Leo spun around and smashed the edge of his new incisor-gauntlet into the enraged magical beast that had tried to jump him from the side, sending it flying backwards and slamming into another one of its pack mates. The rest of the wolf-like beasts didn’t like that one bit, growling in unison as they continued circling around them.

  He and Taylor had finally come across their first swarm of weaker beasts while moving through the forest, and he couldn’t have asked for a better trial run to test out his newest weapon. Each tooth had to weigh upwards of fifty pounds all on its own, which meant if it weren’t for his enhanced strength skills, his idea would have been dead in the water before he’d even gotten the chance to test them.

  “Stupid dogs,” Taylor growled, snarling right back at the beasts and baring her sharpened teeth as they searched for an opening. “They won’t attack!”

  Like with the spider, he and Taylor had been ambushed by the pack of magical beasts without warning, suddenly finding themselves surrounded by a swarm of beasts before they even knew what was happening. They’d immediately thrown down their packs and gone back-to-back to prevent themselves from getting attacked from behind, but now they were in something of a stalemate. Most of the beasts refused to attack unless they could find an opening, and Leo and Taylor refused to give them one. Yet at the same time, neither of them could rush out and actually attack without potentially getting pounced on by a swarm of beasts. They were effectively trapped like rats, and sooner or later, they’d slip up and fall to the pack of circling beasts.

  The good news was that his new weapons were doing great!

  “This is why most Cartographer groups tend to have at least one ranged specialist,” Leo said unhelpfully, smashing his gauntlets together and waiting for the next beast brave enough to come at him. These beasts looked like small wolves with two mouths, one sitting on top of the other. Each was filled with razor-sharp teeth from what he could see, but Leo wasn’t planning to test their sharpness anytime soon. “If there were only a dozen, I’d say we risk it. But with this number…”

  Leo didn’t have to finish the thought, as he felt Taylor nod against his back. There were over thirty of the beasts in total, which was far more than they could take down without suffering serious injuries. It was hard to get an accurate count of their number, as they continued to run circles around them.

  “What’s the plan?” Taylor asked.

  “Best option? Seeing as they haven’t already rushed us, they’re cowardly. If we take down enough of them, the rest might just run off. The question is how we do that without getting torn to shreds. We can’t fight and guard our backs at the same time.”

  “I have an idea,” Taylor offered, catching Leo by surprise. Taylor wasn’t dumb by any means, and in fact she was rather cunning when it came to fighting. But she wasn’t really a complex-idea person. Before he could ask her what she was thinking, she continued.

  “Don’t move.”

  “What are you-”

  Leo felt Taylor move behind him, and he blinked as he felt her hands on his shoulders. Before he could ask what in the world she was thinking, she showed off her incredible flexibility, swinging her legs up and hooking them over his shoulders and under his armpits. In that same motion, she swung upside down, just in time to lash out and gut two of the magical beasts who had lunged for her during her impressive maneuver.

  “There!” Leo heard Taylor say from down by his waist. “Problem solved!”

  “Are you… hanging upside down on me?” Leo asked, unable to believe what had just happened. Even with the sensation of her back pressed against his and the fact that her legs were clearly latched atop his shoulders, he found himself struggling to picture her plan. “Are you crazy?!”

  “What? Now you can fight!”

  “You…” Leo sighed, keeping his focus on the beasts before him as he begrudgingly admitted she had a point. This was arguably the stupidest maneuver he’d ever heard of, but she wasn’t wrong. So long as Taylor hung from his back facing outward, she could attack any of the beasts that tried to get him from behind, allowing him to focus on his front and sides while she kept his back covered. It was ridiculous… but he had to admit it was somewhat clever.

  In his head at least. He’d never say that out loud.

  As if proving her point, another wolf decided Taylor looked more indisposed than anything and tried to rush at the back of Leo’s legs. But the moment it got close, Taylor lashed out with her claws, tearing its throat open and stopping it dead in its tracks.

  Alright, it’s not like I have a better idea…

  With a shout, Leo rushed forward, barely even slowing down from Taylor’s added weight. The wolves immediately before him tried to scatter, but after being circled by them for the past few minutes, Leo wasn’t letting them get away that easily. Thrusting his arm forward, he stabbed straight through the closest wolf’s chest with his additional reach, swinging his gauntlet to the side and smashing a lunging wolf out of the air. From the yelps behind him and feeling movement against his back, Taylor was doing her part to take care of the wolves coming for his no-longer exposed back, so Leo focused solely on what he could see before him.

  Two more thrusts took care of another two wolves, and Leo crushed one wolf’s skull by smashing his gauntlets together as it saw an opening and leapt for his chest. The Grade 20 spider silk kept his gauntlets secured to his arms no matter how quickly he jerked them about, and Leo grinned as he slammed another wolf out of the air.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Just as he’d predicted, the cowardly beasts decided they’d had enough after he and Taylor finished a third of them off, and the remaining wolves fled with their tails between their legs, whimpering all the while as they vanished into the forest. Not even breathing hard despite all the extra weight he was lugging around, Leo laughed and clanged his gauntlets together.

  “These things are fantastic! The added reach is perfect, and the fact that I can use them defensively as well is just what I wanted. If they were only a bit easier to get on and off, they’d be perfect.”

  “That’s good,” Taylor said. Leo actually felt the muscles in her legs tense around his upper body, and she pulled herself up with pure core strength, shifting forward and taking a seat atop his shoulders. “Huh. This is kinda fun.”

