They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. A simple saying that was usually proven true and unavoidable. Just a part of warfare.

But it was also true that there were times when plans couldn’t survive contact with your own damn people! An infuriating truth that shouldn’t happen but did.

At least the enemy was supposed to stab you in the back.

[Captain] Chaska paced back and forth in her command tent with privacy wards active. They weren’t the best but she doubted anyone would be listening anyways. There were some benefits to being the mercenary company equivalent to a backwater settlement, even a growing backwater. No one ever paid attention to either.

“You know what’s at stake, don’t you [Sergeant]? Why we’re really heading west? Or do I need to remind you?”

“No, [Captain].”

“Do I need to remind you what Crimson Sands might do if someone in MY Company frees even a single [Slave] in their territory? What they’ll do to you after they wipe out our forces, capture your supply pets and find out it was one of them.”

“[Captain], there’s no way to know-”

“BITE YOUR TEETH! Are you about to tell me that it WASN’T one of yours that was involved or are you telling me you’re all so entirely incompetent that you didn’t realize that escaped [Slaves] were being smuggled in your own naga damned wagons?”

“[Captain]-”

“I didn’t say speak!”

Chaska paced back and forth again. Her skin was already starting to dry out but she had a dilemma on her hands, she could have someone fill her tub after. Or just rub herself down with a moisturizing tonic.

“Get out there, find out what scaleless fool- What fool decided to help them and send riders to track those [Slaves] down. Find all 10 of them and make sure they’re silent… What? Speak.”

She internally cringed at her insult. It was a descriptor that she’d always used and was a habit. It persisted even though she was now scaleless herself, literally.

She knew she’d have to come up with something new. It wasn’t a new thought. At least she’d gotten to the point where she almost caught herself before she said it.

“You want me to-?”

He ran a finger across his throat.

Chaska couldn’t help but roll her eyes, she wasn’t that twisted. She knew if she’d ordered it Umbert would do what he does in a heartbeat but she’d at least give them a chance.

“No, I want you to make sure they know that I’d rather throw them in a crawler pit tied up than a word of how they escaped reaching any further than it has. That if they shut their mouths, they’ll be free as soon as we get to the west. That if they talk, Crimson Sands will probably just send an army to keep us out or take us out and we’ll all end up in chains. Understood? Now… who else knows?”

“Just the boy, Darian.”

“Send him here and go… Oh, and Umbert. If this gets out, I’ll put you on the front lines without your precious parasol.”

She gave the [Sergeant] a look that meant she was serious. In response, he quickly saluted and exited the tent.

It was a threat but she wasn’t sure if she even could force him to do anything, Umbert was more than capable in combat than she was but she actually knew he was obedient and would do it if she ordered it.

Not the parasol part, she wouldn’t allow that on the frontlines anyways but that was an idle threat, there was no way to get that man to willingly or unwillingly stand in the sunlight for any period of time. Some sort of human skin condition. The pale bastard started burning in seconds but she didn’t pry.

“Fifteen years… Damn it! Been waiting for this for almost half my adult life and now it’s all on the brink because of some soft hearted morons.”

She wasn’t a fan of slavery either but her company kept some out of practicality, even if she wished she could do without. It was simply hard for a company the size of the Mountain Eagle Company to hire specialists like decent [Hostlers] and [Camp Cooks], much less more in demand classes like [Mages] and [Scribes] so she had to rely on [Slaves] and [Indentured Servants] to buy people for those roles.

Even though she didn’t think it was right, she wouldn’t risk what she’d been planning.

Years had been spent just setting up the alliance in secret. Getting other companies on board, each one they approached was a risk. There was always the possibility they would side with Crimson Sands and out the others but they had succeeded.

Then the headache that was getting a strategy in place, arguing over who fought where and who got what when it was over. But they’d managed.

Now, at the very start of the plan they’d settled on, she ran into an obstacle that could toss a tripvine bag on the entire thing.

Chaska leaned against her war table and looked at the map, her eyes immediately going to Sa’liquen, Ayaviri, and Azolu. The three war goals of her company. The plan was for her to take Ayaviri with her company, a second army that her second in command was building in the west, and a company even smaller than her own first army while the rest of the alliance went after Port Zaniya.

In total, she expected at least 6000 soldiers for the southern campaign, maybe as many as 7000 and they could take the Ayaviri without an issue.

From there they would try to lure out the garrison in Sa’liquen or lay siege after subduing the surrounding settlements. There were only 300 defending Sa’liquen not including the watch but that was her home once, she knew those walls. It would be a tough fight but it was doable.

After was Azolu, it was small and largely undefendable, basically a stopping point for caravans with little else to offer. But no one had claimed it and she heard it was a really nice oasis with crystal clear water. If it was true she’d probably build a villa along its shores. Since Ayaviri was going to the other company in the south, she’d take the oasis.

At least that was the plan until she found out she’d be at the gates of Ayaviri at the very onset of the war. Even with the Pit Fighter’s Company laying claim to it, no one else in their temporary alliance would argue if she took it without their help. She could camp outside their walls and march straight into their gates the moment the others invaded. And if she could get the timing right, some of her soldiers would already be within their walls to open the gates. A backhanded tactic and some companies in Baleros would condemn it but they were in the Crescent, not the rest of Baleros. The Great Companies didn’t really care much about their little corner of the world.

But it was her corner…

Chaska traced her claw around what would be her domain. It would be a sizable holding, at least when it came to holdings in the western crescent, and would allow her to rebuild.

She just needed to decide if she would change the name of her company to her old one’s name or not. Or even change the company’s name to something new.

A simple question. Start fresh, remain as they were, or announce the rebirth of a company that many had written off as dead.

The Lost City Company sounded far better to her but she would decide later.

She’d just been a [Sergeant] of the Lost City and most of the Mountain Eagle company was new but she still had a corps of elites from Sa’liquen. Still, she continued to debate the merits of changing the name when her personal aid took that moment to enter.

“The [Indentured Quartermaster] Darian, my [Captain].”

She waved for him to proceed and folded the map at her desk after giving a final glance at her target.

A moment later a tall young man with dark skin walked into her tent and stood at attention. She looked him up at down, paying attention to his shoes and glasses in particular. They were unique and displayed excellent craftsmanship.

Maybe she could press him for the artisan’s names when the war was over but she had dealings with him first.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“No, Ma’am.”

“Ma’am? What’s Ma’am?”

It caught her off guard, she wasn’t familiar with that term. She knew he was from somewhere abroad, Chandrar probably but couldn’t be sure. In any case, she’d never heard of a Ma’am or [Ma’am]

“Short for Madam.”

Her eyes narrowed. Did he just call her?

It dumbfounded her for a couple seconds. He said it so casually with only a hint of nervousness. Who knew that a servant could be so brazen? To compare her to some tired old [Prostitute] who ran a brothel? Was that how he saw her company? A bunch of worn out females that bent over for anyone with coin?

She could respect his audacity, it was a good insult, but Chaska couldn’t tolerate it at the same time. Even if there was a possibility that profession wasn’t what he was referring to.

“I will tell you this one time, NEVER call me that again. To you, I am [Captain], is that understood?”

She drew her dagger for effect, his eyes went wide as he laid eyes on it and realized he’d made a mistake. His stuttering answer followed shortly.

“Y-yes, [Captain]. I didn’t- Ah… Understood, [Captain].“

She watched him for a few seconds longer then put down the dagger she’d drawn. He looked like he was appropriately scared.

She reevaluated him at the moment. It was curious how he could be so brazen to openly insult her but so cowardly the moment she responded. Did he take her for someone with no backbone… Spineless?

Spineless!

Chaska’s eyes widened with a bit of joy but she quickly hid it.

She could use that instead of scaleless. It had the same ring to it and she might be able to adapt quickly and stop calling people what she technically was! She was tired of insulting herself out of habit.

Chaska picked up a piece of paper to make a note to write it down while watching him out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t going to let that one go.

She might have been the leader of a small company but she wasn’t that old and still prone to a bit of youthful excitement. Most of the leadership of her old company was wiped out and she just happened to be the highest rank the remaining soldiers had left.

Once she was done she folded it and tucked it into her belt. The victory was hers already… as long as the human would listen to reason, or at least threats.

“I called you here to discuss what you found in the wagon. Do you know what I am referring to?”

“Yes, ma- [Captain]. The collars.”

“No… Listen to me closely, the correct answer is that you found nothing. There are no [Slave] collars in the wagons, there were no people in the wagons, there is no reason to even discuss what was in the wagons because there was nothing there. If you hear of anyone else talking about what was not in the wagon, you will report it to me… through [Sergeant] Umbert. Is that understood?”

“Yes, [Captain].”

She gave it another moment to see if he’d say anything else. Satisfied she pointed to the door.

“As long as it stays nothing, you’ll get a portion of your debt removed when we get to the west. Ten gold. Cross me and you’ll find out what happens.”

