Soul Fire Sale, chapter 13.

Safe! I made it, and all that. Here we are, poll goes up tomorrow, for now please enjoy.

Well, I had my clothes. They looked a lot like some kind of sith lord from star wars outfit, but I had them. One dyed black, the other a stormy gray, the black one skin tight in all the wrong places, and the gray one loose, with some bandages and ribbons of all things placed around to tie them up or on. Very simple, but also very villainous looking even if you didn't squint too hard.

At least they were pants. Actual pants, and the tops covered everything.

The seamstress stood by, sweat beading on her brow - on a day where winter coats - or cloaks in this world - should be the norm.

"They will do. Thank you." At least Loam looked good in her own new clothes - some nice loose homespun that was dyed a lighter gray and looked perfectly serviceable to move around in.

"You sure? They look like medieval fetish gear on you." Yes, thank you Oliver, I am aware the black outfit is too tight.

The seamstress looked confused: "...What is this 'fetish'?"

I had to nip that in the bud, or my next request might go incredibly south. "Never mind him, he's an idiot. Thank you for these, however next time you can feel free to make my clothes more like hers," I pointed to where Loam was... well, not exactly preening with a wide smile, but it certainly felt that way.

Surely Oliver saw it too, even if he couldn't feel it. It was so obvious, even a blind man should be able to see how happy she was.

Did the clothes make the golem? I'd have to see what actual armor did for her mood. Later, when I could afford it.

I shoved the woman out the door before Oliver could ruin her, and turned to find him pouting at me.

"At least the gray set looks okay," he said at last.

It did. "Yeah, I'll see to enchanting it later. Along with yours."

Oliver wasn't strong enough yet to layer enchantments into his nice, shiny, new sky blue robe that the woman had obviously put a lot of work in on. I could at least snicker at that one, because he'd wanted something like I'd asked for... and had instead gotten a robe and leggings. Leggings I was quite certain he'd never wear.

Enough of this. "Right, time to go. We've got our clothes; let's pack them up and move."

The most important part of this transaction were the new cloaks, gloves, and hats anyway. The top of the mountain was going to be cold.

Oliver folded his stuff up and threw the new fur lined cloak over his shoulder. "Be right back."

It wouldn't take long, I knew. We'd already packed a bag full of provisions; food that we'd found or been allowed to take, some extra water just in case, some emergency medical supplies like tourniquets and bandages. All we really needed to do was pick up my bag, throw my new clothes in, and go. Oliver was the same.

I would need a bag for Loam, soon. Probably. For now, I stuffed her spare set of clothes in my own bag. A rough fit, but long experience dealing with weekend trips served me well.

Then I walked out the door, leaving Oliver to catch up. "Loam, follow me."

I wanted out, away from the prying eyes that were even now staring holes in me. It was fine, he caught up within a few steps and resumed the march behind us in silence - so he likely wasn't too offended.

If I wasn't mostly immune to natural toxins, I'd have worried more. Poison was the easiest way to screw us over after all, and these guys all had access.

The eyes didn't leave once we did; we had at least one pair still on us as we turned to go up; even after the village was out of sight. My bet was on that hunter, because I couldn't see or hear a thing.

Loam was scanning around though; almost as if she knew. I was willing to give her good odds on that; golems were weird in some ways. Even invisibility spells couldn't fool them.

Well, most of them. A clay golem might not have those senses built in; oddly enough, it was a blind spot in my knowledge. What gave golems their senses? The knowledge shoved into my head was more than unclear on the subject; it was downright deficient.

Oliver looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent.

I was pretty sure what he wanted to ask; he was already tired of hiking. Flight, once you had it, was an amazing drug. Even so, we needed to be careful to not reveal our true power, and flight was one of the easiest ways to let that slip.

Finally, the eyes dropped off.

I didn't trust it, and cast the spell; only little lives around us, nothing so large as a human.

"Now?" Oliver stage-whispered.

