Dao Divinity 2 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Dar blinked awake, his arms still wrapped around Sasha’s soft, curvy form.

He let his fingers sink into her, savoring her body pressing against his for a moment longer.

“Dar?” Sasha asked, her voice giving away that she was still half asleep.

Kissing her neck, he teased. “I do hope you weren’t expecting someone else in bed.”

He got his hand slapped away from her chest in response. “Careful, Lug.” Dar could hear the smile in her voice as she used his nickname, and she knew full well he didn’t like it.

He pivoted back a bit, looking around, but then he remembered that Cherry wasn’t in the hut. The night before they’d all coupled and grown closer as a family, but they’d also shared with each other as dao companions and worked to bring their dao paths closer.

When they were too exhausted to do more than sleep, Cherry had insisted on entering his inner world. When he’d joined her, she’d used the time his body rested to pick up where they’d left off.

The ancient dryad might have not lived up to her namesake originally, but she was making up time for it.

Dar took one last look at Sasha’s sleeping form. He couldn’t see anything that stood out as non-human, and he still wondered what she had been before, a demon. Yet she was hesitant to tell him.

“Okay, enough lounging around. Time to get up, Sash.” Dar gave her a peck on the cheek and opened his inner world for Cherry to exit.

Cherry stretched out with a yawn as she appeared in front of them. “That was nice.” She moved towards Dar, now sitting on the edge of the cloth draped mound, and leaned down for a good morning kiss. For once Cherry towered over him as she kissed him. He smiled. Normally she had to stand on her tip-toes to reach him.

Her breath was fresh and sweet, with a faint trace of cherries to her. Her name did come from the tree she’d been tied to most of her life, a cherry tree. When Dar had met her, she’d protected that tree with her life. But when it was destroyed, she’d bound herself to the tree in his inner world.

A smile lingered on Dar’s lips as Cherry pulled back. “Morning, my little dryad. Is your tree in good health?”

“The best, for the best tree ever.” Her grin grew wide as she looked at him with that slightly obsessive gaze she’d previously had for her cherry tree. Since she’d bound herself to his tree, the gaze was now for him.

“Then let’s keep it that way. We have some work to do.” He hauled himself up and looked back at Sasha, who was curling back up for another round of sleep. He could prod her out of bed, but she’d been working hard, and he wasn’t going to disrupt her if she needed a little longer.

Clothes on, Dar ducked out of their hut that Cherry had made using living saplings. Cherry could easily manipulate the saplings, but she had more trouble with trees large enough for lumber. The more she tried to accelerate past the normal bounds of what the tree would do naturally, the more effort it took.

But his ponderings evaporated as the smell of oatmeal hit his nose.

“Come on. Let’s get some food in you before you drool on that new shirt.” Cherry laughed, pulling Dar by the hand towards the center of the village to the fire pit. A set of women were stirring pots of oatmeal mixed with some crushed berries.

“That smells great, Tabby.” Dar recognized Bart’s wife in the morning dawn.

“Morning, Lord. I hope you got some sleep.” She arched a brow, giving him a somewhat motherly look.

Dar grinned sheepishly. There wasn’t much in the way of sound insulation on those huts. But he’d heard other huts grunting into the night, so he didn’t feel bad about making noise with his girls.

Cherry spoke up for him though. “He is a great lover. We can’t get enough of him.”

Dar nearly choked. He still hadn’t gotten used to how open everybody was about sex in Granterra.

“Well, maybe I should convince Bart to take on one of the lovely spirits.”

Cherry jumped on that. “You should! Bart is the de facto leader of the craftsmen; he deserves all the love he can get.”

Tabby only gave Cherry a polite smile and didn’t draw out the conversation. “Here, I better not keep you too long.” She handed them both bowls.

Cherry took them and shooed Dar to a seat. He’d learned not to try to fight it. His attempts so far had been useless. Cherry’s culture oriented around women doing smaller tasks for the man in their dao companionships as a way to show affection. It would be like interrupting someone who showed love through small acts of service.

Instead, he just enjoyed how she chose to show her affection.

Dar spotted Marcie and flagged her over. “Can you make sure to get Sasha up if she’s not up shortly?”

“Yes, Milord. Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you Marcie. I think we are set for the day.” Dar checked with Cherry as she handed him his bowl.

“I am fine as well, Marcie. If you have time, come help with the crops today.”

Marcie bowed and stepped away to give them some privacy.

“I feel bad that I don’t have more work for her.”

“Don’t be. I keep her plenty busy in the field, though, you should bed her soon or she might leave on her own.”

Dar didn’t answer that and just dug into his oatmeal. It wasn’t anything fancy, but the berries added a nice swirl of color and sweetness that made it pleasant enough. Which was good, because he had a feeling he’d be eating it for the foreseeable future.

