Stepping over the body, I glanced to my left at Yangli. He was pulling his sword from a man’s chest, and doing so with a strange stiffness.

He was hurt. But not from the scuffle just now. He had been walking stiffly since showing up at Nebl’s the other day.

I didn’t know how or why, but I couldn’t smell his blood or any wounds upon him… so it was likely just a still healing injury. He was likely just bruised… But I’ll need to keep an extra eye on him just in case.

Many men died because of such bruises and aches. It made them sluggish. It made their movements stiff and made them misjudge and stumble. And although Yangli was strong, one of the strongest in the Society, he was still young. Young and hotheaded. A bad combination.

Looking away from the lad, I studied the cavern entrance before us.

It was dark as could be… but I could both hear and smell the truth. It was likely a large cavern. And somewhere within it, my target. One I’d been hunting for months.

Only three men had been guarding the entrance. And they hadn’t even lit a fire even though it was a cold night. It meant not only were they smarter than most… It likely meant these were indeed the ones I had been searching for.

“My two had been human, Vim,” Yangli said quietly as he stepped up next to me.

“I saw,” I said. It was why I had targeted the man I’d killed.

The corpse behind me had been a larger man. One with fur on his arms. I hadn’t been able to tell what his bloodline was, but it didn’t matter.

He wasn’t the boss. I needed the one in charge. Plus…

I glanced back at the man I had killed. I had decapitated him and his head lay a few feet from his body. His face was visible, and the look of a sneer told me he was not the man who had killed Gribs.

That sneer had not been directed at me. It had planted itself on his face thanks to his two comrades. They had made a joke before Yangli and I emerged from the cover of the forest and attacked.

He had not noticed my approach, nor reacted at all to my attack.

He had not been a great warrior at all.

Plus Yangli and I had studied them for a moment before attacking, and we had heard them complaining about one of their fellows. They had been complaining of a woman, but in the normal sense. They had been whining about how she was a slave driver and hard on them. Likely the boss of this group.

“So uh… we going? Or are we waiting till they come out?” Yangli asked, growing impatient.

I ignored the young man’s bloodlust and studied the cave further.

It really was dark. Yet I could hear the many voices within. The sounds were far too muddled to make anything out, but I could hear the liveliness of them. They were having fun. It was the middle of the night, and they felt safe. They were likely drinking and eating. Typical of such a mercenary group.

“They’re deep in there. A cavern system such as that likely has other entrances,” I said.

“Then why guard this one?” Yangli asked.

“It’s the main one,” I said as I stepped forward.

The lizard groaned as he followed after me, doing his best to stay lockstep with me.

“Can’t you at least just… say something to her? She obeys you,” Yangli asked again as we entered the cave.

I bit my tongue before saying anything, since it wasn’t the right time for it.

The boy really did need to calm down. He had thankfully not said nor did anything rude while at Nebl’s smithy, but along the way here he had once again said things that bothered me. Bringing up a topic I’d been so desperately hoping he’d drop.

“I’m just saying Vim, I can’t handle it. She’s so beautiful. And I bet she’d birth a great warrior if it was with me…!” Yangli said as he once again dug another foot deeper into his grave.

I flinched and had to remind myself he was just a young man. One who had been raised during war. One too strong for his own good. Such strength and his need to use it have made him confident and… well…

A little too prideful. In his eyes he had no real equal. So to him, claiming woman or two shouldn’t be that big a deal.

Usually such an attitude would get stomped out quick. Either by me, or others in the Society… but it seemed nothing anyone said or did was changing his mind. In fact it seemed to only be getting worse. He just wouldn’t shut up about his lust for Lilly.

The lad was very lucky I liked his parents. Otherwise I may have smacked him by now.

He was a fool, and wild, but he’s not once actually hurt anyone. Not yet. So I couldn’t… shouldn’t…

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Yangli lifted his sword, tapping it on his shoulder. He cared not for the blood still upon it, which was likely now on his shirt. “Lilly should be with someone like me, Vim. Not a weakling. Her children will be useless if she keeps having them with that twig,” Yangli said with a sigh.

“Quiet, Yangli. These aren’t humans, they’ll hear you,” I said softly, warning him.

He paused a moment, and then quickly nodded. He had forgotten.

I glared at the young man who was now fully focused. He glared hard at the darkness we were striding into, ready for anything.

Why oh why was he the way he was…?

His father, his namesake, was also strong… but he was a good man. A very good man. He and the rest of his family were wonderful people. His sister, little Prasta, was as innocent as the saint she was named after.

So… how had this boy turned out so twisted…?

And how did I stop him from making a terrible mistake…?

Would he even listen to me? I’ve started to slowly warn him, indirectly, but he hasn’t seemed to take the hint.

