“How long did the lightning continue for?” Aila asked, her lips pursed and brow furrowed.
“A few more times,” Jay answered between gulps of water. “A total of seven or eight booms. I waited a few minutes after the last, but nothing else happened. I could see the smoke from a fire, but it could have just been their normal campfire. Couldn’t tell.”
All three of Jadis were exhausted, hair dripping with sweat. She’d run full tilt down the mountain ridge once it became clear nothing more was going to be gained from waiting and watching. She sprinted as fast as she could through the forest, crashing through the underbrush and saplings on a direct course for her camp. More than a few no-doubt surprised demons had been run over during her mad dash. When she’d arrived back at camp, her companions had immediately been alarmed and had assumed an attack of some kind was imminent considering Jadis’ state, but she’d quickly explained the situation while recovering her breath.
“I don’t think Nora could have cast many more of her lightning spells than that,” Aila shook her head. “Her class is meant for high damage bursts. If you heard that many lightning blasts, then she used everything she had.”
“Which means the fight was pretty fucking serious,” Kerr cursed, her expression dark. “She wouldn’t waste her whole magic reserve for something the rest of her squad could handle.”
“So they could be in real trouble right now,” Syd said, frowning. “We should pack up, get over there to help.”
“Start packing up,” Dys grunted as she moved towards the wagon-tent. “I’m not that tired, we can pull the wagon while you all get some sleep inside after we get moving.”
“No, Jadis, stop,” Aila held up a hand. “You’ve been scouting, running up and down the mountain side all day. Your stamina reserves are going to be drained. Your Endurance is high, but it isn’t that high. You need to rest.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Jay heaved a heavy sigh. “But what else can we do? They might be in serious trouble!”
“P—probably not,” Thea said quietly, catching Jadis’ attention.
“Why do you say that?” Syd asked, turning to look at the shy woman.
Thea shrank under the attention, both from Jadis and the others who looked at her, but with visible effort she squared her shoulders and looked up at Syd, meeting her gaze.
“They w—were sent for a reason. C—captain Willa and her t—team aren’t, ah, w—weak. They c—can handle themselves. If Nora used that much l—lightning, w—whatever she hit is p—probably dead.”
“Vraekae did choose them personally,” Eir added after a brief pause. “I do not believe my cousin would have sent a team to this area if she didn’t think they were capable of overcoming any of the foes they might find in these mountains.”
Those were valid points. Thea had been in the same guard company as Willa, she no doubt knew the woman and her capabilities, and the capabilities of her team. And Eir was right about her cousin. There was no way Vraekae would send personnel unsuited to the job she wanted done. Besides, Jadis had seen the soldiers in action. They’d been hit hard by the unexpected frost drake attack, but they hadn’t lost anyone, either. They’d also handled themselves well against the bandit ambush, not taking any injuries at all even though Willa and the two guards with her had been blinded and separated. They’d still managed to kill one of the assailants even in those disadvantageous circumstances. Fortune’s Favored had left them in a prepared position. Someone as competent as Willa would have no doubt improved their defenses even further in the days since Jadis and crew had left.
“Then there’s the fact that, even if we did leave now, we wouldn’t get there for hours,” Kerr pointed out. “Even if we left the wagon behind, it’d still probably take a couple of hours. Whatever fight you saw up on that ridge is probably already over by now.”
Also true. Jadis wasn’t sure how long it had taken her to run down the mountain, but the sun had set and the forest was completely blanketed by nightfall. More than enough time for a fight to be over.
“Alright then,” Dys sighed, crossing her arms. “Then, what do we do? Just fucking ignore the likely life and death battle going on next door?”
“Not ignore,” Aila said, raising one finger for emphasis. “We investigate. Cautiously. We’re done with the mountain, aren’t we?”
Jadis nodded, all three of her heads bobbing in agreement.
“Then that means we were going to head out in the morning anyway. If we head for the western mountain next, we’d be passing Sweet Pine Valley. We should head there tomorrow and check on the soldiers. We’ll just be careful about it and not run headlong into an unknown situation.”
That was a clear jab at Jadis’ past actions. And, as much as it pained her to admit it, the veiled admonishment was deserved. Jadis had sworn she wasn’t going to just run off into dangerous situations without thinking about it first and here she was, ready to do just that. Well, at least she had her more than competent girlfriend around to keep her from doing something stupid. Jadis would listen and learn. She would do better.
“Okay, fair enough,” Jay nodded, taking the time to look each of her companions in the eye. “Thank you for the advice and information. Really.”
“But if we’re leaving, let’s make it an early departure,” Dys ordered. “Pack up everything we can now so we’re ready to go at dawn tomorrow. We should make some rations now that’ll be ready to eat in the morning, too. No delays. We’re going to be hauling ass and we won’t be turning back for any lost boots.”
“Fuck you,” Kerr laughed, making a rude gesture at Dys’ pointed look.
“I mean it though. We’re heading out at first light. Even if Willa and her crew are capable of handling themselves, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be backed into a corner and waiting for some reinforcements. Out here, that means us.”
With her orders met with general agreement, Jadis nodded her head with finality. Maybe Captain Willa and her squad were foisted on her by the Magistrate, but so what? They were good people who were just trying to do their job. If they needed help, Jadis would make the effort to assist them. She was sure they would do the same.
“Also, one other thing,” Syd said before everyone could start moving away to attend to their tasks. “I didn’t, uh, tell you all the whole reason why I went up on the ridge. It wasn’t because I heard something first and then went up. I saw something.”
