Chapter 476: The feast

“I’m an Ambassador, and an Entertainer,” Lila said as they approached the centaur’s main feasting grounds and many rows of tables. Mason blinked and looked at his guide.

He was still trying to get over the whole ‘flat out rejecting her sexual advances’ thing without any awkwardness. So he figured being pleasant would be a start.

“What’s that?”

“My civilian classes,” she said, face neutral. “The people I was with are dead. The players. The civilians. They’re all dead and it’s just me and that piece of shit Gary you want to save. And I’m alive because I made these people like me.”

Mason blinked, trying to keep up. He was no expert on women’s emotions, and he’d just met Lila, but he didn’t need a psych degree to know he’d pissed her off back in the tent.

“What do you mean ‘piece of shit Gary’?”

Lila blew air and tried to storm off, but Mason held her arm. She tugged uselessly at his grip, then spun like she wanted to hit him, which he hoped she didn’t because she’d probably break her hand. She stopped when he didn’t so much as flinch.

“That poor, helpless slave you care so much about? He’s a fucking traitor. He sold out my friends, the only people I had, because he was trying to get at those elves.”

Mason was a lot better at reading liars than he was at lying. Lila came across as perfectly capable, though not necessarily right now. She scoffed when he said nothing, looking up at the stars with some wetness in her eyes.

“For all the good it did. The centaur betrayed him, killed or took his traitor friends and took the elves that didn’t kill themselves. He’s a slave now because I told Pally what a piece of shit he was. Pally liked me by then and he’d have done whatever I asked. If I was a worse person that idiot would be dead. Instead he gets to shovel crap and dig trenches for the rest of his miserable life.”

Mason just listened and watched, trying to judge. No amount of human filth and betrayal would ever shock him, he just wanted to know if it was the truth. After staring at Lila long enough he decided she was either being honest, or she was an exceptionally good liar. He relaxed his grip and sighed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.” Lila folded her arms and looked up as she battled the tears. “I’m sorry. Everybody’s sorry. Doesn’t make any difference.” She wiped her nose with a sleeve. “The centaur are good to me and I trust them. They have…honor, if you understand them. You always know where you stand, at least. And don’t tell me you haven’t done some terrible shit, because you’re still alive.”

Mason couldn’t really argue with that.

“You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be judging.”

Lila finally looked at him, but quickly looked away.

“I just…wanted a moment, you know? Of…something human. I’m alone here. Talk about fucking culture shock. It’s like being home sick all the time except there’s no home left. This is forever. And I can’t look sad because it’s my job to make them smile. Nobody wants a miserable pet.”

“You could come with me,” Mason said, already fighting the sigh. “I was telling the truth. I’m from a settlement. It’s safe, guarded, plenty of people. You’d be fine there.”

“I don’t know you,” Lila said. “How can I trust you? I have no protection. None. Only Pally, only these ‘monsters’.”

“You were about to trust me in that tent,” Mason said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Lila looked a little embarrassed.

“That’s different. I mean I trusted you to…want what I wanted. You got a girl? Or you gay or something?”

“I have a few girls. It wasn’t that. And it’s not that I didn’t want to. It’s just I…”

“Thought I was an evil cunt.”

Mason snorted, and Lila met his eyes for a little longer and grinned. It was definitely the kind of look and moment that might have had them turn around and head back to that tent. But Mason could see Night Eyes at the tables now. The centaur looked over straight at Mason through the chaos of activity and waved a hand.

“I think we’re being summoned,” Mason said, a little disappointed and also relieved as the moment passed. “Ready to put that brave, happy face back on?”

Lila transformed. She tossed her long, black hair off the shaved half of her head, looking perfectly back to her pleasant self with nothing more than a body shake and a deep breath. The same, easy smile etched across her face as her eyes crinkled with a devious innocence.

“Ready when you are, Hunter.”

Mason took her arm, a little worried about the whole ‘exceptional liar’ thing again. But he walked towards his host.

