│Kill one mossbear, and you can call it a success.

  │After killing two, you should be distressed.

  │Killing three might as well be the end for you,

  │as the next beast you will face will be Esu.

  Was there any truth to the numbers in the rhyme, or was it just a tale to keep people from stirring up trouble in Esulmor? Everyone around me, at least those in the know, acted like it was the real deal. So, did that mean one more dead mossbear, and Esu, the Lord of the Forest, would appear?

  ?Better not.?

  'Yeah, I agree.' My inner beast wasn’t wrong. This wasn’t simply a suicide mission to avoid falling into the hands of the mind mages anymore. There was a real chance we would make it out alive - a chance brought by...

  "What did you say, Korra?" Vara asked, obviously much better off than she had been in the cage, while checking the fire-wielder’s wounds. The male fought valiantly but paid dearly for challenging too many. I may not have seen what happened after the shadow-thieving male managed to slip through his guard and drove a metal claw into his side, but the wounds spoke plenty. He hadn’t lost a limb like I had, though some of his cuts went deep, one so nasty it showed his guts. He was still breathing, and so was the rest of my pack. Now, all that mattered was keeping it that way.

  "Oops. My bad. Only yes and no. Um... Korra?" Vara froze, eyes fixed on my neck, with Elira staring just as hard. "Your slave collar. It’s... unlocked."

  Maybe not with my own eyes, but through my domain I was staring too. The collar, not unlike the one I hadn't been able to take off for a year and a half, simply unlocked. Rutledge - that little fat rat's name came immediately to my mind. Why, though? Why did it unlock? Even if by some stroke of luck he did make it out of Esulmor, it shouldn't matter. That wasn’t how these collars worked. Wherever you were in this forsaken world, if you had the collar, you had a 'master.'

  'Did the slave trader have a change of heart?' I found that hard to believe. No, seemed more likely he had met a fate not unlike my leg’s - a fitting end, if I may say so.

  ?Roar!!!?

  It might have taken a while for it to fully sink in that I was once again free, but as it did, I grabbed that cursed piece of metal, ripped it off my neck, and hurled it away as far as I could. Then, to make sure, I cast a quick look at my Grid.

  ─◇────────────────────────────────────────

  Race: Human

  Gender: Female

  Age: 27

  1st Array: Slave

  Master: None

  Sigils: 98 - ○○○○○○

  ─◇────────────────────────────────────────

  Weaves: 1st Array (6/6)

  Eleaden Standard Language (General):.....23 glyphs - ??

  Indomitable Will (Slave):.................112 → 113 glyphs - ?????

  Spatial Domain (General):..................19 → 21 glyphs - ??

  Equilibrium (General):................................... 9 glyphs - ?

  Never-Dying (General):.................................11 glyphs - ?

  Tail of Poison Empress (General):..............11 glyphs - ?

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ─◇────────────────────────────────────────

  After all I had gone through today, there wasn’t much to show for it. Far more importantly though, where the bastard's name had previously been listed was now written NONE. I had no master, no one to hold their sway over my mind.

  ?ROAR!!!? A triumphant roar burst out of me, startling my pack.

  "Traiana's tits, I told you to warn me!"

  "Are you trying to call more mossbears, Grey - I mean Korra?"

  I grinned, shaking my head at Elira’s question and unable to really answer her, wiggled my butt to show her my wagging tail. ?Happy.? In fact, this regained freedom had lit something fierce in me, filling me with wild energy, and now I was all but itching to sink my teeth into something, or someone.

  "Actually, K-Korra," Elira said, shaking her head at my actions, concern evident in her eyes. "I don't think that would be a bad idea."

  'What wouldn't be a bad idea? Bite someone?'

  Once again, a little annoyingly, my thoughts wormed their way into my body language and she was able to pick up on my confusion. "I meant you calling more mossbears, Korra. Deckard - he's good, really good. But there are limits to what one man can do..."

  A high-pitched scream, still unmistakably male to my ears, pierced the air, cutting her words short. Without hesitation, she dropped into a guarded stance, prepared for whatever was coming. Vara followed her lead, and I joined them - pride wouldn’t let me hide behind my pack when I still had the strength to fight. Though my leg had been lost below the knee, I leapt to my feet-foot, only to freeze, caught in the same dumbfounded gaze as the others.

  Out of a blazing fire at the edge of the clearing burst the young male, the workhand, or Tate, as my no longer master called him. Right on his heels, a mossbear followed, its fur smoking.

  "Please, don't eat me! Please, don't eat me! Please, don't eat me ...!" The young male's words tumbled from his lips, panic in each breath. He ran just a few paces from where we stood, and the mossbear followed blindly, completely ignoring us. Whatever had happened between them had left the beast seething. Watching them rush through the clearing, though, it became clear to me what Elira had been trying to tell me.

  Despite the higher number of sigils, their size, and brute strength, the young mossbears were not as much of a threat to humans as I had first thought. The six surviving brainwashed members of the Shadowbreaker pack had already taken down one of them, and now half of them were engaged in combat with my potential mate. 'Deckard, for the love of... just Deckard!'

  Even so, I couldn't deny that the sight of his might was... well, thrilling. Though he faced fewer opponents than the fire-wielder might, none of them seemed to be holding back. What excited me most, though, was that he did not rely on magic. He fought them face-to-face, up close, the way one should if they truly meant to end a life.

  Yes. The sight of him was thrilling, yet what neither of us wished to witness was clear. His strength could not overcome them all. That no-longer-floral-smelling male’s pack knew how to work together - even those whose minds had been twisted by the bitch. When Deckard sent one flying away with a kick, another took their place, denying their prey the chance to unleash its full might.

  ?Good pack.?

  'How can you say that?!' I railed at my inner beast. The truth however was unfolding before my eyes, they worked well together.

  "What did you say? N-Never mind." Elira asked, her gaze sharp, her worry thick enough I could smell it. "Do you think... Do you believe you could unleash that beast might, again… Korra?"

  "Hold on," Vara said, her voice rising in panic. "If you’re planning to do that, say so first. I'd hate to get a heart attack, or worse - shit myself."

  "You should get your priorities straight, Vara," Elira chided, though her tone was far softer than whenever she was awkward with her bluntness. Instead, she gave ME the look. "Korra?"

  'My beast might, huh?'

  All I could give her was a shrug. The truth was, I had no fucking clue. Mana wasn’t the issue. The big chunk of it that I used for my healing while on the road had largely been replenished. The real issue was my strength - it wasn't my might that I was letting out, but the might of a beast or maybe even of several beasts that the deranged asshole put into me. The strain it had placed on my body lingered, still aching deep in my muscles and bones.

  Did that mean I couldn’t do it? No, it didn’t. I just had no fucking idea what it would cost me.

  'Shit! Fuck it!'

  Yeah, I was dreading it. But every breath of hesitation threatened that the mind-twisting bitch and the no-longer-flower-scented human and his pack would have their way. That would mean my brief freedom would slip away again. Simply put, I had no choice, even if it were to cost me my life.

  'Vara!'

  ?Foul-mouthed one!?

  "Oh, tits! You’re actually going through with it."

  With a nod back to Vara, I hopped up on my one leg to get a better balance and actually dropped to all fours, preferring to do it now in a controlled manner rather than when all the strength leaves me. Then I drew my breath and… well, froze.