Chaos. That was what Jadis encountered as she charged back into the expedition camp near nightfall. Pure and utter chaos. Not that she was surprised, in all honesty. Jack was without a doubt a dedicated purveyor of pandemonium. Of course the Fetch would take any opportunity to sow confusion and screw with people’s perceptions.
As Jadis’ three bodies jogged to a stop, the sentries on the camp perimeter looked at her with shocked alarm. Why wouldn’t they? There were already six Jadis’ standing in the middle of camp, loudly arguing and cursing at each other. When the people who were gathered around staring at the bizarre sight caught a glimpse of her three selves slowly approaching, she could see the various looks of amusement, worry, fear, and on one face, excitement.
“Jack, can you please just cut it out?” Jay called out to the group of six fakes. “This isn’t as funny as you think it is.”
Several of the arguing illusions turned towards Jadis and started gesturing wildly, calling out curses or shocked statements of disbelief.
“Jack, you’re fucking insane if you think anyone is going to believe that I would act this calm in a situation like this,” one of the Jack clones yelled at her while pointing an angry finger at Jay.
All three of Jadis tilted their heads to one side as her frustration with the audacious Fetch grew. Wasn’t she the one that wanted her help? Did she always have to act like such a bizarre fool? For a moment, Jadis almost stepped in closer to join in on the loud argument. Maybe in a more physical way. But, no, there was no point in doing that for several good reasons. After all, there was no guarantee that any of the six fakes were actually Jack. She could be somewhere else nearby and had just sent illusions into the camp. Also, if she started swinging and the fake Jadis’ did too, how would her companions and the soldiers react? Most likely with their own force against the sudden violence, and Jadis didn’t want to start a fight in the middle of their camp against her own allies. Finally, she could already see the cooler heads in the group were taking appropriate steps to sort out the truth from the lies.
Ghostly rune circles appeared on the ground around the feet of the clones that Jack had created. Aila’s modified trap spells appeared not just near the fakes, but also under their feet so that the spells were created with the Jadis’ fakes standing either partially or wholly inside of them. Several more also appeared around Jadis’ own feet, but none where she was actually standing, just extremely close so that her boots were just barely not touching the edge of the circles.
“Those are illusions,” Aila called out. “My traps cannot be cast directly onto or underneath where a creature is standing. There has to be space between their body and the ground. “Those three that just joined and that one there on the back left that looks like Dys are solid and not illusions.”
Jadis smiled, lifting her visors to show her brilliant girlfriend an appreciative grin. Of course she would presume some if not all were illusions and come up with a quick way to check which were and which weren’t.
“That’s one of the many things we love about you, Aila! That big, sexy brain of yours!”
“Shut the fuck up, Jack,” all three of Jadis growled at the absurdly cheeky Fetch who had also raised her visor to smile at the unimpressed mage.
“Confirmed. Those three there are all CLR fifty-three Nephilim,” Willa called out a second later. “That one there is a… CLR two hundred and forty-nine Fetch.”
The whole camp seemed to recoil at the same time upon hearing Willa’s announcement. The woman herself stood with a round detection stone held between two fingers slowly lowering from her eye, a look of apprehensive awe on her face. Even Jadis had to pause at that new information. She hadn’t asked her level and Jack hadn’t said anything, though through context clues she had assumed the Fetch was on the higher side of levels. To hear that the troublemaking shapeshifter was not only basically five times her level, but also only fifty-one levels away from the theoretical maximum level a person could reach was… unsettling.
The fake Dys clicked her tongue and in the next instant, the five fake Jadis’ disappeared. She turned to look at Willa with a venomous glare, causing the stalwart captain to actually flinch back.
“Those Detect Stones are so fucking annoying, you know that?” she glared at the tiny, enchanted stone ring. “Those damn things used to be nearly as rare as people with the actual proper detection skill. Feels like they’re everywhere nowadays, ruining all the fun.”
“Okay grandma,” Syd called out, one hand going to her hip. “You can tell us all about how things were back in your day later. Can you stop pretending to be me now that the jig is up?”
“Ugh, call me that again and I might puke in your shoes,” Jack wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Then Jack’s whole body melted like cotton candy in water, the image of Jadis replaced in an instant with a handsome dark-haired man with large, black-feathered wings. This new form was maybe a little more than six feet tall and had lean, well-defined muscles under his tanned skin. He wore a strange vest-tunic that let his wings out the back while also leaving his chest and abs exposed in the front, and also a kilt and sandals that showed off his sculpted calves.
“Anyone have any alcohol?” Jack asked in a smooth, almost indolent voice. “It’s been a while and I could really go for a drink right about now.”
