Isle Point was a major trade hub on Tythic’s coast, making it the ideal landing site for Ash’s first steps onto the mainland. From here, goods flowed in from the islands and dispersed to the capital of West Origin in the south, the Othelan Republic in the north, and every major city in-between. Over the last century, the once tiny trade port grew into a sprawling city of thatched roof huts and grand warehouses constantly thrumming with wagons leading to and from its massive docks.

For now, Ash basked in air that tasted of dust and salt while staring dumbly at the vast array of carriages and wagons bristling along the city’s edge. His eyes moved further to scan the trees - honest to Deianira trees - surrounding the city as far as he could see. The endless carpet of long, thin trunks topped with pine needles and palm fronds stretched over thickets of flat-leaved plants hemming in the city’s borders. In places, wide roads of sand and gravel laid the forest open, crushed flat beneath an endless tide of boots and hooves.

The overwhelming array of novel sights and sounds washed over Ash and left him small. While many of the heavier wagons were pulled by thick, lumpy aibax, many smaller carriages were pulled by mud drakes. Dad always said aibax and skitterlings were the odd ones, and that four-legged beasts were the norm, but they were nothing like Ash imagined. The creatures bore dull brown scales from their muzzled snouts to their long flat tails and rose to Ash’s shoulders when they stood. Unlike aibax, who seemed fine milling about in the noon sun, the drakes at rest preferred splaying out in the dirt with their eyes closed.

“Master?” Khukri nudged him gently. The two had been here a while, sitting on their traveling chest while Ash considered the best path forward.

“Sorry,” Ash mumbled, pulling the leather folder from his pack again. “I’m just… there’s so much. It’s wild, I’ve lived my whole life so close to all this, and this is the first time I’ve seen any of it.”

Khukri’s fur flowed around his neck and shoulder as she nuzzled against him. “When I was in the Dusk Empire, we lived in a compound where my nose was the only one sensitive enough to smell the grass outside, so finally seeing it with my own eyes...” She placed her hand on the folder, easing it open. “We have your entire life to enjoy new things, but if you want to be strong, we need to focus.”

Ash sighed, leaning against her as he unfolded his father’s map. “Okay, this is us, here, at Isle Point, but it’s hard to make money fast in Tythic without drawing attention. This canyon between these two mountain ranges is the Azure Syndicate, where it’s a lot easier. So we need to head...” Ash’s finger trailed down the page, tracing a road southeast. “There. Azure Junction. It’s a big city right on the border. If we set up there, we can find a broker and start farming.”

A nervous growl left Khukri, vibrating Ash’s shoulder. “Wasn’t it a broker that sold you out to Via?”

A knot tightened in Ash’s gut. Lenn never seemed the sort to stab a friend in the back, but a traitor wouldn’t have many to betray if he acted the part. At this point, he almost hoped Lenn had betrayed him, since the other possibility meant someone made him talk. “My purse is heavy, but every day we keep our ship docked it gets lighter. Our first step is the same as in The Direwood.”

“Another beautiful wolf slave?” Khukri teased with a pout. “How greedy.”

Heat radiated up Ash’s neck and flushed into his cheeks as he kissed the top of her head. “Another one? Deianira spare me, the first was trial enough.” At the time, he hadn’t given much thought to Khukri being his Whip, beyond her continued subservience. It later occurred to him the entire point was to keep her owner’s other slaves in line. At best, it meant Khukri wouldn’t object to him buying another slave, and at worst, she expected it. “For now, we need sustainable income without a lot of questions, and the only way I know is with a broker. We’ll need to be careful.”

Khukri nodded, then slid onto the ground and popped open her trunk. “To Azure Junction then. Can I change into my armour?”

“Azure Junction’s a few days away, so make sure you’re comfortable. While you’re at it, fill up a backpack with anything you might want.” Ash stretched as he stood, selecting a wagon from amongst the crowd. His gaze settled on an older deer-boy in a light grey shirt covering a scruffy winter coat. His fur was grey-tipped, and the skin around his face sagged slightly, though he smiled when their eyes met.

