By all accounts it seemed like a normal day, if not a lazy one. I was up on the balcony with Enko and Helasia enjoying good times and conversation. The park was doing well, Helasia was off, and even Enko had found some time to take a break. Thinking back, it was a damn near perfect afternoon.At some point, Helasia wandered to the back side of the balcony facing away from the reserve leaving Enko and I staring out over the trees and the river in the distance.“I think we should take another trip to one of the ruins again,” she stated casually, “I’ve heard there’s a good site just a few towns over.”In recent times Enko has taken an interest in the history of her world. Back home on my planet, humans have documented our history in great detail going back thousands of years. It’s largely how we’ve passed information on from one generation to the next. An odd detail I’ve found about my new home is that the Mageni don’t seem particularly interested in their own history. Much of it seems to have been lost in time except to maybe the keepers, a group of ancient vampires.“If we can find the time then let’s do it,” I said cheerfully, “maybe someday we can ev…”“What the hell?” came Helasia’s voice from the back balcony.Enko and I exchanged odd glances at one another before turning to investigate. As we rounded the corner we saw Helasia staring down at the road moving towards the main entrance. Peeking over the rail we witnessed a strange site.It was a large procession of different Mageni in open cart carriages being pulled by large horse like creatures. The pack was surrounded on either end with a single orc walking instead of riding. There were four carriages on either end of the convoy that each contained three men and a succubus. Knowing what I do now I believe they were actually succuben, an uncommon subset of the species. Right in the middle was a group of three carriages composed entirely of werewolves with two in the middle cart and four in the others for a total of ten wolves.“Well that’s something you don’t see everyday,” I offered looking down at the site.It’s not entirely uncommon for the various species of Mageni to intermingle, but this was a pretty strange site altogether.“Oh…” Enko started before trailing off, “I… I think that’s… the governor,” she finished still squinting at the middle cart.Helasia and I shared a look of mutual understanding. I would hope it’s pretty well known by now that I despise the slave trade. On the flip side of that, there’s a soft spot in my heart for any Mageni who moves to free their husbands. Enko did it for me a long time ago, and her story has inspired several others to try. Husbands are expensive to buy, they’re also expensive to free. Even still, if a Mageni decides to try she will still have to get the approval of the governor to grant citizenship to the man in question. A similar albeit far simpler process exists for the freeing of human women. The governor is practically famous for denying these requests, even as rare as they are. She is a singular representation of everything I’ve come to hate about the Mageni culture. Helasia knew that.We continued to watch as the group moved right past the hidden pathway to check-in at the spa. I allowed myself a mild chuckle. Even as powerful as this woman was supposedly, nobody in the know had ever thought to tell them about the other check-in. Clearly, they were here for the reserve, the road they were on didn’t go anywhere else.Enko and Helasia moved off to the side while I continued to stare venomously at the passing convoy. A thought crawled into my head. I could personally stay here and guarantee I wouldn’t be captured by this group. That was a fate I could hardly stomach, but the runners working in the park for the next few days would have no idea who was here. I felt pretty confident that anyone in the governor’s entourage was probably an amateur hunter; they were bureaucrats after all, useless in every dimension I’ve ever been in. I decided I wanted to warn them. As unlikely as it was they would set upon home base, they had the numbers to take a whole swath of runners in one trip if they figured out where we tended to congregate.Enko and Helasia broke apart suddenly removing me from my trance. Enko rushed up to me with an apologetic look in her eyes. She wanted to go greet our esteemed guest. Even still, I knew if I asked her not to she wouldn’t. The business comes first. I closed my eyes and nodded my approval. She gave me kiss and rushed down the ramp. My eyes turned towards Helasia.“I know you’re off the clock, but could I get you to escort me to base? I want to spread everyone out if I can.”As if anticipating this request she Ankara bayan escort simply nodded and started moving. I could probably make it on my own but it’d be just my luck to run into another hunting party before I could get to base to warn everyone. I appreciated her understanding. With that, we too ran down the ramp before heading northeast towards camp. It felt weird running through the park with a dark hound and not away from one. We didn’t bother to take an indirect route, I wanted to get in, get out, and then get off the reserve. As we approached I took a moment to take in the whole site. Home base had come a long way from the couple of shacks it had once been. Now, multiple houses sprawled through the trees with various bridges connecting them in an intricate web. While there were many ways to get down from the canopy, we only had a single ramp to go up and a couple of counterweights. That way we could funnel predators into a single location but still get off the platform almost anywhere. Years of work had turned it into quite the fortress for the runners.Of course, such a large population of people in one place brings considerable attention from predators. Indeed, everything that made home base a great place to hang out also made it a target rich environment for predators, although there is safety in numbers… if you’re quick.I zipped up the ramp and headed towards the largest building that we often used for gatherings to train newbies or exchange stories. I could tell there was a fairly large ensemble of runners inside. Perfect, I can warn a bunch of em at once, they’ll spread the info, and Helasia and I can get gone befo-.My thought was cut off by a distant but familiar sound I knew all too well. Two high notes and a low, one of the spotters had seen a predator. Fuckin perfect, I thought sarcastically. Everyone was about to scatter before I could warn them not to come back and for what? Had a dark hound found us maybe, or a tigress? I tried to recall what clients I knew were in the park. Knowing my luck it’d be a single predator, but it’d be enough to make everyone scatter before we could talk. Damnit.As everyone in the building started filing out I flagged a couple of the veterans.