When I woke up I was on the floor with a blanket covering me. I slowly opened my eyes to see Kay off to one side. I spent a moment feeling around, and realized that the blanket was in fact my top.

Kay of course noticed as soon as I moved, “Meryl! Are you alright? That big man said that he was going to punish his soldiers for what they did to you! What… What did they do?” She asked concerned, panicked, and angry all at once.

“It’s fine…” I said just relaxing, the odd sense of contentedness still permeated my body. I didn’t even feel sore anymore, it was like waking up after a long night's sleep, and then having a great breakfast, somehow all rolled into one sensation. I felt alert, and relaxed at the same time. I felt a tension inside of me that was like a gentle urge to move. It was a bit alien...

“What do you mean it’s fine?” She asked almost indignant.

It was hard to really even take her seriously, she was so worried, but I felt so good. “It’s fine.” I insisted again, “I feel wonderful…”

“Meryl… What did they do to you?” She asked again.

“They did what I wanted them to do.” I explained firmly, a definitive statement of fact.

Kay shook her head, “No… You're just telling yourself that.”

I closed my eyes again, I wasn’t actually tired, but I didn’t want to deal with her. She wanted to make this whole thing about to be some horrible tragedy I was sure. Her sister had likely just been used and abused. But that was her interpretation, to me… I’d just convinced four men to fuck me for what felt like hours. Alright, maybe one, who knew?

“Meryl… Please.. talk to me.” Kay said.

“About what?” I asked just laying there.

“About what happened… about what's happening… anything… I’m scared and your… you're acting so strangely.” She implored me.

I opened my eyes to see her, tears running down her cheeks. Why must you care so much? I couldn’t help but feel bad for the young woman. But what could I say? How could I possibly make it okay? Her sister was gone. There were platitudes and empty words I could give her, but none of them fit the situation. I simply wasn’t prepared to deal with the situation. The truth was… Something I was unwilling to confront.

I’d barely even considered my response before the cloth separating the outside and the cabin was pushed aside and the bear of a man, Dragon Smith stepped into the room. He glanced down at me, “You’re awake.” His eyes were hard, his mood like a storm on the horizon.

I nodded a simple reply not quite sure what to make of the situation I found myself in with him. He’d put me back with the tiger kin, he had found his men defiling me in such wonderful ways too... What was his take on the situation?

“Let me ask you a simple question…” He started glaring down at me, “Did you instigate that?”

I smiled up at him I didn’t even care that he knew, why hide it? “Yes.”

“Well, that means my men aren't exactly lying. So I suppose that's some small blessing." Then his relief flipped, "By the gods what is wrong with you woman?” He practically growled.

“What do you mean?” I asked grinning feeling a bit too proud of myself.

“The whole camp is talking about you… You’ve put me in a terrible position. I can’t even trust that my men will do their jobs. They are as green as the trees around the camp as it is. They certainly don’t need you tempting them every step of the way.” He growled out.

“You could watch me.” I said grinning up at him.

“I really don’t want to hurt you… but you are tempting me.” He said a dark edge to his words.

At those words, my smile receded. Suddenly my fluttery world of sex and giggles felt all too fleeting. I practically shrank in on myself as actual fear crept in around me.

Dragon Smith continued less forcefully, “I’ve explained this… I don’t want to keep you here. The situation is… Well, you can’t go back south.”

“Only because you won’t let us!” Kay announced.

“No… I’m afraid it's worse than that.” he said grimly.

“What did you do?” Kay demanded.

“What is it with you tiger kin? It's always what did I do? What have you done? As though our tiny kingdom is somehow the source of all your woes?” The big man demanded obviously his frustration was peaking and even this small thing had set him off to a degree, though he seemed to recognize it even as it did.

“I don’t care about you or your kingdom! We just want to go home!” Kay insisted.

“That's right…” Joan agreed though more reserved.

“Your home... is gone.” Dragon Smith stated harshly with no room for error.

Kay and Joan stared at him, and I could see the gears ticking in their eyes as they processed, and decided whether or not to hate this man.

I focused on the large human man. His eyes weren't merciless or angry. Instead what I saw was pity beyond his frustration.

“What happened?” I decided to ask since no one else would.

He shook his head, “We don’t know. Our scouts have been ranging further south before they stopped returning. But during their missions they discovered… Well, there's no other way to put this... Burned villages.”

“You’re lying!” Kay stated. “You burned them! You did it! You kept us here so we couldn’t warn them! It’s your fault! Yours!” Kay screamed at him.

