In the name of Charos’ giant hairy balls, Kerr could not figure how they’d not gotten caught during their midnight sex-capades. Sure, she’d been good about keeping her noise level under control, but she was experienced in that sort of thing. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d engaged in some stealth fucking with a fellow mercenary while in a group camp situation over the years. Doing it that often meant you had to learn to keep it quiet or get used to having a bunch of mercenaries ribbing you about your vocals the next morning. Kerr would know, she’d often been the one doing the teasing when less experienced mercs failed to keep their nighttime fun activities under wraps. That being said, she had been confident that at least one of her bedfellows in Fortune’s Favored would have done something to wake up the camp.
Well, she supposed someone had in fact woken up. The tight ass Captain Willa had been roused from her sleep and she’d even investigated their tent. Which was why it was even more impressive that they hadn’t gotten caught. Jadis had literally had a conversation with the woman while Thea had been hanging off of her dick like some kind of obscene puppet on a stick. Absolutely insane that she’d managed to keep up an act of nonchalance while getting her cock squeezed like that. For being such a blunt instrument of war, Jadis could be shockingly good at keeping a secret.
Not that Kerr cared all that much about Jadis’ tendency to keep secrets. Everyone had some and she’d never been one to bother with trying to search them out. What she was bothered with was a need to see if Jadis could do that cock-sleeve trick again. Preferably with her impaled on her fat stick, rather than Thea.
Actually, how fun would it be if she was the one with her head poking out to talk with some unknowing soldier while Jadis took her from behind, just out of sight? She’d definitely have to arrange that.
That plan would have to wait for later, though. Once they’d concluded their little quiet-time orgy and everyone’s rituals had been refreshed, Jadis had insisted that everyone get some actual sleep. When Jay and Bridget had come back inside the tent, she’d just gone straight to bed while Dys and Syd had gone out to stand guard for the third watch. Honestly, Kerr could have gone another round, and she could tell that Jay was liable to bust a seam in her pants with how tense she was. But no, Jadis was being a responsible leader.
Ugh.
Really though, Kerr couldn’t find fault in Jadis for being sensible. They were in a dangerous situation, travelling through unsafe, demon infested lands. Sure, everything they’d seen so far had been the kind of weak fodder that didn’t pose much of a threat to any of them anymore, except for the non-combatants like Eir and Sabina, but still. Possessed magic beasts, large numbers of lesser demons, greater demons, and even demon matriarchs were all still well within the realm of possible encounters so far from Far Felsen. Especially considering Jadis’ track record. In fact, if they didn’t run into some kind of crazy strong and deadly demon while they were on this expedition, Kerr would give up alcohol for a month.
Well, maybe a week.
In any case, there just wasn’t a chance they’d go through this trip without incident. Though so far, as evidenced by the lack of response from Willa and the rest of the soldiers Vraekae had saddled them with, things were going smoothly.
In the morning they had broken camp quickly and efficiently, with all the speed of a military company. Mostly. Taking apart the wagon after it had been set up was still new to them, so there had been some small stumbles. As impressive as the rolling fortress was, it was wholly impractical for anyone who didn’t have a couple of Nephilim around the reach the high places. Or a big fucking ladder.
Once they were all packed and back on the road, Kerr settled herself into her usual routine for travel in caravans: scout and report.
The last couple of days she’d been taking it easy. Lounging on the roof of the wagon, chatting with that spunky orc, taking easy shots at demons as they rode along; she’d not been putting in much effort. But there hadn’t been much need to. As bad as the demonic activity had been before, things had grown more stable around the region. The chances of running into something that would challenge a group of their size and raw power just wasn’t likely to happen anymore, not in areas that the other mercenary companies were regularly patrolling at least. Now that they were in the true depths of the overrun forests, though, it was time for her to take things seriously.
She was a professional, after all.
The speed that Jadis kept the wagons moving at was faster than typical caravans, but not that much faster. The massive wagon with its giant wheels and armored pullers was also far fucking louder than any five wagons put together, so it was easy for Kerr to keep track of its progress as she ranged out around and ahead of them. At first Jadis hadn’t wanted her to leave sight of the group, but Kerr had knocked it into her thick heads that she knew what she was doing. If scouts stayed that close to the caravan, there wouldn’t be much point to them, would there?
