The three of us were standing back to back in the largest open space of the clearing we could find, quietly scanning the branches above us. Our bare skin was caked in dirt, particularly in the myriad cuts and scrapes that had begun to accumulate. We had decided against my healing them for now. Such minor concerns could be dealt with when we were safe, and my Life was better spent on larger injuries.

“Any sign?” Hess whispered faintly.

“Shh!” Jax hissed in reply.

Of the three of us, she was the only one that could even come close to detecting the lizard’s approach. I had no idea how a creature that size was capable of something like that, but it was able to scamper through the branches overhead with insane speed and stealth. Abilities which it had been using to harry us for quite some time now.

All it took was a moment of inattention, and the thing would be on you before you could blink, ready to grab you with its huge tongue. If it did not feel the need to announce its presence just before it struck, we would have been dead a dozen times over. It was that fact, combined with certain of its anatomical features that had clued me in as to what was going on.

With no eyes and that big blob of fat on its head, it reminded me rather of a Beluga whale. Not that they were eyeless, of course, but I had heard that they had rather poor eyesight and fantastic hearing. So much so, that they were considered to have some of the best sonar amongst whales. Of course, that was only underwater, and they could do it by simply clicking their tongues. This critter, however…

Tock!

We tensed briefly, but that had been off in the distance somewhere.

There was another reason we were remaining quiet. While we were conversing, it could home in on us pretty well without having to thump the chest it carried on its back. Frankly, that fact had taken us an embarrassing amount of time to figure out.

Jax tapped my leg.

That was my cue. Quickly, I muttered the Words to ‘Efficacy in the Gloom’ under my breath, buffing my allies with a touch of much needed accuracy. With all the practice I had been putting in, the spell was getting easier. I no longer had to think about what the Words were, and within another day or so, I should be able to say them without stumbling over the syllables.

Hess, meanwhile, scraped some of the Sap I had summoned from off of the back of her hand onto her arrowhead. That had been about five minutes ago, and the stuff had already begun to flake from drying out. I would need to re-Varnish her soon. Once it hardened, it might as well have been candle wax for all the good it would do.

Jax tapped us again, pointing this time. It took me a handful of seconds to zero in on it. Even moving, it was hard to see, especially when it was in the upper branches. However, its eventual perch was quite obvious. There really was nowhere else it could attack us from than directly overhead. Not unless it drastically changed strategies, anyway.

That was why we had picked this spot.

Coming to a rest on the predicted branch, it paused for a moment, listening. To what, I had no idea. We were holding perfectly still. Our heartbeats, maybe? Then, seemingly satisfied, it swung its bulk soundlessly to the underside of the branch, and gripping with only its hind claws, it extended its mass downward. Slowly, it curled one of its middle arms in preparation of the herald of its attack.

However, Hess had other ideas. Coiling herself like a spring, she leapt skyward. For a standing jump, it was impressive to the point of being inhuman. Her feet, at the apex of her ascent, could have cleared Jax’s head twice over. And just before she crested her arc, she let the arrow fly.

THOCK!

The lizard thumped the box half a second before the arrow struck home, and the beast recoiled from the oncoming projectile, causing it to miss the hump of fat on its head. Instead, the arrow thudded into its neck, just missing its spine. But that was enough. Ultimately, it did not matter a great deal where it hit for the Sap to do its work.

With a bellow of outrage, the lizard flung out its tongue in a wild swing, just catching Hess in the shoulder as she was coming down. The heavy blow deflected her momentum and she tumbled crazily through the air before coming down head first.

She was a professional, though. At the last second, she flung out her arms and curled inward, just managing to roll with the impact. However, as she came upright again, I noticed that her shoulder was sporting a fresh rash of shiny new blood. Making a quick evaluation, I put it out of my mind. It was not bad enough that her own regeneration would not take care of it.

Jax and I stood ready for a follow up attack, as it had occasionally done, but this time, it decided that another hasty retreat was in order. Still bellowing from the pain now emanating from its neck, it quickly scrabbled away, stumbling and frequently pausing to claw at its latest wound.

“’Snails,” Hess swore as she regained her feet. “I almost had it that time!”

