Palan continued chasing the retreating harpies, passing through the roads of the second sector. They had left the wall behind quite a while ago, causing it to be a faint smear of red on the horizon. He couldn’t help but wonder if the harpies were returning to their base or not. Was Solra located this far away? Palan tried using Raea’s powers, but nothing happened. The red harpy wrapped in his tail started to stir. “She’s waking up,” Pyre said. He was stuck in the tail adjacent to her.

Palan furrowed his brow and constricted the harpy. Her eyes shot open as she let out a squawk. “It hurts!” the harpy said while gasping. She wriggled, attempting to free herself, but her wings were firmly pressed against her sides. A red glow appeared in her eyes, but Pyre slapped her cheek with his blindfold. The harpy blinked and shook her head, the red glow gone. Her brow furrowed as the blindfold hit her again.

“No powers,” Pyre said and glared at the harpy.

“Where am I?” the harpy asked as she looked around. The trio were floating in the sky, their bodies surrounded by halos of black light. “Let me go!”

“We can’t do that,” Pyre said. “You’re a hostage.” The harpy blinked and stared at the old angel who was in the same exact position as her.

“We’re in the second sector,” Palan said and glanced at the harpy. “Where’s the rebel army located?”

“I won’t tell you,” The harpy said and wrinkled her nose. Her body creaked as Palan’s tail began to constrict her waist. A scream escaped from her mouth, and Pyre stunned her with his blindfold again before she could use any powers. “Stop doing that!”

“Just tell us where the army is,” Pyre said. “We’re going to exchange you for one of our friends. It’s in your best interest to help us.”

“Should I rip one of her wings off?” Palan asked and raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never tortured a harpy before. She might die if I’m not careful.” The harpy shuddered and let out a groan as one of the bones in her wings snapped from the constriction.

“I, I’ll tell,” the harpy said and gritted her teeth. She focused on the surroundings, attempting to find a familiar landmark. Her eyes lit up. “You’re going the right way. It’s not too far now. There’ll be an abandoned mineshaft hidden behind some boulders.”

“So just keep following the harpies?” Palan asked.

The red harpy scowled. “Those stupid birdbrains,” she said. “I told them not to retreat back to the base.”

Silence fell. Once, some of the harpies in the front fired purple lightning at Palan, but he deflected the bolts using the red harpy as a shield. The harpies stopped attacking after that. The red harpy bit her lower lip and asked, “Are you two with the angels?” Her gaze locked onto Pyre’s eyes. Why did he look so familiar?

“Don’t you recognize me?” Pyre asked. He reached into his bag and pulled out a pipe, lighting its contents with an orb of wrath.

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The harpy gasped. “It’s you!” she said and attempted to distance herself from the smoking angel. Her body thrashed about, causing Palan to constrict her again. The harpy winced and relaxed her body. “I thought the commander killed you.”

“I’m too important to die,” Pyre said and laughed.

“Are you working with the angels now?” the harpy asked and furrowed her brows. She had seen the power of the cannons. What if the angels had them as well? She’d probably die if a cannonball hit a vital spot.

“No,” Pyre said and gestured towards Palan with his head. “I’m working for him. And even though Solra tried to kill me, I wouldn’t mind renewing our friendship. Put in a good word for me, why don’t you? We’ve treated you well enough as a hostage.”

The harpy’s broken wing throbbed as her eyes twitched. “Why are you going towards our base?”

“Didn’t I already tell you,” Pyre asked. “We’re going to exchange you for an angel.”

“One of the council members?” the harpy asked and tilted her head. “Solra would never agree.”

“No,” Pyre said. “A fallen angel of wrath. She most likely has four wings, looks a bit demonic, and probably gives nightmares to children when they see her. Do you know her?”

The harpy blinked. “No,” she said and shook her head. “I think I would remember someone like that. When did we capture her?”

“Sometime within these past few days,” Pyre said and glanced at Palan. The demon’s head was facing forward, and Pyre couldn’t tell what his expression was like. He did notice the snake squeezing his body tighter however. Pyre frowned and looked at the harpy. “Are you sure you haven’t seen her? She would’ve invaded with a storm of black fire.”

The harpy shook her head again. “This is the first time I’ve left the base in days,” she said. “Maybe I was asleep and didn’t notice?” Pyre snorted. He knew how light of a sleeper this harpy was. He tried extracting her blood in the middle of the night once because she was deathly afraid of needles. It didn’t end so well for him or the halflings in the neighboring caves.

“We’re here,” Palan said before the two people in his tails could say anything else. The harpies ahead of them were descending and disappearing behind a cluster of boulders. “Even if Raea isn’t here right now, she’s going to come eventually. Maybe I overestimated her intelligence. She definitely got lost.”

“Since she’s not here,” the harpy said slowly, “are you going to set me free?”

“I’ll see,” Palan said as he descended onto the boulders. The entrance to the mineshaft was hidden pretty well. If he didn’t have his electromagnetic sense or if the red harpy hadn’t told him, he wouldn’t have noticed the entrance. Palan looked at Pyre. “Is she your friend?”

“Her?” Pyre asked and raised an eyebrow towards the harpy. “She’s more like a pet.”

“Who’s a pet!?” the harpy shouted. Pyre slapped her face with his blindfold, dispersing her gathered mana. Normally, a light slap wouldn’t be enough to stop an archling’s powers, but Pyre had been conditioning the harpy since she was a greater harpy.

“So you won’t miss her too much if I decide to eat her,” Palan said.

The harpy paled, and Pyre stopped her powers once again. “I’d rather you didn’t,” Pyre said and sighed. “Now that I’ve lost my lab, I don’t have any more toys to play with. We can probably kidnap her away from Solra.”

“She does seem a lot braver than my last harpy slave,” Palan said. He wondered what happened to Sally and Elrith, but quickly dismissed those thoughts. Someone was climbing up the mineshaft. Palan hadn’t entered because he wanted to catch a few more hostages first. Besides, though it was unlikely, it was still possible Raea had arrived in the time it took the harpy to fly towards the wall. He could interrogate a few more people to determine if Raea had truly appeared or not. He felt a bit of regret for not heading towards the black flames back in the city, but he still believed he made the correct choice.