"Not yet. Patience, it's been less than a minute, and hunters are supposed to have sharp eyes."

Oliver sighed and kept trudging.

Loam did nothing of the sort, just walking along with her sword in its new sheath, still carrying it like one might a club even though she could now hook it to her belt, seemingly still happy. Or rather, happier now than she was, and no longer with her head on a swivel trying to look everywhere at once. Instead, she was looking straight ahead as she plowed through everything in her path.

If she wasn't following me, she'd likely be pulverizing trees in her march or something, a true unrelenting force.

I wondered what it might take to give her the ability to fly. Such an enchantment wasn't really in my expertise, though I certainly could - but I knew it would take more effort than it would Oliver, and even more when you factored in the weight of a clay golem.

Clay golems weighed a lot. Bone golems would be easier since they were both lighter and would hold the enchantment better than clay on account of being something that was once alive. A can of worms I did not want to open, however; the line between witch and necromancer was already very blurry, especially on this world.

Not that I knew how it was on ours exactly, since we didn't have either. Not really.

The climb was good on the thighs, at least. Getting my cardio in without even trying.

"You got anything that can sense danger?"

Oliver shook his head. "I was hoping you did."

"Best I got is the spell I'm using. But that doesn't do anything for undead or non-living, and at least one of those seems to be a thing here."

We'd have to just soldier through; if there was anything being genre-savvy taught me, it was that spell casters were not the best when it came to sensing hidden things - or enemies. They were more the fire and forget kind of characters, that nuked targets down and stepped over the ashes when the warrior types couldn't cut it, literally.

"Flight?" Oliver asked again, hopefully. "At least from the sky, we could see what's coming at us, and there aren't many things I can think of that are dead and fly. At least normally."

What was the man even thinking? "Any enemy can see us too, and we have no cover up there. Let's hang off on alerting everyone that we're coming. Your point about flying undead is a good one at least."

He looked so forlorn when I poked the hole in his logic; I just had to add that last part. It was a little funny watching him perk up - like a puppy or something when you told them they were good boys.

It was oddly endearing, somehow. Which told me that something might be wrong with me. Time to shove all that in a box and bury it deep into the closet of my mind, never to be opened again, even until the end of time.

Instead, I settled for a barbed joke. Not too barbed, though: "We need the exercise. You need the exercise."

Barbed jokes are the best.

My companion sighed with a smile. "Sure, right. We could all use the exercise. You've no objection to us taking flight if we find something that wants to eat us, right?"

Why would he think that? "Not if it keeps us alive. Why would you even ask?"

Oliver scratched his cheek; a tell perhaps? "Well, it might look like I'm running away on you? I thought I'd warn you, just in case."

Silly. "Do what you need to. I know you're not going to run out on me. I'm your best chance to get free, after all."

Oliver actually stopped a beat. As if he'd forgotten. "Right."

Oh my God, he actually had. How had that worked? How did his mind work, for that matter? It was a mystery.

We walked. This body wasn't as strong as the one I'd left behind, but it had some stamina; I could probably walk all day and then some, without a single issue.

Some life entered my range... life I was sure I recognized, even if it was only blobs of biology pulsing in the back of my mind. I was certain that it belonged to wolves, given the rough shape.

Not just any wolves, of course. The taste of them, for lack of a better term, were of the intelligent wolves we'd already met. Three of them, though thankfully not the alpha or her mate.

They were pacing us.

Loam was watching - looking to them, and then to me, and back. There was no doubt that she was asking, and what she was asking for. "Loam, no. Only defend us if they attack. Only defend us if we are attacked by anything else."

There. Simple, to the point, and no chance for any misunderstandings.Loam knew what defense was, I knew. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I was certain I was correct, and no explanation was needed there.

"Now?" Oliver sounded nervous.

Sigh. "Sure. knock yourself out."

Oliver was off the ground almost before I finished the sentence, taking the classic flying man pose I recognized vaguely from comics back home with a muted whoop.

