Jack felt a rush of adrenaline as several possibilities occurred to him in a matter of seconds. Had the hill people tracked them on their return? Was Bar'thon here for revenge? Was it just some wandering raiding party? Regardless, it was extremely improbable that anyone would be able to break into the ship and threaten them. The entrance was made out of alloys unlike anything this world currently had to offer, and Angela could even deploy defensive measures if things got bad enough.

The problem was the fact that they had no way to effectively deal with a large force if they decided to set up camp just outside the cave and wait them out. Even if the four of them could simply remain inside for weeks or even months, they'd eventually run out of food and power.

Trying to keep his initial fears under control until he had more information, Jack turned to Angela. "How many are out there?"

S'haar was also staring intently at Angela while poor Em'brel was looking back and forth between everyone hoping for answers. Angela had her eyes closed as if concentrating. "There only appears to be one. He's staying near the mouth of the cave and yelling in."

Angela opened her eyes to stare at S'haar, confusion evident on her face. "He's asking to speak to you."

At this, S'haar blinked. She seemed lost in thought for a moment before turning to Jack. "How do you want to proceed? This is your home."

Jack shook his head. "It's our home. If this person simply wants to talk, I say we talk. However, let me get my coat and gun first, just to be safe."

S'haar nodded and strapped on some long knives as well. She was still missing her sword from the battle, and they hadn't had time to replace it. Her shoulder wasn't up to strenuous use, but she'd always do her job as a bodyguard if it came down to it.

Armed and armored, the two left the safety of the ship to speak with their visitor. As they walked through the dark, Jack could hear a voice shouting into the cave, but with all the echos bouncing around, he couldn't tell who it was or what he was saying.

On the other hand, S'haar seemed to recognize the voice because she halted and started thinking aloud before continuing. "It can't be. What's he doing here?"

Her stance relaxed somewhat, which Jack took as a good sign, and then she turned to Jack to explain. "I believe that's Lon'thul's voice I hear, but what would he be doing all the way out here?"

Jack was just as confused as S'haar. He couldn't imagine any reason for the hunter chief's son to be at their cave calling for S'haar. On the other hand, given the different possibilities, Jack had been considering, this was as good an outcome as he could have imagined. So he simply shrugged and indicated they should continue.

Nearing the mouth of the cave, they could finally make out what the young argu'n was shouting in. "I don't mean to intrude, but I seek to speak with S'haar! If she is not here, I seek an audience with the dragon instead!"

As the two of them walked out of the cave's shadows into the morning light, Lon'thul's face went from worry and concern to a look of profound relief. The expression only lasted a few moments before his eyes focused on the bloody bandage on S'haar's left arm, and the look of concern returned.

Lon'thul started forward, reaching for S'haar. "You've been injured! We need to get you to a healer right away!"

S'haar waved away his concern, obviously more interested in the reasons behind his presence than her shoulder. "I'm fine. What are you doing out here Lon'thul?"

Lon'thul ignored her dismissive response, grabbed S'haar by the wrist, and attempted to drag S'haar with him. "You're not fine! you're injured, and we need to get you treated right away."

S'haar quickly ripped her wrist out of his grasp, responding with venom in her voice and a hard edge to her eyes. "No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to show up and play the hero and 'save me from myself.' I'm not some damsel in need of your protection and guidance. I've fought more battles and killed more men than the number of years you've been alive. So when I tell you I'm fine, you had best understand that I'm the only one who gets to make that judgment call."

Lon'thul looked shocked at first. Clearly, this wasn't going how he'd expected. S'haar's voice lost a little of its edge, but her glare still spoke volumes. "I understand you're trying to be helpful, but I don't like repeating myself. So if you please, why are you here?"

This time the young argu'n had the decency to look a bit ashamed, kicking the cave floor as he spoke. "Lord A'ngels has been awaiting some visitors. Apparently, someone was delivering a bride for his son. When they were more than a day late in showing up, he sent the hunters out to scout for the girl and her escort."

Lon'thul's eyes focused on a distant horizon as if he was focused on an incredibly vivid memory. "I came across the site of a massive battle. A whole camp of the hill people had been wiped out. Many of them received wounds, the likes of which I'd never seen. The only evidence of who could have done it was this."

