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They were ambushed in the dead of night, awoken by the sensation of the warm air dissipating and snow settling over them as the dome was dispelled. It was only a second later that the sky lit with arcane lightning that arced through the air and into Beau's chest. She convulsed as the shock ran through her, pins and needles running down her spine.
The Nein grabbed their weapons and stood, lashing out into the darkness. Another spell hit Beau, this one slamming into her temple like a punch. She stumbled backward.
"Fuck me in particular, I guess," she moaned, grabbing for her staff and goggles. Veth managed to sink a voltaic bolt into the attacker, still seemingly invisible.
"Over here," she called, shooting again. She missed, her bolt instead getting wedged into a pine tree. Within a second of her yell, another spell hurtled towards them, missing their monk by an inch at most.
"It's targeting Beau," Fjord yelled. He backed up to between where he thought the attacker might be and his first mate. He fired two Eldritch Blasts, the green energy crackling through the air and finding its target.
The air shimmered for a moment and the invisibility fell, revealing a human mage in dark robes with a wicked grin on his face. Jester, lollipop spinning, and Caduceus, hands covered in Sacred Flame, circled around Beau as well. Yasha charged towards him, and Veth and Caleb took the flank.
Beau was blocked by her friends from getting into melee range. The Maelstrom Gloves helped, but she really wanted to sink her fists into this motherfucker.
It was a desperate scramble to keep Beau safe. Swords and spells flew, trying desperately to weaken an enemy that was quick and brutally efficient. He was faster than them, and more powerful too, but they had the strength in numbers. After a minute, they got the mage down to one knee, battered and bloodied. Caleb raised a hand for them to hold their fire. Any one of them could have killed him with a single blow, but they didn’t. He grabbed the enemy mage by the jaw.
“Caduceus. Silence, please.” Caduceus cast and the clearing went deathly quiet for a second as they watched as Caleb calmly tied the mage's hands and feet. He motioned, and Cad dropped the Silence.
"Beauregard," he called, his voice so cool and level it was creepy. "You can compel our friend here to speak only the truth, ja?" Beau growled, frustrated beyond words. She stalked forward and punched him once in the temple, once in the jaw, and once in the gut.
"You have a minute," she said, cracking her knuckles. Jester reached out for her with a spell on her fingertips. She drew Beau into a side hug, and some of the monk’s wounds closed.
“Who sent you to kill our friend?” Caleb drew a dagger they all forgot he carried and pressed it to the man’s jugular. Not enough pressure to draw blood, just a warning.
“I think you know that already. And if you know that, you know that a knife at my throat isn’t going to get anything out of me,” the man hissed. Caleb nodded, his features icy.
“I also know that you’ve been tortured and led to believe lies. But that isn't important right now, what’s important is that girl over there,” the blade pressed in a little deeper, a single trail of blood running down the man’s neck, “Why her?”
“She is a traitor to the Empire, as are you. And none of you will escape the fate that is coming for you." He turned to fix his gaze on Jester, who was supporting most of Beau's weight. She glared back. His eyes flared white-hot like molten metal.
"Suffer," he uttered. The arcane force of the word was so powerful that the air seemed to distort in rippling waves around it like a stone had been dropped in a still pond.
The waves hit Jester and she was knocked back for a moment before she felt a small pain in her chest like a bee sting or a scratch from Frumpkin’s claws. Only this pain started to grow, spreading outwards from her sternum. It ran down her nerves like lightning, it gripped her ribs and shoulders, then her arms and legs. Once it was in every part of her it grew and grew, crushed her and tore her apart in the same instant.
She screamed.
A terrible, painful, feral scream ripped itself from her throat, and in the moment her friends turned to check on her, the assassin started whispering another incantation. Caleb desperately called out a Counterspell, but the mage was gone before he finished.
Jester’s knees fell out from under her and she collapsed, pulling Beau to the ground with her. The screaming didn’t stop. It didn’t sound like Jester at all, it sounded like a wounded animal.
