Well, the USB never got recovered, but the story did. I'll hopefully be posting more now. Thank you for those who've been reading. I greatly appreciate that, and for your patience with me. I need some assistance with upcoming chapters. If any of you have ideas, I would love to hear them. PM me or review this story with your suggestions.


Tour

Placing his massive hand on Hollis's shoulder, Felix steered the Crimson Phoenix through the square. "I think we just found your match," the man teased, shifting blue eyes from Hollis to Millianna.

"You're cute, Felix. Real cute. I can't wait for the day I get to see you actually attracted to a woman," Hollis cut back, looking to Millianna as well. She was happily prancing about in that scantily clad outfit of hers. The only thing keeping anything covered was the robe around her body. The front was on complete display in this cold region. All he could think about was finding her a damned coat. All that skin was drawing attention to her.

A heavy hand tightened on Hollis's shoulder, and the soldier explained, "Modern women bare too much skin for me nowadays. There's nothing left for the imagination. To see a woman wrapped in fur then revealed in lace. That's what I desire in my woman. Good luck finding any of those in this age though."

Instead of saying a word, Hollis just blew out a breath of hot air. As soon as Millianna darted in front of him to admire winter flowers that were on display, he snatched her by the collar around her throat. A gurgling came from her lips before he hauled her to him. "Clothes," he barked, tossing his bomber jacket at her.

"This is what I normally wear!" Millianna pouted, gesturing to all that was Millianna's clothes. Barely anything. "Why? Does it bother you?"

"Not in the slightest, babe, but mages are being targeted at the moment. The less people that know you're foreign to Lancet, the less people that will want to murder you," he explained. Hands held the jacket open, and when she huffed into it, he zipped up the front for her. "Promise me that you won't attract more attention to yourself?"

Even as he had her wrapped up in his jacket, Hollis couldn't help the grin wanting to tease the corner of his lips. He jacket drowned her. The fur lining of the interior wrapped around her throat, and the bottom of the jacket was down over her hips. Not to mention that the sleeves flopped uselessly on either side of her.

Millianna scowled at him, more playful than anything. With just that flirty appearance Hollis was pretty sure he knew why birds ran from cats. One never knew whether it was sleeping or ready to pounce.

Shaking his head at her, he explained, "When you're in Lancet, you will wear something to cover your legs and torso. Understood?"

"But this makes me feel spiffy," she pouted, spinning around to give Hollis a rather stunning view of her backside. Even in his bomber jacket, which was way too big for her, he could still see the cleft of her ass. A very well rounded derriere it was. He could see the appeal of flaunting it. Quite spiffy.

Running a hand down his face, Hollis reminded, "Mages are targeted for anything, Millianna. The less you dress like you're from here, the more likely you are to get hurt. Sirenia signed the contract giving us jurisdiction over you. This should be viewed as law." But, gods, how was he going to deal with flashes of her perfect body dancing around when they were in Thor's Field or during escorts? If they were to battle against one another? Suddenly, Hollis was hoping for the traditional Lancet custom of mud wrestling. Then, he scowled at the direction of his thoughts.

This woman was not Adamine. She did not hold her shoulders as proudly. Her body was not encased in rockabilly and camo fashion. This woman didn't command a room like Adamine did, and the princess of Lancet was the bar Hollis held for all women. It was only right because the princess was the first woman that had made Hollis feel guilty over his dark ways.

Millianna could never compare to the Demigoddess of Lione. No woman could in Hollis's eyes. He believed the princess to be imperfection perfected.

Kagura's sudden outburst had Hollis pulled from his thoughts, literally, when the woman yanked him up by his vest. "Where is Isaac? Has something happened to him?" Kagura barked.

Gold eyes flashed wide, and Hollis opened his mouth to speak. "A mysterious man was found, and Isaac was questioning him. He said that he would meet us at the lodge," he explained, rearing back from Kagura's nearness.

Her hazel eyes bored holes into his skull for a second longer until she released him. Running a hand through her hair, she adjusted herself. "I see. As long as he's safe, of course," Kagura stated like she didn't just go Over Protective Girlfriend all over the place.

For a second Felix and Hollis shared a look. It read, How the hell are we supposed to live with these women during the games? The worst fact was Colin was going to be with them. Then, there was also the issue of Katja. Kat hated women. The only woman she even remained in the presence of happened to be the princess because Adam had beaten Katja in a battle. Ever since, Kat had been trying to mirror the six pack abs of Adamine's muscular form. That princess had become an inspiration for all of the former Exile mages.

