We were now well within Turri’s borders, way past Fort Turri, and the holy knights bent on depopulating the world of the newly rebranded Skreethi. Outside the caverns, we found towering pines buffeted by continual gusts of wind coming down from the edge of the mountains. We took some time to bathe in Lake Potiri, and I spent the better part of two hours trying to scrub out the lingering musk that had worked its way into my clothes. A smoky, somewhat petulant fire from sappy, green firewood helped warm and dry us out overnight before continuing towards the east.

Unlike the wastelands, the winding dirt roads we eventually intersected were full of travelers, mostly humans, many riding horses in couplets. Occasional wagoneers passed us, usually shouting barely understandable curses at us for forcing them to slow down a little. Vernie took the lead, sandwiching Nora and me in the middle of the group before Tetora, and then Aleph brought up the rear.

“So rude,” Nora muttered one day as yet another pompous ass drove his galloping horse too close to her. “What the heck is everyone’s problem? Can’t they see we’re walking here?!”

“Want to switch sides?” I was a bigger target, bound to cause more damage if they hit, so maybe they’d give us more space?

“No, then I wouldn’t get to complain as loudly. But really, it’s like they speed up after they see us!” She was right about that last part, though, funny enough.

“Eh... they just expect us to step aside for them,” Vernie put her hands in the air. “But I pretend I don’t know local customs. Ah!” She then bent down, picked up a coin, and stuffed it in her pocket.

I looked off to the side of the road. “We’re supposed to step in the muck?”

“We’re not going to, though,” Vernie shrugged. “So don’t worry about it.” She picked up another coin.

“You seem to have quite the luck today…” I noted.

“That traveler’s saddlebag seam tore.”

“That’s karma for you,” I snickered.

“So you’re starting to remember!” Vernie gasped happily, turning around to look at me.

“Eh?”

“Karma!” She pulled out the large dagger from her hip sheath.

“Your dagger’s name… is Karma? Wait, you did that?!” I didn’t know whether to praise in awe or rebuke. But the overdressed jerk had it coming, so I just gave a slightly disapproving grunt.

“You always act so surprised every time I commit a crime.” Vernie rolled her eyes.

Nora made a strange sound, and I quickly glanced at her. “Don’t you say anything.”

“I was just clearing my throat!”

“Ungh!” Tetora let out a frustrated growl tinged with pain, and we all stopped.

“I just tripped, that’s all,” he lied as we re-grouped.

“It is a good time to stop anyway,” Aleph shrugged. “We won’t be able to make it to Kopria before the sun sets tonight, but we’ll have time enough to reach it before nightfall tomorrow.”

I felt a little shiver of delight ran through me when I heard those words. “Do you think we’ll be able to sleep indoors tomorrow?”

“If Vernie has gathered enough coins,” Aleph confirmed.

“I take back that previous grunt!” I declared quickly.

“We should be good for a night’s stay at an inn…” she nodded absently.

“What about finding a priest for Tetora?” Nora asked, glancing at him.

Aleph answered, “We’ll stop at the church first. It’s along the way. It’s strange to be headed back there after all these years…”

Tetora, however, did not seem to be reminiscing. “Don’t forget, you must call us Tiger and Ox around others. You’re our owners here.”

That grunt I dismissed threatened to come back around with a vengeance, but I stifled it. “Right…”

We returned to the road, and I distracted myself with the passing scenery. There were plants of all types, with adequate water and soil to take root. The pine trees had thinned away in spots the farther east we headed, giving way to sprawling farms, their patchwork pastures blanketing the landscape. One large field approached the road, and I could see several ox and rabbit hybrids working the land. They kept their heads low as we passed by. One ox hybrid, his beard tinged with white, collapsed in the middle of the field. A man ran out to him, but instead of offering aid, he cursed incessantly.

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“If you’re going to die, do it in a ditch! Don’t mess up my rows!”

“Forgive me, Master,” the ox-man exhaled in exhaustion. “If I could just be excused to get a drink from the trough…”

“Last time I let an ox do that, they tried to run! Do you think I’m stupid?! No water breaks!”

“Little dragon, hold your strike.” Aleph was behind me, surreptitiously holding my hand that had unconsciously drawn my sword. “If we intervene, it will only get worse.” He pointed to a small hill, where at least half a dozen men sat, crossbows drawn. He pointed not only at the older ox hybrid on the ground but also at the other hybrid workers.

“Well, what are we going to do about this?” I asked, quickly shoving the sword back into its sheath angrily.

“We should not–”

“I got this,” Nora waved her hand. “Just keep walking.”

Against my better judgment, I kept marching along the road, silently seething.

