Gwendith blinked in surprise at the bloodlust rising from Yuriko.

“There are nearly forty thousand of them,” she said, “including women and children.”

“Oh,” Yuriko muttered, and the terror-inducing aura pulled back.

Gwendith’s heart fluttered as she stared at Yuriko’s perfect face. The past year hadn’t worn away the softness in the girl, Gwendith decided, but it had exposed some shockingly sharp edges instead. She wasn’t sure if she liked it, but after her own harrowing year, she could do nothing but accept what came.

“I’m all for killing all of their men though,” Gwendith said evenly. “Wipe out that rotting society. Without their ill influence, they should become better.” A part of her wanted to shatter Ouera Bo and bury every last one of them, but she pushed that bit of her into a corner and walled it off as much as she could.

They hurt her and abused her, but she didn’t want that to become all she would be in the future. Even if she still wanted to bathe in their blood.

More importantly, there were still Imperial captives in Ouera Bo and she didn’t want to leave them to their fate. She thought of the ones who surrendered and became barbarian wives. They were weak! They gave in and abandoned their own Heritage! They were…

Gwendith knew that it would have been her if more pressure had been applied. If, instead of claiming her, Thaer had instead given her to his warriors. She’d seen the result of that when one of the other comelier women had refused to surrender.

She had been an empty husk afterwards. One that cringed and curried favour whenever one of the barbarian brutes gave her a sideways glance. She had given in; in the end, and it didn’t change her circumstances much. Nobody knew who the father of her child had been, and nobody stepped in to care for her either. Gwendith knew that it would have been better if the woman had given in. At least she would have been better treated.

No, they weren’t weak, much as her subconscious would claim otherwise. They were all victims. And if she could, she’d try to rescue even those who gave in. But it was hard.

Forty thousand barbarians. There were only eight of them here.

She looked at Yuriko’s companions. Five of them were all older and rough looking. The sixth was…

“Chaos Lord!” Gwendith gasped as she drew her Animus to herself and created an ice dagger.

The Chaos Lord, a beautiful brown-haired woman, merely looked at Gwendith for a moment before returning her regard to Yuriko.

“It’s alright,” the golden-haired goddess said. “Desire is…bound to me.”

The Chaos Lord gave Gwendith a small nod. “I am the Songstress of Heartfelt Desire.” Then with a smirk, “I have found my heartfelt desire.”

Yuriko coloured charmingly, and Gwendith’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. The woman sat quite close to Yuriko and her body was always oriented to give the girl her full attention. Coupled with how Yuriko reacted…

Ah. So she didn’t protest getting attention from a woman.

Gwendith shook her head and focused on the more important things. Desire met Gwendith’s eyes and smirked, then the woman purred, “Would you like me to heal you?”

Gwendith stared back for a moment, then glanced at Yuriko. The other woman nodded, and Gwendith said, “Yes, please.”

Desire started to sing wordlessly, a soft and soothing melody that lingered in the air. Gwendith could feel heat entering through her skin, the energy permeated her wounds and bruises. The heat grew uncomfortable, but she bore it without complaint. She tried to activate the Recovery technique, but she was too distracted by the sensations. She didn’t have that inlaid, after all.

Trying to distract herself from the heat, Gwendith said, “There are still some captives left. Do you think we can help them first?”

Yuriko nodded, “I’d rather not leave them behind. But what’s the plan?” She murmured. “You said there’s forty thousand, how many are warriors?”

“I’m not sure, perhaps a third?”

“Which means more than thirteen thousand warriors. If they’re at the same strength as what we encountered back then…”

“Those were unblooded warriors,” Gwendith interrupted. She now knew a bit more about barbarian society. “Those were their weakest warriors looking to become stronger. They could be considered Novices.”

Yuriko’s eyebrows rose. “They were quite tough.”

“Yes,” Gwendith agreed. “But the blooded warriors are much fewer in number. Only about one in three unblooded become blooded warriors, I think. The proportion is the same.”

