Love A Good Stray

Dyster grabbed the limp armless form of Granvel, and jumped into the air, heading north. I let the hammer of light go, and then all the black and red metal crumbled away.

I was sure that the gauntlet was going to be worse, but I would count this as morning exercise. I turned and looked around, but I could only find four girls, Lesha was missing.

I was about to ask, putting my hand up, but Candi waved the two arms at me. I looked at her in revulsion, not unlike a few of the shop owners that couldn't just walk away.

"We can't just leave arms lying around, sorry for waving them, but Lesha is coming, and cursing Gloria's name every step. Braum is with her carrying our stuff, did you know that he wants to join our guild?" Candi said with excitement, wiggling her arms.

I sighed, but when I turned up the road to the west, Lesha and Braum were walking our way. So, I had just taken over my first guild, this will be something to talk to Healia about.

Hopefully, this new hall would have the Waystone to communicate, or I might have to upgrade to get it. I would have to be a lot more careful and not make mistakes like I did last time by not listening to advice when given.

"Gloria, get the girls out of the middle of the square, and do something about those damn arms!" I commanded.

Then I turned all the way around to the group of men who were all staring blankly. The sun was up, and I could feel it on my skin, so I sought the white flame burning inside of me.

I let my body drink in the light and warmth of the sun's energy. I began to get a feeling that intensified with each beating of my heart.

My skin had started to glow, and with each breath it took, I came closer to matching the sun. Soon, I was a radiance that was unmatched, filling then square with light, and I whispered in an otherworldly voice.

"Heal/Laeh."

The light that had built up inside of me, the roaring flame, my very will to want to help change this world burst from me like crashing waves of light. Every person that was touched by this light stood up straighter, scars disappearing.

The men in front of me all blinked focused and color-filled eyes at me. They were also looking down at the dried blood where there once had been life-threatening wounds before.

"You… are our Guild leader right?" One of the men in the front asked.

They were near impossible to tell apart with no hair, and they all wore the same gray shorts. The leadership had changed, so they were without a guild now.

"Not at the moment, but if you can show me where the Guild Hall is then we can get things sorted out. My name is Kiada, and you are? I will assume you are going to be the spokesperson for the group until we can get some clothes for you, right?" I asked the speaker.

"Naldrick, and yeah, I'll talk for the boys. Thank you for saving us, but it looks like we are working for you whether we want it or not," the man said flatly.

'That is part of the price for your life. When you save people you will be creating more servants, and the more servants you have the less you have to feed on random monsters.' -Drania.

"Part of the cost to not die. Don't worry, I won't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do," I said with a smile turning to almost getting run over by a newly energized Lesha.

"BABE! You were so bright, and then you exploded with light and made Tim and Hershal run off! Wait… what are the girls doing with the arms?" Lesha asked as we both tried to get our balance.

I turned my head to find the girls… I don't know if fighting was the right word for what was going on, but it was weird. The arms had healed and were now what looked to be play fighting with the girls.

"Arms!" I yelled with no other real clue what to say to stop this troubling sight.

The arms were using their shoulders as legs, and at the sound of my voice, the two hands turned to me. Okay, now this was way too weird, but they didn't stop there.

The arms each grabbed a shoulder and then proceeded to roll towards us. Lesha screamed like a little girl and jumped into my arms as the arms had to let go and crashed into a pile on the floor.

"Kiada! Stop making such weird pets!" Lesha complained, but then screamed again when Gobby popped out.

"Hey! I am not a weirdo! Those things? The pair of arm-ostriches? Those are weird! How do they even work? Who has the brain? Do they have one? Is it shared? How do they go to the bathroom?"

I kicked Gobby across the square, and he got covered in dust and many other bits of grime. Great, now I would have to clean him, but I could also go for a good cleaning.

"Can you lead us to the Guild Hall Naldrick?" I asked the half-naked man.

"Yes, follow me, it's two streets up then we head east to the water," Naldrick said, moving around Lesha and me, but then they went and helped Braum with the mountain of things he was carrying.

"What are you going to do about those arms?!" Lesha demanded, glaring up at me.

The arms were back on their stumps beside each other. The two had their hands point at us like duckbills, twisting back and forth like confused animals.

"Well, this is not like we can just let them go free, we will have to take them with us," I said to Leash as the other girls gathered around.

"I knew you were going to say that, you just love a good stray," Lesha said, rolling her eyes at me, but I made her squeak when I pinched her bottom.