“Do you believe her?”

“I think so,” Syd mumbled into Aila’s hair. “I’m not a mind reader, but I got the feeling Sorcha was pretty fed up with Stavros and his gang.”

“That doesn’t mean she was telling the truth,” Aila sighed as she snuggled in tight against Syd’s chest. “Sometimes people say things that they think other people want to hear, especially when they think their life is on the line.”

“Her life isn’t on the line,” Syd shook her head. “She asked for sanctuary and I gave it to her. Unless she turns hostile, I won’t hurt her.”

“That’s kind of you,” Aila said, a smile in her voice. “Naïve and foolhardy, but kind.”

It was late in the night, probably past midnight. Syd had just finished her turn being at watch and had crawled into bed with the rest of Fortune’s Favored. Jay had gotten up to take a turn, but she stood watch with three of the soldiers. Everyone else was getting their rest as best they could. When Syd had switched places with Jay, Aila had woken and the two took the quiet moment to talk.

Sorcha had told them her story, how she’d abandoned the bandits and had tried to flee southward. According to the little witch, Stavros had been following them ever since they’d left the mining village, shadowing their movements. Rather than cut their losses and run, the bandits had made plans to ambush their expedition once again, this time further to the west.

“We kicked their asses last time,” Syd mused as she traced one hand up and down Aila’s back. “Now they have half the people. Why try to fight us again? It’s suicide.”

“Desperation can be a powerful motivator,” Aila whispered, her breath tickling Syd’s neck. “Stavros is a registered mercenary. Once we get back to Far Felsen and give his description, he won’t be able to show his face in any port in Weigrun. They’ll know him by his badge and he’ll be arrested, same as the rest of his company.”

The badge. Jadis had almost forgotten about the three that she carried. Any mercenary, independent or with a company, would have a registered badge. It was an enchanted item, designed so that any guard at any checkpoint could scan it and confirm if she, the person holding it, was really who she said she was. It even tracked things like classes and level progression, allowing an outside person to essentially see the status sheet of the badge holder. One had to have a special device to see more detailed information, but if a person was suspected of being a dangerous criminal? Something told Jadis the guards would absolutely break out that special device to check.

It made sense that Stavros was a mercenary, too. How else could he and the rest of his crew have gotten to Weigrun during a demonic invasion? They were all mercenaries, an official company, albeit a smaller one. They’d come over around six months ago and had been acting as scouts and hunters due to the relatively small size of their outfit. At the first opportunity around two months ago, they’d disappeared into the forest, leaving behind just enough evidence to make it seem like they’d been ambushed by demons. From the very start, even before coming to Weigrun, it had been their intention to search out eleria mines in the mountains and take as much of the precious resource as they could to sell it for a tidy, untaxed profit. It had been a big gamble, but one with a payout too big to pass up.

According to Sorcha, all the eleria they had mined had been hidden in a secret cache near the western edge of the forest. The plan had been to show back up in the spring, explain to the authorities that they had been driven deep into the woods by a demon attack and had then holed up in one of the abandoned villages while waiting for rescue due to the infamous Weigrun winter. An opportunity would have presented itself; they would have pushed out and made a desperate run back to the safety of imperial-controlled lands. It wasn’t a perfect cover, but it wasn’t an unheard-of scenario, either. Plus, all of their ill-gotten goods wouldn’t actually be on their person, the eleria would still be in that hidden cache. Once they’d reconnected with the empire, they would have continued to be mercenaries for a few weeks, slowly transferring the magic crystals out of their hiding spot and into the hands of a merchant contact that Stavros had. Once they’d smuggled all of the eleria out, they would have quit the job, left Weigrun and headed back to the mainland, and then collected their coin.

All that was out the window now, though. Attacking Jadis’ expedition the first time had been stupid, but recoverable. Having five of his men captured by the soldiers down in the tunnels, though? That was a bigger issue, one that had absolutely wrecked their plans. That had been why Stavros had captured Willa and her soldiers. He had assumed that their expedition was in league with the soldiers down in the tunnels and wanted to trade them to get his men back. The plan to reintegrate without suspicion was already out the window, but he could at least flee the country with his men and a smaller amount of the eleria. His contact could get them out fast. They’d be marked and would have to leave the country, and they wouldn’t have as much profit, but they’d at least be out and free.

That, per Sorcha’s explanation, was why Stavros was willing to make one more try at taking Jadis and the soldiers with her out. If Fortune’s Favored and the soldiers with them were gone, there would be far less witnesses and more time to get out. Their deaths would give him and his men a lot more breathing room. It would also, more practically speaking, get them a wagon.

Stavros’ gang hadn’t disappeared into the forest with any horses or a wagon. They hadn’t been able to, due to the nature of their cover story. They were limited in the amount of eleria they could carry by what they could stuff into their packs. Not a problem with their old plan when they had twice the numbers and were going to smuggle the eleria out over the course of weeks. Now, since that had fallen apart, they needed to get a big amount of eleria out all at once.

“Seems like everyone is heading west,” Syd contemplated. “We are. The demons. Now Stavros and his ‘Roiling Reevers’ are, too. It’s a popular direction.”

“It is,” Aila murmured softly.

“Also, that’s a pun, right? To me, that company name is a really shitty pun.”

“Definitely,” Aila nodded her head against Syd. “It’s actually kind of painful.”

“Well,” Syd heaved a sigh. “At least now we know where he plans on ambushing us and the general plan. If he doesn’t change it now that Sorcha has left him and his crew, that is. I doubt he’ll think she was caught by us, but he could still change plans anyway. What he definitely doesn’t know is just how much stronger we all are. Even if my level hasn’t gone up significantly, my stats have, which means all of our stats have. He’s in for a rude surprise the next time we meet.”

