Summoned by Monster Girls

There was some swearing and quite a few questions asked that didn’t have reasonable answers, but ultimately the lump of white marble in my hands didn’t answer them. Admittedly, it would have been par for the course, but the stone head didn’t suddenly start answering spoken questions. As much fun as that would have been.

Kassandra ended up being the most logical of the three of us, breaking down the events clearly and systematically to try and figure this out. I made a few more trips into the water to retrieve other pieces of what we eventually figured out was a ruined statue. By the time I finished, I couldn’t feel my legs from the knee down due to the icy water. While she pieced it together, I was sitting in the grass and rubbing at my chilled feet to get feeling going in them again.

“So, what we have here is a lump of carved marble with defined features. Those features closely resemble a normal person, though they do not bear any of the normal hallmarks of the kin, the elves, the dwarves, or any other known species besides one.” Kassandra shot me a pointed look. “That looks like a human sculpture. The ears are rounded like Liam’s, so it’s not an elf. The proportions are all wrong for a dwarf. And again, there are no signs of something that would mark it as one of the kin species either. No animal ears, facial scales, or oddly shaped eyes. The marble doesn’t show signs of wear that would explain such things being worn off, or break marks for things being removed…So the logical route to take is that this is a statue of a human.”

“But why was it in the pool of water? Also it is odd that the statue doesn’t show signs of wear but the granite does…” Rieka was examining the long piece of white marble I’d brought back that was clearly an arm that ended in a fist. She looked up at Kassandra and I could see her ears were laid back into her pale hair in concern and her tail hung limply behind her.

“Fountain maybe?” I spoke as soon as the idea came to my mind. Both girls turned to look in my direction in confusion and I continued to explain while I kept chafing at my legs to warm them. “We found carved stones that were distinctly brick shaped and there are more in the pond. Maybe this was a fountain at one time? Something happened and the statue got knocked over while the bowl of the fountain broke. That’d explain why the water is continually flowing and the statue is in the middle of it.”

“Okay, did you see anything in the spring that would be the source of this much water?” Kassandra asked simply, gesturing towards the stream that led away from the fountain. I looked at it again and thought. The stream itself was decent sized, easily a half dozen feet across and a foot or two deep if not more as it wound away from the spring. The pool itself was large too, large enough that I could see Kassandra’s issue with the idea of it being a fountain. The sole fountain that I’d seen in this world was a small one in Kintos in one of the squares and four or five of them would have fit in the clearing around the spring.

While I thought it over, I remembered the pressure against my feet when I’d walked, what I’d originally thought to be the natural upwelling of water. Wonder if there are pipes under all that rock…heck I wonder if that’s the remains of the fountain bowl or maybe the square around the fountain? If so, the statue was in surprisingly good condition…Like Rieka said, it’s suspicious.

“Honestly, I didn’t see anything specific when I was there. The water was coming up pretty strong underfoot though. I know of some fountains that can get really good water pressure going back home, but they all have mechanical pumps. I imagine that magic could do the same thing here, but wouldn’t that require a lot of mana?” With feeling finally returning to my feet, I got dressed once more. Kassandra pretended to pout as I pulled my pants on and I caught Rieka sneaking a few glances as well, though the wolf-kin seemed more preoccupied with the statue pieces she was examining.

“Marble is surprisingly sturdy, and unless the water has particles to scour with, it doesn’t do as much damage to stone for wear and tear.” Kassandra answered at first, tapping one plump lip with her finger. “If there are pipes buried in the earth, it would protect them from freezing. Enough pressure as well would keep the pond from freezing over as well. That’s not even counting the lingering effects of magic over the stone either. What surprises me is that we are so close to Kintos, Juneau, as well as the port town of Broadshore and no one has found this yet.”

“How can you be sure that no one found something like this? It’s not as if people stick signs in the ground stating ‘this was discovered already’ or anything, right?” I was happy for the distraction that Kassandra provided while I finished buckling on my armor. Being without it made me nervous and that wasn’t helped by the blatant staring from Kassandra either. After our conversation last night, Kassandra had been a lot more pointed in her ogling of me and more affectionate in general too. I made a mental note to talk to her some more when we had a chance. I still wasn’t quite satisfied with the talk and wanted to be more sure. The last thing I needed was to make assumptions after all.

