De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 15

“Wait! I’m sorry!” Haylee laughed.

Ash was cradling her in his arms, a devious smile on his face as the otterkin looked up at him pleading for mercy. She would get none, though.

“Oh no. You’re not getting out of this by looking cute. You splashed me with your tail,” Ash said as he started rocking Haylee back and forth in his arms. “You have to pay the price.”

Haylee let out a squeal as he threw her into the deeper part of the stream with a splash. Ash roared with laughter, a massive grin on his face as Haylee broke the water’s surface with a playful smirk.

“You just admitted that you think I’m cute,” Haylee said.

Ash was catching his breath.

“You are, but also mischievous as hell,” he said.

Haylee’s smile just grew before she stuck her tongue out at him.

“What kind of otterkin would I be if I didn’t cause a little trouble,” she said, flicking her tail at him.

Ash lifted his hands to block the wave of water. As soon as it passed, he started to try to chase down Haylee in the stream. Clearly, she hadn’t learned her lesson the first time.

“You’ll never catch me!” Haylee squealed again as she started to swim away from him.

Ash only made a few strokes in the water after her when he heard someone clear their throat. Both he and Haylee paused in their playing and looked back to the shoreline to see Selena.

“Dinner is done,” Selena said, her gaze fixated on Haylee. “Also, the bluff echoes. Augustus had a very different idea of what you two were doing down here with all the squealing.”

Selena’s gaze turned to him as he made his way to the shoreline. Her eyes drifted down as his shirtless torso emerged from the water. She stared at his body for a moment before turning and making her way back to camp.

Haylee soon joined him on the shoreline, the otterkin waving her hands to pull the water from their clothes and bodies with her magic.

“Okay. She’s a little more grumpy about this than I expected,” she said with a grimace toward camp.

Ash’s lips thinned.

“Do you think I need to talk to her?” he asked. “We were just swimming.”

He felt Haylee’s tail smack his butt.

“And flirting,” she added with a smirk at him.

Her gaze went back toward camp, and the smirk fell before being followed by a sigh.

“I’ll talk to her. She’s mad at me, not you,” Haylee answered.

Ash looked at the otterkin girl.

“Thank you, Haylee. It was nice to take a break from everything for a bit. I haven’t laughed in days,” Ash said to her.

Haylee gave him a sad smile before leaning in and kissing his cheek.

“It was nice for me as well. The last few days have been stressful for all of us. It brings back memories of when I first rifted, the fear, the unknown with what was happening, only this time I don’t have my sisters with me. I’m sure Selena feels the same,” Haylee said.

Her hand reached out and took his, holding it.

“I know you’ll get us home, Ash, but in the meantime, I need you to be mine and Selena’s rock,” she said.

“I will,” Ash answered.

Haylee smiled at him before releasing his hand and began to get dressed. He took one last look at her in the red bikini before doing the same.

When they arrived back at the camp, the smell of cooked food greeted them, as did the crackling of the fire.

“Welcome back, Warchief,” Augustus said as he handed him two bowls of stew. “I figured you might need an extra serving.”

The dwarf winked at him before heading back to the large pot over the fire and filling another bowl.

“We were just swimming,” Ash said, taking a seat by the fire.

Augustus gave him another wink as he handed Haylee a bowl.

“Of course, Warchief,” Augustus said with a slight chuckle.

Selena rolled her eyes at the dwarf from where she sat by the fire, eating her stew. Haylee took a spot between them, and Ash didn’t miss the glare Selena gave the otterkin. He hoped the girls would work out whatever was going on between the two of them.

After their meal, Ash flipped through one of the books on magic they had purchased by the campfire. A glowing ball of light cast by Selena hovered above him, providing enough light for him to read by. Currently, only he and Augustus were at the camp, as Haylee and Selena had gone to the river to fill the canteens for tomorrow's trip. Given how long they had been gone, Ash figured they were having their talk right now.

He was currently reading a chapter on using alchemy to help train magic. He initially thought he would find the burst training Silver had him do, but surprisingly, it wasn’t in the tome. Instead, several plants were described, accompanied by sketches and a list of their properties.

“Trouble with your lasses?” Augustus asked as he sat down beside the fire.

Ash looked up from his book at the dwarf. He had a small book in his hand with a piece of charcoal, making marks. Ash could see several of the supplies they had gathered in Riverbend written on the pages.

“Just us adjusting to this new place,” Ash replied, not wanting to get into the nitty gritty of it.

Augustus hummed as he continued making his marks.

“Take an old dwarf’s advice. Both girls need you right now, but the ottergirl is just putting on a strong front.”

Augustus closed his small book and slipped the charcoal into a little pouch connected to it. Placing both inside a pocket on his jacket.

“Selena will go out of her way to interact with the others in the castle. She’s a helpful girl, if a bit sheltered. Haylee, though, keeps more to herself or stays close to you,” Augustus said. “Just the observations of an old dwarf.”

“Thank you for the advice, Augustus,” Ash said as he returned to the book. Though he was reading the chapter on magic and alchemy, his mind was thinking about what the dwarf had said.

***

The next morning, they packed up the wagon as the sun started to rise. Haylee and Selena made no show of how their conversation had gone last night; both still acted the same as they usually would. Ash tried to heed Augustus’ advice and split the morning between the two girls.

