20

Speaking of Revenge

After Scorpion left, Cricket continued to practice for hours. He had a promising young ratling named Sticks take the veteran's place, which really made for a more manageable fight. True to his name, Sticks specialized in two bare mushroomwood poles, which he wielded surprisingly well. Sticks had learned a few brutal combos, and though his moves were predictable, when Cricket fought Jiukec at the same time, he found himself constantly pressed to his limits.

Though Cricket had no real expertise in kicking, he instructed the lizardman to a point of basic competence. Together his opponents circled him and attacked with a constant barrage of strikes and kicks and slashes. In order to avoid being completely overwhelmed, he was forced to improvise some new blocks. He also seldom had the luxury of blocking with both weapons at once, having to dodge the more powerful attacks and reserve each sickle for blocking one strike at a time. Without a free sickle, he was often left rattled by an unexpected lunge.

The insectoid abandoned his daggers during the training, using his extra hands for defense only.

"Break!" Cricket called, then flopped onto his back panting. Once he had caught his breath he observed his opponents. Jiukec still breathed evenly, as if completely fresh. Though that wasn't too surprising for his kind.

Sticks, on the other hand, panted almost as heavily as Cricket, his thick fur matted with sweat. Though the ratling hid it, Cricket knew he was hurting and needed this break too.

It took almost ten minutes for Cricket to catch his breath and cool down enough to fight again. He rose shakily and asked, "You both up for a few more rounds?

Jiukec nodded eagerly, and Sticks reluctantly.

"Okay, new rules though. Jiuk, I want you to mostly kick at my knees from the side. Come at me aggressively enough that it's uncomfortable for me. Maybe even terrifying. If you take out one of my knees, Jesh can always heal me when he gets back."

"Jesh got back hours ago," Stick said.

"Really? What time is it?"

"Late," Sticks answered.

"Oh. Okay. One more round then and we'll call it a day. Both of you attack like normal except for the kicking thing," he pointed a sickle at Jiukec. "And one more weird request. I want you both to spit."

"What?"

"Basically, I need to learn to dodge spit," Cricket explained, sheepishly. "I don't have eyelids, so I need to learn to consistently dodge if someone tries to spit in my face mid-fight."

"Okay," Sticks replied, beginning to circle the insect.

"Jiuk, did you get that?" Cricket turned just in time to see the lizardman launch a thick orange wad from his mouth. The insect screamed and ducked as the spit sailed over his shoulder.

Cricket heard Sticks preparing a loogie behind him and brought a sickle in front of his eyes as he turned, a look of horror on his face. Then Jiukec began an assault, and Cricket found himself scrambling to mount a defense against two swords, two sticks, and a constant barrage of spit. He had no time to block or dodge every kick, and he took to lifting his knee to blunt some of the kicks with the sharp ridge of his shin. After repelling Jiukec this way twice, the lizardman paused to massage a deep bruise on his leg.

Cricket wiped the dripping spit from his face and called it a night.

*****

Oydd awoke to a very light rapping on his door. At first he thought it part of a dream, but as he stared out into the dark, he heard the sound again.

The rudra rose and opened the door to his chamber to see the mouseling trembling.

"It's Scorpion..."

"Where is he?" Oydd asked.

"In your office with Jeshu."

The rudra grabbed his staff and hurried up to the commons, expecting to see Agena as well, but found only empty halls.

In his office, Scorpion sat on a table, deep gashes on his right arm. The druid, however, attended to the ratling's eye, which had been cut in half.

"What happened?" Oydd asked.

Scorpion stared off in shock, but managed to speak one word between pants. "Jade."

"Hold still," Jeshu cautioned. "I won't be able to save this eye, but I can stop the bleeding."

Scorpion did his best to comply, though he wobbled unsteadily.

Oydd inspected the ratling's arm. "It looks like we'll have to amputate. Unless you can fix this, Jeshu?"

The druid shook his head bleakly.

"He looks pale," the rudra added. "Let's lay him down before he faints."

