Chapter 059:

Anton had no idea how much time passed before Kal stopped crying. Part of him wanted to tell her to stop, but a larger part knew that he should just keep quiet. She needed to let these things out and not just bottle them up. He said nothing and sat in silence, slowly rubbing her head as she gripped his other hand for dear life. Finally the cries turned to sniffles after everything had finally left her. She was left shaken and empty.

When she finally stopped she looked terrible. The tears had mixed with the ash and soot covering her skin, dirty streaks running down her face. Her green eyes were red and puffy, far more so than anything he had seen before. A wet sheen started to dribble out of her nose as she continued to sniffle.

“Thank you.” she spoke weakly, her voice breaking into a choke at the end.

“For what?”

“For...” She sniffed and looked down, still keeping attached to his hand.

“Hold on. We should get you cleaned up.” He mumbled. Anton looked around for something like a spare cloth but there was nothing to be found. He took the small piece of cloth that Kal was using to cover her ears and, using his free hand and parts without blood, began to wipe away the grime.

“No.” She began, trying to move her head away. “You shouldn't have to-”

“Kal.” His words stopped her. She refused to look up. “Stop it.”

She went quiet and nodded her head. He folded a corner and began to work. She glanced up but did not stop him. A few squeaks escaped her lips as he roughly cleaned her face. With everything mostly gone he smiled warmly.

It took her a while but she finally let out a smile.

“Thank you, Anton.” she mumbled as she released his hand. Her claw tips lingered for quite some time.

“What happened here?” he asked. Kal looked back at the dead Orcs before moving next to him and sitting, bringing her legs underneath her chin.

“That lead Orc, the one with the colourful clothes, he called himself Zig, had some sort of magical...item. I don't know what he called it. He used it to bring down this building. Luckily an Orc that had been hit with a poison arrow thrashed about and broke it before he could use it again. I think. I fell down with the building, fought and killed all of them.”

Anton could not believe the words she was saying. He looked back at the Orcs. Most of the Orcs had arrows sticking out of their faces, the rest bleeding heavily from the neck. The Orc, in yellow, orange and blue clothes, had one of her daggers sticking out of its eye. It must have been quite a battle.

“I thought I saw a flash of white before we heard the building collapse.” he began. “I thought they were just blocking our pursuit. If I had known that you were there-”

Kal raised her hand to stop him.

“I...I was only meant to keep an eye on him and slow him down. Not to fight him....or nearly get killed myself. I'm sorry.” She lowered her head.

“Well...” It was what he had asked of her, but combat was a messy situation. He was certain that things like this happened. But it was certainly not something to get angry at her about.

“I'm sorry that I failed my first order from you.”

“It's fine, Kal. You didn't fail.”

A twitch came over her face. “No, it's not fine. You put your faith in me and I broke it. I...I should be punished.”

“What?” Anton could not believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

This isn't some side effect of having survived a life and death situation, is it?

Kal refused to break eye contact with him. She stared at him with a burning intensity. Something told him that she wasn't just going to let it go.

“Are you sure?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as flat as possible.

Kal knelt by his side and nodded furiously. Was this some part of her feline Beast-kin's culture?

Anton inwardly sighed as he raised his hand. Kal gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, expecting a serious strike. Instead Anton pulled back his middle finer and flicked her in the forehead as hard as he could. A satisfying thwack rang out as his finger collided with her skin. Kal jumped back surprised. Her eyes swivelled around as she frowned deeply at him. Before she could say anything Anton flicked her again. She groaned childishly as he flicked her once more.

“There. That's your punishment for disobeying my orders and nearly getting yourself killed.” he tried to speak with authority. But it was undermined by Kal holding both her hands over a small red mark on her forehead, almost a pout on her face. He could not keep a straight face. Neither could Kal. Finally she let out a laugh.

“Thank you.” she said, taking her seat next to him. “Thank you for caring.”

He smiled and patted her head again, eliciting another mewl of delight. His eyes caught something, a dark aqua, moving low on her backside.

“Um...Kal?”

“Hmm?”

“I think your tail is showing.”

Kal ran her hand to her butt and squeaked in surprise. She looked back and saw the tear in her pants and cloth. Letting out a sigh, she looked at the dead leader Orc.

“It must have happened when I was fighting him.” she began. “It bit his face off and he must of torn it then.”