“Simple, actually. Even if people don’t post signs, there would be records of it. I’m a history student, Liam. If there was something as momentous as confirmed human-age ruins this close to Juneau? I’d have read about it or they’d have lectured on it in class.” Kassandra moved to help me get my armored tunic straight and then my sword belt secured properly as well. “The fact that I haven’t read about it or heard about it in class yet suggests that this might be a new discovery. And while I know humans are strange,” she paused for a moment to catch my eye and wink at me, “I know that they wouldn’t just have a fountain in the mountains for no reason. Either there might be more ruins around here, or there’s more to this site than meets the eye. I’m going to need to study some ruins for my class anyway, and these would work great! Especially if they are undocumented…”

“She does have a point there, Liam. Though before celebrating, we should look around some more to confirm and then do some research at Juneau as well. It’s possible this area has been studied already and it was long enough ago that the excavation has grown back over. It also might be part of a later bit of the semester too.” Rieka suggested as well, carefully setting down the marble forearm on the grassy shoreline. “I’m just not sure what to do with these…the water didn’t damage them nearly as much as their age suggests, but I also don’t think it’d be a good idea to leave them on the shore here, or haul them back to the campsite. If this really is a historic site, we need to disturb it as little as possible.”

“Leave them here for now. I’ll get my notebooks and make notes of it all. Before we head back, Liam can put them back under water in as close to the original positions as possible or something. We are going to have to disturb it some to learn what this was, but we can do our best to document it and ensure as little damage is done to the site.” Kassandra answered after a moment of thought, turning doe-eyes up at me. “You’ll do that for us, won’t you Liam?”

“Go wading in the chilly water again? Kass, I’d do far more than that for you two if you just ask. No need to bat your eyelashes.” I laughed, gently stroking her red-brown curls with one hand. Kassandra beamed up at me before throwing her arms into the air and declaring loudly.

“Okay! Well I think we have found quite a bit so far, but we should head back to camp and have a hot lunch. Plus, I need to get my notebooks too. Who knows what else we might find!”

“Fair enough. Let’s head back. We can store what we’ve found as well. No need to carry it about after all.” Rieka agreed, her tail stirring to life behind her showing that she was also looking forward to a hot meal.

The two girls headed back around the spring and through the trees towards our camp and I followed behind without a comment, keeping watch while I thought over the whole situation. Kassandra’s actions and words the previous night continued to intrude on my thoughts, especially with how much more affectionate she’d been this morning already.

I need to have a word with her, spell things out and all that. I know she’s interested, but I just don’t see why…and I need to know how this is going to affect her and Rieka. The last thing I want to do is hurt one of them or affect their prospects. And I should have it sooner rather than later…I couldn’t help but curse the responsible part of myself, but since it was also the portion of my mind that got me to swear to help two strange women with a moment's notice and started this whole grand adventure, I couldn’t curse it too hard.

<><><>

The opportunity to speak to Kassandra privately didn’t crop up until after lunch. Rieka had ducked into the tent to secure what the girls had found so far for their missions and Kassandra was busy sunning herself by the fire. I didn’t want to leave it too long, that’d been a bad habit of mine for a while now and I didn’t want to let it ruin or even damage the chances I had here.

“Hey Kass, got a second?”

“For you, Liam? I’ve got hours and hours.” Kassandra replied blithely. Her eyes popped open and she sat up from where she’d been sprawled in the grass. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something important.” Kassandra’s normally playful expression faded into a serious one and she quickly brushed the bits of grass off her outfit before slithering over to where I was standing.

In a move that I was becoming more and more comfortable with, Kassandra wound herself loosely around me a few times before tucking herself under my left arm and looking up at me, her face set in a serious expression of concern before she spoke.

“Okay, what did you want to talk about, Liam? I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable last night. It was just so comfortable snuggling into you and you were so warm…” The plaintive note her voice took on had my need to reassure her surging to the forefront but I held it in so I could continue.

“It’s not about that, Kass. I wanted to talk to you a bit more about what we discussed last night. About an…attraction between you and me.” I had to force the last bit out before my throat slammed shut. My record with women hadn’t been exactly stellar. I’d had girlfriends before, but none of them lasted very long. Talking to girls in general was difficult, though Rieka and Kassandra were becoming easier and easier by the day.

“Okay?” Kassandra blinked at me cutely from behind her silver-rimmed spectacles, a hint of confusion in her slitted, brown eyes. “I thought I made it pretty obvious that I think you are quite attractive last night, Liam?”