“I just wish it’d quit toying with us and come fight,” Jax growled. “Blighter be strong enough to put up a good one. This running off business be bad form, says I.”

“It’s an ambush predator,” I explained simply. “It’s not going to keep fighting once its attack fails.”

“Whatever happens, it needs to be soon,” Hess said, rolling her rapidly mending shoulder. Thanks to our earlier activities, she had enough juice to fuel the ability at full blast. “Dark is coming on, and we can barely see it as it is.”

“Nah,” Jax scoffed. “Once Master casts his spell, we’ll see it straight off. In fact, it’ll be even easier, because…” She trailed off, realization slowly dawning.

My eyes went distant as I followed her train of thought. Here I was with a twelve in Wisdom, and I was still making stupid ass mistakes like this. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed out, “Son of a bitch…” But then, I winced, glancing guiltily at Jax.

She had cocked her hip and folded her arms under her breasts at my slip. Clicking softly in disdain, she muttered, “I’ll allow it.”

It was a good while before the monster came back.

By that point, it was well into the twilight hours, and we had worked furiously to prepare for its return, never really sure when it might show up to attack us again. However, it had taken so long to reappear that, not only had we finished, but I had needed to resort to intermittent castings of my visual highlights spell just to keep my endurance up. Ironically, it was a bit like my own version of sonar.

Personally, I figured that the Sap was to blame for its delay. Each exchange we had made with the beast, over the course of the day, had resulted in at least a minor wound or two, usually on both sides, but that had been its first encounter with the painful substance. It would have needed some time to work it out of its system, and I had to imagine that it would be hesitant to suffer it again. And that was fine by us. Unlike the lizard, our tactics had been evolving with each skirmish, and its delay just meant that we had more time to plan.

“Are you sure this will work?” Hess asked as we finally caught sight of the beast. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she warbled softly in signal.

“Not even a little bit,” I admitted. In point of fact, I was fairly certain that this was going to get Jax killed, and if she were not technically immortal, I would never have considered it. Glancing up into the branches, I noted Jax’s hand returning the signal from where she was lying in wait. “She’s in position.”

“Right,” Hess said as she began to loosen up. “She’s quite the climber, you know. Even I would’ve had a hard time getting all the way up there that quickly.”

“It’s the claws,” I pointed out. “And I’m sure that new skill she picked up helps.”

“Mmm… Funny how she can do all that without having to do an incantation,” she mused. “Now move away. And hush. It’s coming.”

Nodding, I lightly jogged toward the central tree and rested my back against the trunk. With any luck, it’s echolocation would not be able to pick me out against the background, especially with the ‘bait’ in place.

Meanwhile, Hess began casually walking in circles and singing tunelessly to herself, “My host, his man, his name was Kell. A gentle man that I loved so well, but if he die by some mishap, then he shall lie under the tap.” She paused to sigh, “’Snails… now I want a beer…”

Smiling bemusedly as she pushed on to the next verse, I glanced skyward. The lizard was highlighted clearly now, thanks to my spell, and had paused rather high up in the branches of the tree above. In a flash, it soundlessly zipped around and down, treating the many limbs as a child might a familiar set of stairs. Halting every ten steps or so, as if to reassess, it eventually made its way directly over Hess.

She was quite well aware of it, of course. Watching it carefully, she subtly shifting the lyrics, “We interlope around your head, a giant rope made out of web. Now stand in place while we do trap your jiggly face, ‘n give it… a…” she paused, waiting for the beast to inch forward just a hair more.

“Slap!”

At the word, Jax heaved for all she was worth, cinching the aforementioned rope around the chest of the creature, just under its first pair of arms.

It reacted predictably. With a bellowed squawk, it thrashed furiously, trying to dislodge the thick bands that had suddenly encircled it. But before it could bring its claws to bear, we quickly moved to the second phase.

“Hold on, Jax!” I yelled, just as Hess completed her invocation.