Jeshu helped the ratling to a reclining position, where he gasped in fits and clenched his jaw so hard that Oydd worried it would crack a tooth.

Jeshu began to work on the arm, which was shredded in multiple places clear to the bone, and completely drained of color. The druid had tied a cloth tightly near the shoulder, cutting off circulation before the rudra arrived. Now he placed his hands over the shoulder and chanted, attempting to alleviate the pain.

As his breathing calmed, the ratling tried to speak again. "She... she got Agena. He's gone."

"What?" Oydd asked, stunned.

"He didn't want to leave his men. He..."

"Just rest," the druid advised. "We can talk later."

"He... he's gone." Scorpion closed his eyes and breathed softly.

Jeshu scooped the ratling up in his arms and turned to the rudra. "Do you have anything to dull the pain?"

Oydd shook his head. "I..."

"That's all right. Let's get him to the infirmary."

Jeshu carried the unconscious ratling, cradling him in his arms, up the winding trail from the burrows to a room somewhat smaller than the morgue, with similar instruments and a single examination table.

"These are some brutal cuts. I need to remove bone fragments," Jeshu said. "Oydd, can you seal the arteries?" For the first time, Jeshu looked at the rudra. For a white-skinned creature, his skin somehow looked extra pale. His tentacles curled in nausea.

"Oydd?" Jeshu repeated in alarm.

The rudra snapped to attention. "Yes... yes, and the nerves."

"Have you not done this before?"

"Not on... the living." Oydd gagged at the sight of the blood, and his hand trembled.

"Never mind," Jeshu growled. "I'll do it myself. Hand me that bone saw."

*****

Cricket felt something was off when he awoke. Something... missing, he thought. He scratched his feelers and tried to recall his dream before it slipped away. He remembered swimming in a yellow lake of acid with a demon, splashing each other playfully, when it hit him—the scraping! The missing sound was Scorpion's tail scraping against the wall. Which meant he was still out on a mission. Cricket always had trouble sleeping without a good, constant scraping sound in the background.

He hopped from his bunk and wandered from the commons. His stomach grumbled.

Jeshu usually rose several hours earlier than the insect, but often waited to eat breakfast together. So Cricket decided to track him down.

He found Oydd, and Jeshu in the rudra's office. Patches sat curled on the desk with heavy bags under her open eyes.

"Good morning..." Cricket stretched and yawned, covering his face with a free hand to be polite.

He looked around the room. "Why so glum?"

"We lost a team last night," Oydd stated bluntly.

"Oh..." Cricket frowned and his antennae drooped.

"They were in a confrontation with the Right Hand. Only Scorpion returned."

"What! Wasn't Agena with that group? What happened?"

Jeshu answered. "We don't have a lot of information right now. Scorpion is resting. He might not make it. He lost an eye and an arm."

"Damn..." Cricket yawned again, then shivered. "Was it his good eye?"

"They were both good eyes, Cricket," Oydd answered, distracted, as he looked over a parchment on his desk.

Cricket paused in thought for a long time, while Jeshu hung his head. Dried blood still covered the druid's hands, and he stared off into nothing.

"We have to do something..." Cricket whispered. "Do we know who did this?"

"No." The rudra looked up suddenly from his writing. "We don't have to do something. We will wait for the correct opportunity to respond."

Cricket shook his head. "Or we can act now, and track down whoever did this. What do we know?"

Don't tell him.

"Don't tell me what?"

"How do you do that?" the rudra spat in frustration. "I was speaking only to Jeshu."

"You haven't figured it out?" Cricket forced a smile. "It's my antennae. When you use your... um..."

"Telepathy."

"Yes. When you use your telepathy it sends out waves. I can pick them up."

Oydd glared at the insect, then closed his eyes and sighed. He set his quill down. "Well don't. Unless I'm talking to you. It's rude."

"I can't really choose... don't tell me what?" he suddenly demanded.

