Chapter 13 — Mission

As Ness grew accustomed to her magically-enhanced sense of smell, she realized that she could discern not only Mictlan’s trail, and hints of the wild animals around them— but also the scent of Mira’s skin, silky and spicy, and the salt tang of her sweat. She ran harder, muscles burning despite the magic coursing through her. She ran hard enough that she couldn’t think of how good Mira’s skin would feel, with all of that energy surging through her.

Ness was zoned out and hyper-focused when, suddenly, Mira skidded to a halt. She grabbed Ness’s cloak as she sped past; Ness narrowly avoided tumbling to the ground as she was dragged to a stop, too. She felt a tingle of energy flow out of her, through the fabric, and into Mira; nothing like what she felt with direct contact, but it was disconcerting to realize that it could be conducted through cloth like that.

Ness was slightly dizzy, and the world felt strange, now that she wasn’t running; like she was drifting backward, not truly standing still. She shook her head to try and regain her equilibrium. She didn’t feel quite so on the edge of bursting from magical energy anymore, but she still felt anxious, and her limbs still wanted to run.

Glancing around their surroundings, Ness realized that they had doubled back toward the forest; she did not relish the walking it would take to make up for every mile they had just run. She had not realized they had gone so far; the trees were already crowding in and disrupting sightlines.

“We’re close,” Mira whispered. Her voice sounded loud to Ness, nonetheless.

Ness desperately thought of anything other than how it would taste to lick the salt off of Mira’s skin.

“Why did we stop?” she asked, instead.

“Wait; listen.”

Ness stilled, turning to face the direction of the scent trail they had been following. She found that her hearing was much more acute than she was used to. She could hear, in the distance, footsteps working their way through the underbrush. Multiple pairs of footsteps; she found she could identify the sound of Mictlan’s leather foot wraps, and two — no, three — pairs of heavy boots, and the muted clanking of metal.

The two crept forward slowly, careful to stay silent. The plants and underbrush continued to subtly bend out of their way, but the magic seemed to be lessening, dissipating. Ness wasn’t sure how long they had run for, but the sky was starting to brighten with the light of dawn. They kept low amongst the shrubbery, and the trees were thick enough already to provide some concealment, but that concealment cut both ways.

At least for the moment, the two women’s smaller size, dark clothes, and magically-heightened senses gave them an advantage over the presumably normal humans they were stalking.

After what felt like half an hour of careful, watchful creeping, Ness could just make out the silhouettes of four figures, standing in a glade. She could recognize Mictlan’s silhouette, barely; the other three were unfamiliar. They wore a mix of undyed rawhide and battered but heavy and serviceable steel armor; alike enough that Ness recognized them as soldiers, albeit equipped differently from those they had encountered in the thornshrub. The middle soldier’s armor was marginally shinier and less dented than the two that flanked her.

Ness could make out the sound of voices, and she could see that Mictlan was gesturing in return; but the light was too dim, and he was facing away from her. The soldiers appeared to grow agitated. The two on the outside stepped forward, toward Mictlan, who held his hands out in supplication. Moving slowly, he reached into the folds of his clothing and produced something too small to make out, at a distance.

The soldier that had stayed back now stepped up, and took whatever it was from Mictlan. She lifted it to her mouth, and then — grinning — pocketed it, whatever it was. She barked something at the other two soldiers, who backed a few steps away from Mictlan. She turned and left the glade; a moment later, the other two turned and followed.

Mictlan watched the three leave, and then sat on the ground, his back against a tree, facing generally in the direction that he had come from— where Mira and Ness watched, from concealment.

Mira watched and waited for a quarter hour before she turned to Ness.

“This is not good.”

Her voice was a soft whisper; not that she needed to worry about Mictlan hearing them.

“What’s going on?”

“I.. don’t know exactly. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. But Mictlan gave them my token, and that’s a problem.”

“How do you know? I can barely see them…”

“It’s linked to me. I can sense it.. What direction it is, about how far away it is.”

