Chương 64: Chapter 1

"I got it," Shaya Heirosoth said, ducking her horned head to enter the kitchen and using her giant-blooded strength to lift the platter with a large, roasted turkey on it. Her tall, lanky body protested, reminding her painfully of more than a dozen cuts and wounds it was still trying to heal.

"Are you sure?" Samorn Lakael asked. The pretty, petite woman looked up at Shaya with concern in her eyes.

"You're still recovering from yesterday's deployment"—she narrowed her eyes to convey a threat—"and I worked very hard to prepare that turkey."

"Don't worry," Shaya replied, looking down at her friend with a lop-sided grin, "I'd sooner die than deprive myself—and the others—of this meal." She whisked it out of the kitchen and to the Lance's dining room, where her fellow kitahm, Briariel Mathadro, set out utensils for everyone to use, unable to leverage a strength superior to Shaya's for setting the table due to her injured arm still resting in a sling.

Like Samorn, Bri cast a worried glance at Shaya carrying the turkey, eyes drifting over Shaya's body where clean bandages were still visible under her simple black tunic and trousers. After a pause, the other giant woman moved to help Shepherd with their task of laying out the plates for the feast. The chaplain made room for Shaya as she approached with the main dish, the short, wiry figure's movement looking alien for the extra joint they possessed per limb as a descendant of Kassarah.

Suppressing a sigh of relief as she set the turkey down, Shaya dusted off her hands with a smile to hide her discomfort.

"Anything else I can help with?"

"No," all three of her present Lancemates replied without hesitation.

"Sit down," Bri said, nodding at Shaya's usual seat at the circular table, "and don't make us tie you down either." Shep and Samorn nodded in agreement as they finished laying out the table, with the latter filling everyone's goblets with a potent wine that made Shaya wrinkle her sensitive nose.

"Are we scolding Shaya again?" Cyren Rikat asked as the tall, fox-aspected demigol approached the table, fluffy tail wagging in amusement at Shaya's annoyed glance. His smooth, silken voice turned husky as he teased her further: "Have you been a bad girl, Shaya?" Everyone rolled their eyes at him, Bri pinching the bridge of her nose as she managed a response.

"Don't make us tie you down too, Ren." Shaya groaned inwardly.

"Oh, please do," he replied, smile widening as he offered his lithe wrists to her.

"Gods dammit," Bri groaned as everyone laughed, the large woman's freckled cheeks reddening in sharp contrast to her otherwise pale skin.

"Mature as always, I see," Oraeus commented drily as he came down the stairs moments after Ren. The tall, thin man had disappeared to his rooms after the Lance had returned from the day's eventful debriefing, the barely visible ink stains on his obsidian hands suggesting he had gone straight to studying while the others had helped Samorn prepare supper. With a swish of his long, dark robes, the highborn noble sat down directly across from Shaya.

His pinched expression hinted that his usual cool, disaffected persona was dominant once again, the previous day's efforts at being an amenable companion having left him drained. Shaya was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, given that he had saved her life yesterday and also made a good effort to improve his cohesion with the team during their deployment. Also, because she was too hungry to care and couldn't wait to tuck into the food now that everyone was seated.

"A toast." Shep's mouth spread into a knife-thin smile as their multi-jointed fingers raised a goblet. Even as the Amethyst mage's scab-red eyes wrinkled with joy, Shaya's mind couldn't help but suspect some sinister intent to them based purely on their appearance.

"To a successful deployment!"

"Hear! Hear!" Shaya and the rest of her Lance echoed, metal clinking and wine sloshing from the exuberance at the table.

"Careful!" Bri scolded everyone. The giant, copper-haired Ruby mage swept a mock frown across everyone at the table, its severity further mitigated from having one of her arms in a sling.

"Samorn worked hard to put this feast together." The giant meal occupied the table like a conquering army on display, the large roasted turkey waiting to be torn apart by the hungry mages around it. Supplementing the main dish were numerous sides of roasted or mashed vegetables and a few types of salads. Since Oraeus was a vegetarian, Samorn made sure there was a bean salad to fill him with protein and kept her gravy off some of the side dishes.

Through their Lance's dining room balcony, Shaya could see the stars dotting the night sky, their debrief having taken so long that the feast couldn't be prepared any earlier. The smell of the roast turkey and vegetables had tormented Shaya for hours and she couldn't wait to revenge herself upon it. She eyed Bri warily over the food, knowing that the other giant woman was her only real competition for the best cuts of meat—the nobles and their entourage around them preferring white meat like crazy people.

Everyone dug into the food, all of them starving while recovering from what they put their bodies through during their first deployment just yesterday. Giant-blooded size notwithstanding, Shaya and Bri had sustained significant injuries and, needing to restore the energy that the healing magic burned through, devoured even more than they usually did. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"You are going to make an excellent wife someday, Samorn," Oraeus complimented. Rough hands spooned bean salad onto his plate, standing out against the Sapphire mage's otherwise effeminate, robed figure.

"You possess an amazing combination of wit, intellect, dedication, and poise." Shaya's eyes flicked to Samorn, catching the subtle flicker of annoyance on the other woman's features.

