Her new Bag adjusted over her shoulder, it was time to regroup with Alyx and Salos.

Cass struggled to stand, her wounds complaining loudly with the effort. She fell back to the ground with a whimper. Her abdomen was still badly injured from the lion’s claws and every movement sent new spikes of pain rippling through her core. It took a few tries, her legs shaking under her as she used her staff to leverage herself up.

She leaned heavily on the staff and kicked out her fire.

Salos was a ways off, if she wanted to meet up with him, she needed to get moving.

She took a single step forward before stopping. She frowned. How did she know where he was?

There hadn’t been any doubt in that first step. She’d been sure that was the right way.

She closed her eyes and did a shuffling spin in place, turning around a couple of times before stopping and pointing in the direction she thought Salos was.

It was the same direction she’d started walking. Two for two wasn’t exactly a plethora of evidence, but her head was spinning more than she liked from the little she’d already done, she wasn’t going to push it further.

It sure seemed like she knew where he was.

If she focused on that feeling she could even tell he was getting closer. Still a ways off, but closer.

“Oh!” Cass snapped. Right. It must be that.

[Demonic Connection - while bound demon maintains Separate Form, wearer and demon may sense the location of other party.]

The new ability on her cursed necklace. The one that had been added when Salos got Separate Form. Salos had it too, according to the description. He was probably using it to find her right now, which was how he was getting closer.

She should hurry back to him, she decided and shuffled in his direction, leaning heavily on her staff.

She scanned the forest around her with Foraging and Identify as she walked. Mostly, she found familiar plants—Lightningwood, Stormwell Oaks, Vineroot, Aster, Sorrel—but also a few new plants, or perhaps plants that Forage hadn’t considered interesting before when it was a lower level.

Uvana Mugwort - a tall herbaceous plant, with wide hand-shaped leaves and pink flowers. The leaves can be eaten to increase Stamina recovery or dried and ground into a paste and applied to sore muscles to relieve muscle fatigue.

Pillow Root - a low-lying herbaceous plant with extensive rhizome networks. Though very bitter, these rhizomes can be consumed to dull pain and reduce inflammation.

Undine Sage - a bushy herb with white flowers which glow in the dark. The leaves are a popular herb. Boiling them has minor Focus recovery properties.

All of these went in her Bag except a piece of pillow root, which she chewed on while she walked. It was as bitter as advertised, but between it and the magic of Vitality and Health, her pain decreased with every slow step.

It was probably half an hour later that Cass crested the ridge of a rocky hill. Above the sky was the same dark grey as always. Behind, the tree line thinned. Below her, a woman hiked up the other side, a dark-colored cat on her shoulder.

“Alyx! Salos!” Cass exclaimed.

Alyx looked up in surprise. Salos gracefully jumped from the swordswoman’s shoulder and flitted up the hillside, his feline form slipping from one shadow to the next, seeming to skip the space between.

“Oh, thank the depths,” he muttered as he hopped up onto Cass’s shoulder.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“You miss me?” Cass asked.

He looked away. “No.”

“You did.” Cass grinned and poked his stomach.

He snorted.

“You were worried about me.”

“Hardly,” he scoffed. “I could tell you were alive.”

“That doesn’t mean you weren’t worried,” Cass said.

“And maybe I should have been worried,” he said. “Look at you. What happened to you?”

“Cass,” Alyx said, catching up with Salos a minute later. The woman’s eyes went wide at the sight of Cass. “What happened to you! How are you walking?”

Cass shook her head, it wasn’t that bad anymore. “I’m okay.”

She glanced down at her abdomen, frowning. It did look bad. The cloth around the wound was crimson, drying to rust brown, and hanging off her in shreds. There wasn’t much left of her clothing at this point.

That said, she really was okay. Cass rummaged around in her Bag and pulled out a handful of the pillow root she’d found. “This is taking the worst off of it. Found it on my way to you two.”

Alyx’s eyes grew even wider. “You found that here? You know herbs?”

Cass frowned down at the ginger-looking root in her hand. “Is that strange? I just have a skill for it?”

Alyx and Salos both shook their heads in disbelief.

“Why would you just tell her that?” Salos sighed, speaking aloud but in his Depths Tongue rather than in Jothi.

“Should I not?” Cass asked in Jothi.

“I’m just surprised your skill set is so diverse,” Alyx said. She raised her hand and started ticking things off with her fingers, “Herbology, four Domains, Rogue skills, Martial skills, and this is what you’ve been willing to show me?”

“Is it really that strange?” Cass asked Salos more than Alyx.

“You shouldn’t have shown her everything you can do,” Salos said lazily. He yawned, this opinion hardly new or surprising.

Alyx shrugged.

Cass decided that it was best they move on. “Right, I have something for you two!”

She returned the herb to her bag and retrieved the marbles instead. She held one out to both of them.

“Oh, the Herald’s treasure. Thank you,” Alyx said. She took the marble and a moment later it exploded into a long, slender sword. The blade shone gold in her hands.

Reverberating Longsword

[Class: Longsword (Enchanted)

Ability: Reverberating Cut - Allows a cut made with this ability to cut in multiple places across the target’s body simultaneously.]

“For me too?” Salos asked but touched his marble all the same. When the smoke from the explosion settled, it had materialized into a collar around his neck, complete with a bell and name tag. He snorted. “I don’t know what I was expecting.”

Companion’s Bell

[Class: Apparel (Enchanted)

Increase the Frt of all allies in an aura effect by 5%.

Optional - Increases the perception by others that the wearer is an ordinary pet.]

“Still,” he said in his native language, tapping the bell on the collar. Cass felt her perception around him fuzzing ever so slightly. “Demeaning as it might be, it is what we need. It would be less than ideal if my true race was realized.”

“Seems like Alyx got the best thing,” Cass said, eyeing the gold sword covetously.

“Why? Do you need a sword?” Salos asked. “Can you even use a sword?”

Cass shook her head.

“Then what good would that thing do you?”

“I could have gotten a new weapon too though.”

He snorted again. “You fight with a staff. You throw magic on the tip to make it a spear. Do you think you need something fancy to make that strategy more effective?”

Cass hung her head.

“Herald rewards are based on need first and foremost. Alyx lost her primary sword, so she got a new one. I need to remain uninteresting to the casual observer, so,” he gestured to his collar.

He was right, of course. A fancy weapon would be wasted in her hands. It was just hard not to be jealous when her Bag actively worked to make her ignore it and Alyx was swinging around her flashy new sword.

And what else did she need?

Honestly, clothing was what she wanted most. Cass poked at the crispy, blood soaked and then dried edges of her PJs with a sigh. But she would have definitely been disappointed with a new shirt for her reward for nearly dying.

Alyx sighed as she sheathed the new sword—because of course it fit perfectly in her empty scabbard—and turned back to Cass. “Once again, it looks like I need to thank you. Not only did you save us from the Herald, you got us these treasures.”

Cass shook her head. “It was a team effort, isn’t that why we all got treasure?”

“Maybe,” Alyx said slowly. “But if I was alone I don’t think I would have escaped, much less won this.”

Cass shrugged. “And I don’t think I could have snatched the treasure orb without you distracting it, so it's fine.”

“But you—” Alyx cut herself off, shaking her head. “Alright, if you say so. It was a team effort.”

Cass nodded emphatically.

Salos rolled his eyes. “If we’re done, perhaps we should keep moving before the Lord of the Forest decides to drop by too?”