Banished Pt. 11

"Let's fucking do this!" she yelled, as she focused on Jordan with some serious intent.

"And, go!" I called out, and this time, Bianca darted in, but as Jordan moved to evade what appeared to be a certain strike, she darted forward after him, and swung her little blade, almost catching him at the neck.

Jordan recovered quickly then leapt clear of her, readying himself to react if she attacked again.

I watched on with interest.

Jordan was clearly quicker than Bianca was; much stronger too, but she wasn't using a weapon that would ever require him to use that strength against her, so this was a battle purely of speed and timing.

Bianca began to circle him slowly, but he kept his stance firm, and ready to repel any attack; then, she crouched low, and darted in.

She moved straight at him, and certain that he'd read the trajectory of where she could attack from, he made a single step forward and timed a sweeping slash upwards in her direction.

It was a well measured stroke, and delivered with such precision and technique that I would have bet everything I owned that the attack would have landed exactly as he'd planned; and I would have lost that bet.

I wasn't even sure what happened myself, but Bianca seemed to stop; not skid to a halt, or alter her trajectory; she seemed to come to an immediate, dead stop within the space of a single step just as Jordan executed his timely swing, and after watching the blade whizz by, she simply resumed her dash with the same speed as her darting approach, and struck Jordan squarely in the jaw.

He stared at her in open mouthed shock; not from the blow received, but from how she'd managed to evade his slash, and I turned to Francesca, who was grinning.

"Did you see it?" I asked, and she nodded. "What was that?"

"At the moment she stopped, a huge web of threads was focused on her foot where it made contact with the ground."

"Wait, you can use sensory perception in combat now?"

Francesca blushed.

"Sort of. It wasn't activated all the time, but at the moment when she did that move, I saw it."

I shot her an admiring look as she moved to Bianca's side.

"You need to teach me that move!" she called excitedly, and Bianca blushed and rubbed the back of her head, grinning stupidly, as Jordan moved over to join me.

"I need to stop getting my ass handed to me by these chicks," he muttered, and I gave him a pat on the back.

"To be fair, I'm not sure that the physical differences between the sexes matters as much here when armor and super weapons come into play."

He chuckled a little, then nodded, before adding.

"Still sucks to lose. Not that winning would do me any favors," he muttered, as he shot a despondent glance towards Nolan, who seemed to be preoccupied with checking on Cameron.

"I take it he's worrying over the pregnancy," I said, and Jordan turned to study me.

"The what?"

I shook my head, my surprise evident on my face.

"I'm sorry; I thought he told you."

He shook his head in response.

"Apparently there's a lot that he isn't telling me," he said, frowning. "I'm gonna do a perimeter check," Jordan said, and I shot him a sympathetic glance as he headed off.

"You owe me a favor!" Bianca exclaimed, as she bounced around in front of me excitedly, and I nodded, chuckling, as I ruffled her hair.

Francesca caught the gesture, and she shot me a teasing smile as my eyes flicked towards her.

I figured it was enough training for the day, but if the group was really going to make progress, I needed to make sure that in addition to combat training, everyone depleted their cores at least once a day.

So, I had Francesca suit up, while Bianca and Lucia took turns wearing down their cores by stabbing her with their daggers, while I bolstered her breastplate's defensive properties via my energy manipulation skill.

After they were both out cold, I let Ryker take a go at Francesca with the hunting knife, but as he fell unconscious as well, I noted that Francesca's core still seemed to be at about half capacity.

Ordinarily, I would have let Raul finish the job, but between Francesca's injury and my feedback affliction, he'd ended up being the only capable fighter keeping the group safe for the past day.

I was still giving the matter some thought when a solution presented itself, but not one I was altogether happy to allow.

"Let me try," Leanna said, approaching us, and Francesca chuckled a little, somewhat nervously, as the girl eyed the dagger.

"Okay," I said, as I gestured to Francesca to remove her armor.

"I meant, let me try using the dagger," Leanna clarified, but as she reached for it, I shot her a worried look, and she paused.

She eyed me for a moment, then nodded.

"On second thought, I'll try the armor first," the girl said, and as she strapped the piece on, Francesca reached for the dagger, and I stopped her again.

