Jadis felt she was better than most people at self-reflection, and not just because she had three selves and could quite literally observe her own actions in real time. She could examine her own mind and see her traits and flaws. Jadis knew she could be vain at times. She had a tendency towards violence and solving her problems with her fists. Most significantly, she was often impulsive, relying more on instinct than on proper thought and planning. She knew that lack of impulse control was one of her greatest flaws, which was why she felt she deserved some kind of credit from someone when she didn’t immediately pick Maeve up and hurl the Fetch down a well.
She was better at self-reflection than self-restraint, though.
Jay lunged at Maeve, her right hand easily wrapping around the lower half of the woman’s face. When she pulled the restrained woman up to her eye level, Alex released her, allowing Jay to hold the Fetch with her feet dangling several feet off the ground. Bringing her face close to the chaotic fiend, Jay quietly whispered a simple promise.
“If you ever do anything to fuck with the lives of my lovers or their families again, I’m going to personally feed you to a dragon. Understood?”
Maeve stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes. When the silence stretched out for a few seconds, Jay said a few more words.
“Blink if you understand.”
Maeve immediately blinked, her comprehension of the situation she had managed to get herself into clear.
“Good. Now, what else did you—”
Jadis’ question was interrupted as the door to the parlor slammed open with a loud crack. Several guards rushed into the room, led by Count Holtz’ man-at-arms. Behind them, Jadis could see Count Holtz himself as well as Countess Voclain and the mage, Lambert. The guards hadn’t drawn their swords, but they did have their hands on their weapons, and the man-at-arms, Herman, bellowed like an angry bull.
“What is the meaning of this!?” the bearded blond shouted. “What are you doing to Lady Estelle!?”
“What are they doing to my daughter!?” Jadis heard the countess cry out from behind, though to her the scream sounded more indignant than concerned. “That beast is hurting Estelle!”
Jadis was confused for just a second, but then she remembered that Maeve had shapeshifted to look just like the countess’ daughter after Kerr had told her to stop pretending to be Aila. While Jadis wasn’t in the mood to play nice with the battleaxe of a woman, she had to admit that it didn’t exactly look good with how she had what very much looked like her daughter dangling by a grip on her face.
“Mother!” the real Estelle cried out as she hopped to her feet from the chair she had been quietly occupying for the past few minutes. “Mother! I’m unharmed, Jadis has done nothing untoward to me!”
As the guards pushed forward into the increasingly cramped room, Holtz and Voclain entered the parlor after them. Others might not have been able to see it due to the press of bodies blocking vision, but Jadis had a clear view of the countess’ face thanks to her height. When Estelle proclaimed her safety, Jadis could see that the cold woman looked confused, but more than that, disappointed, almost as though she had been hoping that Jadis might do something to her daughter.
Suddenly, the reasoning behind the countess sending her daughter to Jadis without any escorts except for a single mage felt a little clearer to Jadis. After all, how had they known to burst into the room at that very moment? How many methods to spy on them had Count Holtz potentially placed in the room? Would it really be that much of a stretch to believe that a woman like Voclain would hope for her daughter to be assaulted, if it got her the leverage that she needed against Jadis?
“Countess Voclain,” Severina called out sternly as she confronted the two nobles. “Were you aware that you have a Fetch on your staff that has been pretending to be a court mage from Duchess Alfrigg’s court?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Voclain replied. “I have never employed any Fetches in my life!”
While Jadis was absolutely ready to think the worst of the woman, Voclain did seem to be telling the truth on that account. She looked utterly bewildered by the accusation, as did Holtz for that matter.
“And you didn’t know that she has apparently been forging documents, either? Including the map you have been basing your entire farce of a legal argument on?”
“What? I—”
Severina didn’t let the countess get another word in as she marched up to the noble with her wing puffed out and her hand on her sword hilt.
“You expect us to believe that you haven’t been colluding with this criminal, when she has been serving you directly ever since you first dreamed up this ridiculous scheme to run Clan Warsong out of house and home?”
“Ridiculous!” Morley echoed with a true light of glee in his eyes.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Lady Severina,” Holtz said with as much authority as he could put into his deep voice, “But that map was certified as accurate by Duke Messer’s and Duke Poirot’s own record keepers. Any accusation of forgery or alteration is, frankly, preposterous!”