Thrusting her hands upward, she again produced a huge thunderclap of air, rocking the branches above with a brief gust of hurricane force wind. As soon as it hit, the distracted lizard came loose of its perch and sailed through the air before jerking to a stop when the rope pulled taut. Then, like a pendulum, it swung down again. The beast barely reacted as it dangled back and forth, apparently too stunned by the turn of events to figure out what to do.

Unfortunately, the blast was too much for Jax to withstand. When it hit, her claws had dragged furrows through the bark of the tree, and she had blown free. Tracing her path through the air, I sprinted for her, hoping that the impact would not kill her outright. However, as she fell, she began giving off tracers of what looked like smoke, and somehow, her descent slowed.

Slightly.

Twisting in the air, she spread herself out wide just before impacting with the soil, and with a fwap, she face-planted.

“Jax!” I yelled, skidding to a stop just over her. Squatting down, I gently rolled her over, “Jax, are you alright?”

“Ugh…” she moaned, gritting her teeth. “I think I popped me tits.”

I coughed slightly, struggling not to laugh, “They uh… they look fine to me.”

Cracking an eye open, she focused on me, “Yeah?” Wiggling her chest a bit, she winced in pain, “I think ye should check they’s still attached.”

“Hurry up, you two!” Hess shouted from behind us. “We still have a lizard to slaughter!”

Jax sighed grumpily, “Never a moment’s rest.” Groaning, she staggered to her feet, still muttering under her breath, “Here I be, just farted out of a tree, and now I gotta go skin a bloody…”

Grinning, I went ahead and sent a heal her way, and she shivered slightly before continuing her mantra of complaints, if with a slight spring to her step.

Actually killing the beast was a gruesome but comparatively quiet affair.

Jax had simply run up to it while it was stunned and cut a gash into its crotch, right beneath the leg joint. It did not live long past that, and from the blood that gushed from the wound, I had little wonder as to why. Anatomy was anatomy no matter the weird fantasy dimension a person found themselves in. Then again, I had not run into anything like a Gelatinous Cube yet, for which I was thankful.

Of course, the beast had still struggled valiantly for a little while, thrashing about with its tail and scrabbling with its claws. One of which had managed to catch my companion right in the hip before she could retreat, and I had been obliged, yet again, to help her close the wound. The result of which was that my tank was now back down to fumes. It had been some time since the last encounter with the beetles, and the fight with the lizard had been long if intermittent.

“What do you call one of these things, anyway?” I asked, mostly just to make conversation while we waited for its movements to cease. Idly, I rubbed at my now rumbling stomach.

“Meh,” Hess shrugged. “The Dungeon throws together random, weird creatures like this all the time. I’ve never bothered to name them. Although, I’m sure someone out there has.”

“It be a Tit-faced Box Thumper,” Jax announced confidently.

Hess and I glanced over at her. Standing there with her hands on hips, she seemed rather proud of the ridiculous, if apt, name that she had just made up.

“Good enough,” Hess shrugged, just as the monster in question gave its last twitch. “Why don’t you jump up there and cut it down? Then we’ll see about this ‘box’.”

“Aye,” Jax nodded. Striding forward, she again began giving off what looked like tracers of smoke and leapt up to the now dead beast. With the new ability, she sailed upward much farther than she otherwise should have.

“How exactly is that skill supposed to work?” Hess asked while Jax climbed.

“I dunno,” she replied, digging her claws into flesh for purchase. “She were saying something about… ‘converting me mass to shadow’. Whatever it do, it makes me feel lighter so as I can jump higher and such.”

Hess frowned, “That’s a weird pick, considering that all we asked for was something to help you deal with ranged combat.”

“It does, technically,” I answered for her defensively. “If she’s lighter, then it should help her run faster, jump higher, and be more maneuverable just in general. All useful for dodging projectiles and closing with ranged opponents. But I think that’s just her class for you. She’s a Tenebrous Warrior, after all, so shadow related skills are expected.” Then tilting my head up to address my lilim, I continued, “You’ll need to remember to turn it off before you hit something, though. Less weight means less damage.”

“Yes, Master,” she agreed affably from somewhere on the other side of the lizard.

“So she does have a class,” Hess said, turning to look at me for affirmation. “She’s not just a lilim, but specialized, as well?”

