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Luka's Story	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 4827 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest is owned by Tortorro and I make no money from this project. It is a labor of love.

Chapter List
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“So where to next?” Alice asked.
“Salamander is the obvious choice,” I said.
“We’re going to pass only a few miles from Lady’s Village on the way,” Alice said.
“You told me to stay away from that place,” I noted.
“I did….. but I was thinking there’s something there I need to find out.”
“Oh, really?” I said knowingly. “This Cassandra lady causing you some concern?”
“This is about you, too,” she replied. “Remember how I said that there are others besides Ilias who might have brought you here? Chrome was the first one I needed to check out, but what she was doing had nothing to do with you. Cassandra is another possibility I have to rule out. She has the motive to bring you here and possibly the ability.”
“We’re still assuming Ilias as the most likely culprit, though, right?”
“Yes,” Alice replied. “But remember what I keep telling you about the difference between thinking you know something and actually knowing something? Once I rule out Cassandra, then I can start seriously planning how to deal with the fact that Ilias brought you here. But in the unlikely event it was Cassandra…. That changes everything.”
“So how do we rule it out? Same way as we did with Chrome?”
“Rampage through her home breaking things?” Alice said with a smirk. “No, this plan is even simpler than that. You’re going to go into that village and simply present yourself to her as a being from another world. I’ll be with you, invisible as usual, to listen to her response. That should tell me what I need to know.”
“If she’s powerful, won’t she know you’re there?” I asked. “Also, how come sometimes I can sense you in the wind but other times you’re there and I can’t?”
“There are many ways for me to hide myself,” she replied. “Since I don’t want monsters to know I’m there, I have to do a little extra to hide from their enhanced senses or magic. That’s why you didn’t feel my presence in Succubus Village unless I chose to show myself to you. You won’t feel my presence in Cassandra’s house either, or anywhere in the village for that matter. She can’t know I’m with you.”
“If this goes south, am I powerful enough to take her on?”
“If it goes where?” Alice said, frowning. “We’re already going south, that’s where Lady’s Village is. Are you speaking funny again?”
“Sorry, it’s another way of saying if it goes bad, like if she decides to kill me or imprison me. What do I do? What will you do?”
“I’m quite certain she’ll do something bad to you,” Alice said. “Even if she’s uninterested in your story, remember that men aren’t returning from that village. You’re a man, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out what she intends for you. And no, you can’t fight her. Don’t even try. Once it, ‘goes south’, I’ll protect you from her.”
“Really?” I said, bemused and delighted.
“Don’t get used to it,” she said. “This is a unique situation. I’m not going to waste time explaining it in detail. Just trust me. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
We walked on in silence for awhile. Then Alice decided to get a little more informative. “Okay, maybe there is something you should know. Yesterday while you slept I scouted ahead and took a look at the village myself.”
“That village is a few hours walk,” I said. “Just how fast can you travel? Can you teleport like Granberia?”
She scoffed. “I can do that plus many other things Granberia can’t. What’s important is that I checked the place out and it’s an all monster village. They disguise themselves as human women and eat any men who come to the village. They are all carnivorous species. They aren’t keeping men there. They all get eaten.”
“That’s horrible! We have to stop it!”
“Feel free to do whatever you want some other time,” Alice admonished. “But you can’t take on Cassandra. You will die. Not might, will. You. Will. Die. Understand?”
“I do,” I said.

Indeed, arriving in the village, this time alone, I saw nothing but women. The women were very refined looking, conversing politely with one another all throughout the village. I said I was alone, but I hoped I wasn’t truly alone. Alice said she would be with me. I trusted Alice, but also knew that things could go wrong. That made me very nervous about this caper.
One thing we hadn’t discussed was what to do if I was just attacked by any or all of these monsters. I was definitely drawing stares, but so far none made a move to attack me. A few waved and smiled. If I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed it was just a nice little village with upper class women and no men. Not weird at all.
As I walked deeper into the village, I was greeted by a teenage girl with long blonde hair that almost touched the ground. She inquired as to my business here and I said that I wanted to meet the village chief or mayor, or whoever was in charge. Alice had warned me not to use Cassandra’s name, since that might indicate I had an agenda before I was brought before her and perhaps cause the monsters in the village to descend upon me. The teenage girl introduced herself as Emily, Lord Cassandra’s only daughter, and beckoned me to follow her.
