Morning came with a quiet whispering of wind blowing through our campsite. The boys had awoken and were rough housing in a distant end of the tent, laughing and arguing as brothers do.

I yawned and rose slowly, my joints protesting the chill loudly. The three stopped playing with whatever they had, and jogged over to me.

“Good morning, Mr. Ivor! We were just playing with the glowstone. I hope that’s okay.” Ahte-naah shuffled his feet and looked at the floor.

“That’s fine,” I yawned. “Although we do need to get you a bath. You three smell like you’ve not had one in a while, which I wouldn’t be shocked at, given your situation.” I pulled one of the backpacks out of the bag, and started rummaging through it. “Let’s see. I know I have some cleaning wipes somewhere in here.” After a couple of minutes, I found the package I was looking for, and Duplicated it four times. “Here,” I said, handing each of them a pack, “Take off those clothes so I can figure out a way to clean them, and go over into the corner there and use as many of those wipes as you need to wipe yourselves and each other down. If you get confused, tell me, and I’ll help. I promise you I won’t be upset.”

The three disrobed to their smallclothes, revealing a finely scaled and patterned skin. I took the smelly clothing and wondered just how the hell I was going to remove the possibly month’s worth of stink.

I couldn’t just burn it out, nor did I have the facilities to properly launder them. I sat there, stumped, until Ahte-ukum padded over to me.

“I think we’re done, Mr. Ivor. We used up one of those packages completely.” He stood there, fidgeting nervously.

“Did you each make sure to clean yourselves under your smallclothes? That part is important, too. A lot of stinky smells can come from those places.” He nodded, and I let the matter be. “You boys stay here where it’s warm, and I’ll be back with these.” I rose, gathering their clothing and Unlocked the tent, stepping out into the relatively cool morning air.

Blainaut was already awake and had made a small fire. “Good morning, Ivor. I trust you slept well. Those three have always smelled terrible to me, so I made sure to house them on the opposite end of my home, away from guests and people.” He shook his head in disbelief, “How you could bear to touch them, let alone hold one of them is simply beyond me.” He repressed a shudder, but barely.

I decided to not let his words bother me. Instead I focused on just how long it had probably been since the boys had had a proper bath. Their clothes were tattered, but serviceable, and had obviously been patched at several points. I decided that forcing water through the clothes would likely disintegrate them, as fouled as they were. I began pacing slowly, the problem reverberating in my mind, until I reached the back part of the camp, which had, until now, been concealed by the tents. “Blainaut? Can you come here, please? I need a hand.”

He grumbled and rose from his seat, muttering something about being comfortable, and he walked irritatedly to my position. “I am not helping you clean those rags, nor am I - “ He cut off as he realized what I needed help with.

Outside our camp, nestled right against the Dome was a bear the size of an African elephant, and it was sleeping. Blainaut started to shake with fear. “Ivor, we have to leave now. If that thing hears us or smells us or even thinks we are here, we will all die.” He grabbed at my arm, and started pulling me away. “Please, Ivor. You don’t know what that is capable of.”

I shrugged his hand off of me, and pondered. “Blainaut, that bear can’t see, hear, or smell us. We just happened to be camping near its nest. That’s all. If we leave now, it will notice us, and kill us. I think I can use it to solve a couple of problems, though.” I went back into my tent and reached into my bag, retrieving the rifle. “Boys, stay put. There is danger outside, and this will be extremely loud. No, it isn’t Blainaut. However, if I can do this, I’ll be able to solve several problems we have right now. I’ll be back.”

Walking out, I drew a round from my coat, and looked at it. I hoped this would penetrate the thick skull of the bear. Perhaps I could make that happen more easily? I touched the tip of the bullet and whispered “Harden.” The bullet shifted from the normal copper to a bright silvery color. I had no idea what metal it was now. I loaded the round, and took aim, sighting the hollow at the base of the skull.

CRACK

The bear’s head split like a ripe melon, spraying gore across the meadow. I headed back into my tent, and stored the rifle in the bag, and pulled my knife. Time to get to work. “It’s alright, now boys. The danger is gone, I think. I have some work to do. Would you like to come watch?”

The three of them hopped up, excited as they could be. Ahte-ukum took hold of my hand, and we all went out to where the animal lay. Blainaut hadn’t moved, the shock of what had just happened must have hit him pretty hard. I walked to the edge of the Dome, and whispered “Release.” and the Dome wavered, then vanished. A lone crow cawed its surprise from an old, dead oak tree not too far from us. “Sorry, Mr. Bird! I’ll have something for you to eat after a bit, okay?” A soft croak was the only answer from him. I shrugged and drew my knife. This would be a long process.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

In order to speed it up, I took hold of the blade of my knife, and whispered “Ever sharp razor’s edge, perfect balance.” That way, I’d never need to sharpen it again, and it would feel weightless in my hand.

It was a good thing, too, as the hide of this creature was rather thick, and would have been a nightmare to skin and butcher otherwise. I made my incisions, and got to work. I had to use a few Hands of Air to help hold the skin a few times, but it was worth it, in my opinion. I got the hide off the animal in a single piece, and then got to work butchering the meat. This way, the boys would have a good meal at least once.