“So, you are going after this demon today?” Cherry asked.

“Seems like the smart thing to do. Glump had no interest in the job, and I’m probably the best to handle her in a one-on-one situation. Unless you want to come with? I bet you could hide in my inner world and give her a big surprise.”

Cherry shook her head, but what confused Dar was her almost hungry eyes. “No. This is something you need to do alone. If I went and subdued her, she wouldn’t accept it. Not to mention, a day away from the field is a lot of lost food.”

Dar nodded. He’d need to bring his ax and be ready for whatever this demon had to throw at him. “Any tips?”

“Bring rope. Pin her and bind her up, then haul her back here. I’m sure Sasha will love the project of civilizing some young demon.” Cherry chuckled as she ate.

“You make it sound so casual.”

She shrugged. “It is. This is how demons have been doing it for over a thousand years. They take the new demon, teach them language, civilize them to a degree, and then let them decide what they want to do.”

Dar still didn’t quite understand why it had to be him alone. It made sense that she might not come out if she felt outnumbered, but she had when he’d been with a few of the weaker females. He had a nagging feeling there was some part of the demon culture he wasn’t understanding in the situation. He eyed Cherry skeptically.

“Don’t worry. I have no doubt if you are prepared you can deal with her on your own.” Cherry added, avoiding his eyes.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but she was pretty dangerous yesterday.” Whatever she was hiding, Dar didn’t dig after it. He trusted Cherry.

“That’s because you had several people to guard, and you weren’t ready. This time you will be.”

Dar sighed and ate the rest of his oatmeal. Bart was already redirecting the woodcutters to another task for the day.

Dar needed those woodcutters out in the forest, but it was too dangerous with the rogue demon. He couldn’t let them get any further behind. They’d been lucky so far at not having any devil attacks, but he knew it was only a matter of time. They needed stronger defenses.

“Alright, I’m heading out. Let’s see if I can’t bag us a new member of the village.” He said it halfheartedly, but Cherry nodded with more excitement in response.

“You should really name it, you know? Think about it, Dar. She needs a name as a first step towards being socialized. It’s not something she would have done herself.”

Dar just nodded as he started heading towards the forest. Picking up his ax on the way, he figured he could see if he could help with any other problems while he spent the day in the woods.

Following the trail up to the top of the cliffs, Dar moved by the morning light until he spotted the split tree and made a right, following the guidance of the hunters. He wondered if finding some game would help lure the catgirl out.

Dar had only hunted a few times before this new life, and it had always been with friends. Now it felt like he was crashing through the woods, sending animals scattering in every direction. And he’d have to be on the lookout for an attack at any moment.

It was far different from setting up at a blind.

Deciding he didn’t have the patience for stealth in the moment to hunt small game, he changed his approach and started looking for fruit trees. It took less of the attention he needed to keep on the chance of being attacked.

It wasn’t long till he found a tree growing plump orange fruits a dozen feet up hidden in its thick green leaves.

“You look tasty,” Dar said, jumping and grabbing hold of one of the ripe oranges.

Peeling the fruit, he took a bite. The orange slice exploded with more flavor than he’d ever had before, fruit juice quickly dripping down his chin. There was even a little trace of mana in the fruit that flowed through his body as he ate.

Putting his hand against the tree, wondering what he could do with it, he tried to pull it into his inner world. He stood for a bit, trying to continue different techniques or visualizations, but it strained against the unyielding ground, not budging.

“Guess that’s one limitation. Do I need to dig it up?”

It seemed like as good a project as any while he waited to get attacked.

Holding his ax, he used the hard dao and reinforced the poor weapon before using it like a trow to loosen the dirt, making it easier to dig out the tree.

It was hard work, but brought out the shovel from his inner world to move the loose dirt. Slowly, he started to unearth the roots of the orange tree.

Dar wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around for any sign of the jaguar. He should be making enough noise in the forest that she knew he was here.

But he didn’t get any sign of her, so he went back to experimenting with the orange tree.

It wasn’t completely uprooted. There were still some roots going far deeper, but it seemed like it might be close enough to shift it back and forth and get it loose. Normally it would be too much damage to a tree, but he had a feeling Cherry could fix any of that.

Grabbing the tree by the trunk, Dar bent at the knees and tried to push the tree out of the ground.

“Yes!” It was coming loose.

A small rustle of leaves was the only warning Dar had before the attack came. Dar immediately saturated his body in the hard dao before claws raked across his back. They weren’t able to find purchase in his hardened skin, but Dar was sure he was going to have nice pink welts from it.

The demon looked at her hands in confusion as she landed in a crouch.

“Do you speak?” Dar asked, squaring up against the demon. This time, he wasn’t trying to protect a wounded friend, so she had his sole focus.

