by Cebelius
"Shh, you did fine," he assured her. "You got us in, I will get you out."
"I'll walk soon, I just, need a few ..."
She never finished, and Yuri knew she was passed out again. It wasn't the first time it had happened.
The torch was almost out by the time they reached the capstone that covered their way down. Euryale was sitting there, waiting for them with her snakes and head drooping. She lifted her head, her blank mask turned toward him as she asked in desultory tones, "Now what?"
Twisted shifted to her bipedal form, though she did so sitting, and did not stand. Her body was emaciated; Yuri could see her ribs through her blood-spattered coat. Her limbs drew his attention and she folded her arms in a vain attempt to hide them as she turned her face from him.
"I'll look out for you until the dragon gets back," she said. "Get some rest. I'll wake you if anything comes."
Euryale turned her mask to the loup garou and hissed, but there was no hostility in the sound. She said, "No. I will watch. Just put the torch out. When I can't stay awake any longer, if Asturial still isn't back, you can take over."
"Do you want a bottle of Laina's milk?" Yuri asked as he carefully set down the travois.
Euryale shook her head. "I've noticed diminishing returns on that. I got just a little bit of energy from the last bottle. I doubt I'd get anything at all this time. Once we get back to Master, I'll look at setting up my alchemy equipment again. I bet I could make some interesting potions using it as a base ingredient."
Yuri listened with half an ear as he laid down next to the stone. He only barely noticed when Twisted laid her head on his chest. He didn't fall asleep so much as simply lose consciousness.
He woke some time later to the sound of grating stone. His arms were wrapped around Twisted, and he didn't remember putting them there. She whimpered and slid off him as he sat up. What sleep he'd had only convinced him that he needed more.
Still, there was no way to be sure who was moving the rock he'd been laying against, so he got to his feet and reached into the pack, grasping the hilt of his two-hander as he waited to see what would come through.
As the rock slid back inch by inch, Asturial called out, "It's me."
"Thank the Powers," Laina said, sounding every bit as tired as Yuri felt. He let go of the sword, looked down at her and asked, "How do you feel?"
"Honestly Chief? I feel like I should be dead," she said as she groaned and sat up. "But I'll manage. I can walk."
"Are you sure?" Yuri asked.
"No."
He chuckled and held out a hand, then leaned away as she grasped it and used the wall to haul herself up onto her hooves.
"I've never been this wiped out," she admitted. "That ax did a number on me."
"I expected Svartheim to be dangerous, but nothing like this," Yuri admitted. "Hobgoblins? It is insane. No one has seen their like anywhere near the Steppe in generations."
"Bad luck," Laina said.
"The worst," Yuri agreed. "But thanks to you, all of you, we have what we came for. The herds can do the rest."
Asturial spoke as she finished shifting the stone. "I am splitting my attention between here and the outside. There wasn't much resistance getting this far, shouldn't be much on the way out."
As it turned out, they saw no one else as they left Svartheim until they reached the ruined bridge.
There, they had an encounter that Yuri did not fully understand.
As their torchlight washed over the platform where the ruined ballista had been set up, they found a gorgeous snow-white fox patiently waiting there.
The completely odd sight stopped the group, and the fox glanced to each of them before standing up. It was an exemplar of its kind, but its almost ethereal beauty wasn't what captured Yuri's attention. Behind it, tails unfurled, spreading like a peacock's display.
Nine of them.
The fox had nine tails.
Asturial breathed, "By Tiamat ..." then did something Yuri would never have credited had he not seen it himself.
The dragon got down on her knees and kow-towed to the fox.
Not having any idea what was going on, Yuri chose to trust Asturial and said, "Do as she does, ask no questions."
Then he too got down on his knees and bowed his head to the stone, folding his hands flat before him.
Laina did likewise.
Euryale did not. Instead, she put a hand on her mask and crouched, ready to attack.
