Fox Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 1)

~~ FORTY TWO ~~

A/N: Another chapter because I couldn't stop myself from writing. It's long too as it took a bit to tie in the loose ends I had. Let me know your thoughts on the pacing and content in the comments below.

"So I still have the abilities that I had when I was a Holy Knight as well as my natural abilities?" I blew on the tea, more out of a comforting move than to actually cool it. It had been cold 10 minutes ago. There had been a lot of information from Leraj to process and only now were my nerves settling.

Leraj lounged across from the fire, swirling yet another cup of tea around in his cup. It was probably his third of the long night. He could act relaxed as much as he wanted but he wasn't fooling me. "Yes. Muscle memory too which means you'll be able to wield a sword, carry a shield, shoot a bow, anything really that could be used to attack and defend as a human."

"But how? I never knew how to do those things before."

He stopped inspecting his cup and began inspecting me. "That's because in order to get you functioning like a Holy Knight from the get-go, I had to give you incognito memories of all those things. It was tricky, dangerous too because I had to make sure you didn't turn into the person who owned those memories beforehand."

A chill ran down my spine. "So what, I have some dead Holy Knight's memories?"

"No. That would be too complex to do. You have mine instead. From sword wielding to snarky attitude, it was ingrained in those memories which I shared with you."

"So if I think hard enough, I could see your memories of those incidents."

His smile is lazy. "You could try but there would be no use. It's not like you can see the memories. It's more like they're built right into your very being. Your brain knows you know how to do all those things or knows the names of places and people but you'll draw a blank if you try to focus on how you know all those things."

Before I could question if that meant that everything I felt towards him was a product of his memories as well, he handed me a bag he'd been lying on. Interest pique, I opened it to find... armour? But it didn't look like much. Really, it didn't look very protective.

"We've spent enough time here. Hendrickson's probably sorted out the chaos in Liones of my escape and will be sending out minions on the double. I can explain the rest as we ride. Change quickly and we'll go."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Into this?"

"I only had enough time to grab what I'd prepared earlier and that was your lightweight armour. And yeah, it's not much but it's made of the strongest steel possible. I made sure."

I laid it all out, marvelling at the feel and weight of it all. He wasn't lying about the strength as I rapped a knuckle over the... vambraces... I wasn't sure I felt all too comfortable with all this extra knowledge. It scared me a bit.

I motioned for Leraj to turn and I quickly slipped into the singlet and shorts, admiring the texture of the fabric, then fastened the calf-high boots on with an extra metal guard running over the knee. I tightened the vambraces on with expert ease. At the bottom of the bag was a choker necklace with a small black bead in the centre.

"What's this?" I questioned. Leraj turned round and I held the necklace up.

"Ah, that's a protection choker. You bought that recently from a soothsayer slash magicker."

"I did? Strange, I don't remember it." Either way, I put it on. It fit snug.

"There's bound to be a few small gaps in the details of memories. Here. Thought you might want this back too."