Myria says "What?! I mean you are strong, but strong enough to take on the entire beastman nation?"

"Probably not. Not yet at least."

Myria says "You are already really strong, how do you plan to become stronger?"

"Well, for starters I plan to keep ranking up as a demon. Also this quest for the Goddesses will probably make me stronger as well."

Myria says "I suppose so, I have to admit I never believed in the deities much."

"You can take my word for it, they are both very real."

Myria says "Well, I guess my prayer was answered after all."

"Prayer? What prayer?"

Myria says "When I was in that cage I prayed over and over to be saved, and then you arrived."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

Myria says "Just so you know, even if the honor debt didn't exist I would have still followed you. I will follow and serve you for the rest of my life."

"Thank you. But why?"

Myria says "You are the first one to ever look at me as something more than just an object."

I really can't think how to reply to that, so we just walk in silence for a while. After another hour we stop for lunch, while I am eating I go through my pouch looking for a suitable bone to make into a bow. For a normal bow a rib bone would work well, but I want to make a special bow for Myria after what she said.

It seems the best bones I currently have are from the fang bears, the straight bones I set aside to make arrows from. I finally decide on a leg bone for the bow, I can carve the shape I want out of it. It won't be very flexible but I think I can fix that later.

Everyone is done with lunch so I put everything back into my pouch as we prepare to move out again. As I move up to take the lead as usual I am not surprised when Myria takes her place beside me. Come to think of it, we got sidetracked and I never heard the rest of her story.

"So, what happened after you were made outcast?"

Myria says "When I was cast out I traveled to the outcast village closest to our tribe. I only stayed there for a few days though."

"How come?"

Myria says "The leader of the village was a creep and wanted to make me one of his wives. He didn't want to take no for an answer so I left."

"Understandable."

Myria says "I spent the next year wandering from village to village before I found one I could get along with."

"What made that village so special?"

Myria says "It was led by a woman."

"Ahh, that makes sense!"

Myria says "She took me in, treated me like her own daughter. I helped the village by acting as a hunter, I mainly used traps but occasionally I'd use a bow."

"Sounds like you were happy."

Myria says "Yes, I was. For about four years, then the slavers came."

"I'm sure that was horrible."

Myria says "Salvers were a fact of life for us outcasts, we had taken precautions. We even had a few outcast warriors, but for some reason the slavers attacked with much larger numbers than normal."

"It can't have been that bad though, there were only six of you in the caravan?"

Myria says "They split us up, my entire village was taken. The six of us were chosen as having the most value, so we were abused less than the others. They sent us ahead to be sold first to cover the costs of everything else."

"Where are the others then?"

Myria says "The men will have been sent somewhere else, but the other women should be in a caravan heading for the capital."

"Any idea where that caravan would be?"

Myria says "It could be on the road now or it might not have left the camps yet."

"Camps? What camps?"

Myria says "The bandits raid over the border to capture slaves, they have camps on this side of the border where they sell us to the slavers."

"Makes sense since they all work for the king, I would love to raid those camps and kill them all!"

Myria says "I would love to help you do that!"

"Maybe once we get the others to safety, for now we should focus on getting to the rebels."

Myria says "Yes, whatever you say. But, later?"

"If the chance arises, yes, we will slaughter the slavers and bandits."

Myria says "Yes! I will work hard to become useful to you!"

"Speaking of, tonight when we camp I will help you with that."

Myria says "Okay, how?"

"I will take you into the soulscape to show you some things about archery."

Myria says "I will look forward to it!"

We continue south for the rest of the day, we don't talk about anything else, we just enjoy each other's company. When the sun starts to set we stop and everyone starts making camp. I leave things to them and sit down and start carving some arrows, it has been a while since I practiced scrimshaw.

Ruby says "Did you have a nice day walking with Myria?"

"Yes, I learned a lot about her past and about the beast tribes. Looks like I will need to become the Beast King before the demon invasion."

Ruby says "Beast King? Why do you need to do that?"

"To lead the tribes against the invasion, they will only work together if they have one leader."

Ruby says "When do you plan to do this?"

"Not anytime soon, the temples come first. After the temples will be time to deal with the king, then maybe the beastmen. I don't know yet, but we will see how things go."

Ruby says "Sounds like we will be busy."

"Yeah, probably from now until the end of the invasion."

Ruby says "Well, you know I will be with you no matter what, but try to plan a little time to relax now and then. Maybe have some fun once in a while?"

"Fun, huh? Well, no promises, but I will see what I can do."

Ruby smiles as if she has won something and sits down next to me. A few minutes later Myria walks up and sits down.

Ruby says "What do you want?"

Myria says "I was told to report for training once camp was set."

Ruby says "Oh, are you training her now?"

"Yes, I'm going to take her into the soulscape and give her some ideas on how to train as an archer."

Ruby says "Oh? Just the two of you?"

For some reason the tone of her voice as she asks that question sends a shiver down my spine. I'm not sure why but I suddenly feel like I am in danger.

"Um, no. You can join us if you want. In fact I should probably invite Alannis and Leyla too."

Myria says "Okay! I will go and invite them!"

She runs off quickly, maybe she had the same feeling of danger. I sit very quietly not wanting to upset Ruby further, I'm not sure what has gotten into her but it is best not to push it. I sigh in relief when Myria returns with Alannis and Leyla, I quickly create the soulscape in my mind.

Once it is created I invite the four of them in, while I am waiting for them I send a message to Drog and Mericel to have them guard the camp. Ruby appears first but she is immediately distracted from asking questions by our surroundings. The other three are equally confused when they appear, after all none of them have ever seen a movie theater before.