Haemish looked like he was about to faint, and honestly, Aarav didn’t blame him. The whole situation was ridiculous. First off, four flying gryphons, with one fat man and this three stooges and then one talking ball of slop, he would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. Would they harvest him for parts? It seemed like a possibility.

“Yes, Haemish. I can speak, and I request that you do not kill me and that you do not harvest my body and you do not PUT ME IN THAT METAL THING!” Aarav’s voice rose at that last, even he wasn’t sure if it was assertion or panic, though.

“Very well, are you going to promise not to leave? I do not make a habit of killing sentient beings, you know.” disbelief was written all over the man’s face. The whole situation could be some elaborate hallucination. He hadn’t taken any drugs that he knew of recently but who knew? He turned to the other three and mouthed, are you all seeing this? Three decisive nods confirmed his assesment. “I will need your promise.”

“I won’t escape, I promise!” What was it to Aarav? He didn’t have any problems with promising and then reneging. It was his survival at stake here. I agreed too fast, damn it! He is going to be suspicious of me now. Stupid, should have waited and pretended to think about it.

“Very…well, I will have to put you in a Mana sleeve. Perfectly safe, we use it for people as well, I am sure you understand. Since we have just met, that some, precautions need to be taken.”

Aarav nodded his body since he didn’t have ahead. He had been in cells before, more times than he cared to count. What was one more? As long as he didn’t need to get into that metal tin, hopefully, he could find a way to eat his way out of it.

“Sir, are you sure this is wise?” That was Marteen, right? He was the fourth guy riding a little way off. “Do you think we should stop at the cottage and check it out a little more before bringing it to the palace? It might not be a good idea to take it close to the King….”

“Marteen, that is what we’re here for! I’ll put it in its place if needed. I don’t care if it can speak every language under the sun. It is not getting anywhere near the royal family. I’ll make sure of it!” The look Haemish directed at him should have carve a hole though the Slime and Aarav shivered and retreat into himself a little. Why did he have these kinds of involuntary reactions!? I need to control that a lot better. But the man’s eyes were scary, reminding him of every look he received before receiving a very harsh beating. Come on, Aarav, no need to since back into old ways of thinking. The Way Forward is…Forward came to his rescue again, and he could relax. Just a little, but it was the most he could expect with the other man’s eyes trained on him.

“Fascinating! A truly unprecedented find, Master! Quite incredible! Is this the creature Mr McCray found? Is it mimicking words it has heard before, or is it speaking? Also, what is it?” Aarav took in the skinny man as he brought his mount closer, the wind blowing fiercely some of his words away, so he sounded like an analogue radio. The gryphon meanwhile, continued to soar, cutting through the wind as though if it had no purchase on their wings.

Now they flew over the river. The chase leading to his capture had taken them downriver from the village, so now heading back, the scenery consisted of the river and forest and fields, with the mountains looming in the distance. Aarav could still enjoy the colours bleeding into his vision after so much time being in a fifties movie.

“So…what’s the plan with me?” Aarav couldn’t help but ask as they approached the village.

“Well, we want to understand you. What you are and where you came from. Then we can see how we can help you as well!” Haemish was being cautious, holding back. Aarav had seen it a million times.

“So…no cutting and pinching and poking, just talking? Why put me in a bag then? I’m no threat to you. I mean, I couldn’t even get away from you….” Aarav tried not to let the bitterness come through in his voice. He almost succeeded.

Haemish had a kind smile on his face, he might not have encountered anything as bizarre as this thing, but he could show creatures of the forest some compassion. More than humans anyway, he thought with a chuckle. “We just need to make sure you’re not a threat to the kingdom. You know the usual spiel. Once we know your safe to be around, then we will let you go!”

Famous last words, Aarav thought, last words for him, not Haemish. Where was this conversation going? Until they did their tests, they weren’t going to let him go. Maybe they would give him some drugs. That might be nice. No! No going back to old habits, idiot! Phew, I need to relax. I can’t do anything right now in terms of saving myself. What else can I do?

He hadn’t finished checking all his Skills to understand what was going on with him, but he wasn’t sure if this was the right time. Then again, they were his Combat Skills. He might need those more than ever in the upcoming days.

Taking a look at his Health, Stamina and Mana showed him how precarious his situation was.

Current

Max

Regen / hr

Health

37.40

739.00

3.88

Stamina

0.42

274.00

1.63

Mana

0.40

562.00

1.60

The last fifteen minutes had done nothing for his recovery. His Health had nearly bottomed out just before plunging into the water as well. With Zen Meditation and Natural Plant Healing both active, he looked at his paltry regeneration rates. It was shameful he needed to find something to heal with and soon. Maybe?

“Hmm, so this might be a bit of an awkward question, and I don’t like asking for charity, but I am in quite the pickle right now. Do you happen to have any healing potions? That is a thing here, right? My Stamina and Mana are zero right now. Health is pretty damn close as well.” If they were going to hold him captive they ought to give him something for the trouble.

“How can you be close to zero Health? You don’t appear to be in any pain or look like you are close to death. You know a potion will not do anything for you if your full, and if you think opening the bag will allow you to escape, then you are sorely mistaken.”

“I don’t know about any of that, but I can assure you that I am, in fact, close to death…maybe this body doesn’t work the same as a human body…?” Aarav realised that he might have said too much when he saw Haemish’s eyebrow quirk.

“You know that I am a human…? How can you possibly know that? Do all the monsters discuss humans in their spare time?” Haemish asked. Even though his voice was pleasant on the surface, Aarav detected the undertone. As a master of understanding the undertone from his past life, he knew that one meant that he had to tread carefully.

“Of course, I know you are all human. I have been to the village. I know what humans look like. One of them must have mentioned your species!” Again Aarav found himself questioning why he didn’t just come clean. Blorenar was a magical world. People must get trapped or reincarnated in monster bodies all the time, right? Also, why didn’t I just say I can Strong Identify stuff? I am sure everyone has that Skill as well. Arrggh! Now is NOT the time to be second-guessing myself. I have more significant problems.

“Yes, of course! That must be it.” Now he spoke too quickly. He didn’t believe me. Did he do that on purpose to through me off and make me think he doesn’t believe me? Or is he just that oblivious? If it was the skinny guy, I would say option two, but with this guy? I can’t get a read on him. Most likely, it was the first, a calculated response. Aarav responded with a nod. “So you know our names, but you have not volunteered yours. I assume you have one?”

“Resh, very nice to meet you.” Some of those other worlds Aarav had read about gave people power over you when they knew your real name. There was no way he was taking a chance with his actual name. To these people, he would be Resh, for now. Once they earned his trust, then maybe he would give his real name.