“You did. But there is another issue, Kass. Mostly it’s my own problem. You see, I struggle with understanding how someone as cute, smart, and powerful as yourself could find a plain guy like me attractive.” I held up a hand to stop her from interrupting and she scowled before head-butting my open palm lightly, but remained silent. “You are a young noblewoman who is good friends with a princess, regardless of Rieka’s actual rank in the hierarchy of the kingdom, and you are a mage. It’s obvious that you have a lot of things going for you. Meanwhile, I’m just another guy who works his job every day and I do my best to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. I don’t have a lot to offer anyone, least of all one of the most exotic and attractive women I’ve ever met in two universes.”

Kassandra was smiling now as she looked up at me, patiently waiting for the chance to answer my questions. When I nodded for her to go ahead, she pulled herself closer and pressed herself to my side once more, rubbing her cheek against my chest while she spoke.

“Liam, you have a lot more going for you than you think. You are focused only on what you have back home. Think about what you have here. You are a Traveler, which is something that there are nearly no records of in the archive at Juneau. I know, I’ve looked. What records do exist tell of creatures of immense power that demand great prices for their service, but are able to change the fates of those involved. You may not be at that level yet, but I could see you becoming powerful very quickly. You are also a genuinely good person, you show it in what you do and how you approach things. My heart tells me I can trust you, and the only other people it’s told me that I could trust are my parents and Rieka.”

Kassandra paused in her explanation to lock eyes with me and I could see that trust glimmering in those brown orbs. I used the arm over her shoulders to squeeze her gently, being careful not to jam the metal bits of my armor or the hilt of my sword into her at the same time.

“You point out my and Rieka’s ranks, but let me return that favor, Liam. Rieka can only hope to rise so far, being one of the younger children of Queen Coldeye. I doubt I’ll ascend past my parents rank of Viscount unless I marry above my station. You exist entirely outside that power structure and, if the limited bits of history I’ve found that mention Travelers are true, will ascend past such things in time too. There are countless legends about humans being able to do mysterious and unexplainable things, as well as stories about the amount of power they wielded before they died out. Add in the legends of Travelers? And you have a potent mix of potential that is both terrifying and intoxicating.”

“So, it’s a power thing then?” I couldn’t help but ask the question sitting in my gut like a ball of lead.

“What drives the attraction? No, not at all. I’m falling for who you are, Liam. Who you could be just serves to make it easier for me to look to the future in anticipation.” Kassandra was quick to reassure me, still hugging me tightly.

“Kass, I…look you know that I like you a lot, right?” Kassandra nodded once, content to stick to my side like a limpet right now. “You made it obvious the other night that you were attracted to me too, and you hinted that Rieka might be as well. I’ve been thinking about it since then and I just…I don’t want to hurt you, either of you.”

“How would you hurt us, Liam? You are a kind soul. I struggle to imagine you doing anything that would actually hurt one of us.” Kassandra questioned without looking up at me.

“I’m going to be blunt here and just spell it out, to ensure there is no miscommunication or misunderstanding.” I ground out with some difficulty. Her flirting and innuendo had been driving me crazy with desire, but I needed to ask this before I could let myself act on the desire and the hints she’d been laying out for me. “On my world, back in the era that would be most similar to this one, a woman’s…purity…was considered vital for a marriage. If a young woman was married in the nobility and it was found she wasn’t virginal then it could see disaster occur.” I spoke quickly to lay out the issue, fighting to keep my voice from cracking. Why is it so embarrassing to talk about this stuff? She flirts and makes innuendo all the time, yet I still feel like I’m taking advantage or misinterpreting those signals…

“Oh? Were you thinking of doing something that would rob me of my virginity?” Kassandra’s voice was teasing. I looked down to meet her dancing eyes and she hugged me a little tighter. “Liam, in certain marriage contracts such things are important. But I can promise you that my parents care more about my happiness. So if I get the chance to climb you like a tree, I’m going to take it. And I can bet Rieka will too, once she gets over some of her reservations. Her mother might be disappointed if she finds out, but that is unlikely. And I’ve met Rieka’s mother enough to know that she’s more focused on her children’s happiness than any kind of political maneuvering that could be done. Also, just to reassure you…” Kassandra began to squeeze tighter with her tail and pressed upwards, climbing me like a tree as she had just teased, until she slipped out from under my arm and was face to face with me. “My species doesn’t have a hymen, Liam. I know that some species do, but mine does not. So don’t worry about something as simplistic as virginity. Focus on whether a relationship with a lewd and outspoken woman like myself is something you want, and go from there. Remember, I’m an adult myself, so the choice is mine to make too if I decide to become intimate with someone. Though I might have to club him over the head before he gets the clue.” Her eyes danced with wicked amusement as she stared up at me.

