by Dante King
Honestly, fuck honor. Seth was a monster. He didn’t deserve this kind of treatment. The only thing that would be ‘fair’ for a murderer like him would be a quick death, put down like a fucking dog.
This isn’t for Seth, I realized as I watched the two of them trade blows. It’s for Hazel. She needs this. Needs it like she needed to get her cultivation back.
Indeed, the look on Hazel’s face as she stepped into the ring and traded blows with the cultivator would have fit on the visage of a warrior goddess. Every strike of Seth’s knives she parried effortlessly, before throwing a flurry of strikes that would have killed the man a half-dozen times over if she didn’t pull them back.
This wasn’t just victory for Hazel—it was disrespect. The kind of disrespect Seth had shown her when he’d threatened to turn her into his sex slave. The kind of disrespect the Hollow Frog Guild had for everyone who wasn’t one of them.
Hazel struck a killing blow, and moved at the last moment. Seth’s frustration hit a boiling point and he charged forward, his fists clenched around the hilts of his daggers like a man clinging to the wreckage of a shipwreck. Hazel smoothly stepped to the side, batted him away with her elbow, then dealt a slash to the back of his heel that sent him tumbling to the ground in a heap.
She stood over him for long moments, waiting to see if the man would stand back up. Seth had been thoroughly defeated, humiliated and beaten. He did not rise.
“It’s over,” she said, holding her dao sword in both hands. “You’ve been beaten, cultivator. Fair and square.”
I’m not sure what I expected from Seth. Begging and pleading for his life? Tears? It would have fit with his personality perfectly. But to my surprise, Seth stared his own mortality in the face with a great deal more dignity than I expected.
“There’s no such thing as fair,” the man grunted, looking up at Hazel from his knees with a gaze that could peel paint. “I earned my power, whore. I didn’t get it by spreading my legs in a gutter for some man who thinks of nothing but sex!”
“Seems like you’re the one who can’t think of anything but whores,” Hazel said, cocking her head to the side. “Just be glad I’m making this quick. I could have had a lot of fun making you my personal pincushion before I let you die…”
Seth’s eyes widened at the ironic mockery of his own promise to Hazel. Before the blade could fall, he turned to me. “Wait, don’t let her do it! I have power—I can tell you how to cleanse the corrupted Cores! They contain power beyond imagining—beyond your wildest dreams! Spare my life and I’ll grant you the secret!”
I felt my brows furrow together at the man’s offer. “That’s not for me to decide,” I said after a moment. “And I’ve seen what your power can do, Seth. That room back there’s full of it. No thanks.”
“Wait!” Seth raised a plaintive hand, finally falling to the begging I’d been waiting for. “Please—”
In one smooth motion, Hazel severed the head from Seth’s neck. The dao sword cut deep into the man’s flesh, slicing through the spinal column in a single clean swipe. Seth’s head remained stationary for a moment, then slid to the side and rolled across the bare stone floor, followed by the collapse of his body.
You could have heard a pin drop in the cave. Hazel wiped the blood from her dao sword with a length of the man’s robe, concentrating on cleaning the steel. For a long time, the two of us just regarded each other, the conquering warrior and the man to whom she owed fealty.
When Hazel finally spoke, her back was to me. “I’m sorry I ran off, Eric. But I had to do it. I had to do this. You understand, right?”
Up until that moment, my anger at Hazel had been overshadowed by the horrors within Seth’s cave. Now it fully spread through my chest, filling my veins with a fire that refused to go out.
“I understand you risked the lives of me and my group on a pathetic quest for revenge,” I said, spitting in the dirt next to Seth’s corpse. “All because some cultivator barely old enough to shave said some naughty things about you.”
Hazel gave a start. “He’s a murderer,” she protested, her eyebrows shooting to her hairline. “Surely you can see I’ve done a great deed today for the people of Jinshu—”
I held up a finger, silencing her. “You don’t get credit for that. You had no idea he’d killed anyone,” I said, my voice hard and cold. “All you knew is he’d been a rude little shit, and that meant he had to die. You abandoned the group, abandoned the people who fucking care about you, all so you could personally hand out justice to the real-world equivalent of an internet troll. Congratulations, Hazel.”
