“Are you kidding me? We still can’t catch anything?!” Ves yelled as she punched a tree with her clawed hand.

‘This is getting rather frustrating.’

They could find prey easily enough now. The wolf’s body came with a new suite of enhanced senses that seemed tailor-made for finding prey in the forest. Sneaking up on it and catching said prey was a whole other story. Naturally adept at hunting as a wolf may be, it’s not as though the new body came with a set of instructions. Any instinct or knowledge it had was long gone.

Nell nudged Ves with her wolf snout. ‘Ves, it's getting late, let’s head back. We can try again when it’s light.’

“Fine! It’s just so frustrating… I was so sure that with two bodies we could catch something now.”

‘I told you we could likely get a rabbit or something. I can smell them hiding in their burrows. It would at least feed Yujiro.’

“A rabbit is a snack at best! We need bigger prey.”

‘Yes, but maybe we could use one as bait and lay a-’

Ves and Nell stopped cold in their tracks as an arrow shot past them, smack into the tree next to them.

“Stay where you are! Next time won’t be a warning!” a voice called out from behind them.

Ves could feel her heart stop. Had her master’s men found her? Was this it? The end of her short-lived freedom? Mind racing with these thoughts, Ves slowly turned around. In the dim of the moonlight, she could see a man. As soon as she saw him, she let out her breath, knowing there was no way he could be one of the senator’s men. Long, scaled tail and arms. Their face and torso were mostly like that of a human, though like Yujiro, a dragonewt. The question was, why was he threatening her? She was already hungry and in a bad mood after a day of failed hunting. Still, she couldn’t act hastily if this person was associated with Yujiro.

“What was that-” Ves was cut off as another warning shot whistled past.

“Where are they?” the man asked. The hardly restrained anger clear on his tense face and clenched jaw. He also looked exhausted, with bloodshot eyes and dark bags under them.

Nell growled at the man from their wolf body. He looked ready to turn his bow to her as well, should she charge. ‘Be careful’

“Where are who?” Ves asked as she clenched her fist. Not that the man could see either of her arms, hidden by Yujiro’s gift.

“I won’t ask again!” the man shouted as another arrow screamed past. This one was close enough that she wondered if he actually intended to hit her. Based on his surprised look when he fumbled for another arrow, she guessed she was right.

“Ok fuck this,” Ves said as she charged the man.

‘Ves, don’t kill him.’

“I won’t.”

The man managed to get off one more clumsy shot, which Ves swiped away. Seeing this, the man dropped his bow and quickly unsheathed a great axe from his back. Just in time, as Ves was nearly on top of him as she lunged out her claw to clasp around his throat. The man batted her claw away at the last second with his weapon, causing Ves to tumble to the side clumsily. The dragonewt didn’t give her even a moment to breathe as she caught sight of the axe in the corner of her eye, heading straight for her side. To which her only response was to block with her right arm as the dull axe head scraped along her onyx exoskeleton with a loud screeching sound. The blow undeniably hurt, but her arm held.

Quickly, the man darted away. She could see his arms shaking from the blow as her own arm throbbed. Nothing broken. Had the man not clearly already been exhausted or his weapon sharp, she was worried the blow would have done a lot more harm. Undeterred, the man gripped his axe, the resolve in his eyes clear in the moonlight despite the heavy bags under them. Too bad for him, he had forgotten Ves was not alone. With the man’s focus on Ves, Nell tackled him from behind, pinning the man to the ground. Jaw wide, she hovered over his throat. One wrong move and he would be dead.

“Our turn to ask questions. Have you heard of clan Meadowscale, or another dragonewt by the name of Yujiro?” The man’s eyes lit up in what Ves assumed to be recognition.

“How do you know that name?”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ves responded as Nell backed off. Ves then reached down and offered a hand to help him back up. Unfortunately, she offered her right hand on reflex, to which the man just looked at her warily before sliding back and getting up unassisted. As soon as Ves realized what she had done, she quickly pulled her arm back, hiding it under her clothes.