**

It seemed Night Eyes wasn’t the only ‘shaman’ amongst the centaur tribes. All around him at the tables were older males and females wearing bones or feathers or some other stereotypical dress of tribal elders. They had similarly dark eyes, though none as deeply black.

All stared at Mason and silenced. The sounds and chaos of the feast died down, the edges of Mason’s vision blurring and darkening as if he stared down a tunnel to the elders. It was unnerving, and Mason soon detected magic probing and caressing his skin. It swirled like smoke around his body, hissing like a living thing.

Apex Predator glowed. His growing list of resistance titles flared.

[Centaur elder shaman {x6} are attempting to divine your approximate strength, auras, affinities, and titles. Do you wish to resist?]

Mason didn’t hesitate to confirm. His titles and power seized the snake-like magic by the throat, snuffing it out with little more than a gentle squeeze.

Everything returned to normal, except for the elders. Some hunched or shook their heads. A couple wiped blood from their noses.

For a moment Mason entertained killing every important centaur at the gathering. He imagined it would do incredible damage to the entire species, and might prevent them from being any kind of threat to people for a very long time. But the thought passed.

Night Eyes made a kind of hissing trill as he turned his head towards the others with obvious annoyance. Lila looked between them all and Mason with a confused and concerned crack in her otherwise pleasant mask.

“It’s alright,” Mason said, coming forward to the two empty seats. “But you could have just asked. I won’t resist if you try again. Though I’ll consider it a favor.”

The elders looked off balance, but too curious to resist. They exchanged a few glances but generally shook their heads in agreement, and the same magic probed him again. This time Mason didn’t fight it. He figured if they took a good, hard look at how he’d got along in the game thus far, it might make everything a little…smoother.

And Night Eyes had already known who he was. That he was a baron and a leader of men. He just really hoped they didn’t see he was a House leader and think they could take an important captive, or something. It seemed rude to kill all your hosts.

Mason watched bits of his profile appear in the magic. It must have been at least partially nature in origin, because it smelled pleasant enough. Even when he wasn’t resisting, it seemed his powers showed him everything the scanners saw.

His titles scrolled one after the other like floating text. His level and classes showed only as ‘Human Champion – tier 1’. But otherwise his titles were complete, all the way down to Champion of the Arena. It took awhile to get to the end…

“He isn’t a Hunter. He’s the Hunter,” said one of the shamans with a rising tone of fear. “He destroyed the Shadow Lord. And he’s the one who freed the horned god. What have you brought among us, Night Eyes?”

The youngest and perhaps most powerful shaman met Mason’s gaze, and smiled.

“An enemy of my enemy is my friend. I do not fear honest warriors, no matter how dangerous. Sit, Hunter. Eat with us.”

Mason found it very hard not to like this creature. Which was annoying. He guided Lila forward until she sat with a smile, and also with a renewed look of interest and surprise aimed at him. He did his best to ignore it, sitting beside Night Eyes with a polite nod.

They’d given him a kind of high bar stool, but it put him roughly at the height of the male centaur and didn’t feel like an insult. He sat in silence, mostly just hoping to get through the evening without offending anyone, or having to make whatever passed for centaur smalltalk.

“Their food isn’t…great,” Lila whispered beside him. “We’ll be lucky if the meat has salt. But they do make a lot of nice desserts. Just don’t ask where the milk comes from.”

Mason grinned, confident his increasingly iron stomach could handle whatever they gave him. The centaurs went through a series of religious rituals and prayers, with the burning of incense or maybe just grass, and some kind of group spell to talk to their ancestors.

He sat through it all politely. By the time the half cooked meat arrived and Lila was giving him an apologetic smile, he realized he was famished. These days he hardly cared if a thing was cooked or not, and as soon as he saw the centaurs chewing he attacked his plate quick enough to make Streak proud.

Lila looked a bit green, but the centaurs seemed happy. Night Eyes never tried to make small talk or really ask anything except to make sure Mason was satisfied. The creatures definitely seemed like the strong, silent types, content to stand and talk in subdued voices, mixed with the occasional appreciative grunt.

