The next few days were busy while the girls trained and I discussed a potential contract with Valda. I liked the lizard-folk woman, her no-nonsense attitude and the help she’d given me early on had gone a long way to improving my ability to protect my girls. So I had no problem forming a guardian contract with her, but she was the one hesitating more as it would require her to break her contract with the salamander and give up the boost to her fire magic that she’d gotten from it.

  We’d looped the girls in that same day during training to make sure they were okay with the idea and see if they had any objections. None of my girls did, in fact Kassandra and Rieka both seemed excited at the idea of adding Valda to their group, since she’d be able to provide a more melee-focused support at the front of the group rather than making our already caster-focused group even more heavily weighted in that fashion.

  Not wanting to press Valda, I answered any questions she had and offered the insights that I was able to, before leaving her to consider what she wanted to do. I also wanted to make sure all four of my girls got a good share of attention too, since they were my highest priority.

  I did take a moment to appreciate the oddity of the situation with Jane sitting on my lap while the little scholar drank from her canteen, that I was placing these girls head and shoulders above my other contract, which was for Rieka’s mother who happened to be the queen of the nation they lived in.

  What can I say, I thought with a grin as Jane leaned back and rubbed her head into my chest. I have my priorities straight.

  <><><>

  Before Valda made her decision, we got a lead on where we should head. Or should I say, Shayla got the lead, I just made the delivery.

  I’d been on duty that night, with Shayla being on the wall standing guard. My artistic moth was still anxious about combat and the potential for ambush, so I stood guard right beside her instead of standing by to be called when needed. Shayla happily paid the mana fee to have me on hand, in fact insisting on it rather firmly.

  I didn’t argue, because seeing my normally meek lover so assertive was rather adorable, and I wanted to encourage that confidence whenever and wherever I could.

  The mages on duty were supposed to walk the occasional patrol on the wall, but otherwise stay on watch in one of the two towers on either side of the defensive wall. Shayla had taken to sitting on the upper roof of the tower to look at the stars in between our patrols. Being the dutiful guardian that I was, I spent that time pressed against her back gently so as not to smash her wings while my arms wrapped around her waist to help keep her warm.

  “I suppose the best way I can describe it would be if someone enchanted a piece of slate to store images and let you draw and paint on it like it was canvas,” I murmured thoughtfully while gently rubbing Shayla’s soft tummy with one hand.

  To pass the time and ensure neither of us ended up naked and exhausted while on watch, I’d been describing different tools from Earth that she might like and spent some time talking about digital sketch tablets.

  “Hmm, sounds like a very useful tool,” Shayla murmured, leaning into me while her large, dark eyes watched the skyline and the soft fans of her antennae wiggled slowly through the air. “I don’t know if it’s something we can replicate with magic, but I definitely would like to try. The trick would be finding some way to make it replicate the image on another media.”

  “Maybe something to dye the stone?” I suggested thoughtfully. “Heck, wouldn’t it being able to even mark out the sketch itself be useful? Sure, you would have to paint it again, but then you could use that to change and shift colors around between different versions. I knew an artist back in high-school that swore the sketch stage took the longest…”

  I let the sentence trail off because Shayla stiffened in my arms.

  “What is it?” I asked quietly, leaning in closer as her antennae stilled as well.

  “I saw a glimmer of light on metal,” Shayla whispered, and a moment later her antennae picked up their normal dance once more. “And I smell sweat, blood, and… oh!”

  Shayla flinched faintly and I squeezed her reassuringly. She took a deep breath and continued.

  “There’s another raiding party out there, and they have one of those flamecaster devices. I can smell it in the air right now. Especially since Jane had some on her hands when she came back from studying the one we captured.”

  Following Shayla’s line of sight, I shifted my eyes into those of an owl, studying the inky darkness of the night. It took me a moment, but I caught sight of faint movements in the brush that were out of place.

  Giving Shayla another gentle squeeze, I shifted to whisper into her ear.

  “Head down inside to warn the guard captain?” I suggested, but Shayla shook her head, her eyes not moving as she stared at something intensely.

  “I can see their leader, or at least the one with the flamecaster… Liam, do you want to play fetch?” Shayla asked, a coy smile appearing on her full lips as she carefully drew her spell rod out of her belt.

  “Woof,” I replied with a grin and a gentle squeeze to her waist.

  What came next happened very quickly. I used Shape-Shifting to scale down the tower in the shadow cast by the torches and the watch-fires on the wall. I paused at one of the windows long enough to verbally pass the message to one of the guards—who nearly screamed when I poked my head in through an arrow slit—before ducking down into the open field.

  The space on the far side of the wall had been torn up in the recent conflicts, but I was able to thread my way over the broken ground without alerting the raiders, thanks to a bit of obfuscating magic that Shayla had cast on me. It covered me in a shifting veil of muted color that acted like a bit of mobile camouflage.

  Shayla must have seen something that I missed, because I’d only made it halfway across the field before I felt a message hit my mind from her.

  Close your eyes!

  A moment later, a brilliant flash of light turned night into day as one of Shayla’s brilliant light-beam spells cut through the darkness to set a section of brush on fire about forty yards in front of me.

