“You know they would be waiting for us, right?”

“Let them wait,” Jerome said. “I’d like to spend a few more breaths just lazing around with you in my arms.”

Csala looked up at him with a brilliant grin. Her chin rested on his chest and her thick red hair was in disarray. Even at that, she looked absolutely stunning. It was morning already and the light of dawn was already peaking through the barrier beside them.

“Also, there’s something I have to tell you—”

“You don’t have to worry, Jerome,” Csala interrupted and tried to push off him. “I’m not going to separate you from your lover who is probably still back in your world.”

Jerome held her down and smiled at her. “Well, I do have someone I love and care for. But we haven’t taken that step. Maybe because we see ourselves as young and still in training,” he said, almost in thought.

“But it doesn’t mean I don’t care for you,” he continued. “You know I do care for you, right?”

“Hmm-hmm,” Csala hummed, giving him a mischievous glance.

“Hey now, I do. But that’s actually not what I wanna discuss with you.” His face turned serious and he looked her in the eyes.

“Muna didn’t go out without a fight…of sorts.”

Jerome literally heard her heart skip a beat. He leaned in and took her in his arms. “She sent some beings after us but none of them are as powerful as she is. These are the people she had imprisoned in her clutches for many years. With her dead, they would have been free anyway.”

“So she used them to come after me,” Csala said. “If she can’t have me why can’t I have my life? Even in death, this succubus won’t leave me alone.” Her voice broke and she tried not to cry as she spoke.

Jerome caressed her hair and back with feather-light touches, helping her relax. “Don’t worry. Achilles…the voice of the mountain, will let me know how many they are and their abilities. Soon enough. They definitely won’t be too much for us to handle.”

“If you get me to this place you talked about, we would definitely have more power to deal with them,” Csala said, her voice sounding more stable and confident.

“True and they won’t be able to reach us in many days. Well, we estimate fifteen days. By then we should already have your psychic powers fully restored. We should leave then.”

They stood up and quickly put on their clothes before dashing into the air, heading for the Itakars.

~~~

City Of Alva, South of Vorthe

Lulu had gone from ‘street porter’ to a decent-looking waitstaff. Rihal slowly took in his attire and demeanor. He had done a lot to get the man to not just look the part but dress the part. The Alvrics employed journeymen from different backgrounds to supervise their slaves working in their various businesses.

The ‘Daimon’s Tankard’ was one such establishment. A place of debauchery and denigration. Women from different societies across the South Sea are captured and enslaved just to sate some nobles’ dark fetish.

The Royal Family had known about this all along but didn’t have the opportunity to stop it. They were Lords of Vorthe but the Sovereign wasn’t a dictator. He ruled all of Vorthe with the support of the Great Clans. And the support of the lesser clans. All the Great Clans had beliefs and traditions they abided by and Alvric had theirs too. But now that they had fallen out with Vorthe, they had no more use to the Royal Family.

Rihal walked away from the trembling Lulu who had an expression of seeking approval from his new master. He walked up to the window overlooking the Daimon’s Tankard. The noise from the street sounded muffled and far away from his position. A scripted symbol expanded to cover the roof of the room blocking out sound but also effectively keeping others from spying on the inhabitants of the room.

“An accident would befall someone inside the establishment by night. You will apply for the new vacancy that will be opened early tomorrow morning. Make sure to keep discussions minimal when you go to apply and act with as much reserve as you can — like I taught you.”

“Yes, master,” Lulu responded with a bow.

“Do this well…and I will reward you handsomely,” Rihal turned to him. “You may go. Tomorrow morning at first light, make your way to the brothel.”

Lulu couldn’t help himself and looked up with wonder at the large scripted symbol that covered the whole roof and was glowing brightly. He scrambled out of the room moments later and shut the door slightly behind him.

“Master,” Rihal said, looking at a shadowed corner in the room. “To what do I owe the honor of seeing you during a mission?” He bowed to his master who walked out of the shadows in the corner.

“I can see you found someone trustworthy…and very quickly I might add.” Damien stopped in front of him, dressed all in black leather armor.

“You praise me excessively, master. It was quite easy. The Alvrics have created a rift between themselves and their subjects. Many of them can easily be swayed to commit treason for a few cuts.”

“Hmm,” Damien Vorthe nodded, looking distant. “They never listened to logic, remaining adamant to continue with their old ways. The first Vorthe did not take away their autonomy for the ‘occupation’ because House Fei might have come up with ways to question his rule. They would have called him a dictator and spread lies about him…

“That was a sensitive time in the history of Vorthe. A time when Vorthe wanted to establish his reign with as little propaganda as possible. It was a lot harder keeping those two clans in line than we know. But I digress.

“The First Elder is finally ready to enact the plan. You are to have your prisoner in custody tomorrow by nightfall. Milena would be here to assist you.”

Rihal frowned slightly, but only for a split moment. However, Damien still caught the change.

“You don’t approve?”

“I will do as you instruct, master,” he said with a bow.

A lot was riding on this mission. If they were to put the Alvrics at a disadvantage before an all-out war began, they had to take out all their Sages. And it had to be done with subtlety. Or a lot of lives would be destroyed.

Rihal had never seen Sages fighting, but he knew they were a catastrophe waiting to happen.