“Large group incoming, stay scattered, spread the word,” I rushed my words out towards them, hoping maybe they’d listen, it was probably the best I was gonna do.Giving up I turned back towards Helasia who, for her part, had backed into one of the smaller cabins as soon as the alert had gone out. Even off duty, she was out here effectively as a guard. Guards are really supposed to do their best to stay out of sight and out of mind unless they’re needed. Helasia takes her job very seriously. Besides, it wouldn’t be right nor would it look right for everyone to see me, of all people, getting escorted out of camp by a guard during a predator event. I’d probably have to figure my own way out of here back to the spa and our cabin.I decided to figure out what we were dealing with before making my next move. I approached the railing as a young runner ran by. Before I could see what was over the edge I saw a bolt of light catch him on the shoulder. He turned to me with a look of horror on his face. Based on the color and shape of the what hit him I deduced it was a stamina reduction spell. Not really harmful, but he had about thirty seconds before he’d be so out of breath he wouldn’t be able walk let alone evade. In effect, he was already caught. Sorry dude.“SPELL SLINGER!” I shouted as loud as I could hoping to alert the others around me.Then I chanced a peak over the rail. It’s a short list of things that can spell sling like that, but I still didn’t know what I was dealing with. It took me a few moments to process what I was seeing, there was so much movement. People running, things chasing them, spells slinging, the works.The spell had obviously come from down below. Looking there first I saw three deceptively human looking forms. I recognized their clothes almost immediately as the succubi I had witnessed earlier in the procession of carts. How the hell were they here already I wondered to myself, not that it mattered now. It also crossed my mind that succubi didn’t normally hunt like this, the display was palpable. Then I noticed a group of three werewolves quickly bolting up the one and only ramp into the canopy. FUCK.Helasia’s cabin was adjacent where the ramp came up. She seemed to know what was going on. The look she gave me betrayed a deep conflict within her. I figured she was offering me a way out, even though she shouldn’t. I shook my head and gave her a fleeting wave, I wasn’t going Escort bayan Ankara risk my reputation, let alone hers, it just wouldn’t have been right. There was a single swinging vine in the cabin behind her. She grabbed it, gave me one last look, and then was gone. Too bad the second one wasn’t there.One of the succubi took note of me and slung another spell my way, but I was already in motion. I turned and ran away from the ramp as the first werewolf cleared it, immediately seeing me and giving chase. Most of the quick escapes had already been used. I decided I needed to head north, there’d almost certainly still be some swinging vines there.As far as werewolves go, she was pretty slow, fucking bureaucrats, but there’s no such thing as a slow werewolf. My lead was evaporating, quickly. Another runner came charging out of a cabin from my left and collided with me. No doubt he had hoped to find a vine in there just to discover they had been used. As we fell to the floor I took note of his build. I was clearly the faster. I gave him a knowing grin as I stood up far faster than he did and watched the realization fall across his face. Sorry man, but today you’re my salvation. I heard him scream as the first werewolf caught up to him. There were still two more, but I had a much bigger lead on them which meant they had more targets to choose from, it was unlikely they’d come straight for me at this point.Up ahead I finally saw one, a swinging vine that could get me down to the ground. I was sure there were several more wolves down below, but there were also plenty of runners, I’d be able to pull ahead of the crowd.I wasn’t twenty feet from the vine when a bolt of light caught me in the back. DAMNIT TO HELL. Thirty seconds I thought. Wait… My gaze shot right to the cabin nearest me. It had a stash in it, including, I hoped, a revitalizing potion. It wouldn’t be a perfect solution, but it would be enough to keep me from collapsing.I darted into the cabin and almost squealed with joy when I found the desired bottle, downing it and swinging back towards the door like a mad man. Get me out of here. I crossed the threshold and looked left. A runner was coming right at me with a wolf on his tail. The third had apparently caught someone else.One vine left. I could practically hear him pleading with me, but that was just too bad. You’d do the same to me, I thought as I grabbed the vine and swung down. It was gonna take us forever to get all of the vines set back up again.Landing on the ground I tried to make sense of my situation. Three wolves up top, and a spell slinger. That meant at most seven wolves and three spell slingers down here, but a lot more runners too. I watched as a small crowd of men took off in various directions into the woods, trying to decide my strategy. Ordinarily I’d rely on my speed, but my current condition prevented that. I opted for a safety in numbers approach and tucked into where most of them seemed to be running to the west. I made it a few hundred feet before I heard wolves entering the forest.I am not accustomed to being slow compared to the other runners. I’m especially unfamiliar with being the slowest out of a bunch. It became all too evident I wasn’t going outpace anybody, I simply couldn’t keep my breath. I rounded a large tree and dove into a