I didn’t answer Kassandra verbally, instead I took a leaf out of her book and wrapped my arms around her serpentine hips and pulled her against me. The dwarf lamia purred happily as her full breasts squished against my chest and our lips met in a gentle kiss that continued for several long seconds. Her words had reassured me, quietly laying to rest the concerns that had been clamoring for attention, allowing me to simply enjoy the moment and the affection of a beautiful woman who was obviously attracted to me.

“Oh for the love of magic! I leave you two alone for five minutes and you are already trying to undress him, Kass!” Rieka’s words cut through the fog of desire that had descended while we kissed, but Kassandra held her lips against mine for several more seconds before separating with a happy gasp.

“Not trying, Rieka. Succeeding.” Kassandra giggled as she swayed backwards, unwrapping her coils to fall back to her normal height. She did this while brandishing my belt in one hand. As soon as the pressure of her coils shifted, I felt my jeans begin to slump downwards without the support. She’d managed to sneak my regular belt off while leaving the sword belt holding my tunic in place…and I had no idea how she managed it.

“Kass! Give me that back!” I protested, trying to chase after the nimble snake woman while holding my pants up with one hand. Kassandra just giggled as she slithered away, waving her prize like a banner while Rieka shook her head and watched.

<><><>

After the lunchtime shenanigans, the girls and I headed back to the clearing around the spring. Kassandra spent around an hour sketching the spring, the piece of statue we had extracted and what she guessed it would have looked like when in one piece. She made copious notes about the marble and the condition it was in, as well as the stone brick I’d pulled out of the water. When she was done, I tucked the pieces of statue back into the water for now. We left the brick on the shore to mark where we’d found it initially and what route I’d approached the ruined statue from. Since I wasn’t wading to the center of the pool this time, I didn’t have to strip or spend nearly as long in the water.

“So, my theory is that there is a rocky layer under the soil that is acting partially as a barrier to the water. If this really was a fountain then I bet part of what is now the ‘pool’ for the wellspring was originally a square around the fountain itself. The lack of sediment in the water indicates that it is constantly moving as well. Though I wonder why the river overflow chose the track that it did.” Kassandra was explaining her thoughts on the fountain-turned-spring as we walked further around the edge. Rieka had spotted some odd trees on the far side and wanted to inspect them, so we were headed in that direction.

“Would make sense. If it was just dirt, the water would naturally soak back in. And we are far too high up for it to just be a ‘high water table’. The previous wellspring idea would require a crack in the rock rather than a pipe, but still.”

“That was my thought as well, Liam. Either way, there is a lot to figure out. And since we have already canvassed this half of the little valley, we should take our time looking over the other half of the valley too. I want to see if there are more ruins here or not. Human construction’s have been found nearly perfectly preserved under the right conditions after all. Not as sturdy as ancient dwarven architecture, but the stonewrights of the humans have their own legacies and secrets.” Kassandra continued to ramble while she paced me. Rieka was a few steps ahead of us, leading the way to the stand of trees she’d wanted to look at.

There had been a bit of awkwardness after she’d found Kassandra and I kissing. The dwarf lamia hadn’t allowed it to linger for long, teasing and harassing her friend and asking if she’d wanted a kiss too and that was why she’d butted in. Rieka had just blushed and looked away, but Kassandra had shot me a wink and mouthed ‘she didn’t say no!’ at me afterwards.

“Focus on the tasks for now. We’ve found a good number of the herbs and mushrooms you two needed to locate, but we didn’t really see any tracks by the water that looked big enough to be one of those mountain lynx’s you were looking for. The shore was actually too rocky for the most part. Though I did see some odd tracks.” I suggested, wanting to keep her on track and focused for now. I then explained the fan-like tracks I’d seen by the pond. Rieka nodded thoughtfully, one ear twitching several times while she considered.