“Sure,” Kerr responded after a moment.
Everyone turned to look at the therion, who boldly looked back.
“What? Who is really going to say ‘no, fuck off’ to the insane and insanely powerful Fetch when he asks for a drink?”
“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Jack smiled as Kerr tossed him a small metal flask she pulled from a pouch at her waist. “Beautiful, practical, and funny, three things I look for in any woman. Having two of those three definitely puts you in the positive in my books.”
“Two of those three?” Kerr snarled at the Fetch as he took a drink from her flask. “Kakogo cherta?”
“Don’t read into it,” Dys called out to Kerr. “He’s just saying shit to get a rise out of you.”
“Seriously,” Jay added, “you have no idea. It’s best to just ignore anything insulting he says.”
Jack turned and gave Jadis a pointed look, one that communicated extremely well just how displeased he was with her for trying to ruin his fun. Jadis shot three middle fingers his way in response. She wasn’t going to let the jackass mess with her girls freely and he damn well knew it. It felt kind of weird acting like a wet blanket every time Jack said or did anything, but the guy was seriously troublesome and would stir up discord if left unattended, which wasn’t something any of them could afford at the moment. Besides, she was still pretty pissed at the Fetch for letting her almost die multiple times because he thought it would be funny.
“Alright,” Aila spoke up, her voice ringing clear and strong in the clearing. “We’ll all keep that in mind, thank you Jay and Dys. Now, more to the point, would you mind explaining what’s going on? Is this… Jack related to the Nephilim that you’ve been searching for?”
The cover story that most people knew, including the soldiers as well as Sabina and Bridget, for why Jadis’ group were searching the mountains was because they were ostensibly looking for more Nephilim survivors from Jadis’ village. Aila’s question was phrased to keep that cover story in place, a necessity considering how many people were listening in, including Stavros and the other captured Reavers that Jadis could just see around the other side of the camp’s bonfire.
“Not exactly,” Jay replied, giving Jack a warning look as he started to open his mouth. “We’ve got a lot to discuss, actually. Would you mind getting rid of your traps so we can all sit down and talk? Also, Kerr? Can you please go get some more of your stash out of the wagon? I could actually use a drink right now, too.”
Some minutes later Jadis’ three selves were sitting on logs by the fire, large bowls of stew in hand along with some strong spirits that Kerr had retrieved from… somewhere. The sniper was unsurprisingly extremely good at hiding her booze. Jadis’ companions and lovers were all seated with her, as was Willa and the remaining soldiers who weren’t standing watch for demons or standing guard over the prisoners, though Jadis was sure the sentries had their ears tuned to catch any interesting tidbits that they could.
Jack was also seated by the fire. Annoyingly, he had also changed shape again and now looked like Aila. She’d also pressed herself right up against Syd’s side, practically hanging off of her while constantly looking up at Syd with adoring, lovestruck eyes. Occasionally Jack would send a taunting wink and a smile at the real Aila, making her intent clear.
Aila was not amused.
“—and that was the last place we saw the dragon. It might have moved since then, but we have no way of knowing for sure,” Jay finished saying before taking another bite of her meal.
Jadis had given the whole group a quick rundown of what she’d seen in the valley, including a brief description of how she’d run into Jack. She left out almost all the details of what they’d talked about since that wasn’t a conversation she wanted to share with people who weren’t close to her. Fortunately, as annoying as Jack was, she didn’t try to insert any comments that would reveal her origins or other personal information. There was some teasing, but nothing malicious.
“So, there’s a Dryad grove in that valley,” Willa said slowly, looking between the three Nephilim and the Fetch.
“And a dragon,” Dys corrected.
“…Right. A Dryad grove and a dragon,” Willa took a shaky breath. “And you want to save those Dryads and the dragon from a horde of demons that are attacking them?”
“Yes,” all three of Jadis confirmed with confident nods. “We do.”
“And that’s why you’re here?” Willa asked, turning to look at Jack.
“No, I don’t really care about the Dryads,” she replied in a perfect imitation of Aila’s voice. “I’m only interested in saving the dragon. I like that dragon.”
Willa looked decidedly pale, her stiff expression giving Jadis the distinct impression that the stoic military woman was feeling a little out of her depths. She could well empathize with the feeling. If she were in Willa’s shoes, she’d probably wash her hands of the whole situation and head back to Far Felsen. Rescuing Dryads from a demonic horde and saving a dragon from being possessed certainly seemed like duties that were above the captain’s paygrade.
“How many demons are there?” Aila asked while glaring daggers at Jack. “How many Dryads? What’s the state of their defenses? Are there any greater demons or demon matriarchs? How long until the dragon has been fully possessed?”