“What’s preposterous is the idea that you would expect us to believe your words now when you have shown your complete lack of trustworthiness,” Severina continued to light into the count. “Either you and your cohort are so incompetent that you have allowed an imposter to run unfettered among the highest ranks of your personal council, or you are liars who have been knowingly employing a Fetch who has been masquerading as a court mage from another noble’s service! Which do you claim to be? A deceiver, or a dolt?”
While both Holtz and Voclain grappled with Severina’s angry accusations, Jadis considered what to do now that the situation had come to a head. There was something to be said for the honest approach. She could go the legal route, now that she knew for sure that everything being thrown at Clan Warsong was the work of fraud. Approach the magistrate, or higher authority, and ask for what amounted to some kind of restraining order. Jadis didn’t even know if that was a legal term in the empire, but she was sure she could work something out given enough time and effort. She had Maeve’s confession now, after all. She knew there was a plot against her, and she could act on it.
Then again, what did she really have but the word of what appeared to be a mildly, or possibly majorly, deranged shapeshifter? Even if Jadis could convince the Fetch to testify on her behalf, Maeve was an admitted criminal who apparently liked to pretend to be other people just to fuck with everyone. Jadis knew that a single unreliable witness wouldn’t go very far in a court of law, even if she herself believed what the woman had told her. She would need evidence, which she sorely lacked.
So, what other options did she have if the law-abiding citizen route was out the window?
Jadis wasn’t entirely sure what the answer was, but she knew that whatever it was, she wouldn’t be playing Duke Colgrave’s game. She would find a way to protect everyone she and her lovers cared about, by their own power, and then beat the ever-loving shit out of the scheming asshole for even thinking about harassing her family.
“If she is the imposter you claim her to be, then I demand you hand her over for questioning!”
Voclain’s shout caused Jadis to mentally twitch. The confrontation between the two nobles and Severina had devolved somewhat, reaching the point of high emotions and shouting. Jadis’ lovers had formed something of a wall behind the Seraphim, while the guards who had come into the parlor with the nobles had backed off with the kinds of looks on their faces that spoke of just how little interest they had in getting caught up in the fight. Jadis knew the look well, as she had seen many a minimum-wage worker make that same look while watching their managers and bosses fight.
“We most certainly are not turning her over to your custody when your involvement in her criminal activities is in question!” Severina shouted. “We will be taking her straight to the magistrate ourselves!”
“No, wait,” Jay interrupted before either Holtz or Voclain could shout something inane back at the paladin. “They’ve got a point. They have a right to question this Fetch if they want to.”
“What?” Severina asked in surprise as she turned to look at Jay.
“We do?” Holtz asked stupidly.
“Of course we do!” Countess Voclain cried out haughtily. “Release this imposter into our custody, this instant!”
Jadis’ three bodies were standing behind the wall of her companions that had divided up the center of the parlor. Jay was still holding Maeve by the face, only when the nobles had charged into the room, she had turned to face them. Her arm was outstretched to her side, with the Fetch dangling from her hand near the row of large windows that overlooked the well-manicured gardens of the count’s estate.
“Well, you heard her,” Jay said as she raised an eyebrow at Maeve. “I release you into Countess Voclain’s custody.”
With that, Jay let go of the Fetch.
The moment that Maeve’s feet touched the floor, she kicked away from Jay in a twirling backflip. Her whirling body crashed through the glass of the nearest window, causing shouts of anger and alarm to come from many in the room, including Severina. By the time Maeve had touched the ground outside, she had already transformed again. Only this time, instead of changing to look like one of Jadis’ lovers or the hapless daughter of a bitchy countess, the Fetch had shapeshifted into what looked like a cream-colored labrador, or similarly sized dog. Leaving the dress behind, Maeve sprinted away on all fours, quickly disappearing into the hedgerows.
“What have you done!?” Voclain screamed in outraged protest.
“I released her into your custody,” Jay smiled sweetly at the old bitch. “It’s not my fault you and your guards are bad at keeping her.”
Severina looked like she was biting her tongue to keep from saying something, as did Aila and even Eir. Kerr, however, looked like she was biting her tongue to keep from laughing, as did Grand Da Morley.
“Come on,” Jay motioned to encompass all of her companions. “We’re leaving.”