"Use your spear," I said, and she bit her lip, as she took a hesitant glance at her wounded arm. "You don't need to wield it properly; just make sure the point makes contact with the armor."

Francesca nodded and as she retrieved the spear, she made several strikes at Leanna in the basic armor, while I used my energy manipulation skill to keep her armor from quickly deactivating.

Nate, why is Leanna in training? Casey's voice spoke into my head, and as I cast a worried glance over my shoulder, I heard her voice again:

On my way.

Eventually, Francesca fell to her knees, teetering on the verge of unconsciousness, but as I quickly moved from Leanna's side to retrieve the spear, Casey beat me to it.

"I'll take that," Casey said. "And for the record, the next time you take these without proper authorization, there'll be hell to pay!" she yelled.

"Sorry," I muttered, and Leanna studied the interaction with some interest.

"Your armor, too," Casey said, and the girl quickly removed the armor, before handing it to Casey.

I scooped Francesca up and into my arms, and Leanna moved to my side under the pretense of helping Francesca to bed.

"Is she always like that?" Leanna asked, and I nodded.

"We'll talk... just follow me as soon as we get Francesca to bed."

She nodded, and Francesca, despite being on the verge of unconsciousness, shot me a curious look, but she didn't say anything.

As I tucked Francesca in, Leanna hung back for a bit, and I made my way across camp, out of sight of the main group, and after a while, she hurried after me.

"Were you followed?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"I almost had a dagger, though. Why didn't you let me sneak it away?"

"There are trackers on every weapon, and I'm not sure yet, but I think that they can track you as long as you even touch one of them... have you ever?"

She shook her head, a slightly worried expression on her face, until something occurred to her, and her eyes went wide.

"Then, right now?"

I nodded.

"They know we're here. They might even be watching, I'm not sure."

She bit her lip, as if thinking about something, until finally, she shook away her trepidation, and shot me a determined look.

I was about to ask what she was thinking when she leaned in and kissed me.

"What're you doing?" I mumbled into her lips, and she placed a finger against my lips silencing me.

"Just follow my lead," she said, as she took one of my hands into her own, and brought it to rest over her t-shirt, against her breast.

She moved closer to me, and kissed me with some show of passion, and while I acted as if I were lost, helpless, and simply following her lead, I had to admit, kissing her was pretty fun because she was pretty good at it.

When we broke apart eventually, I shot her my best show of a sparkly eyed look, and she blushed a little.

"You're so good at this. I mean, I'm not sure if I can even tell that it's not real anymore," I breathed, and she smiled, but her eyes narrowed a little as she studied me.

"Really? I've been watching you, and your acting has been brilliant as well," she said, and I nodded quickly.

"I know, right? Out there, it's easy... but when you kiss me like that, I get a little giddy," I admitted, trying my best to blush a little, and Leanna quickly smiled.

"It's okay. I don't mind," she said. "And you don't have to hold back, okay? I've already made up my mind; I'm going to do whatever it takes to beat these bastards, and I'm gonna make sure the both of us make it through this."

"Are you sure we can do it? It feels so hopeless; and, I'm not sure if I should talk about it here, but they can track us through-"

She cut me off with a kiss, and as we kissed for another minute, she leaned in to my ear and whispered:

"We'll talk when it's safe."

"Remember what I said about the weapons," I mouthed to her, and she nodded, allowing me to sneak off, before moving back to the camp herself.

Look for the tree next to the cart you came in on with the princess, Casey's voice spoke into my head.

Fuck me.

Which cart was that?

I looked around for a bit, when her voice spoke to me again.

It's the one to your left, past the supply cart!

I chuckled a little bit to myself, then cast a careful look around for Leanna, before sneaking off.

"What's the situation?" she asked, and I bit my lip nervously.

"Under control, for now."

Casey let out a sigh.

"She went for a dagger, huh?"

I studied her, shaking my head a little.

"You saw that? I wasn't sure you were around yet..."

"Francesca told me," she said, and I shot her a curious smile.

"Francesca? So, she's suspicious of Leanna too?"

Casey bit her lip.

"I told her about that situation, actually," she clarified, and I chuckled a little.