I nodded, a little surprised by the question, “Yes? Hadn’t we mentioned that? Although, we only had the two options. It was either this or some sort of scout class. The ‘tenebrous’ bit got added on after the fact. No clue as to why.”

“How interesting,” she replied. “I wonder…”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Master,” Jax called. She was now standing atop the ‘Box Thumper’ while holding the rope. Flashing her claws, she twanged the thread a few times ineffectively and looked down at me, “I’ll be needing some of yer… fluid.”

I decided to ignore the innuendo, despite Hess elbowing me in the shoulder repeatedly. One of us had to be the straight man, after all.

Once the required effect was in place, Jax slowly began running her claws through the individual strands of the rope, burning them away until it finally snapped. With little fanfare, the beast collapsed to the ground in a heap, leaving Jax dangling from the rope.

“Well now,” Hess began as she circled the corpse. Squatting down, she gave the chest an experimental jiggle, but it was held fast by the bony protrusions emanating from the creature’s back. “How to go about this…”

“Could we nay convert it to Gem?” Jax asked before lightly dropping down atop the body.

“Maybe,” Hess mused, “But I’ve never seen something like this before, and I’m worried that it might convert the chest along with it.”

“That would be quite the troll move,” I muttered under my breath. Then more loudly, I asked, “Do you really think something like that would happen?”

“Maybe,” she repeated. “Either way, we’d still need a Key to open it. And trying to find another one of those is about the last thing I want to do right now.”

“Weren’t ye what found the last one,” Jax grumped. “Ye was sleeping as I recall. However…” she emphasized just as Hess began to defend herself, “Fortunately for yer lazy bones, Master found two Keys in yon warren.”

“You did?” she asked, surprised.

I nodded, “Yeah, there was a uh… riddle involved.” And a bit of mockery. I still had no idea what the punchline was, though.

“Alright then,” she said, smiling. Apparently, that had been explanation enough. Standing again, she motioned to Jax, “Come on. Help me chop these bones loose.”

Sighing, she summoned her axe to hand and dropped to the ground, “Aye, hen. At least one of us gots a weapon what be useful.”

“You say that like it’s my fault,” Hess returned. “Now quit complaining and help me.”

“I’ll have ye know that me complaints add a crucial bit of color to this trio! Be a core component to me personality!” she said, raising her chin slightly.

“I thought that incomprehensible swearing was the core of your personality,” I chimed in.

She actually had the gall to look offended by the remark.

Some time later, through vigorous applications of a sharp edge, chemical weakening, and sheer muscle, the two finally managed to free the chest, and it tumbled loose onto its side.

“We got it, Donum,” Hess called.

Jogging back to rejoin them, I dumped my latest armload of branches into the pile I had been collecting. It was well and truly dark by that point, and I was both cold and hungry. I figured that with a bit of firewood, I could at least be warm and hungry.

“Excellent idea,” Hess said, taking note of my efforts. Then she glanced at Jax significantly, “Would you mind?”

“What?” Jax protested. “What about the treasure?”

“We can’t very well see what’s in it without a bit of light, can we?” Hess replied reasonably.

“Donum can cast his spell, though!” she persisted.

“It’s… kind of hard to tell what things are from just the outlines,” I admitted quietly.

Jax firmed her lip in frustration, “Ye do it then! Ye said yer ownself ye figured the doing of it!”

“I mean… okay…” I nodded uncertainly. Casting about, I started muttering under my breath, “Uh… first, I guess I need to make some tinder… somehow…”

“Bloody…” Jax threw up her arms, “Fine! Couple of pooched reprobates, the lot of ye.”

“I’m sorry, Jax,” I said, trailing after her. I had a sense that she was genuinely feeling put upon. “It’s just that you’re so much more experienced with this.”

“I don’t even know how,” Hess admitted. “Not without a Runestarter, anyway.”

I had no idea what that might be, but I had read enough fantasy novels to let my imagination fill in the blanks. However, Jax had plenty to say on the subject.

