"Wait… we're really leaving?"

Vergil couldn't quite believe his ears. This wasn't the first time Panacea had made a demand of them, and Tallah had more or less blown off the goddess both times before. What made this one different?

"Go and say your goodbyes," Sil said by his side. She pressed a hand on the small of his back and pushed gently. "You may never see some of these people ever again. Or you can—"

"I swear I'll kick you in the knee, Sil, if you suggest I can stay behind. I'm strong enough now that it'll probably break your leg." He huffed and scowled at her. "I just don't get it. What just happened?"

The other healers were shuffling away down the hill, led by Liosse. Tallah had gone towards the dragon without a single look back. When she shouldered past him, he'd felt the heat wafting off her.

"They threatened her." He felt his hands closing into painful fists. "That was a threat, right? 'We know what you are.' What was that supposed to mean? And why do they want so badly to separate from us?"

Sil sighed and raised the morning star to rest it across her shoulder. In the morning light she looked very little like a healer, and more kin to Liosse. Her face was set hard, pale scar looking even more livid than usual. Her hair was dishevelled and waved in the gentle breeze.

"It wasn't a threat," she said, voice cold. "Not much of one, anyway."

"Then what was it? Why did they say it like it that?"

"That creature earlier," she said slowly. "That was a priest of Ort. Whatever may have happened to him, he was originally a priest of Ort. Sang the hymn. Had the colours and the tattoos. Ort's cult is the main religious power in the empire, and they reach much further than you'd think." She made a disgusted face and spat to the side. "Seeing him, and how Tallah humiliated him, would have reminded everyone that they're marching back towards the empire in the company of a very dangerous-to-know woman."

Vergil watched the backs of the healers. None of them turned their way. "I don't get it," he said, refusing to move. "She's saved them. Without her, they'd all be dead. No one would be going anywhere but in some daemon's stomach."

Sil shrugged. "And with her, they'll all die screaming when the mage killers learn of her involvement."

"But she's saved people. Hundreds. It doesn't matter?"

"No."

He looked to Sil and she too stared at the departing healers. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Vergil. Tallah's a pariah in the empire. And to become powerful enough to have done what she's done, she's had to use some very forbidden magic. You know them as the ghosts in her head. Tallah's a soul thief and there's no greater crime to commit." She pointed with her free hand. "Every channeller down there knows it. They turned blind eyes to it because they were about to die. Now they're not."

Vergil had rarely questioned Tallah's ghosts since learning of them in Valen. Tallah simply had her friends bound to her skin. He didn't need to know more than this. In all the time since , he'd convinced himself that whatever alleged crimes Tallah and Sil had committed to be wanted, they couldn't be evil. Much as they acted the villains, both women had golden streaks in their souls.

He startled a bit as Sil took a sideways step and leaned towards his ear. "Wanna know a secret? A really big one?"

"Of course." He leaned into the unnecessary charade, Sil's way of lightening the mood.

"The empress is the greatest and most depraved soul thief in recorded history," she whispered with a smile in her voice. "And nobody knows but us."

He gasped and stared at her. She smiled and waggled her eyebrows.

"But—What— Why? Why not say something?" Vergil gestured to the camp below as it was making ready to leave them behind. "Why not go and tell them the truth?"

Sil kept her smile but she turned and gestured with both hands towards Tallah. "Bane of the Empire." She turned and gestured widely to the world. "The empire built and led by an immortal empress that's dragged humanity out of the ashes and set us back onto a path of glory. Who do you think will be believed?"

It wasn't fair. And it wasn't right. They'd fought and bled for the people down there. He couldn't help but feel chased off. Fuck Panacea! She sent a message and it gave the healers an excuse to separate from Tallah. Whatever they had to say was tainted by how willing they were to turn their backs, by how cold their silence now.

He didn't buy Kor's pious words for a moment. He didn't care that Tallah had a mission for his goddess, he only wanted her gone now that the danger was passed.

And even that was hardly true. What would they do once the next thing came at them? Would that mob have simply gone without Tallah's intervention?