It was basically wiping out any hope of gaining a real profit off his contract but she knew how the indentured worked. If she’d allowed gambling their debt with each other like the previous [Captain], she’d see them playing dice trying to get lucky and pawn their years worth of service onto one unlucky bastard who saw his future fade away more and more with every roll of the dice.

That was until a fight broke out when the unlucky fool found out the other was cheating or the indentured tried to run for it if his opponent was playing fairly. It had caused far too many problems. The point was their debt was their motivation.

“Ten- Thank you, [Captain]!”

She cleared her throat and looked pointedly at her own hand, specifically the claw pointing to the exit.

“Oh, right…. Ah, thank you [Captain].”

He stopped at the door and did something with his right hand. He held it straight with his forearm and brought it up to touch the tip of his middle finger to his eyebrow while standing at attention.

Chaska would have thought it was him waving strangely at her if it wasn’t for the rigid bearing he presented at the same time.

Although it dawned on her what it was meant to be when he remembered his respect and saluted properly…

That was a strange way to salute, where’d he learn that? Is that a Chandrarian salute? Terrandrian?

—

Different ways to do things, different concepts different knowledge. All just… different

Things really were strange but in the grand scheme of things, Jenna decided that was alright. Things had been going a lot smoother for her as they left Azoru. New clothes, sunblock, a covered single axle wagon to ride in.

But there were always hiccups.

Unlike her fellow Earthers in the Crescent. Jenna’s weren’t as telling. At least not when it came to her origins.

A face looked down at her from above, it was more than slightly familiar seeing those jade scales mixed with color and a smiling face from above, though not from that angle.

A new way to look at her friend.

Jenna giggled and covered her face but she wasn’t completely loopy and was trying to hide her pain and embarrassment. It wasn’t a very convincing laugh.

“How’d that feel? I told you not to lean back, didn’t I? I swear Jenna, it’s-”

“Ow… got it. No more leaning on the tailgate.”

“I hope so… I wouldn’t want to lose you to a rock!”

Jenna sat up and dusted herself off while blushing slightly and looking at the wagon ahead of them.

Zosk had managed to get it to a stop not far from where she’d learned her lesson. Two in fact!

The first was that wagons could have tailgates! Not that exciting.

The second was that they don’t have cables to stop them flat with the rest of the bed like trucks from Earth. Still not exciting but extremely relevant!

It turned out they flop all the way down. So instead of falling back, laying on the tailgate with maybe her head and shoulders dangling over the edge, Jenna flipped right out the back. And it hurt. More than she was willing to admit. Physically and mentally.

She rubbed the back of her head where it’d hit the ground. It wasn’t bleeding but she could feel a bump already forming and her head hurt in ways beyond normal pain. She didn’t think she had a concussion though, just a headache.

“Here.”

Zosk handed her a vial of orange liquid after she climbed back into the wagon, scooting far away from the back. She knew what it was and that it was important to only use in emergencies, but she still took a few sips of it and poured some on her hand to rub into the back of her head. When she was done, Jenna handed it back to him and realized he was shaking on the driver’s bench.

“Are you laughing?”

“No.”

He was! Liar!

“Liar!”

There was no need for a truth stone to prove it. It was obvious, the big lizardman steering the small wagon was clamping his jaw shut in an attempt not to laugh in her face.

She pouted a little but a look at Dess said that she was the only one that didn’t find it amusing. Her friend’s eyes were laughing at her too… She wouldn’t get any help there.

There wasn’t really any reason to get upset about it either, she’d probably do the same thing. Instead, she just leaned back with a groan then sat straight up, double checked there wasn’t a side gate, and finally got comfortable again. An act that broke the dam and she heard a snort coming from the front.

Jenna shot Zosk a dirty look but couldn’t say anything… At least the dog was sympathetic.

Sandy did scoot up to her to nuzzle her a bit, so at least someone felt bad for her. Or the dog just wanted pets.

“Good girl, sandy.”

The dog squirmed and pushed her head into Jenna’s hand. Yup, all she wanted was pets.

Jenna provided.

Which was also fine, there wasn’t anything else to do as the wagon got rolling again.

Zosk was driving the wagon, Dess was still smiling like a mad lizardwoman while reading her book on the beasts of Baleros. Her grin was either from Jenna’s misfortune or some interesting creature in the book. The grayrock was in a makeshift nest next to Dess. Kook was off flying around, doing whatever it was Kook did while Jenna and sandy were just sitting there.

Well, Sandy looked like she was about to fall asleep as Jenna softly rubbed the base of her ears. It wasn’t that bad of an idea and Jenna momentarily thought about taking a nap too but she decided she didn’t want to be up all night.

Then there was the scrying orb but she’d already gotten tired of that.

War, war, war. War between a large kingdom and a few smaller ones in Terrandria. War against the King of Destruction in Chandrar. War between an undead king and adventurers.

Even a small war between two city states in Izril over the death of an [Innkeeper].

That one was a bit different. Whoever the [Innkeeper] was, she must have been special…

Besides that, war on Rhir. War in Baleros… Well, it didn’t say anything about Baleros or Rhir but from what Zosk had said, both continents constantly had some sort of conflict going on.

It was a bust but she considered turning it back on even if it was all bad news. It’d give her something to do.

She couldn’t even look out the metaphorical window at the passing landscape, it was a covered wagon they’d bought. There weren’t any windows.

Would it count towards my [Builder] class if I made windows?

Probably not… at least not from just cutting a hole in the canvass to peak out of. Maybe if she made it into a travel trailer with actual walls that would work. But then it would just be more weight for the camel to pull.

Yes, they’d gotten a camel instead of a horse.

Apparently, horses were horrible for laboring through the desert, even worse than mules. The camel was unsurprisingly the best option.

Also cheap because it bit people on a regular basis!

That’s why Zosk was the only one willing to deal with it, the camel went to take a bite and Zosk punched it in the head…

It seemed violent but after a couple times, the big Lizardman and the even bigger camel had come to a mutual understanding… Further conflict would end up with both of them getting hurt.

She didn’t want it to suffer any more than it had to in the heat. That was of course even if she had the materials to build anything…

Also, when it came to windows, she was a [Builder] that had only a little bit of an idea on how to frame a wall much less fit a window.

Yet, Jenna wanted to scratch that itch. Leveling was fun in its way, even though she’d only leveled a few times before they were forced to flee. She looked at the bed of the wagon and focused on a scuff in the wood.

“[Mend].”

The scuff faded out of existence, replaced by what looked like fresh wood. There was still a divot due to the fact her Skill didn’t create new material but it looked better. Still, maybe if she did it enough…

Jenna sighed and stared at the newly fixed scuff. That wouldn’t be enough. It couldn’t be that easy.

She must have been really pathetic looking because Dess noticed.

“Wanna read? I can mark my place… we should have bought another book or something in Azolu.”

“No, that’s okay. You’re doing it for your class. Just thinking that I can’t really level mine right now.”

Dess closed the book anyway and scratched at her neck frill. She looked around the wagon for inspiration but it didn’t immediately come to her.

Jenna just watched her brightly colored friend as she looked at the dull interior of the wagon.

It was at least something. At a minimum, she could see Dess’ scales shimmer a little in the light that made its way in while she went as far as standing up to swing her head around the canvas top to search the land around them.

But that provided nothing in the form of inspiration but it eventually came when Dess sat back down and stared at her book for a minute.

“Maybe… Oh!”

She dug into her bag of holding and pulled out a handful of things but quickly placed them back in, leaving only three. A piece of papyrus, a piece of graphite, and what looked like a cutting board.

“Here! I’m hoping to get something from reading about other animals I could tame AND writing about Kook, filling in what the book doesn’t say! I haven’t started writing anything yet… I should probably do that, huh?”

Dess had gotten herself distracted as she looked at the paper but almost immediately got herself back on task. She wasn’t as talkative as most of her kin but she still had some of their tendencies. Like the ability to jump from thought to thought.

Many thought of it as a detriment but Lizardfolk really did have quick minds.

“Maybe you could do the same by… I don’t know, writing about what you know about building? Or Drawing what you want to build and writing how you’d do it. Builders usually plan things ahead of time, right? Even you did but you didn’t need to write it down at… you know… I hope she’s okay… anyway, a mudbrick wall isn’t that hard to remember.”

Dess’ cheerful voice shifted at the thought of Jeesnine. She didn’t talk to her but that didn’t mean she didn’t like the centauress.

Jess stretched her leg out and for the lack of a better term, played footsy with Dess. The act caught her friend’s attention and brought her back to the present. Enough so to hand the paper and other things over.

Jenna looked contemplatively at the offered drawing materials and took them while giving Dess’ a studious look to make sure she was okay.

They shared eye contact for a moment and it told Jenna all that she needed to know. Dess was alright. It was a quick moment but Jenna felt like she knew Dess pretty well by now. The lizardgirl was shy around most but she didn’t hold back around Jenna. Satisfied that her friend was okay, Jenna turned to the time killer that was offered to her

If nothing else doodling is a valid pastime.

Jenna readied herself, and even pulled out a thick leather strap that would kind of work as a straightedge and a piece of string to draw curves but when she had everything ready she stared at the blank piece of paper.

