When Damon opened the door to Linda’s workshop, the woman, seated behind her workbench, shrieked, jumped, and made it half-way to the door leading further into the house before she stopped.

“DAMON!” She proclaimed, putting a hand against her chest. “You nearly made my heart explode!”

“At least you’re armed this time.” He chuckled, pointing at the forked spear that sat untouched next to the workbench.

Linda glowered for a moment, huffing loudly as she marched back to the bench, hips gaining a bit of a sway as she walked back to her seat. “In the days since you left for that cave, your friend taught us a bit about how to use it.” A rueful smile followed as she reached up to tug her shirt’s collar a bit lower to reveal a hint of cleavage. “I’ll have you know, I just might use it on you.”

He licked his lips, approaching and sitting down opposite to her. “So I’m a monster now.”

“A sex monster that sneaks up on poor widows and has his wicked way with them.” She organized the tools she’d been using, quickly putting them back into the respective drawers. “So you’re back as a client, or a predator?” The tugged collar went a little lower.

Damon’s eyes lingered as he leaned forward, putting on an amused smirk. “So I’ve been hearing things.”

“Things?”

“About a certain someone.” He rapped his knuckles against the workbench. “Who couldn’t keep their hymn down.”

The light green of Linda’s skin took a much darker shade instantly. “I’ll admit I lost a bit of control, usually things only last one round…” The green on her cheeks darkened further. “Not… well…”

“I have a question about whether some of that was intentional.” He said, tapping the table twice. “To claim territory. So to speak.” He quirked a brow. “Or more like as a way to get some clout.”

Linda’s smile froze in place, her shoulders stiffened, gaze looking at his with apprehension. “Are you… angry?”

Damon sighed. “I just want to keep things clear.” His finger tapped against the table again. “Did you use me to secure yourself a comfy spot as the head of the village?”

“I offered you my bed because I thought you’d be the wildest ride I’ll get to have.” She nodded a little matter-of-factly. “Which you were.”

“Flattery will not get you out of this one.”

Linda seemed to find something in his eyes that made her relax. Slowly, she shrugged. “I was willing to give everything I had so you wouldn’t kill the village. And you still scare me.”

“Really?”

“No one knows what you’re thinking, what you want, what you’re feeling. When you talk, we hope that you’re not lying. You’re the tallest and strongest man I have ever seen and you’re so silent it’s unnerving.” She listed off, counting with her fingers. “You can carry tree trunks down the hill when it would take three sasins. And your endurance is…” She blushed again, licking her lips slowly. “… frightening.”

“You’re trying to seduce me again.”

“Could you blame me?” She laughed. “I know what I want.”

“I just want to be clear on the politics, Linda.” He stated, a single brow raised.

A sigh and a nod, she reached out to grab his hand, her calloused fingers warm. “Had I been quiet, the village might have thought you took me by force and that I was trying to hide in shame. And…”

“And…?”

“And… the village needs someone to rally around. You users come and go like the seasons, but we live here. A knight is that focal point… normally.” Her gaze darkened, lips curling into a scowl. “We won’t sit and idly hope the next one is one without rot in their soul.”

He nodded. “Good.”

Linda startled, straightening up and blinking at him in surprise. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Damon nodded. “I mean, I don’t like that you didn’t give me a heads up. But I agree that you shouldn’t just hope things get better.”

Linda squeezed his hand, smiling brightly. “I appreciate that.”

“Also things might get a bit hectic, so better get prepared for that.” He continued. “Sybil confirmed there’s a Janus thing in the cave. She mentioned this place will become livelier.”

She sat up straight in the chair, blinking rapidly before her smile turned sly. “Damon?”

“Yeah?”

“Lock the door.”

“Yes ma’am!”

---

Damon walked into the room where the knight was held prisoner. The man sat on the bed, looking out the window with a distant, unfocused gaze. The plate with food was put down. “Meal is ready.”

“Thank you.”

