“Pets.”

Rick sighed for the hundredth time, hand reaching out and leading Monica’s head to lie on his lap as his fingers stroked her hair. He huffed and glanced back at the gate. The soldiers had been far quicker in processing the people there and moving them into the city. Victor and Kat, in particular, had been quite happily allowed the fast pass through and into the city while Rick, Dia, and Monica were left outside to wait.

The other people had been quite happy to not make any loud noises or sudden movements. A couple times someone new had shown up and started to make a hassle up until someone else would hurriedly approach and discreetly point their way.

It was a bit amusing how quickly they would become thoroughly compliant with the guard’s instructions.

“It’ll be alright, sir.” Dia spoke softly. She’d been seated right next to Rick and not moved an inch as if this were just another normal day to her. “The city must be having an uproar over your visit, preparations would take some time.”

“That is not very uplifting.” He shook his head, glancing at her for a moment. “Are maidens as strong as Monica that rare?”

“Yes and no.” Her hand lay on the part of his lap, unoccupied by a needy feline, an unsure smile on her lips. “What is truly rare is that she is feralborn. Maidens that are at her level of strength are often too dangerous to be successfully captured and bonded. Even once contained, they generally don’t bond easily or at all.”

“What about the fiving coins?”

Dia grimaced. “A feral that is fived is still a feral, their instincts do not change. I have heard of cases of successful bonding after the feral was fived, but there is no glory or honor.”

“And even when they succeed, they’d keep the maiden locked up for months until considered ‘safe’ while being trained.” With a sigh, Rick noticed a sudden increase in activity at the gates. Two dozen knights wearing particularly bulkier armor were stepping out and ushering everyone away from the gate. “Seems it’s our turn.”

Though he wanted to stand up, Monica was quick to hug his hip and start purring as she rubbed her cheek against his stomach. The human became effectively trapped now, and he could only feel increasingly flustered and uncomfortable as the twenty odd knights were approaching. Not that the cat appeared to care.

It was surprising watching the knights. They were all women, some barely over a meter and a half, yet all of them were able to move swiftly despite wearing thick layers of armor. It was as if the whole thing weighed nothing. The pale blue pieces of metal were far sturdier than the ones worn by the maidens the Baron had taken to hunt him down. These were at least several times thicker and covered the whole body. There was also an odd buzzing that made his hairs stand on edge the closer they got.

In the front of the procession was the only maiden without a helmet. Her hair was a pale pristine green, shimmering as if made out of jewels. She looked at Rick with hawkish focus. Her face was a conglomeration of sharp angles and statuesque beauty. And she appeared no older than he was.

The moment she’d been within thirty meters of him, Monica stopped purring.

Twenty meters. Monica’s shoulders tensed, one ear twitching in the knight’s direction.

Ten meters, the feline growled.

All knights stopped dead in their tracks, though the leading woman looked neither startled nor put off. It was hard to read the others other than by their body-language. The whole unit appeared closer to readiness to start a fight than run off, and that alone told Rick this was a different kind of beast than the Baron’s knights.

“Don’t.” Rick pinched Monica’s ear, and the sound stopped, though she looked no less ready to spring into action.

“Sir.”

The woman leading the knights lowered herself to a knee, bowing her head. The other knights followed with synchronized ease. Rick could feel not an ounce of animosity from the leader. Rather, he felt like he was looking at a blade or a gun laying on a counter. There was no direct sense of threat directed at him, but there was a heavy sense of looming danger from her very existence, as if he might cut himself from approaching the wrong way.

“I am royal knight captain Deneva. I have been tasked to guide you to the Earl’s castle.”

So this was a royal knight? “Erm… thank you. Monica? We need to move.” He patted the feline’s head, and she looked up at him for only a moment before glancing sideways at the knight. There was something there. Even if the knight herself had kept her gaze to the ground, Rick could feel the air had become charged for a split second.

Monica proceeded to stand up.

