The practicality of nineteen combatants taking on a force of demons that could be counted in the thousands was discussed at length. There were quite a number of cons to go against the idea, with only a few pros that went in its favor. However, among those pros they could count Jack.

At level two hundred and forty-nine, the Fetch was an absolute monster. The number of people in the Empire, or even Oros at large, who managed to exceed level one hundred were rare. In the empire, the few who did reach that lofty level were awarded a medallion of honor to recognize the achievement, as well as warn any others that the high-level person was not one to be trifled with. Noll was one such warrior that Jadis knew had surpassed that benchmark, and she suspected that Magistrate Vraekae was in the same category. Both were insanely powerful, as Jadis had experienced firsthand, and could be thought of as armies unto themselves. Jack’s level put both of them to shame.

It was no surprise, then, that Jadis’ triple-pronged Mirrored Strikes attack on the Fetch hadn’t done much more than make him laugh.

The issue for Jack, however, was that his classes focused on illusions. He was physically powerful and had strong magic, but he wasn’t an offensive fighter. Even though he had a hundred levels on a powerhouse like Noll, he wasn’t as capable of killing mass numbers of demons, simply because of the nature of his skills. He couldn’t fight an army of demons directly and win. Not alone, anyway.

“Let’s say, just for the moment,” Willa said as she gestured towards Jack. “Let’s say that we agree to help with this frankly suicidal mission. How would we even begin to approach it? I freely admit that Jadis and Fortune’s Favored have shown themselves capable of slaying demonic hordes that I would have said were insurmountable for other mercenary groups of similar size and CLR. However, the numbers that we are talking about here, even discounting the matriarch, are such that we would be overwhelmed in an avalanche of hostile bodies.”

“As much confidence as I have in my own strength and the abilities of my team,” Jay spoke as she nodded her head along with captain Willa’s words, “I agree with you. There are limits to how far we can push the boundaries of what’s possible. We can’t fight that many, not head on.”

“Then what’s the alternative plan?” Kerr asked. “Or have we been wasting our time here?”

“Distraction,” Jack answered, his grin half-hid by his thick gray beard and mustache. “When faced with a superior force, distract, divide, and conquer.”

As he spoke, Jack motioned towards the bonfire in the middle of their clearing that they were all sitting and standing around. The fire seemed to shrink, its glow fading as new shapes and colors replaced it. In seconds the fire had transformed into a detailed illusion representing the forest and valley where the Dryad’s grove was located. The image shifted, zooming in towards a point on the western side of the valley, tucked up into a pocket that had formed against the side of the mountain that helped form the walls of the valley. As the image enlarged, a strange construction came into view. It was a wholly irregular shape, wide and tall, but with jutting and twisting sections that followed the logic of many plants growing together rather than an architect’s design. The whole of its surface was composed of thick wood branches and vines, creating a strong lattice that left no gaps between them. From the top of the structure grew the tops of trees with many leaves, branching out and over the whole creation. Based on the giant pines surrounding the tree sphere, Jadis guessed it had to be two hundred feet tall at least.

Jadis let out a small, amused huff of breath as she spotted two small streams connecting right before tumbling over the edge of a ridge to make a waterfall, followed by a second waterfall. If there were more, she couldn’t see them since the water at that point disappeared into the wooden mass. However, she had a pretty good feeling there were a few more waterfalls to be found inside the enclosed grove.

“The Dryads have fortified their position with the use of this tree wall. Their spells keep it growing magically, so all the damage that the demons do to it is constantly being repaired. They are also able to fight back against the demons that get within a certain distance of the wall, but their attacks are limited since they have to keep much of their magic in reserve for regrowing their defenses.”

With another wave of his hand, the scene changed. Thousands of little black dots appeared all over the map, representing the horde of demons that were attacking the Dryads. They surrounded the dome, though most were located on the three open sides, with only a few on the upper slopes to the west of the dome. One dot, positioned to the east of the dome, was much larger than the rest and was surrounded by ten more large dots.

“The bramble fiend matriarch is located here. It can’t move with any speed due to the nature of its body, but the nithetre are surrounding it and acting as its guards. So long as that matriarch is alive, the other demons will heed its call and follow its lead. She will keep them focused, and thus far more deadly.”

“So you want to assassinate her or something to break the horde?” Bridget asked skeptically.