"Well, look at you. Trusting other people to do things instead of trying to do everything yourself."

"Ha ha," she replied sarcastically. "I'm just learning how to play your games," she countered.

I took another quick look around, then moved in to kiss her.

"What was that for?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Leanna made out with me, and it made me feel a little dirty."

"Dirty as in gross, or naughty?"

"Gross," I clarified, and she kissed me again.

"Well, too bad she didn't blow you," Casey teased, but as she made to move away, I pulled her back in, and as I kissed her this time, I slipped a hand into her council robes, and fondled her breast a little.

"Now you're being naughty," she said, and I shrugged.

"It's not naughty. You're my advisor. This is part of the job description, remember?"

She kissed me again, then smiled.

"To think; my only condition for joining the princess' council was that I didn't have to fuck you. Now, look at me."

"Well, in your defense, old you didn't know what a fantastic lay I was," I reasoned, and she snickered a little.

She stole one more kiss, before wrestling me out from our little hiding place.

The Kobalt were gathering up the makeshift sleeping bags into one of the new supply carts, and I moved over to where our core depleted sleepers were now being moved.

"They won't wake up, huh," Cameron noted, and I nodded.

She ended up helping me move the lot of them, since the Kobalt were mortally fearful of touching us 'Gods'.

We ended up fitting Lucia, Bianca, and Francesca into one cart, while Ryker was moved over to where Myrinne was recovering, at Evie's suggestion.

The princess looked to me expectantly as we prepared to leave, but as Gisela explained to her that the sickness of her feedback would hinder my own recovery, she quickly agreed to travel instead with her companion-servants.

Casey tried to insist that I should also travel by caravan, at least until we made our stop at the nearby cluster, but I quickly refused since Casey seemed to be preoccupied with her new tasks of managing Palancar's interference, and I much preferred spending the day in Cameron's company over the bumpy ride alone in the back of a cart.

Cameron also seemed quite pleased to travel by my side, and as we set out, I cast a quick look around for Nolan, and spotted him with Jordan, though there seemed to be a sort of awkwardness between the two.

"So, how did that conversation with Nolan go?" I asked, and Cameron sighed.

"Well, first he tried to talk down to me like I'm a confused teenager who doesn't understand what she's doing."

I snickered a little.

"In his defense, you are carrying the baby of a man you just met," I said, and she shot me a glum look.

"On the surface, sure... but there are extenuating circumstances here to consider, and he's quite capable of seeing that when it suits himself. What he keeps doing is making dumb arguments to back up his own points when he's just conveniently interpreting things to fit his point of view."

"Hnn~. Like what?"

She sighed.

"Like calling you a murderer, just because you carried out Emily's execution."

"Ouch. Didn't he nominate me for that task?"

She nodded in response.

"Not just that. Back then, after you did it... he was actually worried about you. He saw that it affected you despite this whole 'psychopaths feel nothing' thing that people keep pushing. Then when he wants me to think that you're dangerous, he suddenly decides that you can't possibly feel anything for me because you have no feelings."

I sighed.

"Well, he's not completely wrong," I said. "I mean, I'd probably still be dwelling on the Emily thing if I didn't have an off switch to hit when it comes to thinking about things that bother me."

Cameron nodded again, then frowned.

"I don't care even if you felt nothing, Nate. I understand now that this is what you are, and you didn't choose that. And I love you regardless."

She sighed again.

"I'm sorry he's being like this," she said, and I shook my head.

"I'm more understanding of his position than you think. When someone's worried about a person that means a lot to them, they do irrational things sometimes. I don't think he means badly, he's just worried and this is his way of expressing it. Is it healthy? Probably not, but without condoning it, I do at least understand."

Cameron smiled at me, resting her head against my shoulder as she took my hand into hers.

"When he'd gotten injured, I was pretty worried about him; but I don't know if he thought that my worry meant something else," she said. "You know, I said you were crazy the first time that you suggested that he was being jealous over me, but I remembered recently that he and Jordan have had fights in the past over our relationship. He actually convinced me then that Jordan was just being irrational, but maybe there really was something to it."

"Well, it kinda looks like if one of those fights in going on right now," I said, nodding in their direction, and she frowned.