Jadis nodded along to Aila’s questions, appreciating how she focused on the task-oriented details. She wasn’t one to make a decision on something so important until she had all the information she could get. Jadis had asked many of those same questions already, though rather than answer them she let Jack tell her what she knew.
“Gods, so serious,” Jack cooed, snuggling closer to Syd’s side in a suggestive way. “Can’t we focus on what’s really important here? I mean, you’ve got three of these gorgeous Nephilim to ravage you whenever you want. How do you get anything done? If I were you, I’d be lying back and—”
“Jack,” Syd ground out between her teeth. “Would you please not do that right now?”
“Ugh, fine.”
Abruptly Jack transformed again, this time into the form of an older, bearded human man with gray hair and a bald spot. He wore a uniform that looked extremely similar to the one that Vraekae wore, though Jadis had no idea what rank was supposed to be implied by the badges and ribbons. Despite the change in appearance, Jack continued to snuggle up against Syd in a suggestive manner that made Jadis struggle to keep a straight face.
Both Kerr and Sabina failed in that attempt as the former snorted alcohol out of her nose and started coughing loudly while the latter hid a fit of nervous giggles behind her hand.
“I would say there are anywhere between two and three thousand demons,” Jack spoke in a formal, elderly man’s voice as he made direct eye contact with Aila. “Most are bramble fiends, so getting an accurate count is difficult. No greater demons have been spotted, but a bramble fiend matriarch is present. There was also a nithetre matriarch, but that one was slain by the dryads and the dragon earlier in the siege.”
Many around the campfire frowned at Jack’s words, the details not painting a pretty picture of the situation. Bridget whispered quickly into a frowning Thea’s ear while Eir sat with her hands tightly clasped together, a look of great worry on her elven face. Aila had pulled a notebook out from somewhere and was taking notes while Kerr took long gulps of whisky. Sabina looked lost more than anything else.
“There are ten nithetre at last count,” Jack continued his report. “And six or possibly seven grundwyrms. There are also various possessed creatures, including manticores, frost drakes, two black-spined wyverns, and an elf wizard. The wizard was level eighty-five before possession and casts wind magic. This report should not be viewed as comprehensive since the horde is constantly shifting as more demons are heeding the call of the matriarch and coming to fight the Dryads every day, while many demons are also being killed by the Dryads and the dragon, so the numbers are in a constant state of flux.”
“That is… surprisingly detailed information, thank you,” Aila said after a moment’s pause. “You’ve done a lot of reconnaissance on the Dryads and Dragon?”
“I’ve done my research,” Jack responded snootily, turning his nose up into the air. “You’re not the only one with a big brain who likes to take notes.”
At Aila’s blank stare, Jack sighed and finally shifted away from Syd to sit with his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath, his eyes gazing into the fire, and suddenly he looked far, far older than he had a moment before without changing a single detail of his form. There was just an air around the Fetch, something that exuded age and experience, as well as a tremendous weariness.
“There were sixteen Dryads the last time I had contact with them, before the demon horde surrounded their grove. I have no doubt that their numbers are less now, but last I checked the protective tree dome around their grove is still holding strong. They could probably hold out indefinitely against the horde if that was all they had to contend with. The issue is the dragon. Since the dragon was wounded and a powerful demon has wormed its way into the wound, it’s only a matter of time before it is possessed, a few days at most at this point. Once that dragon succumbs, the demon will control it and will absolutely tip the scales. The Dryad’s protections cannot withstand both the demons and the dragon.”
“Why don’t the Dryads remove the demon?” Bridget spoke up, breaking into Jack’s somber recounting.
Jack looked at the young orc woman, the deep frown on his face causing her to visibly wilt.
“A large and powerful creature such as a dragon as old as that one can resist demonic possession, but even when not fully possessed they are driven mad by the pain. The dragon is lashing out against everything, even the hands that would help it. Furthermore, if the Dryads opened their trees to let the dragon in, they would also have to open them wide enough that the demons surrounding their grove would slip inside as well.”
“And the partially possessed dragon would probably unintentionally destroy their defenses from the inside,” Syd added, having heard this information from Jack already. “So the Dryads can’t do a thing about what’s happening to the dragon, not by themselves, anyway.”
“So, what are we supposed to do?” Kerr asked, her tone more than a little incredulous. “Fight a half-crazed dragon to remove the demon from its body while also fighting off a horde of several thousand demons led by a demon matriarch?”
“Yes,” all three of Jadis said at the same time. “That’s exactly what we need to do.”
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