Author's Notes:

The Healer and the Assassin was conceptually inspired by a few Isekai Anime shows I enjoyed last year (no, I don't recall which ones specifically). I do remember thinking it would be fun to write about a badass female assassin and her not-so-badass male companion. I certainly enjoyed exploring the characters.

I'm not certain if this will remain a stand-alone story or not, as Shih and Jeff seem to have more things to do. We'll see.

Nothing traumatic or triggering (I believe) in this story.

I hope you enjoy it.

-=-

All characters engaging in sexual relationships or activities are 18 years old or older.

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The Healer and the Assassin

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Chapter 1

When precipitation moves horizontally, umbrellas aren't worth shit.

A bitter November evening for Toronto, Canada, the forecast had said.

There was nothing in the report about extremely high winds, freezing rain, or sleet.

Of course, the day before had been lovely. Fucking weather!

Jeff would have preferred to be inside, under the toasty covers of his bed. He'd have his laptop balanced on a pillow so he could watch one of his favorite anime shows or read one of the scores of online manga novels he was following.

This was his indulgence, his drug of choice to unwind with after a long day at university. The other students, the ones who were aware of his existence, called him an Otaku because he'd once made the mistake of mentioning his interest in these shows and books out loud. Aside from this one weakness, he was a serious young man, if a little timid around the opposite sex.

It didn't help that he looked like the protagonist in most of the media he consumed.

He was five-foot-six, pale-skinned, wore his thick black hair just a little too long for it to remain neat for long, and had a slim build. He wasn't skin and bones, but the muscles he had weren't bulky by any stretch of the imagination. He was fit from working out at the university gym. He diligently used the treadmill, functional trainers, and free weights, but all his muscles did was become hard, not big.

Jeff wasn't ugly, but he was no one's idea of the Hollywood hero type. He'd been told once on a date that he had nice green eyes. It was too bad she hadn't been able to find anything else to her liking.

He wasn't a shut-in or a NEET. He attended university and tried his best to fit in with the other students. He hadn't given up on socializing. He just wasn't particularly good at it, but he tried.

He'd originally been enrolled in medical school, on his way to becoming a doctor, with his ultimate goal of becoming a surgeon. It was something he'd dreamed of becoming since he was young, and he'd shown potential!

Then tragedy struck.

The driver of a pickup truck ignored the streetcar's passenger exit lights and accelerated around the stopped vehicle. Jeff had just stepped out of the train's side door when the pickup raced past.

Jeff flinched and threw himself backward, and his hands came up to protect his face. His right one went through the truck's side mirror.

The mirror was destroyed, and Jeff's hand required three extensive reconstruction surgeries. Even after that ordeal, his range of motion and strength in that hand were limited.

His dream of becoming a surgeon was over before it had truly begun.

The driver of the stolen pickup disappeared as quickly. While the police found the truck, there was no sign of the driver.

Jerk!

Rather than allow his future to stagnate by contemplating what might have been, Jeff re-enrolled in college to study chemical engineering. The mirror hadn't struck his head, so he still had plenty of smarts left to apply to his new course.

Eventually, his life fell back into a routine.

Until tonight.

He was part of a group working on an assignment, and one of his lab partners left his contribution at the university. He said he was watching his girlfriend's kids and couldn't go out to get it for Jeff.

Their final presentation was due the following day, so Jeff needed it tonight to put the finishing touches on it.

So here he was, struggling to reach the subway and keep his umbrella from collapsing as he held it out before him like a shield against the sleet.

He was frozen and dripping wet, but through the torrent, he saw the glow of the subway entrance a short distance away, across the street.

He dipped his umbrella to peek up the street and saw the road was clear.

Glancing back, he saw no cars were coming from the other direction either.

He stepped out onto the street, and a huge gust of wind immediately slammed into his umbrella. Stumbling, he managed to restrict its movements for a second, then another, but the wind was too strong. The ribs collapsed, and the umbrella suddenly spun from his fingers and raced up into the sky.

Jeff was standing in the middle of the lane, staring through the sleet at a speeding delivery truck bearing down on him. The road was covered in ice, so he couldn't run or even jump from its path.

Time slowed, and it might have just been the icy water spraying in his eyes, but the truck's headlights seemed to gleam strangely, reflecting off the truck's chrome bumper like a wide, bright, and satisfied grin.

Impact.

When the flat front of the truck slammed into Jeff at speed, he felt just a moment of intense pain.

He saw a flash of light as every nerve in his body screamed.

Then he was floating in space with no reference to up or down, hot or cold, or even alive or dead.

He was hovering within an absence of everything, including light and time, but it seemed his mind was still working, so he reflected on his last moments.

He almost moaned out loud as he realized his death was such a horrible cliché for someone with his hobby.

Death by Truck-Kun was an overused trope in many of his favorite anime series.

Was this irony or just tragedy?

When nothing happened, Jeff wondered if this was it. It felt like he'd just fallen into a waiting pattern.

He didn't feel the passage of time, or anything for that matter.

He'd have to be patient.

Chapter 2

It was the longest hunt Shih had ever done. It had gone on longer than she was authorized for and had moved into a territory she was forbidden to enter, but her quarry's crime was so unspeakably horrendous that there could be no mercy for him. Even at the cost of her own life, Shih would not end her hunt until he took his last breath.

When she began her chase, he'd had more than a dozen hardened mercenaries at his side, but each found their end in the dirt at her feet as their leader used them and the cover of night to flee justice.

He was running for his life and finally had to take a desperate chance when he diverted his path to head out into the wastelands.

By that point, he had no more men to sacrifice and was still too far from the security of his home. He was alone and was obviously looking for a place that would give him an advantage when he made his final stand.

Shih was fully aware that Barelius' skills with a blade far exceeded the mercenaries he'd littered her path with. He'd used the others to wear her down on their race along his escape route. He'd saved his strength for the final battle.

Shih had devoted her entire life to honing her skills to be the deadliest assassin the world had ever seen. She had the scars to prove she'd faced some exceptionally dangerous opponents. But she was alive, and they were not.

Her life had been a seemingly endless series of challenges, but due to that, she'd grown strong and tall. Her body was a living weapon, which she used with great skill to defeat the enemies of her Empress. Though a few small facial scars slightly marred her beauty, it didn't matter to her as she had no time for such things as romance, love, and other trivial sentiments. Duty, loyalty, and vengeance were her motivators.

A small girl's face came and went in her mind, but she pushed that aside as a distraction. She couldn't afford that while hunting.

The wastelands were barren and dry as a disastrous calamity had befallen the great empire that once flourished here. All that was left were a few scattered and mostly destroyed temples devoted to Gods who were no longer worshipped. Not even their names were remembered.

Shih tracked Barelius to one of these temples. It was at the peak of a solitary mountain that showed clear signs of the calamity that had destroyed so much of the land so long ago. She knew he was up there, and they were alone in the empty wastes, so she risked moving through daylight to finally reach him.

As she approached the ruin in the afternoon hours, she noted this temple was more intact than she'd expected, though it, too, had no roof and most of its walls had fallen away. Majestic columns still stood in rows, supporting nothing. The floors were still decorated with glyphs and ancient symbols in the lovely tilework, though their meaning was lost.

She realized that someone had taken the time to clear away the debris that once hid these symbols. Had it been him?

The most intact wall contained a highly ornate archway, but instead of the antechamber it should have opened onto, all that remained on the other side was a sheer drop and tumbled rubble leading down to the valley floor. The entire side of the low mountain had fallen away.

Shih spun at the slightest sound of the thrown dagger cutting through the air toward her.

Her knife deflected the dagger, but something coating its edge splashed off, and a droplet landed on her cheek.

The muscles underneath immediately went numb.

Now she knew Barelius was relying on poisons to weaken her further. To give himself a chance to survive.

She'd already worked out where the blade had been thrown from, so she leapt forward like the wind and flushed the man from his hiding spot behind one of the large, intact columns.

Her blades rang against his as he danced across the open floor.

She was surprised by his aggressive but erratic thrusts until she realized he was landing grazing blows while her blade splashed his blood more widely. Her wounds were all going numb.

He might have been a much better swordsman than his mercenaries, but he wasn't as good as her. To make up for this, he relied upon the poison slicking the edge of his blades.

The floor tiles were soon painted with blood, and their footing became treacherous.

Then Shih found herself staggering as the accumulation of the poison began to rob her of her dexterity.

His blade suddenly plunged into her side as her arm couldn't rise in time to block the thrust. When he yanked it back, a red spray jetted out over the ornate floors. She threw herself back and stumbled as her leg almost gave out on her.

Barelius was also weak from blood loss, but he grinned at her and surged closer.

Shih met his charge with a wall of steel, forcing him back across the floor as he growled in frustration. He sucked in a sharp breath as her blade slashed across his face and painted the floor near the archway.

Her eyesight suddenly dimmed and pulsed in a flash, and she was worried the poison might have reached her brain. She was dazzled by a sudden bright light behind Barelius and squinted.

She saw her foe bare his teeth as he gave a wild roar of rage, raising his blades to slash down at her. Her arms were sluggish to respond.

Something slammed into the man's back with great force, knocking him forward as he lost his grip on his weapons. Shock appeared on his face.

Shih spun with her deadly blade outstretched and cut deeply through his throat, the blade tip notching his neck vertebrae as it passed by.

Then his body slammed into hers. She used her spinning motion to deflect him one way as she threw herself the other.

Both crashed to the tiled floor. Shih was curled up on her side, several body lengths away from Barelius, who was on his back, struggling to breathe through a throat cut nearly in two.

With a final popped bubble of blood, Barelius stared at the sky with unseeing eyes.

Shih felt the poison spreading within her. She needed to move but discovered she didn't have the energy needed to reach the small pouch on her belt. There was a vial of medicine there that might slow the poison, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. Even if it saved her life, the poison had robbed her of her strength and speed. She would no longer be the deadliest assassin.

As her consciousness slipped into the darkness, she apologized to her Empress for disobeying her orders. She'd been forbidden to leave their territory, but she had to avenge the lives taken by Barelius and his mercenaries.

Then darkness swept over her mind and took her away.

Chapter 3

Jeff was floating in absolute nothingness when he picked up the oddest sensation. It was the first one he'd felt since being hit by a truck.

Movement!

A flash of light, much like Truck-Kun's headlights, and he flew a short distance to collide with the back of a tall man.

The impact knocked the wind from him, and he dropped to the ground, striking his forehead against a tiled surface.

Stars filled his vision, and he lay there moaning quietly.

Then he realized something significant. He was sore but not broken. What did that mean?

He opened his eyes and blinked at the bright white light pouring from a stone archway. It drew his eyes, and the first thing he thought was that it must be a Gateway to Heaven!

It just made sense! He must have died as being hit so brutally by a truck didn't just leave you winded.

That interim period of nothingness... could that have been Limbo or even Purgatory? He wasn't a religious man by any stretch of the imagination, but he remembered childhood lessons in the Sunday School his parents took him to.

He looked at the brilliantly white, glowing arch and the gently billowing fog pouring from it and wondered if he should walk through to reach Heaven.

He got to his feet and felt a few new minor aches and pains to accompany the usual weakness in his right hand. He was most surprised by the lack of broken bones! He'd been hit by a speeding truck! He should be a bag of bone fragments!

Then he realized he was still wearing the clothes he had on when he was killed. But they were clean, undamaged, and dry!

That felt... weird. Why would his clothes come to the afterlife with him?

Do clothes have an afterlife?

He reached up to his face to straighten his glasses and realized they were gone. Looking down toward his feet, he saw them on the ground, but the metal frames were twisted, and one lens was badly cracked.

Shit!

That's when he saw the bodies on the ground through the mist.

He yelped as the big man lying on his back in a large pool of blood was most definitely dead. He turned his head away and saw a tall woman dressed in what looked like leather bondage gear.

He looked closer at her and reconsidered his original impression. She was dressed more like a dominatrix... who was into leather body armor. Her long black hair was covering her face, so he couldn't tell what she looked like, but the slight movement of her full bosom told him she was still breathing.

Just then, white light pulsed from the archway, and he turned to face it. He wondered if the flash was a reminder to go through it. He went to take a step closer when a white, wispy tentacle began to float out of the center of the pure white surface of the portal.

Unconsciously, he began to step back, as this looked creepy as fuck!

The tentacle reached the dead man, dipped down, and began to drink from the pool of blood.

Jeff was truly unnerved now.

The moment it finished slurping up the red stuff, the tentacle wrapped around the man's leg and dragged him back through the gate, leaving a trail of smeared blood. When the body went through the white surface, the arch flashed once more, and the white light disappeared.

Jeff moved closer, but now it was just an empty doorway, and he could see the distant wasteland through it.

His eyes were drawn upwards to see eight symbols etched into the stone. He had to squint because of his poor vision, but each one glowed fiercely in a different color, reminding him of Christmas lights.

Except... images were flashing through his head as his eyes panned over each of the symbols­--Images of power and devastation. These symbols were offering him the power to destroy any foe he faced in eight horrifyingly bloody ways. He would be unstoppable!

A strong impulse suddenly filled him to touch one of the symbols, and his hand lifted almost on its own.

An image of him stepping out in front of Truck-Kun flashed in his head. It was a warning, and he realized he was being a dumbass again. He tried to pull his hand back, but the tugging sensation increased.

"NO... I DON'T WANT THIS! I'M NOT A KILLER!" he shouted at the lights, then recalled his failed attempt to become a surgeon. A desperate need filled his mind. All he'd ever wanted was to help people, to heal them, and to help them live fulfilling lives!

The tugging made a final effort, but he fought it with everything he had. He pushed his hand hard, down and to the right, missing all the lit symbols to punch the hard stone of the arch.

It exploded in an intense green light, like superheated plasma splashing all over him. His senses were mixed up, so he couldn't tell if he was being scalded or electrocuted.

For a moment, it felt like every cell in his body had become incandescent, but especially his brain.

"AAAIIIIEEE--SONOVABITCH!" he yelped as he danced back, his muscles twitching like he'd grabbed a live wire.

And then it was over.

Blinking green spots from his eyes, he rubbed his face and looked toward the arch just in time to see it, and the wall, begin to crumble into shattered stone.

Yelping again, he stumbled back to avoid being buried alive and tripped over something.

Curling into a ball, he boldly whimpered, but the rockfall fell short of his position. He glanced at his feet and saw he'd tripped over the shoulder bag he'd been carrying when Truck-Kun slammed into him.

His BAG followed him, too?!?

He stood and dusted himself off. Then, as he reached for the bag, he caught sight of something that completely made him freeze. He lifted his right hand for a closer look and turned it front to back several times slowly before his face.

There were no cuts. No scratches. Not even a bruise from when he'd punched the stone archway.

More stunning than that, his surgical scars were gone. There was no sign of all those operations. He fully flexed his fingers and made a tight fist.

There was no loss of motion or strength.

His vision blurred as his eyes began to tear up.

His hand was back to normal--the injury was gone! His relief and joy were too profound to contain.

Jeff realized he still had to get a grasp of what was happening and where he was, so he wiped away the tears.

He glanced at the vista before him and froze again. Blinking, he focused on the horizon, then immediately back to his right hand held up before his face, and realized his eyesight had never been sharper.

What the fuck?

Glancing down, he spotted the other body.

He quickly walked over and knelt next to the tall woman and saw she had deep, nasty-looking slashes on her limbs and torso.

He used a finger to ease her hair back from her face and gasped when he saw how beautiful she was. The slash on her face drew his focus. His hand, above the wound, began to tingle, and this intensified as it got closer to the injury. Curious, he cupped his palm just over the cut and focused on it. A soft green glow filled the area between his hand and the wound.

Strangely, he felt no fear. This felt good and right, so he kept his hand in place. He watched in shock as the slash began to mend before his eyes.

His mind also felt a tickle as a thought forced its way into his consciousness. Something wasn't supposed to be there. It needed to come out! Frowning, he imagined pulling on the thing that wasn't welcome.

A purple liquid began to ooze from the closing wound and hovered there, suspended in the green glow. He stared at what he was seeing, but he couldn't understand how he was doing it.

Something about the liquid was buzzing in the back of Jeff's brain, so he relaxed and listened.

A strong impression flashed into his mind, and he began to break down the compound into its chemical elements. Chains of chemical bonds were constructed and deconstructed in his mind, and he gazed at the final product in wonder. Suddenly, he knew it was a strong paralytic poison!

Maybe his chemical engineering training was coming in handy?

Reaching his free hand back, he blindly dug through his bag until his fingers found and pulled out a mostly empty bottle of apple juice. Holding the bottle between his thighs, he one-handedly unscrewed the lid, gulped the juice, then guided the bottle's opening under the purple liquid. It drained into the bottle to his amazement. The green light faded away as he pulled his hand back.

Jeff looked at the woman's other injuries. Hesitantly, he put his hand over the largest one, which was on her torso, and the tingles began again, only much more strongly. He couldn't stop a brief giggle from escaping, as this seemed like pure fantasy, but it also seemed to be working. He could see into the tear and how he was repairing the cells, reconnecting the tissues, and returning her wound to its previously healthy state.

There was a lot more poison in this wound, and it went deep, so it took longer to draw out as he repaired the tissues from the inside up to the surface.

He meticulously went from cut to cut, drawing the poison out of each and leaving her dark skin smooth and healthy. By the last one, he had a surprising amount of purplish poison in the little bottle, and she no longer had any wounds.

Pushing her hair back to see her clearly, he saw old scars crossing her face. She'd suffered some nasty wounds in the past, and they hadn't healed properly. There was likely some tugging in the underlying muscles. He frowned slightly as he moved his hands over these old marks and felt the tissues rebuild, loosen, and smooth until her beauty was no longer marred. The slight downturn of her lush mouth on the left side was gone as well, since the underlying muscle had been repaired.

Her lips were a deeper grey, almost black, compared to the rest of her skin. They looked very soft.

He realized he was feeling a little groggy, so he carefully closed the lid on the bottle and gazed at it. What he'd do with the poison, he had no idea. He stuffed it back into his satchel.

Then he turned to look at the woman, who was breathing slowly. She was so intensely lovely... albeit in a dark, edgy way. He noticed she was wearing black nail polish, but upon closer examination, it wasn't polish at all! Her nails were like the hard, tough outer layer of a horse's hoof. Still keratin like human nails but far stronger, like the equine equivalent.

Her black-tipped fingers and tight leather gave her a real Goth look, like you'd find in dungeon-like dance clubs, and he shook his head to clear the image.

That's when he noticed an ear poking out of her lovely hair. Poking was the correct term, as the ear was pointed and quite long! He'd seen a few women on campus with subtly pointed ears, but hers were dramatically pointed!

Her skin was an odd tone, brownish grey, but it was uniform over all her exposed areas. He looked at her bare midriff with its rippling muscles and wondered at her choice of wardrobe. He didn't understand why her tummy was getting closer and closer until he face-planted against her skin.

It was heavenly soft yet cool to his touch. He wanted to warm her up, to share his warmth with her, and these thoughts went through his mind as he drifted off to sleep.

-=-

Shih was dying, but her mind refused to slip into the final darkness.

She knew the bastard's poison would kill her, but she had no energy to take steps to save herself.

She sensed the oddest tingling where there'd only been burning pain before, but her weakness remained, and she felt her energy draining away.

A voice suddenly spoke to her in her mind.

"Do you wish to live?"

She shied away from the power of that voice. It wasn't meant to be heard by mortals, and her mind wanted to hide from it, but the implied promise held her fast.

"YES!" she cried out in desperation. She hated the sound of her weakness, but she was past containing her emotions.

"Do you accept the binding?"

Once more, her mind rocked back from the voice's power, and it felt like she might explode into dust under its might.

"Yes..." she breathed with the last remaining strength she had.

But life... didn't end.

She could feel energy seeping back into her body--warm, soft, and comforting.

She'd never experienced these sensations before and wasn't sure how to react. She didn't know where the energy was coming from, but she didn't want it to stop.

No sensation of pain, heat, cold, or weakness came from the areas on her body she knew had been injured. None at all! The sick, lethargic feeling in her gut and the numbness she'd felt from the poison were gone, too!

Shih wasn't sure what was happening.

Her energy was coming back quickly, and with it, her consciousness began to surface. She felt herself getting closer to the source of this new energy. It seemed centered in her stomach and radiated outward to her extremities. Then she felt a weight resting on her tummy.

She lowered her hand to her stomach and found something odd. A handful of hair that was attached to a head!

Her eyes flashed open as she lifted her head to look down along her body.

A small, pale man was sleeping on her stomach. His legs were folded under him as he sat on his feet, and his torso was folded over his legs as his head rested on her belly. He was dressed oddly as well.

She felt the energy seeping from him into her, but she was sufficiently awake. She pushed him away, and he tumbled onto his side.

His eyes opened momentarily, then rolled up, and he was out.

Standing up, Shih immediately looked for the mercenary commander. She knew he had to be dead from the final slash she'd made. She spotted the bloody drag marks leading to a pile of broken stone. Was he buried under there? She realized the last intact wall of the temple was now gone.

Looking back at the unconscious man, she wondered if he knew more. She'd have to question him... and potentially kill him, as he was a witness to her being in the Gaen Empire's territory.

She felt a pain behind her eyes as she contemplated his death. When she pushed those thoughts away, the pain eased as well. She wondered about that.

She looked for her injuries and realized she had none, not even scars.

Turning back to the stranger, more questions burned in her mind.

She would have her answers.

-=-

Jeff woke up with warmth flickering across his face and cool air on the back of his neck. He tried to reach for his neck, but his arms weren't going anywhere.

He opened his eyes and discovered he'd been securely tied with his ankles and wrists roped together. He sat on the ground, his knees drawn up to his face, with his hands placed over his feet. Before him, there was a small campfire, which explained the warmth. The skies above were no longer bright with sunlight, so he'd been asleep for some time. Glancing toward the horizon, he saw the breathtaking colors of sunset.

He marveled at the sharpness of his vision, and while he didn't understand how it happened, he was grateful for it and for no longer needing glasses.

His mind flashed back to his current state of being tied up, and he jolted in panic. Maybe he even whimpered a little. This was not his idea of a good time.

"You're awake," a deep but very feminine voice said from just behind his ear.

"EEP!" he squeaked in a manly way.

She moved into his line of sight, and once more, he was taken by her raw beauty and thoroughly intimidated by her presence in her tight leather combat wear. She was over a foot taller than him, with larger muscles, and had eyes like a tiger as they flashed in the firelight. Gold and intense!

Her fierce expression didn't hide her exquisite beauty, and he struggled not to stare. So much better without the scars.

"Yes! Yes, I'm awake," he managed to say as he got control of his voice again. "C-could you untie me, please?"

"Not until you answer my questions!" she insisted.

"Sure! What do you want to know?" he demanded quietly.

"Who are you?" she asked, towering over him.

He felt himself shrinking in her commanding presence. He struggled to speak as his throat tightened.

"My name is Jeff."

She watched him cautiously after hearing his squeaky voice. "Where did you come from?"

He looked up at the stars again, trying to recognize any constellations, but that was a bust. Even the moon looked wrong. He couldn't believe the Japanese anime trope was coming true. He took several deep breaths to calm himself.

"I'm assuming this isn't the world where I was originally born. Have you heard of planet Earth?"

She shook her head with a little frown.

"That's where I'm from. I was hit by a truck, which must have killed me, and I ended up here. This isn't the afterlife I was expecting."

"I do not live in your afterlife. You are alive," she said firmly, looking into his eyes. It didn't feel safe to deny her logic, so he nodded.

"What kind of beast is a... truck?" she asked, and his face dropped. What level of technology did this world have? He made a quick guess based on her leather armor.

"It's... like a wheeled wagon used to carry loads of goods to market." She seemed to accept that concept so far. "Only without beasts of burden to pull it. The wagon uses a complex machine to make it move, turn, and stop. The driver controls this from their seat inside the wagon. It's very heavy but can move very fast. It's typically fatal to step out in front of one that's moving. Does that make sense?"

Gold eyes were locked on him, judging his words. "I cannot picture a wagon moving without beasts to draw it."

He sagged. "Yeah, I'm not that good at describing it, I guess."

"Why are your ears so... round?" she asked as she touched one.

Shivers ran down Jeff's back. "We-we-we all have ears like mine where I'm from."

"Your skin is unnaturally pale. Are you sick?" she asked as she stepped back slightly.

"Ah... no. I'm very healthy. Where I'm from, people have skin tones ranging from pale like me to black. Brown people, reddish brown people, pale pink people, black people... a whole mix." He recalled her greyish-toned skin and couldn't place it, as no one on Earth had skin like hers.

She looked more closely at his features. "I've never seen anyone with exotic features like yours. You will stand out in a crowd."

Jeff couldn't stop himself from snorting in amusement at the comment coming from such an exceptional beauty. When she gave him a sharp look at the sound, he scrambled to explain.

"Sorry! Where I'm from, my looks are so plain they make me blend completely into the background. No one notices me," he said, then stopped as that sounded really sad.

"Are you a healing wizard?" she asked, taking the interrogation in a completely different direction.

Jeff's eyes widened as he realized what he'd seen earlier, what he'd done earlier, could be explained as magic! "Magic exists in this world?" he asked excitedly.

She stared at him cautiously again. "There is magic, and a rare few can make it work for them in different ways. I ask again. Are you a healing wizard?"

"I think I may be!" His eyes were filled with wonder. "That must be what it was! I held my hand over your wounds, thinking they needed to be healed, and I could feel them mending. The poison lifted out, and I put it into a... bottle I found in my... satchel." He hunted with his eyes until he spotted his stuff. "I've never done anything like that before! I thought I was losing my mind!"

"You extracted the poison?" she asked sharply as her eyes held his.

Looking up at her stern beauty, he paused in admiration for a moment, then saw her begin to frown impatiently.

"Yes! When I was healing the first wound, it felt like there was something inside that wasn't supposed to be there. I was able to draw it up and out, then collected it. I mentioned I've never done anything like this before, yes?" He grinned excitedly as his mind went back to the moment.

"Why did you collect it?" she asked suspiciously.

His smile faded as his brow wrinkled. He blinked in confusion. "I don't know! I was training to become a chemical engineer back on my world. I studied chemical compounds and elements. Collecting it... just came naturally."

He looked around and realized for the first time how desolate the area was. It was just the two of them, now that the dead guy had been dragged away.

"What happened to the dead man?" she asked, and he jolted as it felt like she was reading his mind.

"There was a bright, white light filling the archway. Something on the other side of the... portal reached through, drank his blood, and dragged his body through the light before it faded as the portal shut down. It was really scary! I thought I was supposed to go through to get to Heaven. I'm glad I didn't, as there were blood-drinking tentacle monsters in there!"

"What is this... Heaven?" she asked.

Jeff's eyebrows rose. "Oh, well, uh, it's a place good people go when they die. God lives there, and he lets all the good people live with him." He shrugged self-consciously. "When I was a child, my parents took me to church. That's what our religion told us would happen when we die. I stopped going to church a long time ago, but I had no other idea about what would happen."

"Who decides who's good?" she asked with a severe frown.

He couldn't stop his surprised snort. "Sorry. That was a question I used to ask my parents when I was a kid. It's one of the reasons I stopped going. They told me I had to follow the church's teachings and live by its rules without questioning. That said, it's not too hard to be good. Live with love, respect, and empathy, and do no harm to others. I was told that if I did that, I'd be considered good and would go to Heaven for eternal peace and happiness when I died. The bad people go to Hell, where they live in eternal pain and suffering."

Now the woman looked angry. "Do the good people know the bad people will be going to this bad place?"

Jeff watched her cautiously. "Yes."

"They must accept that these others are suffering and do nothing about it?"

Jeff paused, beginning to see her point. "Yes, but... they went to Hell because they did bad things."

"And you go to Heaven, where you ignore the suffering of others and enjoy your peace. What happened to empathy? Does it not exist in this Heaven?"

Jeff sighed. "I know, I get it. It's not a perfect system. Didn't I say I stopped going to church?"

"But you expected to go to this Heaven because you were good?" she pushed.

He looked at her with his mouth hanging open, wondering why she seemed so prickly about this. He didn't know what to say without offending her. He'd healed her. Didn't that say he was a good guy?

Wait! Did she kill the other man? Did she think he was judging her for that?

"No, I believe I died. We all hope for something good to happen after we die, but there's no guarantee. I died, and I came here. Now I've been tied up by the person I saved from death."

He looked into gold eyes, hoping he hadn't offended her, but had no way to determine if he had.

She was very still and remained that way as droplets of sweat trickled down his back to tickle his butt crack.

Pure torture!

When she slowly pulled a knife from a hidden pocket, his eyes widened, then clamped shut as he waited for his second death.

There was a sharp tug, and he felt the ropes fall away.

He opened his eyes to see that she was watching him.

"What will you do now?" she asked.

He blinked at the unexpected question, then stood and looked around at the barren landscape.

When he was a kid, the scout leader in his neighborhood rejected his application to join the troop. There was no reason for him to do that other than being a prick who didn't want a small kid in his troupe. So, Jeff had no wilderness skills as he'd had no other opportunity to get training. He'd likely die in minutes out there.

"Could you take me with you?" he asked quietly.

An exquisite eyebrow rose, but there was no other change in her expression. "And what can you offer to pay for my protection?"

He picked up his shoulder bag and flipped open the cover. Looking inside, he saw a selection of textbooks, his university ID access card on a lanyard, his journals, a case of pens, pencils, and erasers, a solar-powered scientific calculator, his wallet containing currency that would be useless here, keys he'd never be able to use again, the bottle of poison, a small, half-empty bottle of water, a little bottle of hand sanitizer, and three packs of gum in the pocket of the satchel's cover.

He also had a battery pack for charging his cell phone, a small solar panel for charging the battery pack, connection cables for both, and his cell phone. His classmates called him paranoid about keeping his phone charged. Now he had no way to make calls, but at least some of the features might still work.

Could he live without any of these items in this new world? Did he want to find out?

Wait! He had magic!

"I can provide you with healing!" he finally said with a smile.

"It took you some time to realize that was a commodity," she said.

He smiled self-consciously. "I'm a newbie!"

She frowned. "A what?"

"Someone new, who's just learning," he hastened to explain. "I've never used magic before today!"

She examined him quietly for a moment. "For someone with no idea how to live in this world and new to magic, your healing abilities are abnormally strong. I've never heard of a Healer who can extract poison at the same time as healing injuries. And none can heal without leaving scars."

Jeff smiled. "That's a good thing, right?" He gestured to her face.

After a moment, realization flashed across her face as she lifted her hands to touch the smooth skin where the scars had been.

She seemed unsettled by the change, and his smile drained away. Maybe she liked the scars. Maybe she wanted to keep them.

Did he fuck up?

She stopped touching her face and went quiet for a moment as she studied his expression.

"What did you do at the end when you were resting on my stomach? I felt energy coming into my body."

His eyes widened, then he thought back on the moment. "Oh! Ah, I'm not sure. Uh, I noticed your skin was cold. I remember thinking I wanted to share my warmth with you. I was also very tired after doing all that healing, and... it was very cozy. I fell asleep." He glanced at her. "Sorry."

She nodded, seeming to have come to a decision. "Now that you are coming with me as my Healer, I no longer need to kill you. You may now know my name. I am Shih Mnememonon, Assassin for Empress Tarelka of the Talosian Empire."

Jeff's smile slid away, replaced by unease. "You were going to kill me?"

"Yes," she said simply as she watched him curiously.

"But... I healed you," he said.

"And I'm grateful. If I'd been forced to kill you, it would have been quick and painless," she explained.

He nodded as if he understood. "Why... why would you have been forced to do this?"

"We're currently within the territories of the Gaen Empire. They're sworn enemies of the Talosians. If I'm caught here, it will lead to a war between our nations."

Jeff blinked at the woman. "Why... are you here?"

Shih pointed at the blood smear leading to the empty arch. "To kill the man who invaded Talosian territory with his mercenaries to massacre everyone within the Imperial Sanctuary."

"Ah!" Jeff gasped. "They killed your royal family?"

Shih frowned at Jeff. "No. He and his men killed the Empress's concubines, their children, the support staff, and the sanctuary guards. It was a deliberate, unprovoked action aimed at the Empress."

Jeff blinked in confusion when he heard the term Empress's concubines, but his revulsion flared when he heard that children had been murdered.

"Oh, fuck! They killed kids?" he growled. Shih nodded, watching his face with interest.

He turned to look at the blood smears on the ground. "His death was too quick," Jeff muttered to himself and missed the tiny smile that flickered by on Shih's lips.

"We must return to Talosian territory, and I must report to the Empress. It was not an easy journey to get here, and we will have to travel at night to avoid being seen," Shih explained, and Jeff just nodded. She gave his odd, ugly clothes a once-over and decided the dull brown and grey colors would work well as camouflage. His shoes looked odd but sturdy, so hopefully they would survive the climb over the mountain pass.

"Are you physically strong enough to do such a journey?" she asked bluntly.

He looked up into her gold eyes. "I may not be physically big, but I'm no weakling."

"Good," she said. "We leave now!" She turned and began walking away.

Jeff grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

Then he rushed after the tall beauty. He realized he would have to run to keep up with her long-legged stride as she jogged silently along a narrow path.

The lighting wasn't very good, but the full moon cast enough light to keep him on the route. His improved eyesight was a major bonus.

His walking/hiking shoes were his salvation on the rocky path that descended the small mountain they'd been on.

Once they reached the base and rushed through the countryside, Jeff stripped off his warm coat to keep from overheating. The temperature in this wasteland was chilly at night, but he imagined it would be brutally hot in the midday sun. Moving at night made more sense. The running kept him warm.

When she finally signaled that they were stopping, he immediately set his bag down, then dropped to his ass and flopped onto his back to take deep gulps of air.

"I thought you said you could keep up?" she asked.

He lifted his head. "I'm just catching some rest when I can. Don't worry about me. I'll keep up."

Inside, he felt like he might die, but if he got left behind, that was guaranteed.

"We're going to need water," she said as she looked at the desperate-looking plants nearby.

"Did you bring water on your way here?" he asked.

She watched him for a moment. "I did, but I believed it would be a one-way trip."

He felt a little chill run down his spine. He opened his satchel and pulled out the water bottle. Her eyes widened.

"I have some, but we should refill the bottle somewhere, if possible," he said and held out the bottle to her once he'd unscrewed the cap.

She gave him a suspicious look, so he took a sip and then held it out again. She accepted the bottle and took a mouthful before handing it back.

Her eyes widened as she slowly swallowed. "It tastes very pure!" she remarked once she finished.

