The Lynx started to run, and I had trouble keeping on him, especially with Thiara as added weight. She was not strong enough to keep herself from falling with the extreme movements the Lynx was doing, so I had to push her down and hold a hand over her and pray and hope she would not fall. I also hoped that his fur was strong enough and I would not end up flying through the landscape with ringlets in my hands.

I risked a glance behind me, but I could not see the harpies. I thought they were still far away, which is why I was shocked when a set of claws grabbed my back soon after that.

It was not as bad as when the Lynx did it, but it was bad enough.

I screamed in pain as I was lifted in the air, yet I must have been too heavy for the harpy as she flew against the ground. Or maybe that was the harpy's plan from the beginning as she plunged my face into the gravel. Next, we found ourselves in a tornado of claws, feathers, bodies, and screams.

A particularly vicious harpy was on me, and during the first part of the fight, I was in a dire position as she had grabbed my back and was doing everything to finish me.

The Lynx could not help; I was not sure if he could see me inside the tornado, but even if he saw me, what could he do? Leave Thiara and help me? Then our action would have been for nought as the harpies would have taken her instantly away. He would probably help if I were in danger of dying.

Luckily I could heal myself, and the moment the harpy made a mistake, I could free myself from her grip and was finally able to also deal out hits. The fight continued, long undecided, but it ended with me having the upper hand.

Interestingly enough, once I killed my harpy, the flock broke and flew away. I went to the Lynx and healed them both; even Thiara, which he had covered with his body, was wounded.

As soon as they were back on their feet, I wanted to restart our running cavalcade, but White Flower stopped me:

“Wait”

She came 'out' again and rode the Lynx. Why would she do that? Why would she expose herself now?

She made a "follow me" gesture. We did just that, even if I had a lot of questions. As Thiara was moving too slow, I finished giving her a piggyback. White Flower made us a keep silent gesture.

As if the followers would not be able to see us!? To my surprise, that seemed to be the case. I planned to ask her after this what was she doing.

We were already on the Kingdom's territory when the Lynx chose to hide in a natural hideout between several giant rocks.

I wondered why he did that when I heard a kind of a growl. A vicious growl that didn't sound like anything I had heard before. A giant undead dragon flew over us as we hid with Thiara near the Lynx, spewing a strange green-yellow fire.

At this very moment, White Flower did choose to enter again 'under my skin'.

“This is Thankar, Styxa's undead dragon. He is swiping the area, searching for us. Don't make a sound; put a hand over this girl's mouth, so she knows not to make a sound. Nod if you understood!”

I nodded and did as she said. I also gestured to Thiara to further keep silent. The girl was scared, exhausted, only half by conscience but nodded that she understood.

“There are still some harpies and gargoyles looking for us, but they will soon go. Styxa must think that we used some portal to leave.”

She paused, and I thought that was it; however, she started talking again.

“I promised that I would explain to you, so here is what I know.

In the Golden Empire, it is not the oldest son that is the heir. The emperor usually designates as heir one of the youngest sons; all older sons will be advisers and warlords of the crown. They cannot be heirs. Only younger ones can be if the heir dies.

The emperor has many hundreds of wives in his 'collection', as he calls it. He must have seen this girl somewhere and decided to add her to it. Somebody made a deal in his name with Styxa to subdue the girl. Styxa broke the girl's will, and once her will was broken, she could be possessed. I don't know if this was the deal with the emperor or only the 'breaking her will' part was requested, and she added the ghost as a bonus for whatever reasons she might have had.

Once the girl's will was broken, the heir came and married her on behalf of the emperor. If you had kidnapped the boy, that would have meant war, and the imperial armies would be on their way searching for him.

Once they marry, an unbreakable link between the wife and the imperial insignia is done. This link is magical and cannot be broken unless one of the partners dies. When the boy would reach the palace, the insignia goes to a specific column; each wife is bound to one such column and can freely move about 300 meters around it."

Well, they did literally the 'until death do you part' thing. I knew they were somehow bound, but I did not know precisely how. She continued:

"I killed the ghost that was possessing the girl. In reality, it was not the girl that accepted the deal but the ghost possessing her. That is why once the ghost was dead, the link was broken; all that remained was flesh and metal linking the two. That's why you could cut her arm off. In a way, the emperor does have her hand as he wished. Does this clarify your questions?”

I shook my head as a no.

She stood silent for a moment, then spoke again:

“Ah. We were not running fast enough to escape our followers. Once the undead dragon would have reached us, that would have been our end. That is why as soon as the harpies dispersed, I'd cast a spell to hide us. I had to come out to be able to cast it, keep it active and renew it as we went. Thanks to it, they could not see us anymore.

