Apologies were awkward. Triply so when there were three of you to do the apologizing. Still, Jadis dutifully sought out captain Willa, Lutz, and the rest of the soldiers to offer her apologies for her outburst the day before. Even the ones who hadn’t been directly involved, Jadis made sure to talk to. She didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings, not with how poorly she’d acted.
Most waved her off with simple acceptance. Willa was particularly formal, though her rigid response actually helped to settle Jadis’ nerves rather than worsen the tension between them. The captain made it clear that no personal insult had been taken, even if she had been unhappy with her on a professional level. The one conversation that had surprised her, though, had been when she’d spoken to Gunnar, the extremely muscular blue elf.
“How old are you?” Gunnar had asked.
“I, uh, we’re twenty-two years old,” Jay answered, surprised by the question. Gunnar was a quiet man and she’d barely spoken to him during their trip so far.
“You have a great deal of power and responsibility for one so young,” Gunnar said with a solemn nod. “How old would you take me to be?”
“Well, you look like you’re in your twenties, but I’d guess older since you’re an elf.”
“I am seventy-three years old,” Gunnar informed her with a small lift of one eyebrow. “As one much older than you, I can promise you that you are not alone. We all have our breaking point, and it rarely comes at convenient times. It is good you have so many loyal companions to support you and keep you centered.”
“We’re really lucky, yeah,” Jay smiled. “It’s been a rough trip. A rough few months, too. Lots of good and bad all at once, you know?”
“So it would seem,” Gunnar agreed. “Just remember to take the time you need to breathe, Jadis.”
“Yeah, we will,” Jay said with a brighter smile before nodding and starting to move away.
Jadis froze a moment later as she realized the name Gunnar had called her. It hadn’t been Jay, the self he’d been talking to, he’d called her Jadis. No one used that name but her companions, and only in private. The elf shouldn’t have known her real name. Jay slowly turned back to look at the man, her eyes wide.
“Did you just call me…?”
Gunnar looked up at her, his expression as calm as ever. He looked around to make sure no one else was near before moving closer to Jay and whispering to her so quietly that she almost couldn’t hear him.
“It would also do you well to remember that there are races in the world with excellent hearing. I do not believe anyone else knows of your true nature, but due to the volume of some of your conversations, I could not help but overhear at times.”
“Shit. Okay, yeah, uh, I’d appreciate your discretion, Gunnar,” Jay said, her mind reeling as she was caught off guard by the realization that the man knew her secret. “I don’t really want many people to know…”
“It is your personal business,” Gunnar readily agreed. “I of course respect your desire for privacy. I would ask, though, that you and your companions work on restricting the volume of your night-time activities. Some of you are… overly exuberant. The noise can make it difficult to sleep.”
“I’ll—I’ll make sure to keep that in mind,” Jay nodded dumbly, embarrassment welling up in her chest as it became obvious what activities the elf was referring to. “Does anyone else…?”
“Not that I know of on that account,” Gunnar shook his head. “But considering the open nature of the relationship between you and the others in your guild, the possibility is a frequent topic of discussion among the other soldiers.”
“…Of course it is.”
After that, Jadis left Gunnar’s side as quickly as she could, heat burning her face in an entirely non-magical way. Breakfast among her team became an especially awkward ordeal as she explained to everyone else what Gunnar had told her. Out of everyone, Eir and Kerr were the least affected by the information.
“There are times when we have been less than circumspect in our activities,” Eir mused as she daintily sipped pottage from a wooden spoon. “At least Gunnar has the tact to inform you in a discreet way before it became a bigger issue.”
“Yes, the sex thing is whatever,” Kerr rolled her hand in a dismissive gesture. “But now that guy knows about you and your, uh, you-ness. You okay with him knowing that big of a secret?”
“What am I supposed to do about it?” Syd shrugged helplessly. “I’d rather he didn’t know, but it’s not like I can do anything now that he does.”
“Well,” Kerr grinned sharply, “as you showed us all yesterday, you can have a mean streak in you. Maybe you take Gunnar there behind a few trees and tell him exactly how much damage you can do if he—”
Kerr’s words were cut off as Aila’s hand struck the side of her head with a meaty whap.
“Stop being a negative influence,” the mage told her in no uncertain terms. “Good gods you are a nuisance sometimes.”
“What?” Kerr squawked, “It was just a joke! Sort of.”
