she is from the same litter as I was, only she was born first. She has already started to learn the ways of a Shaman from our father, a task which I also excel in. Well, at least in the medicinal portion of. Apparently, when I tore my soul apart I damaged it, which is to be expected to be honest. The result was that I cannot use magic, not even to the smallest amount, which was a disappointment to my parents, who both had from what others told me had excellent magical talent. I had no way to gauge, seeing as I don''t know what passes for good or bad in this world. I, however, was not some failure that brought shame to my parents, I was after all the best hunter in the tribe, in fact, it was a title that I had earned and held since my first hunt almost seven years ago. No one could beat me when I used my bow and arrow, I could drop a Juji up to a quarter mile away given a good line of sight and the proper weather conditions. I had also gotten quite skillful with my claws, good enough to take down a Juji when I did miss, which was rare. It was not a feat often attempted, but I had taken down almost seven of those monstrosities with my bare hands. Which had stopped the harassment I had been receiving from males, who always seemed to have their eyes glued to my tail, all I had to do was flex a claw and inspect it and they would avert their eyes so fast it was like they never even looked my way, which was good seeing as I was not interested in men. I don''t know why, every life I can remember I was a woman, and despite that, I found myself physically attracted to women. Not that I had told anyone except my sister. I glance at her and smile, she looks so much like father, think black fur, gold eyes, yeah, and with that Shaman¡¯s headdress of feathers and beads on her head she really looks like a smaller version of father. I look at her, and before I can move she springs forward and starts nuzzling my neck, purring softly as her tail intwines with my own her arms wrapped around my head as she holds onto me for dear life. ¡°Turu, there is no need to hold your sister so, she will likely be picked up in the Gweilin Tribe, everyone knows of her hunting prowess, she won''t be that far away,¡± my mother chides her. Turu, however, says nothing, she knows, she knows that I won''t just be one tribe over, a short distance away, after all, I have been talking about doing this for the past ten years to her. Slowly she nods, not looking at Ma as she reaches down and hands a small rough leather sack to me. Curious I open it and find something I haven''t seen this entire life. Clothes. The Khatan as a people don''t wear clothes, there is no need, seeing as we are covered in fur, everything is hidden, except our top set of nipples, but here in our culture, they are not seen as sexual objects, as for our actual private parts well the fur there covers everything. Khatan males are more like cats than people in that way, with penis that retract back into their body when not in use. And they are barbed. Barbed, No thank you. I look up at Turu and smile, of course, she thought of that, we might be isolated in this upper Pontif valley, but it was not strange to get traveling merchants that came to trade for fur and bone, so most of our people are aware that others in the world wear clothing. Inside was a bright red pair of what looked like shorts, and a red hood, which looks like it was meant to be tied under the arms of the wearer to attach it to and make sure it wouldn''t come off, it is long enough to cover my breasts and part of my upper stomach. It is a kind gesture, and the cloth couldn''t have been cheap, not based on what we get per pelt, and it was not like Turu was the best of hunters¡­ She sure worked hard for my sake¡­ I lean in and nuzzle her on the neck, breathing in her scent deep as I purr against her. ¡°I''ll visit, I promise,¡± I say as I slip a small letter to her, it is meant for mother and father, but knowing Turu she will read it to. It doesn''t matter, it is to explain to them why I left, not in detail, but it should do. And in it, I promised to send more letters to them. ¡°Good luck little Rinmua,¡± my father purrs as he claps a large paw on my shoulder. ¡°Make us proud yea?¡± he says, handing me my hunting bow and a leather quiver of around twenty arrows or so. ¡°Yeah, I''ll be safe,¡± I answer, and nuzzle him and my mother one last time, before spreading the toes in my paws to distribute my weight over the snow so I can walk on top of it without sinking, striking off on my own version of my Hurasi¡­ Chapter 3 Civilization... Chapter 3 Civilization... I look down at the human village below me, nose twitching at the unfamiliar smells, ears on a permanent swivel as the sounds of over five hundred people go about their daily life. It is more people than I have ever seen. Memories of my past lives don''t really count, seeing as they feel like they happened to someone else and not me. It has been almost three weeks since I left the tribe, three weeks up here in the mountains, hunting and traveling. I made sure not to leave any tracks behind, as it turns out my tail makes a perfect broom to sweep my soft pad marks in the snow. And now after three weeks and six broken arrows, I have finally made it to my first non-Khatan settlement. Slowly not really wanting to take my eyes off of the village I pull my leather pack off of my back and pull out the clothes my sister had gotten for me. The shorts were simple enough, all I had to do was make sure my claws in my pads were retracted and then put my leg into them and pull them up. They rode a little low on my rear due to the fact I couldn''t pull them up all the way because of my tail. The shirt hood thing proved to be a little more complicated. I slipped it on over my head and attempted to tie it under my arm, but that really didn''t work. I ended up taking it off and punching a few new holes in it with a claw before using the lace meant to tie it to basically stitch the sides together. Pulling it over my head I ended up having to work it down over my breasts, seeing as I had made it a little too tight. Once it was, however, I did a few experimental bounces and was pleased to see my breasts were not about to fall out anytime soon. I was probably the best dressed Khatan for miles in every direction¡­ Taking a deep breath I shouldered my pack and placed my bow over my shoulder, across my body. It was the most non-threatening way to carry a bow I could think of, besides unstringing it, seeing as it takes a good deal of time to remove a bow when it is slung like this. Slowly I approached the road that I had been shadowing for the past week now and approached the town gates. The frozen mud of the road felt strange under my paws after so long on the soft snow. I am not the only person approaching the wooden balustrade surrounding this town, in front of me is an old man with a small kit, both of them are sitting on the driver board of a cart loaded down with winter vegetables, including gourds of practically every fall color. The little boy on the seat turns around and looks at me, I flash him the best smile I can, even putting in a little purr for him. And he screams. ¡°MONSTER!¡± he yells at the top of his little lungs, the shout not only causes the old man to jump in fright but also draws the eyes of the two sentries posted at either side of the wooden gate, one drawing a sword and rushing forward, the other aiming a bow at me. Quickly I raise my hands, showing them I have nothing in them, my tail bushing up to an even more ridiculous size than normal. ¡°No monster!¡± I say in my broken Gurioan, I know I am bad at it, but I have never really needed to talk in Gurioan, the Tribes have there own language, one that consists of growls, meows, and yowls, each of them punctuated with body language. The only time I had ever spoken Gurioan was when the traders came in every year. ¡°Rinmua is no monster! She is Rinmua!¡± I nod as I continue to hold my hands up, my ears spread in a placating manner. The guard seeing this looks at me suspiciously, but he lowers his sword which I take as a good sign.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°What is a catfolk doing here?¡± he asks looking at me curiously, slowly I lower my hands and sigh out in relief. ¡°Rinmua is traveling, she wishes to become an adventurer, this is the closest settlement to her tribe,¡± I answer truthfully. ¡°Grandpa why does it talk so funny?¡± the little brat asks looking up at his grandpa. Hey now, tense is hard you know? The Khatan don''t have words for me and I, we identify ourselves via smell, meaning there is no need, and after fifteen years it is a hard habit to break. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°She-¡± he emphasized the word, making it sound like a reproach toward the little kit for calling me ¡®it¡¯ ¡°is a Khatan, and you should apologize to her, you could have gotten her in trouble like that.¡± Ah, what a good old man¡­ ¡°But she growled at me!¡± ¡°Khatan don''t growl, they purr, it is a sound they make when they are happy.¡± he informs his grandson before turning to me, ¡°I am very sorry about my grandson, we don''t see many Khatan around here so he overreacted.¡± ¡°Rinmua understands,¡± I smile and cock my head a little to the side purring slightly before turning back toward the guard. ¡°Rinmua wonders if there is a guild house for adventures here? She would like to visit it.¡± ¡°Yeah it is on the main road, next to the town square, hey listen cat, no funny business alright?¡± he growls at me before walking back to his post mumbling something under his breath, I only catch the last part of it, ¡°At least she is wearing clothes, not many clothes, but still...¡±it would seem my sister made a wise decision getting these for me... *** I seem to be quite the sensation. People are stepping out of buildings and stopping what they are doing just to look at me, most of them with nothing more than curiosity, though some are looking at me with more hostility than I care for. I very well might be the only Khatan they have ever seen. The population here is not solely human, though they do make up the majority of the people. I have on my short walk to the middle of the town seen two dwarven men, and even one wood elf. There also seems to be a harpy who works as a mail distributor, if the pouch slung around her shoulders is anything to judge by. Perhaps I can get her to fly a message to my family? No, too far, I''ll have to send it with the traders¡­ Speaking of the traders I always thought that they were just tall for their race, it turns out that they were average height, seeing as I might be the shortest creature here except the dwarves. My people apparently aren''t that tall compared to other races... It is not too hard to figure out which building is the guild hall, seeing as just like the guard had said it was the building next to the town square, and seeing as there are several armed men and women marching in and out of it like they are on some sort of mission. Making my way there I reach out and push the door open, inside there has to be around fifty people, some of them lounging in chairs drinking alcohol, others browsing jobs that are posted on a board on the right side of the hall. Even more, are standing in lines waiting to see a clerk. As I open the door and step in the hall fall¡¯s silent, every eye on me. Careful to not allow my ears to bend submissively I walk into the guild hall and put myself into one of the three lines. Slowly everyone gets back to what they were doing, though they now do it while watching me. It takes a full five tense minutes before I am in front of the clerk, he is a willowy man in his mid-thirties I would guess, his brown hair receding in an unsightly manner. He looks at me one eyebrow raised, ¡°Yes how can I help you~?¡± ¡°Rinmua would like to apply to be an adventurer,¡± I say looking up at him. He says nothing, and simply fishes a sheet of parchment out and places it in front of me. ¡°Fill out the form and hand it back, it will be processed in a day or two, and you will be given a guild card,¡± he says the words like he has said them hundreds of times which were most likely true. I, however, don''t really hear them, instead, I stare down at the paper, a feeling of dread welling up in my stomach. I made an oversight, quite a large one in fact. I can''t read Gorioan. Chapter 4 fateful encounter... Chapter 4 fateful encounter... ¡°I can fill out the paperwork for you for a gold piece,¡± he said causing me to look up, there was a sneer in place on his lips. I didn''t have any gold¡­ ¡°Oh¡¯ Runin, you grubby bastard!¡± a voice called out from behind me and turning I saw a tall bear of a man walking towards us. He was bald, and stood a full head taller than the man at the counter, meaning he simply towered over me, I barely came to the lower part of his sternum, he stepped next to me and leaned over the counter, his bushy blond eyebrows shadowing his eyes, the mustache on his face quivering as he spoke in a low tone. ¡°You may be able to pull a fast one over on her, but you can''t do that to me...¡± Wha~ What was going on here? ¡°There is nothing in the rules that prohibits me from charging to fill out the form for her.¡± the clerk apparently named Runin crossed his arms and leaned back, not budging an inch in the face of the Bearman''s menace. I suddenly have more respect for this clerk. ¡°You ass, there is no fee for filling it out!¡± And there goes my respect for the man¡­ ¡°There is now,¡± Runin said, still not backing down. ¡°Fine, I''ll do it then,¡± the Bearman snatched the paper and a quill and poised it over the paper before looking at me. ¡°Name?¡± he asked. ¡°She is called Rinmua,¡± I answer. ¡°How do you spell it?¡± he asked me, then pauses, ¡°Dumb question, seeing as if you knew that you would be able to write it yourself,¡± he chuckled to himself. ¡°Place of birth?¡± ¡°She is from the Pontiff valley, Jurina Tribe.¡± ¡°Jooorrriiinnnnaa Tribe,¡± he sounded out as he wrote it down. ¡°Ok, you are a female Khatan, what is your age?¡± ¡°15,¡± he glances up at me a look of surprise on his face but then he simply looks down and scratches a figure on the paper. ¡°You use the bow, so Archer, any other weapon skills?¡± I flex my claws and he looks at them, ¡°Hmm, there is not a checkbox for claws, so other it is¡­ toughest animal you have killed?¡± ¡°Juji, Rinmua has killed many many Juji,¡± I answer proudly, but he simply looks at me confused. ¡°Juji?¡± Ah so that is the issue, I pull off my pack and pull out the fur I had taken off of the Juji I had last killed and held it up to him, the damn thing is so tall, I can only lift part of it but it is more than enough to see what it is. ¡°Ursinar?!¡± the Bearman looks surprised before shaking his head, ¡°I don''t believe you,¡± I pull an arrow and point it at the bear¡¯s eye. ¡°You shot it in the eye,¡± to which I nod, and then I flex my claws and show him the ripped section that was the Juji¡¯s throat. ¡°And you clawed it¡¯s throat out?¡± I nod again. ¡°There is no way in hell you did that alone...¡± I drop the Juji¡¯s pelt and rush forward, using my leg to kick his knee powerfully, before he can blink he is down on one knee and my paw is swiping past his neck, softly, of course, seeing as I don''t have my claws out, it likely simply tickled him. Stolen novel; please report. The guild fell silent, someone lets out a low whistle as the Bearman reaches up and touches his neck looking relieved when his fingers don''t come away bloody. ¡°I see...¡± slowly he gets up and writes once more on the paper, while he does this I stuff the Juji back in my bag. ¡°Khatan are known for hunting Ursinar after all...¡± he mumbles to himself as he writes. ¡°¡®Kay, all that is left is for you to sign it,¡± he pushes the paper my way and I look at it. ¡°Sign it here,¡± he says pointing to a small section on the paper. Well, that is an issue. Nothing for it I simply sign it in my language, the characters look odd and angular next to the more fluid human writing. Oh well, nothing says I have to write it in any specific language¡­ like that I push the paper back to the clerk who takes it and with a sower expression stows it away in a filing box with other applications. ¡°It will take a day or so to be filed and then we will issue you a card, please return here tomorrow to get your card, failure to do so will forfeit you from the guild and you will not be allowed to apply at this branch again, Now NEXT!¡± I pick up my bag and sling it over my shoulder and am about to leave when the large Bearman calls out to me. ¡°Hey wait just a second for me ok?¡± Not really knowing what to do seeing as he did help me out so much I simply nod and wait for him to finish his work with the clerk. After which he stomps over to me and smiles. Well perhaps stomps is the wrong word, seeing as it is likely just due to the weight of his feet and equipment, but I could still practically feel the ground vibrating as he walked towards me¡­ ¡°She thanks you for the help,¡± I bow my head, touching the nose on my face with the two middle fingers in a traditional sign of thanks. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, that guy is just an asshole, by the way, you said your name was Rinmua right?¡± I nod, ¡°You mind if I call you Rin? That seems a lot easier and quicker to say,¡± I look at him and finally nod. ¡°She can be Rin,¡± I say slowly. ¡°Good, then Rin, are you going to sell that erm,¡± he looks at me, ¡°Juji pelt?¡± I simply nod.¡± Ah, ¡®Kay, then you should follow me, the best place to sell that is at Olams, he is a little bit of a swindler but you should still get a decent price for it.¡± and with that he turns and leaves, Rushing forward I dart in front of him and cause him to stop moving. ¡°What is up?¡± ¡°Rin wonders why she should follow a man who has yet to tell her his name~¡± ¡°Oh!¡± he slaps his bald forehead as his face lights up in understanding. ¡°I am so sorry, honestly Alaina says I would forget my ass if it wasn''t attached to my rear, my name is Harland, pleased to meet you,¡± he sticks out that massive bear sized paw and I hesitantly shake it. ¡°Good now that we are acquainted let''s go sell that Juji pelt!¡± Why do I suddenly feel like I was drafted? *** ¡°That is highway robbery Olam!¡± Harland slammed his big meaty fists down on the counter, it is a surprise the damn thing didn''t break under the impact of the blow. ¡°Now offer her a proper price!¡± This was a highway robbery? The thought made me want to cry, seeing as the price he had initially offered me was in itself more than twice as much as the traders paid for the pelts when they visited¡­ My people are being swindled¡­ In fact, the price that this one Juji hide would bring me is more money than I have ever seen in my life at one time. ¡°Fine, but no one can ever say Olam is unkind, my last offer is one silver, five gold, and thirteen copper.¡± it was a staggering price, I even got one silver! Money in this world was interesting, the cheapest was of course copper, but the next was gold, with silver being the highest currency. The reason for this was not that this world had more gold than silver or anything like that, but was rather a matter of usefulness. Gold didn''t hold spells. Silver, on the other hand, was amazing at taking enchantments, meaning it was more valuable due to its utility. So while gold was less common, silver was the most expensive. In fact, it took 10 pieces of gold to equal one silver coin, and 100 copper coins to be the same as a gold. ¡°She accepts!¡± I practically shout out the word not caring for the pitying look Harland gives me. A whole silver? What could I buy with that? Anything! Carefully I take the money that is placed on the counter and put it into my bag, making sure to put it under some minx fur to prevent them from jingling as I move and announcing to any thieves that I have coins to take. ¡°I guess that is a passable price,¡± Harland sighs, ¡°Where to now Rin?¡± ¡°She wonders if there is a fletcher in town? Rinmua broke a few arrows and has no more feathers to fletch new ones...¡± why is he helping me out anyway? ¡°Yeah, sure, but you can also simply buy arrows from the smith, he has a good selection, also don''t you want some erm, clothing?¡± I look down at my body, it looks fine to me, in fact, all of the important bits are covered already. ¡°You are talking to a Khatan, they traditionally don''t wear clothes...¡± Olam says, and Harland looks up at him surprised. ¡°You''re shitin¡¯ me, no clothes?¡± ¡°Rinmua¡¯s tribe has no need for clothes, we have fur yes?¡± I shrug, ¡°Rinmua¡¯s sister gave her clothes so that she didn''t look strange to the humans.¡± ¡°No joke, so you all ran around naked?¡± ¡°Fur,¡± I say, pulling on a patch of thick fur on my stomach to show him. ¡°That is in no way the same thing...¡± he is right, I am sure I would want to wear clothing in one of my previous lives, but not wearing it is something I have gotten used to you know? ¡°You mean you saw you own father naked?¡± I nod, then pause. ¡°Rinmua¡¯s father is the tribe shaman, he wears the shaman¡¯s headdress,¡± I mime the feathers above my head and Harland looks at me stricken. ¡°He wore a hat and nothing else?¡± I nod. ¡°Gods that''s worse than just being naked!¡± its funny, seeing as I would have likely thought the same thing in any other lifetime, but now its just natural to me¡­ ¡°lets go before I get more disturbing thoughts in my head...¡± he mutters as he walks out of the store, shouldering my bag I quickly hop along to follow him. Chapter 5 New companions... Chapter 5 New companions... The smithy was actually quite close, just a block away, and it was easy to find due to the smell and the sound of ringing metal as the man had his apprentices beat a sheet of burning steel flat. Like Harland had said, there was indeed arrows here, but as I picked them up I felt dissatisfied with them. The balance was off, all of them were about two inches to close to the front of the arrow, you could counterbalance that my cutting groves into either the arrowhead or the shaft near the front but that would also make the arrow weaker, and if you removed too much then you risked losing the arrowhead in the target¡­ With a sigh I placed the arrow back into the barrel it was in and looked at the other items in the shopfront. There were blades and swords and axes and even full suits of armor on display, none of which were of any consequence to me. Oh well, hopefully, there was a propper fletcher in town, that way I could make my own arrows. Turning I looked over at Harland, who was negotiating for something with the armorsmith, walking over I noticed that it was a suit of armor that would in no way shape or form fit him. Firstly because it was too small, secondly, because if the shape of the chest was anything to go by then it was intended for a woman. ¡°Ah there you are Rin, was just negotiating to get you some proper armor, you cant be tagging along with me and not have something decent to wear after all!¡± he laughed and slapped me on the shoulder, the blow was massive and I almost faceplanted into the counter when it hit me, though I don''t think he did it on purpose. ¡°She is fine, she does not need the armor~¡± ¡°Nonsense, I insist, I would feel horrible if you were to get injured out there!¡± he laughed again. I really don''t get this guy¡­ ¡°Rinmua does not need armor, armor restricts mobility and makes to much noise,¡± he glanced at the armor and back at me, thinking. I start to feel guilty because he bought it for me and I am acting like I don''t want it¡­ ¡°She thinks she can wear it if some parts are removed~,¡± I say, already feeling like I am going to regret this¡­ ¡°We can adjust the armor, that is one of the services we provide when you purchase a full set,¡± the smith says. ¡°What parts do you need to be changed or removed?¡± slowly I take an actual look at the armor. It was a dark brownish gold, meaning it was probably made from bronze. Though his world already had iron and steel forging and casting there was still a good amount of bronze in use, this was likely due to man factors, for example Iron and steel would rust, bronze, on the other hand, would not, and it could even be cold hammered, meaning a person could repair it without a forge. Meaning while it was not as tough as steel it was easier to maintain. ¡°She wonders if the arms could be removed, they would get in the way of shooting,¡± I point to the arms, which are easily removed, seeing as they were simply strapped on with leather strips. ¡°Her legs would also not fit, not the right shape,¡± it was made for a person with normal legs, not my digitigrade legs¡­ *** By the end of the affair I had them remove almost half of the armor, the legs were completely removed, though I had them keep the assets, which were the pieces that hung down from the cuirass to protect the thighs and groin area. The cuirass itself I ended up having them remove most of the plates in the middle, leaving my stomach exposed, much to Harland¡¯s displeasure, but he acquiesced when I told him I needed to be able to move and bend more than the armor allowed. I also ended up keeping the vambraces, seeing as they would be good for when I shot an arrow and it happened to slide past my arm. Honestly, the armor didn''t feel too bad, I tested it by rolling around and leaping a little, much to the delight of the smith and Harland. The pieces we didn''t use we sold back to the smith, and when I asked he pointed me to a fletcher located down the street. There I was able to get the resources to make my own arrows, the shaft was a little on the long side but I could cut it down, and the fletching was a little poor, the feathers missing some sections, but I have worked with worse before. I didn''t need any arrowheads, seeing as I had a hide sack in my bag that held about sixty or so that I had made myself. By the end of the day I had spent most of my gold and coppers, I still had my silver and twelve coppers. With luck, those coppers would be more than enough to get a room in an inn. ¡°Is that everything you need?¡± Harland asks me, I look up at the big bear of a man, still wondering why he is being so helpful, but nod. ¡°Good, then let''s go to the inn,¡± before I could say a word he picked up my bundle of arrow shafts and fletching and walking off. I ended up following him, mostly because the inn that he was talking about was the only inn in the entire settlement. Without any reservations he kicks in the door and strides right in, I only pause a second before following. ¡°Harland!¡± a tall man with a ridiculous hat raises a hand holding a mug of beer, causing the contents to slosh out over his knuckles, not that he seems to mind. I look at the man, he seems to be around twentyish, with a scruffy beard that was a dark brown color and long hair he seemed to perpetually be pushing out of his eyes. He was wearing a long midnight blue robe that was belted at his waist, and he had a staff of gnarled wood leaning up against the table.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. So he was a mage. I wonder if he is an inherent gift magician? Another name for one is a sorcerer. A sorcerer is born with abilities and doesn''t need to study and can use magic more readily than other types of Magi, the downside of being a sorcerer was that they were often less versatile than other magic users, and they typically could only use a handful of spells they were born with, though in those spells there was no match to their prowess and control. He could also be a Theurgist, or a warlock, meaning he has made a pact with a higher spirit who supplies him with magical powers for a price. Or perhaps a summoner. I really doubt he is a Vancian, or a wizard, seeing as they have to rely on rule magic and usually take years to learn, which ends up making them old men before they are powerful enough to be useful... I blink my eyes, clearing away the flash of knowledge from a previous life, I never know what is going to trigger them, but every time it happens I always get this unpleasant feeling there is some other person inside my head, even if that other person was once me it is still disconcerting¡­. Sitting next to him is a woman wearing white and grey, with a gold lace on the borders of her robes, if I had to guess she might be a restoration mage or a healer. My other selves apparently don''t feel the need to fill me in about other types of healers, so I continue to look at her. She has pretty blond hair that she has braided at the side of her head and pulled back so that both parts meet forming a sort of tiara of woven hair on her head. Her bright liquid blue eyes stare at me in curiosity. ¡°Ah,¡± Harland sighs as he sets my package down on the table with an unnecessarily loud thump. Before leaning over and snatching the mage¡¯s mug of amber liquid and downing it in a single gulp. ¡°This, this is why I never wish to go shopping with women,¡± hey now, that is unfair! You practically threw yourself on me and demanded that I take you with me! ¡°Ah well, such is the burden of men.¡± ¡°Amen to that brother,¡± the mage said, producing a flask from under his robes and toasting before downing its contents. The healer just rolled her eyes at that and went back to looking at me. ¡°Now, what did the cat drag in?¡± he asks looking at me, ¡°or rather did the Harland drag the cat in?¡± What have I been drafted into? ¡°Introductions! Introductions!¡± Harland bellowed, slamming the mug and his fist down on the table. ¡°I¡¯ll start! I am Harland Smithson, my father was the smith of Abersferd, a small rinky-dink town that will never be put on a map of any type, I started adventuring when I was 18 and have been at it for the past 7 years! I use a battle ax as my go-to weapon! Next!¡± he points at the mage, who finishes his drink and obliges the bear of a man. ¡°Tamerian Hlakin, My father was a bastard who disappeared and my mother was a whore,¡± I looked at him in horror, who would talk about there mother like that? He snickers at my look and continues, ¡°No really, she was a prostitute, at the age of 16 I started adventuring, I am a sorcerer who is adept with fire spells and as such my staff is my go-to weapon! I came from nowhere special and will only return to rub a few people¡¯s faces in it when I am filthy rich.¡± ¡°Alaina Grestu, I am a healer trained in Saint Cydrans holy order, I do not know who my parents were as I was left at the Cydran orphanage and raised there, where I received my training, my weapon is my mace,¡± I look at the giant two-handed war flail sitting next to her with surprise, it doesn''t even look like she could lift the damn thing. ¡°I am proficient with healing spells and buffs, as well as close quarters, combat if needs be.¡± ¡°I can also hit things over the head with my stick,¡± Tamerian interrupts, before backing off when the healer/paladin gives him a glare that could melt iron. ¡°I started adventuring when I got too old to be housed in the orphanage at the age of 18,¡± she finished. All three of them looked at me. ¡°She is named Rinmua, her father is the shaman of the Jurina tribe, from the Pontiff valley north of here, she has just started adventuring and she is fifteen, also she uses a bow,¡± I lightly touch the bow that is slung over my shoulder. ¡°And claws, she has been hunting Juji since she was seven, and is the best hunter in her tribe.¡± I think I have everything covered with that¡­ ¡°Juji?¡± Tamerian asks looking confused. ¡°Ursinar, which is apparently what the Khatan call Juji.¡± ¡°Ahhhh,¡± Tamerian nods his head in understanding, ¡°and how many people do you normally take to take one down?¡± ¡°Just Rinmua,¡± I say proudly, and Tamerian chokes on the ale he is pouring down his throat at that. Harland slaps him on the back several times helping the man get his coughing under control. ¡°Just you? Since you were seven?¡± Alaina asks skeptically. ¡°No, no,¡± I shake my head and explain further. ¡°Rin hunted in a pack until she was ten!¡± of course I could have done it alone, but even the tribe had its limits. ¡°Bullshit,¡± Tamerian coughed out, wiping the ale and spit from his chin. ¡°No, it''s true!¡± Harland came to my defense, ¡°I saw the pelt myself!¡± ¡°Yeah and I am the Jarl¡¯s court wizard,¡± Tamerian sneered. ¡°Let''s face it, you sir, are a terrible judge of character, you remember the last archer you let join us?¡± he screwed up his face and puffed out his chest, changing his voice to no doubt mimic someone. ¡°I''m the best archer you will ever find! I can shoot a target the size of a fly at a thousand feet! Blah blah blah blah!¡± he looks at Harland and returns to his normal demeanor, ¡°and then what happens? Hmm? He freaks out the first time we run into a decent fight, tries to flee and gets eaten by an ogre...¡± Alaina shudders and adds, ¡°The asshole was also always groping me...¡± that is a brave man to grope a woman that could swing that monster of a mace. ¡°I say we test her before she comes with us anywhere dangerous.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Tamerian says. ¡°This is fine, but she is tired now, she has been traveling for many weeks perhaps in the morning?¡± ¡°That is fine,¡± Alaina agrees. ¡°Good, then she will go get a room~¡± ¡°Why waste the money?¡± Harland laughs, ¡°I am sure Alaina doesn''t mind sleeping with another woman, why not bunk in her room?¡± I look at Alaina who simply shrugs, which is good enough for me. ¡°I am tired as well, I think I will turn in,¡± Alaina says and motions me to follow. The room turns out to only have one bed, and when she offered to go get the innkeeper to get me a matt I told her I didn''t need it. I simply started stripping my armor and clothes off. ¡°What are you doing?¡± he asks, her cheeks red as she watches me pull the hood over my head and off. ¡°Khatan don''t wear clothes, Rin only chooses to do so to not look odd in front of others, but she cannot sleep comfortably in them,¡± I answer, and lay my massive tail on the ground before curling up on top of it. Alaina just looks at me and then at my tail, muttering something about how it wasn''t fair that I could carry around such a nice looking portable bed¡­ Chapter 6 Juji hunting... Chapter 6 Juji hunting... ¡°This should work then right?¡± Tamerian asked holding up a blue stone with a leather thong attached to it. ¡°It a scrying stone, you tie it around your head, and then we simply scry it, we will be able to see what you see without interrupting your hunting abilities.¡± he grabs a bowl and pours a small amount of water, before saying an incantation and showing us all how well it works. ¡°She thinks this is good,¡± I nod, taking the stone and tying it around my forehead, making sure my hair does not get in the way. ¡°Now you see what she sees.¡± ¡°That is weird man, being able to see yourself from another¡¯s eyes,¡± Tamerian whispers looking up from the scrying bowl at me and back down at the bowl again. ¡°Have you never looked in the mirror before?¡± Alaina asks looking at him skeptically. ¡°That¡¯s not the same,¡± he waves her off. ¡°Now go hunt, let''s see how good you actually are.¡± with a nod I shoulder my hunting bow and take seven arrows with me. It takes a few minutes to get out of town, but once I am out I spread my toes and lightly start running on top of the snow. It really is accumulating quite well this time of the year, last night there must have been a good three inches. Juji are not really bears, they may look and act like large bears, but in reality, they are not. There are several things they do that a bear does not, or that a bear does that they do not. Hibernation, for example, bears hibernate, Juji do not. They stay awake all winter, which means they need a good amount of food to keep them in their peak condition. So they eat anything and everything. There is more than one story of a careless hunter never returning to the tribe. And there were even more stories about kits who wondered to far away¡­ I took my trot into a run, sprinting across the top of the snow towards the hills and trees about a mile distant. The power in my legs made such movement easy, and I reached it in only a few minutes. These thick forests were the perfect place for a Juji. Close enough to civilization to be able to pick off stragglers, but far enough out that they could vanish into the trees before a full force could be called to muster. No one said the Juji were stupid. It took me almost an hour before I spotted the tracks I wanted. It was a small one, which should make this easier. Leaning over I placed my nose a mere inch above the snow and breathed in, smelling the pungent scent of the beast. It was cold, probably about 45 minutes to an hour old, and the spread of the tracks seemed to indicate it was not moving too quickly, more like it was a slow lumbering trot. I could catch it. Smiling to myself I fell into the rhythm I had grown so accustomed to, adjusting my bow and quiver on my back I sunk down to all fours and started running for real. Khatans are naturally fast, the power of our legs is outstanding, add that with the natural way we can spread out toes and stay on top of the snow and you have quite an outstanding creature in any snowy environment.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. But that was not the fastest we can run. With my front paws on the ground, I can sprint at twice my normal speed, using my arms like the front legs of a hunting cat. It was why my fingers had pads after all. Like this, I could outrun a pack of wolves. Easily. Springing forward I followed the beast''s path, weaving in and out between trees and bushes, moving at such a speed the very landscape around me started to blur. I love running like this, it always feels so freeing. While I ran I kept scenting the air, breathing in and knowing how close I was to the beast. It took me fifteen minutes to catch up. When the scent was strong I allowed myself to tumble forward, using the snow to cushion my blow as I rolled, bleeding off almost all of my momentum and landing softly on my belly. Carefully from this prone position I looked around, first left and then right before crawling forward across the snow. Creeping slowly around the bush I found my prey. It was like I had gleamed a smaller Juji, it sat there munching on the carcass of some animal, at this point, it was just an unrecognizable lump of meat and blood, though I think I saw a hoof somewhere in there for a second, so likely a deer or elk¡­ The monster had his back to me, happily munching away, not realizing its end was neigh upon it. Ignorance is bliss after all¡­ slowly without making any noise I raised myself to my knees and pulled the hunting bow off of my back. It was one my father had made me, a unique thing made from alten wood, which was almost as tall as I was. Funny enough the wood was practically the same color as my armor, a deep bronze. The unique thing about it was the fact that instead of one string, it had two, meaning if I nocked one arrow on either side, allowing them to rest on the arrow rests I could fire two arrows at once¡­ or I could knock both and fire them one after another. Which was what I was about to do. Pulling two arrows out of my quiver I knocked the first one on the right side and the second one on my left. Pulling them both back with the pointer and middle fingers on my right hand I breathed in as I drew the bow back and aimed at the beast. I pulled the arrows to the point where my fingers almost brushed my chin and steadied my aim by holding my breath. I let out a breath as I let the first arrow fly, I did so by tilting my fingers slightly, allowing the string on the left side to slide out of my grasp. The left half of the bow sprung forward, contrary to what most people believe it is not the string that propels the arrow, it is rather the bow snapping back to its original position, my bow is split in half most of the way down the middle, meaning I can fire both sides independently. Its like I am holding two bows in one hand. The arrow sunk deep into the Juji¡¯s shoulder, causing it to stumble forward slightly, but only for a second as it rose to its feet and turned and roared at me. I looked into its red eyes, past the blood covered snout and released my second arrow. Without fail it entered the Juji¡¯s right eye, causing the roar to turn into a whimper as it stumbled back, temporarily blinded as it swiped at its face in pain and anger. I didn''t have long. Dropping my bow I sprang forward with all the speed I could muster, covering the twenty or so meter distance between myself and the nine-foot-tall Juji in a second or two. I lept up off of the ground with a shower of snow and ice as my hind paws tore into the woodland floor, bending my legs I placed both of them on the trunk of a tree to the right of the Juji and used it to give myself another boost. As I flew by the thrashing creature I reached my hand out, claws extended, catching onto the Juji¡¯s fur. The momentum swung me around the beast¡¯s back, claws carving four bloody grooves across the artery on the right side of his neck. Blood painted the pristine snow in arterial red as I arrested myself on his back, reaching around to the other side I reached down and by sheer will sunk my claws into the unmarred flesh on the left side of the Juji¡¯s neck, using my legs I pushed up, allowing my claws to slide through that side, slicing that artery clean through as well. That done I lept off of his back the force propelling me in a full ark so that I landed crouched on my feet, one hand extended out to the right, ready to attach again should the need arise, and the other hand planted in the snow. There was no need for a second attack, however. The Juji turned and looked at me, taking one step before falling with an earth-shattering thump. I stayed there watching it for a few more minutes before I moved. Juji were smart after all. That was how I got those three scars on my nose, it could have been my face¡­ you only make a mistake like that once¡­ walking over I grabbed my bow from where I had left it in the snow and slung it back over my shoulder. The hunt was done, the fun was over, now it was time for the work. Sighing I extended the claw on my right hand and went about the arduous task of cleaning and skinning my kill. I hope they liked the show¡­ Chapter 7 Liquid heaven... Chapter 7 Liquid heaven... It took hours to clean the better part of four hours to skin the Juji and pack the fur away, along with the choicest cuts of meat, which I packed with snow and placed inside my bag wrapped in minx fur. The rest I was forced to leave, seeing as I had no hope to carry the nearly thousand pound animal with me. Normally this was when others of my tribe would come to harvest the meat, between myself and about fourteen others it was not too hard to get a full Juji back to camp. The thought brought pangs of hurt to my chest, and a longing to go see my tribe and parents. But I couldn¡¯t, even if I wanted to the curse I had burned into my own soul forced me to find some way to bring the goddess low. It was times like this I had wished I could meet the old me, I would tell her the best revenge is simply defiance, if she had allowed me to live in peace, then we would both be happier for it. But instead in my previous lives, I had carved such hate in my soul that now, even with the peaceful life I had been living for the past fifteen years I still burned with hate and the need for vengeance. I envy souls who forget after death. Ignorance is bliss¡­ SIghing I finish the rest of the sprint back towards town, making sure to wash my bloody paws off in an icy creek, cant be having the guards see that, they don''t trust me enough as is¡­ As I am walking back in town I see someone I know, not from Harland¡¯s group,but rather one of the traders that makes his way up to my tribe every month or so, I now know that he is swindling my people but I can''t really call him on it seeing as I want him to deliver letters for me to my family. I almost reach him but am intercepted by Harland¡¯s group. ¡°Holy shit,¡± he puts his hands on his hips and looks at me. ¡°I know you said you used your claws as weapons but holy shit!