“Feh! Bloody things are for rich folk what ain’t never lived a hard day in their lives. And they cost a fortune besides!” Pausing for a moment, she reconsidered, “I suppose we could afford one now.” By that point, she had already carved out a fireboard and was well into whittling the point of a drill. Tossing me a short piece of wood, she commanded, “Strip the bark.” And then a few seconds later, she glanced guiltily up at me, “Please, Master.”

“Well…” I grinned and sat beside her, “since you said the magic word…”

Smiling a bit now, she leaned against my shoulder, “Which word were that? Were it ‘strip’? Or maybe…”

“Please,” I answered quickly. “The magic word is please.”

Chuckling, Hess sat across from us and began snapping the larger branches into a more manageable size for the fire. “It’d be nice if the treasure had some clothes in it,” she began, seemingly at random. But then she continued, “That way we could strip for real. Not that seeing the two of you running around naked isn’t nice, but there’s a lot to be said in peeling away the wrapping.”

I sighed. I had met construction workers who talked about sex less often than these two. On the other hand, I literally had an aura that was constantly pumping them full of ideas, so I really only had myself to blame.

“Aye,” Jax agreed, ignoring me, “I do miss watching the Master spring loose. Not that watching him flop about ain’t welcome.”

“Thank you, that’s enough,” I chided them gently, and they both tittered at my discomfort.

Once the fire was lit, we set about rummaging through the chest. The Key that I had been given fit the lock perfectly, and like all the others we had seen, it vanished as soon as the latch popped open. I had to wonder whether that had been the plan all along, or if perhaps, there was another Key somewhere in this maze that was the actual intended one for this chest. Either way, we had no designs on going to find it unless we were forced to.

I flinched a bit as Hess opened the lid, suddenly remembering what had happened the last time we had been in this situation. For some reason, none of us expected this chest to be trapped. Maybe the fact that we literally had to hack it loose from the body of our defeated foe had something to do with it, but it just did not occur to us until it was too late to even check. Fortunately, at least this once, reality decided to conform to our expectations.

Holding an improvised torch aloft, Hess peered into the trunk for a moment before exclaiming, “Oh! A knife!”

Snatching the item, she waggled it in front of us. From my experience, I would have probably called it a dagger, especially considering its size. The blade of it, though sheathed in a conveniently included bit of leather complete with belt loops, was at least a hand long. And unlike the pair of Goblin daggers that we had discarded, it was wickedly sharp.

“Nice,” I nodded, suitably impressed. “Is that another bound weapon?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied quickly. “Those are usually… flashier. Still, I’m sure there’s something interesting about it.”

“Aye,” Jax chimed in, “Remember what mine were like when we found it? Just a bit of metal what turned into mine axe after we asked after it.”

I remembered, all right. That had been an interesting revelation. Of course, the appearance of Hess’ weapon had been decidedly less so. But then, I was assuming that had been something of a prank. A horrific one, but a prank nonetheless.

Setting the knife down, she turned back to the chest and lifted out the next item. Or items, in this case.

“Arm guards,” she announced simply.

Reaching out, I took them from her to look them over. They were made of a thick cloth, more like elbow-length gloves, with a plate of hardened leather along the back. However, they had no fingers. Instead, there was a simple loop to fit your middle finger through that was attached to a triangular bit of fabric than ran over top of your hand. This then widened out until it joined to the rest. From the design, it seemed like you could add an actual pair of gloves to them without much difficulty by simply slipping them over top. They were otherwise well-made and quite sturdy, if undecorated. Really, the only thing odd about them was that the stitching seemed a little unnecessarily complex.

“Aught else?” Jax asked, peering over Hess’ shoulder.

“Mmm… There’s a mix of coins in here. Oh, here we go.” Standing again, she held up a small package in the palm of her hand. It looked like a wrapper for a piece of salt-water taffy. “Looks like we found some pills.”

“Pills?” I asked curiously as she began to unwrap them. “What sort of pills?”

There were three of them, altogether. Virtually indistinguishable, they appeared to be some form of tightly compacted white powder that had been encased in a thin bit of wax.

“No idea,” she admitted. “I’m no Apothecary.”

“What do ye do with them?” Jax asked, lightly poking one of the pea-sized pellets with her claw.