Cassandra’s mansion was huge, almost a palace. Very odd for such a small village. I was led into the mansion by Emily and invited to sit in a living room and wait for an audience with the village Lord. A maid served me refreshments, which I stupidly ate and drank without thinking. After a few moments, Emily came back into the living room.
“I told mother you wished to meet with her,” Emily said. “Be thankful. She’s busy at the moment, so wait around ten minutes.”
She dismissed the maid and seemed to size me up as I sat waiting. “So you’re a traveler, right?” she asked. “Where have you been so far?”
I hoped there would be no harm in telling her, because I’m not a very good liar, so I spent the next ten minutes listing the places I’d been and briefly answering Emily’s questions about those places. I was saved uncomfortable questions by the appearance of Cassandra.
“It seems as though I’ve kept you waiting awhile,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Cassandra, Lord of this village. My daughter Emily told me of you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” I said politely. “My name is Luka.”
“Now then Emily, please excuse yourself,” Cassandra said. “This man sounds like he has something important to discuss with me.”
Cassandra gracefully sat down across from me. I decided to just jump into it.
“So, I’m not sure how to ease into this, but I’m from another dimension and I heard that you could help me find out why I’m here.”
There was a long pause as Cassandra just stared at me. She picked up some tea and took a sip. Placing the tea down, she said, “I don’t have time for travelers telling tall tales. Who told you to come and see me?”
“It was a girl named Chrome,” I replied. Alice had made me rehearse this. “I went to her first to see if she might be able to help me, but it turned out that she was only studying necromancy. She recommended you.”
Cassandra was clearly skeptical. “I do know this Chrome, and I know her well enough to know that you wouldn’t be able to just walk up to her, tell her your story, and leave. You’re not telling me the truth, young man.”
She stood up and looked down at me. “I don’t believe you’re from another dimension, I don’t believe you’ve even met Chrome. Now tell me who you really are.”
Her eyes flashed. Alice had not told me to expect this. My mind went zap. I came back a few seconds later. Cassandra was still standing there expectantly. How? Then I realized: I only responded violently when I was in combat. Just sitting here being interrogated didn’t produce the same response. I decided to pretend that I had indeed been compelled.
“I am from another dimension,” I stated.
A slow smile spread across Cassandra’s face. “Oh, so you’re not just a traveler selling fantastic stories. Let me take a closer look at you.”
She didn’t seem to mean that in a physical sense. She continued to stand right where she was, her eyes probing me. I felt nothing, but assumed she must be using her magic to scan me in some fashion. “Hmmmmm,” she murmured. “There’s definitely something abnormal about you, although I can’t identify specifically what it is. What kind of help did you desire from me?”
“For starters, I was told that the power to bring me here is only possessed by a few people,” I explained. “You were one of them. Did you bring me to this world?”
“Pah!” she scoffed. “The only thing for certain that I can tell about you is that you are delicious and unbaptized. I guess I don’t need to hide from you that I’m a monster. No humans in this world have that kind of power, so it is obvious that you seek a monster. I’m afraid I am not that monster, however. That kind of magic has never interested me. I am intrigued, though. Why would someone like you be brought here? Seems a lot of effort to get a gourmet meal.”
She sat back down and continued to stare at me. I wondered if I should just try to leave, since I apparently had the answer Alice had wanted. Cassandra began to address me again, however.
“Since you know that I’m a monster, and I assume you also noticed this village has only women, you must also know what happens to men who come here. Why do you think that won’t happen to you?”
“What an odd question to ask,” I said, sitting back and smiling. My show of confidence concealed inner terror. Now I was just making it up as I went along. I knew Alice wouldn’t intervene until things went tits up, so I decided to gamely attempt to salvage a better outcome if I could. “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m very ignorant of how things are done in this world of yours. Am I to understand that monsters eat people?”
“Some do,” Cassandra replied. “Many more would like to rape you. I overheard you telling Emily all the places you’ve been. Traveling alone, there’s no way you could have avoided being attacked. How have you made it this far without being eaten or forced to be some random monster’s plaything?”
Ah, I get it now, I thought. She was playing things smart. She knew something was off about me but wasn’t sure how powerful I was.
“I’m good with my sword,” I said, patting the iron sword I had acquired in Grand Noah for the tournament. Angel Halo had been left with Alice. “and I’m just lucky I guess. I’ve been violated a few times but the monsters let me go.”
