There were times when Jadis truly missed the simple convenience of cell phones.
“Where were you?” Jay called out as she noticed a winged figure flapping her way over to her.
The night sky was a mix of smoke and firelight, which both helped and hindered visibility, depending on where one stood. Fortunately, Jay had still been able to spot the Seraphim’s approach. She hadn’t been too worried about the powerful paladin’s safety; she knew Severina could take care of herself. But the idea that more cultists or Demons were attacking Cold Brook was the reason why the stalwart Seraphim hadn’t joined her for the fight in the meadow was hard to get out of her head. Without any kind of ranged communication, it was impossible to know for sure.
“I’m sorry, I was delayed,” Severina apologized as she gently landed on the ground in front of Jay. “There were several more Demons making their way through the forest to this location.”
“Really?” Jay asked as she turned her gaze to look around the edges of the meadow. “Are they still coming?”
“Not anymore,” the paladin replied as she rested her hand on the pommel of her sheathed sword. “Again, I apologize. I didn’t want to leave you without backup, but letting more wights and another cinderman join the fight seemed tactically imprudent.”
“It’s fine,” Jay waved the apology away. “I knew you had my back, even if I couldn’t see you. Besides, Meli was a huge help. We took care of the Demons here, as well as all of the cultists.”
Indeed, Meli had been a deciding factor in the final moments of the fight. Her quick thinking was what had led her to use the crossbow to penetrate the armor of the necrophile that would have otherwise been too tough for her claws to slice through. That sneak attack had provided the opportunity Jadis had needed to end the duel between her and the empowered cultist.
Jadis truly thanked the woman for her help, especially since it had cost the Dryad so much.
“Where is she?” Severina asked as she looked around them. “I don’t see either Dryad, or Thea.”
“Meli’s over there,” Jay pointed towards a pool of fire that was slowly starting to burn out. “She is… well, most of her animals didn’t survive.”
Severina’s gaze traveled over to the female Dryad’s form and the pile of slashed and broken bodies she was kneeling in front of. Her expression was closed off, her feelings hidden in a time of battle, but Jadis could tell that the Seraphim was not unbothered by the sight by the way her lips thinned and her posture tensed.
“Samleos’ vile forces bring nothing but destruction wherever they go,” Severina murmured as she made a holy sign across her chest with her hand.
“Yeah…” Jay let out a weary sigh of agreement.
“What of Tegwyn, and Thea’s mother?”
“Teg and Thea are getting Vera right now,” Jay motioned to the south. “He hid her in a hollowed-out tree trunk once he made it to the grove here, apparently. Then he turned to fight the Demons. The forest animals all flocked to him once the fighting started, thankfully. I think they were more interested in protecting Meli’s flower patch than helping him, but either way it saved his life. They delayed the cultists just long enough to give us the time we needed to get here.”
“I see,” Severina said quietly, her eyes still lingering on the mourning Meli. After a moment, she glanced up at Jay. “Are we sure there aren’t any Demons left around here? Are all accounted for?”
“I’m about as sure as I can be right now,” Jay shrugged. “I’m still checking the whole meadow to be sure. I’ve also been gathering bodies and throwing them into that big fire right there. Except for the cultists. I have their bodies over here.”
Jay waved at a dark pile of bodies that were somewhat hard to see in the shadows of the flickering flames.
“I haven’t had a chance to check them for anything important yet.”
“I can help with that,” Severina said as she walked over to the pile.
“Are you sure? I wasn’t exactly clean with my kills. Neither was Tegwyn, for that matter. Most of those bodies are a mess.”
Severina gave Jay a look, one eyebrow raised high above her strange eye.
“Jadis, are you under the impression that this will be the first time I have searched mutilated bodies for valuables after a battle? Because I can assure you that this is not.”
“Pardon me,” Jay said with a huff of amusement. “I just have a hard time envisioning you looting the dead. Doesn’t seem like the noble thing to do.”
