Chapter 291: Light in the Dark

Jadis sat by the campfire, her three bodies surrounding it from three different angles. She was alone, up for a mid-shift night watch at the end of their first day back on the road after having left the Dryad grove. Sitting without others around gave her time to think, a private moment that she needed.

She stared into the flames, quietly contemplating what was likely to come in the days ahead. There were many things that Jadis would have to deal with once they got back to Far Felsen. Stavros and his Reavers would have to be turned over to the law and she would have to fulfil her promise to put in a good word for them. She’d have to find a way to make sure Sorcha was remanded to Fortune’s Favored as well, or if that wasn’t possible at least to a place that would make Sabina happy. Then there was the testimony she would no doubt have to give about what she had witnessed down in the mines under the mountain. It was bad fortune that Jonas had been killed and Willa had lost his direct testimony, but everyone else who had seen what had happened in those tunnels would still serve as a great deal of incrimination. Where that went as far as General Egilhard went, she couldn’t guess, but she was sure the man’s involvement in her life wouldn’t end so easily.

There was also her mercenary company to consider. She had been told by Vraekae that she needed more members. It seemed that Tegwyn would be filling one of those vacant positions, and Sorcha might well fill the other. However, even if both worked out, Jadis felt like she couldn’t leave it there. While her strength had grown tremendously over the past few weeks, as had the strength of her companions, she had seen enough battles by that point to know that it wasn’t just individual power that would carry the day to victory. She also needed adequate numbers to make sure that all of her flanks were covered and her more vulnerable companions protected. She couldn’t do it all alone, even with three bodies. That realization meant that she would have to open up the doors of her guild to more people than Sorcha and Tegwyn. She wasn’t sure how that was going to work out with her explicitly sexual class. Jadis knew that new members certainly didn’t have to participate in any of her rituals; Tegwyn certainly wouldn’t be. But they would still have to know about them, and they would have to be people that Jadis was comfortable with not only knowing about all the sex, but also potentially standing guard while she and her lovers were occupied. They’d also have to be the kind of people who wouldn’t get jealous or demand more if they weren’t the sort that Jadis was attracted to. Finding mercenaries that fit the confined criteria that Jadis was looking for would not be easy.

Jadis couldn’t even begin to think about what would go into their eventual trip to the imperial capital. She had no clue what kind of trouble could be stirred up by her arriving in a place populated with High Priests, Princes, the Emperor, and who knows how many political sycophants. Plus, there was the possibility that if she went to the capital that she might run into a person of true significance to her D-given mission on Oros: the Hero. She barely knew a thing about him other than he was, indeed, a man and was human. His class, his level, his personality, and pretty much everything else about the man was unknown to her. She’d never given him much thought since, in her mind, he was a distant figure with no direct impact on her. But in truth, that was a short-sighted view for her to have taken. The Hero was integral to the never-ending cycle that Oros was caught up in, just as much as the Demon Lord was. Whatever she did to shake the status quo would without doubt prompt some kind of response from a man who was chosen by the gods in a way not all that dissimilar from her own circumstances.

Thinking about her promised goal of disrupting the cycle for D’s amusement sent Jadis’ mind wondering about the one thing she’d purposefully done since her arrival on Oros that could truly be considered a start to that ambition. Alex.

She had never found her little demonling, nor any sign of the Reaver, Eike, that Alex had attacked to protect Sabina. The blood bitch’s body had vanished, same as Alex, with no trace but a short track to an empty clearing in the woods. Jadis wanted to find the demon, if for no other reason than to lavish it with praise for saving the life of one of her friends. But she also wanted to continue her attempts at communication with the demonling. She didn’t doubt the evil nature of the demons that she had been slaying for months now, not when she’d experienced so much malevolent destruction caused by them. But Alex hadn’t been violent. The little demon had protected her lovers on multiple occasions, had been open to ideas of communication, and had even shown the capacity for something as altruistic as trying to cheer Jadis up when she had been injured and in a foul state of mind. That could mean that demons weren’t inherently evil, but that it was instead a choice that they made to do the horrible things that they did.

Considering what Jadis had learned from Jack and Yorath about the instinctual pull that the gods could give their chosen children, Jadis had to think Samleos’ influence was playing a role in how the demons behaved. Of course, if Samleos was pulling all the strings when it came to the demons and their behavior, that just prompted more questions. Such as: why wasn’t Alex cruel and violent like the rest of its kin?

“Thinking that hard isn’t good for keeping watch.”

Jadis didn’t look up from the fire. While her senses weren’t as good as Noll’s, she had three different sets of ears to work with. She had heard the old wolf coming. Not that she felt she had a chance of hearing him if he didn’t want to be heard. She was sure she would need some kind of sense enhancement skill to catch the master mercenary.

“I’m paying attention,” Jay said as she shifted over on her log slightly, making room for Noll to sit by her. “I’ve got plenty of attention to spread around.”

“More than most,” Noll grunted as he sat heavily on the log.

“Can’t sleep?” Syd asked, glancing at the therion.

“My watch is soon enough,” he grumbled.

As she watched, Noll pulled a silver chain from one of his pockets. From it dangled a pendant with a bright yellow jewel that matched his eyes. He held it up before the fire, the light reflecting off of the gemstone in a way that hinted at something beyond the natural.