“What should I sketch?”

It wasn’t that she had no idea, it was she realized she had far too many.

It wasn’t just deciding between drawing a house, a store, an inn, a lighthouse, or a castle. It was all of that and then deciding to draw a house.

Okay, what kind of house? Did she draw a small flat roof home like in Patli, the strange arch houses in the abandoned village they’d passed? She’d only glimpsed the outside but they were clear enough under the light of the spell. How about the larger and more ornate flat roof houses in Azoru, or one of the countless styles from Earth? If she chose Earth architecture, should it be a bungalow, a four-square, a big brick one with white columns, a tiki hut?

Jenna had never really paid much attention to the wide range of architectural styles she’d actually seen in her life. Not only seen but she’d lived in a lot of different houses too. In the end, she had to look to Dess for help.

“Just draw a small house first. Something that would fit, say the three of us. Plus the all the animals.”

“All the animals?”

Dess nodded and Jenna looked back to her blank page. The dog and the two birds or all the animals from Patli? Or all the animals that Dess would want? Did she have enough room for that?

She might have to just draw it on the floor of the wagon.

But that was more like an indoor zoo if she went with the last option of all the animals Dess would want!

Despite the concept being something that Dess would love, it was too complex. So she just went with a bunkhouse, like the one she used to live in years ago.

It was a long narrow house with a small yard that they’d lived in when she was in middle school. She decided on it because it was probably the easiest house to build.

It had one big room in the front that was an open floorplan living room/kitchen with a long hallway going back on one side that led to a bedroom, a bathroom, another bedroom, and the back door. In that order.

So Jenna started drawing that, starting with the floorplan by making a tall rectangle. She stopped though.

Can I really get something by recreating something I know or do I need to make something different? Zosk said something about leveling requiring a struggle, it wasn’t easy…

Jenna shrugged and decided it couldn’t hurt to add something new.

So she rubbed the graphite off the end of the hallway, deleted the back door, and put it back in a new place. Now it led out the side of the house before adding a new room off the back. It was a large room the width of the house and maybe half as deep as how she marked out the open front room, though she quickly changed that to the same size as the front and added a second room inside the first.

Master bed with en suite. 

Jenna smirked. She’d been in a few houses with that but that was always her dad’s room. She fought the urge to think about him and decided that he could still have it. He might have to fight with Zosk though. Or play a hand of poker for it.

Dad would win… I think, do they have poker here?

After she quickly sketched out the rest of the rooms and looked at her handiwork. It didn’t look much like a house, so she added the rest of the doors and windows. Still wasn’t it. She added a bay window in back and a wrap around porch going to the left and connecting the front and back doors.

It looked like a floorplan then, a little crooked with a few mistakes from where the wagon jolted but Jenna could see it. Though floorplans were for people buying or renting a house. She guessed a [Builder] would use a blueprint. Something with more detail and showed how a building was built.

Jenna set out to make it so.

Estimated measurements, a drawing of the side of the house laid flat next to the house itself, the front, the back, the other side. More measurements. The little bit of framework she knew and some she guessed at from what she’d seen. More measurements.

Who needs a tape measure when you can gestimate! Too bad I didn’t have my measurement Skill back then.

Jenna went back to making an example of the framework but it wasn’t perfect. She didn’t know what the board that went horizontally over a window was called. The bottom was called a sill though. Nor did she know what the vertical ones that went under the sill to support it were called but she’d seen that before.

In the end, she left those unlabeled but still put in even more measurements on what she thought a window should be. She did the same for the door, though she remembered the top board was called a header and quickly labeled the windows the same way. Then she drew the floor joists, she wasn’t sure exactly how far apart they should be but she knew what they looked like, she’d been in a basement before. Her house didn’t have a basement or upstairs though, so luckily there was no need to figure stairs out. And the foundation she ignored.

That left the roof… She wasn’t sure and just marked out more floor joists. With a little mark giving the location of a ladder outside. Now it was a flat roof, three bed, two bath, open floor plan bunkhouse with a wrap around deck and a second deck on the roof. Perfect for Dess birds, considering that was where she kept them in Patli.Dess 

She looked at her work when she was finished but quickly went back to label the rooms. When she looked again, she felt oddly satisfied with her work.

“A bath- room? Two Bathrooms? Who would have a bath in their own home, and why would you need two of them if you did. Maybe someone really rich from Sa’liquen has that but the big houses outside Sa’liquen are a lot bigger than that if that’s a normal door. And why is this one a Master bedroom? Are the others for [Slaves]?”

“Huh?”

Dess had scooted over by her to watch her draw and was eyeing it critically.

It wasn’t that surprising though. Patli was Dess’ only real experience that she could remember and it was very different from Earth. Most of the world was very different from Earth. They didn’t have bathrooms in their homes in Patli and their version of a bathtub was a mile away from their version of a toilet. Throw in the fact that Dess’ home only had two rooms, with Dess sleeping in the second bedroom/kitchen/living room and part of their kitchen being outside so it didn’t heat the house, it was strange to her.

With all that, it made sense to Jenna. Dess’ was critical but not necessarily in a bad way, she just didn’t understand what Jenna had made.

“No… A master bedroom is just the biggest bedroom in the house. It might have been originally named that for slave masters but I’m not sure…”

She couldn’t help but think of plantations. The owners of it would be the masters and obviously claim the largest bedroom but it could just be a term for the master of the house, the head of the family.

Probably that, something from England maybe.

“And the bathrooms… where I come from… that is in some- well, no. Everyone has them. Ah, the bathroom is a place for cleaning. There’s a sink… a toilet… and a bathtub.”

She sketched in each item as she paused. Mimicking the bathroom she remembered in the front of the house but the en suite got a much larger tub.

“A toilet in the house? Wouldn’t it stink?”

“Ahhh…”

Jenna gave a quick and dirty explanation of indoor plumbing, sewer systems, and water pump stations, the latter she said was run by wind or water mills. Technically that could have been true in the form of wind turbines and hydroelectric dams if you forgot about electricity being in the middle. Strangely Jenna knew that better than how a house was built because of her plan to go in for Civil Engineering.

She never got into the details but she still looked up how those systems worked out of curiosity.

Dess of course seemed in love with the idea of an indoor bath though. Jenna didn’t say anything more about it other than it could be filled and drained without carrying buckets of water and it was a lot more convenient than a trip to the bathing area of the river.

Thankfully Jenna had forgotten the utility closet with the furnace and hot water heater. And hadn’t gotten around to marking out the cupboards and appliances in the kitchen. She wasn’t sure how she would explain a fridge or gas stove unless they had a magical equivalent somewhere in the world but she just didn’t know.

The idea of giving the quick and dirty explanation of other utilities didn’t appeal to her. Bringing up electricity and natural gas lines was also probably going too far down the ‘I’m REALLY not from around here’ hole.

A hole that she was probably already sticking her head in if the look on Zosk’s face was anything to go by

Jenna noticed but she focused on her drawing to avoid eye contact but she felt him watching her for a moment until he eventually turned back, the camel wasn’t going to steer itself. Well… she was glad he didn’t trust the camel to steer itself, it obviously wasn’t going to walk itself straight off a cliff or into a rock.

“How about a place for critters?”

Jenna looked at Dess and started to worry a bit more but she flipped the page over and began sketching out a simple kennel. It was the layout from a dog shelter she’d been in years ago.

It wasn’t as damning as she thought it could be, the design was simple and didn’t require much other than pens to keep the animals, she did put in a faucet and a trench at the edge of the kennels.

She’d seen that before, volunteers spraying out a kennel pushing everything into the trench with a hose, then using the same hose to push it towards the drain on one end. It made for quick cleanup and Dess already knew about running water. But Jenna made the mistake of mentioning a hose and after explaining a flexible pipe, another question came. Thankfully they had concrete, even if no one in Patli used it. So the issue about the question of how the hose didn’t wash away the dirt floor of the kennel was quickly averted.

“I think I’m going to take a break. My hands are tired.”

It was an excuse. Jenna wasn’t getting hand cramps from writing or anything but she also didn’t want to answer any more questions. She liked Dess, she liked Dess a lot actually but Jenna was still worried about outing herself.

“Okay! Can I?”

Dess took the sheet and graphite to start sketching in feeding bowls and labeling each of the four kennels. Pausing to think of what to add next before deciding to take an attempt at adding four more kennels, then doubling it again with kennels on either side of a hallway.

Jenna watched for a minute, just glad that Dess didn’t ask any more questions. She decided that being an Earther was hard if you were around someone as curious as Dess. Even if the Lizardgirl didn’t seem to catch on or care about the strangeness, having her curiosity hit while Zosk and his suspicion was within earhole range of each other was not a good mix for the lone Earther. 

Still, Jenna debated once again whether she should just tell them. She clenched her eyes shut and bit down on her tongue but a moment later decided to go for it.

“How far to Sa’liquen? Are you guys hungry?”

Or not.

“Ah. I’ve still got some of that popcorn stuff. Here!”