“What the fuck?” Beau yelled, sitting herself up. She turned Jester’s face towards hers, but her eyes were huge and unseeing, her pupils blown so wide that they swallowed the purple of her irises. “Caduceus?”
“I’m here. I've got healing left-” he kneeled next to them and whispered a quick, solemn prayer. Green divine energy gathered in his fingertips like strands of soft wool. He pressed his palm to her forehead and her battle wounds faded, but she still screamed. Her voice was quickly going hoarse with the sheer force of it. Caduceus gathered another spell, a Lesser Restoration, but he pulsed the energy through her and it didn’t take. The underbrush around her bloomed greener, then withered.
“What’s wrong with her? What did he do?” Veth said, her voice rising with panic. She slipped by Caduceus to grab Jester's hand and squeeze. Jester’s fingers twitched in her grasp, unaware against the tide of her suffering.
"I don't know. I haven't encountered this magic before," Caduceus said, barely loud enough to be heard over the screaming. She started to thrash wildly as if she was trying to get away from something that was everywhere. Veth held even tighter to her hand. He cast again, Dispel Magic this time, to no effect. “Caleb?”
“I-I don’t-” Caleb said. He looked down into his hands and dropped the bloodied dagger. It sunk deep into the damp earth.
He took a few stumbling steps forward and fell to his knees beside them. Jester’s voice gave out and the screams turned to violent, heaving sobs that shook her whole body.
She curled at the middle, rocking onto her side, and dry heaved between desperate gasps of air. The hand that Veth wasn't holding flitted around wildly, reaching out for something she couldn't see. Something none of them could see.
“Will one of you fucking do something?” Beau pulled Jester’s head into her lap and smoothed her hair from her face. “Jessie?”
She didn’t respond, she just cried and twitched and clutched Veth’s hand and the fabric of her skirt. Caduceus cast another Dispel, but it didn’t take either.
She started mumbling something in Infernal, pleading.
“I think a Greater Restoration would help but I don’t have it today. Shh, breathe,” Caduceus said. He whispered something else, in Sylvan maybe, that none of them caught. The soft moonlight betrayed the tears on his cheeks.
“Jester, can you hear us?” Fjord asked. He crouched down and channeled his own healing magic into her, hoping beyond hope that maybe it would be different. She flinched away from him, curling in on herself. Her face was twisted with pain and fear, so far from her normal smile that it almost didn’t seem like her at all. This scared, broken thing.
“Mama, please,” she whimpered, the first thing she’d said that they could fully understand. “Please, please, make it stop.” The gentle snowfall slowed to a stop, leaving their world damp and cold and devoid of beauty.
"We will, Jess, we will," Beau soothed, "just hang on, okay?"
“You all won’t like this,” Caduceus said. He reached down and brushed the tears from Jester’s face. It was a small thing, a tiny comfort as she writhed in pain on the forest floor. “But I think the kindest thing we could do for her right now is to knock her out. Keep her from feeling for a little while.”
“You’re right, I don’t like that at all,” Yasha said, soft and sad.
“I can’t,” Jester sobbed, “it hurts, please! Traveler!” She gripped Veth’s hand so tightly that the halfling was certain she’d broken something.
“Shh shh, it’s alright, we’ll fix it,” Veth said, stroking her free hand up and down Jester’s arm. They went quiet for a moment, with only Jester’s moans and whines and gasping sobs and quiet pleas left to break the silence.
"Can you try Calm Emotions?" Fjord asked, turning to Caduceus with a desperation he didn't often show.
"She's not upset, she's in pain!" Veth hissed. There was a spark of fury in her eye, threatening to ignite. Caduceus nodded solemnly.
"I'm just trying to exhaust all the options that aren't ‘knock her out’, Veth," Fjord snapped. Jester screamed again for a single, piercing second. They all winced.
“Alright, fuck this,” Beau said, her voice filled with pent up rage. “If no one else has a good idea, we’re doing Caduceus’ thing because I am not going to just sit here and listen anymore. Yasha, take her.”
“Beau,” Yasha said, gentle. She reached out to put a hand on Beau’s shoulder, but she was knocked away. Beau almost growled.