“It’s the practical thing to do,” the paladin said as she knelt down by the body of one of the more intact cultists and began rummaging through his belt pouches. “Now, go talk to that Dryad. Giving space can be important, but I know what it’s like to lose comrades in the field. She shouldn’t be left alone for too long.”
Jay nodded once before leaving Severina to her unenviable task. As she walked the short distance to where Meli and her fallen friends were, Jay thought about next steps. Nothing grandiose; she was too clouded in the head from adrenaline after everything that had happened in the past few minutes, but she did consider what to do in the immediate future. After killing both the mage and the necrophile, the remaining cultists and Demons had been easy enough to dispatch. The problem was, with it being nighttime, it was hard to know if any Demons had slunk away into the shadows. The variety of Demons the cultists had brought with them were generally the sneaky kind, like wights and stranglers. If any of those still lingered in the area, it would be a problem for Cold Brook. Worse would be if any of the possession Demons had managed to slip away. With all the bodies littering the grove, there would be plenty of material for the cruel blighters to work with.
Unfortunately, the fires were still going strong, too. Jadis wasn’t sure if the whole forest was going to burn or not, but there was nothing she could do to stop the flames. Even if the fires surrounding the area died out, Meli’s meadow grove was already fucked.
“Hey,” Jay said as she came to a stop a few feet behind the kneeling Dryad. “Are you okay?”
When Meli didn’t reply after a few seconds, Jay took another step forward and crouched down. She reached one hand out towards the woman, then thought better of touching Meli with her cold, blood-caked gauntlets. Letting her hands fall between her knees, Jay let out a tired sigh.
“I know. That was a fucking stupid thing to ask. How could you possibly be okay after all this? I know I wouldn’t be.”
That caused Meli to turn her head slightly, revealing the blank expression on her face. She still didn’t say anything, but Jay could see the firelight shining in her orange eyes.
“Did any of them make it?” Jay asked quietly.
“The crows were mostly unharmed,” Meli replied in a flat tone.
“That’s good,” Jay tried to keep some positivity in her voice. “I, uh, I’m glad they survived. And… the ones that didn’t? They were very brave. Incredibly brave. They saved lives by giving their own. I can’t think of a braver act of self-sacrifice.”
After a few more seconds of silence, Jay ventured to ask another question, one she hoped was respectful.
“May I ask what your friends’ names were?”
“Animals don’t have names,” Meli responded shortly.
“Ah,” Jay nodded. “Right. Well, even if they don’t have names, I’ll still pray to Villthyrial for them. I hope he has a special place in his halls for them.”
“I knew you would bring change.”
Jay hesitated, not sure how she was supposed to respond to that particular statement. It felt like it should be an accusation, but Meli hadn’t spoken with any particular anger or grief in her voice. Instead, the Dryad just sounded resigned, like she had expected things to go badly for her and her grove and had resigned herself to her fate.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring any of this shit to your doorstep.”
“It’s not your fault,” Meli lifted a hand to stop Jay from continuing. “Well, I guess it is. If you hadn’t come here, those cultists wouldn’t have, either. But that’s not your doing. I’m probably going to blame you for a little while. I’m actually really upset right now. But I know it’s not your fault that those cultists are what they are. You aren’t responsible for their actions.”
“That’s… very reasonable of you to say,” Jay murmured. “Thank you. For understanding. And for helping me protect everyone. Also, thank you for helping me beat that guy with the sword. Truly. Thank you.”
“You’re… you’re welcome.”
Sensing the pain in Meli’s voice, Jadis didn’t force any further conversation on the woman. She just held a silent vigil, keeping watch over the Dryad for a little while longer. The bodies of the animals needed to be disposed of in the fire, but Meli needed time to grieve. Jadis would try to give her as much time as she could.
“Jadis?”
Thea’s voice called out from somewhere in the darkness, catching Dys’ attention. Tossing the dead strangler she had just picked up into the fire, she turned and jogged in the direction she had heard her lover’s voice come from. It didn’t take Dys long to spot Thea walking out of the unburnt southern tree line with Tegwyn, back in his human form, and her mother.