Jenna didn’t accept and let Dess toss a handful in her mouth, she chewed with a smile then stopped with a questioning look on her face. The Lizardgirl looked into the bag and shook it around but Jenna knew there was nothing visibly wrong with it.

It was just stale.

Jenna giggled as Dess finally spoke. The look on her face set her off. Jenna, being far more experienced in stale popcorn had been waiting.

“It tastes funny… Hey! You knew!”

“Sorry.”

Jenna giggled as a faux hurt look graced her friend’s face. To make amends Jenna grabbed a piece of popcorn herself and tossed it into her mouth.

It wasn’t bad. It just didn’t taste like fresh popcorn. And it could have used some butter to go along with the salt and other seasonings they’d put on it. But altogether not bad.

“Woah!”

The cart suddenly moved to the side of the road and came to a quick stop. So quickly that Jenna was glad she was sitting, if she’d been moving around it would have resulted in her falling out of the wagon for the second time that day.

“Nagas! What was that old man?”

“Quiet, don’t say a thing as they pass.”

“As who-”

Jenna got up and looked out the front of the wagon and gulped at the sight of lizardfolk, humans, dullahans, and even a few centaurs and beastkin marching. All of them armed to the teeth.

The few other travelers on the road that they’d naturally grouped up with had also pulled off into the desert to let the armed soldiers march past. Behind them were a few groups of irregular soldiers…

or those might have been adventurers. Each one was armed and dressed very differently with the only organization being them walking in small groups with their party members.

“Who are they? Where do you think they’re going?”

“Crimson Sands… To Azolu if I had to guess. Little to tell where they go from there. Pachacuti or maybe even Ayaviri but that would be a roundabout way if they were coming from Sa’liquen…”

It wasn’t a helpful answer but there was no way of knowing exactly what they were doing. But there weren’t many of them, maybe a hundred marching past quickly, without a word, not including the twenty or so adventurers.

The three of them waited for a few minutes after they marched past to ensure the soldiers weren’t simply the vanguard of a much larger force and then pulled back on the road. Their impromptu convoy broke up as some left immediately while others were still sitting on the side of the road, not wanting to inconvenience any more armed soldiers, much like their group. In the end, there was only one thing that could be said about it.

“Huh?”

It was a passing curiosity for Jenna and even Zosk wasn’t too worried once they were gone. Just soldiers marching off to who knew where to do who knew what.

It could have been anything, culling monsters, skirmishing a neighboring mercenary company, putting the heat on some uppity village [Headman] that refused to pay taxes… but as they continued they soon learned the likely reason when they met a city runner selling newspapers.

Jenna looked at the city runner. It was a strange sight seeing him selling papers out of a bag of holding along the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. But there he was. He probably had been running and stopped when he saw wagons approaching.

“Probably the Sa’liquen paper, he’s running it to Azoru.”

Zosk chimed in as the got closer to the runner who was taking a moment to make a sale and earn a few tips.

“Crelers! Crelers on the Itli. Villages destroyed! Full article here!”

The three shared a look and Zosk brought the wagon to a stop and climbed off the wagon.

“We’ll take one.”

He walked up and quickly snatched the camel by the mouth as the city runner approached. The camel groaned but Zosk lifted up a large fist and gave it a pointed look before letting it go.

And thus the truce was extended to include the [Runner]. Completely unaware of how close he had been to getting a camel bite.

After the runner moved on, Zosk crawled up into the wagon and opened the paper.

It was much smaller than the papers Jenna knew but there, across the front page was a rough map of the area with towns, villages, and cities marked. All centered around a long winding river that started at Sa’liquen and ended at Port Zaniya. Along its path was a shaded section… Jenna gulped.

Patli was in the shaded part.

Jenna looked over Zosk’s shoulder while Dess read from the other side… There wasn’t much actual information, whoever wrote it didn’t have much to go on but it was enough. The important part was there.

A horrible truth.

“Patli’s gone?”

Jenna heard the waver in Dess’ voice and stopped reading to hug her friend and squeeze her tight. She’d read enough already anyways, a swarm of crelers had appeared somewhere between Patli and Tervas. And while a group of adventurers had managed to warn the people of Tervas and get most of them to safety, Patli wasn’t as lucky.

The few survivors that made it to Ica had reported that they had no idea there was a threat except a few people with [Dangersense] realizing something bad was coming. It was an intense feeling that split the village when it came to making the decision on how to react.

Run, hide, or hope the walls hold.

The survivors were of course the ones that had fled while the rest of the village treated it like a bandit raid and barricaded themselves in the village.

“Dead gods…”

Jenna glanced at Zosk and followed his eyes. She knew he was reading fast but had apparently decided to go over it multiple times.

There was no news if any of the ones that stayed had made it. The story was compiled from different reports sent by the Mages Guild so what happened to the rest of Patli wasn’t verified.

After holding Dess for a minute, Zosk put the paper down and took over holding his daughter, pulling her up to the front effortlessly.

It gave Jenna the chance to pick up the news and read the rest. But it was just reports of other nearby villages evacuating, sightings, and how the Crimson Sands Company was responding.

A nearby roving mercenary company was already headed that way while Crimson Sands mustered a force as well and sent soldiers to reinforce strategic settlements while others were evacuated that way. Azoru was listed as one of the evacuation points, explaining the soldiers on the march. They weren’t going to fight the monsters, they were going to protect anyone fast enough to run away.

“It’s okay… I promise, It’s okay…”

Zosk squeezed Dess tight and kept repeating the words. Trying his best but even then both had tears in their eyes.

It was a mess and Dess openly cried while Zosk tried to remain stoic but Jenna could see the pain in his as well. A slight glistening but Zosk didn’t dare let the tears fall.

As for Jenna, she didn’t really know anyone from her short time in the village.

Her friend had likely just lost everyone they ever knew. They lost their home, their livelihood, any plan of ever going back…

Even worse, they could have died themselves if it wasn’t for being chased off by the slaver. The only good thing the waste of scales had done.

Jenna had a brief moment hoping that the snake was still there when the crelers arrived but felt guilty. It would have been a fitting end to him but not at the cost of the entire village.

“Maybe some made it away on the barge?”

It was more of a question than a statement but it brought her friends out of their tender moment.

“Maybe… Maybe. But we should keep moving… We’ll get more news when we get to Sa’liquen, we even have gold. Maybe we can find a Garuda or an adventurer with a magic carpet willing to fly to Patli and let us know who made it. Not many have those but… maybe.”

Jenna noticed Zosk said ‘who made it’ rather than ‘if anyone made it’ but she understood holding onto hope. Even if her own idea was half-hearted. But Jenna, out of anyone, could understand not being willing to lose hope of seeing loved ones again. It was something you had to hold on to, wasn’t it?

Still, the family patriarch let Dess go and turned around to get the wagon going again while Dess nearly crawled onto Jenna’s lap. It didn’t matter, not right then. Jenna kissed Dess softly on the top of the head and wrapped her arms around her.

“How far is Sa’liquen?”

Zosk turned briefly and then stared at the sky while he calculated the distance.

“Two days, maybe three. We’ll get there.”

They rode in silence after that while Jenna got the chance to treat Dess like an injured puppy that needed some cuddles for once. At the same time, she decided that when things were a bit more cheerful, she would do it again to her favorite [Beast Tamer]. Moments like that should just be when people are sad. But after a while, Dess stopped crying but still didn’t say a word or move from on top of Jenna.

Although that wasn’t exactly the best. With her friend doing a little better Jenna’s mind wandered.

All she could think about was the pictures from the book. The nightmarish creations that had entire pages dedicated to them.

Pure terrors.

Those poor people.

–

Earlier that day.

“Ugggh…”

Lindsey awoke and immediately tried to go back to sleep. The previous day had been the most physical thing she’d ever done in her life, technically longer than a marathon and it had been in 100+ degree heat. Something impossible if it wasn’t for Skills to help them and keep them going.

That and the imminent threat of being eaten alive. But now the Skill had run its course and they were all paying for it, among other things.

They were celebrities of the moment, collecting their 15 minutes of fame. Ones that no one knew anything about and it had been mainly Chap and Vyk being celebrated for their parts in warning and evacuating Tervas. But some of the citizens were staying in the same in and they were extremely grateful and as a result, shots.

A lot of shots.

It was a way to say thank you for saving their lives or a fun but sadistic way to poison them for what Lindsey didn’t know. But it seemed like the latter in a way. At least in the morning but that was what happened when you had people buying you drink after drink.

The group’s resident [Archaeologist] rolled over on her bunk and looked across to see Karli still sleeping with a bucket next to her bed, the girl had almost no experience with drinking because she was 17. Yet thanks to having no real age for drinking she had jumped at the chance to experience something new. Something fun but horrible.

Above her was Teena, who despite only just joining their group still partook but was probably the soberest of all of them at the end. Something about Dullahan’s maintaining their etiquette. Maybe a tie actually. Chap seemed pretty sober by the time they went to bed too. Whether because he didn’t drink much or could hold his liquor, Lindsey wasn’t sure. She’d needed the night before. Even if it meant she suffered in the morning. It’d probably be worse if Chap and Rick hadn’t forced them all to hydrate between each drink.

