Blake held Mona's waist and, with Mina slipped into his shirt with her head poking out by the collar, he jumped down into the canyon. He used a wind spell to push the branches of the treetops out of the way as he fell down, only using his wings at the last second as he softly landed on the ground.
The canyon floor was like a thick jungle. Blake looked around to see many moss-covered trees and thick vines. With such dense foliage, it was a perfect spot for many races to hide out if they so chose to. "It's hot…." Mina complained.
"That it is." Blake nodded and used a cooling spell to cool his body down. He even cast it on Mona to let the poor cow girl to have some relief. Mina already took care of herself.
The air temperature from the top of the canyon to the bottom was like at least forty degrees different. It was strange as they were still in the north but had an area that was no different from the tropical regions of the south.
Now that they were all cool, Blake began pushing through the thick underbrush, using his sword to cut down the vines and brush that were in his path. What surprised him was the diversity of plants compared to the area above. He continued forward until he came to a small clearing and stopped as he inspected the ground. He sniffed the air and picked up a whiff of something that was not plant-like at all. "There seems to be someone living down here."
"Your nose can even smell such things!?" Mina was shocked once more. She never knew that drakani were able to have a heightened sense of smell.
"Mmm…. I can smell a lot of things, like when a certain little fairy gets turned on." Blake teased, causing Mina's cheeks to go red. She pinched his chest as she pouted slightly. She couldn't help the fact that she wanted her husband!
Blake chuckled as he walked into the clearing and looked around. He immediately saw a set of footprints. "These tracks seem to be humanoid." They were barefooted tracks, so Blake did not know what race they could be, but he did know they were at least humanoid. But from the shape and size, he figured they might be from a slender race.
Blake followed the tracks that led down a well-traveled path and continued until he found a few grass huts. They were well crafted, and there were many things outside that looked to be recently used. "I wonder what race this is…."
"Who goes there!?" A voice yelled out. Blake looked over to see a young woman standing there with leaves covering her chest and privates. She had a fluffy tail and a set of fox ears. In her hand was a makeshift spear. Not far from her were a few heads poking out from behind one of the huts looking over at them. "Beastkin?"
"Seems like it," Mina answered. She just did not know what race they were.
"No, this might be a new beastkin race. Like Mona." Blake said as he walked out of the tree line and into the open clearing. The foxkin-looking young woman readied her spear. Blake, on the other hand, stopped only after entering the clearing and looked around and frowned. "Where are your men?"
No answer came from the other side, which made Blake sigh. "Mina, can you ask?"
"Sure." Mina flew into the air and over to the young woman whose eyes went wide when seeing such a little person. "My husband wants to know what happened to the men of your clan. Why are there only women here?"
"There…. There are no men. Only the women turned out like us." The foxkin girl explained. Her vigilance was even higher than before.
Hearing this, Blake wondered why this was. Why were only the women of the new beastkin races evolving to be humanoids? He did not understand this. "Mina, ask if they would like to go to a safer place. We can put a barrier around their village and supply them with a month's worth of food, and then we can bring them back to the base. At least there they can get proper clothing and will be safer."
"Okay." Mina knew the girl had already heard Blake, but she went ahead and began explaining things.
"You are saying we can be safe?" The foxkin girl explained that a few of them had already been attacked and eaten by monsters. They have to live in fear every day and even move house once every few moons.
"Yes, the place that you will be going to will be safe, and you can live freely however you want. You see the girl hugging my husband there? She is one of my sisters and is like you as well. She was saved by my husband, and she and her people were taken in and are living as they please." Mina explained.
The girl looked over at Mona, who was happily smiling while rubbing her face against the strange man, and understood that no one would be that happy if they were being controlled in any way. "Then we would like to request your help."
"Alright. But we need to change where you are living. I will use my magic to dig into the ground and create a small dwelling. How many are you in total?" Mina asked. She could move earth like Lillia could, but she was not as good as Lillia, who could do it with just a thought.