Jeshu sighed. "Don't act rashly, but we believe the attack was by Jade alone."

"Jade!" Cricket yelled. "Jade, and you weren't going to tell me!"

"Calm down," Oydd said.

"Don't tell Cricket," the insect mimicked. "He'll storm off and do something stupid!"

Oydd stared at the insect, unmoving.

Cricket pulled at his chin as if stroking imaginary tentacles. "He doesn't think straight when it comes to Jade."

"Well..." Oydd replied caustically.

"God forbid he ever finds his own people."

Cricket rubbed his eyes with his fingers, and his tongue clicked awkwardly.

"Are you finished?"

The insect clenched his mandibles and returned the rudra's stare.

"Do I have to go on my own again?"

"Don't be absurd. You'll just get yourself killed," Oydd said. "But I know you would."

"Would what, go on my own, or get killed?"

"Both," the rudra stated flatly.

"Then help this time," Jeshu joined.

Oydd looked from the insect to the dryad and absently stroked his tentacles with his hand, before catching himself and pretended to straighten his robe instead. "I intend to. If she's openly working with the Right Hand, and alone, I might add, then she may actually be our best target. But we need to do it right."

Cricket relaxed his scowl and the rudra continued, "We need to be prepared. We need a plan based specifically on what we know about her. And then we need to hit her with everything. Leave no chance for a victory."

"I should fight her..." Cricket said.

"Well you had your chance, and you lost," Oydd stated.

Cricket turned to Jeshu for support, but the druid just stared down at his hands.

"So this time we do it my way," the rudra continued.

"All right..." Cricket conceded, "but more men won't help much if they're raw. They'll just get in the way."

"I agree. But I have been preparing for this."

"So have I."

Oydd placed the tips of his fingers together and stared off at a corner of the ceiling. "I have some creations that will be difficult for even her to fight. So I will need to come. But I'm worried about her screeching like you. She's a resourceful fighter."

"You could—"

"Let me finish," Oydd said sternly. "I brewed something to help me with that problem. But it may leave my senses dulled. I doubt I will be able to use my psionic powers."

"Si... a..."

"Telepathy, telekinesis, and a few others I've been working on," Oydd explained. "Anything that requires my mind to be keen. But I can still control the dead. They just might be a little... less predictable."

"I can create sunlight," Jeshu added. "It worked on dispelling her shadows in the past. And Jade is likely as sensitive to light as Cricket."

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"So I would need to hold back at first? If it blinds her, it would blind me."

"Yes," the dryad agreed. "I would disable her shadows and blind her, and then you would join the fight."

"Don't underestimate her. Even blinded, she'll be deadly," Cricket warned.

The rudra nodded. "My creations will protect Jeshu while he invokes Elkennah, and then they will assist you."

"What creations do you have? One zombie left?" Cricket asked.

"You forget about Gad, and I've made two new ghouls. Deep goblins."

"Let's bring Ty'lek," Cricket said. "He's our best aim now, and I trust him in battle. He has a sharp mind. Maybe it will keep her on her toes."

"Then let's leave now. We may catch her off guard, and I have a limited time where I can still commune with the dead. Our brethren may have information to assist us."

"I'll bring Pip," Patches whispered.

"Pip?" Oydd asked.

"My familiar..." The mouseling yawned then arched her back, rising from the desk.

The rudra sighed and all but rolled his eyes. "Excellent..."

"Actually, you should make one of those creepy dolls of yours," Cricket suggested.

"A totem," Oydd clarified.

"No," the mouseling shook her head. "I don't have her blood."

"And Jade is unlikely her true name," Jeshu added.

"Also, the mouseling is not a witch," Oydd snapped.

The druid stood. "I'll need my shield and hammer."

"I need to stop by the armory too," Cricket said. "We could meet you by the stables?"

Oydd nodded. "I will only be a bit behind you."

*****

By the time Oydd stumbled up to the stables, Cricket had somehow already returned to his usual cheerful mood. Ty'lek waited at his side with the Nightcrawler bow.