The fox's head tilted as she considered the gorgon, who kept her hand on her mask and didn't otherwise move. All Euryale's snakes were focused on the strange vulpine, jaws open as venom beaded on every fang.
She then looked around at the others, all on their knees before her, before lifting a paw to make a negligent sideways gesture.
Asturial shuffled to one side of the corridor without getting up. Feeling utterly foolish, Yuri did likewise and Laina followed his example.
The snow-white fox waited until all were out of her way, then trotted down the middle of the corridor. Euryale hadn't been standing in the middle in the first place, but she never moved, and as the fox sauntered by several of her tails brushed across the gorgon's legs and belly. Euryale's snakes turned to follow her movement, but she didn't even twitch otherwise, and Yuri was uncomfortably aware that none of Euryale's snakes were hissing.
A moment later, the fox disappeared into the darkness beyond the reach of the torch. Only when she'd been out of sight for almost a minute did Asturial breathe a sigh of relief and straighten.
"Do we get an explanation?" Yuri asked as he wearily got back to his feet.
"The only thing you need to know about her is that my mother was so terrified of her, she warned all her hatchlings to bow without question before the nine-tailed fox. She's a servant of Zhū Què. If you're lucky, you'll live your whole life never knowing more. Just the fact that she's seen me ..."
Asturial shivered.
Yuri looked at Euryale, who shrugged and said, "There are all kinds of monsters in this world, Chief. That one though ... Asturial's right. I don't know anything about her serving Zhū Què, but if that's really who I think it is, the less you have to do with her the better. I'm cursed, but she is a curse. Forget you ever saw her, and pray she forgets you. That's the best advice I can give you."
"What's her name?" Yuri asked.
"Don't," Asturial blurted in a near panic even as Euryale shook her head.
"I'm serious, Yuri. Forget her. We should never speak of this, to anyone."
Asturial nodded, arms wrapping her sides in an unconscious gesture of self-comfort.
Yuri glanced at Laina, who shrugged and shook her head as she said, "After what we've been through, nothin' surprises me anymore. I'm just glad we didn't have to fight her, whatever she is."
Euryale glanced down the corridor after the departed fox before muttering, "Me too."
Asturial had recovered sufficiently in what turned out to have been almost twelve hours to get them back across the chasm, and from there they ascended wearily back to the surface.
As Yuri stepped out of the cave mouth and saw that it was barely an hour past dawn, he marveled again at the feat they had accomplished. Two days of near-constant fighting.
"All for one fucking sword," he muttered absently to himself.
Asturial bade them wait, and reabsorbed her proxy before flying off to retrieve their wagon. Yuri noticed as they waited that Twisted was still in her lupine form, and had lain down so as to hide her limbs as she looked at him with soulful eyes.
Knowing how self-conscious she was about the fur she had lost, Yuri felt more than a little sympathy. She'd fought bravely, savagely, and the fact that her only reward was to have half her pelt shorn away didn't sit well with him.
Euryale was lounging against the stone wall some distance away, and Yuri moved to her. A few of her snakes glanced his way, but she didn't lift her head as she asked, "Something wrong?"
"No, just had a question."
&nb
sp; "Sure. What?"
Yuri asked, and as he spoke Euryale finally lifted her head, the blank wooden mask turned his way as she said, "Yeah, I have something like that. I use it to keep trim, but ... why would you want it?"
"For Twisted," he said, careful not to glance back at the werewolf as he spoke in tones too low for her to hear.
"For Twisted? Why the hell would she ... Ooooh. You want to use it for her."
"Yes."
Euryale reached into the pouch at her side and pulled out a vial as she said, "A few drops of this in a bucket of water will do it. Are you sure? She might not even appreciate the gesture."
"Do you believe that?" Yuri asked.
The gorgon hesitated, then shook her head. "No. Even I think it's sweet. Makes me wish I could do it too but ..."
She shrugged and handed over the vial, which Yuri pocketed. He thanked her and walked back into the cave. There was a bucket in his pack.
