by Atlas Kane
Imelda clapped her hands, wearing a frown in mock anger. “Enough, young ones. The sun rises and the hunt is far away. Go now, and make sure you bring back all that I require. Now, off with you.”
At that, the old woman turned and left Minda and Cade to begin their hike.
Satemi lingered a moment longer and added one last bit of snark. “Minda. I wish you many kills on your hunt, and I am so sorry you will need to sleep next to this one. I just hope the buggbears have perfumed him sufficiently to cover his usual stench.” The woman left with a wink for them both, and Cade shook his head. It was odd being attracted to someone he now viewed as a comrade in arms. Being in the infantry meant he’d never served with a woman. It would have been highly distracting.
“Have you observed our destination? Do so while you can. I wish to make good time,” Minda said. Cade had to marvel at the shift in her personality. When in town, the woman was loose, unreserved and often silly. Now they had a quest before them, she was as serious as chlamydia.
Viewed on the map, the grasslands didn’t seem so far away, but in reality, they had perhaps twenty miles of jungle to traverse before they made it so far. Minda didn’t seem like she meant to waste any time as she fell into a jog. She threw him a glance as if to suggest she might leave him behind if he lagged.
Taking the challenge, Cade strode behind her, content to enjoy the perky view as they travelled. He heard her laugh when she guessed his mind, then broke into a run.
He chased her as they wove through the jungle. Cade knew there were dangers in this land, but he knew he could trust the beastkin. She had senses that far surpassed his own. So it was easy to be caught up in the joy of their race, and Cade laughed out loud when he smashed into the leaves of a large fern.
Then suddenly, he couldn’t see Minda any longer. He stopped, scratching his head, and called out. “Minda, where did you go?” Shit, did you lose me?
“I am right behind you, Cade. And this is your first lesson.”
He spun to find Minda standing, a dagger in one hand, and her soul weapon in the other. “What lesson?”
“You move like a drunk ape through the woods. Even at a walk, you should be able to remain quiet, but I can be silent while running. If you do not develop this skill, you will most likely be eaten out here. Now, let us try again, and jog beside me, watch the way I move… and not just my ass. Understand?”
Cade nodded, solemn in his promise to try his best. She was right. If he’d known how to do this from the start, many of his misadventures wouldn’t have happened at all. Perhaps there would be a trait he could acquire as Chimera Lord that might allow him to match her, but as it was, none of his real life training nor his stature lent any degree of stealth to his movement.
The next time Minda left, he did as she had suggested. Running beside her, he watched the tread of her feet, the silent loping of her legs. Cade tried his best to imitate her movements, and though it was difficult, he noticed at once that he indeed made less noise.
Cade learned it was more than the way she moved, however. As the miles ticked away, Minda would stop often, point to a plant, and tell him a few things about it. “These ferns, when the tips brown like this, it means they are brittle, and will make crackling noises should you disturb it. Always go around them.” Another tree she stopped beneath was, “Any hunter’s best friend. The fallen leaves cling to moisture and make your movements quieter than a whisper.”
He was pleased to find that as they continued their travels, those very same plants would return, and now were highlighted with additional information. Eventually, he began to recognize the patterns of their leaves, the way their branches spread, and didn’t have to inspect them.
After a few hours of this, they took a break. Minda ate a handful of nuts she’d gathered on her run and held out some for him. He took one and crunched it, savoring its taste. Raw, the nut had a green and bitter taste, but it had a satisfying density to it, almost like meat.
Almost like meat, isn’t quite meat though, especially for something with a wolf belly. So Cade made Minda laugh as he summoned a hunk of drakeling steak and devoured three quarters of it, his record so far. She teased him that he wouldn’t have it in him to keep running being so stuffed, but he showed her how wrong she was.
Their second leg went mostly undisturbed, though this time, she focused on showing him the several types of edible plants that grew all around them.
Small Crimson Tubers that grew in flowered patches on the ground, the bitter Sianine Seeds she’d shared with him, and the fragrant Morira Flowers were among those she pointed out. Each was gifted with its own flavor, its own value nutritionally, and some plants even had medicinal value as well.
The flowers, for instance, could cure a disease that jungle fleas could carry, huge bugs Cade had begun to notice the further north and west they traveled.
Minda was a wellspring of knowledge, and Cade grew a deeper and more substantial respect for her. Not only could she sneak up on him, take him prisoner, then hump his brains out in a single night, but she was a veritable encyclopedia on all things in the wild.
On the final break of the day, the sun nearing its decline in the west, she gave him a greater insight into why she had such abilities. After they’d eaten, he broke down and finally asked her about the strange-looking soul weapon she carried. To him it appeared no more than an eight-inch rod of steel. Keeping his joke to himself, he asked earnestly, “What does it do? Is it more than just a club?”
She laughed, her pointy teeth flashing in the fading sun. Cade touched his lip, no longer tender for the bite she’d given him, but the memory was there all the same. “It is much more than a club. Look. It is tied closely with my class. I am a Jungle Adept, a warrior and caster both who is linked to the land itself. My weapon is a wand staff. I can carry it around like this for convenience, but when I need to expand my power, I can make it do this.”
