“Are you feeling any better?” Aila asked Jadis as they exited the city hall.

“I’m not thrilled, no,” Jay grumbled, her face still twisted up like she’d bitten into a sour apple.

High Priest Gerhardt’s compromise had not gotten rid of Vraekae’s guards. Instead, he’d proposed having one of his temple clerics join the escort to offer emergency aid in the case any healing was needed. With a true healer in close proximity at all times, there would be less of a concern for the three giants’ safety while out in the hills, thus allowing the Nephilim greater freedom. At least, that was how Gerhardt had sold the idea.

Magistrate Vraekae had agreed to the idea readily, suspiciously so. She’d told Jadis that her guards would be ordered to keep out of the range where they would sap experience away from her battles so long as the cleric was allowed to stay within range so that he or she could immediately react if healing was needed. She’d also suggested the healer check them after every battle to make sure they were healthy enough to continue.

Jadis had instantly rejected the idea of some unfamiliar priest exercising some kind of veto power over whether she was able to keep going out in the wilds or not, but Vraekae had been resolute. If the priest deemed her unfit to continue for the day, her guards would close in and keep her ‘safe’ until she returned to the city.

Gerhardt had given the three Nephilim a sympathetic smile, assuring her in a grandfatherly voice that any priests he sent to watch over her would do their utmost to ensure her safety.

His assurances had not comforted Jadis at all.

“Fuck this is such a pain,” Syd cursed, glancing over her shoulder to where the eight guards were still marching behind her in step. “Why can’t things just stay simple? We see demon, we kill demon, we level up. Simple.”

Aila patted Syd on the hip.

“I think you need to look at this from a different perspective,” she said with a calm smile. “There are bright sides to this arrangement that other mercenaries would probably kill for.”

“Like what?” Dys groused, shifting to one side to avoid knocking down a building awning with the oversized shield on her arm.

“Yes, we’ll probably end up with some of our experience getting syphoned off by guards getting too close,” Aila explained. “And they may even interfere if they think you’re in danger. But is it really that bad to have a safety net? It’s not a terrible idea to have some competent soldiers nearby if we get in over our heads.”

“No, I guess not,” Jay allowed. “But they’re going to slow us down and get in our business. If we wanted to have our hands held by bossy military types, we would have joined a mercenary company instead of going freelance.”

“You don’t know that they’ll be all that bad,” Aila shook her head. “Plus, High Priest Gerhardt’s offer to have a priest follow us for healing purposes is a boon. Any injuries that we might sustain that’ll slow us down can be healed in the field. No need to run back to town. And unlike any other mercenaries that might be lucky enough to get someone with a healing class to work with them, we don’t even have to split our earnings with this cleric. A free service like that is amazingly beneficial.”

All three of Jadis frowned, but Syd was the one to reply back to Aila’s positive spin on the situation.

“I may not have all the context, but I’m not ignorant. I can smell political maneuvering. That high priest guy didn’t make his offer out of the kindness of his heart. He wants one of his people near me for some reason.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that whole meeting wasn’t orchestrated just for that purpose,” Dys added. “Vraekae could have spoken to us in the hall or a side room or practically anywhere. She let us into that room so that the priest would have a reason to overhear and make his suggestion. Probably planned this whole thing out so we’d meet like that and make the healer seem like a good compromise, make us want it rather than reject it out of hand if she’d just offered it from the beginning.”

“That’s a tad Vascillian,” Aila said with a surprised expression. “I’m not sure going to those lengths to obscure and trick is worth it in this context…”

“A tad what?” Jay asked, confused by the unfamiliar word.

“Vascilli. He was a famous Volto prince who wrote a few treatises on politics and governance. A lot of his advice was on how to trick opponents into doing what you want, or something like that. I’ve never read his works myself.”

“You had one of those too, huh…” Jay pondered for a moment before shaking the odd coincidence off. “But besides the point. Tell me honestly. When you were speaking with that red-eyed bitch didn’t you get the feeling she was manipulating the hell out of the situation to get what she wanted?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Don’t call the magistrate that!” Aila admonished while reaching up and trying to cover Jay’s mouth with her hand. She couldn’t quite reach without hopping on her toes.

“Fine. That red-eyed Magistrate,” Jay emphasized the title in just the right way to make it sound like a foul epithet.

Aila sighed. “You’re probably right about the manipulation. I don’t know if the high priest is involved in her request or if he has some stake in this, though. Hard to tell. Either way, there’s nothing we can do about it right now, so we might as well just work with what we’re given.”

She gave Jay, Dys, and Syd an amused but exasperated few glances.

“What on Oros did I get myself involved with when I decided to hang around you three?”

“Sorry,” all three of Jadis said with genuine contriteness.

“Didn’t think things would swing in this direction,” Dys mumbled.