“That’s what Yorath gave you, isn’t it?” Dys asked. “What’s it do? I didn’t hear what he said.”

“Don’t know.”

Dys raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No,” Noll shook his furry head. “He didn’t know either. It has strong magic in it. You can feel it. But its use is unknown. I’ll have to get it checked by someone with a strong identification skill. Very strong.”

If Yorath hadn’t been capable of determining the trinket’s enchantment, Jadis couldn’t guess who would be. Maybe there were specialists who had hyper-focused identification methods? If there were, she was sure that Noll would have to go back to the capital to find such a person.

“Kind of seems like a bad gift if he doesn’t even know what it does,” Syd pointed out with an amused huff. “What if it makes all the hair fall off your body when you put it on?”

“That’s why I’m not putting it on,” Noll said dryly. “Never put enchanted items on that you haven’t already identified.”

All of Jadis smirked at the advice. She’d already learned that lesson well from when Sabina had accidentally bespelled her with an enchanted armlet. Where had that item gone, anyway? She’d have to ask if she remembered later.

“Well, hopefully it isn’t just a hair removal charm,” Syd shrugged. “And if it is, I hope you can get a good price for it.”

Noll examined the jewel for a moment longer before tucking it away with a mild grunt.

“Anything so hard to identify will fetch a high price, regardless of its use.”

“Even if it does just remove hair?”

“It’s not for hair removal,” Noll barked at her, his ears flicking back in annoyance.

“Fine, fine,” all three of Jadis responded, holding up their hands. “I’m sure it’s very powerful.”

“But if it is for hair removal, I demand a cut of the sale price for calling it,” Syd added with a smirk.

They continued watching the fire together in companionable silence for a while before a noise and movement out of the corner of her eye caught Jadis’ attention. She could see movement from the soldiers’ tents as a couple of dark forms roused themselves. Noll had been right; it was time to change shifts.

As she got to her many feet and wished the old wolf a good night, she was stopped when he softly called out to her.

“Don’t overburden yourself with responsibility,” Noll growled. “Too many young pups think leading the pack means doing everything on their own. It’s a harsh lesson life teaches them when they find out they can’t.”

“I know,” Jay answered as she looked over her shoulder with a grin. “I have friends and lovers to lean on. And a grumpy old teacher, too.”

With that, Jadis parted ways with her often put upon mentor and headed for the wagon-tent. She hadn’t bothered wearing her armor for the night watch, so she quietly slipped inside without disturbing any of her companions.

The tent was silent and dark. It was almost impossible to see anything even with the light of the camp’s bonfire bleeding through the tarp walls. Her companions were all clustered together on the blankets, bundled up in a warm pile that no doubt prevented any of winter’s chill from getting to them. Unwilling to disturb their slumber, Jadis laid down on the outer edges of the pile, her three bodies encircling the people she cared most deeply about in all the world.

She couldn’t even tell which woman was which with how dark it was, but Jadis pressed her selves up against those on the outer edges, wrapping strong arms around them. While she couldn’t see them, she could tell by touch that her hands had found Aila, Kerr, and Bridget. Small sleepy moans were the responses she got from them as she embraced the three. Smiling to herself, Jadis happily let her mind drift off as she fell into a deep sleep.

It seemed like no time had passed at all when a gentle touch roused her. Blinking sleepily, Jadis’ mind took a moment to orient as a tired fog clouded her awareness. At first, she thought that she was being woken at dawn, as was the standard for being on the road. However, her groggy brain soon realized that it was still just as dark as when she had gone to sleep, and her companions were all still sleeping as well.

Well, not all, it seemed. A gentle but insistent hand was worming its way into Dys’ pants.

Dys smiled, letting her unseeing eyes close as she enjoyed the sensation of one of her lovers toying with her body. She was fairly certain that she’d gone to sleep while spooning Kerr, which the insatiable archer had no doubt taken as an invitation for some nighttime fun. She was content to let her lover have her way and made no attempt to respond, at least not just yet. Dys relaxed as she lay on her back, feeling the weight and warmth of her girlfriend pressing down on her from above. A strong hand stroked the base of her slowly engorging length, teasing Jadis in a way that heated her chest.

While one hand was busy with her cock, Kerr’s other hand made its way up Jadis’ stomach and chest. Dys was still wearing a shirt, so Kerr had wormed her hand under the material to touch Dys directly. As she moved up, dragging her hands across her pale flesh to cup her left breast, she bunched Dys’ shirt up and exposed her torso to the chill air.

Just as Dys let out an involuntary shiver, Kerr began stroking across her stomach and chest with warm fingers, practically massaging her with her firm touch. At the same time, lips pressed lightly against Dys’ lips in a kiss that Jadis was hard pressed to call anything other than chaste. Dys basked in the continued sensation of being stroked and massaged for a moment longer before she registered what she was truly feeling. Hands were on her stomach, on her chest, and on her cock. That seemed to be a few too many hands for just Kerr.

Had someone else woken up with her therion lover and decided to join in on the fun? Jadis didn’t think she’d heard or felt anyone else stir, but clearly, she had missed something. Curious to know who had decided to join Kerr in her lecherous behavior, Dys opened her eyes to see which of her lovers had just kissed her.

An inky black abyss hovered inches away from her face, the featureless void broken only by three neon-blue eyes blazing brightly in the dark.

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