Though ‘Doza seemed unfazed for the most part too. But she might have still been a little drunk even after sleeping. Lindsey didn’t know when she came up to the room and the fact she was walking around in a pair of shorts and only a pair of shorts led her to believe that she’d stayed up drinking a lot longer than Lindsey had.

At least ‘Doza was getting dressed, or at least putting a shirt on. Lindsey didn’t really care but she still didn’t feel like looking at ‘Doza strutting around topless in their shared room.

To her slight surprise though, ‘Doza didn’t get fully dressed, and instead, Lindsey watched the Senior Airman walk out wearing only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt she’d gotten from one of the bags. It was bigger and baggier, so it had to belong to one of the guy’s bags. At least it was a darker color. White might have been see through.

A minute later she heard a loud banging sound on the door next to theirs and then the quick patter of feet as ‘Doza jogged into the room and quietly shut the door.

Before ‘Doza had even made it back swearing could be heard through the wall while the mastermind of the evil attack grinned. Taking a moment to enjoy her victory but ‘Doza managed to notice Lindsey watching her and pulled a small bottle out of her shorts and tossed it.

“Hangover cure. Shit actually works! They sell them downstairs.”

She tossed one onto Karli’s bed as well, the severely hungover teen only barely starting to shift, and went to press her ear to the wall dividing the womens’ bunkroom they’d rented from the men’s.

Lindsey only gave it a moment before looking at the bottle in her hand and popping the cork to take a drink. It didn’t say how much she should take but the bottle was only a couple mouthfuls anyways. It tasted vile but if it worked it would be worth it.

Thankfully one gulp seemed to be enough and it quickly started to change how she felt. Her stomach was no longer in knots and her head stopped pounding. She still had to pee but that was expected.

But thankfully her head stopped throbbing just in time for retaliation against ‘Doza to arrive at their door. The two other women in the room jumped as a thundering crash came on the door that was immediately followed by quick words outside.

“Drink that bottle, it helps.”

Lindsey ignored it to help Karli while ‘Doza pressed her ear against the wall to listen. She exhaled through her nose sharply and looked back to the others.

“That was Rick, Chap’s chewing him out for making a scene and taking it out on you guys.”

“Isn’t he going to chew you out too?”

“Probably, but I’m used to it.”

Next, there was a much lighter knock on the door. It was only a moment later and ‘Doza took a few seconds to answer it.

Chap stood in the doorway in a near mirror image of her. He was wearing shorts he’d gotten from one of the ones that had died and a t-shirt. The issue was that whoever he’d gotten it from was more than just a bit smaller than him. Making the shirt tight and the shorts look almost like a ’70s basketball player. Lindsey wasn’t ashamed that she took a look. She liked it but a man his size in shorts that small…

She couldn’t help but laugh and quickly covered her mouth.

“What’s up Chap? Nice legs.”

“Thanks… Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Alright, how about we’re gonna have some words, so get out here… now.”

“You know we’re not deployed, right? You can come in, General Order 1 bravo doesn’t fucking apply-”

“Mendoza…”

Lindsey blinked. That was the first time she’d heard Chap refer to ‘Doza by her real name to her face. A sentiment that wasn’t ignored by the bearer of that name either.

“Fine.”

‘Doza walked out into the hallway while Ayden and Rick stood by the door. Lindsey heard a door shut and assumed that Chap was dealing with ‘Doza privately in the other bunk room but she didn’t hear yelling. 

Still, the other two had nowhere to go. So after a quick glance to make sure everyone else was dressed, Lindsey took it upon herself to open the door wider to let them in.

“Where’s Vyk?”

“Taking Cerberus out to the bathroom and getting us some hangover tonics. He knew they existed and- wait.”

Lindsey held out the other half of her bottle to Rick. He took it with a pained grin while Karli offered hers to a sick looking and shirtless Aydin.

The two brightened up as the potion took effect, Lindsey too knew that sweet relief… Where was that little bottle on Earth?

“So. What are we… doing today?”

Rick let out a big yawn as he spoke and invited himself to sit on her bed.

“Sorry, still beat from yesterday. That was a workout.”

There was no one arguing against that. Even with health potions to deal with the soreness and blisters, they hurt in different ways. Lindsey was positive they were all still exhausted. She was. So much that she cursed Rick for yawning when the urge passed through the room.

“Anyone level?”

“Was offered a class. [Standard bearer] but I turned it down.”

Everyone just nodded to Rick’s input, too tired to bother asking why. He probably had his reasons… it didn’t sound like a very interesting Class. They were wrong of course but eh? He wouldn’t be the first to turn down something like that.

Lindsey was about to tell them about her new Skill but the sound of footsteps approached from the hallway and Vyk appeared in the doorframe with Cerberus in tow on a little leash. He looked a lot healthier in just a couple days and he was a cute little puppy but Lindsey still remembered what he’d grow into. Because of that, she kept her distance.

But someone else didn’t mind.

“Cerberus, come here boy.”

Karli dropped to the ground and called for the puppy, who hesitated and slowly made his way to her but was more interested in the contents of the bucket.

“Gross… Don’t let him eat that.”

“Wasn’t going to!”

The bucket quickly disappeared on top of a table and the pup had to settle for actual food instead of the far more vile but apparently interesting bucket. Dogs were like that though.

They sat in silence for a moment while Vick’s ears flicked towards the wall but then flicked away. No one needed to explain to him where Chap and ‘Doza were thanks to that particular fact.

“So…”

“Rick! Quit doing that!”

“Bro, I can’t help it. It’s a yawn… I was just going to ask what the plan was. No one said anything.”

They shared glances with each other while Teena, Vyk, and Aydin looked to the wall.

That made sense.

They were missing two of their number and two of the ones that had looked were legally obligated to do what Chap said… ‘Doza too in a different way. Aydin just wanted them to stop so he could go back to bed.

“I vote for an easy day. Sit around for a while, maybe go to the market or wherever we need to go to have someone look at those wands and rings.”

Karli was the first to offer a suggestion softly. Everyone bobbed their heads up and down a bit to the idea. It was a good one but before they could elaborate Lindsey heard the door open and ‘Doza walked back into the room.

“Where’s Sarge?”

“He’s getting dressed.”

‘Doza stared down at Aydin where he was sitting on Karli’s bed then shrugged and pulled her shirt up like she was going to take it off.

“Ahhh… the fuck?”

‘Doza didn’t though and the only thing anyone saw was her stomach as she held it there but Lindsey couldn’t help but notice the mixed reaction in the room. ‘Doza too as she looked around the room.

“Ahem.”

It seemed only Vyk was a real gentleman, though he only politely averted his gaze. But living in a tribal society with limited space in the tents? It was probably his societal norm. Although besides him, Karli picked up her head and turned it around to give her fellow female privacy while Aydin jumped and smacked his head on the top bunk, yelling out in pain. And Rick?

He just waggled his eyebrows at ‘Doza who pulled the shirt up a little higher in return. If she pulled it up any further Lindsey and Rick would be getting a tasteful bit of underboob.

“Okay! If you’re a male, get out!”

Lindsey yelled at them, only having to deal with a moment of protest from Rick. Aydin was already halfway out the door while still rubbing his head.

“You will watch him, yes?”

Vyk double-checked that Karli was good watching Cerberus for a moment and headed out after them while closing the door behind himself. Lindsey couldn’t help but wonder if all gnolls were like Vyk. If they were, she wouldn’t mind meeting more of them one day. It was weird to her but she liked the fact she was sort of friends with a 6’3″ hyena-man.

Lindsey waited for a moment after the door closed and turned to the center of attention that morning.

“Really?”

“That’s what I was going for. Almost worked.”

‘Doza shrugged but Lindsey figured the woman was just getting in a bit of play. ‘Doza liked joking and pranking and her acts that morning had just been more of it. Although Lindsey wasn’t completely sure she wouldn’t have flashed Rick, and by extension Lindsey, right then and there. It was obvious the two had something going on, even if it was all sexual teasing growing in magnitude.

Still, Lindsey got the show and in return ‘Doza got one in return from her as they both changed. Neither one of them really worried about seeing the other in the buff. Meanwhile, the other two sat and watched. Or rather one sat and looked away while the other was inspecting her clothes for vomit.

Karli had fallen asleep fully dressed without changing. It didn’t take her long to decide she could wear the tunic for another day.

“So what are we going to do today?”

“Same thing we do every day.”

“Sit around next to a ruined blacksmith and burn in the sun?”

Lindsey laughed despite her mood. She sure hoped that none of Karli’s response would come true. Hopefully, those days were now behind them.

They had money, new clothes, beds to sleep in, a bath, and most importantly a thick wall guarded by mostly lizardfolk and dullahans between them and any monsters.

They probably could go with Karli’s first idea, hit up the market, and get everything appraised but otherwise relax at the inn. But Lindsey had other ideas.