Several hours later, I was covered in blood, and we had a veritable mountain of meat of many different cuts, and portions. As promised, I dragged the offal and most of the bones to the tree, and left them as an offering to the crows and to the land. A single death could sustain many lives, after all. I gave the boys their choice of the meat, and they went off to peer through the offerings.

Taking a lean portion, I sliced it thinly and laid it out on the grass. I had little in the way of seasonings, but I knew I could get some salt from the earth. I lay my left hand on the ground, and whispered “Pull salt.” After a few minutes, I had about a pound of salt mounded in front of me. I quickly salted the meat, and went back to my tent, to get some food. I was starving, and had a headache.

Blainaut approached me, and took me by the shoulder. “Ivor, stop. You’ve cast a lot of magic today. It’s starting to affect you pretty noticeably.” He pointed at my waist, where my pants were beginning to slip down my hips.

“So it is. Huh. I should up my calories, then.” I shrugged and started chewing on some jerky. “I don’t have much choice, Blainaut. I want to help these boys get home. We all want to see what sort of justice you will face for your actions. The lizardfolk are thinking, feeling, sapient beings, and nobody has the right to enslave them. I’ll see to it that you are the first. I do not trust you. You’ve begun to act more humanely towards them, and that’s a great start. I don’t know if you’ll ever see them as people, just like us, and that’s where the problem lies. To me, they’re just kids. Kids with a different skin, sure. But kids, nonetheless. I’ll die before I allow anyone to hurt them again. I’ll make it my life’s work to eradicate slavery in any form. It’s wrong, it’s vile, and it is beneath us. Wanna be a noble person? Treat all of life as if it were sacred. From that bear that I killed, to your king, all the way down to the grass we tread upon. Because what you seem to not understand is that it is sacred. I will be thanking that bear’s spirit with every bite of it I take, because it is keeping me and my boys alive. I have more spells to cast in order to preserve this meat, in order to make it safe to transport. I’m going to do everything in my power to keep us all alive and healthy so we can make it to our destination. What about you? Are you going to guide us to their territory, or will you run off? I can’t stop you, only your honor can, if you have any.” I shoved another piece of meat into my mouth and strode away, leaving Blainaut to stare.

The boys had each chosen a sizable chunk of meat, and were sitting off to one side with it. Each had apparently tasted it, and found it not palatable. Ahte-tan came over to where I was sitting, watching me chew on the jerky. “Mr. Ivor, the meat needs to be cooked. How do we do that?”

“Go fetch me the red bag from our tent. I’ll show you.” He ran off, and returned a moment later with the Bag of Holding. I reached in, and pulled out the small camp stove and cast iron skillet. I set the stove up, and then the pan. I walked over and took two of the massive ribs of the beast and split them, scraping out some of the marrow and depositing it into the pan. While I waited for it to liquefy, I started slicing each boy’s selected piece of meat into decent sized steaks.

I turned to Blainaut, calling out “Blainaut, are you hungry? I’m cooking food, and if you are, just bring me a piece of meat.” He walked over, picked up a rather choice piece of loin and handed it to me.

“Against the grain, please. Also, can you do something about my mouth? I’ve not been able to eat comfortably since yesterday.” He looked sheepish and apologetic.

“I’ll gladly slice the meat for you. I was a home cook in my world, so I’m used to meat preparation. And, yes. I’ll see about healing your mouth, but I warn you: it will hurt. I don’t know what I’m missing, but it gets the job done. The pain is momentary, but it feels like a lifetime. Let me get the boy’s steaks on the pan, first.” He nodded, and went to sit down. Once the pan and the marrow were hot, I set three steaks in, and headed over to where Blainaut sat.

“Are you certain, Blainaut?” I really didn’t relish causing pain.

He sighed, trembling. “Yes. I’m certain. Better a blast of pain and have it over, than a long, drawn out process, yes? Also, why would you agree to heal me? You don’t like me.”

“Open your mouth, please and hold your lip back. I need to see what is going on.” He did so, and I started inspecting the wounds. “I’m agreeing to this because I did this to you, and this will be my way of making amends. I also don’t like seeing people in unnecessary pain. I can help, so I want to. I’m going to be reaching into your mouth, okay? This is part of the process.” He nodded, and I touched both his lip and his gums, which made him wince. “Sorry, Blainaut. Here we go.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on his flesh. “Knit flesh and seal wounds.” I whispered.

Blainaut’s eyes grew wide, and a ragged scream tore out of his throat, ripping through the afternoon sky. He fell back in the chair, a ragged sweaty heap. I wiped my hands on his shirt and waited for him to sit up. After a few moments of panting, he straightened and looked up at me, speaking hoarsely. “By all that is holy, that hurts. You were not joking.” He worked his tongue around his mouth. “It is healed, however. Thank you.”

I nodded. “You’re quite welcome. Now. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go turn these steaks.” I rushed off to care for my boys.