Lon'thul held out S'haar's sword. "Scouting around some more, I eventually found the cart you used in the village, still loaded with iron and a Kovaack. After finding that, I was worried that you'd been taken or killed. The way you spoke of the dragon made me think you were friends with her, so I came here hoping to find you or recruit the dragon's aid in finding you."

S'haar reached out and took the sword from the youth, finally relaxing her expression. "Well, thankfully, you found me here instead. The dragon is aiding in the healing of my shoulder. I'll be fine."

Lon'thul only looked more confused at this. "But how? That camp easily held twenty argu'n, most of whom will now be food for scavengers. I'm well aware that you're quite the skilled fighter, but even warriors of legend couldn't have pulled that off and lived to tell the tale!"

S'haar looked back at Jack, who'd been standing off to the side, content to watch everything up until now. "The answer to your question is simple. Jack borrowed a bit of the dragon's power."

Lon'thul looked at Jack as though he'd just turned into said dragon. "How can someone 'borrow a bit of the dragon's power?'"

Jack looked trapped, then confused, and finally shrugged before speaking, S'haar switching to her role as translator. "Honestly, even if I wanted to share that secret, which I don't, it would take too long to explain. You'll just have to accept the evidence you've witnessed as proof of my claim."

The young argu'n looked as though he wanted to argue further, but after a moment finally decided this was another battle of wills he wasn't likely to win. "I guess I'll have to. But that still leaves one last question. Do you have any idea what happened to the bride? She's still missing."

Jack's head tilted to the side as he considered how best to answer, it would be easy to say he had no idea what happened to her, but if the truth came out later, it could unnecessarily complicate his relationship with the village. The truth might cause its own complications, but he'd deal with those as they came.

Crossing his arms similarly to S'haar's favored stance, hoping to convey some of her usual confidence, Jack answered Lon'thul's question. "We did find a young girl who'd recently lost her father and received some rather harsh abuse at the hands of the raiders. We brought her back with us to receive treatment as well. After that, she requested to be allowed to remain here. Without going into too much detail, we decided to grant her request. She's safe but probably won't be interested in the idea of marriage any time soon."

Lon'thul looked troubled at that. "I'm not sure how well that news is going to be received. She was promised to Bar'thon, that marriage was bought to unite our two villages..."

Jack was just deciding how to phrase his response when a visibly upset Em'brel marched out of the shadows behind him. Jack barely had time to wonder when she'd snuck up behind them or why Angela had let her leave the ship when Em'brel slapped Lon'thul with enough vigor that Jack's own jaw ached in sympathy.

Tears in her eyes, the tiny Em'brel still seemed to tower over the much larger Lon'thul at that moment. "You can tell the lord of your village, 'With the death of my father, all the lands and authority that we offered in our deal are now in my uncle's possession. If he had wanted to ensure he received what he paid for, he should have sent an escort to ensure my father and I arrived safely.'"

Her fury spent itself quickly, and Em'brel seemed to shrink in on herself. "I'm no longer the daughter of a noble. I'm now just another orphan with nothing to offer in marriage. Your lord will have to seek out my uncle if he desires any further alliances.

To his credit, Lon'thul accepted Em'brel's rebuke with relative humility. As the youth stammered out his apology, Jack couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the usually cheerful argu'n. He was obviously a man of his time, struggling to understand and keep up with two women clearly ahead of their time. His mistakes were born more out of the ignorance brought on by his environment rather than any malicious or petty intent.

Before things got too awkward, Jack decided to change the subject.

"I have a deal to offer you. Since you're already headed back to the village to make your report, if you take our cart the rest of the way with you and have the iron and Kovaack processed, I'll give you a 10% cut of the total value of the delivery. You can take the payment as you wish from the iron and/or the kovaack."

Lon'thul's eyes widened in surprise as Jack continued. "You can tell old Mar'kon I'll give him the same cut we agreed on last time, and I'll be there in a few days to pick up my share."

Jack knew the price he was paying was worth far more than the services a simple delivery warranted, but he hoped it would go some way toward making up for the bad news the argu'n would be delivering.

Lon'thul recognized that this deal also signified the end of his visit. After agreeing to Jack's terms, he turned to Em'brel again. "I'm sorry for... uhh for being..."

