***The Valley***

***Celes***

Ghost lays his ears back and growls at me. Lifting one paw, he attempts to pummel me, but I am faster. Before he can go through with his intention, I slap him on the top of his head with enough force to rattle his braincase. Him playing dominance games was cute while he was a kitten, but I have no desire to pet a lion-sized porcupine with fangs who harbours a grudge against me.

He has to understand that even though I am not his bonded partner, I am the alpha in this relationship and a part of his gang. Next in rank is eventually himself, given that he manages to overthrow his master, and then Angrod.

Oh, no! Rose might even hold a higher position than Angrod since she is the one who feeds Ghost all the goodies.

Anyway, I don’t care how my maniac of a fiance deals with his pet, but I certainly won’t be the one who is bullied by a mere familiar.

“Oh, come on! It’s not like I killed him.” I wave my hand, shooing Ghost away. I sucked Angrod dry, but that's all I did. “Are you seriously telling me that you were hiding from the dracogriff, but have the balls to threaten me? If I remember correctly, you were five metres behind Tanja for the entire fight!”

It would be healthy for the cat to remember that I was the one who almost single-handedly killed the dracogriff.

Fortunately, the large familiar recognizes my superiority and sneaks away in defeat while I finish cleaning up the unconscious Angrod in one of the waterfall’s pools. The idiot came through on his promise to keep going until he was out of stamina.

He actually passed out on top of me.

Mom warned me that this could happen, but she also said that he would get used to holding back when being with me… although…

“Hehe…” Having a guy who can go nine times in a row isn’t half bad. Also, that new armour of his doesn’t look too shabby. The mask is a little frightening, but the rest of the full body armour imitates a very muscular man which is nice to look at. I don’t know if Angrod intended it to look attractive to the opposite sex, but I quite like strong men. Now I only have to make him train a little harder so that his actual body looks just like the armour.

Come to think of it, if the armour enhances his physical abilities, he might turn out to be a worthwhile training partner. That would certainly be better than him hiding inside a magical shelter while I pound away on it.

I catch myself drooling a little as my thoughts veer off the trail.

Nonetheless, the situation got a little out of hand when he silenced me before I could warn him of our precarious biology. It’s his own fault. Seriously, who just nails a girl without asking while holding her mouth closed. It would have been within my rights to break all the bones in his body. If he hadn't been so damned good at it I would have done him in.

Hopefully, his behaviour will get better once he has more time to get used to his hormones and my pheromones. After almost two decades of abstinence, getting a good romp in the bushes really was what I needed, even though I am sore all over now.

I am just glad that it was a safe day for me. That’s not assured protection against pregnancy, but better than nothing. And we will get married in a few weeks, so who is going to notice even if it turns out that we had a little unplanned mishap.

I tap my chin, considering what to do if our little encounter had consequences. “I am sure it will be fine either way. It’s not like I didn’t consider different scenarios.”

Finishing up, I dress Angrod in a comfortable sports suit and put on something similar. Then I draft Ghost as a pack mule to carry our backpacks while I shoulder my unconscious man.

Unfortunately, the familiar doesn’t seem to like my idea and drops to the ground as if I put the weight of the world on him.

“What's wrong?” I poke him with the tip of my toe.

Ghost lets out a pitiful 'meow', acting like a real house-cat, which is more disturbing than the fact that he can shred through horrific creatures like nightcrawlers with ease.

Rolling my eyes, I unpack some of his treats, using them as encouragement. It takes a lot of coaxing and a little dried meat to get him to follow me while carrying the backpacks.

Five minutes later, we arrive at our camping site where Stephen, Iris, and Sven are building a humongous camp-fire. Though, their pile of wood definitely left the realm of camp-fires. They are stacking enough firewood to remind me of a bonfire.

Margerie and Sandra are seasoning five equally large bones with meat on them.

“Ahem, what are you guys doing?” That’s too much meat, no matter how you look at it. “I thought we would grill some steaks?”

“Who wants puny steaks when we can have dracogriff ribs,” Margerie calls out, only now noticing that I am carrying Angrod. “Oh, what happened!?”

Everyone stops in their tracks, their expressions turning worried.

Oh, shit! Think quickly, girl!

“Ah, no worries!” I gesture for them to get back to work. “We just took a quick dip in one of the pools and he passed out. Absorbing the dracogriff’s magic was apparently a little more taxing than he thought. I am sure he will be fine soon enough. The only problem was carrying all our stuff.”

Ghost growls next to me, reminding me of the backpacks which are hanging off of him.

Feeling guilty, I put down Angrod and free the cat of its burden. Once our stuff is secure and Angrod dosing on a blanket, I join Margerie and Sandra, inspecting their efforts.

They somehow split a large rock, both sides clean like polished marble. Using them as a working space, Sandra is dressing the ‘ribs’ with apple juice. Afterwards, she seasons the meat with honey, brown sugar, paprika, pepper, and salt. Squished onions and garlic also go into the mix.

Meanwhile, Margerie is preparing large quantities of sauce, mixing tomatoes, maple syrup, sugar, and black pepper and cider vinegar.

“Wow.” Just seeing them at work is enough to make my mouth water. “Now I know why you were carrying enough equipment for three people.”

