Valkin raised his sword and pointed it in my direction. "What are you?"

  "I'm a human... mostly," I replied.

  "Oh fuck, it can talk," Norrik mumbled to his friend. He probably didn't think I could hear that.

  "I'm still the same person you knew this entire time, even though I look like this," I said.

  Luna and Aria slowly walked toward me while remaining focused on the other two. They weren't acting hostile but they were making it clear in no uncertain terms which side they would be on in a confrontation. Valkin's eyes followed the two of them as they confidently stood next to me. Aria had an arrow nocked but hadn't pulled it back yet and Luna would be able to cast quickly enough that it wouldn't matter. They were outnumbered even if I wasn't a bigger threat than normal.

  "Were you like this the entire time?" Norrik asked aloud.

  I nodded. "I was. The only reason I shifted at all was to save Valkin. I would appreciate if you stopped pointing your sword at me," I said as my eyes drifted toward him.

  "If you can shift like this on purpose, why haven't you shifted back yet?" Valkin asked.

  I held up my bloody arm. It was almost finished healing but it wasn't there quite yet. "I want this to heal all the way first."

  Slowly, I turned my head toward the draco. "I can still hear him breathing, but I don't think he's in good shape."

  "Not until you shift back," Valkin replied. "Do you think this was some kind of trap?" Valkin whispered to Norrik.

  "I don't know, did she really save you earlier?" he whispered back.

  "I'm not sure, she shoved me out of the way before it attacked, so maybe." Valkin slowly lowered his sword but he didn't break his stance yet.

  "That was when I was sent tumbling?" he quietly asked.

  Valkin grunted in the affirmative.

  "I think she's telling the truth. We were practically blind in the tunnel, if this was just a ploy to kill us she would have done it already," Norrik told him. "Still, I would feel more comfortable if she could change back."

  I looked down at my arm and inspected the wound. It looked good now. "I'm shifting back," I called out. I let the transformation revert until I was in my human form wearing my normal armor and gear again. I tightened the strap of my shield so it sat more comfortably before holding my hands out in an open gesture. "Are we fine now?" I called out.

  The two beastkin men looked at each other before shrugging and putting away their weapons. When they relaxed their guard I went to collect the sword I had left lying on the ground before heading over with the others to examine Korr'tak. Valkin and Norrik kept their distance from me and continued to be wary, but they were no longer acting defensive at least.

  "Did you break your arm in that tumble?" I asked Norrik.

  He pursed his lips and weighed his response before answering. "Yes. How did you know?" It seems his curiosity won out.

  I tapped the ear that was facing them. "I could hear the crack when you hit the ground. It didn't sound pretty."

  "Piper can heal you when we get back... Provided you keep Helena quiet." Aria's eyes searched Norrik's expression while waiting for his response.

  "This is a secret? From who?" he asked.

  "Everyone. The only reason I used it was because Valkin would have died if I didn't. That umber hound put me in a bad position and the only thing I could do to save you at that point was cover the distance in that form," I replied.

  "What about the two redheads?" Valkin asked.

  I shook my head. "No, they know too. But that's it. I'd like to be able to trust you two to keep a secret."

  "Is that a threat," Norrik asked with a raised eyebrow.

  There was a long pause before I answered. "No. It's not a threat. It's a request. What would be the point of shifting to save Valkin if I just killed you both right after?"

  "There he is," Aria said, pointing at the crumpled draco on the ground.

  I crouched down next to him and looked over his wounds. He was in bad shape, lots of bruising, both of his legs looked broken, and he was unconscious. The only way we could tell he was alive at all was his shallow breathing and the occasional whimper and whine that came out.

  Luna pulled open her backpack and retrieved the satchel we had found in the dungeon. She slipped out one of the potions and got closer to Korr'tak. She popped the cork and began to trickle a small amount of it into his throat while rubbing it and making him swallow.

  "Is that going to be able to heal him? Actually, is that safe to do while he's asleep?" I asked her.

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  ("It should be enough to keep him alive, but we'll still need to bring him to Piper. He doesn't need to swallow it exactly, as long as I go slow he won't drown in it. Piper's magic can give us a better idea of how badly he's hurt and what she needs to do to heal him up the rest of the way. It's good that there's not much blood though, we should be able to bring him back like this.")

  "Why did they bring him here alive?" Valkin asked, oblivious to Luna's response to me.

  "They were going to keep him alive to eat later. The big female was pregnant," I said pointing to the umber hound corpse off in the distance with my thumb.

  "How do you know it was pregnant?... Actually, no. Don't tell me that. I'll just take your word for it," Valkin said exasperated.

  "What about the umber hound corpses?" Aria asked. "We came here to rescue Korr'tak, but those are worth a lot of money."

  "I'll carry Korr'tak. Norrik is injured, you three can bring back the corpses," Valkin suddenly announced.

  Luna finished administering the vial of healing potion to him. The unconscious draco's breathing evened out and even some of his worst looking bruises seemed to fade. She put her stuff away and made sure he was lying flat.

