16. Ren Goes For A Hike

"Mommy, time to wake up." A small hand shook Ren's shoulder and she opened her eyes to pre-dawn dimness. For a moment she stared blankly at the little girl in front of her, wondering who she was. She'd been so deeply asleep and then she fell—

Memories of the previous day came rushing back, vivid against the emptiness where her prior life should have been. She'd come here intending to help. She'd summoned Servants, special familiar entities called Heroic Spirits, and they were a lot more troublesome than she'd expected.

"Jack," she said softly, and the girl's face lit up.

Oh yes, and today she was going to throw herself at death without any survival skill other than the ability to fall well. Why had she thought this was a good idea? She no more wanted to die now than she had falling from the sky a day earlier.

"The Lancer and the Caster are cooking you birds on a stick," Jack informed her, scrambling up on the bed beside her. "After that we have to go for a walk. Ritsu's still asleep."

Right. Ren wanted to help Ritsu, and this was the best plan she'd been able to invent. At least if she failed she wouldn't be making anything worse for Ritsu or her world, right? That was a bright thought.

Ren was starting to suspect she wasn't a morning person. She mumbled, "I wonder if there's any tea left."

Jack's eyebrows drew together. "The Caster made a cup a little while ago and then didn't bother drinking it."

"Oh good," Ren said, and dragged herself to her feet, assisted by Jack's Servant-sized strength. She ached all over and felt so hungry that hollow was a better term. By the time she made it to the kitchen, the smell of sizzling fowl powered her just as much as the thought of tea.

"Aww," said Merlin, far too chipper. "Somebody else woke you up first. Here, sit, drink and eat. You've got some hiking to do and we can't help you."

"Wha…?" Ren managed, before burying her nose in the fragrant steam coming off the tea.

Patiently, Merlin said, "If you look like a Servant just dropped you off at the camp gates, it's going to raise suspicions. Given how hapless you were in the forest yesterday, I figured you'd need the breakfast."

Cú set a small pan in front of her containing sizzling bird parts skewered by a sharpened stick. Ren stared at it faintly. "Aren't there any more berries? Maybe with some… milk? Yogurt? Pancakes? This isn't breakfast…"

"Aren't we the picky one this morning," said Cú, and ruthlessly pushed the bird parts off the stick. "Eat."

Ren glanced around, meeting Merlin's friendly lavender eyes, Jack's concerned green eyes and finally Cu's mocking ruby gaze. She had this vague feeling that she was supposed to be the one in charge, and yet somehow she'd been sent to bed early and was now being forced to eat barbecue for breakfast.

Probably some sort of revenge, she decided. Maybe she even deserved it. How would she know? Her personal memory went back one day, and she was far too sleepy to think about it reasonably.

So she ate her barbecued fowl and drank her tea and then the Servants took her to the wall Artoria had shattered and showed her the path of fallen trees that cut through the forest.

"Just turn right when you reach the end of that path," said Merlin. "Keep walking and, well, you'll probably be captured pretty soon. Once you get Artoria talking, I'll make my move. Good luck!" He grabbed Jack by her coat and they both vanished. Only Cú remained corporeal, watching her.

"I'll try to send you somebody to play with," she told him, and then made herself march away.

The 'path' was even slower going than the unmarred forest had been, but eventually, with new scratches and abrasions, covered in sweat and immensely grumpy at everything, Ren made it to the beginning of the Excalibur Morgan strike and turned right, into what looked like pristine forest.

But she hadn't walked five minutes before a rough voice said, "And what do we have here?"

Ren had been so lost in the momentary irritations that she'd mostly forgotten her reason for hiking that morning. It was certainly better than fretting, but now that irritation caused her to display the back of her hand to the voice, along with her middle finger. "I'm here to talk to your boss, not you."

"'Ey, it's the Summoner," said another voice.

"Nah, that's another one," said a third voice. "The one the Captain's after is a wee thing."

"Oy! Quiet! How do we know you're not associated with that blue bastard who caused so much trouble yesterday."

Ren tried to smile, but only ended up baring her teeth. "Oh, I am. That's what I want to talk about. Y'see, he did that without my permission, so I, uh, got rid of him. And I wanted to talk to your boss before I summoned somebody else."

The silence abruptly became whispering. Then the lead voice said, "Yeah, this is too weird. You want to talk to the Captain? You'll get your chance. Search her and then bind her hands." Two ruffians, dressed in armor scraps, appeared from the underbrush and approached her with shortswords drawn.

"If you bind my hands, you'll have to carry me," warned Ren. "I'm not good at hiking."

"Hah," said the leader, still in the brush. "Search her thoroughly."