Should I break my own rule…?

I knew I should have set more stern rules in my contract. I shouldn’t have allowed Celine to be so ambiguous. I shouldn’t have allowed her to give me such freedom to decide where and how I could step in.

She had ensured my personal beliefs were respected… well…

My own personal beliefs were going to be the end of me, and by extension the Society.

It sickened me. It was one thing for me to be a bastard, to be a hypocrite, but to force others to suffer as well because of it…?

But what was I to do? Should I make a new contract? Set new laws and rules…? Now? While in the middle of all out war or survival…?

Celine wasn’t here anymore. And the Society was so fractured. Falling apart. If I tried to renegotiate my contract with them now it would only cause more chaos and heartache. It’d do no good. Especially right now.

Still…

Stepping over a tiny creek of flowing water, I glanced again at the boy.

I’ll say something. A warning. I owed Lilly that much.

After. After this is over. Tonight.

It might just do good the boy good to do so… And I’d rather risk his life than losing him anyway down the road… but…

A sharp cry pulled me far from my thoughts as I picked up the pace.

“Ah…!” Yangli startled as I left him behind. I hurried through the cavern, rounding sharp and jagged rocks. The cry of the woman echoed a bit… and as it shifted into a moan and laugh, I slowed and calmed down.

Oh.

Yangli slid to a stop behind me, and nearly ran into me. I had slowed my pace too abruptly.

My fault. I had been distracted and thus mistook the woman’s voice. What I had thought been a cry of fear or terror had instead just been a drunken moan.

To prove it, as we rounded another bend, the darkness filtered into light.

The cavern slowly opened into what was likely an old mine shaft. People were sitting around pots and fires, cooking food. Before glancing at the people, I followed some of the smoke from the fires up to the ceiling and noticed how the layer of smoke was small and unobtrusive. There was likely an air shaft, or natural crevices in the rock that allowed decent airflow.

“Boss is doing it again,” a man whispered in front of us.

I slowed, keeping myself just outside of the light. I went still as Yangli also stopped walking behind me. He though stayed behind me, not even trying to peer around me.

Not far from us, right before this section ended and the opening where the rest of them were began, were three men. They were sitting around a tiny fire, one that was just boiling water. They all had glass bottles in their hands however, and most looked almost empty. There were several more bottles on the ground at their feet, empty.

“Just be thankful it isn’t us, keep your head low,” another man whispered.

I frowned as I slowly understood the dynamics of this group.

There was a woman’s voice mixed into the low chatter and laughter echoing throughout the cave. She was moaning, and sounded like she was having a good time. Yet, like the three men in front of me, there were also similar conversations happening throughout the rest of the group.

They were all hoping she’d not turn her attention on them.

I smiled a little as I realized the leader of this band was indeed likely the woman. A non-human… and likely one who was rather similar to the lad behind me. Someone who was strong, and used to getting whatever they wanted thanks to that strength.

One of the men in front of us tossed aside his empty bottle and groaned. The type of groan of exhaustion and headache. Either he had drunk too much, or hadn’t drunk enough yet.

He was human. But the man sitting across from him wasn’t.

He had a pair of large bulbous ears on the upper side of his head. Maybe something like a bear. I couldn’t rely on smell here, because the whole cavern was thick of stink. It was a disgusting mix of sweat, unwashed clothes and people, blood, stale and fresh sex, non-human and human alike. Mix all that in with the several fires, food being cooked, and all the alcohol…

Yes. No point even trying to rely on my nose in here.

But that was fine. I was confident these were them.

Yangli was turning into a bastard, but he was good at his job. If his information was right, which it normally was, these were the ones who had killed Gribs and his people.

I’ll be able to confirm it here in a moment anyway… I’ll just grab the woman making all the noise. Even if she wasn’t the boss, someone like that usually knew way more than people realized. A perk of sharing beds.

Still…

Studying the group in front of me, and the few visible in the distance, I wondered how long they’d been here.

The men were dressed in typical attire of this region. They had loose, thick shirts, and heavy pants. Perfect for the thick mountainous terrain. None looked to have any weapons, but past them and in the opening beyond them were men with weapons. Two men were walking past the opening, carrying a large pig. It was attached to a large wooden pole, and tied in a way that told me they were taking it to be cooked. It was too late for dinner, so it was likely something they’d let simmer over a fire all night and through the next day.

Or well…

That was their plan at least.

Shifting a little, I turned to look at the lad behind me.

Yangli perked up, grinning as he looked at me expectantly. He was waiting for permission.

Giving him a nod, he briskly gave me a single nod back.

He was ready.

I sighed as I turned back forward… and nodded.

Let’s get this over with then.