There was a field of study Jemina absolutely despised.
Botany.
Despite her supposed "noble education," her ability to distinguish plants was… catastrophic.
Once, she had helped gather seasonal herbs for a household dish.
The result?
An entire estate suffering from loose bowels for nearly a week.
Another time, during the war, she volunteered to assist the wounded
only to apply the wrong herbs to open injuries.
The screams that followed had been… memorable.
She had been banned from helping shortly after.
A proud moment for the family name.
"…Should I bring shame to my new family's honor as well?" she muttered.
She held up a leaf lined with sharp, unfriendly spikes and glanced at Ghastly number nine and fifteen.
They were helping her gather herbs for Ghastly number one and the elder mudwolf.
"What do you think? Does this look… medicine-y?"
One rabbit leaned in, sniffed
and sneezed violently.
Jemina tilted her head.
"…Is that a good sign?"
When she returned, she paused.
A small pile of herbs and roots had already been gathered beside Ghastly number one.
The rabbit was munching on them
and looked significantly better.
"Oh."
She crouched.
"Oh, so that's how it works."
She looked at the others.
"…Can you bring more for the elder mudwolf?"
The rabbits flinched.
"Hey! Don't be stingy!"
Reluctantly, they obeyed.
The elder mudwolf ate what they brought.
A few hours later
it looked noticeably stronger.
Jemina leaned back, impressed.
"Wow… so everything edible in this forest is just… superior quality?"
She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"I suppose that explains how I survived two days on grass alone."
A few days passed.
Ghastly number one had returned to its usual duties, following her everywhere like an overprotective shadow.
The elder mudwolf could now stand on its own.
One morning, it disappeared.
When it returned
it dragged along a boar nearly twice its size.
It dropped the carcass at her feet.
"Ah… yes," Jemina nodded. "That is… very dead."
She paused.
"I cannot tame that."
The mudwolf stared at her.
Drooling.
But did not eat.
"…Oh."
A realization.
"Ohhh! This is for eating."
She clapped once.
"I see. My brain truly has not been functioning. That must be the lack of meat. I used to eat steak three times a day, you know."
The mudwolf tore off a leg and tossed it to her.
"Oh! That's my share! Thank you!"
She built a fire.
Slowly. Carefully.
With great determination and very little skill.
But eventually
the meat began to sizzle.
The smell alone nearly brought her to tears.
When it was finally cooked, she took a bite.
And immediately did cry.
"Oh… oh, this is life…"
She clutched the meat dramatically.
"Having great familiars is the best decision I've ever made."
The two baby mudwolves approached her curiously.
"Oh? You want to try?"
She tossed them a small piece.
They sniffed it.
Paused.
Then one of them dramatically flung it away and bolted.
The other followed as if fleeing a catastrophe.
Jemina blinked.
"…That was rude."
She bent to retrieve the meat.
A shadow loomed over her.
"Oh, come on, Elder, you should be disciplining your children, not wah!"
She looked up.
And froze.
It wasn't the elder mudwolf.
It was
white.
Lustrous.
Massive.
A wolf nearly twice the size of the elder stood before her, its fur gleaming even in the dim forest light.
It looked down at her.
Majestic.
Commanding.
For a brief, alarming moment
she felt the urge to kneel.
"…Good afternoon," she managed.
The white wolf ignored her.
It walked past her as though she did not exist and stopped by the fire.
It sniffed the meat.
Then glanced at her.
Expectantly.
"…Oh. You would like to be served."
Jemina scrambled to comply, handing over the remaining cooked meat.
It ate.
Calmly.
Gracefully.
As though this arrangement had always been obvious.
Jemina watched it.
Strange.
She didn't feel afraid.
The Ghastlies weren't reacting.
The elder mudwolf didn't seem threatened either.
"…Well, that's suspicious."
Oddly, her instincts told her not to try to tame it. She was not sure, but she really did not feel like it. She also expects it will not agree to be tamed anyway.
The wolf slept after eating.
Then left that night.
"…What was that about?" she muttered.
The next day
It came back.
With a large bird.
The elder mudwolf brought another boar.
Once again, Jemina was handed a leg to cook.
She grilled.
Again.
And again.
"…I would really like spices," she complained aloud. "Or at least salt. Something. Anything."
The white wolf, currently licking a bone clean, gave her a brief side-eye.
"At least one of us is satisfied."
She sighed dramatically.
"The Ghastlies only bring me herbs that taste like… more herbs. It's all very forest-flavored."
She paused.
"…And I cannot exactly leave. Noctellis would find me the moment I spoke to anyone outside…" she murmured. "And the bandits would probably get to me first anyway."
She glanced at her familiars.
"I can't even take you with me."
The white wolf huffed.
Annoyed.
"Hey," she pointed at it. "The least you could do, after eating my cooking, is pretend to be sympathetic."
The wolf closed its eyes.
As if sleeping.
"How rude."
She clapped her hands once.
"Anyway! Expedition time!"
She turned dramatically.
"Ghastlies! Elder! Please grace me with your guidance."
They left the two pups behind.
The white wolf stayed as well, quietly, almost deliberately, as if guarding the place.
Jemina led her group toward the edge of the forest.
She hoped
perhaps foolishly
to spot a passing merchant.
They reached the edge.
No road.
No movement.
Nothing.
"…Who am I kidding?" she sighed. "Who would build a road next to the Null Forest?"
She turned.
"Let's go back."
The ground trembled.
Not like before.
Heavier.
Slower.
Something massive.
BOOM!!!
"Wah!"
She dropped instantly as her familiars surrounded her.
"What on earth?!"
They pushed through the brush
and saw it.
