It turns out that bacon comes from the bottom of a pig, not the top. The meat on top is the loin. A basurd is not a pig, but the slice of basurd meat I was eating tasted deliciously like pork. Either my standards had lowered, or the monster was that world’s equivalent to Earth’s swine, like in an alternate universe boars had grown larger and more dangerous than they already were.

Considering that the only food I’d had in as long as I could remember had been worm-flesh, I’m sure that lowered standards did have something to do with my appreciation. Basurd pork did not taste like dirt, and that was a welcome change.

It wasn’t a long way up to the top of the hill that held the cave mouth, and with myself, Amaia, Cadoc, and Lot working together - Cadoc and Lot on opposite sides, of course, Cadoc grumbling all the while - we were able to drag the basurd’s body up the hill. We were never able to get the tusks out of the stone, though. We ended up having to behead the thing just to get it free. Cadoc did the honors.

The rocky hill wasn’t particularly large, but it was tall enough to see well into the distance, such that we’d have warning if anything tried to approach. And the sun was already starting to set by the time we’d left the dungeon, so making camp seemed the best course of action for everyone.

“We’ll eat,” I had said, somehow still acting as the impromptu leader. “And then we’ll figure out what we’re doing next.”

Which was the question which had been niggling at the back of my brain ever since I’d cooked the basurd alive: what next?

The whole lot of us were gathered around the fire, the sun setting to what had to be the west, dipping down below distant hills. Which meant the cave mouth faced east, and since the tunnel we had followed out of the dungeon had continued mostly straight, we must have been far east of where we had started. Which only made sense - I couldn’t even see Eraztun from where we sat. I saw no sign of civilization at all - only a landscape similar to the one I’d first seen when sent to that dimension, though greener in places, and more mountainous. A desert, full of desert plants.

The top of the hill we sat on was flat, like a mesa in miniature. Where we had come from, the cave mouth opened into another flat piece of land, littered with plants that looked like sagebrush and mesquites, though I was certain they weren’t. Further east the land sloped downward, and I could see trees like pines in the distance. Further still, and the pines grew thicker, taller, and closer together, and it was hard to see further than that. Still, I thought I could almost see water between the branches, where the trees were the thickest.

In all other directions the desert continued on - it only grew greener to the east. To the south there was a great mountain, only a silhouette, with three peaks. This appeared to be the height of some range, which continued on westward. Perhaps it was the same range that lay near Eraztun - or perhaps it wasn’t. The triple peak didn’t look familiar at all.

To the north was a vast mesa, taller than our hill, which ended in steep cliffs on all sides that I could see. It looked like it would be impossible to climb, whatever the case.

Building the fire was easy enough - Cadoc summoned some sticks, and I used my flowing nails like lighter fluid. Amaia took over cooking more of the basurd meat - and attempting to smoke it in a box Cadoc helped her make - while the rest of us sat around the fire - including Naomi, who had begun to wake up from her exhaustion-induced nap.

The three women who had traveled with Lot were huddled together a few feet away from the rest of us, behind where Lot sat, on my left. I’d never bothered to learn their names - they weren’t special.

To my right was Cadoc, tearing into his strip of basurd meat with zeal. It was good to see him again. I’d been afraid he was dead.

He noticed me staring, and flashed me a smile. “A joyous occasion, friend,” he said. “And a great time to celebrate. You have impressed us all, truly.”

I smiled back, but I barely heard what he said. I was taking stock.

“I, for one,” Lot interjected from my left. “Am quite impressed. Indeed, I took Miles here for a noble man, right from the beginning, but I felt certain he would be dead by now. Instead, he has rescued his friends, killed… her, - I can’t believe it - and grown stronger than ever.” He shook his head. “Magic. I am quite jealous, you know.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“I don’t remember asking you, rat,” Cadoc snarled. “Give me one excuse and I will run you through with my blade.”

“Catch me in a foul mood and I may just take you up on that,” Lot answered with a coy grin. “Alas, I am too happy for suicide, at the moment. The outside world is breathtaking. But I will remember your kind offer.”

“Guys,” I said. “Relax. We’re all friends here.”

“Friends!” Naomi shouted, and then stifled a yawn. “Maybe you should properly introduce us first, Miles, before calling us all friends, y’know?”

I thought back. I guess I hadn’t had the chance to introduce Lot to everyone, and vice versa.

“This is Lot,” I said, waving a hand at him. “Well, his real name is impossible to say, so I call him Lot. His mother was kidnapped by the Kalamuzi, and his father was half-Kalamuzi. So he’s three-quarters human.”

“One quarter monster,” Cadoc said.

“And he helped me out down there,” I continued. “Helped me get into the Omphalos. If it wasn’t for him, we’d all be dead. You hear me? He’s our ally. It isn’t his fault that his mom was kidnapped.”

“I was coming to rescue everyone,” Cadoc said.

I shook my head. “Naomi and Amaia would have been dead by the time you arrived. We owe Lot our thanks.”

