The Island of Wonder

When Limia was the only Tzurai alive, guards took the remains of the rest somewhere outside of the camp. The ratgirl was sitting on the ground, hugging herself and sobbing.

"Hey, are you sure you want this?" Soi asked as the girls stood over Limia.

"I… I don’t know. But I want to give her a chance." Nicole sighed. "Hm, on the other note, what about all their stuff?" She went to where Jathun was standing. "Hey. The Tzurais were transporting goods and had their own items. One of the carriages is full of chests with their personal belongings. I was the one who found out about their… plan. I want to get part of the reward."

The man simply nodded. "Indeed. I expected you to come and say something like this. I already know what they had on them, mostly. And they weren’t rich. Do you really want a share of dried meat and some rusty weapons?"

"No. But you don’t know what’s inside the locked chests, right? Let’s do this. I get everything that is in the wagon with the chests, and you take whatever is in the general one. And the wagon will be mine as well. Just attach it to the one me and the girls are occupying right now. Deal?"

Jathun scratched his head in thought but agreed. "Alright. I don’t need the old, half-broken wagon anyway."

Nicole smiled. "Great. Also, what about the kids?"

"The Queen and the Hive try to stay in good relationships with the Narakai, so we will take them with us and give the children back."

Phew. I was ready to hear that he would say they would use the kids as leverage. At least that’s good.

There were hours until the caravan would usually set out in the morning, but since everyone was already awake, Jathun ordered them to move out after a quick breakfast. As the travel continued again, Nicole’s carriage was filled with a strange, awkward aura. All because of the new person with them—Limia. Nicole left her in wooden shackles for safety, just in case. The ratgirl was sitting in the corner, silent.

Fuck, what am I supposed to do with her now? I would have no heart to try and sell her or force her to work for me. But I can’t just let her go, right? She is a criminal. Bringing her to the Bee Queen or Narakai people and saying she was the one who not only transported the kidnapped children but also came up with the idea in the first place will probably result in her death. Fuck.

Nicole ran her hand through her hair. "Hey, Limia? You just want to live normally, right? You did a horrible thing, but… I can give you a chance."

The ratgirl looked up at her. "A chance?"

"Yeah. If you work beside me and help me, people will think better of you. I know we almost killed each other some hours ago. But if you try, I am sure you can turn out to be a good person."

Limia chuckled. "Me? A good person? Girl, you don’t know shit about me and the things I did. But fine. Not like I have much choice, hah."

"Perfect. Then why don’t you tell me more about yourself?"

"Well, there’s not much to say. I don’t know my mother, just that she was some whore, one unlucky enough to get pregnant. All my younger years I was just following my father around, surviving on scraps and whatever I could steal at the time. At some point, my father got into trouble with the village chief and had to escape. He joined a traveling group, and I followed. Years later, here I am." She said it with a straight face, lacking any emotion at all.

"Sounds shitty." Nicole nodded. "I am so—" Nicole was interrupted by Limia.

"Don’t. I don’t need anyone to comfort me."

"Oh, okay. Let’s change the topic, then. When we were fighting, what was all that? You staying in the shadow and disappearing, and that violet orb."

"As I thought, you have no idea about the Tzurai race. We get stronger and faster if we are in the shadows. As you saw, for a second we can turn invisible if the darkness is thick enough. And the orb… Well, I got lucky to go through the ascension one time already. Now I can do this—"

Limia pointed an index finger up. On the tip, a few-centimeters-big orb appeared, just like during the night. It was black with a violet glow, like a small dark hole from space.

"As you already experienced, it’s pretty strong and pulls everything toward itself when fired." The ratgirl made the orb disappear. "And you got lucky I am not so strong. I saw a guy once, he had them bigger than your head. Good thing bastard got shot in his sleep."

Nicole swallowed hard. If such a small one made a hole in my spear and almost tipped me over, I bet this guy was just a monster. "Okay, thanks. So what about the crossbow and feather bolts? How did you manage to make it work?"