¡± I look past him at the trader who is about to dissipate into the crowd. ¡°Rinmua is sorry she will talk to you in a second but she needs to talk to trader Altan first!¡± I weave around him and towards Altan. ¡°Trader Altan! Trader Altan!¡° I call his name as I weave between people, he turns and looks at me, a look of blanks surprise on his face. He never struck me as a bad guy, more like he was simply an opportunist. He has darker skin and black hair with bright green eyes and is cleanly shaven. ¡°Rinmua? Why are you here?¡± his surprise is actually quite a funny look on his face. ¡°Rinmua is becoming an adventurer!¡± I say as I hear the sounds of Harland¡¯s group pulling up behind me. ¡°Ah that is to bad, it means I am going to lose my best Ursinar pelt provider, doesn''t it?¡± he asks, but he has a smile on his face, and the sour sound of his voice was just for play. ¡°She supposes so,¡± I laugh. ¡°How can I help you then?¡± he asks. ¡°Rinmua was wondering if she could have you take letters to her parents and sister for her?¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I can do that, there is only one issue, if you are an adventurer it means you will be traveling around a lot-¡± ¡°Give it to the guild, they will forward it to whatever guild house she checks into, its even free seeing as it will be shipped out with other paperwork,¡± Harland says, offering a solution before the man even has a chance to finish speaking. ¡°That works, here,¡± he pulls out a book and rips a page out of it before using a piece of sharpened charcoal to write on it. ¡°Send any letters you have to this address, it is my house and I will take them with me,¡± he hands me the paper, which not only has the address in Gorioan but also in Khatan. ¡°She wonders if you can please wait, she wishes to send a letter with you now,¡± I say dropping the bag on the ground and fishing around. ¡°I don''t leave until tomorrow at noon, so that is fine,¡± he looks at me, ¡°Ah, so that was what happened to that cloth, I wondered what your sister was going to do with it, had I known it was meant for you I would have suggested green or blue, oh well, it still looks good on you.¡± ¡°She thanks you for the compliment!¡± I finally found what I was looking for, pulling the lone silver coin out of the bag I hand it to him. ¡°What is this?¡± he asks as he looks at the shining coin in his hand. ¡°There is no need, it''s not like I will be going out of my way to do this~¡± ¡°Rin insists,¡± I place my two middle fingers against my lips and bow my head in the traditional thank you, smiling he mirrors my movements and returns the gesture. ¡°Please, be careful out there little kitten,¡± he smiles, speaking the words not in the common human tongue but in my own language. I smile and return the gesture speaking in Khatan aswell. ¡°I will,¡± AH it is so much easier to speak properly in my own tongue! ¡°I will see you tomorrow with a letter.¡± ¡°Very well, I will be here at noon,¡± he says switching back to Gorioan and bows, taking his leave. As he walks away I purr contentedly my tail curling and uncurling in joy. ¡°Now that is fucking adorable,¡± Harland says, before reaching out and scratching one of my ears. I can''t help it, I purr even louder when I felt it¡­ *** ¡°What is this?¡± my voice shakes a little, as I stare in amazement at the cup in my hands. Surely this is the drink of the gods? Not a drink meant to be tasted and enjoyed by a mere mortal? Liquid heaven? ¡°What?¡± Tamerian looks over at the mug in my hands, ¡°Its milk right?¡± No, he is wrong, it cant be milk, it tastes so damned good¡­ I don''t answer I simply down the contents, feeling the soothing coolness as it slides down my throat, knowing I am purring up a storm as I drink it all. ¡°Rin wonders if she can have another?¡± I ask coming up for air, I have yet to finish the cup I have, but I dread the feeling of getting to the bottom of this cup and seeing it empty. ¡°Ha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± Harland laughs at the top of his lungs, slamming his fist over and over into the tabletop before collapsing into a giggling heap. ¡°Of course the cat likes the milk~¡± he wipes the tears out of his eyes still chuckling to himself. Even Alaina is attempting not to laugh while looking at me. What it''s really damned good okay? ¡°Let me give you some advice,¡± Tamerian says leaning in close to me, ¡°Whenever you find that drink, the one you think you would rather drink than breath air, that is when you must only take a little, for it is that drink that will drag you down, addiction is a nasty thing let me tell you...¡± ¡°You should listen to him, after all, he has been an alcoholic since he was five,¡± Alaina nods, trying to keep a straight face. ¡°ADDICTED TO MILK!¡± Harland falls into another fit of laughter, once again slamming his fist against the table. It would seem as though I have gotten myself a rather odd assortment of friends... Mother, Father, Sister. I have reached the human village of Hulina, some distance from our tribe. I am safe and happy, I have made a number of new friends, they include Harland, a big bear of a man who helped me on the first day I arrived with adjusting to this new life, Tamerian, the mage who drinks too much, and Alaina, our healer. All of them are nice people, and I was able to team up with them and start adventuring, well we will start that tomorrow. Trader Alten lives here and I have gotten him to agree to carry letters back and forth between us. My party will be moving to a different town soon as this is only considered a small village to them, even with nearly five hundred people living here. So the letters might take a little longer to get back and forth between us. I hope this letter finds you all well and healthy and look forward to hearing from you. Love Rinmua. P.S. Trader Alten is swindling us, they pay me a silver five gold for a Juji pelt here in town¡­ P.P.S. Milk is fucking delicious, make him apologize for swindling us with milk, trust me, you will thank me later¡­ P.P.P.S Turu you were right, wearing clothes is mandatory, apparently, they punish people for not wearing clothes in areas that have other people here, its called public indecency... Chapter 8 on the road... Chapter 8 on the road... Traveling with humans sure is a slow process¡­ first, they have to pack all of their gear, and then sleeping gear and after that they need foodstuff. Personally, I just needed the clothes on my back and my bow and arrows. The rest of it really didn''t matter to me, I could curl up on my tail and sleep like that, and as for food all I needed to do was hunt it. Khatan¡¯s diet mostly consisted of meat, we also ate some vegetables but still, I would say nine out of ten meals were meat and only meat. In fact, our teeth were not really designed for eating plants, unlike humans we didn''t have flat teeth designed to grind plants and leaves into bits and pieces, meaning it is next to impossible for me to eat a leaf of any variety. And damn if humans don''t walk slow as can be¡­ In fact, it might be quicker if I simply took a nap and then caught up with them, yeah, in fact, that sounds like an amazing idea, though not just taking a nap in the middle of nowhere, I have a much better idea¡­ Springing forward I leap lightly up Harland¡¯s back landing on top of his large backpack, he grunts in surprise and looks up at me, before he can say a word I settle down on his backpack, my tail curling around his shoulders and neck and place my forearms on his bald head, leaning my head on them. Closing my eyes I began to purr and drift off¡­ *** ¡°What the actual hell?¡± Harland murmurs as he feels the Khatan drift off to sleep on top of him. ¡°I think she likes you~,¡± Tamerion says with a laugh and Harlan¡¯s face starts to go red with his statement. ¡°No, she doesn''t, at least not in the way you are thinking Tam,¡± Alaina says, ¡°She likes him, but only as a friend, I don''t think she likes men...¡± ¡°What? What makes you say that?¡± Harland whisperers attempting to not wake the sleeping Rin as he moved forward with careful steps. ¡°You forget that I am a female sometimes don''t you?¡± Alaina sighs and looks over at him, ¡°I get a lot of different stares, some kind, others not, some assessing others testing, I know what it feels like when a man is gazing at me because he thinks I am attractive, she looks at me like that,¡± she says. ¡°I think you are just being paranoid, need to have a roll in the hay, loosen up some, blow off some steam.¡± Tamerian laughed. ¡°Oh? You think so? Well then think about the barmaid at the inn, didn''t you notice that everywhere she went Rin had her eyes glued to her?¡± ¡°Can''t blame the lass, my eyes were glued as well,¡± Harland laughed softly, ¡°So, you think she likes women? Do you think that was why she was kicked out of her tribe?¡± they had all come to the conclusion that the tribe had banished her, why else would she be out here and not with the tribe? Khatans never left their people. ¡°That is a good possibility,¡± Alaina nodded, ¡°Or there could have been an arranged marriage of some sort, I heard tribes and other primitive societies do that.¡± ¡°You do realize that our own rulers and nobles do arrange marriages all the time right?¡± Tamerian asks, pulling out a flask from under his robe and taking a swig. ¡°Exactly, like I said, less sophisticated...¡± they all laughed at that. ¡°She strikes me as a green adventurer, sure she has the skill to be an adventurer propper, in fact after seeing her take down that Urisinar I am willing to bet she is better than I am, but she still just seems as~¡± she sighed, trying to think of the proper word. ¡°Unseasoned?¡± Harland offered. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Green?¡± Tamerian added. ¡°Yes, both of those¡­ I don''t know, its like she has never seen the world before.¡± ¡°She probably hasn''t, Khatan stay in their tribes, never really leaving the area they are born in,¡± Harland shrugged, the motion caused Rin to stir slightly, so he kept his motions slow and careful as he walked on the road, allowing her to fall back into a deeper sleep. ¡°Yeah,¡± she turned her head toward the road to Uljits and continued walking as she thought. ¡°It doesn''t really matter what caused her to leave she is a teammate now, she is family now,¡± Both men nodded at that. ¡°Oh shit,¡± Harland almost slapped his head but stopped at the last second because he would have ended up slapping Rin on the snout, seeing as her chin was resting on his forehead. ¡°I didn''t tell her the rules,¡± he groaned. ¡°Of course you forgot to tell her,¡± Tamerian sighed, ¡°even when I am drunk I have a better memory than you old man!¡± ¡°That''s a surprise, you mean to say there are times you are sober?¡± Alaina scoffed. The rules to be in the group were pretty easy to remember, there were after all only three. Don''t steal from other members. Don''t attack each other with more than fists. Don''t sleep with anyone who is a member. They were all straightforward rules, clearly designed to keep the team tight and be in peak form, seeing as they would need to rely on each other in life or death situations in the future none of these rules could be bent or broken. Especially three. Three had a knack for making the normally functional group into separate factions, and it promoted favoritism, for example, in a life or death situation who are you going to prioritize you lover or your friend? Clearly, most would lean towards the lover, seeing as the relationship between them is more intimate. Harland had no qualms with relationships outside of the party, but inside it would not be tolerated, he had kicked out more than one set of rule breakers in the past¡­ ¡°Yeah, let''s keep an eye on our kitten, make sure she doesn''t get too overwhelmed with Uljits.¡± *** Two weeks, two fucking weeks of travel later to cover half the distance I covered in a few days. This, this was why humans needed horses when I brought this up to my companions they all gave me this pained look. I never said they were slow, I just said perhaps we should invest in some horses. They seemed to have inferred my meaning from that statement, however. Seeing as they pushed themselves much faster the next two days after I had made the comment. The travel time gave me plenty of opportunities to question what I was doing. What exactly I was doing, however, was still up in the air. I felt compelled to kill a goddess, though I didn''t know why, that memory was lost to me, as was most of my other memories. I remember the curse she laid on me, or rather the result of the curse she laid on me, not all of the terrible lives but a good number, a good enough number to know that she had done something horrible to me. But was she in the right? Did I deserve such punishment? How was I to know? And should I choose to follow this compulsion how does one go about killing a god? Can a god even be slain? Of course, there was always some tale of the mortal rising up to strike at the god above but that was it, it was simply a tale. Whether or not I actually decided to stay on the course of my former lives I had no idea, but either way, I needed to get stronger, needed to see as much as I could see and grasp as much power as I could get. Was I a mage I would find some repository of learning and lock myself away until I felt I had enough power, but I had torn my soul apart, meaning magic was out of the question. It was too early, much much to early for me to do anything about the goddess, so I decided to do my best to forget about the entire matter while I did not have the power to even scratch her. The city of Uljits was massive, a sprawling metropolis that spread across the rolling snow-covered hills at the foot of a mountain range I had no way of knowing the name of. The houses outside the roughly hewn stone walls of the keep proper were simple affairs, with the lower half made of a foundation of stone and mortar, and the upper sections of wood and iron. They were sturdy squat buildings, which had thatched roofs and the entrance of the doors was sunk down stairwells that seemed to go into the ground, with a fully enclosed area around the entrance to keep the snow out. Each building seemed to have been partially buried into the ground, no doubt to keep heat from leaking out during the long cold months of the year. The keep itself was a massive structure that seemed to crown the top of a hillock that butted up against a rather daunting sheer rock cliff face. It boasted three towers and a parameter wall that seemed to circle most of the castle proper before also butting up against the cliff face. The town spread out from it in all directions. There was no wall for the town seeing as that would likely be deemed an improper use of taxes. No one really ever attacked the city, not with the keep so close by. ¡°That right there Rin is Boyerman Rilan¡¯s keep, granted to him by the Jarl himself a good fifteen years ago,¡± I stood up balancing on Harland¡¯s backpack with one of my paws resting on his head and looked at the wonder before me. I had decided and Harland had requested that I could perch on his shoulders and head like this, after all, it was a beneficial relationship for the both of us, he used the extra weight that I was for strength training, not that I actually weighed that much, and I also happened to be quite warm and fluffy, definitely better than any hat or scarf he could ever afford. I got the ability to take naps whenever I wanted from the arrangement, as well as the ability to stand up and see much further than I ever could if I was simply standing on the ground. It was undoubtedly a win-win situation. ¡°Ah, she wonders how many people live here?¡± ¡°At a guess?¡± Alaina looked up at the sky while she thought, ¡°I would say probably a thousand to two thousand or so?¡± she glanced over at Tamerian, who also considered Uljits. ¡°Yeah, Id say so, but enough standing around here,¡± he nodded, ¡°Let''s go check into the guild hall and let em'' know we are here, then we can look at the contracts available,¡± he stretched his arms overhead as he spoke. ¡°Yep, let''s get to work people, the sun is still high and we might be able to get one small job in before the evening rolls around,¡± Harland agreed as we made our way into Uljits. Chapter 9 Sarena... Chapter 9 Sarena... The Uljit¡¯s guild hall was completely different from the one in Hulina, to start with it was a massive structure that had to be at the very least four times the size of that one. The actual structure itself was much like the surrounding houses, built so that it was buried into the ground, but even then it was easy to see that it was a massive building. The place had the main entrance and a dedicated exit, both of which seemed to have people using them at all points in time. For every adventurer or patron that entered two more would leave, going about their business like they didn''t have a care in the world, o perhaps grim-faced and ready to take on a tough mission. There was not a single thing about the men and women that walked out of that building that was any sort of uniform, other than the fact that they all seemed to be armed one way or another. Everything from a peasant with what looked like a sharpened pitchfork to a man in full plate armor with a sword almost taller than he was, and all the ranges in between. My companions didn''t even seem to notice, I suppose that with time even something like this would fail to catch a person¡¯s eye. Quickly I hopped down off of Harland¡¯s back and stretched, purring in contentment, one arm stretched above my head and the other forming a right angle just below my elbow pulling the arm over to stretch it out. I arched my back and relished the feeling of those muscles loosening. After I was done stretching I followed my companions inside. The inside of the large building was even more impressive than the outside, after I went down the stairwell and inside I practically ran into a wall of sound, each and every person inside was makes some sort of noise, be it talking, shouting, cussing, or smashing something down on the surfaces of something else. It was like the Tribal meets where all the tribes gathered to discuss things, only a hundred times bigger,Well perhaps that was an exaggeration, but the fact of the matter was that there was a massive amount of people present here in the guild hall, and each and every one of them was attempting to make more noise than the last. My ears which up to this point had been used to listen to small far away sounds in hunting hurt like hell with everyone talking all at once. "Attention everyone!" all eyes went to a receptionist that stood at the counter, her bright blue eyes and long blond hair with a single braid on one side stood out as a contrast to all the armored and armed adventurers. she smiled as she held up a stake of parchment. "It is time to put up new contacts!" a cheer went up in the crowd, and I looked over at my companions, who were also cheering. "Come on Rin! join in you are an adventurer now as well!" Harland raised my arm in the air, practically wrenching the limb out of my socket as he lifted me off of my feet. It was not a comfortable feeling... "Yay," I let out what had to be the most noncommital sounding cheer that ever was, just so the bear of a man would let me down. as my paws touched the ground I rolled my shoulder, attempting to coax the wrenched arm back into place as we all walked forward. This place was packed, with adventurers tearing down the fliers that were placed on the wall almost the second they got placed there by the guild receptionists. It was almost like a jawdar feeding frenzy. I chuckled to myself as I compared the armed and armored mass of dangerous humans to the small grey birds that swarmed any and every scrap that was left unattended for longer than a half second.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "Well I''ll be damned," a sultry voice calls out, and I watch as both Tamerian and Harland''s back become rigid at the sound of it. Turning I look at a dark elf woman, her skin a creamy color of chocolate brown, her eyes a bright violet that seem to almost glow in the light of the guild hall, her bright red hair bound up behind her head so that it spikes up and away, with the exception of two bangs that frame her on either side. A lazy smile is spread over her painted red lips, and a gold set of chains and ornaments decorate her crimson hair. her body is covered in a tight purple leather dress of sorts, well, it is more like a leather skirt with a top that comes down to just under her breasts, leaving her midriff exposed to the elements. the dress is made up of strips of purple leather, gilded with some gold, it is interesting how she was able to wear it an not seem overly gaudy, something about the colors just worked well for her. in her hands was a staff. the twisted branch of a tree that held a red crystal in it, complete with pieces of the glowing gem floating independently around it. something about her just seemed like a wild mage. one not taught but one that inherited from her mother or grandmother. there was no doubt, she was a coven witch. "Sari," Harland said the name softly as he turned and looked at the woman. she was tall, almost as tall as he was, but then again the elven race tended to be taller. "Don''t call me that, use my full name," she narrowed her eyes at him, "You lost the right to call me that long ago."Harland didn''t say a thing, simply standing there attempting to not growl out a response at her. Tamerian, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Sarena, you seem to be doing well, have you taken up with another group?¡° Tamerion asked, his eyes taking in the woman''s garb. There must be something about magic users in this world, they all dress, well like magic users, you can see one from a mile away, be it the robes or the hats. Or in Sarena''s case the fact that she was wearing a dress with that much-exposed mocha skin in the middle of winter. Granted I also had on very little in the ways of clothes, but I could get away with it, I was after all covered in fur... "No," she looked at Tamerian and then back at Harland, ¡°I have learned that I am better off alone, I do not have a partner at the moment.¡± she looked at Harland and pursed her lips. "That is enough idle chat, what are you doing here Harland, I though Hamin made it quite clear what he would do to you if he ever saw you again..." "Hamin can go fuck himself," Harland narrowed his eyes, "or is that your job?" he growled, I had only known the man for a little bit, and this was the first time I had ever seen him so angry. "You can tell him that yourself," Sarena snorted, her purple eyes blazing, "I am no longer with him anymore, haven''t seen him in months, he is running with a group of thugs now, they call themselves the blackbands. nasty bunch, the word is they even take unsolicited jobs, I was just giving you a heads up," her face contorted into a mockery of a smile, "for old times sakes." It was at this point she noticed me, she looked a little surprised but she suppressed it quickly as her violet eyes took me in. ¡°A khatan? Aren''t you a little far from your mountain tribe little kitten?¡± the question was not barbed, it didn''t seem like she was looking down on me, so I answered truthfully. ¡°Rinmua wants to be an adventurer,¡± I say and I see something dark pass over her face, her bright violet eyes flashing dangerously. ¡°I don''t see why there is no glory or honor, all we are is glorified thugs, doing jobs for coins, and in the end we will find ourselves at the end of a spear, or the edge of a sword bleeding out unknown and unmourned.¡± she was looking at me, not really seeing me, but rather something else entirely. ¡°In the end, the darkness will swallow all of us, all that is left to us is to see how far we get before we are brought low .¡± no one said a word to that. She glanced at me before she turned to Harland. "I hope you treat your new members better than you do your old members," she said, and turned away, dispersing into the growing crowd of adventures in a swirl of purple-red and mocha chocolate. Chapter 10 A contract... Chapter 10 A contract... We spent the last five days doing small jobs, quick things like killing some hobgoblins that were harassing a family on the outskirts of the town, a quick escort mission to a small village a days march outside of Uljits. Things like that... Now, however, we had grabbed a real contract as Harland called it. The guild hall had not been given any information aside from the pay, and a request to visit Lord Brandmount''s estate for further instructions. So that was where we set off to, seeing as the pay was good, really really good... Lady Brandmount was the wife of Lord Brandmount, the master of coin here in the city of Uljits. The manor they lived in was massive, more than four times the size of the average peasant''s house. It was a great sprawling thing that unlike the houses of the common folk, stood tall towering a good three stories above the ground. That also meant however that it was not at least partially buried in the ground and therefore lacked the protection such a building would undoubtedly have. Meaning the building was rather cold and drafty when we went to visit. The lord of the house was away on business, but his wife was able to fill us in on the job that needed to be done. ¡°Hollow Fang Keep used to belong to my grandsire, he was a great and powerful man, unfortunately, we were forced to abandon the building quickly after a rift was opened and demons and other foul creatures invaded it.¡± She was a beautiful woman, around the age of twenty or so, with bronze skin and white hair, which was complemented by the white dress and diamonds she wore. She was a rather elegant lady... ¡°So, you want us to go clear the keep?¡± Harland asked. ¡°Oh good heavens no!¡± she laughed, ¡°I want you to go in there and retrieve a chest, it will be in the storeroom, and it contains some rather precious family heirlooms.¡± she pulled a necklace off of her neck, fishing out the key that had been laying between her breasts and tosses it to Harland, who snatches it out of the air with a single hand, not breaking eye contact with the woman. ¡°It will be in a small ironwood box, this key should open it, at least part of the way, the chest is magically sealed as well, meaning it will only open a crack with the key, but that should be enough to make sure you have the right chest.¡± she laughs ¡°Don''t fret about loosing the key, it is a replica made by the local blacksmith, we can make more if you lose it.¡± ¡°Where is this keep?¡± Harland asked, looking at the key in his hand. ¡°A weeks ride southwest of town, I have a set of maps prepared for you, as well as a layout of the keep itself and I have taken the liberty of marking the location of the chest, or rather the most likely location of the chest, seeing as it could have been moved by the new owners of the keep, though the chances of them stealing it, or opening it is extremely unlikely, seeing as it is warded against such things.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Harland nodded, ¡°So we need payment for this, half upfront, half when the job is done,¡± he crossed his arms and went into full negotiation mode. It was always impressive to see when he did that. Standing there like the bald-headed bear he was, grumbling about this price and that price... ¡°Fine,¡± she shrugged, catching him off guard, he had no doubt expected much more resistance, but she just called out a maid and instructed her to get the coins. Half the job ended up being 15 silver coins. It was a staggering amount of money, more than I had ever seen in my life. Harland looked at the money his eyebrows raising, but he simply scooped the coins into a pouch and put it in his bag. ¡°I hope that you don''t get the idea to run off with that money...¡± ¡°Ma''am, with all due respect, I am a rank six adventurer, you don''t get that high by running off without finishing your contracts.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Good, then I will also say there is a bonus for completing it quickly, if you can get it to me in the next two and a half weeks I will add in an additional 10 silver coins for the effort.¡± she smiled, revealing perfect white teeth that seemed to gleam in the firelight of the hearth. ¡° Hopefully you are better than a few other members of your guild.¡± she snorted. ¡°Oh?¡± Tamerian asked. ¡°We are not the first to be hired to do this job?¡± ¡°No, I have hired five others, and none of them have returned, so either they ran off with my money, an outcome I am thinking is more and more likely, or they died, in which case I wish you the best of luck, also should you find any of them and the silver coins on them they are yours...¡± the thing about being an adventurer that I had noticed in the time I had spent traveling with my new companions is there is very very little actual adventuring done. The majority of the action we do is packing, organizing, moving and traveling, with a dash or two of preparing, after that you might get a quick fight or subjugation mission, but besides those things, it was all travel and the tedium that came with such a task. Indeed that was exactly what we were doing right at this moment. I sighed as I packed away another layer of dried meats into my rough leather sack. They had offered to get me a new one, but this one was given to me by my sister, so I was not about to part with it anytime soon. I layered the meat in the bag and divided the layer form the next with a strip of leather, hopefully when I looked through the bag later I wouldn''t confuse the two, though I supposed it didn''t really matter, seeing as the leather and the jerky both tasted about the same and likely had the same amount of nutritional benefit. ¡°Rin wonders why she has to pack this, she thinks It would be better to hunt her food,¡± I grumble as I add the last of the supplies I had been tasked with carrying. ¡°Oh shut up!¡± Alania narrowed her eyes at me, ¡°If you get trapped somewhere where there is no food you will be very very happy to see that bag and the food within, the same goes for all of our supplies, each and every one of us carries enough for ourselves and one other to survive for two days, four if you are alone, which with any luck we will not need but if we do then we are all better prepared.¡± ¡°Rin apologizes, she did not know she had hit a sore spot,¡± I mutter under my breath, though apparently, I was not as quiet as I had thought I was. ¡°Sorry, just on edge after seeing Sarena again, its hard you know?¡± Sliding over to Alaina I whispered to her. ¡°Rin wonders what happened there, she saw much bad blood,¡± I ask her. Alania bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she thought about what to tell me. Finally, she looked up into my eyes and told me the truth. "Hamin and Sari used to be part of our team, along with Leah, we were on a mission, and we were ambushed, A group of Kobolds, you know the small lizard-like humanoid monsters?¡± ¡°She has never seen a Kobold,¡± I admit, trying to visualize what she had just described. ¡°Well, they are-¡± she looked at me and chuckled a little, ¡°They are a tribal people, scaled, with digitigrade feet that are reptilian in nature, in fact they are even intelligent, though unlike your tribe and people they are considered monsters,¡± she shrugged, ¡°It would seem that the only deciding factor is the aggression of the tribe to civilized society and the intelligence.¡± ¡°Rin wonders if a new scar will teach you how civilized she can be,¡± I say, my eyes narrowing, Alaina''s eyes opened wide as she realized she had just inadvertently insulted me, quickly she smiled at me, in a pleading way before continuing her story. ¡°A-Anyway Sari chose to support Hamin even when Leah needed her help more, and because of it Leah died," she glanced over at me, before continuing. Harland confronted Sari about it, it got so heated that Hamin stepped in, and it went to blows since then, and as you can see it has gone downhill. "She wonders why she supported Hamin and not Leah?" I had a feeling I already knew the answer but didn''t want to jump to conclusions... "Because she was bedding Hamin," which is exactly what I was expecting to hear, Alaina snorted. "it is one of the reasons its part of our groups rules now, to make sure the same mistake is never repeated, we all need to be impartial, we cant prioritize, and when the heart is involved it gets too complicated in the heat of battle, people die." it was a good rule to have, practical, though it meant I had to stay away from Alaina''s bed... ¡°It doesn''t matter, it is the past now, are you ready Rin? We should go meet up with Har and Tam, they are likely waiting for us.¡± ¡°She is ready,¡± I nod and shoulder the now much heavier bag, following her down out of our room in the inn to meet up with the rest of my companions¡­ Chapter 11 A bad feeling about this... Chapter 11 a bad feeling about this... The stone keep loomed above me, the crumbling grey stone walls showed the age of the blocks that made up the majority of keeps'' exterior. It was a massive structure abandoned deep in the woods surrounded by miles upon miles of forest with no real civilization around. Had it been manned and maintained by people it would have likely been quite the inviting place, but as it was it seemed to drive back anyone and everyone who came into its shadow. I glanced at the others in my group, which apparently adventurer¡¯s call a party, and noticed the way they had gotten tighter as we had gotten closer, each armed in their own garbs. Harland in thick steel chainmail, with a massive double bladed battle-ax in his hand, Tamerian in his robes, a short blade in one hand, his staff in the other. Alaina, wearing her pristine white robes, clutching the holy talisman that hung around her neck and resting the massive mace on one shoulder. I hated that talisman, it was the mark of Alten, the goddess of life, and though I didn''t know why I hated her, beyond the horrible lives she had forced me to endure, and even though I didn''t know why she had made me endure them I knew deep in my soul that I hated her. It was hard not to hiss when I saw that white and gold cloth¡­ I tear my eyes away from the talisman and back to our surroundings. The main gate of the keep was a twisted and rusted latticework of metal that lay partially on the ground, held up by one massive hinge still bolted to the stone wall as it leaned back like some angry god had stepped on the gate, flattening most of it. I don''t know what caused the keep to fall but whatever it was be it seige or monster attack it was massive. And it was decisive as well if the ruins were anything to judge by. Part of the current wall was just mound of rubble, the buttresses and arrowslits now laying on the ground looking like the eye holes in the sockets of a skull, long bleached white by the sun. The snow was lightly falling, the dark grey pregnant clouds dumping snow all over the place. As we walked in cautiously minding every dark corner and shadow I noticed something. ¡°She thinks something is amiss,¡± I hiss, holding out a hand. Slowly I sniff the air, tasting it, and quickly can smell something awful. It smells like a man, but much much worse, it smells even more than the horrifying smell of the cities, like a sweaty body that has never even thought of the concept of bathing¡­ But it smells cold, older like something died and the snow is muting the stench. They all paused when I had held my hand up each dropping into a better fighting stance and getting their grips on the weapons they held. They also circled up, closing ranks so that no one¡¯s back was uncovered. It felt good to have them take my warnings so seriously, it made me feels like I had been part of the team for quite a long time and they had grown to trust my judgment. Slowly I drop to all fours and creep forward, the pads of both my hands and toes spread as wide as possible to make no sound as I crept on the surface of the snow. There behind the little hill of snow was a body, or perhaps it was better to say the little body had caused a small snowdrift to form, which was what had blocked it from my sight. The small twisted thing had grey skin, though that might have been from death, or it could have been it¡¯s natural skin color, it was hard to tell seeing as the color tends to bleed out when something gets frozen like this. Pulling an arrow out of my quiver I poke the dead stinking creature and roll it¡¯s head over, allowing me to get a better view of the thing.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The fact that it¡¯s head rolls so easily shows that it has not been dead for long. The Rigor Mortis has yet to stiffen the corpse, that and the fact that there is next to no snow accumulation on the actual body lead me to believe it died only a few hours ago. The cold winter no doubt stripped away any warmth the body had mere moments after it had hit the frozen earth, and then the wind and snow had slowly leached the rest of the warmth that had been nestled in its body. The thing about snow that most people don''t realize is that it is a great insulator. Slowly I lift the lip of the creature and look at his teeth. They are rather more like a human¡¯s than my own, if a little smaller and sharper, along with the fact they have four upper canines compared to the human¡¯s two, meaning they still eat plants and the like, but they also eat more meat than other omnivores. The head was disproportionally large, supported by a comically thin neck, and the overly large eyes made it look almost childlike, extremely ugly but still somewhat childlike. It also had long elf-like ears that sloped down and back but were comically large, it was really a misshapen little thing, twisted and ugly. Goblin. I had seen more than enough of the little bastards throughout my life, they tended to like to raid and steal from the forest snares I used to put up to catch game and other wildlife, lazy bums. Though I had heard more then one tail of a group of goblins kidnapping an unwary female, even one from our race and taking them back to their cave, not to be eaten unfortunately, but rather to be used in ways best left unmentioned, poor women, often in those cases even if they were rescued quickly the women were often traumatized. They were nasty little fuckers¡­ There had been a woman from my tribe that had been taken, and I had helped with getting her freed from a goblin hovel. We had killed a good 30 or so goblins, and when we had found her tied up and stinking from their use she just stared at us dead-eyed, not actually seeing anything. Her family had tried to coax her back to health, but they had to take care of her every need, from cleaning her to even forcing her to eat and drink. She had only lasted a few months after the rescue¡­ I hated these fuckers. And judging by the twisted neck of this one something had snapped his oversized head, practically twisting it off of his body. He didn''t have a weapon out, instead, the crude little iron implement that could pass as a shortsword if you squinted at it in a bad light, was strapped to his waist. So whoever or whatever had killed him did so by surprise and within the past three or so hours¡­ seeing as while the body was no longer warm it had yet to accumulate snow that had been falling from the sky for quite some time. I looked up and noticed five other small mounds, which from here just looked like little snowdrifts that had accumulated in strangest places, but now I was willing to bet that they hid goblins behind them. Standing up slowly I looked back at my group, and notice that they have closed ranks around me and are scanning every corner and shadow. ¡°Goblin, three or more hours dead she thinks,¡± I say, replacing my arrow in the quiver and flexing my claws. ¡°No fight, surprised, she thinks an adventurer did this, to clean, Rinmua is impressed.¡± Anyone who could silently ambush and kill that many of these fuckers without them drawing their weapons had my vote¡­ Slowly they stopped circling as I spoke and looked at each other. ¡°Lady Brandmount did say she hired other adventurer¡¯s, but that seems like they went through here to quickly,¡± Harland growled. ¡°Three hours ago? Meaning she probably hired them just before she hired us, why the fuck would she do that? Why hire two and not wait to see if the first one was successful before hiring a second?¡± ¡°Perhaps she does not expect us to be successful,¡± Alaina eyed the keep entrance wearily, reaching down to her side to make sure she had a set of short swords on her belt. ¡°It is going to be tight quarters in there, and I don''t want to think about what a goblin would do to me if they got their hands on me, so let''s just get this shit over with.