Chapter 8 on the road...

Traveling with humans sure is a slow process… first, they have to pack all of their gear, and then sleeping gear and after that they need foodstuff. Personally, I just needed the clothes on my back and my bow and arrows. The rest of it really didn't matter to me, I could curl up on my tail and sleep like that, and as for food all I needed to do was hunt it.

Khatan’s diet mostly consisted of meat, we also ate some vegetables but still, I would say nine out of ten meals were meat and only meat. In fact, our teeth were not really designed for eating plants, unlike humans we didn't have flat teeth designed to grind plants and leaves into bits and pieces, meaning it is next to impossible for me to eat a leaf of any variety.

And damn if humans don't walk slow as can be…

In fact, it might be quicker if I simply took a nap and then caught up with them, yeah, in fact, that sounds like an amazing idea, though not just taking a nap in the middle of nowhere, I have a much better idea…

Springing forward I leap lightly up Harland’s back landing on top of his large backpack, he grunts in surprise and looks up at me, before he can say a word I settle down on his backpack, my tail curling around his shoulders and neck and place my forearms on his bald head, leaning my head on them. Closing my eyes I began to purr and drift off…

***

“What the actual hell?” Harland murmurs as he feels the Khatan drift off to sleep on top of him.

“I think she likes you~,” Tamerion says with a laugh and Harlan’s face starts to go red with his statement.

“No, she doesn't, at least not in the way you are thinking Tam,” Alaina says, “She likes him, but only as a friend, I don't think she likes men...”

“What? What makes you say that?” Harland whisperers attempting to not wake the sleeping Rin as he moved forward with careful steps.

“You forget that I am a female sometimes don't you?” Alaina sighs and looks over at him, “I get a lot of different stares, some kind, others not, some assessing others testing, I know what it feels like when a man is gazing at me because he thinks I am attractive, she looks at me like that,” she says.

“I think you are just being paranoid, need to have a roll in the hay, loosen up some, blow off some steam.” Tamerian laughed.

“Oh? You think so? Well then think about the barmaid at the inn, didn't you notice that everywhere she went Rin had her eyes glued to her?”

“Can't blame the lass, my eyes were glued as well,” Harland laughed softly, “So, you think she likes women? Do you think that was why she was kicked out of her tribe?” they had all come to the conclusion that the tribe had banished her, why else would she be out here and not with the tribe? Khatans never left their people.

“That is a good possibility,” Alaina nodded, “Or there could have been an arranged marriage of some sort, I heard tribes and other primitive societies do that.”

“You do realize that our own rulers and nobles do arrange marriages all the time right?” Tamerian asks, pulling out a flask from under his robe and taking a swig.

“Exactly, like I said, less sophisticated...” they all laughed at that. “She strikes me as a green adventurer, sure she has the skill to be an adventurer propper, in fact after seeing her take down that Urisinar I am willing to bet she is better than I am, but she still just seems as~” she sighed, trying to think of the proper word.

“Unseasoned?” Harland offered.

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“Green?” Tamerian added.

“Yes, both of those… I don't know, its like she has never seen the world before.”

“She probably hasn't, Khatan stay in their tribes, never really leaving the area they are born in,” Harland shrugged, the motion caused Rin to stir slightly, so he kept his motions slow and careful as he walked on the road, allowing her to fall back into a deeper sleep.

“Yeah,” she turned her head toward the road to Uljits and continued walking as she thought. “It doesn't really matter what caused her to leave she is a teammate now, she is family now,” Both men nodded at that.

“Oh shit,” Harland almost slapped his head but stopped at the last second because he would have ended up slapping Rin on the snout, seeing as her chin was resting on his forehead. “I didn't tell her the rules,” he groaned.

“Of course you forgot to tell her,” Tamerian sighed, “even when I am drunk I have a better memory than you old man!”

“That's a surprise, you mean to say there are times you are sober?” Alaina scoffed.

The rules to be in the group were pretty easy to remember, there were after all only three.

Don't steal from other members.

Don't attack each other with more than fists.

Don't sleep with anyone who is a member.

