De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 13

The sun was starting to set as Riverbend faded into the distance behind the wagon. Ash had delayed their departure several hours to hunt for the oni within the town. As he should have guessed, they found no clues about him. Even Haylee failed to pick up his scent apart from what was at the tavern.

Ash read over the paper they had taken from the board once more as they moved along the dirt road. He could see Selena staring at him out of the corner of his eye as they sat in the back of the wagon.

“It’s obviously a trap,” she said, moving closer to him.

He felt her thigh pressed against his as the motion of the wagon rocked them back and forth. She didn’t seem to mind, though, and stayed pressed against him.

Ash turned, looking into Selena’s violet eyes. Silently, he cursed himself that she had been dragged into this. Haylee as well. Both girls were here because of him.

“I figured as much,” he said, waving the piece of paper. “The use of a cellphone was a dead giveaway. Not like there’s much information to remember on this.”

He smacked the date written on the paper, which was three weeks away.

“But the bait is too good,” he said with a sigh. “That oni has a way or knows a way for us to return home. The question is, what does he want?”

He caught movement from the driver’s box where Haylee and Augustus sat.

“Probably to kill you,” Haylee answered.

She was looking back at him and Selena, her gaze fixated on where their thighs were bumping against each other, a small frown on her face. Ash scooted an inch away from Selena, so they were no longer touching, and saw the frown fade.

“I don’t think so. Victor could have killed me that day, but he didn’t,” Ash said, now frowning himself.

He had been preoccupied with the anger he felt over losing to Victor and his current predicament. As time passed and the anger simmered, he started to wonder why Victor had sent him to Vas. He could have killed him easily back in District 1 or even in the forest they fought in once they were transported to Vas.

He saw Haylee’s ears had gone flat at him, admitting he could have died. She had taken Faylen’s orders to be his bodyguard fairly seriously.

Again, he silently cursed himself as he forced a smile on his face and lifted the paper.

“Do you know much about these gladiator matches?” Ash asked.

The question was genuine and not just a distraction from Haylee's thoughts about his fight with Victor. He had learned a little about the matches from Bo when they visited the restaurant with Selena and Ella in District 208. The place had Vas gladiator’s memorabilia along with human sports as decoration, but Bo’s information on it was pretty sparse and mostly just who he thought was the best.

Haylee shrugged.

“I lived like most beastkins, in the wilds. I grew up on a river with my family, and we just traded with outposts. Riverbend is the first town on Vas I’ve been to,” Haylee said.

Augustus gave a quick glance at her, surprise on his face, before he focused back on the road. Haylee caught it, as did Ash, and the two shared a look that said they needed to be more careful of what they spoke about and around whom. Ash wasn’t quite ready to reveal they were from another world.

“I went to a few with my father,” Selena said as she scooted closer to him, removing the inch of space separating them. “This is a smaller one, so competitors will draw lots and they will compete in a bracket until one is the winner. The larger ones will usually have, oh, what’s the word? Showboating before the match. I’ve heard Ella compare Pro Wrestling to it before.”

Ash nodded.

“But a real fight?” Ash asked. “Unlike Pro Wrestling.”

“Wait! That’s fake?” Haylee quickly interrupted.

Ash turned to see her eyes darting between him and Selena, as if hoping this was a joke.

“It’s pretty fake,” Ash answered.

Haylee let out a gasp.

“But my sisters and I would watch it every week!” she said with a pout.

Augustus cleared his throat.

“Sorry to interrupt the conversation between you and your companions, my warchief,” he said as the wagon slowed. “But we must make camp soon. Only a little light left before nightfall. I know a spot near here with a deep stream. I recommend we stop there for the night.”

Ash looked at the girls before turning back to Augustus.

“That sounds like a good place,” Ash responded.

What felt like half an hour later, as the stars started to shine overhead, they had set up camp at the place Augustus mentioned. The area was a small clearing hidden from the road by a grove of trees. The hint of a bluff line peeked over the tree tops in the opposite direction of the road, indicating where the stream was located.

“Okay, Ash. It’s ready,” Haylee said.

Ash let out a sigh as he approached the unlit campfire. Selena had attended to the horses, something she had learned as a young girl from her father’s stables. Augustus was preparing food to cook once the fire was going, and Haylee had set alarms and traps to alert them if anything tried to enter the camp without their knowledge.

Ash, though, with his lack of camping experience, there was only one thing he could help with.

“I’m a glorified lighter,” he huffed as he sent a small Bolt of lightning to ignite the kindling of the campfire.

Haylee smiled up at him as the flames started to spread along the wood.

“A very cute lighter,” she said.

Selena scoffed over by the horses, and Haylee turned to scowl at her. Ash’s gaze darted between the two girls as they stared each other down. He had noticed over the past few days that some rivalry had sprouted between the two of them, and he was at the center of it.