She gave a curt laugh. “I can smell you from here. Even monsters normally inclined to let you go would be reluctant to do so. There’s a lot you’re not telling me. And don’t think you fooled me with your act, pretending to be affected by my Eyes of Truth. Your immunity to that magic told me plenty about you.”
“So are you going to let me go?” I asked.
“Not a chance in hell,” she said, smiling broadly. “I just haven’t decided whether to keep you to learn more about you, or eat you like the others.”
I don’t know why, but I decided to flirt. “If you did eat me, how would you do it? Most monsters promise that it would be an amazing experience. Can I assume it would be the same in your case?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you have some weird fantasies, I see. Rare, but I’ve had men desire me to eat them before.”
“Not at all,” I clarified. “I just want to know that if I’m going to die I’m going to go out experiencing something amazing. Can a person really ask for a better exit? I can assure you that in my world there are many more ways to die than in this one, all of them very unpleasant. Maybe I was brought here to die more enjoyably.”
“If you really want to know…” she concentrated for a moment and the room began to change. The entire room seemed to turn into the inside of a stomach. Now I was scared. This was horrifying beyond anything I’d seen so far. Alice had been right again, as she always was. How could I possibly fight this?
But as quickly as the walls had changed, they returned to normal. “I have two ways of eating my prey. That way, which is agonizing and painful, and another way which is more intimate and would give you the pleasurable death you prefer.”
“I definitely think I’d like the other way better,” I stammered. “Of course, I’d prefer not getting eaten at all.”
“The other way is to slowly absorb you into my body. You would drown in my embrace as your body was slowly dissolved away, every cell dying in an ecstasy greater than anything you can imagine. But you will experience neither today if you don’t give me any trouble. Emily!!!!”
Emily reappeared in the living room. “Emily, take this traveler and place him in a cell. We will want to study him, find out what makes him so unusual.”
“Can Emily play with him while he’s our guest?” Emily said eagerly.
“Of course, dear,” Cassandra replied. “But do not eat him or even damage him. He’s important. He may prove very useful to us once we can find out what he can do. If what he can do doesn’t impress me, then we’ll eat him. Pleasantly, of course, young Luka, assuming you behave yourself.”
I drew my sword. “I’m afraid I can’t let you imprison me or eat me without a fight.”
The walls instantly changed back into a stomach. Please be here, Alice! I thought desperately.
“You did strike me as someone who always chooses the hard way,” Cassandra said. “You cannot hope to beat me. I will drill that fact into you before you die in agony.”
“Sheeesh. So it’s come to this as I thought.”
Alice! She materialized into the room, as promised.
“Alipheese,” Cassandra purred. “Why am I not surprised? This little setup had your signature all over it. I commend you on remaining hidden from my sight. I had thought I could detect anyone in my presence. You always were quite the prodigy in ways of magic.”
“I thank you for your compliment, my subject,” Alice said. “You honor me. Now honor me further by letting Luka leave unmolested. Then we shall have a talk about your direct disobedience of my orders regarding defensive measures against the humans.”
“Just like your mother,” Cassandra scoffed. “seeking coexistence between man and monster. She was unfit to sit on the throne and so are you. Have you learned nothing? Your mother was killed by those same humans she wanted to get along with. How absurd. Truly a disgrace, unfit to be called a Monster Lord. “
I was gobsmacked by what I was hearing. Alice wanted coexistence too? Her mother wanted it as well? Her mother was killed by humans? I thought only one Monster Lord had ever been killed by humans, 500 years ago! Alice hadn’t been exactly hostile to the idea of coexistence. I’d even heard her praise it in some situations. But she also thought my own ideas were idiotic.
“I see you’re still not over your loss to my mother,” Alice snorted.
“She did beat me then,” Cassandra replied. “But I am far more powerful now than I was. I would defeat you easily.”
“Still living in the past, I see,” Alice said.
“So what was all this for? This ruse with the supposed otherworlder. Was it just to enable you to sneak in here to confront me about my behavior? That seems rather unbecoming, even for you.”
“I didn’t come here to confront you,” Alice said. “I had my own reasons for having Luka meet with you, which as the Monster Lord I’m not required to explain. All you have to do if you want to avoid punishment from me is let him go. Then we will discuss, diplomatically, how to bring you into compliance with my orders.”