He smiled as he looked at the bottle. "Yeah, they claim it's sourced from a glacier and specially filtered to remove all impurities, but it could just be tap water and a fancy marketing campaign." He grinned at her, then wiped it off his face when she just stared at him.

"Never mind," he said quietly.

He held the bottle up and looked at the remaining water. Was it pure?

His hand glowed green, and the chemical components of the water flashed into his mind with their concentrations. He extinguished the glow and nodded, giving the bottle an impressed nod. It was very well-filtered water! He put the cap back on.

"What was that?" she asked tersely.

"Ah, sorry! I was just confirming how pure it was," he said.

"Keep the light hidden when we are on the move!" she instructed.

"Right! Sorry," he asserted meekly.

She gave him a troubled look. "I know of a water source before we get to the widest section of barren land we'll be crossing. I don't know if the water is safe. You will have to check."

"Sure!" he said with a smile.

She turned away. "Let's go!"

He scrambled to get ready and ran after her departing shape in the darkness.

Jeff had to push himself to catch up, but he managed to close the gap and doggedly maintained it as she set a brutal pace.

After what felt like hours, she stopped halfway up a low hill and dropped to her belly to crawl up to the top and peered over. Jeff matched her movements and looked for himself.

There was a flattened homestead at the bottom of the slope on the other side.

It had a well.

He looked at the foliage near the wreckage, and the trees had leaves. That had to mean water. They weren't the healthiest-looking trees, but if this was the last source, they needed water.

She gestured for him to move back, and she followed until they were a distance down the hill.

"I'm going to confirm there are no traps. Wait here," she said, and suddenly she was gone--instantly.

One second, she was next to him, and the next, he was alone. He felt a desperate need to rush back up to the top to see if she was approaching the home, but she'd told him to stay put.

Jeff looked around and couldn't see much detail in the dark. He began to hear things, and the strange noises took on ominous proportions.

When Shih suddenly reappeared next to him, he slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his scream.

"What is wrong with you?" she scolded.

"You scared the fuck out of me with your disappearing-reappearing trick!" he hissed back.

She scowled. "It's not a trick! It's one of the skills I have as an assassin." She looked into his eyes. "My magic."

He caught his breath and nodded. "Well, it's incredibly effective!"

She gave him just the hint of a smile and nodded. "There are no traps, and no one is present, but the well seems almost dry. You will have to determine if it is drinkable."

He nodded and followed her closely as they crested the small hill and moved down the other side to reach the well.

He looked at her. "Do you have anything to carry water in? My little bottle only contains five hundred milliliters," he asked.

"What's a milliliter?" Shih asked.

Jeff stared at her and realized measurement systems probably wouldn't translate across worlds. "It's just a measurement of volume. They're small, and my bottle can contain five hundred of them. What units of measurement do you use--never mind," he said, seeing her annoyed expression.

Shih pulled a tube from her small belt pouch and unrolled it, revealing that it was a thin-walled bladder. A small clip on one corner held the spout closed.

Jeff imagined it might have once been some creature's actual bladder, as it was stitched together.

The well had an old bucket and a rope for drawing up water, so Shih lowered it in. It took all the available rope to reach the water, and she carefully pulled it back up.

The bucket had a hole in it, so it was half empty by the time it reached the top. She rested the bucket on the lip of the well and stared at Jeff to start.

He nodded, held his hands over the water, and opened his mind to the magic.

The chemical cocktail that popped into his head told him that drinking this would be the last thing they did. There were many unfriendly elements dissolved in the water. This likely accounted for the stunted growth of the local plant life. They had their own filtering systems.

A filter!

He recalled how he'd separated and lifted the poison from Shih's wounds and wondered if he could do the opposite, pull the clean water elements from the poison. He pictured the chemicals he wanted based on the mixture he'd identified in his water bottle, then created a mental filter to separate the components into distinct streams.

Dihydrogen monoxide would be the primary stream, with secondary streams to pick up trace amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.

He saved this... spell for future use. When he opened his eyes, he saw a stern expression on her face.

"The leaky bucket is now empty. Was the water safe to drink?" she demanded.

"No--"

In frustration, she threw the bucket into the well, and he squeaked in shock before lunging forward to grab the rope before it fell into the well, too.

She had to grab him to prevent him from going headfirst into the well. She tugged him back and dropped him in the dirt, but he maintained his grip on the rope.

From his position on his back at her feet, he caught his breath and locked eyes with her. "You didn't let me finish!"

She watched him struggle back to his feet and pull the bucket out of the well again. It was empty, so it hadn't reached the water.

He turned to look at Shih. "The water is filled with toxic elements, but I can pull the clean water out of it. Like I pulled the poison from your wounds, I can separate the good water from the bad!"

Shih stared at him doubtfully. "No one can do this."

He blinked at her. "No one can disappear and reappear."

She suddenly smiled in surprise as he was right.

Jeff was dazed by her beauty and had to look away before he embarrassed himself further.

"I can fix the bucket temporarily, too," he said as he pulled a stick of gum from his satchel, unwrapped it, and stuffed it into his mouth to begin chewing. The wrapper went back into the satchel pocket. It might be useful later.

He glanced back at Shih and saw she was frowning again. "You are hoarding food?" she said.

"No! This is gum! It's a kind of candy. You don't eat it. You just chew it and enjoy the flavor until it loses its taste. You can have a stick, but I suggest we wait until we're low on water. It helps take your mind off your thirst."

She was still annoyed with him. "Why are you having one now?"

He sighed. "Because the base of gum is a stretchy substance that I can use to patch the hole in the bucket."

"Where did you learn this skill?" she asked curiously as her annoyance was fading.

He grinned as he recalled being turned down by the asshole scoutmaster, then shook his head. "I must have seen it done sometime while I was growing up. I hope it works!"

He checked the bottom of the bucket, and the hole was thankfully small. He pulled the gum from his mouth and showed it to her before squishing it against the hole. He spread it around the edge to make as water-tight a seal as he could.

"Is the water going to have your spit in it?" Shih asked.

He glanced at her expression but wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

He handed her the rope, and she began lowering the bucket into the well. "The filter I created will make the water as pure as what you drank from my bottle."

Thinking about how the filter would pour into the bottle and bladder, he dug the foil gum wrapper from his bag and made a rudimentary funnel with it.

Shih pulled the bucket up, and they noticed it wasn't leaking any longer. She set it on the edge of the well.

"Take a drink from what's left in the bottle," he said as he handed it to her.

She nodded and drank half of it, then handed it to him.

Her lips had just touched this! Indirect kiss!

The concept shot through his mind, and his face flushed. He forced the image from his mind and drank the rest quickly.

Face burning, he placed the foil funnel onto the bottle's opening and moved both closer to the bucket. His right hand went over the water, and the green glow began as he called up his filter spell.

Mist began to collect in the green light, and using his will, he directed this toward the funnel. The mist coalesced into a thin stream that poured into the bottle.

He couldn't make it go any faster, but the bottle filled gradually until it was nearly full.

"Take the funnel from the bottle, put it into the opening of your water bladder, and start filling it," he said.

They stood in silence as the bladder slowly swelled with the purified water. Shih nodded when she believed she had enough, and Jeff shut down the filter spell. With his hand now free, he put the cap on his water bottle after taking a sip and smiling at its freshness. This went into his satchel.

The bucket was still half full, but the contents were just concentrated toxins. He dumped it out onto the sand. Nothing was growing there anyway and certainly wouldn't now.

Shih handed him the small bit of foil, and he slipped it into his bag with a nod.

She sipped her water, and another of those dazzling smiles crossed her face.

He nodded again as he looked away, trying to get his heart rate to slow.

"You have some very useful skills," she said as a compliment.

"Thank you!" he said, but she was already loping away.

"Shit!" he cursed quietly to himself and sprinted after her.

They ran through the night, and Jeff was approaching exhaustion when she finally reached a rocky outcrop in the barren rolling hills.

"There is shelter from the sun amongst the rocks. Poisonous snakes as well. I caught two when I rested here on my way outbound and ate them for sustenance," she explained.

"Why did it have to be snakes?" Jeff muttered to himself.

"Unless you have food in that bag, we'll be eating snake," she insisted, and he raised a hand and nodded in acceptance.

In the early dawn light, they found the entrance to a natural cave on the outcrop's south-facing side. It was deep enough to shelter them from the sunlight throughout the daylight hours. Shih slipped inside and, a short time later, returned with three snakes missing their heads.

"Can we at least cook them?" Jeff asked.

"There isn't much wood to make a fire with, and we'd give away our location with the smoke," she said.

He sighed. "Snake sushi it is."

Shih masterfully butchered the snake meat. Jeff checked for poison to assure himself, then they did their best to swallow the meat without tasting it.

"I'll take first watch. Get some sleep," Shih said, and he nodded. He placed his jacket on the sandy floor and stretched out on top of it. He was out in moments, and no dreams came to disturb his rest.

-=-

"Wake up. It's my turn to sleep."

Jeff blinked the sleep from his eyes and got to his feet to stretch. Before he was fully awake, he spotted her lying on his coat, sound asleep.

He nodded to himself and peered at the land outside the cave. This region they were walking through had a slight roll to it, but he could see a huge mountain range in the far distance. He wondered if they would have to climb that. Based on the direction they came from the night before, they seemed to be running parallel to it, but he had no idea where their final destination was. Maybe he'd ask Shih that tonight.

The sun was well up into the sky, so it must be close to midday. She'd likely let him sleep longer than she should have. He'd thank her for that mercy later.

He knew better than to sit and make himself comfortable, as sleep would drag him down again. He also couldn't go wandering around, as that might give away their location.

If someone was hunting for them. Another question for Shih.

What did she say her last name was? Mahna Mahna?

He stifled the giggle as he thought of a Muppet musical skit.

He spotted his satchel and flipped the lid open. He tugged out the textbooks. These had cost him a pretty penny, and now there seemed to be little need for bringing them along. He flipped the cover on his Chemical Engineering textbook open and scanned the contents page.

He rubbed his eyes, as they must be tired. He couldn't read the text. Blinking his eyes wide, he tried again.

Same result. The text was undecipherable. He could see the characters, but they made no sense to him.

He flipped to the page with the publishing house's address printed on it. He could see it was structured like an address, but he didn't know what it said.

He slowly flipped through the pages, from front to back, and as each diagram crossed his vision, his mind brought it forward as if he'd memorized it in detail. He understood all the concepts presented there. He also realized he had a lot of supporting knowledge covering all the chapters of the book. He'd memorized the book, but more importantly, he understood it.

He reviewed the second chemistry textbook, and the same thing happened. He had all the knowledge from the books in his mind, but he could no longer read the text.

Jeff moaned quietly to himself when he realized the third textbook from his bag belonged to a fellow student, Alma Andersson, a lovely Swedish woman with strong socialist views and a charming laugh.

She wouldn't be getting this book back any time soon.

He looked at the cover and recalled her enthusiasm for it as an excellent reference on the Nordic Model, a system of free-market capitalism with strong socialist welfare features used in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

Alma had originally been a political science major but switched to chemical engineering and ended up in his group. She remained a politics nerd.

Jeff hadn't read the book yet. Alma had very strong views on social responsibility and insisted everyone in their group read it. He'd been the latest target of her need to enlighten. He wondered why he'd agreed to take the book. Then he remembered.

Alma wore very tight sweaters and no bra, which Jeff found quite distracting.

He picked it up, flipped it open, and once more, the text was meaningless, but the knowledge flowed through his mind.

He almost dropped the book in surprise. He'd never read this book. How could he remembered its contents? The text was all squiggles now!

That's when another realization struck.

He quickly looked at Shih as he'd been speaking with her from the instant they were both conscious, and they understood each other perfectly. He'd just unquestioningly accepted that she was speaking English. It hadn't even crossed his mind how impossible that would be for someone from another world. He realized there'd been clues along the way. When he asked about millimeters, he was referring to an English word for an Earth-based measurement system. He didn't know why he still knew how to say the word, but it was outside her language.

This change must have happened to him when he was brought here, along with the book-to-brain knowledge transfer.

Due to their weight and the fact that he could no longer read the text, he decided to leave them behind. He felt another twinge of guilt about Alma's book, but what could he do?

He set them on the ground near the side of the cave.

Then he pulled out one of his journals. His notes, written by him, were now just gibberish. He assumed he knew all the knowledge from these pages as well, but he wouldn't be reading them again. They went on the discard pile.

Finally, he took out his cell phone and plugged in his earphones as he didn't want to disturb Shih.

Powering it up, he noticed it was at fifty percent battery, so he'd plug it into the solar panel afterward.

He opened his music app, and the titles were just strings of meaningless symbols, but he could still recognize the album covers. He played one of his favorites and recognized the song, but the lyrics made no sense to him. It was like he was listening to tracks in a foreign language!

Jeff shut it down, as it was making him feel a little lost in this new world. Yes, he had new abilities that thrilled him, but he was so far from anything recognizable that everything felt dangerous.

He put his earphones in his satchel, pulled out the solar panel, positioned it in the sunlight, and connected it to the phone. It was charging. He smiled as that still worked as it should.

He recalled that the phone would chime when the battery was full, so he turned the volume off to keep it from waking Shih.

Jeff sat in the mouth of the cave, watching and listening for any sign of people. He managed to hit a snake with a thrown rock as it tried to return to the cave. He didn't kill it, but it went elsewhere, so he counted that as a victory.

He'd take them where he could.

Chapter 4

Shih woke on her own internal clock and saw him keeping watch. He thought he caught a relieved expression before her neutral mask appeared.

He thought it was time for some answers. "Could you let me know what our route will be? Are we going east or south? I see those mountains in the distance, and I'm wondering if we'll be crossing them."

She glanced at him and nodded. "We'll continue east until we leave the wasteland. Depending on how quick we are tonight, we might make it to the edge by dawn tomorrow.

This is where it will get much more dangerous for us, as the land along the Tibron River is heavily populated. It's the only region where crops grow, so it's their agricultural area.

The people who live and work there are neither well-off nor friendly toward outsiders. Most of what they produce on their farms must be shipped downriver to the capital city of Gaen-Rallas due to the king's quotas, so the villagers frequently suffer from food shortages. The Gaen troops keep a close eye on the villagers to ensure they don't get any ideas about rebelling.

We'll need to avoid all Gaen citizens as we head upstream toward the mountains. Yes, we will be crossing them. Talosian territory is on the other side. There are three passes we can cross, and each is dangerous because of the troops guarding them. We'll need to avoid both the Gaen and Talosian troops."

"Wouldn't the Talosian troops protect you?" Jeff asked.

"No one is allowed to cross the passes. No exceptions."

He looked at her in surprise, then nodded since that was the only answer he was going to get.

She pointed to the books and journals stacked against the wall of the cave with a raised eyebrow.

"Dead weight. I no longer need them," he said, and she nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

"If you want to get some more rest, do it now, as we will have a long night of traveling. We will get more water when we get there," she suggested.

Knowing how fast she was, he nodded to her and packed away his solar panel and fully charged cell phone. He wondered if he would ever need it.

He settled down on his jacket.

"I will get more snakes for us," she said and slipped out of the cave.

"Yum," Jeff moaned quietly to himself... after she was out of earshot.

-=-

Another night of running, faster than the night before, wore down Jeff's energy reserves completely.

The moment they found a spot to hide, a short distance from one of the outer cultivated fields, he collapsed.

Hours later, he woke to see Shih standing over him, her blade in hand, anger, frustration, and confusion battling for supremacy on her face. Her teeth were clenched, and her fingers tightened on the dagger's grip repeatedly.

"Uh, is something wrong?" he asked tentatively.

"You said you were not a weakling!" she snapped.

His anger flared, but self-preservation made him quash it quickly. He had no doubts that she could quickly carve him up as she'd done to their snake dinner the night before.

"Considering the difference in our strides and your obviously superior fitness, I thought I'd done pretty well to keep up with you," he refuted cautiously.

"I could not wake you! A squad of four Gaen soldiers dragged a young female out into the field to rape her. I saw them coming, and I could not wake you. They came directly toward us and stopped on the other side of the thicket. They beat the girl, then one began to circle the thicket."

Her snarl was dominating her expression now, and he kept very still.

"I was forced to kill them!" she snapped.

"The girl?" he blurted.

She pointed the knife at him and immediately slapped her other hand over her eye and moaned in pain. She stepped away from him.

Now, Jeff was really scared! If she'd been injured, he'd have no way of surviving here.

"Are you okay? Did you get injured in the fight?" he asked frantically.

She pulled her hand away from her face and sheathed her blade as she snarled at him. "No! Killing the soldiers was simple. The girl is unconscious. They beat her badly."

She stepped right up to his chest as she glared down at him. He held himself very still as his face was tilted almost all the way back and was in danger of falling into her cleavage.

He was terrified!

He was thrilled!

It was very confusing!

"We weren't supposed to interact with any of the Gaen people, especially not the soldiers. We could have slipped away unnoticed, but you wouldn't wake up!"

"Why didn't you just leave me?" he squeaked through his tight throat.

She leaned even closer as her fangs came into view.

"I couldn't!"

He was trembling hard, but he couldn't break his lock on her eyes. He risked a smile.

"You didn't want to leave me?" he said quietly.

"No! I did! I tried! But something wouldn't let me! Then I tried to kill you as you've obviously placed a spell on me, but I can't kill you! I was forced to stay and kill the soldiers!"

Jeff's jaw dropped in shock. This was an unfortunate movement as it landed between her breasts.

As wonderful as that sensation was, it just elevated Shih's anger into rage.

Jeff scrambled to appease her. "I didn't put any spells on you! I don't have a clue how to do such things! All I know so far is healing and purifying water! When could I have done such a thing?"

Shih's mind had already been thinking of her times of vulnerability. "When I was dying from the poison and wounds! You--" She suddenly froze as a memory of a commanding voice returned to her. She stepped back as the deal she'd made for her life sharpened in her memory.

Did she want to live? Yes.

Did she accept the binding?

Now she understood. To receive the energy Jeff willingly offered to her to save her life, she'd had to agree to being bound to him.

Only now did she grasp what that meant. Her life was bound to his.

She couldn't abandon him.

She couldn't kill him.

Her fate was bound to his.

"I-I need to get rid of the bodies," she mumbled and slipped away.

Jeff followed and saw her dragging one of the soldiers away into the brush.

Three others were face down in their own pools of blood.

They seemed a little like the dead man the tentacle dragged through the archway. They had the same skin tone as Shih and the same pointed ears and luxurious black hair, if shorter than Shih's.

Tall with muscular bodies. He turned one over, and sure enough, he had chiseled good looks. Fuck him.

He looked at the other two's faces and grew more confused. They were all very handsome... for dead guys.

Just past them, leaning up against the thicket, was the girl.

Shih hadn't exaggerated the girl's injuries. She was a mess. She might not even survive, as her breathing was labored. Broken nose, certainly, and possibly her ribs as well.

She was probably fifteen to seventeen years old, and under the bruises and blood, she was pretty. Almost Shih-level of beauty. Maybe that's why the soldiers chose her.

He knew Shih needed them to escape without being noticed, but everything in his body and soul was pushing him to repair the damage. He was almost afraid to pass his hands over her, for then he'd know the true extent of her injuries.

He paused.

A diagnostic scan wouldn't hurt.

He knelt next to her and hovered his hands over her head. The glow began and sank into the girl's body.

Broken nose and an orbital fracture on her left eye. Burst blood vessels in the same eye.

No bleeding in the brain, so that was good.

They'd dislocated her jaw.

Her right shoulder ligaments were torn.

Ribs were broken on both sides, but luckily, none punctured her lungs.

She had severe bruising on her stomach and breasts.

Her hands were a mess as they'd broken her fingers as she tried to block their hits.

They hadn't had a chance to rape her before Shih killed them, so from the waist down, she only had light bruising.

"What are you doing?"

Jeff squeaked in surprise at how silently Shih moved.

"I-I'm checking her injuries!" he stammered.

"Why?" Her response was almost shrill.

"I-I...." He took a breath and looked her in the eye.

"Because I don't want her to die!" he snapped back.

Shih stared at him in bewilderment. Then she leaned in.

"It's not like their lives are all sunshine and riches! Random beatings and rapes are commonplace. Their military is corrupt, and their leader is worse. What do you think you can do to make her life better?" Shih growled.

Shaking with fear but letting his frustration give him strength, Jeff stood up and faced Shih. "You've already begun making her life better when you killed the brutes who beat her!"

"I didn't kill them for her! I did it to protect us!" she snapped back.

Jeff stood his ground, though his shaking didn't stop. "Doesn't matter the reason. The end result is she survived and wasn't raped! You. Helped. Her."

He clenched his jaw and turned his back on the assassin. It was the bravest thing he'd ever done.

He was sure he'd have a dagger through his spine in seconds.

Instead, Shih grabbed another of the dead soldiers and dragged him away.

Putting that from his mind, Jeff knelt next to the girl once more. Centering himself, he lifted his hands and went to work. None of the injuries were significantly worse than the others, so he started at the top and worked his way down.

As he went, he noted minor damage to some of her organs. The beatings didn't cause this. It was more likely due to long-term low-grade exposure to a toxin. She was young, so the damage was minimal.

It was a little gruesome watching her jaw reset and her fingers straighten with quiet little pops, but once he was finished, she had no cuts or bruises and looked like she was resting comfortably. He took one last look at where the bruises had been on her stomach, then glanced up to see brown eyes watching him curiously.

"What are you? Who are you?" she asked feebly.

Jeff smiled at her. "I... I'm just a Healer who was passing by with my friend."

The girl lifted her hand to look at it and marveled at her ability to move her fingers at all.

"Thank you for healing me," she sighed.

His smile widened. "You're welcome."

The girl's eyes widened as she finally saw the dead bodies of the soldiers. "They're dead?"

Jeff saw where she was looking. "Yes, that had to happen."

"I... I need to go to my father! They took me from him, but they hurt him too," she said.

"You can go to him," Jeff said, trying to help the girl to her feet, but she immediately slumped back to the ground.

"I have no strength," she sighed with a desperate look.

Shih returned and scowled harder, seeing that the girl was conscious. She grabbed the remaining two bodies and dragged them away.

He looked at the young woman. "I'm Jeff. What's your name?"

She smiled at him. "Netra. What are you? Your ears are so round, and your skin is so pale!"

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm not from around here. My friend and I were passing through, trying to avoid being seen by... anyone."

"My father! Please! You must heal him!" Netra pleaded.

Now Jeff felt the trap of conscience. Being a Healer and choosing not to heal was harder than he expected.

Shih returned and gave him a frustrated look.

"Thank you for killing the soldiers!" Netra said.

"I killed them to hide us, not to help you!" she insisted.

Netra gave her a sweet smile. "Thank you, regardless."

"Where is your father's home?" Jeff asked.

Netra's eyes lit up, and Shih gave him a sharp look.

"On the edge of town, just on the other side of this field," Netra said quickly.

Jeff looked at Shih. "You stay here and wait until dark. Then come get me." He saw her about to protest.

"Or you can go on without me. You owe me nothing, and as you noted, I'll only slow you down. You don't have to wait for me." He paused, then loosely waved his hands mystically between them. "If I have the power to do so, I hereby release you from any magic binding between us. You have been a tremendous help to me, and I don't want to be a burden to you," he said weakly. With an embarrassed look on his face, he slung his bag over his shoulder and helped Netra to her feet, bracing her with his body.

Shih was trembling as her golden eyes locked on Jeff's. He wasn't sure which option she would take. Finally, he began to turn to leave.

"I will come for you after the sun sets completely. Be ready to go."

He looked back at the conflicted expression on Shih's face.

"Thank you. I'll be ready," he said with a grateful smile.

She immediately huffed and disappeared behind the thicket.

Jeff and Netra made their way steadily toward the row of trees that apparently designated the beginning of the village.

"Are there any more soldiers waiting for the four who took you from your father?" Jeff asked, as the idea suddenly came to him.

"No, this squad is responsible for the village. When they don't return to the capital, then another will be sent out to investigate," Netra explained.

Jeff wondered about that. "How big is your village? How many people?"

"Around three hundred," she said after a moment of thought.

Now Jeff was getting confused. "Four soldiers bully a village of three hundred?"

Netra was quiet for a while as they walked close to the village.

"There is no will to fight back. It's like a weakness has come over us," she admitted quietly.

Jeff pondered that as they finally stepped out of the field, and he looked around. The trees that shaded this area had strong but thin trunks. Their wispy canopies stretched out to touch their neighbors, so the ground below was dappled with sunlight.

He spotted small groups of people gathered around ornate stone monoliths bearing symbols he couldn't read.

"What are those?" he asked curiously.

"Community wells. The engineers from Gaen-Rallas set them up in each village to ensure the people had access to drinkable water. They service them once a month," she explained.

Jeff frowned. "Isn't the village next to the river?"

She smiled and nodded. "But isn't this more convenient? These towers draw the water from the river, clean it, and bring it into the village." She stopped walking. "I'm very thirsty. Could we get a drink? This one is very near to my father's hut. He will need water, too."

He looked at the gathered people nervously but nodded.

As they approached the women working next to one of the wells, some turned their heads, and the volume suddenly rose considerably. The entire group rushed closer, and Jeff got a good look at the Gaen villagers--the women at least.

Dammit! They were all gorgeous! Variations were apparent, but even the most average of them was a beauty like Netra. Not one was even the slightest bit homely, and the ugly fairy had never visited this village.

He suddenly understood Shih's statement about how he would stand out like a sore thumb amongst the crowd. His Earth-based blandness was vastly different from everyone else.

"NETRA! GODS! You're alive!" the woman at the front of the runners cried out, and Jeff gently disengaged from the girl to allow her to be swept up into the arms of the incoming women. They examined Netra for injuries as they saw the splashes of blood on her torn clothing.

"Who is this?" the first woman said, looking at Jeff as she held Netra in her arms.

"His name is Jeff. He's a Healer!" the girl said with a smile.

"Where is your father?" Jeff asked.

"Ah! Yes, we must get to him!" Netra said as she sagged in the woman's arms.

"Did the soldiers injure him, too?" the lead woman asked, and Netra nodded.

Jeff frowned. "Did you see the soldiers take Netra away? Why didn't someone try to stop them? Where are the men?"

Uncomfortable expressions crossed their faces. "The men are in the fields and on the fishing boats. We cannot fight the soldiers."

One of the women got closer with a cup full of water and tried to lift it to Netra's lips.

"Wait! Let me see that," Jeff said, and the woman frowned at him.

"She needs it more than you!" she snapped.

"I don't want to drink it. I need to test its purity!" he shot back, and they all blinked in surprise.

He accepted the cup, put his hand over it, and closed his eyes as he opened himself to his magic once more. He read the chemical makeup of the water and frowned as he found the toxin he'd found in Netra's body. This was the source. Maybe it was just her well?

He opened his eyes and looked at the waiting women. "There's a poison in the water. It's not deadly, but it weakens you. I need samples from other wells as well as one from the river. Make sure the bucket used for the river water has never been used for water from the wells."

He focused on the cup once more and used his filter in reverse to draw up only the elements that weren't part of his pure water. Soon, there was a small gooey grey mass floating within the green light under his palm. He moved the cup to hand it back to the woman. "Let her drink this." He let the toxins drop to the ground as he released his magic.

Netra accepted the cup with wide eyes and drank. Her expression changed to joy as she quickly finished the cup. "That was delicious and fresh!" she gushed as she held out the cup for more.

They moved as a group toward the well, and the women who originally brought the cup refilled it and handed it to Jeff.

He pulled the toxins out, and Netra drank her fill, then handed the rest to the woman who still held her. With a nervous glance at Netra, the woman drank and smiled widely.

"It does taste better!" she said.

"Let's get some more and go see your father," Jeff suggested.

Soon, the group was standing in the doorway to Netra's home. Jeff knelt on the floor next to a man who'd taken a beating. An old injury to his left shoulder, which was badly reset, had taken the function of his left arm due to pinched nerves. This meant he couldn't work the fields or fish with the others. This was likely why he remained in the village.

Jeff passed his hands over his body and immediately stopped the bleeding of his internal organs. Then he went to work on the lesser damage, finally concentrating on his left shoulder.

Sitting back on his heels, Jeff took some deep breaths and looked into the tearful eyes of Netra.

"He's lost a lot of blood, so he'll be weak for a while, but he's no longer in any danger."

Netra burst into tears and hugged Jeff, whose face heated up.

When he eased her back, he turned to the women in the doorway. "Is someone going to get me those water samples from the other wells? I also need a big sample directly from the river."

This started a stampede as the women rushed away. Soon, it was just Jeff, Netra, her father, whose name was Wilsa, and the woman who clung to Netra. Her name was Haella, and she was Netra's aunt.

Netra lost her mother five years earlier to a group of soldiers exacting punishment for a missed quota.

The women began to stream back one at a time.

Jeff tested the water, and if he detected the toxin, he sent the woman back to the well to mark it with an X. As test after test returned the same result, a picture formed in his mind.

Just then, two large men burst through the door and approached Jeff, scowling. They froze when they faced the short, pale, round-eared being.

Jeff stared at them sadly. Tall, handsome, and muscular with not a pimple in sight. Jeff was really beginning to feel like a toad.

"Who are you?" the first hunk demanded.

"My name is Jeff," he croaked, then cleared his throat. He pulled his shoulder back and addressed them again. "I'm not from around here, but I'm a Healer."

A woman pushed her way inside. She was carrying a bucket of water. The wooden bucket looked new.

Jeff caught her eye. "Is that from the river?" he asked, and she nodded before setting it on the floor before him.

Jeff knelt and held his hands out over the bucket. Closing his eyes, he called his magic again and let it sink to the bottom. He detected lifeforms in the water, plus some dissolved soil, but the toxins were absent. The wells were poisoning the water the villagers were drinking.

He used his filter to pull all the contaminants from the bucket, then stood. In the green glow under his hands was a small cloud of organic pollutants. "This is just dirt and normal river life. Nothing hazardous, but they don't taste good."

He carefully carried it outside and released the magic, allowing the pollutants to drop onto the ground. Then he walked back inside and faced the two men.

"I've healed your friend from the beating he took. I've also repaired his shoulder. He'll need to exercise it to regain its strength. More importantly, the wells are poisoning the villagers. If all the villages along the river were given these wells, then everyone would be consuming a toxin that saps their strength and will. I think it's likely being done to keep you under control. To keep you from rebelling against this brutish, unfair treatment."

He saw he still had their attention. "Wilsa was beaten, and his daughter, Netra, was dragged out into an outer field and beaten. The soldiers died before they could rape her--I didn't kill them," he hastened to add.

He scooped some water from the bucket and slurped it up. It didn't taste as good as his bottled water, but it wasn't bad. "Try some. This is purified river water. You should go back to only drinking this."

"We can't clean it as you do!" one of the men insisted as the other tried it.

"You don't need to. The river water contains no toxins. Filter it through a cloth to remove dirt and larger particles, then boil the water to kill any remaining contaminants. Clean water should flush out toxins that have accumulated in your bodies. You'll get your strength and willpower back."

Jeff thought about that for a moment. "Maybe you shouldn't let on that you're aware of the poisoned wells until you've got your strength back."

He held the eyes of the two men. "You need to pass the word to the other villages about the toxin. "I'll be heading upriver, but I don't know if I'll be able to speak to the villagers to let them know. Someone needs to get the word out to the rest of your people."

The group standing in the house was sharing uneasy glances, and Jeff got it. They were still under the influence of the toxin.

"Unless you want them to keep standing on your necks, starving you, and raping your women!" he snapped, and angry faces turned his way. He could almost see the anger fading under the lethargy caused by the toxin.

"Boy, are you guys fucked," Jeff sighed just a little too loudly.

The fist that struck his face lifted him off his feet to crash into the back wall of the small hut.

The light spiraled down into an abyss.

Chapter 5

Shih paced back and forth as she waited for darkness. She'd spent hours trying to find a way to accept Jeff's offer to simply leave him behind. She knew he meant it. He would fully understand if she headed for home without him, and she knew she should, as she'd make much better time. It would be so much easier to cross the mountain pass in her invisible state.

But every time she decided to do it, the punishment would begin. She now knew it wasn't Jeff's fault. She was the one who accepted the deal to live bound to him. She didn't even know which God she'd been dealing with.

So, she waited until dark.

She raced across the field toward the village and slipped from shadow to shadow, listening by windows for clues to Jeff's location. Then she spotted a crowd of villagers standing in front of a small hut. In the firelight, she spotted the girl.

She made her way closer and listened.

The girl seemed to be arguing with two large males.

"He's a Healer, and he saved my life. He didn't have to come to our village. He didn't have to save us from our slavery, but he shone a light on the truth! The toxin in our wells is sapping our ability to take control of our lives. I don't want to be beaten, raped, and killed by those vile bastards. Are you going to listen to Jeff's advice or are you going to remain a slave?"

One of the men looked convinced, but the other was almost pouting. "Who is he anyway? Why did he come here? If he didn't look so odd, I'd say he's a Talosian spy! We should interrogate him!"

The girl scowled at the man. "You shouldn't have hit him so hard--"

Shih was moving before the girl finished. The assassin leapt between the two men from the shadows and drove her elbow into the pouting man's face, destroying his nose. Then she jumped past the girl standing beside the doorway and was inside. She saw a man kneeling beside Jeff, who was stretched out on a sleeping mat. She rushed to Jeff's side and pushed the man away.

He fell on his butt and winced as he kept himself from falling onto his back. His left arm seemed smaller than the other.

"I mean him no harm!" the man moaned, and Shih went still as she hovered over Jeff's sleeping form. He had a faint green glow on his left cheek, and she recognized his healing magic at work. He was healing himself?

That was impossible!

The man eased himself down onto his back as he was very weak. "I just woke up after your friend here healed me. Even my left arm, which I'd never expected to be able to move again!"

The girl stepped inside cautiously. "Are you all right, father?"

"Yes, Netra, my dearest. I'm healing," he said with a breathy voice, then faded into unconsciousness.

Netra quickly knelt at his side and saw he was sleeping peacefully, so she relaxed a little.

"What happened? Why did that man outside hit Jeff?" Shih asked between clenched teeth.

The girl explained what happened when they arrived at the village and how Jeff had discovered the village's wells were poisoning the people with a toxin that took away their will to stand up for themselves. He'd been explaining how everyone should drink boiled river water and notify all the other villages using the wells so everyone could break free from the toxins' effects.

That's when Chunuk punched him.

"The king has been poisoning his subjects to enslave the farmers and fishermen?" Shih asked in astonishment. "I didn't know he'd gone so far."

"Every year they raise the quotas as the population in the city grows, but our population is diminishing from the culling their soldiers carry out in the villages. Any sign of discontent is dealt with brutally," she said.