  Half a second after that, there came a thunderous boom and a massive plume of fire erupted from the trees ahead of me. In the light of the billowing flames, I saw men running back and forth, batting at the flames and rolling about.

  “Shit,” I muttered, launching into a loping sprint.

  Shape-Shifting activated at my urging, my limbs shifting and joints adjusting as my legs and arms became like a predatory cats. With barely a thought, my clothes were banished into my Dimensional Pocket for the moment as I arrowed towards the enemy.

  Behind me, I heard the shouting of the guards and the ringing of the alarm as the echo of the explosion began to fade away, but I had a singular focus at the moment, so I ignored that distraction.

  She probably clipped the hose or hit the tank of the flamecaster. I remember the last guy had it dragging behind him, so it’s possible the user is still alive. I need to find him in order to question him, I thought as I dove through the brush protecting the raiding party and into the fiery chaos beyond.

  Men were rolling about on the ground, batting at flaming skin and clothes. The burning fuel of the flamecaster pooled on the ground and against some trees, promising to turn those into towering infernos if they were not brought under control quickly. There was a small crater at the center of the chaos, where fragments of metal splayed outwards from the explosion.

  I spotted the man I was sure was my target moments later. He was clutching the bleeding stump of his left arm with his right while smoke rose from his clothing. The wand of the flamecaster lay across his chest and he was dressed in finer leathers than the others. I also recognized the hilt of the sword from the other one I’d liberated.

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  Not hesitating, I lunged past two screaming raiders that were still on fire, thrashing about on the ground and burning merrily. With a thought, a tail that ended in a bladed tip slipped out of my spine and I ended their screaming with two rapid strikes.

  I still wasn’t sure how the leader wasn’t on fire at the moment, but guessed that he might have had someone else carrying the tank for him. Regardless, I didn’t want to question my good fortune, so when I landed next to the man, I didn’t hesitate to slap one paw-hand over the flamecaster wand and the other over the hilt of his sword.

  Both items vanished into my Dimensional Pocket, the sword being rapidly followed by the dagger I saw on his other hip as the man began to scream in fear as I loomed over him.

  “Shut it!” I barked, pushing on Shape-Shifting to adjust my form again. My body flowed rapidly and rather than assuming a pseudo-cougar form, my arms swelled and legs shortened until I looked more like a silverback gorilla with a human torso.

  One thick arm around the man’s waist hoisted him up and pinned him to my side as I whirled about. Movement in the corner of my vision warned me of one raider who had got himself together faster than the others approaching, but a meaty backhand with my hefty forearm sent the man flying with a broken arm.

  “Keep pressure on your arm if you want to live,” I barked at the injured man before I began loping back towards the wall.

  I didn’t actually care if he lived for long, as long as I was able to get the information I needed out of him. These people had come here of their own free will with the intent of killing, stealing, and raping anything they could get their hands on. Staying with Valda as we had, I’d heard the reports of what these wild folk would do if they made it past the defenses of the Ironclaw Clan, so I had little mercy.

  The captive I had continued to scream in fear and thrash, but it didn’t take much time for me to cover the distance between the treeline and the wall.

  Up above, I could hear Shayla shouting for the guards to cover me from the top of the tower as another brilliant beam of light cut through the night, drawing a line from her to where the enemy forces had been hiding.

  Gods, I hope she gets down before someone with a bow realizes she’s drawing a literal target on herself… I thought as the twang of bows overhead heralded the Ironclaw forces firing on the enemy.

  “To the gate! I have men moving to open it enough to let you through,” barked the familiar gruff voice of one of the commanders from above, and I changed trajectory to the heavily armored gate as it began to ease open.

  Shouldering through the gate, I made it into cover just in time, as I heard arrows strike the gate moments later with a series of sharp thunks.

  “Let me through, I have the enemy commander captive and I must return him to my summoner,” I barked, allowing my body to shift and flow once more, but leaving a layer of fur to cover my lower half since I didn’t have time to put my pants back on.

  None of the guards challenged me, the three that had opened the gate faded back out of my way as I dragged the still screaming and bleeding man through the tunnel and out onto the road beyond like he weighed nothing more than a child’s doll. Which, considering my greatly increased strength from my stat boosts, was pretty accurate.

  I’m fine. Got the commander and questioning him now, I sent through my Contact Contracted Companion power to Shayla. She didn’t respond, but I heard the sharp zot noise of her light-laser spell from above me and knew she was okay.

  I really need to see if I can find some kind of special borosilicate focusing lenses for her to further enhance that spell, I thought with a savage grin as I imagined what meek little Shayla could do with a bit of scientific help. Full power to the forward lasers!

  More shouting from above told me that the enemy was trying to push forward, but the confident orders of the commanders on the wall also conveyed that they had things under control, so I dragged my captive down the road that led along the backside of the wall.

  Once I’d made it clear of the gate and out of the direct line of passage for the reinforcements I knew would be coming from the barracks, I swung my captive around and pinned him to the wall.

  “Now,” I hissed, using Shape-Shifting to give myself mandibles and serrated teeth for added effect. “You are going to tell me where you got that weapon, and you are going to do it quickly before it’s not only your hand missing.”