“Take. Her.” Yasha’s eyes flickered with anger, but she carefully moved Jester’s head into her lap. Beau’s eyes welled with tears and she dashed them away. It smeared blood from a wound on her hand across her cheeks like warpaint.
“Please,” Jester whimpered, “please please please.” In an instant, Beau’s fist cracked down, precise force against her temple, and Jester went blessedly quiet and limp. Her eyes fluttered closed. It seemed like the world sighed along with them.
“Fuck!” Beau turned around and slammed her fist into a tree. Her blood was full of anger and adrenaline with no place to go.
“Yeah, just about,” Fjord said, scrubbing his hands over his face. None of the rest of them moved from their places huddled around Jester’s still form. Beau sat down after a moment and slumped against Caleb’s shoulder. He stared out into the forest, past and above where Jester lay.
“What do we do now?” Beau asked. She wiped the blood off her face and sniffed.
“We need to go,” Caleb said, his voice soft and far away, “it’s not safe here, they’ll come back for us. We need to go. I know we were headed to Deastok, but it-- we cannot remain in the Empire. It can be anywhere, but not here.”
“Nicodranas,” Veth said with a little sniffle, “She wanted her mother, we should take her home.”
"That sounds nice," Caduceus said, his voice unsteady. He wet a handkerchief with water from his canteen and dabbed it across Jester’s face. Fjord pried her skirts from her grip and smoothed them down. Her hand had tiny crescent moons in it where her fingernails had dug into her skin, and there was blood dappling her palms.
“Not Xhorhas? If we’re in danger from the Empire, shouldn’t we go as far away as we can?” Yasha asked.
“I think I agree. As terrible as this is,” Fjord gestured down at their unconscious cleric, “we have to think with a wide view here. That man came to assassinate Beau.”
“It was a warning,” Caleb mumbled, letting his head fall forward, “if they’d meant it to be anything else, we wouldn’t be alive to flee.”
“Then I guess we should probably flee,” Veth responded, “but I do wish…” She trailed off. She pulled a flower from her hair and tucked it behind Jester’s ear.
“Rosohna, then,” Fjord said, resolutely, “we have allies there. Better to regroup and reassess.” Their wizard nodded and reached into his component pouch for his chalk. He started to jerkily draw the sigil into the cold, damp earth. “Fuck, can anyone other than Jessie send a message to Essek?”
“Ja, I have that one now," Caleb said. He stopped drawing for a second and concentrated on a spot in the middle distance. "He'll meet us there."
They fell quiet again, all of them both on edge and exhausted. Caduceus started a Prayer of Healing that left them all breathing a little easier, but their sorry still sat heavy in their chests. Jester whimpered when Yasha very carefully scooped her up to walk through the Teleportation Circle.
They arrived in the central Teleportation chamber of the Lucid Bastion with a thump, broken, bleeding, and uncertain about their futures. The smell of blood and dirt and ozone gave way to the incense that perfumed the air of the castle. Veth started to cry softly.
The guards turned to them, their hands flying to their shortswords, a look of upset realization on the faces. The Mighty Nein didn't say anything to defend themselves or move to leave. They stood and waited.
Essek arrived just a few seconds later, worry written into his face. He waved off the castle guards who very cautiously sheathed their weapons.
“Is she--?” He stopped there, he could see the slow rise and fall of her chest, hear the quiet whine with each exhale.
“She’s alright,” Caduceus said, “we’ve had a rough evening, and she- It was a very unkind spell.” Essek nodded sharply and the worry on his face deepened. “We’d just like to go home, get some rest.”
“If what Caleb said is true, if this was an attempt on Beauregard’s life by the Assembly, I do not believe it would be in your best interests to return to a home that there is a public record of you owning,” Essek said, furrowing his brow.
"We did put a big tree on top of it," Veth said through a sniffle.
“We should have thought this through,” Yasha murmured. Jester whimpered again in her arms.
“Essek, do you have, ahh, perhaps a room that is protected from prying eyes? Where we can’t be looked upon while we rest and come up with a course of action. The farthest we managed to get plan-wise was ‘teleport to Rosohna’ and…” Fjord gestured around them.
