22 Dolt

Violet looked down at her compass, and while she did five more blasts resounded from somewhere out south. Then silence. A gust of wind passed them, ruffling Alice's hair, then five more airwaves followed matching up with the pattern of the previous blasts.

Both Mandy and Alice looked towards Violet with worry over their faces.

"My guess is that the other one appeared and Riveria took it out," Violet said, not looking particularly worried, rather, she looked relieved.

Mandy tilted her head, looking in the direction where the blasts had come from. August's reaction towards facing a tentacle dog hadn't been good back when Sarah mentioned it, so she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Snarghlah'ahd might be troublesome to us, but it's nothing more than a pest for a dragon," Violet said. "With those two around I don't think even an army of them could get to August."

Mandy straightened her back glancing over at Violet. Mandy had a feeling that August's impression of the tentacle dog had been more vary than that towards paladins, in that case, she mumbled, half to herself: "Would church be a problem?"

Violet made an amused smile. "Is August gathering strength to take it down?"

Mandy frowned, realizing she had spoken too carelessly. "No, I mean, it's a what-if scenario," she said. "What if paladins target him."

"Hmm, that's a good question," Violet looked up as she thought on it. "Their trump cards might be enough, but for the church to take those out, August would need to become a true calamity first."

True calamity? Going around killing other dryads indiscriminately? Didn't seem likely.

"The way things stand right now, there is no way Grisham or Garold family would agree to harm him even if what he is becomes public knowledge. Rather, in a scenario like that, I would place a bet that church would ally with him rather than fight him," Violet said.

Mandy listened with wide eyes. "Why would they ally?" That made no sense considering they had attacked him before. And even that book named 'undead' dryads as highest level threats. Wouldn't that, by all logic, make him an easy target too? Since they could probably take some family members hostage or something.

Violet tilted her head a bit, showing surprise at Mandy's confusion. "Imagine you have a beautiful home and all that is protecting you is a sturdy fence maintained by some incomprehensible beings you can't even talk to."

Mandy nodded faintly. That was about Urea and dryads isolating it from Terea and Solus. And August was, in fact, someone with the ability to harm them, was he not?

"You know, that if by some chance the fence comes off, your house will be taken and who knows what will happen to you."

Till this part, Mandy had no questions whatsoever, but it all added up towards the argument of why they wouldn't ally with him.

"And then, one day, you discover that one of your loyal dogs is actually a cerberus pup who has every reason out there to protect your home - family, career, and a good track record of doing exactly that. Also this pup can work on maintaining the fence and it has no motives whatsoever to take it down."

There was a moment of silence. Alice was nodding her head like an old man would when hearing a good sermon. And Mandy was dumbfounded. Everything Violet said made complete sense. She didn't think you could put it that way. She lacked knowledge about exorcists and their relations to church, but August was from a lineage that was half-church members. If you could consider him as being a part of them-- and she had learned just now that church and guild shared their main values - then...

It made so much sense she started to wonder why did August and Tia worry so much? If put like that, then church people would need to be completely crazy to do anything like attacking him. But-- what if they are that crazy?

"Some of the church members are batshit crazy, no denying that," Violet added, almost as if reading Mandy's suspicions, "but their upper branch is fully capable of doing simple maths," Violet added with a faint shrug.

Before Mandy could process it fully, the light coming from above became brighter and the air started to feel somewhat itchy and uncomfortable.

August reappeared then, yet rather than there being three of them, another person was there, being held by Riveria by their wrist.

A bit shorter than August, long white hair, odd clothing that reminded of an ancient Greek chiton, pale skin and if not for their teary face and confused look the person looked as frail and ethereal as a faerie - thick white eyelashes and eyes that changed color as opals do under the sunlight. Gender? Who knows, even.

Riveria let go of their wrist as soon as they appeared and the new one fell to their knees to throw up.

August and the dragons had identical expressions of 'let's pretend we didn't see it' as they casually stepped away from the puking faerie, walking up to Mandy and Alice.