Fuck them all!

"We helped them. We kept them safe. We bled for them. It's not fair."

"It is what it is, Vergil. They've crossed the mountain and now head to a burning city. It's their mistake to make. We can't really be responsible for them. I think we've overstayed our welcome anyway." There was bitter anger in her voice. "Panacea asked us to run when she came at the Rock. She flat out told us to leave what we were doing and just run. Tallah wouldn't hear it."

Her fist turned white on the morning star's haft, then relaxed as she drew in a deep breath and let it out. "It's a good chance for the three of us to finally stop running for a moment."

"Unless Tallah aims us at the nearest crisis again." Vergil tried to make light of the situation as the wind picked up and rustled his hair. "No more portals. Please?"

Sil only chuckled.

Whatever meagre possessions the refugees still carried were bundled up and packed away. Children gathered near some of the healers. Soldiers formed marching rows under Liosse's eye while Vilfor shouted out orders.

Vergil wasn't surprised to see Arin coming up the hill, broken away from his unit. Sil saw him too, turned, and walked off after Tallah.

"Don't be long," was all she said.

"Vergil!" Arin called out as he got within a dozen paces of him. "What's going on?"

"Tallah's been given a divine mission." Vergil almost managed to keep the bitterness from his voice. "The healers are convinced we're better off pursuing that. So's Liosse. So we'll be splitting up here."

Surprise showed clear on Arin's face. "Commander Vilfor didn't say anything about that. Are— are you going too?"

Vergil rested a hand on Promise's hilt, fingers loose around it. "I'm bound to Tallah. I go where she goes." It wasn't strictly a lie, but he didn't want to say aloud what he was feeling. He'd known fear and he'd known despair. Today was the first time when he felt a core of anger in his chest that even outstripped what he'd felt when Ludwig betrayed them.

And this was so much worse than the old man's folly.

Horvath loomed behind his eyes, watching but keeping his own council. For once, the old goat had nothing to say.

"You have a place with us, Vergil," Arin said, coming closer. He was smiling, though it looked forced on his worn face. "If you want to stay, nobody needs to know about your past."

What the fuck was this now? Vergil felt a vein throb in his temple. Why was Arin making the suggestion in that way? Did he also think of Tallah as someone to be shunned? Even him?

But Arin didn't know Tallah, he had to remind himself. Arin only knew the sorceress from the walls, the one casting devastating spells that culled a whole army of daemons. It dawned on Vergil that what he considered normal was absolutely not for other people. He'd only travelled with Tallah and Sil. He'd never seen other channellers.

How did someone like her look to someone who knew what to look for?

How did he look to others? Monstrously strong now, scarred, and travelling in the company of the Bane. He had to force himself not to laugh. All of it hadn't mattered at the Cauldron, but somehow it did now.

"Vergil?" Arin cocked his head and stared at him with hopeful eyes. "Stay, brother. You don't need to run."

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"I was hoping you'd join us, actually," Vergil said, not moving from his spot. He was a couple steps higher than Arin, and the morning light caught the soldier from the side.

Vergil could see all the way into the man's soul through the shine of his eyes.

It took only a quick, shifting look in Tallah's direction for Vergil to understand all he needed to. Arin wouldn't stay with him. Tallah had saved his life but he wasn't going to risk his to help her on whatever divine quest she had to endure.

In that moment, Vergil hated the soldier before him. Acid mixed with bile rose into the back of his throat and it took all his will to swallow down the bitter swill.

Some people's loyalty only carried you to the other shore of the raging river, but nowhere farther than that. It was a lesson he would remember well.

"We could use some people with us," he tried, though he knew Arin wouldn't agree.

Adella was down there and Vergil though the other man fancied her. It had seemed that way back at the Rock, before the gates fell. Or maybe his mother had survived? He hadn't had a chance to ask.

He wasn't sure he cared.

"I—" Arin at least had the decency to struggle with his answer. "I can't, Vergil. I can't leave my people behind. We need every fighting hand here. Who knows what's waiting for us in Ria?"

