Kiri and Pānihi returned late that evening. They brought in two deer, one with antlers and eight rabbits.

Felix and I were eating the pigeons she had caught before the boar fight. I had saved the feathers for Kiri. I saved the bones from one of them as well, so she could examine how bird bones differ from mammal bones. I enjoyed eating the crunchy bones of the other pigeon.

We skinned the rabbits, and Felix and I had one for dessert. Kiri placed the Deer skull with antlers next to the goat skull, which she hadn't cleaned yet. The smell around here was starting to increase.

I looked at Pānihi. She was looking better. She was still too thin, but that is easily fixed. Her coat was back to a smooth, glossy black. She did stand about as tall as my bear form, and one of the two sabertooths had blood on it.

"Are you going to keep the sabretooths?" I asked.

"We have to for a while, and Bone Manipulation is too low-level. I think Pānihi likes them as they are good for ripping and tearing."

"How are you going to get her back into the city?" I asked.

"Through the gate," Kiri replied. "I will have to register her as a monster bond, and that will make me stand out, but she is too big to be leaping from roof to roof anymore. We stood out anyway."

I didn't remember registering Felix. "Normal bonds aren't registered?"

"No, I am not sure why. Too many, maybe? Not as dangerous, probably, as all monsters have an affinity. Pānihi was plenty dangerous," she smiled. "Now she is more dangerous, once we figure out how to use this affinity."

"Are we heading back tomorrow?"

"Unless you have more reasons to stay. My brother is going to yell at me. Again." She didn't sound worried about that. It was more like an inevitability.

It would take us a couple of days to get back to the city, so we didn't rush in the morning. We practised sex and then loaded the bone sled with the half-prepared hides. Kiri cleaned the two skulls and fixed them on top. It was a shame we broke down the boar's skull.

We marched at a brisk pace and took turns pulling the sled. We had to stop and repair it several times. I was not as good as Goldie in making sleds, but Kiri could reinforce the joins with Fuse bone.

Pānihi ranged around, but Felix stuck close as usual. We stopped when my map said we were well over halfway, and it was late afternoon. We made a light camp by a small stream.

I had kept watch all day, but I had seen no sign of Kahz. I had expected to see him, but maybe Kevin kept him close. He knew the general area we were in, so he should have been able to find us if he wanted.

How long have we been out hunting? Over a week. I lost count of the days. They don't matter to me.

I found some pants and a shirt to wear to enter the city. They were torn and ragged, but they covered most things humans and Dwarves get offended over. It is weird as Kiri is human and those are the bits she likes. I guess they make a difference between private and public.

We approached the gate late afternoon. The sled really slowed us down. The guards certainly got stirred up over our arrival. I even heard the reinforcement whistle.

I pulled the sled to the side as Kiri and Pānihi were taken into a stone building that looked more like holding cells. I squatted beside it, petting Felix as we waited in the watchful eye of the guards.

"Ivan Medved?"

I looked up. There was a group of four mercenaries there.

"Ivan Medved, you are to come with us. There is a Mercenary Guild Contract out to detain and deliver you to the main Guild Hall, by Guildmaster Nash."

I knew I was forgetting something. "Nash put a contract out on me? How much am I worth?"

"More if you resist." He looked like he wanted me to resist.

"I tell you what. We wait for my partner to come out, and then I will do a bit of resisting. Bruises enough?" I figure I might as well make Nash pay, and there were too many witnesses for foul play.

"How about you come now?" I didn't think they were going to be reasonable.

I looked at them. Three were strong-armoured types that looked like they were used to fighting, and the fourth was skinnier and a sneakily backstabber type.

I sighed, "OK then. It looks like you missed out on your bonus." I picked up the straps to the sled and said, "Lead on."

The leader was getting sour looks from his crew, but too many guards were watching the exchange. They surrounded me and we headed to the guild. I made sure to stick to the main roads with lots of witnesses, and there was no reason for us to vary from them. We stood out. I towered over them, pulling a sled of bones and hides with Felix trotting beside us.

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I parked the sled in an obvious place and Felix stayed to watch it while I went in. I made sure to let everyone know I had come quietly.

I was sitting in a room with a guard until Nash arrived. Mog and Fred were with him.

"You should have come to see me when you first arrived," Nash said, "I could have helped you then. Now the first reports from the Lore Society are back, and the Duke knows."

That is probably why we didn't see Kahz. Kevin was going with the Lore Society expedition to the former ant nest.

"And?"

"And he has appointed his investigators to talk to everyone who was there. You are the last, and they are on their way now. These people have Journeyman-level truth skills. We have told them what we know, so they know you did whatever you did," Nash said.

"And if I don't?"

"You will be staying until you do. I could have helped you, but now it is out of my hands," Nash said.

