The Crew was a machine that was perfect and articulate. Jack was well connected and a brilliant strategist. Sarah was outgoing and a great motivator. Benji was strong, yet gentle. They worked brilliantly, if not perpetually on their own. Matt just did not fit in.
Yet their families had all suffered together. So despite Matt’s temper and the sins of his father and father’s father, the Crew accepted him. There was no room for him to work inside the Crew, and so Matt lashed himself to it where he could, barking orders to plans Jack had made, passing Sarah’s words as his own motivating speech, and demanding Benji protect him at every turn. He fancied himself the leader of the group.
But there was one trait that all three of them had, yet Matt was better at than any of them. He could lie. And more believable than anyone they had ever met. A sideways glare would communicate to the Crew that Matt demanded absolute obedience to his fictions. Even if it was just barely, Matt’s lies would always keep them out of trouble.
So when Sarah and Kait returned from the laundry stream and Matt shot his hateful liar’s glare across the group, they knew to continue with business as usual. They pretended as though none of them knew about Matt and Kait trying for a child. They refused to remember Sarah shoving Matt to the ground and attacking him. They did not do anything other than have campfire small talk.
Kait was still mellow from her time empathizing with the stream and chatting with Sarah, and had no intention of ruining the good feelings, and so though she sensed unease around the camp, she decided not to pry.
“So, a lock?” Matt asked as Jack rustled through his satchel.
“Yes,” Jack said, cheering up when he trusted that nothing would come of the earlier encounter. “Will-enchanted. And no indications that the key is at the chapel.”
“Why would that be?” Benji asked. “It is their treasure, isn’t it?”
“That’s the thing, Ben,” Jack said, wagging his finger. “I have a feeling the Halcyon Band is not something the Church of the Will is proud of. I think when we look for our buyer, we should remember that. We may be able to ransom the thing.”
“Do we even know what it does? Why are they so ashamed of it?” Matt picked up one of Jack’s documents showing a drawing of an unassuming wristband. The words “Halcyon Band” were written in skilled calligraphy across the top of the page.
“Beats me!” Jack said with a shrug. “But they put it behind a lock and forgot about it.”
“Druids,” Kait said breezily. She was sitting on a folded blanket outside of her and Matt’s tent, waving her hand to summon a gust of wind that caught the still-wet clothing and hung it in the air to dry.
Matt looked in her direction, half annoyed, half confused. “What?”
“You said the lock was glyph-enchanted. Well, when I was younger, we would always get these jewelry boxes or clothing pieces that were enchanted by gold magic glyphs. You know, from sales of deceased peoples’ properties.” She explained her thoughts with a matter-of-fact confidence that she normally did not show Matt, but now that Sarah had opened up to her, Kait felt as though the Crew would support her. She understood how Matt liked to be in charge, but she knew that this could help. “We would always have trouble with them. We would want to repurpose the items, or open them up, or use them in ways they weren’t designed. Gold magic users have a very bad habit of killing utility. A coat that is rainproof could not even be washed once it was worn too thin to be warm anymore. Water just fell off them.
“So we would visit the druids. They would be able to break the glyphs, and sometimes even rework the materials. Our magic could not do a lick of damage to this stuff, but green magic could make it happen.”
“Where are we going to find any druids?” Matt snapped as he watched his friends nod to one another.
Kait stopped airing the clothing for a moment, letting the garments droop in mid air on nothing but a single breeze necessary to keep them from falling into the dirt. “There’s a grove north of here, outside Crossroads. I have gone to it several times, and we have to go north for the band, right?”
“That’s right,” Jack said with a nod. “I think it’s surely worth a shot.”
Matt looked up at Jack, still somewhat confused that his wife was suddenly so eager to help. He had intentionally hidden some of the facts from her to keep her from worrying. He wanted her focused completely on the prospects of their future family. He shot a hurt glance in Sarah’s direction, assuming she was the cause.
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“It is on the way,” Benji added.
“I’ve never talked to druids before,” Sarah said. “You think you can get us in good with them, Kait?”