When it was done, Yuri felt mortified. He had felt sympathy before, but now he truly understood just how bad it was. He also knew that he had done the right thing.
He walked out of the cave and toward Twisted. Laina caught sight of him and her eyes widened, then teared up as she put a hand over her mouth.
Twisted lifted her head, turned to look at him, and her jaw dropped. She shifted to her bipedal shape, clearly wanting to speak. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but nothing would come. He sat down next to her and she reached out to tentatively set her bare, furless hand on his bare, furless arm. She set her other hand on his leg. He'd put his pants back on, but she could tell. They too were bare.
Her eyes filled with tears, and he wrapped her up and ran his fingers through the ruff of her hair as he murmured, "It is all right. Fur grows back."
The sounds she made were inarticulate. She clutched him fiercely, and he held her, stroked her ruff, silently letting her know he wouldn't let her suffer alone.
Asturial was back inside an hour, and set the wagon down on the plateau for them to load up.
When she caught sight of Yuri's bare arms and the way Twisted clung to him she snorted, but it was a fond sound. As they climbed up into the wagon, she said, "Good job, hero. I'd have never thought of that."
Once they were all inside, she asked, "Where to now?"
"Take us to the grave. We will burn it, then return to the village," Yuri said. "It has been almost a month. My people should have been returned safely home by now."
Asturial nodded, spread her massive wings, and took flight.
The trip back to Lund took no more than half an hour.
Yuri opened the ill-fated cellar and descended one last time. He put the broken hilt of the fillet knife atop Marion's corpse, then hesitated.
He felt he should say something, but he simply didn't have the words. In the end he left her in silence. He had done everything he could for her. There was really nothing left to say.
Asturial's cleansing fire did indeed collapse the cellar, but they did not wait to watch it burn. Summer was in full swing, but the grass was green and the trees healthy. The pyre would not spread to the forest. Their task was done, and they took to the air again.
As they ascended, Yuri was kept awake by the growing pain in his ears, but once they popped he fell asleep, and stayed that way until they popped again.
They landed in a village that, while not empty, had no tiger-kin.
A herd had made the village their camp, and as Asturial set the wagon down and landed near it, minotaurs streamed from the village and began fanning out.
Asturial didn't even bother to say anything. She just set her forelegs together and lowered her head, glowering down at the oncoming tauren.
Yuri crawled out of the wagon, still exhausted, and greeted the representative sent by what turned out to be the Lightning Struck herd. They hadn't been at the carnival, but had heard all about it, and their herd leader — a venerable old minotaur named Thunderfoot — asked Yuri with all the respect due from one leader to another if they might remain in the village, or if they should pull up stakes and move on. The old bull had to have noticed Yuri's bare arms, but he said nothing. Several of the other tauren were less circumspect, but when the worst offender stared too long, Twisted began to growl low in her throat as her hackles rose and she curled her lips up to show her teeth. Attention was pointedly moved elsewhere.
Yuri told Thunderfoot only that he expected the return of his people, but that they were overdue. When they did arrive they'd likely want to trade, so the Lightning Struck were welcome to stay provided they gave no trouble.
With a bemused glance up at the dragon looming over them all, Thunderfoot dryly assured Yuri there would be no trouble, and they were welcomed into the camp.
Euryale only glanced around, then said, "I'm going to look for Master. Which way do I need to go?"
Hesitating only briefly, Yuri pointed and described the old stone fortress to which his people had been sent, along with a few landmarks she could use to guide her way.
As she nodded and turned to leave, Asturial's voice boomed down, "Leave some coin, gorgon. We will need to purchase provisions. I require food and do not wish to go hunting."
Euryale looked up at her, then shrugged and produced a golden bar from her pouch that she handed to Yuri, who boggled as he looked at it. The thing weighed somewhere between five and ten pounds, and could easily buy every head of livestock in the tauren encampment and more beside.