Oydd had armed the deep goblins with spears and shields. Cricket had not seen any of the rudra's creations wield a weapon before, but the red ghouls gripped their spears eagerly. Their black eyes peered out dangerously from behind full iron helms, and their black horns punctured the metal on top.

"Those helmets are as much for your protection," Oydd explained, as one of the ghouls attempted to bite the other, muzzled by his helmet.

The rudra paused as if lost in thought and stared down the road. Gad and the goblins paused as well.

"Are you drunk?" Cricket asked.

"Hmm..." Oydd looked at him suddenly. "No, no, just... tipsy."

"That's what you meant when you said you had brewed something to dull your senses?" Jeshu asked. "I assumed you meant some kind of potion."

"Mead," the rudra replied. "Should be effective. Really calms down my hearing to a manageable level."

"Until it wears off and you get a hangover," Cricket said.

"I am on a very small dose. But it stays in my system for a long time."

"We should have discussed this though." The insect stretched and turned to head out. "Maybe we could have had Patches knit you some earmuffs."

"I don't have ears, so I would have to cover up most of my skin."

"And hide that sexy bod? I see why you chose mead."

Oydd blushed. "This affects my whole system. But I am in control." The rudra hiccupped.

"I have some new graces," Jeshu interrupted. "Cricket, I believe I can greatly improve the effectiveness of your turtle charm." He held out an arm and began to chant. The charm glowed black but the light quickly faded. "And," he said, "it won't glow like a lantern anymore."

"It's still glowing," Cricket complained.

Oydd leaned in uncomfortably close. "I can still see it too."

"What?" the dryad said, flustered. "I don't see it at all. You'll just have to trust me it is much duller than before." The azaeri followed Oydd's lead and leaned in until his beak nearly touched the charm.

"Hmm..." Oydd said skeptically.

"I will work on getting it even darker. But for now, everyone gather around."

Cricket, Oydd, and Ty'lek moved closer to the druid.

"And the zombies."

"Ghouls," Oydd corrected, calling them over. Patches hopped up on Cricket's shoulder.

Jeshu knelt and bowed his head, as if praying silently. A glowing mark began to appear on his shield. Eventually the druid stood and held his shield out for the others to see. "The mark is simply a focal point. If you stay near me, I can provide everyone with a bit of my energy to speed up the trip."

"Cool!" Cricket announced, then began marching up the trail. Despite the dryad's modest claims, Cricket felt access to a deep reserve of energy. He nearly ran up the road with no signs of tiring, and even Oydd and Gad kept up with the pace. If Jeshu always had this much vitality, it must have usually gone to waste.

Without the need to rest, the group made the usual hour-long trip in half that time, and came upon signs of the skirmish—a scene of pure havoc. Lizardmen and ratling limbs lay strewn about the ground along with long streaks of blood, crushed skulls and viscera. Agena lay in a heap in the middle of the road, largely still whole, felled by multiple stabs to the chest.

Agena's mimic lay atop the bulky lizardman, cradling his head—its skin a deep maroon.

"Scorpion said this was all Jade?" Cricket asked in astonishment.

Jeshu began, "That's all we got—"

"Yes," Oydd answered, talking over the dryad.

Jeshu waited a moment to see if he would say more and then continued, "That's all he said. It's too bad he's not here."

Oydd approached Agena to lay a hand on his head, but the mimic snapped at his fingers defensively.

Jesh tried to calm the beast. "It's okay... We're trying to help."

The mimic tightened its grip around Agena, wrapping additional tentacles around his neck and forehead.

Jeshu stepped forward to pet it, but the creature hissed and turned black. Jeshu reached out anyway, avoiding its beak, and touched the back of its bulbous head. He closed his eyes and almost instantly it calmed back to a burgundy and eventually a crimson.

Oydd tried again to place his hand on Agena's forehead, and the mimic withdrew, giving him room.

"You can cast spells while you're drunk?" Cricket asked.