“My lab is sealed to divination, I could take you there for the time being.” There was a smattering of nods. Veth scrubbed the tears from her cheeks and grabbed Caleb’s hand. His gaze had gone distant, his breathing shallow. She pushed out a shaky sigh.
Essek nodded again, and with a whispered incantation they were standing in his tower. The lights were low, there were candles burning that he hadn’t had time to extinguish when he left.
“That seems like a waste of a high-level spell, man. We could have just walked,” Beau said with a cough. He looked them all up and down. Yasha still had Jester clutched tightly to her chest, Veth was holding herself in a way that made him think she’d broken a rib or two, Fjord had fading burns running up his arms.
“I’m sorry, Beauregard, would you have preferred to walk here on a broken ankle?” His tone was sharp and biting. Anger rumbled in Beau’s face like an oncoming storm, but it faded to exhaustion after a second. Fjord put a hand on her shoulder and tugged her into a hug. He looked to Essek and shook his head. Essek nodded curtly.
“Fuck you, Fjord,” she said into his chest, no malice behind it.
“I think we all,” Caduceus stumbled, just barely catching himself on a wall of the tower, “oh no, that’s... I think we all need a rest.”
“Only the tower is protected, so it will have to be here, unfortunately,” Essek gestured around him at the lab. It wasn’t a harsh place, exactly, just impersonal. There was an ornate chair near a desk and a stool at one of the worktops, but nothing much else. “I can send someone for blankets if you need.”
“That’d be very nice. Thank you, Essek.” Caduceus blinked slowly, like he was trying to clear his vision, then slid down the wall to sit heavily on the floor. Yasha gingerly sat next to him and positioned Jester so she was cuddled between the two of them, her head pillowed on Caduceus’ thigh.
“Lebby?” Veth said softly, tugging on his hand. He didn’t seem to notice her. "Do you want to come sit down? Or steal Essek's books or something?" He didn't respond.
"If you don't stop me, I'm gonna take all sorts of things. He won't even know what hit him." Silence. "Caleb? You didn't burn anyone. You're okay, we're all safe."
Beau took notice and hobbled over to them, wincing with each step as the adrenaline numbness wore off. She put a firm hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her. He was paler than normal and there was a small bruise blooming on his cheekbone.
"Hey, you in there?" It was hard to catch, but Caleb's eyes focused in on hers for a second before floating away again. A silent 'yes, I'm here.'
"You know where we are?" His brow furrowed and he drew in a shaky breath. She rested her other hand on his shoulder and pressed her fingers into the tight muscles of his neck. "That's fine, stop worrying. We're in Essek's tower in Rosohna. You've been here before."
"Veth," he mouthed, his gaze focusing on hers again for a second before darting away.
"She's right here. She's holding your hand." He squeezed her hand, and Veth smiled. She nodded up at Beau.
"We’re gonna rest now, alright? Veth's gonna stick with you." A minuscule nod. With just a gentle shove to his shoulder, Caleb sat next to Yasha, his feet tucked up under him like he was unconsciously trying to take up as little space as possible.
“I'm glad you're here with me. This tower still creeps me out,” Veth said, sitting herself in his lap, “I need you here.” He wrapped his arms around her, maybe instinct, maybe something more, but it was enough. Veth relaxed just a little.
"Beau?" Essek cleared his throat and it echoed in the cavernous space. Beau scrubbed her hands over her face and centered herself for a second, then limped over to Essek who was standing stock-still in the spot where they’d appeared. His face held the vague frown she recognized from the night of the party in Nicodranas. Fear.
"I'm sorry," he said, stiffly.
“No, you're not." They stood in silence for a moment. "This is the other part of being in the Mighty Nein,” she said, her voice kept low enough so that only he could hear. Fjord tucked himself into Caduceus’ side, letting his head rest on Cad’s shoulder. “The part where we’re fucked up too.”
