Chapter 11

We ended up leaving a lot later in the day than I would have liked for one major reason: After the shock of Anna's poor business sense (and no, that was not a sentence I ever thought I'd have to utter) had worn off logic had kicked in, and we'd gone and sold the horse to make up funds to buy camels.

Yup, one horse had bought two camels. How, you may ask? Well, we'd sold the horse to a butcher. Turns out horse meat is considered a delicacy among some circles in Plegia, so we'd gotten quite a bit for the animal.

The camels themselves we got were young and fit, and I'd taken to calling them Patty and Selma. I wasn't sure if they were actually female or not, and I was too lazy to bend down and look.

Anna was less than impressed, but she'd brought this on herself, after all.

Grima just couldn't have cared less. She got to sleep in because of all this.

We eventually did leave, trundling out of the city gates pulled along by our new camels. Wrapped up in our brown and cream desert crossing robes, Anna and I perched on the bench at the front of the wagon, a small awning set up to keep the worst of the sun off of us. Grima was lounged out atop the barrels in the back of the tray, totally ignoring the heat and sun as she lay looking up at the passing sky.

"I understand the camels, but… was it really necessary to sell my horse to a butcher?" Anna asked plaintively.

I frowned, eying the city guards who were watching us leave far more attentively than I would have liked. Maybe I was just getting old and paranoid, though. I'd be keeping an eye on our surroundings non-stop now until we made it to the Capital, anyway.

"He gave us twice what the transport company offered," I pointed out absently. "That's two camels. Two camels is better in the desert than one horse."

"Yeah, but he could have at least waited until after we left to slit it's throat!" Anna groaned.

I gave her a pitying glance before going back to watching the desert. Admittedly, the butcher hadn't been particularly nice to deal with.

"I'm just upset that he didn't offer to share any," Grima added from the back of the wagon. "I've never eaten horse before. I'm honestly curious."

"You should move up under the awning with us, Raven," Anna said over her shoulder. "You're going to kill yourself laying out there."

Grima waved the comment away, scoffing.

"You pathetic humans may die in this heat, but I know the spell to maintain my body temperature in the desert," Grima said.

"Oh bullshit!" I snapped without looking. "Bitch, you'd better teach me that shit!"

"And spoil my fun?" Grima chuckled.

"You'll have to listen to me complain constantly," I warned her.

"How would that be any different to normal?" Grima deadpanned.

"Ooh, sick burn," I chuckled.

Anna glanced over at me, frowning a little.

"I will admit I'm not the only one suffering through this heat," she said.

"Hey, you brought this on yourself," I sniffed.

I made a face and hocked up a wad of dusty phlegm to spit on the road before pulling my scarf up over my nose and mouth. Already, the dusty Plegian atmosphere was bugging me, and I didn't want to take chances with my small supply of asthma vulneraries. It had been a long time since I'd needed one, but I hadn't lived this long by being careless. Anna watched me for a moment before doing the same, pulling her scarf tight around her crimson hair, too.

I gave a long sigh through my scarf, feeling the arid desert air already beginning to dry me out.

"Word of advice," I told Anna with a sideways glance. "Keep your mouth closed."

Grima snickered behind us as Anna huffed indignantly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Keep your mouth closed because it slows dehydration," I explained deadpan.

Anna went still.

"Oh," she said. "That's… good advice. Anything… else?"

"Drink slowly and in very small sips," I said. "And if you get hungry, only snack. Don't eat until you're full because your body uses more water to digest food the more there is to digest."

Anna nodded, her hand twitching as if she was fighting the urge to write this all down. I smirked and shook my head before looking back out over the sparse scrubland and resisting the urge to sigh.

It was gonna be a long trip.

A few days later, and we'd left the arid badlands behind us for the shimmering heat haze of the Nebaru Salt Flats, a wide stretch of land between oases' in Plegia's south-western corner that had once been part of the ocean floor millennia ago. We'd passed a few caravans of intrepid salt miners harvesting the Flats' namesake, but, with our precious cargo, had decided to steered well clear of them. I had made sure that Patty and Selma had drank the last oasis dry, because I knew that it would be at least three days of non-stop travel under the sun before we reached the next one. So far, the camels were doing great.

