CHAPTER 6

Morning came without me getting any shut-eye. I just wasn’t tired. As the sun-washed over her face, Imperia squirmed which I took as a good sign that she was recovering from whatever had ailed her. Argos had woken up a bit earlier and was stalking around the clearing.

I grinned at the sight of Imperia. I always did like waking up next to a woman in the morning. Especially when I remembered their name. “Morning sunshine.”

She sat up slowly as if not trusting her own body. She flexed her hands and moved her arms and legs carefully. “I can move.”

“That’s good. I was worried I would have to carry you all day again.”

“My apologies. Though I will say your back is quite comfortable.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” I grabbed one of the protein bars and tossed it into the air. Argos came flying out of the nearby forest and snatched it out of the air in a single bite. “Ready to get a move on?”

She patted herself as if checking. “I think so.”

I gathered up all the stones and started south like yesterday. Just before I stepped out of the clearing. I heard a growl that quickly grew to a howl. I turned back to look at Imperia with wide eyes. “Was that your stomach?”

Her face had turned crimson and she swiftly covered her stomach with her hands. “No! Absolutely not! As a queen, I would never allow my body to make such a sound. It must have been Argos!” She defended pointing at the wolf who just stared back dumbfounded as he licked his chomps. A second later another roar sounded through the clearing and Imperia sank to her knees looking like she was about to start crying.

“Okay. Okay. It was Argos. Here, why don’t we split this one, I was starting to get hungry myself,” I said breaking another protein bar in half and handing it to her. She took it, her whole body turning red by this point, and started to nibble on it. I tossed another to the wolf since he was taking the blame for this.

“This isn’t really worthy of a queen, is it,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Whatever you say, your majesty. Hopefully, you won’t collapse this time.”

She got up in a huff and stormed off. I just covered my face with my hand and followed after her. She had her pride. It wouldn’t do to mess with her too much. Argos rushed around us, completely oblivious to everything.

A few hours had gone by and it was close to noon when I called for a break. Not because we were tired or anything, but to give Echo some time to scout ahead. We had started running into creatures here and there. The main thing so far was a blue squirrel that literally flew around the branches of the trees above us.

“This forest just seems to go on forever,” I said leaning against a tree.

“The original ward was supposed to cover a thousand kilometers.”

“You know quite a bit about your own prison.”

“Well. My captors made sure to brag about their achievement. I suppose I should be glad I was spared the fate that usually comes with a woman being captured by the enemy.” I nodded in understanding. Even in the current age of the Federation, there were still plenty of people that made a living by robbing others of theirs. The horror stories that accompany them could curl the toes of even veterans of wars. “I’m sure you know all about it,” Imperia said eyeing me up and down.

I laughed, rubbing the back of my head. “Well. Sort of.”

“Lex.” Echo’s voice caught me by surprise.

“What is it?” I mouthed with my lips.

“Something is approaching from the west. It is large enough to press the trees to the side. I’m not sure you will be able to outrun it.”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Shit.” I turned to Imperia. “Something is coming this way. Whatever it is, it's massive.”

“Lunch?” Imperia asked standing up and dusting herself off.

I stood up as well and grabbed my new rifle. I wanted to save the plasma rifle for times that the railgun wasn’t enough. “Maybe.” It didn’t take long before a rumbling soon reached us as the ground shook in even intervals. Soon the sound of cracking bark reached us as we readied ourselves.

A large shadow loomed through the trees before a… bear with horns broke through the tree line. It was at least ten meters tall and one of its paws could easily crush me in a second. “Oh! A Yagi! I’ll handle this!” Imperia exclaimed then pointed her finger at the beast. I expected another boom like the day before, but all that happened was some sparks popped out of her finger then she collapsed face-first into the ground.

“Are you kidding me!?” I grabbed her and rushed back through the trees.

“Huh? That’s weird.”