“Teena, have you been here before?”

“No, I’m sorry but I haven’t.”

Damn… she’d wanted to find out if there was a library or something in the town. A place where she could learn a little more about the area and its people.

“Okay… just wondering what there is to do in town but that’s alright. We can find out.”

“Oh.”

It was the way Teena said it that drew Lindsey’s attention. She finished tying her shoes and looked up at Teena, then quickly shifted her gaze to Teena’s arms. It took some getting used to.

Not the fact that Teena could take off her head, just the habit of looking above someone’s shoulders to look at them face to face, instead of chest level.

“I do have information about Ayaviri. I haven’t been here before but I have heard some things. Whether any of it is of value to you I cannot know. I don’t know what you wish to do.”

“Oh… ummmm. I was hoping to find a library. Learn some history about the area, that sort of thing.”

“I don’t know but I can almost guarantee there isn’t one. The only place I know that has a library is Port Zaniya. It’s possible there’s one in Sa’liquen. But I do know a bit of the history of the town. I know it’s built on top of an ancient ruin that extends down into the bedrock.”

That got more than just Lindsey’s attention. ‘Doza jumped and turned to Teena with a half excited look on her face.

“A ruin… like a dungeon?”

“Yes but I do not know anything about it other than it’s there.”

Lindsey shared a glance with the other Earthers in the room. She wasn’t sure if they should go into the dungeon but she could tell there was a mutual curiosity about it. They’d at least look into it.

That was probably just ideas from video games. Dungeons had loot and treasure chests and monsters… Okay, the last one wasn’t ideal but depending on what it was like, it might be a place for her to level her [Warrior] class.

But if it came to that it was a discussion for the entire group, and she couldn’t go in there alone. But judging Karli’s face, the younger woman didn’t want to go at all. It looked like Karli had realized that out of all of them, she might not have much to do in a dungeon without a combat class other than [Tactician]. Well, she and Teena both.

That might have been why she decided to change the subject.

“What about you Teena? Is there anything you want to do?”

Teena froze. Which was saying something considering her normally rigid and perfect posture meant she usually stood fairly still.

“Yeah… you’ve never been asked that before, have you?”

‘Doza was a little less than tactical with her question but it was right on the nose. Teena was a slave, how often did they get asked what they wanted. Some might have been asked from time to time to choose a token reward for their ‘service’ or something along those lines. But slavery meant for most that they had no choices in life.

“Is there anything you need?”

Lindsey tried a different tactic. It was possible she’d been asked something like that before and she did answer. Just not verbally. Her eyes glanced to the side and her other hand rubbed down the side of her cloth armor but she quickly put it down when she realized all eyes were on her.

“No. I thank you for asking.”

“Bullshit!”

“’Doza!”

“It’s okay Teena. If there’s anything you need or want to do, just say it. You’re one of us now, not a [Slave] even if you still have the class. We told you about that last night. The civil war, the emancipation proclamation, and the 14th amendment. No decent person from our homeland would ever consider you a slave. So you can tell us.”

Karli spoke softly and Teena’s eyes glistened while she bit her lip.

“I do need to make new armor. I believe I saw some cloth that would work in the market but I don’t have the coin.”

“We’ve got you. Don’t worry. Anything else. Just say it.”

‘Doza was still being blunt but her tone was anything but harsh. She was being… aggressively supportive at that moment.

Teena chewed her lip for a second longer, then opened her mouth but closed it without a word.

“What?”

“I’ve only had them a few times before but I would like a naali stick if it’s… I’m sorry. I have already asked for too much with the cloth.”

She stopped due to the fact that all three were staring at her with confused looks on their faces. She probably misunderstood the look or had lost the courage to speak for herself at that moment.

“Teena, we can get you one… you just have to tell us what it is first.”

Teena’s eyes shot up and Lindsey thought she saw a twitch of the corner of her mouth in an upwards direction.

“You’ve never had a naali stick?”

The dullahan’s face changed and Lindsey wondered what it was that they were about to learn about. Something good.

–

“Repeat it.”

“What we chose to do or not do behind closed doors is our business but I won’t encourage her like that when others are around.”

Chap sighed and gave the man a half nod before gesturing for him to continue getting his shoes on.

“No. Just don’t encourage her to take it a step further when she’s toeing the line already and others are around. I don’t care if you two make eyes at each other, flirt, slap asses… Well? Vyk. Are there issues with public displays of affection here?”

Chap had just realized he should double check. There were places on Earth where unmarried men and women could be arrested for holding hands in public after all. Better safe than sorry.

“What do you mean?”

“Like if a man and a woman kiss in the street or do more. Like if Rick was to grab ‘Doza’s butt… consensually. Is the city watch going to have a problem with that?”

“Hrrmmm… Perhaps if it goes too far and someone complains. But otherwise between a male and female, no. There is no issue I am aware of.”

Chap waited to see if there was anything added but there was none. He also ignored the issue of same sex discrimination mainly due to the fact he didn’t know if it applied to anyone.

If it came up, he’d deal with it but even though it wasn’t a part of the military anymore. Or hadn’t been since before he’d even joined. Chap still believed in the ‘don’t ask’ part of the outdated ‘Don’t ask, Don’t tell’ policy in as far as it was none of his business.

So he wouldn’t ask.

Chap turned back to Rick, and by extension Aydin to finish his ‘briefing’.

“I just don’t want problems and trust me, things like that can lead to problems. Now I know you’re not actually in the service, so I can’t order you to behave. We all fucking know that ‘Doza doesn’t, even though I actually can give her an order… Just help me out on this one?”

Rick looked down at his feet and nodded.

“I’ll try to make sure we keep it PG around everyone else.”

Chap gave him a nod and looked over to Aydin for his response.

“Don’t have to worry bout me, Sarge. ‘Doza keeps calling me a dipshit, I don’t think she likes me.”

“You are a dipshit. Not what I meant.”

“Hey!”

“You’re our dipshit though. ‘Sides, bro. We’ve both seen you and Karli. I’m pretty sure Sarge was talking about that.”

“Actually, I’m just talking in general… Also, not saying you would but putting this out there. Don’t try anything with Teena. We have no idea what her life was like and back home she would be considered a vulnerable adult right now because of what we actually do know she’s been through. She’s spent her entire life enslaved and had to do whatever her master told her to. I’m not sure if they’ve got counselors here for her to talk to but until further notice, consent isn’t consent on her part. Understood?”

“Yes, Sarge.”

“Got it, Sarge.”

“Good.”

“What about you Sarge? You and Lindsey have been getting close.”

Chap turned to Aydin and raised his eyebrow at him. Did he think he wouldn’t follow his own instruction on that?

Besides Chap spent time with Lindsey, which was a lot different than what he had been told just happened. Still, Chap knew he should reaffirm he intended to follow the same rules as them.

“Nothing’s going on with Lindsey and me but if it happens. Or if it happens with me and anyone else. I’ll be doing the same thing as you two. Got it?”

“Wait, you said if it happens. Does that mean you’re not dating someone named Macy?”

“Bro!”

“What? It sounded like he had a girl back home named Macy?”

Chap’s nostrils flared involuntarily with that. He’d already had to do three different sit downs in a single day… no in the first hour after waking up. Twice about behaving in the inn because there were other people sleeping there and once for inappropriate displays of affection, and he still had a fourth one to do. He had talked to Rick but he still needed to talk to ‘Doza about how she needed to keep her shirt on and a room full of people wasn’t the right place to tease the guy she had a crush on.

That didn’t include the past week of having to talk with ‘Doza about her attempt at being a [Corporal]. Having to brief them all about how they shouldn’t run into his line of fire when he was trying to shoot a giant croc. How, yes it was bad for Aydin to be ‘practicing’ with Lindsey’s sword by sword fighting Rick who had a stick and that he didn’t care that they weren’t actually trying to hit each other. How no, he also didn’t care if they drank the booze but they weren’t doing it right after killing people with potentially more on the way. How he told them they were in a different town, everything around them was completely unknown and they shouldn’t drink too much only to be completely fucking ignored… Which looped right back to the events he woke up to. On top of that, he still had to piss.

And now he was dealing with the fact that ‘Doza had brought up Macy…

“No. I’m not dating Macy. She’s my ex and I’m not sure what business it is of yours.”

Chap stared down at Aydin, hoping that the tiny bit of information on who she was would get the dipshit to stop asking about it. Thinking of a screwed up relationship was the last thing Chap needed at that moment with his current situation.

He already had monsters and slavers to deal with. Which would be enough on its own but there was also the minor fact they were a bunch of misfits that had joined the Lost Generation, which meant a new planet, alien species, no weapons, no way home they knew about…

Aydin at least didn’t continue to act like a dipshit and put up his hands defensively while muttering an apology. Chap glanced to Rick who mimicked the gesture. Vyk gave him a nod. He wasn’t too worried bout their resident gnoll. Their furry friend was curious but not so much about personal things. Chap still checked to be thorough.

Now the bathroom.