"Oh my god I want to die! Fuck this desert! Raven! Raven, I need you to kill me! I don't care how slow and painful it is, anything's better than slowly baking like this!"

… I, on the other hand, was fed up with the scenery.

On the cart behind me, Grima glanced up from the book she was reading, one of the small collection she'd picked up while we'd been separated while I'd been brooding (not moping) on the docks, and sighed through my nose.

"No, Ben, I won't kill you," she said, and I could almost literally hear her eyes rolling. "In fact, knowing that you're already suffering is making me want to keep you alive even more. Now stop interrupting my reading. I don't hear Anna complaining."

"Pretty sure her tongue dried out and got stuck to the roof of her mouth," I grumbled darkly.

"Not quite, but… pretty close," Anna admitted.

I cast a concerned glance at the young merchant before going back to the ocular murder that was trying to watch the shimmering, bright desert around us.

Anna was nowhere near as fit as me. Grima had the stupid body temperature regulation spell, and I was rocking the New Game Plus stats, so while I was tired and miserable, I was admittedly coping alright with this crossing. Anna, on the other hand, didn't have either of those things, and I was starting to get worried about her. I'd noticed she was slowing down the last couple of days, not eating as much and actually nodding off in the driver's seat. And that was all before we even hit the salt flats.

In short, I think this was Anna's first desert crossing. We definitely weren't doing her any favors going hardcore mode right off the bat.

"How you doing over there, kid?" I asked over my shoulder.

"I'm dreadfully bored, these books are terrible," Grima sighed.

"Not you," I snapped. "But reading in such strong direct sunlight is going to ruin your eyesight."

Grima huffed and clapped her book closed, glaring at me out of the corner of her eye. This got a weak chuckle out of Anna, but not much else. After a few more moments of silence she looked down, deflating a little.

"Would you be disappointed if I said I wasn't coping well?" she asked quietly.

"I'd be more surprised if you were," Grima drawled.

I nodded my agreement, taking the canteen out of my pouch and holding it out to her without looking away from the desert.

"Here," I said. "I'll survive until we hit the next oasis tomorrow. Drink in small sips. And if you have to pee afterwards, hold it in. No use wasting water."

"I still have water, thank you," Anna huffed, taking the canteen anyway.

"And now you have more," I said. "I should have known this would be too hard for you right off the bat. At least it'll build character. Drink. Slowly."

My canteen was still more than half-full; I'd been rationing like a motherfucker because I had been expecting something like this. When Anna didn't reply immediately, I quirked a brow, but just as I turned to look back, I heard the tell-tale sound of the canteen top coming off.

"Thank you," Anna rasped quietly.

When the young redhead pulled her scarf down to drink, I got my first good look at her in a few days, and what I saw wasn't exactly confidence inspiring. Her lips were dry and chapped, her skin sallow and dry, dark rings around her eyes. She looked like crap, but to her credit she followed my advice and drank slowly in small sips, a little more life returning to her movements already. After a few minutes of sipping, she put the cap back on the canteen and set it down between us, and just as she moved to pull her scarf back up I caught her licking her lips.

"I know it's hard to fight the urge, but don't lick your lips," I told her, my tone gentler than it had been before. "It just makes them worse, and it wastes the body's water."

Anna nodded, her eyes crinkling in a smile.

"All this desert knowledge is impressive," Anna said. "I feel like I'm finally getting my money's worth out of our deal."

I shrugged. "Well, it is too hot to train you…"

"You pick up this kind of thing marching across a country and then breeding with one of the locals," Grima said conversationally.

Anna practically jumped as she turned to look at me in shock.

"You're a father!?" she asked.

"Hey! Slow movements! Don't waste your energy like that," I chided, shaking my head.

I turned to glare at Grima behind me, who was watching e curiously. I spoke without breaking eye contact with her, to make sure the point got across.