Willa had assigned her own scouts, of course, but those were a different sort from her. Two soldiers on horseback riding ahead of the wagons to make sure the trail was safe and free of ambushes was… fine. Acceptable, she supposed. Horses, however, couldn’t move as quickly and quietly through the underbrush of the forest as Kerr could.
Stalking through the dimly lit brush of the woods surrounding the road was where the real work was done, so far as Kerr was concerned. Those advance soldiers might spot the signs of demons or other threats that marked the road ahead of them, but they had no chance of seeing the smaller details the way Kerr could with her feet on the ground and her nose to the trail.
For example, the tracks she found in the bank of a stream half a mile away from the road told her that golden bears were still active in the forest, and the pile of shit she’d found near those tracks told her that they weren’t eating as much as they’d probably like to, despite being so late in the year. Hungry packs of golden bears actively stalking the woods when they should be finding caves to hibernate in meant it had been a lean year, probably because the prey animals they relied on had been killed off by demons. So not only would they need to be on the lookout for demons, but also half-starved bears looking for a meal.
There were other interesting tracks to be found out in the forest, too. Bizarrely asymmetrical patterns meant bone thieves. Oddly distanced familiar tracks meant twisted wretches. The weird scraping ones meant briar fiends. Nothing unexpected, except that they were all generally heading west. The inner machinations of what motivated slimy fucks like demons were beyond Kerr’s ken, but it was still interesting to note what they were possibly doing.
So, for most of the day Kerr ranged out around the wagon, occasionally returning to report what she’d found to Jadis and Aila. Jadis might know what to do with the info, but the brainy mage definitely did. Not that there was much to do at the moment, but forewarned was forearmed and all that crap.
It was later in the day, when the sun was getting low enough in the sky that the wagon had to be thinking of finding a place to stop for the night that Kerr came across tracks she hadn’t expected at all.
People.
“Well that’s something different,” Kerr murmured to herself as she ran her fingertips across the imprints in the mud.
Boots. Five pairs, based on the different sizes. They didn’t look military issue, either, with a variety of different sole patterns. At least one person was wearing a pair of mismatched boots, by the looks of it. The tracks weren’t fresh, but they weren’t old, either. A day at most with how they’d held their shape.
Looking around, Kerr checked the sightlines from her position. She was on a hill, maybe an arrow’s flight away from the road, probably half a mile ahead of the wagons. There was a gap in the trees that gave her a perfect view of the road, too. Good brush cover, lots of large trees directly behind to break the horizon up. And, judging by the stench coming from the bush further down the hill, the group had hung around the spot long enough for more than one of them to need a piss break.
Bandits?
No, Kerr shook her head, rejecting that thought. Bandits weren’t likely to survive out in these forests, not unless they were particularly high level and high in numbers. Besides, what profit would there be in banditry along a road that had nothing more than demons prowling it for the past couple of years? Not much of one, that was for sure.
Kerr made one more pass over the hilltop, checking for any more clues as to who had been there and why. There wasn’t much else to see, though. The tracks had headed off to the north, staying off the road but doing a passable job of covering their traces. Not hard for her to follow, but not easy, either. The fact that they were bothering to cover their tracks, though…
A low, rumbling hiss forced Kerr to freeze in place. Not in a figurative sense. Literally. Where before there was none, a layer of frost formed across the ground, spreading with supernatural speed as it raced up the sides of her boots and leg armor. A terrible chill unrelated to the intense cold that had abruptly swept over her filled Kerr’s chest. The hair on her tail stood on end, puffing out in unconscious reaction to the danger she knew she was in.
Slowly, carefully, making sure not to move her feet in the slightest, Kerr lowered herself from her half crouch to a full one, praying to any god that cared to listen that she hadn’t yet been spotted. She was surrounded on three sides by pine saplings choked with thistle vines, so she had a decent chance of remaining hidden if she just kept silent.
Another low hiss issued from somewhere to her left, the creature’s throaty noises popping like the surface of a frozen river. Cautiously, Kerr turned her head, catching sight of a shape moving in the corner of her left eye. There it was, stalking low and slow through the underbrush, keeping its nose to the same trail Kerr had been following.
A fucking frost drake.