Without letting go of Rick’s waist. He held back the surprise as she proceeded to bridal-carry him and hold him close against her chest, looking down at the knight with narrowed eyes.

“Monica.” His tone had a warning in it.

“No.” she replied in the same tone, not turning away.

Rick flustered. “You… will have to excuse her, she is very protective.” He glared at the feline, but she was having none of it, focused exclusively on Deneva’s bowed head.

“It is not a problem.”

Deneva stood without looking at Monica, without meeting her gaze, without so much as a single threatening move. Her gaze remained on the ground as she turned around and headed back towards the city. The other knights did not move. Neither did Monica. “Follow.” Rick pointed ahead, pushing down through the awkwardness as best he could, given the circumstances.

Monica let out a grunt of annoyance, and obliged.

The knights waited until after Monica had walked past them before rising from their half-kneeling position and following from behind, keeping a distance of a dozen meters or so, just about the same distance Monica was keeping with Deneva. It was a chorus of synchronized thuds and clanks of armor, and Rick could feel Monica growing tense as she got closer to the gate.

Her unwillingness to put him down increased by the second. He considered struggling and making it clear he wanted off, but he also knew that doing so would make her that much more wary of her surroundings and the knights. It wasn’t that she was scared, she did not trust them.

The gates were empty, the other guards gone and out of sight.

As was the rest of the city.

The moment they’d stepped inside, the feeling of emptiness struck Rick like a hammer. The streets were clear of people, the windows were closed. Nothing moved besides themselves. The architecture reminded him slightly of the houses in Seledo, thick walls and reinforced doors and windows, a large room between each building. The structures were shorter near the wall, but no less fortified. Rick could see the buildings became taller the further into the city one went. There was a lingering smell in the air that Rick couldn’t quite place, not a nice one, but not horribly unpleasant either. It just made his nose wrinkle.

And for a fleeting moment, he could’ve sworn he saw people amongst the roofs or the top of the walls. But it was such a brief thing he could’ve easily convinced himself he’d imagined it.

Monica’s left ear was locked onto Deneva, the other rotated every which way. Her gaze had not left the royal knight’s back for even an instant. Her steps were quiet and measured. She inhaled through her nose with deep sharp breaths, nose twitching as her head would rotate in one direction or another just ever so slightly enough. But never looking away from Deneva, the Sabertooth’s tail keeping deadly still.

The procession walked through the empty streets, only moving through the widest cobblestone road available towards the castle.

A door closed, the sound sharp and loud within the otherwise dead silence

Monica snapped her head in full in its direction, inhaling sharply and letting out a roar that rattled Rick’s skull. Several muffled shrieks could be heard from within the buildings around them.

The human blinked and suddenly realized the knights had pointed their lances at Monica. The movement had been swift, silent, instantaneous. Deneva had stopped dead in her tracks, her back still turned to Monica, but her hand on the pommel of her sheathed sword. The air became thick with danger, the silence sharp.

The feline’s ears flattened against her skull, lips curling into a snarl.

“Monica!” Rick let out the word, not quite a shout but putting every ounce of anger into it he could summon. It startled her, forcing her to hesitate and look down at him for the briefest of instants before locking back onto Deneva. “Monica.” He repeated, now wriggling within her grasp and kicking his legs.

She didn’t try to stop him this time, her expression confused as she hastily moved to stand slightly in front and between him and the green-haired knight.

“Let’s not escalate this.” He’d stumbled once on his feet, turning his focus to Deneva.

She peered at him over her shoulder, a single eye focused on him and the intensity behind that single look feeling as if it could punch right through him. The gesture was the barest of nods. The twenty maidens behind them simultaneously raised their spears to point them back to the sky, standing stock still and at attention once more.

Reaching out to grasp Monica’s claw, he gave her an intense frown. “No hurt.”

The maiden didn’t look pleased about it, turning her glare back to the back of Deneva’s head as she snorted. “Monica protect.'' She chided him with a slight squeeze of her paw.

He could only sigh.

They continued their quiet procession to the Earl’s place.