“Okay, so.. what do we do? Chase them down? Fight them?”

Mira didn’t answer; she was already trampling through the foliage, which no longer bent out of her way, to where Mictlan was waiting in the glade.

“What did you do? What the FUCK did you do?” She was shaking with rage, but she still kept her voice — relatively — quiet.

By the time Mira stepped fully into the clearing, Mictlan was already standing. Ness stumbled through the underbrush after them.

((I want to hire you,)) Mictlan signed.

Ness noticed he kept his hands well clear of his remaining sword; not that Mira posed him much of a threat, if it came to blows.

“Hire me? What? Hire me for fucking what?”

Mictlan smiled; Ness wasn’t sure she had ever seen that particular expression on his face. He looked mischievous.

((You know three armies, yes?))

“Of course I know the three armies.”

((You know names?))

“Names?”

((Royal Guard, First Legion, and…)) Mictlan held out his hand, inviting Mira to complete the list.

“The Gilded Watch.”

((Yes. They protect mad king’s treasury.))

“Are you suggesting we rob the treasury?” Mira’s tone was one of utter disbelief.

((Secret treasury, yes?))

“No shit it’s secret, it’s practically a myth.”

((Hidden. No guards. Only Treasurer General knows location.))

“Get to the fucking point. Why did you give them my token?”

((Soldiers are Gilded Watch. Heard about thornshrub.))

“So fucking what?”

((Very powerful spell, to command entire thornshrub. Very powerful sorceress.))

“You know it’s not like that.” Mira gestured behind her, vaguely in the direction of Ness.

((I know. You know. Soldiers? Soldiers don’t know.)) Mictlan gestured back into the forest, and shrugged.

“So they think I’m powerful. So what?”

((Blood token of very powerful sorceress is very valuable.))

“Okay, great. What? Did you bribe them to tell you where the treasury is?”

((No. I do not know where the treasury is.))

“Then how the fuck do you plan to break into it?”

((Powerful blood token of powerful sorceress.))

“Mictlan. Get. To. The. Fucking. Point. It’s almost morning and I’ve been running after your double-crossing ass all night.”

((Soldiers will take token to General. General will take token to treasury.))

“You son of a bitch.”

Mictlan just folded his arms and smirked at her.

“Fuck.”

By this point, Ness had found a seat on a fallen log. Her legs felt like jello and she was deeply, deeply exhausted. She only really understood Mira’s side of the conversation; only about one in ten of Mictlan’s gestures were familiar to her.

Ness was completely lost by the end of the conversation, but she was hesitant to ask what Mira would no doubt consider to be stupid questions. She could read the anger still rolling off of Mira; in fact, she could smell it, still, and worry about that was starting to creep into her mind.

Mira was pacing, muttering angrily to herself. She passed by where Ness was sitting, and glanced down at her. For a moment, Ness expected Mira to snap at her, but the woman just sighed.

“How are you feeling?” Mira asked, to Ness’s surprise.

“I.. ok. Tired. I thought the magic..”

Mira gave a knowing nod, and smiled wanly.

“It helps, but… It’s still your muscles, your energy. And you were pushing hard, girl. Thank you.”

She sounded almost proud. Ness wasn’t sure how to explain that she had pushed so hard to keep from shoving Mira to the ground and licking the sweat out of that little curve just below her collarbone. She shook her head sharply and tried to focus.

“You’re welcome. Um.. About that spell…”

“Hmm?”

“It’s gone now, right? It’s over?”

Mira nodded, tilting her head to the side as she looked down at Ness.

“So why.. uhm… why can I still smell you— everything? I can still smell everything.”

Mira looked uncertain, and concerned.

“I… I didn’t know, Ness. It should have worn off.”

Ness had a sinking feeling.

“I can smell everything. Like a bloodhound. Like a dog. Oh, for fuck’s sake, Mira, you can’t keep doing this to me.”