Aila waved the apologies off. “I’m not complaining. Leveling as fast as I am with you is worth a little bureaucratic trouble. Plus, there are other benefits I can think of.”

Syd leered down at Aila. “Yeah, we should probably take advantage of those benefits tonight. We need to recharge our Lover’s Bond ritual soon anyway,” she practically purred.

Aila did her best to hide her reaction to Jadis’ suggestive words and tone, but her blush betrayed her. Making the sexy redhead blush was becoming something of an addiction for Jadis. Teasing her lovely lover was a nice distraction from her irritation if nothing else.

Jadis and Aila made their way back to the city gates, unwelcome guards in tow. The promised cleric had been sent for and would meet them there. The fact that one had already been picked out and was ready to go so quickly only lent credit to Jadis’ suspicion that one or both of the powerful political leaders had planned this outcome.

The real issue of the situation was Jadis just couldn’t be sure why the magistrate was so insistent on seeing to her safety. She presumed it was because she was, ostensibly, the last of her species. But why did Vraekae care? Was conservation a major concern of hers, or an important policy of the Empire? Jadis doubted either was the case.

Not knowing the motive behind the actions was grating. She already had a literal god looking over her shoulder. She didn’t want any government officials trying to do the same, worming their own conditions into her life.

Jadis did her best to banish the frustrating thoughts from her mind once they reached the gates. The promised cleric hadn’t arrived yet, but her escort needed time to mount up anyway. The eight guards split off from her to retrieve their mounts. Jadis was half tempted to grab Aila and run out the gates but knew that was a foolish whim. Even if she could outrun them, she doubted she could avoid leaving tracks that experienced soldiers wouldn’t be able to follow.

“Hey Blue,” Syd called out while they waited for the escort to remount and the cleric to arrive. “How come there aren’t any healers in these guards? I mean, if they are supposed to protect me, why not send guards that can heal?”

“I don’t know that there are any guards that can heal in the city,” Aila replied. “Healing is almost exclusively the domain of divine magic. Those who gain a class that can heal are generally devoted to the worship of a god or gods and are gifted such a class because of the divine favor they’ve earned. Most naturally gravitate to the roles of priests because of that.”

“Couldn’t you just increase your divine attribute to some high number and practice a lot of first aid? Get a healing class that way?” Jay asked, curious to know what would help or hinder a person trying to get a healing class.

Aila looked thoughtful, then shook her head slowly. “I’m not sure that would work. Every healing class I know of involves some commitment to the gods and receiving their blessing. Even the rare martial classes that can heal are devoted to the gods in some way, such as paladins. You’re not that dissimilar from a paladin, actually.”

“What?” Dys said, surprised. She looked around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear, then leaned in towards Aila. “How? I’m the least fucking holy person I can think of that isn’t a murdering prick.”

The image of a shining knight in glorious golden armor, flaming sword lifted high flashed through Jadis’ thoughts. Superimposing her face on that figure was laughable. She was no godly crusader.

“You’re crass, yes,” Aila said with a smirk, bopping Dys on the tip of her nose with her index finger. “But you’re not heretical. You have a god’s known title in your secondary class’s name. That means at least that one god favors you. That’s exceedingly rare, you know. Not many can claim to have a god look upon them so favorably that said god grants them a class that represents their divinity.”

“I’m just lucky I guess,” Dys mumbled under her breath.

“Clearly,” Aila agreed. “You’d have to be, to gain the attention of Destarious, God of Luck, among other things.”

That was a revelation. Jadis hadn’t known if D had a particular divine domain or not. Luck seemed to make some sense, since it was luck that had brought her soul into the god’s reach, and it was a whole lot of luck that had kept her alive when she’d been alone in the abandoned village surrounded by bone thief infested woods. Not that Jadis felt her personal efforts were inconsequential, but she was self-aware enough to know there had to be some luck involved for her to make it as far as she had come.

“What else is D known for,” Jay asked, drawing a confused look from Aila. “You said he’s the god of luck, but also other things. I’m curious if he’s known among your people for aspects different from what I’ve known him for.”

“Well, he’s usually thought of as the god of luck,” Aila started, holding up her hand and ticking items off on her fingers. “But he’s also known as the God of Secrets, Mischief, Madness, and Fools. Most of my family and neighbors back in Red Tree are cautious about asking him for any favors. He’s a capricious god, not kind or honorable like Valtar or Ulya. There are stories of him aiding those who ask but tricking them at the same time, sowing confusion for his own amusement.”

“Yeah, that sounds like the god I know,” Jay said, running a hand through her hair.

“Might want to add cookies to that description, though.” Syd commented.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Aila opened her mouth, ready to pursue the odd comment from Jadis, but Jay interrupted her, motioning with a free hand towards a robed individual hurrying towards them.

“I think our cleric has arrived.”