In the morning, Nicole was woken by Tiralie. After being fed more leftovers from yesterday’s meat, Tiralie cut the rope that tied Nicole to the tree. Still, it was long enough to serve as a leash, so not much changed for Nicole.
"Alright, girl, time to go. Climb up." Tiralie said, already sitting on Erta’s back.
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that? At least untie my hands."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Oh, I forgot about those."
She dismounted gracefully, scooped Nicole up with ease, then leapt back onto the spider and placed her in front.
Fuck, she doesn’t just look strong—she really is!
"Hold tight, she can go pretty fast!" Tiralie warned, gripping Nicole’s shoulders.
Nicole couldn’t do much, so she clenched her legs around the spider’s back. A moment later, Erta dashed forward through the forest.
"Wait, what about Mignon?" Nicole looked over her shoulder.
"Don’t worry, he’s attached underneath Erta’s belly."
Nicole craned her neck, trying to glimpse her new friend beneath the spider’s body. Instead, her eyes caught Erta’s slightly translucent abdomen. Strange bubbles shifted inside. At first she thought nothing of it, but then her eyes widened—those weren’t bubbles, but tiny blue spiders.
"Something wrong?" Tiralie asked.
"N-no… Except for the fact that there are spiders inside your spider, everything’s fine." Nicole swallowed hard and forced herself to look away.
"You didn’t know? Many call them River Mothers. Females can carry their offspring inside them for their whole life. When they die, the little ones pour out—it looks like a waterfall, hence the name. And if the threat that killed the mother is gone, the young eat her corpse. Some say it’s horrible, but I say it’s just nature. Why waste free food?" Tiralie chuckled.
Nicole was speechless.
I know cannibalism isn’t rare for animals, even on Earth, but reading about it or watching National Geographic is one thing. Seeing it here is completely different. Gods, I hope I’ll never witness that.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive, as Erta was incredibly fast. Nicole had some experience riding horses—her adoptive parents had forced her into every 'elite' hobby they could—but even the fastest horse was a snail compared to this spider.
Through the trees, the village walls came into view. As they neared, Erta didn’t slow down, instead, she leapt into the air, soaring over the wall before landing in the middle of the street between huts. Villagers glanced their way but quickly returned to their business. Tiralie jumped down, pulling Nicole with her, and set her on the ground.
"Alright, let’s see if you really are who you claim to be, girl." Tiralie said, tugging the leash.
"Okay. Let’s go to the elders then." Nicole sighed.
But before they could move, a man approached—Pock.
"Oh, Nicole! I haven’t seen you in a while!" He scratched his chin, eyes flicking between the leash around her neck and Tiralie’s hand. "Looks like you’re in trouble…"
Nicole shook her head. "Nope, I’m not. It just looks that way. I just need to prove to her that I’m known here and not a spy or something." She turned to Tiralie. "See? He knows me."
The woman nodded. "Good. But I still want the elders’ opinion."
She tugged on the leash and led Nicole through the village. Soon, they reached the large building where the elders usually gathered. Inside, as expected, Izab sat in the center. Terl was also there, and the moment he saw Tiralie, he jumped up and hurried to her.
"Back so soon? I knew you were strong, but I’m impressed at how fast you finished. Would you like some tea, maybe?"
The fuck? Since when is this asshole so polite?
"Or perhaps a massage after the ride? Your thighs must be sore." Terl continued.
Okay, I got it. He is just basically simping her.
"Fuck off." Tiralie snapped without hesitation. Ignoring him, she sat down in front of Izab. "Hey, old man. Do you know her?" She pointed at Nicole.
"Of course." Izab said, barely glancing Nicole's way. "One of the locals brought her here some time ago. We allowed her to stay. Did she do something wrong?"
"I found her wandering in the forest. How do you know she isn’t a spy?"
"She hasn’t done anything suspicious—other than baking those flatbreads you liked so much. I know what happens in my village, and she’s harmless. Unless provoked."
Tiralie studied Nicole. "Huh. Interesting."
Nicole sighed. "See? Can you let me go already, for fuck’s sake?"
The woman nodded and released grip on the leash. "Untie her hands."
Terl immediately jumped to Nicole and finally, she was free. Nicole rubbed her wrists, red from the rope. "Can you tell your spider to release Mignon?"
With a groan, Tiralie stood, followed Nicole outside, and freed the Krellip. The little beast whimpered, ran to Nicole, and barked at Tiralie from behind her legs.
"Hey, calm down." Nicole hushed Mignon and, without another word to Tiralie, headed toward Soi’s hut.
On one hand, she’s a bitch. Those kicks and feeding me like an animal were unnecessary. But on the other hand… she didn’t seem that bad outside of it.