The casual way she said that stunned him. Anton thought that he was just badly wounded, but now that he looked more closely he could see the grevious wounds. Kal saw his state and smiled warmly.

“I bit his nose off and bit through one of his eyes. That made him very angry. Stabbed me a few times.”

“I bet.” Anton chuckled nervously. Now that he looked more closely Kal's teeth were covered in a thin layer of weak blood. He had thought that was her own, but he swore he could see tiny flecks of green amongst it. “I'm never going to be messing with you then.”

Kal smiled and ran another hand to her tail. It looked like she was trying to fix it so Anton looked away. He reasoned that she did not want someone to be looking while she fixed something so near to her butt. The seconds drew on as he heard no movement from Kal. Slowly she started to squeak.

“Would you like to see it?” she blurted out. When he turned to look her face had turned a light red. “You...I know I said that it's not something that a Beast-kin would just let anyone touch or see but...”

She coughed to cover her embarrassment. “But, I trust you with it.”

An honest smile graced her face as Anton nodded. He was very curious, but he was not going to force it out of her.

Kal stood up and began to roll up the layers of cloth from her pants to just below her shirt. Anton had no idea what she was doing, so he moved his gaze forward. Kal did not need his eyes studying her. Even though he did look. What little she revealed was a very slim and toned body. He could make out the lines of her taught muscles, skin the same tan as her face, clearly hereditary. She rolled it up further, to where the bottom of her shirt would lay, and green fur began to emerge.

It was her tail, wrapped around her waist and settled just above her hips in a coil. She caught his eye and chuckled.

“A Beast-kin's tail is usually about an arms length at most, even the longest is not much longer than that. Mine....Mine is a lot longer.”

There were several small and thin pieces of string binding her tail together. She started to pry them apart with some difficulty. Evidently they did not come apart very often.

“A lot longer.” she mumbled, a tinge of pride in her voice.

Finally she managed to free the last string and her tail burst free. She let out a gasp of relief as the tail unfurled.

Anton was utterly stunned by it. It was huge, longer than she was tall, easily two and a half meters. The fur was a bit coarse and knotted in a few areas, probably from being unable to move and being bound for years, but otherwise it looked even more soft and delicate than the fur on her feet and ears. It was not very thick, so it could hide easily around her waist. The end of the tail flared out into three small fans. On each of these in the center was another small orange star, on the top and bottom of the fur. Just like the marks on her toes.

He was lost for words. She saw back down and lazily brought the tip into her hands.

“It's a little weird, I'm sure. I don't think you would have seen anything like this on your world.”

“It's stunning. Simply stunning.” Anton said truthfully. Kal's face grew even more red as her ears drew back in happiness. This time she did not try and stop any of it.

“I rarely get to take it out. If someone were to see this...”

“They would certainly try to hurt you.”

Kal grimly nodded.

“Such a shame. Can...Can I touch it?” he asked.

Kal nodded and waved over her tail to his hands. She appeared to have complete control over her tail despite its size. The fur was even more soft than he thought possible, his hands sunk in until he found the small center that formed her tail. His hands trailed along the tail to the end, the tail split at the end to each of the fans at the end. Each part moved independently as he touched it. He wondered what it would have felt like to control every movement of such a limb.

“It's amazing.” he said, slowly turning it so he could fully look at it. A quick glance up revealed that Kal's face had turned from red to scarlet. Any deeper and she would have passed out. Anton smiled as he let it go, though Kal seemed disappointed.

“I...I try to take care of it as well as I can.” Kal let part of her tail linger on his legs. “But, it can be difficult after it's bound for so long. It can get stiff and sore. It can take days to get the proper feelings back.”

“Do you...have it out when you're in your home? Nobody's going to see you there.”

Kal shrugged. “Not really. I...I don't know. I still feel odd about showing it. Even when I know that nobody can see it I just don't feel that comfortable.”

Anton smiled, picking up the fan part of her tail. “Well, when we get back, you are more than welcome to keep it out. I'll make sure that nobody has a problem with it.”

Kal laughed. “Thank you. I would like that.” her face turned more serious. “But, you would have to tell everyone that they can't just come up and touch it. It's a very delicate part of me and I don't want children to try and yank it off.”

“I'll let everyone know not to mess with you or your tail. I bet that would hurt.”

A flicker of pain washed over her face. He did not need to ask where that came from.

