We had a lovely meal where we sampled the local dishes. Afterwards we went for a walk around the village, before retiring to our quarters.

  The next morning Delwyn returned. He bowed to us.

  “Good morning, my ladies. I hope you are enjoying your stay.”

  “We are. The food here is delicious.” I replied.

  “I am happy to hear that. I bring news from Lady Izanami. She is eager to meet you tomorrow. For today I can offer you a hunt. There are a few monsters around. None of them will be a challenge for your party but your companion might enjoy the activity.” He offered.

  “Could be fun.” Lucy mused. “Hey Amaya, you should turn into your panther form and hunt with me! We haven’t done that in a while.”

  “Sure.” I agreed. While Lucy really enjoyed her fox shape, I had not transformed in a while.

  Shani was especially enthusiastic. “Slaughter! Let’s go slaughter! Whooooo!”

  Delwyn led our group deeper into the forest. All of our companions were here, even Lilith, Erin and Sir Francis decided to come.

  “Do you like to hunt?” I asked Lilith.

  “It is a nice bit of exercise, although I would enjoy more dangerous creatures.” Lilith mused.

  “And we can protect the innocent by removing threats. My lady is a true force for good.” Sir Francis added.

  I looked at the former paladin, he seemed sincere. Lilith smiled.

  “I have brought refreshments and will be here to ensure that my queen does not lack anything.” Erin said.

  “And I offered to show you how to cook some of the things we hunt.” Lily added.

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  “I… I always strive to become a better servant.” Erin replied.

  Meanwhile Adhira was talking with a dryad, who had joined us as well. She was trying to talk the dryad into extorting people near her tree.

  “You could totally charge people for using your shade! Or stepping on a root!” Adhira was suggesting.

  “I am compensated for the protection I offer the village.” The dryad replied with a shrug. She seemed amused by the little sprite.

  Next to me Lucy transformed. “I think we have walked long enough, I want to truly run! Catch me!” She said and took off.

  I smiled and turned into a panther. Then I sprinted after her.

  We raced through the forest, pounced at each other and rolled around in the dirt. It was a lot of fun! I had forgotten how nice it could be to play around as an animal.

  We were goofing around as the ground started shaking. Both of us stopped. We were right next to each other looking at the ground.

  “What do you think is happening?” Lucy asked.

  “I think something is burrowing beneath us.” I replied.

  Then the earth beneath us disappeared. A giant mouth emerged and swallowed us. We could have dodged, most likely. But we did not really bother.

  “Huh.” Lucy remarked. The inside of the creature was slimy. But it did not try to chew us, it simply swallowed us.

  Lucy tried licking the liquid that surrounded us. “Spicey.” She replied.

  “Eww. You are licking stomach acid.” I replied.

  “So? I know you enjoy some acids and poisons in food. It could have been tasty.” She replied.

  “Well… it’s different in a nicely prepared meal…” I argued. “And my fur is getting sticky.”

  “We should go for a swim afterwards. But I expect we are getting really dirty soon.” She grinned.

  “I suppose blasting a hole to get out of here will be a mess.” I mused.

  “This thing wanted to eat us, I say we return the favour.” Lucy replied, then she attacked the creature.

  Whatever had eaten us shuddered as Lucy started to claw it, bite it and…

  “You are eating it!” I realised.

  “Itsch nod too bad.” She was answering, while chewing.

  The creature really started thrashing around now. It was getting uncomfortable. Also, the air in here sucked. I prepared a spell and unleashed a lightning strike against the monster.

  Electricity coursed through the liquid we were standing in. The smell changed and flesh burned. The creature shuddered and stopped moving.

  There was silence, except for some chewing noises. “Hm. Bit overcooked but it's better now.” Lucy said, this time she had swallowed first.

  I just stared at her. Then I walked over and looked at the dead beast. Lucy nudged me and I reluctantly took a bite.

  I had eaten dead animals before, while being a panther. I had hunted with Lucy before, it was just weird eating yourself out of the stomach of something. But it did taste ok. Actually, it was not too bad at all.

  “See!” Lucy said, triumphantly.

  It did not take us long to emerge from the creature. It was a giant snake. The mouth of the creature alone must have been about 10 metres wide. It was hard to say how long it was, a part was still buried. Around us a lot of trees had been crushed. The area looked devastated.

  “Weird place for a giant snake.” I observed.

  “I am not an expert on snakes. Can you store something that big? It would be a waste to leave it here and it’s too big to eat at once.” Lucy asked.

  I eyed the dead creature. It must have been the size of a multi story building. And I stored it.

  “I guess that worked.” I replied.