  <><><>

  “It’s not as bad as I had feared,” Valda sighed as we stood over the lizard-folk woman’s map. “It’s further than I would like, but not as far as I was afraid of.”

  The man I’d captured had a wealth of information to give, and I’d wrung every detail out of him that I could. It was only after I had what I needed that I knocked him out and dragged him to the healers to see to. After the performance of the last one that had been captured, the guards made sure the man was bound hand and foot, regardless of his injuries.

  On the map, I could see the range of mountains that made up the majority of the land held by the Ironclaw Clan. The three passes were clearly marked, with a small wooden figurine in each of them to mark the forces present, while the one marking our location was painted dark green to match Valda’s scales.

  There were a handful of small wooden tokens on the veldt side of the map to mark the encampments we knew of that were the major staging points of our opponents, but the important one was denoted by a flat silver ring that Valda had placed when I described it to her.

  The location of the ruins—or the ‘sacred cave’ as the barbarians were describing it—was smack dab in between our location and the largest of the three passes, but down in the foothills on the far side of the mountain. Based on the scale of the map and a guess of how far we could travel on foot, it would take several days to a week to reach the site, and that was if we could move at a good clip without having to hide from enemy patrols.

  “I want it taken care of,” Rieka murmured intensely as she stood on the other side of the table, glaring at the map. “Between the damage they’ve done with these weapons and the horror stories Liam has been telling us of what humans might be able to do based on his own world’s history, I don’t want to take a chance. We need to find and either seal, empty, or destroy it.”

  “The question becomes whether or not we send a small group of elites to take care of it, go ourselves, or rally an assault force,” Valda said pointedly, getting the princess’ attention with a gesture of her hand and a stern look. “Remember, Rieka. Logical and focused. Passion is good, but it can blind you to dangers.”

  Rieka grimaced, her ears wilting to either side at the gentle reprimand. A moment later the wolfish featured woman nodded in understanding, though her bottom lip stuck out in a slight pout.

  “I think it would be best to go with a group,” Jane suggested from her spot on the third side of the table.

  The short mouse woman was staring at the map while her little nose wiggled thoughtfully. Her long tail danced above her head slowly, the puffy tip bouncing like a pompom as she hummed and rubbed her chin.

  “Reason?” Valda pressed, turning her attention to the little woman, one eyebrow going up.

  “We’ve dealt with a number of these ruins in the past, as you know,” Jane began, gesturing to the map and then looking up to meet my eyes. “Most of them had traps of some kind, as well as golem, undead, and other things nesting inside. Even if our opponents have cleared those dangers out, we are going to be attacking a location they consider to be holy at the very least. That will provoke a reaction and we are going to have to act quickly too once the fighting starts.”

  “So we need people to cover our exit,” I said, getting a nod from Jane and a smile.

  “Exactly. We should try and be stealthy on our approach, ensure that we aren’t seen and strike quickly. But we all know how complex some of these locations can be, and even with the practice that Kassandra and I have at picking apart the defensive wards, it might require some time to get through the deeper defenses. We either need someone to cover our backs, or enough firepower to bury the location permanently and seal it.”

  “So that means we need to bring more of the Juneau students…” murmured Rieka, her ears twitching thoughtfully. “And warriors to protect them. Valda, I have to leave this call to you. I’m not experienced enough with deployment numbers to know what is correct. Most of my combat experience has been small-squad tactics before now, and I worry about taking too many soldiers from the pass.”

  “I’ll look into the numbers,” Valda said with a nod, brushing the pads of her fingers against the small green scales that decorated her cheeks. “For now, prepare to depart on short notice. If I have my way, we will be leaving no later than tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow as in a few hours from now?” I asked, muffling a yawn. Shayla had sent me back to relay the information to Valda and Rieka for planning, and I knew it was barely midnight right now. I could handle working on short sleep, but I didn’t necessarily want my girls to have to march on only a few hours of rest.

  Valda shook her head in the negative though, much to my relief.

  “No, not the coming dawn. The day after that. It should give me time to order up supplies and rearrange watch rotations. I’m going to be coming along to command the guards and ensure the students make it back safely. I need to check numbers to see how many and who I will bring.”

  “Got it, one day of time,” I said with a nod. “I’m going back up onto the wall with Shayla and I’ll let her know. Send me word if anything changes, okay?”

  I directed the last part to Rieka, who gave me a bright smile and nodded, her ears bouncing upright and her tail beginning to wag slowly behind her.

  Stealing a quick kiss from first Rieka and then Jane, I gave Valda a nod before heading out the door to where Shayla was waiting for me.

  Kassandra grumbled quietly in her sleep, the dwarf lamia having worn herself out trying to wear me out before bed. The fact that she continued to sleep despite the alarms, conversation, and everything going on was testament to just how successful her attempt was.

  Legitimately though, since her whole power set revolves around focusing and controlling light, one could argue that Shayla is the most powerful of the girls since there isn't much that can stop a laser, they just move too fast. Though it does have the counterbalance of being very expensive.

  -----

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