A couple of days later, Jenna plopped down on the ground next to Dess. Her arms and back were sore. While she had a coating of mud that went up to her elbows and anywhere she had wiped with her hands. Including her face and to her annoyance, her hair.

“It looks acceptable… The designs you drew on it… I like them…”

The two young girls looked up at the centauress as she inspected a low, four foot tall mudbrick fence they’d put up in front of her house. It looked kind of ridiculous to Jenna, the centauress could have almost stepped over the fence if she wanted to but it was exactly the height she’d asked for, Jenna had checked.

The entire back side of the lot was blocked off by the centauress’ house while the neighbors on each side had erected walls long ago if Jenna could judge by the deteriorating coat of a sealant made from clay that was on the walls. And she could judge it because the last part of the job was to fix the centaur’s side of those walls. All in a day’s work for a low-level [Builder] but she guessed she’d level up again soon. Or hoped so.

The centauress came back into the yard via an opening in the center of the fence big enough to fit a wagon through. She walked up to Jenna and Dess as they drank, careful not to get too close to their feet or tail. She dug in her bag and held out her hand. Jenna forced her sore body to move in order to get up and the half horse woman handed her a handful of coins.

“Thank you.”

“Fair pay for fair work. You might be low level with no great Skills, and slow. But you do good work. I’m sure you’ll get faster with levels.”

Jenna’s mood soured a little at the backhanded comment about her level but she couldn’t argue with the truth. She was still a level 3 [Builder] after all. She literally couldn’t get much lower. And as for Skills, she was still a little salty she hadn’t gotten a new one when she’d leveled up. It’d taken twice as much work it seemed like, although the dock did look nice and she went around using her newest Skill to patch it up where she could until she couldn’t use the Skill anymore. Twice an hour and it only fixed little imperfections but it was her favorite Skill of the two she had. It even fixed a minor crack on the screen of her phone.

Jenna tucked her coins away and helped Dess get up too. She waved to the Centauress as they left. Dess didn’t say anything but gave an awkward wave as well.

“Bye Jesniine!”

The centauress was already moving to go back inside the small barn sized house but turned to give a polite wave. Afterward, Dess immediately set off towards the River Gate at the west side of the village. It didn’t lead directly to the river. Patli having been built further away from the water in case of floods, had two gates. One pointed towards the Itli river while the other was on the opposite side of the village and unimaginatively named the Desert Gate, also known as the east gate.

It wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things except that Dess and Zosk’s house was near the Desert Gate and Zosk’s fields were not far outside of that gate. The only reason Jenna had gone even near the river since she’d arrived was to go to the docks. Once for work and the other to start a minor meltdown. So she wasn’t sure where Dess was heading.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to get clean!”

Dess lifted up a sack she’d brought with that morning as a way of explaining. Which explained nothing.

“Huh?”

Jenna looked down at her clothes and arms. She agreed she needed a shower… and a washing machine. She could probably hang the clothes to dry so there was no need for a dryer.

“Where are we going, though?”

“The river.”

“Aren’t there… things in the river?”

“No… well yes, but I said the Kapros stay away from the village and were going to the bathing area.”

“The what?”

“You’ll see.”

Dess led them to a spot upriver from the docks, fields, and irrigation channels. They’d actually passed it when they set the traps Dess had to the south, and every time they left to check them but Jenna hadn’t paid it much mind.

As they approached Jenna realized what it was. Patli was small, too small to bother building a bathhouse and they didn’t use sweat tents like some did in the desert. Why would they with a river right next to them?

Instead, they had a designated bathing spot. A canvass screen held up by wooden posts rose up out of the water for privacy. When they got up to it, Jenna noticed heavy fishing nets met with the canvass and extended into the water. Providing a fairly safe and private place to get clean.

Okay, it wasn’t actually that safe. It kept fish and snakes out but if anything bigger wanted in, it had no chance of stopping them… It also wasn’t exactly private. People couldn’t see in if they got down by the netting but…

“Anyone in there? Any boys?”

“No, dearest your fine.”

A female voice answered back and Jenna froze but then went to follow Dess into the changing area that was protected by canvas also. She hoped it was empty. Or that it had stalls but that would have been too much to ask.

I would have had to shower with other women at basic. It won’t be that bad!

Jenna gulped as she started pulling off her shoes. Trying to peak into the actual bathing area to see how many people were in there. It wasn’t that large of an area, so it couldn’t have been many. It was a small win for Jenna but she still was nervous about the situation.

Dess having grown up in Patli of course had zero reservations as she quickly stripped down and walked through a flap. Jenna had to yank her eyes away as curiosity nearly got the better of her. She didn’t learn any more of lizardfolk anatomy though, thankfully.

A minute later, Jenna walked through the flap to join Dess. 

Lizardfolk are TOO sociable! Why is that old hag sitting in there just watching people? Isn’t it bad enough that I’ve walked in on her pooping with the curtains open, twice! And she has the nerve to laugh at me… Well, I was staring a bit but I didn’t notice that cool stripe thing down her side with purple and blue. It looked like amethysts and sapphires. Or the pattern on her back… Still… I wasn’t staring for whatever she thought I was, Dess is just really shiny when wet!

Jenna was grumbling twenty minutes later when they exited the bath fully dressed in clean clothes that Dess had brought. 

It had been a weird experience that might not have been as bad if her toilet friend hadn’t been taking a bath at the same time. Thankfully the old bat never said anything about it and Dess didn’t seem to notice the old Lizardwoman’s behavior. So Jenna imagined it was a common occurrence. Just sitting around laughing at naked people. Just as bad, laughing when Jenna got dressed, which shouldn’t have been an issue but it was.

Dess at least looked sorry.

“Sorry, I didn’t think of that. Just don’t pull up your tunic.”

Jenna dropped her shirt to hang loose and gave her friend a withering look. The problem of course was the fact that Jenna didn’t have a tail to match the hole in the lizardfolk version of underwear or pants. It rested basically where her own tailbone was, right where her lower back met the top of her backside. The result was a tasteful bit of butt cleavage. Not too much but just a teaser.

She could imagine that somewhere on earth there was a fashion designer who would applaud her for wearing it before designing a whole line of butt cleavage clothes for celebrities to wear on the red carpet. Soon other fashionistas would start wearing it as a trend grew, young women and influencers would wear it to attract attention, meanwhile, most people would make plumber jokes. All until the trend faded and the next big thing started.

But that wasn’t Jenna. She wasn’t a trend setter. She wasn’t that adventurous. Most importantly she didn’t like showing that part of her. She wore thongs because they were comfortable not because she wanted boys or anyone else looking. Her only solace was it had been covered by the shirt but she wished she’d been warned to bring fresh panties from her bag. She didn’t want to insult Dess considering they were now her clothes, a gift. But she would definitely put on her human boyshorts under it when she got home.

Jenna walked through the village, extremely conscious of something that no one could see in the first place but she knew. Dess knew. Dess giggled!

Thankfully Patli wasn’t that big and they quickly made it back to the house.

“Okay, go change. I’m going to check on the Grayrock.”

Dess was at least understandable when it came to Jenna wanting to wear her own underwear, even if she was still giggling. As soon as they were in the door she dug into her bag and pulled out a clean pair of underwear and a sports bra, that was another thing that she was self conscious about on her walk of shame that no one actually cared about. Dess hadn’t brought towels but it didn’t matter if her scales were wet and the tunic became slightly see through. Jenna still had a bra on but still, it was the principle of the matter!

She shook her head and started getting undressed but stopped, looking at the front door. Zosk normally stayed in the fields all day but she hesitated, it’d be just her luck. She looked around the room for a place she could get privacy but the only place was Zosk’s room.

“I doubt he’d mind when I told him why.”

Feeling a little guilty, she snuck in and closed the door behind her before quickly stripping off her clothes and putting on her underwear. While she did, her eyes still wandered.

It was a fairly plain room with a bed, storage trunk, and some shelves. She resisted the urge to snoop in the trunk but she did notice a lot of scales on the ground. Swept neatly into a pile. Dess had shown her one of her own scales that she’d molted and explained they fell out from time to time but new ones grew back.

In Zosk’s room, there were a lot of them. Besides that, she noticed some cloth wraps hanging to dry that looked like they’d been stained with blood and washed at some point.

Although, Jenna didn’t have more of a chance to investigate because she heard the door open and had to quickly scramble out with everything she’d brought in. Luckily rather than staring up at Zosk and having to explain why she’d invaded his privacy. It was only Dess.

The [Beast Tamer] had walked in to grab something from her trunk without paying Jenna any mind. Once gone, Jenna sat down and gave a nervous chuckle before hearing music playing from above her.

She climbed the ladder and saw Dess sitting crosslegged playing a panflute for her birds. She finished the song and put the flute on her lap.

