“You’re really just going to stay here?” Chloe crosses her arms and tilts her head back as she looks up at the trees. The tan dress goes down to her ankles. It looks more like a tarp, and it isn’t exactly form-fitting, but the bck ribbon tied around her waist seems to bring it all together. Roharu may be wary about going into the capital, but I, for one, am excited for better clothing.

  Chloe huffs and looks at me with rge brown eyes. She widens them and makes a gagging face. “It’s pretty primitive for a world that has magic. You would think that plumbing or transportation would be the first thing they figured out.” She fidgets with the quiver strap and the hunting bow she got from the vilge.

  I roll my eyes as I pluck the red beans from the shrub. They smell simir to coffee beans back at home and, according to the dies in the vilge; the taste is bitter, so they never bothered with it, and even if they wanted to, the sickness spread out here too. No wonder yesterday took a lot out of me. It wasn’t just the fields I blessed, but the outskirts of the forest, too. Beside me, Apollo lies on the ground with his head resting on his front legs. His ears twitch every so often.

  “Don’t think transportation is high on their list when they can use magic, or they are faster than a car.” I pce the beans into the basket and then scratch Apollo behind the ear. He pushes his head closer to my p and lets out a content noise. Gotta say he’s probably the best thing that came out of that dungeon. The bridle tattoo glows on my arm, just under the white sleeve. I suspect whatever he did bonded us. “Besides, I overheard you and Katsuro st night. You aren’t fooling me.”

  Chloe talks a big talk, but she is as sprung on Katsuro as I am with Roharu.

  “Psst.” She waves a hand in the air and then squats down next to me. “You think these will make coffee?” She plucks one bean and sniffs. “We ain’t got a grinder or a coffee pot.”

  “Yeah... well, I’ll figure it out.” I lift one shoulder and shrug. “Experiment until I find something close enough. Especially when winter comes, I’ll want something warm.” Ugh, I nearly forgot about that. A winter with no heating is the worst. Had my furnace go out once and the apartment complex refused to come out for like two freaking days because I was considered low priority. “And if all fails, we see if someone can’t make one. I mean, they can make freaking portals. Someone out there can configure some machinery together to make a coffee pot.”

  Chloe hums as she adds more to the basket.

  “Did you... do you like it here?”

  She wrinkles her nose and then sighs. Her shoulders slump. “We haven’t been here but like a day and now we’re staying? It’s a little hard to wrap my mind around. On one hand, the chance to go back to what I know is just around the corner, and I still think we need to check it out, if only to prevent others from being pulled from their lives to this pce.” She waves a hand in the air, gesturing to the trees. “It’s not bad. I mean, we lucked out, so it’s not bad because of that. But....”

  “But?” I press, patting her back. Apollo huffs. The look I give him goes over his head.

  “You’re going to think it’s so stupid.”

  “Please, we’re in this together. No one else has been through what we’ve been through.”

  She twists her lips before settling on a frown. Her shoulders sag. “I miss the internet.” The words come out so mencholy, they take me by surprise.

  “The internet?” I splutter.

  “See! I knew you were going to think I was stupid.”

  “No. No,” I say with a ugh. “I’m not making fun of you. It’s just... that’s such a you thing to say. Always on your phone, Chloe.”

  “Important messages.” She sniffs. “Besides, if we had the internet then I could easily search for the information I need. Like how to make a portal 101 or who’s in charge of this pce. Or what vilges should I avoid?”

  “Why not make your own catalog, then? Help with some of the boredom.”

  “I’m not bored.” She crosses her legs and leans back with her hands pnted on the ground. “Okay, maybe a little. Used to the hustle of the city life. This is different.”

  And yet she enjoys hunting. I press my lips together and let her talk.

  “Not a country girl. Or at least I didn’t think I was, but there are some aspects I like.” She blows out a breath and tucks her knees under her chin and gives up on helping with picking the faux coffee beans. “Roharu asked about human customs yesterday and while I told him, he should be upfront; I didn’t think you’d accept just like that. Aren’t you worried about moving too fast?”

  “We’re mates.” There’s a lot I can say, but I don’t. Not when her arms are shaking, and she looks so small hunched over like that. This isn’t so much about Roharu and me as it is about her own fears. “What is there to go back to? I don’t have any family. Our jobs suck and you know it.” I thread my fingers through Apollo’s mane and stare out at the forest, not focusing on anything in particur. “This feels like starting over from scratch. No jobs. No evictions. Just get up and live.”

  Chloe shifts and turns her head, catching my gaze. “And if things don’t work out, then what?”

  “For me or you?”

  “Humor me.”

  “Well, Roharu and I are mates. Soul mates. So, there isn’t a, if things don’t work out for us. We’re bound.” I stretch my legs out and lift up my dress. “This is the marking.”

  She squints. “I don’t have any kind of marking like that.”

  “I didn’t have it until yesterday. Roharu had his before me, though I don’t know how long he had his. Didn’t think to ask him.” It must have been when we stayed at the inn together. The look on his face back then was shock. Something must trigger the markings to appear. “It’s up to you if you want to stay. I would love to have you as my neighbor, but your happiness is what matters the most. We’re still going to the capital and we’re still going to look into who is pulling these women from their worlds.”

  The wind blows. I wrinkle my nose. Whatever that smell is, it stinks. Apollo jerks his head up and inhales. His nostrils fre and he’s on his feet faster than I can blink.

