Chapter 28: Doesn’t Come Back To Bite Us (Patreon)

‘Thumbs up,’ he thought at the message, watching the words dissolve before his eyes. 

‘What did you do that for?’ demanded Leo a moment later. ‘I thought you wanted the Place of Power? And surely that big dog would have been worth plenty of Prey Points!’ 

The health bar of the large wolven ameshek filled a little, the worst of its – her – wounds healing. She still had a long way to go before she would be fully healed, but a few carcases would solve that easily enough. 

About to reply to Leo, though with what, Dominic wasn’t sure, he was interrupted by a new message appearing before their gaze. 

[You have chosen to spare a defeated opponent. User7T54L231264M39S633 now owes you a life debt. This life debt can be redeemed in a number of ways:

- Service (duration of the period depends on the type of service)
- Vassalship (possible as both Users are leaders of groups).
- Protection (if User7T54L231264M39S633 saves the life of Dominic Martin Cole/Leo, the life debt will be declared null and void).

Until the life debt is redeemed, User7T54L231264M39S633 may not act in any way which brings harm to Dominic Martin Cole/Leo or those under his protection. ]

Dominic had a feeling that he would need to choose one of the options, but he didn’t want to before speaking to the wolf. Ameshek. He’d made the decision under the pressure of time and still wasn’t sure if it had been the right one. At least it looked like, whatever else happened, the big leader was unable to harm any of the lions. 

Her pack was probably another question, but hopefully she would be able to keep control of them. And hopefully she’d be inclined to keep control of them. Dominic mentally sighed – he definitely needed to get more information about the options: this was all new ground. But for now, being distracted by notifications could spell disaster. 

Dismissing the message, he looked around at the scene. Everyone was frozen. Not in the sense of some sort of magic or ice effect or something, but more that no one dared to make the first move. Dominic sighed again – he guessed that it was up to him to break the standoff. 

‘Are you going to explain why you decided to save that canine’s life?’ Leo asked a little waspishly. ‘When we could have benefitted much more from its death?’

‘Not now, Leo,’ Dominic thought back at him. ‘Let’s just defuse the situation, then I’ll explain as much as you want. Or you can try to go back through my thoughts and work it out for yourself.’

The lion huffed derisively. 

‘As if that mess of guts makes any sense in a normal situation.’ He huffed again. ‘I’ll wait. For now. But what are you going to do?’ 

It was a good question; Dominic didn’t know. The ameshek leader was still lying still on the ground. She was alive, but seemed to be unconscious. Dominic hoped that that wasn’t because he hadn’t yet chosen which life debt option he wanted to take – he would really prefer to speak to the creature first. 

Taking a step forward, he was met by growls from the other ameshek. Three of them stepped forwards too, their heads lowering menacingly, a hint of vibration to their vocalisations. 

Dominic growled back at them, showing his teeth. At the same time, he tried to make telepathic contact with them. 

‘I’m just checking on your leader. If I wanted to kill her, I would have just done so. Back off!’ To his surprise, their growls cut out, their heads lifting and antennae twitching as if in confusion. Two of the ameshek stepped back; the third stayed in place.

‘I stay with you. You hurt her, I attack,’ a voice said to Dominic. A little surprised, the lion realised that it came from the ameshek who had remained in place. Interesting, it seems like all Tier 2 beasts become able to talk, he couldn’t help but think. Maybe his own effect on Sekhmet and the others hadn’t been as big as he’d thought it was. 

But this was not the time to consider such things. 

‘Fine,’ he said after a moment. It was unlikely that the ameshek would get in a killing blow straight off so if it attacked, Dominic would be able to quickly teach it the error of its ways. He hoped that it wouldn’t, though – he’d promised the ameshek leader that the loser’s pack would be given free passage out of the winner’s domain. Starting a battle over her unconscious body probably wasn’t what she’d intended. 

Moving forwards carefully in case this was a feint and the ameshek leader was actually going to try to do something – despite the notification saying that she shouldn’t be able to – Dominic was joined by the lower level ameshek. 

‘Keep an eye on it, would you?’ Dominic asked Leo, knowing the lion would be able to keep better track of his peripheral vision than Dominic would himself, distracted by the leader. 

‘Already doing it,’ Leo grunted, sounding slightly offended, probably at the suggestion that he wouldn’t have already thought of it. 

Dominic stopped when he was near the ameshek’s body. It was definitely large, but collapsed on the ground like this, its size wasn’t so obvious. Nor was the reason for its continued unconsciousness. 

Its health was stable at around 25%, not rising very fast, but not dropping either. Clearly, its regeneration wasn’t particularly enhanced, certainly nothing like his which had already got his health to near full in the time since the end of the fight. Still, the fact that it wasn’t dropping was a good sign and an indication that that wasn’t the issue with her ongoing unconsciousness.

Prowling around her, accompanied by the threatening shadow of the ameshek, Dominic looked for any indication of a wound or something which might have knocked her unconscious. Returning to her head, he watched the slow twitches of the stubby antennae, the steady inhale and exhale. 

Leaning forwards, he nudged her shoulder with his nose, but still nothing. Letting out a great gust of air in a sigh, he had to guess that the issue was indeed what he’d hoped it wasn’t. 