"I'm not drunk. And obviously I can cast spells, or these ghouls would be lifeless." As if responding to its master, one of the deep goblins tried to bite Cricket half-heartedly, its iron visor clinking against his arm. Cricket groaned, uncertain of the rudra's assurances.

Oydd held his hand on the lizardman's forehead for too long and then spoke. "We didn't make it in time. I can't reach him. However..." He spoke a few words of magic, and the lizardman's eyes opened, glowing a bright green. The undead Agena rose on its hind legs, struggling to balance, then eventually settled on all fours—the mimic still clinging to the side of his face, its muddy tentacles dangling.

Cricket surveyed the battlefield. "I don't think I should have any trouble tracking her. The fight moved this way. She killed those men first, and Agena last. Which means she went this way."

"She could have backtracked," Jeshu suggested.

"But she didn't," Cricket said over his shoulder and started down a side road.

Oydd followed. "This road leads to Vestu Genii. Mostly old buildings and mushroomwood crops." The reanimated Agena moved slowly but noisily at his side.

"Someone's been this way recently," Cricket pointed a sickle at an ordinary cobblestone in the mud, then quickened his pace.

As Jeshu passed, he looked at the cobblestone but saw nothing of interest. Not even the mud was disturbed.

The insect pushed ahead of the others, and the druid had to hurry to avoid being left behind. The roads to Vestu Genii lead away from the main city, to an area where the dhampiri seldom had reason to venture.

Soon the cobblestone turned to hard dirt, marred only by old tire tracks.

Cricket watched the ground as he ran, only seeming more certain, then stopped before the stone ruins of a two-story building before a forest of gigantic mushrooms.

"An old lumberyard," Oydd surmised. "Are you sure she's here?"

Cricket nodded, then turned his back to the building and whispered, "Yell before you do it," to the druid.

The rudra sent the deep goblins around the building, and stayed by Agena's side, along with the azaeri, while Gad and Jeshu approached the front.

The druid covered his face with his shield and held his hammer low, inching forward, when a black khopesh twirled from within the second floor and struck the shield soundly, easily penetrating the inch-thick iron. The top six inches of the blade protruded just below the dryad's arm, then rapidly dissolved. He called over his shoulder, "She's gotten stronger!" and charged, growing to nearly twice his size as he ran.

He lifted his hammer, which now looked comically small in his hands, and swept it across the crumbling walls of the second floor, sending a cloud of dust into the air. A second later he placed the tiny shield in front of his face to block another thrown khopesh. The druid grunted loudly.

"Was that the sign?" Cricket asked.

"No," Oydd answered.

Ty'lek jumped straight upward, flapping his arms once for additional height, then fired an arrow into the smoke. He glided back down, landing in a rough squat, then drew a second arrow.

The druid plowed into the building, knocking stones aside and snapping mushroomwood beams with a few quick strokes of his hammer. A thrown khopesh embedded in his chest, but the giant dryad only roared, spurred on by the pain.

"Was that the sign?" Cricket asked.

"No," Oydd snapped in irritation. "Why are you covering your antennae? That won't help."

"Oh, right." Cricket removed his hands from the sides of his head.

"Watch this," the rudra said, smiling uncharacteristically. But before he did anything, Jeshu let out a loud, clearly forced yell and Cricket ducked, covering his eyes with his arms.

A bright light grew from behind him, so bright that he had to lower his head and use two more arms to try to block it out. After a few seconds, it faded but Cricket counted to three out loud before turning to run into the building, only to find little building left. The fight had moved into the mushroom grove.

Cricket unsheathed his daggers, holding them in his lower hands, and charged into the fray with all four weapons out.

He passed Ty'lek and Gad, just as a large black ball of energy erupted from behind him, coming presumably from the rudra. As Cricket ran, he watched it fly through the air toward Jade, who dodged behind the thick trunk of a mushroom.

