As it turned out, Will did not have the month he had expected to work on the plan. He had two weeks. Around that time, Brimstone was supposed to head out on one of his regular hunting trips, and Buck wanted him to time the elixir handover for just before the lord headed out.

It was going to be a less than stellar time.

When they got back from Millstone, Will gathered everyone in the group together at the table.

“All right, everyone, here’s the deal,” he said. “Oatmeal and Loony, originally I wasn’t going to share this with you. You’re still too fresh, and I can’t be sure of your loyalties yet. But I’m going to need you on this, you especially, Loony. I came up with all kinds of methods for determining your allegiances, but I’m on a time crunch, so I’ve decided I’m just going to trust you.”

Loony nodded seriously. “Yes, sir.”

Oatmeal hid a yawn behind his hand. “Finally, a bit of recognition around here. What’s the game, boss? And more importantly, what’s the take?”

Will explained the gist of what was going to happen. “Now, I’ve decided I won’t be running you freshies through any elaborate tests of loyalty. Instead, for the sake of expedience, I’m just going to threaten you. This play is backed by Pigeon. If you do anything to sabotage this operation, if you carry information to Brimstone or let something slip on accident, it’s her you’ll have to answer to.”

“Who’s Pigeon?” Loony asked.

“Someone you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of,” Will said simply. Oatmeal nodded along.

“Sorry brother, but I can’t help you out on this one,” Mongrel said, fussing with Number Five on his lap.

“Why not?”

“I’ve had my fill of danger and adventure. Decided it’s time to retire. Build that practice dungeon you sold me on, and a proper home for Nix and Zero and the boys.”

Will nodded. “I don’t begrudge you that, brother. You know I don’t. I can see it now—you living the life, running your scheme on unsuspecting freshies, drinking beers off your porch all day. But you need to see this one thing through with me first. If I don’t manage to kill Brimstone, it’s going to come back on you, too. We’re too closely associated. Can’t shake that. And you know Brimstone has about as much mercy as he has hair.”

Mongrel shook his head sadly. “I understand that. It’s still a no. I know you, Will. There’ll always be another thing. One last job. One last mission. One last score. If I keep going along with it, I’ll never get quit.”

“This time is different.”

“It always is,” Mongrel said with a rueful chuckle. “Look, I believe in you, kid. You’ll pull it off. You don’t need me on this one. ‘I never lose’, isn’t that your little catchphrase? Go and show Sheerhome what it means.”

Will took a moment to digest, chewing on his lip. “You really won’t help me on this?”

Mongrel shrugged. “If you need something built, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Beyond that, I’m not getting me or mine involved.”

Will glanced at Nix. The demoness flashed sharp teeth, pierced him with those yellow cat’s eyes. “My master has spoken. Don’t look at me with those puppy-dog eyes, William. Save them for your own woman.”

He sighed, found himself fidgeting with the edge of the tabletop and forced himself to stop. “Well, I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed, but I won’t sour things by pressing. Best of luck to you, brother.”

“And to you, you little shit.”

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They clasped arms, held it for a good while, then nodded and let go. Mongrel stood up from the table with a sigh, sweeping the rest of his beer before smacking the mug down on the table. “If you don’t mind, I’ll excuse myself now. I figure since I won’t be participating, the less I know the better.”

Will nodded, and his friend left with his train of familiars. A sense of unease washed over him, like he was in a dream where the landscape had suddenly shifted. Ever since he had arrived on Nifala, Mongrel had been a constant presence. Maybe not the most reliably helpful, but a constant all the same.

Things change. It is what it is.

Will went into more detail about his plan with the ones that remained. “For the first part, I’m going to need you, Loony. We’re going to see an acquaintance of mine in Sheerhome.”

* * *

Pablo Unreliable lived out of an old smithy in Topside that had been converted into a lab. Will left Loony outside in the street when he went up to knock on the door. Getting no answer but finding the door unlocked, he simply invited himself in.

The interior of the squat building was crammed with clutter, almost all available space taken up by reagents and equipment.

Unreliable was in what was likely meant to be the kitchen, an acrid stink in the air as he mixed various liquids together, a rag over his mouth and nose to ward off the fumes. Will covered his face with the collar of his tunic. Potions of minor cure disease shouldn’t produce any noxious gases, but maybe Unrealiable was still tinkering with the recipes. He didn’t feel like taking any chances.

The lad looked like he hadn’t slept for a few days, his clothes and hair a mess, eyes sunken. He didn’t notice Will at all until he knocked on a wall to get his attention. Unreliable shot up, and he dumped what was evidently too much of one liquid into another before triggering Brew, causing the contents of the glass mixing bottle to turn an unpleasant brown and let off even more fumes.

Before it could cause any more harm, Will stepped up and trapped the bottle inside a hardlight cube with Construct, then went and opened all the windows to ventilate. Unreliable had only had one open.

“Master Will!” Unreliable said once the worst of the commotion had settled. “This is a surprise. What are you doing here?” His face suddenly froze over with fear. “Did Richard send you? If it’s about that last batch, I promise I have it under control now. It’s just hard to maintain quality with such large batches.”

Will held up a hand. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m not here to bust your balls.” Evidently, it had not been a seamless transition for Unreliable to pick up where Will left off in delivering surplus product to Crooked Dick.

“Oh, that’s… That’s good. But then…” The lad frowned. “Why are you here, exactly? Oh, but um, would you like some tea?” He began rooting around in the stacked messes. “I’m sure I have a teapot somewhere around here…”

“That’s all right, thanks. Actually, I’m here with a proposal.”

Unreliable was a Level 9 Alchemist. He was certainly no genius, but he knew how to shut up and follow instructions; a rare—and in Will’s opinion, highly desirable—quality on Nifala.

“Proposal?” Unreliable asked.

Will explained the basics. “I want you to handle the explosives. I’ll get you the recipe, so you only need to handle production. Think you’re up for it?”

Unreliable gave only the briefest of pauses, then nodded. “Of course, Master Will. Just let me know where you want me and I’ll be there.”

Will looked at him deadpan. “I expected you to take a little bit more convincing.”

Unreliable pursed his lips. “Why? Everyone knows Brimstone sucks, and I’ve heard stories about Big Deal Buck. Banditry aside, he’s supposed to be a good guy. Also, it sounds like a good excuse to get out of the house, meet some like-minded revolutionaries. I don’t have a lot of friends.”

“Fair enough. I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” He nodded towards the failed experiment sitting neglected on the table, the hardlight cube now entirely filled up with dirty smoke. “Mind if I dispose of that for you? It’s making me nervous.”

“Oh, by all means.”

Will took the cube in both hands, carried it into the doorway, and hurled the thing into the alley, the hardlight shattering on impact and letting the smoke leak out in groping tendrils. he heard scattered coughing from the next-door brothel and chuckled to himself before darting back inside.

Once satisfied that Unreliable was on board, he informed the lad to be on standby for the time being until the reagents for the explosives were secured and Will had come up with a recipe. When he departed, he left Loony on stakeout to keep an eye on the house, in case Unreliable decided to go to Brimstone with what he had heard.

A full day later, he hadn’t done anything of the sort. Will recalled his spy.

Unreliable was solid.

Step one complete. Only about fifty to go.