With no idea which direction held safety, Aarav decided the best course of action was to get caught - by the right people. The only way to ensure that was to see that the right people knew about them. And that meant the library. “Come on, Boren!” Aarav yelled and tugged the young child along with him. There was no point in continuing the conversation from earlier as the image of the mountain of muscle was fresh in his mind, and the boy was star-struck.

That seemed a dangerous path for him to follow. What could Aarav do to persuade him in the pursuit of power? Safety was usually not high among concerns. For Aarav to get through to the boy, he would have to hit him where it hurt. Family or death could be good motivators, but the family was likely more so since he maintained decorum; it was probably necessary. If he was dead, power wouldn’t serve any purpose. That could be useful as well. Aarav sighed and resolved to think about it more later. Nothing seemed to be sticking now.

As the Slime came out of his daze, he started. In the middle of the road stood a boulder. It was silhouetted against the now setting sun, but he was sure it was a rock, not that his eyesight was the best at this distance. “Boren, what…?” Aarav turned to Boren, noting that the Prince was looking at the boulder a little differently, examining it from different angles.

Then with a shrug, he approached the boulder. Aarav was inclined to stop him because the situation was strange rather than thinking the boulder posed any danger. Suddenly with a tremor in his voice, Boren hissed. “Aarav, it’s not a-“ he was abruptly cut off when a hand the size of his entire face shot out and stopped his mouth by covering everything!

Aarav jumped forward, determined to stop the boy from suffocating at the least but not sure if he would be strong enough to achieve even that much. Not conducive to escape, Aarav thought.

“Where do you people keep popping up from!” Aarav yelled, hoping to elicit some reaction from the stone, but he got nothing. Just the rumble of gravel shifting. “Boren, are you alright?” No point in hiding the Prince’s identity at this point. It could only help them now. If they were lucky, which they most certainly had not been today, he would stop short of killing the boy in hopes of a payout.

“I’m okay!” came Boren’s muffled reply. That was a relief; the rock was not smothering Boren as he held him. But it did not release its grip either and had yet to utter a single word. “Who are you!?” Aarav heard Boren say. At that moment, Aarav’s biggest regret was letting go of Boren. He could have at least provided some token protection like Armour for him if he had stayed attached. Now he felt utterly worthless. There was nothing he could do for the Prince.

Nothing, except fly into the rock and figure out what it was! This would be great! Using Strong Camouflage tactfully again, he hid his presence, then began slowly, stealthily moving towards the rock. Even as he drew closer, he could see nothing but the rock with a single arm coming out of it. Even that was covered in slate-like sheets of stone, so it was likely a golem of some kind. Did that mean it had a heart or core that could be destroyed and save the Prince? It was the only thing Aarav could think of at the moment.

Aarav’s body tingled with the energy in the air as he stealthily crept forward. It almost felt like he was walking through static electricity. If he had hairs, they would be standing on end. Once he was sure his movements were not detected, he sped up, not wanting to tempt fate and leave Boren in the golem’s clutches longer than necessary. Then when he was only half a meter away with no warning, another arm shot out and snatched Aarav from the ground. It was as if the creature could see where he was! How was it possible? Strong Camouflage had never failed him, and now it was like he didn’t have any Camouflage at all!

An undignified squawk escaped his throat when manhandled by the golem’s hand. “What the-!“ Aarav yelled and quickly found he was in the crushing grip made of stone. “How!” How could it tell where I was? It’s a golem, so no way there was anything like aura sensing available to it! Aarav thought he had covered all angles. A golem couldn’t have aura sense, could it?

Aarav was just contemplating his next move and what this creature’s true nature could be when all his questions were answered. The “golem” stood in a single motion, and Aarav could see what had been hiding the creature: a flimsy stone shell. Now the whole covering splintered and cracked loudly. For a moment, Aarav was sure the entire city would hear and come running. The massive thing finally shattered, revealing the humanoid within.

Initially, Aarav had expected a squat wide thing with a low centre of gravity, roughly the shape of the boulder it had been a part of. However, what met Aarav’s gaze was something more akin to a human in the upright foetal position, knees just tucked into the neck and feet on the ground. Its head had broken through the shell first so that with its arms revealed, the stone cleared its shoulders and upper body before the bottom slowly crumbled.

Then the figure stood.

Aarav was a little confused at first; this creature had uncharacteristically human features. The Slime thought all golems were more like the Thing from Fantastic Four; Golems were supposed to have more blunted features. Suffice it to say, this creature didn’t look anything like Aarav’s expectations.

“Hey! Let go of us, damn it! Whoever is controlling you can hear me? You best leave the two of us alone, you hear? We have powerful allies, and they can squash you and your golem!” Aarav thought he painted quite an imposing figure. His words had helped a little.

What the Slime did not expect was for the golem to start suddenly and heartily laughing! What are you laughing at, you chunk of rocks! Aarav gasped at the indignity of being handled and then being laughed at. This was a lot to deal with, and a tiny part of Aarav felt a little hysterical. What kind of golem shows emotion and laughs?

That was when lightning struck. Either this world had a very different set of rules than he had read in stories. Was this another type of golem, or was it a person coated in soil? “Who are you? What do you want with the boy? And me?” He belatedly asked about himself thinking to make the question less directed.

The mud-man just grunted but didn’t say another word, his grin still undiminished. Are those tears rolling from his eyes? “You find something funny?” The golem-person-thing just continued to grin without saying a word. Come on, at some point, you have to say something…unless you can’t speak?

“Oh, are you disabled? It’s okay if you can’t speak; I had some friends once, they couldn’t speak either.” Aarav began.

The grin quickly went away, and then in the roughest voice Aarav had ever heard, he said, “I can speak. No need for mockery.” Aarav shrugged.

“Wasn’t mocking you, belief or not, I wouldn’t do that to anyone disabled. Just curious, you know? I didn’t think it was possible in this world; most places would have a healer that can fix that sort of thing, you know?” Aarav said nonchalantly. It was true; in a world with magic and no disease, it would shock him to have a situation where people were also disabled.

The giant seemed to have reached his quota of words for the day and said nothing more. “Really? You’re going to end the conversation there?” Aarav was annoyed at the lack of a response, but he wasn’t surprised, considering how things had started. Still, the conversation had served its purpose; he had de-escalated the situation and stalled for time.

“Who are you?” Boren’s voice came quietly from the creature's other hand. “What do you need with us?” Aarav sighed. He had just asked the inarticulate oaf the same question. What was this going to achieve?

“My prince, we have been sent out to find you. Your Queen mother is very worried about you. You should not simply run off when you feel like, especially with such…undesirables’.” Aarav started at the answer then seethed at his implication.

“What do you mean by undesirable?” Aarav asked, even though he knew it would achieve nothing. “I’ll have you know, I have been protecting the Prince!” too late, he realised that he had given away confirmation of the prince’s identity. Then he realised this thing he already knew with confidence. He wasn’t giving anything away; it didn’t already know.