FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cold air rolled off of the nearby lake as the young mercenary approached the mouth of the cave. "This has to be it." the man mumbled to himself under his breath as he stopped in his tracks. His voice was barely audible over the waves rolling in off of the lake.

It had been several weeks of hard travel through the surrounding woods to get here, and in doing so he had nearly met his end more than a few times. In addition to his mark, these woods had housed many a brigand and monster; all of them eager to get at his gold or his meat.

His stomach growled and he gritted his teeth. He sighed and decided to eat the last of the week's rations right now rather than space them out, as he had been nearly starving himself just to get to where he was now. He had been broke when he found his employers, and they had been short on supplies when they hired him; or at least they claimed to be. As it stood, he had made it about three weeks on one week's worth of rations, and he still had to make it back with even less. Even so, he figured he'd need the strength to fight, or worst case scenario he could at least die with a full stomach The man scarfed his food as he found a shady spot on the nearby beach and sat down on the sand. After his stomach was sated, he took a moment to dig through his bag to find his whetstone, then unsheathed his blade and set to work polishing the edge as he took inventory of the surroundings. The cave was dug into a hill right where a river met the lake, and was hidden from the casual eye by a row of bushes and the natural dip in terrain. Lucky for him the people that hired him had given him good directions to find it. He mulled over the idea of setting up a trap at the entrance, but shook his head as he ruled the option out. "No trees close enough to fix any wire too and those bushes won't hold up. Not to mention I'm on its turf to begin with. Not likely I'll sneak a trap past it in its own home." He mused quietly to himself. "From what they said it's nocturnal too, so I should be safe for a while yet."

He suddenly froze as his eye caught something glittering from just inside the maw of the creature's den. "Clever." He said to himself as he stowed his whetstone. He hauled himself to his feet and strode forward with blade in hand to get a better look. Just as he thought, there was what looked to be quite a valuable gem catching the light of the setting sun a few feet inside. He knelt down and looked closer to confirm his suspicions. "Yep, those farmer's were right." He muttered with a smirk as he noted the almost invisible thread affixed to the gem that lead into the darkness. "I have a spider to deal with."

The fighter studied the bait thoughtfully as he tried to remember what he could about monsters like these. They were known to prey on humans, but they needed to eat very rarely; nothing like the number of livestock casualties the farmers had reported to him when he was hired. "Something's fishy about this whole job." The man muttered as his smirk faded into a scowl. "This thing lives weeks out from them, why would it even need to make that trip when there's deer everywhere out here?" The warrior stood up and strode back to his bag. "Then again, this thing hunts people from the looks of that bait, but the farmers never mentioned that; and they still knew exactly where it was. Also why would it hide its lair so well, and then try to lure idiots in with jewels they couldn't see?" The man sighed as he pulled a torch and some tinder from his pack and lit it.

The man shook his head and steeled his resolve. "Either way doesn't matter," He muttered, "They're gonna pay me well if I do this, and I'm going to starve anyway if I don't get that coin." He told himself as he marched forward and into the cave. He paused briefly as he thought he heard something like a giggle when he stepped inside, but shook it off as nerves.

The cave wound down into the earth in a wide corkscrew pattern as he advanced, and after a few minutes he figured he must be below the water level of the lake, yet somehow the tunnel was still dry. He thought this curiously convenient for the spider, as moisture made anchoring their webs impossible. The webs themselves only grew more numerous as he advanced. He saw more trapped treasure as he walked, but as he got deeper the snares became less frequent.

The man rounded a one last corner and found himself at some sort of atrium. The stone room was wide and round, and natural light filtered in from a hole high up in the ceiling. The man winced as he looked up. The sunset may not be the bright, but his eyes had adjusted to torchlight by now. The man took a deep breath and turned his gaze back to the floor. The center of the room slanted down into a hole in the center where presumably the beast lurked. "Go for the joints, the plates are too tough to crack with a sword." The man mouthed to himself as he strode forward with his torch extended. He inched towards the hole, and braced for an ambush as he peeked over the edge.

"My my, such a brave little boy." A voice tittered from above. The man spun around just in time to see a multi-legged shadow fall form the ceiling. He tried to bring his sword up in defense, but the thing was too fast and slammed into him. He stumbled back while trying to keep his footing, but felt his stomach lurch as the ground disappeared beneath him. He crashed into a taunt web in the central hole as his torch slipped from his grip and fell. A plunk and a sputter, followed by the room growing darker, let him know there was water below him. A silhouette peeked over the edge of the hole down at him, only pierced by several glowing red eyes in the center of its mass. The thing laughed down at him as he took inventory of his surroundings. He was stuck in this web, that's for sure, but he was fairly sure he could still use his sword arm.

The man thought quickly and whipped up some tears, then began shouting for the thing to spare him as he bawled. "No dignity left in men these days." The beast muttered as it advanced slowly down the edge of the hole towards him. "Oh well, I'll try to make it quick for someone as pitiful as you" The thing sighed as it drew close. The man seized the opportunity and swung his blade towards the glowing eyes, but faltered as the creature came into focus. What he thought had been a massive insect, instead had the body of a woman with four insectoid eyes lining her brow in addition to her two human ones. The woman reeled back in panic, but was unable to dodge the blade as it gashed her cheek.

"What he hell are you?" The fighter stammered as his blade trembled in his grip. He had never heard of a monster like this in his life, much less encountered one.

"Oh that does it!" The woman shouted she reached out with one carapaced hand and batted the sword out of the fighter's weakened grip into the water below. "I was just going to feed on you quickly and send you back to your shitty little farm, but now it's personal." She growled as she positioned herself higher on the wall. It was then the boy noticed that the woman was not exactly a woman, as from the waist down she truly had the body of a spider. Her massive abdomen bent down and began spraying a thick liquid over his feet; which further bound him to her web.

"I'm not from the farms though, they hired me to kill you!" The mercenary said in a panic.

The monster froze and leaned down close to her prey. "They did what now?" She asked in a threatening tone.

"Honest, they offered me a hundred gold coins to come back with your head, said you were killing their livestock and terrorizing the woods!" He stammered.

"And why should I believe a kid like you?" The she-beast said with a scowl as fresh blood ran down her cheek. "You who feigned tears to bait me into cutting range? Why shouldn't I just kill you now for the sheer catharsis?"

"Look, I'll be frank. I'm a sell-sword by trade. I hold no loyalties to my clients and you've no reason to take my word for anything." The man muttered as he looked down.

"You're a bit young to kill for money." The monster remarked, unimpressed.

"Don't trust my words then, just think about what I've done so far. I knew exactly where your nest was, someone had to tell me where you were, and if not the farmers then who? And if not to kill you then why would I come here?" He said while trying his best to sound reasonable despite his terror.

The she-beast studied the young man's face carefully as she thought. "Alright, I believe you." She said after a while. "If only because no one from town would be dumb enough to attempt such a lie."

The man let out a sigh of relief and slumped in the web. "What is your name, child?" The monster asked.

"Shaya." The man said as he looked up.

"All right Shaya, they call me Elizabeth, the Mistress of Strings." The monster explained. "It seems I now have business with your employers, and I'm going to have you be my escort."

"You're gonna what now?" Shaya asked as he looked back up at her.

"It seems you're lacking in manners, child, and seeing as you've been starved of proper tutelage until now, I'll take it upon myself to give you a proper training." Elizabeth said with a smirk.

"And what's to keep me from just running for the hills when you let me go?" Shaya asked as he felt his skin start to crawl. His eyes darted around the web trapping him as he looked for weak points that simply weren't there.

Elizabeth smiled down at him and raised her hand to her bleeding cheek. "It's been a long time since someone wounded me, I almost forgot what it was like to bleed." She said as she coated one clawed finger with the dark liquid. With her other hand she reached down and effortlessly sliced through Shaya's cheap hide armor with her clawed fingers, and in seconds exposed his bare chest to the chilled air. She stopped to admire the man's rapidly heaving chest as he tried in vain to reign in his building panic. "So young and full of life, your heart must be ready to rip out of your chest." She cooed as she trailed her bloody claw up from the man's naval to his throat. "I could help you with that if you want." She teased in a sinister tone.

Shaya opened his mouth to stammer out a reply, but her sharp claw sank in to his skin and caused his words to form a shriek instead. Shaya squirmed as she drew her finger down his chest; which pulled his blood out to mix with hers in a long line back down to his belly button.

Her smirk broke into a grin as she brought her hand up to his collar bone again and began carving another bloody mark next to the first one. Shaya's shrieks faded into whimpers and groans as his mind was overwhelmed by the pain and grew hazy.

"My, that was quick." Elizabeth purred as she continued carving lines into the man's formerly smooth chest. It wasn't much longer until the man simply passed out and hung limp in her web as she worked. After about an hour of meticulous work, she stepped back to admire her craft. "Rest easy Shaya, for its the last you'll have for a long while." She said quietly after a while, and retreated up the wall to attend to the rest of the night's business.

Shaya jerked awake with a gasp as sunlight filtered down through the webbed chamber from the hole in the ceiling. The first thing Shaya noticed was that he was no longer trapped and had been deposited on the floor away from the hole in the center of the room at some point during his sleep. The second thing he took note of was that he was not, in fact, dead; despite the last thing he remembered was being carved up like a side of beef. Shaya looked down at his chest expecting to see mangled ribbons of flesh, but instead was shocked to see that instead of fresh wounds, his entire torso was now covered in an intricate crimson tattoo and still just as smooth as before.The pattern extended down his limbs in thin trails that ended in claw-like symbols on the pads of his hands and feet. After a few seconds of study, he realized that the myriads of detailed lines and patterns all came together to form the shape of a stylized spider.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Shaya shouted at the ceiling where he had been ambushed from the night before. A dark shape shifted next to the glare of the hole in the roof before descending.

"Are you always this loud in the morning?" Elizabeth yawned as she descended on a thick thread of her silk and landed next to the man.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Shaya shouted as his hand instinctively grabbed for his blade, but only found empty air as he remembered his sword falling into the water below.

Elizabeth smiled. "Why do you think they call me the Mistress of Strings, young warrior?" She asked.

"Because you're a fucking spider, why else?" Shaya barked as he stood up, then froze when he felt the cold air hit more skin than it should have. Despite looking before, it had taken him until now to fully realize his own nudity. "Was that really necessary?" He shouted incredulously.

Elizabeth's smile broke into a grin as she extended her arm to the right. Shaya yelped as he felt his own arm mimic the motion against his will. "They call me that because of my habit of turning men into my puppets, young one." Elizabeth tittered as she held her arm stock still.

Shaya grunted as he struggled to put his arm down, and even tried to move it with his other arm to no avail.

"Its been a while since I found someone worth ensnaring though. Still looks like it'll be a while yet. Now, shall we get going?" She teased, and let her arm return to her side; which freed Shaya from her control as she turned to head up the tunnel that led to the surface.

Shaya just stared after her, somewhat awed by the odd grace with which she carried her awkwardly shaped body. At first glance, it looked like she should fall forward as soon as she started to move, but through some combination of the way she moved her many legs and the way she leaned her humanoid torso back while walking, she managed to make it all work.

"I recommend walking up on your own before I make you do it, I'm out of practice on the whole walking with two legs thing." Elizabeth called back. Shaya grit his teeth and grudgingly followed, still not quite believing the mess he'd found himself in.

Outside, Shaya got his first good look at his new companion in the unobstructed light of the day. The first thing he noticed was her cheek wound, still fresh and barely scabbed over from the night before. The gash marred what had once been flawless ivory skin. She had short hair pulled into a ponytail, white as her own silk. The human parts of her torso were covered with a slightly revealing red tunic with gold highlights that lined the seams, and looked to be made of a high quality silk or some other expensive fabric. Her arms from the elbows down were covered in chitin gauntlets that matched her spider body in color, though upon closer inspection something proved off about both of those. What he had thought to just be jet black armor-like plating, was in fact covered in intricate emerald colored runes that matched the style of his new body markings. Her entire spider body was covered in these markings, however her armored forearms were simply black and lacked those markings completely.

"You finished staring yet?" Elizabeth remarked, and snapped Shaya out of his study of her.

Shaya just shook his head and started looking for his pack. "Oh gods damn it." He muttered to himself as he spotted what was left of it shredded to bits on the beach where he had left it. Its contents had been thrown in every direction around it.

Elizabeth whistled appreciatively. "Looks like a badger found it." She remarked.

Shaya knelt down and took inventory of his losses. to his surprise he found that only his rations were missing, and the rest of his gear had been left mostly undamaged. Shaya shook his head as he collected what he could and had a moment of thanks that his spare clothes hadn't been too torn by the attack. He walked behind a tall bush and emerged a few minutes later with most of his body markings now covered by his tunic and pants; however his hands and ankles still showed the bright crimson lines.

"So what? Am I supposed to be your bodyguard or something?" Shaya asked as Elizabeth looked him over.

"Something like that." Elizabeth said thoughtfully.

Shaya sighed. "Did you forget you threw my sword in your little well?" He asked bitterly.

"Oh shush, you'll be fine without it." Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "Now before we set out, I have a few questions that you'll answer, and you'd be wise to sheath your wit when doing do."

Shaya cocked an eyebrow at the creature before him. "Alright, what do you want to know?" He asked.

"I want to know who specifically hired you," Elizabeth said. "I've figured it out so far as being from the Briarwraith clan, since it was their year to send me tribute; however I need to know which one of them specifically sent you to me." She explained.

"The Briarwhats?" Shaya asked.

"Don't play coy, you're only wasting time by trying to hide their identity." Elizabeth growled.

Shaya sighed and shook his head. "In case you forgot, I already told you I hold no loyalty to my employer." Shaya explained, "But I'll save you a game of twenty questions from the way you're going about it and just tell you his name. It was a guy named Michael."

"What?" Elizabeth asked, taken aback.

"You can't miss him when you're in town." Shaya went on. "Red face, white curly hair, way too friendly, big ol' belly, and way too expensive clothes. Always preaching to anyone who will listen; which is everyone from what I saw."

"I know who Michael is." Elizabeth barked.

"Oh good, so you don't need me to show you to him?" Shaya asked.

"You are still useful to me." Elizabeth growled, then muttered "This is worse than I thought. We set out immediately, I must speak with Michael as soon as possible." She then scuttled off the way Shaya had come from.

"What about food?" Shaya asked after her, but was ignored. "Maybe those gems you hoard will come in handy?" He shouted, then sighed. "Well, not like I'm much worse off than I was before." Shaya mumbled to himself as he followed behind her.

"You should stop talking to yourself, its not healthy." Elizabeth remarked from ahead. Shaya just shook his head.

The day crawled by as the pair crossed the uneven terrain of the forest. Shaya struggled to keep up with his new companion throughout the trek, and Elizabeth never stopped to give him a break. Shaya was led past many familiar landmarks far faster than he remembered originally finding them on his way out here. He supposed it was because traveling with a guide made the trip faster overall, but even with their increased pace he still estimated the trip to take a little over a week. Shaya also noticed a stark lack of wildlife as they traveled, in contrast to having been jumped nearly every day by either brigands or forest predators on his way out here. After thinking about it, Shaya figured that everything smart enough to avoid his guide was doing so, and in turn his guide was avoiding the ones that were stupid enough to confront her as they traveled. Dusk finally came about and Elizabeth ordered Shaya to make camp for the night.

Elizabeth made Shaya do all the work, and simply watched the stars come out as the sun set. Shaya did so silently, at least externally. Internally he was cursing her for not simply killing him instead of subjecting him to this humiliation.

"You know, I've always wanted to weave a tapestry as intricate as that one." Elizabeth said dreamily as Shaya finished starting their fire for the night.

Shaya's gaze followed hers to the sky, then shifted back down to her with one eyebrow cocked before he let out a very emphasized yawn and sat down.

Elizabeth scowled at this. "You're quite rude for your age." She remarked with a huff.

"Lady I kill things for money, grace and eloquence are not on my resume." Shaya remarked flatly.

Elizabeth shook her head and sighed. "Aren't kids your age all trying to be heroes or something?" She asked incredulously.

Shaya laughed. "Heroes go hungry. Bastards like me don't get paid well, but they get paid enough to eat." He said.

"I assume that's why you didn't have a coin to your name when you came here?" Elizabeth remarked sarcastically. "I saw your bag, you barely had enough kit to make it back to town on your own."

Shaya blushed. "Never said I was good at my job." He said defensively. "Besides, why do you think I'd be dumb enough to come out here if I wasn't desperate?"

This time Elizabeth cocked her eyebrow. "Oh my, so there is more to you than meets the eye, child." She tittered.

"What are you on about?" Shaya asked.

"So let me test my instinct here," Elizabeth started, "I get the impression you tried the whole hero thing already, right?"

Shaya winced, then looked down. "Told ya, heroes don't get paid. A guy needs money to live."

"Its a shame, you don't seem half bad with a sword." Elizabeth remarked.

Shaya shrugged. "Not really, I'd be a soldier if I was worth anything in a real fight."

Elizabeth scowled. "Boy, you made it out do my den fairly unscathed. Don't presume I'm unfamiliar with the inhabitants of my own woods."

"What, Goblins? Wolves? Or maybe the bandits who have never actually swung a sword in their lives? Real dangerous those ones are." Shaya said sarcastically.

Elizabeth shrugged and sighed. "Makes sense you're broke then. A sell-sword who sells himself short." She said, then added, "Poetic."

"What's with you anyway. do you actually eat people or is it all just for show?" Shaya retorted.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asked, taken aback.

"Your den's set up perfect for hunting humans or other greedy creatures, you don't bait deer with treasure is all I'm saying." Shaya said.

"Those are a test of the tribute's honor I'll have you know!" Elizabeth barked incredulously.

"So what? Do you prefer your meals have no interest in coins or something?" Shaya asked.

"I'll not waste my breath explaining our customs to some barbarian with no respect for tradition." Elizabeth huffed.

"No respect for tradition?" Shaya asked. "Now you're just making shit up. You could just say 'I don't want to talk about it' like a normal person or-" Shaya trailed off then shook his head. "What am I talking about. I'm arguing with a massive fucking insect over etiquette." He marveled.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "This conversation is over." She grumbled, and turned to face away from Shaya.

Shaya just shrugged and continued tending the fire silently. Soon Shaya rolled out his sleeping bag for the night to sleep, but found that sleep didn't come easy. After a few hours, he began to realize that sleep wouldn't come at all. He was still as tired as he should be at this hour, but no matter how long he lay, sleep never came. He chalked it up to nerves from sleeping next to a monster, and resolved to just tough it out. He figured if he was lucky they'd get ambushed tomorrow and one of them would get killed. He didn't particularly care which of them either.

Morning came, and Shaya begrudgingly hauled himself upright from his sleeping bag.

"Oh my, you look awful." Elizabeth remarked half-sarcastically. She was already up and waiting for Shaya to depart.

"Yeah, shut up." Shaya groaned as he started putting together what was left of his things for the next day of travel.

"Oh wow, dropping all pretense after just one night without sleep?" She teased as she crossed her arms and stuck her chest out proudly.

"Did you have something to do with that?" Shaya half-growled as he felt his eyelid twitch involuntarily.

"There's a few side effects to the whole binding process." Elizabeth said with a self-satisfied smile, "One of which is the inability for my puppets to properly rest without certain attentions from me."

"What the hell is the point of that?" Shaya barked. "The hell do you mean 'attentions'?"

"Well you see, the spell I based this on originally was meant to wear the subject down to a mindless husk to simply do as I say." Elizabeth explained, "But I found that to be quite boring, so I tweaked it."

"What kind of fucking spider are you?" Shaya asked, exasperated.

Elizabeth scowled and looked down at the young man. "Now listen here, whelp. I'll not idly stand by if you continue to associate me with those monstrosities. I am a lady of elegance and class, not some simple beast."

Shaya slapped his forehead in disbelief. "I can't believe this shit. Alright then, got me by the balls; I won't call you a spider anymore." He said, "So, Your Grace, just what do you consider yourself in your own little world then?"

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and raised her fist, but upon seeing Shaya grin at this, lowered it again before recrossing her arms. "If you must know, I happen to be a Demon, not a monster."

Shaya just stared at her as he processed this. "Right. Okay then." He said dismissively after a few seconds of silence. "Lets go already, getting tired of these woods." He added, and slung what was left of his bag over his shoulder.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head, then scuttled on ahead to lead the way. The next few days went on like the first. Shaya figured he must be immensely resistant to fatigue by some effect of the spell as time wore on. He wasn't sure, but he felt like going this long without rest would have outright killed him before.

He took little solace in the fact that Elizabeth was not cruel enough to starve him in addition to the torture she had already inflicted upon him. She had taken to hunting while Shaya prepared camp, and had even fashioned a few crude spears to do so with. Shaya figured they wouldn't be all that effective from how dull they looked; however his doubts were tossed out the window once he saw just how hard Elizabeth could chuck them. The first time she brought back a deer impaled from collarbone to hipbone by little more than a dull stick, he nearly stressed his hair white over the logistics of such a feat. By the third and fourth times it happened, whether from the lack of sleep, or just having grown numb to his "benefactor"'s antics, it became mundane.

The days rolled by in a haze for Shaya; however Elizabeth found the trek refreshing. It had been years since she had spent this long outside her little cave, let alone with company. As antagonistic as that company may be, she still found her interactions with Shaya more interesting than the mundanity of isolation.

"So just what is your deal with this Michael guy?" Shaya finally asked one night as they camped near the edge of the forest.

"My 'deal' is with how he got to where he is." Elizabeth huffed.

"What, you talking bribes? Extortion? The guy did strike me as kind of a sleazeball." Shaya said sleepily.

"No, he was elected fairly by his fellow townsfolk." Elizabeth said.

"So...?" Shaya asked.

"The town used to be run by the Great Clans, Clan Icerose specifically." Elizabeth explained.

"So they're just big families right?" Shaya asked.

"Not exactly, each clan traces its roots back to one of the founders." Elizabeth said. "I left the Iceroses in charge when I left to guard the woods for them."

"Wait, you knew the founders?" Shaya asked, surprised.

"Knew them? I was one of them child." Elizabeth scoffed.

"So you have a clan named after you? Gods, what do your kids look like? Wait, how old are you exactly?" Shaya rattled off question as quickly as they came to him.

Elizabath sighed and continued her explanation as she ignored Shaya's queries. "Icerose's eldest member was the elder of the village, at least until the last one died without leaving an heir. It was a shame too, the poor man didn't deserve to have his lineage die out first. Anyway, it was put to the town to pick their next elder, and Michael was the most popular candidate. He was always talking about abolishing the clans too, mad bastard might have actually gone and done it."

"So what's to stop us from ripping him a new orifice and leaving?" Shaya asked.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. "You idiot, these are my people! Do you think I risk my life defending their town from the beasts of these woods for the fun of it?" She barked incredulously.

"wouldn't surprise me, especially with how lax you've been about it." Shaya remarked. "This place is crawling with danger in case you didn't notice."

"This conversation is over." Elizabeth said flatly. "We arrive tomorrow, I will talk sense into Michael, or at the very least try." She said resolutely.

Shaya shrugged and laid down on his sleeping bag. He may not be able to sleep, but he was still tired from the day's hike. Little did he know that this would be his last restless night.

"So this is the place." Shaya said with a yawn as they stood under the tall arch made out of a pair of logs leaning against each other. This marked the entrance to the sleepy little farming village. Ahead of them was a dirt road that wove its way between plots of wheat and corn to the ramshackle collection of buildings that marked the town proper in the center of all the fields.

"Yes." Elizabeth remarked matter-of-factly.

"So did you put any thought into what you're going to say to them or are we actually going to crack skulls?" Shaya remarked with little interest.

"Ideally I'll be able to talk sense into these people." Elizabeth said, "These folk did basically worship me at one point."

Shaya looked up at her with one eyebrow cocked, then returned his gaze to the make-shift archway in front of him. He could just barely make out the silhouettes of the townsfolk in the streets ahead. "They're dumber than I thought." He said flatly.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "Come now, Shaya, we've things to discuss with their elder." She said, and marched inside.

They still had several acres of fields to cross before they were in the town proper, but regardless, alarms rang throughout the place as soon as Elizabeth emerged from the shade of the woods. Shaya watched the distant streets with dull amusement as the townsfolk scattered like rats on a sinking ship. The town guard was just as disorganized as their citizens, and it took them nearly until Elizabeth was upon them to form a defensive line on the road to halt her advance. A wall of sheilds, spears, and terrified men that held the former two blocked their further progress.

"Neat." Shaya remarked. "A phalanx."

Elizabeth looked down at her companion, surprised, then returned her gaze to the men ahead of her.

"Halt, Monster!" One of them shouted shakily from towards the front.

"Oh my." Elizabeth said with genuine warmth in her voice. "Do my ears deceive me or is that little Stevie?" She asked.

The guards all looked back and forth between each other and the threat before them with equal parts fear and confusion. One of the men stood up taller so he could be seen over the shield wall. "I know not how you know my name foul beast, but if you don't turn back now, today will be your last on this earth." The man said shakily while trying to sound brave, but it was apparent even to his own men that he was bluffing.

"Oh Stevie, I haven't seen you since you were my tribute all wrapped up in my web." Elizabeth said with a giggle, "Now would you be a good boy and fetch that old crotchety bastard, Michael for me?"

"Oh, so you don't actually eat them." Shaya said with a rare moment of clarity for his state. The other two continued, ignoring his interruption.

"I know not what business you have with our elder, but it is my duty to assure you do not attend to it." The man barked back, with more confidence this time.

Elizabeth sighed and dropped all pretense, "All right Stephen, you want to play coy? We'll do things the old way." She all but growled, "I'm invoking trial by combat as per your own laws. Unless you've truly lost what little honor you had before this, you'll answer my challenge."

The man burst out laughing. "Are you joking? The first stipulation on trial by combat is that opponents must be on equal terms, Ms. Monster."

"That's why I'm appointing him as my champion." Elizabeth said coldly. "Did you forget who wrote those laws already?"

Stevie winced and looked down at Shaya, who seemed nonplussed by this new development. "You'd really send a boy against me?" He asked, "an unarmed one at that?"

"Sure I'm game." Shaya said with a yawn. "Could use a good nap."

Elizabeth smiled. "I mean its only fair to match one boy against another. Tribute or no, you're just as naive as you were the day we met."

Stevie gritted his teeth and waded out of his comrades. "Fine, demon, but his blood is on your hands." He said, again trying and failing to sound tough as he drew a line in the packed dirt of the road with the pommel of his spear; which separated his allies from him. Elizabeth did the same with a chitinous leg while Shaya strode forward unsteadily into the improvised arena.

"Just remember all I'm asking for is audience with your elder." Elizabeth said.

Stevie glared at her for a moment before he leveled his gaze on Shaya. He sized up his opponent briefly before recognition dawned on his face. "I know you, don't I? Well, never mind. It doesn't matter now. I don't know how you came to be associated with her, but I advise you to yield now. Whatever loyalty you owe her is not worth neither injury or your life." He said, then flinched and scowled as Shaya burst out laughing at him.

"You better kill me quick buddy." Shaya said between giggle fits. "I don't want this to last long enough for the adrenaline to hit; it might actually make me give a shit."

"Fine, have it your way." Stevie grunted as he charged his opponent. Shaya assessed the incoming attack halfheartedly, still unsure whether or not he even wanted to try to dodge. It was clear the man rarely used his weapon of choice, and clearer still that his heart was not in the attack. Shaya was still trying to measure his opponent's actual skill when he felt his body lurch against his will.

"Oh crap." Shaya yelped as his body bent out of the way of the incoming spear just as it pierced the air where he had been. Despite his shock, Shaya still found himself analyzing his opponent's skill. Suddenly he felt his left arm bend unnaturally and wrap around the spear's handle before his hand grabbed a hold of the weapon.

Stevie's bewildered eyes locked with Shaya's for a few seconds and they just stood there.

"Alright, so that attack would have just been a stomach wound." Shaya said half to himself as he replayed the logistics of the blow over and over in his mind. "Painful, but not usually lethal." He further elaborated.

"What the hell..." Stevie mouthed as he tugged against Shaya's grip. "Do you not care for your own life?" He asked incredulously.

"No, not really." Shaya said. "Doesn't look like you do either though, considering." He added, and gestured over his shoulder to Elizabeth, who was currently mirroring Shaya's pose as much as her anatomy would allow. "Now are you actually going to get serious or-" Shaya started, but trailed off as Stevie shifted his stance.

Stevie growled and pulled hard on his spear, and at the same time brought his boot up and kicked Shaya in the chest as hard as he could. Shaya gagged and staggered back as the wind was knocked out of him. The guard's comrades let out a cheer of approval as Shaya lost his grip on their leader's spear.

"You can go straight to hell with her!" Stevie shouted as he swung his spear at Shaya in a vicious slash, this time with lethal intent. Once again, Shaya's body reacted without his input, and tried to intercept the attack; and once again the attempt was with his left hand. Shaya batted clumsily at of the end of the spear just below the blade, unable to catch a hold of it before the blade tore its way across his chest and cut him deeply. Shaya winced and growled at the pain that now dragged his mind out of the fog of fatigue and into the present danger.

Stevie let out a victorious laugh as he charged in for a second stab to finish his opponent. The other guards continued cheering, and once again Elizabeth's control twisted Shaya's body away from danger; though this time she made no attempt to grab the weapon.

"Are you always this clumsy?" Elizabeth barked from the sidelines frustratedly. She lunged forward with Shaya, as she tried to land a left hook on Stevie with his fist.

Shaya yelped as the maneuver popped his fresh gash wider, and then grunted as the attack was easily dodged. "You know, if someone hadn't made me go a week and a fucking half without sleep I might be more on my A-game." Shaya barked back as Elizabeth guided him through a lunging retreat from the spear's range. "That and I'm not a fucking Southpaw!" Shaya shouted angrily as he felt his wound throb in time with his racing heartbeat. He could feel the front of his shirt was now thoroughly soaked with his own blood.

"That shouldn't make any difference!" Elizabeth shouted back defensively as Stevie closed the gap between them and swung his spear once again. Elizabeth hesitated, and Shaya was once again split open by the attack, this time across the stomach.

"Fucking bitch!" Shaya howled as he doubled over, and fell to one knee as his blood pooled in the dust below him. "If you actually want to win this just let me do it!" He screamed.

Elizabeth was stunned silent, but through her inaction Shaya was given his chance,

"You shouldn't make deals with demons, boy." Stevie panted from above his downed opponent. "Now yield or die, either way I get what I want."

Shaya cracked a smile through his agony. "You know what? You're feeling big and brave in front of all your friends right? Lets go for the second option." Shaya said bitterly as he secretly scooped up a handful of bloodied dirt. Stevie hesitated, then growled and drew his blade back for the killing blow, only to get blasted in the eyes with a handful of red mud.

Stevie shouted as Shaya rolled smoothly out of the way of the incoming spear and popped back up on his feet. There was an audible gasp from the crowd of soldiers and even Elizabeth muttered something in shock; though Shaya was too wrapped up in his current affair to make out what she said.

Shaya wasted no time and grabbed the taller man's head while he was still blinded and dazed, then yanked it down as he swung his knee up into Stevie's face. There was a meaty crack as he shattered the guard's nose and further ripped his own stomach wound; though he could barely feel that through the adrenaline now.

Stevie shrieked and stumbled backwards as Shaya let go of his head. The other guards were roaring and booing at the display, but Shaya wasn't done yet. Shaya grabbed the man's spear with his good hand and at the same time swung his foot up between the battered man's legs as hard as his wounded state would allow. Stevie doubled over and dropped his spear as Shaya's foot collided agonizingly with his groin. Shaya pulled the spear away as it fell and easily procured the weapon as his opponent slumped to his knees in a crying heap. Shaya scowled and delivered one last kick to the man's chest and laid him out flat, then flipped the spear in his grip and brought the point up against his opponent's throat.

"Now same question." Shaya said between pained wheezes, "Do you yield or do you die?"

Stevie gave only a gurgling whimper as bloody mucus bubbles bloomed from the mangled lump of flesh that used to be his nose.

"Don't think I heard that clearly, was that something along the lines of wanting to die an honorable death?" Shaya asked coldly.

Stevie squirmed and shook his head desperately; which flicked blood and snot everywhere.

"Thought so." Shaya said, and turned back to Elizabeth. "Now I hope you know first aid, otherwise this is going to be a draw." Shaya said as he felt the adrenaline ebb. Suddenly his vision dulled and he felt very cold. The spear clanked to the ground as Shaya swayed forward uneasily. Elizabeth rushed forward to catch him before he fell, but was too late and he crumpled as he hit the dirt.

"Come on kid, you can't go out like this." Elizabeth muttered as she rolled her barely conscious companion over onto his back to examine his wounds. his shirt was soaked completely with blood on his front.

"Oh yeah I can." Shaya mumbled as she shredded his shirt off of him. Meanwhile, the other guards had already extracted their leader, and were retreating back into town one by one.

"You're too young to be looking for death." Elizabeth muttered desperately.

Shaya chuckled, and winced as the jostling popped his wounds open wider. "Its not looking like a bad option considering." He mumbled.

"You cut that shit out right now!" Elizabeth scolded desperately as she applied some fresh webbing to her palm and started patching the gashes closed as best as she could. Shaya just chuckled and went silent. At first Elizabeth thought the worst, but after a few seconds she realized he was still breathing.

She managed to stop the bleeding, then hefted him onto her large abdomen, and headed into town. The guards had all disappeared by now after seeing their leader beaten by this strange duo, and the streets were devoid of anyone else.

"Michael, you old bastard get out here!" Elizabeth shouted as she advanced down the deserted streets. Worried eyes peered at her from windows and alleys, but she paid them no mind as she marched towards the center of town.

She reached the largest building in the town in no time at all, and quickly climbed her way up the steps leading to its large double-doors. "Michael you withered old fuck, I don't have time for your cowardice!" She hollered as she crested the steps of the town hall. Just as she reached the top, the doors flew open and two very nervous guards emerged flanking a white-haired man with a furious look on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" The man asked incredulously.

"I was going to ask you the same but I've got more pressing issues at hand right now." Elizabeth said.

The man looked at the unconscious young warrior on her back, then back to her. "If you think we have anything to spare for you two you are sorely mistaken." He growled.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said, taken aback. "I have invoked trial by combat and won, by the law of the founders you are bound to hear me out!"

"By your old laws you mean." The man cut in before she could go off. "You who does nothing but prey off of our youth, and sends them back mentally disturbed and damaged. You owe us many things, but we own you nothing." The man barked. "We are done sending you tribute, we shall no longer pander to demons!" The man shouted.

"Did you forget who built your town?" Elizabeth shouted back. "Your ancestors are rolling in their graves at the sight of you!"

"Who built it is irrelevant, we are taking it back from you!" The man shouted.

"You're insane." Elizabeth said in disbelief. "Would you really dare to lead my people so far from their roots?"

"You're the insane one. These are my people, if you think there is a single one of them who won't throw their life down if my guidance requires it you are sorely mistaken."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort, but the words faltered in her throat.

"Your archaic clan system divided us, wench." The man said grinning, and behind him Elizabeth could see courage building in his two guards. No longer did they shake in their boots, but instead they gripped their spears as fire began to burn in their eyes; a fire lit and fanned by the man before her. "I have brought them together under me, no more haves and have-nots, no more honor from birth, just my guidance as we move into the future, and shed the demons of our past." Michael blustered. He was shouting loud enough so that almost everyone in town could hear him, and indeed almost everyone was listening intently to his sermon.

"You're insane." Elizabeth repeated weakly.

"I am more than sane, I am sanctified." The man declared. "I have righteousness on my side, now begone from our city you monster, or we will drive you out by force." The man threatened, and gestured to the two guards next to him, who looked like dogs ready to rip out her throat if only their master would let them off of their leash.

Elizabeth felt the vestige of an instinct to strike out, but it was only that: a vestige. Hearing this man who had won over her town with naught but a silver tongue and and empty bag of promises made her feel many things, none of which she thought she should be feeling. Instead of rage, she felt sadness. Instead of disgust, she felt guilt. Most prominently, however, she felt her cheek aching.

After a few moments of silence, Elizabeth nodded to herself. "Very well, As the elected leader of my village, I will yield to your judgement." Elizabeth said with a small bow, anf turned to leave. After a few steps she paused, and added, "Though I worry what the people will think of you once the woods are no longer as friendly to your people as the were in my time.". Michael remained silent and she descended the steps.

As she retreated through the village she once again felt the eyes of her people, though this time they were watching her not with fear, but barely restrained anger. They were filled with righteous fury, and if only one of them were brave enough to confront the monster, they were all likely to attack in the name of purifying their village. And so she left with the stabbing weight of hundreds of eyes on her, but she felt that could not compare to the weight of the man slumped against her back.

She stopped once and only once at the gates to what was once her village. She looked back and remembered how it once was. Just a few cabins built together. A bunch of friends, too old to continue the adventuring life settling down together to build families that kept growing until they earned their dot on the map. Elizabeth shook her head. "That place is gone now, and they're all dead now too. I guess he was right. It's really not my village anymore." She said to Shaya, and turned back to the road as Shaya stirred and groaned on her back.

It was several hours before she made camp some distance to the northwest: the opposite direction of what was once her den. She found herself warmed by nostalgia despite the previous hours. It had been so long since she had made a fire for herself, let alone with a young swordsman in tow. The memories of her former companions came flooding back to her, and she found herself smiling and even humming despite herself.

"Now that's surreal." Shaya wheezed from his corner in camp after he had finally regained consciousness. He was propped up against a tree with his sleeping back wedged behind him as a cushion.

"Shaya, you're up?" Elizabeth gasped, then after realizing she had been caught, blushed furiously.

"Still not sure about that." Shaya said as he blinked slowly. "Do my ears deceive me, or were you just humming to yourself?"

Elizabeth nodded sheepishly. "I used to spend a lot of nights like this, you see?" She explained, "They would all sing, but I was always too nervous about my voice so I just hummed."

"I'm pretty sure I'm still unconscious then." Shaya said matter-of-factly.

Elizabeth laughed dryly. "You know I didn't always use to be like this." She said, "I used to be an adventurer."

"I thought you were a demon." Shaya said sarcastically.

"I am." Elizabeth said, "I was." She then corrected herself.

"So what are you now then?" Shaya asked. "because it might just be the blood loss making me woozy, but I'm having a hard time following this all."

"Look, I was sealed in this body a long time ago, back before I founded that village." Elizabeth explained.

Shaya nodded appreciatively, as if he understood. "So the whole Mistress of Strings thing is bullshit." He said

Elizabeth scowled. "Hey, that was actually what they called me. The bitch that did this just thought it would be funny if I was a spider with that name."

"She's got a pretty good sense of humor by me." Shaya said with a chuckle and a wince.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "Either way we need to talk about something important." She said.

"Can it wait?" Shaya asked. "You know at least until we're sure I'm gonna live and all?"

"You'll live." Elizabeth said resolutely. "I'm not letting you die on my watch." She added.

"Isn't our arrangement the other way around?" He asked.

"That's what I need to talk to you about." She said. "I've had a bit of a rough day and it's come with some painful realizations,"

"You want to talk to me about rough days?" Shaya groaned.

Elizabeth winced. "You're right I worded that poorly." She said. Shaya was taken aback by the sincerity in her voice. "The point is, that town was being run by a man who was just using everyone to push his own agenda, and to their detriment no less." She explained, "I wanted to smash his grimy little head in, but I couldn't. Do you know why?"

"Irony." Shaya said flatly.

"Exactly. I've been doing the same thing to you." She said as she looked down. "I've got to make it up to you if I want to have anything approaching a moral high ground on that slime."

"That's a shitty way of asking for forgiveness." Shaya said flatly.

"I couldn't ask for that. I don't deserve it." Elizabeth said. "More like atonement."

Shaya let out a dry, pained laugh. "You could start by removing this curse on me."

"That's the thing, I can't." Elizabeth said quietly, her gaze glued to the ground. "Once the rite is performed we're bound until one of us dies."

Shaya let out a long sigh and was silent for a long while. "So what did you have in mind then?" He asked.

"The first and obvious one is I vow on my life to never take control of your body without your permission again." Elizabeth said.

"Well, yeah. No shit." Shaya said. "So what, do we just go our separate ways? You have a cleaner conscience, I have a neat tattoo?"

"The issue is the sleep thing." Elizabeth said as she held one arm tight in her other hand. "You need my help to deal with it."

"All right, what's the catch." Shaya said with a sigh.

"You aren't going to like it." Elizabeth warned.

"Is it going to be much worse that what I've already been through?" He asked.

"Well, no, but..." She trailed off. "It has to do with what kind of demon I was before this." She said meekly.

Shaya waited for her to continue, then after a while asked, "Which was?"

"A Succubus." She said quietly.

Everything clicked into place then and Shaya groaned. "Don't tell me."

"I won't ask you not to judge." Elizabeth said quietly. "The way it works is your body can't sleep unless it's had an orgasm recently." She explained.

"So I just gotta rub one out? Are you fucking kidding me?" Shaya barked, then winced as he felt his stomach gash pop open underneath the webbing bandage.

"Take it easy or you're actually going to bleed out!" Elizabeth said worriedly, all pretense of authority in her voice now gone. Shaya was shocked into silence by this. "Look, its not that easy, the second part is the only way you can cum is with my help. That's just how the spell works."

Shaya took a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh. He was quiet for a long time after that. "So what do we do after that? What's the plan?" He asked.

"Plan?" Elizabeth responded, confused.

"Do I just live out the rest of my life in your little cave getting daily hand jobs so I don't have a stroke? What does it look like long-term for us." Shaya clarified.

"You'd really be okay with my current body?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, answer the question." Shaya said sternly.

"It's whatever you want." Elizabeth said. "I figured it was time to move on from the past, so we've been going the opposite way from my den so far. I was hoping you'd be willing to have me with you in your travels, and I'd help you however I could with whatever work you find."

Shaya sighed. "You make a mistake in assuming I even know what I want." He said.

"Don't you have any family to visit or something? Someone to set you on some kind of path." She asked.

"Nope. Both parents dead, never even met my dad." Shaya said almost disinterestedly.

"I'm sorry..." Elizabeth said quietly. "How about this. Is the 'bitch' that did that to your body still alive?" He asked.

"Well, yeah, but she's really hard to find." Elizabeth said, "You don't seriously want to go after her, do you?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Shaya asked.

"I couldn't, I owe you too much as it is!" Elizabeth all but pleaded.

"Are you really going to tell me you'll do whatever I want, but the moment I suggest something that would help you that's off the menu?" Shaya asked.

"I..." Elizabeth trailed off. "You're right." She said, "If that's your goal, I'll do everything in my power to help you achieve it."

"Then its settled." Shaya said. "Been a while since I had some direction in my life, might actually be fun." He mused.

"We can't go anywhere until you're healed enough though." Elizabeth warned.

Shaya looked down at his chest and noted the bloom of dark red seeping through the webbing on his stomach. "You have a point there." He said.

"Now here's the awkward part." Elizabeth started, "You need sleep to properly heal."