Amaia, the only one still standing as she tended to the food, did a little bow in Lot’s direction - a bow which was surprisingly graceful for that large, oafish woman. It looked trained. “Thank you,” she said.

“Thanks,” Naomi said, and offered Lot her hand. He took it, and they shook. “Wow your hand is hairy. Does it itch? Do you have to, like, shave your hands?”

Lot laughed dryly. “It only bothers me as a reminder of my accursed nature. Otherwise, I wouldn’t notice it.”

Naomi nodded. “Well, nice to meet you, anyway. Don’t expect much in the way of reward, though.”

Naomi froze after saying that, then quickly bit into her piece of meat. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I wouldn’t have noticed anything. But I’d seen the change that came over her face when she realized that she had used the word “reward.”

Lot began to respond. “I expected no rew-“

“Right!” I said, pointing at Naomi. “The reward! You said you’d pay us if we got you out of the dungeon.” I still needed money - I’d have to give RENA a call before long.

Naomi ignored me. “Who are those women behind you?” she asked Lot. “Don’t they want to, like, join the group?”

“Oh, that’s S-“

“Don’t change the subject,” I said. “We’re trying to figure out what to do next. I say we get that reward, before anything else.”

Naomi sighed. “Me and my fat mouth,” she muttered to herself.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “There is a reward, right? You’re rich. That’s what you said.”

“She’s a coward,” Cadoc said. “We may have gotten friendly with her, but don’t forget her nature. She abandoned her old companions. Why would she not lie to her new ones?”

“Do you hate all of your allies?” Lot asked.

“No,” Cadoc said. “I never used the word hate. But I would like to have a talk with Miles sometime about his tendency to recruit the worst kinds of people.” He turned his head up towards Amaia. “Not you, Amaia. You’ve been a grand companion.” Amaia smiled back at him.

“There is a reward!” Naomi said, hands up in front of her like she had been caught at something. “It’s just, well, it’ll just be hard to get, y’know?”

“Why’s that?” I asked. I was growing suspicious.

“Well, I mean, first of all, do you even know where we are?”

I snorted. “No. Do you?”

“Nope,” she said. “And so how am I supposed to bring you to my family for the reward? Can’t be done, you know?”

“We’ve got to be due east of Eraztun,” I said.

“No,” Amaia said.

I looked up at her. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun behind her head. “Why?” I asked.

“We went east at the end,” she said. “But we went other directions first. Could be anywhere.”

I thought about this. We had wandered all over, down in the dungeon. I hadn’t been keeping track, but thinking back, it was entirely possible that we had gone miles to the north or south first, before making our exit to the east. If we had gone west, then back east through the tunnel, then we probably would have ended up close enough to Eraztun that we could still see it, so that probably hadn’t happened. But we really could be anywhere.

I sighed. “So we can’t just go west and hope for the best, huh?

“I know where we are,” Cadoc said.

“You do?” Naomi and I both said the words at the same time, but whereas mine sounded surprised, hers sounded shocked.

Cadoc turned and pointed to the south. “The triple peak there. I’ve never seen with my own eyes, but it must be Zinthur’s Crown. And the mountain range around it is Zinthur’s Mantle.” He traced along the edge of the mountains with his finger, turning to the east. “Which means that river in the distance is-“

“Zinthur’s Blood,” Naomi finished.

I started. “You knew?”

“What?” she said, hands up again. “No! I just… well, if that’s Zinthur’s Crown, then the river must be Zinthur’s Blood. Of course I know that.”

“And where does your family live?”

She sighed again. “Coernet. On the banks of the Blood.”

“Then we’re close!” I said. “Perfect. That’s perfect. I say we head to Coernet.”

“It’s probably very far from here,” Naomi said. “Like, really, really far. It’s a big river, you know. And it’ll be a dangerous trip. It’s east, after all.”

“Is the east dangerous?” I turned to Lot.

“How would I know, Miles? It’s all the same to me.”

“Of course it’s dangerous!” Naomi shouted. “The east is where the monsters come from. Don’t you know anything?”

I turned to Cadoc. “It is truly common knowledge, friend,” he said.

“Well, where else would we go?” I asked. “Anyone else know of other towns?”

No one answered.

“Well then I vote we go to Coernet. How dangerous could it be? People live there, right? Cadoc, what do you think?”

“I was convinced the moment I heard the word dangerous, friend. My sword is thirsty, and my soul cries out for glory.”

“Hey, wait a second,” Naomi said. “Do we really need to go get the reward? We’re friends now, right? Isn’t that more important? We should ask what everyone else wants. Amaia, I bet you have some personal mission we could help with, right?” Amaia had finished what she was doing and had sat down between Naomi and Lot. Naomi was elbowing her.

Amaia shrugged. “I’ve never been east before.”

“Hey!” Naomi yelled, but I ignored it.

“Lot?” I asked.

He scratched his pointy chin. “Like I said, Miles, it’s all the same to me. I’ll have to ask the women. I think they’d like to go home, if they can.”

“Then it’s decided!” I said. I didn’t give two shits what those women thought, so that was basically a unanimous vote in my book. “In the morning, we head for Coernet!”