Asema remained naked in-between the unnatural large tree’s of the forest. The soft call of the birds, and the rushing of the river behind her seemed to augment the sight of her tanned, slender body in an unusual way. Heat struck my face like a furnace, and I turned my head in shame. Peering up, Vekrem looked absolutely smitten to the point where his brain had ceased working; I helped my friend.

“Turn away!” I whispered, grabbing him, and pulling him to the side, away from Asema’s path.

Finally realizing what was happening, not daring to look back, Vekrem said, “I’m-I’m-I’m… so sorry! Truly sorry.”

I heard the sounds of Asema donning clothing, the soft rustling of the fabric against her skin. After a time, her voice carried over the soft wounds of the forest as she said, “You can turn back around.”

Reluctantly, Vekrem and I eyed each other first, nodded, and then turned at the same time. Asema was still wearing the same clothing she had been the previous day, but now, it appeared to have been washed in the river, the stains that adorned it before lost to the ever-flow. She had placed the clothing back on herself still damp, and her hair short and twisted, circled around her face, strands clinging to the glowing Rot scar on her cheek.

Looking up towards Vekrem, his face looked so red that I thought he was having an allergic reaction.

“Are you going to keep staring?” Asema asked, wringing water out of her hair and throwing it back. She strode forward, walking past us. “We’re losing the day, shouldn’t we meet with Saise to discuss what the plan is going forward?”

“Yes…” Vekrem replied breathlessly. “And Asema, sorry again.” She waved him off with her hand, striding away with a nonchalant attitude.

“Well, that was something,” I said, shoving Vekrem as I smiled. “Fuck me, not everyday you get a sight like that.”

Vekrem turned a baneful eye on me, and I had the wherewithal at the moment to shut up. But, having spoken too emphatically, Asema turned back to address both of us with the look of a teacher scolding two adolescent boys. “Men are all the same. Human, Rodrent, Chitik… even Lupin—you all think with exactly one body part.” She made a crude gesture towards her genitals, causing both Vekrem and I to break eye contact. “However you, Vekrem, I expected more class from you.”

“Me?” he replied incredulously, but she had heard enough as she turned and walked away without sparing us another backward glance. Vekrem turned to me, whispering, “What does she mean?”

Looking forward and seeing the flagrantly exaggerated movement of Asema’s hips, I think I knew what was going on. I leaned in, “Be careful with that one. She’s not all she appears to be.” Angry lines appeared at Vekrem’s brow for a moment before he masked it with a veil of neutrality. Like Asema, he walked away without staring back at me.

I hoped he would heed my warning.

***

We trekked back to the abandoned stone tower in an awkward silence. Knowing my light-hearted gesture had pissed Vekrem off, I decided to let him silently fume on it for a time before even trying to address it. When we arrived, Asema and Saise sat around the fire pit in the middle of the room, each holding a stick with a blackened piece of meat at the end of it.

When Saise saw us, she scowled, saying in her even tone, “Eat you two. You’ll need your energy.”

Looking, I saw two sticks set over the open flame of the fire. Saise, between eating her own meal, turned the sticks at regular intervals. On those sticks was the same meat that Asema was now having trouble eating as she tried, and failed, to rip a piece off with her teeth. In the end, she swallowed the entire piece of meat whole, putting a hand to her stomach to prevent herself from retching it back up.

Gulping nervously, I reached out and took the stick. The meat smelt… gamey, not something a ‘city boy’ like myself would be used to. Never would I have thought in a million years that I’d miss even the cheapest of burgers, but seeing this blackened mess of a meal made me appreciate food in a new light.

My stomach growled angrily, and I felt Dragon studying me curiously at the back of my mind. Bringing the meat to my mouth, I had to hold back the bile that burned up my throat—

It smelled even worse than I had originally thought.

Taking the same technique as Asema, I put the entire thing in my mouth and swallowed before even tasting it. Good thing too, for when my taste buds eventually caught up to my actions, the taste that radiated through my mouth reminded me of a burned shoe that still had caked mud on it. Looking at Vekrem, he fared little better, his ears twitching unpleasantly at the taste. Not even needing to ask, I knew he agreed with my assessment of the ‘food.’

Saise once again doused the fire with a handful of dirt, bellows of black smoke evaporating into the air as it flew upwards, eventually being carried off by the wind in a break in the stone at the top of the tower. “Ahem,” she said, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She stood, the muscles of her slender red-furred body taut, as if she were ready to fight. “Now that we are rested and fed, I don’t want to hear any complaints. Our goal is the Primordial—“

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“And who put you in charge?” Asema countered, standing herself as if she would challenge her directly. Between the two, I had my money on Saise, but that glare; the look in Asema’s eyes… It made me question what I thought I knew. “May the True One’s take my soul if I’ll follow subservient to a Chitik.”

“Ah, so the human has a preference in master?” Saise replied, forcing a fake laugh. “I suppose you are more comfortable with your rat friends. But here, you will listen to what I have to say—“

“Fuck that.”

