Chapter 49

After the last two adventures in the jungle, Aurelia was quite sick of the thick groups of plants that grew by the minute. Even with the map, it took forever just to make a little progress, or at least that is the way it seemed to Aurelia.

Zinjo studied the paper and twirled it around, "I understand the usefulness of this paper but how does one read it?" He flipped it around a couple more times, and Aurelia giggled and turned it around to the correct position.

"You see the arrows with letters, each one represents a direction. North is the guide," Aurelia pointed to the map, "We were here next to the swamps yesterday, and it says here the order of the Gentle Tower wasn't too much farther away."

"You think the lizard beasts acted like some kind of barrier?"

"I'd say so it's not too hard to imagine, is it? If they can create deadly creatures, they could easily make a predator to deal with the lizard hybrids."

"Should any of these Gentle Tower people still be alive, I will kill them..."

Aurelia put up her hand, "No you will not. Death is too good for people like that. It is better to put such vile beings in the dungeon to rot."

Zinjo childishly kicked the ground, "Can I kill them if they leave us no other choice?"

Slender arms went skyward as Aurelia spoke between her clenched teeth, "Yes, but only if they leave you no other choice. We are not murderers Zinjo, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"I understand why you made the choice you did now. Ayasu would say: to kill unnecessarily stains the soul, and makes the soil of the heart stony," Zinjo embraced Aurelia and kissed her, "Can we go back to the ship for a while?"

The thought drifted on Aurelia's mind for a few moments and she could feel Zinjo piercing her and filling her up to the brim. "I want nothing more than to do that, but Gael graciously let have the three days we requested despite the fact his reason for staying is gone."

Zinjo studied the map again and pointed to the east, "There is a trail around the swamp, perhaps we should avoid it just in case there are stragglers?"

"Yeah, we killed their...Leader?"

"Or was it?"

"On second thought, maybe we should kill any order members that exist," Aurelia amended her previous statement.

"You understand now? They have perverted nature itself," Zinjo gestures with Partisan.

The parasol blade swished through the air and severed a thick clump of ferns, they fell in a heap next to a tall tree, "Let's hurry, I don't want to find other things made by the Order."

***

Much to the Surprise of Aurelia and Zinjo a small settlement thrived beyond the swamp. They sat on the edge of a small ridge and watched the people milling about. They looked like humans but moved around like feral beasts. The largest of the group all surrounded a cage with thick steel bars, on top of the cage a long metal rod.

"Is the cage empty?" Aurelia pulled the spyglass out of the satchel Gael lent her. She extended it and tapped Zinjo on the chest, "Hey check out what's in the cage."

Zinjo put the spyglass up to his eye, and peered down at the cage, "What is that? Another hybrid?"

Within the cage were a simple black and yellow rabbit with a longhorn protruding out of its head. The guards stood at least five feet away from the cage. Were they afraid of the minuscule ball of fluff? "Have you seen one of those before?"

Zinjo shook his head, "It is an animal unknown to me. Perhaps it is the divine beast the ghost of Tiberius spoke of ?"

It was the only animal caged and it bothered Aurelia, what threat could such a creature pose? She noticed a small group lead a cow to the cage. They tied the cow to a stake near the cage and the large protectors took long spears and began to poke the poor animal toward the cage.

"Why would they offer a cow...by the gods," Zinjo watched with a horror-stricken face. The moment the cow touched the bars, it vanished inside the cage in a spray of blood and gore. "I don't think anyone has the magic to make something that powerful."

"I was leaning toward a divine being too," Aurelia said with a satisfied smile, "Thanks Tiberius she whispered to the empty air as if he could still hear her.

"Here's a question, how do we get the animal out of the cage without getting killed ourselves?"

"I'll assume we have to do it very carefully and without error," Aurelia said with a giggle.

Zinjo scowled at her, "Be a serious, dark princess. I don't know how powerful it is but if it can pull livestock through the bars, I don't want to go near it without a plan."

"What if we show our fuzzy little friend we are on the same side or at least have a common enemy?"

"Do you think such a creature would understand?"

"Do we have time to waste talking about our next move?"

Zinjo kicked the ground, "Hmmm," he peered through the looking glass, "The lock is going to take some effort to blow open. It looks stronger than anything I've encountered so far."

A smile spread across Aurelia's face, "I know how to blow the lock open, and buy us some more time on the island." She remembered Tiberius's little speech about the exploding compound, and how it was hidden somewhere in the guardhouse

"Please tell me we are not going to unearth Tiberius's exploding compound?"

"Do you have any brighter ideas, with the recipe we can bribe Gael to give us an extra day, and his men get to loot the ruins without fear of reprisal." Aurelia put her arms around Zinjo's neck and kissed him, "Do you have a better plan?"

Zinjo kissed her back and sighed, "How about we find something of equal value first, and if that fails we'll use the exploding compound."

Aurelia kissed him several times, "You have yourself a deal."