The Yagi roared before it chased after us. I was thankful for the trees blocking its path even if they only slowed it down for a few seconds. I jogged ahead then spun on the spot, kicking myself up into the air. I aimed for where I expected the creature’s heart to be, and fired in the space of three heartbeats. The recoil managed to spin me back around and I kept up my pace. I still managed to note that the round zipped through the air, blasting a hole through the Yagi’s chest then continued out its back.

The attack caused it to stumble, taking half a dozen trees with it. “Why’d you aimed at its stomach!?” Imperia shouted as I turned to put more distance between us.

“Stomach?! Why the hell would its stomach be in its chest?!” I shouted back.

“I don’t know! Ask the god that created it.”

“Well, where’s its fucking heart?!” I demanded. There was a roar then the sound of something whistling through the air.

“To the left!”

I jumped just barely avoiding a tree trunk that slammed down digging a furrow in the ground. I twisted and aimed for the Yagi’s head this time. With a crack, the round slammed into its skull, but whatever its bones were made from could take a hit, other than slamming the beast’s head back while leaving a nasty gash, it had little more effect.

“Are you stupid?! Even a Direkie couldn’t get through that thing’s skull! Aim for the spot just above its left leg!”

“What the fuck is a Direkie!?” I shouted back and did what she said. Pulling the trigger, the round cracked through the air before it blasted through the spot, the recoil pushing my feet into the ground. The Yagi took two more steps before it collapsed. I kept my rifle trained on it until I was sure all the life had left the creature.

“Not bad. You just killed a creature that would have been a national threat back in my day.”

“The fact they still exist does not fill me with optimism for this planet,” I replied with a groan.

“That may be so. However,” Imperia said annoyance starting to taint her voice. “Could you please stop carrying me like a sack of produce?”

“Be happy that I saved you at all,” I retorted but moved her into a princess carry. She huffed and turned away from me. I couldn’t tell if she was pissed or embarrassed. Maybe a bit of both. I heard a whine then Argos appeared from the bushes nearby. “Not very brave, are you?” Well, not that he would have been much help against that thing. It likely would have slapped him into tomorrow as well as an early grave.

I carried Imperia over to the Yagi corpse to take a closer look. Judging from the wound that was apparently its stomach, I thought it would have died soon with or without the round to its heart. Either way, we had a massive dead beast and no way to take the meat or anything else with us.

“I have some storage magic that should let us take it with us. Back in the day, people would pay a hefty amount for the components on this thing,” Imperia said from my arms.

“Oh? And you let me carry around those heavy ass stone for fun, I assume?” I asked, my eye twitching a little.

“I just woke up. You expect me to remember every little thing I can do to help you?” she said defensively.

“Whatever. It would be great if it still had the same market value as back then.”

She pointed weakly at the beast and mumbled some words. I saw a small swirl that appeared for a split second before it vanished. She tried again, but this time the swirl didn’t even appear. Imperia’s face went from determined to shellshocked in a matter of seconds.

“Can’t use your magic?”

“No. NO! I’m nothing without magic. Why!? What happened!?” she screamed as she went into a fit. She grabbed her temples and jerked though it was barely noticeable. Without much recourse, I hugged her to my chest. I’d seen people go through similar reactions when we thought all hope was lost. I, for one, had a hard time understanding it, but the least I could do was leaned my shoulder.

Imperia’s struggling soon devolved into weeping as she buried her head in my shoulder. I didn’t say anything. For one, I wouldn’t be able to truly understand her feelings on the matter having only known her for a few days, hours really. Two, most of the time people don’t want to hear your take on the matter. They want you to shut up and let them vent.

After a good thirty minutes or so, Imperia’s crying soon calmed to the steady breathing of sleep. I turned to Argos and Echo, who’s drone was inspecting the corpse. “It’s a bit early, but why don’t we camp here. I’m sure this thing had a decent sized territory and it will be a day at least before anything that would challenge it notices its death.”