"And I was a father. That was… a different lifetime, though."

Grima blinked owlishly at the statement, silently digesting what I'd told her, Anna shifting awkwardly beside me as I went back to watching the desert.

"Sorry," Grima said. "That was tactless."

"I'll say," Anna muttered.

Grima couldn't help but snicker at that, shaking her head.

"I think I liked you better dehydrated," the older woman said playfully.

We lapsed into silence then, each of us alone with our own thoughts. I found myself dwelling on something I'd been trying to avoid thinking on since respawning here, and that was my children.

How in god's name was I going to explain my current predicament to Noire and Morgan? "Oh, sorry kids, I'm fucking the enemy that burned your world to ashes while the two of us try to start a new life. Hope you don't mind." Yeah, because that'd go down really well with my girls…

Of course, given that we had pretty much established multiverse theory at this point it could be okay. Who was to say that Morgan, or even Noire, too, wouldn't be Grima's children?

…

Wait, what did I just…

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

I screamed, grabbing the sides of my head and hunching over on the bench seat. Both of the women with me jumped almost a foot in the air in shock, my shout echoing in the desert around us.

"What!? What's wrong!?" Anna asked quickly.

I spun in my seat, glaring at Grima.

"I just imagined procreating with you!" I shouted, my tone accusatory.

Grima's eyes became as wide as saucers, and she went utterly still. Beside me Anna looked back and forth between us, even the camels looking back at the stupid human shouting behind them.

"Would that really be so… reprehensible?" Grima asked slowly, sounding less hurt and more genuinely curious.

"Stop," I growled. "Think about it. Then see if you can ask me that again."

She blinked a few more times, her head tilting a little as she began to process this thought, until finally…

"Pfft…" she snorted, before bursting into a fit of full-blown belly laughter.

"That… that… that would b-be so… so wrong!" she practically shouted between peals of laughter. "C-can… can you i-imagine… imagine the look on the… the princess' face!?"

I huffed, spinning back in my seat to face forward and crossing my arms.

"I'm glad you think it's funny," I grumbled.

"It's… hilarious!" Grima laughed.

"How would that even work?" I asked over my shoulder. "Are you even capable of bearing children?"

"I don't know," Grima admitted, quieting a little. "I'm sure that if I put my mind to it I could probably spawn, but… heh heh… oh, the mental image of the Princess' face is going to make me laugh for days!"

We lapsed back into silence then, me brooding as I watched the desert, Grima occasionally snickering behind me as Anna just sighed and shook her head.

"You two are so damn weird," the merchant said eventually.

The question of weather or not Grima was capable of breeding like a normal human was answered the evening before we reached the oasis with a startled shout.

We'd stopped for the night in the shallow valley of what had once been a deep- sea trench, and I'd thrown a tarp over the wagon and the camels like a big tent for camouflage. It wouldn't fool anyone during the day, but there was no moon right now, so I was confident it would do the job during the night. I was at the front of the wagon, minding my own business and making sure Patty and Selma were comfortably secured for the cold desert night, when Grima started screaming.

"What the fuck is this!?"

"What!? What's wrong!?" I asked, perking up.

I was confident that Grima could handle anything that could possibly come our way better than even I could, but-

"Oh? Oh! Uh… yeah, Ben, you don't wanna come over here," Anna added helpfully.

I froze in my tracks at the side of the wagon, brow furrowed in confusion.

"What? Why? What's-"

"Secret women's business!" Anna barked. "Go sit with the camels!"

"What? Really?" I asked in confusion.

"You are not seriously asking that!" Anna snapped. "Get lost and give us some privacy!"

I blinked a few times before shaking my head and moving back to the camels, catching Grima muttering "This shouldn't even be possible…" before I was out of earshot. I stopped next to one of the camels, I couldn't tell which in the dark, and stroked it's neck a few times as we waited. I scoffed and shook my head.

"Well, that answers that question," I muttered to the beast, thinking about the conversation we'd had earlier that day.

The camel just kinda looked at me and made that weird, low honking sound that they made as it shifted closer to its partner, both of them bundling up next to each other in preparation for the nightly temperature drop.

