NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 4: The Hunt)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: KESLA

For the love of Thorin, it's getting to be like every time we come back to the temple again at least one of us is hurt. I'm getting worried about this turning into a genuine pattern. Sooner or later one of us ain't gonna be coming back at all.

Damn it ... that idea almost makes me trip over my own feet before I can make it all the way into the medical wing, and as it is I can't help clenching my fists as I skip to keep my feet. Hissing in a sharp breath, I do my best to banish the thought of Gael's continued enforced absence from my head, I got too much to concentrate on right now, and most o' what we're doing is for them anyway. So I just let it out in a low hiss and home in on my destination, vaguely mindful of the others scurrying along in my wake trying hard to keep up.

Art ain't among 'em. He disappeared soon as the rest got back, seems he wanted some time alone. I heard about what he did from Zuldrad, who seemed shook himself, although in spite o' the bloodstains still darkening his hair in places telling me their own story mostly he just looked particularly down. Well, more'n usual. Not that I'm surprised – between 'em they both just had a hand in killing someone they once considered a friend. A close one, since childhood, another Guild foundling.

It's interesting, to me Granzun was just an obstacle, a fucking scary one, I'll admit, vaguely remembering catching glimpses of what he was capable of in the rare lulls during my fight with Vandryss. When I heard Art was the one finally cut him down I mostly just felt relief, but once the implication sunk in I felt like a bastard for wanting to make light o' this particular death. To be honest, I never really done something like that before, never had actual cause. I never found myself in the position where someone I considered a friend suddenly turned on me, I genuinely don't know how I'd actually react ...

I had a mind to go find him, try and comfort him, but then Krakka filled me in on the rest, let me know they took some other hits beside Art's emotional one. Nobody was dead, but Shay came close again, and Yes got messed up by another nasty little surprise from Tavarrat. I damn near spat on the floor hearing that, only just remembering where we actually are in time to stop myself, but I didn't even try to rein myself in after, just turned right round and started my aggressive stalk over here.

After making our swift exit from the playhouse, Tulen did as I asked, jumping us away as soon as we'd stepped outside the stage door into the wide alley round the back o' the expansive building. I remember turning just before I closed my eyes after taking my breath in anticipation, seeing the door burst open to let Dramrath Mallys spill through with a complicated look on her face, moving fast as she made to leap down the remaining steps. But then Tulen spoke the incantation and I screwed my eyes shut again after all, and then we were moving again without really seeming to move, just that weird twisting pull, and when we landed and I stumbled away I couldn't really be sure if I'd seen it or just imagined. That particular showdown had been avoided, then.

We weren't back at the temple in the end, though. Instead I'd asked Tulen to port us to the Iron Shark so we could collect our gear. Given that we're essentially guests of Minerva right now, it makes no real sense for us to still have rooms we ain't using in the hotel, so I figured it was time to check out. Leaving Tulen with Sonagh in order to start making the arrangements, I went up with Thel to get the rest o' my stuff before coming back down to retrieve some of our horses. By this point Tulen had gotten in contact with the temple so they could get some of their people over to collect what we wound up leaving behind before settling the bill through the Order itself, again laying the cost on Saxiros. Which freed her up to collect her own gear while I saw to Trampler.

Gods, the old horse had clearly missed me. Maybe there were a few moments o' reproach to begin with, like I went out my way to abandon him for more than a week, but I won him over quick enough, offering up an apple he made disappear in two greedy bites. When the young wizard came for her own mount he was licking my face and I was indulging him, figuring he'd earned the right with whatever patience he'd managed while I was gone.