"Ohh thank you, thank you." The man said as he looked at me over his daughter's shoulder. "Thank you for saving my daughter."

  Unsure of what to say I just shrugged at him. Then I promptly winced at the pain in my side. I'd need to try and heal myself, again.

  Hayley was kneeling rubbing the girls back and Becca was studying the creatures. "What were those?" Alara asked the man.

  The question surprised the rest of us, we had the same question on our minds, but because we expected her to have the answer already.

  "I'm not sure my lady." The man said, standing and giving her a slight bow. "I am Rasheed and this one is Kamy. We are part of a merchant caravan headed to Port Towan. The two of us were scouting for water when those creatures came out of the shubs and the horse bolted. I just couldn't stop him, the sound of those creatures was horrifying. And then Kamy started to slip, I, Well, Thank you for helping us."

  "Were headed to Port Towan too." Jaz said.

  "What luck. Kamy and I are truly blessed. We must retrieve my horse and get back to the caravan, but we'll make Port Towan tomorrow for sure. You should come find me in the market, I promise to give you a discount on my wares."

  "I appreciate the offer but really, it's not necessary."

  "Please, I insist." The man said adamantly and bowed in farewell. He then lifted his daughter onto his back 'piggieback' style and ran down the path in the direction he had come.

  "So that just happened." Jaz said.

  We proceeded down the road towards the town and while walking, I forcefully healed myself again. I found there to be a real difference between my healing and the power of Wrath. Both magics definitely had the same origin but a different feeling. As I was healing my vision and hearing seemed to be reduced.

  That fact lead me to believe that the healing was directly linked to the demon blood and not the power of wrath. Looking at my shoulder, I could see the large nasty scars from the wound I had yesterday. So, yeah. I could heal from a mortal blow, but if I took too much damage I would be a walking scar. I definitely did not want that.

  I would need to be more careful in the future. And, if I was being honest with myself, I needed to find someone to teach me how to fight. I wasn't sure a pirate town would be the best place for that thought. Asking for someone to train me might make me look weak.

  I glanced at the girls for a moment, Haley noticed and gave me a sweet smile. I smiled back for a brief moment before falling back into my thoughts. I am responsible for all four of these girls, I need to be. A place like this would not be kind or understanding.

  I would have to look dangerous and capable or the girls would be in danger. Considering how quickly Tomalin had offered to give the girls too his men, I was absolutely certain the girls would always be at risk of being snatched and raped.

  I would need to fight human evil, with a scarier evil. Maybe I should get into a fight and kill someone as soon as we get into town to establish what I can do, like a prison. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. “You never know, the people there may be cool,” I mused to myself.

  “This part of the continent is rather warm actually.” Alara said.

  “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking out loud. How, lawless, is Port Towan?” I asked, putting emphasis on the word ‘lawless’.

  “Although it is ungoverned, the people that live there respect one another for the most part. There are many businesses. Legitimate merchants and sailors pass through it daily. It's not just pirates and brigands, though there are those too.”

  I nodded to myself as I considered her words.”Whelp, I really do hope everything will work out. But, I want all four of you to stay close to me at all times.”

  “Excuse me?” Jaz said, with a bark of anger.

  “Look, Jaz. All of you.” I stopped Walking and turned to look each in the eye. “This is a place that could be filled with dangerous, violent and evil men. I hope it doesn't come to that. The last thing any of us want is for one of you to get snatched, dragged into an ally, raped and then have your throat slit.

  “I'm not trying to control any of you, I'm trying to protect all of you.” I finished. Jaz looked mollified, but the rest looked a bit white. I decided it would be smart if I shut my mouth and we continued walking.

  ************************************

  It was night when we arrived at Port Towen.

  The city was larger than I expected and it had no gate or wall or defenses of any kind. The air was cool along the shore and in the city which most likely attributed to the empty streets, very few people were out and about at this time.

  Tired and hungry from our travels, Alara suggested we get some food at a local Inn.

  When we got there the sign on the wall read, Borro's Tanker. Inside, the five of us made our way to an empty table and sat down. The air was thick with the smells of alcohol and unwashed humanity.

  The main room was large with a stage on the corner and a bar at a far end. A boy of not more than fourteen sat on the stage poorly playing a badly out of tuned guitar. Over sixty tables filled the room with less than half occupied. Several round candelabras overhead and a single candle on each table lit the room. Most of the occupants look like they might have been regulars. Our group got a few looks but we were mostly ignored.

  A young girl in her late teens brought out five mugs of ale and sat before us “welcome to Borro’s Tanker. Can I get you anything Else?”

  “Yes please, can we get some food? Whatever's hot and ready” I asked.

  “Yes sir, that will be right up.” The girl said, before she disappeared into the kitchen.

  We all took a sip of our ale. It was full bodied and flavorful if a little sour. Placing my cup on the table I looked around at everybody. I noticed Jaz was unusually quiet. As I watched her she rapidly grew visibly frustrated. A moment later she slammed her cup on the table and stood up.

  We watched as she marched to the stage and stopped in front of the boy. She gave him her patented death glare. The boy immediately shrank away from her and stopped playing. Without breaking eye contact Jazz snatched the guitar out of her hands. When she came back to our table I noticed the room had gone very quiet, everyone was watching her. She handed the guitar to me before sitting back down.

  Rolling my eyes at her antics, I began plucking the strings and tuning the guitar. Once it was in tune I looked at the boy, he was watching me. I noticed a second guitar on a rock on the side of the stage. Handing the now tuned guitar to Becca I made my way over to the stage, lifting the guitar from its track I sat next to the boy at the edge of the stage.

  As I tuned the guitar the boy watched with interest. I looked back to the table and caught Becca's eye. With a smile, I strummed the opening chord for Metallica's cover of Turn the Page. Becca caught on immediately and jumped in to play lead. Instead of singing I decided to speak the lyrics, as if I was reciting the story.

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  (On a long and lonesome highway

  East of the oceans call

  You can hear wagon wheels

  rumbling out their endless song

  You think about your music or

  the place you stayed the night before

  Cause your thoughts are wander'n

  The way they always do

  When your riding sixteen hours

  With nothing much to do

  And you don't feel much like riding

  You just wish the trip was through

  Here i am

  On the road again

  Here i am

  Up on the stage

  Here i go

  Playing this song again

  There i go

  Turn the page

  So you walk into this tavern

  Tired from the road

  You can feel the eyes upon you

  As your shrugging off the cold

  You pretend it doesn't bother you

  But you just want to explode

  Most times you can't hear em talk

  Other times you can

  All the same old gossip

  So many women with one man

  You always seem outnumbered

  Until you make your stand

  Make your stand

  Here i am

  On the road again

  Here i am

  Up on the stage

  Here i go

  Playing this song again

  There i go

  Turn the page)

  Half way through the song the waitress delivered our food. Haley couldn't help herself and grabbed two spoons off the table and began to support us with the quiet drum beat. A few people clapped when we finished, but most went back to their drinks.

  I hung up the guitar, retrieved the one from Becca and handed that one back to the boy before sitting down at the table. “That was fun .” Becca Said.

  There was some kind of stew inside the wooden bowl that sat on the table in front of me and it smelled incredible. I pulled it to me and scooped up a huge bite. It was delicious and I swallowed it down greedily. I was so engrossed with the food that I almost didn't hear Alara across from me.

  “That song, It was very good. I've never heard any music like that before.” She said, between bites.

  “I wish I could take credit for writing it.” I said. “But, it was written by a man named Bob Seger. I just tweaked it a bit to fit the venue.” I didn't want to get into the complications of covering a song or get on a tangent about the version of that song and how it was technically a copy of a copy so I just dropped it. “Who is your friend here in the city?”

  “Her name is Edith, and she is an Artificer. She used to work for the king, but she left many years ago. I haven't seen her since I was a child.”

  “And you're sure she is living in Port Towan after all that time?”

  “Albert,” Alara's face drooped at the recollection. “My friend, he said he'd found out that she has a shop here now.” Becca gave the girl a small hug and Alara smiled back at her.

