“On what?” he pressed, manner still patient.
“How deep the cave walls are, for one. If the cave cavities are somewhere deep underground, it’s not going to do us much good for me to dig a different entrance. You’ll still have a tunnel going in regardless.”
He leaned his head back, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Makes sense. In Nora’s case, the walls were only a few feet thick. I’ve never been in this exact area of Sira before. I’m not sure what the landscape down there is really like except rolling hills of empty grassland and not much else. Alright, I see your point. Assuming that we choose to avoid the existing entrances, how long would it take to tunnel through something that’s, say, a hundred feet thick?”
“About an hour, possibly two,” she answered readily. Rena had this look on her face that suggested she found this line of questioning strange. “Dah’lil, you do remember that I have to be within fifty feet in order to work? Isn’t the perimeter barrier set out farther than that?”
He opened his mouth, paused, and looked sheepish. “I’d momentarily forgotten that. You’re correct. So this idea isn’t really feasible.”
“Not really.” Her clear grey eyes bounced between the two of us—weighing, evaluating. “I take it you’re worried because of the possibility of booby traps?”
We both nodded, because really, that was obvious.
“You do remember that I can see things like booby traps and make them go bye-bye without triggering them?”
Now I felt sheepish. Duh. Of course she could.
Rena didn’t smile per se, but her eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter. “Rather than me spending possibly several hours tunneling and magically draining myself in the process, why don’t we just charge in and keep the element of surprise?”
“Charging in is more fun. That has my vote.” I lifted my hand in support of this idea.
Maksohm shrugged agreement. “Charging in it is. Although if we’re really dealing with tunnels, then your idea isn’t going to work, Bannen.”
I grunted, a little peeved about that. True, it likely wouldn’t, as most cave entrances didn’t stand very tall unless it was going through a mountain, and that wasn’t the case here. “I’d say that my good ideas never pan out in real life, and rail about the injustice of it, but this was actually Chi’s idea. It’s his bad karma coming back to bite us.”
“I just heard my name taken in vain.” Chi slid open the door and glared at me. “What did I do this time?”
I summarized the situation down to the necessary bit. “We’ll probably have to go in via tunnel to reach bad guys.”
Vee groaned deep in her chest. “I hate tunnels. They’re short.”
“We all hate them, my darling,” Chi promised her darkly. He sidled through, avoiding our legs, and took up the only clear chair. Vee resumed her seat on the other side of the bed with her boots hanging off the edge. “Well, in that case, my brilliant idea from earlier won’t work.”
Since Rena was the only one out of the loop, Vee turned her head and explained, “They asked earlier if I can use some giant’s magic.”
“Ahh, that,” Rena responded.
Chi cocked his head in question. “How did you know about that?”
“Well, Vee told me a story where she used it, but I knew she had it before that,” Rena answered, amused. “I can see it well enough.”
Blinking in surprise, Vee’s voice rose up a half octave. “You can see that?”
“Sure. It’s part of your magic.” Rena stated that in a way that suggested there was a great deal more that she saw. Of course, Rena was a naturally private person, not one to spill out other people’s secrets. She wouldn’t ever be the one to say something first. If she ever decided to write down all of the things she saw, but never disclosed, she could fill a library.
Nonplussed, Vee stared at her for another moment. “Right. Well. Anyway. Chi thought I could use it enough to boost both of you onto higher ground. If you can see over the crowd, you can work that much more effectively.”
“Sounds good in theory,” Rena agreed. “Why didn’t we try this before?”
“I’m not all that confident in it,” Vee admitted, her gaze falling to the floor. “I’m not even sure how high I can send you two. I haven’t experimented or really used it since I was a teenager. But giant’s magic is faster than traditional spellwork, especially something as basic as this. It would be the better option for a battle situation.”
“So let’s try it,” Maksohm suggested. “We’re here for the night anyway. Let’s find an empty field somewhere and see if we can actually pull this off. If it’s not viable, we’ll know. If it is, we can practice it.”
