Chapter 9
They met up with the military shortly before lunchtime, and they were on the move as well. There had to be thousands of them, and it had Justin feeling uncomfortable. Not that he was really intimidated, he was just still to ignorant on customs and such. He found himself allowing Nora to take the lead, at least she knew what she was doing.
All he really knew was, the goddess had moved him to this world and healed him. He was as sure of that as he could reasonably be. And for some reason she had gifted him with this ability, and given him the choice to roll over and die again, or fight for her, fight for her world.
She had also given him a huge incentive he thought, as he looked over at Kat.
He had been thinking about things all day while running, he had also come to the conclusion that she had put him in the woods like that, specifically so he would meet Katrina. His power depended on compassion, protectiveness and love. What better way for the goddess to ensure his success then surrounding him with women he was compatible with and would instinctively want to protect?
At first he had been angry at the thought, as if he had no choice in the matter, but he finally realized that simply wasn't true. The goddess may have set up their meetings, but neither he nor Kat had been required to fall in love, it was a choice, had been their choice all along and still was.
It had also been Nora's choice to stay and protect him, and Nicci's choice to do the same with the oath, so she would be able to fight and not be sent home. Did that mean he would, or could, fall in love with them too? Well, probably, but the choice was there for them all, he didn't think it destined. At first when he had considered it, he wondered if Kat would react badly to it.
But that was his old pattern of thinking, the way things were on Earth. He knew the simple truth was, that if he decided not to because of her, she would actually get mad at him about it. Weird... So completely opposite of how things are on Earth, but here it somehow made sense.
Perhaps he was over thinking this, arrogantly reading into the intentions of a goddess, but he didn't think so. He had noticed a change in Nora today, she still cursed like a sailor most of the time, unless she had been speaking directly to him. And yesterday's looks of confusion had turned more thoughtful today as he continued to treat her as an equal.
She was a strong woman and he respected that, a lot, and he had been thinking that perhaps...
He wasn't sure what to think about Nicci yet, he didn't know her well enough. She was certainly attractive though on physical level. Her body was built for sin, yet her face had a fresh youthful innocence to it. Her voice was cute, but with enough of a sexy overtone for it not to grate. It was a killer combination of traits, but no more so than Kat and Nora, they were all beautiful in different ways.
They marched alongside the troops, back tracking their morning travel, but at a much slower pace. He was starting to wonder what the plan was, since they hadn't talked to anyone yet, when Nora addressed his unspoken thoughts.
Nora said softly, "We'll track down the leader of the troops when they halt for lunch, if we try and get in there now during the march we'll just make a mess of things."
He was glad to hear it; hopefully they would feed them too. There hadn't been much for breakfast, just cold dried venison, like jerky, and slightly stale bread from the day before. He could use a rest too, his legs muscles were really sore. Then he suppressed a snort, what good was his power if he never used it.
He didn't burst into flames, but he touched his power and it refreshed, restored and healed his body, leaving him feeling great. Not wanting to burst into flames before the soldiers and start a scene, he simply reached out to the three women and touched their shoulders one at a time. They looked at him gratefully as his power restored them.
He just wished he had thought about it earlier, it would have made running easier, especially for Nora who was supporting all three of them. He shrugged. Next time.
He heard orders to halt and the soldiers stopped, some few broke off and started forming a perimeter guard while the rest seemed to fall into chaos, slowly forming small groups and pulling food from their packs.
He heard a caw and looked up, a falcon was coming in for a landing. It was larger than a natural one, though not by much, it looked fierce. There was a bright flash of light, then a woman was before him on her knees. She had long straight raven black hair, large brown eyes and creamy brown skin. She looked up at him with a disturbing amount of awe in her face before loudly stating an oath.
"Flame of the goddess, I Sally, swear my life to yours and will follow you until you have no need of me."
While the rest of his brain tried to figure out what was going on, a thought with a sardonic note on it said, so much for not causing a scene...
From the wording, he thought it meant he would have control of her life, her decisions, and possibly even her death, and that she would follow him around until he sent her away? That seemed... wrong. Extremely excessive. There was much more than the fact he was a Flame of the goddess behind such an oath, there had to be.
He had no idea what to do, but he was loathe to accept such a sweeping oath from the young woman, although older than him, she looked to be about twenty one or so.
She was also stunning... four? He would have to have a chat with the goddess one day. There wasn't enough time in the day for him to keep four women happy, well he had a choice, Kat was one of them, he would see what happened with the rest.
He bent down and took her hand. "No," he said simply, and pulled her off so they could talk privately, he didn't want an audience, and didn't think she would either...
Chapter 10
Katrina watched with amused twinkling eyes as Justin dragged off Sally by her hand. She had been shocked at the woman's oath and glad to see Justin didn't even consider it. She had in essence given herself to him with those words, he could have had her do anything at all.
She saw the wistful look on Nora's face as she watched Justin walk away, and had the feeling she would be sharing him soon. She didn't mind that idea at all, she liked Nora as well and knew they would get along. She smiled as she could still feel his touch, and the touch of the goddess. She felt wonderful and was a little bit in awe of him, but was hiding it well enough she thought.
She knew he would absolutely hate that.
She saw a young man in an elaborate uniform approaching and they all turned to face him, she wished Justin were here for this but hoped he was setting that girl straight.
He said, "Hi Nora, I'm surprised to see you here after what you said to my father. Who are your two frien..."
She held back a snicker as his eyes widened on his sister.
Nicci said with innocence ringing in her voice, "Hello Anton, how are you?"
She half snorted, half coughed. She was almost positive she was turning red.