Vera looked shaken, but she also looked blessedly unharmed. Her dress was a bit torn and muddied, and her hair had fallen out of its usual ponytail, but that looked to be the extent of the physical damage. Jadis only hoped that the woman was doing just as well mentally.
“Are you okay?” Dys addressed Vera as she approached the trio. “No injuries?”
“She’s unharmed,” Tegwyn replied, one hand resting protectively on Vera’s shoulder. “Thank Villthyrial for his kindness in providing a good hiding spot.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Vera breathed out as her eyes swept over the destruction. “How about you? Are you okay? Are the rest of the girls alright?”
Jadis couldn’t help but be amazed by Vera’s questions. The poor woman had just been put through what had to have been the most terrifying day of her life and her main concern was the safety of others. Jadis could see where Thea got her inner strength from.
“Everyone’s fine, so far as I know,” Dys replied, once more internally cursing her inability to check in on her lovers at a distance. “Hopefully they’ve made it to Cold Brook by now. I’m sure a lot of people over there still need some of Eir’s healing.”
“We should, ah, g—go back there, I think,” Thea said quietly, one arm wrapped around Vera’s waist. “To m—make sure everyone is, ah, okay.”
“Yeah,” Dys nodded in agreement. “Let’s meet up with the other two and we’ll get out of here.”
Dys led the trio over to where Jay and Meli were while Syd joined Severina by the cultist bodies. Having finished surveying the area, she knelt down on one knee to whisper a concern to her Seraphim lover.
“I think we have a problem.”
“What did you find?” Severina asked as she rifled through the clothes of a badly mangled body.
“One of the horses I killed over there was empty. Like, no innards, and no tentacles to replace what should have been in there. I think one of the possession Demons got away.”
“Did you see any tracks leading away from the body?” Sev asked as she stopped her search and turned her gaze to look up at Syd.
“In this mess?” she gestured at the utter ruin that was the meadow. “No way to know where it might have gone. There are enough animal bodies around here that it could have slipped inside a less damaged one and fled. No telling for sure, but I doubt it’s waiting around somewhere to make another attempt at attacking us.”
“No, I suppose not,” Severina said thoughtfully. “As Alex has so amply demonstrated, not all Demons are slaves to their hunger for destruction.”
“Yeah,” Syd nodded once. “I’m thinking it ran for it so it can report the failure of this attack to whoever planned the whole thing.”
“You believe there are others involved? These cultists here must have held high CLRs to cause so much damage to you.”
“I’m positive,” Syd clenched her fist as she remembered what the mage had said. “One of them said that the “Playwright” knows my name. Whoever that is, I think they’re the mastermind behind this attack. Probably the attack on Eldingholt, too.”
“The Playwright,” Severina repeated slowly. “I’ve never heard that moniker before. I’ll ask Eadgar to look into that name once we get back to the capital.”
Syd nodded along in agreement with the plan. Eadgar was one of Prince Kestil’s other advisors. While he’d never come out and said it, Jadis was fairly certain that the burly orc was actually Kestil’s spymaster. If anyone would have an idea of who this Playwright was, it would hopefully be him.
“Alright, let’s get moving before the fires spread even more,” Syd told Severina. “The wind is starting to pick up and I don’t want to get cut off from Cold Brook.”
First helping the one-armed paladin gather up the various items of interest she had pulled from the bodies, Syd quicky tossed the remains of the cultists into the nearest fire before joining up with the rest of her selves. Jadis lifted Thea and Vera into her arms and even offered a piggyback ride to Tegwyn, who was either too polite or too tired to object. Jadis also offered to give Meli a ride, but the somber Dryad rejected any kind of lift and instead followed behind Jadis at her own pace as they left the burning meadow behind.
Jadis wasn’t sure what Meli was going to do about her ruined grove, but she made a silent promise to aid the Dryad in whatever way she needed. That need wasn’t going to happen right away, though, she was sure. So, for the moment, Jadis turned her thoughts onto what needed to be done for Cold Brook. And, more broadly, what she needed to do to make sure her newly extended family would never experience anything like this attack again.
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