The other tables were more lively. It was clear this was a rare social event, and all kinds of males and females mingled and laughed further out from the serious shamans. When Mason was finished he leaned back and gave a satisfied sigh.

“You enjoyed that a lot more than I expected,” Lila said, giving another winning smile.

“My appetite is out of control these days. I think I can literally eat anything.”

“Oh really?”

Lila’s eyes sparkled and her hand touched his mostly exposed thigh. Mason cleared his throat. The table was pretty high and covered in a long cloth, so the centaur definitely couldn’t see under.

But he also wasn’t sure he had the time or attention for this. He was out here to learn, to explore, to get stronger. Not to indulge the same damn addiction to women that kept him distracted at home.

Fortunately, Lila’s hand didn’t wander further. Much as his lust might have wanted it to. But then, she didn’t take it away, either. If anything her stool was sliding closer and closer to his, her shoulder basically pressed against his as she kept her hand casually draped on his leg.

“So…what did you do freak out the elders?” she asked quietly. “I’ve never seen them like that. And what’s all this about hunters and stuff?”

“You really are just playing your own little game here, aren’t you?” he said. Lila shrugged with a smile. “I’ve killed demons, including a big one. Somehow these shamans can sense it. And I won some big tournament that…” he scoffed at how ridiculous it sounded. “I don’t even know how to say it. Made a god stronger.”

Lila raised her eyebrows and gave him a low whistle.

“I didn’t know I was hitting on a bigshot. How old are you, anyway? Like twenty five?”

Try twenty, Mason thought, then wondered what the hell day it was. He was probably twenty one now. But he felt about twice that. He just shrugged, which made Lila laugh, and possibly sent her hand a bit higher than it was before. But he still didn’t stop her.

“I should tell you of the beast, Hunter,” Night Eyes said on his other side. “It lives in the underground depths of the mountain caves, wailing at night and killing anything that comes too close. Only one scout has claimed to see it—swearing it looked like a bear, but far too large. It had white or grey fur and glowing eyes, with claws the size of daggers.”

Mason nodded, not worried but glad to learn what it looked like.

“And once I’ve killed this ‘bear’, you’ll give me what I ask? What if it doesn’t ‘cleanse’ your holy place like you expect?”

“Even so,” Night Eyes confirmed. “A bargain is struck. Kill the creature, and you will have the slaves and your knowledge. Please, enjoy the feast. I must go and speak with some of the tribal chiefs. I’m sure Lila will bring you whatever you wish.”

She bowed her head in acknowledgment, and the shaman walked out from the table, leaving Mason and Lila mostly alone, with most of the centaurs mingling now.

She met his eyes and grinned, her hand sliding ever closer to its target. He knew his resistance was crumbling fast. He had no interest at all in another woman back in his life in Nassau. But a wild romp with a wild girl in a tent for a night…

He glanced down at Lila’s nipples straining at the fabric at her chest, the little metal bars sticking through them more obvious than ever. He leaned in and hovered his lips over her neck, then flicked one with a finger.

Lila sucked in a sharp breath of air.

“Now when and where did these come from?” he asked.

Lila’s lids dropped and she gave him a devious smile.

“I told you. I’m a very naughty girl.”

Mason had lived a pretty quiet, peaceful life before the apocalypse. He’d never dated, or frankly looked twice at, a ‘very naughty girl’. In fact, other than Haley and supernatural sex creatures, he’d pretty much only been with virgins. So the thought might have scared him a little six months ago. Not anymore.

Lila’s hand finally brushed its target, and she licked her lips and chuckled when she found him at least at half mast.

“Such a big boy,” she whispered with another hiss of air. “But I don’t know if he’s ready for a girl like me. It’s been so long. I’ll be insatiable.”

Mason shrugged like he didn’t really care, trying not to laugh as he glanced at the half moon that already made him want to get up and howl. At this point there were literally three gods crawling around in his unconscious (and his power list) who seemed to want him to bang anything that moved.

His never-ending libido was waking up and realizing it just might get what it wanted, and Mason had no idea how to tell this poor, ignorant, civilian woman what she was in for. He just smiled and sipped his drink.