Seven feet tall at the shoulder. At least thirty feet long counting the tail. Pale blue scales edged with white like snow. Four sets of eyes on its blocky head, one set on top of the other, each eye black as obsidian. Its form was wire thin, sharp as icicles and lean with armored muscle. A row of holes ran down either side of its back, from which a constant stream of frozen mist poured like steam from a kettle, except this steam flowed down, covering the forest floor and freezing everything it touched.
The beast was a prime example of why everyone in their right mind stayed far as fuck away from Kalters Wall. But they weren’t in Kalters Wall. They were still in Far as Fuck territory, and thus shouldn’t be dealing with shit like frost drakes.
What in Valtar’s ugly tits was the drake doing here?
A fucking pointless question. Regardless of the reason, the drake was still standing right there, thirty feet from her and only getting closer. She needed to deal with it.
Running wasn’t an option. The frost the drake was putting down around it was a spell meant to slow down prey. No way Kerr could overcome that ice. For the same reason she couldn’t sneak away, either, since the frost would crackle and give away her position. She could wait and hope it didn’t sense her, but she didn’t have any skills that masked her scent. The scaly piece of scheisse would sniff her out given time. That only left one option.
As though her life depended on it, Kerr twisted her torso, pointing her longbow so that it was aimed to her left. She had to angle it slightly, since she was crouched and the damn thing was far too large to be properly stealthy with, but she managed to find a position that was workable. She already had an arrow nocked, so that much was in her favor. As slowly as she could manage, Kerr pulled the bowstring back, aiming her arrow at the drake as it stalked towards her. The position was so damn awkward she couldn’t get a full draw. She had to shift slightly or she wouldn’t be able to give the arrow the power it needed to pierce the drake’s scales.
Arching her back just a little, Kerr tilted herself just enough to get a few more inches of draw on the bow. As she did so, the bottom edge of the bow scraped against a few iced-over leaves, causing them to crack, the sound as loud as thunder in the frozen air.
Kerr released the arrow in the same moment as the drake’s head whipped up and in her direction. A draconian shriek echoed in the forest as her arrow sank deep into the meat of its chest. Half a second later, the frost drake’s icy breath roared out across the ground. Giant ice spikes as long as daggers pierced upwards, shredding the brush and saplings as easily as they would flesh and bone.
But Kerr’s flesh and bone wasn’t there to be pierced.
In the same moment as her fingers had let the arrow loose, Kerr had rolled forward, using her enhanced strength to hurtle herself a couple of body lengths away before the ice magic could get to her. Pulling an arrow from her quiver as she rolled to her feet, Kerr nocked it to her bow and fired another shot as the drake’s hateful jaws opened again in her direction. As the rime flowed forth, Kerr shot her arrow into its wide-open mouth.
Deadly ice brushed against Kerr’s left side as she spun away from the monster’s attack, her light armor doing little to stop the magical damage from getting to her. But she wasn’t dead yet. Putting a tree between her and the drake, Kerr gritted her teeth and pulled another arrow, her left arm numb and unable to feel the bow in her hand. With a shout, she spun out from the other side and released her third arrow at the attacking beast.
The arrow thunked into the unmoving side of the frost drake, provoking no reaction. Kerr drew another, nocking it to her bowstring and pulling it back before her brain caught up with what she was seeing. The drake wasn’t moving. It lay on its stomach, legs splayed out. Three arrows stuck out from it, one in its flank, another in its chest, and a third one with the arrowhead sticking a foot outside the back of the drake’s head.
“Fuck me,” Kerr gasped, letting her bow relax from full draw. “Fuck me, did I kill a frost drake in two shots?”
There was, of course, no answer but the corpse in front of her.
“Holy shit, I’m awesome!” Kerr shouted to the skies in her shaky voice, never happier than in that moment to have a fuck buddy who could give her huge stat boosts. “Wait until I show this frozen turd to Jadis!”
Before she could even begin to contemplate her next steps, Kerr’s ears twitched as she heard a sound reminiscent of the shout she’d just let out. Except, the shout she now heard was coming from multiple voices, both male and female. And they were coming from the direction she knew the wagon should be in.
Looking down at the dead drake, Kerr let out a curse and gave the monster a swift kick before bursting into a sprint.
“Motherfucker. Why do so many things in this shitty forest have to hunt in gods be damned packs?”
355