"Going there also gives us a chance to sell the bandit and slaver goods, though that comes with its own problems," she added.
"Well, I guess we need to visit the reptile infested place then." He groused as she chuckled at his childish tone.
"Well, let's get a move on my pretty kitty," he said to his mate as he stood on the barge, returning to the soon to be submerged house.
Stepping down onto the rocky beach he lamented the loss of his new home, but as his mate caught up with him as he made his way to the door and laced her clawed hand in his own he lost his melancholy at the thought of the life they would build together.
"Let's get this place packed up and get upriver there are slavers to kill and land to claim."
Mina looked up into his gaze as a smile grew on his face after the declaration, glad to have found this man from another world, and answered simply "at once my love."
Collecting strays
As Cade and Mina cruised up the river on the second day of their trip to destroy the slave camp, he was just about done with the rough living they had been subjected to.
He had been pondering a solution to this problem, she on the other hand had no issues with the rustic accommodations.
Their first night, unable to continue in the pitch blackness of the jungle, they had pulled ashore and cut a few saplings to make a lean-to.
After a quickie, which he enjoyed as much as possible while using his powers scanning ability to keep a figurative eye on the jungle surrounding them had led to a mostly sleepless night.
That night had drug on as he awoke with every sound, be it fish splashing in the river or the various calls of jungle animals.
Coming back to the present with a yawn and a full-body stretch, Cade stood up to keep himself awake.
He had begun to sweat as the early morning sun was just starting to make its presence known as the day began to heat up.
As the fuzz around his mind cleared slowly he decided to voice his thoughts.
"What do you think about making this barge into a houseboat." Cade asked his mate.
"I'm not sure what that is my mate," Mina replied after a few moments of reviewing the memories she had from his previous life as she lounged on the warming deck of the barge.
"It's exactly what it seems a house built on a boat, you don't have those here." He asked curiosity evident on his face.
"From what you describe the closest thing outside of a sailing ship that I have seen are a few of the weaker tribes with their buildings on stilts to avoid their homes being washed away during the rainy season, besides those no." Mina replied with a shrug.
"Well, let us rectify that, I'm not sure how many more days I can rough it on this river. It will also give us a home to live in while we look for more permanent accommodations." He offered with a wry grin.
"That is an excellent idea my Cade except for the problem of the slave camp making their monthly shipment to Opect tomorrow, what shall we do about that my mate if you are busy with your "houseboat" hmmm." Mina finished her question with a raised eyebrow as she sunk his houseboat idea before her shortsighted mate could gain his footing with the idea.
"Well damn, you are right my mate it will have to wait until the camp is dealt with but as soon as those fuckers are dead and gone I will be building it." He finished his declaration with an intense gaze at his mate.
"That is fine my Cade, as soon as the slaver camp is destroyed and my kind are freed then we shall have better accommodations for our trip to Opect," Mina said with a small nod of her head to her stubborn mate.
The trip had not been anything out of the ordinary for her, she being used to finding a place to lay her head from the many nights she traversed the jungle whenever she could find them.
That being said sex with her mate was infinitely more pleasurable without him being distracted by scanning for danger while they made love, and she had enjoyed immensely making their kits on the bed and mattress back at the beach home.
Unfortunately, that bed was built into the floor, and being built of stone far too heavy for the barge.
"Well we are two and a half days out from the camp, if we make good enough time we shall be able to have our floating home in a few days time and ride like king and queen into Opect."
Smiling as he finished his statement with a smile he watched Mina's hips shifting in the universal signal that all parents know.
"Do you need to go to the bathroom, Mina?" He asked as his smile grew with merriment.
"Yes my mate I do, and while I am sure you don't mind seeing me relieve myself in full view of you, I would rather stop for a bit of privacy," Mina replied with a small shy nod.
"Well even though you are right about that, I could use a little pit stop myself so let's take a break I can increase our pace to the camp when we are done, so no harm done," he replied jovially as he turned the barge to come ashore on a small beach before a turn in the river.
Coming ashore Cade beached the barge on a mostly level decent sized beach, essentially a small peninsula caused by the river making a sharp turn as it flowed to its destination.
Thinking the place wouldn't make a bad camp for the night if they weren't on a tight schedule, he followed his mate into the dense tree line to find a spot to relieve themselves.
Coming up short a small ways into the trees Mina placed a kiss on his cheek as she moved into the brush to take care of her urgent business.