"You seem clearer-headed than the others," Shih said as she fixed a critical eye on the young woman.

Netra smiled as she looked at Jeff. "He healed me. He gave me fresh water to drink. He gave me purpose. He gave me hope for a better tomorrow. All we need to do is seize it. I will ensure the people of this village break free from the toxin's effects. We will pass the word to all nearby villages and ensure it reaches them all."

"Uh!"

They looked down at Jeff, who was blinking the sleep from his eyes. Then they locked on her intense gold eyes, focused on him.

"You came for me," he said with a gentle smile.

"Are you ready to go?" she returned briskly as she turned and stood to walk to the door.

Jeff shared an embarrassed smile with Netra, then scrambled to catch up to Shih after he slung his satchel over his shoulder.

She followed them outside.

Jeff stopped next to Chunuk and saw that his nose was busted flat. He reached out a hand and poured his healing magic into the male's face. When he pulled his hand back, the injury was fixed, but he had a pronounced bump on his nose. The man's previously perfect nose was no longer perfect.

Jeff did his best to hide his smirk as he walked away.

Then a frown crossed his face as he overheard some female villagers complimenting Chunuk on his new rugged appearance.

Jeff pouted as his little victory against the bully backfired.

Shih paused to hand him something. He looked down at it, but there wasn't enough light to get an idea of what it was.

He looked up at her in question.

"It's food. Eat it. We have a long way to go tonight," she said.

He bit into it and managed not to spit it out. It tasted like sawdust and shoe polish.

He wolfed it down and took a swig from his bottle to wash the paste down his throat.

"Thanks," he gasped.

With a satisfied nod, she turned and began to jog away. He quickly chased after her and did his best to keep up.

-=-

The next three days went by with the only change being the gradual growth of the mountain range before them. Each time they briefly left the safety of the forest, they'd get a clear view of the range. The closer they got, the less faith Jeff had in his ability to climb it.

"Dear God! I've never been this close to such a huge mountain!" he gasped as they took a water break by a cold mountain stream. He used his filter magic to fill his bottle and Shih's water bladder, and she smiled as she took a few mouthfuls. He topped her up again, and she put it away.

She suddenly spun and threw a dagger at the base of a nearby bush. Jeff heard a high-pitched squeal, and she pounced on the spot with another knife in her hand. Seconds later, she returned with some furry animal bleeding profusely from a hole where its throat once was. It was the size of a large rabbit, but its body shape resembled a groundhog's.

Then he saw the jaws full of wickedly sharp teeth. A bite from this beastie would leave an awful wound.

Still, it looked meaty.

"Is it possible for us to cook this meal?" Jeff asked timidly and got a stern stare.

"We will have cooked meals when we get to Talosian territory. We will even get a meal at an inn," she grumbled.

His eyes widened with hope as his mind focused on another benefit of an inn. "We'll get to sleep in a real bed?"

"Beds," she immediately corrected with a frown.

He blinked at her in confusion.

"We will have separate beds!" she snapped.

"Oh! Yes! Sorry! I wasn't trying to suggest anything!" he gasped, scrambling to straighten out the miscommunication.

She shook her head, as she didn't want to talk about this anymore. She had other concerns.

"Tomorrow we will have to make a diversion in our course. A large base for the Gaen soldiers lies ahead. These are the ones who guard the passes above. They rotate between the passes, a snowline base, and the main headquarters just ahead at the foot of the mountain on the shore of Lake Tibron.

He gave her a worried look. "You're making it sound like the mountainside is crawling with soldiers."

She looked at him. "It is. I could slip past them with my skills, but you cannot. So, we must create a new path over the mountain."

His jaw dropped. "But... you said there are only three passes!"

"Three safe passes," she corrected. "There is another which no one uses due to the danger involved. It is our only option. There will be negligible guards on the fourth pass, and I will deal with them. You will heal any Talosian troops on the other side that I'm forced to disable."

Jeff nodded as he listened, but his fear of failing this part of the expedition was growing exponentially. "Uh, what do we do about cold-weather clothing and climbing gear like ropes, cleats, and oxygen?"

"Oxygen?" she asked.

"Breathable air at high altitude. Down here at the base, there is plenty of breathable air. The higher you go, the less oxygen there is. The less oxygen your brain gets, the quicker your brain cells begin to die, and you can find yourself walking in circles or stepping off into the abyss without any clue you're doing it," he explained. "How did you make it over the pass before?"

She stared at him in frustration. "The other passes are in deep, narrow valleys not much higher than the snowline, so breathable air wasn't an issue. I got a little lightheaded on the way through, but it was nothing I couldn't manage."

"How much higher is the fourth pass?" he asked.

"It's well into the snow zone," she said as she frowned. "This explains why the fourth pass is considered so dangerous. Deaths from accidental or mysterious causes on that route are very high. I didn't know anything about the thinning of the breathable air." She fixed her eye on him. "How did you know about this?"

He smiled as he recalled all the documentaries he watched on climbing Everest. "There is a famous mountain on Earth that climbers attempt to reach the peak of every year. It's exceptionally dangerous, and the reason they climb is to say they made it to the top. The mountain kills climbers every year--super-fit and highly trained men and women who've defeated all kinds of other dangerous challenges. Everest is merciless. One mistake or one unexpected change in the weather, and you're dead."

"These people are fools," Shih insisted.

"You've never lived until you've almost died. This is the mantra that many thrill seekers live by. They push their limits to the breaking point to bring meaning to their lives," Jeff said as he gently shook his head. "I'm not one of those people. I'm risk-averse. Give me a safe path so I can live another day."

Shih frowned. "We cannot use any of the safe paths--" she began.

"No! I mean, in general, I prefer safe paths in life." He peered at her. "As an assassin, don't you lead a very dangerous life?"

"There is much less risk when you reach my skill level," she said loftily.

He nodded, and she seemed satisfied with his acceptance.

"Back to the question of gear. Aside from supplemental oxygen, we should have cold-weather clothing like coats, pants, mitts, hats, boots, and cleats. Safety equipment like ropes, spikes, hammers, and ice axes. If we're going to be on the ice for more than one day, we'll need a tent to protect us from... storms at... night." He stopped talking as he saw her scowl. "What?"

"This isn't adventure time for your Everest climbers. We're on the run, so we need to travel light, and we'll be going non-stop once we cross into the snow zone. We can't stop, as we'll be spotted and hunted down. We need to cross the pass in one try. Rest will come once we are in Talosian territory," she insisted.

Jeff stared at her to see if she was being serious, but he realized she was always serious.

"Do you remember telling me this pass is very dangerous and many people died trying to use it? What you are suggesting sounds like one of those ill-fated attempts by people who didn't respect the land they're traversing." He held up his hands to stop her rebuttal. "I'm not trying to minimize the danger of being caught, but if we freeze to death or fall to our deaths because we went unprepared, it won't matter that we eluded the soldiers with our speed. These things are equally important."

"We cannot get all the equipment you're requesting!" she growled in frustration.

"What do you think we can get?" he asked gently.

He stared at him in frustration, then spoke as she considered his request.

"Warmer clothes, but getting them in your size will be an issue," she said, eyeing him critically.

"I can roll up pant legs and sleeves," he said with a nod.

She paused to consider the logistics. "I can get rope­."

"That's a must-have," he agreed. She seemed to be done, so he made one suggestion. "If you can find axes or even hatchets, they would be helpful. If not, we'll do without."

Shih stared at him. "Tomorrow I will find the items I can, and we will need to move quickly to leave the area. The following day, we'll begin our ascent. Once we start, we will not stop until we reach the other side."

Jeff saw she was serious and wasn't asking for his opinion.

He nodded.

They'd just have to make it happen.

For tonight's excitement, they would eat raw groundhog.

The snakes they'd had before were looking pretty good now.

-=-

Jeff had a new definition for Hell.

There was no fire or brimstone. No devils with pitchforks.

It was a steep incline of snow and ice with minimal breathable air. The air they managed to get into their lungs burned like that hellish flame.

Shih had pulled off a minor miracle when she found them snowsuits, a long coil of rope, and two long-handled axes which doubled as walking sticks, albeit heavy ones. There were droplets of blood on one of the snowsuits, so the collection effort hadn't gone as smoothly as hoped.

As expected, Jeff was swallowed by his snow garb, and a lot of rolling back was required. This increased its warmth, so he was okay with that. It was a little clumsy to walk in, but he'd make do.

They were also white, so they disappeared against the snow.

To make this escape work, they moved quickly up the mountain in the pre-dawn darkness and put on their snow gear only when they reached the snowline. Then the trudging began. As the sun came up, they were hidden by the field of white.

Shih set their course toward a notch in the mountain high above. A serpentine path up the slope would have made the climb easier, but they had to reduce the time they'd be exposed on the steep slope.

Jeff's legs were screaming in pain as he lifted each to plant it higher and push himself forward and up.

They were both linked by the rope, so if one fell, the other could potentially stop their drop down the mountain.

Jeff kept his doubts about his ability to do that to himself.

As they climbed, Jeff went over his memories of all those documentaries he'd watched to recall now to detect hazards. He was most concerned about crevasses and avalanches as he spotted some ominous-looking snow cornices curling from the peak high above.

They weren't carrying snow probes, so finding crevasses was moot.

Jeff was really struggling to breathe, but his mind remained sharp, so he kept his eyes on the prize of that notch and began to rejoice as they got closer and closer.

"What? Wherez it?"

He heard Shih begin to shout in confusion, and he looked up toward her. She was starting to thrash about, so he pushed himself to move up next to her. Her eyes were wild with confusion, and his heart sank as he assumed she might be having altitude sickness.

"It's okay! I can see the notch. I will lead for a bit. Let me examine you," he said directly in her face to make her focus on him. He placed his hands inside her hood on either side of her head and closed his eyes as he called up his magic. He sank this energy into her head and looked for signs of danger. He found them immediately. Pin-prick lesions in her brain from dying cells. He pushed his healing powers to repair the damage and tried to think of a way to protect them. Then, he heard a noise from far below. He looked away from Shih and glanced downslope.

Movement. Soldiers chasing them. SHIT!

"Come on, we must go now! I'll lead the way!" he said to Shih and saw her nod faintly.

Damn the crevasses, he coiled the rope to shorten it and keep them closer together. Then he began to climb again, pushing hard to reach that notch. He felt the tug of the rope as Shih struggled to follow.

The noises from below got louder as the soldiers made better progress following their path.

He just pushed himself harder, and the notch came into sight. There was an odd dip in the snow just before the smooth path between the rocks, and Jeff's brain screamed crevasse! It was like putting a spike pit in their path!

What a dick move!

He angled off to the side and went straight toward the rock wall. Its rough texture would give them footholds and handholds so they could climb on it to bypass that dip in the snow.

"What are you doing?" Shih snapped. "Go straight!" She tugged at the rope, but he held fast.

He used a word she would understand. "Trap!"

He saw her expression change as she tried to see what he saw.

"Trust me!" he yelled and turned toward the rocks once more. He reached it and immediately climbed a short distance up, then moved horizontally across the face toward the pass. He locked eyes with Shih, and she blinked at him in confusion but mirrored his moves. They made it around the curve and back down onto the flat surface of the gap when they heard a mighty battle cry from the first soldier to catch up to them. He was far ahead of the others and came straight for the pass.

Jeff watched in terror as he raised his sword--and disappeared.

The snow gave under his weight, and he fell into the darkness of the crevasse Jeff suspected was there.

The soldiers following him stopped and stared in shock. Then they all screamed in fury and pointed to the path toward the rocks where Jeff and Shih had climbed.

Their combined raging voices echoed off the rock face and ice until Jeff began to hear a deep rumble.

He grabbed Shih's arm, tugging her to follow, and began to run as fast as he could through the mountain pass. A mist of snow began to fall around them, but it quickly turned into a torrent.

Seeing an outcrop of rock, he grabbed Shih and forced her down and under the protruding shelf. Then he tucked himself in against her.

"What?" she growled, but his hands returned to her head, and he went through the healing routine again as the noise of the avalanche filled their senses.

The damage in her brain was less this time, but he'd have to increase the frequency of his repairs to limit it.

In the darkness of their shelter, he realized his body was gently glowing green--he was automatically self-healing.

Huh.

Minutes went by, then the noise quickly faded into a quiet hiss as the winds moved the lighter snow away from their shelter.

Jeff backed out of the protection, pushing a thankfully small pile of snow away from the entrance. Then he eased Shih out after him. He looked back toward the path they'd followed, but there was no sign of the soldiers.

He knew he had to get Shih down the mountain as quickly as possible, as she wasn't in any condition to fight. He'd have to lead the way.

"Let's go," he said, and she nodded, which made his concern rise. She was too compliant.

Climbing down was another kind of torture for his exhausted muscles, but he pushed through it and guided the woman down the mountain without regard for stealth. Expedience was critical.

When they reached the snowline, sure enough, he spotted a group of five soldiers rushing toward them. He fixed an imperious frown on his face and maintained his pace as he straightened their course toward them. This caused the soldiers to slow down and reevaluate the situation. Jeff tugged off the snowsuit to emphasize the difference in his size and his alien skin pigmentation. Perhaps it would work in their favor and prevent their immediate slaughter. He did another treatment on Shih's brain and was pleased to see minimal damage this time. He made sure this was visible to the approaching squad.

Shih was still disoriented, but that was likely the after-effect of being starved for oxygen.

Eventually, they got close enough to speak, and the squad leader was first.

"Halt! This is restricted territory! Announce your name and reason for your trespass!"

Jeff glanced at Shih, but she wasn't ready. He took a deep breath.

Show time.

"This is Shih, who works directly for Empress Tarelka. The Empress sent her on a mission to infiltrate Gaen territory, locate and extract me, and ultimately return with me to the Empress. I am a Healer, as you witnessed moments ago," he said in his best authoritative voice.

"We received no information about this?" the male grumbled.

"Oh! Does the Empress confer with you on such sensitive missions?" Jeff asked incredulously.

The men grumbled.

"We're not in Gaen territory now, are we," Jeff pushed, and they looked uncomfortable.

"Stop tormenting our people!" Shih growled at Jeff.

The soldiers actually began to relax, seeing Shih was able to speak for herself at last.

"My apologies for the hostility displayed by the small one. He and I have just been through a difficult ordeal. The lack of oxygen in the fourth pass made breathing difficult and thinking almost impossible. Luckily, he is a Healer and was able to function at that height to get us across. He is correct in stating that the mission was secret due to its sensitive nature. We must return to the Empress quickly. We would welcome an escort."

Eyes lit up as this meant they'd be getting off the mountain for the time it took them to get to the capital and back.

Jeff glanced at Shih and saw she was struggling with a massive headache. He turned to the soldier and bowed. "My apologies for my sharp tone. If any of you have injuries, I will see if I can heal them for you."

One of the soldiers immediately removed a boot, and two of his toes were darkening with frostbite. It hadn't completely killed the tissues yet, but it would soon.

Jeff knelt at his feet and held his hands out on top and below his foot and let his magic sink into the male's foot. The glow swelled, and the discoloration slowly faded until the toes were healthy again.

"That was close. They were almost to a state I would not have been able to heal them," Jeff said.

The squad leader frowned at his men. "Let's get back to the base before we add any other delays."

The healed soldier smiled at Jeff as he pulled his boot on again. He winced at the cold on his healed toes.

"You've got a leak in your boot?" Jeff asked him and got a silent nod before the leader gestured for them all to move.

Jeff moved back to Shih's side and took her arm to help steady her. Shih made a feeble attempt to shake him loose, but he just frowned at her, and she allowed him to continue.

The rest of the trip down to the soldier headquarters at the base of the mountain was a long slog, but Jeff fed energy into Shih's body when her level dropped too low.

She glared at him the first time he did this, but by the third, she just accepted it gratefully.

As they walked toward the entrance of the wide single-level structure, the front doors opened, and a soldier with a much fancier uniform and shiny boots stepped out to approach them.

He glared at the team leader. "Since when do we take prisoners and escort them to the base!" the male snapped.

Shih had recovered enough to remember something she should have done earlier. She tugged a small gold medallion on a multicolored ribbon from a hidden pocket in her leathers and showed it to the commander.

"You do when they are a direct report to the Empress," she said stiffly.

Jeff watched the commander's eyes bulge in surprise, then Jeff glanced at Shih. It would have been good to know she had a Get Out of Jail card tucked away, but she really didn't need to tell him anything.

The commander changed his attitude one-eighty degrees as an ingratiating smile pasted itself onto his handsome face.

"I'm Commander Jeedru of the Talosia/Gaen Mountain Access Authority. Is there any assistance we can provide you at this time?" he asked.

Jeff took one look at Shih and knew she would insist on setting off immediately for the capital. He gave her arm a little tug, and her eyes went to his.

Jeff leaned in closer to speak privately in her ear. "To heal, you need a night's rest and cooked meals. Please give your body this much at least."

At first, she looked like she might argue, but then she nodded. She faced the Commander, who was looking at her curiously.

"This is Jeff. He is a Healer whom I'm bringing to the Empress. The ordeal we went through crossing the fourth pass has taken its toll. We require a night's rest and food. Tomorrow we will need an escort to the capital. This squad will suffice for this."

"They need new boots," Jeff added.

"What?" Jeedru said in surprise.

"Their boots leak, and this is causing damage to their feet. Soldiers need healthy feet to fulfill their duties successfully," Jeff insisted.

Jeedru didn't know how to deal with this until Shih frowned, then nodded.

"I'll send a request for new boots for them immediately. They'll have them by tomorrow morning for the escort duty," the commander assured them.

Jeff nodded and tried to ignore the squad members' smiles.

The commander looked at the squad leader. "Bring them to the guest quarters and ensure meals are brought to their rooms."

"Yes, Commander!" the man said sharply, handing him a quick note with their boot sizes.

Jeedru glanced at it in annoyance and quickly hid it with a smile for Shih. "I will speak with you in the morning before you leave for the capital."

"Thank you, Commander," she managed, and the man nodded briskly and rushed away.

They followed the smiling soldiers into the building and down a hall to the guest rooms in question. Jeff asked the squad to wait in the hall, then took Shih into her room and made her stretch out on the bed after stripping off her snow gear.

"Let me examine you once more," he said, and she nodded. He confirmed her brain showed no additional damage, and her lungs were clear. "You look good. Get some rest, and we'll have a big breakfast tomorrow."

She was asleep before he reached the door.

When he met the squad, he smiled at them. "Maybe I could learn your names?"

The squad leader nodded. "I'm Piercet. These two are Kogan and Laret. The others are Callon and Aggret." The last one was the fellow Jeff had healed.

Once more, they were all prime specimens, and he felt, once again, like a potato amongst the flowers.

"Is there an infirmary here?" Jeff asked curiously.

"Yes," Piercet said. "Would you like to visit our Healer?"

Jeff's eyes lit up. Another Healer! "Yes!"

With a nod, the leader led the way through the building to a large ward with only ten or so patients on beds. There was room for at least twenty more.

A frazzled-looking older gentleman was sitting with one of the patients, examining his feet, which showed signs of frostbite.

Jeff looked back at Aggret. "Does this seem familiar?"

The soldier nodded. "Frostbite is the most common injury for this base. Mostly feet due to leaky boots."

"Aggret!" Piercet said to quiet the man, but Jeff was already on a roll.

"Poor footwear is an issue here? The commander seemed to have really good boots," Jeff noted.

Five uncomfortable expressions appeared, and Jeff realized where the issue might originate.

He nodded and joined the Healer with his patient.

"Who are you? You don't look like a soldier!" the older man insisted grumpily.

Jeff smiled. "I'm a... special guest, just visiting on my way to the capital. My name's Jeff, and I'm a Healer."

At this last pronouncement, the older man's face lit up! "I've done what I could, but I'm out of energy, and I can't heal them!" he gasped, and Jeff touched his shoulder to calm the man.

"I'll do what I can if you walk me through it," he said gently, and the old Healer smiled in relief.

For the next hour, Healer Martex led Jeff from bed to bed, and most of the injuries were frostbite of the feet and hands. One nose and two ear tips, but that was a rarity according to the old man.

Patient after patient went under Jeff's healing magic, and only two lost a toe. Jeff completely healed the amputation, leaving no scars or protruding bones. He left them as if the toe had never existed.

The fellow with the burnt ear tips and nose got to keep his nose, but his ear tips had to be shortened by two inches. Again, Jeff ensured the ears were symmetrical, if shorter than the average.

Jeff was pleasantly fatigued as he sat at the Healer's desk, munching on sandwiches with the thrilled older man.

"Thank you so much for healing all these patients today! It was eye-opening to see how much you could do with your healing powers. I would have had to fall back on my manual surgical skills, and the results would not have been so clean," the old man sighed.

"I was training to be a surgeon where I'm from, but I had an accident that left my right hand in a broken state. When I gained my healing powers, my hand was the first thing I healed," Jeff admitted.

"You can heal yourself?" Martex gasped, and Jeff realized he should have kept that to himself. He just nodded instead.

He swallowed his last bite and fought back a yawn. It was time to hit the sack.

At the far end of the ward, the doors burst open, and a dozen soldiers rushed in with fabric stretchers between them. Six casualties.

The old man stared at them in dismay, then looked beseechingly at Jeff.

He nodded with a grim nod and hustled over to see the injured.

"What happened?" Piercet asked one of the litter bearers who might have been their squad leader.

"A skirmish at pass three. The Gaen are really riled up after losing a team to an avalanche. They made some bold feints, and this group decided to make them pay for that," the leader of the new group explained to him, then noticed the short, pale, round-eared being examining the wounded.

"Who--WHAT is that?" the squad leader said, pointing a finger in Jeff's face.

Martex glowered at the angry soldier. "He's a Healer and a damn powerful one! Stand back and let us work!"

Jeff moved to the patient who looked the worst off. He passed his hands over the wounds and made his assessments. He looked at Martex in desperation. "There's a lot of severe damage to the internal organs. I don't know if I have enough energy to fix something this complex.

"Just stop the bleeding. If you can do it quickly, repair the major organs and move to the next. Leave the cosmetics," Martex suggested in a calm voice.

Jeff nodded shakily and concentrated on the deepest wounds to the man's chest. He closed his eyes and let his senses be filled with the magic field he was extending into the chest cavity before him. He fixed bleeder after bleeder, but there were so many. The man's heart was slowing as his blood pressure dropped.

"I think we're losing him. His organs are failing as the damage is too serious and has hit too many organs. I can't heal them fast enough," Jeff muttered with a shaky voice.

Martex pulled him away from the soldier, causing Jeff to cry out in surprise as his connection to his patient broke.

"We can't save him. Save your energy for those you can!" Martex insisted in his ear as he guided him to the next worst case.

This one had a single deep wound to the gut, and Jeff immediately plunged his mind and magic into the injury. He was able to repair the blood vessels and the damage to the punctured organs. He lifted the foreign matter and the bowel leakage from the body cavity and dumped it on the floor before announcing the patient would live. Martex pulled him to the next.

He lost track of which one he was working on after that until the room went dark and his consciousness slipped away.

As he faded into the dark, he was delirious with fatigue and worried that he'd failed his medical exam.

Chapter 6

"Wake up!"

Jeff jolted into consciousness, his hands lifting and glowing green with his magic as his mind struggled to understand why he was lying on a comfortable bed.

His eyes finally focused, and he saw Shih standing next to the bed, watching him. He couldn't quite read her expression as she was doing her best to maintain a neutral look.

"What happened? The patients!" Jeff gasped.

Martex stepped closer and smiled at Jeff. "Not to worry, we saved all that we could. You did very well."

Jeff relaxed, and his mind threatened to pull him back into sleep. "I passed?" he muttered as his brain picked up on his last thoughts from the night before.

Martex chuckled. "Yes, I would say so. However, you need to learn when the challenge is too great and step back. Your first patient was far too badly damaged to save. You used too much of your energy on him."

Jeff's eyes reopened and locked on the Healer's. "How many--"

Martex gently touched Jeff's shoulder. "We only lost the first. I was able to finish up for you on the last one after you passed out."

Jeff moaned as his body reminded him of his depletion.

Martex chuckled again. "You need time to recharge, but now you need to eat and get ready to leave as your companion is trembling with impatience."

Shih shot the Healer a look of annoyance, then turned to walk away.

Martex helped Jeff to his feet, and they followed Shih out of the room to find their escort waiting. The group walked until they reached what looked like a cafeteria. The smell of hot food perked Jeff up, and he smiled.

Soon, they were all sitting together enjoying their breakfast. The flavors were a little odd to Jeff, but it was cooked and edible, so he filled his stomach and rested back when he'd had his fill.

He smiled at Shih, noting she'd had twice as much.

She caught his look, and her gold eyes locked on his green ones. "Are you ready to leave?" she asked.

"At your command," he said, and the slightest smile flickered by.

The soldiers all stood, and Jeff glanced toward the door as Commander Jeedru approached. Martex, Shi, and Jeff were the last to their feet.

The male was once again dressed in a lavish and ornate, expensive-looking uniform and very good boots.

Jeedru smiled and nodded to the group. The soldiers took this as permission to sit and continue their breakfast.

He turned to face Jeff, whose eyes widened to be centered out like this. The commander spoke loud enough for all to hear. "I wanted to thank you, as I understand I owe you a debt of gratitude for healing the men in the infirmary and the new arrivals last night."

Jeff glanced at the frustrated look on Martex's face, and an idea suddenly came to him. He spoke equally loud.

"Aside from the soldiers injured in the skirmish at Pass Three, the rest were all suffering from frostbite, primarily on their feet. You could repay that debt by ensuring all your men have good waterproof boots. Then we'll call it even."

Jeedru stared at Jeff in shock and balked at the cost of this compensation. Shih spoke up. "I'll make sure to inform the Empress of your concern for the health of the troops under your command and the steps you're taking for them. Truly commendable dedication."

The commander had been outmaneuvered, and he knew it. He would have to follow through, as the Empress would conduct an inspection. He suddenly realized that his walk-in closet, filled with fancy dress uniforms and his custom boot collection, would tell a story about redirected base funds.

"Yes, of course! I'll ensure this is taken care of immediately. I wanted to wish you farewell for your trip to the capital. Safe travels!" he said, then beat a hasty retreat.

Once he was out of earshot, the soldiers gave their special guests a cheer.

Martex shook Jeff's hand. "This will reduce the visits to the infirmary significantly."

Jeff smiled and shared that with Shih, who did her best to pretend not to notice.

"Let's get moving," she said instead.

Jeff nodded, shook Martex's hand once more, and caught the eye of their escort.

"How are we traveling?" Jeff asked.

"We've arranged for a wagon and driver," Piercet said and led the way out of the cafeteria and down a long hall to exit into a garage.

When Jeff got a look at the beast of burden, he was a little disappointed, as he was hoping to see a horse. Instead, it looked more like a really muscular wildebeest.

Shih paused in the doorway next to Jeff, giving themselves a little privacy.

"Does this look like the Truck that killed you on your planet?" she asked, and for a second, he prepared to answer, but he caught the amusement in her eyes and swallowed his words. She found this amusing and left him there with a smug little smile on her face.

He climbed into the back with their escort, and Shih climbed on last.

The driver finally got them underway to the capital.

-=-

The beast pulled the wagon along the well-used, smooth country dual track at a good pace. Faster than Jeff could have run.

The impatience Shih had been feeling was beginning to fade.

They were back in Talosian territory.

They'd avoided being captured by the Gaen.

She'd accomplished her mission to kill the bastard who killed her Binda--the Empress's concubines and children.

Shih turned her face to look back along their path so the soldiers wouldn't see how glassy her eyes had become as she thought about Binda.

The child hadn't been hers. They weren't related to each other, nor was she the daughter of the Empress.

Shih had returned from a mission earlier this year and learned that Tarelka had taken a new concubine. The big difference was that he was a widower with a daughter. This was out of character for the Empress, who had no time for other people's children.

Then Shih met Binda.

The girl was so tiny and quiet. She reminded Shih of a butterfly. She had no one to talk to in the Imperial Sanctuary as she was an outsider, unrelated to the Empress.

Shih was also an outsider, so she spoke with Binda each time she visited the Sanctuary. Sometimes she brought her little presents. Binda's joy was a bright spot in Shih's life that was otherwise filled with hunting and death.

Larrka, Binda's father, was a kind man with exceptional muscles. He'd smile whenever they passed, never at her, of course, but he knew Shih was his daughter's only friend.

Then Barelius and his mercenaries launched a surprise night attack on the Sanctuary.

Larrka and Binda died in each other's arms.

Shih allowed herself to relive the moment of slicing through that bastard's throat. It didn't bring Binda back, but it closed an open wound that left a scar on her heart.

When she'd locked down her emotions again, she glanced at Jeff and saw he was watching her. Something in his eyes told her he was aware of her pain, so she looked away again.

He was too damn perceptive!

Pushing that from her mind, she wondered what the Empress would make of Jeff. Her taste in men definitely put him far outside her preferences. Big, muscle-bound brutes were her thing.

Jeff was smaller than all adult males and looked so different.

Yet he'd surprised Shih with his endurance on their run back to the border. His ability to climb over the Fourth Pass while pulling her along and healing her so she didn't turn into a brain-dead vegetable truly impressed her. She wasn't easily impressed.

Having spent time with him, she didn't find him ugly or even strange-looking, though many might, since he was... so different. His body was small, but his muscles were hard and strong. Best of all, he didn't whine and complain beyond her ability to endure, as so many others did. Stoic was a better description for him. She could respect that. She wondered what had happened in his life before they met that had given him that strength.

She knew the Empress would find his Healer skills useful. Maybe she would have him live in the palace to work in the infirmary or as her personal physician. Did he have sufficient medical experience for that? From his performance at the mountain base, he'd apparently handled multiple casualties before he ran out of energy and passed out. With the Empress being his only patient, he'd likely be able to manage quite well.

She felt a little tremble run through her, and she tried to examine where it came from.

She froze as she realized she didn't want to be separated from him.

The binding from the mysterious ancient God was alive and well.

How would she explain this to the Empress?

What would the Empress do?

They would find out soon enough.

Chapter 7

The closer they got to the Talosian capital city of Shahreet, the more people they saw. Small farms gave way to larger collectives of multi-family farms, then to villages surrounded by farmland. Closer still were much larger towns, one of which they stopped at for the night.

Jeff enjoyed the vibe of the medieval-style village, staying in an old inn, sleeping upstairs in the inn's cozy rooms, and having meals in the main-floor pub.

The food was the best yet, and Jeff got to pay it forward when he healed a cute waitress (the innkeeper's daughter), who cut her hand on the edge of a broken plate thrown by a drunk patron.

It was a rowdy crowd in the pub, but their squad of soldiers kept an eye on them.

Once he'd proven his creds as a Healer, several people approached him for help. None of the injuries or ailments were too severe, but the patrons were fascinated as they watched him perform his magic.

He understood that not everyone was gifted with abilities, but he hadn't realized they could be seen as a source of entertainment.

He finished the show with the miracle of curing an older woman's blindness. She had cataracts, and his magic enabled him to reverse the condition. He warned her that it might eventually return, as she'd had it before, but he couldn't detect any signs of it when he was done.

The innkeeper was delighted with the money he'd made from charging an admission fee for the show and the increased drink orders.

Today, they were on the last trek to the capital, and he saw that Shih was beginning to get a little twitchy. When he had the opportunity, as they waited for their wagon, he led her a little distance from the others.

"Is there something to be concerned about?" he asked softly, and she shot a brief look of annoyance at him. He raised his eyebrows in question at the expression.

She sighed, then nodded to herself. "You should know, as we will be meeting the Empress today." She took a deep breath.

"My mission to exact revenge on Barelius and his mercenaries was not sanctioned by the Empress--I mean, it's very possible that she would have ordered me after them if she'd had time, but I arrived shortly after the attack and set out after them immediately, so news of the murders would not have reached her until well after I was gone," she explained then took a deep breath. "I certainly wasn't authorized to cross into Gaen territory. My only defense for that is... I killed him, and I didn't get caught."

"Does bringing me back help or hurt your efforts?" Jeff asked quietly.

Shih looked into his eyes, and he could see she was still troubled by something. "I don't know." She bit her lip, and the sight of her white teeth on her plump lower lip sent a shock through his body, but he tried not to show it.

"You are a powerful Healer, and she will appreciate that," Shih reasoned, and her eyes quickly assessed him. "Please don't take offense if she comments on your appearance. You do look so different from us."

Jeff raised his hands, showing his palms in his least threatening gesture. "She's the Empress, and I'm nobody in this world. I wouldn't dream of having any expectations. I just don't want to cause you any trouble."

She watched him intensely for a moment, then they were called to climb aboard the wagon.

Shih held back so she could take her spot at the back.

Jeff saw she was facing back again, so he couldn't see her expression, but her body language wasn't relaxed.

He wondered what that meant for their meeting with the Empress. Maybe she'd be too busy to see them today?

-=-

The Grand Audience Hall was well named. Jeff felt like a flea as he knelt on the soft carpet with his face pressed to the plush surface. The room's vaulted ceilings, plus the eight rich and enormous tapestries hanging from the heights, each woven with a scene of the Empress' famous victories on her rise to power, made those on the floor feel even smaller. The Empress herself sat on a magnificent throne atop a dais, allowing her to gaze down upon her petitioners/supplicants/visitors.

Their escorting soldiers were on their way back to the mountain pass, so they avoided this face-to-the-ground posture.

In the brief glance Jeff had been allowed before Shih's hand on the back of his neck pushed him down onto his knees and face, he caught sight of the most powerful-looking woman he'd ever laid eyes on. As Shih was tall and powerfully muscled, Jeff likened her to a black panther. Sleek, powerful, and deadly.

The Empress was a full-on Siberian Tiger! Large muscles and long limbs, and of course, beauty!

She also had gold eyes like Shih's, but hers had an orange-gold tint, whereas Shih's were definitely yellow-gold.

She was stunning, but her expression was grim, and Jeff could tell she'd been crying by the bruises around her eyes.

Considering someone had killed her mates and children, Jeff understood the tears.

Shih was on one knee, a half step ahead of him, with her head tilted down in respect. Jeff tilted his head a little to the side to see Shih.

"Did you catch them?" Tarelka rasped from a throat damaged by her screams. Jeff's hands itched to heal her.

"Yes," Shih said.

There was a moment of silence.

"Are they dead?"

"Yes. I killed the seventeen mercenaries Barelius left the Sanctuary with on his run for Gaen. He sent them after me to keep me from catching him in our territory--"

"WHAT OF BARELIUS!" the Empress screamed from a hoarse throat.

