††† Siegfried †††

Siegfried woke from a dreamless sleep. The lithe form of his favourite cat-girl was nestled against his side. The low, rhythmic purring noises revealed her to be still fast asleep. They went to bed next to each other, sharing the blanket. Apparently, Haylee turned over at some point and snuggled up to him.

Wearing only the set of bandages to preserve her modesty, the gorgeous shapeshifter was already dangerous enough for Sieg to look at. The way her toned leg was draped across his waist made for an awkward case of morning wood. With a few deliberate, deep breaths, Siegfried tried to calm himself down again and swallow his frustration.

Once he fought down his primal urges, he quietly whispered for Haylee to wake up. The feline ears, which she kept out even in her human form, twitched cutely. Slowly, she opened her eyes and faced Siegfried with a sleepy but content smile. Sieg's emotions surged at the sight of her exotic, elegant features. Waking up to a picture like this was an experience he could get used to.

"Good mornin', Siegfried," Haylee hummed quietly. "It's also nice to see you," she added with a mischievous glint in her eyes, slowly rubbing her leg against his waist.

A defeated chuckle left the poor man's throat. The light snoring was obviously a ruse, and he fell for it magnificently. "You're a minx, little kitty," he scolded lightly.

Ever since Haylee confided to him her past, she got bolder with her teasing and jokes. It felt natural and in tune with her personality.

Feeling emboldened, Sieg wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, but Haylee eluded his grasping hand with agile grace and slipped away.

“Shouldn’t you rather focus on your training today?” she asked, giving him a coy wink over her shoulder that belied her innocent tone.

Sieg could only shake his head as the cat-girl quickly dressed and skipped out of the cave. It buoyed his mood how happy she seemed today. With a slight grunt, he got up, feeling the soreness from yesterday’s exertions, and put on his leather pants. It was time to test his limits and see where he stood.

As he started to work on his forms with the blade, he found that Ryden was correct with his assessment. The composition of his muscles had hardly changed. They were still nicely balanced between speed and strength, only multiplied. The enforcer's sword weighed nothing in his grip. Every swipe felt powerful, the velocity so high that the air shrieked in protest. But just a few minutes into training, Sieg felt a heavy strain on the various parts of his body that were not yet enhanced.

"Hold your horses, warrior," Ryden called out. He sighed at Siegfried's quizzical expression and added, "I mean to slow down, Siegfried. We have to finish with the rest of your muscles before you damage something."

"Yes, I just felt it myself," Sieg admitted, opting to ignore the healer’s strange idiom. "It's hard to say for sure, but I believe we drained about half of my reserves with the improvements of yesterday. There should be enough left for the smaller parts."

"Excellent! We still have a lot of meat left, and I want to give you some other kind of defence before we go out hunting," Ryden answered with a smirk. "Let's not waste time and start with your shoulder and neck muscles. This will be fun," he intoned, rubbing his hands with malicious glee. Anxiousness sneaked its way into Siegfried's gut.

The following hours were anything but 'fun'. At least not Siegfried. He had to exceed the limits of exertion several times, hurting from muscles he never knew existed. Whenever he was finished with one exercise, the merciless physician immediately came up with the next. When Ryden finally declared his training completed, Siegfried was lying on his back, gasping for breath.

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"Well, colour me impressed," Ryden clapped slowly. "Never thought you'd do go through all of this in one sitting," he said innocently.

Siegfried lifted his head to shoot an inquisitive glare at his impromptu torturer, which in turn elicited a sly grin from Ryden. "You know we would have easily enough time to do one exercise per day, but I didn't want to stop your enthusiasm midway."

"Ryden…," Sieg panted, "you bastard!"

A barely contain snicker came from behind, confirming that Haylee had been listening too — Ryden never tried to hold his laugher back. And even Siegfried had to chuckle once his breath allowed it. In all honesty, he was grateful. This was precisely what he had needed. Both the sensation of getting stronger and the work he had to put in for it.