"There are many." The foxkin girl did not understand the concept of numbers, so she did not know how to count. Mina thought for a moment before saying. "Please have everyone gather here."
Not long later, about seventy foxkin girls of all ages stood in the center of the little grass hut village. When there was finally a complete head count, Mina decided to take them to a location where there were no signs of humanoid activity would be found. "In order to keep you safe until we return, we will be going a bit deeper into the jungle. I will use wind magic to levitate you all, and Blake, my husband, will pull you all along, so we leave as little trace of your whereabouts as possible."
The foxkin girl, who still did not have a name but seemed to be the leader of her pack, nodded her head. With Mina's help, Blake held the foxkin girl's hand as the whole group of foxkin girls held each other's hands and were lifted into the air. With a flap of his wings, he gently pulled them forward over the high brush and deeper into the forest. Blake was trying to do things quickly in order to now make the girl holding his hand become too affected by his charm.
When they found a small area that was naturally clear, Mina had Blake stay in the air while she created a dwelling in the ground for the foxkin to live in while they waited for Blake and her to come back.
The dwelling was dug out under a massive tree root and went down many feet into the ground. It took a while, but by sunset, the dwelling was finished, and everyone could enter. Because fairies were masters of illusion magic, along with the barrier to keep people out, she created an illusion that made it look like nothing was there.
"Mina, create a room here for me. I will freeze it and stuff food in there for them to eat while they wait on us." Blake had many editable monster meat in his space pouch. He had saved it for himself, but he decided to give it to the foxkin so they would have food while they waited for him to return. Once the freezer room was done and filled with food, they moved on to try to make a water room.
"Blake, I am not sure how you want to do the water supply. I am not the best at runic inscriptions, so it might not work as long as we want it to." Mina never really cared to learn runic inscriptions. This was why she was never any help when Noa and Lillia were doing things in the base.
"Mmm… We can make a magic circle to create water, but it would eventually flood the place…." Blake fell into thought. He really did not know how to do this….
"What if I make a huge pit, and we just fill that up? Water made from magic will never be undrinkable, so it should be good as long as we supply enough." Mina suggested.
"Then let's do this. Make an area under us about sixty feet down and then spread it out about five hundred feet in all directions. The height of the area should be about thirty feet. This should give them a few months of water. Also, create a set of stairs leading down there as well so was the water level goes down, they can still easily access it." Blake hoped this would be enough. He did not know how much water these girls would be drinking, but if they had food and water, it should be enough to last them for the duration of their wait until he returned.
"Alright, I will get to it." Mina smiled and went right to work while Blake walked to the room they had set up for themselves.
This entire time Blake had been staying a distance away from the foxkin girls, or his charm effect would cause many more problems than he wanted at this time. So the area he and Mina decided on was far away from the other rooms down its own hallway. But when Blake turned to walk down this hallway, he spotted the foxkin girl leader standing at the door with her head lowered. When she heard footsteps, her ears perked up, and she lifted her head to look at Blake. "I have come to thank you…."
"It's nothing. Mina is the one you should really thank. She has outdone herself in creating this place for you. While it might not be the best, it will at least protect you and your people until we return." Blake answered as he stopped quite a distance away from the girl.
"Mmm… I will thank her as well, but you are the one who asked her to do this for us, so I must thank you." As she said this, she walked toward Blake and began removing her clothes causing Blake to gulp a mouth full of saliva. He closed his eyes and controlled his urges as he walked over and picked up the top made of leaves, and passed it back to the foxkin girl. Although he really wished he could massage the perfect mounds on her chest, he would not take advantage of her like this.
"You should treat your body better. While I am sure my race's charm is partly to blame, you should also understand that this is a major deal for a girl. You should understand the kind of person I am first before making such a decision in life. In the future, if you still wish to be by my side like this, we can then do as you wish." Blake reached up and scratched the top of the foxkin girl's head. Her slightly tanned body and perky breasts heaved up and down as she closed her eyes, relishing in the head pat. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Blake and nuzzled her nose into his chest as she whispered: "Then for now, at least let me do this…."