Grima and Anna made their reappearance eventually, Grima fidgeting uncomfortably under the desert robes we'd procured as Anna pranced right up to me and slapped me in the back of the head.

"You have no delicacy!" she accused.

I rolled my eyes as she began to root through the rations we'd brought, searching for some of the dried fruits and nuts we'd been subsisting off, using and used the opportunity to drift over to Grima's side.

"Congratulations, you're a big girl now," I smirked.

"I'm the Fell Dragon," Grima growled under her breath. "I'm worshipped as a god. I don't have… 'monthly cycles'!"

"Grima may not have," I shrugged. "But, apparently 'Raven' does. Congrats, you're human. Come on, you were in that body for nearly four years before shit kicked off, are you seriously telling me-"

"I was in magically induced hibernation most of the time I was in the past!? Yes, this did not happen before!" Grima seethed, gesturing at Anna. "This… this is humiliating! That child thinks I'm some sort of moron that can't take care of herself now!"

"Well, I mean, it's a little late, sure, but it was still your first?" I tried.

"Idiot! I have all of Robin's memories! I know what to do!" Grima practically whisper-snarled. "I was just surprised!"

Again, because it was dark and there was no moon it was kinda hard to tell, but I was pretty sure Grima was blushing very heavily right now.

"Why are you so embarrassed by this?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Periods happen. They're part of life. Big whoop. I've seen enough blood already that a few more drops ain't gonna gross me out."

"I'm embarrassed because… I… I…" Grima seemed to shrink in on herself, trembling a little before answering in a voice so soft I hardly heard her. "I ruined my favorite pants."

I tried not to, I really did, but I couldn't help snorting and bursting out into hushed laughter as Grima began indignantly swearing at me.

Once she was done chewing me out, she stomped over to where Anna was doing her best to ignore us and plomped her ass down right next to the redhead. Both women leaned back against one of the camels' flanks, wrapping themselves under a single blanket to share as much body warmth as possible. I still had a big grin on my face as I began to walk away from the small campsite, leaving the girls to their rest.

Me? I'd been taking the night watch since our journey started.

Not because I wanted to, but because Anna didn't want to cuddle with me.

It was easier to stay warm while I was awake to keep moving.

Plus, it was less painful to sleep for a few hours during the afternoon when it was hottest than to try and keep watch.

Even if it would have been nice to snuggle up with Grima on one side and Anna on the other…

A man can dream, can't he?

As I stared out into the empty, lonely desert I heaved a long sigh, regretting it instantly as I felt my mouth dry out.

"Maybe I should consider that harem route after all…" I muttered to myself.

The next day was just as oppressively hot as the last, the entire world a wavy haze as we slowly trundled across the hard-packed sand. Outwardly, I was as cool and collected as I had been since entering the desert, but inside, a familiar ball of dread was beginning to form in the pit of my stomach and had been for a few days now.

We'd been travelling what we had been told was a busy trade route through the desert for nearly a week now, and, aside from the salt miners, we hadn't seen any other travellers. No merchant convoys, no lonely peddlers, no bandits or even local nomad tribes. Nothing.

Never a good sign.

Bearing in mind that the war between Ylisse and Plegia was supposed to be kicking off soon, I feel like I was being reasonably nervous about all this.

"It's hot…" Anna groaned.

"Ayep," I drawled.

"I see now why none of my sisters wanted to go to Plegia," she went on.

"Admittedly, I never wanted to come back here, either," I sighed.

It was still fairly early in the morning, so I was still on lookout duty; I wouldn't go into siesta mode until we stopped to break for lunch. I turned my head, slowly scanning the horizon like I had been all week, stopping when I spotted something. It was easy to get tricked by mirages in the hazy, wavering flats where we were, so I hadn't been paying any distant shapes any mind unless they didn't go away for a few hours. But this… this rose above the heat haze.