“You still want to move forward?” Aila asked, tilting her head back to look up at Syd. “All things considered, are you sure you want to take the risk?”

“Yes,” Syd affirmed, quiet conviction in her voice. “I do.”

“Then we better get some sleep,” Aila whispered before putting her head back into the crook of Syd’s neck.

No attacks came in the night. Nor had there been any sign of the bandits scouting them out. There were tracks and indications of more small groups of demons passing through, though none had attacked their camp. That the Roiling Reevers hadn’t struck lent some credence to Sorcha’s story in Jadis’ opinion. Of course, there was still the possibility that Stavros was using her as some kind of bait or distraction, or a means of conveying false information. Jadis didn’t think that was likely, but she wasn’t going to discount the possibility either.

With their plans already discussed the night before, the camp was quickly dismantled and the expedition got moving. Then the expedition almost immediately stopped moving once they realized how large a difference in speed had developed between the Jadis-drawn Behemoth and the horse-drawn wagon.

With all of her recent attribute improvements, coupled with Aila’s new skill, Jadis was able to pull the giant-sized wagon with incredible speed, far faster than the regular wagon was able to go. A quick adjustment had to be made in consequence. When they got moving again, the smaller wagon had been hitched to the back of the large wagon while all of the soldiers rode on horseback.

Originally, Jonas had been riding inside the soldier’s wagon, restrained with steel manacles that Willa had of course brought with her, just in case. Since the number of their prisoners had doubled, they’d moved Jonas into the large wagon with Sorcha, who had been similarly restrained.

Jadis had been mildly amused by Sorcha’s reaction to Jonas, as well as his reaction to the goblin. Neither had expected to see the other, that seemed certain. She doubted either had much to say to the other, but Jadis made sure that someone was always with the two, usually Sabina or Eir, just in case. Those two did have better hearing, after all.

The expedition made good progress over the course of the day, only stopping occasionally to deal with a few stray demons or to give the horses time to rest. Jadis herself wasn’t nearly as worn out by the pulling and felt like she could keep going for hours more. The wonders of higher stats were really starting to show.

When they did finally stop for the day to set up camp in a clearing that had been used by travelers in years past, everyone was on high alert. If Sorcha was to be believed, they would be reaching the planned location of Stavros’ trap the next day. If everything went to plan, it would be Stavros getting ambushed, not them, but there were a lot of unknown variables floating around. They all hoped it would work out, but backup plans were still being made, with countermeasures and contingency plans set up in case things went sideways.

After dinner had been eaten, potential tactics discussed, and the plans once more solidified, Jay approached captain Willa to have a private word.

“Hey, thanks for going along with the plan,” Jay started, giving the woman a small smile. “I appreciate that you’re cooperating with us on this.”

“Cooperation in times of danger is generally the best way to survive,” Willa replied with a shrug. “Even countries at war with one another cease their fighting during a demonic invasion to join forces against the external threat. It’s only sensible. Besides, it’s a good plan. I think we have a decently high chance of success, especially considering how strong you and your sisters are, as well as the unusual strength of your team.”

“Right, thanks,” Jay grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, that’s actually another reason I wanted to talk. Look, I think it’s become pretty obvious by now that we of Fortune’s Favored have a, uh, unusual relationship going on.”

“So it would seem,” Willa nodded, her lips quirking up in a suppressed smile. “Though what you young women get up to in your off-hours is no business of mine.”

“Thanks for that,” Jay said genuinely before taking a deep breath and continuing. “Your discretion is appreciated. And, while I wouldn’t ordinarily bring this sort of thing up, considering our circumstances, all of us decided we at least need to let you know so we can do this more efficiently.”

“Do what?” Willa asked, one eyebrow quirked up.

“Without going too deeply into the details, my sisters and I share a ritualist class. The rituals we do are of a, ah, sexual nature. So when we and the rest of our team are…”

“Fornicating?”

“I was going to say having a private moment, but yeah,” Jay nodded. Then, with a big sigh, she shook her head and laid out her words bluntly. “Look, we gain and give powerups to our team by fucking. We need some alone time to recharge our rituals tonight just to make sure everyone’s power boosts stay active, as well as perform a new ritual that was just unlocked. Can you watch the prisoners tonight, as well as keep first watch? Dancing around this shit, especially since everyone already knows that we’re boinking, is getting ridiculous.”

Willa was quiet for a moment, her expression both surprised and curious. After a few seconds, she finally nodded once and motioned with one hand towards Jay.

“Fair enough. I can make sure you and your team are undisturbed for the remainder of the evening. In fact, considering the plan tomorrow, I’ll have my soldiers take the first and middle watches so you and yours can get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible.”

“Thank you,” Jay nodded, her grin bright. “That helps a lot. We’ll, uh, try to keep it down.”

“Good, that would be considerate.”

There was an awkward moment then, as the two women looked at each other, a question clearly on the tip of Willa’s tongue. Eventually, she turned to go, took a few steps, then turned back to look up at Jay.

“Would it be overstepping boundaries if I were to ask what exactly is involved in these sex rituals?”

“You’ve seen me naked. I’m sure your imagination can fill in the blanks.”

Willa held up a finger, thoughts clearly swirling behind her eyes. After a moment, she closed her mouth and turned away. As she walked back towards her soldiers, Jadis could just barely overhear the captain mumble.

“I’m not sure my imagination, or any other part of me, stretches that far…”