“What do you mean, you’re leaving?” Count Holtz demanded. “You can’t just leave! What about—”
“I can leave, and I am,” Dys interrupted the man with a cold glare. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore, and you don’t have anything to say that I want to hear. We’re done.”
Fortunately, neither Holtz nor Voclain were stupid enough to try and stop Jadis once she started moving towards the exit of the parlor. She still made sure to position two of her selves between her lovers and the guards, just in case someone got a foolish notion into their heads. As Jadis ushered her companions out into the hall, Syd took a moment to lean down towards Estelle and whisper a small piece of advice.
“Hey, I’m not going to pretend to know your situation,” Syd gave the troubled young woman a sympathetic look. “But if I were you, I’d get as far away from your mother as possible. She does not have your best interests in mind. Also, she’s a huge cunt.”
Estelle only gave a faint nod, her expression the kind Jadis had seen on people who were too stunned to really process what was happening around them. Shrugging her shoulders, Syd left the woman where she was with a fervent wish that she would find her way in the world, hopefully far away from her noxious family.
There wasn’t much talk in her group as they departed the count’s mansion. Everyone kept their silence as they loaded up into the large cart that Jadis had used to transport everyone quickly from the Warsong farm to the Holtz Estate. Severina was giving her looks the entire time, but she didn’t say anything. Not until Jadis had carried them out of the town and they were on the road back to Brightstone, far away from any prying ears and eyes.
“How could you have let her go?” the Seraphim shouted over the wind as Jadis carried the cart on her shoulders at high speed. “That was dangerously reckless, beyond even what I would expect from you!”
Jadis slowed her pace down, still moving fast, but no longer running at a speed that would make it hard for them to talk.
“Because I promised her I would,” Syd answered since she was the one of her three selves that wasn’t under the cart. “I’m a woman of my word.”
“She’s dangerous, Jadis,” Aila scowled at her. “Who knows what kind of trouble a person like that could cause for us in the future?"
“She might have been a cultist!” Severina gesticulated with her arm and wing. “What if you just let someone go who was involved with the attack on Eldingholt? The attack against you and your loved ones?”
“She wasn’t a cultist,” Syd shook her head.
“How can you be so sure?” Bridget spoke up. “That Fetch looked like she was bloody insane. That seems like exactly the kind of person who would be in a Cult of Samleos.”
“No, she’s not,” Syd repeated. “For one thing, I didn’t get any vibes like that from her at all. She was nuts, but she was D nuts, not cultist nuts. For another thing, she only tried to fuck with us, not actually hurt us. A cultist would have done actual harm. And for a third thing, if I were the kind of person to try and manipulate me, I wouldn’t be implicating the people I already hate. I would have spun a story to make someone I trust seem like the person behind all this bullshit, not a noble that’s already on my shit list.”
“That… you may actually have a point with that last one,” Aila admitted as she sat back in her seat with a frown.
“She’s still dangerous,” Severina insisted. “And still a criminal.”
“Maybe,” Syd inclined her head. “But she isn’t going to come after us anymore.”
“How can you be so sure?” Bridget asked. “She seemed perfectly happy to fuck with my family just to get what she wanted.”
“I know that look in her eyes,” Syd snorted. “It’s the same look D gives me. It’s the look that says, ‘the world is more interesting with you in it, so I’m going to watch and see what you do.’ Maeve had the same look in her eyes, even after I threatened her. She won’t fuck with us. She’ll be too interested to see what happens next.”
“Oh, great,” Kerr rolled her eyes. “You’ve picked up a shapeshifting stalker. That’s exactly what we need around here.”
Jadis was willing to admit that her reasoning was based more on gut feeling than actual logic, but she didn’t think she was wrong to do so. Her instincts had led her right far more often than not, especially when it came to other people. Besides, Jadis didn’t think D would be so crazy he would try to set her up with a literal cultist who wanted to kill her.
Probably.
“Okay, forget the fecking Fetch,” Bridget called out in an exaggerated accent. “What about my family? What are we doing about those assholes going after my clan?”
Jadis had been thinking about that more than Maeve, so she had a few ideas. Most of those ideas involved storming the castles of various dukes and making some rather violent threats. Before she could voice any of those plans, or any that were more reasonable, Morley spoke up first.
“We’re leaving.”
“What?”