Not everyone who went into the raids came back blooded. Some had to participate in multiple raids to get their blooded kills, and that could take years. The cook back then had been quite free with her tongue, especially when Gwendith came back with more blue-veined grass than what her quota asked for.

“So we’ll storm the fortress, fight against more than ten thousand warriors and rescue…uh, how many captives?” Yuriko asked.

“About two dozen,” Gwendith answered.

“Alright, twenty-four captive women. Sounds right?”

“Crazy, is what I think,” Kalla, the blue-haired woman, said, and the two other scouts nodded in reply. Two of the men must have left a while back to keep watch, Gwendith thought.

“No, just about even odds,” Yuriko grinned.

Gwendith snorted. Yuriko didn’t look like she was kidding though. Was she really serious? “I think we’re better off sneaking in. The captives might be in danger if we attack directly.”

“Why don’t we see what’s going on first before we commit, eh?”

“Hmm, yeah. I guess that’s a start,” Yuriko nodded. “Ah, Pavo, please leave the shelter for a while.” She nudged a pile of clothing from her backpack.

“Aye,” the small, grey-haired man said with a shrug. He pulled his cloak around his shoulders and crawled out of the entrance.

“Here, change out of those rags,” Yuriko said. “These things have a limited resize runescript weaving, but anything’s better than what you have on now.”

Gwendith nodded but hesitated. Was she going to strip off her clothes with everyone else in the shelter? They were all women, true, but…ah, whatever.

She peeled off her hide clothing, all the way down to her underwear which wasn’t all that clean either. Yuriko wiped her down, using a cloth dipped in boiled water. Then she did something else that stripped the dirt off Gwendith's body. It felt nice.

The clothes, practically identical to what Yuriko wore except that it was a lighter grey, were quite roomy. Gwendith was ashamed to have to borrow a pair of panties and a breast band, swearing to return it after it had been thoroughly cleaned. Yuriko just waved it off.

By the time the Chaos Lord had stopped singing, Gwendith’s skin was once again whole. The small bruises and knots in her muscles were gone too.

“Master, I’ll need to recover my Chaos Well.”

“Eh, ah…” Yuriko’s cheeks reddened. “Er, sure.” Then she held out a finger that glowed green instead of her usual gold. Desire pouted but took the finger into her mouth and started sucking.

“What?” Gwendith goggled. What in Chaos are these two doing?! “Yuri! Is now the time for this?”

The other girl coughed and said, “That’s how she refills her reserves. As a Chaos Lord, she can’t recover here.”

“Are you sure it’s just…” Gwendith sighed. “Well, whatever. Thank you for healing me, Desire.”

Plop!

“You’re welcome.”

They spent the next couple of hours resting. Gwendith was still bone tired and she slept fitfully. But she was beset with nightmares and woke up every now and then. Only the sight of Yuriko and the others settled her nerves.

“... The Tidelands’ Veil has become active.”

The masculine voice nearly sent Gwendith into a panic as she struggled to wake up. An ice dagger half-formed on her hands, but before she could do anything, a cold hand grabbed her wrist.

“It’s alright,” Kalla said as she held Gwendith’s hand still.

“Right…” Gwendith breathed and released her hold.

“We walk the same path,” the other woman grinned. Then she nodded towards the voices, which came from one of the male scouts, Sheamus.

Yuriko sat cross-legged while she spoke, “Who came through?”

“Chaos Lords, I think. The Veil was green. And I saw some of our targets. A hundred barbarians headed towards the Tidelands. What do you want to do?”

Yuriko rubbed the point of her chin. “Let’s wait for now. Unless they’re headed here?”

“Not at all.”

“I see, I’ll go take a look.”

“Wait, Master!” Desire yelped. “You can’t hide at all!”

“Eh?”

“She’s right, Yuri.” Gwendith sighed. “You’re still glowing and even though there’s barely any outside light here, it’s not hard to see.”

‘...fine.” Yuriko pouted cutely.

“What would you do anyway?” Gwendith asked.