“Yeah. Yeah it does.”

“But, you're fine with me touching it?”

Kal flushed again. “That...That's different.”

She withdrew her tail until it lay coiled infront of her.

“Oh...I have something that I need to tell you.” she said, the flush disappearing. Now she looked very saddened. “I've not been completely honest with you...or done the right thing by you, or Atros.”

She started to play with her ear, right at the tip. A look of surprise and confusion plastered over her face.

“My...My ear is back.” she gasped as she clawed at both of them. A wide smile grew on her face. “How did you do that?”

Anton shuffled upright a bit more.

“I used my prayer power to heal your wounds. I didn't want you to die.”

Kal smiled as she started to check over the rest of her body.

“You've healed me before...I really didn't notice it before, I was focusing on not dying. Other parts of my body feel different as well. My feet feel more flexible and my chest doesn't hurt when I breath.” she grimaced as she looked at Anton. “I had one of my ribs broken when I was young. And it never healed properly.” A frown formed on her face. “But, you've healed me before. Like my foot with the wolf's tooth. That didn't do this.”

“I...I worded the prayer to restore you completely.” Kal raised a deep aqua eyebrow to him. “So that your body would return to how it should be. If you hadn't been stuck in the hell hole of Seocuria and forced to wander the wilds for years. Like you should be. A healthy woman.”

“It looks like it took a lot of it out of you.” She chuckled weakly. It had taken most of the mana out of him.

“I wonder, if it did that...” Kal rolled up the cloth wrappings on her left arm. It too was the same tan as the rest of her. A stunned relief overcame of her face. “They're gone.” She chuckled. “Of course they are.”

“Was that...Was that were you were branded?”

Kal nodded. “When I first came to Atros...”

“We found out that you were a Feline type of Beast-kin, then you started to say some numbers.” When he said the word Feline, her body lurched forward and her mouth twitched as she stopped herself from speaking.

Wow. It really was beaten into you.

Kal flushed lightly as she coughed herself into control again, playing with the tips of her tail.

“Sorry.” They both said at once.

“You don't have to be sorry.” Anton said before Kal could. He was the one at fault.

“It's like I can't help myself when someone says that word. Thankfully it didn't happen when I had to talk with human villagers.” She kept looking at her left arm. “My name...the name that I was given was F.T. Four three eight two one. That was my name. The name the Seocurians called me everyday. I wasn't allowed to be called anything else.”

Anton smiled. That was not something she would just share with anyone.

“For what it's worth, I'll always know you as Kal.”

She flushed again, lowering her head into her knees. The tail moved to cover her face.

“I only want to be known as Kal too. I hated seeing that thing.” she started to shuffle uncomfortably sitting. “Though, I'm thankful that the rest of my body has healed...I do have a new problem now.”

“What?”

Kal moved the tail to cover even more of her face. “Well, you know Verona's...bust?”

“Yes.” Anton tried very hard not to try and make any stupid remark.

“Right. Well. She told me they can cause her quite a bit of pain when she hasn't got the armour on...”

“Yes. That's one of the main reasons why she wears it all the time.” Anton tried his best to remain objective as possible. Though, this did bring into question why Kal was speaking along these lines. There was one very likely possibility.

“Well as I said to Verona, and I don't know if she told you, but my mother had breasts larger than her. Now, I don't know about my fathers side, but most Seocurians are quite lithe and slim people. Umm...So, it seems that they've grown. When you...”

Kal's face continued to get even more red. She did not raise her head and covered herself more with her tail. It was clear that was all she could muster herself to say.

“So...” Anton tried to break the silence. “When my magic restored you to how you should have been, it also restored your...breasts to how they should be?”

“Yeah.” Kal whimpered. A hand moved and tugged at her chest. Finally she raised her head, and he could see what she meant. Worrying whether or not she was going to live and his own magic depletion had taken his full attention. Before he could vaguely make out that she was a woman but now they were much more prominent, however tightly bound by the cloth wrappings. If nothing else her breathing would be constricted.

“So...You'd like some armour or undergarments, or something like that? To help...”

Kal nodded, lowering her head straight after. Anton could not help but feel the heat rise up to into his face. He did not often have to talk about something so intimate and personal.

“Well...We'll figure something out. That's a conversation that we can have once we've finished the battle.” he said, moving to stand. “We've basically won. But we probably should be heading back. They'll be wondering where we are soon.”