"Okay, I won't be heartless. Let me speed up the recovery a bit," Ryden offered graciously. He placed a hand on Sieg’s shoulder for a minute, and while the burning in the latter’s muscles didn’t lessen, he felt invigorated, as if he’d just had a good night of sleep.

"Do you really think we have time on our side here?" Sieg inquired, his gaze focusing on the tree line. "I'm honestly surprised the enforcers didn't stumble over the big clearing by chance. It's been nearly two days now."

"Exactly. This forest is vast, Siegfried. Far bigger than you might imagine. If they haven't found us yet, I doubt they are still in the area," Ryden assured them. "Nevertheless, I'd like to work on your bones as soon as possible. I believe I figured out why you can conjure those enamel-coated bone blades so quickly. And we can definitely reproduce it as long as you consume enough mass."

"Now that you say it," Haylee chimed in, "I thought it strange that the bone grew so slowly when Sieg tried to make it longer. But it worked quickly with a short spike from his forearm."

"Yes, because he didn't grow it," Ryden hinted. "The trick is that all the enamel and excess bone is already there in his forearm," he nodded in Sieg's direction. "Theoretically, that should work anywhere in your body, Siegfried. First, we will try to store more material in your skeleton by making the bones denser. That alone will make you more durable. And your new muscles can support that kind of weight now. Then we can work on shaping those bones in a way that won't hamper your movement too much," he revealed his plan.

Unbidden, the memory of Siegfried's first attempt at creating a bone spike from his forearm flashed up. The thought of trying something similar from several parts of his body sent a shiver down his spine. "Great," he grumbled, taking a deep breath. "What are we waiting for?"

††† Damon †††

Damon looked up at the massive tree with disdain. Climbing trees like a primitive ape… this was beneath one such as himself. Unfortunately, there was no way to get the Nivetians down to the ground, and failure was not an option.

Venting his anger with a barrage of selective curses, Damon gave in to his fate and used his gift to leap up the first massive branch. It was not an easy feat to do for an enforcer. Just a slight miscalculation in power would lead to either jumping short or too high, ending — both would be deadly. But Damon wasn't your average enforcer after all. He was a Pride.

At least his information was correct. Upon reaching the canopy of the forest, the primitive village spread out before him. Most of the ape-like denizens greeted him with the usual cries of shock and despair as they recognised his appearance.

Only one dared to face him. A big lug of an ape-man with fiery hair and arms like logs.

"I take it, you're the leader of this sorry lot then?" Damon asked.

"We have no leader," the bulky Nivetian rumbled. "But I will speak for us. My name—"

"I care not, primate," the enforcer snarked. "Ask your people if anyone has seen an outsider from the city coming through in the past days."

Damon continued to give a description of the two fugitives. The older guy in front of him did not show any kind of reaction, but Damon was sure he saw the little one behind them twitch. Maybe in recognition.

"We have not seen a human like that," the old ape tried to convince Damon. "But we will, of course, comply and send scouts to look for him. There is no need for bloodshed."

"I see," the enforcer replied calmly. "It's a shame that you have not spotted them. They must have come through the area, and the big guy would have been hard to miss." Damon let silence follow for a moment, watching their expressions closely. "But maybe your scouts were just not interested or vigilant enough. Maybe we should ask those with a more… childlike curiosity then?"

Before anyone could answer, Damon had the ugly monkey child in his grasp, strangling him with one arm. "You know who I spoke of, brat, don’t you?" He barked, loosening his grip just enough for the boy to speak.

"I know nothing, sir! I just—" his voice broke when a heavy gauntlet connected with his face.

"Enough!" the old Nivetian bellowed over the place. "I tell you! Leave the boy out of this, please!" he begged.

Damon turned around with fury in his eyes. "You dared to lie to me? I did not expect you dumb brutes to hold much of a brain in that ugly head of yours. But it seems I still have overestimated your intelligence." Yes, he would get the location of Siegfried from them. After he vented his frustration.