Julius, being the good boy that he was, returned in half a day to puke up Nyxabella’s response. He looked about as tired as Daivad felt, his big eye, pale in the afternoon light, covered with a sagging lid and none of the usual bounce in his legs. Even his “Huge Man!” was a little half-hearted.

Daivad, who had been non-stop patrolling camp ever since he’d left Pait in the big center building with everyone else, promised Julius, as he made the trek up to his house, that the little beast could sleep as long as he wanted after this, and if they were out of apples, he’d go into Urden himself to buy more once this flesh monster was dealt with.

Daivad was always nervous whenever Julius began to retch up Nyxabella’s messages, but his anxiety as he set Julius on his un-slept-in bed was different. Nyxabella was either still in Toll or she had just left it, and he had no idea what words he was about to hear, or how they would sound. Knowing how separate she had to keep the different parts of her life to survive, he never would have distracted her with his own problems if the lives of everyone living in Silvax Forest weren’t at stake. All the people he was supposed to protect.

He was going to wipe this fucking monster off the face of the Dark Mother’s wide, wild Earth.

Julius hacked and retched and—

“My Dark Mother,” Nyxabella’s voice said, and at the very least she didn’t sound hoarse like before. Maybe a little tired. It seemed to be going around. “My heart hurts hearing about Aleaza and Ori—I remember Ori. And Tash, and Odelia. The ache in my chest must be heartburn compared to theirs. And you—I’d guess that days like this, you feel like it’s your shoulders, not those of the wooden giants in Silvax Forest, that hold your village up. I doubt these words will find a home within your skull, doubt they would even if my lips were there to personally speak them into your ear—,” a thrill went through him, and for the hundredth time he thought she must have done it on purpose, “—but I’ll say them anyway: the weight isn’t all on you. A family shares their burdens, and protects each other…

“Anyway—I’ll speak quick and let you keep your minutes, since they’re extra precious right now. I do know the beast, though I’ve never met one myself. It’s one of a group of beasts named for their bottomless hunger—Oagrisht. Lucky you, you drew one of the worst to deal with purely because it’s nearly impossible to avoid collateral damage. This one is Oagrish-ogmor. Little Big Hunger. All the flesh, all the bodies? Those aren’t the beast at all. Just its victims.

“The true beast is about the size of a fist—more like the size of my fist than yours.” He could hear the weary smile in her voice. “A slimy, wiggly little green thing that’s all mouth. It’s a parasite that latches onto the spinal cord of its preferred prey. Seems this one has a taste for people. It latches on and takes control of its host, and uses their body to find more prey. More hosts. Eventually the individuals are … mashed and mangled until they’ve almost become one body.”

Daivad’s gut twisted, like it was his stomach being mashed and mangled. Ori was in that thing. Ori, who Daivad had watched grow up. Who he’d watched practically raise Tash, the same way Daivad had had to raise Tobei.

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Nyxabella hesitated, and Daivad’s gut churned more.

“I don’t want to hand you hope that shines like gold just to have it tarnish in your hands, Dai. There is a chance that Aleaza and Ori can be saved, but it’s one I’d name Slim. Slim.”

Daivad’s eyes snapped to Julius’ open, unmoving mouth like that might help him hear each word more clearly.

“The longer they stay in that mass, the more likely there will be disfiguration and damage. But if you can kill the monster—the slimy, wiggly little green thing—the magic should be severed and the bodies will come apart. But that also means the bodies will come apart. Most if not all of them are only still moving because of their connection to the beast, and to each other…

“I’ve heard of it happening, people being extracted and surviving. But only one wasn’t so disfigured that they needed constant care for the rest of their lives, and that one person spent only minutes tangled in the flesh. The rest never walked, or never spoke, or never woke again. But … I know they wouldn’t have wanted to stay in that flesh-hell a second longer, living or not.”

Daivad couldn’t even imagine it. It was like his nightmare about Toll’s pit times ten. Bodies pressing in from all sides, crushing him. His limbs, his mouth, his eyes under something else’s control, made to coax and kill. Everywhere just flesh, flesh, flesh.

She hesitated again, then said, “I’m sorry. I’d say so bigger and better, but I know you need to go deal with this. I’ve taken too many of your minutes already, so instead of explaining the way the beast’s magic works and what makes it so hard to track, I’ll just suggest you ask Julius for one more bit of help. He can track magics better than any Selachian can follow scents—give him something with Ori’s or Aleaza’s magic on it and ask him to find them. He’ll take you right to the beast.

“Just a handful more words and I’ll give you back your ear, I swear. About Toll… I learned what I came here to learn, and it’s...” Her pause was heavy and full. “It’s not something you need to worry about right now.”

There was little she could have said that would have made him worry more. His mind was off, flipping through every wild idea it could come up with as to what Aran might be hiding in those mines, so quickly that they all blurred together. His eyes darted around his room, thinking.

“I’ll tell you all about it soon, hopefully in person.”

Nothing could have brought his mind to a full stop so suddenly. His eyes snapped back to Julius’ mouth and all his large teeth.

“I’m alright. Jac’s alright. And I’m so relieved to know Kitten is safe with you and Maxea. I’ll pay you both back. Soon.

“Go kill that beast, Daivad. Free those souls, and protect your people.”

Julius’ mouth snapped shut with a clack. Daivad braced himself for a “Snack, please!” but instead, the fuzzy little monster just flopped down onto Daivad’s mattress and began to wiggle his way under the thin cover.

The beast needed rest. And he’d earned it. For the first time in days, Daivad knew what he was facing and how to deal with it, horrific as it was. He would let Julius have his nap while he told the others and they prepared.

And then they would end this.