They were all straightforward rules, clearly designed to keep the team tight and be in peak form, seeing as they would need to rely on each other in life or death situations in the future none of these rules could be bent or broken.

Especially three.

Three had a knack for making the normally functional group into separate factions, and it promoted favoritism, for example, in a life or death situation who are you going to prioritize you lover or your friend? Clearly, most would lean towards the lover, seeing as the relationship between them is more intimate. Harland had no qualms with relationships outside of the party, but inside it would not be tolerated, he had kicked out more than one set of rule breakers in the past…

“Yeah, let's keep an eye on our kitten, make sure she doesn't get too overwhelmed with Uljits.”

***

Two weeks, two fucking weeks of travel later to cover half the distance I covered in a few days. This, this was why humans needed horses when I brought this up to my companions they all gave me this pained look. I never said they were slow, I just said perhaps we should invest in some horses. They seemed to have inferred my meaning from that statement, however. Seeing as they pushed themselves much faster the next two days after I had made the comment.

The travel time gave me plenty of opportunities to question what I was doing. What exactly I was doing, however, was still up in the air. I felt compelled to kill a goddess, though I didn't know why, that memory was lost to me, as was most of my other memories. I remember the curse she laid on me, or rather the result of the curse she laid on me, not all of the terrible lives but a good number, a good enough number to know that she had done something horrible to me.

But was she in the right? Did I deserve such punishment?

How was I to know?

And should I choose to follow this compulsion how does one go about killing a god? Can a god even be slain? Of course, there was always some tale of the mortal rising up to strike at the god above but that was it, it was simply a tale.

Whether or not I actually decided to stay on the course of my former lives I had no idea, but either way, I needed to get stronger, needed to see as much as I could see and grasp as much power as I could get. Was I a mage I would find some repository of learning and lock myself away until I felt I had enough power, but I had torn my soul apart, meaning magic was out of the question.

It was too early, much much to early for me to do anything about the goddess, so I decided to do my best to forget about the entire matter while I did not have the power to even scratch her.

The city of Uljits was massive, a sprawling metropolis that spread across the rolling snow-covered hills at the foot of a mountain range I had no way of knowing the name of. The houses outside the roughly hewn stone walls of the keep proper were simple affairs, with the lower half made of a foundation of stone and mortar, and the upper sections of wood and iron. They were sturdy squat buildings, which had thatched roofs and the entrance of the doors was sunk down stairwells that seemed to go into the ground, with a fully enclosed area around the entrance to keep the snow out. Each building seemed to have been partially buried into the ground, no doubt to keep heat from leaking out during the long cold months of the year. The keep itself was a massive structure that seemed to crown the top of a hillock that butted up against a rather daunting sheer rock cliff face. It boasted three towers and a parameter wall that seemed to circle most of the castle proper before also butting up against the cliff face. The town spread out from it in all directions. There was no wall for the town seeing as that would likely be deemed an improper use of taxes. No one really ever attacked the city, not with the keep so close by.

“That right there Rin is Boyerman Rilan’s keep, granted to him by the Jarl himself a good fifteen years ago,” I stood up balancing on Harland’s backpack with one of my paws resting on his head and looked at the wonder before me.

I had decided and Harland had requested that I could perch on his shoulders and head like this, after all, it was a beneficial relationship for the both of us, he used the extra weight that I was for strength training, not that I actually weighed that much, and I also happened to be quite warm and fluffy, definitely better than any hat or scarf he could ever afford.

I got the ability to take naps whenever I wanted from the arrangement, as well as the ability to stand up and see much further than I ever could if I was simply standing on the ground.

It was undoubtedly a win-win situation.

“Ah, she wonders how many people live here?”

“At a guess?” Alaina looked up at the sky while she thought, “I would say probably a thousand to two thousand or so?” she glanced over at Tamerian, who also considered Uljits.

“Yeah, Id say so, but enough standing around here,” he nodded, “Let's go check into the guild hall and let em' know we are here, then we can look at the contracts available,” he stretched his arms overhead as he spoke.

“Yep, let's get to work people, the sun is still high and we might be able to get one small job in before the evening rolls around,” Harland agreed as we made our way into Uljits.