Sitting back, he looked at the ameshek which had accompanied him, reaching out to touch its mind again. 

‘What wrong with leader?’ the ameshek demanded, its lips lifting off its teeth again. ‘What you done?’

Dominic ignored its questions. 

‘I’m going to do something which I hope will wake your leader up. Don’t interrupt me. If you attack me, I will kill you,’ he warned. 

‘Hurt leader, I kill you,’ the ameshek warned in return, but it sat too, looking very much like a dog who had been told to sit while having a cat in front of it that it would dearly like to attack. Only, unlike the typical dog and cat, Dominic was bigger than the ameshek and certainly packed a much worse bite and more damaging claws. If it came down to it, they both knew who would win. 

‘What is happening?’ asked Sekhmet in the pride chat, the other lionesses sending wordless messages of confusion, impatience, and concern. ‘Do we attack?’

‘Not now,’ Dominic sent back to them, feeling a sudden flash of shame about practically ignoring them. He really should have updated them long before now, but he’d been rather too distracted with the leader’s condition. ‘I defeated the leader, and I have to make a choice about what to do with her. I think that’s the only way she will wake up. These other guys are antsy because she’s still unconscious and they’re worried that I’m going to do something to her.’

‘We come, defend you?’ asked Anuke, practical as always. 

‘No, I’m fine. But thanks,’ Dominic said quickly. ‘I doubt they’ll take me down in one hit – you can come and protect me then. But until that point, I think it’s more likely to provoke a fight than stop one.’ 

The lionesses subsided without too much of a fight – by this point they had come to trust him enough to let this play out. 

Feeling more reassured that battle wasn’t a whisker away from breaking out again. Dominic recalled the notification that had come up before. Hoping that he would get more information, he focussed on ‘service’ and ‘vassalship’ in turn. 

[Service – a state which can be entered into in a variety of ways, consensual and non-consensual. Limits of the service may be bound by contracts, verbal, magical, and written. Non-consensual, non-contractual service may be achieved by defeating an opponent and compelling their service. In the case of a life debt, the terms of service are decided by the debtee and the period of service by the System. The more counter the debtor’s wishes and inclinations the service is, the shorter the period of the life debt.]

Dominic read the description a few times, with each readthrough finding himself more and more disturbed by its implications. He shivered at the thought of just what a debtee could demand from the debtor. Right then and there, he decided that if he was in this situation again, and on the losing side, that he would do his best to die. Because from the sound of it, he could be compelled to do anything with just the consequence of a shorter term of service. But it wouldn’t help him much if he was ordered to kill all his lionesses and the period of service was long enough to allow it. 

Obviously, he wouldn’t be demanding that the ameshek did that. However, part of the problem was that without the ameshek able to give input, he wasn’t able to know what her ‘wishes and inclinations’ were, so had no idea if whatever ‘service’ he asked was counter them. Which was problematic on two counts – one, that he did not want to compel unwilling service, two that if he accidentally asked for something which was too counter the ameshek’s desires, he would end up with a short period of service. 

[Vassalship – a state in which a leader is subordinate to another leader. This can be as a result of a mutually beneficial agreement, or as a result of conquest. In the latter case, the vassal may be obliged to offer a service to the leader with little service provided in return. If the vassal has fulfilled all obligations, the leader is in turn obliged to protect their vassals if requested. Vassalship can be ended by either party. By the leader at any moment; by the vassal if the leader has failed to fulfil their obligations. Note that even in cases of conquest, by establishing a vassalship, the leader is required to acknowledge and protect their vassal’s place as the leader of their subordinate group, and may not ask for services which put the vassal or their group at unreasonable risk of harm without full knowledge and consent. Breaching either of these conditions is ground for the ending of the vassalship if the vassal so wishes.]

This one didn’t mention anything about life-debts, but by reading between the lines Dominic had to conclude that it would be considered to be as a result of conquest – there had been no chance for him and the ameshek to discuss what the mutual obligations would be, so he guessed that they would just be the automatic ones. 

There was no mention of duration on this one, though there did seem to be limits on the power of the…overlord? What would be the term to describe the lord of the vassal? Anyway, there seemed to be more limits on his power, namely that he couldn’t replace the ameshek as the leader of the pack, and he couldn’t use them as suicide troops without their agreement. But that was fine. 

While he was still thinking about it, Second Wind’s timer abruptly ran out, taking a chunk of his stamina and health. Dominic grunted a little in pain, but otherwise did his best not to let on what had just happened. 

Honestly, the choice seemed obvious for him. Perhaps if he wanted to use someone for a short term mission which required him to send them into danger against their wishes, then service would work better, but for now, he reckoned that vassalship would offer him much more benefit. 

‘Do you agree, Leo?’ he asked, wanting to check with the lion who shared head-room with him.

‘I don’t even know why you want to keep these vibrating wolves around in the first place,’ Leo grumbled. ‘Why would I care exactly how you intend to do so?’ Dominic sent him a mental shrug. 

‘Alright then, if you don’t care, I’ll go with vassalship.’

‘Whatever,’ the lion dismissed. ‘As long as it doesn’t come back to bite us.’ Dominic couldn’t make any promises, but he hoped the same thing. 

‘Vassalship’ he picked decisively, then waited with bated breath to see what happened next.

*****

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Chapter 29: Strengthening