¡± ¡°The sooner begun the sooner done,¡± Tamerian nodded approvingly at that, and like her made sure he had the blades at the side of his belt. I looked at all of them and then back at the entrance of the keep and felt something heavy settle in my gut, I didn''t like this, not one single bit¡­ Chapter 12 pathways into darkness... Chapter 12 pathways into darkness... The dark keep¡¯s dark interior loomed before us as we slowly crept in, I blinked my eyes a few times allowing them to focus in the dark. I can not actually see in the dark, more like I can see in less light than a human. As such I was in the front, using the dim light of the magic crystals my companions carried with them to see as far ahead as possible. I wouldn''t be much help if I stood in the circle of light, seeing as that would reduce my sight to the circle of light that I was in. Up here in the front, however, I could see quite some distance into the keep, and they could see me easily due to the fact my fur was so light colored, even if I was about 20 feet in front of them. The interior of the keep was just as messed up as the outside, with splintered and broken furniture and torn tapestries that had at one point in time decorated the walls, making the cold stone more inviting. Now however it was just more disturbing, like seeing a skull bleached clean in the sun versus seeing a skull that still had rotting flesh on it, one was decidedly more disturbing than the other¡­ This lower entrance of the keep was wide open, with arched ceilings that were at one point had been designed to be inviting, now, however, the fact that the ceiling disappeared into the darkness overhead was disturbing and I had to force myself to not glance up. Slowly I crept forward over the dirty stone floor, my claws retracted to prevent the clacking sound they normally made when walking on a hard surface, pads spread so that they were coming down softer, making no noise. I could hear my companions coming up behind me, each one of them attempting to be as quiet as possible, but none of them coming even close, in fact, I didn''t know why I was even trying to sneak, the way their echoing footsteps sounded I was almost positive that every creature in this place had heard us¡­ At the end of the foyer was a circular room, this had likely once been a reception area, where guests were greeted and showed to where they needed to go. In fact in front of me was three different directions¡­ I stood there, fidgeting as I waited for Harland and the rest to catch up. ¡°What is it Rin?¡± he whispered, causing me to wince. Whispering was bad when you whisper you pitch your voice lower naturally, making it so that it is actually easier to hear then if you had just spoken softly¡­ ¡°She sees three entrances,¡± I hooked a thumb and pointed at them over my shoulder. ¡°One seems to have lots of traffic if the mud and dirt is anything to guess by, as does the middle one, but she thinks we should first check the one that has the least foot traffic...¡± ¡°I can''t see shit,¡± he says squinting his eyes to look into the dark to make out anything. ¡°Three sets of tracks huh?¡± he asked, eyes narrowed in thought. ¡°I wonder,¡± he reached into a pouch and pulled out the map we had been given, holding it up to the crystal¡¯s light to read it. ¡°Which of these is the most traveled Rin?¡± he asked, looking at me, I sidled over and pointed at the doorway on the right side. Which unfortunately was the way we needed to go to get to where Mrs. Brandmount had written the last known location of the chest we had been tasked with retrieving¡­ ¡°Ok everyone,¡± Harland thought for a second. ¡°Tam, you and Rin go make sure there is nothing nasty in those two rooms, and then come join us here,¡± he gestured to the way we needed to go. ¡°Don''t want anything bad coming down behind us...¡± Nodding I looked over at Tamerian who gripped his staff and also nodded. He turned off his light crystal, snuffing the small amount of mana needed to operate the device and crouched down, his hand snaking out to grab me on the shoulder. Quietly we crept forward across the ground, each step slow and methodical as we made our way towards the first room on the left. There was a thick layer of dust here like it had not been disturbed in years, which might have been true, or it could have been a trap. Ash that has been ground up fine can be spread and looks much like accumulated dust after all¡­Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I lead the blind Tam behind me, making sure my eyes were wide and the ears on my head were on swivel¡­ A scent entered my nose, one that I really disliked. The sour scent of unwashed body¡­ Pausing I tapped him on the leg, I didn''t have to say anything, he simply nodded and began chanting something under his breath, and before long he tapped me back indicating his readiness. Once again we started creeping forward, soon we reached the stone wall to the right side of the arched doorway. Carefully I pushed the door open and peeked inside¡­ The scene inside caused me to stop short. Like the goblins outside these ones were all dead, each and every one of them killed the exact same way, all of their necks broken, heads twisted almost completely around like that of an owl. The room itself was a mess, with splinters of wood and several cotton and fur tick that looked like they would have been used for sleeping. In the room was a small fire that had a stockpile of sticks that were likely used to make the ash that they used to make it seem like this room saw no foot traffic... ¡°Light,¡± I said and he did as asked, once again bringing up the light, further illuminating the room. ¡°She does not like this...¡± I say as I examined the bloodless massacre. Tam breathed in as the light played over the room and the corpses his eyes adjusting to the sudden blaze of light. Slowly he walked forward, his right hand out as he started casting a spell. I don''t know what spell, seeing as most magic is not flashy, unlike the mages themselves it is an understated art, with the mage chanting or simply making a movement and then something happening. Most people can see the magic, seeing as the mana is a part of everything. From what my sister described to me she can see the arcane energy as the mage casts like a fine gold line that is woven and hangs in the air around the caster. I, however, was literally a cripple in that matter, seeing as since I had ripped my soul apart and pieced it back together I couldn''t even see the magic, let alone use it... ¡°Whoever came before us have a very good Coven witch,¡± Tamerian said, looking at the bodies, ¡°One well versed in Voodoo magic,¡± he said, and mimed a twisting motion with his hands, simulating the motion of a witch twisting the neck. ¡°Voodoo?¡± I ask, my ability to know things from my past life is annoying because most of the time it doesn''t work at all, and I have no ability to force it¡­ ¡°Voodoo is a type of magic practiced by coven witches, one of the types of magic passed down from mother to daughter, it typically involves a doll that they use to affect people, normally each doll is crafted with something from the victim, making it has a connection between the doll and the victim, the issue, however, is in general combat that does not work, seeing as it is hard to get a lock of hair or something as someone is attempting to kill you, but the best Voodoo witches don''t need anything like that, they have a will so powerful they can simply picture the doll as the victim. After the connection is created any action done on the doll is also done on the target of the spell.¡± Tamerian once again mimed the twisting motion. ¡°She thinks this is important, Rin thinks we need to consider that we might not get the chest if this witch is as powerful as you say¡± ¡°Yeah, let''s go tell Harland...¡± nodding I lead the two of us back to the others. ¡°Well?¡± he asked as we reentered the light ring cast by the crystals they held, I had to close my eyes for a second as the muscles in my eyes contracted to reduce the light entering and blinding me, after a few blinks to clear the spots in my eyes I looked over at Harland and Alaina. ¡°The group of adventurer¡¯s that came in front of us have a Coven witch, one that is really really good with Voodoo...¡± Tam said, filling him in, his face was grim, set in a scowl, if these other adventurers get to the chest first then it was theirs, and we would never see the money from completing the contract, and they had a good three-hour start on us. ¡°Damnit, that is not good, she is only dealing with goblins, if she is even halfway decent then she will have no issue going through them all with ease, meaning we will not get paid...¡± he glanced at the stairway into darkness that he was standing next to, you could almost see the gears turning in his head as he pondered and weighed up the options, we had spent a lot of time and money getting the supplies needed to get to the keep, and thus far we had yet to even encounter a single enemy, I still felt it might be not the wisest decision to push on, but I was not the leader of our little group, meaning it was not my place to say, that was Harland¡¯s decision... The chest was supposed to be down there¡­ ¡°We are going to have to move quick...¡± he said, making up his mind, turning and raising one hand holding the light and the other holding his ax he descended the stairs, taking them two at a time, leaving the rest of us standing at the top of the stairs. I really had a bad feeling about this... Chapter 13 Disaster... Chapter 13 Disaster... The stairs slopping down into the darkened basement were worn with age, pitted with the feet of countless generations, both human and the later goblin generations. The walls were blackened where the torch scones used to sit, but both torch and scone were now gone, leaving only the stain of black smoke on the stone to tell the tale of what had once been there¡­ My little party took the steps two at a time, each person moving quickly as we pushed deep into the keep¡¯s lower section. ¡°She thinks this is a mistake,¡± I say, causing Harland and the rest to stop short and to turn and look at me, ¡°She does not feel right about this...¡± ¡°Rin if we don''t move we don''t get paid,¡± Harland says, his scowl set on his face, upset that I am causing a delay. ¡°She thinks it is hard to spend coin when she is not living,¡± I respond. These stairways are to narrow to effectively use a melee weapon, but if I had been in the front I would have an unobstructed shot of anything that comes out of the darkness below us¡­ ¡±Listen Rin-¡± the darkness behind him seems to boil like a pot on the fire, and not pausing for a second I pull my bow back, nocking the arrow on the line and in a single smooth motion pull it back to my cheek. Time seems to slow as Harland and the rest of my parties eyes widen, obviously thinking I am aiming at them. I flex my fingers, allowing the corded bowstring to propel the arrow forward. As it leaves my bow there is a wobble that causes the arrow to waver slightly, but only slightly. The arrow flys past Harland¡¯s face, the feathers of the fletching almost brushing the side of his head as it races past and impacts flesh behind him with a solid thump and sickening squelch. Quickly he rotates on his heel and the light that is cast by his crystal reveals a tall goblin, this one a good five foot five or so, making it much smaller than Harland but still not to small, with my arrow buried in his right eye, the shaft of the arrow protruding out the back of his head a good half foot. As we watch he takes one more faltering step, his body not yet realizing that he is dead as it acts out the last messages his now destroyed brain sent him... He crashed to the stairs, his rusted Ironplate armor striking the stone and causing a bright spark and a cringe-worthy loud noise. As he hit he flopped down the stairs, crashing and scraping as he went, the sound echoing off of everything.¡°Fuck,¡± Alaina whispered as the noise died down, the sound no longer echoing. Everyone stood there, silent and frozen as we waited for a response. We didn''t have to wait long... A dull hiss of a number of harsh voices sounded. As well as the sound of countless feet running below us. Tamerian thrust his twisted branch high and shouted an arcane word of power, and suddenly in front of us in the space below where the stairway opened up into a wide open room was a light that after the past darkness looked like it was the light of the sun with how bright it shone in the darkness. Hisses sounded both bellow and above us, and hearing it I turned and found that a good twenty or so feet above me on the stairs was a horde of the horrible grey creatures, most of these decked out in bone or leather or nothing at all, there small parts dangling, or rather not dangling as the sight of Alaina and I caused a reaction in their physiology that I really did not want to see. ¡°CONTACT REAR!¡± I shouted, cursing myself for allowing us to get into this mess, I could have easily avoided this sandwiching if I had not just followed Harland and had instead scouted out that third path. Now we were stuck with enemies in front and behind us and nowhere to really go¡­ I dropped to a knee on the stairs and released the second arrow I had pulled from my quiver, this one sinking into the thigh of the closest goblin, causing him to stumble on the stairs, which in turn caused the others behind him to trip on him. The result would have been hilarious if not for the dire circumstances, and the fact that even though I had tripped a good number of them there were still an army of the damned things behind, not caring that their comrades were moaning on the stairs as they pushed over the top of them. An explosion rocked the stairway and as I watched the tangle of grey bodies seemed to explode, gore and limbs flying every which direction painting me in red with small chunks of grey. ¡°Push down!¡± Harland yelled, his crystal light forgotten as he drew his second ax. What was he going to do with those? Sure they would be useful at the bottom of these stairs but right now we were funneled in and there was not enough room to swing one properly¡­with a primal roar of rage and enjoyment, he rushed forward, shoving anything and everything out of the way as he rushed for open ground. Alaina caught my eye, hers wide now with fear, not of death but of a fate much much worse and she drew her shortsword, opting to use it instead of the mace before she quickly followed Harland. OnlyTam and I were left in the stairwell. This, this was madness! Surely it would be better to push back the way we came? If we didn''t get paid then we didn''t get paid, so fucking what? ¡°Rin! We need to go!¡± I glanced down at him, his face was carved in a fierce smile. Taking a deep breath I followed behind him down the stairs¡­The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When I got down to the floor level I stepped into a complete war zone. Harland had room to swing his two massive axes and was doing so with zeal. The ground was soaked in blood each step soaking into the white fur between my toes, a sickly coppery smell covered everything. Pulling my bow I started firing into the hordes of goblins, each one of my arrows taking one of them down. Tamerian cast a firewall at the stair exit keeping us from being fully surrounded. Now we only had to deal with three sides as the foes backed us up against the firewall. There had to be around fifty, and even if they were not that strong they had the numerical advantage. Pulling an arrow out of my pack I drew sighted and shot, the shaft of my arrow driving deep into the neck of one. As he or she I really couldn''t tell clutched at its neck blood gurgling up the now arrow blocked throat I pulled and released again, this time burying my arrow in the chest of another. It punched right through the thin hide armor and made a mess of the delicate organs in his chest cavity. I kept firing arrows, over and over until my quiver was practically empty, every arrow but one now spent. Slinging my bow back over my shoulder I sprang forward, claws outstretched each one easily sliding past through the thin grey skin of a goblin. My claws entered his skin at around his chin and slid up diagonally, shredding the skin on his face completely. Screaming the goblin flailed his arms around, waving the crude stick that he was obviously used for a club ineffective. I dodged under a blind swing and brought my leg up in a kick under his chin. He lifted a full three or four feet off the ground and arched back towards his companions, the sickening crunch that accompanied his departure was proof enough that he was dead. Breathing hard I danced back, each hand clawed and ready for use dyed in a red liquid that stained my fur, as I did I noticed something strange¡­ There was no more fighting, it had all stopped. Everyone was standing in a daze well everyone besides me and Alaina. I glanced over at her and watched as she sung softly under her breath some sort of pacification spell. It must be one of the holy magic of her goddess Alten, as I didn''t feel passified by it. I felt enraged¡­ She held the talisman aloft a soft gold hue shining off of both it and her as she chanted. As she sung she walked forward, moving through the crowd of goblins like a ghost of death, the blade in her hand slipping silently across the necks of any and everyone she met. It might have worked, and she might have been able to get away with killing the whole lot of them if a deep growl had not sounded somewhere deeper in the keep. When it did she froze, and the spell was broken and everyone held still for a different reason. A wolf the size of a pony was pacing back and forth, a rather impressively dressed goblin shaman on it¡¯s back. This one I could tell was a woman. Despite her old and wrinkled appearance, which she hid in a cowl of dark fur and leather she had a woman¡¯s figure. Clothed in only bones tied together by scraps of leather and holding a twisted staff that had the head of a goblin impaled on it she looked quite menacing. The head on the end of her staff was relatively new, as only part of the skin had peeled away on the right side of the face, showing the white bone and empty eyes socket on that side. The poor creature¡¯s tongue hung out of its stiff jaw and the side that had flesh on it still was staring wide-eyed in horror at something¡­ The shaman raised her arm and shouted some command in whatever language the goblins use and a dull red light sprang out of her staff and flew into our ranks. Only Tamerian and I were unscathed, seeing as he had barely cast some sort of shield using a translucent dome of green magic to protect himself. I was far enough away that I only felt the shockwave of the shaman¡¯s spell. Harland was not so lucky. The bolt of arcane energy hit him in the chest and as it did thousands of cuts opened on his skin, spraying blood in every direction. He screamed in pain and anger but the spell was not yet done with him. As the blood sprayed out it solidified and shot back into him, stabbing back into his body. He took one step towards the shaman and stood there, impaled by an innumerable amount of spikes that rammed through him at every angle, one so large it literally ripped the jaw practically off of his face as it forced its way down his throat and out of the back of his neck. Harland was dead. I heard a scream and was able to make out the form of Alaina being dragged away by five or more goblins, they had already made it almost to the edge of the room and she was crying and shrieking hysterically. The blast of magic must have flung her into the goblins. There was no way I could reach her in time, not with that army of goblins between myself and her. I looked over at Tamerian, who simply stared in horror at Harland, and then glanced at Alaina. Slowly his eyes tracked over to me and I knew what he was about to do before he did it. Turning he cast a magic fire between himself and the rest of us and sprinted back up the stairs, not only abandoning Alaina and myself but also blocking our escape. He knew the goblins would be more interested in raping the two of us than chasing him, and he was using it to escape. Bastard¡­ Alaina¡¯s eyes met mine as they held her down, the sound of ripping cloth loud in the cavernous room. ¡°Please,¡± she mouthed at me, and I knew what she was asking of me. I pulled my bow off of my shoulder and grabbed my last arrow, a sad smile played on her lips as I took aim and let the arrow go. The smile persisted as her eyes grew glassy¡­ Better dead than defiled like that, every eye turned towards me, the low growl of the wolf as it stalked closer to me and the angry squawking of the goblins of whom I had robbed the evening''s entertainment from all assaulted my ears. I was blocked off from the exit. My companions were either dead or had fled. And a very large pack of goblins wanted to gang rape me¡­ Turning I fled deeper into the keep, and as I did so a massive roar of the goblin¡¯s collective furry erupted behind me. I leaned over and placed my front paws on the ground, using all four of my limbs to sprint at full speed. As I said before, I can outrun a pack of wolves. Even if one of those wolves was a direwolf. The goblins on their short little legs had no chance of catching me as I wove through the debris that was the keeps basement. At the far end of a wall, I spotted a cave entrance, the brick piled up in a mound around it. I hoped there was not more of them in there, but it might be the only way out, so I took it sprinting up the mound and into the cave. After about a hundred feet I stood there glancing left and right, trying to figure out which way to go. In front of me the cave split into four or five different branching paths. A shout of anger sounded behind me and I turned around quickly. But the goblins were not here yet, as I turned a hand grabbed me around the middle and dragged me backward. I screamed in fear and anger my claws coming out as I twisted to claw at my attacker. ¡°Shhhhh!¡± a woman¡¯s voice sounded in my ear, ¡°be quiet or they will hear and find us!¡± I almost collapsed in relief as I realized I was being pulled down a tunnel not by a goblin that wanted to do unspeakable things to me but by another person. We both froze when a massive shaggy head peaked it¡¯s way into our small crevice, sniffing the air once or twice. I dare not breath¡­ The woman muttered some spell under her breath, which must have masked our scent, the massive head withdrew and the monster padded away. Breathing once again I leaned back against my rescuer and felt a multitude of emotions wash over me. ¡°Are you the only survivor?¡± she whispered in my ear, I nodded sadly and turned to look up at the woman holding me, her bright purple eyes framed by flaming red hair¡­ Chapter 14 Taking comfort... Chapter 14 taking comfort... We didn''t speak as I followed her deeper into the branch of the cave we were in. I didn''t know what to say, or even how to say it. I had just lost the entire group of adventurer¡¯s that I had partnered up with, a group that I had traveled with for the past three weeks or so. And while I could not say they were the best of friends I could call them friends. The memories played through my head, again and again. Images of Harland¡¯s laughter at anything and everything, his easy-going nature interposed themselves over his death fought for space with Alaina¡¯s pleading eyes, asking me for the one thing I could do to help her ¡­ I bent over and lost my breakfast. A warm hand curled it¡¯s way around my bicept and pulled me forward, marching me forward even as I disgorged the contents of my stomach. There was no time to stop, we had to keep moving, had to march forward or both of us would die. As we made our way through the winding cave that split off on every deeper branch that wound to who knows where I didn''t say a word, I couldn''t. As I watched the woman move in front of me I slowly remembered her name. Sarena¡­ The witch that had once been in Harland¡¯s group of adventurers, but had parted ways after the death of a fellow member due to negligence on her part. Or at least that was what I think was the issue, it was hard to tell, seeing as even with the best people things tended to get twisted one way or the other¡­ Sarena crouched and half shimmied under a small gap in the stone and stood up in the other side. I followed suit, crawling on my stomach, holding myself to make bronze of my armor didn''t scrape against the stone, causing quite a ruckus. The only issue was that the large bag on my back was too big to fit through the hole so I had to shimmy back out and pull myself through the hole backward, and then rag the bag inside behind me. The cave area that I found myself in was a large hollowed out dome, big enough for a person to stand straight up in, and about seven to eight feet wide. In the center was a light crystal and around it was a pile of assorted plants and other things that mages and witches seemed t keep around, there was even a tome or two the black leather cover completely covered with runes inlaid with silver, after all, silver does take on magic and enchantment much easier than any other metal. There were also dolls, many many dolls, each one made out of canvas or other cloth-like materials, and painted in red runes all over their bodies. Sitting next to them were many instruments that looked like they had been carved out of bone, things like long needles and bone knives, each one of the implements carved in with an inlay of blood red. There was also a little stream that had likely once been the source of this cave, looking around it would appear that in spring when the rains came to this area maybe even at the end of winter, when the snow melted off this entire cave would be flooded. For now, however, there was no need to fear as the small stream flowed right through on the edge of the cave. Seating myself down on the sharp stone ground I curled into a ball and quickly fell asleep, only to be awoken what felt like a few seconds later. I looked up to see Sarena leaning down over me. ¡°Come on, we need to get you cleaned up,¡± she said softly, I could see behind her she had gone through my bag, but I couldn''t find it in me to feel angry at that, in fact, I felt emotionally drained, like I couldn''t feel anything at all. I looked down at my fur and found that it had formed into brownish-red spikes as the blood had dried into it, slowly I allowed her to pull me up to my feet, my muscles protesting the motion.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! She walked me over to the stream and helped me strip off my filthy armor and clothing, slowly I knelt down to the stream and started washing off my front paws, but the damned blood was not wanting to come off, and where it did it simply left my normally white fur looking pinkish. ¡°Here,¡± Sarena handed me a greyish lump of something, and as I took it in my paws I recognized lye soap, which was made from ashes and animal fats. It was also extremely rough and caustic and smelly¡­ I started scrubbing. Crouched there naked next to the creek I scrubbed the blood off with a vigor, feeling like I would never be able to get it off as I would never be clean. I scrubbed hard, working the entirety of my body in a lather. ¡°Here,¡± I looked over to see that Sarena was standing there with her hand outstretched, ¡°Let me see the soap,¡± she said, and so I handed it to her. She grabbed me by the chin and started scrubbing around my cheeks, apparently washing off the blood I missed. As she did that I watched her eyes, they seemed distant, clouded, she was seeing me, and what she was doing, but she wasn''t really seeing. Her mind was elsewhere. Somewhere extremely sad. ¡°They might not believe it,¡± she said softly, ¡°But I did my best, I tried to save everyone, and in doing so I failed, I was not focused enough,¡± she sighed. ¡°Alaina didn''t-¡± he voice faltered, and it was all I could do to not cry myself, I shook my head, letting her know what she feared had not happened. ¡°Good,¡± she sniffed and went back to scrubbing her hands still holding up my chin she started scrubbing my neck. ¡°And Harland, Tamerian, did they die well?¡± ¡°Rin thinks Harland was brave, Tamerian however,¡± I closed my eyes attempting to reconcile the image of the man I had in my mind with the reality of his actions. It was a difficult task. ¡°Tamerian left Rin and Alaina behind...¡± I felt her hand spasm as I spoke. I looked up to see her face twisted in a dark way, one that made the purple of her eyes shine. Slowly she took a deep breath, her eyes still sharp as she schooled her features and went back to her self-appointed task. Done scrubbing me she stood back and looked at her work. ¡°Close your eyes,¡± she bade me and I did so, then I heard her chanting, water splashed down on me, drenching me to the skin as the soap was washed away. Three times she did this before I opened my eyes and looked down at my body. I was shivering slightly, dripping there, naked, my top set of nipples hard due to the cold. I looked a lot skinnier with the fluffiness of my fur plastered against my skin. I still had all of my womanly curves, just not quite as wide and curvy without the additional fluff, but at least now my fur was back to the pristine white and grey it had been. Shivered and wrapped my arms around my body hugging my upper torso. ¡°Hold still, ¡± she said and began chanting again. Soon a warm breeze of wind whipped up in the small cave, swirling around me drying my fur in a matter of minutes and returning me back to my previous level of fluffiness. ¡°There, now let''s get some sleep and we can figure out what to do tomorrow...¡± I watched as she walked over to her small pallet and sat down on it, laying down with her arm as a pillow. That couldn''t be comfortable, her pallet was not much more than a thin blanket on the cave floor. Walking over to her I placed my tail on the ground and worked an arm under her side, she looked over at me surprised but I rolled to my right, pulling her up onto the fluffy mattress that was my tail. It wasn''t big enough for two people, so I ended up practically forcing her to sleep on top of me. She looked at me, her eyes searching my own, but she said nothing as she reached behind her and grabbed the blanket she had been sleeping on top of and pulled it over the both of us. We were both asleep in a matter of seconds. Her head resting on my shoulder, one leg draped over my own. Two people taking comfort in each other¡¯s warmth and presence, sheltered away from heartache... Chapter 15 every witch needs a cat... Chapter 15 every witch needs a cat... The warm feeling of someone sleeping with me brought back memories, the good ones of me and my sister, curled together on chilly days, curled together in a patch of sunlight. this felt similar but somehow different because the person I was currently cuddling with was not my sister. I curl in tighter, relishing the feel of the woman pressed up against my side, the curves of her breasts pressed against my own, the weight of her on top of me. Unconsciously I started nuzzling her, rubbing my face against her own, breathing in her scent... ¡°That tickles,¡± Sarena chuckled and I found that I had been purring unconsciously. I opened one eye and looked over at her, she still had an arm over me, across my body her fingers lightly on my shoulder, as well as a leg draped over my own as her head rested on my shoulder. ¡°I might have to keep you,¡± she smiled reaching behind her she patted the tail we were both laying on, my tail. ¡°She thinks every good witch needs a cat...¡± I smiled softly back at her, she smiled back at me, and the two my hand around her waist pulled her a little closer before she sighed and pulled the blanket off the two of us and sat up. As she pulled away I couldn''t help but think I had just lost something, an opportunity missed¡­ ¡°Your name was Rin right? I seem to remember you referring to yourself like that...¡± ¡°Her full name is Rinmua of Tribe Jurina of the upper Pontiff, ¡±I answer, standing up and straightening my tail out. Running a hand through the fur that had become tangled, the claws on my paws extended ever so slightly to act like the teeth of a comb. ¡°Harland insisted on calling her Rin-¡± ¡°Yeah, said it was easier right?¡± she chuckled to herself. ¡°He did the same thing to me, my full name is Sarena Demiova, but he always used to call me Seri,¡± her face fell slightly, at the memories. ¡°We used to be the best of friends, but then I made some dumb decisions.¡± I reached over and picked up the clothes that my sister had given me and wrinkled my nose at them, painted in blood as they were. I walked them over to the creek and started to scrub them in the water with the lye soap. It was a long process, one that I went about vigorously scrubbing, the small creek turning brownish red as the blood was scrubbed off of the cloth. ¡°She wonders where the rest of your group is? Are you like her the last of your team?¡± I ask, not looking at her, I already knew the story, about how she had bed one of her fellow adventurers, so I decided to change the subject so she didn''t have to talk about it. ¡°They told you didn''t they?¡± she asked, her voice is soft, ¡°told you I was involved with Hamin?¡± slowly I nod my head. ¡°And that Leah died because of it?¡± once again my head bobbed up and down. ¡°Well they don''t know the full details,¡± she took a deep breath, in it was the slightest of quavers. ¡°I was pregnant,¡± I froze, my hands stopping their vigorous washing. ¡°It is exceptionally rare for my people to get pregnant, especially at my age,¡± I looked back at her eyebrows raised. ¡°At your age?¡± I asked looking at her curiously. She couldn''t be a day over twenty. ¡°What do you know about my people Rin?¡± ¡°She knows nothing,¡± I admit. ¡°I am 179 years old Rin and am considered a matron, meaning I am well past the age I could be expected to get pregnant or to give birth, most of my people give birth at around the same time a normal human would, at around the age of 14 through 30 or so, but I was never able to do that, I had never gotten pregnant, it is a condition of my people, many have theorized that it is due to the long lives my people live, that way there is no inbreeding when multiple generations are all still alive, but whatever the reason after the age of forty the chances of pregnancy decrease exponentially as age increases. I was 175 and I got pregnant, which was to my knowledge an unprecedented thing for my race, and something I had resigned myself to never experience.¡± I slowly looked back at her, her eyes were closed, her face raised to the ceiling of the cave, she wasn''t crying now, but there was a shiny line of wetness that had streaked its way down her cheek toward her chin that caught in the light of the crystal. ¡°I was so happy, so very very happy.¡± her eyes opened and she looked at me. ¡°Hamin was to, or so I thought, he maid these r promises to me, to me and my baby, to be there to be the father, so when the kobolds attacked, and I found I could only save one I chose him, chose the father of my child, how could I do differently? There was no way I could save both, I knew this, they might have thought I could have, but there was no way I have been in many battles, many fights.¡± she sniffled, ¡°I broke Harland¡¯s heart, abandoning his wife like that.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Everything clicked. Leah was Harland¡¯s wife, and he blamed Sarena for her death, the bad blood between the two had deep, this was for sure much deeper than I had thought originally. ¡°To make matters worse I was hit in that fight,¡± she placed her hand over her stomach, and I felt my own tighten at her words. ¡°I lost the baby, and Hamin moved on, and I was left alone,¡± she sniffed, ¡°I do not regret my decisions then, I would do them again, I just regret the outcome.¡± she laughed and wiped her face with the palm of her hand, ¡°why am I telling you all of this?¡± she laughed weakly. ¡°Rin is from the Jurina tribe,¡± I say, turning back to my washing, though my hands are nor scrubbing on their own,¡± She is the second daughter of the tribe Shaman, but she was born without magic, she has none, can''t even see magic being formed.¡± I sighed to myself, ¡°Her older sister Turu is skilled, however, and as the older sibling she was to stay with the tribe, Rin being the younger, however, was to be sent to other tribes to make sure there was no inbreeding, it is the way of our people, keeps all the tribes allied together. The issue is that Rinmua is not attracted to men,¡± I glance over at her and she is staring at me, I go back to scrubbing. ¡°She knows her parents love her, but she also feels she has let them down, not being able to take up her father¡¯s craft, always in Turu¡¯s shadow, so she left.¡± it is hard to say, I know they are proud of me, but I still feel it, a deep gnawing thing in my core. I look back at her, she has this thoughtful look, like she is going over what she has said and done with me, there is a slight blush in her dark cheeks. ¡°Now listen Rin-¡± ¡°Rinmua assumes nothing,¡± I say, ¡°she knows the difference between companionship and something more,¡± I smile, ¡°she just wished to tell someone, she doesn''t know if she will survive, and she thought that since you were sharing she could do the same, she knows she is a freak.¡± I give her a little smile. ¡°Your not a freak,¡± she snapped at me, and I glanced up at her. ¡°Don''t ever say that again, because it isn''t true, do you hear me?¡± I apparently hit a nerve when I said those words, her face is dark and foreboding, the amethyst of her eyes deep and dark shining with an intensity I have not seen before. ¡°Do you hear me?¡± she practically snarled. I nod my head. ¡°Good,¡± she sighs and points her face to the sky. ¡°Listen, this is not the place to be discussing things like this, let us first get out of this hell hole and then we can have a discussion.¡± she nodded to herself as though she has come to some sort of decision, one which I am not privy to. ¡°A discussion? About what?¡± I ask, completely confused at the turn of events. ¡°You are the first person I have told any of that too, I have to make sure you don''t spread that around, ruin my reputation and the like,¡± she chuckled at the confused look on my face. ¡°After all, it''s like you said, every witch needs a cat...¡± What just happened?!? Chapter 16 Choices to make... Chapter 16 Choices to make... Slowly I crept forward, each paw step methodically soft as I placed them down on the cold uneven surface that was the cave floor. The structure that had formed under the keep propper was a massive branching thing with probably hundreds if not thousands of naturally formed branches that spread in increasingly complex mazes. This was likely the factor that had saved Sarena¡¯s life as well as my own. And while it was possible to have multiple entrances, seeing as most of this was carved out by underground rivers and streams that were not too likely. More likely those streams would continue underground for who knows how long. Meaning there were two entrances that we could count on, the first being the entrance the goblins had used to get into this cave system, to begin with, probably through some tunnel that had a stream flowing out of it. The second was the tunnel they had made to the keep¡¯s lower level, also known as the way we came from originally. Both paths would be blocked and guarded surely. Goblins are dumb, but not that dumb. If it was just the goblins then Sarena would have already left, she apparently is quite skilled in many forms of crowd control. Voodoo magic works on perception, so if you perceive this doll, for example, is a person, a very specific person then you can inflict pain on it through the doll. If you instead perceive this doll to be all of the people then while the same pain is inflicted it is spread out over the number of people. Sarena had convinced herself that all the goblins looked the same, meaning she when she used the doll she only saw goblins, not an individual, making it possible to target multiple goblins at once. And it can be really disrupting when you suddenly feel a stabbing pain in your head or groin¡­ The issue lies in the fact that the goblin shaman was immune to the magic she cast. Shamanic magic and Voodoo magic both share the common bases of ritualistic magic, Meaning she was able to resist her spells well enough and Sarena was able to do the same to her, only The goblin also had hundreds of warriors that Sarena also had to deal with, making any magical debate between the two of them rather one-sided affairs. We had decided that we needed more information if we were to get out of here, so I was doing one of the things I was best at. Scouting¡­ She had cast a spell that took away my scent, the same one that she had used so we could avoid the Direwolf that had hunted us when she had first rescued me. Apparently, it would only last for the next two hours and was not perfect. If for example, a direwolf got closer than a meter away they would smell me. She told me this was due to the fact that it was a spell she was not that good at, seeing as it was not Voodoo magic or even ritualistic in nature. Which meant I needed to go about this carefully and make sure to not get to close. Thankfully I was well versed in sneaking, slowly using both my front paws as well as my back paws I crept forward, it didn''t take long to get back to the intersection of the paths, and what Isaw there made me want to cry, and scream, and tear the head off of every goblin. Hanging there from a chain was Alaina¡¯s body. She had been stripped naked, her limbs removed and her head stuck on a spike not five feet away, standing sentry along with Harland¡¯s head. Both of their eyes were wide open, staring in horror at nothing. I was so focused on how they had defiled my friend''s corpses I almost didn''t notice the goblin that was standing sentry, in his hand he was holding a stick, this stick carved with runes that curled down the shaft and a red ribbon tied around his wrist that pulsated with a soft red light. They had only set one goblin here, even though they knew we had disappeared down one of these paths, which meant it was a trap. Goblins were not afraid of sacrificing a member of their own tribe, in fact, it was one of the cornerstones of most of their strategy, how they got volunteers for this I will never understand, but right now my gut was telling me this was a trap, a really big trap. Creeping backward I made my way back down the path, I hadn''t gotten as far as I wanted but I had found out something interesting, perhaps Sarena would shed some light on the glowing stick¡­.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. When I got back she was dancing some sort of ritual dance, her voice rising and falling as she hopped from one bare foot to the other in a rather graceful manner. As she danced the flaps that made up the skirt of her dress seemed to flutter in the wind of her movement, slow and thoughtful. I stood there unwilling to interrupt whatever she was doing, both because I simply wanted to watch it, and because I didn''t know if there would be any magical backlash from interrupting whatever she was casting, even without seeing the mana or the signature of the spell I could tell there was something magical about it. As she finished on a long keening note there was the feeling of wind, rushing out, ruffling my fur, she stood there gleaming with sweat in the crystal light. ¡°You¡¯re back earlier than I thought, what is up?