I made it look as if we used a portal there. As you see, Styxa did not buy it completely, she had still sent her dragon to spew hellfire over the area, but I hope they will leave soon. Maybe she only wanted to show her displeasure.”

I had to chuckle. She had a strange sense of humour: the emperor had the girl's hand. Yes, indeed, hanging to that chain... On the other side, something made me feel bitter. Thiara had resisted and fought for hours before her will was broken. Mine was broken in mere seconds. Well, true I know Cala has some weaknesses.

Why that? I tried to remember what Markus, the former Cala, the one who grew her up, had told me: you cannot choose only qualities; you need to select some weaknesses to be able to have more qualities, more valuable traits. Why were these traits needed? I think it was for the character in the time one is not in control.

Damn, I haven't paid him enough attention at the time. I simply did not care. What else did he say? Oh yes, Cala is a hothead, but she was not alone. She was in a team of five with four NPCs.

That was her questing and fighting team. One of them was the planner. That was not Cala. There was also another archer.

Oh, I remember. How could I forget them?

Master Koro was the planner, and he was also my trainer. Exceptionally wise, a keen chess player, a go player, and a martial-arts trainer.

Gideon the Fat, Gideon was looking like a sumo ringer. Always jovial and happy. Happily married with kids. Exceptionally strong and had a crush on Cala that resulted in platonic love. He would never confess his passion, but you could see it in how he behaved.

Besides that, he was the team's tank. That made a strange combination, a tank watching me with puppy eyes.

There was also Cosbo the Thief and Diane the archer. Cosbo, who could procure anything. Did you need something? Ask Cosbo.

He was the one brewing their healing potions and was a skilled medic. He was no healer, but the many potions he could brew largely compensated for an average healer, and as a plus, he could do good damage when needed.

He could do also tremendous good masages. Oh yeah, I remember, he had magical fingers, he could eliminate your neck pain in minutes.

Diane, the sexy archer. She could play the courtesan perfectly and made the princes talk. Or play the nun if needed. Did you need to learn something? Ask Diane. Did you need somebody to deal a hell of a lot of damage? Diane delivers.

My guild brothers. Yes, brothers forever!

Sad, melancholic memories invaded my mind together with much pain. I relived Diane's death. I relived the moment when we found Cosbo's body. All these memories that were hidden somewhere in Cala's brain... or whatever. I shook my head.

So yes, Cala was the hothead of the team. She was also ruthless and stingy. Cala, the killer.

Yeah, those are no qualities, so what were the qualities he bought up with these non-qualities? Fuck I do not remember.

Great improvisation skills? Cold-blooded? Stable? Can you be steady when you are a hothead?

OK, OK. Does this really matter? I mean, this is how Cala was designed because that guy designed the whole team and had carefully put qualities and mangles in balance. Now, I do not have the team here. I have only Cala. Diane and Cosbo are dead; they died in that last epic mission. Markus was so invested in them that he ceased playing. From that day on, he could no longer play Cala. Ah, that's why he tried the bodysuit interface! He must have lied to me, he told me he always played bodysuit, but you cannot get that invested in these characters if you play bodysuit.

What was that last epic quest? Oh yeah, we killed a king and, with it, almost destroyed a kingdom completely all by ourselves. Some chunks of it remained. Yeah, I think it was a 10k gold job. 10K gold to destroy a kingdom when armies could not do it. I was too cheap. I should have asked for much more.

Oh, stop it, Cala, don't be so stingy.

I am playing Cala. Does she influence me? This should not be possible when I am playing, isn't it?

But I am a hothead. I mean, I? Or Cala is?

“I think we can go.”

I almost jumped hearing her. I took a deep breath. I'll need to think more about this. These are some worrisome thoughts. I never really analyzed this. I never took the time to do it, but was not 'know yourself' the first Delphic maxim?

However, now is not the time for self-analysis.

We came out of our hideout. I helped Thiara get on Lynx and then jumped behind her. We left in a light trot that, for Lynx, translated into elegant, easy jumps and arrived before dawn at the bridge.

Behind us, wast areas were wholly or partially burned, fire still lingering between charred logs, but for the city's nearby forest, which had been spared. What about the farms spread down the river? I hope the spawns survived.

I found a piece long enough in Thiara's rags that I could use as a binder over her eyes and led her carefully to the assassins' headquarters.

As soon as I passed the tunnel, a lizardgirl's worried voice greeted me:

“Cala!? You did it?! You crazy girl!?”

“Yes. And I levelled.”

Finally, after almost a year since I played Cala, I got my first level. I was now level 95. I still could not access my interface to see it, but I felt it.

“I'm not quite sure I understand?”

I sighed. Yeah. NPCs do not quite have it with the levels.