261. Example: Tabitha.

I found a spot to wait and lit a small fire to make it easier for them to find me. Then, I sat down on a nearby hill and thought through what happened. Lord Nelson is dangerous. He definitely has Skills he is keeping secrets to escape or kill us. He is too dangerous to force him to come with us. He comes voluntarily, or he doesn’t come. It would be like trying to force Wiremu or myself, and it won’t work for long.

The next question is, do we want him to come voluntarily? He will learn things just by being with us that we don’t want the empire to know. He already has a sense of our bonds and the ‘aspect’, which I assume is what Wiremu calls flavour. He is going to work out what it is even if we don’t tell him. He will already have theories. The answer to this question is, I don’t know.

If he doesn’t come with us and we can't force him, do we let him leave, or do we kill him? When Ruku and Rodion get here, we can definitely wipe them out with little risk of injuries. Some of those fighters, The Patrol Leader and two in mercenary gear would not be easy. They are why I was not confident in taking them all down in the confrontation. I don’t work well in a direct fight. I may not have the Assassin Class, but that is what I am. A Shadow Predator.

Tāoke slithered in to join me. It was fully dark now, and I sent Nyx out to watch for them. Dusk grazed the dry grass by the campfire as I watched from the hill.

If they don’t come, they will make top speed back to Janub, and I would have to take them out alone with them alert for an ambush. If they don’t come, I am not going to try to kill them. They can have a free run back to Janub.

If he and his goons do turn up, what am I going to do? They outnumber us. I am not counting the Famous Five in our numbers. We are the better fighters, but they could ambush one or two and try to whittle us down. There is going to be tension, and the nature of Mercenaries, or even just fighters, is to push the boundaries to see who is stronger. Should we set a sparring match to show who is better? It might help, it might not.

I need to consult. If they come, I will take them back to at least meet Ruku and Rodion, and we can discuss it. They are probably two days behind me, so we should meet them with a day’s travel back in their direction. Ruku has much more experience dealing with meathead fighters. Even Rodion has more experience in leading a group of fighters. I am only good with criminals. And Nobles, apparently. What does that say?

It was an hour before midnight when horses road up to the campfire, and I made my way down toward them cloaked in Shadows Embrace.

“Hello, the camp! Are you their Miss Black?” Lord Nelson yelled.

I counted nine riders. Tāoke stayed with me this time. With me empowering the Shadows Embrace, I was testing to see if he could sense me or the bonds. Nyx blanketed them lightly, which also would confuse his senses. Dusk should be shining bright to draw attention.

I got to within ten meters and then dropped the shadows. His eyes snapped to where I suddenly appeared in his senses. Two other pairs of eyes did the same. Those were the ones to watch.

“Hello. You decided to come, I see.”

“Yes, but this has caused a rift between me and the Imperial Army, and when the Force Leader gets back to Janub, my reputation is not going to be worth much.” Lord Nelson said.

“Did you work for them?”

“Just on Contract, but with the bounty and the deaths, there is a mandatory guard for all Taskmasters.”

“And they let you go just like that?”

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“No, it was quite a vigorous discussion. We are not currently in Empire territory, and I formally broke my military contract with one of the exit clauses, which didn’t give her any legal standing. Even then, I think that if I had not had my personal guards here, she would have tried to abduct me and force me back.”

“A rift indeed.”

“I hope it is worth it.”

I shrugged, “Who can tell?” I made a show of looking over them, “Why are we two short?”

“You don’t miss much, do you? They are our scouts. One is making sure the Imperials don’t try to ambush us, and the other is making sure you didn’t have an ambush set up.”

I gave a small smile, “Did he find me?”

“No.”

I could tell Nelson was unsettled as he kept glancing around and looking at the sky. I think he was sensing Nyx but couldn’t work it out. Interesting.

“Right let's ride for a few hours south and then get everybody in to lay some ground rules. Before we go, please remember I am in charge, despite there being eleven of you. I will kill without hesitation at the wrong twitch. I expect to have to make an example of someone, hopefully not more than one.”

One of the two better fighters stepped forward. He was a big man but seemed intelligent. “I am the Boss, call me Todd. They have been told to not start trouble. I will deal with any trouble.”

“I appreciate that, Todd. As long as they know any trouble is probably fatal. Let's get out of here.” I mounted Dusk, and we started south.

We stopped just before dawn. “Call your scouts in and let’s talk.” Lord Nelson nodded, and we made breakfast while we waited. “Don’t make camp, we are moving until the sun gets too hot.”

When we were all together, I stood. “You are here for one purpose, and that is to keep Lord Nelson alive. If you do anything else, you are probably going to die. You will keep a separate camp. If you are caught poking through our things, you will die. Later today or tonight, we will be meeting two other members of our team. One of them is named Ruku. He is our equivalent of Todd here. He will be organising everything and what he says goes. You will not leave camp without his permission. You will not hunt without his permission. The reason for this is we have a lot of bonded animals and if you were to even wound the wrong animal you would be ripped to shreds and possibly eaten by them. You are here because of him,” I pointed to Nelson. “Yes we wanted his services but he chose to come because he was curious. The danger is very real.”

“I will keep them in line,” Todd said.

“I hope so. Let me introduce you to Tāoke.” He slithered out of my jacket and up on my shoulder. Nelson was trying to figure him out already. “Tāoke is one of our bonds, but he is not my bond. None of you would survive a bite from him. As mentioned back at the camp he has a master Level hiding skill. He is watching you.”

“Are you going to introduce us to your other bond?” Nelson asked.

“This is my horse Dusk, and no I am not going to introduce you to my other bond.”

One of the guards said, “But,...”

I threw a knife into the questioner's arm.

“What was that for, lady?” she complained.

“I am not interested in your questions. Take them to Todd. Bind the arm and we are back on the road.”

I was getting dirty looks from a couple of them but Todd got them moving. I heard him say, “Be thankful it was not lethal.”

I was watching the questioner and the friend of the questioner. I stopped everyone for a break when the knife came for my arm. I swayed out of the way as the questioner’s friend was engulfed in shadow and Nyx bound him and shrouded him so no one could see. His horse galloped out in a panic as Tāoke threw himself into the shadows. Everybody backed off. You could hear muffled screaming. The shadows then disbursed in the sunlight leaving Tāoke and a burned husk. I just sat on Dusk and watched everybody as Tāoke slithered back to me and launched himself up. I caught him, and he slithered up onto my shoulder.

I just sat there and let them process what happened. Then I said, “We will need to ride a bit further and find another campsite.”

I turned Dusk and headed away, leaving them behind. I found a spot, dismounted and grabbed a drink. About fifteen minutes later the others rode up rather subdued and leading the riderless horse. I wasn’t sure they wouldn’t turn back.