¡± she panted. ¡°There is only one goblin guarding the path, but she does not like it,¡± I say, attempting to not let my eyes fall to her chest that is rising and falling rapidly in a rather eye-catching way. ¡°The goblin is holding a stick that pulses and is red, Rin does not know what it is,¡± I state, looking into her deep purple eyes. ¡°Damn,¡± she said under her breath, which catches me by surprise, I didn''t expect her to be the cursing type. ¡°That is a Warlass stick, its a good thing you didn''t kill that goblin,¡± her eyes focused on me, ¡°The second you would have killed him you would have finished the magic, essentially what happens is it is an incomplete immobilization spell, the shaman carves the runes to cast it on the staff, with the requirement of a blood sacrifice, with the target being the person who finished the spell. It probably also had some sort of alarm on it to notify the shaman that the spell had been completed.¡± ¡°A rather devious trap even for goblins, she wonders how they got so well versed in hunting people.¡± ¡°Do you think we are the first people to be sent here by lady Brandmount has hired?¡± I thought back and shook my head. ¡°Rin recalls her telling us there were five others she hired,¡± I responded. ¡°Yes, five other teams,¡± my eyes opened wide at that, ¡°Only three of which returned, and when they did they stopped working for the guild and started doing jobs for her, let me ask you this, did she loan you all some money before the start of the mission?¡± she raised an eyebrow and I nodded. ¡°Rin remembers a purse of 10 silver, we chose not to spend it but to rather save it, it is at the bank in Uljits.¡± ¡°A smart choice,¡± she raised a bag that jingled from behind her back and shook it once. ¡°Ten silver is more than an average adventurer see in half a year, likely what she does is she gives the coin and when the adventurer¡¯s get it they spend it, getting new equipment and the like, and when they come here they do the smart thing and retreat, or like us they get trapped, which leads to the parties death, but the ones that do make it has to go back to her, where she demands they repay her fee of silver, when they cant she forces them to do jobs, jobs she does not want to be posted on the guild list either due to the dubious nature of the job¡¯s legality or because they are politically charged.¡± ¡°She wonders why no one has reported this! Surely the ones who survived would tell of this outcome and the guild would be outraged!¡± I hiss the words out through my teeth. ¡°That is the beauty of the plan, once you take the contract you are bound by guild rules to not reveal the nature of the contract to anyone, failure of this will lead to heavy guild fines or even banishment if the client takes offense.¡± she smiles in a angry sort of way, ¡°You must admit it is a rather impressively devious way of going about things.¡± she laughed bitterly. ¡°She is disgusted, because of that vile woman Rin¡¯s friends are dead!¡± ¡°I''m sure she would argue that it was your own fault for biting off more than you could chew, but yes, in fact, I am dubious of whether there is even a chest or if she just made it up to get people to come here and fall into her little honey pot.¡± she sighed and sat down, using a scrap of cloth to wipe off the sweat on her skin. ¡°Luckly for us Voodoo magic can be cast at a range, and she is not aware of what type of mage I am,¡± a wicked smile spread on her face. ¡°So once we get out of here we can give her the money back, and administer a little justice to her, also we will need to find Tam,¡± she paused looking at me slightly nervously. ¡°That is if you still wish to join me...¡± I looked up at her, curious at the sudden change in her demeanor. ¡°Rin wonders why she would not wish to join with you?¡± ¡°Well, over the past few years I have not been making the best of decisions...¡± ¡°Perhaps that is due to a lack of input? ¡± I asked, a small purr in my chest, she smiled back at me and nodded a conceding head. ¡°Perhaps.¡± Chapter 17 Down to go out... Chapter 17 Down to go out... The darkness was fine for me, I could see well enough, even if it was slightly strange how the lack of light made everything a sort of monotone, it was, however, more of an issue for my companion. Serena held onto my tail as I stalked forward as quietly as possible, each step placed carefully to avoid any sound. Serena, on the other hand, placed her booted feet down as quietly as she could, which was to say it was noisy as all hell. Which was to be expected when every other step she tripped on some stalactite or uneven surface of the cave floor. I attempted to appraise hr of any of these coming her way but the issue was while I could tell her she still couldn''t see it coming and even knowing it was approaching she still managed to trip over it. It was not in anyway her fault, seeing as it would be next to impossible to not get caught on each and every step, but it was much much too noisy. Sighing I paused and felt her run into my back. ¡°What is it? Why have we stopped?¡± She whispered into my ear I suppressed the urge to spontaneously start purring when I felt the warmth of her breath on my ear and her face pressed up against mine¡­ ¡°She does not think this will work,¡± I whispered back to her. ¡°She thinks we are making to much noise, she has an idea.¡± I pulled off my backpack and slipped it on backward, the pouch hanging off of my chest. Reaching back I grabbed the meaty thigh of one of her legs, my paw only twitching slightly as I felt its warmth beneath my fingers and pulled it up around my waist. ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°Wrap your arms around Rin¡¯s shoulders,¡± I Interrupted her and she did so, leaning forward I grabbed her other thigh and hoisted her onto my back. I was used to carrying large loads, when I hunted the Juji I would often carve the best pieces wrap them in the pelt and carry them home on my back, moving quickly. If the load was balanced I could carry almost twice my weight and still move at a good pace. As I leaned forward I felt her press her chest against my back and I wrapped my tail around her middle, as extra protection to keep her from falling off. ¡°Stay low as she will be moving fast,¡± I instruct, and feel her tighten her legs around my hips. Mmm warm. Starting forward at a fairly decent pace, using both my front and back paws on the ground we made our way towards the branching path in good time, each of my paws falls quiet, almost silent. The operative word being almost¡­ As we neared the edge of the split I slowed down, moving at a more sedate pace, standing there was still that goblin, or perhaps he had traded shifts with another, I didn''t know, seeing as every goblin looked exactly the same to me¡­ I felt Sarena¡¯s fingers tighten in my fur as she saw what was left of Alaina and Harland, her breathing became shallow and her heart started pumping at a speed that was rather dizzying. Slowly she sat up and pulled out a doll, holding it in front of her I watched as she twisted the neck of the doll, with such force I thought she was going to rip the poor thing¡¯s cloth head right off. There was a sickening crack as her eyes flared purple and I glanced back to see the goblin standing there, his head twisted almost fully around. Slowly as though held by invisible hands he laid down on the ground, the staff still glowing and pulsing, not yet activated.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It was activated by a blood sacrifice after all, and if there was no blood¡­ ¡°She wonders why the shaman would have set up a trap that could have been so easily circumvented by your magic, did you not duel with her?¡± ¡°The trap wasn''t for me, but rather for you, hence why they placed the bodies right here on display, they haven''t seen me in over a week, they likely think I am dead, I have been put out of mind,¡± nodding my head she slipped off and I follow her as she picks up he warlass stick, walking towards the cave entrance she snapped the stick in half and hurls it towards the keep¡¯s interior, before grabbing me and pulling me back into the cave we had just come from, once there she pulls me into a deep shadow and hides me behind her, seeing as I am white and therefore much easier to see in the dark, and once again casts the spell that hides our scent. It doesn''t take long, soon an army of goblins immerge from the cave leading down, they stop and sniff the air like animals, each one dancing or chattering or doing something else, but they all part ways when the shaman pushes through, her eyes tracking left and then right before falling on the dead goblin and the broken warlass stick. Slowly her eyes track over to our hiding place, and I can''t help but hold my breath. Closing my eyes in an attempt to keep any and all reflection from shining back at them I listen as she barks out a sharp set of orders in whatever language it is that goblins speak, and much to my relief the sounds of countless feet headed towards the basement of the keep. Slowly I opened my eyes and watched as Sarena rose to her feet, creeping forward over the cave floor, this time much more silently due to the low amount of illumination that spilled in from the main cave entrance. I stood up and followed her almost literally following in her footsteps, as she made to look out the passageway I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her bodily back. Slowly I stuck my face forward and sniffed. The air smelled of goblins, but as I turned my head down the tunnel I could also smell something else, something sweet. Fresh air¡­ ¡°She is the scout,¡± I said, looking back at her, all she did was a smile but she did fall in step behind me. We didn''t have much time, I doubted it would take to long for them to realize that we had not gone up that path, moving forward as quickly as possible we pushed deeper into the goblin¡¯s nest. It was a risk, one we would have to take, goblins by nature were unorganized mobs, meaning they tended to just all rush at an enemy, even with a shaman their grasp of squad tactics and just tactics in general left a lot to be desired, unless you were against them, then it was simply perfect. As we pushed deeper into the cave the air grew steadily thicker, like we were walking into an area thick with campfires and cooking fires, which was exactly what it was. Down below, at the base of a good 50 foot wall that the tunnel opened up on was a camp, built in the shelter of a large cave opening, beneath us on the hardpacked earth were hundreds of mud and stick huts built haphazardly, none of them in any sort of order, each one just heaped next to the rest. The cave itself was a massive thing, about half a mile wide and almost one across it had a ceiling that stood over two hundred feet above the ground floor. The years of campfires had marked the stone above a sickly black. There was a row of cages, some containing animals, others containing what looked like women, most naked and hardly moving likely members of past groups sent here by lady Brandmount, the ones unlucky enough to not die. I wanted to run down there and let them all go, in fact, I started to step that way, but a warm hand on my shoulder stopped me. Looking back I saw a sad set of amethyst eyes looking at me. ¡°We don''t have time,¡± she said, and as if to punctuate her point a wolf¡¯s howl echoed out of the cave behind her. The cages were off to the right side, almost at the far wall, we might be able to get to them, maybe free the women, but she was right, if we did that then we would once again be surrounded by the goblins. There just wasn''t time¡­ closing my eyes I nodded, she was right, so we did what we had to. We fled towards the entrance... Chapter 18 escape... Chapter 18 escape... We fled towards the entrance, the issue was that the howl had whipped everything up into a frenzy as we made our way along the path towards the base of the cave wall that we needed to descend I realized what I had to do. It sucked, but it needed to be done. I pulled my bag off of my back and flung it away, not watching as it disappeared somewhere into the camp below. I didn''t want to get rid of the bag, it had been one of the gifts my sister had given me, but I knew she would rather I tossed the bag and survived then kept it and not, after all, possessions could be lost and gained easily, turning I looked at Sarena, who was looking at me in surprise. ¡°She thinks you should get rid of your bag,¡± I state, but she shakes her head. ¡°I have months of preparations in there, not to mention the silver...¡± ¡°Keep the silver, but the rest, she wonders if it is worth your life?¡± I ask, and she closes her eyes, before also pulling off her pack and fishing out the small coin purse that had started this entire trouble, both for herself and for my friends and I, leading to two of my friends deaths, part of me wanted to snatch the bag out of her hands and to toss it over the side, but then where would that leave us? We would be forced to work for that Madwoman who cares nothing about the lives of others. It was a wonder how someone so physically attractive could be so ugly at the same time¡­ with a look of regret, Sarena dropped the bag down the sheer wall, where it landed half a second later with the sound of what I would guess was something in a clay pot breaking. Nodding I got down on all four of my paws, for this we were going to need to move fast, and no matter how quick she was I was faster, much much faster. Without waiting she climbed on my back, which probably looked completely ridiculous, seeing as she was a full head and a half taller than I was. Leaning over she gripped my hips between her knees and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, leaning down into me. ¡°Ok,¡± she whispered, and that was all the go-ahead that I needed. Surging forward I hugged close to the wall as I made my way down the switchbacks, that were tred in the wall. As I made it to the bottom and the goblin camp in earnest I glanced up and saw out of the corner of my vision a grey blur that while a second ago was at the top had already made it a third of the way down, which in my book was not a good sign. The shaman had a sort of home turf advantage, one that could not be ignored. Pushing forward as fast as I could I finally reached the bottom of the path and into the camp proper, only to skid to a halt, the stone floor rubbing my pads raw as the friction of the sudden decrease in momentum caused me to slide a few extra feet further forward. Spread in front of us was a forest of goblins, this one more of a mob than the warriors above, in fact, it was pretty easy to see that the majority of them were women and children, based both on size as well as the breasts in the case of the females and the diminutive size for the children. They all hissed, only a few of them were actually armed with something more deadly than their fists, though I must say that in those numbers their fists were probably more than enough to end our lives. A collective hiss came out of the impromptu militia, and I was about to ask what to do when Sarena sat up straight, bringing out a single cloth doll she had stashed somewhere before she had tossed the bag away holding it up she chanted softly, and the doll was suddenly caught on fire, the blaze burning the canvas doll like it had been soaked in oil. And judging by the smell of the fire it had been. There was a pause, as countless eyes stared at the burning thing in her hands, a silence that was quickly broken when around twenty or so of the goblins in front of us started screaming in pain. The skin on their bodies suddenly and violently on fire. The smell of cooking meat filled the area as all eyes turned towards the goblins on fire, an unholy green flame that seemed to leap from body to body, consuming anything and everything it touched. Within seconds the initial twenty dispersed throughout the crowd had caught more than twice their number on fire.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The blockade in front of us dissolved into a roiling mass of terrified goblins, each and everyone turning and fleeing in every possible direction, some even in directions that were not really possible, though that didn''t stop them from trying. The number of goblins that got trampled in the next few seconds was staggering. No matter what they tried to do, the flames would not go out, the green flames not daunted by any attempts to be put out, any goblin that attempted to help another just ended up as another piece of goblin kindling to feed the bonfire that was raging through the camp. ¡°MOVE!¡± Sarena snarled, breaking me out of my shocked state, blinking twice I saw lept forward, making sure to dodge through any gap I could find, avoiding the flaming corpses and the still alive goblin torches. ¡°I am out of power, I don''t have any more in me, the rest is up to you...¡± she leaned over, hugging onto me tightly, something about her voice conveying her bone-deep teirdness. I could do that, all I needed to do was get us out of here, the pure chaos she had spread was surely enough to allow us to slip away¡­ Surging forward I dodged around a clump of still burning immolated forms, attempting to not notice that several of the bodies were extremely small¡­ As I ran a good portion of the goblin''s city caught on fire, the green light of the fire casting long angular shadows that seemed to simply make the situation more terrifying. As I ran an anguished howl went up behind me, and I was sure it was from the goblin shaman and her troops, which only compelled me to run faster. ¡°She wants you to hold on as tight as possible!¡± I shouted and felt her wrap her legs under my stomach, locking her ankles together and her fingernails bit into my shoulders, taking a deep breath of the acrid smoke I put absolutely everything into running. I doubt I even touched the ground half the time, my body low and my paw falls quick things in succession. Pa!pa!pa!pa! Each paw making a soft thump as they hit the floor, the muscles in my legs bunching up and exploding outwards my back arching and stretching with each one. In somewhere near half a minute I was out the cave entrance, still running full out, hitting the deep snow. The pads on my paws reflexively spreading to support my and Sarena¡¯s weight, though even with this I did sink quite a bit, after all, I was supporting two people, as well as my gear, and while my paws are quite wide when spread out like that they were not that wide¡­ I kept running, first in a straight line than in zigzags as I passed between trees. They flew past in green and brown blurs, there and then gone again, so fast that I almost registered them after they appeared. As I ran I laid my tail down, the fur on it spread and bristled naturally, acting like it was a broom, the tracks I left mostly brushed away, all but the deepest. Not that it mattered yet, seeing as my tail made my tracks a path instead of tracks, but if it snowed soon then it would fill this in smoother, making it more obscured than the deep paw marks I was making. ¡°Keep hold!¡± I said, feeling the drain on my body, I was not going to be able to do this much longer¡­ Before she could respond I leaped forward, both front and back claws biting into the bark of a tree before I used my momentum to literally run up it, from there I ran along a thick branch and lept to a different tree, in a completely different direction, I repeated this four times, leaping from tree to tree. I got the impression that Sarena had closed her eyes, her screams everytime we jumped short and terrified, her fingers clawed into my fur spasmed with the effort of holding on so tight for so long. I made one last turn and jumped down from the tree branch, falling to the ground a good twelve or so feet, aiming for a particularly deep looking snow drift. I sunk into it, the combined weight of myself and Sarena driving me deep, so deep that the snow covered my head for the briefest of moments before I surged out of the drift spraying snow in every which direction. Clawing my way back up to the surface. There was no way to hide that track, so I didn''t try. Hopefully, if they followed they would get confused and not find it, we were after all a good quarter of a mile away from the last spot I had formed a track and in a completely different direction from the way we had fled. I was panting, the edges of my vision darkened and blurry, the exertion more than I could handle for much longer. I started to slow, not because I wanted to, but because I had to, there was no way I could do anymore. I stumbled on something, tripping and then falling sideways, accidentally dumping Sarena off of my back as I fell. We both tumbled in the snow, and I found I had no strength to even lift my head. I lay there, steaming, turning the snow literally melting around me due to my body heat, only dimly aware of Sarena leaning over me with a concerned expression on her face. I was done, I was going to leave the rest to her, with this thought I closed my eyes and surrendered to the exhaustion that had grasped me in its iron fist¡­. Chapter 19 Decisions Chapter 19 Decisions Sarena looked at the Khatan girl stretched out next to the fire, passed out on top of the bed of branches she had collected for her. Well, perhaps girl was not the right term, she was, after all, a woman, one who could handle herself in a fight. Even if her current worldview was a little naive, she was still old enough to be called a woman and to make her own choices. It had been about a day and a half since they had fled, and Rinmua had only woken up twice in that time, the first time because she had needed to get something to drink, the second time because she needed to relieve herself afterword. She hadn''t even woken when Sarena had stripped her naked and rubbed her body down, in an attempt to help her muscles loosen. It was not the only affect her rubbing had had, however. The little kitten had moaned, the nipples that were mostly obscured by her fur had shown themselves as she had gotten a little closer to them. Sarena smiled to herself, her little kitten might be a woman, but she was completely inexperienced in that stage of adulthood¡­ Did Sarena want to teach her about it? Part of her said yes, though she had never been with a woman before she knew exactly where she liked to be touched and nipped, and she imagined it would be fun to teach Rin those locations as well¡­ Another part of her screamed no, she had spent the last four years pushing away anyone and everyone, ever since she had lost her child¡­ The thought still brought spikes of pain to her heart and forced her to suppress a sob that seemed to work its way up from deep in her chest. She had ignored all the signs, the sickness in the mornings, the mood swings, she had attributed them to different things, after all it was in her knowledge impossible for a woman of her race at her age to get pregnant, so why would she even consider the possibility that she had morning sickness and not simply that she had eaten or drink something bad? She had only known she was pregnant for a single day, just one day of joy and terror, followed by loss so immeasurable that she would never be able to escape its grasp. Most days she wished she had never known, ignorance, after all, was bliss¡­ The only reason she had found it was because she had gotten injured, a stray arrow to the shoulder, it had gotten past the defensive barrier that Tamerian had thrown up, one of the first arrow volleys the kobolds had fired. They had been hired by a small city to clear out a nest of the nasty creatures, seeing as they were preying on the rancher¡¯s flocks, and a few people had turned up dead and stripped. As Alaina had healed the shoulder she had noticed something odd. The majority of her magic was not going towards Sarena¡¯s shoulder, but rather to the area around her stomach¡­ Her womb. The small life that had started to grow there had absorbed almost all of the healing spell, bolstering its small life force. Healing magic was indiscriminate like that when you cast it, it would heal anything it gets to first, and it recognized all forms of life, so when it had touched the weak little life in her it had worked right away to bolster it. That was how she had found out, Sarena had forced her to check, to make sure there was no mistake, and sure enough, she was pregnant. And deep in a very very dangerous place¡­ She had talked to Hamin, had told him that he was the father, it could be no one else. Hamin was not the type of man she wanted to be forever tied to, it had been a drunk moment sort of thing, a way to relieve stress, nothing more, but it didn''t change the facts. He had been the only man she had slept with in almost a year, meaning he was the only man that could be the father.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Every child needed a father. He had promised in that smooth suave tone of his, she had not truly believed any of it. But to his credit he had talked to Harland, convincing him to go back to town. Sarena knew he didn''t tell Harland why, that would wait for when they got back to town, letting him know that the two of them would unfortunately not be traveling and adventuring anymore¡­ But they had never made it back to town, before they could they were ambushed, and Leah had died¡­ Neither Harland or Alaina could ever forgive her for that after all Harland had lost his wife, and Alaina had lost her sister¡­ Sarena closed her eyes, the tears slipping out silently, her entire life had fallen apart in that single day, everything she had ever done all the feats she had ever accomplished was worth nothing compared to a child, a child that had been hers for a single day. Only a day¡­ She breathed in deeply, forcing herself to push back the burning sensation that seemed to claw its way up her throat. She looked up at the clear sky through bleary eyes, her vision obscured by tears and blinked them away. She looked down at the sleeping Khatan, Rin was her own woman, Sarena knew this, and she also knew she was to conflict to make any clear decisions regarding her or anyone. She had made poor choose after poor choose since that day, and so she decided she would not choose. It would be up to Rinmua to decide, Sarena was done choosing, if Rin wanted a more intimate relationship then Sarena would embrace it, if not¡­ Sarena poked the small fire with a stick, stirring the coals up before throwing on a few more sticks. After this she decided she also wanted to sleep, and walking over to the naked Khatan slid her over ever so slightly, practically laying on top of the prone form and snuggling in close, breathing in the comfortable scent of her fur, her face buried deep in the fur at the base of her neck, one leg over Rin¡¯s and her arm around the Khatan¡¯s waist, pulling her closer unconsciously. She was out in seconds¡­ *** When I awoke it was with Sarena practically laying on top of me again¡­ Her face was pressed into my neck and as I rotated myself to look at her I saw that she had a contented smile on her lips. I looked at those lips and knew I wanted nothing more than to have them pressed against me, nothing more than to have her hold me like this for the rest of my life. It was irrational, I knew, after all, I had only known her for a little longer than two days, but at that time we had been trapped together, the both of us worried that we wouldn''t even survive to the next day, I knew her because I had seen her, there in the darkness, or at least that was what I told myself, whether or not it was an excuse I don''t know¡­ slowly I slid my paw up the taut muscles of her stomach, feeling the smooth dark skin under my fingers¡­ I was about to make a big mistake, one that I might regret, but something inside me gnawed at me, something deep inside, something dark and lonely. I didn''t just want her sexually, though judging by the way my body was reacting that was a thing to, I wanted someone I could fully call mine, someone who was my equal. I didn''t know how I knew it, but I knew it was a feeling that I had felt many times in the past. She didn''t stir until I cupped her breast through the purple leather. When I squeezed slightly her amethyst eyes opened and she looked into my face. I felt sore everywhere, but that feeling seemed to vanish as a smile seemed to cause her lips to curl up ever so slightly, it was the first smile I had ever see reach her lips. Slowly I worked my paw under the edge of her corset and slid my hand up to the breast above. She didn''t stop me until my other hand moved to unbuckle the fasteners that closed the front of her corset. ¡°I am glad you are an eager little kitten,¡± she smiled, leaning in, ¡°But I am not the type of woman that wants to start rutting in the middle of nowhere on a bed of pine needles,¡± she grimaced playfully. ¡°It sounds rather pokey,¡± she leaned in closer her forehead resting against my own. ¡°So I am going to have to ask you to wait, good things are always worth waiting for, and I assure you, once we can get ourselves a proper bed I will show you how good it can get...¡± She kissed me on the snout, right on the side, next to my mouth. ¡°She will reluctantly wait,¡± I purred, rubbing my nose along her jawline. Khatan doesn''t have lips like the more humanoid races, it makes kissing hard to do, so as a people we show affection other ways. I gave her a Khatan kiss, turning my head sideways I ran my nose along the bridge of hers and then touched our noses together purring extremely loudly. ¡°Very reluctantly, and she would like you to know that she resents you thinking she ruts, she does not rut¡± I informed her, and from her lips, I heard the second most beautiful sound I would ever hear in my life for the first time. I heard her laugh. Chapter 20 Aldria Chapter 20 Aldria... There is something rather peaceful about being alone with a person you like, and I mean truly alone, which was why I was rather reluctant to see the sprawl of Uljits again, it brought back a slew of memories, exploring it with people who were no longer alive¡­ And there was the fact that somewhere in this city was most likely Tamerian, and if I knew the man he would be drinking away every coin¡­ A terrifying thought entered my mind and I froze in place, Sarena kept walking for a few more steps, not noticing that I was not at her side anymore when she did she turned to me with a curious look on her face, one that morphed to horror as she saw the look of terror in my eyes. ¡°What is it what is wrong?¡± she asked, starting to scan the horizon, looking for enemies. ¡°She just realized Tamerian had access to the bank where the silver was kept...¡± I groan out, I look over at Sarena and see the realization dawn in her eyes. ¡°She doubts the money is still there, meaning...¡± meaning I have nothing to repay Lady Brandmount with. ¡°We don''t know that, it could all still be there, we will have to go check,¡± she stepped back, hands up to soothe me like I was some wild animal that needed taming. I looked at her face, that smooth dark mocha chocolate skin, and saw her smile weakly. She didn''t believe it, she knew Tamerian just as well as I did, if not better. We had been gone for almost a week longer than he probably was, and knowing him he was likely somewhere in a pub drinking our coin away. Drinking my freedom away¡­ The two of us picked up our pace, it was a hard thing for me to not start sprinting as fast as I could. The bank was a large structure, probably the only establishment as big as it was the adventurer¡¯s guild hall. The structure itself was like most others in this city half buried in the ground. I flew down the stairs, taking them four at a time and hit the door hard. Unfortunately for me it was the wrong side of the door, as instead of opening up it felt like I had just smacked into a brick wall. Groaning I sat there pressed against the thick wood door regretting my decision to descend the stairs so quickly. Sarena quickly pulled me off of the wood and ushered me into the room. The inside of the bank was a nicely decorated affair, it had a large rather well-lit man room and then several back areas hidden behind a counter with dark wood counters. I ran up to the first person that was unoccupied. She looked at me in surprise, one eyebrow lifted inquiry. ¡°She wonders if she can check on the contents of her account?¡± I ask, working extremely hard to keep my voice level. ¡°Oh? And do you remember what the account number was?¡± she asked. ¡°15191,¡± I practically spew off the numbers, she scratches the number I tell her down on a piece of parchment and nods to herself. ¡°If you wait here a moment I will go check the records for you.¡± I nod ad she briskly walks away. What feels like an eternity later, but most likely was more likely a few minutes, went by before she came back with a large leather clad ledger, the pages open and her finger on a line I couldn''t see about half the way down the page. ¡°Okay,¡± she said, setting the thing down on the counter and leaning over it. ¡°It says here, that there was a deposit for that account with an amount of 11 silver seventeen days ago is this correct?¡± She looks up at me and I nod in confirmation. ¡°Then five days ago there was a withdrawal,¡± my stomach fell at that. ¡°She wonders how much was withdrawn?¡± I croak, and she looks up at me a more speculative look in her eyes this time. ¡°All of it.¡± I suddenly feel wobbly on my feet, there is a strang black haze around the edges of my vision, cutting off my peripherals. I am pretty sure that if Sarena hadn''t stepped forward and grabbed me I would have fallen over. ¡°Ma¡¯am are you alright?¡± the bank clerk asked.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°All of it?¡± I croaked. ¡°He stole all of it?¡± her eyes sharpened at those words and she leaned forward. ¡°I am sorry ma¡¯am did you say stole?¡± her happy demeanor was replaced by a more serious one. ¡°Rinmua here had an account her adventurer party had set up, and one of the party members abandoned her in the field and fled back here, apparently he had also pulled out all the money she put here,¡± Sarena explained to the woman. ¡°Well, I am sorry,¡± the clerk gave me a sympathetic look, ¡°If it was an account set up for the party and the account number was shared then it is his right to withdraw all of the money in the account...¡± This time I did sink to my knees, I sat there, not really caring that I was drawing so much attention in the middle of the bank. ¡°Come on,¡± Sarena said softly pulling me to my feet, ¡°up you go little kitten.¡± she hooked her arms under my armpits and lifted me up with no issue. ¡°I think our business is concluded, thank you for the help.¡± ¡°You are welcome, I am sorry I couldn''t be more help,¡± she smiled weakly as Sarena practically dragged me out of the establishment. Once we got outside the cold wind ruffling my fur helped me think. I stood there, eyes closed as possibilities flashed through my mind. I could hunt for Tamerian and get the coin back. If he hadn''t drink it all away... I could hunt Juji and sell the pelts. That would be poaching from the Jarl in these woods and I would be hung¡­ Which left me with two options, three really, but running back to my tribe was not one I would consider yet. Not yet, there was still way too much of the world to see before I could go back there. Which left me with getting as many jobs at the adventurer¡¯s guild as possible and scraping up the funds or to get a loan from the bank. When we had set up an account the man who had done it for us had droned on and on about how the bank offered loans, and how for the first month it was free, and after that there were required payments of five percent per day with two percent going towards interest that had accumulated over the loan¡¯s lifespan. Turning on my paw pads I marched back down the stairs and back into the bank¡¯s area. The woman who had just helped me smiled and without looking up she started speaking. ¡°How may I hel-¡± she saw me and her saleswoman smile turned different. ¡°Welcome back, how may I help you?¡± she asked. ¡°Rinmua would like to take out a loan,¡± I say. ¡°I see, well this bank is a branch of the Gorioan national bank and as we have multiple branches in most cities that have a decent trade economy-¡± she started her sales spiel and then looked at my face and grimaced. ¡°Right sorry, bad day for you so I''ll just cut to the chase, we can and will get you a loan, but you will be required to pay it back you can do so at ay bank branch and should you choose to not pay it back for whatever reason the bank has the right to seize your property and assets to compensate us for the loss¡­ also if you think you can disappear then I will inform you that you can¡¯t, we will hire people to track you down, and for the most egregious people we have our own team that we keep well paid and trained to handle that situation, am I clear?¡± ¡°Rin understands, she will honestly pay the loan back.¡± I nod, and the bank clerk looks at me before nodding as well. ¡°Now, before you ask I cannot get you a loan for the full 11 silver approved, I can, however, get five or six, seeing as that is near half the largest amount you deposited, will this be enough.¡± I took a deep breath and nodded. ¡°It gets her closer to the amount she needs,¡± I sigh. ¡°I don''t mean to pry, but what happened?¡± she asked leaning forward looking left and right to make sure no one could hear. Sarena was there, but then again Sarena was with me so it was no issue. ¡°Her team got a job, and was given a sum of money to get armed, we put the money in this bank and went to do the job, but once there two members of her team died and one fled, leaving Rinmua behind for the goblins to take and-¡± I took a deep breath, and the face of the woman in front of me hardened with anger. ¡°She got back as quickly as possible, but the money is gone and she needs to pay back the money given as she was unable to finish the quest...¡± ¡°I see...¡± she said coldly, but I got the feeling that it was not directed at me.¡±Please take a seat over there, I will go talk to the manager.¡± we did and as I sat there Sarena¡¯s fingers interlaced with my own. It took almost half an hour for her to reappear, her face was rather flushed and she smiled as she saw me, we stood as she walked over. ¡°Okay, I was not able to get you the full 11 silver, but I was able to get 8 of it,¡± she smiled. I couldn''t help it, I lept up and hugged her tears streaking down my face as I made small little mewling noises. ¡°I think Rin is trying to say thank you,¡± Sarena smiled as I pressed my face into the clerk¡¯s neck. ¡°It''s not a problem, I just wish I could help more...¡± I pulled away and looked at her. ¡°Rin wondered what your name is?¡± I ask, sniffling every now and again. ¡°Aldria,¡± she smiles at me. I lean forward and pull her into another deep hug. ¡°She does not know how to thank you Aldria,¡± I sniffled, ¡°she will find a way...¡± her hand came up and pet me between the ears. ¡°Remember, make sure you pay the loan off, I don''t want to hear about a certain fluffy Khatan that defaulted and was grabbed by bounty hunters ok?¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I sniffled, still pressed against her shoulder... Chapter 21 Three days... Chapter 21 Three days... I leaned back against the cold brick and took a deep breath¡­ This was going to be hard, extremely hard. Extremely hard to not to claw that bitch in the face, it was after all her devious machinations that had caused the death of my friends. That and I was feeling a little pissed after realizing the bank account had been cleared out. Originally I was just going to let him get away with leaving me and Alaina, I had this feeling he would beat himself up over it and any punishment I doled out would be less than what he did to himself, he had always struck me as self-destructive like that¡­ But now, now I was going to hunt him down and get what little money was left from his drinking. With any luck, I could track him down and get the money to pay Lady Brandmount off, and be free of this bitch. Sarena stepped close to me and also looked like she was working to keep herself calm. She breathed in a deep breath and attempted to stop her fingers from twitching towards the bag she had slung over her back, in which as no doubt a doll she had constructed for the lady and for the lady alone¡­ ¡°Shall we?¡± she asked turning towards me, I looked over at her and then up at the grand double doors that stood vigil above us and nodded. I was as ready as I was likely ever going to get. The stone stare¡¯s in front of us were dusted with snow that piled in the corners where the wind could not reach, and at the top of the steps was a small landing. The Brandmount¡¯s house was a grand estate, one that would have been more at home in a summer climate. The massive doors that stood in front was an intricate work of carved wood with vining patterns that seemed to snake all over the door¡¯s surface. There was a brass knocker on the door, the formed metal showing a beautiful woman with pointed ears sitting with her knees tucked up under her, her hair flowing up like a high wind had caught her. Around the ornate figure, a moon-shaped half ring formed the actual knocker. Reaching up I grabbed the knocker and slammed it into the door three times. Deep resounding thuds sounded, each one echoing slightly and overlapping with the next. Just like last time I was here, there was a pause as the butler came down the stairs to open the door for us. He was a tall man. Taller than even Sarena by a full head, making him around the same height as Harland had been. His grey hair was cut in a rather dignified way and he stood tall and proud. I, however, couldn''t take him seriously¡­ It was the mustache¡­ The overlarge bushy thing that wobbled above his upper lip simply was too funny to take anything about he said or did seriously. He looked at both me and Sarena, his eyes flashing in recognition before he performed a small half bow to us. ¡°Greetings ladies, the Mistress is expecting you,¡± he said, straightening up. ¡°If you would follow me to the sitting room I will inform her that you are here, please, right this way.