~~~

Terra Praeta, Northern Hemisphere

The Itakars were waiting outside the cave for them when they got there. Nia turned to Csala and gave her a knowing smile.

“Look how your skin glows, Csala. Might I ask what you’ve been up to,” Selene asked with a whisper.

Csala coughed, going red instantly. The two human girls giggled at her causing her to grow a shade darker. “I’m not telling you,” she mumbled.

“Awwn, come on,” Selene said with pretend hurt. “You’ll hurt our feelings.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Details, Csala. We need to hear it,” Nia whispered from beside her leader. “And ye said ye don’t want him.”

Csala watched them taunt her playfully, a smile forming on her own lips. She’d never had friends before so this was all new to her. But she knew that they were being sincere with her. She could sense it. They weren’t jealous or anything. Selene was in love with the tallest Sprout in their group, the one called Trudhorn. She looked over at the other members of Selene’s team. They were doing their best not to look her way.

Jerome bumped fists with them before heading into the cave to bring down the barrier. The boys on Selene’s team all turned to face away from her the moment Jerome left them. Something they weren’t doing the day before. Csala knew the girls must have talked to the boys about it. Or perhaps they were deliberately looking away from her because they thought — no knew — she was Jerome’s woman.

Csala sighed. If only that were true. She’d be deceiving herself if she said she didn’t love Jerome. She thought about how she had fallen head over heels for the troublemaker who barged into her life with the force of a whirlwind and stole her heart away.

But alas, she couldn’t have sex with him. She refused to give up her freedom for love — not the kind of love that would put her in shackles. That was not love, it was slavery. She also couldn’t let Jerome live that kind of life. Thankfully he had someone waiting for him back home.

“Well, let’s move a ways away from here.”

“Ajax,” Selene called out. “We’re going for a stroll.”

Selene’s brother gave her a knowing smile but quickly looked away. Csala was still fascinated by their hair and appearance. She’d never tell Selene that though. At least not yet. The girls saw her as a mystery. A bit similar to the way men see her, but without the lust in their eyes. It made it easier to keep them attentive to her. She wouldn’t want to become a regular lady around them.

Weird, she thought. When did I start concerning myself with how other people see me? She had no answer. Or perhaps she did. It was when she started to care about what Jerome thought of her. And now she was concerned about what his friends thought of her too. What an exhausting way to live.

They walked away from the boys, climbing up the cave to give themselves some privacy.

~~~

Jerome came out of the cave and the Itakars mounted their wolves. He looked around, seeing that everyone was set to leave. Right. He remembered he hadn’t told his friends about where he and Csala were going.

Csala walked up to him with slow steps, hips swaying beautifully. Selene was right behind her Trudhorn too.

“Now that Muna has been dealt with, Selene and her team would like to come along with us to this, oh so secret place you haven’t said anything about,” Csala said.

“...yet,” Jerome interjected. “I haven’t told you about it ‘yet’. But now that I think about it, let’s make it a surprise.”

“At least tell us what to expect,” Selene said and Trudhorn hummed his agreement.

“Well. It’s going to be dangerous.” Jerome looked around, seeing that the rest of the team had gathered around them. They looked like a motley crew of pirates with their armor all thorn up in places. At least they looked clean.

“Danger ain’t gon’ stop us, Jerome,” Bram said. “This is the North and we are masters of the North and her cold.”

“Aye, we are not weaklings. We survived the monsters of these mountains,” Nia said.

“No, no. They are a bunch o’ smelly pups, nothing more,” Bram said and the Itakars chortled happily.

“Very well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Jerome said, spreading his arms. He commended their bravery and willingness to charge into the belly of the beast. However… “The creatures that inhabit where we’re going would make the unbound look like pups for real. And the unbound were apex predators — at least in this habitat.”

He held Csala to himself and unfurled his wings before taking off into the sky with the Itakars following behind. There was no need to let the Itakars know he could fly without his wings.

~~~

“It’s simple, Yan. Just as Mother said, the forest creatures would scatter during the alignment. And we would have the chance to enter it safely…well, as safely as possible. It’s still a given that not all of us will survive,” Fei Lin said to her friend and teammate as they wiped themselves off with wet towels.