This time, Jadis was one of the voices to call out in surprise at the unexpected announcement. Syd looked past her lovers, all of whom were looking at the old orc in astonishment, to see the cranky Grand Da staring passively into the middle distance. When he noticed everyone staring at him after a few seconds, he scowled and waved his cane in the air.
“Stop staring at me like a bunch of ninnies. I know I didn’t grow a third eye like this one here, so there’s no call for it.”
“No call for— Grand Da, what are you talking about?” Bridget gave her grandfather an uncertain look. “What do you mean we’re leaving?”
“We’re leaving. Moving. Gone. How else do you want me to say it, girl? Stop being ridiculous. Clan Warsong is leaving these lands. Count Holtz and Countess Voclain can have it. They’re welcome to shove every berry branch right up their flabby arses while they’re at it.”
“But… but that’s our land…”
“It’s only a farm,” Morley waved his hand to one side. “Just some dirt and a few sticks and stones. What matters is the clan. That, and who we owe our allegiances to. And I’ll be burned to ash twice over before I serve Holtz or Voclain or any damned duke around here for another day. Any ruler who would sacrifice loyal subjects the way those bastards have done to us doesn’t deserve our loyalty. Ridiculous idiots. Ridiculous!”
“If you’re serious about moving,” Syd asked cautiously, “where are you planning on going?”
Morley scowled at her, his sharp eyes challenging in their forwardness.
“They got room in that big city, don’t they?”
“Yeah, pretty sure they do,” Syd nodded. “But you’re farmers. What are you and your clan going to do for work?”
“We’re farmers and we’re mercenaries,” Morley corrected her. “Don’t forget it! And you’ve got yourself a mercenary company, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah I do,” Syd smiled wryly at the old man.
“There you go,” Morley nodded his head like no further discussion was needed.
Syd and Bridget exchanged glances. She knew for a fact that there was going to be a lot more to it than the simple statements that Morley had made. Clan Warsong was a big family, and not everyone would necessarily be okay with the orc patriarch’s abrupt decision. However, the more Jadis thought about it, the more the idea grew on her. She wanted to expand the mercenary company but had been struggling somewhat to find members she felt she could trust. She didn’t think she’d have any trouble at all trusting Bridget’s family. If they were willing to make the move from Brightstone to Eldingholt, Jadis had no trouble at all devoting as much time and money as it took to help them in their transition.
In fact, as Jadis and her companions neared the outskirts of Brightstone, she came to the conclusion that bringing Bridget’s family back to the capital was a perfect solution to her problem of trying to protect the families of her lovers. Having them all centralized in one place would make it a lot easier to watch over them, especially if a good number of them were employed in her mercenary company.
Jadis listened to her lovers discuss Morley’s plan of moving as she brought them around the northeastern side of Brightstone, cutting across some of the fields and back paths to make as straight a line to the Warsong farm as possible. It was still fairly early in the day, only mid-afternoon, so there would be plenty of time to talk things over with the whole of Bridget’s family. The discussion was probably going to go on for a long while, longer than Jadis and her lovers were going to be around for. She planned on heading back to Cold Brook the next day, or the day after, since she didn’t want to be out and away from headquarters for too long. Besides, Thea hadn’t gotten to spend nearly enough time with her mother.
“Hey, do you see that?”
“See what?” Syd asked as she was roused out of her contemplation by Kerr’s question.
“There,” Thea rose from her seat in the cart and pointed. “R—right there. S—something moving, fast.”
Syd followed Thea’s pointing finger to see what she and Kerr had spotted and quickly picked up on the movement herself. Clan Warsong’s compound was in sight, thus so were the huge fields of sunberries that covered the landscape around Brightstone. There was definitely something running through the fields to the west of Warsong farm, heading in their direction. At first, Jadis couldn’t tell what it was due to all the bushes and how fast the thing was moving, but as it drew closer, Jadis recognized the figure for who it was.
“Jadis!” Meli shouted, her voice distant but growing louder every second as she neared them. “Jadis! Cold Brook! Tegwyn!”
“What?” Jadis called out in unison. “What the fuck are you doing here, Meli? What happened to Tegwyn?”
“Demons!” The Dryad shouted as she sprinted up to them with enough speed to make the bushes around her sway in the wind. “Demons are attacking Cold Brook!”
Jadis froze in her tracks, not entirely certain she had heard the Dryad correctly. She knew she had, however, when she heard the sound of Thea’s voice.
“Mother…”
271