Ballistic Coefficient

By the time Pale and Cal made it back to the cave with the dead buck in tow, almost ninety minutes had passed. Cal hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said that the clearing was twenty minutes away; adding in the fact that it was a two-way trip and that they'd both been distracted by the finding of another of the Amalgamation's lairs and the need to drag the dead deer back with them, and it was no wonder that it had taken them so long to make it back to Kayla and Cynthia.

When the two of them finally stepped back into the cave and laid the dead buck down on the ground, Kayla's eyes lit up, and she licked her lips.

"Finally," she said. "No offense, but I was starving. I almost ate some of your rations, Pale."

"Good thing you didn't, because those are for emergencies only," Pale reminded her.

"I know, I know… but they're so good!"

"I'm aware. I'll do my best to procure some more for you as soon as I can. For now, though, give me a hand with cleaning and preparing this thing."

Kayla nodded and stood up from her spot next to the fire pit, then made her way over to Pale. As she did so, Pale unsheathed her knife and passed it to her.

"You remember what to do?" Pale asked.

Kayla gave her another nod. "Yup. I had a good teacher, after all."

Pale pursed her lips. "Good. Then I'll let you start, and I'll take over once you're too tired to continue. Normally I'd do the whole thing myself, but-"

Kayla held up a hand, silencing her. "You hunted it and brought it back, so the least I can do is help with preparing it. You just take a seat for now, this won't take long."

Pale didn't argue, instead stepping past Kayla as she got to work preparing the deer. Pale didn't watch her work, but Cynthia and Cal did, and both of them turned green as Kayla began to clean the deer.

"I'm gonna be sick…" Cynthia whimpered.

Pale rolled her eyes. "Never seen the way your food is actually prepared, I take it?"

"In our defense, we're nobles," Cal offered. He swallowed a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat, shuddering as he did so. "Gods… that's vile."

"It's life. Honestly, the world would probably be a better place if everyone was more acutely aware of how their sausage was made."

"Sausage…?" Cynthia questioned, tilting her head. "You're making sausage?"

Pale shook her head. "Figure of speech. And besides, I don't have the spices for that."

She stepped past the two of them, taking a seat at the fire pit. After a moment spent fiddling with her fire starter, the pit prang to life once more, casting a faint orange glow across the rest of the cave. Pale set her assault rifle aside, a small sigh escaping her.

"Three days…" she muttered. "That means we've only got four left to make it to the destination as well as find the rest of the tomes."

"Hopefully, that last part won't be too hard," Cal chimed in, patting his bag as he did so.

Next to him, Cynthia's eyes lit up. "Ooh, you found more tomes?"

"We did," Pale confirmed. "More specifically, we found a large number of students who didn't need them anymore, courtesy of the Amalgamation."

Instantly, Cynthia's eyes widened in a combination of shock and fear, but Pale stopped her by holding up a hand.

"Relax," she said, "it's definitely dead. What we found was simply another one of its lairs, populated with the remnants of its victims."

Cynthia swallowed nervously. "H-how… how many?"

"Around thirty, give or take."

Again Cynthia's eyes widened. "T-thirty?! But we've only been down here a few days! Was it really hunting us all down like that?!"

"It would seem that way," Pale confirmed with a nod. "Although, there's something about it that bothers me."

"What is it?" Cal asked.

"I don't know if you noticed, but most of the victims at that cave hadn't been eaten. They were mutilated, sure, but there was no sign that the Amalgamation had tried to feed on them, at least not that I could see." Pale stared into the fire, her brow furrowing in thought. "That thing's mouth was like a lamprey's – if it had tried to feed on someone before or after killing them, that would have been essentially self-evident; there's no mistaking those kinds of wounds. But I noticed hardly anything like that on any of the bodies we found today."

Cal and Cynthia exchanged a glance with each other. "So… what does that mean?" Cal questioned.

Pale let out a grunt, then shook her head. "Truthfully? I have no idea. In all likelihood, that thing just enjoyed hunting and killing. That's hardly unusual for some species of animals – cats, for example, have been known to hunt for nothing more than their own enjoyment of it. It's entirely possible that's the entire explanation for it; wouldn't surprise me one bit."

"But… you don't sound entirely certain about that," Cynthia pointed out. "Did you, perhaps, have another theory?"

Pale thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Not yet. I wouldn't dig too deeply into it, all things considered; the fact of the matter is that it's very dead, and therefore no longer a threat to us. Dwelling on it probably isn't a good thing, regardless. I'd advise you both to forget about it and move on. Same goes for Kayla, too."

"What about me?" Kayla asked, stepping into the fire's light. She was spattered with blood and guts, and her arms were crimson up to her elbows; the mere sight of it made Cal and Cynthia turn green and begin to retch. Seeing that, Kayla frowned.

