The Villain Wants to Quit

Save the traitor (7)

Carrot and the humans camped about an hour's ride from Dullahan's camp.

They had come across a kelpie, but the humans were strong enough to deal with it swiftly, and Carrot could route them past most of the magical creatures' favorite areas.

They even managed to find a spot dry enough to camp in the marshy area with Carrots' help.

The humans praised Carrot for his help and expertise, but he swished his tail at their words.

Giselle smiled at the unicorn's taciturn reaction before moving to summon water with the aid of the sprites that flitted around her.

Carrot hated to admit it, but the witch's skill was beneficial.

Because of her, he didn't have to worry about finding a water source and was able to prioritize finding a secluded place where they were unlikely to cross paths with Dullahan's men.

Within an hour of starting to camp, Giselle had secured water for everyone, Henley had caught and skinned two rabbits, Vin had set up tents, and Marc had toured the area to ensure their location was safe.

They were quite efficient. Too efficient.

Carrot was mulling over the group's identity when Giselle started a fire for cooking.

"What are you doing?" Carrot shouted. "If any of Dullahan's men are in the area-"

"It's fine, it's fine." Giselle laughed as she wriggled her fingers in a series of complicated gestures. "Look."

Wind sprites carefully dispersed the smoke low to the ground and in the opposite direction of Dullahan's base. A fire sprite tended to the fire to keep it just large enough to roast some meat. It was an excellent skill.

The witch melodramatically flipped some of her blue hair over her shoulder in a playful act of pride.

Carrot sniffed at Giselle before stalking away.

The group had made a pleasant campground. It made Carrot feel a little sorry for his lonely little human who always had to eat sad rations and was lucky to get a thin blanket.

"It would be good if my human had some other humans to help him eat like this when we camp," Carrot muttered while the humans gathered around the fire and ate a hearty meal of roasted meat.

"Yes!" Scourge shouted from his perch on Marc's thigh.

"Mortal Theo needs some human peons!" The tiny dragon yelled past a mouthful of roasted rabbit. "His cooking is very unpleasant."

Vin froze before he responded to Scourge, "Did you say 'Neo'?" Coppery eyes narrowed and glared at Scourge.

"Nope!" Scourge beamed. "Mortal T-H-E-O is our human."

Vin relaxed a little at the clarification, while Carrot considered that the little snake was impervious to others' moods.

Besides, where did that twerp get off calling Theo his human?

"And what is this Theo like?" Giselle asked.

"It's Mortal Th-"

"Why do you need to know?" Carrot growled, narrowing his eyes at Giselle.

"I'm quite curious about the human traveling with a dragon, a unicorn, and somehow has highly classified information regarding Dullahan's camp." Giselle's tone was lighthearted as she lured Scourge to her lap with some food.

Then a terrible sigh shook her lips. The sprites fluttering around Giselle patted her head as she sighed. "But Marc hasn't told us anything. Nothing at all."

Giselle scratched behind the base of Scourge's head.

"Mortal Theo is a good human." Scourge offered. "He offers me a lot of food."

"That tells us a lot," Henley muttered.

"You are very welcome, Peon Candidate," Scourge fluttered his wings before continuing.

Carrot started to stomp a hoof, worried that Scourge would say something that could harm Theo, but soon realized he had little to worry about.

"He also lets me sleep on his pillow whenever he has one." Scourge bragged. "And he lets me use his cloak pocket to store my hoard. I currently own three buttons, a shiny rock, and a leaf in my hoard."

The humans blinked.

"That's...nice..." Vin offered.

"But it would be nice if he had more humans." Scourge hung his head. "We haven't done a good job socializing him with his own kind."

"What do you mean 'we'?" Carrot flicked his ears back. "Theo is my human. You're just a little parasite tagging along...Of course, I do wish he had more chances for positive interactions with his own species."

"Is your Theo a mountain hermit or something?" Giselle raised an eyebrow.

"He – he might be on his way to becoming one." Carrot froze at the realization. Theo indeed spent a lot of time wandering around the wilderness and little time around civilization. "I promised his mother I would take care of him, but here I am, letting him turn into a mountain hermit."

"So, he's a mama's boy?" Henley asked.

"He is a filial son." Carrot sniffed.

"A filial son-"Marc broke off in a fit of coughs as the oath cut him off again.

Vin's brow twitched after watching Carrot and Marc's interaction.

"I can't believe we are about to try to infiltrate the enemy's base based on information from a secretive momma's boy hermit who runs around with unicorns and dragons," Henley grumbled.

"I do question the authenticity of the information," the red-headed Vin bobbed his head up and down as he agreed with the archer.

"Even if our information is questionable, I'm not going to abandon Owen," Giselle said.

Carrot's ears perked forward.

It sounded like Giselle knew the spy personally, and the unicorn did have a penchant for drama and gossip.

Henley bit his lip, and Vin sighed slightly.

"Marie did trust us with Owen." Vin agreed.

"Fine. Whatever. Just don't blame me if we all die." Henley grunted.

"You will be on standby. I will go in for the extraction." Vin coldly said. "Feel free to run if you become overwhelmed."

"I'm not weak!" Henley shouted.

"Uh-huh," Vin murmured as he turned to Carrot. "I want you to help me understand the layout of this encampment."

"Naturally." Carrot began using his horn to sketch a rough map of the camp on the dirt.

It was not beautiful – unicorns were hardly known for their artistry – but it was functional.

Giselle stepped to Vin's side as he studied the map.

She used a stick to gesture to the various landmarks on the map, and the two began discussing strategies for Owen's extraction.

While the others began to fall asleep, Carrot stayed by Vin's side to advise him on the extraction.

It was annoying, but if the humans failed, Theo would likely try to rescue all of the pesky humans.