Shih flinched, then lifted her head to face her Empress. "I followed him into Gaen territory, hunted him until he panicked and fled into the wastelands, where I fought him with blades in an ancient temple atop one of the ravaged mountains. He poisoned his blade edges, but I split his throat in two. He is dead."

There was silence, and Jeff began to worry again.

"How did you survive the poison?" the Empress said quietly, but there was doubt in her voice.

"I would have died from it, but the man at my feet is a Healer. A powerful one. He drew the poison from my wounds and healed them, leaving no scars. He even removed my old scars."

More doubt. "And he just happened to be in this ancient temple?"

Shih was frozen. Jeff could see her mouth moving, but she'd obviously not been doubted by her Empress before.

He knew he might be risking a beating or even the loss of his life, but he needed to help Shih.

Jeff sat up on his feet and faced the Empress, who locked her intense eyes on him. His impression of her as a tiger grew even stronger.

"Your Majesty, may I share what I saw on that mountaintop?" he asked in his boldest squeaky voice.

Her eyes glittered in the firelight from all the candles.

"Speak."

He nodded and saw that Shih was trembling. He took a deep breath and began.

"My first memory of being on this world is flying out of a bright white light and crashing into the back of a large man. I hit the floor and was dazed for a moment. When I sat up, I saw the white light was coming from an archway in the only intact wall of what looked like a temple. There was blood splashed everywhere from a vicious fight. The large man was lying on his back in a pool of blood, and his throat was cut almost in two. His eyes were open in a look of terror, but he was dead.

A tentacle or arm of white mist came from the center of the glowing doorway, and it dipped down to drink the blood pooling under the man. It really seemed to like blood. Then it dragged the man's corpse through the archway. The white light flashed and faded."

Jeff decided the part about his touching the arch and getting healing powers was no one's business. Not even the Empress'.

"The archway then collapsed. That's when I saw Shih. She was unconscious and badly injured with a deep stab in her torso and many smaller cuts over her body. When I moved my hand over one of her wounds, a green light began to glow from my hand, so I started to heal her. I'd never, ever done anything like that before. I'd begun training to be a doctor on the world I come from, but we didn't have magic there.

I realized I could sense something in the wound that wasn't supposed to be there, so I drew out the poison as I healed her wounds. When I finished the last one, I felt exhausted and passed out. The next time I woke up, Shih had me tied up to interrogate me. She told me she needed to get back to your territory without being seen. I offered her my healing powers if she brought me with her, as I didn't believe I'd survive without assistance. I'm not from this world."

He glanced between the women. "And here we are."

Seeing the look in Shih's eye, he immediately bowed his head until he was face-first on the carpet again.

He took a deep breath to relax and froze. There was a scent. He'd smelled it somewhere before.

The Empress sounded more relaxed now. "A Blood Sacrifice Temple in the wastelands. I've read about these in ancient scrolls. None should have survived the great calamity, but it sounds like one did. I've never heard of people being collected from other worlds, though."

Shih cleared her throat and lifted her face once more. "There is one more thing I must tell you about, regarding that event."

The Empress's eyebrow rose. "Speak."

"All my wounds had indeed been healed, and no poison remained in my body, but I'd lost too much of my life force. I was still dying." She took a deep breath. "A voice called out to me in my mind. It was vast and powerful, and I was worried it would destroy me with its vigor. It asked me if I wanted to live. I answered that I did."

Shih squirmed as the next part was harder to admit.

"Then the voice filled my senses once more. It asked if I accepted the binding." Shih shook her head. "I didn't know what that meant at the time, but in my desperation, I said yes."

She glanced down at Jeff, peeking at her from the carpet.

"The next thing I felt was energy flowing into my body... from him," she said, pointing at Jeff.

The man in question had turned his head sideways to see her clearly. His expression showed his surprise.

"What does this binding imply?" Tarelka asked Shih stiffly.

"There was a moment during our escape when I thought bringing Jeff with me was a mistake, and giving him a quick, painless death made more sense. I prepared to do it, but... I couldn't." She raised a hand to cover one of her eyes as pain went through her brain as she contemplated it.

"We parted ways during our journey, and he indicated he was releasing me from any promise to bring him along. I should have been free to come back on my own, but I could not leave him behind. I am bound to him," she stated with finality.

Shih moved lightning fast to deflect the dagger thrown at Jeff's head. She diverted it, but it plunged into the back of Jeff's hand instead, pinning him to the floor.

Jeff choked off a scream and turned his head to look at the Empress, who was standing at the edge of her dais, glaring down at him.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Jeff shouted in outrage, and Tarelka actually smiled in surprise at his boldness. Then she looked at Shih, who was watching her in surprise.

Jeff tried to pull the dagger out of his hand, but the blade had sunk too far into the wood floorboards. He didn't have the strength to do it.

Shih reached down, wiggled the knife loose from the wood, then yanked it out as Jeff yelped.

He fell back on his ass as he hissed at the pain he was in. He focused on his hand, and it glowed brightly with green light as the edges of the wound knit back together from the inside out.

He suddenly noticed the Empress was standing right next to him, watching intently as the injury healed.

"Why did you stab me?" Jeff blurted.

"Release my assassin from the binding," she insisted.

His jaw dropped open for a stunned moment. "I didn't bind her!"

"No, I think the Ancient God of that temple did," Shih admitted.

The Empress watched her closely, then nodded reluctantly. Then she locked eyes with Shih.

"You stopped me from killing him," she said evenly.

Shih nodded. "Yes."

Jeff clenched his teeth as he kept his hand in place. The green light was collecting something from inside the wound and suspended it above the surface of his skin.

"What is that?" the Empress said, pointing to a tiny drop of purplish liquid.

"Poison," Jeff said.

"WHAT?" Shih gasped.

"This carpet has poison in it in a very low concentration," he announced.

Jeff looked at her. "I don't think someone poisoned the carpet. It's such a small quantity that it must have gotten there in mist form, and it's not evenly distributed. The blade collected some and left it in my wound when you pulled it out of the floor."

When the scar disappeared, he flexed his hand and sighed happily, as the pain was gone, and there was no loss of movement or strength.

He focused on the droplet and saw the chemical chains that formed it. Then he saw where he could break it to neutralize it. He pushed that change into the droplet and let it fall away.

"You dropped it back on the carpet?" Shih snapped.

"I neutralized it first. That droplet was harmless," he insisted.

"Where is the poison coming from?" the Empress demanded.

He looked at her, thoroughly intimidated by her presence, and a little smile of satisfaction appeared on her face at his reaction. He glanced at Shih, but she had her eyes fixed on him too.

He closed his eyes and held his hands in the air as he let his magic expand beyond his fingertips. He was searching for the elements of the poison. "If it's a mist, it must be airborne."

He began to move, haltingly step by step, as he got closer to the side of the room. He bumped into a candle holder, and some molten wax spilled down and landed on the back of his hand.

"FUCK! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he yelped and shook his scalded appendage. Then he pushed through the pain and noticed the wax contained the suspect chemicals. This was the source.

He looked over to the smirking Empress. "It's the candles."

"What?" Tarelka said in surprise, as her smirk disappeared.

"Someone added poison to the candles. When they burn, they release the poison droplets into the air. Anyone who breathes in the air will get this poison in their lungs and then into their bloodstream. It would take some time to accumulate enough to reach toxic levels in the body, but you'd start with symptoms like loss of appetite, low-grade nausea, headaches, and irritability. If it reaches the brain, the symptoms get worse. Some internal organs will do their job of filtering it out, but it will just become concentrated in those locations until they fail catastrophically."

Shih wasn't happy. "Who put poison in the candles?"

The Empress scowled. "I'll have my people investigate this. In the meantime, follow me," she said firmly and marched out of the audience chamber.

They walked through several passages until they reached the Empress's private quarters.

The woman turned in the entrance and locked eyes with Jeff. "Locate all sources of poison if any exist."

He nodded and eased himself past her powerful body, overly aware that she could bend him into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. He swore she leaned just a little closer as he passed by.

He missed seeing Shih give her an annoyed glance.

The first thing he checked was the candles, of course, and he found they'd been spiked with the poison as well. He turned to look at the Empress.

"I don't know how long you've been exposed to this poison, as we don't know when it was added to the candles. How often are they replaced?"

She scowled. "Twice a week. On a fixed schedule."

Jeff nodded and continued through the luxurious suite. All the candles were tainted. He returned to the main sitting area and saw Shih and Tarelka had their heads together, speaking quietly.

He waited patiently for them to acknowledge his return.

Eventually, Tarelka turned her head to stare at Jeff. "Well?"

Jeff felt his mouth go dry as two sets of gold eyes pinned him in place. He rolled his neck to release the tension.

"All your candles are tainted, but I found no other sources. If you'd be willing, I could do a diagnostic check to see how much of the poison you've currently absorbed," he offered.

The Empress stood in one swift motion and marched over to get right up in his personal space. She had to be six inches taller than Shih with thicker muscles. Those terrifying eyes stared down at him through her cleavage, which was threatening to trap his face. He struggled to keep his eyes from wandering.

"Did you get the impression that you could just walk into my palace and perform the duties only my personal physician is authorized to do?"

His jaw dropped again as he felt himself shrinking in her presence.

"N-n-nah--No! Obviously not! I would definitely defer to your own physician. I gladly offer my skills to them if they don't currently have the ability to do this," Jeff stammered out.

There was a long moment of tension, then the Empress snorted and turned away quickly.

A firm breast slapped Jeff's cheek, and he stumbled back in a daze.

Shih scowled at the Empress and moved to Jeff's side as he did his best to clear his mind of the sensation... and memory.

"I will summon my physician, and we will confer with them," Tarelka insisted. She left the suite, leaving Shih and Jeff alone.

"How bad is this poison?" Shih immediately asked.

Jeff looked at the assassin and saw her concern. She truly was devoted to her Empress. "It's not good. It is similar to the poison I drew from you, but without muscle paralysis. My biggest concern is that she's been exposed to it in small quantities for an unknown amount of time. It might have done severe damage already." He looked toward the door she'd left through. "Not that I could tell, considering how strong she seems!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a smile come and go on Shih's face, but she pretended nothing had happened when he turned to face her.

Shih moved on. "If you discover the poison in her, what can you do?"

He thought about that.

"I guess it depends on where the poison is accumulating. If it's possible to move it to the digestive tract, she can have it leave her body with her wastes. If not, maybe I can neutralize the poison as I did that little droplet earlier. Again, depending on how much there is. My biggest concern is: has the poison reached her brain? That can alter her personality, rationality, and emotional control."

The door opened, and they fell quiet as they saw Tarelka walk back into the suite, an older woman in a white gown following her. She was only a few inches taller than Jeff, so that was a relief. Then he saw her expression, and his stomach tightened in knots. Distrust and suspicion were clearly visible on her face.

"This is my personal physician, Morna. She's been with me for decades," the Empress said.

Jeff bowed to the woman.

"What is he?" Morna asked the Empress.

"He's a man not from this world," Tarelka responded as she held his eyes.

"And he claims to be a Healer?" was the physician's follow-up question.

The Empress nodded.

Morna walked over to stand before Jeff. "Where did you train to be a physician?"

"Uh, I was attending the University of Toronto on my world, but I was injured and had to switch to a course in Chemical Engineering. Then I died, came to this world, and discovered I'd been given healing magic. I haven't been using it for long, but it already feels like it's becoming second nature. I did some surgeries on soldiers at the base for the Talosia/Gaen Mountain Access Authority with Healer Martex. We only lost one due to the extent of the man's injuries..." Jeff realized he was babbling and shut up.

The physician was watching him with annoyance. "You claim the Empress's carpet is poisoned--"

"No, it's the candles. The poison is atomized as the candles burn. The air currents carry this, and it can be breathed in... or it lands on the carpet or furniture," Jeff said, then pressed his lips together to stop his nervous talking.

Morna gestured to one of the candles, and Tarelka reached up and took one down for her.

The physician accepted it and held it in her left hand as she launched a green glow from her right. It looked like Jeff's, but it projected less than an inch beyond her skin. She had to put her right hand against the candle to have the magic sink into the wax.

Her doubt changed to incredulous surprise. "There are traces of poison in the wax!"

Locking eyes with Jeff, she handed him the candle and nodded at him to do his scan.

He held it near his right palm, and the green light quickly flowed out to completely envelop the thick candle. Jeff closed his eyes and concentrated hard to pull the poison from the wax. Droplets began to squeeze out, jump into the glow, and merge with the others to hover there. More and more of the droplets collected into a larger mass until the candle was free of the poison.

Jeff opened his eyes and took some deep breaths as the extraction hadn't been easy. "Is there a container I can put this into?"

Morna wasn't smiling.

Tarelka moved a small bowl under the liquid, and Jeff eased it down into the vessel, so it didn't splash.

"You say anyone in the room where these candles are burning might be inhaling the poison?" the Empress said, setting the bowl aside.

"Yes, but it would be a very slow way to poison someone," Jeff said. "But sneaky."

"Will you be replacing me with this... man not from this world?" Morna said stiffly to the Empress.

The leader looked at her physician with a raised brow. "That thought hadn't crossed my mind. Do you wish to be?"

The woman was off her game and looked at the Empress in confusion. "Why did you demonstrate his superior magic if not to show your disdain for my skills?"

Now, Tarelka was getting pissed. "I brought you here to validate his magic. He claims I may have ingested poison and wants to...." She turned her frown to Jeff.

"Run a diagnostic scan to see if the poison has accumulated anywhere in your body and has become a threat to your health," he said. He turned to Morna. "I defer to your superior knowledge of the patient and offer my abilities for this effort."

Morna now looked uncomfortable about questioning her employer. "My apologies for letting my bruised pride control my tongue."

Tarelka nodded. "Forgiven. Now, about the scan, should I allow him to do this?"

"Yes, his magic has incredible range and should be able to reach through a torso, even one as large as yours."

The Empress held the physician's eyes for a moment, then nodded. "How do we do this?"

Shih had a suggestion because of the significant height difference between Jeff and Tarelka. "Perhaps the easiest way would be for you to lie down on the cushioned floor and let Jeff start at your feet and move up your body to do the scan."

Tarelka saw the wisdom in that and walked into the sitting area where she had a comfortable carpet on the floor. They moved some furniture until they had an open space to work with. The Empress stretched out.

"Should I undress?" she asked.

"No!" Jeff blurted, then cleared his throat and tried again. "That won't be necessary." He glanced at Tarelka and saw she was smirking again. She was teasing. He took a long, deep breath to calm his nerves and glanced at the doctor. Her face wore a smirk as well.

Fun.

Glancing over to Shih, he saw she wasn't enjoying his discomfort and smiled. "Could you make note of any area I indicate has a build-up. We will have to return to these areas to determine how to clear them." She nodded.

As suggested, Jeff began at her feet. He took her sandals off as they touched the carpet, and they would necessarily have traces of the poison on them. He scanned her feet and continued up her legs. He widened his magic field and listened to it as it passed through her tissues and organs. Her uterus made him frown as there were multiple traces there.

"Uterus," he said aloud and heard a sharp intake of breath, but he forced that from his mind.

"Lower gastrointestinal tract, liver, and kidneys are heavily affected.

Lungs, breast tissue, and throat."

He pulled back and opened his eyes. Tarelka was watching him with a wary expression.

"Why did you stop?" she rasped.

"Let me fix this first," he said, and placed his hands next to her throat. He opened his magic again, closed his eyes, and let the healing light reduce the inflammation and soothe her irritated throat tissues. He switched back to the scanning magic and checked her arms. They were clear.

Bringing his hands back to her neck, he moved upwards and ran a very slow and thorough scan of her brain. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Empress was watching him very closely.

"Your brain is clean--no sign of the poison. I was concerned that I'd find some, but it's clear," he said as the tension drained from his body.

Shih smiled at him, and his brain took a little holiday.

Then he forced it back to work.

He started this time on the most affected organs, her liver and kidneys - the body's filters.

Jeff neutralized the poison and moved most of the offending chemicals on their way, taking care of her intestines as he went.

He cleared her uterus to prepare it for supporting new life. With the loss of her children, she might want to have some more.

Then he moved to her lungs. He started by neutralizing the poison, then began drawing it up. This triggered severe coughing, and Morna had a cloth ready to catch the sputum and other fluids she coughed up.

When that had settled down, he was almost done.

Breathing easier than she had in a while, Tarelka looked at Jeff curiously. "What's wrong?"

"There's still one area that needs to be cleared," he said as his face reddened.

The Empress looked at Shih, who was smiling, and pointed at her breasts.

"You may begin," Tarelka said with a pleasant smile as she relaxed back.

Jeff's face felt like it might ignite. "Ah, for this I, ah, you see... to remove the poison, it will need to be... expressed."

Tarelka finally caught on, and confusion flashed across her face.

"I'm not lactating!" she insisted.

Jeff looked everywhere but at the Empress, his neck flushing.

"I-I can... stimulate that--temporarily! To assist with the removal of the poison!" he said desperately.

"How! How do you know how to do these things!" Morna insisted.

Jeff gave her a helpless shrug. "It's just inside my head. It came with the power."

"This I must see," Morna mumbled incredulously as she sat cross-legged next to her patient.

Tarelka felt a little unnerved by this, but she wanted to be free of the poison. "Go ahead."

"They, ah, they should be, uh, exposed?" Jeff said through his tight throat.

The Empress was beginning to feel awkward, and she didn't like that feeling. She tore open her shirt, and her magnificent chest was exposed.

"Ooo!" Jeff involuntarily squealed, manfully.

He cleared his throat loudly to cover up his previous outburst and closed his eyes. That felt safe.

Activating his magic, he held his glowing hands out and put them just above her breasts. The green light sank into her flesh, and Tarelka gasped as she could feel a strange tingling spread throughout her chest. She hadn't felt that before when he scanned her body.

She quickly glanced at Shih, but her eyes were locked on the otherworld Healer.

The Empress bit her lip as the tingling was growing stronger, and her breast began to feel hot--heavy and hot.

Jeff felt he'd prepared her for the next step, so he opened his eyes and faced Morna. "You'll need a towel to collect the poison as I express it."

Morna scrambled away and soon returned with a large towel. "Ready!" she said.

Jeff closed his eyes again and did his best to ignore the plaintive coo noises Tarelka was starting to make involuntarily.

He was stiff as iron in his pants, but he did his best to hide this.

He popped his eyes open as he realized he needed to ask permission for the next step. Death might occur otherwise--his death.

"I-I'm gonna--I will need to touch you physically for the next step!" he asserted.

Tarelka nodded, then saw his eyes were locked on hers as he waited.

"Yes! Yes, do what you need to do!" she snapped. She hated the weakness she heard in her voice, and her eyes flared angrily at him, but he'd already closed his.

Then his hands landed on her breasts, and she sucked in a surprised gasp. It felt...far better than she'd expected from such a small man. His brows were drawn down in concentration, but his hands were squeezing and tugging in pulses, and she could feel her heavy breasts reacting to these motions. A sensation of imminent release began as her nipples stiffened.

His grip on her breasts shifted, and the pulsing began again, closer to her nipples now. She bit down on her lip to prevent her moans from escaping, but a strangled mew slipped out.

Once more, she fought back the urge to roar defiantly at the sounds he was pulling from her.

His hands shifted again, and he began squeezing her thick nipples. She couldn't block her moans now.

The touch of the towel to her nipples brought her back from the bliss, and she opened her eyes to see Morna diligently pressing the towel to her to absorb what Jeff was expressing.

Speaking of the man, his hands moved to cup her right breast, from the top and bottom this time, before he began the pulsing squeezes. Working on a single breast meant all his strength went into that one, resulting in heightened sensation. She struggled not to squirm under his surprisingly strong hands.

When he reached the nipple, Morna was a little slow with the towel, and Jeff took the spray against his cheek. Luckily, his eyes were already closed. Morna hastened to wipe them both dry.

Then Jeff moved to her left breast and repeated his motions.

Morna was better prepared this time, and Jeff was only slightly sprayed in the face.

His hands moved back to their original positions on the outsides of both breasts, and he seemed to be scanning as he squeezed and tugged.

The final tugs and squeezes on her nipples sent surges of electricity through her body. The roughness of the towel on her sensitive nubs heightened her excitement, and she squeezed her thighs together.

Then Jeff released her and sat back on his feet with a relieved smile.

"You're clear."

Tarelka was trembling with need, and her eyes dropped to see that Jeff was tenting his pants. He was not her type of mate at all, but she needed relief now.

"Shih, Morna, leave us."

Morna immediately rose to her feet and headed for the door.

The assassin looked at her and went still, likely concerned about the man she was bound to.

Tarelka gritted her teeth to keep from snarling, and Shih immediately bowed her head and rushed to follow Morna.

"Have... have I hurt or offended you in some way?" Jeff's tight throat squeaked with his worry.

"No. I require a release from the tension you've created in my body. Remove your pants."

A light seemed to come to his eyes, and he glanced over his shoulder to where Shih had left.

"I am not taking you from her. I just need a release. Don't make me wait any longer!" she insisted.

Jeff stripped his pants and underwear off in record time, and his cock slapped up against his belly. He was still very stiff.

"Lie back!" she asserted, and he did so quickly as he noticed she'd stripped off the kilt she'd been wearing. No lacey underwear for her.

He looked up at her in trepidation as she was so much larger than he was, and she was staring at his dick like she was starving.

"You are not disappointingly sized," she purred.

He decided to take that as a compliment, then gasped as she settled her body over his and slid her wet pussy along his length.

She threw her head back, then adjusted her angle and drove herself down on him, taking him down to the base in one thrust.

Jeff gasped as she felt so good!

He noticed her expression showed she was enjoying it as well.

Then she began to bounce on his hips with rougher and faster thrusts. She wasn't trying for finesse. She was almost frantic in her need.

For him, her roughness was delaying his release. He wasn't losing his erection, but each slam reset his trigger.

Fearing she might shatter his pelvis, Jeff reached up and seized her breasts in his hands once more to squeeze them and gave her nipples a firm tug.

"YYYYYEEEEESSSSSS!!!!" Tarelka cried out in bliss as she ground her pelvis against his. She'd reached her limit, and he changed his grip to a caress.

She threw back her head as the sensation changed. Waves of bliss gently washed through her, and she collapsed forward until he was pinned under her body, his hands cupping her breasts, his face in her cleavage.

Tarelka finally got her wits about her and sat up. She looked at his flustered expression and stifled a chuckle as he reminded her of a small, woodland creature.

That's when she realized he was still hard.

He hadn't come?

His erection was beginning to inspire a desire in her for a second round, so she abruptly moved to pull him from her.

His cock slapped wetly against his stomach again, and she stared at it. How was he still so hard?

Why hadn't he come?

Was it her?

That threatened to send her mind spiraling, so she quickly stood and got dressed.

Jeff found a clean corner of the towel Morna had used, dried himself off, then pulled his clothes back on.

Then he faced the Empress. "You are free of the poison. The candles in the audience hall and your personal suite need to be destroyed. Before you return to them, both places need to be washed thoroughly to remove any residual poison that may have settled on them. The throne, any cushions, the carpet, and the beautiful tapestries all need to be washed to purify them. Any chamber you spend extended periods of time in should be inspected and cleaned if poison is found."

"Thank you," she said, seeming calm once again. She walked to the door and gestured for him to follow.

When she opened her door, Shih was standing across the hall, leaning against the wall, watching intently.

Morna was speaking to someone wearing a fancy military uniform. Jeff thought of Commander Jeedru, except this male seemed older and had an air of competence, like a real soldier.

Tarelka turned and joined them as Jeff made his way over to stand next to Shih.

They were silent for a moment, then Shih looked into his eyes.

"That wasn't my idea," he said quietly.

A perfect brow rose slowly. "I was there. I know."

Jeff nodded and glanced toward the tense conversation going on a short distance away.

"I didn't."

She looked at him with a little frown. "You didn't what?"

He sighed out a slow breath. "Finish."

Now both of Shih's eyebrows were engaged. "Did she--"

"She finished. Happily. I... couldn't."

"Why are you telling me this?" she hissed quietly.

His eyes looked up into hers, searching for something. Then, after a moment, he looked lost. He turned his face away and shook his head gently.

"I don't know. Never mind."

He wasn't sure what to do with his emotions as he'd never been in a situation like this.

When had he ever been in a situation like this?

-=-

Shih struggled to contain her rage.

Jeff said such stupid things!

Shih could and would not deny her Empress anything. What significance could his inability to find pleasure from the Empress have for her?

Yet, the warmth that thought gave her was confusing and infuriating.

She didn't understand these new emotions.

Shih pushed them aside and tried to ignore the warmth.

Chapter 8

It took two weeks to clear the palace of all the residual poison and the candles. In the interim, they found alternative accommodation.

On the night of the discovery, the official candlemakers for the palace were found dead in their shop. Both had ingested the same poison.

The case would be considered closed except that both showed signs of putting up a fight with whoever forced the poison on them. The man's wrists were broken, the wife's fingers as well, and both had marks on their throats showing they'd been restrained.

The path went cold. Suspicions pointed to a Gaen plot, but there was no proof.

Shih spent a lot of time with the Empress, and she assured Jeff that he'd passed the ruler's assessment. They never spoke of the Empress's personal use of him that first day.

While he preferred his own clothes, they needed a good cleaning and couldn't be worn every day, so Shih had arranged for him to receive several Talosian outfits tailored to his dimensions. Shih approved of his new look and insisted he wear Talosian clothes when meeting others, though he wore his own shoes.

With his features, pale skin, and stature, he argued that the outfits wouldn't disguise him as a Talosian, but Shih just shrugged at this and admired his new look with a small smile.

When Shih was busy elsewhere and he wasn't protectively confined to the room they shared, Morna escorted him to the palace's infirmary, where he helped her care for the injured and spoke with the nurses and patients, learning their stories.

He admitted to himself that the people seemed more comfortable with him when he wore Talosian clothes. But maybe those smiles indicated their amusement at his attempt to blend in. They were all so lovely, and he remained a dandelion amongst the orchids.

Morna also took him into the city to visit other Healer clinics. Jeff learned a great deal about Talosian society and made a few small comparisons to what he'd seen of the people of Gaen.

The Talosians generally had a better quality of life. That didn't mean there weren't people in power who abused their good fortune by making others suffer needlessly--case in point, Commander Jeedru.

He'd learned from Shih that the commander had discovered he didn't need quite so many fancy uniforms in his new post, which had him personally guarding some empty warehouses. The soldiers he no longer neglected now had better gear.

This was one of the more positive outcomes he'd seen. Speaking with the people in the city and the travelers who stopped by the clinics he visited, he learned of other less fortunate circumstances.

One area in which the Talosians fell short was empathy for the physically challenged. Whether it be due to an accident or a birth defect, citizens with physical challenges received no support from their society and were considered a burden. It made him think of the story of Spartan children being thrown into a pit for showing weakness. He didn't think it was that severe, but he hadn't been allowed to dig too deep.

Jeff witnessed some disabled people doing their best to remain out of sight in the city's back streets. His heart went out to them, but he wasn't allowed to leave his escort to seek them out.

He kept track of these stories and hadn't shared them with anyone, as no one had asked for his opinion on how things should be done. He was the new guy on the block, after all. Just a visitor in their society and trying to see where he fit in.

As for their leaders, Empress Tarelka was generally well-liked.

King Rionne in Gaen, on the other hand, was a tyrant with no respect for his people. They were all just resources to be used to ensure his power remained absolute. He used fear and death squads to keep his people in line.

He wasn't some supervillain with the benefits of superior intellect and unimaginable powers. He was just a corrupt politician who managed to fool his people into giving him too much authority over their lives. Playing on their fears, he solidified his position as their protector.

Greedy and sociopathic officers in his military found themselves in key positions, playing the game with him for their share of the riches.

The wealthy citizens in the capital danced to Rionne's tune to stay in favor.

He was one of them, after all.

It wasn't much of a leap to believe Rionne was the one who ordered the toxic wells to neutralize the closest threat to his power, the people of his nation.

Jeff saw no value in the king remaining in control of Gaen, but rooting out all that evil would require tremendous effort and leave quite a few bodies.

Unless they were removed with a surgical strike from someone like an assassin.

Jeff sighed, as that option would remove the tumor but wouldn't save the patient. They needed long-term support from a governing party that considered their needs. Local and comprehensive care for all levels of society. Their upper class would be more than willing to replace Rionne with one of their own to keep the status quo. The poorest would be agitating to strip Rionne's peers of everything they have as punishment for supporting the tyrant.

Putting his head in his hands, Jeff pushed those thoughts from his head since they led to bloodshed, and he wanted no part of that.

He recalled the offer the archway in the Blood Temple had presented to him. Any of those glowing symbols would have granted him the power to destroy Gaen single-handedly, but his calling pulled him in the opposite direction. He was so grateful to have received Healing magic. It may not have given him a way to address Gaen's biggest issues directly, but he was satisfied with helping in small ways, such as identifying the toxin in their water supply.

He didn't want more responsibility than that.

Jeff sat at the window of Shih's room in the palace, staring at the rooftops of the city beyond the palace walls, wondering what other people were filling their days with.

He heard a knock on the door and roused himself from his thoughts to walk across the room to open the door.

The impact of the blade didn't hurt at first, but the power of the strike surprised him and knocked him back.

Somehow, he remained on his feet and watched as his assailant followed him into the room to finish the job.

When she looked up, she froze in shock. Was he not who she was expecting to see? Maybe she thought Shih would be answering the door?

Her hand was still on the handle of the dagger, so he touched it.

She yanked her hand back, tugging her blade from his gut, and that's when he felt the pain. Gasping, he dropped to his knees as he reached for his magic. The space around him flashed with intense green light, and he held still as his deep wound tingled madly like electricity was crawling over his tissues.

He glanced down, and he could see what looked like a splash of blood attempting to spray from the wound, but the green light trapped it. The blood oozed back into his body.

He felt the sick sensation of something in him that wasn't supposed to be there, so he pushed. The poison she'd coated her blade with rose from the depth of the injury to pass through the tear in his shirt and hover before him.

That's when he noticed the assassin was standing in the doorway, staring back at him in shock. When he felt the stab wound close up, he got back to his feet and walked toward her.

Eyes wide with terror, she spun and fled away, down the hall.

Jeff tried to call out a warning that an assassin was in the palace, but he had no energy and slumped against the door jamb, sliding to the floor instead. The adrenaline rush had passed.

His head was spinning, so he lost track of time.

His next awareness was of Shih kneeling beside him, speaking quickly. Her voice finally penetrated his daze.

"...happened to you?"

"Assassin stabbed me," he managed to say, then blocked her hands from tearing his shirt off.

"It's healed. Oh! Be careful of the wet spot on the floor. It's poison." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Where is the blood?" she asked.

"Ah... my magic kept it inside my body," he admitted.

Shih stared at him. "What?"

Jeff didn't have the energy to explain, so he just shook his head wearily.

"What did they look like?" Shih asked through clenched teeth as she guided him inside the room and closed the door.

"Young. A woman. She stabbed me really hard, so she must be fit. She was wearing a dark blue gown and seemed to be crouching, so I can't tell you her body shape or height." He paused to replay the moment in his mind. "She seemed so surprised to see me. I... I think you were the target."

"I would never have been caught at the door--"

"She surged inside so fast! She wasn't stopping until someone was dead. Maybe she was a suicide killer? When she saw it was me, she froze. Then I stood up and walked toward her. It looked like her eyes would pop out of her head, and she fled like the wind!" he said.

Shih frowned, then spun and left her room. He heard the lock close and realized he'd been locked in her room, as a key was needed to unlock it.

Shit.

-=-

The young woman's trembling wouldn't stop as the drugs she'd taken prior to attempting to kill the Empress's pet assassin still coursed through her veins. They made her faster and tougher than any training would have achieved, but their aftereffects made you wish for death.

She'd expected to die in her attempt, and a thrill shot through her when her stab actually struck a target that should have been Shih!

Instead, she was staring at a man, a small, pale one with strange ears!

When green light suddenly surrounded him, she thought the drugs were destroying her vision. He healed before her eyes, and the poison was rejected!

She knew she needed to get information about this back to her handler. He'd pass it up the command chain to reach the king's ear.

She slipped through the back alleys until she reached the emergency debrief point. A hidden door led her inside a large warehouse. At the back corner of the vast space, some walls and a door had been built to create an office. Inside were two more doors mounted side by side. The right-hand door had a sign that simply read "Enter," so she did. A bench was built into the wall opposite the door, and an opaque screen prevented her from seeing who was in the adjoining little room.

She couldn't see her handler, but she knew he was there. He'd been the one to signal her that the target was in her room so the attempt could proceed.

He'd been wrong.

"Report," he said stiffly. He understood something had gone wrong.

"It wasn't her."

There was silence for a moment. "Who did you kill?"

"It was a Healer. A small male with pale skin and round ears. I drove my blade deep into his body. He fell. Then he healed himself and rejected the poison. He stood back up! He'd fully healed a fatal stab wound!"

Another moment of silence. "Why didn't you try again?"

It was her turn to be silent as she was incredulous. She finally found her voice. "His body was surrounded by a green glow! Not a faint tint! He glowed! His Healing magic is more powerful than any magic I've ever seen! If he works with the assassin, it's no wonder she seems unkillable!"

She listened for her handler's advice as the drugs continued to make her heart race and her lungs ache. She hoped for relief.

Spring-loaded spears thrust through hidden openings in the walls, impaling her on their sharp points.

Agony, surprise, then disappointment flashed across her face as she realized her ultimate reward for dedicating her life to the king's security forces was betrayal.

This was not the reward she'd expected.

-=-

The handler stared at the body of his disposable assassin and muttered angrily to himself as he pulled the release to drop the false floor. She fell into the underground stream, which would carry her body away. He splashed buckets of water into the small booth, washing the remaining blood into the river as well. No trace was left.

After he reset the trap, he left the warehouse through a second hidden exit and quickly wound his way through the streets to return to his home.

Sealing himself away in his office, he wrote a quick report on what had transpired and sealed it in a message capsule. He went up to his roof and tied the capsule to the leg of one of his courier beetles. He'd release it after sunset, and the message would reach Gaen-Rallas within thirty-six hours.

Then he'd wait for instructions on how to proceed.

The dead girl was right about one thing. The king would want to know about the Healer.

-=-

King Rionne enjoyed his breakfast after his taster left the chamber under his own power.

With how proficient his people were becoming with the art of poisoning, he was taking no chances of falling into his own traps. His practitioners knew that any sign of their tampering with his meals meant their entire family would die on spikes outside his castle's walls.

Greed kept them close, but fear kept them in line.

