We need to get going as soon as possible, but setting off without even thinking about what we might need would be stupid.

The first thing I consider is supplies. Fortunately, with the number of slots I now have in my Inventory, I keep very little outside of it, only things which definitely won’t deteriorate and which I’m unlikely to need at a moment’s notice. In fact, all that I’ll need to grab from the alcove is a pot of water that I boiled earlier. It’s been cooling down ever since, but should be fine now.

My weapons situation isn’t as good as it should be – I’ve been too distracted recently by all the mystical and magical exploration that I haven’t actually done much to address my physical weapons situation. River has my only flint-tipped spear, though I have a couple of fire-hardened wooden ones.

As for arrows, I’ve fixed the ones which had minimal amount of work needed, but I haven’t taken the time to knap more flint-heads, nor have I fixed the arrows which had snapped into two parts. Overall, I have twenty-one arrows which are usable.

Apart from that, I have my mace, my knife, and, at a pinch, my axe. My Bound are all well-equipped with their natural weapons, River also carrying the afore-mentioned spear. That, plus our various magical advantages, will have to be enough.

The alternative is not one that I wish to consider.

Despite the distraction, I’ve managed to heal Hades’ limp fully. I’ve also quickly scanned River and Persephone. They’re all injured, but as River had said, not too badly. The worst damage is to Persephone’s wing – if she could fly on a normal day, she wouldn’t be able to at the moment. As it is, I don’t determine it as an essential injury to heal completely. Not right now, anyway. We need to get moving: the longer we delay, the further Fenrir gets and the more likely it is to be too late by the time we get there.

Breaking the connection with Persephone, I dash towards the cave, waving down Bastet and River when they move to follow me. Pausing at the cave entrance, I meet Kalanthia’s golden eyes. They look startled – did I wake her up with my abrupt entry?

No matter, she can go back to sleep after, if that was what she was doing.

“Fenrir’s been taken by a creature – we’re going to rescue him,” I tell her urgently, the spider-like image appearing in my mind’s eye and making me shudder once more. I see a little shape pressed against her flank perk up.

Can I come? the young nunda asks eagerly.

“No,” I say at the same time as Kalanthia gives off a negative wave of intent. “It’s likely to be too dangerous, and we need to move quickly. I don’t have time to look after you.” I feel a wave of indignation from her at my last words.

I can look after myself! Lathani objects strenuously. I bet you’re taking the little siblings with you. It’s a good point, but I don’t have time to argue with her.

“That’s Bastet’s choice to make. You are still your mother’s responsibility. She doesn’t want you to come so you’re not coming. End of subject,” I tell her sharply, frowning at her. Kalanthia rumbles to confirm my words. “I’ll see you when we get back.” Hopefully with Fenrir.

With a quick nod to Kalanthia, I duck into my alcove and pack my drinking water pot into my Inventory. More than half-full, it’s heavy, but I lift it easily enough. Taking a moment to glance around my alcove, I check that I’m not missing anything. A sudden thought occurring to me, I grab three of my jackets from my ‘bed’ – I suspect I’m going to need them, as bedding if nothing else.

I also spot my fire-starter sitting next to the hearth and my stomach swoops a little at the thought of accidentally leaving that behind. I’d assumed that it was in my Inventory since that’s where I normally keep it. River, however, has recently been starting some of the fires for his own potions experiments, so I’ve been leaving it there to be accessible to him.

Another, more thorough, glance around reveals that I haven’t overlooked anything else. Ducking out of the alcove, I head back towards my Bound.

Good hunting to you, Markus Wolfe, Kalanthia sends to me as I cross the threshold. I pause for a moment to send her grim acknowledgement, then continue.

“Let’s go,” I tell them, after having taken a moment to grab the half-eaten carcasses from their last hunt and put them in my Inventory. While eating Energy-rich meat is better for them, meat from my Inventory is better than starving.

Without a word, we turn and head down the hill. At first our progress is slow – I have to keep stopping to dive into my Core space to get our heading. I actually get most information from Fenrir’s Bond; though I have a very vague idea of where Sirocco might be, it’s much clearer from Fenrir – probably to do with the fact that my Dominate Skill is a lot higher than my Tame Skill. At least I know that Sirocco is following Fenrir, so by finding one, we’ll find the other.

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

After a while of not making much progress, I’ve had enough. It’s not working – I’m trying to balance the frequency with which I have to stop to check with the risk of accidentally going in the wrong direction but it’s still adding far too much time.

“Persephone, will you carry me?” I ask in frustration. Fenrir is still moving, so I definitely need to keep checking regularly, but at the same time I’m getting increasingly frustrated with any minute we aren’t spending travelling. Minutes we need considering how far behind this creature we are. When the kiina radiates confusion, I shove my thoughts at her, my emotions of fear and frustration inevitably attached too.