“Don’t break them open,” Hess said, hastily pulling them away. “They’re fragile. And you swallow them, of course. They’re kind of like spells that only work on you. They can do lots of things, from healing you to making you fly. For a little while, anyway.”

“So you can buy these, I’m assuming?” I asked. If apothecaries were a thing, then it seemed logical.

She nodded, “It’s a fairly common profession. As I understand it, they have recipes like we have skills, and can only make what they buy the knowledge for. Mostly, they tend to specialize in medicines for common ailments. Regeneration. Bone Mending. That sort of thing. These are likely to be much less mundane.”

That sounded like regular old potion making to me. Although, having to take the recipe as a skill was a new one. That meant that there would be no experimentation or sharing of recipes. Either they had what you were looking for or you would have to provide them with enough Power Gems to get to the next Layer. And then you would have to trust that they would take the recipe you were looking for. That would suck.

On the other hand, from what I had seen of skills so far, I had to imagine that you could get some crazy-ass pill effects.

“Well, I suppose I should put them in my pouch for now. And the coins.” Glancing hopefully down into the distressingly vacant opening, I asked, “Is there… anything else?”

“That’s it,” she pronounced.

“Really? Not even a bolt of cloth?”

“Sorry,” she shrugged. Then, with a bit of a smirk, she added, “You’re just going to have to dangle for a while longer.”

I screwed up my mouth in frustration, and then furtively glancing at Jax, I swore anyway. Politely.

“Fudge.”

We decided to let Jax have the arm guards for now, as she was less hardy than Hess. I was not sure how much good they would do her, but something is better than nothing. And nothing was something she had a whole lot of.

Hess, meanwhile, received the knife. It was not an ideal choice, Hess being something less than a precision instrument at best, but it was better than trying to stab things with an arrow. Of course, she did not exactly have a good place to put the thing, and her attempts at incorporating it into her wrap were causing it to droop out of position.

“I dunno why ye bother,” Jax commented. She was currently engaged in roasting up some lizard haunch for the two of us, and while I was not keen on the idea, I was pretty hungry. It would be my first actual meal since we had been tossed into this place, and at that point, I had long since lost track of the days. “Just make a belt out of it and be done with.”

She glanced significantly at me, “I… couldn’t do that.”

“Why, Sherr Hess!” I grinned in surprise, “Don’t tell me you’re shy?”

“What’s the matter?” Jax added, sticking her own chest out proudly. “Is yer nipples uneven?”

“No!” she exclaimed a little too loudly. Then more calmly, she continued, “It’s just… I told you, they’re quite small for my kind. I’m a little… embarrassed about it, is all.”

Jax shook her head, “To think I’d see the day the woman what flashed a whole caravan of men and goblins besides were shamed of her body.”

Hess’ eyes widened dramatically, “Are you… did that…?”

I cleared my throat, “You were pretty drunk at the time.”

“Dead blootered,” Jax agreed with an air of finality, and I glanced at her in surprise.

Blootered? I was going to have to remember that one!

“Donum, you have to promise me,” Hess leaned forward earnestly. “Promise me that after you bind me, you’ll never let me drink again!”

“Here now!” Jax cut in. “Nothing wrong with a nip, here and there. Ye just have to watch yer take.”

“That’s…” I sighed. “Look, either way, that sort of thing only really works when the person in question has the will to control themselves.” Not that I was any kind of expert on addiction, of course. But I had seen enough to know that no matter how much effort a person’s friends or family put in, there was only so much they could do. If a person wanted a thing badly enough, they would find a way.

“But you can command me, right?” Hess asked. “You can make me not drink.”

I nodded hesitantly, before glancing at Jax for help, “Yes. But, I think it takes a while for that sort of thing to feel… absolute.”

“Aye,” Jax agreed. “Took some time, that. Several weeks. ‘Course, Master ain’t one for given commands if he ain’t gotta, so I dunno. Might be less if he really meant it.”

Rubbing her arm dejectedly, Hess nodded, “I… suppose I can live with that.” We sat in silence for a little while after that before Hess looked back up at me. “What Layer are you at, anyway? Are you getting close?”

“Ninth,” I admitted, smiling a bit.