The man glanced towards me, and then to Joan, “Believe what you want.” Then he turned to me, “If I hear more trouble from you…” He closed his eyes and took a breath. “Don’t force me to do something drastic.” He said opening his eyes and fixing me with a firm stare.

“You did it!” Kay yelled again.

Dragon Smith left, leaving us three tiger kin alone.

Kay was fuming, “Humans are monsters! The elders have always warned us about them. They told us to never trade with them, to never trust them!”

Joan didn’t add anything. However, he seemed unnerved. As though he was silently considering what to believe even as Kay verbally denied and accepted it simultaneously.

I honestly believed him. It wasn’t that I inherently trusted these humans or anything. But I at least didn’t actively disbelieve them. Honestly, what was their motive to lie to people they had captured and weren't planning on releasing? I supposed there was some convoluted way that could make sense, but when I saw him standing there debating how he should speak, I didn’t see a calculating military strategist. I saw a tired and worn man on the brink, barely holding himself together.

I’d not helped this situation, but all the same, my goals were my own. I didn’t regret what I’d done. In fact, I had only one real question in mind, “How close was I?” Kay didn’t try to speak to me again, instead she huddled in on herself, and let Joan hold her. The night drew on and before long they lay down on one side of the iron pole, and I lay down on the other side. Deep down I think this was worse for the plan. Tied to the pole again...

At some point, I fell asleep. But I was pulled from my slumber after a time by a familiar voice in my head.

“You're close.”

“How close?” I asked back, not really even being fully awake to formulate the intent of the question.

“Eighty-nine percent. Can you finish by tomorrow?”

I spent a moment considering the words and actually letting myself wake up. Only once I was awake could I admit my failure, “No…”

“I notice that you are in a new location… Is it related?” The dungeon asked.

“Yes.” I replied. “There’s more. If the man that runs this camp is to be believed villages to the south are being burned.”

There was no response immediately following. I almost thought the dungeon had somehow missed my reply.

“The scout agrees. The people were all tied to buildings, and burned.”

“Scout said that?” I asked somewhat impressed.

“Not those words specifically, for instance, he described them as burnt meat.”

I winced at that, “How would he know what burnt meat is like?” I knit my brow, I hadn’t ever given them anything burnt.

“The goblin cook has made mistakes in your absence.”

I couldn’t help but want to chuckle at that. Perhaps I’d had an inflated opinion of her. Still, she was a hard worker, and everyone could make mistakes.

“I think we need to get out of here.” I explained.

“Obviously. However, you remain beyond my reach, unless I truly wish to put my other assets at risk.”

“Maybe you should leave me behind… flee with the goblins and go northward away from whatever is burning the villages.” I offered weakly.

“If it comes to that, I will. However I’ve noticed a distinct change in you, perhaps there is something to be gained from what you’ve done.”

I considered, “What change?” I asked even spending a moment to feel at myself expecting something. I didn’t notice anything significant, it wasn’t like I’d grown wings, my tail was the same… My breasts weren’t even more impressive, not that I had any idea why I think that might be a thing.

“Your body has accumulated a considerable amount of mana, far beyond what you had previously contained.” The dungeon explained.

“Can you… use it for something?” I asked.

“I could possibly do so. Though it's not without issues. Yet, there's also the question about your own corruption, and if that mana is required. For instance, if I took it, would that remove your corruption?”

I didn’t know. In truth, I knew very little about either. “We might have to take a chance… But I’m honestly not sure how to get out of here.

“Have you made any progress in getting those prisoners to join us?” The dungeon pressed on.

“I believe the man from the other side would come… He seems infatuated with me to a degree.” I explained, “These two… I doubt I can do anything like that with them. They have their own problems, and they have a former history with… me. Or rather the person to which this body actually belonged, it was the girl's sister..” I explained almost depressingly.

“Curious…”

“The more I interact with them, the more it becomes clear I’m nothing like the person they know.” I continued.

“Do what you can. Focus on where you can make progress. I believe this will be risky regardless.”

“Yeah…” I agreed.

“I’ll return tomorrow.”

At that, the dungeon was gone.

What could I do? What progress could I make? I glanced over at the two tiger kin. Was I that depraved? Could I really do something with them? I was so close, but so far… We didn’t even know what this would achieve.

For now, I decided to spend my time thinking, trying to come up with anything I could.

Morning would come too early regardless.