“Saw something?” Bridget asked, head tilted and eyebrow raised. “What, like the flash of Nora’s lightning?”
“No,” Syd shook her head. “It was a lot stranger than that…”
Having held off on telling her companions about the reason why she’d climbed the ridge in favor of focusing on the more important details, Jadis took a couple of minutes to explain what she saw. The statue of D, looming on the edge of the ridge, and how it had somehow disappeared without a trace while she’d broken line of sight. Once she’d told her story, her team was silent, with a variety of expressions on their faces.
“So, what, you’re starting to see things now?” Kerr said. “I mean, I know you’re kind of nuts and all, but I didn’t think you were that far gone.”
“I’m not fucking crazy,” Jay rolled her eyes. “I’m being serious right now.”
“Are you sure you saw it? Maybe it was a shadow, or a rock or a tree or something that kind of looked like a statue and your eyes were just playing a trick on you or something like that?”
Sabina peppered Jadis with a litany of questions, all centered on the idea that she’d somehow not seen what she’d seen, at least not correctly. All Jadis could do was shake her head. She was positive it was the same statue from the temple. Three different pairs of eyes looking from three different angles couldn’t be tricked by a shadow like that.
“Eir,” Aila started slowly, turning to look at the priestess. “Could Destarious have sent Jadis a vision of some kind? Was what she saw maybe the effect of her being an avatar race? Would the gods’ guidance present itself in such a way?”
Eir frowned, her beautiful face marred by worry lines.
“I’m not certain,” she finally said after a few moments of thought. “Visions from the gods are certainly possible, but I think that’s something usually in the realm of high priests or oracles. I don’t know that the avatar races are capable of receiving such direct guidance without a class. Then again, I’ve never asked any of the Seraphim or Lares that I’ve met during my time in the temple the exact details of their guidance. I suppose their guidance could present as brief flashes or visions?”
The last Eir said with great uncertainty, the question clearly out of her scope of knowledge. Jadis wasn’t sure herself, but it did feel like the statue had guided her to be on the top of that ridge at just the right time to be able to hear and see Nora’s spells. That kind of pre-knowledge of something that was yet to come felt like godly guidance. Was she perhaps growing closer to her patron with time? Her Ritualist class had just recently leveled. Since it was dedicated to D, maybe the stronger the class grew the greater her connection became? It certainly sounded plausible, though from what the others were telling her she couldn’t say it was so for certain.
Then there was one other possibility.
“Kerr, what if the firepit you spotted when we left the village wasn’t from someone keeping tabs on the soldiers. What if they were following us? What if what I saw up there was some kind of illusion spell that was cast by someone who’s been sticking close to us this whole time?”
“I mean, it’s possible,” Kerr shrugged. “I’ve been keeping both my eyes open and my ears tuned, though. I haven’t seen any signs of anyone near our camp these past few days.”
“But if someone was skilled in illusion magic, they could hide from you, couldn’t they?” Jay pressed. “They could be a hundred feet away and we wouldn’t know it, right?”
There was a brief silence among the women, broken only by Aila.
“Yes, they could. They’d have to be very powerful to avoid detection from so many for so long. But yes, it’s possible.”
“Okay,” Jay nodded. She then heaved a big sigh, shaking her head. “Alright. That’s just a guess. We can’t know for sure. I’m not saying we should be paranoid or anything, but let’s keep our guard up from now on. There’s a lot of fuckery going on out here, more than we expected. So let’s make sure we’re prepared for things to get worse.”
“That means we get packed up now,” Dys said as she started moving. “Eir, can you help me make some ready to go meals for tomorrow?”
“Of course,” Eir agreed and joined Dys.
“Okay, then let’s do that. Everyone! Let’s get our shit done!”
As everyone else started moving, Syd took hold of Sabina’s elbow, stopping her from rushing off.
“How are the enchanted items coming along?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. “Have you figured out anything that’ll work for you?”
“I think so,” Sabina nodded. “I experimented with a few different variations today and there’s one formula that should probably do the trick. Maybe. Needs testing. It definitely won’t be a permanent item though, and I’m not sure what it’ll do once the inhibitor is turned off, since, you know, you kind of came buckets and I’m not sure if that’ll happen with this new version, or with women. Women don’t really do that, normally, you know?”
“I know,” Syd chuckled. “Do what you can to put as many of those items together now. I don’t think you’re going to get a chance to once we start moving tomorrow morning.”
“Understood!” Sabina said, giving Syd an eager yet silly salute. “Nine climax denial enchantments coming up!”
While Sabina set about crafting her bizarre magical items, Jadis and the rest of the crew cleaned up the camp and packed everything they could, preparing for the next day as much as possible. That night, everyone went to sleep early, with Bridget and Kerr taking the first watch and Thea and Aila the second, just to make sure Jadis’ bodies got at least a few hours of solid rest. As busy as her mind was with thoughts of what could be happening in the village as well as what the statue sighting could mean, Jadis was still able to fall asleep within seconds. Running up and down the mountainside really had worn her out more than she wanted to admit.
In the morning, Fortune’s Favored was ready to go. It took only minutes to pack up what they hadn’t the night before, their camp routine having grown more ordered and efficient with practice. As soon as everyone was on the wagon, Jadis’ three bodies hooked the harnesses onto their armor and started pulling, the massive wagon rumbling loudly as they thundered back down the trail they had cut themselves days before. As she picked up speed, the way back much easier compared to the way forward, Jadis grumbled under her breath, all her focus on what might be waiting for them in the valley where her adventure had begun.
“Needed or not, here we come.”
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