The man’s carriage was a plain, well-made wooden vehicle with benches for passengers and a rear wooden platform to secure their luggage. The driver’s seat overlooked a harness tethering a sunbathing mud drake. As Ash approached, the man climbed down from his seat, rolling his shoulders before offering Ash a hand. “Well met, young man. Name’s Rowan. Looking for a ride?”

"Ashling.” Ash accepted the handshake, though it was impossible not to divert some attention to the huge lizard not five feet away. “We’ve got two, looking to get to Azure Junction.”

“I know the way,” Rowan said. “I can’t quite handle baggage like back in my heyday, but I can drive you there just fine. It’s a bit of a ride though, four days or so, long as we get moving soon… I’d say, two hundred crowns?”

Ash cocked his head, reaching beneath his cloak to grab his coin pouch. “Crowns? Like, the thing a queen wears?”

A bemused expression crossed Rowan’s face as he produced a circular golden coin from his pocket. “A crown… Tythic’s currency. You’re an island boy, aren’t you?”

The coin purse tipped into Ash’s hand, flooding it with small, square chits of iron. It wasn’t unreasonable that the Crown used a different currency, Ash supposed. The annexation treaty gave the islands north of West Origin protectorate status, granting a staggering autonomy to their city-states, leashed only by the queen’s edicts. “Yeah... you don’t use florins on the mainland?” Ash asked.

“Afraid not.” The gold coin rolled between Rowan’s knuckles as he eyed Ash’s iron. “There’s a currency exchange in Isle Point, but if you’re in a hurry you can pay 1200 florins and I’ll swing by an exchange later to do it myself.”

Somehow, Ash doubted one crown was worth six florins, but even if that truly was the rate, he had no idea what a good price for a carriage ride was. Still, they had a decent amount… So what if the old guy fleeced them for a few? “Alright.” Ash picked out three hundred-florin coins and poured the rest back into the bag. “Three hundred a day, to a total of 1200 for the whole trip?”

After coming to an arrangement, Ash and Khukri secured their chest onto the back and hopped inside. With a few sharp commands, the drake forged onward, dragging the carriage at a nice even pace.

Khukri waited five minutes, glaring into the forest as trees filled both sides of the road, then she crawled onto his bench and curled up, setting her head on his thigh. “Master? I don’t trust this guy...”

That couldn’t help but get a smile. Ash gently pulled Khukri’s scaled hood back and stroked her head, staring into the endless woodland. The trees never stopped, no matter how far they traveled it was just... usable wood as far as he could see. “Do you trust anyone?”

“Only the pack.” Khukri glanced up, then grunted in concession. “I suppose that’s just you, for now.” For a long time, she lay on his lap, letting him stroke loose fur from her winter coat before she stirred. “Master?”

“Hmm?”

“When can we expand the pack?”

Ash’s stomach tightened, making him squirm uncomfortably. “I like being alone with you,” he said, presenting a stern face. Despite being way, way too good for him, he was Khukri’s ‘Master,’ wasn’t he? If he didn’t want another girl invading his paradise, that was his call to make. “I love you, Khukri.”

“You’re my everything, Master,” she assured, slowly closing her eyes. “But we have to expand eventually.”

Well, apparently, this was a conversation he couldn’t escape forever. Ash ran his fingers down the bridge of her nose, tracing one of her eyes before slipping down to her collar. It was a simple band of steel with ‘Ashling’ carved into the front, and blank in the back where numbers would usually be. Sometimes, Khukri seemed like this untouchable force of nature that gave the world its colour. Sometimes… sometimes she seemed like a damaged girl, flinching from wounds long past, ones that wouldn’t heal because he’d agreed to be her captor rather than liberator. “We can’t buy a new girl right now, anyway. Let’s hold off until we’ve found a place to stay.”

“Yes, Master.” Khukri smiled, curling tighter. Later, when their situation was more stable, he’d need to find a permanent solution, but for now the girl was sated.

A loud crash resounded ahead, instantly snapping Khukri from her reverie. As she rolled off the bench, she grabbed Ash by his cloak and pulled him to the floor. Khukri crouched over him, pressing a hand to his mouth as she peered out the window while the carriage crawled to a stop.