“Honestly, the mountain lynx is a bit of wishful thinking. I doubt we’ll see one this far below the snow line. Those tracks you mentioned were likely vine rays coming to drink, which is good.” Rieka was the one to answer my statement when she finished her thought. Shooting Kassandra a pointed glance, the wolf-kin woman continued. “He’s right though, Kass. We need to focus on the jobs we are here for. We can plan a second expedition back to gather more information, do your study of the statue, and search for ruins later on when we are properly prepared for it. I know we have a long break coming up for one of the summer festivals. That’ll give us a full week or more to really search the area.”

“Yea, but we should keep our eyes open anyway!” Kassandra urged, not giving in at all from her excited attitude. “You never know when we’ll find something important!”

“Exactly my point. We need to keep our eyes open and not be distracted! Vine rays are far more likely to be nesting in fruit trees after all, it makes it easy for them to feed then. I’m pretty sure that those trees are fruit bearing ones, and with the tracks you mentioned, they are the best bet for where the vine rays are hanging out. If we can at least get a bunch of those, then we should have no problem making a profit on this trip since we’ve found most of the herbs.”

“What are vine rays anyway?” I couldn’t help the question as we hiked up the slightly sloping hillside towards the trees. I was squinting ahead to keep watch and I had to agree that the trees up ahead had some sort of fruit on them, based on the odd shapes hanging amongst the leaves.

“Oh, they are eerie little things. You remember the ruumo from the other day?” I nodded to Kassandra’s question. The sky-whale had been an awesome sight and was impossible to forget. “So the vine rays are similar to the ruumo, but also very different. While ruumo live in the ocean and occasionally come up to graze on the surface via air magic; vine rays live naturally in the forests and graze on fruit, berries, or other succulent plants, but will fly to the ocean to breed. They are funny little creatures and have an aquatic only version that are just known as ‘rays’.”

“Wait, rays? Like manta rays?” Kassandra’s confused expression told me enough to know I needed to clarify. “They are these flat, kinda pancake-shaped things with wide wings and a long tail?”

“That’s them. Though vine rays are a bit smaller, usually the size of a handkerchief, and they have a venomous spine on their tail. The venom is valuable, as well as the spine itself. Some folks prefer them to quills for writing actually, but they have lots of uses. I think the request was specifically for the spines in as good condition as possible, which means they are probably going to be used for writing.” Rieka nodded along with the explanation and the words conjured such a strange image into my mind that I had to clarify it further.

“So…these vine rays literally fly, but also can return to the ocean for breeding?”

“Yup. Their migration to the ocean is actually really cool to see. They move like a flock of birds. Due to their size and shape, it looks like a storm of paper flying through the air instead. The venom is only dangerous to us if we get several doses though, so don’t worry too much.” Kassandra supplied that information with another smile. I nodded along and carefully began using my Shape-Shifting to shift the skin on both of my arms up to the shoulder into the heavier crocodile hide that I’d been using as impromptu armor. The improvement in mass able to shift from increasing the rank of Shape-Shifting was enough that I had weight to spare now. The last thing I wanted was a flying version of the ‘majestic sea flap-flap’ being the cause of injury or death. Getting shanked by a kobold was bad enough after all.

We reached the stand of trees that Rieka had pointed out to that they were actually fruit trees, though the fruits weren’t ripe yet. There were several dozen trees with hard little plums that were just beginning to darken into ripeness.

Rieka stopped us about a dozen yards from the trees and pointed out several shapes that were darker green than the leaves of the tree and hanging like long beards of moss off of several branches close to the trunk.

“Just like I thought, vine rays. They’ll scatter quickly, so we need to take as many as possible down quickly. If we don’t get enough, we can come back tomorrow before we leave and see if any have returned. Remember, we need five at least for the assignment, but more will make it more profitable.” Rieka whispered as we crouched in the long grass and looked up at the small orchard of fruit trees. There was something odd that was standing out to me about the trees, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“There don’t look to be too many of them in the trees.” I asked after staring at the trees for several seconds, trying to put my finger on what was bothering me.

“There are dozens up there, some are better at hiding than others.” Rieka explained simply. “Vine rays are also considered pests too. They’ll strip orchards if they pass over them on their way to breeding grounds. The reason there was a note to hunt for them is just because they have a fair amount of territory they cover. Liam, I’ll send my Shock Net out into the trees to stun as many as possible while you move in to put them down permanently. Kass, I want you to watch for any that look like they might come at Liam and take those out. Sound good?”

“Fine…but we really should look into some ranged weapons. A crossbow or something would be just as useful to try and pick a few off and would be cheaper in the long run.” Sighed Kassandra, moving out on my right to take her position. I agreed with her, but now wasn’t the time to discuss it.