With a flourish, the metal wand grew into a staff that twisted into a spire at the end, revealing a mana crystal in the center of its elaborate pattern. Cade was thoroughly impressed and told her as much.
Minda blushed, a hint of pink coming through the white fur on her cheeks. “Thank you. Now, can you give me one of those plantains again?”
He pulled the fruit from his Inventory and handed it to her. She peeled it, ate most, then threw a small chunk on the ground. Then she held her hand up, palm out, and cast a spell. For a moment, her body was infused with mana, then a stream of it shot out, striking the piece of fruit. In an instant, roots shot out and buried themselves in the soil, and a stem grew up several inches, a few leaves bursting to either side.
“See, now the next time we come here, there may be a few plantains for us. The spell works exceptionally well. From the tiny seed in that piece of fruit, I grew a sapling. But over the next week or so, the plant will grow at an accelerated rate. Even by this time tomorrow, it will be twice the size it is now.”
Cade marveled at the display and gave the woman a smile. “You’re amazing, Minda. Truly. And so is this world. If only…” He trailed off, unable and unwilling to mention Vormer’s tyranny.
Minda shrank the staff back down to its more transportable size, and finished for him, “If only there wasn’t so much shit in the way. I know. But that is why we are on this quest.”
“Speaking of which, give me a moment. I’d like to read it over if you don’t mind,” Cade said and brought up the quest information.
Quest: Deer Hides for the Village
Difficulty: Hard
Reward: XP, favor with Imenda, Satemi, and the villagers.
Description: Imenda has asked you to gather resources from the grasslands to the northwest of the village. The journey itself may present dangers, but if they can be avoided, the quest difficulty will diminish significantly. A total of 50 units of deer hide need to be collected before the quest is complete. Bonus items include: pristine antlers, long deer bone, and hyacin berries. Each bonus item counts for additional
XP. Return in less than 48 hours or quest rewards will diminish.
“Wow, 50 hides in all, huh? And there’s a time limit. We should get going again soon, yeah?” Cade asked, hoping each deer might at least count for a few hides. The drakeling had, after all.
Minda agreed, and again, they were running through the jungle, avoiding dangers Cade could only imagine. He trusted the woman implicitly now. If there was a guide out here who he could trust, it was her. The sun fell, and the sky began to darken, and still they ran on.
Cade checked his map, but quickly dismissed it. Not only would it distract him, possibly causing him to stumble, but there was no longer any need. A few hundred more strides and they burst out of the thick foliage, a sea of tumbling grass beyond greeting them.
It was beautiful. The gold and greens of the grasslands were cast into bronze and ochre, the setting sun making them glow with the last light of the day. Minda turned and smiled at him, her pointy teeth flashing. She spoke between pants, her chest heaving. “We have made it, Cade. Now, we must find a place to camp for the night, and quickly.”
He was going to ask how they might do so, but instead, ran after her as she sprinted away. Minda was fast, and he reveled in the way her athletic body coursed through the waist-high grasses.
“Shouldn’t we worry about snakes or something?” he yelled at her.
She laughed and threw back, “They are underground now. The heat is gone, and so are they. But the predators… Sure, they will be about.”
Predators? Great. Just what I need to think about while sprinting across unfamiliar terrain. But Cade followed, trusting the woman knew her business. The ground sloped upward slowly, then after half a mile, it broke, and the true magnitude of the grasslands shook him. Even in the diminishing light, he could see for miles. And as far as he could see, uninterrupted grassland spread before him. To the south, his left as he ran, he saw the spires of the city again, their tips still reflecting the last rays of the sun. A cold rage boiled within him. None of this would be necessary if they could all live within the safety of Tanrial, as the world had obviously been designed.
Then Minda stopped, so suddenly he nearly bowled into her. She stood panting and pointed. “There. Those are our quarry. They hunker down for the night, so we need not get closer. As long as we wake before sunrise, they will still be there in the morning. We are lucky to have found them so quickly. Even a herd that size can take hours or days to find if one is unlucky.”
Cade took in the sight before him. Hundreds of deer, small but recognizable in form at this distance, stood in the loose clump of a massive herd. “Okay, so now what?” He knew they couldn’t hunt now, not without wasting a better opportunity, but they had no shelter, no furs. He didn’t relish the idea of sleeping out beneath the stars, not if there were better options.
“Now, we sleep,” Minda said, and for a moment, Cade’s worries seemed confirmed. Yet a second later, the woman had summoned a bundle of hide and dried sticks, wrapped tightly with vines. She set it down and told him to unwrap it. As he did so, she summoned two thick furs. One she threw out over the grass. It was so heavy that it hardly needed to be stomped down to make the grass buckle beneath it. The second she set aside.
By then, Cade had the bundle unwound and sticks separated. Expertly, Minda drove two shorter sticks into the ground to either side of the fur she’d laid down, then braced the third to lie across the two. She bound them both with crude twine. Finally, she took the final four sticks and set them sideways, across the support branch that ran the length of the fur. In effect, she’d made a low but fairly stable framework. It looked like a simple roof without shingles and missing the house below. Only eighteen inches of space stood between top and bottom, and the entire thing was three feet wide.