Just like August and his famliliars matched up their expressions, Violet and Alice did as well, but in their case it was partly opened lips, like they were about to say something, but nothing came out.

"I set up a sacred zone that will activate upon gatekeeper entering," August said. "With luck it ought to cut a third of the-- tentacle dog's life."

Mhm, yep, it looked like August aimed to completely move over the extra person like it was no big deal. What Mandy could see, though, was an even deeper trace of despair in his eyes.

Violet closed her mouth, then asked. "I take it that Riveria took care of the other Snarghlah'ahd?"

"I will expect a good tip," Riveria said, confirming that assumption, and happily leaned on August from behind.

August only let out a sigh, then his eyes stopped on Mandy. "I'd suggest taking a smaller form, light alignment is enhanced here, so staying like that will drain your energy."

Was that why she felt itchy? Mandy nodded and shapeshifted back into being a tit and like before she went to perch on August's shoulder, taking care to avoid Riveria. As soon as she did, the itchy feeling faded and she felt comfortable again.

"And that's a... unicorn familiar?" Violet asked, looking over the puking faerie who was no longer puking, just looking miserable, tears falling down on the puke.

August had the eyes of a dead fish. "Yeah, there is that," he said in a tone that said 'I no longer care'. He had already gone past the number of regrets one could have in a single day.

"I can't face my parents anymore," the puking faerie, aka unicorn, said between sobs. The voice was certainly soft, but it wasn't a girl's voice. So it was a 'he', most likely.

Was he assaulted? What-- Mandy peered at August. How did that happen?

"I'm not a bicoooooorrnnn," he let out a long wail. "Why would a dark dryad contract meee?"

An awkward silence fell on them, only the sobs of the puke unicorn and nature sounds surrounded them.

The secret was out just like that.

Not that it was a secret among them anymore, but still - it had happened so easily. Alice and Violet looked towards the puke unicorn with disbelief. Mandy had a feeling it was even a little lucky that the reveal happened in such an idiotic way, as there was no need for acting.

August let out a sigh, then asked, very quietly, softly. "Riveria, can you kick him without killing him?"

Mandy could feel that he was tense, his heartbeat heavy, even if outwardly he looked calm. Being in contact like this was almost like reading minds.

Riveria nodded and let go of August to go do exactly that--

Her body made a graceful arc, as her leg swept towards the boy's side. Unbelievable amount of power came from a movement so light it might as well be a part of dancing. Thud followed by an instant crack as the sobbing unicorn crashed into a nearby tree.

The boy passed out seemingly without realizing what happened.

… He wasn't dead right? Mandy looked at the scene with wide eyes.

August slowly turned to face Violet and Alice, his eyes were dead and Riveria cracked her knuckles in the background.

Violet squinted. "Stop panicking about foolish things," she said, her look stern. "You have a job to do."

A fair amount of tension left August and after a pause he took out his notebook, turning it into a suitcase.

Riveria tilted her head, having expected to do something more, but since August switched to work, she merely walked back up to them and found a place next to Ceruleum, who didn't seem to be all that perturbed throughout all this ordeal.

Mandybird tilted her head. Why had they all pretty much shrugged over the unicorn boy, who might be dying by the tree right now? She glanced back only to see faint bluish light seeping out from the boy's chest.

August got a few paper strips and placed them on the edge of the round stone, then drew a few simple runes forming a ring over all the paper strips combined. After that he poured some pink colored sand in the middle of the circle. The runes came alive and like snakes they slid over the paper towards the sand, dying it black as they reached it. Then the sand moved, perfectly covering up a circular patch of the paper within the same borders where the runes had been before.

"Sand will distort and point to the place where gatekeeper comes in," August said.

Violet seemed impressed. "Good work," she said, then took out her compass once more to check it.