“I don’t know what an ‘internet troll’ is,” Hazel muttered, sounding chastened. “But Eric—”
“Enough!” I roared, giving full vent to my anger. Hazel shrank back from me, her eyes wide with shame and hurt. Later I’d soothe those things away, bind her even more tightly to the group, but right now? Right now I wanted her to feel bad for what she’d done.
Hazel stood as still as a statue, completely silent. Good—she understood the deal.
“You wanted your cultivation back,” I hissed, coming so close to her that I could feel the heat rolling off her body. Even angrier than a bag full of rattlesnakes, I wanted this woman. “Well now you’ve got it. And everything that comes with it. The responsibility. The obligations. And devotion to the person who gave you those abilities in the first place.”
Hazel’s eyes shone with tears—and something else. Oh yeah, being this close to me was having the same effect on her that it did the other way around. “I understand,” she whispered.
“Do you?” I grabbed her chin and cupped it, forcing her to look up at me. She was so submissive in that moment that it took everything I had not to bend her over and fuck her right there, even with all the horrible shit I’d just witnessed. “I want to hear you say it, Hazel. Right fucking now.”
“I owe you my devotion,” Hazel said, her voice shaking the slightest bit. “I have an obligation to our group. I… I belong to you, Eric Hyde.”
“You’re damned right,” I told her, wrapping my fingers around her long ponytail. “And if you forget it, I’ll be doing some reminding over the next few weeks. You’re on probation until I say so, Hazel—which means when I tell you to do something, you fucking do it. Otherwise I’ll obliterate you the way the Peak Supreme God will do to me if we don’t make enough progress.”
Her eyes widened a fraction.
“Oh yeah. You think I won’t? That you’re too pretty for me to let go of?”
Hazel’s mouth hung open now, utterly shocked. “You’re not that kind of man,” she said, sounding almost offended. “You’re… you’re nice…”
“Nice,” I repeated, laughing at the word. “I am nice, Hazel—to people who are nice to me. But relationships are about give and take. This is something every woman understands when she plays the dating game, but men are usually slow on the uptake for. People only want you for what you bring them, Hazel. Now, riddle me this. Take away sex, and take away cultivation. What do you bring me, Hazel?”
Her mouth worked soundlessly. “I…”
Before she could come up with some trite response, I cut her off. “You bring me a whole lot of trouble, Hazel. You remember that, when it comes time for my next Dual Cultivation session. The people who get stronger get to stay on the team—and the only way you get stronger fast enough is through me.”
Before she could start crying, I stepped away. Part of me wanted to take it all back, to embrace her and stroke her hair and tell her it would all be okay, but a more powerful part of my brain knew doing this now would save me a lot of trouble later.
“Your first task,” I said, without turning around, “is to bury him. Cut down the rest of the bodies in that fucking charnel house, too. We’re not leaving these people hanging around for wolves or bears to find. Take them out of the cave and dig a grave.”
“I… yes, sir,” Hazel said.
I thought for a beat. “And grab something from each of the bodie
s,” I commanded her. “Something personal—jewelry, a guild emblem if they’re a cultivator. We still need proof the Hollow Frog Guild were harboring a murderer in their midst. Hopefully that’ll make up for the lack of eyewitness testimony.”
I was pretty sure it would. Personal effects and the story would be enough to turn most of the villages in this region against the Hollow Frog Guild, once the tale spread. But I wasn’t about to let Hazel know that. Let the girl stew in her guilt and shame a little while longer. It would make it all the sweeter when I ‘disciplined’ her.
By the time I got outside, Lyra and Regina had seen to Bao. The cultivator rested comfortably in the back of Lyra’s cart, chatting with Kim as she watched over the man and made sure he finished off a second healing potion. The whole group perked up as I strode out of the cave.
“Eric Hyde!” Bao lifted a hand, grinning. “Has the brigand been dispatched?”