“Sing for me.”

The songbirds she was looking at started to chirp. Some just sang how they wanted but Jenna noticed that a couple of them were mimicking the song Dess had played.

“Hmmm… It thought you’d take a nap?”

“I’m not that tired, Dess.”

“No, but if you can fall asleep you’ll level up.”

Dess shrugged while Jenna thought about that but she didn’t have any more [Builder] work left to do that day. She did lay down on the roof and listened to Dess play or the [Beast Tamer] try to get the birds in sync.

“We should find you more work tomorrow, get you some more silver. The barge should be here in the next couple days.”

Jenna thought of the coins that were in Dess’ bag. She’d been paid 6 silver for her work that day and made a total of 6 more silver and a few coppers for the other jobs. She also had a nice pile of food she’d been able to provide the household. Dess had said it was decent pay but outside of Patli, it wasn’t much. Plus some of that was Dess’, it wasn’t just Jenna doing the work on the wall.

Yet, she was actually lucky to have the silver at all. The only reason she was paid in coins rather than Yellats or some other crop was that the centauress was a [Hauler] that regularly pulled a wagon to Sa’liquen or other towns and villages and only accepted pay in coins or things she could sell at the destination, for coins. The other coins came from the [Headman] for working for the village.

But most people in Patli bartered with goods to get what they needed. Even Dess traded her animals, goat’s milk, alpaca wool, or cheese for items rather than money when it came to it. Except when the [Barge Merchant] Jenna had heard about came through.

“What does he sell?”

“A lot of different things. Ores for the blacksmith, seeds or shoots of different plants, and different types of food like rice. Tools, trinkets… oh last month he brought newspapers from Port Zaniya! Not just Zaniya’s newspaper but he had old copies of a few others like the Pallassian Times. That’s all the way from Izril. And…”

Jenna didn’t know what was so exciting about newspapers but after a moment of Dess listing off various newspapers, she guessed that Patli was off the main road and their only real news came from the barge once a month or sooner if someone went to a bigger town or city. The thought of buying one crossed Jenna’s mind if nothing more to learn more about the world. Then again she had overheard a few things that made her think her money could be better spent elsewhere.

“What about magic items?”

Dess looked over at her and shook her head with a smile.

“I wish! Well, he does have them but they don’t come off the barge and he doesn’t let anyone on the barge unless they prove they can afford the pricier things. I’ve been telling dad we should get a scrying orb but he claims we don’t have the money for it… BUT! Maybe I’ll have enough soon but we can still watch the scrying mirror this time.”

“Scrying mirror.”

“Yeah, it’s an enchanted mirror that scryers and mages can use to… well… scry, I guess. Bigger than an orb obviously, you haven’t seen one? …They have the news on there and plays and people singing and dancing… umm… football? I haven’t actually seen that but I’ve heard them talk about it on Wistram news. Oh, oh, and the Singer of Terrandria! I got to hear her sing last time he was here! I only get to see that stuff when he’s at the dock. I only know two people that have an orb in Patli and they keep it to themselves but… Well, he sets it up, and even people who don’t plan on buying anything stop to watch the mirror and end up buying something anyways. One day I’ll buy one. I’ll see if I can figure out how much I need when he gets here since I have to go there anyways.”

“What do you have to get?”

“I have to sell some of my tames but ummm… Flower nectar for the hummingbirds or desert flower seeds. I can probably get the old man’s help to get them growing. The ones I had were eaten by a hopper… Mealworms for the others, more mealworms for the lizards and snakes… Mice would be better but yeah… I think that’d scare the jerboas… no, I don’t need that! I can sell the lizards and snakes this time… But yeah… hmmm… basically stuff I can use for the animals and ummm… scale cream.”

“Scale cream?”

“I don’t keep them this shiny with just river water and soap! Do you need anything? I’m not sure what humans need. I know they have stuff for hair and fur. Special soaps and tonics to keep it clean and shiny. I never bother with it… well for me. I bought some once to try on Sandy but she didn’t like it. But I guess with centaurs, humans, beastkin, and even stitchfolk, there’s plenty who would buy it. Just not many here.”

Jenna bit her tongue at the mention of Dess looking shiny but it made sense why she was so much more colorful and shinier than others Jenna had seen. After a moment of thought though, a groan escaped Jenna’s lips as she ran her hand through her hair. As soon as Dess had mentioned hair Jenna was reminded of the wad of hair on her head that was getting increasingly tangled. She had shampoo and conditioner but she hadn’t had it with her at the river and was just now reminded that at a minimum she should go grab her brush.

She went down to grab it and ended up back on the roof, where she started brushing her shoulder-blade length strawberry blonde hair. It had been longer but she’d cut it before basic. A decision she was grateful for as she worked. It was a bit painful but it felt good to get it straightened out.

Plus, Dess for once didn’t treat her like a puppy and let her do her work. She was taken aback by the colorful plastic brush and did however ask to use the brush on Sandy, the dog, which Jenna denied. She also had Jenna teach her how to braid hair and Jenna even let her practice. Soon it started to get dark as they sat on the roof talking about hair, scales, and what they would buy if they had the money. Jenna stayed quiet for the most part on that because she didn’t know what she needed or really what was on offer. She’d find out soon.

The following morning 6 Earthers hid in the brush near an abandoned village. They’d spotted a large flat bottom boat being guided down the river but they were immediately wary of it.

They could have asked for help or maybe bartered their way on board for a trip to civilization but they hid from the lizard people and two massive snake people they sighted on the barge. There were also humans and to their horror and confusion, one was walking around with his head under his arm while another seemed to detach her foot and sew it back on!

The barge had stopped in the river for a while but soon moved on but they stayed in the brush until it was well out of sight before returning to their ruins and discussing what they had just seen. Most of it involving sleepy hallow and fantasy races from video games and the fact that ballistic armor held up against randomly shot arrows pretty well.

But Jenna hadn’t known that. All she knew was a typical morning of helping Dess with the animals and preparing to bring Zosk his lunch. It was starting to become a routine. A routine until a horn blew across the village. Dess tensed until a few seconds later when it blew a second time.

“He’s here!”

“Who?”

“The [Barge Merchant]!”

Jenna expected Dess to drop everything and go running with the way she spoke of the barge but she calmly finished her chores with a little extra pep in her step, which normally contained a considerable amount of pep anyways. Then they headed out to the fields.

“You’re dad’s not going down to the docks?”

“He will but the barge is probably just getting docked and then setting up, silly. And it’ll be here at least until tomorrow. And remember, we sold his harvest in Sa’liquen but I’m sure he’ll still look to make sure there’s nothing he needs.”

They found Zosk right where they expected him to be, in a field of Yellats leaning on a shovel with a shortbow on his back. A small pile of varmint and birds lay at the edge of the field from his bow and traps. Jenna wondered why Dess didn’t just train Kook and Sandy to help with it. Or why Dess didn’t feed them to her carnivorous beasts. But there might have been a reason for that.

Dess handed Zosk a lunch consisting of the same thing he ate every lunch. Bread with a date jam and a few pieces of dried fish.

“Thank you. You two going to the barge?”

“Of course, I’ve got sales to make.”

“Good, grab my coinpurse and look for Yellow Flatworm repellent. That fool Traedsi put rancid meat in his compost and now he’s got worms eating his crop before he can even pull them out of the ground. Told him not to do that, too many parasites.”

“So you want me to buy repellent for Taedsi?”

“No, I want you to buy it for us. I’m not losing a harvest because he was dropped on his head as a hatchling. I doubt they’ll get them all.”

Zosk was looking over at a field a few lots over where there was a group of farmers digging up the top layer of soil and piling it into wagons to haul away into the desert. At the same time, they were piling up yellats fresh from the ground with dry grasses to burn them. A lizardman [Farmer], likely Traedsi himself, was running around yelling at the others and even getting physical. He looked like he was trying to convince them that the crop wasn’t ruined and was snatching yellats from a pile before they could burn them. Judging from how the bulk of the [Farmers] were digging up from adjacent fields and moving inward, it was his neighbors trying to keep the pests from ruining their hard work.

Compared to the other farmer’s chaos, Zosk’s field was well controlled. Neatly planted rows of shoots were just starting to pop out of the soil. All were evenly spaced with channels between each one and not a weed or out of place stone in sight. Further down the field, different crops were growing until in the distance was a small grouping of date trees. It was well worked and well maintained but only a half dozen acres in total.

“What’ll happen to him?”

“Oh, he’ll be made fun of and someone will beat the scales off him if anyone catches him trying that again but he won’t starve. We’ll all pitch in for his wife and hatchling’s benefit, give him some shoots and seeds to start again.”

Zosk didn’t seem too thrilled at the idea of giving up some of his own harvests but Jenna was relieved that the people of Patli wouldn’t just let one of their own starve. 

