CHAPTER 12 PART 1 OF 3

THE SHAMELESS

The road was too open and obvious. He stayed adjacent to it while moving north, but did so at about ninety metres into the forest. He gaged the distance using his Map, wanting to keep the road within his Scouts' roaming range so he might be alerted of any travellers.

It might have been midnight by the time his Scouts picked up something new. One of them went still and began flashing, about thirty metres deeper into the forest. There was no red dot that indicated an enemy, but Lucas still approached very carefully. Combat Spider sensed the mood and attempted to match its Master’s low profile. Pale light from the moon and stars filtered through the canopy, making the leaves shine with countless shades of silver. It was more than enough for Lucas’s night-adjusted vision.

As he reached the Scout, which had gone into Stealth hanging on the side of a tree trunk, he saw what had triggered the warning. A patch of the canopy ahead was glowing with a warm orange light, breaking up the silver landscape. It was clearly light from a fire, but it was peculiar that the light seemed directed upwards and not outwards. Lucas had to squint against the brightness as he approached.

A pit had been dug into the ground that directed the fire light into the sky, making it much harder to notice at a distance. Lucas caught a glimpse of an Aura near the fire. He immediately hid behind a tree. Combat Spider was still trailing, but Lucas wanted to have it stay out of sight as he approached. It turned out not to be that easy to communicate just using his Aura. He broadcast a sense of caution and started backing away, sending soft admonishments out of his Aura every time the Combat Spider moved to follow. It eventually understood that he wanted it to stand still. As he moved away it clawed at the air nervously, unhappy at being left behind where it couldn't protect him.

Creeping his way towards the fire, focusing on withdrawing his Aura to keep a low profile, Lucas saw a woman sitting on a rock. Since reaching level 6 Spirit he had gained the ability to move slowly while maintaining Stealth, now was a good time to test it. Lucas entered Stealth, then began very slowly moving out of cover. His awareness of his own Mana made it easy to gauge how quickly he could move without threatening to break the Ability. It took him 15 seconds to move around the tree to see her clearly.

She was powerfully built for a woman. Although she was clearly feminine there was nothing soft about her. Thick, hard muscles bound her shoulders and arms. She was otherwise clad in leather armour that had seen a lot of use. She was picking bits of leaf and twig out of her blonde hair, obviously lost in thought as she looked into the fire.

Lucas recognised her, she was the one who had attacked Caleb and his men. He continued to watch from the darkness for a while, unsure of what to do. The fact that she had attacked Caleb didn’t make her likely to be any better than him, just another killer. However, he wanted to at least understand why she had attacked Caleb, that information might be useful.

‘If I'm probably gonna die anyway, it's worth taking a risk.’

He decided to Analyse her. As soon as the notification appeared she stood up, axe suddenly in hand. Lucas didn't even get a chance to read it properly.

[https://i.imgur.com/wk5djIV.jpg]

“Show yourself!” she yelled out, indignation shining fiercely in her Aura.

From Stealth, Lucas replied.

“If I do, can you not attack me?”

Her Aura went from indignation to confusion as she listened, then her eyes went wide.

“Are you Fey? I can not understand you, Spirit.”

Lucas then remembered that his translation power worked by reading each other's Auras. She obviously couldn't understand him while his Aura was hidden in Stealth. After another moment's hesitation, he reluctantly dropped Stealth. As his Aura appeared, her gaze instantly snapped to him, axe raised.

“Don't hurt me!” Lucas yelled, his hands up. “I just want to talk.”

She took a moment to look over his Aura, then seemed to calm down.

“Well then, stop skulking around in the dark and come join me by the fire.” she said, relaxing her stance.

Lucas froze, not expecting that response.

In a tone suitable for trying to lure a stranger’s cat into patting range she said;

“Be not scared spirit, I will not harm you, come, the fire is warm,”

Compared to the last people Lucas had dealt with, her Aura was remarkably clear. The patterns of her emotions and intentions reflected within, like sunlight in clean water, unimpeded by any self consciousness or hesitation. Caleb’s Aura had been tightly controlled. The only thing that had been clear was his determination to control what was shown. His intentions had still been broadcast when he spoke, but they had a quality of deliberateness. It was as if each intention had been filtered, before it could be read, to make sure it fit the way he wanted to be understood.

Her Aura, on the other hand, left no room for misunderstandings or hidden intentions. It had a shameless, or fearless quality. The impression Lucas got was that the confidence she had in her own strength left her unconcerned at whatever consequences might arise from her true thoughts and feelings being open for everyone to see. It was closer to an animal’s Aura, or one of his spiders, than Caleb's.

Lucas had approached with no intention of getting close to her. However, her Aura didn't leave any room for doubt about her intentions and Lucas believed her when she said she didn't mean him any harm. That didnt mean she wouldn't kill him if her opinion of him changed suddenly, but it was enough for him to feel comfortable getting a little closer. He could also smell something very enticing coming from the fire pit.

