Zagreus and Gwenyr dressed in new clothes Rezu gave them.

Gwenyr thanked him emphatically for her fine white shirt and blue pants.

Zagreus didn’t see the big deal, this new outfit was only slightly less annoying than the other one. The shirt was white and thin with a tight collar and cuffs. The pants were still snug, and annoying.

Gwenyr made some protests about the mark being covered but the threat of orange-screaming-death was a good motivator to change her mind.

They left the back of the keep and headed down the stone paved cart-path. It led north along the cliff, to a small protected cove.

“That’s a ship.” Zagreus stared at the long, thin, three-masted, wooden vessel sitting in the cove far below them.

Gwenyr said, “Yes. We are sailing north, to Red Rock Keep.”

“On a ship? You want me to get on a ship? And go out there? In the ocean.” He pointed, “On a ship? Ships can sink. In the ocean.”

Rezu sighed beside him. “Oh dear, I believe we have broken him. I didn’t consider this. He’s never seen a lake, much less an ocean.” He shook his head, “And he had been taking to everything so well.”

“Deep water is dangerous. Things live in deep water. Dangerous things. You stay away from deep water. What kind of lunatic builds ships to sail to the middle of it?”

“Come on Shadowbane. We have an image to maintain.”

“I can’t care about my image when I’m dead.”

“It’s almost impossible for you to drown.”

“I will sink. Mecromails make you heavier. It’s harder to swim and I’m pretty much spent already. Then I will be stuck at the bottom of the ocean.”

Pain shot through his neck and he was seeing spots.

Gwenyr hissed and went full infernal with her claws out and black eyes.

“Down mortal, this is god business.” Rezu said without even looking at her.

Zagreus held out a hand and rubbed his throbbing neck. “Owe. Ok. I’m better. It’s ok Gwenyr. I needed that.”

“He hit my mark.” She snapped.

“I will have him make you something shiny in compensation. Now let’s get on that floating death trap before I change my mind.”

She relented, “As you wish, my love.”

Zagreus got to admire the fancy shoes Rezu had given him for a long time. He let Gwenyr and Rezu guide him wherever they needed him to be.

There was a stiff breeze blowing when Gwenyr said, “How are you doing?”

He looked up, directly at her. He nodded.

“Sailing is a pleasant way to travel.”

“Please don’t say that word, or where we are, or what we are doing.”

She took his hand to guide him somewhere.

He turned and realized that the shoreline was near one horizon. And the ground was swaying. He felt far, far, far too tall. He morphed.

Gwenyr gasped.

He was now a large shadowcat. His shoulders came up to Gwenyr’s waist and were twice as wide. His void black fur was marked with aqua stripes. He let out a low growl in frustration.

Crewmen fled.

He felt a little unsteady. The swaying of the boat was not helping.

“Stop using your powers or you’re never going to recover.” An overwrapped half-cat said.

I shall call him, Snack. He eyed the annoying Snack. He huffed. This warm sun felt wonderful on his fur. He walked to the front of the ship where there was a large pool of sunshine and stretched out on the wood floor. He was sure that floating death traps had special names for things like floors but he didn’t want to be on a floating death trap so he didn’t care.

His new mate, Sharptail, followed him and sat on the floor where he could put his massive head in her lap. She stroked his fur and scratched his ears. It felt so good it was almost worth getting on a floating death trap, almost. She said, “You are a gorgeous creature.”

“Thanks.”

Sharptail paused for a moment when he spoke. Whether it was the rougher sound of his voice or the fact that he talked at all, he was unsure. And he had more important things to do like soak up sun and purr.

Snack brought some blankets and pillows to let them be more comfortable. Snack was less annoying now. They rested in the sun for hours as the ship sailed north along the coast. Sharptail’s company and not being able to see the ocean kept him relaxed.

Snack brought her some small baked meat pies and brought him a slab of salted meat. Maybe the half-cat was ok. Zagreus devoured it.

Sharptail stared hungrily at him while he did. She was a good mate.