They sat and watched the unfolding scene and Jenna had to do a double take when Zosk laughed for the first time in front of her as Traedsi tried to make a run for it with his handcart full of worm ridden yellats.

His laugh was deep and slightly gravelly. And at a moment that certainly called for it because what followed would have been the perfect time to play Yakity Sax as four Lizardfolk gave pursuit.

The five were darting around burning piles of yellats, wagons of tainted soil, [Farmers] still digging, and a centaur pulling a plow that Traedsi tried to hide behind until the centaur nearly grabbed him.

Then he was off again!

Jenna and Dess were giggling in tears as he turned the cart around and the [Farmers] scattered before he could ram them with it. Traedsi chose one of the [Farmers] that had scattered and began chasing him across the field, still trying to run him over while the three others chased him.

It ended with a particularly brutal tackle from a new entry and was quickly followed by Traedsi squirming on the ground, bound and gagged, while his handcart was pushed into a fire, cart included. A young lizard woman carrying a child walked over to check on him but didn’t free him. She just sat down next to him and watched her family’s field get stripped bare. That part was kind of sad. Jenna thought about offering her services if they needed anything done.

Once it was all over, they left Zosk chuckling to himself as he got back to work loosening and aerating the soil around his plants. Jenna was still laughing a little but felt bad for the guy. Dess was still giggling so hard she wasn’t walking straight.

“Heh! I don’t remember the last time I saw something that funny! He probably just earned a little bit extra from everyone that saw that. I was even rooting for him too, he might have gotten that cart home if he didn’t start chasing Fisco! Oh Nagas, I needed that.”

By the time they made it back to the house, Dess was calmed down but a wide smile was still plastered on her face. 

“Alright let’s load up.”

A quick climb up the ladder and Dess was lowering cages down to the ground with a rope. Jenna untied it at the bottom, saving Dess a trip down only to climb back and do it again. She was selling most of the songbirds and one of the hummingbirds along with Kook. But rather than lower him down in a cage, she just called him down and after reminding him he was going to live with a [Falconer] he took his place on top of the cages that they loaded onto a flat handcart. He looked kind of proud.

Next came a cage for the jerboas, another two with one monitor lizard each, and finally a cage with a trio of snakes in it. Dess pulled out another cage and stared at the troublesome cat on top of the compound’s wall. Jenna watched the other cat that was lazily lying in the shade. She was pretty sure that’s all it did.

“Get in.”

The troublesome cat just stared at her for a breath, then started cleaning its paws. She walked forward slowly but the cat just stood up, flashed its butthole, and jumped into the neighbor’s yard. She sighed and looked at the calm cat, it was asleep but she didn’t bother to try and grab it.

“Okay, just need to grab dad’s purse and we can go!”

A minute later she exited the house with three cloth bags. One was far more full than the other two. She handed one to Jenna, it had twelve silver and five copper. Her earnings so far, Dess didn’t even take a cut from building the mudbrick fence.

The two of them wove their way down to the docks as they weren’t the only ones moving stuff down to sell or trade. Most of it was crops but there were some trade goods mixed in. A [Woodworkers] wares that were a couple of chairs and wooden flutes from a [Carver], a [Paperpresser] was carrying stacks of papyrus sheets, the only [Bowyer] in town had a stack of short bows, while a [Vinter] was carrying a cask of date wine over his shoulder.

It actually surprised Jenna. She’d thought nearly everyone in Patli sustenance farmers. She didn’t realize there were as many crafters and artisans. Even if there were only a dozen or two that could be truly called that.

Of course, she was half wrong, they were the actual [Sustenance Farmers] of Patli, a class with Skills that made sure they had enough to get by but never much more, never enough to sell. The trade-off of course was they had time to devote to other classes. Compared to say, Zosk, who could grow enough food on his couple acres to feed him and Dess along with a couple dozen or more people all year round and sold or traded the excess. To do that though, he spent all day carefully tending his fields and keeping scavengers and pests at bay.

When they got down to the barge there was already a crowd forming with carts lined up and armed guards keeping things ordered. Behind them were a handful of [Assistant Merchants] and an [Appraiser] starting to make trades with farmers. Jenna’s eyes bulged as she watched an entire cart full of avocados get dumped onto a shoot that poured them into a crate a fraction the size of the original cart.

“They use chests of holding to haul the crops, they wouldn’t have enough room on the barge otherwise.”

Dess was spending more time watching Jenna’s reaction than the comings and goings of the docks itself. She’d seen it before and Jenna’s eyes darted from one wonder to another. The next thing she noticed was a beautiful human woman with long black hair and tan skin walking between the merchants. Her looks along with her clothes drew a lot of attention, not just Jenna’s.

The outfit was far different than anything anyone else was wearing and consisted of a bright blue skirt that went past the knees but had slits that exposed her thighs and a top that extenuated her cleavage and bare midriff. It looked like it belonged on a belly dancer. Jenna would have assumed that’s what she was if it wasn’t for the whip and sword on her hips. She was joined by a massive snake person in colorful robes while another snake person lounged in the shade of an awning on the barge.

“See the Naga on the barge. That’s the [Barge Merchant] he runs all of this. We won’t get to meet him though. His assistants handle all but the most valuable trades and anything they’re not sure of when it comes to price gets passed to the [Appraiser] and anything going to the [Barge Merchant] goes through the [Appraiser] first… not sure who the Stitchwoman and other Naga is. Come on, we need to get in line with the specialist goods.”

Of four assistants only one was dedicated to [Artisans], [Craftsmen] and in Dess’ case, [Beast Tamers]. Two more were dedicated to purchasing crops while the last was for buying things. As Jenna watched she saw merchants accept goods and pay in coins only for the recipient to move immediately into the purchasing line. It seemed like everyone kept looking at the two Dess didn’t recognize though.

The beautiful woman and the sna- Naga, simply stood behind the assistants and studied the crowd. The snake man was a darker shade of green with bronze and orange mixed in. Jenna thought his eyes were yellow like Dess’ but she couldn’t tell. Even with that his most defining characteristic, other than being a giant snake with arms, was a gold talisman around his neck. It looked like a star of David in a way but there was something else there.

It took Jenna a moment to realize it was actually a seven pointed star made of what looked like one band of gold woven through itself to make it. Even at a distance, she could count, the thing was big and gaudy. It also had plenty of gems. A display of wealth to match his clothes.

The Naga’s eyes swept the crowd but stopped and lingered on Jenna and Dess for a moment but moved on. It made Jenna worry a bit but then again Dess was the only person in line with a Harenae Falcon sitting on their shoulder. He could have just been eyeing the bird. As she watched the woman drew her sword and whip while the Naga stood up taller. A few more guards that had stayed by the barge also put their hands on their weapons but didn’t draw them.

“MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION IF YOU PLEASE. I am Master Vrizzar of Lailight Scintillation…”

He broke off as the crowd immediately broke into dozens of conversations. His Skill enhanced voice was more than loud enough to speak over them but he glared across the gathered Lizardfolk and handful of Centaurs.

“Slavers of Roshal? What are they doing here?”

“Maybe they’re looking for a runaway.”

“One that made it to Baleros?”

“Could be one they bought someone in Zaniya. You know they sell-”

TWACK

The crowd got quiet again as a thunderous crack of a bullwhip reverberated through the crowd. The woman holding it ran her eyes across the crowd before whipping it up and coiling it in on itself back into her hand.

“I am Master Vrizzar of Lailight Scintillation. I will advise you, I do not like to repeat myself. Make me do it again and this little village will incur even more debt for further inconvenience…”

His voice was loud but calm as he said them and no one spoke or dared interrupt him. He drifted off to let the words sink in. The village of Patli wasn’t rich but there were other forms of payment a [Slaver] would willingly accept. A payment that everyone gathered was thinking about and no one wanted to pay. That was bad enough but his words also implied that Patli already owed him something. Jenna felt a few eyes on her, the only newcomer to the village.

I didn’t do anything!

“You will choose one female and one male to enter into my graceful service, I care not the species. Should you refuse I will take ten of each. Should you send me your old, sick, and worthless I will take twenty of each and kill those you sent me. Any who argue lose their freedom. Any who bear arms or run, forfeit their freedom, or their lives, along with their family’s.”

“This is Baleros! You can’t do-”

A Centauress Jenna knew stepped forward but was cut short as a whip wrapped around her neck and pulled her off her feet a second later. It had traveled through the air like a serpent in the blink of an eye, growing in length as it went. The beautiful woman glared as two guards rushed Jesniine, running through a centaur who tried to get in their way. It wasn’t a fatal wound and they quickly chained both of them and started pulling them to the barge.