I dropped the scythe from my hands, finally allowing Anna to transform. A phantasmagoric shimmer of colors filled the air as my weapon transformed back into a woman, the sharp edges of the deadly scythe replaced with my girlfriend’s sleek curves. Anna still retained the horns and tail of her demonic form, however—and the look on her face was one of pure dread. I couldn’t blame her—I felt much the same.
“Seth is dead,” I said, not needing to embellish the story. “Hazel killed him. There’s bodies in there… a lot of bodies.”
The looks on Lyra and Regina’s faces as I explained what had happened in the cave convinced me we were sitting on some very bad news, indeed. I tried to skirt around what I’d seen in that chamber of horrors, but the color still drained from Lyra’s face and she had to hold a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Regina looked pale as well, but there was also a hard look in her eyes, like the story had helped her come to some decision.
“We’re going to bury them,” I said, casting Mana Shield over my hands. Once Hazel came outside, I’d hand one of the magical armor plates to her, and let her use it to dig a trench for the bodies. “Then we’re heading back to our home town. The rest of the town tour is cancelled—for now, at least. This news is too important. We have to make sure the story spreads about the Hollow Frog Guild.”
Each of them could see the wisdom in that.
Hazel eventually got the bodies outside, and Lyra said a little prayer over each of them before we prepared for the burial. Regina’s task was to select a personal item from each body, so that they could be identified by their families in their home villages—as well as used as evidence against the Hollow Frog Guild.
My anger had cooled somewhat against Hazel by the time she came outside. She held something in her hands as she strode over to me, and at the last moment she tossed it in a low underhand arc. It turned out to be a Fire Core the size of a robin’s egg, brimming with internal flames.
“Took that off Seth,” she explained. “I was surprised to find it’s not corrupted. I guess he can’t blame his actions on that dark magic after all. He was just an asshole.”
I nodded. At the same time I opened my senses to scan the orb, just in case, but Hazel was right. The Fire Core was completely clean. I tucked it away in my robes, saving it for later.
I showed Hazel how to use the Mana Shield, and in no time at all she’d dug the graves. A little Earth Magic covered them back up again, and in the meantime Kim made a few markers to stick in the earth, just in case anyone’s family wanted to come up and pay tribute to their fallen brethren.
As we prepared to head back, Kim made a surprising announcement. “I must return to Jinshu,” she declared, unyoking one of Lyra’s oxen from the cart to carry her back to town. “I must inform my father about these slayings, and let the rest of the town know as well. Many families have a missing person, and it will give them closure to know what happened to them, as grisly as the truth may be.”
I nodded. “That’s fine. I’m sorry we didn’t get to know each other better, Kim.”
We were one hell of a missed connection, to be sure. That night at the inn, I’d felt such a spark between us. I was sure she was going to fall into my arms, join my harem, and eventually become a cultivator.
“And once I do that,” Kim continued, looking at me beneath her long lashes, “if it is acceptable to you, I would like to join you at your town.”
Anna let out a low, knowing whistle. Lyra’s eyebrows rose. Regina looked rapidly between me and Kim as if an idea had just taken shape in her head, and a flush rose to her cheeks.
“That would be wonderful,” I said, thinking of that night and its promise. “We would be happy to have you as a guest for as long as you like, Kim.”
“Or whatever else you want to be,” Anna added with a toothy grin.
We said our goodbyes and headed back onto the trail. It was going to be a long night, but I had Bao and my girls to keep me company. And more importantly, I had a story that would bring support for the Hollow Frog Guild to an all-time low.
Soon I’d be in charge of that Guild, and Guildmaster Ji would be in my hands. Once I had him, I’d do to him exactly what Hazel had done to Seth.
Only with a whole lot less talking, and a whole lot more blood.
Chapter 15
I hadn’t been planning to catch a nap on the drive back to Lyra’s town, but almost as soon as I lay down in the back of the cart I was out like a light. Murder will do that to a fella.
I woke up snuggled between Hazel and Anna, with Regina holding the reins of the cart up front. Lyra lay against the dark-haired woman, snoozing gently after she’d evidently fallen asleep at the wheel. The morning sun peeked over the horizon, and birds had just begun to sound their first calls.