And, all of Exile couldn't wait for her to get here.

Felix shifted in his spot. The leather of his armor creaked at the same time that his zweihӓnder barked, "Are we gonna introduce ourselves or just stand here in the road looking like a bunch of idiots?"

"Who said that?" Millianna piped up from the sound of a feminine voice appearing out of nowhere.

The scowl Felix directed at his sword was enough for Hollis to crack a grin. In a few seconds, the blade strapped against his back stated, "I did. The old man wasn't introducing me, so I thought I'd do it myself."

"Giselle, this is neither the time nor the place," Felix growled, talking to the massive blade on his back. Turning to the others, he explained, "Thanks to my Smith Magic every weapon I forge gets whatever emotion I'm feeling at the time put inside of it. Giselle just happened to have been forged whenever I just got finished winning a battle. Therefore, she's bossy."

"Damn straight I'm bossy," Giselle stated, making her surprising presence known once more. "And, I can't wait for us to show these girls who is boss in the games. I need to slice through something!"

"Giselle, will you please?" Felix snarled back. His response from his sword was a flippant huff then slam against his back. Pale fingers ran through white-blonde hair, and Felix stated, "Forgive her. She's excited. Now, then, my sisters, shall we carry on to the lodging?" His large, calloused hand gestured to where a carriage drawn by twin black steeds was approaching.

Like most of the High Lancet Northerners, Felix lived on horseback. He refused to travel on anything other than a beast unless it couldn't be helped. Upon learning that the most famous guilds would be lodging in the mountains where he used to live, Felix had promptly set up arrangements to flaunt off his ancient clan's culture. Thus, the horse and buggy.

Hollis cracked a grin at the same time that he palmed his cigarettes. When all the women loaded up into the buggy, he made the assumption that he would be consuming a lot more of the cancer sticks during this Winter Games.


Excited was what Millianna might as well have renamed herself when their trip up to the lodges ended. They'd gone from a horse and buggy then to a lift that took them to the top of Mt. Glacia and finally they were at the lodges where they would all be staying, and boy, Millianna was sure where people came up with the Santa Claus myths when she stepped her feet down into three feet of white snow.

She'd never seen so much snow! Large icicles dripped from the steep pitches of lodge roofs. Windows glowed from firelight that danced within these wooden constructs. Millianna saw pine trees holding up massive weights of settled snowflakes.

The urge to leap upon the ground and create snow angels was too much to resist. Just like a kitten, Millianna tackled Kagura into a bed of winter. Their bodies were tangled up in frost before they rolled to the rest of the guild members.

"What the hell do you think you're—gack!" Kagura's voice was cut off when Millianna snagged Araña by the ankle to drag them with her. Beth was the next victim, and Risley didn't need any encouragement.

All of the girls latched onto each other as they rolled towards unwitting Felix and Hollis. The men had entered a state of serious conversation upon leaving the lift, and Millianna wasn't going to let it last.

Her claws stretched out to sink inside of Felix. The over six foot tall male was thrown backwards while his sword cried, "Wheeeee!"

They created a massive tangle of limbs and slight screaming until Hollis jerked his golden gaze back to them. "Oh, no. Oh, hell no!" he squawked. Even the phoenix on his arm lit up to reveal crimson flames burning against his skin. Before they could all trample him, his back lit up with fiery wings, and Hollis launched into the sky.

He watched with wide eyes as they group—even Felix—rolled towards the lodging. There were no brakes as Hollis watched the intertwined ball of body parts tumbling over each other. Legs were caught against arms. Hollis could have sworn that Risley was purposefully wrapping her suddenly shifted body tightly around Felix's waist, and Millianna was screaming with glee while they all tumbled down.

Cinder let out a hiss of aggravation on his back.

"No kidding," Hollis replied to his introverted avian ally. "We really aren't going to be able to keep them from drawing attention to themselves."

Even so, he watched them all roll to slam their backs against the front door of the lodge with Mermaid Heel's insignia hanging down. The banner would be taken off tonight to keep any of the mage hunters from knowing who was in what lodge, but it had been placed there for wayward guild members to find their lodging.

King Isaac's startled expression when Millianna waved at him from beneath the bodies atop her was photo worthy. "Good to see you all made it before nightfall," he slowly greeted, looking for Kagura amongst all the tangled bodies.

"We found them wandering around the town square. Lucky no one got snatched," Hollis pointed out. His crimson wings fanned out in wisps of flame behind him before leaving Hollis in his button up vest, short sleeved V-neck, and a pair of pinstriped dress pants. He'd dressed up to meet the women. Such a shame that he'd only arrived to find them wearing straps of leather.

