Michael, Ollie, and Lance stood at the edge of the lizardfolk encampment. It was a tent city at the moment, with a small stone wall raised by magic and guards posted behind it. There was food cooking at several fires. Michael had visited several times over the last day to make sure that they were doing okay, but it seemed that once word had spread that Michael supported them and they’d helped dramatically in the battle they were mostly left alone or even welcomed. Michael had heard of a few scuffles here and there, but there had been nothing but minor injuries. Luckily, the lizardfolk's magic meant that they were more than capable of protecting themselves.

  As Michael looked out over the group he couldn’t help but notice that there were more of them then there’d been before the battle. He had met almost all of them personally on the other side of the rift, if briefly, and saw more than a few faces he didn’t recognize. He had some guesses as to where the additional lizardfolk had come from, but after spending so much time with Aza he presumed that they were being properly watched and vetted. That lizardman was nothing if not cautious.

  Aza was saying his goodbyes and giving instructions as to what to do while he was gone. It had taken him a long time to teach at least seven of them his translation spell. Apparently it wasn’t only complicated, but also magicka intensive, which meant it took five of them to manage it without him. Still, he couldn’t leave them without the ability to communicate.

  Michael sensed a presence behind him, but didn’t react when Hurzit flew from a nearby bush and landed on the back of his head.

  “Hi, Hurzit,” he said smiling as he grabbed the smaller lizardfolk by the scruff. He looked to be nearly two inches longer than he had been before, and had a bit more weight to him. He made a few sounds at him that Michael couldn’t quite understand, but he recognized the four fingered hand pointing up well enough. He cranked his arm back and threw with all of his strength.

  To his surprise, Hurzit flew much higher than he expected, nearly leaving his sight.

  “Ollie, could you?”

  “Already on it,” he replied, gesturing with his staff to help Hurzit glide down more gently. The young lizard wasn’t upset at all, instead he was chittering with laughter and pointing up in the air to request another throw.

  Aza shook his head at Hurzit as he approached and pointed back to the camp.

  The young lizard chittered disappointedly, but said a quick goodbye as he ran back to the camp.

  Michael liked that kid. He reminded him of Gabriel, though with a few more scales. That boy loved to be thrown around, to wrestle, to play fight. He sighed thinking about him, and returned his attention to Aza.

  “Things will be good here for now. Hard to tell them not to start laying fresh clutches though. First thought for man when they find a safe place. Already had a few performing the sacred contest of up and down to determine who would be first to fertilize.”

  Ollie raised an eyebrow.

  “Push-ups, basically. They have a pushup contest,” said Michael, answering the look.

  Ollie laughed at that, drawing an inquisitive look from the Prince.

  “Sorry mate. There were just a lot of animals similar to you where I’m from. They did some of the same stuff as you is all.”

  The Prince nodded. “This makes sense. We had many lemurs in our homeland that are similar to you. Grooming one another’s disgusting fur and rubbing mud on one another to attract mates.”

  Michael nodded at Ollie. “Yeah, I’d say that about sums us up.”

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  “Yeah, though let's not forget that we occasionally eat grubs as well.”

  Lance shook his head, a small smile on his lips. “Let’s make our way to the cart. The sooner we get to the capital the better.”

  They nodded and all began making their way toward Lataxia’s front gate. Michael thought he heard a bit more eagerness to get going from Lance than was normal. It sounded a bit like Laird wanting to get back to his wife, though perhaps not as intense. He could hear Veras chuckling a bit in his wife’s voice as he made that observation.

  They, along with a few dozen others, had all been asked back to the capital. Many were part of an escort for the Prince, but just as many needed to receive promotions and awards in person from the king, or in a few cases they were being reassigned to the capital.

  They reached the convoy, where others were getting ready, and Michael opted to be in one of the carts along with the prince. Partially it was to avoid riding, as he didn’t particularly enjoy it, but he also wanted to make sure he could act in Aza’s defense if necessary. Ollie and Lance chose horseback.

  Before Ollie could mount up, he was interrupted.

  “Oi! Leaving without saying goodbye?” asked Blake.

  “Yeah. You never gave me so much as a kiss goodbye when you leave my tent; why should I be any different?”

  Knight Blake grabbed him and drew him into a hard kiss. They embraced for a moment before she gave him a firm slap on the rear as they released one another.

  “Christ woman, have some decency. You’re a knight.”

  “A Knight Sergeant thank you. Take good care of your horse alright? I won’t be around to remind you.”

  “Fine, fine. Be safe out there.”

  “You too.”

  Their voices had softened with those last few words and they shared one more embrace, this one a bit more tender, before she separated and walked back toward the city. Michael had worked with Leon and some cartographers to map out all of the rifts he could sense as best as he could and Knight Blake would be leading one of the groups to seal them. Michael intended to keep updating a map he’d been given and sending the estimated locations as often as he could.

  As Ollie hopped onto his horse Michael raised an eyebrow at him.

  “How long has that been going on?”

  Ollie coughed. “Just about since you got gobbled up by that rift.”

  “I’m surprised she’d stoop so low.”

  Ollie laughed. “What can I say? She likes my sense of humor.”

  Lance shook his head sadly. “I feel bad for her. She must’ve taken a blow to her head while you weren’t here to heal it Michael.”

  “I’m deeply ashamed that I failed her like that. And shame on you for taking advantage of her Ollie.”

  “It’s truly sickening,” said Lance, shaking his head slowly back and forth.

  “Fuck you both,” replied Ollie. “And since when does this kid have jokes?” he asked, pointing to Lance.

  Michael shrugged. “He’s been around us for a long time. It was bound to infect him eventually.”

  Aza watched the exchange with curiosity for a few moments before drawing his cloak around himself tightly and positioning himself where he’d absorb the most sun on the road.

  The convoy got moving less than an hour later, the wagon Michael was in moving very smoothly on the ancient Hume roads. They reached a small town after a bit but only stopped briefly to add a few more people to their retinue before they continued onward.

  After another hour Michael was already beginning to feel restless. He’d been fighting and healing non-stop for more than a month now and he’d gotten used to all that entailed. He tried to rest, to enjoy the time he had while he had it, but found it nearly impossible. He tested his improved Bless ability he got from Veras and found he was now able to grant Middling blessings to Lance and Ollie on top of the increased number of blessings he could give overall. He’d been giving them out so freely he’d actually lost count of how many he’d bestowed. It felt like the limit was based just as much on his own abilities as the spread of the Faith in the Divine. If the growth kept pace he guessed he wouldn’t have a limit.

  When he was done testing that, he spent some time practicing with his barriers. He would form them, make them move alongside him, and see how large or strong he could make them. He kept them invisible to not bother anyone, but eventually he reached the edge of what he could practice on his own in a moving wagon. He tried shooting the shit with Ollie and Lance a bit more, but they were tired, and dozing in their saddles so he decided he’d rather let them rest. Powerful as they were they didn’t have the same restorative powers he did.

  He acted at ease until they stopped for the night, making a large camp off the side of the road. He immediately got to work after that. He healed a few saddle sores, trained, and even helped manage the inventory a bit. He didn’t manage to wear himself out enough to actually sleep until very early morning.

  This pattern followed for the next several days as they travelled. Luckily, Lance, Aza, and Ollie recovered enough to be more talkative and do some training with him, but he still had to be careful not to push too hard. He didn’t want to make them feel how his kids had when they’d asked him to play after a long day at work. Luckily, on the sixth day the capital came into view.