Kal squeaked, shaking her head. She turned away and brought up both hands. A hand quickly unbound and rebound the cloth around her chest in a few short seconds. Now she seemed to breath more easily. They did seem to be a bit bigger, he tore his eyes away so she could not accuse him of ogling.

“Wait.” Kal blurted out, stopping Anton from moving. “Before that, before I realised that my not only my ears were back, I was going to say...”

Anton frowned and sat back down. Kal fidgeted with her hands, before sending one down her neck and pulling out her silver medallion. She sighed as she took it off and handed it to Anton. At first he did not understand why. He did not want to take mishandle something so personal and precious to her, but a tiny glint of green caught his eye. Turning the medallion over he saw a green gem stuck to the back. The same type of gem that they recovered from the Yellow Goblins.

He looked at Kal, now drenched in embarrassment. She lowered her head and looked at the ground.

“When did you manage to get this?” he pried it free, the green gem was held on by something sticky that he did not recognise. Thankfully it was not a concoction of the Kobold venom.

“When...When you were talking with Alfred and...Isobell? You told me to go to the money chest. Nobody was looking at me, so...”

Anton chuckled, eliciting an odd look from Kal. “I can't say that I'm particularly impressed.” Kal looked even more crestfallen. “Although maybe I am. But, I can...appreciate...where you come from. You didn't take the blue or purple gems...what were they called? Benitoite and Tazanite, that's right.”

Kal shook her head.

“If I took those it would have been very easy for you to realise they were gone and that I was one of the few allowed near it.” a strange smirk came across her face. “Don't go after the biggest prize when the smaller one will do. Someone will notice it's missing.”

“Is this all you've got?” he asked as innocently as possible. He handed back her medallion.

Kal winced even more. “I've managed to hoard some food that isn't mine. I've got a small bags worth. There....There is something else. But, I...I want to talk about that when we get back home. To Atros.”

“If you don't want to talk about it-”

“I do!” Kal cut him off. “But, not right here.”

“Alright. Kal, you are forgiven for this. But make sure there's nothing more in the future. Okay?”

Kal furiously nodded, a bright smile on her face. As if a weight had been lifted from her.

“We'd better get moving.”

“Are you alright to walk?” Kal asked. It was only a few minutes ago that she was at deaths door. And yet her whole concern was for him. “You've used so much magic on me.”

“I'll be fine.” Anton smiled. He pulled out one of the two remaining Karak fruit and ate half of it. Some of his mana returned, his whole body felt less wobbly. “What about you?”

Kal raised her eyebrows. “Oh. Right.” She ran her tail through her hands. “They would be very confused if they saw any of this. I've lost a few pieces of cloth, can you get something from one of the Orcs? I don't want to be exposed, not after this.”

A sheepish smile formed on her face bringing some warmth to his heart. He moved to the closest Orc and ripped off some cloth while Kal did her best to retie her her tail around her waist. It seemed such a shame to keep it hidden. But he did not want to have to fight his way out after all this. She took the cloth and wrapped it around her head to hide her other visible features.

After a minute she looked just like she had when they set off. There was nothing to reveal that she was a Beast-kin, though she looked more patchwork than before.

“You said that Orc had something different on him. A magical item...” he said as he looked over the bodies. “Do you know where it is?”

Kal nodded and moved to the leader Orc, effortlessly moving across the strewn debris. It was a little difficult for him to walk but that was from his lack of mana. It would improve soon. The leader Orc, Zig, looked a little different to the others. His face, apart from being torn apart by Kal, looked smaller than the others. His hair, even his beard, looked like it was stuck on. Kal recovered her blade with a satisfied grin on her face. There was another in Zig's hand which she also took. A trophy of the kill.

“He was a thrall.” Kal said, crouching and searching nearby for something. “So he must have been related to someone very important for the rest of the Orcs to even bother listening to him. Or not to be taken away by their shamans. I don't understand, it wasn't hidden that well. Maybe from a distance...But...”

“Maybe he was the boss's son of the new Orc clan.” Anton offered. “Hidden early on so he doesn't get taken away and when you're in command you could bring him out. Now he wanted his son to enforce his authority further. Maybe the Orcs all just went along with it because it was a benefit to them.”

He chuckled, looking down at Kal who was searching near his feet.