The two walked towards each other, violence and tension so thick in the air that you could cut it with a knife. My hand instinctively went to the hilt of my dagger, and I wondered at what point I became the type of person who would do such a thing.

Vekrem, ever the gentleman, stepped forward between the two, holding out a gentle hand towards both. “This is no way to solve our differences.” Turning, he added, “Asema, you are subservient to nobody in this group—but you will respect all. Chitik, Rodrent, and Human. You came of your own accord, so you may follow of your own accord or leave of it; if you choose.”

Asema went red in the face, crossing her arms as she stood dumbfounded by Vekrem’s sudden taking of control.

Saise was undeterred. “Now who made you lead—“

“I am,” Vekrem replied, turning a cool eye and cutting her off. “Like it or not, I am the leader of this modest group. If we hope to prevail, then you will need to fall in line with that truth. Will that be a problem?”

Saise looked embarrassed, her eyes shifting to the floor. After a while, she made a sucking sound with her tongue as she said, “No. That won’t be a problem.”

Vekrem sighed. “Good, good.”

I found myself staring awestruck. Where had this Vekrem come from? Looking at Asema, she eyed him just as curiously as well. It looks like there were far more layers to my friend than I had given him credit for.

“So, now that that’s all squared away,” I put a hand on Vekrem’s shoulder, “when are we leaving dear leader?”

Vekrem smiled, moving away to the side of the stone tower. He reached down, hefting two bags atop his shoulder. “Now. We leave now.”

***

“Again!” Dragon roared in my mind, sending a blinding headache coursing through my mind. He really needed to stop doing that.

Wishing for an aspirin, I replied, “Haven’t we done this enough for now?”

“No.”

“Fine!” I set my shoulders, staring forward, the blind across my eyes tight and uncomfortable as it rubbed irritably against my eyelids. “Well, come up, hurry up.”

I heard Vekrem flip a rock in the air—

Flip

Flip

Flip

Smack!

The rock struck me right in the forehead. Pulling the blindfold off, I kneeled, rubbing at the sore spot with the back of my hand. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Sorry, Ike!” Vekrem said, his face going red as he held his hand to his mouth to stifle a laugh. “I didn’t intend to hit you in the face.”

I threw the rag that I’d used as a blindfold to the ground in a fit. “Why do I even need to do this Dragon? My sense works just fine when I need it too. Why fix what ain’t broken?”

Dragon smoldered, telling me he had it with my attitude. “It works when you need it, but not when you want it. That is the difference between living and dying—the throw of a simple rock. An arrow. A spear. Your flesh is squishy and soft, prone to disease and age, it is truly a gift that the power you have received can protect you so. And protect others, if you honed it. It is a gift that you squander with arrogance and apathy.”

“Tssh… and is this the only skill you can give to me? The ability to dodge? You’re a Dragon—an all powerful being, isn’t there something more… useful?”

“Ungrateful little shit—”

“Maybe we should rest for a while,” Vekrem offered, throwing another rock he carried towards a small stream that followed the bend of the small dirt strewn path we followed. “Perhaps some tea while we rest?”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Saise said irritably, her red-fur bunching is agitation. “When the sun sets, we need to have found shelter for the night. No more wasting time with these silly games about a being that I can’t neither see nor hear.” Surprisingly, Asema shook her head at her comments, but, as Saise noticed, she threw her hands in the air, adding, “Bah, what use is it? Two Humans and a Rodrent, what was I thinking coming with you?”

“You were thinking that you wanted to save Kech,” Vekrem replied, not realizing her sarcasm. She narrowed her eyes towards him, and he amended, “But I suppose I see your logic. It is true that I do not know the manner of being that speaks to Ike and I, but I can assure you, it exists. However, for the moment, I agree we should keep moving. Is that agreeable to all?” Dragon rumbled furiously as I nodded my own agreement.

“Wait,” Asema said, drawing us to her. When I turned to look, she was pointing to the top of a nearby hill. At the peak of it were two hooded figures dressed in dark-gray. Whispering, she added, “Enemy or foe?”

Saise fingered a wrapped metal chain around her waist. “There are naught but foe in these lands. Savage human bandits roam and kill merchants—stealing their goods and leaving the birds to pick at the bones. I’ve lost many kin to their savagery.”

Asema turned to her. “Goods that one of your kind, the Hybrids, forced them to farm at the end of a chain. Goods that are rightfully theirs.”

I stepped forward between them. “Let it go—”

“Enough!” Vekrem’s voice carried over all. Turning to Saise, he added, “try to remember that Humans are here trying to help you now. To help everyone.” Saise made a sucking noise, but offered no further complaint.

Unbothered by our disagreement, the hooded figures descended the hill, approaching us in a cool, calm manner. When they arrived, they kept hidden in their shrouds. They were short—far shorter than they appeared at a distance.

Before any of us could speak, one stepped forward, saying, “Give us everything you have, or die.”