Chap walked out of the room with the intent of taking care of business and he saw the girl’s room open as he walked passed. He gave them a polite nod but kept going. ‘Doza must have seen something on his face because she opened her mouth.

“Damn Chap, who pissed in your cereal?”

He ignored it.

“I asked him about Macy ag- AAgHF, what the hell?!”

He couldn’t ignore that.

God fucking damn it!

Not because Aydin brought her up again but he heard the smack Aydin had gotten in return. It was hard enough that it almost echoed. Chap turned to see pretty much the entire group standing in the hallway, Aydin rubbing the back of his head.

“Who was- Mendoza…”

Multiple fingers pointed to the culprit, he had expected as much and he left any chance of argument or discussion out of his voice as he said her name and pointed behind her to his ‘office’… It was like watching a bunch of children.

At least he still had to talk to her about not exposing herself, so he could kill two birds with one stone. Though the light hearted mentoring that lined up with his discussion with Rick began to morph in Chap’s head as he returned to his room. The group spread out of his way but someone reached out to stop him as he passed. He stopped and looked at Lindsey.

“Teena needs a few things, so we were going to run out and get them quick. Just letting you know where we’re going.”

“Thank you.”

He meant it but his shit meter was full so it probably came off a little meaner than he meant to. But that was alright, shit rolled downhill and he knew exactly where to let it roll.

“’Doza. Move.”

–

Lindsey watched Chap and ‘Doza go into the room and the door swung shut.

“Well, that was-”

“Damn it, ‘Doza! What the fuck is your god damn issue? You know what? Airman! Stand at parade rest when I’m talking to you… Third fuckin’ thing. The third fuckin’ thing I’ve had to deal with concerning you this morning! THIRD! We’ve got too much going on right now and I need you to unfuck your shit! First you-”

The door hadn’t shut all the way and it’d taken them a moment to notice. Lindsey could still hear Chap dressing down ‘Doza through the door a moment after it latched but it did muffle it a little. She shared a glance at her fellow Earthers and their two locals and everyone unanimously decided that it was time to go.

“I think Sarge is a little stressed out.”

“Ya fucking think? He doesn’t need to yell at her like that though.”

“Rick, drop it. Just drop it.”

“What? He doesn’t.”

Lindsey wasn’t going to argue with Rick. Instead, she quickly descended the stairs, and whether because of distance or because the irate Staff Sergeant had lowered his voice, they couldn’t hear him anymore.

Lindsey knew that NCOs had to do that on occasion and it was what she’d thought about reminding Rick of but she decided to drop it too.

It surprised them all to hear Chap yell like that, with everything going on he hadn’t raised his voice once other than to call out marching orders or call cadence. Lindsey personally hadn’t seen it in him but there it was, a reminder of who and what he was.

Although for once Aydin might have been right about it being stress related.

It was possible that Rick was thinking the same thing after a moment of silence to think.

“Whatever… but I think we should agree on something. No hitting each other, no pranks at least until Sarge calms down, and no… Aydin. No bringing up Macy? It’s his ex and it must not have ended pretty because he just went from annoyed to pissed in about half a second when Aydin brought her up again. Probably just the straw that broke the camel’s back but still.”

Everyone nodded in agreement without any need for discussion on that.

Still, Lindsey was slightly curious but also glad she hadn’t asked. Though her curiosity moved from who Macy was to what happened, she wouldn’t ask about that either.

It should have ended at that but Karli decided they weren’t done though. She looked around the room and motioned them to follow and led them to a quiet corner of the common room.

“You think it’s hard on him? Dealing with all this? I know it’s hard on all of us but he’s gone around to talk to each of us about it. Tried to keep morale up… I haven’t asked him if he was okay.”

Everyone looked around at each other and Aydin raised his hand.

“I’ve asked him.”

“What’d he say?”

“Ummm… he said ‘living the dream’.”

Lindsey rolled her eyes. Not at the response but Aydin had apparently misinterpreted that because he looked like it was a good thing to hear.

“I’m pretty sure that just means life sucks but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“I was going to say he was ‘embracing the suck’.”

That would work too, though Rick probably said it because it was a common saying in the Marines from what she knew. Lindsey wasn’t sure if the Air Force used it. Not that it mattered. It still conveyed basically the same thing.

“We should probably-”

Karli stopped and looked towards the steps. Chap was coming down with ‘Doza and while the subordinate meandered towards them, the sergeant headed straight for the door.

It opened as he neared it and a lizardman jumped but Chap stepped aside to politely let the man enter, and he did. With some hesitancy. Chap was radiating a bearing that basically screamed that he wasn’t in the mood for anything and it was best to stay out of his way.

‘Doza on the other hand looked like her cat had just died. It was strange seeing her like that but she looked saddened, ashamed… Lindsey couldn’t really place it.

“Yeah… He’s just goin’ ta take a leak… He’s having a bad day, piss in his cereal, the milk, coffee, his gas tank, boots. All of it. Piss everywhere…But yeah… ya’ll are my witnesses. Aydin. I’m sorry that I hit you.”

They all stared at ‘Doza. It was a very colorful way to describe Chap’s mood. After a moment ‘Doza started getting agitated.

“Come on… You’re…”

“Ah… you’re welcome.”

Eyes shifted to Aydin… What the heck?

“Did you just say you’re welcome? I said sorry. I didn’t thank you, dipshit.”

“Sorry, you’re…”

Aydin tried again but was apparently coming up empty.

“Forgiven! Don’t you know how this works or did I smack you harder than I thought?”

“Forgiven.”

“Damn… there. It’s done and you all saw it.”

Aydin looked a little embarrassed and Rick patted him on the back. At least that was over. But it didn’t completely make sense to Lindsey.

“He made you say you’re sorry. That’s it?”

It seemed like a really light punishment for all the yelling.

“No, he also banned me from drinking unless we’re eating together. Then I can have one. That goes until I ‘get my shit together’. I have to redo our complete inventory without copying Karli and it needs to be exact. ‘No more fucking around. And I’ll need all of your dirty clothes… You can wash your own if you want but I’m on laundry until further notice… I also have to…. Damn it.”

‘Doza threw up air quotes to indicate Chap’s exact words. It wasn’t really necessary though, they’d heard the tone of the conversation.

“What?”

“I have to do guardmount training every single morning on a topic of his choice for the next week. Once I’m done, y’all are gettin’ punished too. He said that since there’s ‘no standards’, he’ll set one… Everyone but Vyk and Teena is gonna have a day where they do it. You two can if you want but I think he feels weird ordering you two to do anything consider, you know, the whole servant thing.”

Wait, everyone was getting punished? Lindsey hadn’t done anything wrong? Karli hadn’t done anything wrong? Hell, Aydin hadn’t really done anything other than being an idiot and bringing up something he’d been told to drop.

“What’s guardmount training?”

Vyk broke Lindsey’s train of thought and she realized that it was a really good question. She’d just found out she was being punished but she had no idea what the punishment was.

“It’s where you’re forced to stand in front of everyone before starting your shift… well, starting your day here and you have to give a dumb little briefing on whatever the topic is. My topic for tomorrow is on ‘assault, the definitions of assault by our standard, by the local standard, and the consequences of assault according to the ‘host nation’. So I’ve gotta go talk to a guard or some shit. Day after that is details on crelers, threat analysis, weaknesses, and proven techniques to kill them. Then I need to set up an evacuation plan for us for both the inn and the damn town and make sure everyone knows it, including a couple rally points… If he’s not happy with it, he said he’s gonna ask Rick to lead us in a PT session… physical training. If he really isn’t happy with it, he said he’ll lead it himself… We don’t want that. I’ve seen him go till he’s hurt himself when he’s pissed a couple times in the past few months. Right now? He’s beyond pissed off. But ‘one team one fight’ right? Hua.”

‘Doza couldn’t have sounded more sarcastic if she tried as she said the last part but… Well, doing research on their new reality and taking turns teaching each other their topics as well as making plans and going over them didn’t really sound like that bad of a punishment. If it had been a suggestion, she’d probably been all for it.

Even working out didn’t sound too bad as long is ‘Doza didn’t mess up for at least another day or two considering the run they’d just had. Also preferably in the morning when it was still cool outside. Lindsey decided it might not be a bad thing but as she looked around their little circle she realized it was mixed reactions among everyone.

“And this is from me, no more talking about… you know who. I shouldn’t have mentioned it in the first fuckin’ place.”

“We already agreed on that.”

“Good. Just sayin’ it again. That was my bad, I shouldn’t have said that to him. I know how much that whole damn thing screwed him up. Like… bad. And it wasn’t that long before this. So I know he’s still dealing with it.”

She stared at Aydin the entire time she spoke, being he was the most likely to say something because he was the one that already had. Multiple times. But ‘Doza’s focus was misplaced.

“Must have been a hell of a breakup?”

“Really? I just said don’t talk about it.”

‘Doza moved to smack Rick but stopped herself. She’d either learned her lesson on that or realized that she needed to restrain herself at least that time.

“Sorry.”