"What?" she asked. "Something on my face?"

Pale let out a small snort of amusement. She signaled for Kayla to leave.

"Go wash up," Pale advised her. "I'm pretty sure there's a river nearby, I heard it when Cal and I went searching for the deer. Cal, go with her and make sure she comes back in one piece."

"With pleasure…" Cal muttered as he rose to his feet. "Last thing I need is to see you butcher that thing…"

Together, he and Kayla left the cave, searching for the nearby river. With them gone, Pale stood up and made her way back over to the deer, then picked up the bloody knife from where Kayla had left it behind and began to continue her work. And as she carved, her thoughts began to wander.

She hadn't been honest with Cal and Cynthia regarding her suspicions about the Amalgamation. Certainly, there were parts of the story that didn't add up, between Cal not knowing anything about it and it seeming to hunt for sport more than anything. On their own, neither of those two were too alarming, but added together, along with its extremely high body count over just the past few days, and they were certainly cause for concern.

Still, it wouldn't do for her to bring up those suspicions now; if she did, all that would happen is she'd end up frightening Cal and Cynthia. And while she didn't trust them, at least not yet, that was no reason to potentially get on their bad side by scaring them needlessly. And it certainly was needless, now that the monster was dead.

For now, she would focus her attention elsewhere, such as passing the entry exam. They still had four days to make it to their destination in time, but currently, her and Kayla were missing a tome. Cal and Cynthia, meanwhile, were missing two. And to make things complicated, Cal and Cynthia didn't have the color Pale and Kayla needed, but the two of them had one of the colors Cal and Cynthia needed.

If they wanted to, Cal and Cynthia could easily try to attack them and steal the tome they were missing. Pale certainly wouldn't put it past them, not for any personal reasons, but rather because she wouldn't put it past anyone not to do exactly the same thing, given an opportunity. They'd have to be careful around those two.

"U-um…"

Cynthia's voice caught her attention, and Pale turned around to find her standing there, pressing her index fingers together.

"Yes?" Pale asked.

Cynthia jumped, apparently surprised that Pale was even addressing her. She recovered quickly, however, and cleared her throat.

"I was just wondering… would you happen to have any tips for passing this exam?" she asked. "I-I mean… I know you haven't passed yet, but… you've been amazing so far. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind, maybe, passing on some wisdom?"

Pale blinked, surprised. Of all the possible things Cynthia could have asked her, that was certainly one that she'd least expected. She was so taken aback by it that at first, she wasn't sure how to even reply.

"What do you mean?" Pale questioned after a few seconds.

"Oh, it's just… the way you've carried yourself, but in particular, how you took down that monster. You're just… completely fearless, you know? It's really inspiring. I just wanted to know… how do you become that fearless?"

Pale thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Staring down things far worse than that monster is one way to do it."

Cynthia's eyes widened. "Worse…?"

Pale nodded. "Yeah. I've already explained part of this to Cal, but Kayla and I fought our way north, to where the barbarians hail from, and took out an entire clan of them to try and save her father from being their slave. We… failed," she noted, a tinge of melancholy seeping into her voice. She was quick to shake it away, however. "And after that, we ended up staying in a northern city, which quickly became overrun by an undead incursion courtesy of an elder vampire."

"An elder vampire…?" Cynthia echoed. "That's… that can't be true; vampires are-"

"Extinct, I know. Well, apparently, there are still a few alive and kicking, even after the Crusades a few hundred years ago. Kayla and I would know because we fought and killed that one just a few months ago."

Cynthia blinked. "T-that's… incredible… and you weren't afraid at all?"

Pale shook her head. "Of course I was afraid. I'd go so far as to say that's the most afraid I've ever been."

"But… how? How were you able to keep going?"

Pale shrugged, then turned back to the deer and began to carve once more. "Just brave, I guess. So is Kayla."

"But you just said you were afraid."

"I did, because I was." Pale turned to her again. "Bravery isn't the absence of fear, it's the willingness to push through the fear despite being afraid. You asked how I've been able to keep going? It's because, even though I might be afraid, I know that I need to push through it in order to accomplish my mission. You wanted a tip? Here's one – don't let your fear control you. Instead, use it as a motivator, and harness it to your own advantage. Make sense?"

Slowly, Cynthia nodded.

"Good," Pale replied. "Now, I think I hear the two of them out there, not far from here. I've got to finish carving up this deer. So, if you wouldn't mind?"

Cynthia didn't say anything, but nodded again, and took a seat next to the fire while Pale went back to work. She sat there in silence, apparently deep in thought, which Pale was thankful for.

Perhaps she'd heed the advice she'd been given, but perhaps not. In either case, as far as Pale was concerned, it wasn't her problem anymore.