¡± holding the door open for us he let us walk in. Last time I was here I made sure to wipe the snow off of my paws, this time however I was very tempted to simply walk into the hall, but then I thought about the army of maids and butlers that were no doubt employed to clean things like that, I wouldn''t be inconveniencing her any, simply making those working-class people¡¯s lives harder. Stopping on the edge of the entryway rug I made sure to carefully wipe the snow and muck off of my paws. That was one thing I couldn''t stand about towns, the muck. There was muck everywhere, as horses people trampled the dirt roadway into the mud, mixed with other less mentionable things that I refused to even consider. And no matter how I tried it always worked its way between my toes, it was almost enough to convince me to wear boots¡­ Almost¡­ Looking up I noticed a small smile on the corner of his lips, causing the bushy thing above it to curl ever so slightly. The look in his eyes told me he had a pretty good idea of what had just gone through my head in regards to tracking up the house¡­If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. How very observant¡­ Moving forward both Sarena and I were ushered into a sitting room. The room was simply ornate. Redwood and oak gleamed beneath the lacquer, reflecting the entire room in a hazy red that seemed to catch the light, lovingly stroke it and then allow it to go back where it could be perceived by mortal eyes. The walls were covered in an intricate design, like that of a gold grape plant as the climbing vines covered the walls, leaving behind the tendrils of there outstretched vines, curling at the ends where it had found some purchase in the white paint that was its backdrop. The furniture was likewise just as opulent, an unassuming grey, covered in the intricate dance of birds during mating season, stitched, by hand of course, in a silver thread of the highest quality. ¡°Please, be seated, I will send in Roxanne with refreshments for while you wait, what would you like ladies?¡± ¡°I will have some hot spiced wine,¡± Sarena said, elegantly seating herself on a loveseat, crossing her legs and placing her arms across the back of the chair, looking over at me and making it apparent where I was supposed to sit. ¡°She would like cold milk to please,¡± I say as I attempt to look as graceful as my elven companion while I sit down next to her. I didn''t manage it, but her arm came off of the back of the couch and pulled me into her side by the shoulder. They both looked at me with raised eyebrows, before the butler nodded and bowed out of the room. Our drinks came within minutes, and I spent the next few contents, almost forgetting the situation I was in, as I slowly sipped at my milk and snuggled in close to Sarena¡¯s side. As I sat there my mind started to wonder, one of the topics it did so on was the woman sitting next to me. What exactly she and I were. I didn''t know much about her, about her background, or hell even about her powers, I knew next to nothing. And she definitely didn''t know me, but something had happened down there in the caves. I might not know her but I trusted her, after all, you can see a person¡¯s heart and soul best when their and your life are on the line. When the stakes were that high people tended to show their actual self¡­ So, the question then was what were we? If we did end up sleeping together could I call us lovers? Or was that too much of a stretch? I didn''t look at her as I considered. Could I even call her a friend? Perhaps, perhaps not I don''t know, and that was the main issue, I didn''t know. There was something there, something rather deep like she was a sister, someone I knew I could trust to not leave me behind, but past that? It would require time¡­ As I was thinking this lady Brandmount walked in, she was still a striking woman, but now my vision of her was less than idyllic. ¡°Greetings I wonder did either of your parties happen to retrieve my box?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just drop the act shall we?¡± Sarena hissed, ¡°here is your silver back I want nothing to do with you or anything you want me to do, I also don''t take to kindly to attempts to force me to comply with anything, I hate blackmail.¡± Sarena tossed her bag, the silver jingling as it flew and then a thud sound as it fell to the floor at the lady¡¯s feet. Her lips twisted in disgust, but that was the only indication that lady Brandmount was upset, the rest of her perfect face and features remained unchanged as she casually disregarded the money and instead sat down on a divan across from us. ¡°I see, well, I will make sure to tell the guild that you failed to deliver and I will ask them to apply a demotion to your rank, because clearly, you are not skilled enough to even do a simple job.¡± she smiled sweetly as she spoke, and I could feel Sarena stiffen up next to me. ¡°And what about you, are you here to repay me as well?¡± she asked turning towards me, a sly smile on her lips. She knew something, something she wasn''t about to tell me, that much was for sure¡­. ¡°She does not have the full amount, but she will shortly,¡± I say pulling out my own bag, in it was every last cent I owned¡­ Eight silver, five gold, and twenty-three copper¡­ I placed it on a coffee table between the two of us and slid it over to her. ¡°She has put eight silv-¡± ¡°Eight is not what I paid you and your party dear, I need my original investment of 11 back,¡± she smiled a serpent¡¯s smile, ¡°I''ll give you two options, the first being that if you can''t pay me in three days time I will sale your debt to the garrison, where they will lock you up, and I am sure there are a few men who would not mind allowing you to pay off your debt one way or another at an increased rate,¡± her smile grew at the look of rage on my face. ¡°Or if in three days you have not paid me then you can work for me until the debt is paid.¡± ¡°She has three days?¡± I asked, standing up, downing the last of my milk. ¡°Yes, three days.¡± ¡°She will get you your silver...¡± ¡°Good, and if you find that friend of yours, ohh what was his name, oh that''s right, Tamerian was it? Yes, if you find him, let him know that those conditions apply to him as well...¡± she smiled at me, and I narrowed my eyes at her. But I didn''t stay to see what she was hiding, I didn''t have the time. I only had three days... Chapter 22 How to pet a kitty... heavily... Chapter 22 How to pet a kitty... heavily... The cold night air seemed refreshing, seemed like it was cooling down my blood, which had been set to boil with the conversation I had just had with the lady. Breathing in deeply I felt the cold air permeate my lungs, stinging them with their brisk kiss and thought. I had three days, three days to make 4 silver, which was a kingly sum, at least it was to me. I could kill four Juji and make that much money, but there were a few issues with that the first being that hunting tracking, killing and skinning a Juji took the better part of a day, and then after that you had to treat the pelt before it could be sold, meaning it took at least two days to get one pelt ready for sale, which was not something that would work for me right now¡­ And then there was the fact the surrounding land was owned by the Barron, making any animal on his land his animal. And he didn''t take to kindly to poaching from what I had gathered. But even more important was that there were no Ursinar in the area, Uljits was at the foothills of the Pontiff Vally mountain range, meaning it was well away from the Juji¡¯s haunts. So I had to make money some other way, I could work for the guild, but requests that would pay sums like that were few and far between and typically required guild ranks higher than my own in order to accept, so those were out. I needed to find Tamerian, it had been five days, and it was highly unlikely that he had been able to booze his way through all 11 of the silver coins we had stored in the bank. Hopefully¡­ ¡°Hey, Rin,¡± I looked over at Sarena and felt glad she was still here, after all, there was no need for her to share my plight, she was free to go, she had paid her debt and could leave at any time, but she didn¡¯t, she was still here helping me. ¡°Yes, Sarena?¡± I ask looking at her. ¡°First of all you don''t have to call me Sarena, you can call me Sari,¡± she smiled, ¡°It is after all what my friends call me.¡± I couldn''t help it, I purred ever so slightly at her words. ¡°Secondly I think we need to get an inn for the night, I have an idea as to where we can start looking for Tamerian, or at least I know someone who can check around for me, but we can''t do it tonight, it is too late...¡± I really didn''t want to stop yet, after all in three days time I was going to become nothing more than a slave, but there was logic in her words, so I relented. ¡°She will follow your lead,¡± I nod. ¡°Good, then the first order of business is to find a good in...¡± and before I could react she grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along after her. All of Uljit¡¯s inns were located on the western side of the city, near the merchant streets, so called because they were the streets that all the merchant¡¯s set up stalls along the wooden planked walking path, that and the fact the buildings all were shops. It was probably a strategic thing to put the inns there, seeing as a lot of people apparently traveled to Uljits from more isolated areas in order to shop and get supplies at the market. The inn Sari chose was a modest establishment, built of wood and sunk deep in a mound of earth that covered all but the top section of the roof, which was thatched, or at least I assumed it was thatched, seeing as small little stalks of hay shot out of the snow here and there¡­ The inside was a cozy affair, warm grey stone floors, heated by a fire bigger than I was tall that roared in the corner. The pub area of the inn was well manned and I scanned the area in hopes of finding Tamerian, though I knew my luck was not that good¡­ of course he was not there, but Sari led the two of us over to an empty seat, I ignored the looks I got, most of which were curious but I couldn''t help but see the looks Sari got, which just made me mad, they were the same looks the men in my tribe used to give me¡­ ¡°Relax,¡± Sari smiled as she sat in her seat. A maid came up to us and smiled. ¡°What can I get you, two ladies, tonight?¡± she asked with a friendly smile. ¡°Two ales and a room in you don''t mind.¡± ¡°The ale is three coppers, and the room is twenty per night for a shared room or forty for a private room,¡± she said, ¡°We have two shared rooms available, though I would suggest one seeing as it has only women in the roo-¡± ¡°Private,¡± Sari said, looking me in the eyes, ¡°One that has the thickest walls if you don''t mind...¡± ¡°Thickest-?¡± she glanced between Seri and me, eyes wide, ¡°Ye-yes ma¡¯am, ill be right back with your ale!¡± she said, her cheeks bright before she simply vanished in a flutter of skirts¡­ *** We were both kneeling on the bed, my hands wrapped around her backside the fingers gently kneading the flesh beneath my paws. Her forehead rested against my own, the fingers of her hand under my chin, making sure I was looking into her eyes before she curled them around my chin and pulled me in, her head tipping to the side as her mouth opened and her tongue pressed into mine. I didn''t move my tongue, I was well aware it was much rougher than other races, but she didn''t seem to care, she simply invaded my mouth with her tongue¡­The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Her hand on my chin worked it¡¯s way around to the back of my head, pulling me in closer and her other hand slid along my waist, the fingers sliding over the red cloth. Her hand started to make it¡¯s way over my rear and up my side, one thumb lightly caressing my breast for the briefest of moments before sliding back down. She pressed into me, out fronts meeting in a particularly stimulating way as her fingers ran through my hair and her hands roamed my body. She reached up and pushed a strand of red hair out of her eyes as she angled her head to get her tongue deeper into my mouth, the hand then joined the other, the both of them laced behind my head pulling me into her kiss, Khatan¡¯s don''t kiss, but it would seem as though Seri didn''t know or didn''t care about this¡­ Before I could do anything she pushed me back, her hands still laced around my neck, and her knees planted on the bed between my legs. She pulled back leaning over me a wicked smile on her lips that sent shivers down my spine. Her fiery red hair that she normally kept tied up in a short ponytail that spiked up behind her head had somehow spilled out of its confinement and now curtained down around her face, casting deep shadows across her face. The light of the single candle showed the curves of her form as she sat there, not moving above me, looking like a huntress who had just spotted her prey. Leaning down she grabbed me by the wrists and pushed them up the bed over my head before she leaned over and started kissing me again. As she did so her hips started rocking involuntarily, grinding against my leg which had worked it¡¯s way under her. Even though her clothing and my fur I could feel the heat that was building between her thighs, it was mirrored by my own. She leaned back, her hands running down my chest before she snagged the edge of my red covering. She lifted it up slightly, not enough to expose me but only just shy. Leaning in she planted a kiss on my ribs. her hand tracing down my stomach, until her palm rested between my legs. She, however, didn''t do anything she simply rested her hand there before leaning forward and pushing the red cloth up further revealing my nipples. The fur on my breasts as well as on my stomach was lighter than the rest, and no fur actually grew on the Areolas, meaning my nipples were standing at attention. Slowly she leaned forward and took the left one in her mouth, her lips opened wide as she breathed on it before she closed around it and made a smacking sound like she was kissing it, her other hand kneading my free breast. As her tongue closed over it it was like a bolt of lightning had struck me. I felt the shiver run all down my spine, causing even my tail to curl and uncurl spasmodically by its own accord. She kept doing it, her mouth opening every now and again releasing the suction she had subjected it to with a loud sound, her tongue running over and along with it. She leaned up and once again pressed her lips against my mouth, this time however her free hand went back down between my legs, kneading the over hot flesh there. Her lower body grinding in a similar rhythm against my thigh. I sat up, taking her with me so that she was practically sitting on my lap, my paws working furiously at the latches on the front of her corset. It took a moment before I was able to get it free but when I did I simply stared at her, slightly awestruck at the beauty before me. Her chest was almost as dark as the rest of her, the color slightly lighter, the tan lines of her corset showing. Though slightly lighter she was still a nice color of Mocha, her rather perfect pear-shaped breasts capped with dark brown nipples that were standing just as tall as mine were. She smiled and leaned in pressing her now bare chest into my face a hungry look in her eyes. So I obliged her, my mouth opened, I made sure to use the underside of my tongue on her sensitive nipples, seeing as it wasn''t rough, and I didn''t think she wanted tonight to end with her in pain and us needing to go see a healer¡­ My paws needed at her as I rolled her nipple around in my mouth. I couldn''t help it, my claws extended slightly, and the kneading became something different. She squicked when the first claw scratched her skin slightly. The sound sent me over the edge, waking up some sort of aggressive side in me, causing me to kneed her some more, the claws snagging ever so slightly on her skin. Her eyes flashed amber and some irresistible force pressed me back down into the bed. With fingers that moved much to quickly she stripped off my pants and ran her fingers through the fur between my legs. I felt her pass over my entrance teasingly twice before a finger slipped inside. It was not the first time a finger had been inside me, my own had occupied the space more than once, but it was the first time in this body that I had ever been touched by another person. The thought caused me to tense up. ¡°Reeelaaaaaxxxx,¡± she whispered her face somewhere near my chest. I didn''t know the exact location seeing as I was currently staring at the seeling trying desperately not to yowl. I was currently so tight that only one finger fit inside of me, slowly she started moving it in and out, caressing the spot exactly where a bundle of nerves was. She began working me, her finger sliding in and out curved in a way that would stretch my walls enough to let another finger in, which she accomplished in quite a short amount of time. Soon both of her middle fingers were sliding in and out of me, moving in such a way I couldn''t help my self but buck my hips in time, grinding myself against her palm. And then I did cry out, my back arching and a yowl escaping my mouth, my back arched so that only the heels of my feet and the top of my head touched the bed, my body as tense as a bow pulled taut. I could feel myself pulsing around her fingers, which she had obligingly shoved as deep in me as possible. I fell to the bed panting looking up at her smiling face, there was something there like she was proud of herself¡­ I pounced, this time pinning her to the bed as my paws went south along with her curves, my hand sliding under the belt of her skirt and running through red fur between her legs. My fingers making small circling motions around her clitoris. ¡°It is her turn now...¡± I purred out. ¡°I uh um,¡± she blushed, her dark cheeks growing darker. She lowered her chin to her chest and didn''t look me in the eyes. ¡°Uh, please don''t use any claws inside ok?¡± she asked, a little meekly. My purr sputtered as it morphed into a laugh, both fighting for space inside of me. ¡°She promises,¡± I purred leaning forward and running my nose along her neck, nestling her there as my fingers slid inside¡­¡±Though she does not think she will be gentle...¡± Chapter 23 Hamins bad day... Chapter 23 Hamin''s bad day... ¡°She does not know about this...¡± I say as we walk down the street, this is indeed not the best part of town, the houses were all a little run down, the paint that could be seen on the slats of wood above ground was peeling. Several thatched roofs were caved in, and the people walking on the streets looked a little shifty. ¡°We only have what? Three days to either find Tam or find the silver you need, which means we need to find someone who has contacts, for that we need Hamin, he is a member of the blackband, and while they are nasty they know everyone, you don''t cough without them hearing and thinking about how they can profit from it...¡± I didn''t like the idea of meeting up with a group of disreputable thugs, let alone meeting up with Seri¡¯s former lover, with whom she had gotten pregnant. That could get rather awkward if you ask me¡­ Hi, former lover meet my new lover ¡­ I was really not looking forward to that, not in the slightest¡­ Still, it was more of a lead than I had at the time, so we would be following her idea, it wouldn''t surprise me if she was right, groups like this tend to be in the know, able to sell out information to the highest bidder, or even blackmailing people with information they were able to scrounge up. It wouldn''t surprise me if they had a network of informants that worked rather diligently on collecting this stuff so that they could get a steady flow of money. If I were them that was what I would do. ¡°Relax, it''s not a big deal, I know Hamin, he''s pretty close to the top of the gang, they are not going to do a thing to us.¡± she led us down the street and turned towards a rather run down looking bar. The worn sign that hung by a single knotted rope, seeing as the other one had snapped for some reason, read the ¡®Snarling Rotri,¡¯ what exactly a Rotri was and why it should be snarling I had no idea, but the image that was rather crudely painted on the board was some sort of rodent that looked mean as hell and foamed at the mouth. Yes, because it was a smart business idea to name your bar after what looked like a deceased rat from some pit of hell¡­ The inside of the bar looked no better than the outside, dark cramped little tables, most marred and stained and pitted, a few even missing a few legs making them lean rather precariously. Seated at these tables was a number of interesting looking men. Not all of them were human, simply the vast majority. And none of them looked to be the reliable sort. Every eye turned toward us as we made our way into the bar proper, some looks weary, others gauging and some made my skin crawl¡­ ¡°Well well, look who it is,¡± a man behind a bar polishing a very dirty glass with an even filthier rag smiled at Sarena. ¡°Hamin, your girl is here to see you!¡± he called over his shoulder at back through a doorway. ¡°What girl, I don''t have a girl-¡± ¡°Damn right he doesn''t,¡± Sarena snarled at the barkeep, who held up his hands in surrender. ¡°O-oy, fine, didn''t know no one tells me this shit,¡± he sighed and mumbled under his breath, ¡°Listen love, if you are here to do something to Hamin for something I would rather you two take it outside, it would be best for everyone, and by everyone I mean my bar, I just got done cleaning up the last bloodstains, I don''t want to have to clean up more...¡± ¡°Don''t worry, I wont kill him, actually I don''t even need to talk to him, just need the blacks for a job.¡± she reached over and pulled me closer, I couldn''t help but flex my claws in and out, the muscles on my paws twitching ever so slightly as I did so. No one seemed to notice besides Sarena, who had seen those claws in action first hand, and knew what they were capable of doing. In Khatan culture the way I was acting was a threat of violence, but here it would seem no one knew that. ¡°Relax, we don''t want to kill them, that would be messy, like really really messy,¡± Sarena whispered in my ear, and I forced my tense muscles to relax by a sheer force of will.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Sari is here?¡± a man peeked his head around the corner, or rather a boy. I had tensed when I had heard a voice speak her name in such a casual way, which in itself was a worrying sign, one I would need to examine later when I didn''t need to focus so much. After all weren''t we just friends? Well, a little more than friends but still¡­ ¡°Bartel, it is good to see you,¡± she smiled and the youth shot out of the doorway and hugged Sarena, which she gave back to him, and then held him at arm''s length, scrutinizing him thoroughly. ¡°It looks like at least they have been feeding you well.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± a voice said, and all three of us looked over to the doorway Bartel came from to see a tall well-built man leaning against the door jam. He had red hair and blue eyes, one scar down his face on the left side and a chin shaved smooth of stubble. Aside from the broken nose, he was a pretty handsome man. ¡°So, I assume you didn''t come down here just to see little Bar there, what do you need Sarena?¡± ¡°Hamin,¡± Sarena¡¯s voice had a cold edge to it, there were some deep resentments there, and I was a little ashamed to admit I felt some of the tension ease out of my body at the sound of it. She sighed and pushed the boy away squaring her shoulders and crossing her arms as she stared at him. ¡°Your right, I have a job, or rather we have a job-¡± ¡°I don''t want a job from you, I want you to leave I told you before this is no place for you, and you made it amply clear what you think of me, so lets just not do thi-¡± he began but I cut him off. ¡°If you do not wish to take a job from Sarena will you take a job from Rinmua?¡± I ask, ¡°She has need of your services, and believes you will want to hear the job, seeing as in involves someone you know.¡± his eyes turned to me. ¡°No,¡± he simply said, I was about to open my mouth when he spoke again, ¡°You don''t know this, and since I am such a nice guy I will give you a warning, I hate beast races, all of them, they cost me a lot of things, from my child to my friends to even the mother of my child,¡± he spat on the floor at my paws. ¡°And you Sarena, I am surprised you could even stand in that thing¡¯s presence-¡± The doll was in Sarena¡¯s hand faster than I could see, the little cloth thing painted with a crude face that seemed to almost perfectly mimic Hamin¡¯s. She tossed it to the ground and stepped on it, pinning it there. Hamin¡¯s eyes widened briefly before he was violently shoved into the ground with the sounds of the floorboards creaking under him. A wounded huff sounded out of his mouth as the invisible boot slammed down on his back, making it so that he couldn''t move. ¡°Listen to me well you little shit, as I will only say this once.¡± she hissed as he struggled in vain to remove the pressure on his back. The bar had grown deathly silent, no one moved, all frozen like a deer that had just spotted a predator. Several people looked like they wanted to bolt but acted like they couldn''t.¡±You will treat Rinmua with respect, you will listen to what she has to say and you will take this job without pay because if you don''t I will put you through such a world of pain and suffering you will forget what not being in pain felt like am I clear?¡± ¡°Your acting like you slept with the cun-¡± his voice was cut off with a strangulated choke as she shifted the heel of her foot and pressed it against the throat of the doll. ¡°Are we clear?¡± she hissed, and he nodded his head, though the look in his eyes was dark.¡±Good, then.¡± she lifted up her foot and picked up the doll, brushing the sawdust off of it from the floor and returning it to her bag. ¡°I don''t even know what I saw in you, fucking cunt,¡± he wheezed as he pushed himself up. ¡°My Da always told me not to stick my dick in crazy, shoulda listened to him,¡± I hadn''t even realized I had cleared the countertop of the bar until my paws hit the floor on the other side. His eyes opened wide as I kicked out both feet leaving the ground and planting into his stomach. The world seemed to move in slow motion as he flew back into the room behind him, crashing into a table, scattering a group of men who up to that point been drinking and playing cards, studiously ignoring the quarrel going on in the front room. Hamin slumped to the floor his eyes rolling back in his head. ¡°Rin, love, we need him awake so we can talk to him,¡± Sarena said, walking around the bar to look at the man laying there on the ground. ¡°Op, too late, oh well,¡± she hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me close. ¡°Between you and me that was much much to satisfying...¡± I couldn''t help but purr as she softly scratched between my ears with her other hand absentmindedly... Chapter 24 The Hunt Part 1 Chapter 24 The Hunt Part 1 ¡°Shit,¡± Hamin grumbled as he held a raw steak to his temple, pinkish red liquid dripping down his face and disappearing into his beard. Apparently, when he crashed into that table he did so with his head. I regret nothing. Slowly he took a pull of the bottle of mead he had in his hand, it was awful stuff, I could smell it from here like some sort of acid, not at all like what mead was supposed to smell like, you could practically see the alcoholic fumes come out of the bottle. ¡°So, just to get this straight, both Harland and Alaina are dead,¡± he breathed out heavily at this, leaning his head back and taking in a shaky breath before downing another gulp of that liquid poison. He breathed out a deep breath that was half laugh half sob. ¡°Poor bastard, he was so lost without his wife, so hollow, simply waiting for death.¡± ¡°Rinmua disagrees-¡± I started to say thinking of the way Harland smiled when he saw me and helped me out that first time. Those eyes were not the eyes of the dead. ¡°Shut your fucking snout you cunt!¡± he hissed pointing at me with the hand that held the bottle, leaning forward to aggressively as the liquid sloshed out and down his knuckles. ¡°Hamin,¡± Sarena said the name like it was a warning, a warning that the man was walking on some very thin ice without his paws spread properly. He, however, ignored the warning and simply continued to be aggressive towards me. ¡°No, this bitch doesn''t know, she didn''t know him before-¡± ¡°Rin does know,¡± I said softly, memories flashing behind my eyes, ¡°Rin has felt loss before, she knows what it is like...¡± I could almost feel the hand curl around my shoulder, the dirty ragged blanket handed through the bars and wrapped around my shoulders, offered without a word offered freely. Olan. I blinked away the tears and noticed that the entire room was silent, everyone looking at me. Slowly Sarena reached over and using a thumb wiped away a tear that had fallen out of my eye and had yet to be absorbed by my fur. I glance back at Hamin, he looked me in the eyes and nodded, leaning back in his seat no longer pushing into my space. ¡°It has been years, pain fades over time they say,¡± he said, and I can''t tell if he is talking about Harland or speaking to me, either way, I simply answer him with a nod of my head. Time, after all, is the great equalizer. ¡°So Tamerian left you to your fates did he?¡± he asks looking up at the ceiling and away from my eyes. ¡°I am going to tell you this, I know it is not the answer you want or even one you probably care about, but even if you catch him and kill him there is nothing you can do to that man as painful as what he is doing to himself right now,¡± he sighed and took another pull of his turpentine. ¡°Everything that goes wrong is his fault as he sees it, and he punishes himself mentally for every wrongdoing.¡± ¡°So she should simply let him go because he is regretting his choices?¡± I ask as I cross my arms across my chest, leaning back in my seat. ¡°She does not wish to do that.¡± ¡°No, I am not saying that,¡± Hamin shook his head, ¡°all I am saying is no matter what you say or do to him he will simply take it, simply accept his fate, you will get no satisfaction from the deed...¡± ¡°She understands, she still, however, needs to do this...¡± ¡°Understood,¡± he stood up and reached his hand across the table, I took it in my paw and gripped it tightly. ¡°You know, for a beast race you are not so bad,¡± he chuckled, ¡°or maybe its the mead talking...¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°And for a man who touched what is hers Rin doesn''t immediately wish to rip off your head, so she thinks you have done well in this exchange.¡± ¡°Hah, rip off my head, you could try little cat, you only got me because I was off guard.¡± ¡°She used to hunt Ursinar for a living before she became an adventurer,¡± Sarena cut in and Hamin looked over at her. ¡°Solo, she used to hunt Ursinar solo...¡± he looked back at me, his hand still in my paw, and slowly I began increasing the strength of my grip, making sure to rub the bones of his hand together in a rather uncomfortable way. He smiled a slightly pained smile at me for a second before I let him go. ¡°You know my boss isn¡¯t going to like this,¡± he said raising an eyebrow at Sarena after shaking his hand out. ¡°Yeah well she doesn''t have to like it, she simply has to live with it, ¡± Sarena said crossing her arms. ¡°Still convinced that the boss is a woman?¡± he chuckled, ¡°I¡¯m telling you this guild needs an iron fist of a man to guide it, the proprietor is obviously a man.¡± ¡°The blackband often takes on revenge and retribution contracts.¡± she crossed her arms. ¡°And a man can¡¯t take revenge?¡± he smiled, this was obviously an old argument. ¡°No, a man can, but a man doesn''t have the personal touches, the proprietor is a woman, she makes it personal, and as you well know ¡®the pit burns dull compared to a woman¡¯s wrath¡­¡¯ as they say.¡± ¡°Whatever, where can I contact you?¡± ¡°We will come back tomorrow,¡± Sarena said starting to get up. ¡°Like hell you will, I don''t think Mark would let you in even if I asked him to, after all, you broke the one good table in the joint, it was our card table, and now we don''t have one, the boys are pretty pissed at the two of you.¡± he glanced over at the barkeep who was angrily polishing the glass glaring in our direction as two people attempted to fix the broken table by placing a piece of wood over the break and hammer in a few nails to brace it. As we watched the men finished what they were doing and to test the table one of the men working on it leaned a little on the edge. He had barely begun putting a little weight on it when the table just completely collapsed, falling apart in three or four different places from the one they had been working on. The pieces falling to the ground with a loud crash. Mark the barkeep¡¯s face grew darker and more ominous and he shot a look over our way. ¡°You two better get out of here...¡± Hamin said, and both of us stood up to leave. ¡°Bartel, come here!¡± he shouted, and the younger man came over quickly. ¡°Yes?¡± he asked looking at Hamin. ¡°Please escort these ladies out the back way and to wherever they need to go,¡± Hamin glanced at the barkeep who had just clunked the glass down on the table and shoved the rag back into a pocket and was menacingly making his way towards us. ¡°Quickly please before Mark guts the two of them,¡± he glanced at me. ¡°Or simply turns this one into a rug...¡± he turned to Sarena, ¡°have Bartel lead you to me tomorrow, I''ll see what I can dig up on Tamerian¡¯s location.¡± and like that he turned and intercepted the barkeep with a big smile and some boisterous laughter, acting much drunker than he actually was. ¡°Come on, we better go, Mark is pretty pissed off right now, he got that table last week or so...¡± Bartel laughed as he led the two of us out of the bar the back way and back into the snow. ¡°So Sari, how have things been?¡± he asked idly as he led the two of us back to the better part of town, clearly avoiding certain streets unconsciously. ¡°It has been a rough week Bartel,¡± Sarena sighed, ¡°I lost several friends and almost died, and now my lover is being threatened by someone and we need to make up a good deal of coin in the next couple days or there is going to be some issues.¡± ¡°Lover?¡± he asked, turning as he walked and looking back at Sarena, ¡°Damn so I missed my opportunity? Who is the lucky asshole, perhaps I could dig up something about him to make you reconsider?¡± he said all of this without breaking a stride or stopping his smile. ¡°As if you ever had a chance,¡± Sarena laughed and bopped him on the nose, ¡°and you should be careful, she might take offense and claw your eyes out for looking at me like that.¡± he glanced over at me, clearly surprised, but the smile still on his face. ¡°No,¡± I purred as Sarena wrapped her arm around my shoulder and almost possessively placed her hand on my breast. ¡°She wouldn''t do that, she would simply rip out his throat...¡± ¡°Ha!¡± he barked out a short laugh before devolving into a hysterical fit of laughter practically doubling over as he wheezed. ¡°Oh gods and goddesses give me strength, I hope you are not joking, because that is simply perfect, I can''t wait to rub that one in Hamin¡¯s face.¡± he tipped his head back and laughed out fully. ¡°He fucked up so bad that she gave up on men altogether!¡± ¡°Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha!¡± Even Sarena and I chuckled at that. ¡°Oh, gods I am never going to let him live this down...¡± Bartel wiped a tear out of his eyes and still chuckling under his breath continued to lead us away from the Snarling Rotri... ?Chapter 25 Cat Burglary part 1 Chapter 25 Cat Burglary part 1 I leaned back against the chair and sighed, only one day left and still no sign of Tamerian, if we didn''t find him soon then Sarena would have to use her backup plan, we had been talking with Aldria, and if she vouched for Sarena then we could get a loan for the rest of the money I needed, but honestly that was not the ideal situation, and I was loathed to have another person take on my debt. As I sat there thinking of my problem through something came to me, something that seemed a little off¡­ ¡°She wonders,¡± I mused, and hardly noticed when Bartel, Sarena, and Hamin all looked up from there alcohol at me. I took one more sip of the ice cold milk I had ordered savoring the smoothness as it slid down my throat and spoke my thoughts out loud. ¡°She wonders how the Lady knew Tamreian¡¯s name?¡± I glanced up at Sarena who was looking at me with deep concentration. ¡°She knows the lady never asked for it...¡± ¡°It''s always smart for an employer to know who they have hired,¡± Hamin supplied takin another gulp of whatever that strong liqueur he had gotten. ¡°She probably had someone look into the four of your history and determine who you were.¡± ¡°That is possible,¡± Sari conceded, ¡°But I am willing to bet there is more to it than that, you didn''t see the smile when she said his name, we were so focused on the task even I didn''t really catch it at the time but now that Rin mentions it is quite odd that she would mention the only other survivor like that by name...¡± ¡°She doesn''t need the money,¡± Bartel said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling. ¡°What she wants is discreet labor, people who will do what she says when she says it, so the money is simply a pretense used to blackmail people.¡± ¡°There has been no sight of Tamerian for the past ten or so days, he just vanished, walked out of a pub and disappeared,¡± Hamin said, rubbing his chin with his free hand. ¡°I see where this is going...¡± ¡°Likely she would want a meeting with the only surviving member of your party that she could find, if not for the money then for the information,¡± Sarena added. ¡°And if Tamerian was already gone when Rin arrived,¡± I supplied, ¡°then there would be no way for her to find him.¡± ¡°She also practically owns the Guildhall here, it is run by her brother, and most of the upper employees are in her pay, if the rumors we have heard are anything to go by...¡± which would explain why this farce of a con was still going on and had not been stopped, after all, corruption runs deep¡­ ¡°So, the most likely reason we can''t find Tamerian is that he has already been captured by others...¡± ¡°She believes so now...¡± I breathed out and looked around the table at my new companions. ¡°Her question now is what should she do about it?¡± I asked looking at Sarena, she had her eyes narrowed in thought, the tip of her painted red fingernail tapping thoughtfully on her lip as she worked her way through something. ¡°Hamin, if Tam were captured would they lock him in the city lockup?¡± she asked. ¡°Not if they wanted to be secretive about it, you lock anyone up in there, even in the erm, more hight end lockups and I would have heard about it.¡± ¡°So Tamerian was not there was he? Meaning that if she had him it would have to be somewhere else...¡± ¡°Rin gets the feeling that woman is like a malicious kit, playing with its food while it is still alive and not eating it...¡± ¡°Yes, I agree, she wouldn''t want a plaything so far away so the basement of her own house?¡± Sarena said. ¡°And with that line of questioning we have passed out of my jurisdiction,¡± Hamin said, making a rather flourished gesture over to Bartel who rolled his eyes but gamely did a little curtsy. ¡°May I introduce you ladies to Master Bartel, Cat burglar extraordinaire.¡± ¡°Cat burglar?¡± I asked, looking over at Bartel. ¡°Yeah, it''s my job to get into a place all stealthy like and make grab some things,¡± he paused and rubbed the back of his neck looking somewhat embarrassed. ¡°I''m pretty good at it...¡± he looked at the two of us, ¡°Honestly though, I don''t think I can sneak two people into a house, I am good at getting things out of a location, not putting them in.¡± Sarena grimaced at that and nodded. ¡°Do you think it is possible to just get Rin inside?¡± she asked looking over at me. It was obvious to everyone that she wanted to go as well, but she was also a realist, she understood that I had a much better chance of finding what I needed and getting out without being caught. ¡°If she can sneak and follow instructions then I don''t think it will be an issue,¡± he said looking at me. ¡°She is a cat,¡± I replied, ¡°she was sneaking long before she was even talking.¡± my words had the intended effect, relieving the tension that had been steadily building over the past few minutes. No one said a word after that, everyone busy drinking and thinking¡­ *** The snowfall had stopped for the first time in almost three days, but the cold winter just would not release its grasp on the world. A small thin sheet of ice covered the world, making every movement that Bartel made a loud crunch that seemed like it would wake the entire town. I made sure to spread my paw pads wide to be sure that I didn''t leave any footprints, after all, if we successfully accomplished this then we would be away with a good deal of either gold or valuable items, and perhaps even with a prisoner of our own, and if tracks were discovered it would be better if they were Bartel¡¯s, seeing as there were thousands of people wearing boots, from men to elves to dwarves, but for all of the city that I had seen there was only one Khatan.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I watched Bartel creep forward in a low crouch, and waited for him to get into cover before swiftly following him and reaching the position that he had just vacated. He gave me a cross look as I silently ghosted up beside him, clearly disliking the fact that I was moving much more quietly than he was, even though he was the master cat burglar...¡°She wonders why she has followed you around the building thrice, would it have not been easier and less risky to have one scout around while the other waits in position so not to expose either with twice the movement in the night?