“I still don’t think he should go…” Cecily’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
I dismissed that line of thought for the moment. “Sorry, Cecily. I’ll be careful. But there are good reasons I need to do this. For one, while Mizuchi may be in there, there’s a good chance that someone equally dangerous is hunting me out here.”
“Ah, yes. She hadn’t heard about Saffron.” Elora raised a hand to right below her lips. “I suppose I can see your logic. He did seem the vindictive sort.”
Cecily frowned. “Who could possibly be as dangerous as Mizuchi?”
“He’s a child of the Tyrant in Gold,” I explained.
“…Oh.” She blinked, then adjusted her glasses. “Wait, really?”
I gave her a gesture of acknowledgement.
“Wow. You have had a terrible few weeks.”
“That does raise an important question, though.” Patrick’s hand went to his chest, though I couldn’t tell if he was doing it consciously or not. “What happens if we do run into Mizuchi in the spire?”
“I think she might be weak against lightning,” I offered. “When you reflected that lightning attack, it seemed to hurt her more than anything else. And she’s supposed to be a water serpent, so that would make sense.”
“I thought that, too. I hit her with lightning again right after that.” Patrick shook his head. “It bounced right off.”
I remembered that. Strange. Even though Patrick’s spell was obviously much weaker than Mizuchi’s breath, it probably should have done something if it was her elemental weakness. “Hrm.”
“How does a water serpent cast lightning spells, anyway?” Patrick asked. “I mean, shouldn’t that be, like, impossible?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she has all forms of elemental magic. God beasts break a lot of the rules of what you’d expect from normal monsters. Their children often have unusual capabilities as well,” Elora offered. “It would be better if you abandon any ideas of beating Mizuchi in a straight fight. She wasn’t even using her true form.”
That was a valid answer, but a bit dismissive. Even if children of the god beasts had unusual abilities, I assumed they had to have some kind of logic behind them.
If she could use types of magic that other creatures of her element couldn’t, there had to be a source for that.
“Even if we can’t beat her, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss tactics.” I shook my head. “We don’t have to win in a straight fight, but I’d be more confident facing her if we had a plan.”
Elora gestured for me to slow down. “You’re better off retreating if you see her. That banishment spell — if it really was a banishment — might keep her confined to a specific area. It probably will also make her weaker for a while. Banishment is powerful magic.”
Banishment was from a restricted attunement, if I remembered right. That meant Vellum had a second attunement she hadn’t told me about. That wasn’t exactly surprising, given her personality.
I hope she’s…if she died, it would be my fault, wouldn’t it?
I tried not to think about that, refocusing on the conversation.
Elora’s comments had given me another idea. “We’ll plan to retreat if we see her. Or, alternatively, I might have a way to get her to talk to us.”
Elora raised an eyebrow at that. “Care to share?”
Time to use a small secret to hide the larger one.
I slipped off the glove on my right hand. “I have a restricted attunement. Arbiter.”
Almost all of them already knew about it. It was a minimal risk. Elora and Cecily were the only exceptions.
Cecily leaned down, tilting her head to look closely at it. “Wow, what is that? I’ve never seen an attunement like this. Is it like that weird thing on her neck?”
“Funny story, it started out that way, but no. Katashi gave it to me. And as it happens, it gives me a degree of authority over certain types of monsters. If I can find a monster inside the spire that knows more about what is going on, I might be able to use this to convince them to help.”
I was stretching a little there, but only a tad. Researcher had indicated that she was obligated to help an Arbiter — there were probably others like her.
“Huh.” Cecily poked a finger at it. “What’s it do?”
“That’s a little outside of this discussion, dear,” Elora offered. “But for what it’s worth, I think talking to monsters might be a good idea. Talking to Mizuchi, however, is a terrible idea. She’s simply too dangerous.”
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just so interesting!” Cecily leaned back in her chair. “Can I ask you about it later?”
I nodded to her. “Sure.”
She looked positively gleeful at the idea.
“Okay, so, spire.” Patrick tapped on the table. “I’m going. Who’s going?”
I frowned. “You’re still pretty badly hurt, Pa—”
“Nope. You don’t get to say that.” I noticed that Patrick’s hand went instinctively to his chest, where his injury was, in spite of his objection. “I didn’t go with you last time, and you nearly died. You didn’t tell me when you were being abducted,” he shot an angry look at Elora, “and you nearly died again. There is no way you’re leaving me behind this time. None.”
I took a breath. “Okay. Patrick is going.”
Patrick nodded, setting his jaw, but looking slightly mollified at my agreement.
I turned toward Keras. “I didn’t ask before, but honestly, I don’t think there’s any chance we can make this work without you.”
Keras waved a hand sleepily. “Of course I’m going.”
“Well, if ‘ese goin’, and Patrick’s goin’…” Marissa grinned. “I suppose I’m goin’, too.”
Sheridan shot Marissa a stern look. “Patrick is on the mend, but he only has one injury. You are in no condition to be going into a spire.”
Marissa leaned forward, lifting the one fist that wasn’t currently covered in bandages. “Look, I’ve still got one good punchin’ hand. More than good enough.”
“Marissa, you’re the strongest physical fighter here, aside from Keras,” I said, “But I agree with Sheridan on this. You need to recover first.”
Marissa wrinkled her nose at me. “What about your regeneration ring? Can’t you slap that thing on me for a few days?”
“I don’t think we’re going to wait that long before we go in,” I explained. “At least, I’d rather get in there right away.”
“Moreover, a ring is not going to repair the kind of severe bone damage you suffered,” Sheridan explained. “Not quickly, anyway. I can work on healing you a bit faster, but it will not be immediate, and it would be much less comfortable if I speed it up.”
Keras turned to me. “You should give Marissa the few days she needs. You could all use a few days of rest after what you just experienced.”
Truthfully?
I wanted to go right then.
Every day I waited was more of a chance for something else to happen. For something to get worse.
But I looked around, and I saw precisely zero faces supporting my stance on that subject.
If I was going to get my way about going to the spire, I had to know how to concede a few points here and there.
“Okay. Fine. If we give it a few days, maybe Derek would be willing to come along as well.”
Cecily leaned over and whispered to me, “Who’s Derek?”
“Derek Hartigan. Emerald-level Soulblade.” I whispered back.