I weighted my desires. On one hand, a base, inextinguishable thirst for that unique pleasure only sex could give. On other, bitter anger, revenge and greed for power. In the end…

In the end, this wasn't really a question, because I wouldn't risk my dick anywhere near Yvenna's mouth. She might just bite it off. She was clearly unhinged. If I intended to keep her around, I had to come with a way to control her better, and I had a feeling that even a contract won't be good enough. She was just a type to forget self-preservation and go for what she wanted, anyway.

"Nah, forget it," I finally said. "I have a few more questions for you. You are an adventurer, right? Why are you alone? I thought they always travel in groups."

Yvenna snorted as she stood up. "They kept pissing me off, so I had to ditch them before I chopped off their heads. All of them. I've been adventuring alone for almost a year now, and I've been fine until you came around."

Couldn't argue there, though… "You aren't very respectful to your deity, are you?"

"You aren't a deity! You're, like, a future deity. We're supposed to get favours from you while we can." Yvenna brightened. "Oh, man, when I tell at the Church about you, they are gonna make you sacrifices! I love sacrifices, and if I ask nicely, maybe Bishop will let me do the cutting!"

"Sacrifices?"

"Yeah, human sacrifices. It will be so sick! Bishop will light the smokes that make you feel heady and nice. The cutter will slit the sacrifice's throat, and then Bishop will mix it with wine and pass around. It's so ceremonial and cool, you just have to be there! And I just love how the sacrifices writhe on the altar when they realise they are the sacrifices." A mad gleam appeared in Yvenna's eyes.

"Ah, you mean human sacrifices!" I hummed. "Cows and horses actually are more beneficial to me. But Frost Griffins are even better, which is why I'm here. Yvenna… If you want to be useful to me, you will help me hunt them."

"I am, I will. What will you have me to do?"

"Keep your fists in check, for a start." I bared my teeth at her in threat. "Then find where you threw away your weapons, and patch yourself up a little. Then, we are going to look for the griffins' nest."

⠀⠀

Yvenna wasn't of much help in tracking. An earthbound creature she was, she had a lot of problems simply navigating the treacherous mountain terrain. But she was self-sufficient, and therefore I could do my own thing while she did hers without worry that she would die in a ditch somewhere.

It wasn't much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find her catching and killing critters for me whenever she had an opportunity. She took some of that for herself, since she also had to eat, but I had to appreciate her zeal. When I didn't accidentally push her buttons, Yvenna wasn't bad.

It was me, though, who found Frost Griffin's nest. I followed the sight of griffins flying up and down, and by that, eventually located the place. It was, just as I predicted, hidden well and on the ground. In the ground, even—in a wide-mouthed cave that was protected from detection from above by a stone cornice.

After the sight of Birds of Paradise, and the echoes of territorial cries of something even bigger, scarier, that wind sometimes brought, I wasn't surprised. I predicted it, in fact—which was a part of why I looked for the nest from the ground in the first place. Another part was avoiding said bigger predators myself.

In the pink hues that sunrise spilt over the crispy snow, I saw four gleaming shapes inside the cave. Some of them moved a little, but overall, it was quiet. And so I was quiet, and plastered to the ground, as I watched. Griffins, indeed, lived in packs. I couldn't tell how many males and how many females from that distance, though—I was almost forty meters away. But one shape was noticeably larger than the others.

Yvenna laid in the snow next to me. She already had her axes in hands and was visibly shaking with bursting anger and a need for violence. I pressed a hand on her nape just in case she went berserk again, here and now.

"Don't move," I hissed at her. "You spook them away again, I will carve out your entrails, make them into sausages, then roast the rest and eat the entire thing, and if you still will be alive during the process, then too bad."

The graphic threat made Yvenna pause. Whether because she was scared, or because she needed time to process it in her head, I didn't care as long as it worked. Now, how to use my resources most effectively… Trapping the griffins in the cave would be the best tactics in this situation. They were big, and the cave would limit their movements drastically and, at the same time, prevent them from surrounding us. But if someone didn't get to the cave exit without being detected, the griffins would fly out and take us with pure numbers.

I looked up. There was also a possibility that more griffins were in the pack and would return to their nest during the fight. But the male griffin, and I was sure that he was that largest shape in the nest, was wounded and weakened now. If we waited while I watched the griffins (with Yvenna somewhere away), maybe even caught them one by one, he would heal. He won't regain his claws, but he'd regain his blood and strength, at the least. And attacking them like that, in their nest, was my only option for fully utilising Yvenna in a battle.

A hard choice of of options, but… With what I knew about griffins and Yvenna already… I knew which option of the two to pick.