She growled back at him. He took that as a ‘no’.

Leaping forward, Dar tried to get a hold of the demon, but she sprang back, swiping at his arms as she moved.

It was like her legs were made of springs as she cleared several yards with just that small hop. Crouching on the forest floor, she watched Dar carefully with the eyes of a predator.

“Well, since you can’t speak, you probably won’t understand this. But I’m not trying to hurt you. But I also can’t have you attacking our hunters, so I need to bring you back to our camp. I can’t promise you won’t get a little hurt in the process of tying you up, but I’ll do my best..”

She tilted her head to the side as he spoke, clearly confused at the noises he was making.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d understand. And you’ll probably take what I’m about to do the wrong way as a result, but know that I am sorry it has to be like this.” Dar grabbed a rock he’d dug up and hurled it at the demon. It might seem extreme for a capture, but she was a demon and her body was far stronger than a human’s.

While she was quick on her feet, she wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way of the rock. It clipped her hip with a wet crack that made Dar wince. Howling in pain, she turned to run, angling for another tree.

“Sorry, but I don’t want to have to do this again.” Dar rushed forward before she could get up in a tree. He knew she could easily outmaneuver him in the foliage.

Barely catching her in time, Dar ripped her off the side of a tree, and the two of them tumbled down to the forest floor.

She yowled and scratched at Dar. He kept his hard dao in place, avoiding the scratches from doing too much damage. She was still managing to break skin, but it wasn’t nearly as deep as it would have been.

Keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her, he used his size to roll her over, putting himself sitting on top of her hips while he held her wrists. Her eyes showed the first moments of fear before they turned desperate as she pawed at him. “Look, I’m sorry. This isn’t how I’d like to do it either.”

She hissed at him and tried to use her feet to get him off of her, forcing him to shift his weight a little further down her hips.

“Don’t do that. It hurts.”

But he knew she didn’t understand. All she knew was that she was being pinned down by somebody who had injured her. Heck, if he walked up on the same scene, he’d probably take out the guy in his position. Sighing, he tried to figure out how to get her tied up so he could get her back.

While he was thinking, he felt a sharp sting on his wrists. She’d pivoted her head to bite at his hands. “I get it. I do. Just bear with me a bit more.” He pulled out a rope from his inner world and set it to the side as he shifted both her wrists to one of his big mitts to hold them tight, using his other hand to bind her tight.

Once she was bound, she seemed to calm down and stare at him with a calculating look. He had no doubt she was planning her escape.

Dar looked over at the orange tree and then back at her. He’d almost finished with it. After all that work, he really wanted to try again before he left the area, but he also knew she’d make a break for it if given a chance.

So he’d have to be sure he had a good hold on her for this last attempt.

Grabbing the calmer cat girl by the back of the neck, he got up and hauled her over to the tree. He held her while he tried to bring it into his inner world. This time, it took much less effort. Thankfully, the tree disappeared into his navel.

The catgirl froze, further confusion on her face at what had happened to the tree as she looked between where it had been and Dar as he retrieved the shovel in a similar manner.

“Okay, now let’s get you back.” Talking to her seemed to calm her some, and he didn’t want to have to chase her if she got loose. He hung his ax on his belt loop as he shifted into position. Keeping one hand on the rope tying her and the other on the back of her neck, he started walking her along the path back towards their village.

They made it about halfway before she jumped. Dar tightened his grip on the back of her neck, but her next move was to tuck her legs in and then launch them out, catching Dar in the chest.

The full force of her leg strength was too much for Dar’s grip. She slipped out, landing and biting through her wrist bindings in one swift motion.

There was a cocky grin on her face as she backed away from Dar cautiously.

“Oh, come on now. You were being so good.”

She only growled back at him before turning and trying to bound away.

He really didn’t want to do it, but he ripped a branch from a tree and chucked it at her with his full strength.

It bounced off her head, and she went down, sliding into the dirt.

Dar winced. He hadn’t meant to be that rough.

“Dar go catch the cat girl. It’ll be easy.” He muttered to himself as he walked up to her cautiously and prodded her with a foot. When she didn’t move, Dar leaned closer. She was either a great actor or unconscious.

He bent down and lifted her hair to see where he hit her, and there was already a bump starting to swell and an abrasion. He cringed, hating that he’d had to use brute force, but glad it hadn’t done further damage.

Not bothering to bind her this time, since it really had done limited good with her sharp teeth and he was fairly certain she was unconscious, he hauled her over his shoulder and started making his way back to the village again.

She started to stir halfway back, but Dar had both her wrists and ankles tightly in his hands.

AN: Okay, I know this seems a little rough, but it gets better quickly. She very quickly becomes one of my favorite characters in this book.