A merchant carriage overturned.
Men fighting
against a monstrous cobra.
Its hood was lined with countless eyes.
Jemina froze.
"…That is… very large."
Screams echoed from inside the carriage.
The men retreated, barely escaping beyond the forest's boundary.
They activated a teleportation stone and vanished.
The cobra turned.
Toward the carriage.
It lifted it
effortlessly.
A scream tore from the carriage.
She stopped.
Her jaw tightened.
The cobra moved.
Fast.
Far too fast for something that size.
It struck, slamming into the carriage, lifting it clean off the ground as wood splintered and cracked beneath its grip.
Jemina exhaled sharply.
"Ghastlies."
They were already moving.
A wave of small, glowing bodies surged forward, scattering in every direction before converging, leaping, biting, shrieking
The cobra lashed out.
A single sweep of its tail sent a dozen rabbits flying.
"Hey!"
Jemina flinched,
but they got back up.
Again.
And again.
Throwing themselves at it.
Buying her time.
"Elder!"
The ground beneath the cobra bulged
and exploded upward.
Mud erupted as the elder mudwolf surged from below, jaws snapping around the serpent's lower body. It dragged hard, forcing the massive creature off balance
But not enough.
The cobra twisted violently.
Its body slammed down, crushing earth and roots beneath it. Its hood flared wide, all those eyes focusing at once
on Jemina.
"…Why me?" she whispered.
The world seemed to narrow.
The hiss grew louder.
Closer.
The cobra lunged.
Jemina dove to the side as fangs slammed into the ground where she had stood, the impact sending dirt and debris into the air. Heat rushed past her face, its breath thick, venomous.
She scrambled back, heart hammering.
"I cannot tame that," she said quickly. "Just to be clear, I cannot tame that!"
It struck again.
Faster.
Closer.
A Ghastly leapt
caught its attention
vanished beneath its jaws.
Jemina's chest tightened.
"Don't you dare!"
Her fingers curled instinctively
That pressure
That familiar surge
She reached
Not to tame
But to command.
"Hold it!"
The rabbits shifted.
Not scattering this time
but circling.
Distracting.
Pulling its focus away.
The elder mudwolf lunged again from beneath
This time catching deeper
Dragging
Holding
The ground began to swallow part of the serpent's body
Just enough.
"Now!"
Jemina ran.
The carriage groaned as she reached it, wood cracking under strain.
She grabbed the broken door
Pulled
It didn't budge.
"Seriously?!"
The cobra shrieked, thrashing violently.
The mudwolf lost its grip
The serpent surged upward
"Elder!"
A flash of movement
The wolf reemerged
bit down again
and held.
Barely.
Jemina gritted her teeth.
"Fine, fine, we're doing this the hard way!"
She slammed her shoulder into the carriage door.
Once.
Twice
It cracked.
A third time
It broke.
She staggered back
and froze.
A coil.
Scales.
Not the cobra.
Inside
"…Are those its babies?"
"No!" a voice snapped. "We are not its children! Help us!"
"Oh! Right, yes, of course!"
Behind her
the cobra hissed.
Louder.
Closer.
The ground shook violently as it tore itself free
The elder was thrown aside.
Hard.
Jemina turned
just in time to see it rise
towering
furious
It's many eyes locking onto her again.
For a heartbeat
Everything stilled.
Then
"Ghastlies!!!"
They surged.
All of them.
A glowing, chaotic storm of teeth and fury
They didn't stop it
But they slowed it.
"Elder!"
The mudwolf staggered up
vanished
and struck again from below
Dragging
Holding
Giving her one last opening.
Jemina grabbed the nearest lamia's arm.
"Move!"
The carriage finally gave way
splintering open
as she pulled them free
One.
Then another.
Then more
All fifteen of them got out of the carriage with minimal injuries.
The forest erupted into noise behind her
roars
hisses
impact
chaos
The mudwolf dragged the weakened serpent and tangled its body in the roots and rocks underground.
Holding it in place.
Jemina and the lamias they rescued ran farther away and watched as the serpent struggled with only half of its body above ground.
______________________________________________________________________________________
"Thank you for helping us," one said.
She had purple and green scales, her delicate face at odds with her blunt tone.
"Who are you?" Jemina asked. "And why are you here?"
"My name is Raisa. These are my sisters. We were being transported… to a buyer."
Jemina's expression hardened.
Slavery.
Of half-beasts.
Still happening.
Of course it was.
She didn't realize she was squeezing Ghastly number eight until,
"You are killing that… thing," Raisa pointed out.
"Oh! Sorry!"
She released it immediately.
"…We should go," Raisa said. "Thank you again."
"Wait."
They paused.
"If you leave the forest, the trackers in your bodies will activate, won't they?"
Silence.
"Yes," Raisa admitted. "Which is why returning quietly is preferable."
"…To being enslaved again?" Jemina tilted her head.
Raisa's gaze sharpened.
"…Are you suggesting we stay here?"
Jemina smiled.
"Why not?"
"That is absurd."
"Well, so is your current plan."
"…You are terrible at convincing people."
"I know," Jemina sighed. "But I do have grilled meat back home."
A pause.
"…What?"
"My familiar keeps bringing more. I cannot eat it all."
"Your familiar?"
Jemina casually pointed behind them.
"That one."
They turned.
The elder mudwolf was currently tearing into the cobra.
Raisa turned back
eyes shining.
She stepped forward quickly.
"If you promise protection, we will stay."
"…Oh."
Jemina blinked.
"…Okay?"
"Good. Lead us to your home."
"It's not really a home yet," Jemina muttered.
"…but I suppose it's getting there."