In response, Sasha and I booted the cellar door down into the kitchen. Screams from the staff arose as we ran into the kitchen, knocking over pots and prepared food and grabbing anything we could eat on the go. The kitchen staff cried out for the guards, but we were already running out into the halls.
"What way do we go?" Sasha asked.
"I don't think it really matters. We just have to make a big scene and then get out with the guards on our tails,"
I kicked a table over that held a large vase as I spoke but noticed Sasha scowling and her tail twitching.
"Didn't like my tail joke?"
In response, Sasha walked away, scratching every picture on her way, turning to look at me as she did, which made ice creep into my veins. Soon the sounds of metal armor and footsteps got closer, and then a group of men in plate appeared behind us. They looked out of breath already, and I looked at Sasha with a wry smile.
"STOP DESTROYING THE PLACE!" Bellowed an enormous three-horned guard that was running down the hall after us.
This man was a Rhino-Kin, his three horns poke from his custom helmet as we could see the spit flying out the visor as he yelled. Sasha threw a vase that was sealed, and when it hit the Rhino man, it exploded in a cloud of grey dust. The guards wanted to gasp, but that left them all coughing in the grey cloud.
We ran from the angry shout and continued our rampage through the house, later to be accused of defiling the Duke's great grandfather's ashes and destroying countless and priceless works of art. According to Jill, it was good that we had gone through with this plan rather than the other one. Mikota had a particular type of magical torture device inserted inside her that Jill had to get pretty personal about to remove, so killing the Duke might have been bad for Mikota.
Sasha and I led the Duke and his head knight around the countryside and through many dangerous areas. After losing more than half his force, the Duke was forced to give up, but we had ended up getting so lost that it took us over six months to find Jill and Mikota. By that time, Mikota had attached herself to Jill like a parasite.
Since then, I haven't got any alone time with Jill. The Duke had forced her to do some pretty nasty thing and forced himself on her while using the torture device he inserted into her. Jill took good care of her to help her get back to a state of normal, as she does with all the girls and me.
"Hello? Did you hear anything I just said?" Mikota's voice cut in.
The sun had moved, and we were standing at the end of the field. I looked back to see multiple piles of weeds and bare rows, save the potato plants. I turned around to Mikota, and she had her smooth and long fingers covering her face in frustration.
"We are done now! I got the chips from the grunting farmer, so let's go find Miss Jill."
Mikota grabbed my hand and dragged me forward. When we finally made it to the center of town, we found Jill and Maxine talking to a woman. We moved over closer to them to hear, but not wanting to disturb them, we waited and listened.
"I've heard of Gnarled Bear Trees down there. The third level is no joke. Be careful going down there, and if you do decide to go down, take a good and strong man with you."
Jill smiled at the old lady but then noticed us walk up. She waved at us, and the older woman turned to look at us. She looked me over and screwed her face up, turning back to the girls.
"I hope this isn't what you call a "good and strong man," is it? This one barely has hair on his pecker!"
Before I could argue, the old hag turned and hobbled away. I turned back to fix the laughing girls with my own screwed up face, but the girls just burst out in more intense laughter at me.
After their laughter had died down, Maxine came over and attached herself to my arm, pressing her chest into me. Mikota noticed Maxine display and slid around Jill's arm, making the same pressing motions. Jill and I both sighed and then laughed together, sharing a quick private look the other two girls didn't see.
"So, Did you girls learn any valuable information while we were working?" I eyed Maxine as I asked the question, who was still squeezing into me with her eyes closed. Instead, Jill spoke up.
"Let's talk about it over the bath tonight, hmm? We can get more than one room tonight, and I have heard the inn has a lovely hot spring we can rent as well."
"Mmmmhm!" Both Mikota let out the same confirmation, and it made the other two laugh again.
"Have you two seen Sasha?"
"Yes, she took a different hunting mission and said she would be back with treats tonight," Maxine told me from her position around my arm.
We all walked for a bit in the market, looking at different items and weapons. I felt a squeeze on my arm, and I looked down to see Maxine with red puffed out cheeks and a pointing finger. I followed the finger to the stand in front of us. It landed on a broach with a cute batgirl inlaid with gems displayed on it.
I looked back to Maxine, who was customarily composed and set limits to all of our spending, gaze up at me with watering eyes and red puffed out cheeks. The sight of her cuteness made me want to squeeze her until she popped. Maxine's look turned me into a rubber band, and I don't even remember taking out the chips and paying the lizardman shop keeper, just sliding it into her hair and seeing her face light up.
"Thank you."
Maxine's voice came out quietly as she raised her heels to kiss me. When our lips touched, other memories of similar times started to playback for me. I began to remember how we met Maxine.
It was a peddler, Sasha and I met on our way to meet up with Jill and Mikota. We asked him about local magic users, and he said that he had heard of one in the village ahead but didn't have any specifics. So we took his directions and reached the town by nightfall.
It was a small place, so the inn was easy to find. Sasha had left me to get our meals and room while she went out to look for work. She had come back when I had gotten our meager belongings into the room, and the food came up.
"So, how did the job hunt got?" I asked after Sasha had sat down beside me, and I had handed her a plate with a steak, potatoes, and broccoli.
Sasha took the offered plate and held it up to her nose, smelling it. As her nose traveled over the seasoned steak and buttered potatoes, she took on a dreamy expression. In contrast, when her nose hit the broccoli, she scowled and then turned the same look on me.
"Woah, I didn't put it there. Put it on my plate if you want, and ill give you half of my steak, ok?"
The fierce expression melted away to the cute face Sasha took on when she was content. I let out a sigh of relief, cutting my steak and then swapping half for the three stalks of broccoli on her plate. After she started to eat, Sasha explained the job.
"There is an auction house in town that's pretty popular, and they want us to unload some wagons in the morning."
"That seems simple enough," I said after finishing my food, then asking, "what did you hear about."
Sasha's finger cut me off as she ate her last piece of meat and then said, "you will see tomorrow, let's sleep first. Don't forget your shirt."