Chapter 6 An old friend

Samar awoke to a primal instinct; threat, no explanation was needed. Not opening his eyes or moving he prepared, and hoped Solveig could catch on. In his hands he gathered power, to his left a bolt of lightning, his right necrotic touch.

Eyes flashing open, ignoring the blinding light Samar roared “ударная pука” directing his hand towards the figure at the edge of the camp. Eyes blurry with sleep he couldn't see specifically what it was, he still saw enough. The bolt danced off its chest and it fell back a step.

With incredible speed Solveig launched herself off of him. Even though his eyes were blurry he could still make out Solveigs movements. She landed in a sort of gorilla squat before getting a good look at their intruder "Sacara!" she hissed.

The voice was female, deeper than Solveig’s but still definitely female “Solveig, and a lightning magus, that explains how you survived.”

Samar rapidly blinked to get the sleep from his eyes. As the world came to focus he saw the other gargoyle, the one that had run off. Now able to get a better look at her; she stood roughly as tall as Solveig, a pair of large wings, a pair of small nubs of horns like that of an imps, breasts sitting nicely in the D range, though her legs and as had nothing on Solveigs she had a thin succubus tail. Overall she seemed less of the warmachine Solveig was, overall softer.

Solveig moved to a more relaxed standing position “you did well in fleeing” Solveig threw Samar off balance when she said that. From the confused look on Sacara’s face, she too. Solveig continued “they killed 12 of us, if it wasn’t for outside assistance” she nodded towards Samar “they would have ended me as well, it was good that you got away so that you could tell the tribe what they needed to know to deal with this threat.” Solveig paused then asked “we have not been traveling quickly, how is it that you're only now catching us.”

Sacara nodded her head “I-I was afraid, afraid of what the tribe would think of me fleeing. I hid, a self imposed exile. However during my time looking for a hole to hide in I found where they are being created. It is between the Farrow twin’s, facing the drell peak. It’s outside looks like it is a part of the mountain itself, if you didn't know how it looked before then you wouldn't realize it 't wasn't natural.

Samar was now standing beside Solveig “is it worth sending her with the 12 and going straight for the source?” Solveig shook her head “no as it stands you’re our main damage dealer against the slimes and that is not a good stance. We needed better weapons, possibly opening one of the vaults. More fighters as well, just the two of us might fail." another pause "Sacara why was it that Samar's reaction to your presence to attack?"

A look of pain on the winged gargoyle's face "every minute of every day I think of how we could have done things differently. Looking down at the two of you, I thought about how Umen are able to sense threats. Maybe if we had some things might have-'' she trailed off.

With a shake of his head. "It is more complicated and less reliable than that. I sensed your intent, not your threat. From the slimes, I didn't sense anything. As far as Allies, that is a discussion for your people." He emphasized allies because Sacara sounded more like she wanted to keep some humans as watchdogs. Seeming to sense Samar’s emphasis, Solveig changed topics “since you are here, it would be best if we got moving then.”

As Samar went about folding his blanket into a kilt Sacara looked over the fur’s “Solveig, you always are using too much ****, these were just wolves. They can’t even break your skin” making a disappointing clucking sound Sacara went about caring for the pelts. “Here is a spare set of clothes, while I don’t care what you and your human get up to, I know a few among-” she was cut off by feral growl from Solveig “I care not about what he thinks.”

Before she went any further Samar cut in “it may not be a bad idea.” she gave him a hurt look and he added “besides, separation breeds fondness.”

“Give me the clothes” she tried to growl but it lacked the heart. The spare set of clothes wasn’t much, a knee length tabard that didn’t cover her sides and a belt that kept her somewhat modest. Stuffing the wolf pelts into the satchel the party moved out.

***

On the trail a question occurred to Samar, turning to Solveig “I’ve heard both of you now say Umanity, or Umen. what are they, I got the context that you meant human but.”

Sacara snorted “how arrogant of a human thinking that everything revolves around you.”

Samar met Solveig’s again and they both laughed knowing it was only humans that were chosen as champions. Solveig explained “similar races, Elf, Dwarf, Human all fall under the Umanity category. While humans make up the majority population wise, history has shown they are usually not the cause of the wars but usually are dragged into them by others."

From beside them Sacara called over "you're a human, shouldn't you know more about this than we do?"

"Sacara" Solveig said softly, the warning was plain.

"No, a human appears just as we are nearly defeated and he just so happens to be a lightning mage. You two are lovers and we are leading him to our village. Solveig open your eyes!"

Looking at Samar "Very well." Samar could feel her looking at him, questioning everything they said to each other, and it hurt. It was too much, too quickly for him. have given without restraint only to have his love scrutinized on the suggestion of the first person they come across.

The bitter bite of rejection, of judgement became too much and Samar turned, started walking the other way. "Where are you going?" Solveig called after him. Samar shrugged, not trusting himself to speak. He simply kept walking. It felt like his gut had been ripped out, she questioned everything that had happened between them. A heavy thud behind him, a sharp claw on the back of his head and he saw the ground racing towards him.