The broad-jawed man spoke with only the barest nod, not really turning towards the plate or Damon and just keeping his eyes out through the window.

“The… replacement knight should be showing up in forty days or so.” Damon commented. “But some users will be coming with a caravan any day now, they’ll take over keeping watch on you.”

“I see.”

The silence stretched out, neither moving an inch. The knight sat firm, still, almost as if a living statue.

“Was it worth it?”

For a moment it felt as if the knight wouldn’t answer.

“The first time, it had been a user that had tried to have his way with Idina.” His voice was like gravel, square jaw settling in. “He’d requested her to guide him to the good hunting spots. I felt something was off. He probably thought he was safe because, as a knight, I can’t leave the village. I sent my familiar to keep her safe.” A long pause. “When my daughter came back, terrified, I knew I’d made the right choice. I’d wanted to throw the axon away, but I hesitated, an axon is worth a lot, it could secure our future.”

He did not move, nor did he turn to face Damon as he spoke.

“After that, I started sending my familiar to follow users. If any didn’t survive, it would just… salvage the axons. Those I could sell legally, but the first user’s axon remained untouched.”

“Why?”

“Axons record the user’s last moments. The kingdom always checks, they would’ve known.”

“It would’ve been in defense of your daughter.”

The man turned to look at the floor, hands clenched into fists. “No, it would’ve been dereliction of duty. Even the most lenient punishment would have had me stripped of role and rank.” His eyes closed. “I kept the axon, and told myself it was just in case. Then… he showed up, the hagsier merchant with the clipped ear.'' He let out a slow hiss of disgust. “I don’t know how he knew, but he knew I had it. He offered a lot of gold for it, no one would check, no one would know, not this far out.”

Damon had been listening, and with every word he felt his lips thin and his brows lower. “And that’s when the murders started.”

“It was part of the deal, I… would scrap the bad users, the others that could harm Idina, and get paid for it.”

“And then you killed the owners of this house.” His tone came as a growl.

“They would have ended everything, Idina would have-.”

Damon stepped into the room, reaching out to grasp the man by the neck of the shirt. In one swing, he slammed him against the wall, both of the knight’s feet dangling from the air as their gazes met.

“Finish the sentence. I dare you.”

What anger had begun to form on the knight’s expression vanished, eyes going wide, face paling. He tried to reach up to grasp Damon's wrists, but hesitated, slowly lowering his hands instead. “Kill me.”

With a growl, he let go. “Fuck you, I’m not an executioner.”

Damon marched out of the room, slamming the door behind him. His steps continued as he reached all the way to the common-room area. Han and Sybil were seated there, glancing his way.

“What?” He asked defensively. “I didn’t kill him or anything.”

“We know that.” Han tapped his ear, hymn, right. “How are you holding up?”

“Can’t wait to hit the road, if I’m honest.” Damon proclaimed. “The sooner I’m away from that fuckface, the better.”

“I have good news, then.” Han tapped the pieces of paper that lay on the table. “We are hashing out the finer details of the trip.” Han muttered. “Checking numbers, how much food we’ll need, how much of our water will be from the wither seeds, where we’ll have to make stops…”

“Does it all fit in a cart or should I offer to lug around the gear?”

Sybil grumbled, leaned forward and pulled her hood off, furry red fox-ears stood up as she reached for her head and massaged at their base.

“What’s up with her?”

“She’s holding back from shouting at you for offering to be a beast of burden. Since that’s clearly beneath a chosen of Janus.” Han stated amusedly.

“NO!” Sybil snapped back up, glaring daggers at Han. “You know exactly why.” She turned to Damon, and hesitated. A grimace followed as she pulled her hood back, red foxen ears pressing flat against her head. “You need experience fighting monsters, and we can’t have you intentionally tiring yourself out on the road.”

Her words came out almost in a grumble, the fire instantly gone from her voice.

