Garbage Day

Favric has been a surprise.

An unfortunate one.

Nayiss casually ran her fingers through her thick hair as she settled in for the night. The remnants of the massacre had been quickly relocated to the side room of the small cabin that had been repurposed for their use, and the door closed.

Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying went, though the tiefling doubted it was accurate for the newest addition to their motley crew.

The look of horror had been clear, and no amount of magic they had could sweep it away as readily as they could the blood.

The four-armed woman sighed, her breath escaping like a hiss as she undid the vambrace on her arm and set it next to the shoulder armor that had already been removed.

She had no doubt that the half-elven cultist had been genuinely kind to Izadora. He had always been nice, and there was more than a chance that he had intended to keep any promises he had made to her.

But that wasn’t how the cult worked. Something he had known just as well as her.

You were only indisposable until you weren’t.

Perhaps he might have bought her time. He was a Dragonclaw, after all. The rank came with some clout. But it would have only lasted as long as anyone higher allowed it. The moment anyone took interest--or felt threatened--it would have been over.

It was always a carefully woven web of being needed more than expendable. Sentimentality showed weakness that could be exploited. The Cult of the Dragon was not a place where that weakness could be shown.

And he had shown her all of his.

It was a shame, in truth. His company had always been pleasant.

Perhaps in another life, their friendship wouldn’t have been so one-sided.

If they had met at all.

And you were going to take her right into the dragon’s den while offering the illusion you could protect her.

Foolish.

Nayiss’s snake-like eyes glinted in the dark as they flickered in Izadora’s direction. The woman hadn’t moved for some time before she finally recovered enough nerve to curl up and try to sleep. Not that the tiefling could blame her.

If she had ever witnessed an execution like that before, Nayiss would have been surprised.

It was unfortunate she had to.

The sooner we get her to a city, the better. If nothing else, she’s better prepared to avoid a repeat circumstance.

Not her fight, at the end of the day.

The rogue curled up on the floor where she had chosen to rest, her back protected by the worn wooden boards of the wall. She crumpled her cloak up into a ball to use as a pillow, a dagger nestled beneath its folds, and her eyes fell on the diminutive form of her kobold charge lounging nearby.

A slight smirk tugged at her lips, hidden as they were beneath the crook of her arm.

The smile on Astredax’s reptilian lips when she had shot the killing blow hadn’t escaped her notice. Few things the former-tiefling--by design--did. As a matter of fact, the felon had even opted to warn Favric of the inevitable betrayal, though there had been no way for the half-elf to even begin to piece together the warning in his words.

Sentimentality is toxic… she mused, running the phrase over in her mind. Wonder if that was intentional with my resembling a snake. I guess he needs to get his amusement somewhere.

Her smirk faltered as her eyes fluttered shut.

...but it seems things are going to get interesting more quickly than anticipated.

Her thoughts drifted to the motives Favric had offered. They were pursuing the alliance of a young dragon--a powerful creature, but one far lesser than the creatures the Cult was wont to pursue. It would take time--maybe centuries--for them to fulfill their ideal purpose, after all.

They’re gathering forces.

For what?

A Few Hours Later

Nayiss blew a few messy strands of hair from her face as she arched a pair of her arms over her head, stretching the last remnants of sleep from her muscles. Clouds had started to weigh heavily in the night sky overhead--a sure sign of rain that was bound to come in the next few hours--but for the scarce few hours before then, the quiet calm was a welcome reprieve from the night's earlier excitement.

It had been the tiefling's idea to post their watch outside the confines of the rundown cabin: both because she wanted to move and stretch her limbs after sleeping on the hard wood floor, and it was easier to watch for threats if you could actually see them coming, though the glint in her yellow, serpentine eyes indicated another motive.

"So, Asssstredax," she hissed idly, glancing at her companion. "I think you and I have a few things to discusss."

Astredax stirred.

And here we go.

He shifted, pushing his wretched new body up into a sitting position, and turned his reptilian face towards his jailor.

Where do you want to begin, eh? It's been the easy times up to now, Nayiss, my mortality and fluid form aside. Nothing of value lost.

Now. Here. We get into the dangerous fun.

"So we do. As ever, Nayiss, I am at your disposal."

Nayiss's tail flicked idly behind her as she slowed her casual pace to a stand-still. A lock of her wavy hair was released from her finger, and she crossed her lower pair of arms against her chest.

"Before getting lossst in the excitement of earlier, first off: what were you trying to get out of Ssseldra?" her head tilted, letting a loose lock of her shorter fringe drape in front of her eye. "It took... not even two minutesss to push her from endeared to guarded. Mussst be something curious."

The smile on Astredax's snout shifted, and he shrugged.

"It wasn't mission integral. It was...personal. My reasons are likewise."

Without taking his eyes off of Nayiss, he removed his coin.

"You could order me to tell you why I pried. Or we could indulge in an exchange of information, as if we were equals in this relationship."

The kobold, once tiefling, sighed.

"Your choice."

An eyebrow raised and disappeared beneath the edges of the tiefling's bangs.

"And what, exactly, are you wanting to know?"

Astredax flipped the coin into the air.

"How you entered into my old friend's service. The full tale."

"Hmph," Nayiss purred absently, a pair of her fingers drumming on her arm. "Forgive me, but you're going to need to be more specific. I've sssserved a lot of people, several of which you seem to have known."

"Your present employer. The friend who's most directly responsible for my being here."

Jarkuul, my old enemy. Now my begrudging employer.

What a strange, awful fucking thing fate is. Such twists and turns it springs on us, whether or not like us.

"Your discretion, Nayiss. Give me an order, or take the deal."

Again, the woman's tail flicked, its serpentine tip twitching like the end of a whip as a the corner of her mouth turned up into a smirk and her pupils wavered into narrow slits.

"Awfully demanding," she purred, before she offered a shrug of her shoulders.

"We met when I was sent to kill him. I put two boltsss in his ssside. It was when he teleported onto the roof after me I realized that I had been sssent on a sssuicide mission."

She tapped her fingers on her arm again, the smirk shifting into a fond smile.

"We came to an undersssstanding we were after the sssame thing. And my cover in the cult had clearly been blown. Ssso. We opted to help each other."

Nayiss snapped her fingers casually. "And that'sss all there really is to it. So I believe itsss your turn."