“I’m not going to threaten Gunnar,” Dys told Kerr firmly. “He’s a good man. I’ll just have to trust that he won’t share my secret. But if he does, I’ll deal with the consequences when they come up.”
There really wasn’t much more to say on the matter. Jadis knew her multi-bodied nature was something she wouldn’t be able to hide forever. The more people who knew about it, the more likely the secret would get out. She didn’t think Gunnar would purposefully spread the information, but it also wasn’t his responsibility to cover for her either. Besides, she was a lot more comfortable with the idea of people knowing now than she used to be. So far, everyone she had told had reacted with surprise but no revulsion or condemnation. It was an unusual and unique skill, but not a taboo one. The only real danger she could see was the possibility of her enemies finding out the weaknesses of her multiplied bodies and using those flaws against her. She would just have to make sure to keep those details as close to her vest as possible.
With food in her stomachs, her bodies fully healed to their normal state, and a lot less weight on her mind, Jadis felt leagues better than she had before. She hadn’t even realized just how tired and strained she was until after she’d gotten some rest. Jadis made a promise to herself to keep better track of how she was feeling so that she could avoid getting to such an extreme point again.
Not that she was going to have the time to take it easy in the near future. With breakfast over and camp packed up, Jadis donned her armor and harnesses, ready to pull the Behemoth once again. She was leaving Sweet Pine Valley for a third and, she fervently hoped, final time. Most of the memories surrounding the place were far from good ones.
It took time to make their way out of the village, especially with the traps that had been laid in the pathways, but once they got out onto the proper road, the group was able to pick up a lot of speed. Not too much speed, though. There were still too many threats in the area for them to carelessly rush forward.
Kerr resumed her duty of ranging out and around the wagon as they made their way south again, while soldiers on horseback rode ahead and behind to guard against ambushes and sneak attacks. The weather had taken a turn for the better, the sky clear and sun bright, which both helped and hindered. The good light made it easy to see and harder for things to sneak up on them, but the warm weather melted the snow and turned the road into a muddy ordeal.
The plan was to head south to the Crossroads Fort so they could take the road that headed west from there. The route was far from the straightest path to their destination, but the road would be by far the faster option when compared to trying to pull the giant wagon through the untamed forest. By Aila’s estimation, it should take them no more than a week to get to the second split peak mountain, so long as there were no further complications.
Further complications were definitely a big worry on everyone’s minds, but by the end of the long day of southward travel, they proved to be unfounded. There had been little to get in their way. No dangerous magic beasts attacked them and hardly any demons blocked their path. There were no human enemies, either, be they bandits or criminal soldiers. The biggest excitement of the day came from when one of the soldiers, Ada, announced that she had gained a level after she had helped kill a couple of bramble fiends in the early afternoon.
The trip from Sweet Pine Valley back to the Crossroads was going to take them two days no matter how hard they pushed, so once they reached the same clearing on the side of the road they’d used before, they stopped to set up camp for the night. It took them no time at all to set up, though extra care was spent making sure there were no surprises waiting for them in the form of traps left by the bandits.
“I don’t think they came through here,” Kerr announced as she returned from a sweep around the perimeter. “No tracks, no fires, no shit or piss. Haven’t seen any sign of them since their trail veered east off the road a mile away from the village.”
“That doesn’t mean they kept to that direction,” Aila commented with her arms crossed. “They could have doubled back at some point.”
“Of course they could have,” Kerr snorted. “They could have double and triple backed. No way to know with all this melted snow. But they haven’t been around here recently, at least.”
“What do you think the odds are of them being at the fort again?” Jay asked with a frown. “They’ve certainly had enough time to set up more traps and another ambush.”
“Possible,” Kerr shrugged. “But we won’t know until we get there.”
“If I were them, I’d cut my losses and flee,” Bridget spoke up from where she stood next to Jay’s left elbow. “I mean, revenge is nice and all, but there weren’t that many of those assholes left. We outnumber them now, and they weren’t able to beat us even when they had the numbers advantage and a defensible position. If I was in their position, I’d grab whatever eleria I’d mined and make a dash for the coast. Catch a ship to somewhere warmer to the north.”
“I would, too,” Aila agreed. “I just won’t bet our lives on the possibility they made a reasonable choice.”