Oydd laughed maniacally as the orb phased straight through the trunk, homing in on the insect woman. However, she slashed a jade khopesh at the ball and it imploded. One second it was blazing and soaring and then it was gone.

Cricket didn't see any shadows, so he ran straight for the original. Currently she played defense, easily dodging Jeshu's slow motions. Now and then the azaeri fired an arrow, but Jade simply dodged behind a mushroom stalk each time, once blocking an arrow with a khopesh. The arrows easily penetrated the uncured mushroomwood, but Jade always seemed to emerge unharmed from the far side to fight again.

The two deep goblins chose an opportune time to join the fight, rushing at her rear, and for a few seconds she was forced to turn and meet them head on, which gave Jeshu the chance to clip one of her weapons with his hammer, knocking it from her hands. The khopesh landed flat in the loam several feet away and Jade made a lunge for it.

"Priority one!" Cricket yelled.

Thinking quickly, the druid stepped on the blade and swung at Jade to swat her away.

The assassin ducked under his hammer and rolled between his legs, making a failed swipe for her weapon in the process.

Jade finished the roll on her feet and readied her remaining khopesh. But she only came up to Jesh's waist, and hesitated to rush him again. The red goblins circled around with their spears, and Cricket filled in the final gap, closing her in.

Abandoning her second weapon, the assassin barreled through the ghouls, pushing aside their spears with her lower arms and making two quick slashes at their throats with the sickle edge of her weapon.

She removed one head entirely, and the ghoul crumpled to the ground. Rather than fleeing, she came back in, disabling the second ghoul with a quick series of slashes.

Jade ducked to dodge an arrow and then ran, disappearing behind the massive stalks of mushroom.

Jeshu breathed heavily, and Cricket thought he saw the druid shrinking slowly before his eyes. He stooped to grab the lost khopesh. "Isn't she blinded?"

"I don't understand," Jeshu answered. "At least partially."

"Maybe she's spent some time on the surface," Oydd's voice came from behind.

Cricket looked back at the rudra, and saw him lying flat on his back in the middle of the road. As he watched, the rudra's hand opened and his metal staff rolled against one of Agena's legs.

Cricket tested the weight of the khopesh then handed it back to Jesh.

"Not a good time to get used to a new weapon." The insect sighed and rearmed himself with his own sickles, then sprinted into the mushroom stalks after Jade.

Though Jeshu's light clearly hadn't blinded her entirely, the assassin ran relatively slowly, and sloppily, unable to pick a path that would leave no footprints.

So, even in the maze of trunks, he caught her easily.

When Cricket neared, the assassin turned to confront him head on.

She came in with a high kick, and he blocked it with his forearm.

She stepped in with a second kick to the head, and Cricket blocked again, but this time she retracted and stomped his foot. The shell cracked audibly, and surely would have given if not for the turtle charm.

Cricket countered with a knee—forcing her backward—and then two slices of his sickles, which she swatted away with her free hands, simultaneously swiping for his head with her khopesh.

This time Cricket retreated, stepping back as he ducked. Just as he was about to move in again, the assassin charged with a series of kicks, aiming for his stomach with the ball of her foot, and then skipping sideways as he moved back, bringing her heel up to his chest—which connected solidly, with another loud crack.

Cricket moved in close, to trip up her legs, but Jade rammed her hip into his, knocking him off-balance. A moment later he felt her heel hit the back of his head, and he bent over stunned. Jade lifted a leg above his head and brought it down like an axe, forcing him to roll on the ground to dodge. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering how she'd scored such a clean hit.

Jade slashed with her khopesh, which Cricket easily blocked, but it seemed this is what the assassin wanted. With his right sickle detained, she spun around on that side, hooking with her heel. Cricket got his forearm up in time to block, but her calf wrapped around his forearm and her heel contacted the back of his head again in the same spot. Cricket's vision flashed a bright yellow, and before he could recover, he heard her spit and black goo covered his eyes.