Then there was a sharp, authoritative knock on the door. It opened, and two humans walked in.

"Thank you, Guild master, we will take it from here," the female one said.

Nash frowned at being dismissed in his own guild hall, but he didn't protest. The three left. I saw Mog glance back, but I had no idea what it meant.

They were both of average height for humans. The female was slimmer than the male, but that was also normal for humans. The man had a scar down his face, and it looked like he might have lost an eye from it. He had two eyes now.

They sat down opposite me.

"Ivan Medved," said the woman, "I am Investigator Harper, and this is Investigator Cook." Cook gave me a frown. "Sorry about the way we got you in here, but you are a hard person to find. However, congratulations are in order. According to Guildmaster Nash, you took out the Fire Ant Nest with sixteen queen ants. That is an incredible achievement for a Bear-kin from Ocova. Please enlighten us as to how you did that."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why?" Harper repeated.

"Yes, why should I tell you? I don't know you, and I am not in the habit of enlightening strangers about anything." Something was wrong. I wanted to tell them, but I didn't know them, and it was bugging me.

"We are Duke Vitja's senior Investigators, and the Duke wants to reward you. Please tell us how you did it," Harper said, sounding like a very reasonable request.

Something was wrong, and I must admit I was starting to get a bit angry at being here. "If the duke wants to reward me, he can do so."

"It is reasonable that the Duke knows how you did it," she said.

I almost told her. I haven't even told Kiri, and I almost told this stranger. What is wrong with me? Troll shit! It is not me. I tightened my aura around my body and cast Frigid Void over my mind.

I saw Harper wince, and Cook also saw it. "What is wrong?" he asked.

Then something pierced the cold void in my mind. It was like a worm wriggling its way in. I am not good with mind stuff; I don't have the attributes. Harper definitely has me outclassed and seemed to switch quickly between different things. I think I would not even sense her if I didn't have Cosmic Aura.

The power of my skill was the only thing that made her pull back, and now she is worming her way in again. I am not clever. I am not agile in my mind; I am not even particularly strong mentally, but my Astral Affinity is.

I switched from Frigid Void to Solar Flare.

Harper stiffened all over and then cried out and collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Cook stood and checked on her, "What did you do?" he demanded.

I ignored him because I was on fire mentally. It was too much, and I did not have as much mental energy as I did spiritual energy. My brain was cooking. I was struggling to stay upright, and I was only concentrating internally, ignoring Cook's increasingly strong demands about what happened.

Then I was not alone. Felix and Frigid Void came through our bond, and it was even easier with mental energy than it was with spiritual energy, as the bond is mental. Cold flooded my mind again, and I collapsed on the table in relief. Felix, my lifesaver.

I didn't have the mental energy to respond as Cook started yelling for help. Nash, Mog and Fred burst into the room and must have seen both Harper and me collapsed, and I heard yelling. I couldn't concentrate on who was yelling what, but eventually I was lifted by Mog and Fred and carried to a room with a bed.

It was all a haze, and I just hung on to my mental connection to Felix. I had a vague sense that my mind had been damaged. I sensed a person visiting me who was probably a healer. I was fed a potion, and everything went dark.

When I finally woke up, I was in a different room. I was not sure how long I had been out. I looked around and relaxed as Pānihi and Felix were there. The room was larger than the original one, and I inhaled the scent. We were no longer in the Mercenary Guild. Kiri had been here recently, and I caught the fainter scent of Yoboc and Goldie.

Felix jumped up on the bed and licked my face. I gave him the desired attention, which was much less than he deserved.

I seemed to have earned two points in Mental Strength. I would not have survived to earn them without Felix. I need to learn to control Solar Flare.

The door opened, and Kiri was there. She walked in and smiled. Then she asked, "You look better. What do you remember?"

"The investigators, Harper and Cox."

"Cook," she corrected.

"Yeah, them. Harper was trying to affect my mind to get me to talk, and I stopped her. How long have I been out?"

"Two days. The healer thought there might be some memory loss, but there doesn't seem to be. Here, I brought you some food. Soft stuff to start, according to the healer." She handed me a bowl of soup and some bread.

"What happened to Harper?" I asked.

"She was fine the next day. She is saying you mentally attacked her."

"I mentally defended myself."

"Yes, that is the line Nash took." Kiri said, "You were the one attacked, and that is why you were out for days, and she is fine. Nash was already unhappy with the Duke's investigators using the Guild like that, and he has now complained to the Duke and banned them from Guild Property, suspending their guild membership."

"He can do that?"

"With cause. He is the guildmaster." Kiri said. "It doesn't hurt that he is a cousin of the Dukes."

"What happens now?' I asked, knowing these things didn't just go away.

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