“This is really awful,” Sabina said as she poked and prodded at the staff with a long iron tong. “I don’t think this counts as smithing or crafting, though I guess it’s some kind of crafting, just not any kind that I know how to do or would want to do. I mean, I don’t use flesh or blood or living things when I make a weapon or armor or an enchantment though I guess I use bones and scales and plants and other organic materials, particularly when I am enchanting, but that’s not really the same thing as this because I’m pretty sure this was alive before you stepped on it, but I’m not really sure it was alive alive or just kind of dead alive or half alive or something in between or to the side of alive, maybe? This isn’t normal.”
“Sabby, I was in the middle of telling my story,” Bridget scowled at the distracted smith.
“Oh! Sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt, but this is just such a weird way to make a staff and I was thinking that maybe it was some kind of Demon in the shape of a staff instead, but I don’t know if that’s even possible and—”
“I’ll just put the cloth back over this now,” Dys said as she settled the stained tarp she had used to transport the Playwright’s disturbing magic staff all the way to Aelius’ manor. “We’ll take a better look at this thing later.”
They were all gathered together in the second story dining hall of Aelius’ home. Reviewing the events was important, just for clarity and assurances, so they had commandeered the room for the time being. Aelius would be joining them soon, but the Seraphim was still speaking with the Magistrate and General Voss, and Jadis didn’t feel like waiting. Not when she was still riding some of the adrenaline from the fight.
“Right,” Bridget continued after taking a second to remember where she was in her retelling of the evening’s events. “I had my left hand on Thea’s collar, like this. She didn’t look like Thea anymore, she looked like that redhead, but I knew it was her because she had been standing right next to me and it’s not like she could have just up and vanished like smoke, right? So, I kept my hand on her and made sure I was always right behind her.”
“I moved to the wall,” Thea added quietly from where she stood next to the orc. Bridget had put her hand in the shy woman’s collar again, which for some reason had her blushing. Or it was just from being the center of attention. “I d—didn’t know who was who.”
“Exactly,” Bridget nodded. “Better to not let anyone get at our backs. Anyway, one therion who I thought was Tibur ran up to us in the fog and we tried to help him, but he exploded in acid when he got close. After that, I started hitting anyone who didn’t look like a redheaded man with my flail. And some who did.”
“And that’s when you broke Vadim’s hand?” Jay clarified.
“Right,” the warrior woman grimaced along with her confirmation. “I mean, this illusion shite is hard to deal with, alright? How was I supposed to bloody know he was him instead of someone else?”
Jadis couldn’t blame Bridget for the mistaken friendly fire. She considered herself to be insanely lucky that she hadn’t accidentally hurt her lovers in all the confusion. The Playwright’s illusions had sown an incredible amount of chaos. It was honestly impressive how strong his magic had been compared to their last encounter, though she supposed it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Obviously, she hadn’t been the only one putting in the effort to increase her levels. In fact, she had gone for most of the winter and spring without leveling, while the madman and his followers had probably been hard at work trying to surpass her. Or the Hero, she supposed. The Playwright had really been fixated on Wilhelm and his party, which Jadis considered a good thing. Throwing off the asshole’s plans had been an extra cherry on top of the cake of victory.
“Were you using your Light the Target Up skill the whole time?” Severina asked. “Considering your maximum magic capacity, I would think you would run out too quickly.”
“You’re forgetting about her skill that stores magic from us boinking each other,” Jay said with a sigh as she settled on a large, cushioned seat. “She’s got reserves built up.”
“Not that much,” Bridget objected with a blush while Severina mouthed the unfamiliar euphemism with a raised eyebrow. “I was only using it on targets that sort of seemed more suspicious than others. I mean, that bastard was too crafty to come straight at us, right? So, I used it on the people who were sort of coming close, but not intentionally close, because that meant they were being sneaky about getting close to us. At least, that’s what I figured, anyway. I only hit four people who weren’t the Playwright with it.”
“Five,” Thea gently corrected.
“Right, five people. But it’s not like any more damage was done to them after the initial hit.”