“No, of course not,” Jack looked at Bridget with undisguised disdain. “What are you, an idiot? It’s a massive tree demon with defenses equivalent to a walking castle. How are you going to assassinate that? Stab it in the back?”

“Well shit, I don’t know,” Bridget grumbled. “You’re the super high-level Fetch, I thought you might know a way or something…”

“Then what is your plan?” Aila asked, steering the discussion back on track.

“Like I said from the start, the real issue is the dragon,” Jack said, turning back to his illusion. The scene changed again, this time a massive, scaled beast appearing in the air above the Dryad grove. “If the demon festering inside that dragon’s wound successfully finishes its possession, the dryads are finished. What we need to do is kill that demon. So long as we can do that, the demons can be dealt with at our leisure. Or we can all just leave and let the Dryads deal with the remaining demons, those lazy mushroom heads. Stopping the possession, though. That’s the goal.”

“And yet, Sir Jack, I believe you said that the dragon is lashing out in pain against all those who draw near to it,” Eir pointed out, her tone formal and respectful as she addressed the Fetch. “How could we possibly hope to subdue the beast long enough to aid it?”

“Especially when, you know, there are thousands of demons running around, too?” Kerr added.

“Distraction, of course,” Stavros said directly into Kerr’s ear from behind her.

Kerr whirled, her claws raking against the dark man’s neck, only to pass through like thin air. Caught by surprise, she stumbled off balance and crashed to the ground before quickly scrabbling to her feet, whirling on the grinning Fetch.

“Not fucking funny,” she glared, pointing angrily at Jack.

“My point, as Kerr has so delightfully helped me demonstrate,” Jack continued sweetly, “is that I can keep the matriarch distracted, at least for a time. It’s keeping the horde focused, that doesn’t mean it’s a brilliant strategist. I can also goad the dragon into landing near you all so that you have a chance to attack the demon infesting the wound in its shoulder.”

The image of the dragon grew larger and more detailed, highlighting the festering wound where the demon’s tentacles could be seen wriggling inside of it.

“So long as you act fast, you should be able to kill the demon.”

“Or if that’s not possible, we could kill the dragon,” Dys interjected. “Our goal is to save the Dryads. That means we need that dragon out of the picture and killing it would do that.”

Jack frowned, glowering at Dys. Getting to his feet, he took a couple of steps towards the illusion as the image of the dragon flew closer to him, landing on his outstretched arm.

“You see this? This is peak dragon right here. They don’t get much bigger, stronger, or more ‘bad ass’ as you Nephilim would put it. It took centuries for this ice beast to get to this point. Killing it would be like burning down the temple to Valtar in Eldingholt, or melting the Sapphire Seraphim’s holy armor, or sticking your dick into a really nice cake so no one wants to eat it.”

Jack paused, looking at Eir, Kerr, and the rest of Fortune’s Favored.

“You all might not get the problem with that last one, but my point should be obvious. Do not kill this dragon. It’s the most interesting thing out in these mountains and I don’t want to see it dead.”

“Look, we won’t kill it if we don’t have to,” Jay said, ignoring Jack’s insult against her girls and filing it away for later. “But if that demon can’t be removed or it’s a choice between any of our lives and the life of that dragon, we’re picking us.”

“That’s not acceptable.”

“Not—we aren’t throwing our lives away for the damn dragon, Jack.”

“Don’t let it die,” Jack reiterated, not a hint of humor in his voice or on his face. “Do. Not. Let. It. Die.”

Jadis stared down the obstinate Fetch, not willing to give in to his demand. She wanted to help the Dryads, both for personal reasons and because she felt like it was the right thing to do. She’d like the dragon to live, too, since it was quite literally one of the coolest damned things she’d ever seen. But she wasn’t going to sacrifice her life or the lives of her friends and lovers because Jack valued the dragon’s life more. Taking a risk for the sake of a big gain was one thing. Suicide missions were something else entirely.

“W—why d—do you care so m—much about the d—dragon?”

Dys glanced at Thea. The shy woman was staring at Jack with, well, what Jadis knew was a look of concern. Not fear for herself, but worry for the Fetch. It was an honestly good question. Jack had compared the dragon to some great work of art, but such values were subjective. Was that all there was to it?

Jack looked away from Jay, cocking his head to one side while giving Thea a considering look. After a brief silence, he waved his hand at the image of the valley and the illusion disappeared, revealing the bonfire once more. Jack then sat back down next to Syd, albeit with more separation between the two.