I smiled, then threw Anna’s arm across my chest and yawned.
Bao sat at the very rear of the cart, looking at me like I was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world. A sleepy smile spread across the cultivator’s face: he must have just woken up as well. Or maybe he’d been laying there watching me for a while—I couldn’t tell.
“You make me wish I hadn’t squandered my youth, Eric Hyde,” the old man said in a quiet tone, smiling.
Careful not to wake Hazel or Anna, I sat up as much as I could in the back of the cart. “You’ve got plenty of time left,” I said, snuggling closer to Anna’s hip. “I’m sure there’s plenty of matrons in Lyra’s town who could use some male company.”
Bao laughed and shook his head, still being quiet enough to keep the rest of our company from stirring in their slumber. “Perhaps I will try to make the most of my twilight years,” the man said, watching the three of us together. “I fear that there will not be much celebration when we arrive at the town, however. Not with the news we bring.”
The reminder put a damper on my nice morning. The warmth of Hazel and Anna’s bodies next to mine was suddenly cut through with a chill—the thought of bringing such grim tidings back to our home base. My eyes traveled to the small pile of personal belongings we’d brought from Seth’s cave: the proof of the cultivator’s murderous spree. Some of those pieces of jewelry and articles of clothing undoubtedly belonged to people Lyra knew—people who’d be grieving once they got the news about their loved ones.
“Everyone up,” Regina announced from the front of the cart, nudging Lyra. With a start I realized that she had been listening in on my conversation with Bao, and had chosen this moment to get everyone up and ready for our entrance into town. Smart girl, I thought, glancing up at her over my shoulder as Anna and Hazel began to stir.
“Get up, sleepyhead,” I said, giving Anna a kiss on her forehead. Her eyelashes fluttered, a little groan escaping her lips as she stretched against me.
“Aww, give me five more minutes,” Anna protested. Coming to a brand new world hadn’t changed some things about my girlfriend. She was still definitely not a morning person. She lifted her arms over her head, her hair a messy halo as she slicked it back. On my other side, Hazel came awake with a start and scooted to the other side of the cart, as if she
hadn’t intended to be that intimate with the group overnight.
We were moving into the town, the familiar buildings looming on either side of the cart. A sigh of relief left the group as we passed within the walls. They gave us a precious sense of safety; unlike every other village and town in the province, it was here that we truly felt as if we had allies.
A crowd gathered outside the Hungry Herb Tavern to watch us approach. They broke out in cheers as the cart rolled to a stop at the inn’s back gates—then they saw the look on Lyra’s face and went quiet.
Lyra looked over at me with a heavy sigh. “Well,” she whispered, “I should probably get this over with.”
I nodded back at her, reaching for the pile of clothes and jewelry. “I’ve got it,” I told the redhead.
“They should hear it from me,” Lyra retorted, a sympathetic look spreading across her face. “Please, Eric. It’s not that you’re not the leader, or that you’re not important. But I know these people’s names. I know their families—most of them I’ve been serving for years.”
Her words made sense. I handed her the pile and climbed out of the back of the cart, nodding at a few of the village’s more preeminent citizens. Everyone looked relieved to see our group back safe and sound—and worried about what might be coming next.
“The disappearances in our province have been solved,” Lyra said, stepping down from the front of the cart with the pile in her hands. “The missing people were killed by a cultivator named Seth. Justice has been done, and the monster no longer walks among us.” She looked at me fiercely, letting the whole crowd see. “Eric Hyde pronounced the sentence, and Hazel the execution.”
“She has her magic back,” someone whispered, their eyes widening as Hazel took her place next to me. Between her and Anna I felt nearly invincible, but there was nothing I could do to wipe away the looks of hurt on the faces of some of the villagers. They were about to receive the news no parent, no sibling, no friend wanted to hear.
“She does,” I said. “Hazel is a full-fledged cultivator once again, and a member of my Guild.” As I spoke, I slid an arm around the blonde warrior’s waist, making it perfectly clear what other capacity she served in as well. Several of Lyra’s serving girls giggled at the sight, hiding their lips behind their fingers.