  “What’s wrong?” I move to stand, but Apollo whips his head around and stomps his hooves. Okay, so lie low then. I press a finger to my lips, indicating to Chloe for us to be silent. The wind blows again, bringing that pungent smell with it, followed by voices.

  Guttal voices.

  I don’t know the vilgers well enough to make out if it is one of them, but I also don’t think Apollo would be reacting the way he is if it is a vilger. Maybe a goblin? Or something else? Please don’t let it be a mage. My body is still weak from yesterday. Between taking those goblins out and blessing the fields, my power is tapped out and is on a cooldown. The heavy weight of steel strapped to my thigh gives me some relief. I still have a dagger if needed.

  The voices grow louder. Arguing. Whatever, whoever, they are, they aren’t happy. I poke Apollo and motion to the ground. As long as the wind continues to blow down, we should be fine. Apollo crouches. Not quite lying down, but not standing, either. He looks as if he’ll spring into action at any moment.

  When I get back to the vilge, I’m never going to hear the end of this from Roharu. He wanted to come with, and I insisted Chloe and I were fine. The vilge isn’t far, though. If I scream, he’ll probably hear me.

  Chloe pulls out an arrow and picks up her bow. Her eyes steel over as if she’s in a trance.

  “I tellin’ ya, there was a human bitch that took em’ out. Saw it with my own eyes.”

  “Yer tellin’ fibs. Ain’t no human taken out five of us. Just gone and fess up and maybe they take it easy on ya.”

  “Ain’t lyin’. It was a human. It was a party. Had demons under her control or summtin.” The voices die down. My heart pounds. Can they hear it?

  Probably.

  Guess the only ones that got the short end of the stick in this world are humans. No special stats or nothing. I grip the dagger and pull it from its holster. Sounds like just two of them. Could take them out, maybe. How strong are goblins?

  “Oi! It’s the—ah!”

  Oh. That’s... gross. The goblin falls forward instead of backward. The arrow stuck in his eye socket is pushed further in.

  “You damn human!” the other bellows. His red eyes are small, and his teeth are razors. He lunges at us. Apollo jumps and rams his head into the goblin’s gut, knocking him into the tree. My dagger is useless. Chloe shoots off two more arrows, one hitting the goblin in the forehead, and the other hitting him in the arm.

  “Nice aim,” I praise.

  “Oh, thanks.” She fshes a smile and thankfully her eyes are back to normal. How weird. Does she go into a trance like that when she goes hunting? Or is it a trauma response from the dungeon? Something must have snapped when she messed up that mage. “We should head back. There might be others.”

  “Good call.” I lift my dress and slide the dagger back into the holster. “Come on, Apollo, we gotta tell the others.” I grab the basket and wait for Apollo to head back to my side. “Roharu said we might butt heads with the goblins for a while, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. Things must be pretty dire for everyone.”

  “You’re taking up for them?”

  “No. They would have killed us.” I shrug one shoulder. “I’m just saying that the bance is off because things haven’t returned to normal. They may have been attracted to the scents. We cooked a lot st night. They could have smelled it.” I chew on my tongue as we head back to the vilge. The goblins aren’t as big of a concern. Who cursed this pce? Why did they curse it? That worries me. The unknown. “Can you scent Roharu?” I ask Apollo, who lifts his head up as if he is rolling his eyes. He takes the lead, taking us past the children pying in the center, and a little down past Bazur’s home.

  What are they doing?

  Roharu’s arms are caked in mud as well as Katsuro’s. His ears twitch as I get closer.

  “Done picking your berries?” He asks, standing up. By his feet, there are blocks. Is he making bricks? Doesn’t look as though he is making pottery, but what do I know?

  “For now,” I start. “We cut it short because there were two goblins.”

  His eyes darken. “Where are they now?”

  “Dead. Left them there,” Chloe says. “Figured there might be others, but we aren’t sure.”

  “There are always others,” Roharu says ftly. “They breed like rabbit demons.” He pces his hands on his hips, getting mud on them. “We need to let Bazur and the other males know. Tighten patrol. If they came this close, then they are more desperate than I thought.”

  “Could just tell em’ to fuck off and maybe they will,” Katsuro says with a sigh. “Or kill em’ all and be done with it. Haven’t met one that wasn’t trouble.” He spikes his hand through his hair. I wince. Why did he do that? Now mud is all caked in his hair. That’s going to be a pain to wash out.

  Indecision swirls in my gut. Chloe took out those two goblins, but now we’re talking about wiping out an entire colony? Roharu presses his face close to mine. “What?”

  “There is no reasoning with goblins.” He pulls back and motions with his head towards the vilge. “Gather the females and young, and hide.” His ears twitch while his eyes narrow. “You smell that?”

  “Yah, I smell the bastards,” Katsuro says. “Let’s get the high ground.” He points to Chloe’s bow. “You and me.”

  Should I be doing something?

  “Keep the others safe,” Roharu says, pulling me into his arms. He rushes back to the vilge so quickly, my stomach protests. This must be what carsickness feels like. Has he always been able to move this quickly? He sets me down by the others. “Keep them safe,” Roharu repeats.

  I gnce back at the other dies and their children. They huddle together. Some are fearful. Some are angry. But majority? The majority look almost hopeful?

  “Got it.”

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading!