With their hoods down and out of the way, I could now make out who the captain had brought to travel with us. They were both from the beastkin races. A catkin and a wolfkin. They smiled pleasantly as they stepped forward to introduce themselves.

I was relieved that they belonged to two of the races that might be sympathetic to our cause.

The first girl, the catkin flicked a few strands of her deep red hair that had slipped down out of her face and then offered Serin her hand as she approached. “I’m Ameri, I hope it isn’t too much trouble having us accompany you.”

Serin took the girl’s hand. “Not at all. We’re more than happy to have the extra support.” Serin glanced back at the rest of the party.

We all nodded and made positive noises as Ameri looked on.

She seemed happy at this reaction.

No one was voicing what they must have been thinking. As far as I was concerned, I was happy enough to have extra members to our party… Under normal circumstances that was. But we were hardly travelling under normal circumstances anymore.

At the very best, this arrangement was going to make life difficult for us. We wouldn’t be able to meet with the harpies while they were with us. It would be a struggle to meet with Celine and feed her. Just staying in contact with the harpies would be difficult because of that.

That was if things worked out for the best. If they didn’t, we would have to do something, and any of the options open to us didn’t seem that appealing to me.

Ameri didn’t seem to pick up on any of this. She was still smiling as she stepped back and let her friend introduce herself.

The second girl, the wolfkin, offered her hand to Serin. “I’m Lucy, I’ll do my best to ensure we all make it Dunshelm safely.” She gave a little bow and then stepped back.

“Thank you, Lucy. I appreciate that…” Serin took a step to the side. “I should introduce the other members of our party to you both.

Serin quickly introduce each of us in turn. Giving a little information as she went about our roles in the party. The only person she didn’t give the truth about was Aetherin.

Seeing that everyone had been introduce, the captain placed his helmet back on his head. “Now that you’ve all been introduced, I should return to town. I wish you all the best of luck on your travels.”

He waved as he made his way back to his horse.

We all waved him off as he left and watched for a short while, as he made his way down the road back to the town.

When he became a small dot, Serin caught the groups attention. “Well, we should think about setting off too.” She glanced to our two new members. “I assume you are both okay with riding alongside?”

Ameri nodded. “We are. The horses are fresh, and we should be able to travel for some miles before we need to rest.”

“Good. We want to cover as many miles as possible while it’s light. We’ll look to set a camp before night falls.”

“That’s perfectly acceptable to us.”

“Thanks… Then let’s depart.”

Before climbing back into the carriage, I looked up at the sky. I could make out some tiny specks, they were too far for me to even guess if it was the harpies or birds.

I hoped that our new catkin member couldn’t spot them either.

The two new girls mounted their horses as the rest of us climbed back inside the carriage. Altria joined Rosa on the driver’s bench once again. As soon as everyone was ready, we left.

Ameri and Lucy rode up front of the carriage, alongside Rosa and Altria. The four of them seemed to be making conversation as we rode.

Serin had been listening in for some time when she decided to close the driver’s hatch. She then turned to the rest of us and begun to speak in a hushed voice. “We need to make some plans.”

The noise from the carriage would likely cover must of our conversation, but I still responded quietly. “What are we going to do? We need to meet up with the harpies, I need to feed Celine soon. I don’t see how I can.”

“I’m sorry Theo, I didn’t have a choice. If I had turned them down, it would’ve at the very least looked rude, if not outright suspicious.”

“I know…”

Beth was the next to speak up. “I can understand why you made the call Serin, but perhaps it would have better in the long run, even if they thought it was suspicious. We would’ve soon been out of here. We’re going to struggle to keep things under wraps this way.”

“I know, but there was no telling what Elsa would’ve done next if we sent them back to town. I didn’t want to risk a larger group coming after us.”

“What if she sent them to watch us?”

“We should act as if that is the case.”

“I’m sorry Serin, I normally agree with your decisions, but I think this time you’ve made the wrong call.”

“Well, there’s nothing you can do about it now.” Interrupted Liz. “We’ll have to make this situation work for better or worse.”

Beth sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

I was starting to get worried about this situation. “But what are we going to about the harpies and Celine? We can’t just leave them.”

Serin turned to me. “I know, that’s why we need to figure something out, and soon before we need to stop.

Liz cut through the slightly tense atmosphere with laugher.

Everyone’s attention fell on her.

She slowly pulled herself together, stopped laughing and wiping her face before responding. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful… Aren’t we taking this all a little too seriously?”

“How do you mean?” Asked Serin.

 “Oh, come on! There’s one obvious way out of this, and I can’t be the only one to have thought about it.”

She clearly hadn’t been. All the girl’s gazes fell upon me.

I could guess what they were thinking. “You mean I should use my skill on them?”

Liz nodded and pretended to clap. “Exactly!”

“I’m not sure…” I checked the other girls’ expressions before I finished my sentence. “I don’t know if I should use it like that. Not when they’ve done nothing to harm us, it feels as if I would be abusing my power.”

“Would you prefer we left the harpies to wander, with no word from us? For Celine to go hungry until you found somewhere sufficiently private to feed her?”

“No, but…”

“I suppose you could seduce the two of them once we break for camp… But there’s always the off chance they spot the harpies and Celine before then.”

“Really?”

She shrugged. “It’s bound to happen at some point anyway…”

Beth looked at me. “I don’t agree with the way she put it, but she may have a point… I can understand why you don’t want to use your abilities like that. If something happens, we might have to choose between that or something worse.”

I knew they were right. I’d thought as much myself, but I couldn’t say I was happy with either option. Not unless there was no choice.

Serin had been quiet while we spoke. She looked to have been deep in thought, but as we fell silent, she spoke up. “I don’t think this is something we should make Theo decide by himself.” She turned to me. “What do you say to putting it to a vote? If we decide to not to use your ability, we’ll work out another way to meet with the harpies.”

I would still be the one with the decision on my conscience, but I would feel better if it was a group decision. I knew that much. “Okay, let’s put it to a vote.”

She winced a little as if guessing the outcome already. “Okay… We’ll have to leave Altria and Rosa out of this one for now, is that okay with you?”

I nodded. “I don’t suppose we have a choice.”

Finding the opportunity for the entire party to discuss this and then vote, without Ameri and Lucy realising something was going on was unlikely.