  I gestured to him. "His legs are broken so you'll need to be careful with him. Also, make sure you support his head too. We should probably be using a... uh, something to carry him on but I don't have anything like that."

  "You can use the spare tarp in my backpack. Valkin, you'll have to dig it out for me," Norrik told him.

  Valkin glanced at me. "That would mean I would need help carrying him though..."

  "I'll do it," Aria volunteered. "I'm strong enough to help you lift this guy, Helena will need to be the one to carry those corpses if we're planning on bringing back all three. What do you think?" she finished looking at me.

  "That's fine with me. Let's see if I can handle them though. They weren't light monsters."

  While they were preparing a makeshift stretcher I went over and attempted to lift the corpses over my shoulder. They were big, bulky, heavy, and awkward, but I managed to get all of them over my shoulders. "Are we sure this is a good idea? Maybe we should take two trips," I said while awkwardly carrying the bodies over to them.

  Aria shook her head. "No, those people were too scared. They won't wait for us to make another trip. It was amazing we convinced them to let us rescue Korr'tak without any trouble."

  "Do... we get a cut of their materials?" Norrik asked.

  I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but something about it made me grin. "Sure. But I get dibs on the big one."

  "Then I'll help you with one of the smaller ones, put one over my shoulder," Norrik said, pointing at his back with his good arm.

  "Are you sure? Your arm is broken," I asked him incredulously.

  "That's why I need help putting it on my back. I'll be able to carry it."

  I looked over at Luna who just smiled and shrugged. Aria helped me put one of them over his shoulders and he held onto it with surprising ease. Tough bastard.

  "Let's get out of here then, the humidity is starting to make my pants uncomfortable," Aria said.

  I laughed. "That's a little too much information for me."

  She huffed. "It's true though."

  I led the group out of the cave with two of the umber hounds on my back. The only one of us who was unencumbered for the return trip was Luna who had the least to contribute in terms of raw strength. No one complained though since she was able to use some of her fire magic to keep everyone warm. The snow had begun to fall again and the wind made things pretty frosty and cold for the others, but at least it wasn't difficult to find our way back with my hearing. I heard one of those whistles off in the distance before I could even see the wagons.

  There was a bit of a fuss kicked up when we got back to the caravan but that was mostly because the first thing they saw was the corpses of the umber hounds without realizing they were dead. Valkin and Aria were quickly ushered into the lead wagon with Piper so she could look over his wounds. Once she was sure he was in stable condition she stopped to heal up Norrik's arm so he could help get everyone ready to go. It wasn't lost on me that both of them had made a point to stay as far away from me as possible but I didn't know what they would do once we started moving again. We did share a wagon for the trip so it wasn't like they could avoid me forever. I was sure that they would at least tell their party members my secret too but I was hoping that was the extent of it.

  Thankfully, the people we had left here had been busy repairing the front wagon's wheel enough that we could begin to get moving again. We have been delayed here for kind of a while and everyone seemed eager to move on from here, even if that meant traveling through the night, which we usually didn't do. Having one of us nearly killed and another abducted was enough to make this area unpalatable for them, even if we did kill the only things that would likely be a threat to us. Still, it would be better if we could make it to the next designated campsite rather than camping along the road.

  For now there wasn't much for me to do so I went back to our wagon with Luna to rest. The fight hadn't been the hardest we've had, but it was still pretty taxing. I was told to just pile the umber hound bodies into the snow outside of the wagon and they would be loaded up for us before we left. I slid open the door and found Iris hiding behind one of the crates holding a short dagger. When I stopped and raised my hands she visibly relaxed and put the dagger down. "Oh, it's only you."

  "Are you okay?" I asked as I helped Luna into the wagon.

  "I wasn't sure what was going to happen so I was just making sure a monster didn't sneak up on me. But I don't need to worry anymore if you two are here. Is everything okay outside?"

  I nodded. "Everything is fine now. Has anyone told you anything about what was happening?"

  She shook her head. "One of those leopardkin came in here to grab something from their bag and said that half of the group went to look for Korr'tak. Other than that I haven't been told anything since we stopped."

  "All the way from back then?" I glanced and Luna before turning back. "We just got back from rescuing him, it looks like he's going to live. Do you want to hear about it?"

  She nodded. "Please. What happened to Korr'tak? Was he hurt?"

  I started telling her what happened from when we left the wagon initially until we got back. I omitted the details about shifting during the fight, and how I found the tracks originally, but I told her most of everything else. Luna had snuggled into my side and had dozed off during the story but Iris didn't seem bothered by her light snoring. The young mousekin was enthralled and excited to hear the entire thing. Despite the less than positive circumstances of our meeting, the kid was starting to grow on me.

  Hello! Looks like these guys aren't quite as dumb as they may have seemed! A situation like this could have quickly spiraled out of control and it was fun to tease you guys with the possibility last time. Hopefully you're not too upset things didn't go that way. Helena would prefer to keep what bits of humanity she has left. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading!

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