There was something off about Pigeon. A lot of things, actually.
Since he didn’t have a lot to do while convalescing anyway, he’d spent much of his time watching her.
She dressed in a carefree, lackadaisical manner, and moved with the ease and keen awareness of a gymnast. In contrast, her manner was subdued. She spoke little, and displayed no emotion except sleepy indifference.
Will couldn’t understand why she had left Talltop to meet them in the first place. She explained that she thought they had been taking too long and worried that some ill fate had befallen them, but they hadn't even been late to their rendezvous.
The most damning thing, however, was her sheet. She was supposedly Level 15, but her vines were far too intricate for that to add up. She couldn’t be a brute, either—Jewelers weren’t suited to that type of build, and she had used Lay on Hands, a skill, to heal him.
Will waited until she had her back turned. When she was feeding the fire before they were to start on dinner, her attention thus trained elsewhere, he used Identify on her.
Level 30 Jeweler
Human
Level 30. Shit.
She must have made a divine vow to give up half her crystals.
Pigeon stood and turned her head towards him. His snooping had not gone unnoticed. She came over, and Will couldn’t exactly move from his spot on the bedroll, forced to watch her approach.
“It’s rude to spy on others,” she said, hands on hips.
“It’s rude to lie about your level, too,” Will pointed out.
“Touché.”
“What’s a Level 30 doing out here, working as a random scout? If your build is anywhere near decent, you should have enough power to rule a city, at the very least.”
“Power brings vultures. I prefer to live a quiet, unremarkable life.”
“What did you put your legendary advancement into?”
Pigeon poked at her battered hat. “We don’t know each other well enough for me to tell you that.”
“Really? You’re going to do me like that?”
“Yes,” she said dully.
Pigeon wandered off, and he worked his jaw with frustration as he watched her go. If she wouldn’t tell him anything, he would have to sleuth it out for himself.
A Level 30. He couldn't quite believe it.
They would stay at the camp at least overnight, which also gave them more time to settle unfinished business. Bee, who had apparently fought a bear and won, went with Mongrel to fetch its pelt for, as she put it, a ‘badass cloak’. However, it turned out that there was no body, meaning that the beast had likely survived. Bee didn’t look too upset about it.
Will had the remains of the nettlegeist fetched for him to see if anything could be harvested from it. It had already spoiled, but he managed to extract a pair of venom glands from inside its tooth-lined maw that were still in decent condition.
Lastly, they dug a grave for Gug. It was a fairly large-scale project, expedited thanks to the chimps using Demolish to loosen up great sections of dirt that Bee could then shovel out. They repeated this process until they had made a pit large enough for the troll to be rolled into.
Will spoke a few words over the grave—for Mongrel’s sake. He’d always been soft with freshies.
“He was a rare specimen,” Pigeon said while looking down at the large patch of overturned dirt. “It’s a shame his soul has already fled.”
Whatever that meant.
That night, they gathered around the fire to discuss how they would dispense with the wretcher. Now that Pigeon was here, there was no reason to put it off.
“It’s holed up in a wayshrine north of Talltop,” the Jeweler explained, sitting in an impossibly low crouch that somehow looked comfortable for her. “For those uninitiated, wayshrines are structures once used by the angels when they were transforming Nifala for human habitation, long-since abandoned. Getting access to the creature will require some trickery on our part, since it’s protected by an ever-growing host of servants.”
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“You’re Level 30, though,” Will said. “Couldn’t you just deal with this yourself?”
Pigeon shrugged. “Probably, but having assistance will make things a fair bit easier. I’d also prefer it if you people could take the credit once this is over.”
“Suppose we can’t complain about that. When you say it’s protected by servants, how many are we talking about here? How strong?”
“A few hundred at least. Amalgams of various descriptions. I’m guessing it’s planning to unleash them on Talltop to start with, given the proximity, but beyond that I can’t guess at its motives.”
“Right. How exactly do you suggest we deal with that many monsters?”
Pigeon looked around at all of them in turn, eyes half-hidden beneath the brim of her hat. “You draw the attention of the lesser ones for a while. I’ll sneak into the wayshrine to deal with the wretcher.”
