The Two bodies were fished out of the water by the City Guards, they weren"t amused but it was better than trying to do it at night. They gathered the belongings from the Soldier and brought them to the Castle for Vella to inspect.

Vella had been dealing with the City for the past week by herself. The constant arrival of ships at the docks left them stampeded every day and night.

The stamping of papers and keeping records was a lot more than she ever wanted. Many times Vella wondered why she had bothered to stop Mike from continuing his administration over the affairs of the City. She quickly got over it, if she couldn"t have a clan she could always just rule over them.

Mike was happy with his new found freedom, It wasn"t like he felt pinned down but there were times that he would have done something differently had he been alone. Mike ran throughout the city grabbing whatever he could but from shelves to eat in the future, his next adventure could take a very long time.

Mike took his Dragoon and had the rest remain, He wasn"t looking for an escort. Mike really just wanted his mount.

"Its alright guys, we"ll be back" Mike stopped and turned to the other Dragoons who looked sad not to be tagging along.

He pet the heads of the rest of the Dragoons to help them calm down and then took to the air.

---------------------------------

"There is suppose to be a cavern about a hundred miles northwest that has some more herbs" Mike couldn"t see that far, but he could see that it was fairly flat for a hillside area.

Flowers and insects were everywhere, the place was a veritable treasure trove of minor herbs. The plants were of all different ages, no one tended the area. The only service to the zone Mike was in, was that people regularly came to check what might be growing, blooming or hiding throughout the hills.

Mike stood firm and sent his t.i.tan Senses out to feel for treasure. Magical plants still contained magic, but some Herbs were potent for other reasons, like taste, catalyst or ingredients.

Mike found potatoes, What looked like barley and lots of rosemary in the area. It wasn"t until he found some Megoba that he knew he was in the right place, Right after he spotted the Megoba he also spotted the snakes surrounding it.

"Snakes, I need snakes" Mike had some use for the slithering primal ancestors of the Asps he"d met.

Mike grabbed a sack and pinned it up against a tree. In about an hour he had 35 snakes wrapped up in the bag, They didn"t really get along. He figured it was good enough for a Snake trap in the future and went back to farming up some Herbs.

The Megoba was a nice find but the further Mike made it into the brush, the more interesting things seemed to be becoming. Mike found a patch Blood Dripping Flower and an awfully large species of gra.s.s and he happily took many samples.

The Megoba was interesting because of its ability to attract Invertebrates.

The Blood Dripping Flower was one of the Eight Hateful Carnations. If someone were to grind it into a powder to use for a medicine, it would fuse an incurable poison that infected others into the consumers body. It wouldn"t kill the consumer, but everyone around them would be drawn to them and no one could easily resist its pull.

Death would come to everyone around, without discrimination or indignation. It was likely that the gra.s.s had its own potential from being grown in proximity.

Mike was extremely happy with the Blood Dripping Flower, but what he thought was the most impressive was the Tree.

"Can I even move this in the storage ring?" Mike wondered, the tree moved like it was alive but it stayed in place.

Its strange nature is what left Mike wondering if it was even possible to move it. Hanging from the tree were several types of fruit, but each of them seemed to be different. Mike thought maybe it was a creature who had had the unfortunate luck of eating the wrong herbs, he let his senses drift out again and found something was off. When Mike noticed the tree wasn"t technically "eating" the corpse he found, he walked up toward the it.

"What a way to go!" Mike looked at the broken and battered corpse.

The body had been dismembered and stacked neatly like cord wood, set beside the tree like an offering. Its face had been removed along with most of its skin, the dissolving muscles were covered in small insects and the smell was horrendous.

Mike saw a weapon sitting beside the tree and kicked it further away from the tree to grab it for a look. It was heavier than he imagined.

"Why would anyone leave this here?" the Moment he let the words leave his mouth, Mike could feel an arrow whizzing right at his head.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Mike jumped, clearing the canopy of the brush.

The arrow had a decent tone to its harmonic as it pa.s.sed by Mike"s ear. It didn"t draw blood, but it was definitely moving fast enough to do some damage and aimed at his head. Several friends of the rapist soldiers who had died before had been waiting for an opportunity to pounce on him, their sword tips swimming in Venom.

"JUST DIE!" One of them thrust out but its attack was so weakly executed that Mike couldn"t really care about his movements.

Mike threw the man into another of his a.s.sociates and looked for the Archer. The trees were thick and there was a lot of movement. Deciding where the repeated shots were coming from took priority and he looked into a distant tree, the Archer was once again aiming directly at his face.

Mike dodged to the left.

The Branches were crispy and wet, a sign that winter was coming but it was also a good sign for Mike. The entire area around the battle was sopping wet. Tracks left depressions that soon became small puddles that melted away their distinctiveness.

The Rain had started up to speed up, but it wasn"t coming down incredibly hard. The Tracks would soon disappear, covered by fallen debris or matted by rain.

A Thunder strike in the distance gave Mike an Idea, but he wasn"t sure it was a good one. The Archer was rushing around on the trees. Mike could take to the Air, but his Dragoon was an easier target than Mike was on the ground.