“Well, I doubt they would remember me or anything, but they were always extremely welcoming to the Host. I think I should get us a chance to talk to them at the very least.”
“Does this sound good to you Matt?” Jack asked out of courtesy to the self-proclaimed leader of the Crew.
“Yeah, sure. That’s fine.” He said the words shortly, then got up, muttering something about needing a snack and ducked past Kaitlyn and into their tent.
The Crew let out a breath of relief. Just having Matt present was ratcheting up a tension that none of them truly enjoyed.
Later that night, once the clothing was dried and put away and the Crew shared dinner around a small campfire, they each returned to their tents. Kait was sitting on the bed spread on the ground, looking at a diagram of the Halcyon Band Jack had let her borrow.
“The Church has wonderful craftsmanship, you know?”
“Just looks like a metal cylinder to me,” Matt said, shrugging. He was lying beside her, naked from the waist up, resting his head in his hands, and staring at the ceiling of the tent.
“Well, look,” she said, lying beside him and holding the diagram up in front of both of their faces. Matt lowered one of his hands to run his fingers through her hair. “The whole idea of gold magic is faith, right? So they put these wards all across the enchanted item to remind themselves of what the piece is capable of, and to help the user believe in it.”
“Do you know what they mean?”
“No, I never really studied the glyphs too hard. I always had this idea like ‘why trust an elder god that wasn’t even around when you lived in Kraag’s shadow?’”
“Have I ever asked you what he’s like?”
“Kraag?”
Matt nodded.
“No, you haven’t!” Kait said excitedly. “It is actually hard to explain. He is capable of every emotion. Passion incarnate. But he is mostly stubborn and calm. After all, he has a body of stone and his lungs are full of the winds of the world. Sometimes, when he really needs to talk to us, he’ll find someone who can understand his emotions. We call them the Speaker.”
“This sounds rehearsed,” Matt chuckled.
“It kind of is.”
“I’m sorry I shrunk off after the druid conversation. I just,” Matt looked at Kait, who was beginning to look worried. “I know you don’t want to be a part of this. And I do not want you to feel like you are helping me do something you don’t want to do.”
Kait nodded. “Well, I like your friends. And I figure, the sooner we get the Halcyon Band, the sooner we’ll be done. And if I can help it be over with, I would like you to let me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Please, Matt,” she said, becoming somewhat serious. “I know you have been trying to control what I hear at the camp, what I know about those people out there. I’m not stupid.”
“I didn’t call you stupid.”
“But you’re treating me like I can’t handle the situation.”
“I just don’t want you walking out on me like you did back at the tavern.”
Kaitlyn sighed. “That was an outburst. I’m sorry I did that. But I need you to trust me. I’m all in, you know.”
“I know, and I love you for it.” Matt kissed Kaitlyn’s forehead. “And our child will love you for it, too.” He kissed her lips. “And all the more when they understand that this life is behind us because of your devotion.” He kissed her again, longer this time.
The sun was up already, and Jack was already causing a ruckus in the camp when Kaitlyn finally emerged.
“One rock! All it took!” Jack was probably miming his throwing a rock overhand up into the trees. “I’m talking about three big birds! Chickens or quails! All fly off!”
“Three birds in one nest, and you bring us three eggs?” Sarah asked, deadpan.
“Two nests, but all the eggs broke in one of them, Miss Doubtful,” Jack chided.
“Well, you threw rocks at them,” Matt said as he cracked one of the eggs into a cast iron skillet in the fire. “Do quail even lay eggs this time of year?”
“Ask the birds,” Jack sputtered. “You know what, I don’t give a damn. I brought you breakfast and all I get is sour attitudes!”
“Well, I appreciate it, Jack,” Benji said as he bit slurped one of the raw eggs from its shell.
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Jack muttered as he walked to his tent for a piece of bread from his sack.
Kait watched the scene with a grin until Sarah noticed her. “Hey, good morning, Kait! Do you want breakfast?”
“There’s only three eggs, you guys go ahead and have them,” she said. She honestly wasn’t feeling much like eating. She just wanted to watch her husband and his friends. “I’ll have a slice of bread or something.”