As soon he saw Alicia leaving out the back door, Cyg snuck inside the house. Without a sound, he dashed to his room and pulled the covered bucket full of soaked herbs and lard out to the kitchen window. There he gritted his teeth, watching the elf as she walked halfway to the forest line before setting the “treat” down. Cyg focused, and as Alicia called out for Bassy, he very carefully made sure not to cut through the bird's side. It helped that it was freshly butchered, and its lingering mana provided a weak response to his prodding.
The basilisk, answering her call, came bounding through the woods and appeared into sight. The thief broke out in a sweat, wondering if he was caught—but the pair continued as if nothing was wrong! Behind the window he seemed to be safe, Cyg noticed, and just before Alicia used magic to pick back up the basilisk's gift, he pulled off a successful swap. He had done it! The change in weight was imperceptible, and it should have been perfect.
But as Alicia threw it into Bassy's mouth, she had a sudden rogue thought. She was feeding Bassy... and did Cyg not mention poison?
It began as a mere concept, too vague to put into words, but as her mind rolled it over, it sharpened into a knife's edge. It made sense, far more than the absurd “poison shrapnel bomb” proposed to her earlier. And try as she might, she could not stop herself from thinking about it. Alicia even went so far as to distract herself by counting backwards from 1000 the multiples of 7, but it was oh so hopeless. She knew, and her heart of hearts knew.
She more or less formed the entire plan as the basilisk chowed down with suspicion, halting halfway when it realized Alicia was entirely serious—and it could *taste* it. Whether it understood time travel and devious plans from another past was irrelevant; what it did know was that it was being subjected to a murder plot. Bassy hacked and sputtered the half-eaten meal to the side, realizing the peculiar flavor was owed to malicious design.
The beast growled, looking for someone to blame, its head drifting around and finding no one but the elven apprentice, and it leaned down at her with a snarl.
“Hey brick for brains!” Cyg shouted as he threw the door open, a sack of bombs in one hand and a sack of small stones in the other. The latter he swung with great effort in a half-circle before releasing, scattering its contents all over the clearing behind the house. One bounced harmlessly off Bassy's hide while another almost struck Alicia.
“W-Watch it!” she blurted out as she hurried back to the house.
Palming a bomb, Cyg began circling the basilisk who hacked up more herbs. It shuddered and shifted its weight, clearly suspicious. “Can't you do me a favor and sit still for a while longer?” Cyg asked, “About 30 minutes should be enough for it to kick in.”
The beast took one step forward and stopped, seeing his intentions. But, his ability to pull it off was an entirely different story, and the creature ultimately dismissed it. In a great gallop, it began to close the distance while Cyg broke out in a sprint. He threw the unprimed bomb in hand, his mana trailing constantly behind.
A clean, clear arc, one that was easily avoidable, and the beast swerved to the side to avoid it—and as it committed to its change in momentum, Cyg swapped it with one of the stones lying on the ground. It was as if the bomb suddenly shot out of the ground and back toward Bassy, and though it wasn't perfectly on target, Cyg directly activated the explosive as it got close to the beast's stalks.
The blast struck Bassy's head and rippled through the air and grass. It staggered back, crying out in pain in a low roar, and its crown curled in a futile gesture to protect itself. With a furious roar, it bounded toward Cyg once more, who by now increased the distance between them to a safe amount.
Stolen story; please report.
Cyg threw a second bomb, aiming to repeat the same pattern as before. This time, he swapped it with a stone closer to Bassy—too close, and the beast lifted its head and brought a leg over as if to stomp on the wooden sphere, the following explosion scorching its hide but failing to deal any substantial damage. The third bomb was swapped too far, and Bassy easily swung around fast enough to smash it out of the air with its tail. He was quickly running out of things to throw, and with each attempt the beast seemed to get better and better at reacting to his trick.
The thief cursed—only the first attack really worked. How damnable was it that Merry's familiar shared the same adaptability that she apparently had? Cyg tried once more for the fourth bomb, but it was just as pointless. Eventually the basilisk closed in and smashed into Cyg by using its head like a giant hammer, sending him sprawling into the forest; it had clamped down its jaw out of fear that the thief might try something else, but blunt force was enough. The whole thing was over in mere minutes, over before the poison kicked in, if the little amount ingested would’ve had any at all.
Alicia, noticing the break in the battle, ran as fast as she could to Cyg's side. “You... you have to come up with a better lie,” she told him with nothing but consternation.
He gritted his teeth and answered weakly. “Huh?”
“I know what I'm like, okay!? You...” Alicia trailed off, “You might have to spend an entire loop trying to figure out how to lie to me properly and then—”
“...Even when I tell you everything, you worry about it; we're barking up the wrong tree here.” If he was particularly suspicious, she'd probably try following him or rummaging through his belongings. Worst case scenario, she'd send Merry or Bassy after him too. “Nah, I think I figured us out,” Cyg said, digging the last bomb out of the sack. “Just one question: do you think you can survive a bomb if it went off about... two paces in front of your face?”
Frowning, Alicia replied, “...Maybe?”
“Then you better get moving. And probably look away for this,” he said, waving her away as Bassy slowly walked on over. “Merry's not back yet, huh? I guess that's one more thing confirmed.”
As she backed off, the elf asked, “Wait, are you sure? You already know what you're going to do? “
“Yup,” he said, placing the wooden sphere against his chest, and before detonating it he told her, “Just trust me.”
* * *
“How can I do that!?” Alicia repeated while sitting on her usual rock at the creek. “We only have one try left before there's no more time travelling left to save you! Surely, you're joking.”
Crossing his arms, he met her questioning glare. “I'm deathly serious.”
While she was already nervous after seeing the number of teardrops remaining, Cyg's refusal to elaborate only dizzied her. The thief told her nothing of what happened in the previous loops, not even continuing to practice with his Aspect. One theory started forming after the other in her mind, striking down unlikely possibilities until—
“But we both know I’m asking for the impossible, so here's what I had in mind,” Cyg began as he sat down on the pebble bank. An uncomfortable seat as ever. “What happens if you put another sigil on your arm? I remember you telling me that we don't have enough mana for both of us in the circle, implying that it was normally possible.”
She frowned. “It would take twice the amount, which obviously wouldn't have given you enough time.”
“And we only have one teardrop left, so what happens if there are two sigils?”
“...From what I could make of it, if there were enough mana for the both of us, then it would require both our sigils to trigger for the circle to activate. But, if there was only enough mana for one person, then I believe just the first sigil would do the trick.”
Clasping his hands on his knees, Cyg said, “Great. Then you should put yours back on as soon as possible.”
She hummed. “As some form of insurance?”
The problem was they weren't equals, worsened by the fact they were practically complete strangers.
“Right. You'd have the ability to reset the loop one last time whenever you want,” he explained, “Surely that'd be enough to set your mind at ease.”
Alicia, leaning forward with a hand on her mouth, mulled over the idea for a second. “Hardly. If anything, it's as if you're telling me to watch you commit suicide.”
“Well if this plan doesn't work, then I'm all out of ideas. Plus, I know by now lying to you goes nowhere... though one can call this a lie by omission.”
Exhaling sharply, the apprentice gave in. “Fine, I'll prepare some ink today,” she said, “So, what now? I distract myself while you run around doing everything yourself?”
“Hold on now, I didn't say that,” Cyg said with a grin, “I'm going to need you to make some bombs. I was thinking, would about two dozen do the trick?”