Mike opted for the next best thing and take the fight directly out of the equation. Mike pulled out a length of chain from storage and watched the particles in the air discharge among the clouds. A strike would come soon, Even the smell of Ozone had come into his senses.

Mike threw the chain wrapped around the broadsword into the sky and waited as it flew upward. When the strike came, the jolt of electric energy bolted to the ground. The strike had followed the chain down to the ground, but the archer could still feel it and lost his footing as a result. It was enough to give away his position.

The t.i.tans Source was channeling into Mike"s fingertips as he pointed and a brilliant thin line of fire started to cut at the landscape, it wasn"t a streak of fire but it was cutting into trees like a laser. Mike was thrilled that his fire ability had gotten so much better but what he really needed was to get in close.

Mike yanked at the broadsword that was still hot from the lightning strike with the chain, it pulled the searing blade into his hand and Mike could tell that it was hot. He didn"t think about it and threw the blade back out as he himself began to whirl.

The blade drew arcs in the Air and the archer had run out of cover . Spotting him once again, Mike ran after the Archer intending to get information. He could always carry him back to the Castle for Vella to toy with, but something was off.

Mike noticed immediately as he pinned the Archer down while holding onto her chest. Mike pulled his hand back and punched her square in the Jaw. The clasp on the archers helmet came undone and Mike saw the woman behind the mask.

A look of dissatisfaction washed over her face.

"What"s your f.u.c.king problem with me?" Mike wasn"t sure what was going on, but the others who had come with her were already dead.

They had been minced during his clearing of the battlefield, their usefulness only extended to the point that their corpses padded the falling trees for the ground.

"My father.. you killed my father!" The Archer was furious, she kicked and bit at Mike. Thrashing her arms around really tried to get him to react.

Her tooth finally came into contact with Mike"s skin and she regretted it. The snake-like fang on the right broke the moment she bit down. Her body seemed rather sleek, Mike ran his hand down her body to check things out. He was impressed but he couldn"t just let some viper loose.

Mike froze her arms to the ground with his hands and stood up.

"This won"t hold me!" The Snake-Lady archer had a bad att.i.tude.

"Who the h.e.l.l is your Father?" Mike was pretty annoyed, he shouted at the snake-lady.

"My Father was the Goger"s City Lord, Juliaer Vietrest." When the words came out, Mike twitched... Again someone had brought him into their troubles.

"Do you know how he died? or even why?" Mike"s question stopped the Snake-lady.

She looked over at him with deathly caution. "No."

Ashamed she looked away. She was a killer and a very skilled archer but it was sort of nice to see her change her att.i.tude even if it was only a bit.

"Goger"s City Lord went after private property without reason, even after being paid off handsomely he went further with his greed. He died at the hands of a Woman, and he lost everything including his life that night." Mike sort of wanted to kick at the girl, but in the end he thought it was wrong since she was already pinned down.

"Do you have any reason do attack me again?"

"Or, do I need to just end this here..." Mike pulled the chain again and yanked the sword back into his hand.

She was pinned, and he was pointing his blade down.

"I will not submit." The woman was angry, she had no patience and she was being forced down by the Ice.

Mike shook his head.

"I never asked you to submit. I barely even met your father, he was an a.s.shole by the way."

Mike searched her and stored her gear into his ring. she was nearly naked after he was done so he took out a robe and handed it to her.

"Wear this, come with me." Mike pa.s.sed her the robe.

"Act up and I"ll make a pair of boots out of you." Mike really liked her skin, She could have been a model on Earth for that reason alone. Physically, she was quite attractive.

Mike escorted the snake lady while they talked a bit more. Pilor was one of the hatchlings from a brood that survived the City Lords subjugation of these areas. She was raised as his daughter but when she turned thirteen he wanted to marry her off and expand his kingdom.

She agreed, but at what price. Five years afterward she was being hunted by someone for being a survivor of her husbands Royal Court.

They had followed her for a long time, after losing them she finally decided that she could return home. She was unlikely to be followed.

When she arrived at the city, she saw the changes that had taken place over several months.

She waited but she still didn"t see the new City Master or the Casino Owner until she finally spotted Mike. To her, Mike was the guy she had to kill for her fathers justice.

"Are you hungry?" Mike wasn"t sure but she was pretty thin.

"No. I had a meal yesterday, I will be fine." Pilor kept quiet and was a bit nervous as they walked up to the newly repainted castle that was now being dwarfed by some of the new construction.

Vella walked outside and met Mike with a smile. She noticed the Aspei beside Mike and turned to face her.

"And what is your name young lady?" Vella was trying to smile but it looked like a toothy grin.

"So you"re the one that killed my father." Pilor stared intently at Vella"s face and then stepped back.

"That"s a rather long name." Vella started to laugh.

"Pilor could you just introduce yourself, this is Vella. She"s my..well, anyways" Mike rubbed his head a little and left the two alone.

He could see that they were getting acquainted and so Mike flew the Dragoon back the Casino to met up with Cara.

Cara was crying again, Mike had originally thought that it was something to do with him being human. Now that he was a t.i.tan, Mike had expected that there would be some change to the situation. Despite all of his consummation, he had not produced a single heir.