“Punishment? Your orders?” Cassandra laughed. “I don’t recognize your authority and don’t believe you have the power to back up your delusions of authority. You are too weak-willed to be Monster Lord, leaving aside your idiocy about human and monster coexisting. I’m surprised to even find you outside your castle. The rumors I heard were that you weren’t allowed to even leave, that Tamamo was holding your leash.”
Alice’s eyes widened. I could feel her anger rising. Cassandra had hit a nerve there. “I am the Monster Lord!” she shouted. “And if you will not recognize my authority then it falls to me to discipline you!”
Something about this was making me very uncomfortable. Yeah, I know, we’re having a conversation inside a giant stomach. I mean uncomfortable in another way.
“Alice, are you sure about this?” I asked. “You never fight your subordinates. I thought that was a principle for you.”
“As I told you before,” Alice replied. “This is a special situation. It’s a grudge from the previous generation. It would be wrong for me to have you fight this battle for me, even if you could. I can’t command you, Luka, but I’m asking, as a friend. Stay out of this. You’ll only get in my way.”
“A friend?!” Cassandra said in disbelief. “Oh, Alipheese, you truly are your mother. A human friend? It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that tripe! Predators don’t make friends with their prey! Have you no pride? A delicious young man traveling with you and you haven’t devoured him? You make me sick!”
Cassandra struck at Alice with her corrosive flesh. Alice never even attempted to dodge the blow, taking it full force. “You dare!?” Alice growled.
“Only the strong can survive in this world,” Cassandra said. “Humans are nothing but prey to be devoured by stronger monsters. And weak monsters should be preyed on by stronger monsters. No matter how hard you cry for that pathetic dream, you cannot change the truth of the world!”
Cassandra wrapped Alice up in her flesh. “Prepare yourself, Alipheese,” she said. “ I shall ensure that you receive no pleasure as I dissolve you. Feel the pain as your body melts into nothing! Write in agony as your better devours you!”
I prepared to charge at Cassandra with my sword. A look from Alice warned me to stay where I was. “I see,” Alice said, bound by Cassandra’s corrosive flesh. “So you can transform this flesh of yours, and increase it at will. You move your digestive organ outside of your own body, and use it to start digesting your prey as you fight.”
“That is correct,” Cassandra replied. “Since I can control it at will, my flesh will just stretch from any impact. Thus, completely wrapped as you are, you have no hope of escape. You’re already in my stomach. There’s nothing left for you but to writhe in agony as I digest you alive. Your ‘friend’ will be next, although if he begs I might spare him the agony and give him the pleasurable end he desires.”
“I realize quite well what you’re capable of now,” Alice said. “You’re just like an amoeba, absorbing and increasing your own body mass. In addition, you can control your body even when it’s separated from your core.”
“Tamamo taught you your basic science well,” Cassandra said approvingly. “Did she know that your knowledge would enable you to better understand the manner of your own death?”
“Very well,” Alice said. “In that case…”
Alice’s eyes flashed. Was she using me to blast Cassandra? As I came to, I realized that was not the case. I had not exploded. Cassandra was still there. But the expression on her face had changed from one of arrogance to one of dismay and confusion.
“What have you done?” she shrieked. Her flesh began to vibrate. “No! My control!”
All of the flesh around the room, including the flesh encasing Alice, began to melt. “That flesh of yours is made up of cells that have wills of their own,” Alice explained. “If someone were to just disturb that connection you have with them, they’d lose their form and revert back to the worthless lumps of flesh they are.”
“It can’t be!” Cassandra wailed. “”Eye magic from a low ranking monster like yourself shouldn’t be able to affect me like this!”
“Sheesh, don’t you get it?” Alice said. “You were careless, and far weaker than me.”
Cassandra’s flesh was now melting away at an ever increasing rate, pooling on the floor. “I fought with Alipheese the Fifteenth on equal terms! I did! You can’t be more powerful than her! You’re just a weak-willed brat!”
“Still clinging to the past?” Alice said. “You aren’t even equal to one of the Four Heavenly Knights, much less a Monster Lord.”
“No! My body….My body!”
In horror I saw that it wasn’t just the walls melting. Since the walls were just Cassandra’s stomach projected outside her body, it meant that her stomach still existed inside of it, and was dissolving away, causing her to essentially digest herself. No, I didn’t figure this out on my own. It had to be explained to me, of course.