“I can take you to him if you like. We found him badly injured, so I’ve been helping treat his wounds.” Warily, the man nodded. The whole way back, Ves couldn’t help but notice the man’s axe never left his hands, ready for round two if Ves gave him a reason. Thankfully, it didn’t take Ves long to lead them back to the cave alcoves and makeshift camp. She was honestly terrified of getting lost while hunting, so she hadn’t strayed too far.

“Hey, Ves, how went the hunt?” a voice called out, and the man next to her froze.

“Yujiro?” he called out.

From above, Ves could hear scrambling as Yujiro’s face popped over the ledge, looking down at them. “Hiroko!?”

As soon as he saw him, the new dragonewt, Hiroko, dropped his weapon and scrambled up the alcove and pulled Yujiro into a hug.

“We thought you died! Are the others with you?” Hiroko asked, voice frantic. Yujiro’s downcast eyes told him all he needed to know.

“I’m all that’s left, and that’s only just. I’d be dead without Ves and Nell.” Hearing Yujiro’s words, Hiroko turned to face Ves and bowed deeply. “Thank you”.

Ves fidgeted with her hair, unable to look the two in the eyes. “I only did as he instructed, I don’t know the first thing about treating injuries”. People thanking her, let alone bowing to her, was a new and awkward experience.

Yujiro laughed at that. “Yeah, that was an experience. I can’t say I ever again want to teach someone how to sew up a wound when I’m the one with the wound. Anyways, why are you here, Hiroko? Shouldn’t you be with the main group?”

This time it was Hiroko’s turn to share a sad tale. As Ves guessed, the two of them were part of the same clan. As Yujiro mentioned before, their clan fled a war to the south, hoping to start a new home in the Scalebacks, ideally, with the blessing of the local dragons. Yujiro had been part of a scout group sent to find and negotiate with the dragons ahead of time. Hiroko, on the other hand, was a guard for the main group that followed. A group attacked not by wildlife but by slavers.

“Most of our fighters were already injured and exhausted trying to protect everyone from the beasts. When the slavers found us, we stood no chance. Before we could rally a proper defense, they were already gone, having taken many of the women and children. Including Elder Setsu, and I’m afraid your sister.”

Ves did not know what to say as she watched Yujiro clench his fist so tight it bled. She knew firsthand how terrible it was to be a slave. It was a horrible fate she wished on no one, but now? She was also much stronger now. Sitting by and doing nothing didn’t sit well with her. So, steeling herself to say something reckless, she took a deep breath.

‘Ves, I know what you’re going to say. I’ll support you.’

Ves smiled for a moment before she spoke, “Then let's save them”.

Both dragonewts' heads snapped to look at her in shock. “Save them? While I appreciate the offer, we don’t even know where they are. I was forced to run from a drake and lost the trail.”

“I know, or at least I have a good idea. If you can guide us west, there is an old-”

The crushing weight of the brand slammed into her. Sharing her master’s secrets was not allowed. After a moment, the feeling of her soul being crushed subsided. Even then, it was still hard to breathe; she could feel herself drenched in a cold sweat.

“What’s wrong!” Yujrio looked at her with worry.

‘Ves! What was that? Are you ok?’

“Gah fucking brand!” Ves slammed her fist into the wall of the alcove. Hard enough, she thought she may have broken something, not that she really cared at this point. She was certain she knew where they had been taken, or at least had a good idea. Her master had taken her there before. To the west, there was an old road, along which a hidden base slavers and smugglers used as a way stop before crossing the border.

“That looked painful. I see why you ran away,” Yujiro commented.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Hiroko asked, confused.

“She is branded, my guess is she was about to say something she isn’t supposed to, and it punished her for it.”

“Correct,” Ves staggered as she answered, even admitting she was hiding something was treading on thin ice.

“If the brand kicks in when she is about to say something, couldn’t we work around that?” Hiroko asked.

“How so?”

“Keep it to yes, no questions. If she can’t speak, we know it's correct.”

Ves shook her head, “The brand doesn’t work like that, it’s all based on intent. It’s why I could almost speak until I realized what I was doing. If we try your idea, the brand would kick in either way, as I know you would learn something from it.”