Vergil gripped the pommel of his sword and took the couple steps down to Arin's side. He clasped the soldier's shoulder and squeezed. He'd meant it as a gentle tap, but going by Arin's grimace he'd overdone it.

"It was pleasure to fight alongside you, Arin. I hope we'll get to meet again." Ashen words, empty of meaning, vaguely promising nothing.

Arin tried to offer his hand to shake Vergil's, but Vergil didn't take his away from Promise's pommel. That was a treasure to keep from the Cauldron, and a dark reminder of this moment.

"I think Liosse is starting the march," he said, finally. "Be safe."

He left Arin on the hill as he went up after Sil and Tallah, resolved not to look back either. A few steps later, he heard Arin turning, sword clanging against his leg as he headed down the hill.

"Soldier boy," a familiar voice called to him from somewhere off to the side. "Was that a real offer to him?"

Licia and her two friends emerged from among the rocks. They were all dressed, as always, ready for battle. Vergil remembered the surviving adventurers had taken scouting roles once out of the Cauldron.

"Yeah, it was real. We could take some people with us." He stopped and straightened. "If you don't hurry, you'll get left behind too."

Licia's smile became almost a grin. "We wanna join you three. Seems we'd get better odds of survival with the Bane."

"Wouldn't that hurt your standing with the Guild?" Vergil asked, taken aback by the sudden offer. "Far as I remember, they don't really like their adventurers associating with known criminals."

Licia, Cram and Bront shared a look among themselves. When she spoke, she looked almost abashed. "Right, Vergil… we never did say that we were adventurers. Our line of work is more…" She let out a soft humming sound. "Let's say we're procurement specialists."

Vergil blinked. He was pretty sure they'd introduced themselves as adventurers stuck at the Rock due to Vilfor's lockdown. Or was he remembering wrong. Horvath let out an amused chuckle in the back of his mind.

They were thieves? Or brigands, more likely, given the gear and the way he'd seen all three of them fight. Cram had a bandage over half of his face and had refused healing after the mad escape. Bront had been mauled by a daemon, but the big man had stood up just as quickly and gone back into the fray.

And Licia had fought the troll with him.

Whatever their morals, the three of them didn't lack for courage. He was coming to think of courage as a kind of rare treasure to have.

"Well, soldier? Gonna keep a girl waiting?" Licia ribbed him. She had a way of looking at him that somehow made him feel like prey of some sort.

"If Tallah says it's okay," he finally answered. "We could always use some more fighters with us."

Bront let out a low, deep growling laugh. "That one don't need no help," he said.

"You'd be surprised how much attention a fireball can draw," Vergil countered. "Come on. If Tallah won't have you, then you can still catch the survivors."

As it happened, Tallah couldn't give less of a shit of who he'd brought along. She was animatedly gesturing at the dragon, and the big lizard showed absolutely no sign of caring.

Sil watched the spectacle. She only raised an eyebrow at Licia, clicked her tongue at Vergil, then went back to watching the display.

Tallah was trying to communicate with the great lizard.

The great lizard was not in the mood to be communicated with. After the whole excitement with the walking dead, the dragon had slunk back up into the cliffs, laid on an uncomfortable bunch of rocks, and now just basked in the warm morning sunlight.

It opened a slitted eye and regarded Tallah's efforts as one would a particularly annoying fly. Smoke drifted out of its nostrils.

"How exactly is Tallah planning on talking to it?" Vergil asked as he and the others joined Sil.

"Beats me. They've gotten along so far by pointing and blowing stuff up. I don't think that's what she's going for now."

Licia had gone pale and quiet. So had Bront and Cram. They all stared at the beast, though Vergil considered it shouldn't have been such an imposing sight. The dragon had been a part of the landscape of the Cauldron, and it had been with them the whole day after the escape. Why the gaping?

"For context, Vergil," Sil said as he noticed the three, "no one has ever stood next to a dragon as we do now. No one has ever communicated with one. And no one has ever seen one lend its aid for anything. What Tallah's doing is basically the stuff of faer tales."

"So why aren't you more impressed?"