They had been camping near the forest for days now and had taken the time to set up camp. A few tents stood around hers to keep her in the center of their camp. They created a training spot and made sure they had adequate food and water to wait for the alignment. They had just finished today’s training as well and were freshening up. But the wait was killing them with boredom.

“We’ve just been here for so long, that it’s getting on my nerves,” Fei Yan said. “Exactly when would the alignment be? And how long would it take?”

Someone else put their head into their tent. “It usually starts on the last day of our stay in Terra Praeta. And it’ll last for — I don’t know. A quarter of the day?”

“Shut up, Aila,” Fei Lin said. “It’s not going to take that long. This means we’ve got to be very fast so we can reach The Waters of Irithiya as fast as we can. All we need to do — why are you all here?”

All the girls had snuck into her tent to listen to her tell this story, even though they had heard it from their arms masters back at home. They snickered when they heard her change in tone but none answered her.

Home. Fei Lin missed home. And she wanted to go back as soon as possible. Away from this gods-forsaken place.

“Anyway. All we need to do is dunk ourselves into the Waters of Irithiya.”

“That’s it?” one of the girls asked.

“That’s it, Ruiwen. You just need to dip yourself into the water,” Lin rolled her eyes at the girl’s unbelief. She’d probably not heard it from one of the arms masters back home and heard it from a teammate. That’s why she was so unbelieving.

Fei Lin had heard it from Mother, the Matriarch herself.

Someone coughed just outside the tent, a male from the tone of voice. She quickly reached down to pick up her wrap and cover her fair skin.

“Princess it’s me, Lang. We’ve got company.”

Fei Lin’s eyes went round as saucers. “How is that possible?” She quickly got dressed and exited her tent to join her teammates outside the camp.

They all exited the camp to see the intruders, or supposed intruders since the Feis couldn’t lay claims to the land here. Terra Praeta was no man’s land even though the Sovereign of Vorthe held power over it.

Getting closer and closer to them was a team of Sprouts she was not expecting. But she quickly reasoned how fortunate they were that it wasn’t the Royals. If it was the Royals, she would have ripped her own hair out of her head in frustration because they would have made things unfavorable for her teammates.

“We can use this to our advantage, right Lang?” Fei Lin asked.

“No, Princess,” Lang said from beside her. “Look up.”

She did. And wished she hadn’t. The cur of the Royal family was here and if he left Terra Praeta intact, her family’s secrets would follow him and be revealed to the Royals.

“We can’t allow him leave here alive,” she said tightly. “What should we do?”

“Simple,” Lang said with a smile. “He’s definitely the most powerful person among them and from what I glimpsed from before, he’s friends with them. We’ll duel for the right to enter the forest. Trust me, he’ll take the duel.”

The Feis moved closer to the team of House Itakar that had stopped a few paces away from them. They watched as Jerome landed lightly in the snow with a new figure. Someone they’d never seen before.

“Don’t you think that’s absurd?” Fei Lin heard one of her teammates whisper. “Doesn’t she know the color red would only attract predators to her?”

Fei Lin smiled. If the other team could move around with dumb people, then they weren’t really prepared for Terra Praeta. It’s a miracle they survived for so long.

“You are not welcome here,” Lang began.

“And what authority do you have over the Dark Forest?” the Royal cur said, walking toward her team, which surprised Fei Lin. Did he know something? Wait, he called it the ‘Dark Forest’.

“Forest of Shadows, Jerome. That’s what it’s called,” Lang said as they walked toward them so they could meet in the center.

“That’s what you call it, not the denizens of Terra Praeta.”

What? Fei Lin almost faltered.

Lang shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You won’t be going in.”

The cur chuckled. “And who’s gonna stop us, you?”

Lang stood up straight as menace began to ooze off him. “I propose a duel,” his voice boomed all over the clearing where both teams stood. “Whichever team wins will have the chance to enter the Forest of Shadows.”

This was almost perfect. They could silence the Royal cur and keep the Itakars from seeing what was inside. Perhaps they could swear the Itakars to an oath of secrecy, and get them on their side — that was one very good way to form a political ally. Maybe.

No matter what they did though, the Royal must not find out about the Waters of Irithiya.

The crowd of Sprouts backed up with Jerome and Lang in the center. Things were going smoothly. Too smoothly in fact, that it felt a bit weird. The cur agreed to the duel too easily — with a smile at that. As if he had any chance of defeating someone who was at the threshold of the Spirit Realm.

Fei Lin watched the robed Sprout materialize a crude-looking spear from his storage ring. That wouldn’t hold up against Lang’s katana, she thought with a chuckle. He wasn’t even wearing armor, only furred robes. And she admitted, his robes were of great quality. But they wouldn’t stop a blow of sword force from crippling him. Or even killing him.

Lang charged.