“Hah!” she snorts. “I somehow knew that if we left it to sleepyhead over there, we would have had to eat the dracogriff raw, given that we had survived the encounter without you.”

I wince, unable to deny Margerie's observation. Angrod took a bite out of a student and swallowed the piece raw. They must think that he is capable of anything.

Sandra rolls her eyes. “Come on. Raw meat isn’t bad if you have the proper side dish. There are whole restaurants which specialize in that sort of stuff.” She gestures for me to help her. “Come here and help me. Margerie went overboard when she went back to get the ribs.”

I smile, fearing the worst. “So, she went back…” To the cave entrance. Which is right next to the pool where Angrod and I...

“Yees,” Margerie looks at me, grinning. “You were quite busy when I slipped by to get the necessary ingredients. Are you sure that you’ve washed your hands properly?” She clears her throat. “And rinsed your mouth.”

Slowly, I feel my face getting hot.

“Ah.” Sandra steps left and right, trying to get a good look at me from different angles.

“What!?” I bark.

She points at her neck, her hands full of dry rub. “You probably should get rid of that hickey. Did he try to bite through your neck? Anyway, the guys are dense, but they will definitely come to their conclusions once they see that.”

Margerie nods. “Hum… you should have seen the two, Sandra. The way they were going about it reminded me of mortal combat.”

Covering the spot with my palm, I start circulating mana through my skin to quicken the healing process. I just want to sink into the ground and disappear! “Please! Just forget what you saw!”

Margerie shakes her head, a sad expression showing on her face. “I am afraid that even if I wanted to, I can’t do that. Do you remember? Perfect memories.” Her expression turns dirty. “I am afraid that the scene will be burned into my brain for as long as I live.”

“Not if I hit you two on the head hard enough to erase the last twenty-four hours,” I mumble with a deadpan expression.

“You wouldn’t do that. Hahaha.” Margerie starts laughing, while Sandra doesn’t seem too sure of what I might be capable of.

She is definitely the smarter of the two, even though she isn't called a genius.

Finally, Margerie gets the seriousness of her situation, her laughter dying down. Sensing impending doom, she clears her throat and takes a step back.

Not that the increased distance will save her.

“We won’t tell anyone. Don’t worry. I just wanted to tease you a little.” Margerie looks at Sandra and the two of them nod vehemently.

“Good!” I smile and turn my attention to the bunny-kin. “Now, show me how this is supposed to work.” I gesture at their food preparations.

Having established how to deal with the situation, we spend the next hour happily preparing the meat and roasting it slowly next to the bonfire, using Sandra’s magic to levitate the ribs close enough to the fire without getting burned.

Finally, in typical male fashion, Angrod wakes up to inhale his share of the meat without having done anything to help with the preparations.

Over the course of the day, I finally manage to forget some of my worries, having a genuinely good time with my friends.

As we party, the sky darkens far earlier than we are used to, as the sun sets behind the large mountain range.

That is, until Angrod jumps up with his tablet, waving it in the air and shouting. “Guys, guys. You have to see this! Eyes to the south!” He points towards the sky above the woods.

We turn our attention away from the bonfire, waiting for something to happen.

“It’s going to happen right… about… now!” He presses a button on his tablet.

Green beams of energy streak through the sky, converging on some point on the ground below with blinding intensity. There is no explosion, just a faint sizzle as distant water molecules pop because of the radiation.

The beams fade out before striking once more with the same menacing silence.

“What are you shooting at?” I turn to face Angrod, just before his drones’ energy weapons strike a third time. I recognize the weapon from old memories, hidden in my memories. There are at least a dozen unseen drones in the air above us.

“Just some guys who entered our safety perimeter. The surveillance drones which I mentioned earlier caught them sneaking about.” He chuckles darkly. “And before you ask, judging by the surveillance footage they are quite clearly no adventurers, nor part of any group who has any legal right to be sneaking around in the woods at night.”

“Who are they then?” I ask. “Or should I rather ask who they were? Because you are just using heavy artillery to take them out.” The sky above us lights up for the seventh time.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” He shrugs. “They weren’t our people and they had heavy weapons. Seemed like some military unit. Hah, I wish that taking care of my enemies at the coronation would be just as easy.”

“What do you mean? How many people were trying to get to us?” Stephen asks, aghast when yet another artillery strike comes down from the heavens.

“About a hundred.” Angrod indicates with one hand that he isn’t quite sure about the exact number. “They also had three heavy vehicles, so I just ordered the defensive grid to keep shooting until there is no more movement. I will tell my chief of security to pick through the pieces afterwards.”

He quickly changes expressions, turning from a grumpy seriousness to exuberant cheeriness. “But who cares about that stuff right now!? Let's just enjoy the light-show!”

I close my eyes and cover my face. “Who in the nine hells can enjoy those light rays if he or she knows that each beam burns a living human being!?”

“You are too squeamish.” He gestures at the sky. “There is beauty in death, and in moments like these, you can see it.”

I frown, looking at the setting sun, colouring the sky in red, torn up by green beams of energy.

A hand lands on my shoulder and I turn to look into Sandra's eyes. The bunny-girl shakes her head, a pitying expression on her face. It's one of those moments between two women, where one can do nothing else but console the other party, knowing very well that the world just won't change, no matter what you do.