  “Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Leo drawled, looking directly up at her. Taylor had a big smile on her face, looking around as though the novelty of suddenly doubling in height was something she didn’t want to give up. “Are you planning on coming down anytime soon? Or need I remind you that you’re not some little kid? Lords, you’re older than I am!”

  “Older, maybe, but also shorter,” Taylor grinned, peering down at him and gently squeezing his head with her thighs. “It’s neat being this high up. And I’ve never ridden a horse before.”

  Leo went to reach up and push her off him before pausing at the last second. Currently, they were surrounded by a handful of dead magical beasts. Each one was a pretty low Grade from what he could tell, which meant they weren’t really worth cultivating. And while their gems might hold an interesting skill, Leo had a feeling it was just another biting-related skill, of which they really didn’t need another one. He could force Taylor to get down.

  But if he did, she’d absolutely make him cook and eat one of the wolves.

  The odds of a single plane having two actually tasty magical beasts were pretty much zero, and Leo shuddered at the thought of having to try the spoiled, stringy meat of the wolf beasts. If he was forced to choose between eating yet another disgusting meal and giving his partner a ride on his shoulders…

  Well, that really wasn’t a choice at all.

  “Hang on,” he said, snatching up their discarded packs and running away from the wolves before Taylor could realize what he was up to. He’d clearly caught her by surprise, as Taylor actually yelped slightly, squeezing him more tightly to keep herself from falling off and grabbing his hair for a moment until she’d fixed her position.

  Once she was stable, Taylor laughed and spread her arms out as they ran, and Leo couldn’t help but smile as he wove in and out of the trees. He still kept his eyes peeled for any hidden magical beasts, but so far, it seemed as though the different beasts in this plane kept pretty far from one another, so he wasn’t too worried.

  By now, Leo was strong enough that he was barely even slowed down with Taylor on his shoulders, so he kept up his pace for a good bit, letting Taylor enjoy herself for a while. Once he was fairly certain they’d gone far enough that she wouldn’t ask to turn around and try eating those dead wolf beasts, he slowed to a stop.

  “Alright, you should probably get down before we go so far we might run into another magical beast,” he said, craning his neck to look up at her. To his shock, while Taylor still had a smile on her face, it looked pained, and there were tears streaming down her face.

  “Taylor?” he asked, yanking off his gauntlets and tossing them to the side. Carefully, he helped her down, keeping his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her. “What happened?”

  “My father,” she managed, her lips trembling for a second as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I… I remembered. He used to carry me like that when I was little. He’d ask me to help him get stuff high in the cabinets for him. I can remember his haircut… even the bald spot he used to say I was lying about... but I can’t remember his face…” Taylor looked up at him, fresh tears welling up in her dark eyes as her body shook. “...Why can’t I remember his face?”

  “You will,” Leo said with certainty, hesitating for only a moment before pulling her into his chest. He’d never seen Taylor cry before, and frankly, he wasn’t sure what to do. She was supposed to be the strong one of their duo. The feral woman who wasn’t fazed by anything, who listened to everything he’d been through without batting an eye. Even when she was suffering from her soulache, which had looked incredibly painful, she hadn’t shed a single tear. “Your memories are coming back, just slowly. You’ll remember.”

  Taylor said nothing, merely wrapping her arms around him and squeezing with so much force the Leo of a few weeks ago probably would have been snapped in half. Instead, the Leo of today barely even grunted. Making sure to limit his own strength, he wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her right back. While his own tragedy may have been much more recent, he’d had his time to let everything out and come to terms with what he’d lost. In contrast, Taylor’s mind was drip feeding her memory after memory, seemingly at random. How could one even grieve when they didn’t fully know what they’d lost?

  They stood there like that in the giant forest for a while. Two lone souls who had lost just about everything, who found comfort in one another. Eventually, Taylor stopped shaking, but she didn’t let go of him. Ever so quietly, without pulling away in the slightest, she spoke.

  “...You’re not going to disappear… right?”

  “Taylor…” Leo started, catching himself before he could promise that he wasn’t going anywhere. There was no telling what the future held, and he didn’t want to end up causing her any more pain down the line. Yet at the same time, it was obvious that the woman before him was suffering. She’d lost her whole plane, same as him, but at least his memories were intact. Even if he sometimes wished he could seal some of them away when they kept him up at night, he’d rather have all of them than none of them.

  At the end of the day, there was really only one answer to such a question.

  “I promise you I’m not planning on going anywhere,” he said, stepping back so he could smile at her. “Even if you make me cook terrible food, or throw yourself at magical beasts without a plan and expect me to chase after you. I know you’ve got my back, and you know I’ve got yours. We’re a team.”

  Taking a deep breath, Taylor nodded, seeming to collect herself. When she met his gaze, her eyes were back to their normal, beast-like stare. Gone was any indication she’d spent the last few minutes crying over her missing memories. If anyone were to stumble out of the forest and look at her, they’d see a feral woman more than ready to throw herself head-first into a fight between wild magical beasts, fully expecting to come out on top.

  “Come on, let’s go find you something to kill,” Leo offered, hesitating for a moment before letting out a sigh of defeat. “I’ll even cook it up for you afterward. You don’t even need to ask.”

  “Thank you,” Taylor said, licking her lips as she grinned at him, the redness in her eyes barely even noticeable. “That sounds nice.”

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