The [Barge Merchant] looked worried and refused to even look towards the people of Patli. Tension grew in the silence as the stunned crowd watched the Centaurs struggle. A teenage Centaur tried to go forward but ended up restrained by a dozen Lizardfolk. The [Slavers] guards moved to the front and the crowd started fleeing.

“[I Control the Crowd]! Halt and silence! Did I say I was finished? You have just forfeited two more that will be of my choice. Go about your business, make your trades, make your decision, and bring them here by morning. The two I choose will be at my discretion.”

With that, he slithered back before bending slightly to speak to an armored Lizardman. He pointed towards the young Centaur colt, Jesniine’s son, and the guards rushed towards him. The lizardfolk who had just held the young horse-man back fled their advance as did the teen but was lamed by an arrow to the leg.

A hush fell over the crowd but nobody moved to help the struggling centaur family. In fact, a few people started to leave. Jenna looked to Dess and her friend made the decision for them.

“Huh… you know what I just remembered… Dad was planning another trip to Sa’liquen. I can sell my tames directly in the market! Silly me! I’ll even make more that way. We don’t even need to be here.”

Dess turned and started making her way back towards the village, slowly. A few others decided they’d forgotten something important too and announced their foolishness or decided that they only needed one parent to deal with the merchants while the other should bring the children in for a nap. Despite the hour, they looked very tired. Of course! No one denied that.

Most though moved to get back in line, staring at the ground. A few cursing quietly at those leaving.

Not for cowardice but it would most likely bring the ire of the [Slaver] if the entire village realized they’d forgotten something at home and left. They were cursing because they hadn’t thought of it first.

A decision that Dess had beaten them to. And while Dess didn’t look back as she walked, Jenna did. She stole a single glance at the [Slaver] on the massive barge… he was looking directly at them!

He leaned back on a cushion and said something to the same armored Lizardman as before with a vague gesture in their direction. The Lizardman scanned the crowd and locked his eyes with Jenna!

He began to move, gesturing for a few more guards to follow.

“Dess they’re following us!”

Jenna whispered urgently as they made their way up the hill and through the gate. Dess stared forward barely blinking as she calmly walked, only slightly picking up the pace. Even with the facade, she shook with every step. No sooner than they were in the gate she turned onto the first street and began opening the cages. All but the vipers.

“Go, just go. Jenna run!”

Dess bolted down a side street and Jenna nearly tripped over herself to get moving as animals hesitated then scattered behind her. Kook took flight but judging by his trajectory, he was just heading home. Jenna hoped he flew straight past it.

“What are we doing?”

“We need to hide!”

“Where?”

“The goat shed!”

Jenna nearly stopped, she couldn’t help but shoot a disbelieving look at her friend for what she thought was a plan. Hiding from people that yanked a Centauress off her feet with a whip… by sitting in a goat shed.

It also dawned on her that Patli would likely incur more debt if they actually managed to hide. She didn’t want people to be enslaved because of her but she also didn’t want to be enslaved, Dess either!

It was at least a plan!

They sprinted through the streets as no one noticed or cared. There had been four other carts and a couple of bags of goods abandoned on the street where they let the animals loose. They were hardly the only ones rushing to lock themselves away and out of sight until the barge left.

“Go, go. Inside!”

Dess gave pointless instructions as they reached her house. Jenna heard a voice yell behind her and she turned to see the three Lizardmen running up the road at her. She burst through the door a second later and crashed into Dess.

“Come on we need to-”

“Dess, they saw us. They’re coming!”

A door opened and the two of them froze and looked as an armored Lizardman walked into the room. His leather and chainmail armor was old but well maintained along with the open faced steel helm with an orange horsehair plume on his head. He had a shield strapped to his left arm and a faintly glowing kris in his right hand. The orange glow on the sword made it only slightly more menacing, the blade did most of it on its own.

“Get away from the door!”

It had been Zosk that had walked out of his bedroom armed and armored and not their pursuers.

Jenna and Dess scrambled to their feet and hid on the other side of the table while Zosk took a position to look at the front and back doors at the same time. He crouched behind his shield while he held his sword at the ready over his head. The door swung open and three Lizardmen sauntered in. They froze at the sight of Zosk, clearly having expected to find a [Farmer] cowering and trying to hide his daughters.

“You have one chance… get out of my house!”

“Master Vrizzar has selected that one and by bearing steel, you forfeit your life or your freedom…”

The guard leaned to the side and looked at Jenna. He gave a shrug.

“We’ll take the human too. Drop your weapon or you die here. If you die I cant guarantee your daughter won’t also.”

That was the wrong thing to say to the large, angry Lizardman. Zosk lunged at the one who had spoken. Rather than stabbing him though, Zosk spun slightly and blocked the incoming slash of a sword. His kris spun to the side, slicing into the leg of the man on the right, and looked around just in time to dodge a wand of [Light Arrow] that the third was pointing at his head.

Jenna watched as Zosk kicked the first in the stomach and swung the edge of his shield into the throat of the wanna be [Mage]. The man made the face of a gasp but not a sound escaped his mouth as his throat collapsed in on itself from the blow. He dropped to the ground and started reaching for a pouch at his side. Pulling out a vial only to have it kicked out of his hands.

The first injured DID have his out and was already rising from his leg injury only to see the broadside of a shield swinging his way.

[Shield Bash]

Even though the man deserved every moment, every bruise, every broken bone, and every ounce of pain… although he probably wouldn’t be feeling any of it. Jenna had still winced at the impact. The blow lifted him off the ground and threw him into the wall hard enough for it to crack and start crumbling. Even without the broken bones from trying to stop it, he was dead. The back of his head had impacted the wall with enough force to crack his skull.

The only guard still standing, although another was still alive, recoiled at seeing his comrade crushed by what should have just been a farmer. The entire fight had lasted less than half a minute. The now dead man hadn’t even swung his ax! Dess took the extremely brief lull in the fighting to scurry on all fours out from behind the table, she dove the last bit and her fingers gripped the wand on the floor.

“How does this-”

A [Light Arrow] flew from the wand, harmlessly piercing the side of her bed. Her father and the lead [Slaver Guard] started to exchange blows again, completely ignoring the flash of light. Dess twisted around and was trying to get an opening….

“Dess the other one!”

Jenna called out a warning as the slowly suffocating guard had managed to get a quality healing potion in him and was coughing and catching his breath. He had heard Jenna’s warning too and pulled a dagger with his eyes on the [Beast Tamer].

Dess fired off another light arrow. His angry eyes grew wide with terror as he misjudged his advantage. Rather than try to fall back, she had lunged like she was going to stab him in the face with the wand and let loose another light arrow at point blank range. There was no chance to dodge.

Jenna watched the man fall. She stared at him for a second but then looked to Zosk. Jenna’s host was larger and stronger than his adversary but there was just as much to say about youth and vigor. He was being pushed back and was already bleeding across the forearm and snout. Dess pointed the wand again but nothing happened. She swung it around like she was an Irish kid trying to float a feather but still nothing. It’d run out of charges.

Jenna took a different approach. She picked up one of their two chairs, and threw it at the bad guy. He slapped it out of the air with the flat of his sword like it was nothing but a pot came right after. Then another chair. Another pot filled with flour that exploded in his face, a plate, a fistful of forks, a pitchfork thrown pointy end first, a potted plant, Jenna’s shoe…

Zosk steadied himself as the two girls threw everything they could reach at the intruder. As soon as the flour hit though, he struck. Momentarily blinded and catching a plate to the side of the face, the guard didn’t see it coming. Zosk swung from below and sliced deeply into the Lizardman’s wrist, his shield and hand tumbled to the floor, completely severed. He yelled in agony but Zosk put a stop to it with a clean cut across the throat just as a pitchfork clumsily smacked into the Lizardman’s leg. The guard dropped his sword and tried for a potion on his belt but was hit by a pot at the same time that he was impaled through the throat and Zosk was hit by a shoe.

Jenna watched the conclusion of the fight as the man collapsed to join his follow guards, her left shoe still in her hand. She was too worked up to think about how she’d missed. Not that her right one actually hurt Zosk.

But the silence didn’t last long.

“We need to leave, now! Get your stuff.”

Zosk said before stabbing his sword into the other two intruders before dropping it on the table and downing a potion.

“Are you two hurt?”

He seemed to remember their well being but they were just scared. They both shook their heads.

“Then move. Dess we’re only bringing the dog and those falcons. Leave the rest.”

“I can’t just leave them in cages!”

Zosk poked his head out the front door. He studied Dess a moment but nodded.

“Then let them loose but quickly and try not to draw attention. Just open the cages, don’t encourage them to run. They’ll figure it out.”

Jenna looked around and then grabbed her bag from by her bed on the floor, It took her two seconds to grab anything of hers that was out and moved onto Dess’ trunk.

“Here.”

Zosk was busy pulling the armor and weapons from the dead guards and handed her a small pouch. She took it and put it in her bag before going back into the trunk.