He was in a foul mood as there'd been no sign of Barelius. He knew the mercenary leader had been successful in his attack on the Empress's concubines and children, as his spies had reported her mourning their deaths.

If Barelius hadn't returned by now, he was dead. That could only mean the Empress' pet assassin had managed to kill him.

A shiver of fear ran down his spine as he contemplated the nature of that threat.

She was Death itself.

Unstoppable. Inevitable.

He pushed his plate away as he suddenly lost his appetite.

There was a knock on the chamber door.

"Come!"

The door opened, and one of his communications officers stepped in and bowed deeply.

"What is it?" Rionne snapped, and the man flinched.

"A-a message from a spymaster in Shahreet! It just arrived by courier beetle," the man said.

"Give it!" Rionne demanded, and the officer rushed forward and placed it in his hand before bowing and returning to the door backward as quickly as he could. One never turned one's back on the king!

When he was alone again, Rionne broke the seal and unrolled the scroll. He scanned the note, stopped, and read it again, slowly this time to ensure he understood the message.

A Healer, stronger than any that had ever been. Potentially working with the assassin. That would explain her seemingly miraculous ability to survive for so long.

Rionne wanted that Healer. How fantastic it would be to know you could survive any injury or poisoning! He would always keep the Healer by his side!

He pushed away from the table. He needed to speak to his local spymaster to see if they had a team in place in Shahreet to steal this treasure from his enemy. The Bitch Empress had yet to make a move to retaliate for the deaths of her family, so his concerns about her mounting an attack on his nation seemed unwarranted.

Rionne grinned to himself in anticipation.

He loved the presents he got for himself, and this one promised to be his best one yet!

Chapter 9

Jeff was becoming increasingly irritated with Shih and her insistence on protecting him.

She'd added cushions as a bed for him in the corner of her living space.

He was no longer allowed to leave the room to visit Morna or work in the infirmary.

He was escorted to a nearby bathroom by Shih or the palace guards who stood outside their door.

Finally, meals were delivered to the room.

He spent his days sitting by the window, watching the world go by.

He was a glorified house cat.

He frowned at the comparison as he knew a cat would have found a way to escape long ago.

He'd endured this for a week, and he knew he wasn't going to stand for this any longer.

When his lunch was delivered, he answered the door and noted the young woman carrying the tray was only a little taller than he was. She was also wearing a hooded cloak of a kitchen servant.

Jeff had an idea.

One so crazy, it just might work!

He held the door for her as he stepped back and closed it once she was inside. Following her to the small table, he watched her place the tray on it.

"Excuse me? Might I see your hands?" he said as she turned to face him.

She lifted her hands for him to see. Kitchen staff dealt with dangers that those in charge of laundry did not. Sure enough, the girl's hands were scarred from working with knives. In fact, she was missing the end of her left ring finger below the last joint.

"Let me heal this for you," he said and launched his magic into her hands.

She watched as the scars smoothed away, and then her jaw dropped as the stunted finger sprouted new growth and the last knuckle reformed.

Now Jeff had to do something he wasn't proud of. He flooded her mind with endorphins, and her eyes rolled up as she sighed happily. He eased her down onto his pillow bed and quickly removed her hooded cloak.

As she dozed in bliss, he pulled the cloak over himself and got the hood up to hide his face. He slipped out of the room and walked away purposefully, ensuring the guards didn't get a look inside the hood.

He walked toward the kitchen, then slipped out a side door after he collected a basket. No one would question a kitchen staff member walking with a basket, as they were obviously off to market.

He walked through the front gate of the palace and let his feet carry him toward one of the smaller medical clinics on the far edge of the city. He'd been shown it in passing, but they'd never gone inside.

He enjoyed the sights and sounds of the capital city. The people moved energetically as they were all so busy. He emulated that body language, and no one looked at him.

Eventually, he ducked into the clinic and found its waiting room full. They were weary, some were in obvious pain, and he picked up a sense of dread.

He knew that the disabled struggled the hardest in this society, so perhaps they were worried their current state might lead to them becoming one of these poor souls.

Examining the garb and cleanliness of the people in the waiting room, he picked up that they may be the lowest members of society, above the disabled and abandoned. His heart ached.

A weary doctor stepped through a doorway and glanced around.

Jeff made a beeline to stand before him.

The doctor frowned at him. "No jumping the queue!" he snapped.

"I'm not. I'm here to help. I'm a Healer," he said with a hopeful smile.

The man looked at Jeff in surprise. "A Healer?" He blinked in confusion, then recognition flashed across his face. "I've heard about you! You're the one working with Morna in the palace!"

"That's right! Now, you have a waiting room full of patients. I'm here to help you with them," Jeff said in relief. His skin was crawling with his need to help these people.

"Go through, and I will bring the next two inside," the Healer said eagerly.

Jeff entered the back room, and two nurses looked up, staring at him in confusion. He pulled off his disguise, and their eyes widened further.

The doctor entered the room and smiled as he saw Jeff waiting for him. He wasn't an exhaustion-induced hallucination.

Two patients stepped in behind him, and he gestured for them to move to an open examination table.

Jeff rolled up his sleeves and smiled at the older female who'd moved to the table next to him.

"Now, what's troubling you?" he asked kindly and got a shy smile.

-=-

The afternoon was a blur as patient after patient was brought into the exam room for treatment.

Jeff loved every minute of it!

Doctor Natoon was smiling in relief when he returned from the waiting room to announce they'd cleared up all the waiting patients.

He leaned against the exam table and stared at Jeff. "I've never seen someone deal with so many patients in one day, much less an afternoon.

Jeff gave him a tired smile. He wasn't exhausted, but he'd pushed himself today. After a week of nothing, he'd had energy to spare. The people he'd seen were the general laborers, kitchen staff, and sundry field workers. This was the closest clinic to the edge of town and the only one that didn't charge a fee. It was subsidized by the Empress. He was rather pleased to discover this fact.

"HELP! Help us!"

The doctor and Jeff looked at each other, then rushed out into the waiting room. Three men were carrying a fourth, who was a bloody mess.

"What happened?" Natoon asked as he rushed forward to examine the injured man's arm, which seemed to be barely hanging on by a few tendons. One of the men carrying him had his thumb pressed tight against the torn flesh. Jeff immediately understood he was pinching closed a torn artery, keeping his friend from bleeding out. Smart man!

"Larg fell into the machinery at the mill!" one of the carriers exclaimed.

"Let's get him onto the examination table!" the doctor said to the men.

"No! He's lost too much blood. We operate here to save his arm!" Jeff insisted as he moved closer to examine the terrible injury. It began just above the elbow and must have happened with blunt force, as there was more tearing than cutting involved.

The doctor looked at Jeff like he was mad. "There's almost nothing left of the bone at the impact site! That's where the amputation must be!"

Jeff locked eyes with the man. "No!"

His mind was automatically appraising the damage and making a plan of action for the steps needed to keep him alive, restore blood flow, and then rebuild the shattered bone mass. "We--I can save it."

The first step was to reconnect the main artery. Green light flowed from his hands to encase the man's arm from shoulder to fingertips. Jeff glanced at the man pinching the artery closed.

"It's okay. Thank you! You can let go now," he said, and the wide-eyed man released his death grip and immediately winced at the pain in his cramping thumb.

Jeff guided the ends of the artery toward each other, restoring blood flow across the gap. Almost immediately, the man's fingers regained a pinkish hue.

Then Jeff realized the ends of the artery wouldn't meet. A chunk had been torn away.

"Shit," he cursed softly to himself and focused harder on the damaged cells, shedding them and growing new ones that stretched across the gap and finally met. The ends of the blood vessel reconnected, forming a single contiguous artery. He had to repeat this with all the smaller vessels in that area until the flesh below the elbow was resupplied with oxygenated blood, and the return flow carried it back into his torso to be refreshed.

The nerves were next, so Jeff placed his palm on the man's forehead and triggered an endorphin cascade to keep him in happy land while the ripped nerves were reconnected. Jeff hoped he got all of them, or the man would have some loss of sensation.

The bones involved a larger effort to rebuild. Finding all the shards and putting that puzzle back together took time, and Jeff was quickly running out of energy.

Watching the inner workings of the man's arm slip and slide into place as muscle tissue regrew was fascinating. Every eye from the mill workers, the doctor, and the nurses was locked on the action as they crowded close. They were witnessing something unprecedented.

The final stage was growing the missing skin patch over his arm. That's when Jeff noticed the tattoo.

There would be a gap.

Jeff sagged back when the skin sealed over the wound and the green light vanished.

He felt thoroughly exhausted and was barely able to keep his eyes open. He saw the injured man blink his eyes open, then they slowly glanced down at his arm... which was still there. His eyes widened in surprise. Then he gasped as he tried to move it.

"Get him a sling. He won't be able to use his arm without pain for at least two weeks. He got to keep the arm, but it needs time to recover," Jeff insisted weakly.

He looked at the doctor and gestured for him to get closer as it was getting harder to speak. "Please send a runner to the palace to let them know I'm here and need help to get back."

Doctor Natoon blinked at him in surprise as Jeff slumped to the floor.

-=-

Shih was in a rage and struggled to keep herself from murdering the two men who'd been standing guard on Jeff's room.

She'd been in strategy meetings with the Empress all day and only returned after dinner hour to discover the palace's residence wing was in a complete uproar.

Then she learned why.

"Explain to me in simple terms how you lost the man you were guarding," Shih asked the two guards with exquisite control over her desire to slice them into little pieces.

One was braver than the other and spoke for them both. "We were tasked to protect him from external threats. We were not informed that he might attempt to sneak out of the room on his own! Why would he do that?"

Shih ground her teeth as his answer was fair and gave her no room to vent her anger on them. She turned her eyes toward the kitchen worker whose cloak was used as a disguise.

"How did Jeff overpower you to steal your cloak?" she snapped.

The girl jumped at the sudden focus on her.

"He didn't! I mean, he wasn't violent or cruel! He healed me!" the girl insisted and thrust her hands toward her interrogator.

Shih frowned as she looked at the girl's hands, wondering what she was supposed to see. Then she realized the kitchen helper had lovely hands. Smooth, pristine skin that looked like it had never seen a day of hard work in her life. She glanced at the euphoric smile on the girl's face.

"He gave me the tip of this finger back! It grew back with his magic!" she said as tears ran down her cheeks.

While Shih was impressed by this example of Jeff's mastery of his magic, it didn't explain how he got her cloak. Shih's frown deepened. "So, out of gratitude, you assisted his escape?"

The smile immediately disappeared from the girl's face. "No! After he did this, he held my hands, and I felt a wonderful wave of bliss washing over me. When I woke up on the cushions, he was gone with my cloak." Her face suddenly showed her confusion. "I didn't know he was being detained in the room. I thought he was just being protected." The two guards nodded in agreement, hearing her words.

Shih's rage flared at hearing Jeff's words on their lips, but she couldn't let that show.

Jeff didn't know how this world worked. He was too soft. He'd complained that she was being too restrictive, but she knew he wouldn't survive without her protection.

Now she was being proven correct. She had to find him!

There was a firm knock on her door. "Enter!" she snapped.

The door opened, and a nervous palace messenger was standing there. "The Empress wants you to return to her chambers." Message delivered, he turned and fled.

Shih ground her teeth as she didn't have time for this.

She glared at the two guards. "Find him!"

-=-

Kester looked at his gathered team with a critical eye. Their uniforms would pass for palace guards at a casual glance, but they lacked the quality of the real thing. Still, it should allow them to pass through the palace's outer gate. The men themselves were mostly thugs, but they'd follow his orders.

His job as King Rionne's spymaster in enemy territory was being put in serious jeopardy with this latest mission.

Normally, he stayed in the shadows and sent his trained agents into danger to gather information or, on his last mission, to kill.

King Rionne's new order had come through from the Gaen-Rallas Spymaster earlier that day. Kester was to infiltrate the palace and collect the Empress's new toy, the Healer of reportedly phenomenal strength. He was to accompany the team to ensure the mission's success.

Kester never worked on the front lines, but he couldn't refuse the king's order.

It was time.

He gestured for the others to follow. They weren't to speak, as that would enhance the illusion that they were official guards.

Making their way through the dark alleys at the edge of town, Kester kept his ears open for clues to the presence of real guards.

"I can't believe he still has that arm!" a drunken voice called out happily.

"It was crushed! Smashed!" another voice called out, then laughed.

"He's jes' fuckin' lucky that Healer wuz so fuckin' good!" a third slurred voice insisted.

Kester raised a hand to stop his group. It couldn't be, but if it was...

He diverted their course to pass by the small alley pub to stop before a group of four men relaxing at its sole table. One had his arm in a sling, snoring peacefully as he leaned back against the wall. There was no mug before him, so he probably wasn't drunk.

Kester faked a smile as he addressed the group. "You've met the Master Healer?"

Three faces looked up blearily at him, and grins spread across them.

One spoke for the others. "You guys must be the escort the doctor sent for. You get lost? The clinic is two alleys to the west."

The men burst into laughter as Kester immediately turned and led his team back the way they had come.

Wasn't the prize in the palace? If not, this would increase their chances of survival one hundredfold and save his spymaster role in Shahreet!

He knew where the clinic was, but he couldn't understand why the man would be in the city's poorest neighborhood when he was supposed to be in the palace. The wealthiest citizens stayed out of the poor areas.

The group approached the clinic and saw the closed sign on the door. He marched right up to it and knocked firmly.

Moments later, a small sliding plate on the door slid back to show suspicious eyes staring back at him.

Using the clue the drunks had given him, Kester spoke. "Palace escort."

The suspicion immediately disappeared. "Oh! Yes!"

The plate shut, and the door unlocked and opened. The doctor gestured for them to enter quickly.

Kester took a quick look around and saw two nurses kneeling next to a small man lying on his back on a dingy sheet.

"Is he hurt?" Kester asked as he stiffened. He was to deliver the Healer unharmed. The king would be... displeased if Kester arrived with damaged goods.

The doctor was very solicitous. "No, he's just exhausted. He spent the afternoon healing so many patients and ended the day with a miraculous restoration of an almost completely amputated arm. It was thrilling to watch. He'll likely sleep until dawn."

Relieved, Kester gestured for his men to take positions on either side of the sheet. They gripped the fabric and, on his command, lifted the small man between them.

"Thank you," Kester said to the doctor, nodding to the nurses.

"Please thank him for us when he awakens. It was truly an honor to work with him," the doctor said, so Kester gave him a nod.

They carefully carried him through the door, and he led his team away from the brighter lights at the end of the alley. Once they were out of sight of the clinic, Kester had the team double-time back to their headquarters, where they stripped off the fake uniforms and put the Healer in the back of their wagon, inside the wooden hideaway box under the driver's bench. He'd tied and gagged the unconscious man just in case. It wouldn't do to have him make noise as they left through the city gate.

Dressed for travel, they got moving. The gate they passed through was little used, as it led only to the cultivation fields, where some of the workers lived in shacks. This was their disguise, and it worked this time as well. When they were a sufficient distance from the gate, they veered off the path to follow an overgrown route across the fields to the main road, where they picked up their pace in a mad dash to the mountain passes ahead. That was their next challenge.

They had a team on the mountain waiting for their arrival. They'd saved time by not having to sneak through the palace searching for the Healer, but he knew they'd be looking for him soon.

-=-

Shih paced in frustration in the Empress's antechamber. She needed to get out there and search for Jeff.

The inner door finally opened, and a being completely enshrouded in cloth left the inner sanctum and moved past without turning their head. Obviously, one of the Empress's spymasters.

Shih wasted no further time and stepped into the Empress's room.

The tall blonde locked eyes with her assassin. "I've received disturbing news. King Rionne is aware of your pet Healer and wants him. They are going to make an attempt to kidnap him. You'll need to put extra guards on hi­--What is it?" She stopped when she saw Shih's teeth in a fierce snarl.

"Jeff snuck out of his room today! He's been missing since the lunch hour," Shih said through a tight throat.

There was a knock on the door, and Shih spun to yank it open. In the antechamber were the two guards who'd been tasked with protecting him... from external threats.

"WHAT?" she snapped, and their expressions closed up.

The brave one spoke again. "A runner arrived at the palace to inform us that the Healer is at the public clinic on the west side of Shahreet. He overused his magic and passed out. He needs an escort back to the palace."

Shih glanced at the Empress, who gave her a quick nod.

"With me," Shih said to the two guards as she rushed out of the Empress's suite.

The two guards had some difficulty keeping up with the assassin, but they arrived at the clinic door as she pounded on it. They looked up but saw no light through the windows.

Shih pounded on it once more, and a light moved closer to the shuttered window above the door.

"The clinic is closed. Come back tomorrow!" a voice called out.

"By order of the Empress, open your door and hand over the Healer!" Shih snapped.

There was a pause, then the shutters unlatched and pushed open. An older man stood there in his nightgown, holding a candleholder. He looked down at them in confusion. "I'm Doctor Natoon. Are you looking for me?"

"No, the Healer from the palace, Jeff."

"Has something happened to Jeff on his way back to the palace?" the doctor asked in dismay.

Shih frowned at him. "What do you mean on the way back? We've only just arrived based on your runner's claim that he's here!"

"But the palace guards already picked him up!" the doctor said.

"What did they look like?" Shih asked as ice shot through her gut.

"They were dressed like those two. Seven big fellas and one polite one."

The guards saw a stricken look on Shih's face. She immediately turned and rushed back up the alley toward the main road as they hustled to catch up.

"What's happened?" one called out.

"He's been kidnapped by Gaen spies. They'll be taking him to King Rionne," she called back to them.

If she grabbed a fast mount, she might be able to catch up to them before they got to the mountain pass.

As she burst out into the wider lane, a hand shot out from the shadows and clipped the side of her neck. Her legs gave out from under her as the nerve pulse robbed her of her control over her muscles. She felt herself falling into... someone's arms. Someone powerful and fast.

Her eyes rolled back, and the last thing she saw was her Empress's eyes watching her with concern.

Then nothing.

The guards rushed after her, but slammed to a halt when they saw the Empress lifting Shih into her arms.

They followed silently as they hoped someone would tell them what the hell was going on.

Chapter 10

Jeff woke up in a wooden box.

That was an unpleasant experience, and he may have squealed.

It would have been an aggressive shout, but he had a gag in his mouth that stifled his effort. His hands and feet were tied behind his back.

The boards seemed roughly hewn, so there were little gaps between them, allowing air and light to seep through. He tried putting his eye next to one of these gaps, but it was too dark to see much.

He returned his attention to his immediate concerns. He was hogtied. The rope around his wrists was bound to the rope around his ankles. That was uncomfortable.

The box was moving, and he recalled the sound and feel of his wagon trip to Shahreet. So, he was in a wagon moving quickly over a smooth road.

Putting those clues together, he came to the undeniable conclusion that he'd been kidnapped.

Shit, Shih was going to be so pissed with him!

It was his fault for sneaking out of the palace.

Of course, it was her fault for making him desperate enough to want to escape. He wasn't going to shoulder all the blame.

The wagon was slowing, with a lot of movement and shuffling, but no voices.

When it stopped, he listened carefully and thought he heard the quiet grunts of several men jumping down from the wagon.

A loud crack announced the opening of the box, and hands seized his arms to pull him backward roughly.

He shouted through his gag as the brute almost dislocated his shoulder.

He panted in pain as his healing kicked in to repair his shoulder. A green light suddenly covered the damaged joint.

The hands immediately released him, and the goon responsible for the pain leapt back and fell off the wagon with a heavy thump.

Deep chuckles could be heard from others who found this amusing.

Jeff heard an angry snarl directed at them.

"Don't injure the prisoner!"

Jeff heard the sharp rebuke, then felt a brief tug on his binding, which fell away after he was cut loose.

Being able to move his arms and legs was an enormous relief. Jeff slowly stretched his limbs until sensation returned. Then he tugged the gag from his mouth and worked his jaw muscle.

"Get off the wagon!"

Jeff sat up and turned to face the voice.

Another handsome face, this time with an impatient and worried expression.

Jeff moved to the end of the wagon and hopped down. He looked at the others, and they all stared back at him with various expressions: curiosity, distaste, boredom, and impatience.

The leader stepped closer and pushed Jeff ahead of him as they approached what appeared to be an abandoned hut. Inside were sets of cold-weather gear.

Ah, they were climbing over the mountain. Joy.

Jeff immediately picked up one of the bundles and turned to watch the others file inside to take theirs.

The leader was watching him cautiously.

"What? I know how this works. We rush up to the snow line while it's dark, then put on the snow gear, and move as quickly as we can to reach the pass." He sighed. "I'm a Healer, not a fighter. Besides, you have to know that the Empress's assassin is close behind us. She isn't going to stop until she finds me, and I'd better be alive when she does," he panned his eyes over the faces around him, "for everyone's sake." He paused while they took that in.

"My name is Jeff." Finally, his voice didn't squeak!

The leader frowned at him. "Kester." Then he scowled as he wasn't sure why he'd given the man his name. The others were watching him with surprised expressions.

"Let's get moving while we have the darkness. As the little one said, we have to reach the snowline before sunrise."

Jeff frowned at being called the little one, but he was the abductee, so it seemed ridiculous to demand respect.

They went back outside and ran in single file through the woods toward the base of the mountain. They stopped at the edge where Kester looked for patrols. Seeing none, he rushed forward, and the others followed.

Thus began Jeff's hellish three-hour run in the dark up the side of a mountain. When they stopped, Jeff collapsed and gasped for deep breaths as the others sneered at his weakness. Kester watched him with concern, which caught his eye. He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Don't worry... about me... this isn't... my first... rodeo."

"What's a rodeo?" Kester asked.

Jeff closed his eyes for a moment. "It's a... rough and tough... endurance event." Jeff flopped onto his back and passed his magic through his legs to deal with the burning pain. They glowed gently, but he was lying in deep grass, so that wouldn't be visible from below.

"We're almost to the snowline. We push onward," Kester announced, and Jeff wearily pushed himself to his feet.

They moved.

A short distance into the snow, they unbundled the white snow gear and pulled it on. Jeff rolled the legs and arms back on his and saw the goons sneering at him again.

Whatever.

Now the grueling step-by-step climb up the snowy slope began.

Jeff looked upward and saw they were aiming for the edge of one of the lowest passes. This one likely had more patrols guarding it. He wasn't sure how they were supposed to elude them.

The sun should have been brightening the sky by now, but when he looked at the horizon, all he could see were some nasty-looking, dark clouds.

"Shit! Bad weather incoming," Jeff whispered ahead to Kester, who glanced at the sky, then glared at Jeff.

"Quiet!"

They continued upward, peering into the hazy distance for patrols, but Jeff was more concerned with the sky, which was getting darker by the minute.

"Do you have a rope?" he called to Kester, who shot him another glare.

The wind was picking up, and snowflakes were arriving. Doubt appeared on the spymaster's face.

"We don't have any rope," the man snapped.

Jeff looked at the approaching darkness. "We aren't going to outrun the storm."

"Keep moving!" Kester insisted and picked up his pace. Jeff and the others groaned and struggled to keep up.

There was no sign of patrols, and the reason for that was barreling toward them.

The wind suddenly struck from the side, pelting them with sharp little ice crystals.

Visibility dropped to almost nil, and Jeff had a hard time seeing Kester. He surged forward and reached out to grab the belt on the man's winter gear.

Kester stopped and looked down at Jeff.

"If we're not going back, go faster!" Jeff yelled above the howling wind.

Kester looked behind Jeff but saw nothing of the six who'd been following.

He snarled and turned around to keep slogging up the mountain. Jeff kept his hand on Kester's belt as he pushed himself to continue upward.

The storm was unmerciful, doing its best to rip their winter gear from their bodies.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jeff felt the slope easing, and soon they were walking on level ground. They'd reached the pass.

Kester fell and was slow to get up.

Jeff placed his hands on either side of the man's head and checked the man for signs of altitude sickness. A few pinpricks in his brain were evident, so he healed them and tugged on Kester's arm.

He moved close to shout into his ear. "Come on! It's all downhill from here."

Kester said something unintelligible, but he climbed to his feet and pushed ahead. He was wobbling, so Jeff pulled him in the proper direction, and they began their descent.

The storm wasn't as strong on this side of the mountain, and visibility soon improved.

The lower they got, the more they could see until the army headquarters became visible at the base of the mountain.

Jeff glanced back, but none of the other men were following them.

When he turned forward, he saw a group of soldiers leave the building and run toward them.

"Are they going to kill us when they reach us?" Jeff asked.

Kester looked at him blearily. "No... no. They will arrest us, but the senior officer knows I work for the king."

He looked more closely at Jeff. "What did you do to me up there?"

Jeff glanced at him. "I fixed the damage the elevation was doing to your brain. You're more susceptible to altitude sickness than others."

Kester frowned. "Why did you help me?"

Jeff looked at him wearily and sighed. "It's what I do. I'm a Healer."

They continued walking down the mountain directly toward the approaching patrol.

When they got closer, Jeff held up his hands in surrender. Kester glanced at him, then copied him.

"Halt! Who--what are you?" the lead soldier, a big brute carrying a war hammer, called out as he peered at the small pale being in the oversized clothes.

Jeff looked at Kester to get him to explain.

"My name is Kester. I work for King Rionne and was charged with capturing this Healer in Shahreet and bringing him to the king in Gaen-Rallas." He glanced back at the mountain and up to see the dark clouds at the peak. "My team was lost in the storm."

The leader of the soldiers hadn't stopped staring at Jeff. "What is he?"

"He's the king's business! That's what he is!" Kester snarled.

That earned Kester a backhand to the face, and he went down hard.

Jeff held up his hands as he moved between the big guy and Kester. "I'm not from around here. I'm just a stranger in a strange land. I'm also a Healer, if you'll allow me to demonstrate."

The big soldier curled a lip but nodded.

Jeff knelt next to Kester, who was blinking as he struggled to get his wits back.

Placing his hands over the gash on Kester's cheek, they began to glow with green light. The edges of the wound grew back together, and the bruising immediately faded. He placed his hands on both sides of Kester's head and repaired any remaining issues caused by the altitude and the slap.

The man's eyes sharpened, but Jeff placed his hand on his shoulder to keep him from trying to retaliate.

Jeff turned to face the lead soldier. "We'll follow you to the base?"

The guard nodded, and Jeff helped Kester to his feet.

The brute, whose name and rank they later learned was Sergeant Bung, kept up a constant stream of verbal abuse against Kester and Jeff, whom he called the pale freak, all the way back down to the base. Once they got inside, the prisoners were made to strip off their snow gear and given a few minutes to use the bathroom. Jeff also took the opportunity to give himself a quick sponge bath. Then they were put in separate cells, and the guards left.

Jeff moved to the cot and stretched out on it. There was nothing for him to do but wait, so he'd get his rest when he could.

"Let me know when we get sprung from jail or when the Empress' assassin arrives."

"Shut up!" Kester snapped.

Jeff smiled to himself. The man was still sensitive about that.

Good.

-=-

It wasn't until the following morning that they were collected from the cells and brought before the commanding officer. Jeff's stomach growled all the way to the officer's wing.

Jeff saw the man wasn't a Gaen version of Commander Jeedru. His uniform was utilitarian with minimal embellishments, aside from his rank insignia, and he looked like he'd earned his position through hard-won battles. While Commander Veritt was an older man, his broad-shouldered frame bore hard-looking muscles.

His eyes gave hints that life had worn him down. Maybe this was an example of what the king's policies did to proper soldiers.

What really caught Jeff's attention were the man's hands. The joints were swollen and painful-looking. Jeff itched to examine them.

His hair had a light dusting of grey, and he kept it military short.

Aside from the scars and his hands, he was another example of manliness that Jeff could never match.

Jeff listened while Kester was allowed to make a brief statement. The spymaster told the commander what he'd told the sergeant who'd captured them on the slope.

"I know who you are. Why is this the first time I'm hearing about your capture? What the hell were you doing in my jail cells?" Veritt barked.

"You'd have to ask your man, Bung," Kester said through clenched teeth.

A muscle jumped in Veritt's jaw in frustration. "I'll speak with him," he said in a clipped tone. "We need to get you to the capital. I'll make the arrangements."

"Excuse me?" Jeff said.

The Commander and Spymaster turned to stare at Jeff.

"Could... could I examine your hands?" he asked

Veritt's eyebrows rose in surprise. He looked at Kester, who had a pained look on his face.

Kester cleared the expression and nodded begrudgingly. "He's a Healer. He kept me alive through the storm we got caught in and got us down the mountain. It's like he can't help himself."

The commander scowled at Jeff. "You understand you're to be a prisoner of Gaen's King."

Jeff nodded and gestured to his Talosian garb. "Don't be fooled by my outfit. I'm not Talosian. Nor am I Gaen. As Kester said, I'm a Healer."

The Commander stared at Jeff in confusion, but he held his hands out all the same.

Jeff took them in his and called upon his magic. The Commander's eyes widened as the green glow encompassed his hands and flowed halfway up his muscular forearms. He twitched, and Jeff looked up to lock eyes with him.

"Please relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

Veritt wanted to chuckle at the thought of the smaller man posing any threat to him, but the gentle grip Jeff had on him already made that clear. He did his best to relax.

Jeff's scan showed him the deep scar tissue in the hands and wrists from years of hard use and the swelling that resulted. It was something like arthritis, which filled in the tears and gaps, causing swelling and stiffness. It was a chronic condition, but Jeff knew he could strip away the scar tissue and regrow healthy muscle and cartilage to fix them. This condition might recur if he didn't reduce the abuse of his hands, but for now, he'd get his hands back.

Closing his eyes, Jeff got to work. The swelling was immediately reduced, and repaired tissue filled in the spaces until the joints moved smoothly and without pain. The wrist joints bent and swiveled without issue as well.

He let the spell fade and released the man's hands with a satisfied smile.

Veritt stared at his hands, which had been stiff and painful moments earlier. Now they moved with their original strength and flexibility. He stared at Jeff incredulously.

"Thank you," Veritt said softly.

Jeff just nodded with a look of satisfaction.

Then the commander turned to his assistant, who was also stunned by the display. Frowning like he'd had something disgusting in his mouth, Veritt instructed his man.

"Get them a meal. When the wagon and team are ready, get them on their way so Kester can complete his mission for the king."

Then Veritt turned away to face his window.

Jeff understood. The man had to follow his orders.

They were led to a long room filled with tables. Soldiers were eating their breakfast before their shifts on the mountain slope. Many turned to see who was being led into their midst. They began to protest when they saw his Talosian clothing. This quickly became confusion when they caught sight of his pale coloring and round ears.

The commander's assistant shouted them down, told them to shut up, and to get to their duties if they'd finished their meals.

They grumbled but quieted down.

Jeff's impression of the group wasn't very good. Unlike the soldiers on the Talosian side of the mountains, they lacked military discipline and were more like a rowdy bunch of high school bullies.

This lined up with what he'd heard of the soldiers who controlled the Gaen villages. He wondered if the issue was systemic. Were there no soldiers who took the task of protecting their country and people seriously? Were they all just in it for themselves?

Hearing Shih's impressions of their king, he supposed the man set the gold standard for this corrupt behavior. Any soldier with higher ideals probably wouldn't survive amongst their sociopathic peers.

This killed Jeff's appetite as he realized he'd be facing the man soon.

The food wasn't very good, and he ate sparingly. Better to be hungry than to have a cramping stomach later.

The Commander's assistant collected them the moment the wagon was ready.

It turned out to be an open wagon with no seating in the back. Kester sat on the bench with the driver, and Jeff shared the back with a squad of four who took up all the legroom. Thankfully, Sergeant Bung wasn't amongst them, but there was one big goon who acted like him. Siblings?

Jeff was forced to sit cross-legged with his back against the rear gate. This placed him over the rear wheels, so he felt every bump.

It was going to be a miserable trip, not that it had been blissful from the start.

The driver pushed the beasts to make good time as they left the foothills. They followed the Tibron River, and Jeff did his best to keep his spirits up by concentrating on the scenery. This close to the source, the river was very energetic, tumbling down over the rocks and following the channel it had carved through the landscape. The forest here wasn't as lush as the woods below, but they crowded the shoreline.

The four troopers quickly grew bored and turned their attention to Jeff.

It began with insults, less than artfully constructed and poorly delivered. This painted a picture of their stunted intellect for Jeff.

He easily ignored the verbal barbs as there was no venom in them. He accidentally let a snort escape after a lame attempt by the largest of the goons sitting closest to him was so bad it was unintentionally funny. This did not please the brute, and Jeff caught a sharp kick against his shin as punishment.

"FUCK!" he snapped as pain shot up his leg. He grabbed the area but resisted the urge to heal it immediately as they were watching him closely with smug grins on their faces.

Kester spun in his seat with murder in his eyes. It was obvious to Jeff that the guards' chattering had gotten under his captor's skin.

"Don't damage the king's property, unless you'd like to personally explain to him why you did," he snapped.

The guards looked at Kester sullenly.

"I thought so. Now, shut the fuck up," the spymaster said in frustration as he turned to face forward again.

Jeff could tell he was worried about the upcoming meeting with the king.

He wondered how much he should worry about it.

He glanced back toward the mountain and hoped it wouldn't take much longer for Shih to come for him.

Then he wondered why she hadn't already.

-=-

When they finally left the foothills, the first village came into view. Jeff saw the women of the village quickly rushing back to their huts, leaving the streets empty as the wagon rushed through. The guards laughed at their fear and made lewd comments to each other. Apparently, some of them had worked on the patrols who'd policed the villages, and they'd enjoyed their time with the ladies.

Jeff felt a spike of rage and disgust shoot through him, but he kept it from his face. He didn't need a beating from these thugs.

Eyes watched them go, and Jeff felt them watching him. He saw surprise on the faces peeking out of the windows and doors. He was very visible at the back of the wagon, with his pale skin, round ears, and plain looks on display for all to see.

He sighed and wondered if his role on this world would be that of an ol' timey circus freak.

That made him think of the way Shih smiled at him.

Like his odd looks didn't matter.

A pang of loneliness went through him as he recalled her anger after he confessed to her about his time with the Empress.

She'd made it clear she didn't have any feelings of that nature for him.

He stopped looking at the huts as they passed by and headed out the other side of the village.

They still had a long way to go, and his heart ached too much to bear seeing the women's eyes watching the tiny alien man.

-=-

Shih was trembling with suppressed rage and fought her impulse to make a run for the door.

She refused to look at the Empress, but felt the woman's eyes watching her from time to time as she spoke quietly to her commanders.

The Empress was finally taking the fight to King Rionne, but not fast enough to stop him from getting his hands on Jeff!