Unlike Hollis's clean and straight lined appearance, King Isaac had apparently dressed down for the night. The king had taken his long trench coat off at the door to reveal a sweater that spanned the expansive width of his broad chest, and he was wearing dark jeans that had been broken in with a few tears. Hollis currently looked more regal than his king did.

Nodding his head, Isaac assisted Kagura up to her feet. From the loving way their fingers twined together to the way their eyes lingered on each other for a long enough moment to call it intimate, it was safe to say that Kagura Mikazuchi and Isaac Grigori von Kaiser were in love. Duly noted. Now Hollis had even more dirt on his king. Oh, how Hollis loved his leverage.

"It's good to see you're all safe," Isaac mentioned, talking to everyone but speaking to Kagura's eyes.

"I tried to keep everyone from wandering off, but Millianna got away. We were lucky your men could find her before a slaver could," Kagura replied.

For some strange reason their commander's voices and the boring topic of their conversation seemed more like two lovers exchanging dialogue after a hectic battle. Hollis was waiting for the two of them to leap into each other's arms and proclaim how the battle could never have been won without their cooperative strategy.

Walking straight through the love birds, Hollis asked, "Yo, where's Kat and Sven? Colin ain't here either."

Isaac looked to have difficulty tearing his eyes away from Kagura's when he replied, "Katja will be retrieving Sabertooth tonight. She's over them and Blue Pegasus. Sven went to watch over her as soon as she left, and Colin… I actually have no clue."

"Colin's right here, Captain too Busy Drooling over Kagura to Notice Anything Else," Colin pronounced, walking through the love birds the same as Hollis had. Instead of looking at anything, his grey eyes were too busy memorizing every inch of skin on a nude model in his Play Spell magazine.

He stepped through before leaning his arm on Hollis's shoulder. Fire and Smoke shared a glance before Colin actually tucked his porno mag into his back pocket. Well, there was a first for everything. Colin never looked up from his reading material. "Greetings, those with feminine parts. My name is Colin Rydel. I'm the Gatekeeper of Lancet. Now, if you need me for anything, you can either buy me a drink or figure it out yourself. Adieu!" As soon as he turned on his heel to escape, Colin murmured, "You and Felix were right. They do come off as lesbians."

Instead of letting any more words pass between them, Hollis gave a confidant shrug. He'd met the Mermaid Heel girls before. Not a single one of these girls seemed like she was perfectly straight. Even though that wasn't a problem with Hollis because he wasn't looking to get laid during the Winter Games, it was always a problem with Colin. He loved the opposite sex for one reason—the sex. Actually started getting grumpy if he hadn't gotten laid in a few days. He was another person who Hollis was curious to see in love. He bet Colin turned into a lap dog.

As soon as Colin's body disappeared into a veil of smoke—likely going to visit one of his favorite clubs—Araña scoffed, "Nice guy. Must be a real charmer with the ladies."

Grinning, Hollis replied, "He's actually not that bad a guy. You'd probably understand why he's like that if you ever heard his story." Before anyone could ask just what Colin's story was, Hollis added, "So, are any of you interested in seeing what the Icere Lodges have to offer you all? We have until tomorrow morning for the games to begin, so we can do a quick tour."

A flash of what appeared to be guilt crossed both Kagura's and Isaac's faces. The two of them shared a glance that had Isaac reaching for his trench coat. Uh-huh. Hollis should have expected that much.

"It's been a while since the last time Kagura and I saw each other. I was hoping to take her to the top of Mt. Glacia," Isaac admitted, tossing her a glance with his purple eye.

The dark purple haired mage apparently agreed. She pulled her jacket closer around her body before taking a slow step backwards in her white boots. "Isaac's right. Also, we need to make sure that his eye is properly sealed so we don't get another incident like last time."

There was a slight shifting behind her back, likely Isaac taking her hand to lead her through the door. When the door opened to let in a gust of winter chill, the couple darted out before anyone could complain about their disappearance.

As soon as the door closed, Hollis and Millianna stated in unison, "They're leaving to go make out with each other." They shared a glance before glowering at each other.

"Well," Risley intoned, "I wouldn't mind a tour. I've heard a lot about this mountain range. There are a lot of amenities to be enjoyed."

"Hot springs!" Araña cried out. "I want to go to the hot springs!"

Felix cracked a grin then took his crimson cape off his body. The article that kept him warm was draped off a barstool before he revealed his leather armor. "Permit me to change, my sisters. Then, we can go to the hot springs."

