Fire and Jerky

Shielding himself from the heat instinctively with his arm, Krage felt the sparks and light of the explosion trickle over him as the screams of the burning slaver filled his ears.

The man screamed louder than any other he had heard before, much louder than the cries of animals and people that he had encountered on his journey to the ship. It was a shrill and painful cry filled with the sound of agony. Krage could even hear the sizzle of his throat as the fire consumed it too, burning away at the man until he fell to the floor, his skin blackened and cracked.

And for a few quiet moments Krage was unable to understand what had happened, one moment the slaver had been standing in front of the unconscious Alice's cell and the next he was a singed corpse, crumbling to the floor as Alice stood over him, her metal restraints left as nothing but melted metal dripping from her wrists, fire swirling around her and the air was filled with the vile scent of burnt flesh

"burn…"

The word whispered in the dark of the slave den, echoing against the walls and floor, leaving only the speaker, Alice standing as the caged slaves scrambled to the backs of their cells and Krage sunk further behind his cover, his intuition warning him of what was to come

"Burn" she repeated, the sounds of boots now appearing in the distance, the crew had likely been alarmed by the scream of their now incinerated brother in arms

"BURN!" Alice now screamed, drowning out any other sound and in response her mana reacted, flaring in colors that only Krage could see, and soon he could see her surroundings begin to heat up, turning orange, pink and red in his other eye

Acting upon her command fire spewed from her body, moving in a large wave of fire that slammed into the already dead man, burning his corpse to ash and drawing the yells of the slavers that had just entered the lower decks as they saw the tsunami of flame moving towards them

Krage ran, he now knew where Alice was and could come back at a "better" time, using the arc of flame as a distraction as he scrambled on his knees and elbows past the back of the cages, ignoring the cries and whimpers of both the slaves and crew.

Trying to ignore the pain emanating from his body and wiping sweat from his brow he dragged himself forward, onto his feet, shuffling past cell after cell until he reached the slaves and the doorway they filled, forced to wait for a time to escape

Thankfully he didn't have to wait long as soon a man stepped past his cowering fellows, walking past the makeshift barrier they had crafted out of crates and barrels and marching towards Alice. He was different front the rest, he smelled of cologne and spices and his clothes jingled as he walked due to the jewelry he wore,

but this was hardly the main feature of the man, he was entirely different from the rest due to one major factor. He had mana. As he marched confidently towards Alice's cage, his fellows behind him, Alice once more drew breath screaming "BURN!".

However this time instead of swallowing the man whole as it had done to the previous slaver, the flame parted. It separated in two separate directions, bathing the two slave cages diagonal to the men in fire, causing those inside to burn and perish instead

And the same happened on the next wave, and the next, and the next. Until Alice collapsed unconscious from running out of mana

Using this as a distraction Krage bolted out of the lower decks, his small feet taking the steps two at a time, and running back in the direction he had come from, back towards the food pantry

Once he found his way he ran towards it, not stopping for a second as he swung open the door of the pantry, grabbing a jar of dried meat and wrapping his arm around it as he bolted, sprinting back towards the cell of Beasty

***

As he made his way back, he crept in the corners, trying to halt his panting breaths as he stayed low, avoiding the now panicking crew below decks, sometimes stopping to let them pass as they ran towards the lower decks, carrying buckets of water with them. Finally, after some extremely tense moments, Krage crept back to the anchor room and into Beastys cell, before crashing into her and falling on his ass

As he landed he looked steeply up towards the towering woman and she looked down at him, her head tilted as she looked at the jar he was holding before asking/demanding "Food?"

He was honestly speechless, shocked by her blunt words at his arrival, but then again from what he knew beasty wasn't much one for long speeches

Smirking, Krage unfolded his arm from the jar, revealing the contents of the large jar to her, jerky strips in their hundreds

"Food!" beasty cooed, her eyes filled with tears and stars as she snatched the jar away and held it above her like a father would hold their child when playing. Skipping around the room, oblivious of her giant tails slapping around the room with the force of a falling mountain and causing the room and likely the boat to shake

Not wasting another moment Beastly began to twist the lid, in the wrong direction, literally snapping off the top half and grabbing a handful of jerky before shoving it in her mouth

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" she moaned as she chewed the jerky, and chewed, and chewed

Laughing silently at the giant girl's puppy-like behavior, Krage set himself against the wall of the room, sliding down it into a seating position and regaining his breath. However, as he did so a thump sounded next to him, causing him to snap his head up

Beasty, chewing her jerky heartily, had sat down next to him, causing a slight tremor. Looking at her Krage noticed her look at him

"What?" he asked, questioning the way she was looking at him like she wanted something

But instead of answering, Beasty slowly raised her arms, moving them towards him and then lifting up his small frame under the armpits before placing him in her large lap, careful to keep him away from the sharp pieces of the broken jar

"What are you-"

"Friend" she purred in his ear as she wrapped her arms around him gently, hugging him from behind as he sat on her lap

"Friend…" she purred once more, her voice sending vibrations through his body