Witches' Thralls - Chapter 10 (Patreon)

As the sun set and evening crept over the forest, Lyselle found herself sat alone beside the fire, tending to its flames as her companions continued their leisurely business in the nearby stream. Auna remained noisily fruitless in her hunt for dinner, while Talia had taken to lazing in some gently swirling current on the opposite bank while barking insincere encouragements.

“You were so close that time!” “Oh, almost.” “Fifteenth time’s the charm!”

Auna growled at the girl’s mockery. “I am working by firelight here! You’re welcome to step in any time, elf eyes!”

“Nope,” Talia rejected bluntly. “Can’t. Stuck in a current.”

“I’ll stick you somewhere,” Auna mumbled, before fruitlessly lunging at another target she’d perceived in the ripples below.

By the flickering flames, Lyselle had taken to checking the group’s findings against Evenclire’s list of sought items. Though gathering the writheweed’s materials had certainly stood out as the most memorable collection, they’d also quickly located a handful of mushrooms growing along Talia’s insisted-upon trail and a few small stones that Lys herself had declared were of alchemical value. With the materials spread out in front of her, the Terran couldn’t help but grin proudly at her decent little haul.

Not bad for a day’s work, she thought. Maybe Evenclire does know what he’s doing. Talia didn’t notice most of these at all.

She looked back to the list, skimming over it once again, trying to keep as much of it in her mind as possible. As she scanned from name to name, one item in particular seized her attention. Lys’s eyes widened with realization, and she turned to rummage through her bag with excited haste.

Less than a minute later, the Terran jogged up to the riverside with atypical excitement and a pair of towels in her arms. “Hey, Talia!”

Chapter 10 is here!

No doodle this time. I gotta gotta GOTTA convince my lethargic essence to get some commission work done this week, and a flustered nerdy redhead with two naked women draping over her is a tantalizing but excessive distraction, so it must wait.

Not much has changed in the full draft. I mostly tweaked some of Talia's English dialogue to be less heavy on the accent for legibility. I want it there, but it's a balancing act. I know a lot of people hate that shit, but as a comics gal I have a strong affinity for it and am thus trying to dance on the knife's edge a bit.

Enjoy!