“I cannot… Not to me…Why… Why do I have to die?!”
“What an idiotic question Cassandra,” Alice said. “This world follows the law of the survival of the fittest, right? If you were to die, that can only mean one thing, right? You’re nothing but a weak fool, unfit to do anything but die at the hands of the strong, right?”
“No! Help me! Don’t let me die!”
“I’d love to help,” Alice said, her eyes cold. “But I wouldn’t want to tread on your ideal world of survival of the fittest. I cannot spare your life even if you beg. You know the purpose behind there being a Monster Lord, don’t you?”
“To use power to maintain order,” Cassandra answered.
“You’ve killed far too many. As the Monster Lord, I must pass judgment on you.”
I wanted to do something, to spare even this monstrous woman from the horrible fate she had intended for us. But I knew of no way to intervene. Cassandra’s screams grew in intensity as her body dissolved. I’ll never get those screams out of my nightmares. They seemed to go on forever, although Alice later assured me that this final agonizing stage had only lasted less than a minute.
With Cassandra’s death, all trace of her disappeared. She had destroyed herself completely. Alice’s face was expressionless. She looked over to me, seeing the look of horror on my face.
“Luka,” she said. “Please make yourself useful and go get Emily.”
I had just realized that Emily, who had been here at the start of the confrontation, ready to take me to a cell, had fled the room at some point. Eager to leave Alice’s presence, I went through the mansion in search of her. I found her in what I assumed must be her bedroom, a pillow over her head, bawling her eyes out. I felt pity for her. Her mother had been a horrible person. She had probably taught Emily to be a horrible person herself. I really didn’t know. But I resolved that if Alice intended her harm I would do my best to prevent that from happening. In hindsight, I was just reacting to the trauma of what I’d seen. I should have trusted her more.
I reached out and touched Emily’s shoulder. She jerked away from me, staring at me in horror. “No! Please don’t hurt me!”
“I won’t hurt you, Emily,” I said soothingly. “Your mother did something very bad and she paid for her crimes. You haven’t done anything, have you?”
“I…. I….” tears streamed down her face. “I killed and ate so many! I enjoyed it! I’m so sorry! Please don’t kill me!”
“You’re not going to die,” I said, hoping I could keep that promise. “The Monster Lord just wants to see you.”
Emily recovered her composure and dignity and followed me back to the living room where Alice waited.
“Emily,” Alice addressed her. “Your mother paid the ultimate price for rebellion against the Monster Lord. Are you going to follow in her footsteps or will you pledge your loyalty to me?”
“Emily pledges her loyalty to you, Monster Lord Alipheese,” she replied.
“Okay, first, stop referring to yourself in the third person,” Alice said. “Second, I leave the governance of this monster village to you. Do you think you can handle that?”
“I… I think so,” Emily replied. “Mother was already having me handle most of the details of day to day governance.”
“Excellent. You won’t govern as she did though. Do you know what my orders were regarding the humans?”
“Uh huh. We aren’t supposed to attack the humans except in self defense.”
“Correct,” Alice said. “All of these carnivorous monsters your mother recruited to live here… they must all obey that rule. Can I trust you to enforce it? Are you strong enough to do so?”
“I am,” Emily said. “I’m the strongest here now. They already listen to me.”
“Then I don’t expect I will hear of any more problems in this village,” Alice said. “I leave it to you, then.”
I sagged with relief. I don’t know whether I really felt sorry for Emily, who had killed so many people herself, or whether I just didn’t want to see Alice execute someone else. I just knew that after Cassandra I couldn’t bear to witness anymore death.
“Monster Lord?” Emily asked. “How will we survive? If we can’t eat the men who come to this village, we’ll starve.”
“My friend Luka here will explain to you what you need to do,” Alice said. “I have a headache now.”
Me? Emily looked to me. Then I realized what Alice must be getting at. “What you need to do is continue to lure men here by advertising what this place really is,” I explained. “This village is full of beautiful, refined women. Men will be eager to come here. Then instead of eating them, you treat them well, you feed off them without hurting them, and then more men will hear and want to visit or live in this village.”
“But Ilias’ prohibition!” Emily objected. “No man will come here just so that we can eat his semen!”
