Daniel’s gaze wandered across the mass of figures surrounding them. More were gathered at the edges than he’d first noticed. Over twenty in all, and there was a clear split.
Marg held his pouch where his case should have been, tossing it up and down.
Nich stood a distance away, crooked teeth glinting. Alys was hanging onto her husband. Ralph was breathing hard and looking between him and Marg. Edmund’s fist was white, his face stressed, but he wasn’t guarded. Asper was guarding his little sister against a tree.
Wendel and Nich managed to turn Edmund. He was probably pressured into it by Marg and the numbers they’d need to defend against. It’s clear who Nich and Marg would side with. Ralph, though…
“What are you waiting for, angel?” Marg spat. “Tie your wrists. No one needs to get hurt. Just accept this, and you’ll keep all your limbs.”
Julia was near hyperventilating, Asper speaking for his sister.
“Marg, what are you doing? You’re betraying us?”
“Betraying?” The chestnut-haired woman scoffed as Wendel jabbed his spear closer to Daniel’s neck. “This guy isn’t a part of the group. I’m cashing in an angel for 500 pieces of gold! You know that’s what we’re paid, right? That’s up front. Another 500 on delivery.”
Daniel slowly held up his hands and then looped the rope twice around his own wrists. He used his teeth to pull the end through and pulled it tight. In the slow process, he counted the standoff. He wasn’t sure if Ralph was on his side or Marg’s by his position, knife drawn, wife behind him.
Five beastfolk in total, with light weapons. Four elves with bows. And nineteen humans outside of Marg’s group. Each of them probably has skills and classes. Not good.
A dead bird’s chirp came from above.
“These fools aren’t aware you hid that case behind your back last night. At least you were smart enough not to trust them and hid the Core. They have no clue you’re immortal with Clara’s obsessive wings wrapped around you. I can’t wait for the carnage. There are three dozen slaves in a caravan on the road to the north. Only two guards.”
Daniel tried not to smile as more birds fluttered down, tracking every angle.
“I have undead positioned. Enough for a distraction. You owe me, friend.”
“I’ll pay it in therapy.”
“Shut up! Tighter.” Wendel growled. “Marg, get your party under control. And you’re sure he can’t summon that trap you warned us about?”
Daniel pulled it tighter.
“Yeah. He keeps it here. It’s a silver case. We can probably sell it, too.”
She tossed it underhand to Wendel, who did not check it.
“Nobody dies.” Edmund had not moved from the edge of the firelight, and his mace was still on his back. “That is what I voted for. That is the only thing I voted for, Marg, Nich. We’re a group. Trying to stop this isn’t worth the price.”
“And here I thought we were becoming pals.” Daniel shook his head. “Julia, did you tell Marg about me?”
“W-What? No! No. Marg, why are…”
“Shut up, you stupid girl,” the woman shouted. “Asper, keep your sister behaved.”
Asper’s rapier didn’t fall, his eyes cold as steel.
“I’m not going to be a part of this, Edmund. Did you really choose this?”
Nich grunted before the tank could respond, moving forward to study Daniel as if he were components.
“Quit with that sanctimonious drivel, Asper. You’ve done plenty of underhanded jobs to feed that sheltered sister of yours. One job, and we don’t have to see each other ever again. This is generational wealth, even split. Money like that comes once. Edmund can’t deny that.”
Julia was fumbling with her bow, visibly shaking.
“B-But how did they know? Asper, you didn’t…”
“Julia, really?” her brother sighed. “Obviously not. Ralph probably saw his wings on the…”
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“No!” Alys shouted from behind Ralph, making him tense. “No. This isn’t right. Daniel trusted us. He fought with us. This is cruel. Angel or human, he’s one of us!”
“But he’s not.”
Ralph’s soft response made his wife freeze in place. “Alys, think about the orphans. The good we could do. With this one job, we can quit dungeon crawling. One job. Alys, listen to me now. It’s already done. All you have to do is nothing.”
“Ralph, what is this? What do you mean by the orphans? This is wrong…”
“It’s five hundred gold, Alys.” He said it as if it was a prayer. “You could give the temple a roof that doesn’t need doing twice. No more counting coins.”
Alys looked at him for a long moment.
“You want me to sell a man?”
“He isn’t a man, Alys! He’s a spiritual being. A thing.”
“He is a man who carried your water.” Her voice cracked in the middle of it and came back harder. “You cannot be serious. Ralph. Look at me and be serious. This is wrong. I don’t have another word for it, and I shouldn’t need one. I won’t. I can’t. You get what you give.”