"Maybe I should give them some space," she suggested, but there was a bit of a rueful look on her face, and I shook my head.

"I dunno. If you didn't have some friends to fall back on for emotional support when I'm not available, I'd be kind of worried," I said, and she smiled at me.

"Oh~. Concerned about your dear wife, are we?" she teased. "I'll be fine, though. Maybe it's time I start making new connections around this group anyway."

We stuck to playful small talk for the rest of the journey, until Casey made her way over to me.

"Hey, Nate. We're coming up to the cluster, and I think we should get the council together to decide some stuff," she said, and I gestured to her to lead the way.

With Myrinne absent, I noted that her place had been filled by another of the princess' companion-servants; a timid looking girl, who I'd never spoken to.

"This is Alva," Casey offered, introducing her, and Cameron and I both introduced ourselves in kind.

"I am not worthy," the girl replied, bowing her head slightly as she did.

"This cluster is really close to Palancar, so we can expect their presence there," Casey began.

"Do you think we can expect interference?" I asked, and Casey turned to Gisela, who rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"It is possible, but unlikely. Palancar's image will suffer if they are seen openly opposing the exiled princess."

I nodded.

"So, what are our objectives at this cluster?" I asked, and Casey moved to respond.

"They're not likely to trade with us, but we need to get word out about our victory over the monsters in the blighted grove. We'll put up the fur we harvested on display, and we'll have our late meal before darkness falls, and let them see that we're handing out meat to the commoners as well during that time. Alva here will take over the princess' task of recounting the battle, but we're gonna try to put forward the notion that our victory over the monsters led to the purification of the blighted grove."

Nice touch, I thought.

"So, we're spending the night here?" I asked, and Casey nodded.

"But we're leaving just after first light."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"That won't give us much time to recruit settlers, huh..."

Ideally, spending a day or two at each cluster would help us to gather more recruits, but recruitment would probably be much slower in these clusters closer to Palancar anyway.

"Actually, Gisela has a suggestion for that," Casey said, gesturing to the girl, and she nodded.

"Since the princess is in exile, and the matron, unable to bear seed anymore, most would have anticipated a new selection; but the young seed bearers unable to find mates would have already missed that window. Perhaps the prospect of being companion-servant to Gods might entice some of them to our side."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"What exactly does being a companion-servant entail?" I asked, and Gisela fidgeted a little.

"Performing any task required by the one being served," she answered, and I frowned.

"And seed bearers are the only ones who are permitted to take up this role?"

"Any are permitted, at the discretion of the one being served; but it can be anticipated that the volunteers will be seed bearers."

I thought about it some more.

"Are companion-servants permitted to marry? Find mates, I mean?"

Gisela tilted her head at me.

"If the one being served permits it, then yes."

"And will our hunters and runners accept mates who have served Gods?"

Casey smiled, as she caught on to what I was suggesting, and Gisela studied me for a bit, then nodded.

"It is less likely if they have borne saplings while in service; but they would be honored to, otherwise."

I turned to Casey.

"We'll talk to Jordan and Nolan; Raul as well. Put them in full armor, and we'll try to bring on board as many as we can."

Casey nodded, and as they went off to organize things for our arrival at the cluster, Cameron went off with them, but not before mouthing 'good luck' to me, as she nodded in Nolan's direction.

I took a deep breath in, then approached the two and explained our plan.

"You want us to take slaves?" Nolan asked incredulously.

"Not, slaves... more like servants," I countered.

"And what exactly makes that nothing more than a semantic difference?" he asked.

"Maybe the way we treat them?" Jordan suggested, and Nolan shot him a venomous look.

"You're gonna take his side on this. About slavery?" Nolan asked, and Jordan's eyes narrowed on him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, and Nolan quickly went silent.

"I'm not forcing either of you to do this if you don't want to, but we need to get more settlers on board if our settlement is going to prosper when we do get there."

Jordan nodded, but he still seemed a little unsettled.

"Is it alright for us to do this, though? It kinda feels like if we're tricking these girls into coming along."

"It's morally ambiguous for sure-"

"You don't say," Nolan cut in, as I continued:

"-but I don't think we'll survive for long in the world if we're not prepared to do what needs to be done sometimes."