A column of smoke rose up into the sky, which was weird in the desert where there was painfully little fuel to burn in a fire. It wasn't a huge column, more like a small tendril of dark grey snaking its way up into the clear blue sky, but it was noticeable enough that it put me on edge.

As if sensing my sudden wariness, Grima moved forward atop the barrels to lean against my shoulder.

"Cooking fire?" she suggested.

"Maybe an old one," I muttered. "I don't think anyone's stupid enough to try to light a fire in the middle of the desert during the day."

"Why would that be stupid?" Anna asked curiously.

"Because you could cook meat just by leaving it out in the sun," I scoffed.

I watched the smoke for any breaks or changes in consistency, thinking it might have been some kind of local smoke signal, but there was no difference after a few minutes.

None of the local nomads would be dumb enough to light a fire if they weren't sending smoke signals. None of the bandits would be stupid enough to waste resources making a fire in the middle of the day in the desert. Which really only left one possibility, and it was one I was in a huge hurry to avoid; the Plegian army.

I shook my head, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor.

"Bring us further east, we'll give whatever that is a wide berth," I instructed Anna.

"That'll add at least another day onto the trip!" Anna complained.

"It's better than the alternative," I shrugged.

"And what's that?" Anna sulked.

"Potential death, rape and loss of product," I stated plainly.

Anna actually shuddered under her robes at that last one. Not surprising that it was the one that got her attention…

"The water won't go tepid that fast," I soothed. "Plus, this way you can argue for compensation due to risk factors-"

"Well, geez, why didn't you open with that," Anna interrupted.

As she spoke, she yanked the reins to the side, Patty and Selma slowly changing direction as we continued to trundle onwards. I kept an eye on the smoke in the distance as we went on, and, though she was trying to look nonchalant about it, I could tell Grima was, too. After maybe an hour of vigilant silence, Anna apparently snapped. I say this because we'd been travelling mostly in silence so far, but now I apparently couldn't get her to shut up.

"So what are you two going to the Capital for, anyway?" she asked.

"Tourism," I deadpanned.

"We're going to get a feel for the current mood of the ruling class," Grima explained.

"Are you two, like, Ylissean spies or something?" Anna asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Gods, no!" Grima snorted. "Do the markings carved onto my face really make you think Ylissean spy?"

"Well, I mean, he could be," Anna shrugged, pointing at me.

"While I did, at one point, work for the Exalt and House Ylisse, I no longer have any ties to them or the nation as a whole," I explained slowly. "Only person I'm interested in working for anymore is myself, and occasionally Raven."

"Aw, you say the nicest things," Grima cooed.

"Not that all this bonding isn't fun and all," I said with a small backwards glance, "But what we're doing in the Capital really isn't anyone's…"

I trailed off, eyes snapping wide open and body going rigid as a shadow zipped past the front of the wagon. I leaned out from under the awning, looking up into the dazzlingly bright sky, cursing myself a fool. Bandits and local tribes were ground-dwelling, much like we currently were, but that didn't mean there weren't any fliers in Plegia. It just meant that they were very rare.

Made almost exclusively to combat Ylisse's Royal Order of Pegasus Knights, the Plegian Aerial Corps were an eclectic mish-mash of wyvern, pegasai and even a couple of gryphon riders, a small and elite unit that answered directly to the king. Because only Gangrel would be arrogant enough to try to combat Ylisse where their true strength was; in the air.

And of course Gangrel would send them to fly overwatch for the recruitment drives to make sure none of the conscripts got away. Of course they would get bored and go harass everyone anyone and anyone everyone around them. I was an idiot for thinking our path wouldn't cross with Plegia's army's when they were literally planning to go to war.

And here we were, three idiots that were all clearly very foreign in an ultra-nationalist country gearing up to go to war.

Five shadows were circling the wagon now, and I squinted in the glare, unable to get a good look at any of them. Beside me, even Anna had noticed them now, and had gone tense.

"Don't panic," I told her. "Keep the camels going at the same pace. If these guys won't listen to reason, just keep going and leave them to me."

"While that does sound suitably heroic for a man defending two women, I feel I should remind you that you are unarmed," Grima pointed out.