Ever the team leader. He stated it so manner-of-factly that it eased the pressure on Vee. I could see the tension physically leave her shoulders, and she cast him a quick smile. “Alright, let’s do that. But if they’re really in a cave, I don’t think we’ll be able to use this. What’s our strategy for caves, anyway? We’ve never fought in one together before.”
“Charge,” I informed her seriously.
Vee rolled her eyes. She did that a lot with me. “No, seriously.”
“Er,” Maksohm gave her an apologetic shrug. “That’s basically it.”
“No, seriously.” Nuance turned the repetition into one of incredulity. “We’ve got five seasoned agents in here, all of us specialists, and that’s the best we can come up with? Charge?”
“Rena has to be within fifty feet to work, and the perimeter barrier is further out than that,” Maksohm reminded her, still not happy about it.
Vee’s expression went from disbelief to aggravation. “Sards. I forget that sometimes. Hers is the most long-range magic, too. The only one with further reach is Chi, and shooting an arrow into the hillside won’t do anything.”
“Everything I said about perimeter barriers being largely useless? I take it back.” It had seemed ridiculous when they’d first explained it to me, but it certainly restricted us sneaking up on them effectively enough. And without the ability to come in from behind, we were very limited on what tactics we could use.
Chi rubbed at his forehead as if he could feel a headache coming on. “Why must evil men be so clever? I want all bad guys to be dumb. It will make my job easier.”
“Why don’t you wish for monkeys to go extinct tomorrow while you’re at it?” Vee asked him, amused.
Going still, his head snapped around and he leaned forward so he could look at Maksohm without me in the way. “Didn’t you say that one of the coast guardsman reported monkey sounds?”
“Well, yes.” We all cottoned on quickly, although it was Maksohm that said it, expression sympathetic. “There’s likely to be at least one, possibly more, monkeys in the tunnel with us. Sorry, Chi.”
Chi just whimpered.
Nora and Emily came in like a whirlwind. I did a double take in seeing Emily in MISD uniform, especially as we hadn’t heard anything from her since the wedding, and she hadn’t been considering joining then. Or at least, if she had been, she certainly hadn’t mentioned it. She spied me in the hallway and bounced right over, throwing both arms around me in an enthusiastic hug. “Bannen!”
“Hello, my pretty,” I greeted, hugging her hard enough to lift her off her feet, which made her squeal. “Fancy seeing you in blue.”
“They approached me, actually,” she admitted, sinking back down to the ground. “Anyone near Rena got a background check, and they’re apparently always short on healers, so I got a very nice offer. Then they asked if I’d help you out here, with all of this madness about you-know-what and I said absolutely. I’m not letting you two go in there without me.”
“Very glad to have you,” I responded sincerely. “Hi, Dax.”
The marmoset on her shoulder chittered a greeting, holding out a paw for me to high-five.
The door to our room abruptly opened, Rena popping out. “Is that—Emily!”
Both
women crashed together like two titans colliding, bouncing and hugging and acting half their ages. Dax wisely leapt to my shoulder and I retreated three steps for my own safety and his before I greeted Nora. “Hey.”
“Hello yourself.” She sidled up next to me to watch the show. “I know those two grew up together, I got some wicked stories on the way up here, but I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Yeah? I totally expected this. Have you had dinner yet?”
“Not yet, and I’m famished; we missed lunch altogether hoofing it over here. Speaking of, thanks for stopping tonight. I know the bosses wanted me to portal you immediately to Foxboro tonight, but I really could use a good night’s sleep first.” She sounded exhausted, her shoulders drooping a little.
“I think we all could,” I admitted. “And we’ve got something to try.”
“Yeah?”
Maksohm poked his head out of his room, found us all in the hallway, and greeted people. Then of course Chi and Vee came up the stairs from wherever they’d been, and we had a round of introductions to make. Emily had met them at the wedding, but she’d met a lot of people at the wedding, and vice versa, so introductions again couldn’t hurt.