The cabin boy tripped and fell in front of them. Zagreus shot out a paw that covered the little plaything’s chest. Everyone stopped and stared.

Sharptail sent nice, calming feelings to him through their link.

He leaned up, licked the plaything across the head with his massive tongue a couple times, and then let it go.

Hours later, they finally reached their destination. They were in a rocky harbor with their sails down. Red Rock Keep was a large multi-story tower of deep red stone on a cliff far north of the harbor. There was a town and wide docks, mostly for small fishing ships.

The air smelled of fish and other yummy things. He saw two small boats with arcane wind makers pushing their sails, reused relics of the past. These tiny boats were coming towards them. Zagreus paced along the railing.

“Relax. We will be in dock soon.” Snack said.

Zagreus huffed ran to the front of the ship. He leaped at the first little boat. People screamed and dove into the water. He was on the second boat before they were wet; then on to a third, larger ship; then onward to the dock. People scattered everywhere.

He noticed a large, yummy looking, fish tied to pulley. He caught it with his teeth and paws and dragged his prize down. There was a lot of noise and people. He bit into his prize and leapt two stories to a rooftop. He ate in peace.

As he was finishing the tasty, red-fleshed fish, Snack appeared beside him. “Did you have fun?”

Zagreus stretched, and flicked his tail.

“Come on. We are going down there and let people see your morph then we are going to pretend you were just having a little fun. I will pay the man for his fish.”

He went to the edge of the roof and saw Sharptail just reaching the dock. He leaped a couple times and was at her side, rubbing against her with his shoulder, purring.

“Oh don’t you even dare. You are causing me trouble.” She was trying to sound stern but she couldn’t stop smiling. Everyone within thirty paces had found somewhere else to be.

Snack showed up with a scarred man and a short fish-smell man.

He morphed. It HURT. He was used to pain from teleporting, so he hid the pain well.

Rezu translated.

The dock manager, a grizzled susneran with more scars than skin, bowed. “Nice you meet you my Lord. You made this day interesting. I can’t wait to tell my granddaughter about it. I had a childhood friend that was a polymorph, a chub toad, and she was quite playful at times.”

Zagreus bowed. “Thank you.” Short. Sweet. Don’t speak unless I must.

Rezu talked with and paid the other dhonzel man double what the fish was worth. He left smiling.

***

Zagreus walked beside Rezu as they followed Gwenyr through the town. A dozen royal guards flanked them. Something felt wrong with the air. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Rezu said, “Is it something specific or just general?”

“It feels… wrong.”

“That is probably the Monolith. There is one north of here. Arcane gets more distorted the closer you get to them. Vox communications rarely work here and drones have trouble flying stable. Any arcane effect can have random trouble.”

“Like morphing?” Zagreus groaned.

“Yea. If you do it again, you will probably pass out.”

“You could have warned me before we got here.”

“I did. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t know.” Zagreus rubbed his head, “Maybe. When this is over I’m going to sleep for a six-day.”

“You need to train more in your shadowcat form. Your animal brain needs to learn how to think rationally.”

“Yea.”

“Tell me if you sense something specific.”

“Ok.”

They got in a gilded carriage. The guards marched along as the carriage carried them north, towards the keep.

Rezu sent, *Hello?*

Zagreus sent, *I hear you.*

Rezu held out his hand, cupped, palm down. *Take this. It has coordinates of a teleporter near here and how to activate it. And there are files on the nobles here. I meant to brief you this morning but some asshole went and got married. It somehow slipped my mind.*

He took the data crystal and recalled it into his mecromail. He could access the info from there. *After seeing that floating death trap, I forgot to ask what are we doing today.*

*We are visiting the lord of Red Rock Keep. It’s a surprise inspection of the northern wall. Let the queen work. Just follow her lead.*

*I thought I would get a little training before I was sent to talk to the lord of a keep.*

*You are choosing to keep the mark. It would be an insult to leave her before it heals.*

Zagreus rubbed his temples.