“No! It’s a- just move!”

Zosk pushed her out of the way and dug the pouch out of the much larger bag and then put the much larger bag in the pouch before handing it back to her. Jenna forgot about the dead people within arm’s reach for a moment as she took it back. She looked up at Zosk and nodded before emptying the contents of the trunk into the pouch. She could think about the magic bag she was holding later.

She then moved to the food storage. She wasn’t sure if it would all fit but she kept loading up the pouch only sparing a glance for Zosk as he put the weapons and armor into a similar pouch on his belt. Dess came in a moment later with Kook on her shoulder and the Grayrock in her arms. Sandy came in on her heels.

“Sandy, come here girl.”

Zosk called Sandy over but had to move to her as the dog was seemingly confused by the bodies. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and quickly tied a pouch around her neck.

“It’s not smart to carry more than one bag of holding. The magic interferes with each other and you could lose everything. Dess, you sure she’ll follow you?”

“Ye-yes. She’ll follow us.”

“Then take this and get in my room and grab everything in my trunk.”

He handed her the last bag of holding and continued putting stuff into the bag on his belt. The entire process was finished a minute later with three of them just snatching anything that looked useful and jamming it into a bag. Zosk finished by taking off his armor and putting it into his bag of holding with his kris and shield. After a moment he changed shirts too. The final thing he did was he picked up a rake and handed it to Jenna while Dess accepted a second and he grabbed a hoe.

“Nothing happened here. Kosca asked me for a hand getting his harvest in this morning, so that’s all we’re doing. We don’t run and try to act natural. We’re just a couple of [Fieldhands] today, walking out the desert gate with Sandy. Dess tell that bird to follow us from the air for now.”

She opened the back door and with a command, Kook took flight. She placed the Grayrock in a cloth satchel and stood there ready to go. Zosk gave them a once over before nodding.

But his plan fell through as soon as they walked out of the house.

Leave it to Lizardfolk to run for cover from a [Slaver] but let curiosity lure them back out of their homes at the sound of a fight. No less than twenty people were standing around watching the house, waiting to see who came out. Zosk tried to play it off though.

“Anyone seen Kosca? If you do, let him know we’re headed to his field to help. Lazy lizard better have his tail in my field when it’s my time to harvest…”

Zosk was strong, he was big, he was apparently good in a fight… he was NOT an [Actor]…

“Zosk. What happened?”

“Is that blood?”

“Where are those other three at? I saw three males go in there!”

“Where are you really going? You’re running, aren’t you? Is it the human they’re after, or Dess?”

“Just give them the human if it’s her… that is a her right?”

“Of course, that’s a her, they look the same as centaurs from the waist up.”

“Zosk! Are those-”

“Enough! Get out of my house! Shut the door. I’ll beat the tail of you Ednisal… I mean we’ve got work to do and I’m not spending all day helping Kosca. Dess, Jenna. Let’s get this over with and we’ll be right back as soon as we’re done.”

“We should run too, come on. Let’s get our things.”

“We can’t run! They’ll catch us and chain us, you idiot!”

Zosk ignored the questions and snapped at someone who had tried to peek in his front door but they moved. He only stopped once to whisper to an older Lizardwoman to have Traedsi take over his fields and livestock once the barge leaves. The Lizardwoman nodded once before pretending Zosk hadn’t said a thing.

Jenna didn’t recognize the woman but if Zosk was willing to say anything he must have trusted her. She at least knew some discretion being the only one biting her teeth.

They made it outside the walls and to one of the southern fields that was near the outskirts. They walked the field, stopping to pull weeds and ‘inspecting’ the plants. There weren’t any guards in sight as they moved further away from the village.

Why would there be, between a [Slaver] and an [Overseer], wouldn’t one of them have a Skill, spell, or artifact to mark someone they ‘owned’ and know if they were trying to flee. The world had many different ways to achieve exactly what drew the attention of Master Vhizzar, there was no telling which one he used. He just knew that his newest acquisition had left the village, heading south. He turned to his [Overseer]

“Find her and be easy… She has such pretty scales… and find Abarranzi, I want to know why he failed to acquire her.”

——–

“So, we’re agreed. Lizard people?”

“YES! Dammit, bro. No one was questioning that! I’m more concerned about the guy that took off his fucking head!”

“or the stripper that took off her arm.”

“Or her!”

They were debating the newest information they’d come across. Early in the morning, Lindsey and Karli had spotted a barge like ship moving its way down the river. They sprinted back and got the others but they watched at first and then hid. Discussing that particular sight had been the broken record of the day. It was already noon and once again they were talking about it.

Chap was sitting to the side shaking his head as ‘Doza and Aydin started to bicker with others jumping in. He looked over at Lindsey who had once again decided to join him. It seemed she was trying to distance herself from the debate too and unlike some of the last few times she was next to him, it didn’t involve digging graves, running from a giant croc, or him basically laying on top of her in the brush.

That was an experience.

Lindsey had led Chap to get a closer look but the soldiers on the barge noticed something because they all went on alert and drew bows, crossbows, and melee weapons. Chap and Lindsey ended up cuddling up, quietly hoping that the camo of his uniform would be enough to help him blend in, and her by the virtue of the fact that he was between her and the boat.

The barge had slowed in the water and it turned out to be a very nerve-wracking half hour that climaxed as they heard the command for the archers to shoot anything suspicious. Two had actually hit Chap but they failed to get through his ceramic back plate and kevlar armor. Seemingly satisfied, the boat moved on.

Still, they stayed hidden until well after mainly because neither one was looking at the barge to know it had even moved. The only thing protecting Chap’s head was a rock and the only thing protecting Lindsey at all was Chap. Neither dared poke their head up.

“So where you from Chap?”

Chap turned and looked at the woman next to him. It seemed like a weird question and his brows furled as he took her in.

“I just spent an hour wrapped up in your arms… I don’t normally let guys I only know I little about get that close to second base.”

Chap looked at her again and saw the corner of her lips twitch up. He exhaled sharply and grinned before leaning his head against the wall again.

“I’m from middle of nowhere North Dakota.”

“Middle of nowhere? That’s all I’m getting?”

“Not much else to it. If you asked ‘Doza she would have pointed out that the entire state is middle of nowhere and North Dakotans are all hicks… all six and a half of us.”

“Half?”

“’Doza…”

He said that as an explanation, which she accepted, she’d seen how they interacted. The main reason was he didn’t feel like repeating the joke, it hadn’t been a good one. The gist had been that North and South Dakota shared one hick at the state line to be even.

“Small farming town with 500 people. We had a gas station, bar slash liquor store, post office, and a grain elevator. That was it. Nearest Walmart was 30 miles away. Nearest city was Fargo if you call that a city and that was still an hour and a half drive away. So yeah, middle of nowhere. More so because I didn’t even live in town… how bout you? You originally from Spokane?”

“Nope, Madison, Wisconsin.”

“How’d you end up in Washington?”

“Yeah… Didn’t move there for me. Boyfriend was offered a scholarship, so we moved after high school. Then broke up, then the rest you already know…”

“Yep, you pulled a Katy Perry.”

“A what?”

“The music video for ‘Part of Me’.”

He laughed waiting for her to get the joke. She thought for a moment and he could tell exactly when she realized what he was referring to because she looked pissed, nodded to herself, and blushed all in the matter of two seconds. Chap stopped laughing but that had been exactly what she’d done. Breakups could be bad enough without someone pointing out that she was a cliché. He was one too but he wasn’t going to bring that up, even if he realized he was eating his foot, so Chap tried to change the conversation.

“Should we get back to your dig, Miss [Amateur Archaeologist]?”

He stared at her with a grin and could tell she was debating on calling him out for calling her miss again but she let it go and got to her feet. He followed and just pointed to where they were headed to the others. He knew Rick and Aydin would probably join in.

When it came to Miss [Amateur Archaeologist], she’d of course gotten a class after setting up a dig at one of the two collapsed buildings outside of the village proper. It seemed those buildings were likely the same design as the only one standing outside, which was bigger than the ones in the circle of houses they sat around in all day.

Lindsey’s hypothesis was that it made them newer construction. An addition to the village. And since they were newer, more robust construction, their collapse wasn’t likely a natural event. The presence of weapons and items suggested the population didn’t have a chance to pack everything whereas the complete lack of anything that wasn’t a rusted heap was evidence the buildings were looted. So of course her idea was that the village had been attacked.

It wasn’t a bad theory.

The main thing that made it Archaeology was the amount of planning and documenting she was doing. The entire ruined building was marked out in a grid pattern with sticks and the same grid was in a notebook where she marked every find down and labeled it, while on another page she made observations. It was 99% garbage. They found a really fancy stick that’d been snapped but that’d been about it. Of course, they’d thought it was a wand but after a closer look, they noticed the remains of leather straps and decided it was probably a riding crop.

