Susano can't say anything about Kratinaff, he's also about to rip the flesh off the tigers' bodies with his own teeth, he's so hungry. He puts the pan on the fire, it is suported by two sticks, he uses the rest of the water in his friends' canteens, so he can make a stew with the tigers' meat, he has no seasoning, just a little salt, he puts pieces of tigers' meat dripping blood in the pan and let it cook for almost an hour.
The smell awakens Ramon in his gray wolf form, Susano doesn't think twice and throws the tiger he hasn't used to Ramon, Ramon's gray fur gets dyed with that animal's blood, before tigers' stew is finished, Ramon finishes devouring his tiger, he leaves only the bones and hide of the animal shredded.
Ramon passes out again still in gray wolf form with a less frightening expression, Susano serves himself a plate, Krastinaff looks at him disgruntled.
"I'm going to prove it, if I don't die it must be good" Susano convinces Krastinaff to be more patient with this possibility
Susano drinks to the broth and serves another dish and he hands it to Krstinaff, Susano is in charge of defending his friends while Krastinaff eats. Krastinaff finishes eating and feels a little better, his vision starts to return to normal.
Susano serves another dish and let to Krastinaff to take care of security, Susano tries to wake Rikka up without success, so he gives Rikka the broth carefully so as not to choke her, Rikka's cheek is horrible and looks infected.
Susano manages to wake Amira with a little effort, Amira devours her dish as if it were her last, none of them cared about the taste or the smell. Amira, Sussano and Krstinaff take turns guarding, they also fear Ramon now, his transformation persists even with him sleeping.
The darkness seems long since they are tired, but it lasted as long as it did on a standard cycle at the entrance to the dungeon. They are still very tired, but having breakfast with the remains of the tiger that Susano left roasting overnight helps them to have a little more strength, except Rikka who is still unconscious.
Ramon wakes up still in gray wolf form, a little more friendly now, he finishes devouring the tiger parts that Susano didn't use and looks carefully at his teammates.
Amira tries to keep Ramon away from Rikka, Rikka started the day with a fever and none of them know how to do much about it, they either have the means, maybe they can find something or someone friendly as in the extra layer, Rikka sweats and moans unconsciously.
"I carry her!" Susano takes the initiative to carry Rikka, since that's all he can do at the moment, Amira would like to tease him, but she's still weak and wants to preserve her strength for something more useful, Krastinaff tries to help Amira protect the rest of the group.
Ramon follows them like a dog, Ramon has never been a genius, but their recent animal behavior is new, a sad and frightening surprise, Ramon seems to keep other animals away just by being there, Krastinaff watches all around.
They collect some fruits and herbs along the way, they have no idea where to go, after a few hours Rikka turns paler and more feverish.
Susano does what he can to feed Rikka with teas and broths, Krastinaff and Amira gradually get better by eating, they start to walk faster, Susano, who just needed a rest, is able to act normally again, if he wasn't busy taking care of Rikka, could produce some arrows.
Another cycle starts, they managed to collect some fruits and herbs, they were attacked a few times by beasts and Ramon attacked some animals too, they got hurt a little with these fights, but they are still surviving.
It hasn't been easy to find water in this layer despite the dense vegetation, only a few springs along the way, where the water flows slowly, Susano is making a satisfying meal now, still far below ideal, it's just enough to survive.
Rikka gradually gets worse, the infection from her cheek has spread to the rest of her face, and it looks like it's going to spread further, Rikka's face is mostly gray with flecks of dark gray.
Ramon seems to show a little more intelligence, but still has a totally animalistic behavior, his transformation is partial, as when he grabbed Krastinaff to use him as a shield, he is at the moment the one who looks better physically.
Krastinaff, Amira and Susano spend most of their time not talking, they are very depressed, despite everything seeming to return to normal, Rikka's condition only gets worse, they doubt they can get out of there without her.
They continue the march for another cycle and find signs of other mercenaries, from a few days ago, the rest of a camp was visibly attacked, the signs are clearly made by manufactured weapons, both sides were well armed, arrows slashed to the ground and trees around, deep slashes in trees and signs of magic that even laymen can see.
The signs indicate the presence of a sizable group on both sides, a dozen or more on each side, few traces of blood indicate that neither side should really get hurt or their bodies have been completely destroyed by a spell.
They are used to having conflicts and observing conflicts within dungeons, but when it comes to large groups like that it is not normal, dungeons are low profitable with minimal groups, rarely a group with more than ten is seen, and rarer is still facing such a group, nothing of value has been left behind, even simple things.
They see a smoke signal not far through the trees, it must be a settlement, it's too much smoke for a fire camp, walking a little more booing sounds are heard, scrambled, they see a makeshift fort with stone and wood walls interlaced.
The stones are big and the wood is tarred, it's probably fire-protected, there are no gates, just a few stairs all around that lead to the top of the wall, the wall is five or six times the height of Ramon in his gray wolf form, at the top of the stairs there are rustic watchtowers and there is always someone on the lookout, they spend two cycles reasonably apart watching.
Ramon is almost back to normal, he is already able to speak, but his intelligence is still impaired, Amira doesn't even have the pleasure of mocking him anymore, because he doesn't understand, Susano can prepare some arrows with Ramon being able to take care of Rikka.
They have been getting just enough water and food to survive, they have watched the patrols leave the fort and go get food, they have taken the opportunity to learn where to find and other types of food available.