I shot her a grin as I pulled the scarf off my head, revealing a few days' worth of spiky stubble on the top of my head.

"I am the weapon," I told her unflinchingly.

To which Grima groaned and rolled her eyes.

I chuckled a little as the flying shapes began to descend in a tighter circle, the tension broken now. I mean, Anna was shaking like a leaf, and the camels were beginning to get a little unsettled, but I was good to go. Which was probably a good thing, given the fact I'd be doing all the work here.

I slid to the edge of the bench seat, making sure my legs were free and my robes were loose enough that I could throw them off if it came to a fight.

"Slowly come to a stop," I told Anna. "We don't wanna look like we're frightened of these idiots."

"I am frightened of these idiots!" Anna hissed, gently pulling the reins in.

"Don't be," Grima yawned. "Only sending five to deal with the two of us is almost insulting."

"In their defense, they didn't know we were here," I chuckled.

"Are you two sure you're not spies?" Anna asked, her voice shaking.

"Sweetie, shhh," I said condescendingly. "Let the grown- ups handle this."

"I hope they stab you," she muttered darkly.

"They just might," I scoffed in return.

I leapt to the ground as soon as the wagon rolled to a stop, almost in sync with the fliers touching down in a loose circle around us. A large, tattered-looking wyvern had come to a stop at the front of the wagon, and was currently eying our two camels hungrily. A rather neat-looking man in off-red fatigues and bronze armor sat atop the beast, a long-hafted axe resting against one pauldron as he glared down at me. I had to smirk at the pathetic attempt he'd made to grow a moustache.

The other four riders were nothing exciting, either. Three tired-looking pegasai and one juvenile wyvern that looked only days old enough to be carrying a rider. The wyvern's rider looked as green as his mount, barely more than a boy. The three pegasus riders looked a little older, but the young women clearly hadn't seen much action, either; they were probably only kept around as eye-candy.

"I don't want to hear it," the man said, cutting off whatever excuse he thought I was about to give. "We are representatives from the Plegian army. Give us whatever's in the barrels and the women, and you can keep the camels."

"No," I said lightly.

"I wasn't asking," the wyvern rider said.

"I'm not changing my answer," I shrugged.

I glared back at the man, trying to ignore the prickling feeling of the sun burning away at my unprotected scalp. He was, if memory served, the boss from the mission to rescue Maribelle. Orton, I think his name was.

Orton's wyvern hissed at me, sensing the tension in the air. The man atop it shrugged, smiling lazily.

"Fine," he said. "Kill him. Take the rest."

One of the pegasus riders darted forward, its rider clearly in a hurry to make a name for herself. I stepped aside, pulling off my robes in a spinning flourish and draping them over the pegasus' face as it passed. For good measure, I slapped the beast on the ass as it passed, and the flying horse took off like a shot almost straight up. The other three riders stared slack-jawed at me, standing shirtless now in the middle of the desert, grinning at them as I pointedly flexed my muscles. Behind me a terrified scream grew louder, eventually cutting off as the rider of the first pegasus fell to her death on the desert floor.

Inwardly I winced, but my confident exterior didn't waver. Technically I hadn't been the one that killed her. Wasn't my fault she couldn't hold onto her saddle.

"Next?" I said.

"Idiots!" Orton blustered. "Kill him!"

The younger wyvern came forward next, hissing and spitting as its rider tried desperately to keep control of the creature. It reared back on its long neck, preparing to bite at me even as it threw its rider off balance-

My fist lashed out, punching the young wyvern clear across the face and turning it to the side, the poor beast spitting out pathetic little tendrils of flame as it reeled. The Its shocked twitch of the beast actually unseated the young rider, and before he could get up he found my boot on his throat as I calmly bent down to pick up his dropped lance. As the juvenile wyvern took off into the sky, I brought the tip of his lance down in the rider's shoulder. He gave a strangled scream, and I drew back my foot to kick him across the face, knocking him out and leaving him impaled on his own spear.

"That's two now," I said. "Wanna take the hint, or keep going?"