This was so frustrating; if only she could tell them!

‘Ves, I think we can actually make that idea work.’

“Wait, Nell, what do you mean?”

“Nell?” Hiroko asked before Yujiro shushed him. Saying he would explain later.

‘Trust me’ was all Nell said before she took control and immediately jumped out of the alcove.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Yujiro shouted from the ledge above.

“Can’t explain, need to leave Ves in the dark. Ask your questions. Yes, No only.” Nell shouted. Ves had no idea what was going on, but Nell must have figured out something, some loophole to exploit the brand. Ves could feel the brand grip tighten; the issue was if Ves herself didn’t understand, then neither did the brand.

“Hurry! Before she figures out what I’m doing!” Nell shouted.

Hiroko just looked on, confused, but at least Yujiro was thankfully quicker on the uptake. “Ok, yes no… yes no… Ves said something about the west before she was stopped. Is there a road or trail there?”

“Yes!” Nell shouted as Ves’s mind went blank. That was correct, but how did she know?

“Ok, I would guess it runs along the border, so it’s likely a north-south road. Are they to the south?”

“I don’t think Ves is sure where we are, but if she had to guess, she would say north.”

Right again! How, how could she possibly know? At this point, doing nothing could reveal secrets. So she was forced to act. The brand kicked in hard. It forced her to try to wrest control. Keep Nell from answering anymore questions. As a result, their body began to spasm. It likely looked like they were having a seizure while the two fought for control.

“Hurry!” Nell shouted as Ves could feel herself biting her own tongue in an attempt to stop Nell.

“Ok, so north along a road to the west. Are they still in the forest?”

“Yes!” Nell shouted as Ves tried to keep her mouth shut with her hands.

“Ok, if their immediate goal was to enter Kohdessia, they could have easily done that at any time.” Yujiro pondered before he asked, “Do they have a destination along the road but still inside the forest?”

“Yes!” Nell shouted right before she was punched in the face by their clawed arm. The blow broke her nose and nearly dislocated her jaw.

“Is it a campsite?”

“No!” Ves bashed her skull into the stone cliff.

“Is it some sort of structure or building?”

“Yes!”

“So some building north along an old road to the west while staying on this side of the border. I think we can work with that. Ok, Nell, we are good, not sure we will learn anymore like this regardless.”

With the questions over the brand relented, Ves was exhausted physically, mentally, and, more than anything, could feel it in her soul.

As Ves took a sigh of relief, she finally asked, “Nell, how did you do that?”

‘While I can’t read your thoughts, I can feel your emotions. Based on that, I could make an educated guess, like if you felt positively or negatively towards Yujiro’s guesses.’

“Can someone please explain what the void is going on?” All eyes turned to Hiroko.

Ves stared at the man for a moment. Should she tell him? Could she trust him? “Yujiro? Can you vouch for him?”

Yujiro smiled as he slapped his fellow dragonewt on the back. “You can trust him, the two of us grew up together basically brothers at this point. To make things fair, I’ll even share a secret of his that almost no one knows.”

Ves raised an eyebrow as Hiroko looked to Yujiro in shock, but before he could act, Yujiro spoke. “See, this hopeless fool has a crush on someone but is too afraid to confess, my sister.”

“Yujiro!” Hiroko shouted while his face turned beet-red.

“ah… ok? I care, why?” Ves asked as she snapped her nose back into place.

“No reason, I just wanted to fluster him. Besides, she is one of the people we are trying to save. He won’t do anything to betray your trust while we need your help and a loved one is on the line. Neither would I, for that matter.”

The group didn’t set off immediately as Ves expected. Hiroko and Ves were raring to go, but Yujiro stopped them. Hiroko was exhausted, so Yujiro forced the man to at least get a few hours of sleep. In the meantime, Yujiro made his own preparations, along with sharpening Hiroko’s axe. It was enough to make Ves wonder how she would hold up in a rematch. Time for that later; for now, they had people to rescue.