“Oh, I can assure you you’ll have no problem there,” I said. “Humans like to talk a lot about their piety but when no one is looking they’ll violate their morals at every opportunity. Well, not all of them, but more than enough for you to never go hungry. In fact, if you advertise to nearby towns that there are monsters here eager to suck out men’s semen, you’ll have more delicious men in this village than you can shake a stick at.”
“Why would Emily shake a stick at men?”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Alice interjected. “You’re both making my head hurt even more now. Emily, you’re referring to yourself in the third person again. Luka, speak like a normal person.”
“What I meant to say is that there will be plenty of men,” I said. “Just don’t hurt them, don’t keep them prisoner here against their will. As men return to their towns, they’ll talk about the wonderful hospitality they received from the ladies of Lady’s Village, which in turn will lead more men to want to come here. Just make sure none of the carnivorous monsters here try to hurt the men.”
“I’ll tell them that if they don’t like the rules, then they can leave the village and fend for themselves!” Emily resolved. “You can count on Emily, Monster Lord.”
“Emily…. “ Alice said. “Fine. Just do your best. I and my agents will be watching. Do not disappoint me.”
We walked out of the mansion and began to make our way out of the village. The women were still outside, talking, but now the stares were much more intent as they caught sight of Alice. None approached us. Some went back into their homes.
“It’s over,” Alice said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Alice….”
“I know, Luka,” she said. “You always have questions, but I imagine you must have a million right now. Go ahead. I’m not really in the mood, but you deserve some answers after that. A couple, anyway.”
“So you want humans and monsters to coexist?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “That’s the main reason I’m traveling. To learn how to make my mother’s dream a reality. I went with you because you were tolerant of monsters and wanted to learn as well. Everything I’ve seen, just like you I’ve been thinking about ways to make things better, to solve all the problems I’ve been encountering. I just wasn’t being stupid about it like you. I was going to observe, go back home, and then carry out detailed plans. But you… You’ve often created solutions through bold, unthinking, idiotic action. Yet things turned out pretty good despite that. I’ve learned to be more decisive as a result.”
“Thank you, Alice.”
“That wasn’t totally a compliment,” she admonished. “You’re easy to manipulate and I admit I’ve manipulated you many times along the way, trying to steer you towards actions that would create a better outcome. I also wanted to see your true character. I wanted to see if getting attacked and raped by monsters would make you hate them. I believed that your sharing of my dream wouldn’t last in the face of that. But now I know that your true character is exactly what I saw at the beginning. You’re not a perfect person, but knowing that reassures me even more. I’ve seen your flaws, and I still think you’re a good person despite them.”
I was touched and encouraged, and I have to admit, I think I was genuinely starting to fall for this amazing woman. I think I’d always been a little infatuated with her from the moment I’d met her, but I was old enough to push the thoughts out of my mind somewhat. I had felt that the differences between us were too much to overcome. Then there were the practical considerations. But knowing, truly knowing, that she wanted to coexist with humans, and knowing that she believed in the strength of my character told me that maybe, just maybe, there could be something real between us that went beyond just this journey that was soon to be over.
“I know you’re not big on talking right now,” I said. “But just one more question? There’s something that was said in there that I really just can’t stand not to know.”
“My mother?” she said.
“Yes,” I said. “She was killed by a human hero?”
“I’m sure you can understand why that’s difficult for me to talk about,” she said. “You’ve never heard of that before, have you?”
“Definitely not,” I said. “News of that should have spread far and wide. They still remember Heinrich from 500 years ago. How can they not know about a hero who killed a Monster Lord just a few years ago?”
“My mother was not defeated by a human hero,” she said. “She gave up her life for her beliefs.”
I didn’t fully understand what that meant, but decided not to probe further. “Alice, thank you for everything. And I do mean everything. Today, protecting me, teaching me so much, traveling with me, saving my life so many times. I can’t imagine what this journey would have been like without you.”
“You’ve taught me a lot as well,” she said. “But enough of that. As irritating as that was, I’m afraid getting to Salamander is going to be even more annoying.”
“I assume I’ll be totally on my own in there as I was with the other spirits?”
“No, not this time,” she said. “I need to be there. I have a bad feeling. Don’t ask me to tell you what I’m expecting because I don’t know. I just know in my bones that I need to be there. Don’t count on me to help you with combat, that same rule applies. Nothing has changed.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “On to that volcano!”
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