So they’d spent a little bit of time digging it out between foraging, which had gotten easier once they realized the abundance of edible crops growing wild in what used to be the fields. That discovery also lent credence to her hypothesis that the village was abruptly abandoned due to something drastic happening. He was happy for her and Chap actually liked the spicy weird roots. He wasn’t a fan of avocados though and the ones that were did were annoyed at the size of the pits. They still had to search for bugs and try to hunt for the puppy. But Cerberus had no issue eating the giant grasshoppers they’d found after they smashed them up for him. They ignored the really big ones they’d seen though.

It was somewhat interesting work, even if it was tiring but not everyone was quite as enthused.

“Why are we even bothering?”

“You know why, ‘Doza.”

His subordinate gave him a look but she was helping with her uniform off again, tied around her waist this time. There were to be no repeats of the croc incident.

“We have no idea what’s under there. There could be something useful or like I said, remains. We don’t know if this was built by humans or al- other species.”

“Sarge, you mean the aliens, right?”

“Bro, we’re technically the aliens here.”

“We are?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Lindsey smiled and pointed at the next square. She’d set up her grid with letters along the x-axis and numbers on the y-axis. It was five wide and eight long with A1 in the bottom left corner and its corresponding square in the ruin itself. They’d already cleared that one, and the entire A row.

“B4. This should have the foundation under it.”

The six of them started to work and it had grown easier, slightly. The square wasn’t filled as deep as the one they’d cleared the day before and the cut stones were only in a few varieties but the largest was only twice the size of a cinderblock, Chap and Rick took those.

There weren’t many and the bulk were stones made to shape the archway, where the big ones were in a stretcher bond style at the bottom of the arch creating the three foot thick walls the arch sat on. They had sharper corners and fewer tool marks so they’d developed the theory that Classes had been involved in its construction compared to the others. Or had been involved for everything but someone had leveled. Adding to the theory that their dig site was newer.

A side benefit was that they had taken the largely whole stones and started repairing the walls in the alcove on either side of the smithy. The plan wasn’t to rebuild the village but to make sure they could only be attacked from one direction. At Karli’s suggestion, they even built up one of the alcove walls very thin, that way they could knock it over if they needed an out but it looked like the other fortified one from the outside.

“Is that a hand?”

Chap looked around as Rick moved another rock out of the way. Chap put his own stone down and jogged over, along with everyone else.

They crowded around and looked.

Chap leaned over Lindsey as she used a makeup brush to dust the dirt around the find away. It was weird to smile at the broken skeleton of a person that had been crushed when their own home had come down on them but Lindsey looked up with the biggest smile that he’d seen in the short time he’d known her. He could even see the smile reach her eyes.

Lindsey had just had a major breakthrough in her hypothesis. Sure it could be that the person was the last holdout after the rest died or moved away. There would have been no one left to dig them out and bury them properly, but it eliminated the idea that the village was completely abandoned when the buildings came down. They’d probably have to dig up another pile to determine if there were people home there too. 

“Okay, back up. Lindsey has the class. Give her space.”

They all backed up a step but stayed in sight of the broken bones as Lindsey kept dusting away and cleaning the site.

“This isn’t human. Look at it, the fingers aren’t long enough and it had claws.”

Someone gasped and everyone began to crowd around despite Chap’s attempt to keep the space clear. It didn’t help that he had stepped in again to get a better look too.

“Could be an animal?”

“It was wearing rings… and a bracelet.”

“We just found a lizard person skeleton?”

Everyone was extremely excited about the fact that they’d just dug up a corpse. They’d only learned of the existence of lizard people that morning. Now they had a skeleton and jewelry to study. Plus who knew what else was under the rest of the rubble.

“Aren’t you going to take the rings?”

“No, I’m not a grave robber… We should leave them until we uncover the whole skeleton. Then we can bury them with whoever this was. After we learn about them first.”

Chap nodded in agreement. He didn’t know a ton about archaeology but it seemed like the right choice, morally at least. But that would have to wait. He glanced over to the setting sun. They’d gotten into a rhythm, it was later than he thought.

“Why don’t we call it a day. We can pick up again tomorrow.”

They began to break away. Not everyone went back to sitting around outside the smithy though. Aydin went to poke around one of the collapsed homes in the circle. And Lindsey and Karli both stayed to study the skeletal hand and jewelry as best they could without disturbing them. It was actually a shame they hadn’t figured out a way to charge even one cell phone, a picture would have done wonders but the last one had died the day before.

The rest of the day passed quickly and Chap laid down to get some sleep. He’d get six or so hours before being awoken for his shift on watch.

He was awoken twice before then. The first was when Lindsey woke up and announced she leveled to 2 in her [Amateur Archaeologist] class. The second was an hour before his shift was supposed to start.

“Sarge. Sarge! There’s something going on.”

——-

Jenna was exhausted. They thought their escape had gone largely unnoticed as they fled south away from Patli. So well that even Zosk believed that they had put enough distance between them and the village to call it a night. Of course, they were found by guards of both the [Slaver] and [Barge Merchant] working in tandem and forced to run again.

“Dhahis is just ahead. We can try to rest there.”

“Dhahis?”

“Beastkin village. Dog Tribe.”

“Will they help us?”

“There’s no one there. The village was attacked by raiders fifteen years back but they had a good mason. Some of the buildings are probably still standing and most people have forgotten it was there. Plus you can’t see it from the river.”

They were of course not literally running. That would have been stupid. They’d waste all their energy quickly and be even more exhausted when it came time to actually run. As her dad would have said, ‘Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast’.

And even though Zosk didn’t know the words but had much of the same mentality.

Her dad would have liked that part about him, less so other parts because Zosk of course had his own mantras. Like ‘kill an enemy and leave their weapon, they’ll just give it to someone else who wants to kill you’. Hence why Jenna and Dess were moving by moonlight with spears for walking sticks courtesy of the [Barge Merchant]’s late guards. They had tried to get them to surrender and explained it wasn’t personal but their boss wasn’t going to cross Roshal. Then Zosk killed them and the slaver’s guards. That had been the biggest shock for Dess.

A reaffirmation that her father wasn’t everything he said he was. On more than one occasion he had faced multiple opponents and even though it wasn’t completely one sided, each time he walked away while they died. It was worse that he didn’t say anything about where he’d learned it, despite Dess continuing to ask.

“Are you going to tell us now?”

“You’re better off not knowing Dess.”

“Will you tell us at Danis, or whatever it is you called it? You’re not a farmer, you have an enchanted sword.”

“Dess.”

“Were you a [Bandit]?”

“No, I’ll at least tell you that I wasn’t a [Bandit]. I wasn’t a [Pirate]. Wasn’t a criminal turned [Gladiator].”

“An adventurer?”

“Dess!”

“They’re over there!”

Zosk swore under his breath as he heard the call and tried to usher them in front of him. Jenna reflected it was probably their fault but it was too late to take back the raised voices. They heard the sound of people running towards them in the distance and a [Flare] spell was launched into the air. That was the time to run.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast didn’t apply when there were people sprinting in your direction.

Jenna ran as Zosk pointed where to go then fell back behind Jenna, Dess and Sandy ran beside her. The drawback of [Flare] was obvious but it at least told them where their pursuers were and kept them from tripping. Another went up as the first began to fade, closer to them.

“The village is just ahead. We’ll make our stand there.”

As they entered the clearing though, Jenna could see the buildings standing in the center of overgrown fields. She could just barely make out a couple people rushing past an opening between two structures before the [Flare] began to fade again. Zosk noticed it too.

———

Chap looked up at the lights in the sky.

“Aydin, get everyone up and tell them to arm themselves.”

He may have been a dipshit but at least the kid knew not to ask questions in unknown situations. He ran back inside while Chap checked his M9.

“Any idea what that is?”

“Looks like a flare.”

The others soon came pouring out, asking questions but they were quickly shushed. As a second flare lit up the sky, even closer Chap gave a soft whistle.

“Someone’s coming. Here’s the rules of engagement. We don’t shoot first. We take cover and try to challenge them. If they comply, we negotiate.”

“If they don’t?”

Chap ignored the question considering not complying meant they were actively hostile, so went back to just shooting them. He’d rather not do that. Even if it was people from the barge, they’d already proven willing to shoot first. He just had to hope it wasn’t.

“Rick, Karli in that building. Lindsey, Aydin there. ‘Doza smithy. Stay put unless I call you. I’m the only one with body armor, if they attack… hope it hits my plates. ‘Doza make sure you’re ready to get the nine if you need to.”

They broke and went to hide in the dark buildings. Ready to ambush whoever was coming with knives, batons, makeshift spears, hammer with a broken handle, their lone sword, or just throwing rocks at them, Rick had a good arm.