It looked like a compass, but for some reason, very gradually, its marker was moving like a clock hand would. Mandybird's beak parted to ask, but then she closed it, feeling this was not the time. There was an odd sense of anticipation surrounding them. Something would be happening soon.

And it didn't take long.

As soon as the handle reached north, the sand distorted on the bottom edge. Not even minding the two behind him, August reached out to take Alice by hand, who, in the very same way, was reaching towards August.

Mandy could feel, through August's senses, that Riveria had taken hold of August's arm.

"Visible distance, but in a way where they wouldn't see us," Violet said.

August nodded and they were back in that vivid path. Mandy hadn't felt Ceruleum taking hold of August, so she glanced towards where he had stood and saw that he had followed them in without problem by taking hold of Riveria's arm. Alice looked uncomfortable, but both Riveria and Ceruleum now had no trace of dizziness on their faces. Rather, all that Mandy could see was excitement.

A few steps and they were out in a vast pine forest, just behind the roots of a fallen tree which had pulled up a fair chunk of dirt along with it's recent (it seemed) fall.

An odd ruffle of leaves resounded throughout the forest and Mandy felt alarmed. Someone was in trouble, that's the kind of feeling she got even if she could not explain it at all.

Her eyes were drawn to the source of that feeling and she saw a child, not older than twelve, with ashen hair running with all they had. Their lips were moving, but all she heard was the rustle of leaves, but those sounds conveyed far more meaning than the words 'help' did. There was fear, despair, dread and a bright flash of light behind them revealed the source of those emotions.

A dark creature made up of shadows had leaped towards the child, but something hit it in mid-jump. A barrier. It shattered as the beast hit into it, but it also broke the jump and burned at the beast, causing it to fall down.

The child looked back at the sudden flash of light and saw that its pursuer had been hit by something. Eyes wide, feet halting.

The beast got back up on its feet, the burned off parts starting to regrow, and the child dashed into a run. Another 'help'.

Mandy felt movement next to her and looked sideways to see Violet having raised her hand, golden arrows appearing in mid-air next to her. Her eyes were locked in at the scene.

It felt… manipulative to Mandy that even if they could save the child from despair they did not. She knew that the barrier before had been August's doing and that Riveria had ended one tentacle dog already, Violet's magic too could probably do something, but they waited.

The child tripped. The tentacle dog approached. Violet tensed, her fingers spread wide and the arrows floating by her starting to swirl. The child let out the most alarmed 'help' so far.

And something answered it.

But it wasn't any of them. Bright streaks of light hit the tentacle dog from somewhere behind the child. A noisy sound of wind and the sound of earth crumbling filled their surroundings. Mandy could not see what was the source of these sounds, but what she could see was that earth under the tentacle dog was falling in and that the white streaks of light were attacking from all sides, preventing the beast from jumping away.

For a while longer the noises kept up, but the child was no longer in danger. In wonder, the child stood up, looking towards the hole where light streaks kept going in.

Violet spoke up, almost in a whisper. "You can tell that the barrier was your doing as a part of negotiating, but don't mention me. Tell him, you will ask for a favor in the future."

August nodded. "You will tell me what favor to ask someday down the road, right?"

"Yes," Violet said. "Well then, the rest of us should stay hidden, the prophecy only had August in it."

Hearing so, Mandy jumped off of August's shoulder and Riveria let him go too. The lights going in the hole ceased and small flickering things started appearing next to the child.

From this distance, Mandy couldn't tell at all what kind of beings those were. Feeling a bit odd about floating in a shape like this, Mandybird pretended to perch on one of the roots at the same height level as August's shoulder had been.

August sighed and disappeared from next to them and reappeared close to the kid, startling him in the process.

The little flickering lights weren't startled, though, rather they started moving around the two of them in an excited fashion. It looked like all of them were having a conversation, but they were too far for Mandy to hear and it seemed like even fae language did not echo through the forest if the speakers weren't screaming it out.

Violet's expression changed to relief as she saw their conversation happening. "They will talk for a while."