And search her the two men did, running their stinking hands all over her. She tried to be patient, but when that only earned her more stomach-churningly invasive contact she said, "That's enough. Stop. Or I'll return the favor once I've resummoned my companion."

"Hah," said the culprit, dropping his hands. "That's bloody Summoner arrogance for you. She's clean, Sarge, an' I'd guess she doesn't have any lurking nasties near. Certainly not that blue fellow."

The other ruffian, scruffy, wiry, filthy and bald said, "We could just kill her here. Say she attacked us. One less Summoner to have to put down later."

Ren's heart, already beating hard, leapt into her throat. But if things went south this early, that was good in a way. As long as Jack and Merlin were near, they could rescue her from a few mundane humans easily.

She really hoped they were near.

"You've got the most amazing deathwish, you ass," said the leader. "If we hadn't lost those men yesterday I'd let you try it just so we's can see what trick she's plotting. But as it is, the Captain's Dragon-Saber put me in charge of wiping your ass, so let's get a move on. I've sent that damn lizard back to warn the Captain we're coming. She can deal with this."

With the three ruffians behind her, Ren once again started pushing her way through the forest. It must have been another ten minutes before she abruptly broke into a large man-made clearing that connected to a rough road leading to the far side of the forest.

The camp in the clearing still bore many signs of Cú Chulainn's extracurricular activities the day before, in the form of a couple of collapsed tents and scattered firepits. In the distance down the rough road was a small pile of bodies and a group of men wielding shovels. The whole camp stank of blood, unwashed bodies and all that came with them.

The central tent was better maintained, although it too had a splash of blood upon it. As Ren turned toward it, the flap lifted and Artoria Alter stepped out.

She carried her sword unsheathed in one hand, while her blackened armor seemed to swallow up the dawn's light. Although Merlin had assured them it would take her a day to fully regenerate from her injuries, she stalked forward as if perfectly healed.

"Uh, can the Captain come out?" asked one of the men behind Ren. "We have a prisoner."

Artoria's golden eyes narrowed. "Didn't you ask that last night?"

"Not me, sir! That was him!"

"Hmm," said Artoria, and then simply dismissed the man from her attention as she focused on Ren.

Ren crossed her arms, trying to appear casual and confident. "Hey, Your Majesty. I wanted to talk to you."

"Did you," said Artoria flatly, leveling her sword at Ren's throat.

Ren promptly held up her hands, her mouth dry. "I'm unarmed. My Lancer isn't here. I wanted to ask you some questions about… about your faction. Maybe I should be on your side."

The sword inched closer. "I'm not fond of traitors."

"Does that matter?" Ren turned one hand around to show her Command Seals. "I'm a Summoner and your Summoner is supposed to capture other Summoners, right? If I make that happen, she wins, no more resources lost."

Artoria bared her teeth. "In theory. But I was wrong yesterday when I called you a little Master."

Ren blinked. "Uh, what?"

"Merlin made a mistake letting you approach so close to me. Overconfidence always was his besetting sin."

A dread very distinct from her fear of the sword crept down Ren's spine, a dread that had surfaced again and again since she'd first recognized Merlin. She tried to speak, to join in the Merlin-trashing, but fear made her tongue thick and clumsy.

"You are no Master, girl. You're nothing but an illusion created by Merlin." The tip of the black sword moved from pointing at Ren's throat down her torso. "If I cut off this pretty dress, there'd hardly be anything left of you. You might even fade away entirely."

"You're wrong," said Ren, but weakly. She had to deny it, even though she knew Artoria Alter would never stoop to lying. The blackened Servant was a creature of brute force, not deception.

"Am I?" A cold smile curved Artoria's lips. "Trust me to recognize a fellow piece in one of Merlin's games, child."

"But I've summoned Servants," Ren whispered, her vision darkening at the edges. Everything was going wrong as everything Artoria said seemed so right. "I've Commanded them."

"And yet without Merlin, you'd be nothing. Far better you learn that now rather than later. You yet have so little to lose."

One of the soldiers said, "Captain—Saber—Sir! There's a man in your tent; we can't get near him."

Artoria lowered her sword and grabbed Ren's hair in her mailed fist in the same smooth movement, shoving Ren to her knees and dragging her as she turned toward her tent. Merlin stood within, his fingers resting lightly on a facedown mirror on a small table as he gazed at Artoria.

Ren cried out, pushing her hands helplessly against Artoria's arm. She might not be real, but the pain that radiated through her head still hurt like hell.

Mommy? Jack whispered in Ren's mind. She's hurting you. What should we do?