  “Well if she has a shop here I'm sure she shouldn't be too hard to find. We'll see if there is a room here the five of us can share tonight and in the morning we'll start asking around about Edith and her shop. How's that sound?” I asked.

  Alara nodded, “That sounds sensible.”

  I quickly finished up my food and ale, then stood and made my way to the bar where a large man with a bald head and a thick bushy mustache stood cleaning glasses and preparing drinks for the waitresses. “Good evening, how much do I owe you for the food and ale?”

  His thick accent was jovial as he spoke. “Five pints of bitters and five bowls of stew”. He seesawed his head from one side to another. “One Silver. But, only because I liked that song of yours.

  “Okay.” I fished through the bag of coins that had been in the tent. “I'd also like a room with three beds.” I said, as I pulled out a small silver disk.

  He took it, studied it for a moment and then dropped it into a pocket. “Unfortunately that I can't do. Best I have is two large beds.”

  “I'll do that, can you spare an extra pillow and a couple extra blankets? I'll sleep on the floor and let the girls have the beds.”

  “Sure, lad, not a problem. Two copper for the night, breakfast is included and it's served at dawn.” He grabbed a key off the wall behind the bar and handed it to me as I traded him two copper coins. “Room four, at the end of the hall. Stairs are over there.” He said pointing to a set of steps in the corner of the large hall.

  “Thanks.” I said. Key in hand I motioned for the girls to follow me as I headed to the stairs. Two lanterns flickered in the short hallway providing enough light to see the number four on the door. Turning the key I led the others in.

  The room was about the size of a small hotel room. Two queen size beds with a small table between them flanked the room. The right hand bed was right up against the window and I could see a balcony outside it. “You four take the beds, I'll sleep on the floor.”

  Hayley dragged Jaz to the left bed, leaving the right one for Becca and Alara. As I was closing the door a voice behind me said, “Excuse me, Sir. You requested extra linens?”

  I turned around to see one of the waitresses holding a bundle of cloth. “Yes, thank you.“ She gave me a nod after handing me the bundle and left. I closed the door and started laying out the blankets on the floor between the beds.

  Once all four girls were situated I double-checked the door was locked and blew out the lantern on the small table. I laid down and tried to sleep. As I was about to drift off I heard a small muffled moan; and apparently I wasn't the only one.

  “God damn it, Jaz.” Becca said. Her voice was filled with aggravation. I sat up and saw Becca crawl out the window before practically dragging Alara with her. Knowing Jaz, I decided to follow the two. Once outside I slid the window shut.

  “What's wrong? What's going on?” Alara asked.

  Becca glanced at me before giving Alara her attention. “They're having sex.” She said and threw her arms up in the air to emphasize her frustration.

  “I don't understand. How? With who? Scott is right here and there was nobody else in the room.” Alara asked.

  Becca pinched the bridge of her nose. “With each other.”

  “But, they are both women.” Alara seemed even more confused.

  “They are. Look, I really don't want to talk about it. If you're really interested, go back inside. Trust me, they do not mind being watched. I can't count the number of times I've walked in on them doing it anywhere in the house.” Becca covered her eyes with both of her hands, as if she'd be able to block out the memories of seeing her sister having sex with Hayley.

  Alara blushed and looked a bit scandalized at the notion of watching, but I could definitely see a hint of curiosity on her face.

  In the silence that followed I looked around at this balcony we were standing on. Turns out it wasn't a balcony at all, but an alcoved portion of the lower floor not covered by the second floor. A ladder led up to the rooftop and the alcove looked out over a few small buildings between us and the harbor wall. The moon reflected off the water and I could make out three large ships and a half dozen of smaller ships moored along the wall.

  Around twenty minutes later someone knocked on the window. The sound was unexpected and startled all three of us. “I guess they're done.” Becca said and pushed the window open.

  “We're done.” Jaz said from the far bed. I crawled through first to go in reverse order, followed by Alara and finally Becca. The smell that permeated the room was unmistakable, it smelled like pussy. I laid back down and put it behind me. I focused on plans for the next day and eventually fell asleep.