¡± his eyes narrowed at me before he gave me a begrudging nod. Even with my inherited ability to see in low light situations like this I still had trouble making out his form very well. He was wearing a grey suit that covered his entire body with the exception of his eyes which even now were staring back at me with a little hostility. The suit was somewhere between black and white, meaning it could and did blend quite well with well everything, it was not bright enough to be easily picked out in a dark area and not dark enough to stand out when the backdrop was snow. He reached up one finger slowly with a motion that didn''t seem human and pulled down the corner of his mask to speak to me better. ¡°Casing the place is an essential part of burglary, normally I have days or even weeks to study things like the habits of the people inside, or the guard rotation, but I am currently trying to do this all right now on the fly, SO I would appreciate it if you would just let me figure this out,¡± he hissed, I decided not to answer, after all, he was the one who had done this before, the most sneaking experience I had was stalking my prey which was admittedly different than what we were currently doing. Much much different. ¡°Look up there, second story third window from the right,¡± I follow his direction to the window and watch as the dim light of a fliering candle pass by the window. ¡°Every fifteen minutes the light is there, indicating the guard there is on a roaming patrol,¡± he dropped his pack and dug inside, pulling out a sort of small bow around the size of his hand, except it also had a long piece coming off of the bow where a person would hold it, the piece looked an awful lot like half of a bracer that had straps on it, this observation of mine was confirmed when he laid the half of a bracer on the inside of his arm and used his other hand to strap it in place once it was there he flexed his wrist making sure the little bow did not get in the way of his hand movements and he used a small crank on the side of the device to draw the bowstring back until it clicked in place. He held his arm out straight and flexed his fingers, wrist up the fingers of his hand curling down to touch his palm where a small piece of the bow protruded. There was a soft twang as the bow sting snapped forward and he nodded in satisfaction, once again cranking it back and this time pulling out a small dart that smelled fowl. The next thing he pulled out of the bag was a bundle of rope with a three-point hook on it and a small set of metal rods in a rolled up cloth case, which he unrolled to check and make sure he had the ones he needed before he rolled them back up and put them in a pouch on the leg of his pants. He then pulled out a jar and carefully smeared some on the sole of his boots, making sure to first wipe away the snow so that he could coat them with the sickly whitish-yellow substance. He wrapped the rope around his torso, looking it over his head and below the arm on the opposite arm, making sure the point was resting against his back and not his chest. ¡°Alright, here is the deal,¡± he said as he leaned forward and watched. ¡°I am going to get us a line up to the second story, we will enter through that window there, I am assuming it is not a used a room, or that it is a rarely used room,¡± he said. ¡°She wonders how you know?¡± I ask looking at the window in question, it looked exactly like every other window to me¡­ ¡°The pains have not been dusted,¡± he said, and I looked a little closer and sure enough he was right, it did look like the glass was a little less reflective than others. ¡°Anyway, once I am up and have the window open I want you to get over there and climb up after me, and do it quickly,¡± he glanced at me, ¡°I don''t think I have to tell you to move quietly,¡± he smiled wryly, ¡°You seem to have that one down pat.¡± I nod and watch as he pulled up his mask before springing forward, crossing the twenty or so meters between us and the house with a strange motion that does not look like that of a human or another animal, and acting on a whim I looked slightly away from him, watching in my peripheral. He practically vanished the movement irregular and studdered made it hard for me to track him when not looking directly. It would seem as though my brain was trained to look for a certain type of movement, categorizing it even without fully seeing it, meaning that this type of movement he was doing didn''t register, and I had to really focus on tracking where he was¡­ Bartel pulled the rope off of his torso and let the hook dangle on a few feet of rope before he started twirling it in looping circles, suddenly he released the rope with one hand and allowed it to slip through his other, causing it to soar up and the hook to hit the roof with a muffled thump and start to slide down, he grasped it with his hand and jerked it rather savagely, causing the hook to sink into the snow-laden roof and bite into the wooden shingles underneath. He gave it another few tugs before nodding to himself in his odd jerky way and using almost only his upper arm strength he started hauling himself up until he planted his feet on the edge of the window sill, one hand still on the rope he pulled a dirk out of the sheat at his waist and slid it along the edge of the pane of glass. It seemed as though the blade got stuck on something but a little wiggling later and he put it back in its sheath and with a single hand smoothly slid the window up and disappeared inside without a sound. Shaking my head in amazement I quickly did as he said and followed, I, unfortunately, didn''t have the same upper body strength as he did, so it took me longer and I needed to plant my paws on the wall to aid with the climb, but soon enough I was up and in the house as well. Bartel carefully reached behind me and slid the window shut before creeping to the other side of the room and peering through the keyhole. Without even taking his eye away from the hole he motioned me over. ¡°Ok, so this is the hard and dangerous part,¡± he hissed, his voice muffled by the mask. ¡°Do exactly as I say are we clear?¡± I nodded, but then realized he wouldn''t have been able to see me with his eye to the door like that. ¡°She understands,¡± I whisper near his ear. ¡°Good,¡± I could practically hear the smile in his words, ¡°then let''s do this...¡± Chapter 26 Cat Burglary part 2 Chapter 26 Cat Burglary part 2 The blade of the knife slipped between the door and the jam with ease and I watched as Bartel ran it up the length of the door until he felt something on the other side, nodding to himself he grabbed the blade with both hands and with a quick movement flicked it upward, throwing the door wide and slipping through his hand snatching out and grabbing the bar that had been laid across the door before it could clatter to the ground and make any noise. I blinked in surprise, sure I knew that a skilled person could pick a lock, but I had thought that barring the door would still prevent someone from entering, it would seem as though I was woefully misinformed in that matter¡­ I followed him through, crouching low as I followed him down the hallway, ears on a constant swivel. Bartel was as silent as a ghost as we crept towards the stairway that would lead us no doubt to the basement, and if we were right straight to a personal prison. Thinking about it that might be why the house was above ground, unlike all the other buildings. It was not because they wanted to show off the grandeur of their estate, though there was likely some of that, it was more because the underground section of the house was used to hold prisoners and the house above was almost like a cover for it. Bartel leaned around the corner before carefully raising his arm, a soft twang announced the bolt and it was quickly followed by a much to loud thud as a now unconscious man hit the floor, quickly he rounded the corner, ¡°we have about fifteen minut-¡± he was whispering when another light source came out of a door directly to his right. ¡°Oy¡¯ Alren you wanna get some drin-¡± the other man froze as did Bartel. It was almost like time had frozen when I sprang forward, planting my paws on the wall opposite of the man I used my momentum to spring past his right shoulder, making sure my claws were retracted I wrapped my arm around his neck and covered his mouth with my free forepaw. He was much taller than I was, meaning he was practically bent over backward so that I could have my lower paws on the ground still. He struggled, even attempting to bite my paw that was covering his mouth but all he got was a bit of the pad, which admittedly didn''t feel too great, but I ignored. It didn''t take long for his gargling protests to cease and carefully I lowered his unconscious body to the floor. As I did so Bartel walked over, pulling his dirk he swiped it across the guard¡¯s throat. My eyes widened as the blood ran crimson from the wound dying the man¡¯s white shirt red. ¡°We got sloppy there,¡± he whispered as he wiped the blade clean on the man¡¯s own shirt before returning it to the sheath at his belt. He looked at me and shrugged. ¡°Had to be done.¡± ¡°She does not understand-¡± I whispered as I looked back between the dead man and the unconscious one. Why would he kill one and not the other? Why did he spare the first but not the second? ¡°If he had just seen me then it would have been fine, there are after all thousands of people in this city and my description is not exactly going to single me out,¡± he pointed his finger at me, ¡°but you, as we said before, you cannot be seen, and don''t think for a second she wouldn''t have you arrested in a heartbeat if there was any sort of clue leading back to you,¡± he sighed. ¡°I haven''t had to kill in almost five years, we just aren''t prepared enough for something like this...¡± he grabbed the dead man by the shoulders and dragged him back into the room and out of the hallway, leaving a small smear of blood on the wooden floorboards as the trickle of crimson flowed from his throat. ¡°Come one, get the other one,¡± he sighed. I closed my eyes and breathed in deep, calming my nerves and now roiling stomach, he was right, after all an eyewitness report of being choked out by a Khatan would point the blame back at me¡­Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Grabbing the big man by the arms I dragged him back, making sure to leave part of his body on the floor to use the fabric of his clothes as an impromptu mop, which worked surprisingly well. ¡°Good job by the way,¡± he whispered, as he riffled through both men¡¯s clothing, pocketing anything of value both from the living and the dead. I looked over at him and he shrugged, something gold disappearing into the pouch at his waist. ¡°That was good moves choking him out like that, its honestly too bad you are the race you are, it makes you to recognizable.¡± I didn''t say anything, I don''t think I could have, he was right, I knew it, it was the logical solution to the problem, but it didn''t feel right. To kill a man whose only crime was seeing me while he was doing his job? It felt like I was the bad guy here, and perhaps at this moment I was¡­ ¡°Rinmua just wants to get this done,¡± I whispered, ¡°she wants to be away from here.¡± he nodded and motioned for me to follow. It didn''t take to long for us to get down the basement, and there were no other incidents, only three more unconscious guards and one maid who might have been having a dalliance with another member of the staff if her disheveled appearance and rumpled state of her clothing were anything to go by. As we had guessed the basement was not normal, the first clue to this was the fact that the door was solid iron, set in deep stones, and instead of a door handle with a key, it looked like it was unlocked by a combination. ¡°Oh fun,¡± Bartel¡¯s eyes gleamed from out of the mask he wore, ¡°I love doors like this, there''s always something behind them that just makes this all worthwhile.¡± he glanced at me. ¡°Keep an eye out, we only have a few minutes to do this,¡± he leaned forward and pressed his ear against the door and started rotating the mechanism as he listened to the sounds. I crouched down and watched him out of the corner of my eye as he worked, it was honestly quite impressive, almost like art as he worked the door and guessed out the numbers needed. There was a soft click as the door released and he leaned on it opening it up into the most opulent room in the house, but also the most depraved¡­ Inside there were piles of chests and books and ledgers, and behind the riches was a row of cells complete with there own torcher room not too far out of sight. Half prison half treasury. Slowly I looked around and room, and watched as Bartel waltzed over to the chests and started prying them open one after another. I, on the other hand, walked past it all, my eyes on one man, one man chained to a wall hanging there limply, the tattered remains of his robes covered in gold moons and archaic symbols. Slowly I walked over to the man that I had once thought of as a friend and crouched down. There was a small sad smile on his now blue lips, one that almost seemed self-loathing. He had wrapped the chain that held his arm to the wall and had gotten it around his own neck somehow. Glassy eyes stared out at nothing as he hung there, limp. Tamerian. I didn''t know what I would have done if I had seen him alive when he had left us to our fate I wanted to kill him, but now, seeing him dead, and by his own hand nonetheless, I felt no comfort by it. It didn''t bring back my friends, they were dead and gone like he was, and nothing I could do would fix that. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against bars, breathing in softly as I fought down the wave of despair that washed over me. Slowly I felt the despair morph into anger as the one person who had caused all of this burned her way into my mind, that smile of hers as she told us she needed us to do a job. ¡°She wants to leave,¡± I turned and looked at Bartel. ¡°Found some silver if you want a handful,¡± he said, glancing at the body and setting a trunk down beside me. Inside was around a thousand silver coins, but in my eyes, they might as well been red, paid for with blood. I reached a paw in and grabbed a handful, put them in the pouch at my belt. ¡°Ready?¡± he asked, hefting the sack of whatever he grabbed over his shoulder, ¡°Its a pretty good haul, even have some rather incriminating stuff here,¡± I nodded and stood up. ¡°She is ready...¡± I said, nodding, somehow, I will make her pay for this, for everything she did to me and others... Chapter 27 Cat Burglary part 3 Chapter 27 Cat Burglary part 3 We blew in with the wind and the snow, Bartel back in normal clothing, gone was the ghost in grey, in his place was a small man who would not catch anyone''s attention. As I walked towards the bar I tried to reconcile the man who had scaled a wall and slit a throat with the man who was smiling now, in fact, it was enough to make me wonder if he didn''t have a different personality, it wasn''t the most pressing thing for me to be thinking about but it was by far the least depressing thing for me to be thinking about. I sighed and padded over to the booth we had apparently commandeered only to find the seat I normally had occupied by someone else. Aldria sat there next to Sarena and sipping a drink of some unknown alcoholic origins if the smell as anything to go off of, they both glanced up and Sarena practically pushed her out of the way as she got in front of me and started a rather thorough inspection, running her eyes over almost every part of me and even turning me around to make sure I hadn''t taken any sort of injury, when she had found nothing obvious she let out a sigh of relief and rested her forehead against my own, eyes closed and her hands resting on my shoulders. ¡°I really really don''t like waiting behind and not knowing the outcome,¡± she whispered her breath coming out in short ragged movements as she slowly calmed herself down. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and it was obvious from the smell that she had been drinking, though I didn''t think she had over-imbibed. I reached a paw out and grabbed the goblet she had placed on the table and winced slightly as my paw pad slid across the smooth surface. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at me before turning to look at the paw, the cup held halfway up to my mouth, Sarena¡¯s dark hand contrasting with my own fur as she held the arm down at my wrist. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to drink, not until you tell me what has happened...¡± ¡°Let her take a drink Seri,¡± Bartel said sliding into the booth and summoning a smiling server girl over with a flick of his wrist, ¡°Goddess knows we both need one.¡± My eyes flared wide with anger and I turned and looked at him, teeth bared in a silent snarl. ¡°The Goddess has nothing to do with it!¡± the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and everyone stared at me as I had just grown a second head. Closing my eyes I mewled to myself and raised my unrestrained paw and rubbed the bridge of my snout between my eyes for a second before I spoke again. ¡°Rinmua apologizes,¡± I manage to get out, though it is hard, very very hard to keep that anger down now. ¡°She has had a long and rather stressful night, and she would like a drink of her Seri¡¯s drink and a large glass of milk to calm her nerves.¡± I open my eyes and look at Sarena who stared into my eyes and then nodded, before removing the hand holding the alcohol away from my mouth. I lifted the mug up to my lips and took a long draft of the stuff, filling it burn as it slid down my throat and into my belly, lighting a small fire within. ¡°It looks as though I will need to be taking a loan,¡± Sarena said looking back at Alria. I sighed as the liquid fire hit me and I wiped the foam off of my face with the back of a forepaw. ¡°Right, I have all the paperwork right here,¡± Aldria said, reaching into a bag and fishing out a contract that she carefully laid on the stained wooden boards that made up the table of our booth, she then fetched a quill and ink bottle out of the same case and turned to look at Sari. ¡°Ready when you are.¡± ¡°Rin wonders what you are doing Seri?¡± I ask my free hand snatching at her arm, preventing her from fully turning to face Aldria. I placed the mug down and reached up with the hand, turning her face back towards me.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We need the money, kitten, and I would rather we owe a reputable bank than that Goddess abandoned whore,¡± she froze as she realized the words she had used but I only betrayed my displeasure of the use of her title even in an insult like that with the smallest of ticks. It was rather touching that my lover cared enough about me that she was willing to contact a bank and go into debt to make sure I didn''t get into trouble. Most people avoided the bank¡¯s loans with a passion, seeing as they were likely to drown you in interest rates and the likes that compounded so quickly that even a small debt would return to them a hundredfold. In fact, it was so common for the debt to become uncontrollably large and cause the debt owner to flee that almost all banks had their own squads of bounty hunters and enforcers... ¡°No,¡± I say and reach down to my waist, pulling the pouch and depositing it into her hands. She reached down and opened the bag, her eyes widening to see the amount of silver in there. I had only taken a pawful, but it had been a rather large awful. There had to be at least twenty or more silver there in that bag, gleaming coldly up at her. ¡°I see,¡± she whispered. Before handing the entire bag over to Aldria, who took it and opened it with wide eyes. ¡°Is this stollen?¡± she asked in a hushed tone, making sure to hide the bag¡¯s contents by retying the top when the server girl came back, with two tankers of ale and one of milk. ¡°You do realize that there are serial numbers on these coins and each coin is from a group if you have stolen it and the person it was taken from had a proper ledger they can accuse you of theft?¡± ¡°Don''t worry, it won''t come up as stolen if anyone runs a check on it,¡± Batel said, his head leaning back against the booth wall, a small amount of foam dripping from the corner of his mouth. ¡°Rin should hope not...¡± I muttered, after all, we had swapped the coin for supposedly clean money at a fence, albeit at a completely unfair exchange rate¡­ ¡°Good,¡± Aldria sighed and returned the contract and pen to her bag and smiled at the two of us. ¡°In that case I will take this and lodge it in the vault tonight, when you need it in the morning come and see me.¡± she looked at Sarena and smiled, ¡°I am glad it worked out, whatever this lucrative quest you two just underwent, though I hope you can find more,¡± she paused and smiled knowingly, ¡°Shall we say reputable jobs in the future?¡± picking her case up she moved to leave but I stopped her from exiting the booth by standing in her way. ¡°Yes?¡± she asked one eyebrow cocked. ¡°Rin wants to know why,¡± I say, ¡±She appreciates the help, she really does, but she can''t help but wonder what your stakes are in all of this?¡± her smile died a little and an anger I hadn''t seen before flared to life in her eyes but it was apparent at a glance that it wasn''t directed at me. ¡°You are not the first adventurer to come to the bank needing a loan,¡± she glanced at me, ¡°though, I am hoping you will be one of the last,¡± she smiled, ¡°in fact, I am betting on it.¡± her smile turned dark. ¡°And I am not normally the gambling type.¡± nodding at that I stepped out of the way and let her out of the booth. She didn''t say another word, just bowed to us and left out the pub¡¯s door and into the brisk winter chill. ¡°Now then,¡± Sari sighed her face turning hard as she looked at me, ¡°show me that injured paw of yours.¡± it was not a request, it was a demand¡­ *** Dearest sister, Much has happened since you left the tribe, and at the same time nothing has changed, I feel as though I am running atop the ice, my paws churning though I stay in the same place. Father has taken to staying in the Cham with mother for longer and longer, if they get any louder I swear I will tie them both to poles and make sure they can''t get close enough to even touch tells let alone¡­ Well you know. Kulan has just delivered her fourth litter of kits, it was the first time I have aided in such a process, and it has made me wonder what it would be like to carry my own kits. Though for that I would need a willing mate, and I do not have the allure of a tail such as yours, which honestly was wasted on you seeing as you don''t even care for men¡­ I hope this letter finds you well, always your loving sister, Turu. P.S. we have swindled milk from trader Alten, he is giving us a better price, just shy of a silver now per pelt and he is giving us a small supply of milk, in fact it is almost gone as soon as he brings it, I do hope it does not have any side effects as I have ingested rather large amounts of it rather quickly a time or two... Chapter 28 an unwelcome visit... Chapter 28 An unwelcome visit... I felt her leg slide up between my own, the silky smoothness of it causing a charge that was made much more potent by the small jolt of static shock it created. She leaned in and placed her face into my neck, her breath tickling the fur on my collarbone as she wrapped both arms around me and slid them through the fur on my lower back, curving around as she followed the contours of my body and found the quivering source of my heat, her fingers slowly messaging the burning flesh with a sort of tinder ease. Slowly she spread my lower lips wide with her pointer finger and ring finger and curled her middle finger inside, running it along the slick ridges coated in moister- The door practically splintered and light flooded the room as five armed guards charged in followed closely by the cowering form of the Inn¡¯s owner and a curious maid or two. Everyone froze as they saw us tangled in each other like that on the bed, several cheeks darkening as blood rushed to their heads, and from the awkward shuffling of a few men to another location on their bodies. Quickly I brought my tail up and around to shield both of us from the prying eyes and extricated her hand from between my legs. Seri was flushed and angry looking her cheeks a dark red, but I was not sure if that was due to the anger or embarrassment to be caught in such a situation as this. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± She screeched the words and the captain cleared his throat and pulled out a scroll from his belt, before clearing his throat again, this time for a different reason and started to read. ¡°Suspicion of your involvement in a burglary has lead us to be given authority by the council to search your residence or place of occupation for the missing valuables, effective immediately,¡± he looked at the two of us and gave us a grim smile. ¡°Now, if you would please vacate the room it and remain with the Sargent over there we will begin searching your belongings.¡± ¡°You just want us to get up and walk out?¡± Seri asked, incredulous. ¡°Well, yes,¡± he said looking confused. ¡°Without any clothes on?¡± She asked her voice rising even higher, the grip she had on the fur of my tail tighter. ¡°Uh,¡± it was obvious that he had orders that didn''t permit him to have the two of them out of sight, but it would seem as though he had a sort of sense of dignity, in fact, he had even brought down a female guard officer, probably to have her search us for the stolen silver and ledgers and the likes. He stood there not knowing what to do so I decided to help him out a little. ¡°Rinmua wonders if it is possible for the men to step out, perhaps the female guard and one of the maids is enough to ensure all that she and Sarena do is get some clothes on no?¡± the guard captain turned his eyes towards me a slightly thankful look in them and nodded. ¡°We can do that, Men!¡± he snapped, ¡°Everyone out, Malura, you and the maid keep an eye on them and if anything happens give a shout.¡± he was ten quick to usher the four male guards out of the room and back into the hallway. The door shut with a solid thump and as it did so Seri sighed and pushed her way out from behind the wall of fur that was my tail, rolling off of the bed and strode over naked towards the small bag that held her clothing. I watched her walk across the room, practically salivating at the sway of her hips and shooting a glare at the other two women in the room to let them know that that was mine. And damn if I didn''t hurt, I ached in very deep places and I wanted nothing more than to find a release, what made it worse however was the fact that as she leaned over to pull up her panties the light reflected off of a single streak of liquid that ran from in-between her legs down the inside of her thigh. Swallowing I looked away from the enticing display and also rolled out of bed, feeling irritated and achy, feeling unsatisfied. Both of the women turned to look at me but honestly, it didn''t bother me, after all, I was still used to walking around completely naked at all points in time, so having people stare at me while I was nude was nothing new, I had seventeen years of experience of that¡­ Padding over I pulled my clothing out of the pile I had discarded it in and slipped my legs into the shorts, pulling them up and shimmying back and forth swaying my hips slightly to move my tail out of the way to pull them up as far as it would allow. The shirt as always was trouble however, I slipped it over my head and attempted to pull it down over my chest but it just wasn''t working. ¡°Come here kitten,¡± Seri sighed and I walked over, the shirt still bunched up around my neck, with both arms threw and it bunched up under my armpits. She grabbed the edge of the hem and instructed me to lift my arms, which I did, she then reached up and pulled the shirt down across my breasts and then reached a hand up and adjusted my chest so that it was more comfortable before tying the side with me.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°She thanks you,¡± I whispered, still feeling embarrassed. I could have put it on myself, but I was not very good at it ad it would have taken me longer, I would have been adjusting my breasts for several minutes attempting to get them to not rub uncomfortably against the fabric or to be pressed in an awkward way. The guard woman cleared her throat and we both looked over at her, both she and the maid were blushing something fierce. ¡°Done?¡± She asked looking at the two of us. ¡°She is,¡± I nodded, and Seri also nodded, to which she opened the door and allowed the rest of the guard back into the room. ¡°Once again I apologize for that, our orders were to make this quick and thorough.¡± ¡°She wonders what they are accusing Rin and Seri of?¡± I ask, pressing myself against Seri¡¯s side, her arm came up and wrapped around my shoulder and I curled my tail around the both of our legs. ¡°Robbery,¡± he said, and turned back to the guards with him. ¡°Search it, search everything.¡± ¡°Please be careful with my pack,¡± Sarena said, ¡°I put a lot of work into making those potions and dolls I need them to effectively use my magic and any imperfections could cause the spell to not work when I or Rin need it to,¡± she said, leaving the rest of it to hang in the air. ¡°Noted, Jamin, be careful with the ladies packs please, through but careful ok?¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Ok, so here is the deal, we will search your things, if nothing is found we will assign a guard to follow you for a while, well to be honest it is an indeterminate time, and in that time you will have to stay in town, if this causes monetary issues then you can apply at the guard house for work and we will provide you with work for pay, making sure there is enough to live on.¡± ¡°She can still move about the town freely?¡± I asked, ¡°she has to make sure that she pays her debt, the fee is due today and she does not wish to deal with any repercussions for being late.¡± I asked him, just to be sure. ¡°Of course, like I said though you both will have an escort, please comply with this it makes everything smoother,¡± he said, rubbing his chin. ¡°Sir! I found contraband!¡± his eyes narrowed and both he and I looked in as a Juji pelt was pulled out of my pack. ¡°Did you know it was illegal to poach in this area?¡± he asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. ¡°She did not hunt it here, she hunted it in the mountains near her home!¡± I say my eyes widening, perhaps I really should have gotten rid of that damned pelt. ¡°Really?¡± he clearly didn''t believe me. ¡°She can prove it!¡± I declared, ¡°In her pack is a round stone on a leather thong, it shows what is seen,¡± I didn''t know if they also remembered or if it only showed what had happened at the time, it was a gamble but the only thing I could think of to get me out of a mess I didn''t need to be in. ¡°Found a scrystone sir,¡± A man pulled it out of my pack. ¡°Good, get some wine,¡± the guard captain said, and I looked at him confused before glancing at Sarena. ¡°Water shows the present, wine helps people see the past,¡± she laughed. ¡°If the scrying spell is used on alcohol instead of water it shows a memory, not the present, so if it is used in conjunction with the scrying stone then it shows what the stone saw in the past when it was the last scryed.¡± she smiled at me, ¡°So, in other words, you were extremely lucky little kitten,¡± she leaned down and took the tip of my ear into her mouth and gently bit, sending shivers down my entire body and casing another wave of aching need to course through my system. A bowl of wine was brought up and for the next half hour, the guard Capitan watched wide-eyed as I hunted through the forest for my prey. He glanced up at me and gave me a shaky smile. ¡°Thank the goddess you are complying,¡± he muttered under his breath, and I was unsure if he was talking about the speed of my movement or the Juji kill. ¡°It checks out,¡± he said, before downing the contents of the bowl in a single gulp. ¡°Anything else found?¡± ¡°Besides this sack of silver no sir, they just have fairly standard adventurer gear...¡± ¡°Silver ay?¡± he glanced at me and then at the sack. ¡°She needs that silver, she needs to pay her debts, it is not stollen,¡± I say. ¡°Well, the good thing about silver is that it all has serial numbers by lot on it, so that can be verified, this might prove easier if you told us where you acquired the silver so that we can go check the numbers against the coin-¡± ¡°She has a loan from the bank,¡± I say, ¡°All of her coins is from the bank, she borrowed it to pay another debt she had...¡± I hung my head, sure that I looked rather pathetic at that moment, borrowing from one to pay another. Not that it was my own fault but how could they know that? ¡°Well that is easy, Malura run down and verify this please, Jona, go with her make sure no one gets a stupid idea.¡± he glanced at the two of us, we had been standing there for over an hour now. ¡°While she does that I am going to get something to eat, care to join me you two?¡± I glanced out the window and saw that the sun had indeed already started to rise and lighten the sky. ¡°Thank you guard Capitan,¡± Seri smiled, ¡°I am sure we would most appreciate that.¡± ¡°It is the least I could do, after all, if that silver checks out then I have been sent on a wild goose chase and ended up doing you both a disservice, and if it doesn''t check out,¡± he shrugs, ¡°then it will be the best meal you two are likely to have for a very very long time...¡± ?Chapter 29 Free and clear? Chapter 29 Free and clear? The food we got was quite nice, it consisted of a sort of soft flatbread that jam was spread over along with butter two or three eggs, a good portion of sausage and much to my delight a nice tall glass of milk. I sighed as I leaned back and allowed the milk to settle in my stomach, there was something, just well, almost addictive. As I sat back against my seat I leaned my head on Seri¡¯s shoulder, which caused the guard captain to twitch a little. He looked down at his plate and then back up at the two of us, male curiosity clearly there in his eyes, though it would seem as though his sense of propriety and honor prevented him from asking the question he wanted to ask. Two women being together was not really something new from what I had gathered, some women liked both men and women, some preferred men and others preferred just women. I was obviously of the latter. There were however two things that made the pair of us a sort of novelty almost, however, the first being that the women that engaged in such relationships were almost always nobility. The vast majority of the women working for a living didn''t have the inclination, or perhaps the freedom to do so, they needed to get husbands to help with domestic chores and to do the work that was either more difficult for a woman or societally inappropriate for a woman to do. As such the amount of women who had both the freedom to be above such normal scrutiny of the population as well as the monetary backing that could support not having a husband were rather small as it were, and as a result almost exclusively nobles. The second thing that set us apart, from even those women, or rather what set Sarena apart was the fact that her chosen mate was not even human, or elven, or hell even dwarvish. Instead, she had me, and while most people were smart enough to realize that I was at the very least somewhat civilized I was still what many would call a beast race. There were those sexual deviants that preferred the beast race, most of whom were once again nobility, and it was not like my race couldn''t actually mate with human beings, after all, there had been one kit born to a nearby tribe that had a traveling trader for a father. The poor thing was neither here nor there when you took in its features. She had been born with the paws of a Khatan, fur reaching up to her elbow and mid-thigh, but past that was the smooth skin of a human. Every part of her was human, besides the Khatan legs past the mid thighs, the forepaws past the elbows, a set of Khatan ears on top of her head and a tail. I remember seeing her at several tribe¡¯s meets, she had always been the outcast, and both I and my sister had gone over to play with her a number of times. She was the only Khatan that needed to wear clothing, seeing as humans don''t have fur and the often snowy climate of the Pontiff valleys was much to fridged for the smooth skin of a human. When she had been around the age of eight or so she and her mother had taken up traveling with the father, and after that, I had only seen her once or twice a year, but she had seemed happier than before, so all is well that ends well I suppose. Apparently, if she were to breed with a human then most of the Khatan features would vanish from her litter, and all that would be left would be the tail and ears, which I had been informed was called a Demi-human. I glanced over at Seris, wondering if there was any way we could eventually have a litter. There were a few obvious difficulties, seeing as we were both women, but there was magic, and after all, magic was a complete unknown to me, I would have to bring the topic up with her later when we were not being scrutinized by a guard captain and being threatened with imprisonment... So, in other words, Sarena looked like some strange sexual deviant, and I looked like some noble bitch¡¯s pet. I didn''t let it bother me, I just continued leaning there against Sarena¡¯s shoulder and I purred softly when her hand came up behind my head and started scratching me behind the ears absently. ¡°Sooo...¡± I cracked one eye open and looked at the man sitting in front of us. My impression of him so far was not to bad, he was after all just doing his job, and he was still treating us with courtesy and a modicum of respect. ¡°The two of you are-¡± he trailed off, and my evaluation of him dipped slightly, but only slightly, after all, we were something of a novelty.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Yes, not that it is any of your business or any other persons for that matter,¡± Sarena said, hmm, it would seem as though it annoyed her that we were the subject of such scrutiny. Perhaps her people had stronger cultural privacy customs than my own. ¡°Ha,¡± I chuckled to myself, as the thought entered my head, of course, they had stronger cultural privacy customs, after all, they walked around fully clothed. Both sets of eyes turned towards me, Sarena¡¯s amethyst and the guard captain''s brown eyes. ¡°It is nothing, do not mind Rinmua, she was just thinking something funny,¡± I shrugged slightly, ¡°Rude, but funny.¡± they both stared at me like they were expecting me to explain, which I didn''t feel like doing so I simply stared back for an awkward amount of time. ¡°Normally when someone says things like that little kitten they explain it,¡± Sarena said softly, a little smile pulling at the corner of her lips. ¡°She thinks that such things only apply to normal people, Rinmua has discovered over the past several months however that she is not normal,¡± I say with another shrug. ¡°She has also found that she does not want to be normal, Rinmua is Rinmua and wishes to be no one else.¡± the smile was full blown now, and Sarena grabbed me by the chin and twisted my head up so that she could place her lips on mine. ¡°And I would want nothing different my kitten,¡± she whispered planting a kiss there before rubbing her nose against my own. I purred as she released my chin and I began rubbing my head against the side of her neck, purring for all my worth. ¡°*Ahem*¡± The guard captain cleared his throat and I froze, slowly looking over at him. ¡°Yes?¡± I asked, feeling slightly annoyed at not even being able to properly bunt against my mate after all bunting was not just affectionately rubbing against her, it also left my scent on her skin, which would warn others off, and would allow me to track her more easily should we ever get separated. It occurred to me then that human beings and elves might not have the same scent as we do, they may not be able to smell and understand my scent on Sarena. Oh well, I knew, and if I was being honest it felt good, really really good¡­ His eyes tracked down and I found myself looking down as well, and much to my surprise my forepaw had moved on its own, tracking up across the smooth dark skin of her stomach and onto her breast which it was still kneading, by the way, quickly I pulled my hands away, my ears laying back in embarrassment. I looked up and Sarena was biting her lip and when our eyes met hers were smoldering. She opened her mouth to say something but the door of the inn burst open and the two guards he had sent to check on the silver walked in with Aldria between them. Aldria walked over and practically slammed a thickly bound ledger down on the countertop and stared haughtily at the Capitan. ¡°I will have you know that I nither appreciate or much care for being so rudely awoken at so early an hour, nor do I like having my client¡¯s so roughly treated,¡± as she spoke she slammed open the book and pointed at a particular spot, ¡°this is the serial number used for the bank¡¯s personal silver reserve,¡± she slammed the bag of silver down on the table. ¡°These coins are legal tender, the codes are good and are not of a personal house¡¯s account, meaning all of this silver was minted and made for the bank and then dispersed to the population, as you know most noble houses send their silver to be melted down and re-minted so that it is easier to track, so unless my clients have been stealing silver out of the purses of many many people, few of whom would walk around with silver mind you, then it was not stolen, or burglarized!¡± she let him look at the ledger for a second more before practically slamming it in his face. ¡°It checks out sir,¡± the female guard said with a shrug, ¡°That''s not the silver we are looking for.¡± He looked at Aldria and then back towards us. ¡°I see, well then while I still can''t say this matter is closed I can say that I have thus far found no evidence of wrongdoing, meaning you are free to go about your business, albeit with Earla here keeping an eye on you for a while.¡± he stood up, shaking his head. ¡°I apologize for the inconvenience and hope the rest of this goes smoothly for you,¡± he reached out and shook Sarena¡¯s hand and my forepaw. ¡°I¡¯ll be in touch,¡± he said and went back upstairs to gather his guard. ¡°Well, that went better than I was expecting,¡± Aldria said with a slight smile, ¡°I was worried I would have to show him serial number by serial number like I did those two,¡± she glanced back at the two guards still standing there. ¡°Oh well, I¡¯m all for easier,¡± she sighed as she slid into the booth across from us. Chapter 30 Paying debts... Chapter 30 Paying debts... For the third and if I was lucky final time in my life I entered that sitting room once again. Lady Brandmount sat there in the same chase lounge looking almost exactly the same, still with her golden tanned skin and white as snow hair, though the dress she wore this time was of a deep blue that seemed to match her eyes. I looked at her as I entered the room, the bag of silver clutched to my chest almost like a mother holding her daughter close. This had to go well, it was a chance at freedom, no, not a chance this was a certainty and I was going to seize it with both paws, and if I needed to my teeth and hold onto it. As my eyes locked onto hers something seemed to change about my body, the timidity was gone, replaced with a fit of anger that made me want to leap across the room and strangle the woman to death before anyone could do anything. The only thing that stopped me was Seri¡¯s hand on my shoulder. Something was absolutely comforting about that hand, gripping me lightly. I reached up and placed my paw over her fingers before stepping forward and placing the money down on the table in between the lady brandmount and me. ¡°She has brought your silver,¡± I hissed through clenched teeth. ¡°I see that,¡± she said, almost like she had no problems now that the money was paid, almost like she was pleased this matter was over. She opened the bag and spilled its contents on the dark wooden lacquered surface, looking at all of it, nodding slowly to herself. ¡°Yes, and I am sure there is no stolen silver in this pile,¡± she glanced up at me, ¡°after all, the guard has been mostly through I am told.