Jadis hid a smile at the orc’s attempts at justifying her actions. She really didn’t need to prove what she had done was the right thing as far as she was concerned. It had worked, even if the plan had not had any certainty in the moment, and that was what counted. The blame for any harm that befell the bystanders in all the confusion was squarely on the shoulders of the deceased Playwright, not his victims.
Speaking of, Jay was beyond relieved that her other lovers had not become more victims to the insane man’s plans. She had been worried, even after the soldiers arrived and some order had been restored, since she had no knowledge of how the attack on the Leviathan had gone. Her concerns were all allayed when Severina arrived in the city an hour after the surprise attack. It had taken her some time to return to Glanum, even with her fast flying speed, since the cultists had made their attempt at assassination as far from the border city as they could. It made sense, tactically speaking, since Jadis would have flown after the Leviathan the moment she had learned of the Playwright’s plans, if she hadn’t already figured them out. The further away the Leviathan was, the less chance she would have been able to interfere, and the better chances there were that the cultists would get away with stealing the airship. After all, there was no way to track a flying target once it was out of sight.
Severina had assured Jadis and the others that everyone aboard the airship was well. No one had been seriously injured, and those who had suffered wounds had been quickly healed by Eir and the more mundane priest who was also aboard the ship to take care of the soldiers. While she hadn’t gotten the full story as of yet, from what Sev had recounted, it sounded like Maeve had truly gone above and beyond in the counter-ambush. Jadis made a mental note to thank the shapeshifter with a reward of whatever the woman wanted. While she probably wouldn’t have offered any kind of open promise to the Fetch in previous days, her trust in her had risen significantly since Maeve had opened up in the cellar. It had become abundantly clear that Maeve wouldn’t intentionally abuse any favors that Jadis gave her and was open to communication if she unintentionally crossed lines.
Jadis wasn’t quite in the mind frame to think about such things, but the thought of the Fetch and rewards had her memory stray to certain comments about what sorts of positions a person could achieve when bones were no obstacle.
“That’s about everything,” Bridget said as she wrapped up her retelling of events. “Things were settled pretty quick after Jadis skewered the fucker on the roof.”
“I’m shocked there weren’t any more serious casualties,” Severina shook her head. “Or further attacks.”
“No attacks,” Meli stated confidently from her side of Aelius’ table. “I checked. I would have preferred to be in the fight to help you against the cultists, Jadis. However, I did as instructed and kept watch on the area around the manor. No attacks.”
Jadis had suspected more of the Playwright’s plan. An attack on her companions who were still at the manor house. Maybe an explosion or two. A secret force of cultists waiting in some hidden part of the city who would strike a vulnerable target. Perhaps even another full-scale demonic siege coordinated to hit the city at the same time as his and Jadis’ confrontation. None of those possibilities had come to pass, though. Instead, all of her friends and lovers were safe. No one had even been seriously injured.
“I would have… Fought beside you…” Alex said from where she was cuddled up against Syd’s side. “The man… Deserved punishment…”
“Yeah, well he got it,” Syd grinned as she kissed the top of the Demon’s head. Then, putting one hand on top of her belly, she continued. “And I think we already took enough risks with all these plans, anyway.”
“It’s not really finished, though,” Dys grumbled from where she stood at the head of the table. Folding her arms and turning to look out of the large window and into the night sky, she let out a frustrated sigh. “Twisted Desire is still out there. And I doubt we got all the cultists. There’s no way there aren’t more.”
“We have the captured Liane on the Leviathan,” Severina said as she moved to join Dys by the window. “Once they arrive in Eldingholt, I have no doubt Prince Kestil and Eadgar will be able to extract some information from her.”
Jadis internally shuddered at the implications. She knew that Kestil wasn’t the most scrupulous man, and Eadgar was his spymaster. She didn’t pity the woman who had tried to take the lives of her loved ones, but she wasn’t happy about the situation, either.
“Besides, I think you are overestimating the power and reach of the cultists. There are not so many in this world who turn to Samleos and his madness.”
“Overestimating is right,” Bridget called out. “That fucker was a bloody bitch to kill, but he wasn’t that bad once he didn’t have shit prepared ahead of time. Just another asshole with an ego.”