Chap knelt alone with his weapon drawn in the shadow of the smithy’s alcove. He heard whispers and wished he could have told whoever was talking to lock it up but it was too late now. Another flare lit up the sky. It was more than just closer, it lit up the area around the village almost right on top of them.

A moment later two people ran into the village but froze as he called out.

“Halt!”

The two lizard people looked around wildly and raised their weapons. They both hesitated as they saw him though, knowing they were looking for two Lizardfolk and a human female. Not the human male hiding in the shadows.

“Put your weapons on the ground, do it now!”

Chap gulped as two more rounded the buildings. One with a sword and the other a long handled ax of some kind. The two additions seemed less hesitant but still didn’t advance on him. Of course sword versus gun, he’d take the gun but one of the first had a bow… Chap would still take the gun.

“I said drop the fucking weapons! I will use lethal force!”

The only thing he could do at that moment was to rely on his training… as best he could considering the species difference and the fact one of them had what looked like a spartan kopis in his hand. They didn’t exactly cover that in any briefings he went to.

They looked at Chap with similar concern. From their point of view, he was a loud, angry human with an unknown artifact in his hands that they had never seen before but assumed it was dangerous because he just told them it was.

“We are searching for three escaped slaves owned by Master Vhizzar of Roshal, human. Stand down. If you have seen them, you may be rewarded.”

“Slaves?”

“Yes, human. Three of his slaves are on the run after murdering three of his guard. They slew more as we pursued them.”

Chap was nearly confused by the turn of events. Sure he was looking at two lizard people, two with neck frills extended slightly and a third with spines on his head. The last one… Chap was pretty sure it was a werewolf- It didn’t matter, slaver’s hunting slaves was not in the short list of ‘what ifs’ he had considered. Even then, he still had his views on it and spoke before really thinking.

“Slaves? Freedom is a right for everybody. It cant be taken away.”

“Such a strange notion… unable to take away freedom. Do you not punish criminals where you come from?”

A beautiful woman walked into the failing light of a flare. She spoke into the alcove behind her and Chap had to blink as another flare rose above the village. In the better light, he realized it was the same woman that had taken her arm off and sewn it back on, or as she had become known during the discussion, the stripper.

Chap watched her for a second and realized she’d got him there. Prisoners weren’t the same as slaves in most places but she’d gotten him.

“We do… what crimes have they committed?”

“They killed our people. Surely murder is a crime worth punishing.”

The woman sauntered back and forth completely oblivious or uncaring about his weapon. Chap kept it pointed towards the one with a bow while stealing glances towards the alcove. He knew there was at least one more back there.

“He…. She…. Whatever, they said the slaves killed them during their escape. Where I’m from that’d probably be considered a justifiable homicide… What’d they do to be enslaved?”

She smirked at him and he noticed she completely ignored his question at first.

“Justified? Hmmm… That matters not.”

She pulled a length of rope off her hip and her hips swayed as she stepped forwards.

“Last chance… although, my master would have fun breaking you.”

Chap heard something about ‘fucking cliché, bad guy shit.’ from the building beside him.

“I said fucking Halt!”

His Skill did nothing and what happened next, happened fast. The woman snapped her hand and the whip flew out towards Chap’s face. He managed to dodge it by leaning back into the alcove. He moved faster than he should have, so he’d have to thank Karli later for using her Skill.

It slapped hard against the wall and then hissed. Chap watched for a heartbeat as the end of the whip spun through the air before arching back like a snake ready to strike, the end even shaped like a viper. It shot forward like an arrow and wrapped around Chap’s throat. At the other end of the whip, the woman walked forward calmly. At least until Chap pulled the trigger.

The [Overseer] of course had enchanted gear including a high quality ring of arrow deflection. It could block two arrows without issue, even those backed by low level Skills like [Piercing Shot].

The problem for her was it had an extremely long recharge time. Well, that. And the fact that arrows fly upwards of 300 feet per second without Skills, whereas the muzzle velocity of the M9 is 1200 feet per second. Putting its power akin to a Skill backed arrow… and Chap had fired three times.

Two to the chest, one to the head. Exactly what he was trained to do and in that order. Thanks to her closing the distance and ordering her underling to light up the area, Chap couldn’t have asked for a better shot. Everyone froze as she fell. Everyone except Chap who desperately pulled the whip from around his neck, it had loosened as soon as the final shot killed her.

“On the- *Cough*- On the ground, do it now!”

He couldn’t really speak but managed to whistle loudly after giving the command. They hadn’t set it up like that but he was glad to see his people respond immediately after. The rest of his group poured out of the buildings leveling weapons at the slave hunters. The remaining slavers looked around nervously as they were surrounded on all but one side. The one Chap was pointing at, he’d given them all a rundown on weapons safety after the incident with the croc and they knew better than to walk in his field of fire. But he had reminded them just the same, better safe than stupid.

One tried to loose an arrow but Chap shot him, her? before they could fully draw. He missed the head but a hole through the throat was good enough. A second stepped around the corner of the building from the alcove they’d entered through holding something in his hand. He pointed it at Chap, and died. Two holes in his chest, Chap had ignored the headshot.

Of the remaining three. One threw down his spear while the other two rushed Lindsey and Aydin. Chap took aim as Aydin dove back into the building to avoid the long ax while Lindsey barely managed to parry her attacker’s blade with the flat of her sword. Chap squeezed off another shot, hitting Lindsey’s attacker in the shoulder blade. It was too close to her but he wasn’t going to sit there and let her get impaled. The sudden injury gave her enough time to drive her shortsword into a gap on the side of his armor, piercing his heart. The final one died somewhat less poetically. Chap just shot him twice… and Rick finished him off by introducing his head to a large rock a couple times. He’d kept moving even after it detached from his body.

“Well, that’s a fucking war crime.”

Chap looked at ‘Doza and ignored the fact that she was right, kinda. She had bashed in the head of a downed, recently unarmed enemy but war crimes only count in times of war. Technically it was only murder.

He gave a sigh and lowered his pistol. He did a quick mental count. He’d spent an entire magazine on the wildlife and then some and 9 more on slavers. He didn’t like the fact he was down to only three rounds and once again was annoyed he hadn’t been carrying his M4. After a moment Chap gave ‘Doza a look and nodded to the dead.

‘Doza moved forward and did what she was trained to do. She made sure the weapons were out of reach of the dying and the dead before starting first aid on the dying.

It was standard operating procedure, well… at least for them.

They didn’t know that the standard in their new world was often to stab a dying enemy in the face to give them mercy unless they were important enough to use a potion on. Then you healed them and either interrogated them, enslaved them, ransomed them, brought them back to execute them, or interrogated them then did one of the other three, torture optional. It depended on where you were from and why you were fighting.

They sat around for a while as the two injured died fairly quickly. The [Mage] and the one Lindsey had killed were in shock and passed quickly. One tried to pull something out of a pouch but ‘Doza quickly restrained him even as he begged. She did a pretty good job of patching up a sucking chest wound though. Textbook really considering their lack of materials. Chap was also mildly proud that she had at some point made a janky med kit to work with. Filled with homemade tourniquets, bandages, and duct tape from one of the bags.

Even with ‘Doza trying to do first aid on them there was little she could do to help them. It was official, Chap had killed three people and helped kill two more. It brought up his confirmed kills to 5, if he counted the two he shot but didn’t finish off…

But the more immediately concerned was the one that was sitting on his knees, staring at the weapon in Chap’s hand. He turned to their new prisoner but didn’t point his weapon at him. At least not directly.

“Are there more coming?”

Chap wasn’t sure if he was a person, he wasn’t even sure if it was a he, but the wolf like being on his knees was wearing clothes and had understood Chap’s order to surrender. Plus the other ones had been speaking English. Now that he looked at it, maybe more hyena like than wolf like. In any case, it didn’t hurt to ask. The prisoner looked around at each of the bodies and tilted his ears back and stared up at the moons for a moment before shaking his head.

“Hmm… No, they lost some on the way. The escaped slaves got them… that should be all.”

“They? Not we?”

‘Doza noticed the discrepancy in the answer. Chap looked around and saw the others watching their captive. Some out of anger or curiosity but he noticed Karli looked ill. She made eye contact with him and looked away, anywhere but the bodies laying around the circle.

“I am not with them, yes?”

“Sure as hell looked like-”

“Hold up!”

Chap cut ‘Doza off as he realized a problem.

“’Doza, cuff him. The rest of you on lookout in case there ARE more coming.”

Chap watched as each of the four moved into the alcoves before he took his own handcuffs out and tossed them to ‘Doza. For their guest’s part, he didn’t struggle at all and followed her instructions. It only took a few seconds for him to be cuffed with Chap and ‘Doza’s linked together and double locked behind his back.