¡± I didn''t answer that, as saying anything could give me away, so instead I chose to say nothing. ¡°Did you know that each and every noble house has the silver they earn reminted, allow us to put both house seal on the underside as well as a set of serial numbers on it?¡± she pulled out a coin from the lot and held it up for me to see. ¡°I have always found the process to be interesting, it has always seemed like it would be too difficult or costly and not to make much sense,¡± she smiled a wan smile. ¡°If we pay the baker with our silver then he uses it at a brothel we will know it once that coin makes it¡¯s way to the bank, it is perfect way of tracking our employees and seeing what they are up to.¡± she smiles ¡°But what happens if the silver is stolen?¡± she smiled at that. ¡°Rinmua thinks where it surfaces will tell you where it has been,¡± I answer, and like an indulgent mother leading her kitten along a logical path she nodded and smiled. ¡°You are correct, you see there is a spell we keep on the silver and gold and other valuables, it is a sort of inventory spell, it tells us exactly the number of coins in the vault,¡± she paused, ¡°Well, rather it tells us the number of items in the vault, meaning if some are taken we are then alerted of this,¡± she smiled at me. ¡°My husband is the master of coin in the city, as you would imagine he is quite meticulous with his coin, we employ many many people to inventory the money we bring in, each lot is written down,¡± her fingernail traced the first three letters and two numbers on the coin, this one, in particular, showed BRM91. ¡°Those are the lot numbers, BRM for Brandmount, and the 91 for the lot, each lot has 200 coins in it, and each is divided into a different chest, meaning that in a chest only lot 91 is located there.¡± ¡°If coin can be remitted Rinmua wonders how you can keep track of any of it.¡± ¡°Oh that is quite simple, you see the presses required to remint are in the capital, and there is no forge that can copy it, you see each and every coin is minted with a small spell in it, one that is specific to the Jarl¡¯s high court and one that cannot be duplicated, many have attempted reforging and enchanting the silver, after all, you surely know how easily silver takes enchantment, its just none have succeeded, and frankly anyone who can even see the slightest mana can tell a real one from a fraud.¡± It struck me again that I was at a disadvantage, not being able to see mana or magic at all, it seemed that even the most basic people could see it. It was like I was blind surrounded by people who kept telling me to look at this or look at that, my eyes were open but I was seeing nothing¡­¡±And when the metal is melted back down it loses the enchantment, meaning it has to be reapplied by the official sources.¡± ¡°Rinmua finds this all fascinating, but wonders why she is being told this?¡± I tap my paw on the floor as though I am growing impatient with the woman, which was only a half lie.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Listen puss, I know you broke into my house, I know you stole my ledgers and registers and killed a guard of mine,¡± she leaned forward her eyes glowing. ¡°So can we both be adults and discuss what to do about this? What do you need to give those back?¡± She asked leaning back into the chair. As she did so something glinted and caught my eye. There under a cushion of the lounge, she was sitting on was a scrying stone, hidden so I couldn''t see it. My mind started running through the implications quickly. Scrying stones were magical artifacts that allowed user to see what the stone sees, apparently they even remember events witnessed through them, but I highly doubted they remembered everything, after all, there was plenty of time between when I put the scrystone in my pack and when the guard captain had looked at it and he hadn¡¯t needed to search through it all to find the memory of my hunt, it just was there. Meaning that if they had a scrystone down in the vault it would have still required a person actively watching it, which is quite tiring due to the amount of mana required, or so I am told. And if they had had a person scrying and I had actually been seen then I have no doubt that the scrystone would have been used to convict me. Which meant that she was attempting to get me to confess and have it recorded on a scrystone to get me caught. I had to fight to keep the smile off of my face¡­ ¡°She is sorry, but she has no idea what you are talking about, this is the second time she has been accused of theft and she must say she is not very fond of it.¡± I hiss at her narrowing my eyes. ¡°Tell me where the books are!¡± she growled, ¡°or I will carve the location out of your flesh!¡± I looked at her and pulled a face of disgust, it was odd to me that such a beautiful creature could hide something so dark and ugly underneath, it made me wonder what Lord Brandmount was like to allow his wife to have such a character. ¡°Rinmua is done here, the debt is paid and she wishes to never have any more contact with the likes of you,¡± I say, turning on my heels. ¡°Oh, we are not done,¡° she called out behind me as I made my exit, it took all of my will to prevent me from turning around and agreeing with her. ¡°Trust me, we Brandmounts own everything, you will be getting no work anywhere, you will not be able to purchase any goods, even food and shelter and-¡± I turned around and looked at her as she smiled a twisted smile at me. ¡°You won''t even be allowed to leave, seeing as you are under investigation at the moment, I trust you will be back to tell me more when you have,¡± she cackled to herself, ¡°chilled out a bit.¡± ¡°Rinmua would like to inform you that she lived in the mountains her whole life, there was snow practically year round and as a culture Rinmua¡¯s people don''t wear clothing, we have never really felt the need seeing as we are covered in fur,¡± I reached over and took Seri¡¯s hand, she was attempting to hide a smirk. ¡°Thus she would like to say she is quite fine in the cold, she often prefers it.¡± I left after saying that, opening the large oak door myself to go into the hallway before even the smartly dressed butler could get the door open for me. Outside in the hallway was Earla, she was a tall woman, in her mid-thirties with green eyes and red hair she pulled back behind her head and tied in a braid. Holding it in place was a small leather thong she had tied around her forehead. And across her nose and the entire middle section of her face was a scattershot of freckles, in her leather clad hands she held a bowl of water, which as we stepped out of she placed down on a window ledge and looked up at us propper. ¡°Rinmua wonders if you enjoyed the show?¡± I ask looking at the guard woman. She was like her build, stoic, strong, sturdy, and if I had to say probably a little sarcastic mixed in their as well. ¡°Oh yes, imagine my surprise when a servant tells me to look into this bowl and I am now privy to the conversation inside the chamber,¡± she shook her head. ¡°I hate it when civilians attempt to take the law into their own hands, it never goes well, that was the worst interrogation I have ever seen in my life, and she even had the nerve to threaten you with torture and the like.¡± she shook her head, ¡°you never lead with that, you course first and then if that doesn''t work you get more aggressive, after all, testimonies after torture are tenuous at best, seeing as once you break a man he will testify to anything, even if it is false, anything to get free from the pain...¡± ¡°That...¡± Seri looked down at me before glancing back up at Earla, ¡°was decidedly darker than I expected.¡± I nodded my head in agreement. ¡°Sorry, my husband is an interrogator,¡± she smiled fondly, ¡°he likes his work,¡± a slight blush crept into her cheeks, and an image I didn''t want to really see popped up into my head before I could really stop myself I spoke out aloud. ¡°Rinmua wonders if Earla has ever been interrogated by her husband and wonders how much she enjo-¡± Sarena¡¯s hand clamped over my snout, cutting off the words and causing me to bite the tip f my tongue in a rather painful way. She pulled me into her chest and started marching me forcefully down the hall towards the door, leaving behind Earla standing there in the hallway blushing brighter than a hunters moon on a cloudless night. ?Chapter 31 The waiting game... Chapter 31 The waiting game... I walked down the hallway, feeling the flush of victory, even if that victory was a little hollow. As it was I had done little to actually hurt her aside from her pride. As it was she was still free to pull this against any and every adventurer new in town, and it was more than likely she was going to do so. And now I had the problem of not knowing how to proceed, I felt some sort of moral obligation to actually fully deal with that witch but I had no real way I could think of taking her down. For the next few weeks, I would be watched, literally followed around by this Earla, and we were required to stay in town. I had no doubt that Lady Brandmount¡¯s words were true, and that she would find a way to make sure I had nothing to my name, I glanced over at Sarena. She had that distant look in her eyes, like she was contemplating something, reading her was hard sometimes, she often had this faraway look in her eyes, like she was not actually there, not actually standing next to me. As we entered the foyer I turned and looked at Earla, she was still scarlet red but she had gained some sense of her original demeanor again. ¡°She wonders,¡± I paused as I looked over at her, ¡°how long is this investigation? Hmmm?¡° ¡°Should be anywhere from a week to two,¡± she said with a slight shrug as she followed us out of the door and into the sunlight. It was a warm day, well warm for the middle of winter this deep in the mountains that was. The snow was still laying on the ground, at least a foot thick most places with drifts of two or three feet in some of the more aggressive hills of snow. Some of the drafts had fully covered and practically buried the low sitting houses, leaving the city looking like a series of small rolling snowy hills. But the sun was shining, and the wind had decided not to blow. ¡°And she is not allowed to leave the city correct?¡± I asked, breathing in the air. ¡°That is correct,¡± Earla nodded, ¡°aside from that I will need to read any correspondence you write and-¡± ¡°Wait,¡± I looked at her ¡°you need to read her letters?¡± I asked looking up at the guardswoman. ¡°Yes,¡± she said, her eyes narrowing. ¡°She wonders if you can read Khatan?¡± ¡°No...¡± she looked suspiciously at me ¡°why would you need to write a letter in whatever language that is?¡± she folded her arms across her chest, but before I could answer Sarena did for me. ¡°She exchanges letters with her sister, a fellow Khatan, they are pretty regular about it,¡± she shrugged, the cold weather still not affecting her choice of clothing as she was wrapped in a protective shell of magic. ¡°She doesn''t even tell me what is in those letters, good luck getting her to tell you.¡± she smiled but Earla looked annoyed and a little peeved. ¡°We do have a scholar in languages, if he can read it then we can allow the letters to go through, but only if he can read it, what language did you call it?¡± she asked pulling out a small pad of paper and producing a metal quill. She turned something on the quill and quickly began writing before turning the back half of the quill the opposite way and looking back up at me. She saw my eyes on the object in her hand and she held it up for me to see. ¡°Its called a pen, some inventor by the name of Penbroke made it, its a mobile quill, you store the ink in the back half of it and when you turn it allows two holes to match up and the ink inside to drip out down to the point, allowing you to write with it, it has made our jobs much easier.¡± ¡°She is sure,¡± I said looking at it, such a simple design, but effective. ¡°Rinmua¡¯s language is named the same as her people, Khatan, it is very different from what she is speaking now.¡± ¡°Kaaahhhhaaaattttaaaaannn,¡± she spelled it out as she wrote, ¡°Ok, well I will send this along before us, also out of curiosity how is it different? Also, why do you speak like that, not using I or my or anything?¡± ¡°She thinks that is due to the fact that many of her people¡¯s words are not vocal, but actual physical gestures, when referring to one¡¯s self her people just assume that a person is talking of themselves unless said otherwise, we do not have those words,¡± I shrugged. ¡°As for language differences there is a lot more sounds and gestures in her people¡¯s, it is difficult...¡± I shrugged. ¡°Can you read?¡± she asked showing me the pad of paper, I didn''t even look at it just shook my head. ¡°Rimua cannot read this language or any language besides her own.¡± I shrugged, but that had Sarena looking at me oddly. ¡°You cannot read?¡± she asked looking at me strangely. ¡°Not in Sarena¡¯s language no,¡± I said plainly with a shrug, ¡°besides she has you, and she knows you can read the language.¡± ¡°Yes but that is something you need to learn, what if I am not around?¡± she asked. Those words felt like a hand had gripped my heart and squeezed with all its might. My eyes went wide and I pressed myself up against her side. ¡°Where would Seri go?¡± I asked looking up at her with the biggest saddest eyes I could muster. ¡°Rinmua wishes you to stay with her!¡± I rubbed my head against her side purring slightly. ¡°Oh don''t even try that,¡± she said, her eyes narrowing, she put a hand on my forehead and bodily pushed me back. Almost instantly I felt as though I had stepped out into the cold after being in my warm Cham, the heat of her body gone much much too quickly. ¡°Those sad eyes only work when I allow it,¡± she said with a smile curling up one side of her mouth. ¡°That is what we are doing these two weeks, we are going to be teaching you how to read.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I groaned out loud, my eyes turning skyward as the ears on my head laid flat against my skull in agitation. ¡°Oh come on little kitten,¡± she cooed, her hand stroking the patch of fur under my neck, rubbing lightly under my chin. ¡°It will be fun,¡± she said as I attempted to fight the betraying purr that was attempting to rumble in my chest¡­ *** ¡°No, that is I as in first person, when referring to oneself,¡± she sighed and sat back, ¡°you really do have trouble with self-reference don''t you?¡± she asked as she massaged the bridge of her nose no doubt in order to lessen the headache I was causing. I glanced over at Earla, who was playing some sort of card game in the corner of the room by herself, moving and stacking the cards in rows and columns, using her pen to mark down a score. ¡°Kitten focus...¡± my eyes drifted back down to the book in front of me. It was a rather large and boring book about how to be financially successful and learning about accounts, or so it would seem from what I was able to puzzle out. I was on page four, and it had taken me the past hour or so to get here. ¡°She doesn''t even use them in speech, it might just be impossible for her to understand them,¡± Aldria said, I glanced over at her, seeing her curled up in the corner of the room, using an overstuffed chair and reading some other no doubt less boring book. This book was hers, as was this house, and it was a rather nicely appointed one at that. She had been kind enough to let us study here, where there were many books in this damnable language. ¡°No, she can get it, my little kitten is not stupid, just not very motivated right now, isn''t that right Rin?¡± I looked over at Sarena and nearly fell out of my chair as she was right in my face, leaning over the table. ¡°She gets it, she can read it in her head but out loud...¡± I sighed, we had been at this for nearly two weeks now, two full weeks of doing nothing to stop that bitch that had caused the death of my party as well as almost enslaving me, not that we could even talk or plan anything when Earla was around, which she was constantly. This past two weeks she had been with us the entire time, even sleeping in our room. Apparently her husband was used to things like this as she often got the long patrol routes that were outside of town, but still, it was a rather long absence, and in all that time I had not been able to so much as kiss Sarena, knowing that I would not be able to stop myself. I felt frustrated, bottled up, I needed to be released, but there was nothing to it¡­ ¡°Try again, read from the top of the page out loud,¡± she said sternly, Seri was a difficult taskmaster that much was for sure¡­ ¡°Fine, fine she will read out loud...¡± I looked down at the book and as I did so it seemed like the words on the page swam and moved about for a second, jumbling and scrambling around before settling down in a different order than previously. ¡°Can she have a book that does not suck?¡± I asked, looking up again. ¡°No, now read.¡± Sarena narrowed her eyes. ¡°Rin wants Aldria¡¯s book, she seems to like it, always blushing and laughing, it seems like it would be much more fun to her than this boring book,¡± I said, pushing the thick volume away from me, sliding it across the desk. ¡°What?¡± Aldria looked up her eyes wide and her cheeks darkening, ¡°no no no, you wouldn''t want this book it is really bad and boring...¡± she tried to give a wan smile but sort of failed half way through. ¡°Really really boring stuff!¡± she nodded a little too vigorously. ¡°Then why are you always giggling and laughing under your breath?¡± Earla asked looking up from her card game, staring a the woman. ¡°No reason, no reason at all!¡± she pressed the book against her chest protectively. ¡°Perhaps a different book would be good,¡± Sarena said, her eyes narrowed at Aldria. Without warning, all three of us pounced on the woman, who opened her eyes wide and attempted to scramble out of the way, but she was a banker and we were three women who worked more physical jobs. I wrapped my forepaw around her ankles taking her down as she attempted to run. The book slid across the floor and hit the wall on the far side of the room. Sarena and Earla both pounced seconds later pinning the woman down and holding her there, freeing me to scramble after the book. ¡°No!¡± Aldria wailed piteously from under the mound of other women as she reached out and attempted to grab the book reaching her arm across the floor for it. I dashed over and grabbed it, turning it over and looking at the page that it had fallen on. ¡°Well come on Rin read it already!¡± Earla called out. ¡°We can''t hold her forever, she is pretty slippery!¡± I blinked a few times and began reading, only slightly stilted. ¡°her hips rocking back to meet his thrusts,¡± Already I knew what type of book she had been reading¡­ ¡°her chest lowering closer to the ground so that she could get a different angle. He groaned and leaned forward, burying his face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her brown hair, breathing her deeper with each thrust.¡° It was still stilted but everyone in the room had understood what I had read, Aldria had turned bright red and was resting her face against the floor, most of it shrouded in her hair as she groaned out in embarrassment. Smiling wickedly I continued reading... ¡°Her tail which had just been pinned by his chest worked its way free to the right side, and began walking him against the side.¡± Ahh, so this one had a beast race woman in it did it? So not even the normal type of raunchy book¡­¡± He lifted his head and looked at her, her cheek pressed against the cold tile surface of the building they were resting in, her ears were cocked forward, flat against her head, adorably submissive. He pulled back and moved her hips, adjusting the angle. Sliding into her this time caused her right leg to scrabble at the slick surface of the tiles, almost like a dog¡¯s did when you pet them just right.¡± ¡°STOP PLEASE STOP!¡± Aldria screamed but her screams were soon cut off by Seri holding a hand over the struggling woman¡¯s mouth. ¡°Keep reading kitten, you are doing quite well, getting much quicker and better,¡± she said, the smile wicked on her lips. ¡°¡°Oh,¡± he smiled at her, stopping his movements, ¡°Is that the spot?¡± he asked, sliding back into her and watching as she bit her lip and her leg once again scrabbled against the tiles. He amused himself by slowly sliding in and out, listening to the wet suction sounds they both made as he entered her and watching her reactions. She crushed her lower lip between her teeth stifled a moan that turned into a yell as her walls spasmodically tightened around him, releasing gushing liquid as she fell limply against the floor, only held up by his hands on her hips. ¡°Yep,¡± he laughed softly to himself, his voice deep and rough, ¡°I think we found the spot.¡±¡± ¡±NOOOOOOOO!!!!¡± Somehow Aldria had wiggled her head and gotten away from Sarena¡¯s hand. She had somehow bucked Earla off and was currently attempting to claw her way towards me with desperate strength dragging Seri along with her. I smiled and turned the page and kept reading as Earla threw herself back on top of the struggling woman once again arresting her movement. Chapter 32 In the best possible way... Chapter 32 In the best possible way... The door of the Aldria¡¯s room opened and a man walked in and promptly froze in place at the sight of the four of us. It took me a second to recognize the guard captain and see that he had his blade out and was looking bewildered at all of us. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked around before I spoke up. ¡°Greetings,¡± I said to him, ¡°Rin was just reading this book for everyone to hear, would you also like to hear?¡± I asked, the question effectively breaking the ice. ¡°Reading?¡± he asked the point of his sword lowering as he looked over at me. ¡°Nn, yes Rinmua borrowed Aldria¡¯s book and has been reading it out loud,¡± I glanced over at the woman in question who had frozen in place still pinned down by Seri and Earla and smiled. ¡°It is fun, reading this book, much better than reading something dull like what she has been forced to read previously.¡± ¡°I see,¡± he said slowly and put his sword back into the sheath at his belt before straightening out his uniform, ¡°once again I have barged in without requesting entry, I will attempt to not make this my habit,¡± he laughed, ¡°though in my defense I heard a woman screaming in such a way that I thought surely something awful was happening.¡± ¡°Something awful has happened,¡± Aldria groaned as she rested her forehead on the smooth floor. ¡°Do you need help with an arrest Earla?¡± he asked, one of his eyebrows raised as he attempted to not laugh. ¡°No sir,¡± Earla stood up and helped both Sarena and Aldria to their feet. Both her and Sarena were looking a little sheepish. Aldria just looked embarrassed, as she stood up she straightened her dress, dusting it off and marched herself over to me, snatching the book out of my hands and holding it close to her chest shooting me a glare. ¡°She wonders what you are here for?¡± I ask looking over at the guard captain. ¡°She does not think you were simply strolling down the street when you happened to run into us.¡± he nodded and looked between Sarena and me. ¡°Normally this is the point in the investigation where I tell you that you are free to go about your business as we have found no evidence to support the claim that you were the cat burglars, and it has been past the two week limit we normally assign to things like this.¡± he looked at the two of us, his face grim. ¡°However?¡± Seri asked, crossing her arms over her chest. ¡°However I am being pushed to continue investigating, it would seem that you have managed to piss off some rather important people, my boss tells e I am to keep a force investigating, I have however been able to make this token force and as such I am here to tell you that 24 hour surveillance is no longer required.¡± he looked over at Earla and nodded to her. ¡°You will be returning to your normal rounds starting tomorrow.¡± ¡°Aw man, and here I was starting to get comfortable in this cushy job.¡± she looked over at me, ¡°can you perhaps do something else that warrants an investigation? You know give me a little extension?¡± ¡°Rinmua will see what she can do,¡± I nod, my voice completely serious, everyone stood there for a second before we all broke out in laughter. ¡°As funny as that is I would advise against it,¡± the guard captain said with a smile. ¡°You are free to leave the city, however, you will need to check in at the guard barracks every three days, and if you fail to do so you will be considered fugitives of the law and a price will be placed on your heads.¡± he looked at the two of us as we simply stared back at him, ¡°At which point in time you will be hunted down by bounty hunters and things will go very very poorly for the two of you.¡± I looked at the man and started to smile. Smiling was not a natural thing for my race, seeing as baring one¡¯s teeth was usually a bad idea and meant you were angry or scared and attempting to look tougher than you actually were. But people did it often, even Seri did it when she thought something was funny or when she was happy, so I had begun to mimic the mannerism. Sometimes it seemed like it worked for me, others would cause people alarm, I didn''t quite have it down. ¡°She and Seri are free to leave the city for a time?¡± I asked, and he looked at me and nodded. ¡°So long as you are back quickly enough.¡± he nodded, he had opened his mouth to say something else but at that point in time I had reached over and grabbed Seri by the hand and bodily dragged her out of the room and towards the door at a near jog. We were out in the snow in mere seconds, and before anyone could react I had bent over and practically physically pulled her onto my back, wrapping my tail around her waist to help hold her in place. ¡°Where are we go-¡± she didn''t get the rest of her words out before I was off with a powerful surge of my legs, hind paws digging into the snow deep as I pushed off and forward as quickly as possible. Her grip tightened on my shoulders and she leaned down over my back as we raised off out of the city. Being around people was fine, I rather enjoyed being in a large setting with many people, but after being forced to stay in the city for so long I was feeling a decidedly large need to be out once again in nature, beneath the trees and the sky with no people anywhere to be seen.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. And no one to interrupt¡­ The city of Uljits had no walls, making it rather easy for me to simply pick a direction and run, which was exactly what I did. Seri¡¯s arms flexed around my neck as I raced off and in a half hour or so we were back out in the middle of nowhere, no trails, no paths, no people, just Seri and myself. Sarena shakily got off of my back and practically collapsed in a heap on the snow, causing it to start melting with her body heat. I trotted over and looked down at her where she lay panting, several strands of her fiery red hair had escaped the pin she used to hold it in place behind her head and they fluttered with her gasping breaths. Her face was red, almost like she had been the one working and carrying me instead of the other way around but I attributed that more to the wind from moving so quickly than anything else. I swung my leg over her so that my knees were on either side of her hips and leaned down, my paw running over the smooth surface of her abdomen. ¡°I told you,¡± she said when she caught her breath ¡°I am not the type of woman to go rutting in the sno~¡± I stopped her words by pressing my mouth against her own. It was the first time I had actually kissed her, she had done it to me before but I had never been the one to start it, after all, Khatan don''t kiss, its kind of hard with our mouth shape, and the fact that our tongue has a rather scratchy texture makes it less pleasant. As I kept her mouth occupied I slid my paw under her shirt and up, feeling the soft firmness of her flesh under my paw pads my other hand slid down in between her legs and I started rubbing her through her clothes. Pushing my head down I pull her tongue into my mouth, allowing it to slip between my teeth before I bite down and pull on it slightly, making sure to not hurt her with my sharp teeth, after all, they are not shaped like hers or a humans. The sensation causes her to shudder under me and as she does I bring both of her hands together above her head and pin them there with one of my own paws holding both wrists and pressing them into the snow. Slowly I start rubbing her, first along the side of her face, my paw softly running down her cheek to her neck, fingers brushing against her collarbone, catching on the soft protrusion of bone with the tip of my finger as they whispered down her skin. As I started kneading her breast, feeling the soft flesh in my paw pads as it moved up and down with her shuddering breaths, she let out a moan that vibrated in my mouth. I pulled my face back and looked into her eyes, there reflected in the amethyst was a need as hot and deep as my own. ¡°Rinmua can stop now,¡± I purred softly, ¡°Rinmua does not wish to upset you, she knows you do not wish to rutt like some animal in heat.¡± As I speak I remove both of my hands, sitting back up. Seri looks at me an aching need in her eyes and on her face but after a second she simply starts laughing. Laughing so hard that tears start to roll down her face. ¡°Oh my kitten,¡± she giggled as she reached a hand up and started scratching me on the right side of my face just under the chin. Purring I press my head deeper into her palm and half lid my eyes. ¡°I fear I have taught you to much about teasing, you are becoming quite adept at it,¡± she whispered as she sat up and rested on her forearms, staring right at me, noses not quite touching. ¡°Whatever am I to do with such a naughty kitty?¡± she asked in a deep throaty voice as she angled her head past my snout and up towards my right ear. ¡°How shall I punish you?¡± she whispered into my ear, the soft warm breeze of her breath stirring the fur inside and causing a shiver to run through my body, though not from the cold but rather from need and desire. ¡°I''ve got it,¡± she said, pulling back as she ran a line of kisses from my ear and down my cheek and across my snout. She produced a cloth doll out of somewhere holding it up for me to see. It was an odd thing, not shaped like her others, this one with a large tail nearly as long as the body and a set of ears on its head, it also had a small little red cloth tied around its neck. ¡°Uh oh~¡± I started to say but before I could do anything she reached between my legs and deftly slid her fingers under my shorts and deep inside, where I was ready for her fingers and tongue. The finger that slid inside felt like heaven, and my body reacted to it, tightening around the digit like I never wanted it to leave. But just as quickly as it came it retreated and she pulled her finger out, before running the wet digit down the front of the doll, staining the brown cloth darker with my moisture. ¡°Uh oh indeed,¡± she whispered, a wicked smile on her face as she moved the doll, and consequently me into a rather embarrassing and compromising position. ¡°Now, now we will have some fun,¡± she whispered, getting to her knees behind me. I had my face pressed into the snow, rear up in the air with my legs spread wide. As she spoke she crept forward and leaned over my back, one hand resting possessively on my lower lips as the other started at my hips and worked their way up my stomach. ¡°Where to start, where to start?¡± she asked herself, I attempted to move but found I could not, and the thrill of excitement and fear that caused gave me another shudder, and I felt my inner walls begin pulsing, aching for something to enter me. Slowly, much much too slowly she began messaging me through the fabric of my clothes, doing nothing to stop douse the fire deep in my core, only stoking it. ¡°Oh, what is this?¡± she asked, her hand on my stomach, even if I hadn''t been held in place by her magic I would have gone rigid at that moment. Khatan¡¯s typically carried two or three kits per pregnancy, which meant that my race needed more than two breasts to feed their young. We had the normal set of breasts at all points in time, but shortly after giving birth the two sets of nipples lower on our abdomens would swell, allowing us to feed the kits and giving women six breasts for a time. Some queens who had given birth to many kits even had them permanently swollen. Her fingers slowly felt through my fur and rolled the nipple hidden under the fur there, causing a shudder each time she passed over it with the tips of her fingers. Rather forcefully she rolled the doll and subsequently me over, and without even asking she stripped me naked, laying me out unable to move or protest. Slowly she leaned over my stomach from in-between my legs and used her long dark fingers to part the fur around it. She glanced up at me and then back down at my stomach a slow smile curving on her lips as she leaned forward, her hot breath stirring the fur around it as she stuck a pink tongue out and lightly licked the surface of it. ¡°Oh kitten, you shouldn''t have hidden these from me,¡± she said, her teeth lightly closing around it and pulling. She looked up at me with half-veiled eyes and smiled again. ¡°I really will have to punish you now,¡± she lowered her mouth to my abdomen and began torturing me in the best possible way... Chapter 33 heart to heart... Chapter 33 heart to heart... Still feeling rather wobbly in the knees I made a slower time back towards Uljits, slow enough that Seri walked next to me, a rather smug look on her face as we made our way back to town. ¡°Oh, my little kitten, don''t sulk,¡± she said wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close, ¡°you had no hope of overpowering me,¡± she laughed, ¡°After all, I have what a hundred years on you and have had a good deal more experen-¡± I hissed and pushed out of her grasp, my mood all of a sudden no longer as satisfied, in fact, my stomach had just tightened itself into a knot. ¡°What?¡± she asked, but I didn''t answer, simply continuing to walk forward. ¡°Rin,¡± ignoring her I narrowed my eyes and picked up my pace slightly, she would need to jog to be able to catch up with me¡­ ¡°Rinmua!¡± she snapped, grabbing me by the shoulder and turning me around. ¡°Do not ignore me!¡± she snapped. Her eyes narrowed and angry. ¡°Not when I have done nothing to deserve it, now what is wrong?¡± ¡°Rin does not wish to discuss anything,¡± I did not deny something was wrong as it most definitely was, but that didn''t mean I had to talk to her about it¡­ ¡°Rin,¡± she said softly, though there was an edge in her voice as she grabbed me by the face on either side. Leaning forward she placed her forehead on mine and looked into my eyes. ¡°Talk to me, trust me, if we don''t work out whatever this is it will not go well for either of us.¡± ¡°Sarena would know after all wouldn''t she?¡± I hissed, ¡°what with all the different lovers she has had ¡®experience¡¯ with,¡± I spat the word experience like it was poison, and she flinched back and nodded to herself. ¡°Is that what it is-¡± she said to herself, I attempted to pull away but she simply held my face in place. ¡°Rin,¡± she pulled back, her eyes locked with mine, ¡°I have been in serious relationships with-¡± ¡°Rin does not wish to know!¡± I hissed loudly, causing her to flinch, giving me enough room to pull out of her grasp and spin around, I had made it two steps before she clutched onto my tail, anchoring me. Her hand came up and this time grabbed me by the elbow in a rather painful grasp and once again spun me around, this time when I saw her face it was pissed. I had only ever seen her look like this when talking about the Brandmounts, and it was rather frightening to see it turned on me now. ¡°You Will Listen To Me!¡± she shouted directly in my face. ¡°I have been in serious relationships with 15 different people over the course of my life,¡± she hissed and I flinched at the number. ¡°15, so yes, I have got more experience than you, and I do know how things like this work, things like jealousy, all 15 of those men, and yes they were all men, I loved them for different reasons, they filled a need in my life, and now I don''t need them, right now I need you.¡± ¡°Until she is not needed anymore?¡± I asked, and I watched her flinch, my cold words stabbing at her. She closed her eyes and her face softened. ¡°Yes Rin.¡± she said softly, ¡°that is the way people are, over time people grow apart, grow different, and after time people no longer work together.¡± ¡°Rinmua does not wish that,¡± I said, my heart aching as the words came out, ¡°Rinmua does not want a relationship where the outcome is already decided.¡± I looked at her, ¡°she does not think that she can handle that, she wishes for something she can put her all into, and for that to happen she needs the other party to do the same.¡± ¡°That is not what this is about,¡± she said, looking away from me. ¡°This is about you being jealous of my past lovers.¡± she wouldn''t meet my eyes. ¡°It is what it is about now,¡± I said, ¡°Rinmua is jealous, you bring up lovers in front of her all the time, you tell her that you are experienced, you take her to meet former lovers-¡± ¡°We needed him!¡± she snapped crossing her arms over her chest. ¡°She knows, but it does not change the fact, you are using them to distance yourself from Rinmua, to put a barrier between her and Sarena, you say such things as people change, but Rinmua knows this, she simply wishes for someone to change with, someone who will not abandon her when she changes.¡± ¡°Then you are asking the wrong woman,¡± she said, turning away from me, but not before I caught a glimpse of the tear that slid down her cheek. ¡°I cannot promise that Rin, I simply can''t do that...¡± it was my turn to grab her by the shoulder and turn her around. ¡°Can¡¯t or won''t?¡± I asked, pleadingly, it felt like someone had grasped my heart and was squeezing it in a vice grip.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Perhaps both?¡± she whispered. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I- I don''t know!¡± she pulled away from me and started pacing back and forth in the snow. This lasted for almost five minutes, ¡°every time,¡± she sniffed and looked up at me. ¡°I am cursed Rin, I have been from birth, I am an outcast, a freak among my own people, so I struck out, went into the world where I would not be judged by my people, and do you know what I found?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That people are the same, no matter the color of there skin, or the size of their body or even if they have fur or not,¡± she looked at me, ¡°they judge, they want what I cannot give.¡± ¡°She wants you to try!¡± I hissed, wrapping my paw around her neck and pulling her close, ¡°she does not wish to hear about your past lovers, she wants you here now, not in the past!¡± ¡°My past is what makes me who I am Rin, they are a part of me.¡± ¡°The past does not make you,¡± I hissed, thinking of the horrifying memories of past lives. ¡°If the past makes people who they are then Rinmua would not be Rinmua, she would be something else, something worse.¡± I looked at her, ¡°she does not wish for you to leave, she simply wants all of you, do you understand?¡± ¡°Yes, Rin, I do understand, but you have to realize that I don''t think I can give you what you want, there is too much baggage with me, I have lived much longer than you, I don''t even know why we started this in the first place, we were both simply going to get hurt in the end, perhaps we should break it off, before we get too deep to survive.¡± ¡°Is that what Sarena always does?¡± I asked, her eyes snapping up to mine. ¡°She wonders if you have ever committed yourself fully, or if you simply get what you need and then leave?¡± ¡°That is unfair, I am not the one that left!¡± she snarled. ¡°She wonders if you did what you are doing now,¡± I said, not flinching at her even as her eyes were angry. ¡°She wonders if you always find something, something that forms a rift and use it to cause resentment, she wonders if you simply keep pushing and pushing until it is the other that walks away?¡± she flinched at that, her face drawing back and away from me. ¡°Leave me alone,¡± she spoke in a sullen hurt voice. ¡°No, as Sarena has so expertly pointed out just moments ago her and Rinmua need to work this out, or it will go good for neither.¡± She didn''t respond, so I decided to take it from the bottom and work our way up, perhaps we could find the issue and fix it that way. ¡°Rinmua loves you,¡± it was the first time I had said it to her. Her eyes widened as she looked over at me. ¡°She loved you and wishes to spend the rest of her life with you,¡± ¡°Rin, that-¡± I didn''t let her continue speaking I cut her off. ¡°She loves you, and wishes to spend the rest of her life with you, but she needs to know that you feel the same way, she needs to know that you will put your heart into the relationship the same as she has, she cannot be expected to do this all on her own.¡± ¡°Rin I-¡± ¡°She knows Sarena has commitment problems, she knows,¡± I cut her off again, ¡°and Rin knows that Rinmua has issues as well, but her father once told her something,¡± I closed my eyes as the memory came back to me. ¡°One likes another because of their strengths, but loves them because of their defects,¡± I whispered. I didn''t open my eyes but I felt Sarena press her forehead against my own. ¡°Rin, kitten,¡± she whispered. ¡°I cannot promise anything,¡± she said, and I felt like someone had run a length of steel through my chest. ¡°Nothing other than that I will try.¡± A relieved sigh escaped from my lungs in a great rush. ¡°That is all she wants, she wants you to try, she will do the same, though she thinks you should not mention your previous lovers so much, as she cannot promise her mood will be good after you do so,¡± Seri chuckled as I said this and kissed me softly on the snout. ¡°What now?¡± she asked. ¡°Rin was hoping you would know...¡± ¡°Hah,¡± she laughed, and then reached up to her ear, pulling off three small gold earrings that lined the bottom side of her elven ears. ¡°Hold still,¡± she whispered as she grabbed my ear gently. I tensed as she pressed the first small needle-like point against my ear. ¡°This might hurt a little bit.