It was still early, and Nicole hoped Soi hadn’t left the village yet. The walk was short, and soon she entered the hut. Soi stood with her back to the door, unaware of her presence. Nicole crept closer, leaned in, and whispered:
"Guess who’s back!"
The catgirl jumped and spun around, eyes wide. "Nicole! You’re alive!" She grabbed Nicole’s shoulders, staring into her eyes. Then she suddenly slapped her, hard enough to turn her head to the side. "That’s for leaving me!" But right after, she pulled her into a tight hug. "You have no idea how shitty I felt when you walked away." She sobbed.
Nicole’s cheek burned. Maybe I deserved that.
She hugged Soi with one arm, petting her head with the other. "It’s okay. I am alive. Everything’s okay… mostly."
Soi pulled back, then her eyes widened even more. "What’s that?! A Krellip?!" She pointed at Mignon.
"Oh, right. I’ll explain later. Don’t you have to go hunting?"
Soi shook her head. "No. Two days ago, Vyrik got hurt on a hunt. He has to rest for a while."
"Damn, that’s harsh. But that means I don't have to wait and can tell you everything right now."
Nicole sat on the floor, Soi following. Mignon plopped down beside the door, as if guarding it.
It took hours for Nicole to explain everything about her journey in the forest. Soi listened quietly, her reactions betraying curiosity—especially when Nicole spoke of Mignon and Tiralie. When Nicole finished, Soi took a deep breath.
"Well, you survived. That’s a good thing. Honestly, it’s a miracle. You made your life way harder than it needed to be. You know, you could’ve just used Retite stones instead of whatever that ‘magnifying glass’ thing is. Didn’t I tell you about them?"
"Fuck, you’re right. But even if I remembered, I didn’t have any. And I don’t know how to tell which ones actually have Retite inside—they all look the same!"
"That’s why I should’ve gone with you!"
"No. That’s exactly why you shouldn’t. I want to learn to survive alone."
"Ugh, again with this…"
"But I did survive. So the forest isn’t that bad." Nicole smirked. "Anyway, let’s drop it. I’ve got a few questions for you."
Soi sighed. "Alright. But don’t think I’m happy about you risking your life like that."
"Great. First—who exactly is Tiralie? All I know is she’s super strong and important enough to make Terl act like her lapdog."
"She’s basically the personal hound of one of the Circle’s members. If they need violence, they send her."
"And the Circle? She mentioned it earlier."
"They’re the rulers of our tribe. They live in the capital and each oversees different things—military, growth, that sort of stuff. I don’t know which one Tiralie serves though."
So the Circle are like ministers.
"So you don’t have a single ruler?"
Soi shook her head. "Nope. When needed, they just vote. Usually that works."
"Alright, thanks. Next—what about Krellips?"
Soi glanced at Mignon. "I… have no idea how you found him. They all belong to Narakai, the wolf tribe’s queen. Long ago, one of their kings ordered all Krellips to be captured or killed, then gave the survivors to the queen when she became, well, the queen. Since then, no wild ones exist—they’re one of Narakai’s symbols."
"Hm. How far is their tribe from here? Maybe he escaped and I just found him."
"Not likely. Narakai are on the other side of the island." Soi swallowed nervously. "I hope you won’t get into trouble if they see you with him."
"What will they do? Arrest me? It’s not like I did anything wrong." Nicole shrugged.
"Just owning him makes their queen less unique. They’re obsessed with that. When I traveled with my parents, I saw Narakai kill a merchant just for not speaking highly enough about the king."
"Mignon’s mine. They can try and take him, but I won’t let them."
Soi bit her lip. "You’d risk your life for him?"
"Do I have a choice? He’ll probably follow me no matter what. It’s not like I can force him back into the forest. And… I like him."
Soi looked like she wanted to argue but stayed quiet.
"Back to Tiralie. What’s she doing here anyway? She said she had a mission but got sidetracked by me."
"Oh, right. Remember when we were out in the woods and heard those distant roars? Turns out some beast crawled out of the Storm Chasm. Apparantly Tiralie was sent to deal with it."
"Storm Chasm?"
"Yeah. Northwest of here, there’s a massive hole in the ground. No words can describe how big. Inside, there’s a vortex of wind and lightning. And floating above it is a mountain where the Yaru’kai live."
Harpies living on a mountain in the sky? Bet the view’s incredible.
The two sat in silence for a while. Soi’s eyes flicked toward Nicole until she finally spoke, her voice heavy with worry.
"You… are you going back into the forest?"
"I think so. I need to get stronger somehow."
"Please, at least wait until Tiralie’s done. What if you run into that thing?"
"Alright. And in the meantime, you can teach me how not to die in there. That way you’ll be less stressed."
For the first time in days, Soi smiled. "Yes. I’ll gladly teach you."