A tasty, savory aroma permeated the cave’s air. I sniffed the warm wonder and nodded. It was obviously Wolf’s ganmodoki.

“Geyah!” I yelped and grimaced as I saw yellow lichen passing a flat rock among them, so it was headed for the entrance. On top was a steaming bundle of cheesecloth. I chuckled and grabbed it before it could reach Wolf.

“Hey! Give me my ganmo!” Wolf bared his fangs as he growled and raced for my feet.

I danced around his bite attempts as I dangled the bundle before him.

“No. This is my reassurance that yah take me to the master.”

I stowed the bundle in my tunic pocket and crouched low to meet his snapping snout.

“Be a good boy, and not only will I give this back to yah, warm and fresh, I’ll add the one I promised.” I pressed my finger to his forehead for effect.

Wolf stopped snarling with a huff. “Fine. Don’t be slow.”

A rustle like the sound of chatter was heard at my back. I turned and faced Eve, who was trying not to smile. Was the lichen laughing at us? Well, whatever, as long as that yellow thing wasn’t going to crawl all over my face, they can laugh all they want.

“I’ll be going.” I nodded and hurried after Wolf, retracing our steps back to the foyer.

But instead of going through the glass hallway this time, we passed through a hidden door and into a dingy and narrow stone corridor. It was so damn dusty that I was struggling to keep my sneezes down. My eyes widened with fright when I saw spiders crawling the walls and kept running into webbing.

“Geyah! I hate spiders.” I flinched and shivered. Hastily rubbed the nasty things off my arms.

“Wolf! Why are we going this way, yah git!” I hissed at the critter.

He cackled. “Shortcut, two-legs. Can you keep up without falling over yourself?”

I growled, figuring this was the skirrat’s payback. But the whole place was making me jumpy. I yelped when I felt something tickling my skin and was petrified to move. Wolf sighed and ran back to me. He crawled up to my shoulder and began whacking things off my back. From the corner of my eye, I saw his amber eyes glow.

“Hey, now.” I gulped when I felt a warm sensation wash down my body like a shower; glanced at my hands and saw my aura swelling with an intense amber light that was burning away the webbing.

When the light faded, I was squeaky clean.

“Wolf. Forget the one, yah get three!” I beamed with delight at my spider and dirt-free body.

My eyes blinked at the wide berth the other small spiders were giving me. Some even scurried away in fright. Wolf hopped off my shoulder to look up at me with a smug attitude.

“Pfft, something like this is cub play.”

He turned around. We resumed our way to reach the stone wall. Wolf leaped onto protruding bricks in a pattern that made the stone groan and stir clouds of dust in my face.

“And there goes yah credibility.” I cough.

“I still get the extra three, right?” He checked over his shoulder.

I chuckled. “Yeah.”

We waited for the wall to swing wide, then stepped into another hallway. I realized it was the back end of the master's office area. Wolf had me wait before the cloth door.

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“I go check first and give intro.” He hurried inside.

I heard the master's voice.

“Neven. Everything is well?” he said as he greeted me and allowed me inside.

Before I could get into my business, I tended to Wolf’s by having his ganmodoki heated up on a plate over the small table burner with permission and asking for three more servings.

“I’ll compensate with an added bonus to yah,” I said to the master, who had his eyebrows lifted with interest.

“And that would be?” The master eased into his chair.

I can tell he was humoring me to see where I would take this conversation.

“Lichen insight.”

He didn’t hide his excitement at hearing these golden words. But, naturally, he wasn’t a fool, so he glanced at Wolf, who had started eating the patties at his usual spot on the side table near the door.

“If truf, dis git know leechim,” Wolf muffled without stopping his tofu patty devouring.

Master Asuras rose and went to tinker with a metal bread box on a small nightstand. He returned with a bread plate holding three steaming, fresh ganmodoki that he placed before Wolf. The creature went quiet as his focus was on his food.

“Now. Tell me everything in detail, Neven. What bought you here?”

I provided a recap and reasons for my visit. A frown creased his forehead. He stroked his beard with thought. He rose and began pacing the floor.

“Putting aside how you knew about pact seeding, the reason our men haven’t formed pacts with their kretchin is because we lack an intermediary.” He peered at me with questions for some time before assuming his seat again.

“But you don’t seem worried about this?”

I gestured to the empty chair. He nodded.

“I might have yah solution.” I eased into it and began telling him of Eve with the barest facts.

Naturally, I left out the parts about the herensuge and how Eve had been following me since Morsaquasis. I wasn't sure how he would take this, and it wasn't relevant to the purpose that brought me to him.

He explained that seeding a pact required a request to a realm guardian. Should they gain consent, they would then help the host set terms with the kretchin for the cohabitation. The guardians were the only intelligent species who could effectively communicate with an unseeded kretchin.

“And I’m not talking about humankind guardians, but spirits of nature. From my experience here, The Zone and most of Hellbore Labyrinth have no such being.”

I frowned. “Hellbore Labyrinth. So there really is a Hellbore!”

Master Asuras chuckled. “Of course. The reason people curse with this name is because of this place's reputed foulness. As you can see, there are liveable areas. But not everywhere in the labyrinth is like The Zone.”

I nodded. We returned to the subject.

“So, this guardian is willing to help us with the pact seeding.”

The master nodded while stroking his beard with his thoughts.

“This is a conundrum. While I’m not against this plan, it does have heavy consequences. Namely, the entire Anwar Henchman Order will need to undergo the process. With certain tenure to some of the men, it might be at a cost to Rose Reach.”

I gasped. “Seriously?! How many would that be?”

Master Asuras stopped stroking his beard and stared at me with a sober expression. “159 impacted.”

“That's too cruel!” I blurted out my exasperation over the matter.

The master eased his expression with a sad and troubled sigh, as he looked away to face the lichen growing in a hanging dish nearby.

“Some of the henchmen are beginning to lose control over their hands and other parts of their bodies.”

“Then let's give them control back. If yah willing, I can ask Eve if she will help with this coverage.”

“If you can do that, I would like to talk to her myself.”

His eyes were back to his animated passion. Of course, she was likely his dream woman. The thought gave me the shivers.

“Deal.”

A loud and hearty burp drew our attention to Wolf, who had polished his plates and was slumped down, looking more than content and ready to snooze.

“Wolf. No napping yet. I need you to carry a message to Chief Randall. It has to be secretly held just for him.”

The skirrat groaned, but groggily hopped off the table and padded his way to the master. He received his instructions and then walked out the door.

“For now, Neven. Return to your duties,” Master Asuras said to dismiss our conversation.

I rose, bowed, and calmly made my way back to the training room.