When Felix left to go into the room he would share with Colin, Hollis realized he was alone with the rest of the Mermaid Heel women. He blinked in their general direction before Millianna hopped atop the pool table.

She had taken Hollis's jacket off, and was baring that skin once more. Even though Hollis understood what Felix meant about liking women who left something to the imagination, Millianna's attire was having the phoenix imagining all kinds of things about a girl wearing an outfit like that.

Cursing at himself, Hollis tried to get his head out of the gutter. He was a guy, one hundred percent, but he wasn't a hedonist like Colin. There should be no reason for him to be daydreaming about any woman—especially not when said woman was in danger. He needed to be alert and on call for anything that may decide to go bump in the night.

Hollis ran a hand through his spiky, crimson head of hair then flipped a barstool around. He straddled it before asking, "Do you ladies want to take this time to choose rooms and unpack? Felix won't be long, but you can at least pick a room."

"Great idea!" Millianna chirped. She dashed over to her suitcase. It was a typical case until one got a load of the giant Neo Neko on the front of it. Wasn't that a kid's show?

The cat had been styled after the Exceeds, and it was bright orange like a tabby. The suitcase even had a pair of cat ears sticking out on either side of it.

Hollis's feathers might as well have ruffled when Millianna bopped by. Just something about that woman got his wings up. Likely the fact that she was feline, and he was avian. She ate birds whereas he flew with them.

"Women's rooms are on the right side of the hall. Each room has an adjoining bathroom that leads to another room," Hollis explained, carefully watching Millianna.

She strolled right by Felix and Colin's room. Of course those guys didn't have their door closed. Felix was standing with only a pair of leather pants on, and Colin was leaned back on the bed with his Play Spell magazine laid out. As soon as the smoky eyed made caught sight of Millianna, he let loose a low whistle.

Giving him a roll of her eyes, Millianna barely even let her eyes linger on the massive, muscular frame of Felix before finding the door in front of Hollis and Sven's room. She opened it up. After checking everything out, she decided that it was fine for her tastes then dipped right inside.

Risley and Araña were next. Hollis would have assumed them to take a room together, but Risley found her way inside the room Katja would be staying in. Araña took the room across the hall from Isaac's bedroom. There were two rooming corridors in this lodge, but King Isaac had wanted everyone to be rather close to each other in case something did go wrong in the middle of the night. They even had an evacuation route planned in case Norman slavers and murderers got in the lodge. All the information was inside the pamphlet Hollis was currently thumbing through.

While everyone else was unpacking and getting changed, Hollis allowed Cinder to pull from his tattoo. The four foot tall bird perched herself on the counter top. When she wasn't on fire, she was a beautiful bird. Golden beak and eyes to match Hollis. Even her feathers matched Hollis's hair, but the similar colors stopped at the blue tail feathers that curled down the side of the wooden counter.

Cawing, Cinder demanded Hollis's attention, and he absentmindedly ran his fingers through Cinder's feathers. Bossy bird.

The two of them lazed about at the bar until Felix popped out from the hallway. He was still wearing his leather pants, but instead of wearing the rest of his armor, Felix had on a black button up with a dark collar folded around his brawny neck. Also, he still had on his boots. The man just couldn't go without some form of armor.

"Where's Giselle?" Hollis questioned, knowing the talkative blade would be on the master swordsman somewhere.

Tilting his head up, Hollis laid golden eyes on a silver sword dangling from Felix's earlobe. Yeah. Hollis knew it. The sword was forever with her master.

Felix pulled up a chair then straddled it the same as Hollis was doing. When Cinder cawed for him to pet her, the men traded hands. "I'm surprised you suggested a tour of the mountain range," Felix intoned.

"What can I say? The Lancet family did a number on my people skills. I'm actually social now," Hollis mentioned. He laid the emergency information pamphlet down on the counter then steadied a gaze on Felix. "Did Colin say anything about the man we'd captured?"

"Not a word. But, Isaac did let it slip that Katja would be taking part in the preliminary round tomorrow. It will be my turn to question the prisoner while you survey the city with the Magician's Alliance. Sven will be taking care of those partaking in the round, and Colin will be overseeing the arena."

Hollis nodded. "Looks like we all have our places, eh, brother?"

"Indeed," Felix agreed.

When feet padded inside of the living room, the guys looked up to their tourists. Thankful that Millianna was wearing a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt instead of her usual garb, Hollis rose up. Well, it appeared that the tour was about to begin.