“Just know the bitch was his fiance and think about why Chap might not like jodies and you’ll get it. Now just shut the fuck up about it.”

Wait…

It was a lot to take in and a lot to think about… Not about Chap’s personal issues but all of it. They were stuck in another world with no way home. Their leader was stressed out and pissed off, not to mention apparently hurting. Lindsey recognized the term, answering her earlier question. Their second in command was a good part of the reason he was mad. They’d actually be given responsibilities that were apparently expected of fully trained military members and Lindsey had a feeling it wouldn’t stop there. She wondered if they were about to get a crash course in military discipline whether they liked it or not with the new ‘standard’.

–

Chap walked back into the inn and saw the group still standing in the same spot as before. He knew they were having a discussion about what had happened and ‘Doza had likely already informed them of the new plan. But he already had to change that plan.

“’Doza.”

“I said I was sorry.”

Chap glanced over to Aydin and he nodded but Chap noticed Karli smiling awkwardly for some reason. He didn’t care.

“Good, everyone back upstairs.”

Lindsey looked like she wanted to speak, ‘Doza looked confused, and Rick looked like he wanted to argue but they did as he instructed and headed for the steps. It wasn’t part of his new plan, he just wanted privacy for what he was going to discuss with them. It was strange how quickly plans changed…

They made it to the rooms and went for the women’s room first. As soon as everyone was packed inside, Chap squeezed in and shut the door behind him before holding up the news. The literal news, he held up the Sa’liquen paper with a map on it. He waited till everyone was looking, then passed it off to Vyk, standing next to him.

“Alright, we’ve got a few changes. Did ‘Doza tell you about guardmount training?”

Everyone but Vyk nodded their heads. He glanced at the gnoll but he was reading, Chap didn’t blame him, he’d just read it too and it wasn’t something easily ignored.

In reality, he might have been reading a bit more into it than he should but Chap wasn’t going to let them be unprepared considering what the article said. If it was a waste of time it was a waste of time but if it wasn’t?

“Good, I’m changing the schedule. The reason is that newspaper. You can consider this today’s guardmount training, hold your questions till the end… Today’s topic is current events concerning crelers. Those crelers that chased us weren’t the only ones. Vyk can you hold it up please… thank you. That map, the shaded area, is the area they’re spread out in. Every single village in that area is being evacuated and at least one has been completely wiped out, it was just south of us. The village of Patli, I’m not sure how many people were there-”

“About two hundred and fifty give or take.”

Vyk interrupted him but Chap let it pass, it was good information to get the point across.

“Thank you… The article says fewer than thirty are known to have made it out…”

Chap paused a moment to let that sink in. That all of them, and the people from Tervas, were extremely lucky in comparison to the next village over. He saw Karli cross herself and Rick muttered something that sounded like Hebrew but everyone reacted to that. You didn’t just sit there and smirk or joke when finding out hundreds of innocent people had died. But that was just the start of it.

“WE are right here, just to the south of the shaded area. Now the local mercenary company, the Crimson Sands, is sending troops here, here, here, and here. Yes, Ayiviri is one of them. They are coming to keep order and attempt to contain those fucking nightmares. Those four locations, including right here. This town. Are the evacuation sites for the entire gray area… The article also says that another mercenary company that happened to be passing through is on their way, moving from Pachacuti and heading towards Ica.”

Chap looked at the map for a moment to trace out their route to the north.

“They’ll be the ones hunting the crelers down. Now the reason I’m changing the schedule is that there’s a lot of soldiers moving. I asked on the street and found someone that said the company passing through numbers in the thousands and that’s not even the crimson sands soldiers on the move. So thousands of soldiers. Word on the street is that other neighboring mercenary companies are offering to send their soldiers to help and already marching this way… I’ll say it again, thousands. Meanwhile, right here… there’s about 75 members of the town watch guarding us.”

They were vulnerable and he let that sink in too. Thousands of boots were on the move to wipe the crelers out and tens of thousands more were willing to help.

“Isn’t that a good thing? That they’re sending an army?”

A slight groan filled the room and Chap locked eyes with Aydin for a minute, willing him to shut up. It worked.

“No, you don’t move thousands of people willing to fight over a small problem. And most of those soldiers are in the north. Talk on the street is we’ll get maybe 50 to 100 here. At least to start.”

Chap didn’t even need to ask that. He just had to listen to the discussion around the kid selling papers. It was a member of the watch that had said it, so he had a bit of a reason to believe it.

“Now here are the two issues. One, civil unrest. Words spreading out there and people are getting nervous. Nervous people are problems but if they panic they’re dangerous. Two, the damn bugs come over the walls en masse. I don’t think any of us need a reminder of what that looks like. Shit just happened yesterday. So because of that, every one of us has an assignment. I want locations where we can shelter in place and plans for both scenarios. Shelters have to be rigid, hardened structures and ones that we can actually get into. Certain Guilds are already hiring adventurers to secure their buildings, so make sure we can get in. We’ll go over them tonight, along with an evac plan and rally points… top of my head if shit really hits the fan and we get spread out. Don’t search for each other, just head for Sa’liquen. That was the plan to begin with. Now, bitches, gripes, complaints, suggestions, and questions?”

Chap looked around at them for a moment. No one spoke up at first but eventually, Lindsey raised her hand.

“Teena told us a little while ago that there’s a dungeon under the town. She doesn’t know anything else about it but it’s right under us and goes down into bedrock. Just an idea for a shelter in place spot… I’ll look into it.”

Good… Chap gave her a nod in thanks. Karli raised her hand next.

“Can I see the article and the map?”

Vyk passed it across the room with each person getting their hands on it taking a moment to look at the map.

“If we might get scattered, we need to set up some bug out bags for everyone. Enough food, water, and money to get them to Sa’liquen, a map for each even if we have to copy one, potions, bandages. That way if someone’s on their own they’ve got something.”

“Get a list going for everything we might need. You willing to put them together.”

“Sure.”

“Good, Rick’s on bug out bags.”

Chap glanced over to Karli and she grabbed her bag from her bed to pull out her old notebook to hand to Rick so he could make his list… it was actually pretty efficient. Chap was surprised. Maybe he should have yelled at ‘Doza sooner. But that reminded him.

“Oh yeah, ‘Doza. You’ve got guardmount training on crelers in the morning. We can do the whole, what happens when you hit people some other time. Training on this stuff first.”

She gave him a thumbs up. Then had an idea of her own. Of course, she didn’t bother raising her hand.

“Same rules as the ruin? No one goes anywhere alone or are we doing fire teams again?”

Chap thought about it for a second. Going out in teams of four would really limit what they could get done… But at the same time, it would make it easier to regroup. Plus Chap needed to stay near Vyk and Teena until they could get everything sorted with the slavery thing…

“Let’s just use the wingman concept again but if there’s a threat we go right into fireteams. No one leaves the inn by themselves and no one gets left here by themselves either.”

Chap barely finished speaking before another hand went up.

It really got rolling then. The contents of the bugout bags were set but Vyk suggested looking into antidotes of creler poison, though he warned they should get on that because prices were bound to go up if they could find them at all. Not just for that but potions, food, and even the local version of toilet paper was probably going to go up if people really started to panic. Which brought up their first step after they broke, a shopping trip.

The talk of the market brought up Teena getting fabric to make new armor that had apparently been discussed already but it also brought up buying out the sulfur in the market. Chap asked why and when he learned he added looking for saltpeter and charcoal to the list. He knew the process even if he had never done it.

Questions were asked and points were clarified. Also, a plan to scout out the dungeon in the morning was put in place with all of them going provided that it wasn’t just as dangerous as it was on the surface but Lindsey had already planned on taking that up. Also, a plan to move on towards Sa’liquen was suggested but with the gray area so close, Chap wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk that if they didn’t have to but decided it would be a play by ear type of situation.

–

She, and she was a she again, took a sip of her tea and wrote down everything she’d heard. It sounded like there were some issues within the group but that wasn’t as valuable. They were introducing training techniques to their day. That wasn’t as important either but she noted the way the one called ‘Doza spoke when she listed off what she’d be teaching the others. It was very proficient sounding at least. She kind of liked the term threat analysis…

It didn’t matter, she’d already reached out to potentially interested parties and they pounced on the information, she’d made quite a hefty sum of gold off of that sale. Largely in part to their escapades at the bar the night before. A [Sergeant] and a [Corporal] that both hated slavery leading a group of recruits including at least a couple fighter types if their weapons were anything to go by and a [Tactician]…

She grinned at herself and wondered if she could make a profit selling that Gomoku game she’d played with the girl named Karli. Rumor had it that the Titan enjoyed games like that. It would make a decent payday if she could find a way to reach out to his people. Although that depended on if anyone could find him. She might just have to wait till he showed back up and start sending out a few letters to the Titan’s academy. It wasn’t like she was important enough to write the legend himself.

She’d have to see if she can get the “King’s Table” out of her new friend while she was at it. Why not? Even if she couldn’t sell them, they were fun to play.

Still, Amahle was liking this group. They were… profitable.