The gorgon left without another word.
Asturial looked after her, then rumbled, "She has no sense of the value of things. Give that to me, and I will use the forge over there to melt it down into useable amounts."
She sent a proxy, Yuri handed over the bar, and Asturial left with it.
Laina said, "I'm gonna just sleep in the wagon, I think. I'd rather not deal with any of those morons, and I don't want any trouble."
Yuri nodded. He understood. Tauren who did not fit the typical molds for their people tended to be looked down upon regardless of any skills, usefulness, or intelligence they might have. They were very set in their ways.
As he watched her step back up into the wagon, Twisted brushed his arm lightly and when he looked, she said, "Take me someplace."
"Someplace?" he asked.
"Someplace private."
The look in her bright green eyes was ... intense. Unfortunately, while they had both washed as best they could in the falls on the way up, they were both still filthy. The waterfall hadn't even come close to washing all the death from their coats, so the first place they needed to go would probably not be what she had in mind.
It didn't take long to find the baths. Tauren herds always toted several tubs around with them, and though Yuri didn't carry around gold bars, he had more than enough to afford a bath, soaps, and laundry service.
In the end the two of them wound up in a curtained-off section of a yurt with two cast iron tubs, each of which had been filled with steaming hot water.
Twisted looked curiously at the baths, then at him as he shucked his clothes, which he passed through the curtain to the waiting minotress.
Tilting his head toward the near bath, he said, "Get in, wash up. I will do the same."
She watched him curiously as he picked up a bar of soap from the tray set between the tubs and got into his bath, where he quickly worked up a good lather and was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of getting the accumulated grime out of his fur. He had paid for four baths, not two. After he had most everything out, he planned to move to the second bath to soak.
Yuri watched Twisted copy him and realized that — given she'd lived her whole life in the Labyrinth — it was entirely possible this was a new experience for her.
As she got a lather going, it was clear she enjoyed it, and by the time Yuri stood up to dump the rinse bucket over himself, she was happily scrubbing the grime out of her ruff.
"Yuri?" she asked as he stepped out of his tub.
"Yes?"
"Can you
wash behind my ears? I want to make sure I get it all."
"Certainly."
He stepped up behind her, took her soap, then his time, working his fingers through her ruff and the fur of her head.
It was obvious she relished his attention.
When was the last time I did such a thing? he idly wondered, then realized that the only woman he had ever bathed had been his sister, and that only when they'd been very young.
"So ... now I stand up, and you dump the water on me?" she asked, bringing him back to the present.
"Ah, yes. I can do that."
Twisted stood up in the tub, and Yuri carefully poured the water over her head. He did so slowly to give her time to work the suds out of her ruff, which was much thicker than anything he had to contend with personally.
Once he was done and had set the bucket aside, she asked, "How do I look?"
The question was almost fearful, but she was staring at his own bare limbs, and seemed to be making a point not to hide her own. It was obvious she had taken heart from his willingness to share her embarrassment.
His tail weaving pleasantly, he nodded. "Much cleaner. Come now. The second bath."
"We have to do this again?" she asked, seeming a bit discontented.
"Not the scrubbing. This will be a pleasant soak. It will ease us."
"If ... that's what you want," Twisted said, and held out her hand. He took it — marveling at the feel of the skin-on-skin contact — and she stepped from the bath. He guided her into the next section where another pair of full, steaming tubs awaited. He sank gratefully into one, but after a moment of hesitation, Twisted came to stand next to him, staring intently down at him as she waited.
"It will be crowded," he said.
"Good."
He grinned. She waited for his nod, then climbed in and laid back against him. His arms were along the rim of the tub, but she took them and pulled them in, settling his hands on the modest mounds of her breasts.
She didn't say anything, only laid her head back on his shoulder and wrapped her arms over his, trapping them against her body.
Yuri squeezed, gently at first, then firmly as she wriggled a bit, then sighed.