Finally, the last commander left the chamber, and Shih was alone with the Empress.

"Let me go after them!" she snarled.

"No. We will move when I say we are ready," Tarelka snapped.

"We cannot afford to let King Rionne get his hands on so powerful a Healer!" Shih insisted.

Tarelka snorted. "So the King will be healthy when I kill him? How will this make him less dead?"

Shih clenched her teeth in frustration. "He might kill Jeff!"

Tarelka shook her head with a cold smile. "After he discovers what he has in his possession? No. Jeff will be quite safe."

Then she shrugged. "He might face a little torture, but we've both witnessed his ability to heal himself." Her expression changed to show her begrudging respect. "He's surprisingly tough for such a tiny man."

Shih couldn't prevent a small, satisfied smile from briefly crossing her lips before her frustrated frown returned.

Her mind latched onto the comment about torture, and her anxiety grew.

She growled impatiently. "What are we waiting for?"

"Word from my spy network in Shahreet, indicating we've plucked out Rionne's eye--"

A sharp knock sounded, and Shih moved to open the door.

A man wearing a hooded cloak stood outside. "Empress."

Tarelka waved him inside, where he bowed.

"We found the final cell and have eliminated all members and their carrier beetles. Their leader, a man we believe is named Kester, has left the city."

"He has Jeff!" Shih insisted.

"Very likely," the Empress said casually, then addressed the hooded man. "Thank you."

The man bowed once more and quickly left.

Shih looked at her leader, whose smile was no less cold.

"Now we move."

Chapter 11

Jeff woke with a sharp pain throbbing across the side of his face. He was bouncing and sliding roughly in the bed of the wagon, and he could tell he was tied up again. He recognized the wagon as it was gently lit by the green glow of his magic, repairing some damage. A tarp was suddenly thrown over him, likely to hide that light.

What happened?

His memories were hazy, possibly due to his injury, but his last clear one was of them stopping for the night on the outskirts of a village. Kester commandeered a hut, sending its occupants out to find alternate sleeping arrangements.

He recalled Kester telling the goons protecting them to stay close and not to touch the villagers.

He was tied once more to prevent his escape and pushed to the floor with a thin rug for a bed. His weariness dragged him into sleep.

His next memories were chaotic.

Shouting, screams, being dragged to his feet, and dropped as his tied ankles prevented him from remaining upright when he was suddenly released as someone burst into the hut.

In the struggle, he was kicked in the head a few times, and then he passed out.

How he ended up on the wagon was a mystery.

He moaned after a particularly sharp jolt. Whoever was driving the wagon wasn't an expert, as the wheels kept riding off the edge of the path as the beast tugged from side to side.

"Are you alive?" Kester's voice called back.

"Getting there," he managed to respond. He caught his breath to speak again. "What happened?"

"A fucking revolt happened! The damned farmers killed the guards. How did they know your name?"

Jeff was lost and couldn't connect the dots in his hazy brain. "My name?"

"They were yelling, Get Jeff!"

He relaxed his brain and let it sift through his memories. How would farmers know his name--Shit! The girl, Netra! She was going to help the others stop ingesting the poison from the wells. But he didn't think they stopped in her village. Could she have spread the word about him?

"You know something!" Kester accused him when he'd been silent too long. The wagon jerked badly, and the tarp over him shifted, uncovering his face.

"No! I-I got kicked in the head, and my brain isn't working yet!" he snarled back and heard Kester make another dissatisfied noise.

"Where are our guards?" he asked to change the subject.

"Dead, along with our driver! Killed with farming and fishing tools! They barely managed to get us to the wagon. I couldn't wait for them to climb on!"

Meaning he panicked and abandoned them. That was on Kester.

"We're not stopping until we get to the city," the panicked man shouted over his shoulder, pushing the beast to run faster.

That didn't make the ride smoother for Jeff, who continued to bounce and slide around on the bed of the wagon, slamming into the sides roughly. He couldn't see over the sides of it, but could see the tops of trees passing by.

The noise of the wagon suddenly became much louder, and he realized they were rushing between the buildings of the next village. He heard a few alarmed shouts, then they were back into the open countryside.

Kester pulled hard on the reins, and Jeff was launched face-first into the boards by the driver's bench. With a pained moan, he blacked out.

His next semi-lucid moment began with raised voices. He heard Kester arguing with someone.

"Please, Chamberlain Obrey, I'm on a mission for King Rionne! I must deliver the Healer to him."

A second voice, smooth and oily, responded. "The king is not yet awake, and you are in no state to have an audience with his majesty. You smell!"

"I've ridden all night to bring him what he asked for. I must also speak to him about the farmers!" Kester's strained voice wasn't hiding his frustration with the other man.

"The farmers? Were you given a royal commission to manage the local villages? Am I just confused by your disheveled appearance and repugnant odor?" the snide voice returned.

A slipper-encased toe pressed hard against Jeff's shoulder, making him realize he was lying on the floor.

Being stepped on hurt, and he moaned as the foot pulled back. Green light flared over his shoulder, and he felt the damaged joint reset as cool pain relief washed over it.

"What was that?" the smooth voice gasped.

"His healing power! As I told you, the king wants him and ordered me to bring the Healer to him!" Kester insisted sharply.

The oily voice made a disgusted sound.

Jeff needed to put a face to the voice, so he opened his eyes slightly to look up at the elegant robes of the chamberlain and Kester's sweat-stained, torn clothing. Mr. Fancy-Pants had a sharp-featured face that seemed pointy. He was still damn handsome, but in an angular way, like chiseled features?

He was leaning away from Kester with a hand over his nose. Then he looked past the spymaster with a sudden smile. "Your Majesty!"

Kester spun in place to face the king. With his back to the chamberlain, he didn't see the wickedly thin-bladed dagger being thrust into his heart through his back. Kester only had time to make a disappointed sound before he dropped to his knees. The chamberlain used his slippered foot to kick him free from his knife. The betrayed and dead man hit the floor and went still.

Jeff immediately closed his eyes as he didn't want the chamberlain to know he'd witnessed the murder.

"Guards!" Obrey called out, and the large doors Kester had faced opened as three men in uniform stepped inside.

"Take this trash outside and dispose of it quickly. The king doesn't need it smelling up his outer hall."

With scowls on their handsome faces, the soldiers collected Kester's body and carried it away.

Jeff felt sick as he contemplated what his future might be.

Kester had been a faithful servant, and his efforts had been above and beyond for his king. Yet, his reward was a knife in the back and burial in the castle's garbage.

As workplaces went, this one was as toxic as they got.

Hands touched his face, and he jolted in surprise. "What?"

The chamberlain was squatting next to him, peering at his alien features like he was examining an interesting insect.

"Ah, you're awake at last!" the slick voice was back.

Jeff had to pretend he'd been unaware of what transpired if he hoped to survive the day.

"Who are you?" He glanced around groggily. "Where am I? Where's Kester?"

The chamberlain's smile widened. "My, aren't you full of questions!"

Jeff's tummy chose that moment to announce how empty it was.

"Even your stomach is noisy," Obrey said with a grin as he stood. "Get on your feet."

The tone had changed to one of command, so Jeff struggled to get to his feet with no assistance. He was weak from hunger and must have overused his healing in the wagon, as his mind felt sluggish as well.

He wobbled but remained on his feet.

Obrey wrinkled his nose at Jeff's scent. "I'm Chamberlain Obrey. You will address me as Chamberlain."

His eyes bore into Jeff's, so he responded as he dipped his eyes. "Yes, Chamberlain."

The fake smile returned to the man's face but didn't reach his eyes. "Good. First, you will need to bathe, and I'll get you new clothes, as you cannot be presented to the King dressed in Talosian clothes." After a brief pause, he nodded. "I'll get you some food as well."

Jeff's stomach grumbled again.

"Follow me," the chamberlain said and headed toward a door on the other side of the room. Jeff managed to get his body moving and barely kept up with the much taller man.

They passed through a number of doors and walked through hallways until he finally reached a room that smelled of perfume and humidity. A bathing chamber.

Inside stood five females wearing gauzy outfits that left little to the imagination. They immediately stood and lined up before the chamberlain.

"You will remove and discard his clothing, bathe him, and prepare him to be presented to the king. I will return with clothing and food for him," the man said and left without another word.

Jeff was at the limit of his strength and dropped to his knees.

Gentle hands caught him, and he felt himself being undressed quickly. He didn't have the energy to stop them, so he let them do their tasks.

He was riding the edge of consciousness as hands helped him to his feet, moved him into a pool of warm water, and rubbed aromatic soap over his body. The women weren't shy about where they touched him, and he heard quiet giggles as certain areas received more attention than was required for a bath. While he enjoyed their hands on his firm muscles as they made admiring sounds, he was, thankfully, too exhausted to respond to the more intimate touches.

Then he was dried with soft towels by all those hands, again. Seriously, how many people were required to dry somebody?

The chamberlain must have had his new clothes delivered during his bath, as a soft gown was pulled over his body. Slippers replaced his sturdy shoes, and he wondered if he'd ever see his footwear again. They were the only thing he had with him that connected him to his old world.

Finally, a tray of food was set before him. He managed to keep his eyes open and reached for some bread. He paused as he realized this was a kingdom that used poisons to control its people.

He pushed himself to use his magic and scanned the loaf in his hands.

The ladies all squeaked in fright, seeing the green light.

He paused and looked at them. "Just checking for poison," he said, then he bit into the bread and ate as quickly as he could.

He scanned everything before he ate it, but nothing had been poisoned. When they handed him a cup of water, he paused as his scan detected the chemical he'd found in the village wells. He looked at the ladies, and they all stared at him.

"Do you drink this?" he asked.

"Yes," they said as one.

"Hand me an empty cup," he said as he held his empty hand out. He could feel energy returning to his body.

Once he had the two cups, he activated his filter spell and pulled the clear water into the second cup.

When he was done, the first cup had a grey sludge on the bottom, and the new cup held only pure water. He took a good sip from that and smiled at the pure flavor. Then he handed the cup to the closest woman. "This is pure water."

She accepted it, and glancing at him, she took a sip as well. A smile immediately appeared on her face. "It tastes much better!" she gushed.

Jeff nodded and frowned as he turned his attention back to the pollutants that remained in the first cup.

"What is that?" another woman asked.

He sighed in frustration, seeing another sign of the evil perpetrated against the people of this land. "It's a kind of poison. It doesn't kill, but it weakens those who drink it. It saps your will to resist. It's a tool to enslave the people." He glanced up as he suddenly realized how he sounded.

The ladies were frightened, but he held his hands out to calm them. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm now a prisoner of the king, so I don't think there's much I can do to help. If you have access to a natural source of water, maybe you could avoid drinking the water you're given."

Jeff felt stupid for making them afraid when he had no way to protect them.

"Did the Talosians poison our wells?" one woman asked.

Jeff stared at her in surprise. "No! The first time I discovered this poison was in the water from the community wells that the engineers from Gaen-Rallas installed in the villages. The water from the Tibron River was clean, but the wells were poisoning it to keep the farmers and fishermen under control."

Now the ladies were watching him in shock. "How else do you expect a tyrant to keep control when he is so badly outnumbered?"

He sighed wearily. "I don't believe the Talosians would resort to such dirty tricks."

Jeff turned his attention back to the food and continued checking it as he ate his fill, then he ate a little more. He needed the energy.

His body was telling him he needed sleep, so he moved to the pile of cushions at the side of the room and stretched out on them.

One of the ladies approached him with two pitchers, but one was empty. He raised an eyebrow.

"Could you do the purification magic on this pitcher of water?" she asked.

Still feeling guilty for frightening them, he nodded and sat up as she placed the containers side by side on the floor. He held his hands over them, and the green glow appeared as he launched his spell.

It took longer as there was much more water to filter, but he did it.

She thanked him as he flopped back on the cushions.

Sleep quickly took him.

-=-

A foot kicked his roughly, and he awoke with a jolt.

Standing before him was the chamberlain. "Get up! It's time to present you to King Rionne!"

Jeff glanced out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to set.

He pushed the cushions aside as he got to his feet and tipped his head to Obrey, who smiled in satisfaction with his subservient gesture.

"Follow," the chamberlain said and left the room.

Jeff didn't see any of the ladies and hoped they were okay.

It was another long trek through endless corridors and through many doors until they reached a set of huge doors with grim-looking guards on either side. Obrey showed no sign of unease as he waited for them to open the doors.

After a moment, the mammoth entryway swung open silently, and they stepped inside.

The audience hall beyond was enormous. It had a high-arching ceiling covered with elaborately painted scenes of the king in battle. Jeff couldn't help but compare it to the much less gaudy tapestries in Empress Tatelka's audience chamber.

King Rionne sat upon an elaborate throne on a high dais against the opposite wall. With such grandeur surrounding him, there was no way for the large but fat man to appear impressive in any way.

His first sight of the man told him this ruler was a magnet for medical issues. It wasn't just the excess weight that signaled trouble. Swollen ankles. Droopy face muscles on one side. Bleary, glassy eyes.

Shit.

Jeff passed his eyes over the others gathered in the chamber and would have likened the room to a snake pit if that wasn't so insulting to reptiles. These were the ones who'd be next in line for the throne, and if the castle were to suddenly crumble and crush them all under tons of stone rubble, that would likely eliminate much of the suffering of the Kingdom's people.

If Jeff had accepted any of the other powers offered to him in that mountaintop temple, he might have been able to make that happen.

But he did not.

So, here he stood amongst the evil. He could almost feel the greed and cruelty radiating from them.

Surrounded, Jeff had never felt more alone in his life.

"Your majesty, may I present to you... the Healer." Obrey suddenly realized he'd forgotten to ask his name.

Quiet laughter rippled through the room at the chamberlain's expense. Smirks appeared on faces.

"You didn't ask his name?" Rionne barked sharply, exacerbating the man's embarrassment.

"My name is Jeff!"

For the first time in Jeff's life, his voice was bold, strong, and clear. His eyes locked on the king's, and he felt no fear.

The slap caught him on the side of his face and was so hard and fast that he had no time to prepare. The blow took him completely off his feet, and he crashed to the floor a few feet away. His consciousness fled as darkness pulled him under.

-=-

The king looked at his chamberlain with rage in his eyes. "Do you think I brought him all the way from Shahreet just for you to kill him before me?"

"--A demonstration, your majesty," Obrey said stiffly as he gestured toward Jeff's crumbled body. He was thinking quickly as the slap had surprised him as well. He disliked losing control.

Green light suddenly flashed into view over the smaller being's head and shoulders.

"What's that?" Rionne snapped.

"His power. He can heal himself. I understand that's something other Healers are unable to do," Obrey offered with a smug tone as his confidence returned.

The audience watched silently as the light gradually faded.

"Get me a water pitcher," Obrey called out to a guard who hustled over with one in his hand.

The chamberlain poured the chilly water over Jeff's head, and he jolted awake. He rolled to his feet and glared at the chamberlain, who was watching him smugly.

"No bruises. No broken bones, and I felt his jaw shatter when I hit him. He's healed himself," the chamberlain said in satisfaction as he turned back to the king.

He noted the same guard was listening closely to the king. Then the brute left the king's side and marched directly towards him.

"Your majesty?" Obrey asked nervously as he saw the cruel smile on the guard's face.

"A demonstration, Chamberlain," Rionne said with a sly smile.

The guard's heavy metal gauntlet on his right fist slammed into Obrey's jaw, badly tearing his skin on the spikes and breaking the bone underneath. His left fist slammed into the chamberlain's ribs, and several broke.

He collapsed to the floor as the pain overwhelmed him.

From there, he looked up at the stricken expression on the Healer's face.

Right... his name was Jeff.

He passed out.

-=-

"There is the first patient you can heal for me, Healer... Jeff," King Rionne said with a sly smile.

Jeff moved to kneel next to the unconscious chamberlain and held his hands out over the man's head.

He'd do a scan first to see what internal damage had been done. The surface wounds from where the metal glove tore the skin from his face were clearly visible.

The green light sank inside, and the information flooded into his mind. Broken orbital bone, a cracked jawbone, and facial skin tears was the extent of the damage done to his head. Moving lower, he noted the punch against the ribs broke three, but thankfully, there were no lung punctures.

Jeff repaired the rib bones but left the bruising. He'd be tender for a while as a reminder of the... demonstration. Then he moved back to the man's face and fixed the bones and healed the rips in his skin until no sign of the savage beaten remained.

Weary from the effort, Jeff pushed himself back to his feet and bowed toward the king. "It is done, your Majesty."

Rionne smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Excellent work. I understand you've had a perilous journey to get here, so you should get some rest." He turned his face toward the guards. "Please take our new Healer to the guest quarters we arranged for him."

Jeff immediately moved toward the guard, who gestured for him to follow. It was the same goon who almost took the chamberlain's face off.

Leaving the audience chamber was a relief, but the walk to the mentioned guest quarters involved a lot of climbing.

Finally, he reached a large door. The guard opened it and gestured for him to go in. Jeff stepped past him into the doorway and realized he was in one of the tower spires. A rough hand shoved him inside and slammed the door to lock it behind him.

The guest room was a tower prison.

Shit.

Thankfully, it was more than just straw on the floor and a bucket to crap in.

There was a real bed with a mattress and sheets, which looked reasonably clean.

A wardrobe leaned back against the wall, but who knew what was inside.

A chair and a desk were against the wall, but he had no idea what he'd get to do with that.

Under all of this was a genuine hand-woven carpet.

Completing the décor was the bucket with some torn rags next to it. He was pretty sure he knew what that was for.

Yuk.

On the walls were three equal-sized window openings with bars on them to prevent escape. As the fall from this height would kill you, the bars were principally there to prevent suicide by jumping. There were shutters inside to block some of the wind that likely entered during bad weather, but he imagined being in the tower wasn't pleasant in winter... if it got cold here.

"Who's there?"

Jeff yelped in a masculine way as he spun to look toward the bed.

A young woman was peeking at him over the blankets she held up to her chin.

Or she would have been peeking at him if she hadn't been blind. Her eyes were completely clouded.

"Who is it?" she asked again with a wobbling voice.

"M-my name is Jeff. I was told this would be my room, then they locked me in it. Who are you?"

"Oleena," she said and tilted her head. "You sound... different."

Jeff snorted. "Yes. You could say I'm different."

"May I touch you?" Oleena asked boldly.

"T-touch me?" he asked.

"It's how I see people," she explained.

"Oh. Yes, I suppose so," he said, and she immediately slipped from the bed to walk unerringly toward him. This surprised him until he guessed she must have had the sightless condition for long enough to adapt.

That's also when he noticed she was naked. Gloriously naked! He suppressed his reaction, as she was clearly not self-conscious about it.

When she reached above his head for his face, he caught her hands and gently dropped them down to his proper height.

"Oh! Are you young?" she asked in surprise as her hands stopped.

"No. I'm an adult. I'm twenty-seven years old. Fully grown but not tall, especially compared to the natives."

She grinned widely, and Jeff thought she was very pretty when she did that.

"Twenty-seven? That's barely old enough to be considered outside the childhood age!" Then her face froze. "Wait! What do you mean by native?" she asked.

"Of this world. I'm from another world, but I don't know how I got here," he said as her hands began to move again.

He let her map his features with her gentle touch. She was especially fascinated by his ears.

He couldn't stop himself from looking at her eyes.

"May I ask you a possibly sensitive question?" he asked.

She paused in her mapping. "Yes."

"How old are you and how long have you been without sight?" he asked gently.

"I'm one hundred and seventeen, and I've been blind since I was a child, very young. I once had memories of my parents' faces, but now they're lost," she said quietly. "I remember colors."

Jeff was stunned by her answer and needed more information to understand how they measured years here. Oleena didn't look older than someone in their twenties. He pushed that aside.

"May I examine your eyes?"

"What? What do you mean?" she asked as she leaned back.

"When I arrived on this world, I was given healing powers. I don't know if there is anything I can do for you since you've had this for so long, but I'd like to take a look at least. If you are okay with it," he said gently.

Her mouth was open, and she looked nervous, but she hadn't pulled away completely.

"Will it hurt?" she asked with a quiet voice.

"There is no pain at all for the scan. That's all I will do for now. Just to see what's going on without making any changes," he said.

"Okay. How do we do that?" she asked.

"You sit on the edge of the bed, and I'll stand before you with my hands next to your head and let my magic look around inside. You won't even feel this."

"Okay," she said timidly.

Once more, she moved to the bed unerringly and sat. She was exquisite from behind as well.

Jeff watched in wonder at her adaptation and moved before her. He held his hands next to her head and called on his magic to scan the condition of her eyes. He worked from the front to the back, examining every part of the visual system: the eyes themselves, the optic nerves, the ganglion cells, the optic chiasma, and the lateral geniculate nucleus. Then he scanned the brain regions responsible for processing visual signals: the posterior parietal cortex, the prestriate cortex, the primary visual cortex, and the inferotemporal cortex.

There was some atrophy in some parts of the optic nerve pathway, which he could fix, but his real concern was how this lack of use would affect the visual processing areas of her brain. It was far more difficult to say how these areas would respond to visual input after so long. She might be like a newborn, learning to interpret what this new data meant.

Repairing her eyes was much simpler, but she might need to cover her eyes most of the time until she could train her brain to understand the signals.

"Are you going to start?" she asked nervously.

"Ah, sorry. I'm done. I was just thinking how to retrain your brain to understand what visual images are," he said.

"What? What does that mean? You can fix my eyes?" she exclaimed excitedly.

Jeff sat next to her and took her hand in his. "You've adapted so well to not having sight, and your brain hasn't had to work with visual information for what, a century? It's likely going to be confusing until you train your mind, and that's going to take time."

"You're not going to give me my sight back?" she gasped.

"I didn't say that! I can fix your eyes, and I will, but I'm suggesting you're going to have to train your brain how to work with what you see to understand it. You've adapted to living without, and I suggest you wear a blindfold when you aren't training your brain."

She was beginning to bounce with excitement, but he squeezed her hand.

"Calm down. There's another problem that has nothing to do with your vision. Can you tell me why you were put in this room?" he asked, and her enthusiasm waned quickly.

"I'm usually kept in the castle's brothel with the other whores. I'm the last choice," she admitted quietly.

Jeff was stunned. "Oh... my god. They put you in this room to be my... companion?"

She smiled. "Companion sounds nice compared to what I'm usually expected to do."

"Do you understand how evil the king and his entire ruling party are? Enforced slavery like this is barbaric!" Jeff said quietly.

"It's all I've known," Oleena said, smiling sadly.

"I have no control over how I'll be used by the king. One thing I believe is that Shih will come to rescue me."

"Who will?" Oleena asked.

"Shih will!" Jeff said firmly.

"But what's her name?" Oleena asked slowly.

"Shih--oh wait, I hear it now," Jeff sighed as he covered his face with a hand. He tried again.

"Empress Tarelka's chief assassin is named Shih, and she will be coming to rescue me," Jeff explained slowly.

"That's a confusing name. Does she have another one?" Oleena asked.

"Yes, but I've forgotten how to pronounce it," Jeff said sadly.

"Who are you that someone so close to the Empress will personally come to rescue you?" she asked curiously.

He smiled at the idea of being important. "I'm just a stranger from another world, but I was given a very strong ability to heal. Back on my world, I wasn't able to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor and surgeon because I was badly injured. That was healed when I arrived here."

"Are you going to fix my eyes? I don't believe I'll be worse off if I can see the evil I must live amongst. Everyone else can."

Jeff looked at her in surprise. "Sorry. You're right. First, I should get you a strip of cloth to use as a blindfold. You'll need this for training. It will also help you if you don't want anyone else to know that you can see."

He walked over to the wardrobe and searched for something to make a blindfold from. He spotted what looked like a silk slip with a lacy hem. He tore off the lacy bit and saw it would hide her eyes and possibly let her see through it as well, if need be. He brought the rest of the slip as well.

"Before we begin, I'd like you to put this on," he said, placing the garment in her hands.

"Is my body displeasing?" she asked in a subdued voice.

"NO! I mean, not at all. You're beautiful! It's just... very distracting," he admitted.

A surprised smile appeared on her face, and she pulled the garment on. He frowned as the slip hid little and accentuated her body. That was his problem.

"Okay, are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, trembling. "Wait! Will it hurt?" she suddenly asked.

"I don't believe there will be any pain. If you feel discomfort, please let me know," he said calmly, and she gave him a trembling smile.

He took a breath. "Before we start, I want you to know I can't think of any reason why someone would consider you to be the last choice," he said earnestly.

Her expression froze, then a slow smile appeared. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Now relax and keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them. Here we go."

Jeff reached his magic into her eyes and replaced the damaged tissue with healthy, pristine lenses. He moved back through the optic nerves to ensure there was no damage and felt no breaks in the nerve pathways. This was all he could do.

Holding a hand before her closed eyes, he kept the magic glow going. "You said you remember color, yes?"

"Yes," she said nervously.

"Open your eyes slightly and tell me what color you see," he said.

"Uh. Ohhhhhh. Oh my... green. This is green!" She began to cry.

He let the magic fade.

"I don't know this color," she said as she was looking at his palm.

"It's a pale pinkish color. My skin is much lighter than your lovely brownish grey. Just another sign that I'm not from here," he said.

He pulled his hand away as he leaned back with a smile. She blinked her eyes from the onslaught of colors and textures, and her hands grabbed at the bedsheets as her sense of motion didn't line up with her spinning eyes. She started to hyperventilate.

"Shhhh, it's okay. Close your eyes for a moment. You're taking in too much too quickly. You haven't had to control the direction of your eyes for a long time, so you'll need to learn how to focus on one thing at a time. You'll get dizzy otherwise." He smiled. "It's not a problem. You'll catch on soon enough. Let me put the blindfold on so you can control how much you can see. The lace is partially see-through."

He wrapped it around her head twice and tied a knot at the back so it would stay in place. "You can adjust the layers to let more or less light in. Try it now. Open your eyes," he suggested.

The holes in the lace were offset so they blocked most of her vision, but not all. The tiny spaces directly before her eyes allowed her to see only a small area straight ahead, preventing her from darting her eyes around to capture everything. Her dizziness was greatly reduced. While it added some haziness to her vision, it allowed her to cope with this new sense.

"As I said, you'll need to train yourself on how to use your eyes. How to hold your focus on one thing at a time, how to interpret what you are seeing. You control this, and you will get how to do it if you take it slow and be patient with yourself."

"Thank you!" she said as she suddenly reached out and hugged him to her body. Then she fell back on the bed, pulling him on top of her. Considering their difference in height, he face planted between her breasts. His arms were trapped under hers, and a certain sensitive area of his body was pressed against a sensitive area on hers.

"Oleena! Please! Calm down!" he said from her cleavage.

"For the first time, I am doing this because I want to," she said.

He stopped struggling and admitted that, aside from the sexiness, it was greatly comforting to be embraced. Jeff turned his face and rested his cheek against her breast and listened to her heart beating, strong and healthy. He moved his trapped hands to gently hug her in return.

He felt himself fading in her warmth and let himself relax. Their legs were still hanging off the edge of the bed, so that kept him from falling asleep.

Then they heard someone approaching the door, so she released him from her arms, and he pushed himself to his feet to turn just in time for the door to unlock and open. Another scantily clad female entered with a tray in her arms.

Was this their dinner?

She unloaded the items onto the desk, then turned to leave.

"Thank you," he said, and she twitched in surprise before tipping her head in his direction. She froze momentarily as she saw Oleena sitting up on the bed with the blindfold over her eyes.

Oleena was smiling joyfully.

The woman's eyes returned to Jeff, and she bowed again, deeper, before she hustled away with the empty tray.

The door closed, and the lock was set before the footsteps receded.

Jeff approached the desk and looked at what they'd been brought for dinner.

He held his hands out over the soup, vegetables, and bread, and they were all free of poison. The water in the provided pitcher wasn't tainted with the king's slavery juice, but it wasn't as pure as Jeff liked it, so he pulled the stuff he didn't want out and carried it over to the bucket.

"What were you doing with your glowing hands?" Oleena asked.

He turned to smile at her. "Were you watching me?"

Her smile blossomed. "It's easier with the covering over my eyes."

He nodded and moved back to the desk. "I was just removing the stuff from the water that makes it taste bad. It wasn't poisoned, just not as pure as I like it. I think you'll like the pure water too."

He looked at the cups on the table and thought of another way they could sneak the poison into his water.

They could paint it dry on the inside of the cups. He scanned them as well and found they were clean. While it seemed paranoid, in this environment, it was a survival technique.

He poured her a cup and handed it to her. She took a sip and smiled. "Yes, it tastes very good!" she sighed.

They shared the meal, and by the time they finished, Jeff was beginning to nod off.

He stacked their dishes for removal in the morning and used the bucket after asking her to turn her back.

She asked the same of him as she took her turn. When she announced she was done, she told him there was a disposal port somewhere on the floor. He found a small trap door on the floor next to the wardrobe. He lifted it to reveal a small hole in the floor leading into darkness. He dumped the bucket into the hole, then closed the trap door.

It wasn't a flush toilet with a bidet attachment, but it was the best they had.

He looked at Oleena, and she smiled at him.

"Do we let the candles burn out on their own? I don't see a way to light them again if we do," he asked.

She chuckled, and he realized she'd never had a need for the candles. "Ah. Never mind."

"Shall we go to bed?" she asked with a coy smile.

He looked at her nervously. "There's only one bed, so it makes sense to share."

She giggled.

"Would you mind if we just cuddled tonight?" he asked.

Her smile slipped a little. "I thought you said I was beautiful."

"I did, and you are!" he exclaimed

"But you don't want to have sex with me?" she asked quietly.

He faced her speechless. Finally, he got his voice back.

"I don't have a lot of experience with sex, but I'd prefer to get to know someone better before having sex. We just met... less than an hour ago?"

Oleena reached for his hands, so he placed his in hers. She smiled.

"I don't know if we'll have more than tonight. I've never spent more than an hour or two with anyone. Staying overnight feels like an extravagance. They will likely come for me tomorrow. I may be put back in the brothel, or I might be killed and dumped in the garbage. I live from moment to moment. I would love to have a normal life, but I have very little value to the people in charge."

Jeff stared at her in shock. "I-I could ask for you to remain with me!"

"That would only give them a means to control you. They could threaten me with torture or death to make you do what they want. It's best that you don't show any favoritism. That might be safer for both of us," she said calmly.

Jeff was having a hard time accepting her casual fatalism. The more she accepted her fate, the stronger his desire to protect her.

Then the epiphany struck.

Oleena was right.

She grew up in this environment. He was just a tourist with no clue how to survive here.

He knew shit.

Her hands cupped his face, and she paused as she felt his tears. "Are you crying?"

He sucked in a shaky breath and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm so frustrated as I'm out of my depth here. I don't know how to act. I don't know what to say. I don't know what's safe to do. My heart is breaking for you as I want so much to protect you from all the bad shit that surrounds us, but I have no power to do anything."

She brushed the tears away. "No one has ever cried for me before. Thank you. Neither of us has control over our situation, and I never expected you to save me. You gave me sight again! I never dreamt that I'd ever get that back. It's incredible, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. Now, it may be selfish of me to ask, as it's partially for me, but I'd like to be with you tonight."

Jeff struggled to get control over his emotions as he looked at her in shock. She wanted to be with him? That meant sex, right?

He felt a twinge of guilt as he was trying to remain faithful to Shih, but he realized she wasn't interested in him that way, and that made him feel foolish.

Oleena felt his hesitation. "A-are you promised to someone else?"

He huffed a surprised breath and smiled as it felt like she was reading his mind. "No. I thought there was a chance, but she made it clear she didn't want me that way."

"The assassin? Wouldn't her calling make that impossible?" Oleena said with surprise in her tone, and his smile widened.

"You see more without eyes than I do with them," Jeff admitted as he leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers gently.

She froze in surprise, so he kissed his way across her mouth tenderly, and she trembled at the sensation.

When he pulled back, he watched her expression curiously as she still hadn't moved.

"What... what was that?" she finally asked.

He froze as she touched her lips.

Jeff tried to recall if he'd seen anyone else kissing, but there hadn't been much opportunity to see such activities. "Uh, that was a kiss. It's something people from my world do to show affection... and sexual attraction. Don't people on this world kiss?"

"I've never felt it before! The other ladies in the brothel have never spoken of it," Oleena said quietly.

Jeff winced. "Was it unpleasant? We don't have to do it if you don't like it--"

"No! I like it! It made me tingle wonderfully! It... I just wasn't expecting it, and it was so new! We don't use our mouths for this!" Oleena gasped as she leaned closer.

Jeff smiled as he relaxed. "Never? That's a shame, as mouths are capable of delivering incredible pleasure!" he said as he moved his face very close to hers.

While he had little experience, he knew what he liked and listened to her reactions. He brushed his lower lip across hers, and she trembled with a little gasp.

When he pulled back, he saw she was showing against the soft fabric of her slip. He cupped her breasts in his hands, and she pressed herself more firmly against his palms as she gasped.

"Maybe we should remove these unnecessary clothes?" he suggested, and she smiled excitedly.

They stood next to the bed and quickly stripped.

Jeff took the opportunity to pull the quilt and top sheet down before Oleena climbed back on the bed and dropped onto her back. She reached her hands up to him as he moved onto the bed and lowered his body over hers. There was still a bit of a disparity in their sizes, but she sighed happily as she felt his weight on her body.

He touched her face and kissed her mouth again, and she sighed happily. When he touched her lower lip with the tip of his tongue, she gasped and writhed under his body.

"Oh! Oh, Jeff! What you're doing to me!" she gasped.

He smiled and moved his sensual kisses to her ear, then her neck, as he worked his way down her body. He worshipped her breasts with his lips before giving in to her need to feel his mouth on her nipples. The sensation on the stiff buds of sensitive, darker skin made her wail and clutch at his head.

She pulled at him, but he continued down her body, kissing her trembling stomach, dipping his tongue into her belly button, which yielded a strong gasp from her. He worshipped the gentle ridges of her hip bones, and her body writhed under him.

Oleena lifted her head from the bed to stare at him down her body as his face moved over her most sensitive spot.

Jeff could see her lower lips were slick with wetness, and another stiff nub of flesh was swollen with need.

He locked eyes with her through her blindfold as he lowered his mouth to kiss her clit, pressing his tongue firmly against it.

Oleena arched her body up, as her shoulders and heels pressed against the mattress. She lifted her hips up and off the bed as the intense ecstasy exploded across her nerves. Jeff felt himself rising upward as Oleena's muscles trembled as if she were plugged into a high-voltage line.

He moved his tongue down to stroke across her swollen pussy lips, and she howled with pleasure.