“What do you mean you’re not with them?”

“I am not with the slavers, I am the property of that one. The [Barge Merchant] Zzizla. He is afraid of the slaver and sent me and other guards along as… hrrmmm? As a… ‘friendly gesture’, yes? I could not refuse after he sent the owner of my contract.”

“You’re a slave?”

“No.”

Chap watched him as he nodded to a Lizardman in similar armor and let the silence continue on for a few moments. It was an old trick for interrogating someone, see if they felt like saying more. Most people would try to fill the silence of an intense situation with whatever they could. In his case-

“I am an [Indentured Hunter] not a [Slave]… I ah… I owed that one a bit of money. Gambling- I am not a [Gambler] though! I chose to be his servant until the debts were paid off. It might not matter now. This is what you wonder, yes?”

“So you had to do what he told you?”

“Yes or else I would have voided the contract and he could have sold me as a [Slave].”

Chap lowered his weapon more, not sure how to tell if the man was being honest or not but if he was, he’d been given a bad hand too.

“Fair enough… Who are you?”

“Fuck, that what are you?”

“Me? Or them?”

“Both. Start with you.”

“My name is Vyk. I am a gnoll from Izril. You know of Gnolls, yes?”

Chap stayed quiet for a moment again. He wasn’t playing the same trick twice but taking a moment to think of where he’d heard of Gnolls before. It didn’t take him long to think of the online video games he used to play. It still had the same effect.

“My tribe mainly works with metals but I am a [Bowyer] and there are not many trees on the plains. I came to Baleros to work different types of wood and earn what I can for my tribe. There is always war here and bows sell quite well. We Gnolls are known for our bowcraft, so many were willing to buy them. I was hoping to level and craft something worthy of the Meeting of Tribes. Which I am missing.”

Chap only understood portions of what Vyk was saying but he could guess some more on context. He glanced over and saw that Karli had her notebook out and was quietly writing things down from one of the alcoves. Still glancing behind her every few words.

“And them?”

“Those are [Slave Guards] of…”

Chap listened as he explained the slaver on the river barge they’d seen. His former master’s employer wasn’t happy about having the [Slaver Trader] aboard but had been pressured into it by the people that ruled the area. They owed a debt and were letting the slaver collect from each settlement under their control as payment. Then he told them about the events in Patli.

“That’s fucking fucked!”

“’Doza! Alright, Vyk…”

Chap wasn’t sure what to do with their prisoner now that they had a bigger chunk of the information. The problem was he couldn’t be sure if the gnoll was telling the truth. An issue he said aloud.

“There is a truth stone in his pouch. Just look. It is on his left. Red for truth and blue for lies.”

“A what?”

Vyk gave Chap an incredulous look but licked the inside of his mouth before repeating the same thing again. He enunciated and spoke slower the second time, it didn’t seem condescending though. Vyk’s voice was sort of growly, maybe he was used to being misunderstood by other species. Afterward, with no real reason not to, Chap dug through the pouch in question and pulled out a small crystal.

“That is the truth stone, it is accurate. You can test it if you wish… I am a Gnoll. I am Vyk. I am a Drake.”

It glowed red as Vyk spoke until the last statement when it quickly switched to blue. Chap stared at the stone, turning it over in his fingers as he thought.

“My name is John. I’m a Staff Sergeant. I own a blue pickup. I’m in the Army.”

The crystal shone red, then purple, then blue.

“What’s purple then?”

“Hrmmm. Must have been a half truth. Maybe this ‘pickup’, you don’t really own it but another does and lets you use it. Maybe it is more blue-green than blue.”

Chap could immediately see what Vyk was saying. He owned it but had meant that to be a lie, his truck was black. He tried a few more things and after he was satisfied as he could be using a rock as a polygraph, had Vyk repeat everything in even more detail. No blue throughout any of it and the only time it tipped into purple was when he explained why he left Izril but just barely.

“There was more. But it is personal and does not affect you.”

It shone bright red once again.

“Alright… what are you going to do now?”

“I cannot go back down the river. My contract may have died with him but I cannot be sure and I do not wish to be handed over as a slave in payment for the slaver’s lost guards.”

“You think your boss would do that?”

Vyk gave Chap a look that said ‘That’s exactly what he’d do’. Chap exhaled in a long huff while running his hand through his hair. He still wasn’t sure what to do about Vyk. The guy seemed alright and had just gotten himself into a bit of trouble. He was a young gnoll and had only left his tribe, on what Chap had begun to understand was another continent, only a year ago. All he could do was ‘trust but verify’.

“Do you intend to harm any of us?”

“No.”

Red.

“Will you tell anyone what happened here? Mention anything about the dead?”

“Hrmmm, No.”

Purple. Chap eyed him and Vyk gave a weak but still very toothy smile.

“I will likely inform my tribe when I return to Izril, yes? But I will not tell others with the intent of bringing you trouble.”

Red. Good enough.

“Where will you go?”

“Port Zaniya- Ughhh… I will go to Sa’Liquen. I thought it would show red as I am likely to go to Port Zaniya one day.”

It had shone in a bright, deep purple that time. Vyk seemed a little amused, his ears rising for the first time since the conversation started.

“I mean no offense. But you currently have me in chains. Where will you go?”

Chap couldn’t blame him for his attempt. It was the first question that he’d asked Chap, perhaps sensing that he’d been won over. At least to some degree.

But it was a question that Chap hadn’t expected or even considered though. Nor was it one that he could answer, having absolutely zero idea of what was in the area or how to get there. He gestured around to their little village as an answer. It didn’t seem to be the right one, which worried Chap.

“This is a bad choice, yes? There are few towns or cities near here. So few choices but whatever you choose, you must choose soon. You cannot stay here. The Merchant will not likely bother but the slaver will send people to find out what happened. It did not seem like he cared for his guards much but he was… overly fond of his [Overseer]. I feel he will not let her disappearance go without a search. I would not go north for that reason alone.”

Chap looked around at the bodies and blood stained ground around him in the light of a coming day. The sun hadn’t yet broken the horizon but it was getting lighter.

“Guessing south is where Sa’Liquen is?”

“Yes.”

It seemed too sudden for Chap to be making a decision like leaving their only shelter but there wasn’t much they could do. They didn’t even know that there was a village a short way down the river until Vyk told them, much less where to find other signs of civilization. Then there was the issue of being human.

Well maybe not, Vyk didn’t seem concerned, even if they had been hunting an escaped human. Language might not be an issue either… but other than that, he had no idea what they had going for them or against them. Having a guide could be useful.

The thought of putting it to a vote was immediately brushed from his mind. It took them half a day of arguing to decide that yes, they really did see a snake person. And that was with everyone seeing it! He smiled slightly as he came to the best conclusion, he’d just pull rank.

“Want to travel together?”

A large furry arm shifted to highlight that Vyk was still cuffed.

Chap immediately started digging into his pocket for the keys. He had no reason to hold Vyk. If things went bad, well, he was still armed. It seemed like the right thing to do regardless. Not only had the Gnoll not harmed anyone but his story had been verified by magic… Chap would have to come to terms with that later, it had already been a strange morning. Plus there was also the fact that Chap was at least one star system away from his jurisdiction if the two moons were enough of a clue, maybe countless more.

“I’ll free you regardless.”

“Then yes. It is safer to travel in a group.”

Chap took off the handcuffs after a final verification that Vyk wasn’t going to steal from them. He answered truthfully but seemed resigned about even having to answer. To be fair he’d been staring at Chap’s weapon the entire time.

“We should leave soon though. Once we loot and hide the bodies, yes?”

Chap’s eyes darted to the corpses around him and then back to the gnoll as he stood up. Chap only realized that he wasn’t the tallest in the group anymore but only by a few inches if he didn’t include the ears.

“Ah?”

“I have no coins and things we may need are not free. Plus your people do not have very good weapons. This is mine… damned Drakes. And they think we’re all thieves.”

Vyk walked over to the Drake and picked up the bow the dead had been carrying before, giving the corpse a kick for good measure. He carefully inspected the bow and the string before looping it over a shoulder and going for a quiver of arrows. Chap nearly drew his weapon again as the gnoll armed himself but there was no need.

“Where should we start? Maybe bring back some of your people. If more come it will be from the north or the river.”

Chap came back to the present and called back everyone except Rick. There was no reason for it, just seemed like a decent choice. He could trust Rick to pay attention. After that, they pulled pouches, sheaths, and armor off the dead.

And learned. Vyk seemed confused at how little they knew but none of them cared after seeing the Gnoll pull an entire tent out of a purse as he checked its contents. All eyes stared at the bag or darted to the others on the bodies that lay around them, wondering which ones were magic bags. All eyes except Vyk who only stared at them cautiously.

“Have you never seen a bag of holding before?”

“Ah?”