Novel Jumper

Chapter Twenty Three

 Matt was the first ex-Slave to step forward, and Lilia felt a swell of fondness for the coarse man. "Lilia's a very...spirited...girl," he explained to the rest of the ex-Slaves, and slight chuckles arose at his careful description. "And I come from the Southern Realms, so I don't really wanna go home just yet."

A few ex-Slaves chuckled and Connor smiled at yet another Southern Realms joke that Lilia didn't understand.

"Plus, she saved my life and kept going back to save others. She's not only spirited, but noble as well. I will be proud to fight beside her," Matt finished, turning to face Lilia. She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Matthias," she whispered. The man just patted her arm and stepped forward a few paces to stand next to her.

Alia was the next to step forward. "It has been two years since I was turned," she said, her imposing voice booming over the attentive crowd. She sure knew how to work a room - or, in this case, a forest. "I have no family to return to, nor would they want me if they were still...alive."

Lilia noticed as Alia linked eyes with the heavily scarred man and nodded at him slightly. She wondered if they had been involved in the same tragedy, the one that had so marred the man's face.

"I would be proud to do some good in this world, after all I have seen and done," Alia finished, her speech ending on a much more somber note than Matt's, but leaving a large impact all the same.

The scarred man stepped forward as Alia took her place behind Matt. Instead of speaking, he simply joined the growing group surrounding Lilia and Connor.

One by one, the rest of the ex-Slaves - those who had not snuck off into the forest - joined the group, until Lilia turned around to look at them standing behind her. Each and every one of them met her gaze steadily, and she felt her heart swell.

She and Connor could do this, especially with such a support system.

"Thank you so much," she said, her voice wavering. The terror and exhaustion of the last twenty four hours were starting to catch up with her, and her voice snagged.

Connor hurriedly stepped forward and clapped his hands together, starting to talk about forming different layers of guard and finding makeshift weapons to fight with. Lilia just focused on taking deep breaths and remaining upright. She swayed slightly on her feet.

"Maybe we should find food first," Matt interrupted, watching her.

Connor glanced over at her and did a double take. "Lilia? You okay?" he asked as he hurried over to her.

"Fine," Lilia replied weakly, undermining her statement by grabbing his shoulder for support. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm across his shoulders so she had somewhere to rest her weight.

"Where do you keep your food?" Connor asked as Lilia's stomach rumbled.

*

Since nobody planned to ever return to the Improbable Slave village, they had a mission - clean out the food supplies.

The Slaves had kept their food in a couple of different locations. Nonperishables were stored in a small shed-like building that was equipped with shelves and even boxes dug into the floor to max out the storage space. Perishable foods were kept in a fridge-like contraption that was submerged in a nearby river of freezing water. The water moved too fast for any animals to get at the food, and it chilled the container so nothing inside of it would rot.

While a few ex-Slaves went to go fetch the perishables and buckets of water from the river, Alia opened the doors to the foodshed and let everyone raid the place.