I sighed and pulled out the broom, willing it to return to full size. "Loam,"

My creation looked to me expectantly. no, telling her to keep up was stupid. Of course, she was going to do her best to follow me! I'd ordered her to. "Never mind. Follow me as best as you are able. Without causing any damage to trees or wildlife."

Okay, that was a good order. I could easily imagine my golem smashing her way through old growth forest or through anything that didn't get out of the way fast enough, and if I could imagine it, then it could happen. Golems were scary creatures, after all. Even the weakest ones.

I couldn't wait to try stone, iron, or even steel. Did they have mithril on this world? A mithril golem would be super cool.

I stayed close to the ground; just over the tree line, and kept it slow. I was a little more vulnerable here by virtue of not being able to see everything on the ground that might aim for me, but I could easily duck back into the treeline if anything from the air attacked, and Loam would have an easier time keeping me in sight.

This high, I wouldn't have to dodge much either, which was a win. Oliver, on the other hand, was flying higher, making some lazy loops and pouring on the speed randomly. It would be hard to target him, but easier to see him.

Whatever. If he was so determined, I could use him as bait. not a fun tactic, or one I liked, but he was effectively volunteering here. At least our speed doubled; without the need to pick a path, we might even reach the peak today, before sunset.

Wait, what was that? Something was flying off there in the distance; an eagle? A falcon?

No, whatever they were, there were more than two of them, and they were bigger. Had to be, if they were that large at that distance.

I'd have to go up to warn Oliver... but they hadn't seen us yet. They'd be coming for us if so.

It took three minutes and twelve seconds for Oliver to calm down enough to come back  close enough for me to point the hopefully just large birds out. When I did, he simply nodded with a grin. Then he cast a spell on himself.

I must have shown my confusion for a second because he explained: "For protection."

Then he took off again.

At least Loam was staying close, even if she was a terrible conversationalist.

It was a nice day, worries aside. A little cold, but bright and sunny, with only a few puffy white clouds breaking up the monotony of blue.

Why was their sky like ours? Why were the trees on this world, and the wildlife, and even the dirt like ours? My inner scientist wanted answers. Maybe in time. Instead I focused on my senses, and my life detection spell.

No, those weren't eagles. They were like feathered dinosaurs, if I had to guess. Large,  with big ugly hooked beaks and too-large eyes. Their feathers were a mottled brown, which might let them blend in on this mountain while on the ground but did nothing for the air.

With that size, they likely didn't need to hide in the air - and they were gracefully winging over this way. Right towards Oliver, and I'd hate to say I told him so. At least it had taken longer than I'd expected.

I couldn't warn the man, he'd moved off again, but he seemed to see the danger; he flipped around like a fish in water and started racing back toward both me and the ground.

Good enough, he'd beat them to ground, and we could lose them in the trees.

I ducked a moment, making sure I wasn't going to floss with a branch before heading directly down. Loam was already under me, stopped. Waiting. I met her and headed toward some better cover; Oliver joined me on my fourth step in.

"Well, you were right; flying predators are a thing here. Did you see them? They must be as big as a bus!"

"Yes, thanks, I saw them. Can we not tell them right where we are, please? They might have good hearing."

The man made a show of zipping his lips and even went so far as to do that mincing sneak people on television did for comedies, as we entered a tangled copse of young trees.

With luck, the things senses of smell will be weak; if they could smell us, we would have no chance to avoid a fight.

When the trees started snapping, it was not completely unexpected, but still a bit surprising. There was a reason all other life had left us here.

When the trees started coming down, still thankfully far enough away from us, I began to rethink my current strategy and life choices.

A nice large yet somehow still beady eye plunged intro view past the foliage of the downed tree, looking left to right, up to down for a long moment.

Then it pulled itself back up, revealing the very wicked looking crooked beak for a just a flash. the snapping began again, then abruptly stopped with a set of low wooshes, air massive amounts of air being displaced.

Then silence.

Oliver turned to me. "Maybe we should walk after all."