“Dah’lil, why don’t I take these two down for a later dinner and catch them up to speed,” Rena offered.
“And while they’re doing that, come out to the field with me,” Vee encouraged me. “I just tried using earth magic with Chi and I think this is doable, but I want to make sure I can lift two people.”
I much preferred some action over sitting and talking. I’d already had a lot of sitting and talking today, too much to be frank about it. “Sure. Rena, that good with you?”
She gave me a look, then responded to Vee, “I trust you to rein them in.”
Chuckling, Vee gave her a casual salute. “I’ll bring them both back in one piece, no rips or tears, promise.”
I asked Chi that night before bed if he needed me, but he thought he’d be alright since he knew where we were going next. Bannen assured him that we’d switch beds if that didn’t prove to be true, but I knew better than to insist and bruise a man’s pride; so I went to bed like normal, snuggled into my husband’s side. I woke up in the dark, flailing, as a pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders and under my knees, lifting me out of my nice, warm covers. “Whaaa?”
“Chi’s not sleeping,” Vee answered, lifting me up and out of the bed, supporting me against her chest. “Come on.”
Oh. Vee came and got me. I glanced sleepily toward the bed, found Bannen already moving, kicking off blankets in order to follow. Assured he was coming, I didn’t fight it, as Vee was warm. She carried me easily next door and Chi lifted the covers so that his wife could roll me in next to him. I felt like a favorite teddy bear as he wrapped an arm around my waist and snuggled me in. Yawning, I went with it, felt Bannen settle in at my back, then the bed dip again as Vee climbed in behind Chi. The bed was not really large enough for four adults so we all stayed on our sides. Yawning again, I went peacefully back to sleep, perfectly warm and comfortable.
If anyone snored, fidgeted, or the like, I didn’t feel it. I slept the rest of the night through and woke up to only Vee still in the bed. The giantess gave a heavy sigh, still sound asleep, and I let her. We didn’t have to catch the boat too insanely early, and I knew she’d missed sleep because of Chi. Let her catch up on that as much as she can. Rolling out of bed, I stretched with both arms over my head, then casually opened the door and stepped out.
And nearly ran right into Emily.
Emily’s eyes went from my face, to the open door, then back again with growing confusion. “Ah. Isn’t that…I thought your room was….”
Rats. I’d not had time to explain this to her last night. Taking her arm, I towed her into my room and made sure Bannen was gone—he was—before sitting her on the bed. “Em. There’s a lot of confidences and stuff wrapped up in this, so I can’t give you the full details, but I had a good reason for being in Chi and Vee’s bed last night.”
“I should certainly hope so,” she spluttered, eyes still too wide in her face. “You’re both married, to start with!”
“It has nothing to do with me being married, or them, or anything sexual. It’s about comfort. It’s about sanity, really. This stays inside the team, alright?” I waited for her nod—somewhat dubiously given—before I explained. “Chi had…a traumatic experience in the past that makes him very, very sensitive about being left behind. The only way he can sleep is if he has a grip on me, because he knows that the person they literally can’t afford to leave behind is me.”
“So you’re…?” she trailed off, not sure how to phrase it.
“We jokingly refer to it as his security blanket.”
She put up a hand, staying me, her expression still wildly conflicted. “But his wife? I mean, Vee surely isn’t okay with this.”
“Vee and I talked about this at length, trust me. Chi knows that Vee would never leave him behind; he trusts her right down to the ground. But fears aren’t always rational. And something like this? It’s carved into his soul. Em. Just because you’re married to someone, it doesn’t mean all other problems disappear. Love is not a bandage to heal all wounds, no matter what the romance novels say. Sometimes help from an outside source is needed.”
Emily did not look sold.
Sighing, I gamely tried to explain it further, not sure if I had the right words. I didn’t want her to misunderstand all of us. “Em, remember when you first apprenticed, and you were convinced there was a monster under the bed?”
“That’s not the same,” she denied, tone filled to the brim with exasperation.