Very well, she replies with composure, crouching down for me.

No, Hades responds, stepping between us and glaring a little at me.

“We don’t have time to-” He interrupts me.

She is becoming increasingly egg-heavy. I will carry you. I pause. Fair point.

“I was going to heal her at the same time,” I point out without the anger that had been starting to kindle before his explanation.

You can heal from a distance can you not? he asks, sounding like a genuine question rather than a pointed one.

“I suppose,” I say a little dubiously. “But I will need physical contact to transfer the mana to you in the first place. And you will have to stay close together.” Especially when healing an injury as delicate as what’s happened to her wings. But looking on the bright side, this should be good practice for me healing from a distance.

Hades crouches as Persephone had been and I climb onto his back. Once I’ve settled myself with my feet hooked around his wings, sitting so my weight is directly over his back feet, we take off again.

“Is this OK?” I check with Hades quietly.

It is fine, the kiina responds stoically, though I sense it’s an extra strain for him – I see why he didn’t want Persephone to have it in addition to her pregnancy. I resolve to get off and run with them as much as possible.

For now, though, I lose focus on my surroundings as I dip into my Core space to check that we are still reducing the distance between us and Fenrir. When I come out of my Core space, satisfied, I call Persephone over. She presses her body as close as she can to her mate without either of them tripping each other. Reaching out with a hand, I channel my mana pool into her.

“You can move a little away,” I tell her after I’ve almost completely emptied my pool. “Not far, though.” She doesn’t argue, moving just far enough away that she doesn’t have to pay quite so much attention to not bumping into Hades at every step.

Focussing, I direct the mana within her towards her injuries, starting with her wing.

*****

By the time Fenrir stops moving, we’ve actually made some decent headway into narrowing the gap between us and him. I’ve fully healed all three of my Bound who were injured in the fight and have started feeding everyone present some of my mana.

We’ve been moving fast for a good few hours, and everyone needs a break. Even me – although I wasn’t running all the time, I did take my turn to give Hades as much of a break as possible. Of course, when I was riding, I wasn’t exactly idle either.

Once I had healed all of their assorted injuries, I actually concentrated my efforts on boosting Hades, trying to make up for my weight causing him more strain. I used my Flesh-Shaping to soothe aching muscles, repair broken or strained cells, and give him more energy. It’s not something I’ve done before, but with a mixture of the remaining knowledge from Lay-on-hands, my exploration with Flesh-Shaping, and my knowledge from Biology at school, I cobbled together something which seemed to work.

Even as my Bound rest a little, I tiredly move around from one to the other, doing the same thing to everyone as I had been doing to Hades as we ran. The three raptorcat cubs are particularly tired, lying slumped on the floor like piles of feather-fur and flesh which don’t intend to move ever again. I clear out the build up of chemicals in their body which are acting similarly to lactic acid, soothing their muscles and building them so they’re just that little bit stronger and more resilient.

I’m not sure why Bastet decided to bring them with us; I guess it’s to do with the pack moving together. Or maybe she doesn’t want to leave them alone again. Either way, they’ve done an excellent job at keeping up with the rest of us. I did notice that Bastet had copied my idea, though – when we paused for me to either climb back onto or off Hades’ back, one of the raptorcat cubs would leap onto Bastet’s back, held in place by her wings.

That way, each cub only had to run two-thirds as much as the other adults. Myself excluded, of course. I did notice that I’m still the slowest of the group – when Hades carried me, we all actually moved faster than when I was running alongside. Even the cubs seem to be faster than me, though their stamina isn’t as good. But that’s where being carried at regular intervals by Bastet came in useful.

I pull out the two half-eaten carcasses that I’d dumped into my Inventory before we left. Everyone descends like they’re half-starved. Actually, considering that they had been hunting before the whole debacle, they may be feeling more than half-starved.

I’m hungry myself – apparently using as much mana as I have been in the last few hours, not to mention the physical activity, is an excellent appetite-stimulant. Not tempted by the raw meat, I pull out various bits of food I’ve made. A sort-of flatbread, a pylobus-platter of savoury soup, and a chunk of grilled meat with salt. And some berry tea in my sneleon shell.

We’re all still digging in hungrily when we hear a very slight noise from the bushes nearby. The rustle of a leaf being shifted just a little.

Everyone automatically reacts with caution. Food and rest are forgotten when potential danger is nearby. Even the cubs tense and push themselves to their feet, their teeth bared.

I pull out my spear, then cast Inspect Environment. It might enrage whatever the creature is, but I’d rather know what we’re dealing with here.

The result isn’t what I’d expected. I ignore all the red and gold of the plants around, my attention grabbed by the new blue colour outlining a shape. A familiar shape. And one I wasn’t expecting to see here. Though, thinking about it now, I probably should have.