"Hah, it’s the orb again. I can control the size and make it smaller, just enough to hold the bolt together. The bolt was carried by the orb, that’s why it was so strong. Without my ability, it’s useless."

During the whole chat, neither Iloe nor Soi said a word to Limia. Instead, they were playing cards, completely ignoring the Tzurai girl. Later, when the caravan stopped for the night, Nicole left Limia in the wagon but brought her dinner. Then the girl came back to her friends.

"Are you two mad at me, or what’s going on? I want to help her, and I can’t have you two completely ignoring her or being mean to her." Nicole said, arms crossed over her chest.

Soi looked up at her. "We just don’t want to get attached to her and then get betrayed. And you say you want to help her and give her a chance, but you still have her cuffed and kept in the wagon like in a cage."

"Well… I am just not sure she can be trusted yet. I will release her soon."

"We will see if your idea makes sense. And it’s not like we are mean to her, we are just… not expecting much."

Before sleep, Nicole decided to start going through the personal chests still lying in her new wagon. She took Limia with her for company.

"I am going to leave your items to you. I destroyed the lock, so I will later make a new one. You should have a place for keeping your private stuff." Nicole said as she was counting the other chests. Fifteen in total.

"Thanks." Limia didn’t seem particularly happy, sitting on the wooden floor.

Nicole opened the first few ones. As before, the locks had no chance against her ability. After a quick inspection and sorting, the result wasn’t great. A few trinkets of almost no value except for the scraps of iron I could get from them. Some clothes, almost all for men, ragged and dirty. At least I can get cloth from those and remake them into something better. Two wooden dicks. I could make better ones. And a knife. It looks odd. She held in her hand a relatively short, curved dagger. The crossguard was curved and sharp too. It was all black with some dark-orange symbols etched all over its body, stretching like a tattoo.

"You know what that is? Seems cool."

Limia shook her head. "Never saw anything like that. What chest did you take it from?"

Nicole looked around at the mess she made while going through everything. "Uh… no idea."

"I haven’t seen anyone in the group with it. Maybe someone’s heirloom they kept in secret."

Hm, let’s try this. Nicole touched the blade with her fingers and tried to absorb it, but after a while, nothing happened. The edge had no change at all, not even the slightest one. Oo, interesting. That’s something new. She tucked it into her belt. Should make a proper sheath later.

Nicole absorbed the clothes and trinkets, then took a step back. Five done, the rest could wait for tomorrow. The girls left the caravan and, for the night, joined Soi and Iloe in the other one.

In the span of a few days, Nicole went through all the chests. Except for a stash of small, colorful gems, there was nothing worth attention. At least now I have a nice amount of cloth. Maybe it would be worth making a dress for me and the girls before we meet the Queen. A good first impression is important, after all.

When she was done with all the chests, Nicole absorbed them to not waste space in the wagon. The next thing occupying her was the renovation and upgrade of it. She fixed holes in the walls and replaced some planks where needed. She also made windows, though she had no glass and had to make wooden shutters as protection from wind or potential enemy attacks. If I get enough iron in the future, I could upgrade the wheels with metal coating. In the end, Nicole created a few crates in the back of the wagon and benches along the walls. That’s better. I figured that since I will travel a lot, getting myself a carriage will be helpful. Now I just need to find some animal to actually pull it. Someone at the Hive will surely help with that, maybe even the Queen herself.

The next day, Nicole took the cuffs off the ratgirl and allowed her to leave the wagon alone if needed. "Look. I trust you. And it would be really heartbreaking if you escaped or fought us at the first opportunity." Nicole said after the cuffs fell onto the floor. Maybe a little exaggeration, but it’s better to say this in case it stops her.

Limia rolled her eyes. "Escape? I get free food and protection here, it would be suicide to go alone into the wild."

"Good to hear." Nicole nodded with a smile. "Though I hope you will want to stay with us because of our friendship and not just out of survival." She gave the ratgirl a pat on the shoulder.

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