"Woah, right now?" Shaya said, taken aback.

"When else?" Elizabeth asked. "Now just try to relax or you'll just hurt yourself more." She said.

Shaya took a deep breath, and seeing there was no other way out from this, let out a long sigh and nodded.

Elizabeth smiled. "That's better." She said and seemed to cheer up. She scuttled over to Shaya, and scooped him up as gently as she could, then carried him over by the fire and sat down with him leaned back against her chest. Shaya couldn't help but feel a little excited just from the feeling of her breasts pressed against his back. The rest of her may be spider, but that part of her was definitely all woman. Elizabeth smiled as she saw this, and started rubbing the unmarred sections of his chest slowly and gently.

"So have you ever done anything like this before?" Elizabeth whispered in his ear.

"If you're asking if I've fucked a bug before, the answer is no." Shaya remarked, then winced as he felt Elizabeth's claw dig sharply at his nipple. "If you're asking if 'm a virgin, that is, I have a little experience." He corrected himself. Elizabeth giggled into his ear; which sent shivers down his spine in all the right ways.

"Oh my, already?" Elizabeth remarked as she spotted Shaya's pants starting to bulge.

Shaya grit his teeth and said nothing. Luckily for Elizabeth, he didn't need to: his beat red face and fidgeting spoke volumes to her.

"You're lucky you didn't find me when I was younger." She cooed as she slid her hand down to grip Shaya's growing manhood through his thin pants. "A young hot body like yours, just rearing to go? I would have wrecked you in so many ways." Shaya winced as his cock throbbed in her grip. "Shh, relax, don't go ripping yourself open on me now." She said as she pet his chest and loosened her grip on his member.

Shaya breathed a sigh of relief, but cut his breath short as Elizabeth pulled the front of his pants down and exposed his shaft to both the warmth of the campfire, as well as Elizabeth's ravenous gaze.

The former demon licked her lips hungrily; which sent more shivers down Shaya's spine. "Let's get to the main course then, shall we?" She teased as she wrapped her smooth, plated hands around her companion's twitching rod. Shaya grit his teeth in expectation of the sharp claws, but was surprised by the warmth of her hands instead. It felt nothing like his own or any human hand, but the smoothness of her chitin and the firmness of her grip were anything but unpleasant.

Elizabeth set to work slowly pumping her hand up and down his length as Shaya groaned and leaned back into her more. She smiled and started moving faster once she had this better vantage point on his face. Shaya had his eyes shut and was absorbed wholly by the sensations her hand was giving him. "When you get close just let it all out, I don't want you holding back trying to impress me or anything." Elizabeth whispered down as she rhythmically worked his cock in her hand. Shaya chuckled and smiled at this, and Elizabeth felt her hand suddenly become more slick as his shaft more liberally drooled precum.

"Good boy." She cooed as she pumped faster. Elizabeth smiled as she watched her partner's face tense up; she could read any man like a book, and this one was about to pop. She grinned and doubled her pace as she felt Shaya squirm in her arms. "Cum for me." She said breathily in his ear as she held him tight. Shaya let out a groan and thrust his hips up weakly into her hand. Thick ropes of white splattered onto the dirt and Elizabeth's fingers as Shaya finally let out his pent up load. Jet after jet of his seed dirtied her hand and splattered onto the dirt for almost a full minute before he finally started to come down.

Elizabeth smiled and admired her work as Shaya slumped back against her like jelly. She once again scooped him up, and this time she laid him down on his sleeping bag after laying it out near the fire. Shaya meanwhile, almost immediately passed out as his sleep deprivation finally was allowed to resolve itself.

Elizabeth once again looked up to the stars. "Its looking like old times again, eh guys?" She said with a smile, then let out a long yawn. She wiped her hand off on a rag and scuttled over by Shaya's unconscious form before she hunkered down for some sleep of her own.

Shaya awoke with a start, and sat up stock straight. He winced as his chest cried out in pain, but not nearly as much as it should have. Confused, he looked down to see the two gashes scabbed over and a good chunk of them both now healed. They had left behind a nasty scar where there wasn't already a crimson line. It seemed the cursed mark that branded him would not be so easily marred.

"Good, you're finally up." Elizabeth said from his left. She sounded immensely relieved. "You can finally go to the bathroom on your own."

"How long was I out?" Shaya asked worriedly.

Elizabeth shook her head. "You don't want to know." She said. "More importantly, how are you feeling?"

Shaya looked her up and down, surprised to hear such a question from her. "Actually pretty good." He said, and smiled despite himself.

Elizabeth smiled. "That's good to hear." She said. "I was worried I gave you nightmares about spiders or something."

"You're really that insecure." Shaya marveled.

Elizabeth blushed. "Hey, when you go from a paragon of sex and beauty to a literal insect, you try to keep your swagger." She said defensively.

Shaya laughed. "Look, I'm still feeling tingly after your handiwork. You could look like a bear and I wouldn't care after that. Besides, from the waist up you're a solid eight out of ten."

Elizabeth smiled, then cocked her head. "Wait, eight out of ten?"

"The scar, and the bug eyes." Shaya said flatly.

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. "You know I normally heal wounds without scars." She said as she touched her cheek.

"Why not this time?" Shaya asked.

"So I never forget." She said flatly.

Shaya nodded, then quickly changed subjects. "I do have a bit of critique for our sessions from now on though."

Elizabeth cocked her head. "You're going to critique a succubus on sex? I gotta hear this."

Shaya shrugged. "All I was gonna say, was try to be a bit less cheesy next time. Feels weird being called a good boy without a collar or something like it on."

Elizabeth chuckled, "That can be arranged." She said with a wink. "Besides, don't think I didn't pick up on your mommy issues."

"Anyway," Shaya said, and changed subjects again as he turned to hide his blushing face. "Which way are we headed to find this other demon?" He asked as he looked through his bag for something he could make into a shirt.

"North. A long way north." Elizabeth said. "Last I heard of her she was making her home almost in the arctic."

"Looks like we have a lot of time to get to know each other then." Shaya said as he stood up.

"Looks like we do." Elizabeth said, and followed suit.

The pair set out together, and this time Shaya led the way. Elizabeth only stepped in to give directions. Neither of them thought it would be an easy time, but for some reason they both felt that by being together they were somehow better together than they would be alone. It was with these thoughts in mind that the two began their journey together.