As Jay, Aila, Kerr, and Bridget discussed the bandits, Dys and Syd worked to set up a nice barrier between their side of the camp and the soldiers’ side of the camp. She wasn’t about to bring it up directly with Willa or any of the others, but now that Jadis knew at least Gunnar was aware of their sex-scapades, she was going to try and take as many precautions against unintentional exhibitionism as she could. After all, they’d gone about as long as they could before their rituals needed recharging. Aila was out of her reserves as well, so there was a double reason for them to engage in some private time.
Triple the reason, when Jadis took into consideration that she just felt like she needed some good old fashioned sexual healing to help relax her after the stress of the past few days.
As Dys worked to set up a second bonfire on the far side of the wagon, as she planned on using the wagon as a divider between Fortune’s Favored and the soldiers, Sabina approached her with a tap on her side.
“Yes?” Dys glanced over at the smith, noting the glowing orange dagger she was holding in one hand.
“I thought you might want to hold onto this,” Sabina told her as she held out the weapon. “I noticed that it was too small for someone with hands as big as yours, not that you have weirdly big hands or anything, just that you are overall proportionally much bigger than everyone else so a dagger that fits in my hand won’t fit comfortably in yours. Anyway, I added some wood to it that makes the handle longer so you can hold it more easily. It’s not pretty, but it’s the best I can do out here without better equipment, though I doubt I could do better with better equipment because I don’t think I can alter the dagger without damaging the enchantment, but this isn’t really an alteration since it’s more of an addition.”
“Thank you, Sabina,” Dys grinned at the over-eager half-elf. “This is really nice.”
The malediction dagger that had once caused Jadis so much pain at the hands of Legs was now resting firmly in her grasp. The weapon really was too small for her, the blade about ten inches long and the handle little more than half that. A perfectly reasonable size for most any human or elf, but far too small for a Nephilim. To overcome the size difference, Sabina had carved a two-piece cover out of wood that went over the dagger’s actual handle, securing it in place with rope and the cross guard on the blade. It was a much better fit in her hands with the cover, though not exactly an elegant look.
“I’m not sure how often I’ll use this,” Dys mused as she tested the feel of the dagger in her hand, “but it’s definitely better to have it as an option than not.”
“That’s true!” Sabina chirped brightly. “I was thinking I might try to take it apart and learn from the enchantment once we get back to Far Felsen so I can possibly replicate the effect, but even a casual look at the runes tells me the craftsmanship is way, way above my level. Whoever made this weapon had some really, really high stats and was probably an expert enchanter with three classes fully dedicated to that field. Are you planning on having sex tonight?”
Dys had been nodding her head as Sabina talked, half-listening to her talk about enchantments as she continued to set up the bonfire. She blinked a few times as her brain caught up with Sabina’s unexpected question.
“Yeah, I was,” Dys raised one eyebrow at the smith. “I’m pretty sure everyone wants to keep their attribute buffs.”
“Okay, I thought so,” Sabina bounced on her feet happily. “That’s perfect timing then! While you and Kerr and Bridget and Willa and Jaxton and Landry and—okay, that was all of you, yeah. While you were all down in the tunnel, I made some progress with those enchantments I was working on! I didn’t bring it up last night because, um, the mood was kind of not good and I didn’t think you’d want to talk about it, but since everyone seems to be a lot less prickly now, I thought you’d want to give this a try!”
With a somewhat silly flourish, Sabina pulled a strip of leather from behind her back and presented it to Dys.
The thin piece of brown leather had several pieces of scales and bones arranged in three roundish displays, each one of the imperfect discs covered in a variety of etched runes. There was a simple clasp on the end of the strap, making it clear that it was meant to be secured in place.
“For me?” Dys asked, taking the strap between two fingers. “I mean, it looks nicer than the last one, but I’m not sure how comfortable those discs are going to be around my you-know-where.”
“You mean your cock?”
“…Yeah, that.”
“No need to worry about that!” Sabina grinned. “This one isn’t for you to wear, it’s to put on someone else! It’ll only work once, but if I did it right, it should make it so that whoever puts this on around their neck, they’ll keep from orgasming for one full hour, or until the collar comes off.”
“Huh,” Dys grinned back at Sabina, looking at the leather collar with a newfound appreciation. “Pretty damn cool, Sabina. Excellent work! Guess we’ll have to take the opportunity to test it tonight, huh?”
“Yes!” Sabina said happily. “I wonder who wants to try it out first?”
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