Smiling as his mate made her soundless exit with only a little peepee walk in her graceful stride he turned and made for a nice sized tree to take care of his own business.
Having taken a number two before they left their last campsite Cade was patiently waiting just outside the tree line for his mate to return.
A shriek and a roar suddenly cut off by a pained scream had him charging into the trees as if his life was on the line.
Expanding his senses to search for his mate he found her unique signature being held down by something that clouded his scanning ability.
Running towards where he felt Mina, Cade came upon a strange scene as Mina held off what he could only describe as an armored lamia.
Acting without a thought he secured the lamia like reptile in his mental clutches and ripped her away from his suddenly still mate.
Sliding to his knees at the side of Mina's still form he dove into his mate's body with his power to find the reason she was so still, her chest rising and falling imperceptibly.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary besides two puncture wounds on Mina's arm, he after determining she would survive for a few minutes set his furious gaze upon the snake woman still clutched painfully in his power if her labored breathing and pinched face was any indication.
A familiar terror ran through Cade for a moment, his last goodbye with Tony fueling the rage he felt building.
Afraid to leave his mate's side for even a second his gaze remained locked to Mina's glassy-eyed stare as he roughly tore into the lamia's mind.
Stepping into a large cavern with stalactites and stalagmites strewed about he both felt the snake womans fear as well as saw it as a dense sickly green colored fog that permeated the chamber.
Looking into the fog he saw the lamia's mental shield was a floor covered in venomous snakes that slithered within a perfect circle in the vast cavern.
Casting his power over the cavern Cade found the lamia's mindscape doppelganger cowering behind a stalagmite shivering in fear from his forced invasion.
Deciding to skip trying to get past the odd shield, the rage caused by concern for his mate boiled over as he destroyed the obstruction violently, mostly protecting the perpetrator of his mate's condition from the debris.
With the lamia in sight and properly cowed to prevent any stupid thoughts of resistance, he pulled the bruised and bleeding woman to him on the other side of her snake shield.
He found the woman clothed in rags that barely covered her important bits, a filthy, ragged chest wrap and a similarly filthy wrap around her emaciat
ed hips completed her ensemble.
Taking his mate's condition as his first priority he increased the pressure of his grip on all of her fifteen-foot body save her small chest and head before laying down the law.
"You have injured my mate and you will undo whatever you have done to her or I will destroy your mind around you before incinerating your brain dead corpse, and you will do it NOW!" Roaring his demand at the starving woman he matched the pressure on her chest and head to the rest of her body.
Wide-eyed at the man who had thrown her from her meal and overpowered her physical body and tore through the mental defenses that had stood up to all the slavers in the region who had tried to capture her after they had killed her mother a decade ago, Sabine was cowed and released the panther woman who was to be her first meal in weeks after the slavers had chased her tens of miles downriver from a new nest she had made in a small cave in the river bank.
"She is released, please don't kill me, I was just so hungry and she an easy kill distracted as she was." Sabine pleaded in a high-pitched breathy voice, as she was slowly crushed to death by the power of the man before her.
"I will release you in your mind but your body will remain in my power until I confirm my mate is safe and sound. But I warn you, if this is some poor attempt at subterfuge to save the life I hold in my power, you will have just enough time to lament your terrible decision before I make good on my earlier promise."
Releasing her mental body with a contemptuous look he exited the snake woman's mind.
Returning to the real world he was greeted with a look of absolute adoration in his mate's eyes as she flung herself into his arms and felt her hiccupping cries on his chest.
"I am here my Mina and you are perfectly safe so dry those tears and let's meet our uninvited guest," he said as he hugged the distraught panter woman off the forest floor and set her on her feet as her tears slowed and she composed herself.
"She is a basilisk and very dangerous my Cade, we should kill her immediately her kind feeds upon the blood of other races to fuel their body and blood magic..... or?" Mina's judgment of the basilisk woman trailed off as she decided on her fate with a firm authoritative look in her eyes.
"You will not use your powers on us and answer our questions if you want to live to see tomorrow basilisk, do you understand?" Mina's ultimatum was met with a vigorous nod from the basilisk woman as Cade brought the woman an arm's length away from them, to hover in front of them.
"First we will have your name then we will discuss what we will do with you," Mina said as she took point on the basilisk woman's interrogation.
"M...My name is Sabine, Dresk, and I apologize for attacking you, but it has been a week since I have last fed, please do not kill me, if you release me I will not trouble you again." Sabine answered with tears in her violet eyes her light and airy voice cracking.