When all three of us were ready, we started forward in a slow creep to get as close as possible. As I watched, I saw the big ‘leaves’ move against the wind and sway oddly, picking out several more until Rieka hissed that we were within range. She counted us down before lobbing the spell forward.

The crackling orb of lightning passed between the trees without a problem, though the noise of the spell sent the strange creatures into the air.

The vine rays acted more like swallows, dipping and bobbing through the air with a flick of their ‘wings’ while their long tail wove back and forth to steer them. The sight was a bizarre one that I knew had to be fueled by magic somehow.

When the orb of lightning burst, again with an underwhelming zot noise to accompany it, more than a dozen of the odd creatures fell out of the sky like laundry falling off a clothes-line. I rushed forward with my sword at the ready. Given their small size, it was entirely possible that Rieka’s spell had killed most of them outright, but I didn’t want the creatures to suffer either.

The first three of the vine rays I found were already dead, but I put the sword through them just to be sure. The next one was still alive and flopping about, I had to pin it down with my boot to get it to hold still. I nearly ended up stomping onto the spine that the girls had warned me about as it folded up out of the tail almost ninety degrees just as I went to pin it down with my foot. After that, I didn’t hesitate to put them down with all speed, that spine had been almost a foot long.

Kassandra hadn’t needed to hit any of the creatures, those that weren’t hit with the Shock Net spell had all fled en-mass. They made odd, squeaky screeching noises as they flew across the valley and down out of sight while following the river.

As soon as I’d confirmed I’d gotten all the ones on the ground, we collected the venomous creatures and Rieka showed me how to harvest the spines. Since we didn’t have the means to transport the venom glands, it was easy enough to get the spines free of the bodies.

“I don’t know if I feel right just taking the spines and leaving the rest behind.” I muttered as I carefully used my sword to cut the third spine free. Using the crocodile hide to armor my hands was useful. I’d nearly stabbed myself once already but the thick hide had prevented it from penetrating. Kassandra just watched, not having a knife to use while Rieka taught me.

“There are plenty of scavengers up here in the mountains. Other predators and the like hunt these things. The meat won’t be going to waste, trust me.” Rieka explained while she worked.

“Yea, but these are the only other creatures I’ve seen up here so far, besides the ruumo and those deer things we saw by the lake the first night. Is that normal?” I glanced over my shoulder again, feeling a bit nervous now that I was thinking about it.

Rieka paused in her work and looked up at me with her brow furrowing.

“You are right. There would normally be foxes and other small predators. There are plenty of mice around for them to hunt after all. I’d honestly expected to be woken up at least once last night by something investigating the camp out of curiosity.”

“The wardstones were set to go off for anything larger than a house-cat. Regardless of whether it was a predator or not. The materials weren’t exactly fine enough to go for more complex wards.” Kassandra sighed before glancing over my shoulder and stiffening. I whirled around to see what she was looking at, bringing my sword up into a guard position but there was nothing there.

“What is it, Kass?” I asked, casting around quickly to try and see what it was that had startled her.

“The trees, they are split right through the middle…Normally fruit trees clump and bunch as new ones grow in and old ones fall, but that section over there…” Kassandra pointed and I finally realized what had been bothering me earlier.

There was a section of the grove of fruit trees, along one side of it actually, where the trees stopped as if they’d been cut like a knife. No trees or even bushes grew past that line for another twenty feet before the oaks started up instead. Following the open space with my eyes, it wound past the trees before either vanishing out of sight ahead of us or meeting with the open space around the fountain/spring below us.

“Almost like an old road…” I muttered, taking a slow breath. “But what kind of road would hold up that long? There’s grass growing over it too but nothing bigger…”

“Dunno, but it looks like it leads somewhere. Hurry up and finish getting these! We’ve got several hours before it gets dark and I would bet that leads up to more ruins!” Kassandra crowed excitedly.

“Oh, you’d bet would you? What would you bet?” Rieka teased, going back to removing spines once more, but I noticed the wolf-kin kept a much closer eye on our surroundings now.

“For you, Rieka? I’d bet solid silver. For Liam? Oh I’m sure I could find something that’s more than just…lip-service.” Kassandra’s eyes danced merrily as she managed to get both of us blushing at the same time. I focused back on the bloody work at hand. I was also curious about what lay further up in the trees.