Chapter 12 #3
Fortunately, this werewolf doesn’t let out plaintive yips on his way to the ground.
Instead, he screams like a real person, which isn’t great either.
As he does, he shifts from wolf to man. To my horror, his eyes turn to me during his final moment.
I loved Indiana Jones when I was a kid. Hell, I wanted to be him when I grew up.
But I always thought the scene where the Nazis’ eyes all start melting was a complete fabrication.
It wasn’t. Your eyes can literally melt when they’re on fire.
Jesus shit-on-a-biscuit Christ.
Then Nessa does something even more boneheaded than before—she runs into the fire!
“Goddamn it!” I shout at her. “You stupid fucking asshole!”
I dash in her direction as Joshua pulls her away from King Lycaon’s flaming corpse and Guy casts his water spell over the flames lapping up her long skirt. She’s got maybe a fifth of her health bar left.
“Heal Major Wounds!” I shout, sounding more annoyed than powerful as I cast my spell at her. This gets her health bar up to a third full.
Cait joins Joshua, and together, they’re able to keep her completely contained. For such an old woman, she sure is strong. Guy uses his water spell to douse the fire currently using the king’s charred corpse as kindling.
With the fire no longer a threat, Cait and Joshua can let go of Nessa, and she runs back to King Lycaon.
From out of nowhere, she pulls out a staff of lightning and hammers it into the dead werewolf’s skull.
“You’ll terrorize the good folk of this land no longer,” she cries.
“Zeus has put an end to his curse so that others might live.”
Then, Nessa gingerly walks over to me with a broad smile. “Thank you for your help, adventurer. Sorry that I didn’t tell you the truth before. I wasn’t sure you’d take the job. Here’s your payment.”
With a ka-ching, nine silver pieces enter my inventory. The annoying old lady proceeds to walk away from us back toward her village, completely alone. Now that the threat of werewolves is over, she doesn’t need our protection anymore.
“I hate escort missions,” Cait grumbles.
I whirl around, anger at my other friends replacing my annoyance with Nessa. “What the fuck?” I shout at them. “Think you could have told me a lot earlier that we were going to be battling goddamn werewolves?”
“Guy didn’t tell you?” Cait asks.
I shake my head.
Cait huffs and sneers at Guy. “I guess he was busy doing more important things.”
Guy steps toward me, his eyebrows tented apologetically. “I’m sorry, Lauren.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it!” I scan the group, pointing an accusatory finger at everyone, including Alexander, who did nothing to help during the battle.
“You need to keep me in the loop ahead of time. I haven’t been here for months like you.
This is all new to me. I shouldn’t be surprised by werewolves when you’ve all done this before. ”
They all stare at me with open mouths and guilty eyes, completely silent because they know there’s nothing they can say to redeem themselves.
“Now make camp!” I command.
“But it’s midday…” Sylvia says.
“And I’m fucking tired from healing that Nessa bitch over and over!” I yell back. “We’re resting until tomorrow, when hopefully my nerves won’t be so rattled!”
I storm away until I realize I don’t have anywhere to go to. The forest? No damn way. There might be more monsters lurking there. Everything else is just a long road for as far as I can see. So I find a large rock on the edge of the path and plant my butt on it with a huff.
My friends set up camp as I insisted. Occasionally, they look at me with chastened expressions. My rage cools down, but I fight the urge to forgive them out of pure stubbornness. When the smell of roasting meat reaches me, I relent. My hunger reminds me just how much these people have done for me.
Even though my stomach growls, I take my time walking back. I don’t want to seem too eager to make amends. When I get close, Guy jumps up from his seat by the fire and guides me to the campfire.
As he does so, he whispers, “I really am sorry. I meant to tell you last night, but I forgot all about it.”
I shrug. “Yeah, I guess I get it.”
“I’ll do better,” he says. “I promise.”
The sweet sincerity in his voice and expression convinces me. “Ugh, fine. I forgive you.”
We sit next to each other, and Sylvia passes me some roasted rabbit and stewed greens of some kind. It smells amazing. Without Sylvia, I’d probably be eating dangerous berries in the woods.
“Thanks,” I tell her and to the rest of the group. “Thanks for taking care of me, even when I’m yelling at you.”
Joshua smiles. “Hey, you’ve put up with me this long. Plus, you’re right. We need to do a better job preparing you for stuff.” Everyone nods, and Joshua continues, “For instance, Guy farts in his sleep. So maybe don’t fall asleep cuddling after sex.”
Guy blushes in horror and drops his face into his hands. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I was so excited, and it just came out of me. I’m sure you didn’t want anyone to know, but I—”
He’s just so damn cute right now. I don’t think anyone’s ever crushed on me, not even Doug in the beginning. But Guy likes me; he really does. It’s like he thinks I’m more than a Cleric of Aphrodite, like I’m the Goddess of Love herself. And honestly, that’s really doing it for me right now.
So, fuck it.
I pull Guy’s hands away from his face and tilt his chin so that he can look at me. “It’s okay,” I say, then I kiss him on his still-blushing cheek.
Except for Cait, who has a scowl on her face, the group choruses some celebratory whoops, while Guy smiles at me giddily. We take a moment to gaze at each other. Then, he pulls me to his side so that my head rests happily on his shoulder. This could be fun—maybe even great. We’ll just have to see.
“Back on topic, though,” Cait says in an all-business tone. “You should know that eventually we’re going to have to kill a demon lady. Fortunately, that’s after we go through a town first with only a few side quests.”
What a relief!