small nook hoping none of the wolves had seen me. I tried to think about other options, simply put, I figured this was my best bet.The first wolf went whizzing by about thirty feet to my left. She didn’t even stop. Then another went by at about the same place. Then a third came by but even closer. She was bigger than the other two, and looked like a proper hunter by comparison. I held my breath, praying she wouldn’t stop.Slowing her pace, she tested the air while continuing forward. I allowed myself to relax ever so slightly. Then she stopped. No, no, no, NO. She turned around. Damnit to hell she turned around. I was partially concealed. Please let that be enough… It wasn’t.Locking onto my scent she scanned the ground before finally catching sight of me. I thought about running, but the spell just simply wouldn’t allow me to do it. I thought about clever ploys to say, but nothing came to mind. In the end, I just sat there as she cautiously strode up beside me.“Get up,” she said simply.“I’m not sure I can,” I replied in earnest, “one of your friends got me with that damn stamina spell.”She looked at me somewhat incredulously, making sure to give me a good once over before getting closer.“And you made it out this far? No way,” she said flatly.“Well, whatever happened… here I am.”She continued to stare at me before Bayan escort Ankara finally deciding to pick me up. I decided to try the only idea that came to mind, she seemed like proper hunter, maybe the only one in lot.“Not a very clean catch,” I started, “didn’t realize werewolves needed to hunt on easy mode.”Werewolves are somewhat proud of their hunting skills. I figured maybe I could sway her into a more fulfilling pursuit. My comments earned me a grim smile, which I did not expect.“Look, this isn’t my idea on how to do this, but here you are. Governess wants men, we get her men, it’s as easy as that.”“You mean she’s not out here herself?” I asked incredulously.“She’ll come out when she feels like it,” she answered with a shrug, hoisting me to my feet.I felt defeated. Of every group that had ever been at the reserve, this had to be the one I wanted to avoid the most. I was going to be a toy for the governor of all people. My mind teemed with hate, but I tried to calm myself. I wasn’t done yet, and even if they got me for a night or two I’d be damned if I wasn’t gonna try to get out of this mess.I could probably still walk, but I wasn’t going to let that fact on, instead choosing to feign complete immobility. It was my hope that maybe I could sneak off before they got us underway back towards the guest quarters. She wrapped me in her arms and carried me back into the camp where the succubi were guarding a group of men. There were seventeen of us in the circle.It was quiet for several minutes before the two wolves that had bypassed me returned, both sporting another catch. Just how many of us were they planning on bringing back I wondered.“Hmm,” one of the succubi started, “nineteen to sixteen, a good catch.”The others nodded in agreement. With that, one stepped forward and began pacing around us. Almost everyone present had been hit with the stamina spell and was mostly immobile.“We’re going to unfreeze you now,” she started in a stern voice, “but be warned, try to run, and there will be… consequences.”There was a small chorus of groans from the group. Then, with several waves of the arm, the spell was lifted, and everyone regained their mobility. That was a change for the worse as far as I was concerned. I had hoped to be the only one partially mobile. It would have been easier to sneak away. With everyone on their feet, well, our captors were sure to be on high alert.One of the less experienced runners took this as a cue to try running into the forest again. Fool. A singular bolt struck him in the back while one of the wolves casually walked after him. A moment later she emerged from the tree line carrying her prize.“Don’t worry, I’m gonna carry you all the way back with us,” she said audibly before whispering something in his ear.Even at a distance I could see him shudder at whatever she had said to him. At least there were more of us than them, that probably meant an okay night. As rich as the governor was, I might even score a good breakfast. So long as I didn’t get paired with the governor herself I figured I could keep my cool. The trek back felt long, but not nearly long enough. I honestly figured, given the clientele, that they had rented several of the nicer cabins. Instead, they had opted for a large cave, which I found surprising. It was the newest addition at the reserve. I knew Enko had spent quite a few resources having it constructed. Even still, I would have thought these paper pushers would demand something nicer.I had never been in this cave, new as it was. As we crossed the threshold several things became apparent. The first was that the area had several heavy enchantments, including air conditioning and hot running water. Ah, I thought, explains that.The main entrance was deceptively small for how large the main cavern was. The back of the cave seemed to sport three different hallway like extensions that I wagered led into private rooms. There was an enchanted cabinet that could keep goods fresh, two private shower stalls, and several holes cut into the ground that appeared to serve as pseudo bed chambers. All in all it was quite the impressive spread. Enko had really outdone herself with this one.One of the orcs was standing by one of the halls in the back while the other one appeared to be unloading supplies. I personally don’t care much for orcs. I had a bad experience shortly after arriving on this plane. Most of my experiences with them since that haven’t swayed my opinion much. They tend to be brutish and unsympathetic. Some people think arachne are sadists, I’d take a dozen arachne over an orc any day.Not the governor, not an orc, I thought. I could live with damn near anything, but please not that. With any luck, I’d figure out a way to sneak out of here once things settled down some.One of the back pits already had a group of men. From the look of their clothes I wagered they were the husbands I had seen in the cart previously. They seemed to be having a good time talking and cracking jokes.