*Want me to drag you away on ‘god business’?  You could put all the blame on me. Though I think she would still be hurt.*

Zagreus shook his head and sent. *It’s ok. I chose this, I have to live with my decisions.*

Gwenyr put a hand on his knee and sent. *Are you ok sweetie?*

*Yea. I’m mind speaking to Rezu. Give me a minute.*

She sent warm, tender feelings, *Yes, my love.*

In that moment, he wanted to forget this mission and spend the rest of the day curled up in her wings.

Rezu sent, *Are you having regrets?*

Zagreus sent, *No. It’s just… Everything has happened so fast. I could have done things better. I don’t want to hurt anyone.*

Rezu looked out the small window. *Jade was right. You are a sentimental fool.*

*Can you save the insults until after I get out of this mess?*

*It’s no insult. That sincere honesty is probably the only way you will survive this mess with your skin intact.* Rezu’s relaxed face went cold for a moment as he looked him in the eyes. *Between your mecromail and the healing tanks, it is terrifying what you can live through.*

Zagreus shuddered. Even with the occasional disassembly by Karimere he knew he had gotten a light handed treatment in his time at the lab. He had never really challenged them except, in relation to Jade.

Rezu smiled. * I have taken quite a liking to you Shadowbane. You have nothing to fear from me. I only want you to realize how dangerous of a game you are playing. I hope you succeed.*

*Thanks.*

*Just promise me you will think before you get married again.*

*Again… That teleporting away plan is looking better and better.* Zagreus joked.

Rezu shook his head, *How many more marks do you have planned?*

*I haven’t got that far.*

*I don’t want to get dragged into this more than necessary, but if you run out of options, feel free to call on me. I can’t promise I will be able to help, but I will try.*

*Thanks.*

*I think we should speak normally now. We do not want the Queen to get suspicious. Pick a new topic.*

Zagreus said, “Thanks for covering for me on the docks.”

“You didn’t hurt anyone and you only stole one fish. If you had wrecked the dock or there had been serious injuries, it would have been much more difficult.”

“That fished smelled so good. I just had to have it.”

“Many polymorphs have trouble in populations. This is the first time you have been a shadowcat around a lot of people. I think you did well. But try not to run off next time. I will buy you a fish, if you point it out.”

“It has been forever since I spent any real time in my shadowcat form. And lying in the sun feels amazing.” He looked over and Gwenyr was staring at him with a dreamy look. He gave her a quick kiss.

“You stop that or Rezu is going to have to walk, or watch.” She said.

He chuckled. “I take it you like my shadowcat form.”

“Strong… Dangerous… Primal… The more I learn about you, the more I am glad you are my Love Eternal.”

He didn’t know what to say so he kissed her, long and slow.

Rezu cleared his throat. “As much as I would enjoy the show, we don’t have time for this right now.”

They parted and Zagreus looked out the windows.

A stone wall, dotted with guard towers, extended west, over the horizon. All trees and boulders been cleared for a kilometer north and south along the wall. This left no cover for any attacker and made it easy to maneuver troops along the length of the wall.

A ring of columns stood on top of a distant hill as the only feature remaining in the open area.

Gwenyr said, “This is my northern border. There are swarms of beasts occasionally coming from the wildlands beyond, mostly anterra. But murder hornets, are common as well. They fly right over the walls and can carry off people and livestock. I organize regular patrols into the wildlands to eliminate their nests but the bugs always come back. It would take a full scale war to even attempt to cleanse the area. And that would leave us vulnerable on our other borders.”

Rezu said, “The anterra and others have expanded underground, and the geology north of here is porous enough for them to continue to come up from the Deep Dark. We have looked into ways to eradicate them all but it is practically impossible with current populations, economics and technology.”

Gwenyr said. “Having a god say it is impossible doesn’t help.”

“Don’t despair my Queen. Your efforts are a great help. Keeping the swarms out of the most habitable land is an important job. That is why we help kingdoms like yours. We want to be able to save Endrala from this scourge. That is our primary goal. Your work is buying us time.”

She smiled. “Thank you. It is a great honor to serve the gods.”