He tried to aid Selena in bridling the horses, which was more her teaching him how to do it than him helping. Still, he got a smile out of the unicorn and even a laugh at his less-than-stellar attempts.

Haylee worked on disassembling the alarm traps she had set around their camp last night, and it was a task Ash was better suited for.

“So what kind of animals were these set for?” Ash asked as he pulled a stake out of the ground.

He then began winding up the rope connected to the stake, removing the bells as he came to them. Haylee was doing the same with her own stake, not far from him.

“Wolves mostly, maybe giant spiders if there are some caves along the bluff,” Haylee answered.

Ash stopped and looked at her.

“Giant spiders?” he asked.

Haylee nodded.

“This area they would be Giant Forest Spiders, so about the size of a cow and not venomous,” she answered, before smiling. “You would fry it to a crisp with one of your lightning bolts.”

Ash still frowned, just because he could kill it didn’t mean he wanted to run into a spider that big. He felt his skin crawl at the thought.

When everything was in the wagon, Augustus got the horses moving, and all of them were looking forward to being back at the castle within a few hours. Ash opened the book from last night and continued reading, a sliver of an idea forming.

“Find anything in that book?” Selena asked, moving to sit by him.

Again, her thigh was pressed against his leg, only this time Haylee ignored it.

“Alchemy with magic. Silver trained me using a technique like this, though these seem pretty simple compared to that,” he said before flipping to a page he marked with a sketch of a plant on it. “Still, some of the information might be useful. These plants are called Stormcallers. They’re a flower that only blooms during storms to absorb lightning, which they store as a defense mechanism. This book talks about how the petals can be used for Lightning Resistance potions.”

Selena raised an eyebrow.

“So you’re going to just start chugging a ton of potions?” she asked.

Ash let out a laugh and shook his head.

“I do plan to try and make some for training, but I think this flower is the first hint to solving—” Ash paused, his gaze shifting to a woman on the side of the road.

Their wagon rolled past her, Augustus humming a tune quietly to himself. The woman leaned against a tree, the hood of her cloak down, and taking a bite of an apple, her blue and green eyes following Ash.

“That’s the girl from the bookstore,” Haylee said, frowning at her.

Ash nodded.

“What are the odds she’s just traveling the same way as us?” he asked.

Selena leaned against him more, placing her hand possessively on his leg.

“Unless she intends to gather herbs along the edge of the Markal Forest, none. We’re far enough down this road that it leads nowhere else,” Selena answered.

Haylee clicked her tongue, and Ash looked toward her, seeing her ears canted.

“Great, another one…” he heard her mutter.

He turned back and watched the elven woman eating her apple while leaning against the tree. She was still staring at him, as if she were seeing something that greatly interested her. Soon she faded from view as they continued on their journey.

When Markal Castle came into view, they let out a collective sigh of relief, except for Augustus, who merely chuckled.

“We were only gone a day and night, yet you three act as if we’ve traveled for months,” he said.

“I prefer to sleep in a bed,” Haylee stated.

Ash shook his head as the orcs watching the ramparts called out to announce the return of their warchief. He really wished they would stop doing that.

The gate to the castle rose, and Ash saw Blake and Eva hurrying to greet him as the wagon rolled into the courtyard. Once they came to a stop, Sparky popped back out of his elemental scar and did a very cat-like stretch, which made Eva back up several steps.

“I was wondering where you were,” Selena said, reaching out and scratching the small elemental's head.

Sparky let out a static-laced purr as she did.

“I asked him to stay hidden while we traveled,” Ash answered.

Both Haylee and Augustus gave the small blue cat made of Lightning Magic nervous looks, but said nothing.

“Welcome back, Warchief,” Blake said as he took a bundle of supplies from the back of the wagon.

Ash grabbed a bundle himself before he jumped out onto the ground. Haylee did the same, landing beside him on the ground. Selena grabbed one as well, but Ash set his down to give her a hand as she stepped out of the wagon. Sparky jumped out and stayed beside the unicorn.

“Thank you,” Selena said with a small smile as she held his hand, the bundle of supplies slung over her shoulder.

Ash gave her a smile before looking at Blake and Eva.

“Any trouble while we were gone?” he asked.

Blake gave a small snarl.

“The behemoth has been spotted coming closer to the castle. It chased off one of the gathering parties Grace was leading,” Blake said. “Thankfully, she got everyone away safely.”

Blake's gaze shifted over to the wall of the courtyard where an older wolfkin woman was leaning, his snarl shifting into a proud smile.

“Why is it coming this far north?” Ash asked.

Blake was still smiling at his mate when he answered.

“It’s a male defending its territory. I’m sure the beast sensed the amount of magic you used when you took over the castle. It most likely sees you as a challenger or threat,” he said. “We have some tricks we can use to drive it off from the castle if it gets too close.”

Ash nodded.

“Do we know where it usually stays?” he asked.

Blake broke his gaze from Grace to look back at him.

“You’re going to go find it?” he asked.

Something Mander once told Ash ran through his mind. That the best way to become stronger was to fight a strong opponent, and Ash needed to become stronger.