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When he stepped into the light of the fire, a pulse of shock passed through Korah’s Aura. Lucas reflexively leaped away from her, ready to fight.

“Woah woah, calm down” she said, putting her hands in the air. “I did not expect you to look like… that. Your Aura is very strange and when I saw those eyes, well… Come on, sit down. I promise not to startle you.”

Lucas braced himself, feeling like a skittish animal, and stepped back into the firelight.

“It is not every night that I get to share my fire with a Fey. Do you eat human food? I have got a boar, I even managed to find some wild garlic and rosemary.”

Lucas sat down, but outside of her reach.

“It smells amazing,” he said, tentatively.

She grinned broadly, leaning to look into the fire pit.

“What do you mean you didn't expect me to look like that?” Lucas asked. “What did you expect me to look like?”

As far as Lucas knew he looked like a regular human, it shouldn't be that surprising. Korah hesitated;

“Uh, well…” She suddenly reached behind her, rummaging through a bag for a moment, then came out with a wide pan. Another rummage produced a leather sack of water, which she poured into the pan and pushed over to him. The light of the moon and stars, coupled with the flickering light of the fire was bright enough for Lucas to see his reflection clearly.

‘O my god,’ he thought to himself, peering at his massively oversized eyes.

‘What happened to me?’

His hands went up to trace along the lines of his face. Skin, pale as silver, shon out from beneath layers of grime. His eyes had become huge, even the shape of his skull must have changed slightly to house such enormous eyes. His dark hair was thickly matted with dried blood and he was filthy beyond belief. He pushed the pan back to Korah.

“That's a really unpleasant surprise. I… I don't normally look like that.” He stammered. “I'm surprised you didn't kill me on sight.”

She laughed loudly. Such a normal human sound after so long alone in the dark took him by surprise. Her Aura glowed with easy joy. Some of it seeped into his Aura, causing tears to well behind his eyes.

“Am I going to turn back to normal?” Lucas said suddenly. Without giving her a chance to reply he continued; “I got like this because I've been living in a cave right? I mean the eyes, I'm just filthy because I haven't bathed in weeks. God that smells good, I've been eating cold slimy spider meat for days now. Sounds bad I know, You have no idea though, it's so unbelievably bad. How would you know? Why would anyone even imagine eating raw spider?”

He paused for a moment, she was just looking at him, perplexed. Then she seemed to register that he had actually asked a question.

“Ah, I am not sure. I do not understand what you are. We humans change slo..”

“I’m human” Lucas blurted out

“You are? Are you sure? Your Aura does seem human but it is far too pure, perhaps like a new born baby…” She trailed off and her eyes seemed to unfocus as she studied Lucas’s Aura in more depth.

“It looks like everything that ever happened to you happened in the last few weeks, like you were freshly born and thrown into despair. Terrible wounds like great red strokes on a blank canvas, cauterised with anger and pride to stop the bleeding. But you are brave, not the kind to fade away without a fight. That is good, but… what happened to you? Who would be so cruel to something so innocent.”

“You can see all that in my Aura?” Lucas asked instead of answering.

“In you I can, because there is nothing to mask it. That is why I can understand your strange speech also. Is that normal for Fey? Do you have a name? Mine is Korah.”

Lucas’s translation ability gave him the impression that Fey meant some kind of Spirit that existed as an Aura but with no physical body, or a body manifested purely from Mana.

“I’m Lucas, and I'm not a Fey… I think.” he said.

Lucas hesitated for a bit, feeling reluctant to share. When he met Caleb he had opened up so easily and walked straight into a trap because he was so eager to not be alone. He didn't have the ability to control his Aura, like Caleb, so any lies would be obvious. He was stuck at an impasse; he had to either tell her the truth or accept being alone forever. The fearlessness with which Korah allowed her true self to be seen made it easy to feel like he could trust her, and like maybe he could be like her. It was either that or learn to control his Aura like Caleb.

“I don't actually know what I am, I WAS human, or what we called human in my world. All I know is that this is not my world. I just appeared here a few weeks ago and have been trying to survive long enough to figure out what's going on. You are the first living thing I've met that hasn't immediately tried to kill me, or turn me into a slave.”

“Slave? You met Caleb then,” Korah said. A wrathful indignation began simmering in the air around her.

“That explains the wounds in your Aura.”

Lucas’s hand went involuntarily to his chest where Caleb’s Steel Seed still rested. Korah noticed the movement and understood immediately.

“You got away from him? That is the first time I have heard of someone escaping.”

Korah suddenly slapped her knee, a big grin on her face.

“I saw you escape! You are the one that fled when I hit the caravan, a few weeks ago.”

“Yeah that was me, I hid in a cave full of spiders that Caleb’s men didn't want to follow me into. That's how I ended up looking like this,” Lucas said, feeling the shape of his huge eyes again.

“Do you still have his metal in your chest? Want me to get it out for you?”

Lucas stared in shock. He realised then just how isolated he had become. The idea of someone helping him remove the Steel Seed had never occurred to him.

“Yes please.”