Sil gave him a long, pointed look. Her free hand was pressed to her belly. "I've been on Erisa's table, if you'll remember. I find not much is left to move me."

"Grefe was also only a story." Vergil decided to move past the mention of the girl. It left a bitter taste in the back of his throat. "Have you heard of Grefe, Licia?"

The elendine shook her head mutely, still staring.

"I heard of it," Bront said. "Me pa told stories of Grefe. Faer city. Source of magic."

"Turns out, it's real," Vergil said, proud for some reason. He grasped for any reason to get the abandonment out of mind. "We were there before coming here. So maybe people have ridden dragons at some point too?"

"Don't say stuff like that, Vergil." Sil laughed. She genuinely smiled at the three gaped mouths that turned to him. "People will think you're lying at best, or insane at worst. What we did just doesn't happen usually."

Tallah was trying to gesture to herself climbing up on the dragon's wing.

The dragon closed its eyes.

Tallah threw a rock at it.

Everyone dove behind cover.

"Have you gone mental, woman!?" Sil called from where she cringed.

"It's ignoring me," Tallah shouted back.

"And that's a bad thing?"

Tallah stomped back to where they all hid. "What the blazes are you all doing?" Her eyes settled on Vergil. "You done with your goodbyes? Everyone's gone?"

Vergil's ears flashed hot and the anger resurfaced. "Yeah, the ungrateful bastards have all gone."

That got him a raised eyebrow from Tallah. Then she looked over at the three people that had remained behind. She seemed disappointed for a heartbeat, but the feeling quickly cooled on her face.

"Sil, get me some coffee and then I'll try again with the dragon," she demanded. "You three, what good are you?"

To Vergil's surprise, Licia popped right up and scurried up to the sorceress. "Bront, Cram and Licia at your disposal, lady Cinder."

"I know your names." She pointed to Vergil. "This one's fond of you. Doesn't tell me what good you are."

That… that wasn't… Vergil wanted to stammer out an answer to the accusation, but Licia spoke smoothly over him before he had a chance to rally his wits.

"The lads and I are what you would call procurement specialists. We take have no great love for the empire."

Tallah chuckled. "Three thieves. Figures."

"So, that's it then?" Vergil asked, finding he still couldn't just let things be. "Where are we going next? It doesn't bother you there are daemons in the Cauldron? Or those things that marched past us? We're ignoring all that? What if it's the end of the world?"

He was panting by the end of it, heart hammering in his chest. It bothered him to no ends to just leave things as they lay, and even more to realise he was stuck in yet another hopeless place.

"And what would you have me do about it?" Tallah asked, unimpressed. "Do I go and burn myself up against an army? Or do you want me to raise my own? Feed, clothe, and train them?"

He glanced off at Licia and realised for once they had an audience. He wasn't used to having to speak his mind in front of other people.

"No… but…"

But… what? Tallah didn't even need to ask it of him. For all the power Tallah wielded, all of Sil's ingenuity with her enchantments, and even his and Horvath's strength… they were all powerless against the larger threats.

Sil chose that moment to finish her rummaging about in her rend. She extracted three familiar-looking vials and Vergil's spine grew cold.

"We're out of coffee," Sil said. "Didn't have a chance to restock, all things considering." She threw two vials at them and Vergil caught his easily. "Bottom's up. These are the last too."

Tallah groaned. So did Vergil. Licia and her two friends seemed put out, eyes going from Vergil to Tallah, as if they expected an argument.

"While I'm no fan of running with my tail between my legs." Tallah drank. Belched. Looked slightly green. "We're going to get some bloody answers for once. I've been leashed. Unlike you, I will not stand it."

"So… we're really going?"

"Yes, we are."

"Going where?" Licia interjected. "We're good to follow, lady Cinder. But we'd like to know where we're going first."

Sil drank her own tonic and carelessly threw away the vial. She spoke first. "This party's going to meet a goddess in the flesh. Are you heathens ready to stand in Her presence?"

It was more satisfying than Vergil cared to admit to finally see Licia's grin drop.

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