To keep from falling from her body, Jeff moved his grip to cling to her ass, squeezing her firm muscles in his hands.

This was too much for Oleena's mind. He suddenly found himself dropping as her muscles went limp. They bounced on the mattress once, and Jeff faceplanted between her legs. He looked up in surprise and saw that Oleena's head was thrown back, her mouth was open, her breathing was fast, and she seemed quite dazed.

Jeff eased himself off the bed and looked in the wardrobe for something to wipe his face with. He poured a little of the fresh water onto a cloth and wiped his face clean. He rinsed his mouth as well, just in case.

He walked back to the bed and saw Oleena slowly turn her face toward him. He could just make out her dark eyes through the lace, and she smiled at him as she curled her fingers to gesture him closer. He climbed onto the bed, and she tugged him to move over her. This pressed his erection against her wet pussy, and she sucked in a breath.

"You're so hard!" she purred.

"That's your magic," he sighed, and she giggled.

She moved her hips, and he suddenly sank into her hot depths.

"That feels incredible!" he sighed.

"For me, too! It's so much better when I'm prepared for it, and you do that better than anyone!" she insisted.

He grinned at her as his hips rocked from side to side when she had it all. She cooed with pleasure from the sensations he was giving her. He was truly enjoying this as well. He leaned forward and kissed her as he put pressure on her clit. She suddenly clung to him as her pleasure spiked.

She was clamping down on his cock, which felt wonderful!

She slipped her tongue into his mouth, and he sucked on it, making her moan excitedly.

Jeff drove himself into her with long strokes, and their bodies slapped together almost frantically. Each impact sent their pleasure higher until they quickly reached their limit.

Oleena's heels suddenly hooked behind his ass to pin him against her, his body grinding against hers, firing his cum deep inside. Her pussy clamped down on his cock in rapid pulses as she screamed silently.

They clung to each other as the bliss of their joining swept over them.

Both had their reasons for wanting this intimacy to never end, so they remained together until sleep found them in each other's arms.

Chapter 12

Shih rushed up the slope, invisible to the Talosian troops protecting the pass until she was past them, and on her way back down the Gaen side.

Now she began her work. Silently, efficiently, and with great proficiency. This was what she was meant to do.

While she worked, silencing the Gaen troops with utter finality, she was able to push thoughts of Jeff from her mind. The compulsion allowed her to park her anxiety as she was on her way to him in a way that would protect him.

She knew she had to be quick and silent to prevent the troops from warning the mountain base headquarters of the impending invasion. So far, none of them had been able to fire off their flare.

The Gaen patrols she encountered in the darkness on the mountainside were poorly trained and quickly fell to her blades, but the longer she spent on the slope, the greater the chance that one of the patrols would notice they couldn't reach the other patrol groups. Then they'd likely panic and fire off the flare to warn the others below.

She needed to move more quickly. To do this, she'd need to stop using her invisibility as it drained her.

Sprinting through the snow in the darkness toward the next group down the slope was dangerous, but she would just have to kill them more quickly as she reached them.

Another hour passed, and Shih finally managed to pause for a breath after she took out the last group. The patrols she'd already dispatched should have begun returning to the base, so she knew she only had minutes before the base became aware of the invasion.

She knew the Talosian troops were at this moment rushing down the slope toward the unaware Gaen army resting in the base.

She had to get there first to ensure they didn't organize a defense or send a group ahead to warn the capital.

Racing toward the headquarters, she was surprised to see a few patrol groups playing dice against the side of the building. They were quite excited, so they focused on this instead of heading up the slope to relieve the others.

She left them to their game and climbed the building to the roof. She slipped over the railing and quickly dispatched the lookouts posted to the observation platform. Neither of the men had been facing the mountain.

She was stunned by the incompetence of the soldiers stationed here.

She opened the hatchway and silently descended into the building. The top floor was the bunkroom, so she placed incendiary charges on the only staircase as she descended to the middle floor. This was office space, so there was little of interest for her here. She triggered the charges on the stairs as she rushed down the final set to the ground floor.

That's when she heard the screams and shouts from outside.

The Talosian troops had reached the base, and the attack was on. She set off a charge on the stairs leading up, then rushed down the hallway toward the base commander's office.

As she burst through his door, her blades immediately deflected his as she drove him back. They stopped moving as they faced off in the center of the room.

She wasn't surprised that he'd been prepared for battle, as she'd been briefed on his history.

That said, he looked far more comfortable holding his weapons than she'd been led to believe. She eyed him critically.

Commander Veritt was fit, if older, and obviously knew how to fight. He glanced toward the window where the sounds of battle raged. Mostly, there was a lot of angry, frightened screaming, which she knew came from the Gaen troops.

"It seems like you didn't come alone," the older man said as he watched her. "Did you come for the Healer?"

"You've met him?" she asked.

Something in the man's expression changed. Something he was trying to suppress.

"Yes. He... surprised me."

Shih couldn't prevent a smile from slipping onto her lips.

This made the commander frown again. "He healed my hands. It didn't seem to matter to him that I was the enemy."

"To him, you weren't," Shih said simply and launched her attack as he nodded.

He blocked her initial thrust but barely parried the follow-up slash. She was impressed with his skill, but she was tired from engaging so many patrols on the slope, and she still had more to do. She swept inside his guard and watched his eyes widen in slow motion. When the pommel of her sword struck his temple, his body folded under him, and he went down in a loose fall.

Shih stood above the unconscious commander, scowling down at him. Why had she turned her blade at the last second to brain him instead of killing him as she'd intended?

She didn't need to kill him, but it was what she did.

A huge, hulking brute of a Gaen soldier appeared in the doorway with a war hammer in his big fist. Blood dripped from the weapon.

He focused his crazed eyes on her and opened his mouth to give a mighty battle cry as he took a step into the room.

Shih slipped past him after her blade took his throat, stealing his voice, his breath, and soon, his life. He tried to turn in the doorway but fell over instead and quickly bled out on the threshold.

Shih was satisfied that she had no issues killing him and attributed the commander's survival to providence. Perhaps he might be useful to the Empress in some way.

She fought her way out of the building and saw that the top story was now completely engulfed in fire. Occasionally, a Gaen trooper would leap from the roof, through the flames. If they survived a three-story fall, a Talosian soldier would dispatch them quickly to put them out of their pain.

She spotted the Empress and rushed to her side.

"Shih, thank you for clearing the way. Unfortunately, three wagons raced off as we reached the building. They were filled with panicked Gaen soldiers.

Shih cursed the time she'd wasted on the commander. She should have headed for the stables.

Tarelka locked eyes with her. "What did you find inside?"

"They were sleeping upstairs. On the main floor, I met the commander. He was obviously a veteran soldier as he fought well, but I left him unconscious if you want to interrogate him."

They looked back at the building, which now showed flames beginning on the second floor.

Tarelka looked at two of her personal guards. "Join Shih to collect our prisoner."

Shih immediately turned and rushed back into the burning building to lead them to the commander's office. She pushed the big thug's corpse away from the doorway and pointed to the unconscious man. The guards grabbed his arms and rushed out of the office, down the hall, and out into the courtyard before the building to present the prisoner to the Empress.

Tarelka knelt next to the commander and lifted one of his hands before staring at Shih.

"The commander has a strength-robbing disease in his hands. This can't be him--" She stopped suddenly as she watched the smile on Shih's face.

"Why did Jeff heal this man's hands?" the Empress asked.

"Jeff's a Healer, so he's driven to help people. That said, perhaps he saw something in this man to take the time."

Tarelka was examining the commander's dense muscles and scars. She wasn't... displeased.

The troops had reached the livestock barns and hooked up as many beasts of burden as they could to the wagons they found. These all rolled up into the courtyard, and the Talosian troops climbed into the back.

The Empress conferred with her squad commanders, then faced Shih. "We'll take the advance group with us in the wagons. The bulk of the army will follow as quickly as they can."

"We are still faced with getting through the villages. We don't know how much resistance they'll give us," she admitted.

Shih frowned. "There's a good chance they might support our efforts."

Tarelka frowned. "They've been listening to Rionne's propaganda about us for years. I'm less convinced they'll have broken free of this just because Jeff healed a couple of people and pointed out they were given bad water."

"We need to move quickly, and I need to be in the lead wagon," Shih insisted.

The Empress frowned, then nodded. "Take one ahead of the rest of us, but don't enter the city without us."

She nodded, then rushed away to get on the first wagon, sitting next to the driver. "We're the scouting party. We go as fast as you can take us."

The driver nodded to her and then released the brake. He got them moving forward and gradually increased the beast's speed until it was running full out.

There were a few dicey moments on the trail as running in the dark was a little crazy, but Shih was grateful when they spotted the first village up ahead. Torches could be seen, and there seemed to be a lot of activity, which was odd for the early hour.

As they got closer, they saw one of the wagons that had fled from the headquarters was pinned down by a group of farmers with makeshift weapons. The surviving soldiers were struggling, and they initially cheered upon seeing what they thought were reinforcements.

Shih had the wagon stop. Then she rushed forward and slaughtered the Gaen soldiers brutally and quickly.

The farmers watched her nervously.

Shih faced them and called out loudly.

"We're here to rescue our Healer, Jeff, and to kill King Rionne and his troops if they get in our way! We have no quarrel with the Gaen people!"

Several began to speak excitedly.

One young man stepped forward. "A few days ago, we saw a wagon pass through the village with the small man with round ears. We sent runners after them and passed the word to each village until they found where they'd stopped overnight. They tried to rescue him, but the leader got away with him in their wagon." He caught his breath, then continued. "We've been expecting Gaen troops to attack to suppress the rebellion, but so far they haven't!"

This was news, if not great news. It meant Jeff was still alive just a few days ago! She focused on the farmers.

"We have the Talosian army behind us. They'll be here soon. We're not going to let the Gaen army attack you. Any support you can offer--"

One of the older Gaen villagers stepped forward. "We don't need Talosian interference in our country."

This caused a lot of grumbling amongst the villagers.

A spike of anger flared in Shih. "Hey! We didn't poison your wells. We didn't rape your women or kill your men. Rionne's people have been doing this to you and interfering with our Empire as well. We know it's not you, the Gaen people, but your leaders are far too vicious and corrupt to allow them to continue their attacks on us and ours. We will gladly accept your help with taking him out in any way you can offer. For now, we need to catch the other soldiers who made it past you."

"I'll go with you!" the young man insisted, then pointed to the wagon they'd stopped. "Get that working for the battle." He glanced at Shih. "My name is Jess," he said with an excited smile.

She felt a spike of tension in her chest when she heard the youth sound so much like Jeff.

Shih nodded to the young man, then rushed back to her wagon with him at her heels. Her need to find Jeff swelled in her chest.

The villagers parted to let them through as the driver picked up the pace, racing along the road once more.

The next village wasn't too far away, and once again they arrived to see some Gaen soldiers fighting tooth and nail against the determined farmers.

Shih leapt off the wagon's bench even before they'd stopped. She passed through the soldiers like smoke, and soon they were all gasping out their last breaths as the exhausted farmers moved back to stare at her.

"Are you the assassin who guarded the Healer?" one called out.

Shih looked at the man in surprise. "Yes, I am."

Jess joined them and quickly filled them in on what was happening and what was coming.

One of the men with a nasty-looking hook weapon and a few cuts and bruises to prove he'd been in the thick of the fighting had a suggestion. "You should use the fishing boats to get a few squads of the Talosian Army into Gaen-Rallas," the older man suggested. "The road is highly guarded, but ships enter the port freely, and there is far less security at the piers. You could strike the city's gate from inside."

Shih stared at the man in surprise. So did many of his neighbors.

"Since when are you a master strategist!" the man's neighbor exclaimed.

The older man smiled smugly. "I keep my eyes open every time I bring a shipment of fish to port. I always wondered how much effort they put into securing the road, but how little they put into the port. It's like they can't conceive of an attack from lowly fishermen.

"That's brilliant! You should share this with the Talosian group that's following us! How many wagons got past your blockade?" Shih asked.

"Just the one, but they had the most fighters on it," the strategist offered.

"Let's go," Shih said to Jess, and they ran back to their wagon.

Soon, they were rushing along at a breakneck speed in the dark once again.

The distance to the next village was longer, but they were moving faster than the wagon they were chasing, so they witnessed the murder of three villagers as the soldiers swung their swords from the back of the moving wagon. The rest of the villagers leapt out of the way as they screamed in horror.

Shih's wagon had to slow down to thread through the people, but Jess called out to assure the villagers they would catch and kill the bastards who did this.

Then they were back to full speed and caught sight of the wagon ahead of them. They were making a desperate attempt to flee, racing forward with little concern for safety.

Jess leaned closer to Shih. "There's a deep rut in the road at the turn into the next village. If they don't slow down...."

Shih smiled as she nodded to him, then leaned closer to the driver to instruct him to apply more pressure to the wagon ahead of them while preparing for rapid braking. She passed the message back to the four soldiers in the back, who braced themselves, eyes wide.

The poor beast pulling their wagon managed to run just a little faster and began to catch up.

She could see the group ahead watching them, and panic was setting in. They waved their hands frantically at their driver to go faster, and the gap stopped narrowing.

Suddenly, the wagon went airborne, and the Gaen soldiers bounced out of the wagon's bed to crash through a roadside thicket.

Everyone braced as their wagon braked hard and skidded to a halt. Shih jumped from the bench and raced forward with the soldiers right behind her.

She flung two daggers at two of the Gaen troopers who'd made it to their feet. The targets shrieked as the blades struck their groins. They dropped their swords as they reached for their junk. Shih's sword finished the job, then she turned to watch her four soldiers overwhelm the remaining three Gaen men lying in the dirt. Their driver died on impact when he was thrown from the wagon.

Jess ran ahead of them to meet up with the villagers. He was speaking rapidly to explain. He returned to the Talosians with a young woman at his side.

Shih immediately recognized her. "Netra?"

The woman smiled and nodded. Then her expression turned sad. "I'm so sorry we weren't able to rescue Jeff from the soldiers. We got word that they stopped in a village on their way to the capital, but when the villagers ambushed them, the leader got away with Jeff in the wagon."

"He wasn't hurt?" Shih asked tensely, and Netra raised her hands to assure her.

"No, he's alive!" she gasped.

Shih closed her eyes and tried to push her anxiety back to calm herself. When she opened her eyes, she saw Netra watching her with a smile. She forced her annoyance aside as well.

"As I mentioned to the other villagers, the Talosian Army is following us. We needed to stop the Gaen soldiers from warning the Gaen Army in the city that we're coming. I believe we've achieved this." Seeing the armed villagers, she nodded to herself.

"We've witnessed your people fighting back, so I assume this means you're no longer drinking the poisoned water."

Netra nodded. "We reached out to each village and passed along Jeff's recommendation. None of the wells are being used, and we've found that our will to fight is coming back surprisingly quick."

Shih nodded. "A member of the last village we passed through made an excellent suggestion on how we might breach the capital's security by having Talosian squads infiltrate the port on fishing boats so we can take the city gate from inside."

Netra's eyes widened. "That's an excellent idea. We can take boats from multiple villages!"

Several local fishermen enthusiastically offered their ships to the cause.

Shih smiled at Netra. "Jess indicated you are expecting Gaen troops to investigate your rebellion. Have you heard of any Gaen soldiers arriving in the villages?"

Netra smiled at Jess shyly, then shook her head at Shih. "It's worrying and odd as they are usually so eager to put down even the smallest act of resistance."

Shih frowned. "As their typical response is swift and bloody, this delay could mean they're taking the time to prepare a larger retaliation attack, or they're not concerned at all because they're somehow unaware of the rebellion."

Netra looked at Shih in surprise. "Our people killed all the soldiers and the driver. Only the leader and Jeff were on the wagon when it rushed away. The leader was very much aware that it was a rebellion!"

Shih nodded. "I'll have to get closer to the capital to see if they've amassed troops to put down the villagers' revolt. Optimally, we need to engage the enemy in the capital to ensure the king and his sycophants don't have the chance to escape. I may need to sabotage their efforts to leave the city without giving away the fact of our presence."

She looked at one of the soldiers who'd come with her. "I need you to deliver a report of my actions to the Empress when she arrives in this village." He nodded to her.

"You're going to need a local resource to get closer to the city without attracting attention to yourself. I'm volunteering to do this," Jess insisted with a firm voice as he held her eyes.

Netra opened her mouth to volunteer as well, but Shih looked at her directly.

"I need you to be the go-between for the Empress and the Gaen villagers. You've already organized them more quickly than I expected and did an excellent job. The Empress will need your skills."

Netra blinked in surprise at the compliment, then nodded with a smile.

Shih looked at Jess. "Can you drive a wagon?" The young man nodded, so Shih looked to the eastern horizon, which remained dark. They had time. "We'll get as close to the city without being seen and wait for dawn to see their level of activity."

They ran back to their wagon, and the driver stepped down when Jess explained their mission. Soon, they were on their way.

They encountered no more soldiers but did stop to speak to the patrols in the next three villages they passed through.

The horizon was just beginning to lighten as they moved their wagon into the shadows below a dense thicket. The beast happily munched on the dew-laden grasses it found there.

Shih and Jess moved to the edge of the woods next to the road leading to the city wall. The doors were closed, and a few night guards were moving slowly along the wall above.

Almost an hour went by as they waited for the first signs of the city awakening. The guards changed as the day crew arrived, and finally, the doors opened.

Shih turned to Jess. "Where is the military post in relation to this doorway?"

Jess looked back at the door and saw him recalling the interior. He looked at her. "You turn left once you enter the gate, and the barracks are built into the outer wall, a five-minute walk down that wide lane. There's a parade ground there as well. That's where they'd prepare their forces."

"Wait for me here," she said, and he nodded.

Racing across the distance to the gate, she called upon her magic to make her invisible to observers. She was weary from her activities, so she wouldn't be able to keep this active for long. She'd find some shadows inside to hide in.

When the gate was empty of foot traffic, she slipped through and turned left. Stretched out before her was a long, brightly lit street curving off into the distance. Not a shadow in sight. She'd have to drop her magic soon. She'd never make it to the barracks. She moved further into the city and found a poorly lit back alley with refuse bins on one side. They offered shelter from view, so she ducked behind them and released her magic.

She ached with exhaustion. She'd been going too hard for too long. Just the battle to cross the mountain and take out the patrols was enough to force her to rest, but she hadn't. She paused, still feeling a sense of urgency.

A need to find him.

She snarled silently. Getting herself caught or worse, killed, would not help her rescue him!

She needed to recuperate. Glancing down the alley to its other end, she realized it would take her closer to the parade ground. She'd catch her breath, then move in that direction.

Shih recalled the orders the Empress had given her not to enter the city until her army had arrived. This was only the second time she'd disobeyed a direct order.

She wondered if the Empress would forgive her this time.

Pushing that aside, she slipped down the alley unseen and paused at the end to hide behind some stacked boxes.

Peering around them, she realized she was staring at the parade ground, and it was completely empty!

Weren't they aware of the villager revolt?

A sharp spike of fear shot through her. What did that mean for Jeff's safety? The spy who captured Jeff would have reported the revolt, and their typical response was to attack fiercely, but no one was here.

She needed more information. That would only be found in the palace.

Slipping back into the alley, she set her course to move further into the capital.

Chapter 13

Jeff woke with the sound of the door's lock being opened.

"Wake up!" a new voice barked.

Jeff stumbled out of bed and grabbed his clothes to tug them on.

Before him was someone wearing the garb he'd seen Chamberlain Obrey wearing. As he finally got his tunic over his head, he looked more closely at the man.

His face didn't have the angularity of Obrey, but the cruelty was still visible in his eyes. He was also a physically large being.

"I'm Chamberlain Koone. You will address me as Chamberlain," the man snapped.

"Yes, Chamberlain," Jeff said immediately.

Koone's head turned as he stared at Oleena, who was peeking above the sheets in their general direction. The lace was still over her eyes.

The Chamberlain turned to stare at Jeff with a grimace on his face. "You blindfolded a blind whore? Are you some kind of freaky sex fiend? Sick fuck!"

Jeff was frozen.

Koone stared at Oleena, his expression troubled as he touched his junk through his robe, then he turned to the two guards standing in the doorway.

"Change of plans. Take her back to the other whores."

Jeff hoped this change was for the better.

"What happened to Chamberlain Obrey?" Jeff asked gently.

Koone marched over to stand right in front of him and glared down at him. "Oh, I don't know, JEFF, what do you think happened to my cousin?"

"Nothing good?" Jeff ventured, wondering at the disclosure of his relationship to Obrey.

Koone clenched his fists, then released the tension. "Right. Let's go."

The guards had already collected Oleena and were marching her down the stairs ahead of them.

This seemed to piss off the Chamberlain, as he should have been allowed to leave the tower first.

Jeff followed him close behind.

When they reached a landing with a corridor leading in opposite directions, the guards went left, and Koone led him to the right.

Jeff didn't cast a glance toward Oleena as he remembered her warning.

The Chamberlain led him through one corridor after another until they reached a large door with guards standing on either side. Jeff saw they were prime examples of Sergeant Bung-level brutes. Nothing much was happening behind those tiny eyes.

A doorman nodded to Koone and knocked on the door.

They heard someone calling out, "Enter!"

The doorman opened the door to stand in the gap. "Chamberlain Koone with the Healer, Your Majesty."

"Let them enter!" Rionne barked, and the doorman stepped back to gesture for them to enter.

Koone walked in with Jeff at his back, but stopped when he saw the dead body on the floor beside the large table.

Rionne grinned at him. "It's a little too late to heal my taster. He discovered my breakfast wasn't too healthy."

He gestured to the chair on the side of the table opposite the dead man.

"You may wait outside, Chamberlain," Rionne said without taking his eyes from Jeff.

The man bowed and quickly left the room.

Jeff moved to the empty chair and sat as directed.

"If the Chamberlain hadn't been so slow in collecting you, could you have saved the taster?" the King asked curiously.

"Uh, I suppose it depends on how fast-acting the poison is," he responded. "Before he ate it, I could have checked the food for poison and neutralized it."

Rionne's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? You can detect poison in food without tasting it?"

Jeff watched the man's face. It really was a roadmap to the ailments plaguing him. He pushed that aside. "Yes, I can detect poisons, and I can neutralize them."

The King pushed his breakfast plate toward Jeff. "Show me!"

Jeff moved the plate to the placemat before him and hovered his hands over the food. Three of the items on the plate contained a potent poison. He extracted it and let it hover in the green light as he analyzed the chemical breakdown. He reached for a cup and let the poison drain into the cup.

"That's the poison?" Rionne exclaimed.

"Yes. It's very potent--"

"So, the cook--"

"Not necessarily. The poison was likely added to the food after it was prepared. From the time the plate was ready until it reached your table. Cooking temperatures would have altered the chemicals in the poison," Jeff said honestly.

Rionne watched Jeff keenly as he saw the hunger on his face. He smiled.

"So, the food is safe now?"

Jeff nodded. "Yes."

"Eat it then," Rionne challenged.

Jeff blinked at the king, then picked up a fork, scooped up a large amount of what looked like eggs, and stuffed it into his mouth. He wasn't too impressed with the quality of the cooking, but it was edible.

"Enough! Give me my plate back!" Rionne snapped and held out his hand.

Eyes on the pouting king, Jeff swallowed his mouthful and handed it back.

What followed was a disgusting display of someone with absolutely no shame, stuffing the food into his face as fast as his hands could move.

Jeff felt ill watching this and looked away, but the slurping, chewing, and swallowing noises almost made him lose what little food he had in his stomach. The king was a PIG!

"So, I'll have you take over the responsibilities of testing my food, and you'll stay close in case I need healing," Rionne insisted.

Jeff nodded. "Did you want me to do a diagnostic scan on your body to determine what needs healing?"

"Why? I'm healthy!" Rionne said with a scowl.

Jeff stared at the king as he cataloged all the issues he could see.

"Okay. Maybe there is a palace infirmary where I could help out?"

Rionne looked at him like he was an idiot. "What part of the title King's Personal Healer don't you get? You only keep me healthy. See you at lunch. Guards!"

The doors opened, and the two brutes entered.

"Take my Healer back to his room," Rionne said as he picked his teeth with a satisfied grin.

Jeff stood and joined the guards at the door. Two others took over the duty of standing outside the door as they closed.

Jeff walked between the two brutes as one led him all the way up those damn stairs as the other followed. Once they pushed him into his room and locked the door, Jeff stood in the middle of the room and stared at the space that would be his world until he was rescued or until he died.

He prayed for the former but feared it might be the latter.

Chapter 14

Lartine was the port manager for Gaen-Rallas and oversaw all shipments entering his port. He was currently sitting in his office, reviewing the reports for the recent shipments from the upriver villages. There was a definite decrease in volume over the past month, and he was preparing a report to send to the palace to inform them. He was aware that this would lead to a culling of villagers to get them back into line and enforce the quotas the king demanded.

He was also aware that the royal storehouse had a surplus and was storing this in alternate sites. It wasn't his job to suggest they didn't need to maintain this quota.

He didn't really care if the villagers were starving while the city's stores overflowed.

He didn't really care if the troops culled the discontented villagers to put them back in line.

He just hated doing all this paperwork.

His second-in-command called out from the outer office.

"Incoming village ships!"

Lartine smiled. Maybe they were just late this month. If they came in with the remaining balance, he wouldn't have to submit the shortfall report.

He left his office and joined Barrta by the third-story windows that looked down upon the port and river. The dockworkers were preparing for the ships by clearing paths for the goods to be moved across the piers and into the port warehouses.

Getting eight boats all at once was a surprise, but maybe they'd tried to withhold the goods and chickened out at the last minute. That sent a flare of annoyance through the port manager.

"Let's go down there and give them shit for being late!" Lartine said with a wicked grin. Barrta chuckled and joined his boss as they rushed down the stairs.

As they hustled along the pier, Lartine saw all eight boats had been tied up, and the captains were climbing back up to their wheelhouses.

He frowned angrily. Weren't they going to assist with the unloading?

Lartine and Barrta froze as warriors suddenly surged from the decks of the boats to run along the pier towards them.

It was an invasion! The city was being attacked! But... from the port?

He turned to yell up to his second-in-command to sound the alarm, but realized the man was standing next to him. They stared at each other for another shocked second, then both turned and raced for the office. Before they reached the stairs leading up, a black-clad female stepped from the doorway and shook her head. She flicked blood from her blades and smiled at them. She looked weary.

Lartine glanced toward the warehouse and saw that the guards were all down. Shit!

"We must reach the alarm to warn the city," Lartine insisted quietly, and Barrta nodded. "Now!"

They surged forward, but at the last second, Lartine shoved Barrta directly at the female and dodged around them as they collided. He heard his second-in-command gasp as the woman's blade plunged into his gut.

He took the stairs two at a time to reach the upper office and raced across the room to grab the rope that would trigger the alarm bells.

The thrown dagger went through his hand, and he lost all muscle control in it. He swatted the rope, making it swing. He spun to stare into eyes that showed him his death.

Her blade slashed through his neck as he tried to leap back. Instead, his back hit the windows, and he went through, the glass exploding outward. His body fell, crashing off the roof of the lower building before he hit the pier.

As he stared up at a slice of sky, his life quickly drained away. His last thought was of the report he'd no longer need to submit.

It wasn't important now.

-=-

Shih returned to the dock after she collected her dagger from the corpse and met the Talosian invasion force. The captain looked at her closely, but she waved a hand to dismiss his concerns.

"I've confirmed they're not preparing an assault on the villagers. Their army is currently not active, aside from the City Guard. We must take the main gate. I've mapped out the fastest route from the port to the gatehouse so we can prevent the portcullis from being lowered."

The man nodded and gestured for the troops to prepare themselves for the charge.

Shih went to the port entrance and saw no one had disturbed the bodies she'd propped up there. Quickly scanning the roadway beyond, she saw nothing but the usual early morning traffic. She gestured behind herself to indicate they should follow, then she stepped outside and walked along the road to the alley leading toward the main gate. It ran parallel to the main thoroughfare but was much less traveled.

Once she was in the alley, she picked up her pace until she was running full out. Her body immediately complained about the demand she was placing on it, so she had no choice but to slow her pace.

The captain caught up and gave her another cautious look. She frowned and faced forward to watch for any sign that they'd been spotted. All was quiet. Discipline in the Gaen troops was atrociously bad.

At the end of the alley, they met up with the outer wall. A short distance away stood a set of double doors leading into the gatehouse. Two bored guards leaned back against the wall on either side of the entrance.

She undid a few buttons on her vest to display more cleavage, then seductively walked down the road to pass the two men who smiled and pushed away from the wall to slowly follow her. She smiled back at them as they got closer. Behind them, the captain led six of his men into the double doors. The rest of the troops were quickly following.

Something alerted one of the two following Shih, and he turned to see a steady stream of Talosian warriors rushing into the gatehouse. He shouted, which made his partner spin to look back.

That's when the thrown dagger slammed into the side of his neck.

Shih leapt onto his back and ripped it free. A huge spray of blood followed the blade and hit his partner across the side of his face. She hadn't expected him to grab her leg and slam himself backward against the wall before his muscles lost tone and he fell to his knees.

She'd hit the stonework hard, so she was dazed when his blood-covered partner leapt at her with his sword point aimed at her chest. She twisted her body from the path of the sword but tripped over the guard on the ground. She managed to turn this into a roll, but he came after her with a cry of rage. He surged forward and found himself impaled on three Talosian swords as they came to her defense.

The soldiers kicked his body free of their swords and helped Shih stand.

She was really feeling her exhaustion now. She followed the soldiers inside the doors and realized she was the last to enter. She pulled the doors closed and bolted them from inside.

She heard a fierce battle up ahead, but when she got there, the captain was locking the portcullis in the open position. He nodded to one of his men, and a flare was fired into the sky above the gate.

The Empress would be joining them shortly.

-=-

A messenger burst into King Rionne's Great Audience Hall with fear in his eyes.

Rionne scowled at his rudeness, then saw the man's fear. "What is it?" he snapped.

"Invasion, Your Majesty! Empress Tarelka's army has breached the outer wall of the city!"

"What? What of the troops stationed on the wall and guardhouse?" the king shouted.

"They're being slaughtered, Sire!" the messenger gasped.

Rionne spun to look at his guards. "Bring me the Healer!" They rushed back through the rear doors to climb the tower stairs again.

"Collect your families!" Rionne yelled to his Royal Court, and those with children quickly rushed out another door to head to their estates attached to the outer wall of the palace. The king noticed that a few, whom he knew had children, didn't leave to bring them into the castle.

He put that aside and looked at his General in charge of the Army. He was a distant cousin, but right now, he was the one who would give them time to escape. His soldiers would need to hold the palace defenses long enough for Rionne and his court to escape through the tunnels.

"Kastex! Where are the bulk of our forces currently positioned?"

"I don't know!"

Rionne stared at the man in shock. "What? What do you mean, you don't know!"

The two guards rushed into the room with the Healer dangling between them. They pushed the small being to the floor, then looked to the King.

"Join the troops manning the Palace defenses!" the king shouted at them, and they frowned before moving to the main doors to exit the audience hall.

Kastex slipped out the door with them to avoid having to answer any more questions from the king.

Rionne watched him leave with a scowl.

Then his eyes landed on the small man with round ears. "Healer! Come here!"

The small one walked up to Rionne, then bowed. "Your Majesty."

Rionne couldn't stop himself from smiling at the being's subservient behavior. It settled his nerves. It showed him that there were still things in his control.

"You will stay by my side," he said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

That was better.

His court officials, who'd left to collect their family members, returned, but some of them were carrying heavy-looking travel cases instead of their children. As more of them returned, Rionne noted that more children were absent. He pushed that from his mind. He didn't really care.

The audience chamber doors opened, and a squad of archers and swordsmen entered.

"That's our cue to take to the tunnels," Rionne said to the court officials. Two of them hadn't returned from their home, but too bad for them.

Rionne moved to the wall panel behind his throne and used an ornate key to unlock the hidden door there.

The moment he pushed the door into the dark entrance, a deep rumble shook the palace, and a blast wave of dusty air slammed the door closed once more, knocking Rionne into the back of his throne.

Jeff knelt next to him and checked him for injuries, tending to a few cuts and bruises. Rionne pushed him away after he felt better. He climbed back to his feet and tried his key in the lock, but the door wouldn't budge. It was jammed in its frame, and smoke was leaking through the cracks around it.

Something was on fire, and it smelled like explosives.

They wouldn't be using the escape tunnels.

"Seal the main door!" Rionne yelled, and some guards rushed forward to lift the heavy wooden beam into the braces on the doors. The smaller exits were locked as well.

They were trapped in the Audience Hall.

They'd have to rely on the troops. Rionne walked back to the platform his throne stood upon and faced the doors.

Outside, his troops were obviously overwhelming the Talosian forces. The invaders would've fought their way over the mountains, fought the squads at the mountain base, then faced the Gaen citizens in every village between the mountain and the capital. That would have whittled their numbers down considerably. Granted, he wasn't expecting much from the villagers who were affected by the wells.

He nodded to himself. This was no time to panic. His army was mighty. They'd crush the remaining Talosian soldiers easily. Still...

"Healer. Come here."

The small being joined him on the platform, and Rionne turned the man around to face the door.

Then he rested his left hand on his shoulder with a dagger in his hand, blade pressed lightly against the Healer's neck.

After a moment, he felt the Healer relax into the pose.

Rionne felt himself relaxing as well. He had things under control.

Yes. All was as it should be.

-=-

Outside the city gates, eyes looked to the sky to witness a flare arcing overhead. These guards then turned their eyes to the edge of the forest as the Talosian troops suddenly rushed forward in wagons or on foot. Bowmen braced themselves in the beds of the wagons, firing a deadly rain of arrows into the guards positioned in the entrance and on the walls.

The Gaen troops guarding the walls scrambled to get their bows ready, only to find Talosian warriors racing at them along the wall with swords swinging. The Gaen bowmen were quickly decimated before they could fire a single arrow.

The defense of the main entrance fell, and the Talosian army swept into the city. Foremost amongst this wave of invading warriors was Empress Tarelka. She cut a huge path through the Gaen warriors until their nerve broke and they abandoned their comrades.

Any Gaen troops who tried to put up a fight quickly found themselves being viciously wiped out. En masse, they began to abandon their posts and flee, but most were cut down without mercy. Talosian spies covered the city's exits and picked off the fleeing Gaen warriors, ensuring they would not leave alive.

The palace defenses should have held back the invaders long enough for the king and his elite citizens to escape through hidden tunnels beneath the castle, but Talosian spies learned of these escape routes and detonated explosives to collapse them before they could be used.