A little thrown off at the snake woman's near breathless voice attached to the slim body barely into womanhood, that had just taken down his fierce mate, Cade barely heard his mate begin her questioning of the basilisk.
"Well Sabine I would ask you to tell me all you know of Rista and her slave camp, we were on a quick stop to destroy it when you attacked me." Minas question was met by a face contorted into rage as twin fans dropped from the mouth of the suddenly hissing basilisk woman.
"I know nothing of the camp but of Rista I know I want her dead for her murder of my mother a for nothing more than her body and what she could sell it for."
Her vehement reply caused Cade's eyebrows to raise at the storm of rage and hate the bloomed in Sabine's landscape it was so intense that he felt it as if he were inside of it.
"Why can I feel your mind now when I had no idea you were here earlier," he asked curious at how the sudden attack had caught him off guard allowing Sabine to get the drop on his mate.
"My race's mental resistances are very formidable, allowing us to hunt others to fuel our magic," Sabine replied shyly to his question.
"My Cade she could be useful in our attack on the slave camp, right now we are mostly relying on your power to see us through to victory, a little added muscle, after Sabine has had time to recover, not to mention her mental resistances would help even the fight with Rista." Mina completed her defense of Sabine with a small clawed hand to his chest.
"Why should we trust her with our lives, she not minutes ago was ready to make you a meal, without even a how do you do. She might have a vendetta against Rista, but once that is settled then what. She could decide we are better off dead?" He asked his questions while looking between the two shorter women.
One his wife/mate and the other, as he took a moment to take her in, the first thing he saw she was very thin from starvation almost to the point of emaciation.
Even if she looked like 50 miles of bad road, was she a woman who was at least honorable enough to trust in the coming fight?
Looking to the other woman Mina eyed her speculatively before asking "I would like you to join me and my mate it this fight, I know some about your race, you would be a great help to us to ensure my mate lives long enough to bless me with his kits. So will you join us in this fight, I might even have a way to keep you fed for the foreseeable future if my mate agrees?" Mina finished her request and promise with a knowing grin.
"I have no problem with helping you in your fight and the idea of never being as hungry as I am now fills me with more happiness than you can ever know, so yes I will join you happily." Sabine's impassioned response caused a little of the misgivings he had for the basilisk woman joining them to lift from his shoulders.
"If we agree then welcome to the team, may our foes tremble at the sound of our names," Cade said with passion and a little bit of humor.
"Now, how my mate are we going to keep our little snake fed, and no killing any sentient beings that would leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth and I hope we can avoid having to hunt for less savory types to keep her topped off. That sounds like a more than full-time job to keep up with not to mention troublesome to keep a stocked pantry as it were?" He finished the last part of his declaration by looking at their new member in the eye.
He was a little put off when he noticed the look of thinly veiled adoration he only used to seeing from Mina when she was being coy, or from Tony when she was in the "mood".
His thoughts of Tony distracted him enough that he missed Sabine's shocked realization of being caught admiring the tall black man, and her subsequent muted blush as she looked down and away from Cade.
Mina didn't miss the byplay between her mate and the young snake woman, a small smile coming to her face as she laid out her plan to keep Sabine fed, one she hoped her mate would agree to.
"My Cade the plan for Sabine's sustenance is simple, you." She finished her declaration with a hand on Cade's tall shoulder, as she smiled at her mate's disbelieving expression.
"WHAT..... why me, I couldn't possibly keep up with her appetite, she just told us that she has been feeding on the slavers for sustenance, and implied they did NOT survive the feedings, so tell me, my MATE, how will I?" He finished his question with a humorless grin to his mate at her crazy suggestion.
"MY mate you must have forgotten the impressive healing that kept you from bleeding out during our mating battle, I'm sure you can keep up with Sabine's feedings just as well, probably better since she will not be feeding to kill but to eat. You will be fine my mate just wait." She looked into her mate's eyes as she tried to convince Cade to become a walking blood bag for Sabine.
Cade for his part wasn't convinced, looking to Sabine he said. "IF I let you feed from me how will it work and how much will you need per day, I would rather not be anemic all the time if we can avoid it." Crossing his arms he looked at Sabine, challenging her to lie to him as he slid a small thread of power into her mind to feel if she would lie to him about her feeding from him.
Atomic Mage Page 14