Samba and Mark both stood in the boat, watching the shadowy figure approach them through the water. Samba was already running Aether through his Domain to keep his new friend safe.

As the shadow drew closer, Mark tensed up further, saying something in his language, but Samba chuckled.

A small Otter burst out of the ocean, spraying water all over the two friends and the boat.

"Yippee!!!" Greave leapt into Samba's arms and Samba swung him about, tipping the boat dangerously. Mark windmilled his arms to keep his balance, but his alarm was slowly turning to astonishment.

"Ori?"

Samba grinned wide, grabbing Greave with both hands under his armpits and holding him out to Mark. "My Child!"

"Re pueri?"

Samba placed a hand on his chest, said his own name, and then placed a hand on Greave. "Greave."

His son waved at the human with wide eyes. "Hi!"

"Hi!" Mark said back, though Samba wasn't confident that he knew what it meant. He said some more words that Samba couldn't understand and Greave wriggled out of his arms. Mark had sat down and now Greave climbed up into his lap and started to inspect Samba's new human friend.

"Whoa, he's got skin like a goblin but brown!" Greave used a paw to peel Mark's lip up. "And no fangs!"

"What! Greave don't do that!" Samba quickly grabbed his son off of Mark, but the human simply laughed. It appeared children getting scolded by their parents was universal.

"But he's so weird looking!" Even though Mark couldn't understand, Samba still smiled apologetically to him. He didn't seem fazed by it. Instead, he seemed intent on learning the language of monsters.

"Pueri? Child?" Samba assumed that "pueri" was either son or child and after a bit of awkward pantomiming he confirmed it. Greave thought this was a grand game and started pointing out everything around them and telling Mark the name for it.

The man seemed happy with Greave's game and settled in with a smile on his face. When was the last time that he got to just relax like this?

Samba grabbed his fishing pole. Thankfully, his line hadn't gotten tangled up so all he had to do was settle in. The three of them continued like that with Greave teaching Mark the language of monsters while Samba got to kick back with a fishing pole in his hand.

An hour later, Samba was starting to doze off when a strange noise made him blink. He looked to Mark who had already stood up in the boat and was looking back towards the human encampment.

The humans were yelling, one of which was running along their walls back towards the ocean. Before either of them had a chance to move, a wave of sand crested over the wall, sending humans flying from the attack.

For a brief moment, Samba was terrified, thinking that his clan had attacked the Humans, but he realized that none of his monsters had Earth powers. Something else was attacking the humans. Mark had already dove through the water and was racing as fast as he could back to shore.

Samba had to help.

He grabbed his son by the shoulders. "Greave, tell your mom to bring the clan. Our neighbors are under attack."

Not hesitating, Greave slammed a tiny paw to his stomach, giving a tight bow in the Sign of the Mother, before diving into the water and racing back towards the great hall. Greave would make an excellent Templar one day, though Samba wished he lived in a world where their Hall wasn't necessary.

Samba leapt in the water and kicked hard. He easily caught up to Mark, but he didn't feel like he could slow for him to catch up. He'd have to just hope that the humans realized that he was on their side.

Once the depth became shallow, Samba stamped one paw against the bottom and soared through the air to land on the rocky beach. He sprinted along the side of their village's wall and realized that he was already hearing the sounds of fighting ahead. The battle unfolded as he turned the corner.

Sand covered the top of the walls from the attack that Samba had spotted on his way in. Not all the humans had been knocked off by it and a dozen or more were shin deep in the sand, fighting back against other humanoids that had leapt to the walls.

As sword clashed against sword, Samba recognized the monsters that were attacking the humans. Their skin ranged from all shades and tints of reds with small horns jutting out of either their forehead or the top of their head. They were like Galvina - Demons.

With Samba's height, it was easy to jump up to the wall. The sand shifted as he stalked forward, but his footing remained firm. Like a parent scruffing their child by the neck, Samba grabbed the first demon that he found by his armor and tossed him off the side.

With a yelp, the demon landed just in front of another few dozen demons who looked very similar to the ones on the wall with their leather armor and short swords, but they weren't engaging the humans yet.

Samba continued marching forward as he studied his enemies, still tossing demons from the walls. Thankfully since the humans had seen him with Mark earlier, they didn't attack him, but that didn't stop them from keeping a wary eye on him. Samba stopped as his eyes fells on the Demon commander.

Unlike Galvina or the others, this one looked even taller than Samba and just as wide. The leather jerkin that this demon wore practically shone with Aether, but there was nothing covering the demon's arms, arms that were as thick as these human's torsos.