In the third cycle, they were accompanying the rangers, something awkward happens, two rangers disappear, other rangers keep standing, still as if they were waiting for something.
"Hello strangers!" a loud voice comes from behind Krastinaff's group, he carries his bastard sword in his left hand and a dagger in his right, a man in his early thirties with long braided black hair, stubble and a cut scar on his right cheek.
Krastinaff and his group make a move to run to the side, so a woman dressed in leather armor from head to toe leaps in front of them, she wields a double-pointed spear, ready for battle, Krastinaff and his group halt before that, the leather armor creaks with each movement of the woman, even when she breathes.
"Hello, we're just passing through, just let us go?" Krastinaff is tense, they can hear the rest of the rangers slowly approaching.
"Long pass, two cycles already and you didn't say 'hello' even though you were sleeping near our fort" the man speaks seriously and calmly, his voice remains strong, visibly it's the way he speaks naturally, the woman stares at them all without moving a finger.
"It wasn't our intention, we needed help, but we had the impression that you formed a closed community and we didn't want to disturb you" the rest of the rangers finishes closing the circle around Krastinaff's group, the man walks towards the group slowly.
"You can lie whenever you want, this will only make your condition worse" the man stops beside Ramon who carries Amira in his arms, Ramon's face is filled with rage, the man removes the cloak from Rikka's face, he doesn't sketch any reaction to seeing Rikka's transfigured face.
"We can help with your friend, if that's what you want, but the cost will be high, we don't guarantee her survival" the man's proposal fills the group's hearts with hope and fear.
"Whatever you want, we obviously have nothing to give in return." Krastinaff preferred to be able to offer something in return to save Rikka.
"You still have your lives, it's enough to start" the man's words hit in the soul of Krastinaff's group, especially for Ramon, even with his limited intelligence the idea of freedom remains very clear in his mind.
"So we don't guarantee that we'll pay" Krastinaff bargains as best he can, the man gives a shy smile, something that his face doesn't seem to be used to.
"Done deal?" the man extends his hand to Krastinaff.
"We don't have a choice apparently" Krastinaff understands the situation well, he is still far from his usual mental balance, his wounds were never healed, and his rest is little.
"There really isn't, and we don't tolerate deadbeats be warned" Krastinaff shakes the man's hand, they seem to dispute who has the firmer handshake, the man wins without difficulty.
"Let's go! You already know our route, when we reach the fort we will take care of your friend, if it is still possible" everyone goes after the man in silence.
They spend almost the entire duration of the lightened cycle part, collecting groceries, Krastinaff and his group look at each other from time to time without saying anything, when they get backto the fort, they haul Rikka up with a rope and she is led to a crooked hut inside the fort, the rest of the group. Krastinaff is led to another hut to talk to that ranger leader once again.
"The first three rules for you are: everyone here is above you, obey all orders without question and you owe everything to this fort." The man is sitting on a thick wooden chair, it must weigh at least 10 kg.
"What is your name?" Krastinaff's anger comes through in his voice without him realizing it.
"What's your name Lord!" the man retorts, Krastinaff has not once observed him being harsh in this way to anyone else in the fort.
Krastinaff repeats the question as instructed and is dismissed without being answered, he is a little stunned, and the man shouts the order once more as if he's threatening Kastinaff's entire group.
Krastinaff and his group obey orders in light or dark for six cycles without knowing anything about Rikka, they eat and sleep very poorly, their main activities are fort maintenance and gathering supplies outside the fort, they are constantly offended by the other members of the fort.
Amira tries to come to an understanding with someone she realizes has influence within the fort and she is dismissed, Krastinaff's group is sure it's a very tribal community, they seem to repulse strangers, and this intrigues Krastinaff, there isn't one reason shown so far for them to have incorporated Krastinaff's group.
In the seventh cycle after they've entered the fort, Amira notices a shadow in the window of the cabin Rikka had entered, it was just a shadow, but she's pretty sure it must belong to Rikka.
Krastinaff and his group note that the greenish hue of the trees has faded, along with their leaves and fruit, water has also become scarcer and they have been rationing.
In the eighth cycle Krastinaff requests an audience to the leader for one of his fellow foremen, he is cursed and goes back to work, Krastinaff has the impression that it was a maybe, there is no way to know.
Another six cycles pass and Krastinaff asks the audience again, this time he is slapped hard and goes back to work, Ramon already speaks almost normally and he comments that the other day when he passed in front of the hut Rikka had entered, he scent Rikka's smell from there, but there was something odd.
Fourteen more cycles pass, and they still don't talk to Rikka or hear anything about her, each of them has indirectly seen what they think was her a few times through the fort, Krastinaff and the rest the group goes about their business, they only go out once to every three days now, on expeditions to collect supplies from more distant sources, where is a little more green.
They are already well used to fighting the most common creatures of that layer, they are not great opponents for the most part, they have heard their fellow foremen talk about 'others', they don't know what that means for sure, but probably that's why they encountered such a huge trail of struggle when they arrived.
It's been three cycles or so since Krastinaff's group noticed that their fellow foremen no longer seem to enjoy cursing or mistreating them, it still happens from time to time, they've also noticed an increase in the tension inside fort, combat item repair and production more than doubled, they've also felt anxious since then.
Thirty-one cycles since they entered the fort they are told by the only fellow foreman who still accompanies them on external missions, and with whom they have been talking a little during missions that they would see the leader soon, until now they they don't even know the name of anyone in the fort, and their fellow foremen always address them with offense.