“M..my lord! The roof, the roof!” One armed sentry screamed after we passed, pointing to the main house. “The roof is on fire!”

Black tendrils of smoke were pouring out of the clay tiles near the top of the chimney. Then, the terrible excuse for a landowner started shrieking. “Everyone! Go get water! Don’t let it burn down! That’s my house!”

“Ah… that’s not how the song goes…” Nora shook her head. “But I guess this works, too. At least he’s going to get a drink now.”

“Song?”

She gave me a wide-eyed stare. “Seriously, Rae?”

I turned away from her before answering, only to see everyone on the farm heading towards the well. Another ox helped up the older hybrid even as they made their way to battle the growing conflagration. The hybrids moved quite a bit slower than what appeared to be the hired help.

“Anyway…” I changed course again, feeling I had missed something I shouldn’t have. “Did you do that? I would swear an oath that I didn’t hear you utter a single word!”

“I didn’t need to say any words of power. I know sign language.” She wiggled her fingers. “Pretty cool, right?”

“How did you know that would work?”

“I didn’t,” she shrugged. “But it was worth a try.”

It was a short-term solution, that was for sure. But the whole setup didn’t bode well. Those ox hybrids were just going to undergo a different torture tomorrow. “That farm…” I began.

“You’re going to ask why there are so many hybrids on the premises?” Aleph finished.

“Yes.”

“In Turri, there are exceptions to the rule. Owners can provide for many hybrids, as long as they pay an animus offset to the church.”

“Provide for?!” Nora screeched. The word he should have used was enslave.

Aleph’s face contorted. “Their words, not mine. But change is coming. The Holy City has issued several proclamations already condemning the practice of–”

“Proclamations ain’t worth the parchment they’re printed on!” Vernie declared. “Sending a note does nothing!” I mean, she was right. I briefly imagined Claire writing the note she sent us about the acceptable use of Nora’s journal, which only resulted in its intentional defacement.

“Why aren’t the holy knights doing anything about this?” I asked. Sure, Rae was the Captain of the Gold Order, but there was still the White, the Blue, and the Silver. They also welcomed all that could pass their trials, hybrid or human. Demons, of course, needed not to apply.

“They’re busy,” Tetora rumbled. “The Three Orders are split between the upper and lower entrances to the wastelands, defending against the demon king’s inevitable invasion.”

Nora and I exchanged a long glance. We had a lot to dissect with that declaration.

“Doesn’t that mean the hybrids outside those borders… have no protection?” Did they just choose risky freedom over imposed slavery?

“The Three Orders routinely patrol the wastelands,” Aleph murmured. “To say there is no protection would be an… oversimplification.” However, we hadn’t directly encountered them in our travels, and we even managed to pass by their giant fortress. As I contemplated the significance of our stinky shortcut, I found it more than a bit troubling. I was about to ask how routine the word ‘routine’ really meant, but Nora was faster with her next callout.

“I thought there were four orders in total,” Nora remarked. “Which one’s missing?”

“Ah,” Aleph paused. “Raelynn was the Holy Captain of the Gold Order, but…”

“The entire order disbanded?” I asked with a sinking feeling.

“You… could say that…” Vernie looked up at the sky thoughtfully. “But you’re getting it back together!”

“Huh?” I’d remember promising to do a side quest of that magnitude!

“The Gold Order is almost complete! Once Relias joins, we’ll be at full capacity!” Vernie laughed flatly.

I swallowed hard. “Wait, the whole Gold Order… was just six people?!” Or… five plus one other?

“That’s all it ever is,” Vernie replied. That’s… not an Order! That’s a party making dinner plans! It wasn’t even close to the upper limit of the two-pizza rule!

We had more pressing issues to clarify since it seemed like Aleph was holding on to even more information than we had realized. “Has the new demon king already declared war?” I continued.

“You’re expecting him to act like a human!” Tetora shouted, straining himself. “When he’s ready, he’ll just attack everyone without restraint. It’s as simple as that!” No. No, he wouldn’t do that. That would be stupid, and he isn’t stupid. Waging a war on several fronts without any solid allies? Stupid.

“But it’s been seven years already…” Nora sighed. “Political shake-ups with the other demon lords aside… what could he possibly be waiting for?”

“Seven years is hardly a blink of an eye to him! He’s just consolidating power now. When he gets bored with that, he’ll strike.”

“Isn’t that all the more reason to have a united front and stop blaming each other for all our problems?” I questioned, but my words were met by an uncomfortable silence that lingered as we continued along the road. Before we could find a less emotionally charged topic to debate, the sun began its inevitable descent, forcing us to make camp for the night.