After the residual mana finally faded, we stood up.

“I want to go back to my house,” Kaylee said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I want to grab stuff, I need my clothes.”

“No,” I said firmly. “We burned the altar, the smoke will have been visible for miles out here. Caravan guards will have reported it when they reached Atlas.”

“And what if they do?!” She shouted. “Atlas doesn’t care what happens in out here! Followers of Gaia named the city Atlas because they say it’s where the world ends!”

“No,” I said once more.

“As far as they’re concerned The Veiled Desert exists to separate the living from the dead. They will not go looking for trouble.”

She crossed her arms and glared at me.

I looked at her impassively for a moment and walked away.

“Wait!” She shouted.

I paused waiting.

“I’ve got dresses from when I was younger I still wear to bed sometimes,” she continued.

“Good for you,” I said.

“You‘d… like it, if I wore them to bed. they’re short.. very short.. an inch away from showing... ”

The last came out in a whisper.

“everything.”

I paused for a moment, then continued walking. After a few more feet I shouted.

“Get Up!”

My skeletal guards were already untying several kobolds, and the shaman was being reborn behind me to help ensure they didn’t get any ideas about trying to overpower us even unarmed.

“Get this damn place packed up! Were taking everything worth taking and anyone not loaded up and ready in ten minutes isn’t being included on the list of shit worth taking!”

We quickly collected everything since most of it was already in some kind of container. I distributed the tent amongst the zombie and shaman and we were ready to leave.

I took the lead but intentionally avoided looking behind me as I walked. Kaylee, no doubt sensing my desire to be left alone promptly jogged up alongside me far too pleased with herself.

I could hear her pouring a skin of water onto her face and glanced over at her.

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“Didn’t your mother teach you, Kaylee?”

She looked at me questioningly.

“It goes in your mouth,” I growled. “Not sprayed all over your face.”

She giggled in response.

“Where are we going?” She asked. Her voice was innocent but her wet shirt and perky nipples were anything but. The combination was incredibly tempting.

Her eyes glanced down long enough to see she was having the desired effect.

I gave in.

“We are going to measure that dress.”

She all but shrieked.

I ignored her and carried on.

“And if it’s more than HALF an inch from showing everything by the time I see it I’m trimming it to size using your body as the cutting board.”

She put her fist to her chest in a mock salute, “half an inch sir yes sir!” Then turned to bounce away.

I wanted to be annoyed with her, was in fact annoyed with her, but her ass jiggling appreciatively behind her as she left did have a point about considering the issue from all angles as it were...

We arrived at the remains of what passed for a farm when you lived in a desert and she walked into the muddy hut. Our raiding party had slaughtered the few animals they’d kept for livestock during the attack and all that remained was the modest fence that had contained them.

After several minutes Kaylee still hadn’t come out, and I shoved two kobolds forward ahead of me just in case something was lying in wait.

I’d considered bringing some skeletons, but I still needed the rest of the lizards watched and if something had to die...

The hut was barely a few rooms and Kaylee was on her knees near the back. I could hear her sobbing a few feet after I entered and scowled. She must have found the bodies of her parents.

It actually surprised me when I saw she had gone past their remains completely and was hunched over the remains of the lean dog that had barked furiously at us when we first showed up. The kobolds made a peculiar sound that could only be laughing as they exchanged some unintelligible gibberish with another.

She turned to look at the sound and I could see her blood pouring out onto the creature. She was trying to bring the animal back to life, or at the very least un-life.

They made the sound again, harsher this time.

They were clearly laughing at her and through extension me. If I didn’t keep them scared their disobedience risked turning into scheming.

Had it been a single kobold I’d kill him and be done with it. Two, though, was too many.

I’d only just sacrificed one of them and killed their shaman. The rest would act like cornered beasts the next time I ordered them to go with me anywhere if I came out alone.

“Out,” I commanded.

After a few more moments and another round of mocking gibberish, the kobolds headed for the door.

I could see she was trying to bring it back to life trying and also failing miserably.

Incapable of stabilizing the amount of energy she’d released it bounced wildly off the barriers she made to guide it to the dog’s bones.

Walking up behind I put one hand on her shoulder and then used the other to drive my blade through that hand and into both of us.

She gasped but didn‘t falter.

After she’d settled into the initial pain I spoke.

“I can see I’ve been too kind to you, let you be weak,” I stated.

Before she could waste her breath responding, I twisted the knife and the fresh new agony sent her reeling. Her control failed and I could see the shock as she realized she’d just loosed a bomb.

Of course, the only reason it even had time to register was my containment taking the place of hers.

“Again,” I told her.

She struggled to force the motas together tighter into a stable bond but failed repeatedly.

She looked up at me, dejected. Nothing changed for nearly another minute and I grew tired of waiting and leaned down a few inches from her face.

“Again!” I screamed

She reached out once more, flailing with rage in an attempt to beat the mana into submission.

“I... I can’t,” she said.

“YOU WILL!” I shouted.

I grabbed her by the hair roughly.

“Pay attention child.” I spat.

Her anger flared up anew and I could see the individual motas flailing against her control as she tried to force them into the animal.

Moments before one wildly impacted her barrier I pushed mine in front and reformed the barrier to send the mota back to the center where a large mass of them resided. It scattered some on impact but dissipated its energy in doing so.

“It’s like breaking in new whores,” I told her. “get the wild one in line and the rest will follow.”

The rogue ones sent flying were much weaker than the original and quickly succumbed to the pull of the others falling back into a stable formation.

Her anger subsided, and she slowly created stable bonds. The mana flowed into the bones of the creature and settled into stability. The dog came to un-life.

The immediate issue over I yanked her up by her hair and threw her against the wall.

“You humiliated me!”

“I’m didn’t mean to,” she mumbled.

“Oh, you didn’t mean to?” I said harshly.

“Oh, I’m sorry daddy I didn’t mean to!” I continued in a mocking tone.

“Did coming back home cause you to confuse me for someone who gives a fuck about what you MEANT to do?! It’s what you did that matters!”

“They laughed at you! Which means they laughed at me!” I screamed.

“I’m sorry!” Kaylee cried.

“No, you aren’t but you fucking will be!”

My hand went up to backhand her.

“I am!” she shouted and she raised her arms to shield her face.

I flashed back to my captor and the first time I’d angered him with my failure. He’d punched me in the gut and demanded I get back up. When I’d failed, he stomped his boot between my legs, laughing as I begged him to forgive me. Disgust filled me.

My hand lowered.

I leaned in close.

“You will fix this,” I whispered to her. “You will go out there and make them scared again or your new daddy will finish what he started princess.”

Kaylee nodded her head.

“Don‘t think your finished apologizing either, tonight they will hear you LOUDLY begging for daddy’s forgiveness.”

“Get your things,” I finished before turning and heading out the door.