“It’s important to me. That’s all.”

“Alright,” Aila broke the following silence with her cool, professional tone. “Presuming that Jack is able to both distract the demon matriarch and her brood, as well as lure the dragon to a place where we can get to it, what are the odds we are actually able to fight the dragon? This whole discussion on whether to kill or not kill the dragon comes across as rather academic to me, considering the objective power of such a magic beast.”

Aila stood, motioning to the Fetch with one hand though her words were addressed to everyone gathered.

“Jack seems confident that we would be able to remove the demon from the dragon. However, my understanding of demonic possession is that a demon would have to be of suitable power and strength to be able to subsume the creature that it is attempting to possess. To survive the dragon’s attacks and burrow into its flesh implies a similar if not equal level of power to the dragon. Thus, even if we don’t have to fight any of the demonic horde, which I doubt greatly, fighting the demon and the dragon together would be somewhat akin to fighting two dragons at the same time. Are we, as the group that we are now, actually capable of handling such a daunting task?”

In the silence that followed, Jadis observed the faces of her companions and colleagues. There was a lot of doubt, and no small amount of fear. Though, to Jadis’ great pride, she also saw a fire burning behind the worry on her friends’ faces. As a team, they had overcome insane odds, taking on demons and threats that would have ended other groups. They were far, far stronger than their apparent CLR and were set to grow even stronger soon enough. Jay made sure to catch Sabina’s eyes, giving her a questioning tilt of the head. Recognition dawned in the smith’s eyes and she nodded in response.

“Well I think your odds are good!” a man’s voice shouted from the other side of the bonfire. “Just make sure you untie us before you leave to fight—ow!”

Jadis’ three selves sighed at hearing Jockel’s vote of confidence. Of course the man would want them to go fight. He was probably hoping they would all get themselves killed. In all honesty, the fate of the Reavers was something to consider. Willa would want to bring them back to face justice for the crimes they had committed. But from Jadis’ perspective, saving the Dryads and the Dragon was of far greater importance. Even discounting the fate of the Dryads, there was no way Vraekae or anyone else back in Far Felsen would want a demon to possess that ice dragon. The damage it could do to the city would be catastrophic.

“You might not trust my word any more than his,” Jack said with a wry grin. “But I can tell you that with my illusions on the battlefield, our odds of success are actually decently good. I’m not a fan of suicide missions either. However, if you want to tilt the scales more to our favor, why not just ask your stalker to come join us in this great endeavor?”

Syd sent Jack a curious, surprised look. The others did as well.

“Stalker?” Syd asked, one eyebrow raised. “What, are you talking about yourself in the third person now?”

“I’m no stalker,” Jack scoffed. “I’m just observant. Your friend in the trees over there, though. That one’s been stalking the lot of you for a long while now.”

Jay stood, looking in the direction of the trees that Jack indicated, as did Aila, Kerr, and Willa. A general sense of unease went through them as Jadis’ mind went back to things that Kerr had pointed out in the past. The archer had said that she’d seen signs of someone covering their tracks in the snow, as well as a hidden campsite. Small things that Jadis had attributed to the Reavers at first, and more recently assumed Jack had been responsible for.

“What, you don’t see him?” Jack continued, leaning back on his log. “He’s in that tree right there, about fifty feet up. Come now, how can you miss him? He stands out to me with the way he looks.”

Out of the corner of Syd’s eye she saw Jack change again. His body melted and reformed, shifting into a larger, broader shape. One that looked far less human and far more wolf-like. And had large, curving horns.

“Noll?” Syd asked, staring at the familiar form that Jack had assumed.

From the dark trees where Jack had indicated came a muffled, barely audible curse. A second later, Jadis heard a thump as something heavy dropped to the ground. From out of the shadows stalked the large, imposing form of Noll, shocking everyone present, especially the soldiers who had been standing watch and had not noticed a hint of his presence.

“Gods damned Fetch,” Noll grumbled as he stalked into the bonfire light.

He continued to let out a discontented, rumbling growl as the powerful therion mercenary made his way to the fire in the middle of camp. Without a word he took a bowl from the ones laid out there and filled it with stew. Everyone watched in utter silence as Noll carried his meal over to an open spot and sat down next to a very wide-eyed Bridget.

“Fine, start over from the top,” Noll commanded as he wolfed down a large chunk of stewed meat. “This scheme of yours needs a lot more details before it can be called a plan.”