Another reason for the palace's fall was that key defense zones were unmanned after some of the Royal Guard deserted their positions. Once the Talosian troops got past these, the remaining Royal Guard found themselves fighting a battle on two fronts, and their lack of discipline doomed them.

Empress Tarelka walked through the palace's halls carrying a massive sword, streaked with blood and gore. She'd personally cleared three of the defense zones and carved her way through two assassination attempts by groups of Royal Guard. None of this put a scratch on her, and all the splashes of blood she wore belonged to the fools who thought they were qualified to battle her.

Her spies had given her a complete layout of the city and palace, from the tunnels below to the high tower cell the Healer was locked in. The time she'd spent preparing was seen by some as hesitation and doubt. The Empress had determined that she'd only visit Gaen once, so all her targets had to be contained and dealt with in a single attack.

So far, her plan was running smoothly.

She admitted the bulk of that smoothness was directly due to Shih's efforts. Tarelka was amazed by how deadly her assassin had been on this mission.

She also knew Shih must be out of energy by this point. No one could fight so hard for so long without burning out.

A momentary doubt flickered across her brow.

This covenant Shih had entered with the ancient God might be responsible for Shih's current energy expenditure. The weapon she'd raised from a child was obsessed with getting her Healer back. Driven to do it, one might say.

The last word she'd received on Shih was regarding her activities at the port and the gatehouse. Both had been essential for the success of the mission, so she couldn't fault her for disobeying her order not to enter the city without them. Her efforts continued to keep the invasion moving.

Smooth sailing, indeed.

Her brow creased as she didn't know where Shih went after the gatehouse. She was in the wind.

Tarelka pushed that concern aside as she was standing before the doors to the audience chamber. Inside were the leaders of Gaen, all the elite citizens, the top officers of their army, and, of course, King Rionne.

She assumed the Healer would be there as well. He'd likely be held hostage and be the emergency medical support for the king.

A row of Talosian shield bearers approached the door and slammed their shields against it. They moved but refused to open.

"They've barricaded the door with a drawbar!" one of the shield bearers said as he peered through the slight gap between the doors.

Tarelka stepped forward and mightily slashed her sword through the gap to split the drawbar in two. She stepped back as her warriors cheered and once more slammed their tall shields against the door. It immediately swung open.

A flight of arrows fired from within the chamber struck the shields, but none got past to harm their empress. The warriors surged forward, cut down the bowmen, and engaged the few swordsmen to impale them on their spear tips.

Then they stopped as there were no more soldiers to kill.

Pressed up against the far wall were roughly thirty-five people. The upper crust of Gaen Society who'd come to the Palace at the first sign of trouble. They'd likely expected their king would rescue them by sneaking them out of the kingdom through the escape tunnels... that were no longer passable.

She saw that most were adults, but a few brought their children, who wept fearfully as their parents held them in their arms... like shields.

To the right of this group stood King Rionne, surrounded by his senior officers, eight senior staff, though a few of them were crying too.

Empress Tarelka spotted one person who wasn't like the others and didn't belong there. A small man with round ears and a very worried expression. Then she saw Rionne's hand holding a blade against Jeff's neck.

Rionne was grinning, and she wondered if he truly understood just how dire his situation was.

"The Bitch Empress finally stands before me!" Rionne called out, his voice breathy from excitement.

He jostled his hostage a little, but Jeff's expression didn't change. Tarelka suddenly realized it wasn't worry on his face.

It was concentration!

What was he up to?

"Are you ready to die?" Tarelka said to the king and his officers.

The criers began to wail, and the two closest to her fainted, falling to the floor.

Two more collapsed at the back of the group. The king's body shields were running out.

Then Tarelka saw the air ripple behind Rionne and recognized who had joined them. The two officers at the back who'd fallen hadn't fainted. They were dead.

The rest of the group were facing her, so they'd missed the signs of Shih's imminent exposure. Tarelka needed to buy her assassin some time.

Before she could think of something, there was a sudden flash of green light, and Rionne squealed in bliss before falling limply to the floor.

Jeff immediately threw himself over Rionne's body, then nodded to Tarelka.

With a mighty battle cry, the Empress shot forward, swinging her sword in a wide arc. She trusted Shih would avoid this attack, which cleaved through the necks and torsos of the remaining four officers.

Droplets of blood sprinkled over the unconscious king and Jeff.

A split second later, Shih appeared next to the Healer and hauled him off the king to toss him aside. Then she drew her dagger and held it high to plunge it into the heart of the king.

"NO!" Jeff shouted and threw himself on top of the king once more. "Don't kill him--YET!"

Shih's hands were shaking with rage, exhaustion, and confusion as she glared at him.

"Why are you saving his life--" Shih shouted, then froze as she held his eyes with hers. What did he say?

Jeff sagged. "I overloaded his body with bliss until he passed out. If you kill him now, the last thing he'll feel is intense pleasure. Let it wear off. He deserves a far more brutal execution."

Tarelka smiled at the Healer. Smart, resourceful little man!

Jeff looked up at Shih and finally noticed how exhausted she was. He stood and wrapped his arms around her. Tarelka saw surprise and confusion flash across the assassin's face, then a secret little smile she hadn't seen since Shih was a young girl being comforted on her lap. She hadn't known that emotion still resided within her deadliest weapon.

The Empress next looked at Jeff's face and was surprised to see loneliness, then sadness. His hands on her back began to glow with warm light, not the green of healing, and Shih gasped. She immediately looked more alert, so Tarelka assumed he was giving her energy.

"The culling is not yet done," Tarelka said as her eyes moved back to the people who'd sucked the life from the citizens of Gaen.

"Why won't you help us, Healer? How can you let them kill us?" a voice cried out from the crowd scornfully.

Jeff reluctantly released Shih and tried to find the speaker, but it could have been any of them, so he just addressed the group.

"I will do my best to save the people of Gaen, but not the ones who preyed on them and treated them like lesser beings," Jeff said and turned away.

Tarelka gestured to a hooded spy waiting back by the open door, and she immediately rushed forward to bow her head. "Take the Healer someplace safe. He doesn't need to see this."

She saw Jeff wince, as he probably imagined what would happen next. The Empress' spy took his arm and guided him out the door.

Tarelka saw Shih watching the Healer leave before she realized her Empress was staring at her.

"Do you have enough energy for what needs to be done?"

Shih turned her face to lock eyes with her Empress. "Yes."

"Then let us complete our work here. Distasteful as it is."

Chapter 15

Jeff looked at the hooded woman and bent down a little to catch a glimpse of her face. Her body language was familiar.

"Did you bring me my meals in the tower?" he asked gently.

The hint of a smile appeared, and a brief nod.

"Thank you," he said.

He could still hear screaming, so he began walking faster, just to get out of range.

"Where would you like to go?" the spy asked.

Jeff paused. His heart was still aching from hugging Shih and not feeling her react as he'd hoped. He had to put some distance between his hopes and reality.

Thinking of what he needed to do next, there were two instances where people had been kind to him. First were the ladies who bathed him upon arrival. Then there was Oleena. He needed to know they were okay.

"The ladies who worked in the bathing room? Could I see them... to ensure they're all right?"

The woman smiled and nodded. "Follow."

They walked through the palace corridors until they arrived at the room he recognized. The ladies were sitting close together on the cushions.

"Hello! I just wanted to make sure nobody harmed you... Uh, in the battle,"

They smiled and shared looks. "Are you our new master?"

Jeff's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Oh, no! I'm nobody's master! I'm just a Healer."

He turned to the hooded woman. "Are you aware of the Empress' plans for Gaen?

The woman shook her head. "I'm not included in such discussions and decisions. You should speak with the Assassin as she gives the Empress her counsel and is involved in such things."

Jeff nodded, then turned back to the women who were now kneeling on the cushions, facing him beseechingly. "I-I will speak to her about you."

"Thank you!" the ladies said, then shared glances.

"We saved these for you," one said as she removed a loose footer board on a set of drawers. She reached under it to pull out a wrapped item.

His face lit up! "Ah! My shoes! Thank you so much! Thank you!" he gasped as he kicked off the slippers, pulled on his shoes, and tightened the laces. So much better!

Jeff nodded to them with a wide smile, then turned to the spy. "There is another group who needs protecting. Can you take me to see the--to see Oleena?"

"Ah, the whores! Yes, right this way," the woman said with a smile as her voice carried to the others. The ladies looked at Jeff more closely and smiled.

Jeff hustled after the hooded one, and they descended several levels until they reached the beginning of the dungeon. Apparently, they kept the sex workers locked in a large room with smaller rooms attached for the actual business.

A thought popped into his head. "I need to examine the women here to see if any need healing."

The spy smiled at him. "Should I give you privacy?"

Jeff blinked at her in confusion. "It's a medical exam to see if they are sick with anything? If they need privacy, then by all means--OH! Ah! I'm not here to do THAT!" The woman's smile suddenly connected the dots in his mind. "That's not why I'm here. They were forced into this work, and I just need to ensure they weren't hurt by it!"

"Ah," the spy said calmly and nodded, but her smile never dimmed.

Face burning, Jeff followed the woman after she collected the keys to the cells and let them into the brothel. The guards had abandoned their post at the beginning of the palace's fall, leaving the women inside to hide, huddled together in fear.

They finally found them in a large common room at the back of the brothel. None were wearing more than some loose, gauzy strips that covered little.

"Oleena?" Jeff called out.

"Jeff!" a voice exclaimed excitedly from the back.

There was a surge of voices from the group.

"This is Jeff?" "He's the one you spoke of?" "Is he the one?"

The voices questioning Oleena overlapped excitedly as they all focused on the new arrivals.

They moved forward to surround Jeff as the spy stepped back to watch from a distance. None of the ladies seemed inclined to violence, so she didn't try to stop them.

Jeff smiled as Oleena moved before him. She was still wearing the lacy blindfold, but he could see her eyes watching him through the gaps. His smile slipped when he saw a bruise on her cheek. He immediately reached up and let his healing light sink into her face to see what damage had been done. He sighed in relief when he determined there was no significant injury. He healed the bruising and lowered his hands.

"Empress Tarelka of Talosia has captured the palace, and Gaen's army is in the process of being executed by Talosian soldiers--" he glanced at the spy, "and agents of her Empire." That got him a smile from the hooded woman.

"I don't know who will take over the governing of Gaen, but the current, corrupt rulers are all being executed. I don't really know anything about the Empress' plans. I came down here to ensure you were okay and protected. May I examine you to ensure you're all healthy?"

That caused a burst of giggles.

Jeff looked at them with exasperation. "I'm a Healer! I'm just going to ensure you have no injuries or sickness!"

The boldest of the ladies moved to stand directly before him. "Oleena has described to us in... exquisite detail how you treated her the night she was with you. I think none of us would object to you giving us the same treatment."

"Oh--Oh! That's very sweet of you to say, but this is just a health check to make sure you're healthy and aren't suffering from any ailments," Jeff managed to say with a blush. Her smile widened.

Jeff looked around and spotted a long bench he could use as an examination table. He moved it away from the wall and placed a nearby throw blanket over its surface. He gestured to the bench as he looked the bold woman in the eye. "If you could lie down here, I'll begin my exam."

With a smirk, the woman did as asked, and he knelt next to her and began at her feet, passing his diagnostic magic into her body.

He discovered she had some bruising as well, though most of it was concentrated inside her vagina and on her breasts. From brutally rough customers, he assumed. He alleviated this pain, and she gasped in surprise.

When he reached her scalp, he leaned back in satisfaction. Other than the bruising, she was healthy, so he gave her a smile. "All done. You're perfectly healthy!"

She sat up and looked at him in surprise. Then a little smile appeared on her lips. "What? Not even a kiss?"

Jeff stared at her incredulously. "I-I was told people here didn't kiss and didn't even know what it was!"

The woman smiled hungrily. "We don't, but Oleena spoke very highly of it!"

"Ah," Jeff said, finding Oleena in the crowd and seeing her smile. He looked back at his patient. "It's not appropriate for a Healer to do that with his patients. Kissing is for lovers and life partners."

"I believe I've already mentioned that we're all willing to experience what Oleena did with you. To be your lovers. At the very least, we would like to know what a real kiss feels like."

Jeff looked back toward the door and saw the spy watching him with a smug little smile. He could almost hear her: "I told you so."

He faced the woman who was waiting with a coy little smile. He took a deep breath, then gently took her face between his hands and pressed his lips against hers, finishing by caressing her bottom lip with his.

She sucked in a little breath as her eyelashes fluttered from the sensations.

He helped her to her feet, and Oleena guided her away as three ladies tried to get on the bench next.

Jeff pointed to one of the seated ladies, and the other two stood to begin a line.

He ran diagnostic scans on each woman and was generally pleased to see they were mostly healthy. Two had mild infections he was able to cure, three had vaginal bruises, many had scars, and one had a poorly set bone fracture. He took particular care to rebuild the bones and realign her skeleton, but when he was done, they were all healed, and he felt only mildly fatigued.

Each woman had insisted on kissing him and wouldn't leave his table until they received one.

When the last woman joined the group, giggling with their friends, Jeff faced Oleena.

She put her arms over his shoulders and smiled down at him. "You saved us."

Jeff shook his head. "No, that was Empress Tarelka, Shih, and the Empress' people. I'm so glad you survived!"

Oleena leaned forward and kissed Jeff.

He let it happen as it felt very good, and it eased a little of his sadness about Shih.

A sharp intake of breath from the doorway was his only warning.

A hand landed on his chest, and he was shoved back.

The bench caught the back of his knees, and he fell hard, cracking his head against the stone wall.

He saw stars.

Then he was out.

Chapter 16

Jeff became aware of a soft mattress beneath his body, a soft pillow under his head, and soft blankets covering him.

It felt familiar, so he opened his eyes and immediately moaned.

He was back in his tower prison.

Had he dreamed the entire rescue?

A noise drew his eyes to the door, which opened without the sound of a key unlocking it first.

He jolted slightly when Shih stepped inside. His eyes widened when she was followed by Oleena, who was sporting another bruised cheek.

The final surprise was the Empress' spy, who was the third person through the open door.

They approached the bed, and Jeff watched silently and cautiously. An image of Shih rushing close to push him violently over the bench replayed in his mind. He couldn't read her expression when she'd done it. He wasn't sure why she'd done it.

Glancing at the three, he still couldn't read Shih's expression. Oleena was smiling sweetly, and the spy seemed to be enjoying the situational tension.

"What happened?" he asked.

Shih flicked a glance at Oleena, who nodded to her.

"I'm sorry for hitting you so hard," Shih said. Then her eyes went back to Oleena, who nodded slightly and encouraged her to continue. Was she coaching her?

"Why?" he asked bluntly.

Shih stared at him. "Why am I sorry?"

"No--well, yes, I'd like to know why you're sorry too, but why did you hit me?" Jeff asked.

Shih closed her eyes for a moment, then she looked into his eyes. "I was... jealous."

Jeff froze, and Shih quickly looked away.

Oleena gave the assassin a kind smile, then turned to Jeff. "She thought we might be a couple, and her feelings for you confuse her as she's never felt them before. The push was just instinctive to separate us."

Jeff couldn't take his eyes off Shih. "I didn't know you had any feelings for me. You made it clear to me that you didn't." Shih looked away.

Oleena continued when Shih said nothing. "Lila, here, informed me that Shih was trained to be an assassin from childhood. As it wasn't needed for her role, she wasn't taught to recognize and express emotions such as love and affection. It's clear that she feels them but doesn't know how to deal with them. I've explained to her that you told me you have feelings for her."

Jeff's mind was filled with fireworks he was trying to ignore so he could hear Oleena's words.

So, the spy had a name. Lila.

He pushed that trivia aside as he was still processing the idea that Shih had feelings for him that might be love or become love. She looked like she might flee at any moment, so he realized he'd have to take baby steps.

"I'm very happy to learn that you may have similar feelings for me that I have for you," he said gently, and her eyes flicked to his to read his intent. He just smiled, and one flickered on her lips.

Oleena wasn't finished. "I told her that I love you and I'm comfortable with being your second mate."

Jeff's jaw dropped open in surprise as he looked to Oleena.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lila's grin widen. She was really enjoying the show. He swore she'd be eating a big bowl of popcorn as she watched the drama unfold before her.

"Second mate? Is that even a thing on this world?" he asked, then realized it was on Earth, so why not here?

His head was spinning, and he raised a hand to his face.

"Are you unwell?" Shih asked.

He glanced at her and smiled at the concern in her voice. That was medicine for his soul.

"I'm very happy! All these emotions are confusing when I had no expectations of ever finding love," he said.

"Do you... love me?" Shih asked bluntly as her eyes looked deeply into his.

"Yes, I do," he said honestly. That seemed to relax her.

"Do you love Oleena?" she asked, watching his expression closely.

He looked at the hopeful smile on the blindfolded woman's lips. "I... I could, yes."

"What does this mean, you could?" Shih asserted.

He saw doubt on her face, so he needed to clarify it for her. "It means I already like her very much and that could become love if it's nurtured and given a chance to grow. I'm not an expert in love. You're the first one I've ever fallen in love with." He saw she was struggling with that, so he continued.

"When I first met you in that temple, I thought you were very beautiful. The most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I was deeply attracted to you, but I had no expectations that you could ever feel the same about me. I'm so different from everyone here that it didn't seem possible. As we made our way across the desert and over the mountain, my feelings for you grew. I learned more about you, and my heart yearned for more. But you didn't seem interested in me. In fact, you pushed me away. My feelings for you didn't go away, but I resigned myself to never being loved in return."

He saw she was still listening, so he moved on. "I was put in this tower prison after they delivered me to the king. Oleena was already here. She was to be my companion for the night, and I learned they might execute her the next day. I was very upset, but I healed her eyes, and we were intimate afterward. It was an emotional night for both of us. I liked her very much, but I had no idea she loved me. Like can become love if it's nurtured. If there is compatibility between us. That's only discovered over time."

"What of this kiss?" Shih insisted.

Jeff blinked at her.

"Lila told me you said kisses are only for lovers and life partners. Which category do the other whores fall under?" Shih asked with a frown.

Jeff's face felt like it might ignite. "Neither. They're just... friends... with benefits." He raised his hands in defense as her frown turned into a scowl. "They just wanted to experience a sensation they'd never felt before, out of curiosity! After what they've been through, I felt they deserved a little kindness.

Listen, I don't know if the term whore has socially negative connotations here, but where I come from, it's a judgment against the character of those it's applied to. It should never be used for those forced into the profession. It's what they do, not who they are!"

Shih was steadying her breathing as she looked at him. Then she looked away and spoke softly. "You've never kissed me."

Once more, Jeff froze in surprise. "I-I-I've wanted to ever since I first saw you. I've wanted to more and more... but you rejected me!"

"When? When did I reject you?" she challenged as she faced him again.

He glanced over at Oleena and Lila, whose grin was becoming disturbing.

He leaned closer to Shih. "That time after the Empress... used me?" he said quietly.

It was Shih's turn to reel back in surprise. "That...."

"You felt nothing but disgust for me when I confessed... I didn't finish," he blurted, awkwardly.

"No!" Shih asserted, but when he looked into her eyes, she squirmed. "I didn't know what I was feeling!" she finally blurted. "My chest felt warm, and it confused me! I don't like feeling confused!"

Jeff's eyebrows went up in surprise as he watched her face.

He moved closer, and she watched him cautiously.

"I need to kiss you," he said.

"What? Now?" she said, glancing nervously at the two ladies watching them.

"Yes, right now. I need to kiss you," he said firmly, looking into her eyes.

She was trembling, and it looked like she might bolt, but she finally leaned closer as Jeff brought his lips to hers.

The first touch was a light brushing of their lips together, then Jeff pressed his mouth to hers more firmly, nibbling on her lips with his.

Shih sighed and tried to trap his upper lip between hers. This let him gently suck on her lower lip as a tremor rushed through her body. Her strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him against her. She was making needful sounds, so he deepened the kiss and stroked her lip with the tip of his tongue.

"Mmmm!" Shih gasped as she clung to him.

That felt incredible, but her strength was making it difficult for him to breathe, and he was increasingly aware of the watchers in the room.

He gently pulled back from the kiss after a final brush of his lips against hers, and they rested their foreheads together.

"That was beautiful!" Lila sighed.

Jeff chuckled as Shih glared at the spy.

"This may not be the time or place for us to explore our feelings for each other," Jeff said gently, and Shih's eyes held his for a moment and nodded.

"What's happening with the, uh, invasion?" he asked.

"The Empress has pronounced sentence on the members of the King's Court, and we executed them--"

"The children?" Jeff asked anxiously.

Shih scowled at him. "We don't kill children. They were removed from the chamber before the adults were dealt with."

Jeff sagged and looked apologetically at Shih. "Sorry, this is all new to me," he said, and she nodded to him.

"What's going to happen with the people of Gaen? The palace workers?" he asked.

Shih glanced at Oleena, then looked into Jeff's eyes. "The Empress will assign a Gaen citizen to rule over the country until the citizens identify a more suitable candidate. She didn't come here to take Gaen's territory for the Talosian Empire. With the mountains separating us, having local government is essential.

"Nordic Model! A Socialist Democratic Capitalist System!" Jeff blurted as the knowledge suddenly rushed to the surface of his mind.

"What?" Shih asked carefully as she held his eyes.

"Sorry, it's a system of governing I seem to know a lot about. It has a strong social responsibility component focused on caring for its citizens' welfare. I think it might suit the Gaen people quite well, if they're interested," Jeff stated in a daze as the knowledge streamed by in his mind. He gave her an embarrassed smile. "I promise, I'm not a politics nerd."

Oleena grinned at him excitedly, though the spy watched him with a thoughtful expression.

Taking a deep breath, Jeff kissed Shih again, and she returned it.

He wondered how she'd look in a tight sweater.

-=-

Later that evening, the chaos had settled into a much calmer state. Shih returned to the tower room after assisting the Empress and informed Jeff that Tarelka had things well in hand, and her troops were busy hunting the remnants of the Gaen army hiding within the city. The citizens were calming as the invaders hadn't done any of the horrifying acts of violence they'd been told to expect.

The Talosian spies had been busy in the months leading to the invasion. In the dark of night, they led commando teams to the Gaen secret service's hideouts. The Gaen Spy network quickly collapsed, and most of its membership would die that night.

The palace was quiet, and Oleena told him that the ladies of the brothel were enjoying their first night off since they were brought to the palace. She'd spend the evening with them as he'd be busy.

This made him realize he'd be alone with Shih for the first time since he confessed his love to her.

They sat on his bed in the tower room facing each other.

"I don't understand these feelings. They make me feel weak!" Shih growled.

Jeff looked into her lovely eyes and struggled to think of something to say that she'd understand. He hadn't grown up to be an assassin. Perhaps he could start there.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like for you growing up as you did. What I see is how you are now, and I'm amazed by how strong, skilled, and loyal you are. Please understand, love will only make you stronger. It's another reason to try harder, learn more, and never give up. Knowing you love me makes me feel like I can do anything! It's a major boost for me," he said with a gentle smile.

"What if I don't have what it takes to love? How do you know it's the same kind of love you feel for me?" she argued.

"I can't know how your emotions feel to you. You're just learning how to deal with this new one. All I can do is suggest that you accept it, as I believe it will improve your life tremendously. For me, it's like everything feels better, colors are brighter, flowers smell sweeter, food tastes better, and the joys of life are abundant."

"You're drunk!" she insisted.

He chuckled and nodded. "Apparently, that's how new love can feel! Later, it will become warm and comfortable, like a soft, thick blanket on a cold day. How it feels to you is your own personal experience."

Jeff took her hands in his and realized that even her hands were a little bigger than his. But then, aside from the children, everyone was larger than him.

"I'll be there if you have any questions," he said with a smile.

"When are you going to kiss me again?" she asked with a pout.

His smile widened. "You can kiss me, too, you know."

She gave him a quick frown, then immediately moved her face before his to press her lips to his. It was nice, but he wanted more, so he added a caress.

Her eyelashes fluttered, then her eyes widened to look into his. "You know how to make it feel better, so you should kiss first!"

"Kissing you makes me want to do more," Jeff confessed with a gentle smile.

Shih watched him closely, then licked her lips.

"It gives me strong pleasurable sensations... in places," she admitted.

"Me too," he said. "Perhaps we should undress so we can investigate these sensations?" he suggested.

"I... I've never--" she stopped suddenly as she looked embarrassed.

He took her hand between his. "We're both learning. I'd like to learn with you."

"You have experience!" she insisted.

He shook his head. "Everyone is different. We need to learn what feels good for each other. Then we practice a lot to get really good at it!" he added with a grin, and she smiled.

Shih began taking off her clothes, and he quickly caught up.

When she was down to bare skin, Jeff could only stare in awe.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she said with a self-conscious frown and lifted her shirt to cover her breasts.

"No! Please! I'm sorry! I just can't get over how incredible your body looks. Every muscle is beautifully sculpted. If I had an artist's skill, I would try to capture this in stone! You're so beautiful and powerful!" he said reverently.

Shih's smile returned, but it was shy. Then her eyes dipped down to see a physical sign of his appreciation of her. Her eyes widened. "That means you are excited."

He nodded. "Very much!"

"I will touch it!" she said and reached between his legs.

"Gentle at first, please!" he yelped as she took a grip on his cock.

"It is so hot! And hard!" she said in delight.

Her grip was firm, but she wasn't squeezing the life out of it, at least.

"And your skin is so soft!" she marveled.

He moved closer and kissed her, slipping the tip of his tongue between her lips.

She gasped and gripped him tighter. This made him gasp as well.

"Lie back on the bed," he said.

She looked at him in question, then reluctantly released his cock so she could stretch out on her back in the middle of the bed.

He moved over her body, and she looked up at him in surprise. He dipped his face over hers and kissed her with a little more tongue. She moaned and arched her back to press her chest against his.

That drew a little moan from him. It all felt so good!

He moved his kiss to her neck and ears. Both were sensitive to his lips.

Jeff pulled back to ogle her incredible breasts. Even though she pushed her body to the limit, her breasts hadn't been diminished by the exercise. They were more than a handful and sensitive to his kisses and touches. He drew sweet sounds from her as he worshipped them with his mouth and hands.

She gently held the back of his head and guided him from side to side as his lips caressed her skin.

"Oh! Oh, yes!" Shih purred.

When he moved his kisses lower, her eyes widened. Her little coos increased as he trailed kisses down her torso.

Her body was beginning to tremble in anticipation. He kissed her inner thighs, and her cries grew in volume.

He was a little concerned about placing his head between those powerful legs, as she might crush his skull between her thighs.

Saying a little prayer, he brought his kisses to their final destination, and Shih clutched his head in her hands, her fingers tangled in his hair. His tongue caressed, plunged deep, and strummed until Shih's body crashed through an intense release. She managed to keep her cries silent, but he could feel her muscles vibrating as she slowly came back from heaven and caught her breath.

"I think... you... no longer... need to practice," she gasped. "You... have perfected this!"

He chuckled and smiled up at her. "I don't know. I can probably make it a little more intense or make it last longer."

Her eyes flared incredulously as she looked at him. This made him grin wickedly.

The next thing he knew, she surged up off the mattress. He was lifted from the bed, spun in midair, and dropped onto his back on the mattress. Shih was on her hands and knees, straddling his body.

He was a little dizzy from the manhandling, but he shook that off and smiled up at her.

Her eyes were traveling down his body until they stopped at his very stiff cock.

A tiny furrow appeared between her eyes as she evaluated his body.

"What?" he asked, beginning to feel self-conscious from her critical look.

"Your body, while smaller, has its own beautiful symmetry. Except for one appendage. I don't have much... any experience with male genitalia, but yours seems... larger than I would expect someone of your... stature would have," Shih said and reached between them to take his cock in her hand.

"Ah! Well..." Jeff said, and his expression softened. "According to my grandma, that was a present from my grandpa."

"Who is this grandma?" Shih asked curiously.

He blushed. "My mother's mother. I only met her a few times when I was growing up, when she'd come to visit, but she was a wonderful woman, though a bit wild in my mother's opinion. I never met my grandpa, my mother's father. He died before I was born."

Shih raised an exquisite brow. "How did your grandma discover this gift from her husband?"

Jeff was highly distracted as Shih fondled the appendage they were speaking of. "My grandma once saw me naked as a young teen. I was late for school and forgot to close my bedroom door while I was dressing. Later, I heard her telling mom that I'd inherited her husband's gift down there." He chuckled as he recalled his mom's exaggerated revulsion at hearing about her dad's junk.

While his parents had passed just after his graduation and his grandma years before that, he still missed them--

"GEEZUS! You are driving me mad with your hand!" he gasped.

Shih smiled in satisfaction and lowered her hips until she was able to press the end of his cock to her wet lower lips. She gasped and lost muscle tone. She dropped her hips, and he was driven deep into her pussy.

He was worried for a split second, then some local anatomical knowledge flashed through his mind. Females of this world weren't subject to the pain of a torn hymen as they didn't have them to begin with.

He watched her face as the blissful sensations washed through both of them.

"You're inside me," she murmured in a daze.

"You feel amazing!" he sighed.

"This feels strange but... right?" she said quietly.

"Nothing more natural than this!" he grunted as her internal muscles rippled against his cock.

"You are a very good fit!" Shih purred. She rocked her hips and smiled as she enjoyed that sensation.

"Oh God, you feel so good!" Jeff moaned, then looked up at the look of wonder on Shih's face.

"You're so beautiful! I love you!" he sighed.

She looked at him suddenly, and then her mouth was on his. He took control of the kiss to worship her mouth, and she began to gasp into the kiss as her hips accelerated.

They cried out in unison when their releases spiked as they clung to each other.

Shih's mouth found his again, and she gave him a sweet kiss. When she pulled back, she looked into his eyes.

"I love you, Jeff."

Sweeter words, he'd never heard.

Chapter 17

Tigress eyes of orange-gold locked on their prey as if he was the only thing in the room, the room being the audience chamber in the Talosian Imperial Palace.

A bead of sweat trickled down his back and slipped into his butt crack.

Empress Tarelka was waiting for Jeff to answer her question: Was Gaen's new executive system better than being part of an Empire?

He knew she had skin in this game, though it might end up being his skin if he pissed her off. She also demanded plain talk from her advisors. How he'd received that role three years ago, he still didn't know.

He cleared his throat before he answered.

"Better? For the people of Gaen, yes. Their previous experience with King Rionne was an absolute disaster, which they were trapped in for far too long. The Gaen public lost trust in their monarchy. They needed to rebuild their trust in the people who govern them, so implementing a governance system of the people and for the people was essential. It took some time to find the right individuals to fill the roles, and there were some growing pains as the system was implemented, but it's working smoothly now, and the people are satisfied that they have a fair and responsible means of running their country. The checks and balances on the powers granted to the new leaders, combined with the absolute transparency of their processes, ensure the people are kept in the know about policies that will affect them."

Jeff took a slow, deep breath and bowed to the Empress.

"They absolutely love you for rescuing them from King Rionne, his wicked Royal Court, and the corrupt army. They are most thankful for you giving them the right to remain a free and independent nation," he said respectfully.

Jeff was genuinely impressed with how the Empress maintained order in those turbulent days after she removed Gaen's rulers and their corrupt system of governance. Many additional heads rolled before she was certain they'd cleared the rot. She had the assistance of a few old guard members who'd managed to avoid the taint of corruption. As they hadn't done enough to remove it themselves, it was agreed that they would be ineligible to participate in the new system.

It was at Shih's insistence that Tarelka met with Jeff to hear his suggestion to allow the Gaen people to implement his 'Nordic Method', democratic governance with a free-market capitalist system and strong social welfare features.

He'd had to spend a lot of time with the Empress to explain how it worked. By the end, his throat was sore, his head was pounding, and he was cursing Alma Andersson for forcing him to take the book. Truthfully, if it hadn't been for his weakness for big boobies in tight sweaters, he wouldn't have gotten roped into this!

The Empress had finally agreed and allowed Shih to remain behind in Gaen-Rallas with Jeff to ensure the new system was implemented without issues.

Shih did have to do what she did best on two occasions when some ambitious types decided they'd rather act like the old king and eliminate their competition bloodily during their election campaign.

Jeff's brain felt like a squeezed sponge by the time he'd passed along all the information on how to build a democratically elected governance system.

He went to bed exhausted each night after assisting in the creation of one government agency after another, with training for half the day and tending to the medical needs of the sick and injured for the rest of the day. Each weekend, he visited a different village to ensure the free clinics he'd set up were meeting the needs of their communities. Immediate medical assistance was now available in the rural areas, and the people were very happy.

Young Netra had risen to the occasion and had taken on the role of liaison between the city and the villages.

Her first task was to redistribute the stockpiled food found in the extra city warehouses to the villages to ensure nobody would starve this winter, and the quotas were greatly reduced.

Jeff hadn't realized he was increasing his magic abilities until one day he noticed he was no longer exhausted from performing operations all afternoon. His physical stamina and his magic capacity had both grown considerably!

So here he knelt, bowing his head to the Empress of Talosia, a confident man at last.

Sure, he wasn't as tall as any of the adults, or as strong, or as good-looking--where was he going with this?

Oh yeah! He was loved. Shih was learning how to express her love for him a little bit more every day.

Oleena also lived with them, and she was much more comfortable expressing her love for him. Shih was paying attention, and once she got past her embarrassment, she practiced the little signs of love with him too.

Having the love of two beautiful women felt like a shot of pure machismo, and his confidence was at an all-time high.

Tarelka smiled. "I'm very pleased with your progress in Gaen. I've received many reports about the improvements you've made to the daily lives of the Gaen people. We've begun to implement some of them for our people as well."

Jeff looked up at her in surprise and gave her a delighted smile.

The Empress flicked a glance at Shih. "I've also heard that your proficiency with your healing magic and its power has grown tremendously while you've been in Gaen-Rallas."

He nodded confidently to her, and her eyes flared a little as she gazed down upon him from her throne. She shifted a little on the seat as she held his eyes.

"I believe it's time I had a full-body diagnostic scan done on myself. It's long overdue, as it's been years since you last did this for me," she said.

Jeff's pride swelled as she was looking to him for treatment. It had been a long time--his smile froze as he suddenly remembered what happened the last time. His eyes flicked toward her and saw her squeezing her powerful thighs together as her eyes roamed his smaller body. The pink tip of her tongue wet her lips.

Turning his head slightly, he caught sight of Shih, but she had one hand casually covering her mouth. However, the amusement in her eyes was clearly visible.

He faced Tarelka and forced a little smile onto his lips.

"I-I'm at your service, Empress!" he squeaked.