“That’s far enough!” A woman called from up front. “We’re not looking to hurt anyone, so you’d best not make us!”

“You... You don’t need to hurt us!” Rowan yelled, lurching the carriage sideways as he dismounted. “Look, I’m coming down all peaceful like!” Ash tensed, but Khukri only glanced down and placed her index finger against his lips.

Methodical, even footsteps, rounded their carriage before the woman’s voice rang out again. “Alright, you in the carriage! Come on out if you don’t want to get hurt! Real slow!”

Khukri’s muzzle lowered to Ash’s ear as she whispered. “Draw your sword. If anyone opens the other side of the carriage, kill them.”

The footsteps came closer. “We’ve got a warbow trained on that door you know, if we wanted you dead, you’d be dead. You’ve got ‘till three to do this the easy way.”

“There’s seven out there; I think they have clubs,” Khukri whispered. “Their footsteps are light, so cloth armour at best. They don’t have the money for a warbow.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“One! Two! Three!” The bandit released a long sigh. “You want to do this rough? Fine, we’ll do this rough.” The moment the door opened, Khukri leapt out with a feral snarl. The woman opening the door barely had time to scream before Khukri’s teeth sunk deep into the bandit’s throat.

Blood spurted through the open door as Khukri tore out the deer-girl’s jugular, covering Ash in red dots before he slammed it shut. With shaking hands, Ash drew his sabre, bracing himself below the window with his blade pointed toward the opposite door. Outside, fury turned to confusion, then fear. Loud, bestial barks twisted Khukri’s gentle voice into something unrecognizable as she chased the girls into the woods.

When the door clicked, Ash swallowed, bracing the weapon in both hands. The sabre slid cleanly through the gap between door and carriage, the point pressing into Rowan’s chest and drawing a bead of blood. With a relieved sigh, Ash retracted the weapon and offered Rowan a hand. “Hurry, hide in here. Khukri can handle-”

Rowan lurched forward, clutching a fistful of Ash’s shirt. For a moment, everything was a blur, then Ash slammed into the ground. His fingers twitched as he coughed, but went still as Rowan’s rusty knife set against his throat. “Quiet now, island boy... toss the sword.”

Ash numbly threw the blade aside, muscles barely working while the image of Khukri ripping that woman’s throat out filled his thoughts. Rowan bent over, dipping his fingers into Ash’s cloak and tearing the coin pouch free. A moment later, and he was gone, bounding up the side of the carriage. Ash rose to his knees, watching in disbelief as the drake picked up speed and rolled down the road, slowing only long enough for a few panicked girls in worn cloaks to leap onto the side.

Of course, he’d screwed up, again. With Rowan gone, Ash was left to stew in his failure, staring at the bloody corpse left beside the road. One he could have easily joined in death, had Rowan so wished.

Soon, Khukri emerged from the forest, her black-scaled armour gleaming with blood. “Master? Are you hurt?”

He sighed, leaning back on the nearest tree. “I didn’t even realize we’d left the main road… Rowan was working with the bandits all along. I... I failed.”

“It’s okay.” Khukri hurried over and knelt at Ash’s side. Initially, she reached out to wrap her arms around him, but hesitated, looking down at the bloody mess coating her armour.

“It’s not,” he insisted. “They took our money, Dad’s tools, my books, fuck! My books… he took my coin pouch right off me and I couldn’t stop him. He wasn’t even a girl.”

“We’ve been training you less than a month, Master. You need to be patient.” When Ash didn’t respond, Khukri touched his hand. “You’ve still got a ship in drydock, along with its cargo. Plus, we kept the most important stuff in our bags. We’re going to be fine.”

“Right, my sulking certainly isn’t going to help...” Ash removed the bag from his back, setting it between his legs to leaf through the contents. Luckily, he’d been wearing his pack when torn from the carriage, leaving him a few days of provisions, several bundles of tools, a small kit of his favorite seeds, and his folder of paperwork. It didn’t make what happened okay, but it was enough to get them back on their feet. “I still have the map, but we’ll need to continue on foot and camp without a tent. What’d you end up putting in your bag anyway? Any food?”