I kept going anyway. She’d catch on to my point eventually. “No matter what we said or did, you were absolutely certain it was there. Now, I know your parents love you to pieces. We love you dearly too. You love all of us. If love and fear can’t exist at the same time, why would you still believe in the monster, even though you had us? Why would you have that fear of the monster, if we loved you?”
She opened her mouth on a retort that never came. Slowly closing it, she looked pensive and thoughtful instead.
“You trusted us, knew that we wouldn’t lie to you, but that irrational fear of the monster still lurked. We couldn’t rid you of it.” I gentled my tone, coaxing, “Eventually you came to terms with it on your own and grew out of it. A child’s fears and an adult’s aren’t any different. They take different forms, but the root of fear is the same no matter your age. And when that fear stems from psychological trauma, it takes more than one source of help and love to heal.”
Emily mulled on that for the longest moment, and I could tell that this situation still didn’t set comfortably with her. A moue of a frown lingered on her face, but she gave a grudging nod. “So he has his own monster to contend with?”
“Unfortunately. He was in bad shape before we figured it out—that I could get him to sleep. He was doing scarily stupid things because he was so sleep deprived. I realize most people would look at me sideways for doing this, but my husband knows very well what I’m doing and why. Heck, Bannen sleeps with us. Vee’s downright grateful I’m keeping Chi sane. Chi’s become another brother to me because of the ordeal.”
Her tension relaxed as I spoke, her forehead unwrinkling. “Okay. I read you loud and clear. As long as everyone’s aware of what’s going on and it’s for good reasons, I’m certainly not going to pitch a fit about it. Just, uh, answer me one question? You guys are seriously that tight-knit? That you can just cram yourselves all in the same bed and not find it weird?”
Amused by that question, I riposted dryly, “Why? Did you find it weird all of us girls piled into the same room for our sleepovers?”
“Well…no,” she admitted slowly, smile turning sheepish. “It’s the same thing to you, huh. I’m surprised you’re all that close. I mean, you haven’t known each other that long, comparatively speaking.”
Patting her shoul
der, I promised her in dark humor, “Fight Toh’sellor with us and see what happens after that.”
Emily grimaced. “Right. That would do it. Okay, well, now that’s straightened out, want to go get breakfast with me?”
“Yeah. Breakfast sounds good.”
We portaled to Foxboro, mostly for logistics and resupplying. It was there that we read the written report, but it didn’t give much more information than the verbal report had. If we really did find Toh’sellor down there—and odds looked favorable to that—then we’d need one more shielding expert with us, which made me very glad we had Nora with us. Maksohm couldn’t be expected to fight a heavy battle and then put up another shield around Toh’sellor directly afterwards. It would send him directly into a Mind Down. No, thank you.
I adored the fact that we had Emily with us, and it was a relief to me. All of this time, we’d gone off the basic healing spells that Vee and Maksohm could do, but neither of them were really healers. They could patch up things, but anything too serious and the odds weren’t in our favor. Emily, on the other hand, was excellent with healing, even if short on experience. I trusted her skills and loved having another friend watching my back.
We hopped onto a ship in Foxboro for Lalani, as we didn’t want to exhaust any more agents with portals. Especially for something that would require every ounce of magical power that we could bring to bear on the matter.
Ten hours later, we arrived at our temporary headquarters. As we checked in at the hotel front desk, the woman behind the counter scanned our badges perfunctorily (after all, we were in uniform), then informed Maksohm, “I have two messages waiting for you, Agent Maksohm.”
“Thank you,” he responded as he took both from her. One of them looked official with the MISD seal on the white envelope, the other bore the mark of the Siran Coast Guard.
We exchanged glances but knew better than to ask. We needed to be somewhere more private for this conversation. Without a word between us, we all went up to the second story and into Maksohm’s room, Chi closing the door behind us as Maksohm dropped his bag on the single bed. With only a bedroom chair, the bed, and a dresser in the room, we hardly had a way to sit so chose to stand.
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