She sat up straight at the revelation, “What? Ninth?! Then what are you waiting on? Fill up your core and sleep, so you can bind me!”

“There’s no rush,” I shrugged. “And besides, we haven’t even found the exit yet.”

She stared at me long and hard at that. Technically, that had not been a part of the deal, but she knew the implications well enough. We had no idea what, if anything, the binding would do to her, and if it impaired her combat ability, we would be stuck. Arguing otherwise would have been idiotic.

“I will not allow you through the exit without holding up your end of the bargain,” she pronounced finally. Then after a moment, her eyes softened a bit, “No matter what else may have come between us.”

I could not see why she seemed to be so serious about the matter. It was not like I was going to renege on her, even if I felt she was being far too hasty with it. I just hoped that it was everything she wanted it to be. “At the exit, then,” I said with a nod. “You have my word. Provided we’re both alive by that point.”

There was a moment of hesitation, as if she wanted to ask for a more binding oath, but eventually, she seemed to decide that was enough and sat back. “At the exit,” she agreed before allowing a faint smile to cross her lips. “I will look forward to it.”

“Meat’s done,” Jax cut in, carrying a couple of cuts of it on the spike of her axe for the both of us. Walking up to Hess, she smiled, “And relax, hen. I’ve allowed ye to share of the Master. Ye shall be bound, sure as the rain falls.”

So saying, she unceremoniously tossed Hess a huge chuck of the stuff, still rolling with grease and steaming from the fire, and with a smile of gratitude, she deftly caught it with the point of her knife. Swiveling on the ball of her foot, Jax made to hand me my own comparatively small but still large portion before grimacing and pulling it away again.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“I… I just…” she hesitated, not wanting to make eye contact. “I feel like I ain’t done ye right. Making ye have to eat when I should’ve provided.”

I almost snorted in derision, but I held myself back. She was apparently just as serious about this as Hess had been, though I could not fathom why.

These people…

“We’re not always going to have the luxury of… feeding from our enemies,” I reasoned. “And besides. You still cooked for me. From an enemy, even.”

“But it’s…” she made a face, like she was nauseated by the very idea.

“It’s not bad,” Hess assured us around a mouthful. “Much better than that beetle was, anyway.”

Not exactly a high bar…

Jax sighed in frustration, “No, I mean… It be… food!”

I nodded. Slowly.

“That ye gotta eat!” she elaborated, pulling her lips over her sharp teeth.

“Jax, I have personally watched you eat a whole can of spoiled…”

“Master!” she shouted before turning her head and retching loudly. Slapping a hand over her mouth, she stood trembling for a moment. Finally, she seemed to regain some control of herself and mumbled through her fingers, “That were a long time ago.”

I stared at her silently for a few moments, struck once again by how much she had changed since then. She had gone so long on her diet of nothing but emotions, harvested Life Energy, and… well, sex, to put it bluntly, that she was actually horrified by the very idea of eating food. Or more specifically, my eating food. She did not seem to care in the slightest what Hess did. And now, the fact that I was having to do so, because she had failed to provide her own preferred… sustenance was making her feel guilty. And apparently more than a little grossed out.

“It’s okay, Jax. Really,” I assured her gently before reaching for the proffered hunk of meat, but I winched when my fingers touched it. It was still blazing hot from the fire. “I uh… I’m sorry. I don’t have a knife.”

She looked at me uncertainly for a moment, “Do ye want me to… hold it fer ye? While ye…” She paled and looked away.

“If you wouldn’t mind?”

She took a breath, clearly at war with herself. However, after a moment, she sat down next to me and held the chunk to my face. She refused to watch, though.

Of course, it did not help that the meat in question was some kind of unidentified lizard beast. But it still smelled pretty good, so with a slight shrug, I took a smallish bite and began to chew experimentally. However, after a few moments, I frowned unhappily.

“Well?” Jax asked, glancing at me from out of the corner of her eye. “What do ye think?”

“It uh…” I grimaced. I could not lie, of course. Not to her. So I went for diplomacy instead. “It could use some salt.”

For some reason, that remark made her positively ecstatic.