“You have a way to get there?”
Or maybe he was.
From her spot on the sofa, Amma could only watch Damien as he stood, staring down the other blood mage, waiting for an answer. Pippa’s touch made her stiffen, a healing spell making her heart race even more than Damien’s words. Freeing the demons trapped in Eirengaard meant a whole heap of problems, but amongst them was still her death if she didn’t purge the talisman herself.
Xander felt around in his pockets. “I’m only carrying empty stones right now, but I’m sure one of us has been there before, yes? With a day or two, I can craft a new translocation stone, and in the meantime, we can just sleep in this place, and—”
“I’m not spending another moment here.” Damien waved a hand and traipsed across the temple to its head. He rippedthrough the cushions on the seat and found his pouch, digging through it as he carried it back. When he pulled out two small slips of parchment, he gestured for Amma to come to him, and when she did, he held one in each hand. “I have been selfishly carrying this on me since Yvlcon. This will take you to the Gloomweald. The elves will remember you, they will keep you safe, and they will escort you home. I should have given it to you right away, but I just could not bear—” He swallowed back what he was saying and shook his head. “The pendant is gone, and I failed in the task I was given by the Grand Order. They will not let that stand, and I suspect they will have an eye on Eirengaard during the eclipse for whatever it is Archibald and the others are up to, but that must be stopped. You should not pay for my failure. Faebarrow is far enough from Eirengaard to avoid whatever may happen there, and it is too far for me to call on that talisman inside you in the event that I…” Damien was staring at her hard, but his mouth seemed incapable of saying the words. “Amma, I just want you to have a choice.”
She gently took the parchment he was thrusting at her. Warm arcana thrummed through it, and for a moment she felt home in her hands, the comfort of her bed, the laughter of her friends, the faces of her parents. “You won’t come with me,” she said, not a question. She nodded at the other parchment he held. “And what about that one?”
“This will take us to danger.”
“Us,” she said and tore the bit of parchment that led to the Gloomweald in two, letting the pieces fall to the floor. “That’s what I choose.”
Damien’s face fought a smile, eyes still trained on hers. That was fine—she would be happy enough for the both of them until he realized it was the right choice.
“Touching and disgusting.” Xander dragged himself over to them and swiped the remaining parchment from Damien’shand. “This goes to Eirengaard then?”
“Nearby,” groused Damien, his affectionate look turning sour. “But we’re not laying waste to the city and overthrowing it or whatever first thing, all right?”
“Obviously,” said Xander, eyeing Amma, “she’s got to be offed first. I have a plan for that, by the way.”
Damien cut his hand through the air. “We’re not doing that at all. Listen, when we get to where that takes us, I have things to do. You can fuck off to Eirengaard while I take care of this,”—he gestured to Amma, and she wasn’t exactly sure what to do with that—“and while you’re in the capital, you can find out what in the Abyss Archibald and hischosenare up to. We’ve only got, what, three days until the eclipse? We need to know what that king has planned before we do anything else.”
“You mean all that unpleasantness in the catacombs? I just want to free Birzuma—I don’t give a damn about whatever silly antics the crown is up to.”
“You ought to care since it’s not only standing in the way, but will likely lead to all of our demises if that thing is released.”
Xander yawned. “Well, I need a big nap first.”
“One night to recuperate.” Damien held up a finger. “Then you go ahead to Eirengaard, do some reconnaissance, and we’ll reconvene in two days. Agreed?”
“How do I know you won’t kick me into another portal and run off again?”
“You don’t,” Damien said flatly, “all you have is my word.”
“That shouldn’t really mean anything to me.”
“Shouldn’t it?”
Xander clicked his tongue. “You really care about that creepy void thing, don’t you?” When Damien nodded, he heaved a sigh. “Fine. Come on, Pips, you’ll love this—Bloodthorne thinks he’s going tosavethe realm and not destroy it.”
The four traipsed back through the temple the way they’dcome, finding Kori still catching her breath up against a wall surrounded by at least a hundred miniature wyvern corpses. She was battered and bruised, too tired to even glare at the rest of them when they showed up, but Pippa took her hand, healed her as best she could, and the five returned to the courtyard.
It was silent on the grass as they carefully went around the corner of the building to find the corpse of a much larger wyvern. The black, leathery body had a long gash up its side, and lying beside it was Barrett, a similar gash up his own. Neither moved.
“Lost another one,” Xander muttered. “Pity.”
Kori groaned, stepping away from the rest of them. She unsheathed the dagger strapped to her thigh and threw it to the ground so it pierced the dirt at Amma’s feet. “I’m not getting paid enough for this shit.” She darted into a shadow, and then she was gone.
Amma just as quickly retrieved her original weapon, its heft and shape familiar and comforting in hand.
“Or rather two,” said Xander. “What say you, Pips? Devastated the meaty one’s dead too? Remember what we discussed, what you’re carrying for me, what it’s meant to do.”
The priestess stared out at the fallen knight and only sighed. “I didn’t really like him all that much, to be honest.”
Pleased, Xander pulled out his vial and let a single drop of blood fall to the parchment he’d taken from Damien. It spread out over the small scroll, and then it was alight with magic. Xander dropped it to the ground, and it projected a shimmer of silvery light that made the world beyond it change, no longer displaying the courtyard wall and dying brambles, but trees and fields and a well-worn pathway cutting between hills.