“Did that happen in...your world?”

“I...I suppose it did. All the time probably. There are quite a few people that will hang around someone rich and powerful to pick up the scraps, lavishing them with praise so they get more. All along the social ladder. No idea if that's what happened here.”

Kal hummed in agreement. She pulled out some silver coins, almost taking them for herself before leaving them in a small stack. Anton started searching the other side quickly finding more coins and other strange curiosities. None of which he understood.

“Better not let him know that you killed his son.”

“I have no intention of ever heading into those mountains.”

With a light gasp she pulled out a small silver disk from underneath his leg, handing it to Anton. The small disk looked like a larger version of Kal's medallion. Several bright gems adorned it though it was clear that it had been broken. A large crumple had cut along the middle and many of the crystals were broken or missing. Whatever it was, it was broken beyond use.

“I think Alfred will be interested to see this. I'm guessing this is what he used to break down the wall?”

Kal nodded, searching his pockets further. “He used it to bring down the building. I was lucky it was broken.”

“Lucky indeed. Anything else?”

“I...Hang on.”

She handed him the small pile of coins and the new knife. It was very thin, able to pierce through the the tiniest holes in armour. The blade that had found the gaps on her side. The blade was a very fine and smooth steel. The hilt and handle had swirls and tiny silver jewels, forming something like a bear on both sides.

“Seen anything like this?” he asked.

Kal looked more closely before shaking her head.

“No idea. Doesn't look like anything else the Orcs or Clansmen have. I don't know if they've got the skill or desire to make something like this. They could have stolen it.”

“Again, we'll see if Alfred or any of the others know what it is. We don't want to piss someone off by showing a weapon from a dead relative. In the meantime..."

Anton handed her the dagger. It was her trophy and he wasn't going to take it from her. Kal chuckled as she took it back. Kal sighed as she looked over the dead Orcs.

“This whole time has been interesting.” Anton said, Kal took a quick glance to the debris pile. “But, we'd better get moving. After this collapsed the Orcs and Clansmen turned back to the way they first came from. We took out quite a few of them but they could move really fast. I don't know how many are left.”

“Without him it seems they lost their direction and just went to where they know. They must have been hoping for him to open a new breach in the wall.”

Anton nodded. “Sounds about right. Verona's currently chasing them. You're lucky you managed to get a message out when you did. I was about to start pursuing as well. I was just finishing off one of those small splinter groups.”

Kal chuckled. “I'm glad I did. I still have quite a few things I need to do before that something like that happens to me.”

“We will get your mother free, and as many other Beast-kin as possible.” Kal said nothing but nodded warmly. He had made the promise and he intended to keep it.

Anton started up the piles of debris. It was slow going, to make sure that he did not slip, but he made progress. Kal remained very close to make sure he did not fall over. She was moving better than she had before. The pile was barely an obstacle for her now.

Near the top of the pile his foot stepped on a clay tile resting on another. It slipped out and his body fell forward. Kal moved and caught his side as he tried to steady himself. It was not enough as another tile slid out from underneath him. His whole body slumped down and brought Kal down with him. A sharp squeak escape her lips as she fell on her back, both hands holding onto him. A piece of burnt wood grazed his face.

He tried to laugh but only felt like a tremendous idiot.

I guess my mind isn't working too well, when I could have just gone around. Why didn't I?

“We should have just gone the other way. It's completely clear that way.” Anton said as he tried to stand again. “At least that way doesn't have all this to climb over.”

Kal laughed, a honest laugh. He took her arm and started to raise her up.

“I wondered where you two were.”

A deep feminine voice. Verona. She was standing on top of the debris pile and looked down at them very smuggly. Something on his shoulder pinched down very hard. Kal's hands were wrapped tightly around his arm and her chest was pushing into him.

Oh.

Verona smiled wildly as she looked between the both of them.

“The battle's over, so much as it can be. Quite a few of them got out through the first break in the wall.” she began, folding her arms with a thin look of annoyance on her face. “But, it looks like we've got something to discuss first.”

-----------------

Hello!

Kal's better, got her tail out (I like it) and got herself a shiny new blade for her trouble. Though she has lost her bow.

Still, got the charm that caused the problem, so good for them.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Verona's found Kal holding very closely to Anton's arm. Yay!

Thanks for reading, and for any and all donations!