NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 1: The Job)

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: SHAYLINE

"You're seriously going through with this?"

I stop mid-fold and take a deep breath before I turn to face Terue again. This is the third time I've had to stop packing up my gear to talk back to him, and it's all I can do not to bite his head off at this point. I'm tense and tired and still a long way from recovered from the night before last, and the fatigue's just making me cranky at this point.

It's not his fault, though. Not really. He's as frustrated as I am, I think. He's still one of my best friends, he's made that very clear ever since we managed to defuse the situation after the battle, but after everything there's no denying that something's definitely changed between us. We'd be fools to say it hasn't.

In the end, though he's just mad that he's going to be losing me, and I feel the same. When I look up he's putting a brave face on it, mostly he just looks concerned, but I can see the anger all the same, hands balled into fists the way they've been throughout this whole conversation. He has to unclench one to shove that ever-unruly lock of hair out of his face, but that in itself is enough giveaway, a familiar nervous tic I know well.

"Yes. I'm going through with it." I sigh, trying to be as gentle as I can with my tone of voice even if I know I can't with my words. "I can't do this anymore, not now. I'm tired of everyone walking on eggshells around me, and having to do the same myself. Even my mother ... she's trying very hard to pretend that everything's the same as it was before, but I know it's not. Even if I was in the right ... I turned on her. I turned on all of you."

"Maybe you did, but you're right there too, you were in the right. You had just cause to go against Min, she made a bad choice, and you fixed things before it got too bad." He shrugs, but he's still so tight, all the way through. "But that's no reason to –"

"Oh for the god's ..." I throw my hands up with a growl and turn away from him fast, determined not to keep snapping at him. "I'm out of sorts, Terue, and so is everybody else. You're still cool about it because you love me, because you're kind of an idiot sometimes. In a good way. And I know there are others who are the same. But some ... there's too much bad blood now, and I'm tired. I can't stay. Not now."

"But them? You're going with them. After what they did? Okay, okay ..." He throws his own hands up, far more in supplication, when I turn back to him. "You're right, they had just cause too, it couldn't be helped, and you did say they tried not to. But seriously, these people, I mean ... we tried to kill 'em, and they tried to kill us right back. And now you're all chummy and you're gonna go with 'em. I hate it. It makes no sense at all."

That makes me grin a little, but there's little humour to it. "I wouldn't say we're chummy. Some of them might be warming up to me, but there's still a long way to go before I earn their trust. But they're good people, in spite of what happened. And they offered in the first place, which is more than I expected. It was either go with them, or I'd have to light out on my own. And I am definitely not ready for that."

Terue's frown deepens. "So you're leaving regardless. Even if they hadn't made the offer, you'd still be going."

My sigh is deeper this time, truly one of the weariest ones I've ever let out. "Yes, I most definitely am." I return to my packing, folding the jerkin one last time before transferring it to the satchel and stuffing it in with the rest. Finally done. At last.

Min did the best she could to smooth things over in the hours after the battle finally came to an end, at least once we were finally able to dig ourselves out through the exit and stagger our way back up into the keep. In truth the fight had largely gone out of our people by then anyway, when we arrived in that big room again we found Driver 8 stood guard over the doorway while the few remaining survivors held an uneasy vigil from a very wary distance. Mostly they were just tending their wounded and trying not to seem anything like a threat. A few went for their weapons when we re-emerged, but Min was quickly able to wave them down, and at the time I think it was mostly just relief that it was all over that finally stayed their hands.