“When the wretcher dies, what happens to the rest of them?” Bee asked. “Do they die right away?”
“Nothing that convenient, I’m afraid,” Pigeon said, shaking her head. “But they’ll lose their cohesion without a leader. Many will scatter, and there’ll be widespread infighting among the rest. It’s possible that they’ll find a new leader, but nothing so troublesome as the wretcher itself.
“So you’ll help me kill the wretcher, and after that we’ll make a quick retreat. I will prepare a Circle of Teleportation for us. Satisfactory?”
“I can’t answer that,” Will said. “Not until we’ve surveyed the location for ourselves. But for now, I guess we can keep it as our main option.”
He didn’t like the thought of acting as bait, especially for someone as shady as Pigeon, but he also didn’t have a better idea at the moment.
“Good,” Pigeon said, nodding. “Then we’ll continue to Talltop once everyone is fit to travel and go north from there.”
They agreed upon this plan. However, when Pigeon settled in to sleep on the flat ground, hat over her face, Will gathered everyone else and had them meet a good ways outside of camp, where the Jeweler hopefully wouldn’t overhear them.
“I don’t like her,” Will said. “There’s secrets on top of secrets with that woman. And the fact that she’s Level 30 means we’re playing with fire just being around her.”
“Agreed,” Nix concurred. “There’s something off about her. I feel strange when she’s around.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do about it?” Mongrel asked. “Isn’t having a Level 30 to help us good news? It means we should be able to sit back and coast while she does most of the work, right?”
Will rubbed at the scar on his nose. “I’ll make that judgment once I find out what her game is. I want everyone to keep a close eye on her. Make note of anything strange.”
“She did save your life,” Bee pointed out. “She only asked for one thing in return—that we don’t ask questions. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is a cheap price to pay. I’m sure she has her secrets, but does it really matter? Unless she turns into a problem, I think we should stay out of her business.”
Will didn’t like that idea at all. The thought of letting a mystery like that lie bothered him to his core. He had never met anyone close to Level 30 before—Brimstone was the closest at Level 23. There was a world of difference between 23 and 30.
But…
Bee wasn’t exactly wrong. Regardless of who Pigeon was, he did owe her.
“You really think we should take the high road on this one?” Will asked seriously.
Bee nodded with equal gravity. “I do. I’m grateful to her, Will. I don’t want to repay her with schemes and deception.”
“Very well, then.” Will sighed. “You heard her. As long as we don’t have any reason to suspect that she’s working against us, we’ll leave her alone.”
Stupid honor.
*****
It was decided that they would stay one extra day to give Will more time to recover. The infection had been expelled from his body, and his wounds had closed to ugly scars, but his body was still weak. He hadn’t been able to keep much food down, and grew winded after walking short distances. He probably wouldn’t be truly fit for travel by the next day, but they couldn’t wait any longer than that.
An extra leisure day suited Mongrel fine, though. He had a big ticket item to take care of, after all.
It was a fine day for it, with a bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds. They decided to make it just the two of them—aside from the boys—and met in a secluded glen filled with white marsh flowers.
Nix came in her usual travel wear, pants and a tunic with her customary bare feet, but she somehow looked even more saucy than usual. He was fairly certain that she had added to her curves in order to fill out her clothes a little bit extra. He hadn’t even gotten around to considering that benefit of being with a shapeshifter, and cursed himself for his lack of foresight. The possibilities were staggering.
She wore her long hair loose, and allowed her long, curved horns to extend from her forehead. She’d made no effort to conceal them since they’d spoken in the cave, which he appreciated.
She wore one of the white flowers over her ear, the delicate petals contrasting against the black of her hair.
The apes were still vocal in their condemnation of the whole concept, but had accepted that Mongrel would be moving forward with it regardless. By now, they had settled into sullen silence.
They met at the center of the clearing, under the attentive gaze of Father Sun. He interlaced his fingers with hers, and enjoyed the warmth of her skin.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” Nix said quickly.
“Then… here goes nothing, I suppose.”
Several arms wrapped around his limbs and pulled them closer together until their faces were almost touching. Even if he had wanted to back away, he doubted he had the strength to break free.
Luckily, he found that he held no doubts. They had already done away with those like proper adults.