“Just need water from the stream and I’ll get the meal going!” Augustus said cheerfully, oblivious to the staring match between the girls.

“I’ll get the water,” Ash quickly said, hoping that if he removed himself, it would defuse the situation or at least let things simmer.

Augustus paused as Ash took the large pot from him.

“Something else I can do in camp other than just make fires,” Ash said to the dwarf before he could protest.

He turned and made his way to the bluff line before either Selena or Haylee could say anything. The walk was fairly short, and soon he was standing on a sandy beach. The full moon was reflecting on the stream’s surface as it flowed past him. The light provided by it illuminated the bluff as well as the many small waterfalls that cascaded down it. He figured the stream was wide enough that he could probably throw a stone across it and hit the bluff. The place was honestly picturesque, and Ash took a moment to soak the scene in before kneeling down to fill the pot.

He heard footsteps on the sand and turned to see Haylee approaching him. Her arms crossed.

“You volunteered to get away from us,” she accused.

Ash stared up into her hazel eyes as he filled the pot with the stream’s water.

“I did. Yet you followed me down here,” he answered.

Haylee kept her arms crossed as her otter ears went flat. Ash decided to continue.

“I’ve noticed both you and Selena become hostile toward each other when I’m around. I can give you girls a task with just the two of you or others from the castle, and there’s no problem, but when I’m with you,” Ash waved his hand in the air. “There’s a tension.”

Haylee bit her lip as her head slowly nodded along.

“It’s because I want you and she does as well,” Haylee said, before smirking. “We both have Faylen’s blessing after all. Though I don’t think she will be as direct as I am.”

Ash’s eyes widened at the revelation that Fayleen had given her blessing to Selena. He was about to say something when Haylee started to pull her shirt over her head.

“What are you doing?” he asked, glancing toward camp.

When he turned back to face her, he saw Haylee standing there, shirtless, wearing a red bikini. Then her hands pulled down her jeans, revealing the matching bikini bottom. She gave him a wink before dropping the jeans to join the shirt in a pile on the sand.

“You were wearing your bikini when we rifted?” Ash asked as he took in her figure.

Haylee’s body was athletic, no doubt from swimming regularly. The red bikini top did its best to hold her ample breasts. Something that was tested as Haylee stretched. Even in the moonlight, he could see her tan lines peeking from under the bikini’s edge.

“I’ve always worn a swimsuit under my clothes instead of underwear. Between my job at the fish farm and the fact that I love being in the water, it just seemed more practical,” she said, moving toward the stream. “Also, there are some things I missed about Vas, but underwear selection wasn’t one of them. Selena and I either do our laundry every day because of that, or just don’t wear any.”

She grabbed the pot as she passed by him and laughed as she darted into the water with it. She looked back at him when she was waist deep with a mischievous grin.

“Like how she’s not wearing any today, and trust me, it wasn’t an accident that she was rubbing against you in the back of the wagon,” Haylee said before diving under the water.

A few seconds later, she emerged close to the shore, lifting the pot out of the stream and holding it out to Ash.

“The water is really nice,” Haylee said. “You should join me before we go eat.”

Ash moved to take the pot.

“I wasn’t wearing trunks under my clothes when I rifted,” he said with a chuckle. “Also, Augustus is waiting on us to bring this to him so he can start cooking.”

Haylee took a step back away from him with the pot in her hand, putting it just out of reach. A grin on her face as she looked at him.

“I may have used my Water Magic to fill another pot, and Augustus might already be cooking dinner,” she said slyly. “I’m just here to tell you it will be a bit before it’s done and that this pot of water will be used for clean up.”

She took a step toward him, and Ash grabbed the pot from the grinning otterkin’s hands. He couldn’t help but smile at her and looked back toward camp.

“I still don’t have trunks,” he said, trying to reason with her.

Haylee waved her hand, and beads of water flew from her bikini top to form a transparent ball that rippled above her palm.

“I can pull the water easily from our clothing, they won’t even be damp,” she said before smirking. “So you can wear as much or as little clothing as you want.”

After riding in the wagon most of the day, the offer was tempting. Even more so, because Haylee looked gorgeous in her little string bikini, and he was enjoying this playful side of her. He missed his girls, and the last few days without them had been tough. Every day, he got up and focused all his efforts and attention on returning to Earth. Those days were joyless and lonely, despite all the people around him.

“And Selena?” Ash asked, his mind going to the unicorn.

Haylee shrugged.

“It’s just a swim,” she answered, with a coy smile. “She’s welcome to join us. Though she might have to swim in the nude since her dress would get bogged down in the water and she’s not wearing any panties under it.”

Ash looked back toward the camp one more time before setting the pot of water on the shore and pulling his shirt off, tossing it into the pile with Haylee’s

“Just for a bit,” he said, kicking off his shoes and socks before rushing to join her in the water.