A violent shiver ran down the man’s frame, and he laughed.
“There it is.”
“Ralph…”
“There it is, there it is.” He was smiling. “Say it again. Say the whole thing. Say it the way you say it at the temple, with your hands like that. I’ve listened to you say it for four years. You get what you give. You get what you give! Ahh-hahaha! It never stops! You want what I’m not? Well, here’s what I’ve got!”
“I don’t know what you—”
The slap of Ralph’s open palm whipped his wife’s head to the side. She spiraled to the mud on her side. Many of the men around the area stiffened at the sound.
“Four silver for a roof! Twice!” He was screaming it down at her. “Two silver and four copper for a boy who isn’t ours, three times! You get what you give? But I can’t give dirt! I’m here stuck in this trench, counting all my sins! Well, selling our sins never made us rich!”
Daniel’s eyes chilled.
That’s not a husband. That’s not even a man.
Edmund’s hand came up off his belt and got as far as the haft of his mace. Then he looked at the fire instead, and his hand went back down. Daniel watched a two-year leader stop being one.
“Asper, stop him…” Julia cried.
“What was that?” Asper shouted. “Alys—”
“Shut your mouth, you stupid boy!” Ralph screamed, making a few of the beastfolk’s ears fall back. “She’s a saint? What did she put into our marriage? All she did was take, take, take! A saint that broke every dream I had! Everything around me is worthless. She makes everything in my life worthless!”
“Jules. Look at me.” Asper growled, moving to put himself between her and Ralph. “Don’t look at them. Whatever happens now, you look at me.”
Alys was holding the side of her head in shock, blood leaking from her split ear.
Marg walked over and slid her fingers through Ralph’s hair in an affectionate manner, caressing it before it fell back to his neck.
“Easy,” she soothed. “Easy, love. She’ll never hear it. She hasn’t heard you in four years, and she isn’t going to start in the mud… Look at her. She never saw you.”
The word went through Alys like a bolt, tears forming with the hiccups. She was still on her side with her hair in the muck, and she looked up at the pair.
“Marg?”
“Finally seeing it, Ms. Saint? It’s like ten fingers wrapped around your throat. Isn’t it? Six months I’ve been what you couldn’t,” Marg said, kindly. “You were at the temple. You’re always at the temple. You never even questioned why I was in your home in the morning. Did you?”
“Marg was the only one who asked how I was,” Ralph raged, face purple. “She was there when I needed her. Where was my wife? Being a harlot for the temple!”
“What? I don’t understand,” Alys hiccuped, emotions worse than abandonment contorting her face. “You’re selling me to elves? Am I to blame?”
Wendel cleared his throat.
“Great. Can we cut the drama and get back to business? Marg mentioned you wanted to sell the Cleric to the elves? We can arrange that, but human women are half the price of the men.”
“Ralph?” Alys squeaked. “How can you…”
“Oh, please!” Marg snorted, giving Edmund a pointed look as his hands shook. “You get what you give, right? You’re such a nag. No one liked you. You’re just useful at healing. You judge everyone with that holier-than-thou look. Ralph just liked that pretty face, but he grew tired of it pretty fast. Easy when you’re never around.”
“Marg, the deal?”
“Yeah, yeah…”
Daniel cracked his neck. Six invisible wings flowed around him as Clara emerged to wrap him in her arms. Her arctic breath pressed against his ear.
“Sing me a sad song… I am sick to my stomach, My King. All I see is filth. Disgusting filth to be purged. Especially that thing that calls himself a husband…”
“If it offends you, my love…” Daniel stretched out his chest and flexed his fingers. “I’ll have to take out the trash.”
Carl’s laughter came with the ravens.
“It took you long enough, Clara. It seems we are on the same page.”
[⌖ Trap #11: Frost Snare &] Activated.
Wendel groaned as Daniel smirked and held up his wrist.
A flash of silver light brought a card to his fingers.
“I tried to give you all a chance… What a shame.”
The [Tarnished Sword] materialized in a reverse grip between Daniel’s hands.
He slit the bond, rope falling to the bedroll.
In a panic, Marg’s gaze shot to the pouch Wendel held.
“You didn’t check it? Get ready for—”
“No!” Nich screamed, throwing up his staff. “Don’t target—”
It was too late.
Every person hostile to him, excluding the wizard, raised their weapons.
“Oops. You triggered my trap.”
The silver card materialized in front of Daniel’s toothy grin.