“Two hundred fifty thousand florins and a pair of antlers.” The bag landed next to Ash, letting out a scraping metallic noise as the coins crunched together.

“Oh.” Ash blinked, slowly tying his bag shut. “Oh, yeah, that’ll help.”

Khukri smiled, lowering her head. “Don’t worry about feeding me Master, I’m a premium hunter, remember? Why don’t you look for some place for us to spend the night while I get rid of these bodies and find something to eat?”

Ash set his bag next to her and stood. “First, come here.” When Khukri drew close, he slipped a hand behind her head, covering himself in blood as he pressed against her with a slow kiss. “Thank you Khukri… without you… I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

The fur on Ash’s back rose with Khukri’s affectionate growl.

“Good girl,” Ash murmured, squeezing her once more before withdrawing.

* * *

Ash clutched his backpack’s straps as he set foot in Azure Junction. After three long days of isolated hiking, it was a lot to get used to. Thousands of buildings stretched from between two mountains, with roads extending like spiderwebs past vast swathes of farmland and into the wild. Wooden walled buildings and huts with roofs of dried palm fronds littered the roads, with rudimentary hatches thrown open to invite the tail end of winter before spring had its way.

Streets of packed dirt brimmed with animals glancing oddly at Khukri as they passed. Hundreds of conversations from deer and rabbits started and died, drowning each other out as Ash slipped between them. Bizarrely, though this was likely the most people Ash had ever seen at once, it was the least seen he’d ever felt. It was... nice, actually, if a bit claustrophobic.

As the mountains grew closer, the crowds thickened, the buildings grew sturdier, and the smells... became complicated. Garbage pits they passed were separated from the city by railings, filling the street with the pungent smell of fertilizer. On the other hand, some buildings smelled of smoke and seasoned vegetables. After an uncomfortably close brush past a deer-girl, Ash grabbed Khukri’s hand, pulling her from the main road and toward thinner crowds.

At last, they reached the heart of Azure Junction - the market. A simple fence separated the vast buildings and an endless maze of wooden stalls displaying their owners’ wares, where men and women in flashy, eye-catching colours, inviting a steady stream of customers to see clothes, metalware, food, or countless other goods.

“Look at them all...” Ash stopped at the edge, eyes narrowing as he inspected the seemingly random rows. “It’d be a lot easier if they made a main road that went straight through.”

Khukri’s hand slipped over Ash’s shoulder and tucked under his chin, pressing gently upward. “That’d defeat the purpose.”

Wooden spires rose from the maze like stalks of corn, each housing a team of warbow armed deer-girls in Tythic military gambesons. The weapons were marbled black and white, and each longer than the girl who held it. Luckily, they looked relaxed, idly chatting with their compatriots from behind their parapet. “Oh, fuck. Those are warbows, aren’t they?”

Khukri’s hand caressed his neck as she pulled back. “This is a border city. Those girls are probably Crown-trained marksmen.”

Great, as if hiding his massive bounty wasn’t enough, now he could add ‘instant death from above’ to his list of concerns. It was actually Ash’s first time seeing a warbow, even though it held a nearly iconic status as a symbol of Tythic’s power. Despite being so influential to Tythic’s history that the country actually owed its national colours to the weapon’s distinctive marbling, Eriskay’s annexation treaty forbade them on the island in times of peace. Peacetime, incidentally, that had lasted since the peace agreement with the Othelan Republic two hundred years prior.

“We’ll just muddle through then.” Ash pressed into the maze with Khukri at his heels, staying close to the stalls to avoid the wagons that occasionally rolled down the middle. “Stop me if you see a stall selling meat; we’ll need to replenish your food.”

Hundreds of stalls blended together as they passed, using the guard towers as reference points to press toward the border. Finally, the wooden hallways ceased, dumping them into an open area of paved roads and larger stone buildings. In a daze, Ash eagerly pulled Khukri into the courtyard, eyes rolling along billowing forges and pens of beasts enjoying the open air.

Ash’s attention settled on a small stage as he passed, where a deer-girl in a set of ornamental black plate frilled with silver, spoke to a crowd of hundreds. “...will protect its people and identity. Our great nation values the peace and prosperity we enjoy with our neighbours, and we look forward to our Tythic children working with them for generations to come, as Tythic citizens!”