“Huh, well, if there are Chaos Lord reinforcements, I’d attack and take them out before they could make our task harder,” Yuriko admitted.

Gwendith so wanted to join in, she wanted to fight too, but she knew that if they wiped out that group, it would only draw attention to them. Which, she pondered, may not be a bad idea. If they drew attention to a hostile force at Ouera Bo’s rear, it would make it easier to sneak inside it and retrieve the captives.

“I’m not sure that’s a bad idea,” Gwendith began and when Yuriko and the others looked at her questioningly, she continued, “I was thinking that if we draw attention here, it would be easier to sneak inside Ouera Bo and rescue the captives.”

“You said there’s more than ten thousand warriors,” Sheamus snorted. “There’s more than enough there to cover every point.”

“They’re lazy,” Gwendith offered, “and they don’t really work well together.”

“That’s still thousands of them,” Sheamus pointed out. Perhaps it was the way he looked at her and Yuriko, but Gwendith found the tall man a bit annoying.

“Well, what would you rather do?” She asked waspishly.

“I…well,” Sheamus coughed. “Our mission, the scouts, I mean, was to find an alternate route to Rumiga from Delovine. We've done that and we have to report to the legions here. Our next logical step would be to find a safe path from here to the camps, and then to Rumiga City.”

“Oh, are you leaving already?” Yuriko asked.

He looked at her then shook his head. “I cannot do that. I can’t speak for the other scouts, but I’d rather not leave your ladyship alone.”

“Same here,” Kalla grunted. “It might be our mission, but the politics of the situation would have us gutted if we abandoned you to your devices.”

“Politics?” Gwendith murmured. Oh, yes, of course. Yuriko Mishala Davar. The Mishala clan, huh. From Yuriko’s stories, she assumed that the other girl had left with the clan’s graces, but why alone? Hmmm. “The Mishala Clan?” She asked to clarify.

“Who?” Sheamus asked, but Kalla and Lucinda nodded. The man stared at them intently.

“You’re not an Imperial so you don’t know,” Kalla continued, but Yuriko interrupted.

“It doesn’t really matter. If you want to go, you can. As for me, I will help Gwendith rescue the captives even if it means exterminating the entire tribe.”

Gwendith swallowed her words at the unexpected warm feeling she received from hearing the girl say that.

“Then let’s lay down our objectives,” Gwendith said instead. “First, we need to find a way to return to Imperial territory. Saving the captives comes next. It would be foolish and dangerous if we rescue them then get chased down. Third, inflict as much damage to the Barbarian Tribes as we can without allowing them to capture or kill us.”

“Agreed.”

“Then, Yuri, while I want to wipe out that contingent as much as you do, there are too many variables and too many unknowns to make it worth the risk. I suggest we have some of these good people scout a way off this mountain and find a clear path towards Fort Aegermonth.” Gwendith paused, thinking quickly. “There’s an Imperial camp just within sight from the clifftop. I think we can head there first. There should be Imperials there, though I don’t know why they aren't attacking.”

“Yes, well, a path that’s better than just jumping off the cliff would be good, even if that’s faster,” Yuriko muttered. “What?”

“You think jumping off the cliff is a good path?” Gwendith asked drily.

“Well, yes. Since I can somewhat fly. Well, gliding is closer, but I shouldn’t have any problem gliding all the way down to that camp from here.”

“Can you carry other people?”

“I haven’t tried, Gwendith, though I suppose we can experiment here.”

“Er, no thanks. Not right now. I doubt you can carry thirty people at once?”

“No.” Yuriko shook her head.

“Then that’s a good last resort for you. If you are in danger of getting captured, please do that.”

Yuriko frowned and shook her head. Gwendith stared at her until she fidgeted, then pouted again and muttered, “fine.”

Before they could continue their planning, however, one of the other scouts, the short man named Pavo burst into the entrance. “There’s a barbarian scout group headed in this direction.”

Gwendith exchanged glances with Yuriko and found the same bloodlust there. Looks like they’ll start whittling down the barbarian forces sooner than expected.