Chapter 299: Return

Chapter 299: Return

Finding time to speak with Alex was not easy. Jadis couldn’t use the excuse of a private mercenary company business meeting every night. That meant that any further language lessons between her and the demon would have to be done inside the tent, preferably during the night when most of the camp was asleep. Fortunately, Jadis could go a long time on little sleep thanks to her trick of letting two of her bodies rest while the third stayed awake. As long as she wasn’t too active, she would be rested enough, especially since she didn’t have to drag around the wagon every day anymore.

Aila’s warning that they keep Alex secret from Noll and the Reavers made sense. Jadis trusted Noll with her life; he had proven himself a stalwart ally and a generous mentor, but he had always been upfront with her from the start. He was in Far Felsen on business, and that business was spying on her for the Second Prince. Anything he learned he would have to report so long as he was on the job. So, if she wanted to keep Alex’s unique nature a secret from the powerful noble, she had to keep the secret from Noll as well. At least until he was done with his contract, at any rate.

Jadis didn’t want Kestil to know about Alex. Well, she didn’t plan on keeping him in the dark forever. While she wasn’t certain about where everything would end, she hoped that she would be able to gain some kind of dispensation for Alex that would grant her a place in public society. Jadis had no illusions that such a position wouldn’t be costly to her personally, but she wanted to at least be able to select who she bargained with. She didn’t know Kestil. She didn’t know what he might ask of her or what he was inclined to do if he saw Alex as an opportunity to gain leverage over her. When she eventually, inevitably, met with the prince, she wanted to do so on even footing, or at least better footing than she currently had under her. To that end, Jadis was willing to bargain for Alex’s freedom with two people. One was Vraekae. Frustratingly annoying as she was, the magistrate was at least a known quantity. The other was High Priest Gerhardt. Jadis didn’t know the man well, but he had always been kind and fair whenever Jadis had met with him. Further, since he was a high priest, he had a good amount of pull both politically and with the general public. If she could get a high priest on her side regarding Alex, Jadis was sure that would go a long way towards getting Alex the safety and autonomy that she wanted for the demon.

All of that hinged, however, on keeping Noll in the dark regarding Alex.

To that end, there were two people that Jadis couldn’t keep out of the loop. Both because their assistance in keeping the secret was needed, and because there really wasn’t any easy way to keep it from them anyway. Furthermore, both were prospective members of Fortune’s Favored. If Jadis had her way, they’d both be inducted into the company once they made it back to Far Felsen. So, Jadis had to tell both Tegwyn and Sorcha about Alex.Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

They took the revelation relatively well, all things considered.

“What the bloody shit baskets baked in a miller’s pie am I looking at right now?” Sorcha had asked with clear fear in her wide eyes. “Because that looks like fucking Eike wrapped in demon skin!”

Jadis and the others had been forced to explain quite a lot to the goblin woman after that. Eir’s status as an oracle, Jadis’ conversation with Destarious, Alex’s unusually friendly demeanor and intelligence; it was a lot to take in for the witch. By the end of the long, private discussion that took place in the back of the wagon, Sorcha was tentatively on board with keeping Alex’s existence a secret.

“I’ve got to tell you,” she had confided in Jadis, “I’m mostly on board with this because that demon of yours did actually save my life. If it, or she, hadn’t done that, I’d probably being saying bollocks to all this and be screaming for that big therion bruiser to come save me from you crazy cultists. As is, I do feel like I kind of owe the bugger.”

Jadis could appreciate the honesty. The fact that the goblin was so upfront with her doubts while also being willing to go along with the unusual situation just further reinforced Jadis’ decision to keep the goblin around. She really wasn’t a bad sort, just someone who had fallen in with the wrong crowd. She’d been wasted on Stavros. Jadis swore to herself that she’d treat Sorcha much better.

After Sorcha, Jadis had introduced Alex to Tegwyn. His reaction had been somewhat more muted than the goblin’s, though he had still evinced quite a lot of shock. The first thing he had said regarding Alex, though, had managed to shock Jadis right back.

“Do you not have any clothes to give the woman?” Tegwyn had motioned at Alex who had hovered halfway out of her crate while staring at the Dryad. “I’m not one to mind nudity, but I’m finding the sight of a naked demon woman to be oddly distracting.”

That complaint had made Jadis realize just how stupid she’d been to completely overlook Alex’s nudity. She herself had grown comfortable being naked around her companions, which had somewhat translated to not minding being naked in front of decently large numbers of people. By extension, seeing others unclothed felt commonplace to her, natural even. Besides which, Alex had made no indication that she cared about wearing clothing, or that she was bothered by the cold.

Letting Alex continue to prance about completely nude wasn’t a good idea, though. When they got back to Far Felsen and introduced Alex to Vraekae and High Priest Gerhardt, having some clothes on the demon would probably improve first impressions.

While Jadis did feel like she was making progress, she also felt like she was barely getting anything done at all with her attempts at teaching Alex to talk. She had hoped that by the time they made it back to Far Felsen, Alex would be well versed in the common imperial tongue and she’d be able to speak for herself when Jadis showed her to Magistrate Vraekae. A ridiculously hopeful ambition. All the same, Jadis still felt disappointed that she hadn’t managed better when, nearly two weeks after leaving the Dryad’s grove, the expedition came into sight of the border fort along the road that was manned by Bernd’s Blades.

“Almost home,” Jay murmured as she stared at the fort with its green flag waving from the watch tower.

It was about midday. They’d almost managed to avoid the true Weigrun winter weather, but not quite. For the past two days it had been snowing nonstop. The road was covered in two feet of snow and it was only getting worse. Jadis was certain that the only reason why the horses were able to pull the soldiers’ wagon was because her own wagon being pulled by her goats were acting as a giant snowplow. It had gotten bad enough that the Reavers, who had mostly stayed on foot for the journey, had too much trouble moving through the deep, heavy snow. Jadis had been forced to put them on the roof of her wagon just so that they could keep up.

“You think so?” Aila asked from where she sat on the wagon, a few feet away from Jay.

“Well, yeah,” Jay motioned towards the fort, its walls half obscured by the snowfall. “The fort’s right there. We might even be able to make it to Far Felsen today if we push our pace.”

“No, not that,” Aila said, drawing Jay’s gaze. “I mean, you think of Far Felsen as home?”

Jay paused at the question, taking a second to think it over.

“No, not really,” she said after a moment, shrugging her armored shoulders. “To me, home is wherever my family is. So, you know. With you.”

The blush that crept up Aila’s neck and to her ears made Jadis smile. She was happy to see she could still embarrass her implacable girlfriend.

“You are such a strange woman,” Aila shook her head.

“Yes,” Jadis didn’t bother arguing. “And you love me. So what does that say about how strange you are?”

“Flirt later, pups,” Noll’s voice dragged Jadis out of her pleasant banter with her redheaded lover. “There are riders approaching.”

Looking back towards the fort, Jadis saw that the old mercenary was right. A small band of men on horseback had left through the open gates of the fort and were pushing their way through the snow to meet them. It was hard to be sure at the distance and with the poor weather, but Jadis was fairly certain that two of the men, both tall and similar in build, were Aila’s mercenary uncles, Gerwas and Ludwas. That thought brought a smile to Jadis’ faces, but the thought that came after caused it to fade.

What was so urgent that the mercenaries couldn’t wait for the expedition to get to the fort when there was a blizzard blowing snowdrifts as tall as her across the forest?