A smile blossomed as Ash turned to watch after they’d passed. The family that overthrew the Tythic royals last season came from the southernmost region of the kingdom, so Ash didn’t know what to expect. From the look of things, the new family was committed to peace, and no one around here seemed uneasy. All the better for him. The last thing Ash needed was more complications.

Khukri grabbed his shoulder, jostling his attention from the speaker. “Master? Look, it’s an ARC.”

Absently, Ash followed Khukri’s extended hand to a huge wooden building with a flat roof overhanging its many pillars. “An ARC?” Ash asked, diverting them around the massive structure.

“Animal Resource Centre,” Khukri clarified, clinging to his arm. “The Azure Syndicate runs them, they handle people. Prisoners, slaves, that sort of thing. They’re in most major cities in Tythic.”

His fur bristled as their arms interlaced, already feeling her questioning eyes begging to breach the subject. “Good to know, I think I like the ones in The Direwood more. They felt a lot less imposing… Come on, I think the border’s just up there.” Ash moved on, pulling his reluctant pet wolf past the building.

A continuous thatch roof set on pillars ran across the entire canyon, sheltering thousands of travellers. Before he’d hit the marketplace, most of the animals going about their day were deer. By now it had flipped, leaving mostly rabbits in the massive pavilion’s shade. Ash watched in fascination as a girl ran from deeper in the canyon, breathing heavily as she removed a wooden pack and handed it off to a woman in a white robe. There were many box-collecters like that, with robes sporting four deep-blue diamonds on their back in such a way that a white diamond remained in the absent space.

After setting the pack on a cart, the official made a note and handed the runner a coin before moving onto the next girl. Now curious, Ash walked through the strange meeting area, watching wooden backpacks get loaded onto wagons or into various piles before being claimed by new owners. At the far end he stopped, staring at the massive fortress blocking the canyon several kilometres in, its blue-tiled roof shining like the ocean in the afternoon sun.

As he stared, rabbit-girls fitted with wooden packs rushed past him onto the road, accelerating to a blur as they zipped off toward the distant structure past blurs coming the other way.

“They need a good twenty metres to pick up speed, but they’re faster than me...” Khukri mumbled, surveying the field from over Ash’s shoulder. “Looks like there’s roads for carriages and wagons we could use, but it’s the afternoon, and we don’t know what we’re walking into. Maybe we should find someplace to sleep and return in the morning?”

Finding a safe place to rest should’ve been the priority. Unfortunately, something more pressing caught Ash’s attention. He tapped Khukri’s side, eyes trained on a deer-boy moving the contents of a wooden pack into a bag of his own. He was only a few years older than Ash, at most, and wore a black and green sash that ran around one shoulder and flowed into a dress that covered his legs. When he turned to leave, the exposed section of his back bore Deianira’s symbol, just as Ash’s, but in dark green instead of white. “I want to talk to him.”

“Yes, Master.” Khukri hastily took the lead, trailing the man as they returned to the industrial district with larger stone buildings. The man’s gait wavered for a moment as he looked back, then took off at a full run before a racing Khukri easily ran him down.

By the time Ash caught up, the man stared wide-eyed at Khukri, who firmly held his arm. Despite the disturbance, most passing gave a wide berth, diligently ignoring the distressed man. “Hey, hey, sorry about that.” Ash said sheepishly. “Khukri, be nice.”

Khukri smiled warmly. “I’m not going to eat you.”

Well... fantastic. If that wouldn’t convince him they were friendly, what would? “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could ask you something.”

The man turned his head from Khukri, one eye affixed on Ash, while the other lay colourless beneath two long scars. “Whatever it is you think I’ve done, you’re mistaken.”

“Done?” Ash asked. “No, I was hoping you could tell me about the symbol on your back.”

The scarred man raised an eyebrow. “You... want me to tell you about my religion?”

“If you don’t mind.”

His gaze shifted between Khukri and Ash before offering a nervous smile. “That’s not usually how this goes... but, sure? We can discuss it while we walk?”