"It's not like you to skip on a chance to make new contacts," Riveria said, here eyes still on August, however.

"I will take that chance in a decade," Violet replied. "Rather, mind if I ask why either of you talked August into taking that dolt as a familiar?"

Mandybird turned her head to look at the dragons. Dolt? Well, he didn't seem like the most intelligent familiar out there given what he had revealed. But why was Violet certain either of them had talked August into it?

Ceruleum asked: "Is information about that the price for your silence?"

"I intend to keep silent even without that," Violet replied. "But I hope either of you claim that bounty soon, as that's not a secret he'll be able to keep for long."

Ceruleum's response only told to Mandy that yep - either of them had talked August into it and for some reason it felt like Ceruleum. But…

Bounty? Given what she had heard from Violet - If Mandy's guess was not off, it seemed like someone had put on a bounty on August's identity a decently long time ago. Violet looked into August due to that and Riveria approached him for the same reason, but ended up falling for him…?

Riveria's expression was very uncomfortable as Violet mentioned that. "Like hell we would," she said.

"I won't feel at ease unless we have a deal, though," Ceruleum said. "That applies to Alice too."

Alice startled hearing her name, but Mandy could see her eyes narrowing and her turning thoughtful.

"Fine," Violet said. "Then let that question about the dolt be my price."

Ceruleum reached out his hand towards Violet and Violet took it. A small circle of light appeared over their handshake, then dispersed sinking one half into Ceruleum's hand, other - in Violet's.

"Unicorns possess the ability to heal wounds using live aether from their surroundings," Ceruleum replied. "I don't think Urea has a method to heal mixed alignment beings, so he's a good asset."

Hey! Mandy flapped her ghastly wings for a bit. That's not just a 'good asset' - that's a great asset! The puke unicorn is the answer for what August had been searching for, perhaps he can get back his missing organs now! They would have a lot of educating to do, most likely, but to think they lucked out to get someone that valuable! A completely new wave of appreciation overcame Mandy.

August seemed to be done and despairing about both contracting the dragons and the unicorn, but hadn't they actually lucked out? Like, unbelievably lucked out! Just as Agust decided on something the world almost conspired to make it all into reality. Wait… how could something so convenient happen all at the same time and that soon, no less?

Mandy had an uneasy feeling about all this.

"In that case, he really is a good asset, true," Violet agreed. "But what does it imply about August if he has three mythical class familiars?"

"That's a trifling worry," Ceruleum said, then smiled. "It would be enough to contract me alone to cause the very same suspicions you are fearing it would bring."

Violet pursed her lips, but didn't say any more to that.

Mandy felt a deeply unsatisfied about not having any context on who exactly Ceruleum was if that was the case. And somehow it seemed like anyone on the seeing side would know. Agh, why had she not asked anything about it when they had the time to talk?

"Alice, have you decided on what you want?" Ceruleum asked.

Alice nodded. "Could I get a divination?"

"Greedy, but fine, I will permit it," Ceruleum said and reached out a hand towards Alice. Like before, a circle appeared and dispersed into their arms.

Violet looked up at Alice. "Do you know how to formulate questions for divinations?"

Alice nodded, then let out a breath. "Three years from now, on April 23rd, 11:20, where will Charles DeStrada be?"

Ceruleum put out his hands, this time causing the water orb to appear as he put all his nails in a single spot, then moved his hands out, having something akin to miniature globe appear. He had it swirl around, as his eyes moved over it.

"Interesting," he smiled, although his eyes narrowed from strain. He zoomed in to a certain spot, a ripple running over the globe, terrain changing, then he dispersed the orb.

He let out a longer breath, then leaned in to Alice's ear, whispering something in it. As he did, Alice's expression was painted over with disbelief, even terror.

Was the location so scandalous that Ceruleum chose to keep it a secret? Mandybird tilted her head, she didn't know who this so called Charles person was - maybe the one Alice wanted to take her assumed revenge to? If anything, if Ceruleum was so secretive, it wasn't a good idea to ask about it even if she was curious. If anything--

"What happens if you break the deal?" Mandybird asked instead.