S'haar couldn't resist the urge to get a shot in while Lon'thul's defenses were down. "For being a male?"

Lon'thul winced a little at her statement before shrugging. "I was going to say, 'for being insensitive,' but I guess that works."

Em'brel smiled a little at S'haar's interjection before turning her attention back to Lon'thul. "Well, I'm sorry I let my anger get the better of me. You only deserved to be slapped half that hard."

Jack merely shook his head as the young hunter walked away.

-

Once the three made it back inside, they were quickly met by Angela. She was obviously ready to voice her own thoughts, hopping from one foot to the other in the air. "So that's the Lon'thul you mentioned before. Nice enough kid, not too bright though."

Jack decided to come to the youth's defense since he wasn't here to do it himself. "Eh, he's alright. Just needs to grow up a little, then he'll be fine... Not that I'm one to talk..."

The last was said as Jack suddenly realized that he was very, very outnumbered as the three women looked at him with faces ranging from amused to incredulous. He decided now would be a good time to change the subject.

Clearing his throat in a not at all awkward manner, Jack brought up something that's been on his mind. "We've already had too many delays to our timetable, and I'm guessing we're only going to have more as the winter drags on. If we're going to get things stabilized before Angela runs out of power, we're going to need to scale things up a little. In short, we're going to need more help."

As he spoke, Jack started walking over to the kitchen to make the now overdue breakfast. As he got out the bacon and began slicing it, Angela was translating and explaining their situation for Em'brel. Jack continued. "To that end, I want to hire a few workers to come out and build us a few basic structures, housing, storehouses, work stations, etc.

Jack finished his thought as he placed the bacon into the pans. The sizzling and popping sounds were already making his mouth water. "We can, of course, compensate them the usual ways. However, I think we should also make some extra warming coats for them, similar to the one we made S'haar. The coats themselves will also make great compensation, and the heating pouches can only be recharged at our ship, so we don't have to worry too much about the local impact of these coats possibly making their way out into the world."

S'haar looked thoughtful a moment before adding her own input. "That should be enough to tempt some of the younger craftsmen hungry to make a name for themselves, but where will they stay? Are you going to let a bunch of workers into your home until they get the housing up?"

Jack looked troubled for a moment before turning to Angela. "Do we have anything we can make quick but well-insulated tents out of? Maybe we could install some basic heating as well? It wouldn't have to last long, a few weeks at most."

Angela looked up from her explanations to Em'brel for a moment. "Well, we could make some linen-like cloth from some of the local plants. If we put up two walls and fill the middle with some basic insulation like a quilt, that should do the trick. It won't hold up for the whole winter, but I think we could get a few weeks out of it. The heating will be simple enough. Just give them blankets designed to contain more heating pouches."

Angela stopped and thought a moment with a finger tapping her lips. "With all these draws on my remaining power, we might want to think about getting up some sort of simple power generation sooner rather than later. It doesn't have to be enough to meet our total consumption rate, yet, but if we could slow the drain rather than increase it, that would go a long way toward buying us enough time to get properly established."

Angela waved her hands toward the ceiling. "We're under a mountain. Some solar and wind generators would be easy enough to set up."

Jack finished the first plate of bacon. He stole a strip for himself before placing the plate in front of the two hungry argu'n. He breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to pull his hand back before the now feral monsters at the table could claim it. "Ok, we finish healing S'haar's arm and get some rest today. Then spend the next couple of days on getting the tents ready to go."

After swallowing a few mouthfuls, S'haar nodded her agreement and mumbled something to the effect of that being a "good plan" through a mouth once again filled with bacon. Em'brel took large bites of several strips, then sat with her head back and eyes closed in bliss as she chewed her portion.

Jack wondered when it was that he'd gone from being intimidated by S'haar's teeth and eating habits to finding the two predators digging in with gusto almost relaxing. True, a small part of his brain still warned that predators this dangerous were to be respected, but something just felt right about the life he now found himself in. Smiling to himself, he turned and began working on cooking a second plate. The first one obviously wouldn't last long.

His expression wasn't lost on Angela, who was finding herself in agreement with her brother. It was starting to feel like they had a family again for the first time in far too long.