Jay nodded at Bridget’s assessment, but she couldn’t quite wipe the frown that had found its way to her face. She had killed the man. The inconvertible truth of that fact was still staining the bottom of Syd’s boot, and the further evidence that came in the shape of his flattened body was currently awaiting further examination locked up in Aelius’ cellar. They had won.
And yet…
“It was too easy,” Jay mumbled as she stared at the bloodstained tarp that Sabina was peaking under. “I know it wasn’t easy, really. But it was way less than I expected out of him. I just can’t help but think another shoe is going to drop.”
“Cobbler has shoes…” Alex commented as she shifted away from Syd like she was going to leave the room. “Shall I… Get some… To drop…?”
“Don’t you dare,” Syd laughed at the Demon’s joke. “We don’t need any more shoes, or surprises, this night.”
“Not even one more really good one?”
Jadis almost laughed at the question, until she realized that the voice hadn’t come from any of her friends and lovers who were in the dining room with her. All three of her selves went on high alert as she recognized the taunting tone, if not the specific voice itself.
“Playwright—”
Before Jadis could fully react, the unholy staff in the center of the dining room table shifted as the black eyeball on top flashed with multiple different colors. In an instant, the whole world around Jadis was plunged into darkness as a deafening noise drowned out all sound. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, and even her sense of touch was affected as an electric buzzing sensation stung her skin.
As Jadis’ three selves struggled to orient their senses against whatever terrible spell the cultist leader had managed to cast from beyond the grave, a powerful concussive force struck Dys in the side. Neither of her other selves were affected in that same moment, so it wasn’t an explosion. Her Dys body had been right in front of the window, so she quickly guessed that it was some outside force breaking through the glass barrier. Lashing out, Dys’ hand struck a hard, cold surface that felt sharp against her skin. As her other two selves were rushing towards her third self, Dys was struck by a powerful blow that sent her slamming against the wall. For the brief second that she was in contact with the attacker, she could feel the massive size of the creature’s limb. She wasn’t sure if it had been a fist or a clawed paw, but it had felt large enough to completely cover her torso.
As Jay moved forward and collided with a chair as well as the person who had still been sitting in it, possibly Thea from the feel, Syd ran headfirst into the same cold, hard creature that had attacked Dys. The thing shoved her aside, though not before she managed to punch it again to trigger Mirrored Strikes. The enemy, whatever it was, was rocked by the blow, but not enough to stop its forward progression. Syd was knocked aside with a crunch of wood and cracking of stone as the table and floor of the room were broken.
Jay lunged at where she guessed the thing had to be based on the sounds that were barely audible over the spell-generated noise, but her hands merely brushed against hard scales. The creature had not continued forward. Instead, it had retreated, falling back. Rushing after the sensation of movement and wind, Jay ended up at the broken window just as the darkness of the vision-impairing spell wore off. Everything had happened in less than three seconds.
A massive dark shape, barely visible against the night sky, was flapping batlike wings as it flew away from the city to the northwest. It moved with incredible speed, and Jay could barely see a glimpse of its long tail trailing behind it as it fled the scene.
“Is everyone okay?” Dys shouted as she rushed to help Severina to her feet. “Is anyone hurt?”
“I’m okay…” Sabina answered shakily as she crawled out from under an overturned chair.
“Fucking—yeah, I’m fine,” Bridget cursed as she rose to her feet.
“Yes,” Thea replied shortly, her voice strong with anger and outrage.
“I am missing some health, but I will recover,” Meli called out from the other end of the room.
As Jay helped Severina to her feet from where she had been tossed aside, the Seraphim brushed the hair from her eyes and froze in place.
“Where’s Alex?”
All three of Jadis’ hearts stopped as her gaze searched the room. A wail of barely stifled despair croaked out from her throats as her search did not find the lover she was desperately hoping had only slipped out of sight and hidden in all of the confusion. But there was no more confusion. Alex was not in the room. And Jadis knew the reason why.
“That’s the expression I was looking for,” a cruel voice called out from the shattered staff lying amidst what was left of the dining room table. “Beautiful… Truly worth the effort. Didn’t I tell you that wasn’t the ending I had—”
A scream of pure rage erupted from Jadis’ mouths as she slammed one foot down on the demonic ocular orb, crushing it in a burst of Eldritch magic.
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