Chương 960: Day Nine Hundred And Fifty-Eight

Dear Diary, The trap yesterday is absolutely what I did not need. Seriously, it was one of those things that I hadn't really thought about, not seriously, and it popped off and injured not me, but one of the people nominally under my protection. They're supposed to lead me to the threats, then I'm supposed to eliminate them. That's how this is supposed to go, but I've been increasingly worried that the Spartans wouldn't follow the script. Or that the Fates had relapsed and given in to their pernicious crack habit.

As I went on about at length yesterday. Then that fuckin' trap almost killed Panther. Not like I'd let him stay dead. I mean, if he died and didn't want to stay dead. For all I know, he'd have gone directly to whatever afterlife his people believe in. Unless it's someplace like Tartarus, I can't see where it could be significantly worse than here and now. Okay, Saffron and Tallulah and the Grand Council and...

Okay, a not inconsiderable number of the most competent people in the Alliance are working to make here and now better for everybody, not just a short list of 'special people'. I guess that's one Change that I can fully get behind. But if he wanted to stay dead, because his people's afterlife is wall to wall hookers and blow or whatever gets his rocks off...

Sonofabitch, Panther is definitely a guy, and Siobhan isn't into guys, so I'm really not fuckin' sure how I'd deal with both of them in my Bedroom for the remainder of eternity. Okay, I do know, and the answer is 'as gently as I could until they asked me to stop being gentle' or something similar, but housing two Souls in a fairly small space seems, I dunno, cruel.

I made space for Isnomi's new Swamp Dragon in the stables, I sure as shit ought to be able to make space for two quiet thirsty thirst traps in my Bedroom. Now I feel a little guilty about comparing the Souls of actual Human Adjacent people to fuckin' Dragons of dubious sapience. Now that I think about it though, both of them are kind of, y'know, quiet. He's not the sort to force himself on a woman who wasn't interested. Shit, I kinda had to set down big flashing signs to convince him it was okay.

I mean, yeah, I thought he was a little bonkers to want me at my most scarred up and unhealed when he could have Saffron or Marie, but he was polite about the whole thing. Meanwhile Siobhan's got nothing against men as, like, conversational partners. I don't think. Maybe she's sort of shy with them?

it's not like she's really physically capable of defending herself, although between 'Being An Archmage' and 'Weaponized Stabilize', I'd be a little disappointed if she didn't tase the fuck out of some asshole trying to lay hands on her. But if they both want that as their afterlife, maybe I'll steal some more board games, or another DVD player or something. I am, after all, easily distracted, and wind up with completely reasonable distractions on the regular. Like missing my fuckin' Revel last night.

Remembered that a little after midnight. As we've been doing, we kept going a few hours after dark, right up until midnight. Marie marked a tree, we stepped to the Homestead, scarfed down some protein heavy, easy to eat stuff, which today meant sort of soft meatballs in beef gravy over rice, then hit the Bath for a soak before bedtime. At the door to the hunter's bedroom, I took Panther by the shoulders and pressed my forehead to his.

"I'm sorry about today, man." He smiled grimly up at me.

"Do not sorrow, Goddess. Those who have lost themselves to such bestial acts must be put down, are worth risking life and limb to stop." I kissed him on the forehead. Then shrugged, tilted his head, and kissed him on the lips.

"I'm so proud of you, Panther. I'm a little in awe that you chose me as Patron," he blanched a little and his two buddies gave him a bit of side eye. Which I responded to immediately, saying, "even though it's not the normal thing for your people to do something like that. You took that risk for me, and I will do everything I can to be a worthy Patron for you." He smiled shyly, then sighed.

"I need sleep."

"You do." Then I leaned my mouth next to his ear.

"You're gonna need even more when we're done celebrating catching and ending these fuckers." With that I spun him around, propelled him into the hunter's guess room with a gentle shove on the tush, and stepped to the bedroom. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Saffron looked up at me, smiling muzzily.

"To the Bedroom with you, Goof." I leaned down.

"After this." I kissed her, wrapping her in arms and tentacles and gently lifting her up until I could just stand there, lip to lip, tongue to tongue. hands and tentacle tips exploring her topography from the nape of her neck to the crack of her ass. When her eyelids fluttered, I laid her down gently, kissed her one more time on the brow, and stepped to the Bedroom. Which is where I remembered.

"Ah, shit, ladies. I'm sorry about missing the Revel last night."