Strangely, he wore no obvious weapons and he had an odd marking of "VI" carved into his forehead or perhaps tattooed. It was hard to tell from the distance. Samba's mind immediately translated it to "six" somehow.

The demon commander had seemed content to wait as Samba rid the assaulting demons from the walls, not providing any commands to those waiting below. The two stared at each other until Mark made it to the wall as well.

He started barking orders to the other humans who seemed to only have light injuries as they'd come just at the start of the attack. Without turning to Samba, Mark held out his fist and Samba bumped it against his own.

They were in this together.

The big demon let out a single guffaw that sounded like a bubble of oil popping, both thick and viscous. "Well, lookit the little human's pet. Does he give you a warm bottle of milk at night?"

Samba dropped down from the wall, looking over the lines of demons to the demon commander. "You're not welcome here."

The demon commander laughed again, kicked himself off from the tree he leaned against and stepped forward. "Move," he said and the demons in front of him scrambled to part so he could approach.

He stood a few feet from Samba and for the first time in a long time, Samba had to look up to this demon.

"Y'see, this here's the Demon Empire and my pa is the Emperor. That makes me a Prince on my own land. You're not welcome here, but I'll tell you what. You look pretty strong. You bend the knee now, help us kill all these humans, and I won't see you in chains serving as a mule for some goblin farmer in the sticks."

"Counter offer. If you leave now, I won't shove your head so far up your ass that you can see your lunch."

The demon guffawed. "That's a good 'un. Ain't he a funny little pet?" The rest of the demons laughed nervously as he looked around at them, unsure if joining in was what the prince wanted or if it was bad to consider Samba funny.

The Prince's eyes snapped suddenly off to the right and Gi followed his gaze. The Templar and Priests were rushing across the beach towards the demon's lines. Between the humans and the Underbridge Clan, the demons were outnumbered.

As simple as he sounded, the prince was apparently pretty shrewd and didn't like his chances. He tapped the side of his nose with one big sausage like finger and then pointed at Samba. "I'll be seeing you, pet."

With a sharp whistle, the prince and remaining demons disappeared into the the thin trees of the woods beyond the human village. A few seconds later, Tala, Lamb, and Corin sprinted up to him, looking from the humans to where the demons had retreated.

"What's going on?" Tala asked.

Samba chewed on his lip. "I don't know. Seems like this continent might be as dangerous as the last."

The humans didn't relax as the demons left and instead grasped their weapons warily as they watched the Underbridge Clan that stood right at their door. The clan matched their hesitancy, but none of them did anything rash.

Samba shared a worried look with Mark. "We need to learn how to talk."

*****

Kumo and her followers had pushed further north after landing on the main continent. They'd seen a human encampment to their west, but they skirted around it following a river that moved further north and disappeared into a forest.

"Blech, why is this water so bland?" Floren said. The inquisitor had been the most vocal complainer of the entire lot. She didn't seem to be as debilitated by the rest from the pain of Gi's passing and she chose to use that strength to complain. "Damn, Kumo, are we gonna die if we drink unsalty water?"

"One can only hope," Sanya muttered to Kumo's left where she carried both Wane and Killer in her arms. The cat refused to be anywhere else.

Kumo didn't quite laugh, but it was the first time she'd smiled since Gi's death. She raised her voice so Floren could hear her. "We'll wait and see how you do before the rest of us drink it. Thanks for volunteering."

A sour look appeared on Floren's face, but she didn't say anything else... about the water. "What are we even looking for? I'm tired of traipsing about in these woods!"

Did Tiria have to deal with this when she led everyone? Kumo couldn't ever remember her Hunters being like this. She tried to be calm. "Shut the fuck up, Floren." She failed.

"It's just a question. I feel like we would have been better off staying near Igna. At least the river there was salty."

Sanya spoke up then. "We all left to go fight the demons. We have to find them first obviously."

Floren's paw slipped on a patch of mud and slid into the river, soaking her entire leg. She grumbled, loudly. "I don't remember agreeing to that. I just stuck with the other Inquisitors."

A mace dropped into Kumo's hand and she raced over to Floren. Seeing her coming, the otter panicked and fell immediately to the ground. It was lucky for her that she did. A short sword cut through the air where she'd been standing a minute ago.

Kumo swung her mace as hard as she could, but the demon in front of her somehow caught it on their blade. For a second, she thought the demon was Galvina, but she had a single large horn growing out the side of her forehead with a tattoo that looked carved into her flesh showing "VIII."

Sounds of more demons heading through the trees echoed out all around them. Kumo's shout brought all of the otters out of their daze at the sudden appearance of an enemy. "UNDERBRIDGE FIGHT!"