"What about me?" Shaya asked, mouth full of mashed sweet potatoes and squash. Oraeus rolled his eyes while the others chuckled. Quill looked up from his little meal, the gryphlet giving Shaya a reassuring squawk with a beak covered in shredded fish. With the animal companion's requisite, if half-hearted, support given, he dug back into the little bowl that Samorn had prepared just for Shaya's three-legged companion.

"Now, now," Samorn said, taking a polite sip of her wine, her moment of annoyance gone so fast Shaya doubted the others even caught it. The petite Azurite mage set the goblet down with liquid grace and her lips quirked into a smile as she continued: "Everyone here helped. I'm particularly impressed that Shaya was able to keep up with Ren. I've never seen anyone rival his speed with a knife."

"I've had some practice." Shaya smiled behind her goblet of wine, the beverage's tart flavour growing on her.

"Indeed," Ren said, eyes narrowed on her. The roguish Jade mage appraised her, more interested in her than usual since seeing her handiwork with the chef's knife.

"Now that I think about it, you didn't go into too much detail of your time at the orphanage…"

"No," she agreed, "I didn't." Shaya ran her clawed fingers through her unruly hair, pushing the golden-blonde mane back behind her horns. Her humour faded, and she closed her feline eyes as she took in a deep breath, readying herself for what she needed to say.

"Oh gods, here it comes," Bri sighed.

"W-what?" Shaya asked, eyes snapping open as she looked around the table.

"Your big apology," Ren said, popping a blackberry into his mouth, "and promise you'll do better next time, et cetera, et cetera."

"N…no…" she stammered, blushing, "I, uh…"

"It's okay," Bri said, patting her hand, "just get it over with now, we're ready."

"It isn't a laughing matter!" Shaya insisted.

"I could have hurt—or even killed—one of you!"

"Probably," Ren agreed.

"Ren!" Samorn scolded.

"I shouldn't have lost control in the first place," Shaya continued, undeterred, "or have stoked the rage the second time. I'm sorry and it won't happen again."

"Shaya," Oraeus said, shaking his head, "my strength enhancement potion only increases its imbiber's power by perhaps half of their existing strength. It alone would not have been sufficient to spike a Titan's head into the ground. The benefits of your rage cannot be understated—and you should continue exploring them."

"Besides," Shepherd said, pointing at her with a knife, "you couldn't have killed us—Zaal would have stepped in. Live deployments might not be the 'ideal' place to experiment, but at the same time we were thrust into a situation where we had to in order to succeed."

"If you're worried about control," Bri added, sawing off another piece of turkey for herself with her good hand, "you should talk to Rea. She's basically crazy, I'm sure she'll have a few tips to help you out."

"That's a good idea," Samorn agreed, turning to Shaya with an almost threatening smile, "and I'll practice my spellcraft to ensure you can't resist my spells if it comes to that. I have a reputation as an unparalleled enchantress to uphold, after all." Shaya shuddered.

"Thanks, all of you. I really appreciate the support and… maybe you're right, I could talk to Rea about it." She liked the crazy, uncouth professor, but wasn't sure if she could trust her with a secret that big just yet. But what other choice did she have? Despite the previous day's success, it was clear that Shaya was still far behind the others in magical might and her martial skills and underhanded techniques wouldn't always be able to save her.

"Alright." Ren smiled, raising his wine.

"Now let's clear the air with another toast—to loot!"

"To loot!" everyone but Shaya echoed, clanging their goblets together some more. Shaya joined in without enthusiasm, deprived of the income she sorely needed here.

"You did that on purpose." She scrunched her nose at Ren.

"Me?" He looked shocked.

"Impossible, I'm too pretty to be cunning or intelligent." Shaya rolled her eyes at him.

"So, Monster Hunter," Bri said, washing down a bite of bird and turning to Shaya.

"Any suggestions on what we should pick for our loot? What would you pick?"

"Strip the Titan first," Shaya said without hesitation.

"Its parts are going to be the most suffused with magic, even if it's been dead since the last Titan War. But Oraeus would probably know better about the thaumaturgical components than me and Shepherd might know more about the material usage given their background."

"Actually," Shepherd said after a moment's pause, "I did not grow up in Lythrana. My family fled to Io shortly after I was born."

"Oh, sorry for assuming," Shaya said quickly.

"I should have known based on what you mentioned of Io at our practice the other week." They waved her apology away.

"It's quite alright. The monster scale armour I have was inherited from my father, said to be made from the scales of a giant, lightning-breathing serpent."

"That sounds very useful," Shaya commented.

"Especially in Kelahk, where we live high on mountains and get the occasional fierce storm with nothing taller around us." Shepherd laughed.

"We'll have to see if we can acquire some more. Lythrana is known to maintain a spawn problem in their kingdom for several reasons." Everyone at the table nodded, not wanting to delve into that sour topic.

"Regarding the Titan's magical components," Oraeus cut in, returning to the previous topic, "the organs are likely gone, so the material composition will matter more. Titan bones are said to be harder than iron and, since a turtle's shell is made up of bone…" Shaya nodded.

"The turtle shell is likely what I'd go for. Auric's forge has a magical device that channels energy from the plane of fire into a, well, a flat plane of energy that can cut through anything. I'm sure we could use that to thin the shell down into a usable thickness, then saw it down into armour scales, a shield, or even blades."