At last, Minda told Cade to get the opposite side of the second hide, and they positioned it over the top of the frame. Then she drove short stakes through holes at each corner.
The saggy tent she’d made looked far from sturdy, but it would do for the night and would keep them warm. It could probably even keep them dry if a light rain fell. Nothing more, of course not, but Cade was still impressed. Without the proper materials or more time to construct something semi-permanent, this was as good a pop tent as Last World could offer.
Minda pulled out more nuts and a few pieces of fruit and devoured them in a minute. Cade took the hint, and though he wanted meat again, didn’t want fresh blood stinking up their campsite before they fell asleep. Instead, he ate several plantains, sad to note he only had ten more. They both drank water, then climbed inside.
Cade’s shoulder brushed the hide above him, but their shared warmth and the general mildness of the weather made him more than comfortable. Minda also summoned a third skin, this one smaller but lined with thick fur. Smells a bit like wet ham and hairballs, but at least we’ll be cozy, Cade thought.
Minda pressed her body against his, and he masked the stink of the fur with her musk, a wild and permeating smell that reminded him of summertime and the warmth of a bed shared with a woman.
Even as their breathing began to grow rhythmic, both of them exhausted from the day’s travels, Cade became aroused, the scent, heat, and texture of her body too much to ignore. Slowly, he ran a hand up her belly, stroking the soft velvet that covered her body.
A sharp smack resounded, Minda slapping his hand. “Fool of a Terran. Hunters do not lay with one another on a hunt. It is foul practice. It is too noisy and you must save your strength for tomorrow’s kills. Go to sleep,” she chastised him, and he suppressed a laugh. She did have a point. But then she reached behind her and grabbed his cock, squeezing it in her small hand. “When we get back though, okay?”
“Promise?” Cade teased, pressing against her once more.
“Promise.”
“Minda, I know it is a good time to rest, and I’m a few yawns from passing out myself, but can I ask you a question?”
She rolled on her back, her tiny shoulders pressed to the ground as she looked up into his eyes. It was dark inside the tent, but he could see the faint glimmer of her eyes and the white of her skin and teeth. He couldn’t tell for certain, but he thought she was smiling.
Then she shrugged. “Sure, Cade. What do you want to know?”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I just want to know something about your world, the one you came from. Anything you can think of. Did you have a man there? Were you always a warrior like you are now? Did you live in the jungle like we do here, or does your world have cities as advanced as Tanrial?”
She paused a long while before answering. Then she giggled. “Okay, in order, then we sleep. I did have a man there, in fact I had many. Almost as many as I had women. Our world has different rules about sex. Since sex with the opposite gender can result in pregnancy, pleasure was sought most often with the same gender. I’ve spoken to Satemi about this. She will not even consider having me. Her world must be boring as hell.”
Cade’s cock rejoined the conversation, and she pushed against it, giggling. “At least you are not offended by such an idea. There’s hope for you yet. Next question. No, I was not a warrior, but a scientist. A botanist in fact, which is why I chose my class. Yet, I thought this world would have dangers, so I learned the dagger, the bow, even a bit of the spear, though I suck with those. The last two questions I will do as one. I lived in a small apartment with three other women in a city much larger than Tanrial. And though there were many wonders there—electricity, robotics, bioengineering—I still somehow feel Tanrial surpasses all of them.
“Many of the advances that had been achieved within the city, from the portal to the self-propelling fountains, are achievements of great technology we on Pindaia were centuries away from discovering. If one with no knowledge of science were to witness them, like Satemi for example, magic is the only word to explain their existence.”
“Yes, I agree. And from the sound of it, our worlds have similar technology. Mine was just beginning to really take off t
hough. People had hopes of great advances. Extended life spans, true AI, virtual immersion…”
Cade’s mind spun with the idea of another world, as complex and wonderful as Earth, yet completely independent. How many worlds are there? What else does this woman have in common with me? How old do the Pindaians grow to be?
Cade opened his mouth, intent on expressing at least one of his many thoughts, but she rolled over and reminded him of their bargain. “You promised me sleep, so don’t think of asking anything further. Tomorrow, when we are done with the hunt, I’ll let you ask five more. I would like to know more of your Terran world as well. But for now, sleep.”
As he’d promised, Cade held her body, so small yet powerful. He felt the rhythm of her heart pounding through her chest, felt the rise and fall of her breathing, and soon, he too was asleep.
15
Life, and Killing Shit, on the Prairie
The morning began well before Cade was ready for it.
Minda, all business and focus, shook him awake before the sun was up, and as they crawled out of the hide tent, a deep chill ran through Cade’s bones. Wind blew from the west, and with it, an endless stream of fog. By the time they were done dismantling the tent, his clothes were heavy with moisture.
But the activity itself warmed him enough so that he was not shivering. Minda’s body was so small compared to his. He was surprised she looked relatively comfortable as well, though he had the notion she was just better at hiding it.
Afterward, they shared a quick meal, this time Cade indulged in the drakeling meat. When he’d finished, she made him rinse himself thoroughly and even dig up some of the soil below the turf to rub across his hands and face.