Cricket ducked his head and drove in, catching each of her lower hands in one of his, meeting each of her upper arms with an out-turned sickle, and most importantly—since he had been in this position once before—he pressed his chin close against her chest then slid his mandibles up around her neck.

Jade froze.

Cricket tightened just enough to show his intention, and for the first time he heard Jade's voice.

"Please..."

With his mandibles around her neck, he couldn't speak, but he paused.

"Don't..."

The soft tone struck him deeply. Cricket's eyes stung from the assassin's spit. He wanted a reason to spare her. He tried desperately to think of one, but could only think of his friends whom she had killed. Seventeen ratlings. More now. Several lizardmen. Agena. Not to mention what she did to Scorpion...

As he did the math in his head, his grip must have unconsciously loosened. Jade wriggled one hand free and spread her fingers in a non-threatening way, as if surrendering. But Cricket saw the glint of a handle at her hip. Stowed away in the exoskeleton, in the same gap Cricket used to hide his daggers.

And Raccoon... Cricket remembered. Jade made a quick move for the hidden dagger.

And Cricket bit.

*****

While the others circled the building, Patches sent Pip flying over the old mill. As her first bond with a familiar, the connection was a little fuzzy, but the mouseling managed to see through his eyes. However, Pip's compound eyes caught images multiple times and made the mouseling dizzy. Hazy as the images already were, she could really only guarantee the bug flew generally in the right direction.

However, with Jade's attention on all the distractions, it was relatively easy to have Pip fly in from behind and land on her back.

With the vampire's instruction, the mouseling had learned it was possible to cast spells through her familiar. And with Pip in position, it was time to try her first curse.

A cold light spread from the ladybug along Jade's shell, settling and seeping into the carapace.

Jade twitched, but before she was found out, Jeshu crashed through the wall with his hammer, forcing the assassin to flee. And all the while, Patches drained the strength from her victim, slowly but noticeably. She sensed the assassin slow, but more interestingly, the mouseling felt the stolen lifeforce flowing into her—only darker and tainted, fuel for future spells.

When Cricket beheaded the woman, Patches instantly felt the connection severed. But the energy she had already managed to drain was significant to a mouseling. Patches called Pip back, and the beetle returned to her unnoticed from the insectoid's corpse.

*****

Cricket rolled back in the loam and looked up at the distant ceiling. A giant crab crawled along the rock right above him. And he watched it slowly pick a path among the stalactites.

Jeshu came and stood over him. "I think that went about as poorly as possible."

"Really? I was just thinking it couldn't have gone better. We did every part of the plan, and every part contributed. Imagine if we had left out even one part!"

Jeshu considered this a moment, silently. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?"

"Just... for how things transpired. I know..." the druid trailed off, uncertain what to say.

Cricket nodded. "Thanks. I get it." He reached his upper arms behind his head and rested on his hands like a pillow. "You know... I was joking about hoping she liked me. Mostly, anyway. But I really wanted to be friends with one of my own kind."

"That's understandable."

"Did you feel the same way? When more dryads came to the Warrens?"

"Hmm..." the druid thought. "Only a little. I think I am more of a solitary creature. I could be happy with my own company for a long time. You... are not."

"Not a solitary creature?" Cricket asked.

"Correct. You are happier with others around. Though I have not lived it, I can imagine your desire to meet others like you, and to learn about your past."

Cricket's antennae drooped.

"If it's any consolation," the dryad continued. "She was nothing like you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you wouldn't have gotten along. There wasn't really a better way this could have played out. You are warm and bright. She was... cold."

"A bitch," Cricket stated.

"Yes," Jeshu agreed. "A... bitch."

After Cricket caught his breath, he still stayed in the soft soil, watching the crustacean above him for some time.

When they returned to the road, they found Oydd snoring. The magic animating Agena had expired and the mimic crawled in the dirt, playing with the necromancer's staff, its skin a dark blue.

Jeshu tried unsuccessfully to coax it onto his shoulder, but eventually placed Oydd there instead, and simply picked up the staff with the mimic on top and started home.