¡± quickly she shoved it through my ear¡¯s flesh and out of the other side. Out of instinct I yowled and attempted to pull away, but she locked her arms around my head and held me there, putting another through. ¡°Oh come on its not that bad!¡± she pushed the final one through my ear and put the latch on the other side keeping the earrings there and then allowed me to pull away. I reached up and felt my burning ear and looked at her in confusion and pain. My pawpad came away bloody. ¡°Here, let me heal that,¡± she said, reaching out to me. I flinched away but not far, and she looked a little sad. ¡°Did you know that you proposed to me earlier?¡± her words caused me to freeze as I thought about it, I had, after all, told her that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. ¡°My people have a belief, that belief is that when an object comes in contact with a person¡¯s blood it comes in contact with their soul, and part of the soul lingers on the object, when you ask to spend your life with someone you are asking for a part of them, of their life, and if they accept they are supposed to give you a part of themselves,¡± her fingers caressed my ear softly, as her healing magic closed up the punctures she had put in my ear, soothing the pain and embedding the earrings in my ear permanently. ¡°Part of me is with you now, always.¡± she said, stepping back and admiring her handiwork, ¡°Looks good on you.¡± Slowly I touched them again. ¡°Then you accept Rinmua?¡± I asked hesitantly. ¡°How can I not?¡± she said, putting on a mockingly despairing face. ¡°After all, who else would take me at this age and with so many issues?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said as I moved forward and buried my face in her neck. ¡°Sarena has many many issues...¡± I said, sliding on paw behind her back and drawing her in as the other cupped the back of her head, I tipped my head back and drew hers down towards mine. ¡°She will help you work on them,¡± I said with a purr. ¡°Good luck, my love,¡± she smiled as she descended on me, something told me we were not going to be getting back to Uljits until very late... Chapter 34 Not as intended at all... Chapter 34 Not as intended at all... The Snarling Rotri was exactly as I remembered it, just as seedy and filled with the dregs of this city. In fact, it was a mystery to me that the town guard had not shut this place down, I am sure if they came in here raiding then they would find that literally have the vast majority of the cities criminals in one place¡­ The inside of the bar looked no better than the outside, dark cramped little tables, most marred and stained and pitted, a few even missing a few legs making them lean rather precariously. Seated at these tables was a number of interesting looking men. Not all of them were human, simply the vast majority. And none of them looked to be the reliable sort. Every eye turned toward us as we made our way into the bar proper, some looks weary, others gauging and some made my skin crawl¡­ ¡°You two,¡± the man behind a bar polishing a very dirty glass with an even filthier rag growled at Sarena and I. ¡°I remember you two, you broke my good table,¡± he slammed the nasty glass down on the counter and leaned over the bar at us with a narrowed eyed look. ¡°I don''t want you two here.¡± ¡°Good,¡± responded, leaning in towards him, matching him stare for stare. ¡°Rin does not wish to be here, it would seem that she has something in common with you,¡± we stood there like that staring daggers at each other for almost a full minute before a smile cracked his lips. ¡°Backbone huh?¡± he asked, ¡°fine, you can stay for now, but only because I am letting it, so don''t get any ideas huh? The snarling rotri is my bar, and I will not allow a miscreant in.¡± I raised my eyebrow and pointedly looked around, another smile was on his lips. ¡°These are not miscreants, they are customers, and I treat my customers well, very very well,¡± he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, ¡°So, what will it be?¡± ¡°She will take the strongest you have,¡± I said, slapping a single silver on the countertop, ¡°two of them, and she has no room for change.¡± he looked at the silver and with a movement almost quicker than I could see he swiped the silver off of the counter and it disappeared into one of his apron pockets. Not saying a word he pulled out two immaculately polished glasses and a large green glass bottle that didn''t even have a label, he poured two fingers in each glass and then pulled another bottle, this one also labelless, though it was made of extremely clear glass, covered over in silver runes, the sloshing liquid inside clear as a cold mountain stream. From this, he poured three fingers. The clear liquid sat on top of the green one, not mixing, one clearly more buoyant than the other. He walked over to the stove behind the bar and using a tong he pulled two glass thin glass rods out of the fire, and plunged each into the drinks, grabbing them only long enough to swirl them once, causing the now steaming alcohol to mix ever so slightly, a spiral of green up into clear and one of clear down. He then pushed them both my way and crossed his arms waiting. I looked over at Sarena and slid it to her, Seri caught the drink before it fell off the counter and to the old stained floors covered in straw and woodchips. Taking a deep breath I picked up the steaming drink and downed it in one gulp. The bartender¡¯s eyes opened wide as he watched me, he opened his mouth to say something but then decided better. Everything was fine, for a few brief seconds while I wondered why everyone was staring at me in horror. Quickly however it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach, hard. The fire started there in my core and flared, pushing quickly into every limb leaving behind frayed nerves that started twitching and spasming. My large tale, already bushy enough as it was fully bushed out, causing it to look twice as large as it normally did, and the hair along my spine stood on end as the liquid fire ravaged my body and nerves. My muscles spasmed uncontrollably for a few seconds before I was able to lock them down. ¡°You ok Rin?¡± Sarena asked looking at me over her own glass, from which she had only sipped a small amount.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°RIn is fine,¡± I said, or at least that was what I attempted to say, what came out was more like ¡±whyareyoureyespurple?¡± I shook my head to clear it, because obviously it was not working, thought that was a bad idea, seeing as that set the room spinning. My hand shot out to grab ahold of the bar top, but somehow I seemed to miss it entirely, and I stumbled forward. Before disgracing myself by landing face first on the floor I stuck out my arms and placed my forepaws on the dirty ground. Blinking a few times I looked up, which was a mistake as the room was still spinning and I stumbled sideways slightly before spreading my arms and legs wider to balance myself better. ¡°Rin-¡± a set of warm hands hooked under my arms and began hauling me up, but I knew then and there that was a bad idea, so I used my weight to sit down, wrapping my tail around my legs as I did. For the briefest of moments I was lifted up, but as I twisted Sarena came down with me, causing me to land on my butt, hard and causing Sarena who still had her arms under my armpits to stumble down on top of me, as she did so we both slipped sideways, and somehow I ended up sprawled on top of her. Realizing where I was I started purring and rubbing my face against hers. ¡°Get off me, you bloody cat!¡± my eyes opened and I realized I was not actually laying on top of Seri, but rather clutching onto the leg of a random person. I looked up in confusion before promptly vomiting all over the man¡¯s leg. The man shrieked and jumped away from me, pulling free from my grasp and my head and arms fell into the snow. Wait snow? Opening my eyes again I realized I was not in the Snarling Rotri anymore, but rather out in the snow, and not even the snow outside of the bar. ¡°Get her other side,¡± a voice said, and I rolled over to see Seri leaning over me and picking me up under my arms a bemused expression on her face. ¡°You little kitten are not allowed to drink another sip of alcohol while I yet live,¡± she said, as she and some unnamed other grabbed me by my other side. Hoisted to my feet I tried to regain my sense of direction. ¡°Even if it is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen in my life...¡± Now properly sure it was Sarena and not some random pedestrian¡¯s boot I pulled free of the other person and wrapped both of my arms around Sarena, nuzzling her neck and purring. ¡°Serrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiii~¡± I moaned as I nuzzled my face into her neck. ¡°Rinmua, I am over here,¡± blinking my eyes I looked up at Sari, only to feel confused when instead of her dark-skinned perfection there was instead a stubble studded white skin in my view, confused I pulled back and looked at a rather embarrassed and uncomfortable looking Bartel. Letting my head flop back I looked over at Seri, who was attempting to not laugh at me. ¡°How many drinks did she have?¡± Bartel asked, and I attempted to answer, but all that came out was a rather foul tasting meow mixed with an even worse tasting burp. ¡°She downed an entire shot of devilspire in a single gulp,¡± Sarena said, ¡°Here, help load her onto my back, I¡¯ll carry her, but I''ll still need your help opening doors and such.¡± I was promptly turned around and loaded onto Seri¡¯s back, like a kit being carried by her mother. ¡°Rin loves you,¡± I purred as I nuzzled her in the neck, or rather that was what I tried to say, instead it came out like¡±Rinwuvooooooo~¡± it was odd, my voice really wasn¡¯t doing what I wanted it to. ¡°Really? An entire shot?¡± Bartel asked he sounded like he was in awe, ¡°and she is not dead of alcohol poisoning how?¡± Sarena adjusted my weight, shifting me up higher on her back, I helped her a little by wrapping my tail around her. ¡°I have no idea,¡± Sarena laughed, ¡°Its the first time I have ever seen something like tha-¡± I blinked, where was I? I was no longer on Seri¡¯s back, instead, I felt the soft comfort of a bed under me, and I felt a pair of hands attempting to pull off my clothes. My eyes opened wide and in a panic, I flailed at my attacker, hissing, and kicking. ¡°Nooooo! SHE IS SERI¡±S!¡± I spat, attempting to twist out of my assaulter¡¯s grasp. ¡°Calm down!¡± Seri yelled, slapping away a clawing paw, ¡°it is me!¡± realizing I recognized the amethyst eyes glowing at me in the dark I froze, ¡°Honestly Rin, you almost clawed my face off!¡± she finished stripping me and then fell on top of me, or maybe she crawled on top of me I couldn''t really tell. ¡°You are definitely not allowed to drink ever again,¡± she muttered to herself as she wrapped my legs up with hers, entangling the two of us together, I realized the both of us were naked and attempted to move my paw down between our legs, but she stopped my movements and kissed me on the snout, ¡°No little kitten, your to drunk,¡± she whispered before chuckling to herself, ¡°Go to bed, lets sleep thi-¡± I didn''t get to hear what she had to say, however, seeing as for some reason she just stopped talking all of a sudden, and the lights vanished all around me. ?Chapter 35 Downfall: Part 1 Chapter 35 Downfall: Part 1 I awoke, not the instant awareness of being jolted by a sound or the gentle rising from dosing in and out while lying in a warm shaft of light but a gradual recognition of existence. All I could hear was my own breathing, and the breathing of someone next to me, wherever I was the air was warm and still, though the smell was different, a strange scent, not what I was expecting at all, no warm smell of leather heated by the sun, or the comforting smell of my sister Turu, who always slept pressed up against my side, though whether this was due to sisterly affection or the fact that my tail was a better padding than the furs we used was anyone¡¯s guess. Slowly I opened my eyes and instantly regretted doing so, as a stab of pain like a dagger being driven down into my skull assailed me. I pulled in a hissing breath and closed my eyes, covering them with my forepaws, in an attempt to block out the hateful light that had attacked me so unwarently. ¡°Ah, look who is awake,¡± a voice purred at my ear, and for a brief moment I thought it was my sister Turu teasing me for something I had done, but then my sluggish brain finally kicked into gear and I realized it was Seri. I cracked one eye and peeked at her through the small gaps between my paw and my face, making sure to keep my eyes shaded. The outside world was so painfully bright that it took several moments for my eyes to adjust before I could even see her, lying there next to me, a smile on her deep red lips. ¡°How is the head?¡± she asked. ¡°Rinmua feels like her skull has been used as a bowl by savages,¡± I hissed, thinking of the barbaric people found deeper in the Pontif mountains that took their enemies skulls and made goblets out of them. ¡°Well that is to be expected, seeing as you downed an entire shot of Devilspire,¡± she snorted, ¡°Do you know that the number of people who can claim they have done that and not gone blind can be counted on one hand?¡± ¡°If she was not supposed to drink so much then why was she given so much?¡± I hissed, fully closing the gap and once again plunging my poor, poor eyes back into blissful darkness. ¡°Its a drink designed to be shared, amongst friends or people who at least wish to form a truce, you were supposed to take a sip, and then pass it to the barkeep so that he could do the same, and then the rest is disposed of, seeing as anymore and, well then people get like you did.¡± ¡°And what did Rinmua get like?¡± I asked, dreading the answer already. ¡°Well, let us just say you get more affectionate after imbibing, and you lose the ability to tell one person from another, you seemed to think everyone you bumped into was me,¡± she laughed. ¡°Which means I am going to have to keep an eye on you, we wouldn''t want you to get up to something bad while over-imbibing.¡± ¡°Rinmua is never touching alcohol again...¡± ¡°That is what we all say,¡± she laughed, before snuggling closer to me. Even past the biting headache and the stabbing pain of the light assaulting my eyes I smile as she does, feeling safe and comforted even if not comfortable. ¡°Well, while you were bunting against anything that had a pulse and even a few that didn''t we were able to form a plan to take down the Brandmounts,¡± that got my attention. ¡°One of the things you and Bartel grabbed was a ledger, honestly I think that was more of what she wanted back, never mind the silver of which she has more than enough.¡± ¡°That she definitely does, there were stacks of chests, and Rin and Bartel only opened one or two, but if they have silver or even gold in them then the Brandmount¡¯s have more silver than she can even comprehend.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Most nobles do kitten, and that likely isn''t even half, seeing as it is highly unlikely for them to simply put all of their eggs in one basket so to speak,¡± she scouted over some more and rested her head on my shoulder, my paw came up and began combing through her hair, making sure the claws were out only long enough to comb and not to cut her in any way. ¡°Anyway, after a cursory glance it is pretty clear that they have been skimming on taxes, not paying the amount they should to the local lord, which in itself is not uncommon, and if it comes to the attention of the lord there will be some fines, some fees, but like you saw they have more than enough to weather that no problem, and the lord wont want to get rid of them seeing as even if they don''t pay fully they still pay, and some money is better than none, especially since they likely have a good amount of influence as well as connections throughout the area, so we need something more, something that forces the Lord''s hand to make an example of them.¡± ¡°Rin wonders what you three have planned?¡± ¡°Well, besides the fact that it is the four of us and not the three of us,¡± she slid her hand over the flat of my stomach and curled her fingers around my side.¡±A lord needs to listen to some of his people¡¯s requests, or he will not remain a lord for long,¡± I could hear the smile in her voice, ¡°there have of course been rummers around the city that those that go to work for the Brandmounts as adventures either never come back or if they do then they are found doing tasks for the Brandmounts that no self-respecting adventurer would ever do.¡± ¡°Of course, Rin did not expect everyone to keep their mouth shut, even with the threats.¡± ¡°Right, well the thing about adventures is that they are typically outcasts in a city, not quite a part of it, so they tend to look out for each other, after all, we are all part of the same order, the same brotherhood if you will, one big family...¡± ¡°She sees where this is going,¡± I said, and I did, if there was a sufficiently large amount of people that demanded justice be brought to the Brandmounts then the lord would have to act or risk riots from the displeased crowds. ¡°So the plan is to put pressure on the local lord to do what to the Brandmounts?¡± ¡°That''s the thing, if an execution is called for then they will likely not get it as the lord can claim it was to harsh, if however, we leave it at demanding justice then the lord has to decide, which puts him in the awkward position of having to decide a punishment, no doubt he will realize that if he does not punish them sufficiently then he will have a large group of angry men and women, most of whom are armed quite well, it is to be expected that the local citizens would also get in on this, seeing as peasants are drawn by things like this, it is a break in an otherwise normal routine, and many of them harbor resentment to nobility, so this will be too tempting to pass up for them.¡± she placed her leg on top of one of my own and slid it between my legs, resting her thigh on top of my upper thighs tangling our legs together. ¡°The blackband will also have agitators in the crowd, apparently this is not the first riot they have started and moderated, meaning they will know what they need to say and do to get the crowds worked up.¡± ¡°Rin wonders what to do if this does not work,¡± I said, finally opening my eyes and seeing Seri look back at me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry kitten, it will work, and if it doesn''t then we will attempt to take them down a different way, but if you ask me this is a pretty full proof plan.¡± ¡°Well then, Rinmua thinks it is time to set it in motion.¡± ¡°It already is,¡± it was then that I could make out the faint sound of a large number of people shouting something, I had simply been ignoring the sound as it hurt to so much as think right this second, but if I focused then I could make out a word or two, from the sound there were quite the number of people out there voicing their displeasure, I tried not to think about how many of them had known people who had vanished, gone to that keep never to return, or had practically been turned into slaves for the Brandmounts, after they had spent the silver they had been loaned. If the sound was anything to judge by then the number was quite substantial. ¡°Rin thinks it would be wise to stay inside, they sound angry,¡± an angry crowd was the last thing we needed to get mixed up in, and to be honest, if they were this loud that I could hear them in here then I really didn''t want to be out there, my ears were more sensitive than a human¡¯s naturally, and right now my head might explode if I went out there and hit that wall of sound. ¡°A wise choice,¡± Seri laughed, ¡°A very wise choice,¡± and with that, she snuggled closer to me and closed her eyes, ¡°Let''s just stay like this today, and see what happens huh?¡± I purred my approval of that idea before rubbing the side of my face against her forehead and settling back into the bed in a more comfortable position... Chapter 36 Downfall: Part 2 Chapter 36 Downfall: Part 2 As it turned out Seri was correct about well everything, the entire city began to implode, the groups of people baying for blood seemed to increase by the minute, and the bigger the crowd the greater the chance of violence. It had started small, first as a few dozen adventures with angry hearts and as they had drawn attention the blackband had fed the fire, spreading rumors and partial lies. After that the garrison was sent out, town guards were set to make sure the crowds didn''t get out of hand. But even that fed into the blackband¡¯s plans, seeing as they told the agitators in the crowd worked up the crowds, telling them that the nobility would soon start imprisoning them to save their own backside. Industry practically shut down in a matter of hours, bakers stopped baking, butchers took to the streets, soon the agitators were not even needed as the crowd had reached a critical mass at that point in time. And that had been three days ago... I turned over in bed, pulling myself out of Seri¡¯s arms, feeling her warmth leave me and sighed. I looked over at Sarena and envied her those elven ears, which were more sensitive than a human''s but nowhere near my own, meaning she didn''t have to put up with the sound of people chanting all the time, 24 hours a day. Everything had ended up closed down, the smiths, the banks, and most certainly the guild hall, despite the threats the guild master had promised to dole out for indecent behavior. Which of course didn''t go down so well as it served to prove that he was in league with the Brandmounts, just like the rumors had said... ¡°She doesn''t know how much longer this can go...¡± I sighed and looked down at my naked body. Sarena liked laying under light covers, even when she was snuggled up close to me, something That was never comfortable for me, it was much better to sleep on top of the covers, it felt more natural for me. I needed a bath, a proper bath, not those tubs of water that Sarena attempted to wrestle me into occasionally, but a real proper Khatan bath. Sadly I didn''t have anyone to share tongues with, no Turu to help me. ¡°Oh well,¡± I sighed and began to lick myself clean. ¡°Oh well, what?¡± Seri asked cracking open an eye, which upon looking at me widened to an incredible degree. ¡°What?¡° I asked, my leg still up in the air and my back bent to allow me to lick my inner thigh. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked in a slightly strangled voice. ¡°She is grooming her fur, sadly there is no one here to help her so she must do it alone.¡± I sad and went back to licking making sure to get every spot. ¡°Wait, wait, wait,¡± Seri hissed, ¡°you let others lick you?¡± she didn''t seem too pleased about that. ¡°Well yes,¡± I answered honestly, ¡°her clan always shares tongues, it allows bonds to grow which makes the community stronger and-¡± ¡°You let other people lick you?¡± she repeated her question, so I decided to elaborate, thinking my answer was not sufficient enough perhaps. ¡°Even in those places?¡± she pointed between my legs and around my chest, and it took me a moment but I finally understood why she was upset.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Only her mother and sister, and never like that,¡± I said, ¡°in Khatan society it is not proper to share tongues like-¡± I paused and searched. ¡°As Seri and she do, people do not do that, not in that way...¡± she let out a sigh of relief when I said that, ¡°Why, would Seri be opposed to me sharing tongues with another?¡± I asked, creeping over to her, a purr in my throat. ¡°Don''t you dare,¡± she said narrowing her eyes on me, as I gently pulled aside the covers and put my face down beside her bare midriff, my whiskers causing her abdominal muscles to twitch as they were tickled, I flicked my eyes upward as I put my tongue out, and rasped it up her stomach. She as attempting to keep a stern face but was failing as my whiskers did what they always did to her. I licked her again, making sure to not press too hard, seeing as my tongue was rough and I didn''t want her to feel too uncomfortable. I blew out a breath of warmth from my mouth, watching as her muscles rippled again, and she fought back a wave of laughter, her stern expression melting as I once again ran my tongue over her stomach, this time slightly lower. ¡°Rin~¡± she giggled and I opened my mouth to answer when the door to our room opened of its own accord and in walked Aldria. ¡°Its happene~¡± she broke off what she was saying as she looked at the two of us, both frozen looking her way, my mouth still open with my tongue pressed against her lower abdomen, frozen in the act of licking her. Aldria¡¯s cheeks turned red and she quickly turned on her heels and left the room standing in the doorway for a second not looking at us. ¡°For the love of the gods,¡± Seri sighed, pulling the covers over her naked form and then glancing at me and throwing them over me as well. ¡°What sort of curse has been placed on me, I swear I am not an exhibitionist, why do people keep walking in and seeing me in compromised positions...¡± she hissed under her breath, I wriggled back up, lying next to her so that I could also see out from under the blanket. ¡°Aldria, come back in please,¡± she called out, sounding exasperated. Aldria glanced back still red as a blood moon and when she saw we were covered she came back in, but she definitely looked everywhere but at us. ¡°Now then, what is it?¡± Seri asked, ¡°What has happened?¡± ¡°Ermmmm,¡± she said, still not meeting our eyes. ¡°Well spit it out already, after all, you did barge in here and-¡± ¡°This is my house,¡± Aldria crossed her arms, ¡°I am not used to having two guests that seem to rutt like they are in heat at every possible moment?¡± She snapped. ¡°We do not rutt,¡± Seri growled. ¡°Yes, yes, whatever, I came to tell you it has happened, the lord is caving, he has had the Lord and Lady Brandmount detained, and he said he will be charging them for their crimes so long as the mobs promise to not riot and everyone gets back to work,¡± she paused, ¡°well the proclamation didn''t actually say it like that, seeing as that would mean he has bent to commoner¡¯s will, but that is essentially what will happen...¡± she looked at the two of us, ¡°that and the two of you have been summoned to the Ducal castle,¡± she said, looking at the two of us for the first time this morning, her cheeks were still flushed but the color was fading as she regarded us. ¡°You two be careful, you can''t refuse this summons, and I doubt the Duke likes you too much, after all, it is likely easy to put this on you two, seeing as you have been rather recently entangled with local politics...¡± ¡°I see,¡± she sighed, ¡°Right, Rin, let''s get dressed and make sure we look our best, also, pack up your things, we might need to leave rather quickly, and I would rather not be caught unprepared...¡± ¡°Good luck,¡± Aldria said with a somewhat forced smile, before turning on her heels and leaving. ¡°You''re going to need it.¡± I looked over at Seri, who sighed and nodded, before throwing off the covers and getting out of bed. ¡°Come on kitten, we have a Duke to meet, we better look our best,¡± and I groaned, knowing what that meant, as she walked over to a copper tub big enough to sit in. That was my kind of bath... Chapter 37 Every end is another beginning/Epilogue Chapter 37 Every end is another beginning... The ducal castle was a large and imposing structure, and unlike the city of Uljis that seemed to spill out around the raised structure like a set of kids building blocks dumped haphazardly. It was visible from any part of the city, which if my fragmented memories were anything to go by then might have either been a defensive thing, or a pride thing, or perhaps it was both. I looked up at it and shouldered my pack higher. It had been quite a while since I had worn more than the red underclothes, and so the Bronze armor that I had now donned felt like I was carrying a small Juji on my back, which was odd, seeing as Seri most definitely weighed more than my armor, but I never felt like she was weighing me down. I turned to tell her this but bit back my words, after all, saying the woman you loved weighed more than a full suit of armor, or even speaking about weighed seemed to be a very very bad subject to speak of. She was clasping forearms with Aldria, the two of them giving each other a friendly smile in farewell. Aldria smiled at me and let go of Seri, holding out her hand to clasp forearms with me, but I was having none of it, pushing forward I gave her a hug, making sure to rub my face up under her throat and purr extra loud for her. It was typically something only did for family, and in my book, Seri was family already. But just this once I was going to bunt on a friend, a really good friend. Pulling back I held her at arm''s length and looked her up and down. ¡°She hopes you achieve your goals,¡± I purred. ¡°Goals?¡± she asked confused, so I elaborated for her. ¡°The goals of mating with a demihuman, of course, like in that boo-¡± her hand clapped over my snout, and she turned a rather bright shade of reddish pink. Serina laughed for all she was worth as I struggled to get out of her grasp. She stood there looking at us and gave us a small melancholy smile. ¡°Are you two sure you have to go?¡± she asked looking rather sad. ¡°Yeah, it is past time we move on,¡± Seri nodded, ¡°after we see the Duke I doubt we will want to stay, you know us, adventurers, we have stayed here much too long,¡± she smiled at Aldria, a composed look on her face, one that I found I respected immensely, seeing as it didn''t show any of her feelings that had to no doubt be bouncing around inside her head. She was after all a proper adventurer, meaning she had taught herself to let go when she needed to move on, it hadn''t made her colder, or even more detached, it just seemed like she had a good deal of strength. ¡°Seri and Rin will come to visit when they pass back this way, for sure,¡± I purred, feeling my heart drop at the sad look in Aldria¡¯s eyes. ¡°Besides, you can write to them, simply give it to the guild hall and it should be sent their way no?¡± ¡°That sounds like a plan,¡± she smiled, ¡°well, I guess this is goodbye for now,¡± she sniffled slightly. ¡°No,¡± Seri said, ¡°You should never say goodbye, goodbye is the end, instead you should say until we meet again,¡± she clapped Aldria on the shoulder, ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she nodded and used the edge of her sleeve to wipe away the small amount of tears that had collected in the corners of her eyes. ¡°Until we meet again then,¡± she nodded. ¡°Until that joyous day,¡± Seri smiled and then let go of Aldria¡¯s shoulder, turning towards me she hiked the bag up on her shoulder, ¡°Let''s go kitten, we have a duke to meet,¡± she glanced up at the ducal castle and I followed her gaze. ¡°Royalty does not wish to be kept waiting,¡± she said with a grimace. ¡°Rinmua wonders if they should stop at the Snarling Rotri, say goodbye to everyone?¡± ¡°Nah, why would I do that?¡± she laughed as she set off down the road. ¡°Not even Bartel?¡± she paused for half a step, but then kept going and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll send him a letter,¡± she shrugged. ¡°Speaking of which do you have any letters to send before we go? It might take some time for us to find another city in which to settle for a time.¡± ¡°She does, and she wishes to see if she has gotten a letter from Turu,¡± I nodded. ¡°That''s fine, we will check the guild post after we stop by the duke¡¯s, after all, we already have to go to the hall to let them know we will be moving on.¡± ¡°She thinks this sounds like a plan,¡± I responded and padded along to keep up with her. As we walked I looked around the city, just yesterday it had been almost at a boiling point, so close to spilling over that the violence and rioting could have destroyed many many things, but now it would seem as though everything was back to normal. People walked the streets openly, talking and conversing over the sound of merchants hawking their wares. ¡°She wonders what will happen to the Brandmounts?¡± I asked as I walked with Sarena. ¡°Most likely they will be stripped of title and land, and it is likely their assets and silver will be seized by the Lord, and he will then send them to work in the mines until their debt is paid,¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°It is a hard life, one full of toil and suffering, and it is highly likely that they will not last past the end of the year.¡± For some reason, the thought of Lady Brandmount toiling in the mines only brought a small amount of pleasure to me. ¡°Doesn''t feel good does it?¡± she asked with a smile, ¡°that is because you are too kind of a person,¡± she scratched me behind my left ear, causing me to purr and lean into her hand. ¡°Hold onto that, ok kitten?¡± ¡°She will try,¡± I nodded. It took us almost twenty minutes to make it up to the castle gates, once there we were stripped of weapons and packs, told to leave them at the door, and were shown into a rather well-made room by a well-dressed steward, who then bowed out of the room and shut the door behind him. Redwood and oak gleamed beneath a lacquer, reflecting the entire room in a hazy red that seemed to catch the light, lovingly stroke it and then allow it to go back where it could be perceived by mortal eyes. The walls were covered in an intricate design, like that of a gold grape plant as the climbing vines covered the walls, leaving behind the tendrils of there outstretched vines, curling at the ends where it had found some purchase in the white paint that was its backdrop. The furniture was likewise just as opulent, an unassuming grey, covered in the intricate dance of birds during mating season, stitched, by hand of course, in a silver thread of the highest quality. But that was not what caught my eyes the most, instead the thing that did that was the man sitting behind the desk in the center of the room. He didn''t look up at us, rather he busied himself studying books and papers spread out over his desk like we''re not there.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Did you know that the Brandmounts were related to my line?¡± he asked, shuffling another paper and reading it, his finger drawing across the words as he made a tally on a separate paper and then placed the one he was reading in a small pile that was growing rather quickly it would seem. ¡°By marriage of course, and just into the branch family, but still, I knew Grethon Brandmount personally for many many years, and it was even I who offered him the position of Lord of coin here in my lands,¡± Neither of us answered as he picked up another paper. ¡°Imagine my surprise to receive this,¡± he without looking tossed a book at us, I reflexively caught it out of the air and looked at it. It was the book that Bartel had stolen from the vault¡­ ¡°Neverminding the rather disturbing way this book simply showed up on my bed during the night without any of my servants knowing how it was placed within my chamber without their knowledge,¡± he looked up at us then, pinning us with his grey eyes, ¡°You two wouldn''t know anything about this would you?¡° he asked, but neither Seri nor I said anything, choosing silence as our answer. ¡°I see,¡± he sighed, and pushed away a paper before sitting back in his rather plush chair. He hadn''t asked us to sit down, so we remained standing as he scrutinized us. ¡°Here is the deal, on one hand, I am glad I now know I was being robbed blind, after all, it is best to patch a broken fortification, but on the other, it pains me to have to treat family in such a way, and the two of you have¡­ Helped enough,¡± he emphasized the word rather thickly, making sure we focused on it. ¡°And in the spirit of that, I will not be arresting you for whatever crimes you have no doubt committed, however in the interest of keeping my city functioning I do not want you here, ever again.¡± He leaned forward, ¡°Are we clear?¡± he growled, ¡°This will be your only warning, if you are seen in my territory then you will be detained and tried and found guilty to whatever I deem fit.¡± he looked at us, ¡°Now get out of my sight, and pray we don''t cross paths again.¡± Sarena bowed low and I followed suit before we walked out of the study. ¡°Well,¡± she said, a small smile on her lips, ¡°That went a lot smoother than I had thought it would,¡± I let out a breath I hadn''t known I had been holding in, and plodded along behind her, weary all of a sudden after that¡­ *** ¡°No, I am sorry there is no mail for you,¡± the clerk smiled at me, and I sighed, before handing over a small letter. ¡°Can she send this please?¡± I asked, and he took it and my bronze coins and dropped it into a basket of mail to be sorted. ¡°Well Sarena, she is ready to go,¡± I said, turning back towards her, she opened her mouth to say something but the guild mail clerk behind me interrupted. ¡°Sarena?¡± he asked, and pulled out the list of names that had mail and started scanning through it, ¡°I do believe I remember a letter addressed to that name, give me just a second...¡± he kept scanning and I looked over at Seri, who had to my knowledge never gotten mail the entire time I had known her. ¡°Ah, yes, d63a, let me go fetch the letter, be right back,¡± he quickly scampered off and Seri caught sight of my look and simply shrugged. ¡°Here we are,¡± he said, handing over a rather thick looking letter. She took it, and the color of her skin seemed to drain slightly as her fingers brushed over the wax seal on it. Carefully she broke the seal and removed the thick sheet of parchment, I glanced over her shoulder but soon realized I couldn''t read the elegantly scrawled words, seeing as they were not in a language that I knew. ¡°She wonders what it is?¡± I asked, and she looked over at me, biting her lip. ¡°Ho-how do you feel about traveling to my home?¡± she asked, a worried look on her face as she stumbled through the question. ¡°Where Sarena goes Rinmua goes,¡± I said, reaching up and touching the earing in my ear with my pawpad. ¡°Remember?¡± some of the worry leaked from her expression, but not all of it. ¡°Good, good,¡± she smiled as she absently scratched me on top of my head, tousling my hair as she turned back to her letter. ¡°Because we need to hurry...¡± Epilogue She sighed as she settled back against her throne, this one made of both light and shadow, both physical and atherial, much like herself after all, should not a goddess have a suitable throne? She smiled at the thought, he had once argued against that, telling her that such thoughts were vain. Ahalfar, the only champion she had ever had that had spoken to her, not in reverent tones but rather as though the two of them were equals. He had not been her equal of course, but she had tolerated it, seeing as he had been her most effective champion, and had been one of her favorite pets. She materialized a cup in her hand, and swirled the golden liquid around, looking into it with a smile, and seeing the figure of two people making their way down a path. ¡°There you are Ahalfar,¡± she whispered with a smile, ¡°its been too long, too long by far has it not?¡± ¡°What is your wish mistress?¡± she looked up from the cup and down at her champion, he was one of the bowing and scraping types, content with simply doing everything she ordered. It was irksome¡­ She didn''t answer, she simply looked down at the cup again and dipped a finger in the golden liquid stirring it delicately, thinking. ¡°You thought you could lose me so easily Ahalfar?¡± she whispered, her lips curling into a mocking smile, ¡°It was a good try, a very very good effort, ripping apart your soul and tearing out any and every part of me that I had imprinted there? Smart, so very like you,¡± she hissed the last words, the lights around her darkening. ¡°Who am I?¡± She asked the new champion, looking over at him, new was a relative term, seeing as he had been serving her for the past hundred or so years, right after she had started to punish Ahalfar. ¡°You are the Goddess of life and death the-¡± ¡°That is enough,¡± she held up her hand and silenced him, ¡°Indeed, goddess of life and death, and Ahalfar thought he could trick me by dying and being reborn?¡± the part that truly irked her was the fact that it had worked, for the past 16 years she had no idea where he had been, in which realm, in which body, and only by chance had she found him. ¡°If only I could reach out and pluck him-¡± but she could not, gods and goddesses were not allowed to affect the mortal realm directly, had they been she would not have needed to have a champion, to begin with. ¡°I cannot leave his crimes unpunished,¡± part of her wondered if he had not already paid enough, but no, she remembered the look he had given her when her mask had fallen¡­ Disgust and loathing¡­ For a goddess none the less, such things could not be forgiven, not now nor ever¡­ ¡°I am sending you,¡± she said looking up once again, at the groveling man at her feet. ¡°You are to capture the soul, and make sure there is plenty of pain before the flesh¡¯s death,¡± she said, glancing at the woman walking next to Ahalfar. ¡°As much as possible,¡± she hissed. ¡°As you command my goddess,¡± the man stood and bowed before her, she smiled to herself and waved a hand at him, causing him to vanish in a flash of light. ¡°Well this will be interesting to watch,¡± she said as she draped her legs over the arm of her throne. ¡°I am not done with you Ahalfar,¡± she whispered, ¡°Not by a long shot...¡± End of book 1 End of book 1/AMA Well, here we are, honestly, this was supposed to be a one-off novel, you know, a one and done, a standalone, but I found that I fell in love with the characters so much that I felt the need to stretch it out, to make the first arch that I had planned into a whole novel, and here we are, with at least two more books planned... I would like to say thank you all for reading and supporting my work, I love this community, and I can''t believe I have just finished my second book! This was an amazing experience, and honestly, I got more people to read this than I thought I would, especially seeing as the main lead was not even a human but rather pretty damned anthro, which as we all know is a scorned thing here on the internet. I had hoped to craft a character that people liked despite that, however, and with Rinmua I feel like I have succeeded in that regard.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Once again, thank you, everyone, for reading this, and if you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to post them in the comments below, I will attempt to answer them all if I can. Thanks again.