But Ren couldn't answer. All she could see was Merlin and how every bit of his attention was on Artoria. It was like Ren didn't exist. Her head whirled as she tried to find something to validate herself against.

"You were always cruel, but you've gotten sloppy, mage. Sending this girl to fight me," Artoria shook Ren by the hair and Ren squealed helplessly.

"You were a good child, Artoria," said Merlin mildly. "I've come to regret that."

"So I see. And thus this one isn't even that. A shadow, a figment stolen from a dream." And Merlin only stood there without denying it, his fingers on the mirror and a contemplative expression on his face. Ren's heart twisted.

Artoria went on. "I'm going to save her from you, though. Better she return to a wisp than realize too late how meaningless her life is." She lifted Ren by her hair and bent slightly to say, "You don't believe me. That's fine. Invoke your last Command Seal. Reject Merlin. One way or another, it will free you."

Merlin still didn't look at Ren, his gaze instead going distant. Even a single glance would have reassured Ren, but either he couldn't bear to look at her or she truly didn't matter.

Mommy? Jack's shrill mental voice sounded distant. Maybe all of this was a dream. A dream of a dream and if she did what Artoria said, she'd wake up. But…

"Why?" Ren croaked. Her head ached so much.

Artoria's laugh was rusty. "Who knows? He's always liked sending little girls to fight dragons. Maybe he thought seals would make you easier to control than a sword. But fate put me in his path once again."

Merlin's gaze focused back on Artoria. "Because centuries in a tower weren't enough."

Ren lowered her eyes as tears filled them. No wonder she had no memories. She was just a side character in somebody else's story, with just enough of an identity to move the story along. It all made so much sense.

Abruptly Artoria shoved Ren to the ground and whirled, her sword clashing against twin knives as Jack dropped her Presence Concealment and attacked.

After that single shattering sound, Artoria's mail boot moved to Ren's throat and a quick pattering sound circled them. Ren's cheek pressed into the damp ground, grit getting into her eye, but she saw Jack's pink shoes flash past.

"Ah," said Artoria, and shifted to a two-handed grip on her sword.

Ren couldn't stop herself. She struggled, flinging out her hand with the Command Seal. Even if she was just a side character, she'd come to help somebody and it damn well wasn't Merlin. She'd never trusted him. If she was one of his illusions, he'd done a terrible job.

And Artoria Alter thought Ren had come to the camp as Merlin's pawn.

"Mmf," Ren mumbled into the dirt.

Artoria Alter's boot lifted off her neck as she pivoted slowly. "Ready to be saved, girl in a pretty dress?"

Ren rolled away and pushed herself to her knees. She spat out dirt and said, "Merlin's a shit mage." Artoria's head inclined towards hers, although her gaze remained on Jack. "He's a liar and a trickster. And I didn't come here for him." She glared at Artoria. "I came here to help Ritsu. I came here for Tora." She held up her hand and shouted, "Cú!"

The final Command Seal flashed, and a mighty shattering sound echoed through the camp as Merlin brought his staff down on the hand mirror. Artoria whirled in a blur, her sword at the ready.

Cú Chulainn stood in the air around ten feet above the camp, holding Ritsu under one arm rather than Gáe Bolg. The foxette stood on his shoulder. The Lancer waved his free hand. "Whassap?"

The moment of realization crossed Artoria's face after Jack's daggers slammed into her, first one pair and then another. Ritsu shrieked and covered her eyes.

Artoria froze, and then her blackened holy sword vanished from her hand. She looked down at Ren, still on her knees. "But you're nothing…"

"That doesn't mean I can't help others," Ren told her.

Artoria frowned, and then her armor, her face, and Jack's daggers disappeared from Tora's collapsing form.

A moment of breathless silence ended when the armed rabble who had been watching the confrontation all remembered at once they had voices… and weapons. Ren looked around, trying to find an escape route as Cú jumped down to the ground. He gave her one glance, meeting her gaze clearly, and then picked up Tora under his free arm. Then, with a nod, he leapt away with both woman and girl, leaving Jack, Merlin and Ren behind.

"Mommy?" said Jack, looking warily at the waving swords encircling them. Her knives rematerialized in her hands. Ren didn't doubt that the little Servant could cut their way out of the crowd, but it would be nightmarish and even more energy-expensive than this mission had been so far.

"Excuse me," said Merlin, walking past two armed men without a glance. "No, no need to fight right now. You want to live, I can see." As he passed, men became still and quiet, staring at the mage, or maybe at something only they could see.

He took Ren's hand in his and pulled her forward. "Come along, Serendipity. You've done enough for today."

Silently, she pulled her hand away from his. But she followed him, and Jack followed her, and so they made their way out of the Irregulars' camp.