There was a startled yelp and a familiar stink of ozone and cooked blood as a small blast of dark magic spooked one of the other pegasus riders away from the back of the wagon. The rider clenched her burned shoulder with a withering glare at Grima, her mount prancing nervously away from the wagon with singed fur.

"Three," Grima corrected me lazily, still lounging atop the barrels. "And very unsporting like, trying to ambush us as hostages."

I turned to look at the last healthy pegasus rider, her face almost as pale as the sand around us as she looked to Orton for orders. The wyvern rider, too, was at a loss for words, blinking in shock at the fact that a previously unarmed man had just taken out two of his riders, and his female traveling companion had stopped another without even sitting up.

"You…" Orton blustered, seemingly at a loss.

And why wouldn't he be? Some lone travellers not only refusing his orders under the authority of the King, but also making his squad look like fools? I'd be pissed, too.

"Ben, darling, you have my permission to kill him if he doesn't go away in the next thirty seconds," Grima called. "There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity, and if he doesn't take this hint, then you may as well do the gene pool a favor."

I just grinned, my shoulders hunching as I lowered my head slightly. I was coiled tight, like a spring, and if this asshole didn't leave…

"Idiots! Must I do everything myself!?" Orton snarled, urging his wyvern forward.

I sighed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes, dropping into a ready stance as the larger reptile surged forward. Fortunately, I was well-used to a certain other wyvern's 'cuddles', and knew exactly how to step to avoid the creature's bulk. I ducked and pivoted around the wyvern's wing, reaching up and catching Orton's belt, digging in my heels and yanking him back as the wyvern charged out from underneath him. The Plegian yelped as he fell to the dirt, losing his grip on his axe as his head bounced off the dusty ground. Being the helpful, considerate man I was, I picked it up for him and buried the head in the dirt next to his face.

Orton yelped, flipping onto his back and shuffling away from me, out towards the desert. Behind me, I heard the wyvern hiss again.

"You know, you strike me as the kind of guy that's not very nice to his mount," I commented idly. "He looks real hungry, too. And here's you without your axe for him to chew on…"

I glanced over my shoulder, grinning at the wyvern as I stepped aside.

"How about it boy? Hungry?" I asked the creature theatrically.

Another hiss from the wyvern as it lowered its head and raised its hackles. Only now it was glaring at the defenceless Orton.

"Sic 'em," I urged.

As the wyvern charged forward, I tossed my borrowed axe aside, not even blinking as Orton's terrified scream was cut off by a loud, meaty crunch. The remaining three riders, including the wounded, now-conscious young wyvern rider, were bunched up now in terror, their mounts instinctively shying away from me and the feasting predator behind me.

"Well, that was fun," I said, clapping my hands. "Do me a favor? Tell your CO that Orton slipped off his saddle or something, please? Because if I see any of you again, I will kill you next time."

One of the pegasus riders nodded quickly, her lip quivering. The other one was staring ashen-faced at the mess that Orton's wyvern was making of it's former master. The kid was just glaring at me, hand pressed to his bleeding shoulder, eyes filled with that reckless courage that only youth can bring.

"Forget it, kid," I called as I went back to the wagon. "I'll be a lot less gentle next time. Get lost, the lot of you."

There was a blast of downdraft as the remaining three riders lifted off all at once, leaving me once more alone with my traveling companions. As soon as the enemy were was gone, I let a grin rise to my lips, chuckling a little and shaking my head.

"God I love new game plus stats," I snickered to myself.

Without another word I climbed up into the seat next to Anna, the redheaded merchant looking at me with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"What?" I asked, quirking a brow.

"Who the hell are you two?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"The devil and her friend," I smirked. "Now, shall we continue before I burn to a crisp? Raven, can you toss me my bag? Looks like I'm stuck with the regular clothes after all…"

"It's not all bad," Raven said, passing me my bag with a coquettish grin. "You throwing your robes off like that had my lady parts all a quiver."

"Ugh, that's enough of that," Anna groaned, whipping the reins and urging the camels on.