"You can't break it," Violet replied. "If you aim to do something you know will break the promise, no matter how indirectly, you get knocked out for a day and the other party of the deal gets informed with your coordinates, so they can come and kill you during that time."

Hm, that was convenient. No, rather scary. Although seeing the ease with which the two accepted to have a burden like that placed on them only confirmed once more that neither Alice nor Violet had any intention of giving things away.

"Although," Violet looked at Ceruleum. "Can I use this in case where someone imprissions me for the reason of getting to August? If you learn teleportation you might even erase the problem at that point?" there was a small glint of mischief in Violet's gaze.

Ceruleum smiled. "If you are ready to be erased as well, as a noble sacrifice."

"A pity," Violet said, although her expression didn't indicate she really felt that way. "Now that I think on it," she added. Then glanced back towards August and the kid in the distance. "What means did you use to trick August into contracting you?"

Trick? Mandy tilted her head. No tricks involved as far as she could see. It was more like August slipped up and the two used the chance.

"Hmm, what are you talking about, he made the offer himself," Ceruleum replied with a faint shrug. Yet there was something serpentine about his gaze, even if his pupils were no longer split. Even a tad dangerous.

Violet replied with a 'who are you kidding' type of look.

To Mandy it looked like there was a faint threat in the way Ceruleum looked at Violet and it was not the kind born from righteous indignation. Rather a warning not to pursue it.

Right.

Her previous unease about their 'luck' returned. How did she not consider it? Ceruleum was someone who could pretty much tell various details about the future. From the way August and Alice phrased their questions it was likely that there were a lot of limits in what he could tell, but… Both Riveria and Ceruleum had jumped on August's careless offer so easily, so naturally, and it had all happened so fast that it was strange that she had not considered it to be a scheme of sorts.

'In Urea there are only benefits in being a dryad's familiar'.

Mhm. It was clear that the two had that goal, to begin with, and the drink was merely an excuse. And the timing of it all happening the very next day after August decided on needing strength - it wasn't a fluke.

Mandybird stared at Ceruleum, got a little distracted by his gentle, prince-like face, then continued staring. She thought about asking something, but at that moment Ceruleum looked towards her and reached up his hand to brush a hair strand off his face. He moved his lips to form 'later' without making a sound, then lowered his hand.

Mandy felt surprised at first, then glanced towards Violet. Ceruleum's hand had hid his mouth at an angle where Violet wouldn't be able to see. She couldn't tell if he had read her mind or-- what, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was wary towards Violet.

Mandy had spent more time with Violet than she had with Ceruleum or Riveria, but it hadn't seemed like Violet meant any harm towards August. She had saved him before, after all, and just now she had set things up in a way where she would be asking August to do something for her in a... decade? When it came to Ceruleum and Riveria - they shared their lifespan with August, if August perishes, so would they. To Mandy, it seemed, like they might all as well be on the same team, but perhaps that was a naive way of seeing things.

Mandy decided to follow Ceruleum's request and since none of them said anything more, they all watched August at work. After a while, August disappeared from next to the kid and the lights dimmed and Mandy no longer felt itchy. The barrier was lifted, in other words.

August appeared by them. "I'll be back in a short while," he said to Ceruleum and Riveria, "take Violet and Alice over to the idiot."

The idiot. Unicorn. Mandy made a wry smile internally at the sad fact that it had taken her no time to link the word 'idiot' to their new companion.

Ceruleum and Riveria nodded, no questions asked.

"Mandy, you need to come with me," August added.

Riveria cast an envious look towards Mandy, but didn't say anything.

Mandy figured it might be related to moving a bigger distance and flew over to August's shoulder, settling in the same place as when they came here - close to his neck, only her head sticking out. A very comfortable place indeed.

As soon as she did, August stepped into a fae path.