“Uh… I guess I can see the logic in that.” Damon hesitated, looking at the much more amused Han. “What’s the plan?”

“A merchant caravan should be showing up soon. They’ll have some extra cloppers and carts to sell to us since I put up the request.” He answered. “There’s also going to be a messenger doubling as a representative of the knight’s order. He’ll pay you a fair amount for your portion out of the knight’s belongings you want to sell to the new knight for when they show up to take the spot.”

Damon nodded, keeping his grimace to a minimum. “What’s up with that anyway? The cloppers.”

“What about them?”

“Cloppers, teethers, gappers, withers… it just feels like weird naming conventions.” Damon pointed out. “It sort of felt… odd.”

“Huh?” Han frowned. “They’re just names, like anything else. Handrondi and Sybil don’t mean anything in particular either.”

“But the names you used for the monsters do have meaning.”

“What? No.”

“Oh.” He sat down. “Oh shit.”

“What?” Sybil’s ears twitched, her brown eyes looking at him intently.

“Gaper has a meaning. ‘To gape’.”

“Gape? First time I’ve heard that word.” Han tilted his head a little. “What does it mean?”

“When you have your mouth open?”

“Oh, gape. But why use gape?”

“I know you just said two different words, but my head’s interpreting it as the same one.” Damon muttered, rubbing at his temples. “This is my translator messing with me again. I think I’m getting a headache.”

“Your historian friend would likely be helpful about this kind of thing.” Sybil declared very quickly, nervously turning to Han. “The translation function from his axon has some hidden knowledge from the ancient times, since…”

Han leaned back, crossing his arms. “We both know what you’re trying to get at.”

Damon glanced between the two. “What am I missing here?”

“It’s about the… thing in the cave.” Han said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “I wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t shared the recording.”

“Why would you record that!?”

“We are users, everything we do is recorded by our axon. We can delete it though, so I think your question would be why hadn’t she deleted it.” Han leveled a look at Sybil. “Which is what I’ve already asked her several times.”

She fidgeted on her seat, lowering her head. “No place of power of Janus has ever reacted. To anything or anyone. Ever.” Her voice shrunk a little. “If my clan knew of this, then…”

“Your clan?” Damon hesitated. “First I’ve heard of this.”

“The vulpes clans mostly follow Tora, god of death and rebirth.” She muttered, looking away, her hand touching on the black scar on her nose. “They believe Janus has turned his back on us, leaving the world without a champion for over a hundred years.”

“It’s a touchy situation.” Han said. “The eastern clans remain independent of the kingdom much to the chagrin of some.”

“The last champion had been Vulpes. He had tried to unite the kingdom and the clans, but ultimately failed. Some claim his death came at the hands of the followers of Janus.”

“I get that the history lesson is important, but I’m not getting what that has to do with me.” Damon stated, frowning. “I asked you not to share this with anyone. I can forgive Han, he’s a cool dude…”

“Thanks?”

“-but you yourself pointed out it could be trouble if you tossed this around. Trouble I don’t want. When were you going to tell me you intended to show it to your extended family?”

“I… won’t show them, at least not until we learn more about what… an ‘administrator’ is meant to do.”

“We?”

Sybil nodded. “This pertains to Janus, and as a believer, I can’t just sit back and do nothing. You are going to need help, and I will give it.”

Damon blinked twice, glancing at Han. The bearded man just shrugged. “My destination is in Sky Bridge, and I have some friends I can put you in contact with. Anything after that would have to depend on whether things align or not.”

“I thought you two were a party.”

“From time to time.”

“Damon, please don’t ignore me.” Sybil rapped her knuckles against the table once.

“I mean, what do you expect from me?” He hesitated, scratching the back of his head nervously. “My goal is to look for a way to get home.”

“And it is tied to Janus.”

The words carried a finality to them, Damon felt like she’d chase after him even if he didn’t agree to anything. Which, as far as his goal was concerned, was a good thing. Maybe.

“Fine.”

 

---