"The patriarch of the Trapper family visited your other Temples while the rest stayed in the Temple of Love. Your people know what you are about, and they only wish that they could join you in this hunt as they do on your Altar." Karen sounded like she kinda wanted to jump in too, and Orla and Mads weren't looking much less belligerent. I sighed.

"Ladies, I would love to have you there. Have any of you completed Academy training?" They all blinked, but Karen almost immediately answered, "Yes, I have." She turned to Orla, who shrugged.

"We didn't have an Academy in Calverton before the Alliance, but I was a Mage Knight." I shook my head.

"Yeah, but the Title is important too. We're fighting Spartans, and these fuckers are on a par with Demigods. Seriously, I'd put one of them against Lemonkyenin in a fight." None of them looked appropriately impressed. I sighed again and turned to Marie.

"How many out of the hundred and fifty are probably on your level?" My other High Clergies' smirks gradually dissolved into appropriately horrified looks when Murder Mittens stopped to think about it.

"Three? Maybe?"

"Okay, and how many of their rank and file would it take to take you down?" She just stared at me.

"Okay, how many five man squads do you think they have that would give you problems?" With that caveat, she nodded and said, "Another Three." I turned back to my ladies.

"Between being my Highest Priestess and a Hero of Phileo City, Karen might have enough going on with her Titles to face off against one of them, but only if she fights her fight, not theirs, and remembers that they're carrying Cold Iron. Honestly, I don't want her risking that even then." She opened her mouth to argue, then shut it again when I glanced at her.

"You matter to me. All of you." I sighed.

"Everyone going along does too. Okay, maybe not Lemmy. But everybody else." Marie smirked.

"Even Silk?" I laughed at that.

"Yeah, even Silk." I turned back to the ladies.

"Thing is, there are at least three groups other than the one we're tracking. I need you on lookout, ready to grab Troops and Heroes and whatever it takes to defend against them if they show up while we're fighting the fuckers we're chasing."

"We will." Karen said it, but the other two nodded grimly.

"Okay then. You can confirm this with the Imperator if you like, maybe have her assign some ready Units for you, but if that happens don't fuck around. You jump everyone you can get your hands on who is capable of fighting, and you put Crossbows in as many hands as can use them, and you absolutely do not fight fair. You kill the fuckers as hard and as fast as you can." Karen nodded, then tilted her head.

"May we put your Champion into the field?" I opened my mouth, then stopped and thought for a second. Yeah, I'm capable of doing that on occasion.

"Go talk to him tomorrow. Explain the situation. He's probably one of the few people other than you who I trust who can face off against a run of the mill Spartan in single combat. But yeah, if you need my permission, it's granted."

"Thank you, Goddess." Karen paused, a blush painting her cheeks almost the color of her hair. The moment the others saw it, they pinked up a little too.

"What is it, ladies?"

"We, along with all of your faithful, understand that some things preempt your Revels, and would never question your judgement as to which things do. But..." It hit me right then. I gave Murder Mittens a mental nudge as I met Karen's eyes and smiled. That smile got a little more devilish as my Highest Priestess got herself yoinked away to the Bed by sudden stealthy Murder Mittens. When the other two glanced away to see what had happened to their fellow High Priestess, I pounced on them.

"This is how you wanna Worship tonight?" Yeah, no real 'words' per se, but lots of nods and wordless noises of affirmation. Not to mention an ever increasing flow of Worship. Good times. Even more fun was wrapping Murder Mittens in the three of them right before dawn, then slapping their Holy Garb onto them the moment before the sun rose. Apparently, there are some synergistic resonance affects when more than one of those dresses do the sunrise thing at once.

Left the ladies in the Bed, smiles plastered on their drooling lips, and stepped Marie and I to breakfast. Oatmeal with butter, honey, and chunks of bacon today. The tiniest bit runny, but that was so all of us could chug most of it down like warm milkshakes. Grabbed up the trail rations, kissed the kids and ladies farewell, and stepped back to tracking. No sign of the Spartans or any bivouacs today.

We didn't fall much further behind, according to Panther, but that's because the Spartans were leaving booby traps behind them now. We set off six; all but two wound up missing everyone as I yoinked people away. Of the last two, Ryan took a hit for Chloros and wound up having to be carried while I worked with Siobhan to heal her, and Silk stepped into an ankle deep pit trap filled with reversed spikes.

Getting him out wasn't a problem, but he bitched that he'd broken his nose until Siobhan reached through me and not only fixed it, but forced him to sneeze everything out of his nose and down his otherwise nice jacket. Other than that? Nothing. Just cold and gray and fuckin' traps set by fuckin' Spartans.