She watched his eyes move from Yasha, still wearing her greatswords across her back, curled protectively around Jester to Fjord and Caduceus with their heads bowed together to Caleb shivering and Veth whispering affirmations in his ear.
“I see,” he paused for a moment, gave her a flicker of a smile, “you think this will scare me off, yes?”
“I figured it might," Beau said, leaning back on the desk behind them to take the weight off her injured leg. “Was I right?”
“No, I don’t think you were." Essek looked down at his hands. There was a gentle thump as his feet hit the ground that echoed through the quiet air. Caleb flinched.
"Don't lie to me, Essek. You've lied enough." Beau punched him in the shoulder. Her knuckles left a spot of blood on his mantle. He sighed.
"I’m not lying. I am… afraid. But I am not running." He turned to her and held out his palms, a surrender. Her eyes narrowed.
"Yet,” she corrected. Her gaze was so intense, it was as if lightning was crackling in her irises.
"Yet,” Essek relented. They stood in silence for a moment, watching the Mighty Nein come down from the battle. “Can I ask… what caused--?" He gestured to where Veth was running her hand up and down Caleb's back, speaking too softly for them to hear. He whispered something, and she reached for her waterskin, gently coaxing it into his hands.
"The whole story isn't mine to tell. He does this, sometimes. It isn’t his fault. If I had to guess the cause this time," she ran back through the events in her head, "probably the screaming." She watched Essek flinch ever so slightly, that same small frown returning to his face. Good.
"I wish I had been there. He is- you all mean a great deal to me." He opened his mouth as if to speak more, but he didn't. His hands twitched at his sides like he was burying the instinct to reach out.
"Look, dude. I just survived an assassination attempt and watched my best friend scream like her skin was being ripped off. So, take this shit with a grain of salt." She scrubbed her hands across her face roughly. It was only then he noticed how pale her normally dark skin had gone, how faint she looked.
"Noted," he said. He faltered for a moment before placing one hand on her shoulder. She didn't push him away.
“Be here now. Help us now, do good now. We’ll figure out the past, but your redemption starts today. So get started." Caduceus had already fallen asleep and started to snore, so deep and soft it was almost a purr. Beau smiled despite herself.
"I will remind you that you are standing in my home, in a lab that most people would be killed for attempting to enter," Essek said reflexively, his words as sharp as a knife's edge. She raised an eyebrow, unimpressed but unsurprised. He looked away and was quiet for a long moment.
"I can be here if that is where the Mighty Nein needs me," he said, softer. She punched him in the arm again.
"Good. We're putting a lot of trust in you right now." Her face hardened into steel, her back went as straight and unyielding as her quarterstaff. "Don't fuck this up." He nodded.
"Beauregard?" Caleb said quietly, half-buried in Veth's shoulder. Beau and Veth both smiled again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she replied. She sat and draped herself across Caleb's back, exhausted but unwilling to be far from him. His gaze came to rest where Jester lay motionless and his breath caught in his chest again. Veth reached up to pet his hair, running her fingers slowly through the damp auburn strands. She started to hum something slow and soothing.
Beau fell asleep like that, listening to Caleb's breath even out. Jester had healed her, but she’d taken most of the damage from the battle and magic could only do so much.
“Beau,” Caleb muttered, nudging her awake with his shoulder what must have been an hour later. She sat up so fast her head started to spin. “Go keep Yasha warm, ja?” Tired as she was, she could still hear the little smile in his voice.
“Fuck off, Widogast,” she said even as she laid down, her head tucked into the curve of Yasha's hip, and quickly fell back into a dreamless sleep.
By the time one of Essek’s staff arrived with blankets, the Mighty Nein, Heroes of the Dynasty, were already sleeping on the floor, a protective circle with Jester in the middle. Caleb sat awake, softly rocking with the dozing halfling in his arms. Essek draped a quilt over his shoulders and was rewarded with a soft smile.
They were a mess of tangled hands and sharp edges that somehow fit. And they had bled all over his floor.
Jester woke up slowly. Her pillow was very warm and smelled very nice. It reminded her of waking up in her momma's bed after a nightmare. She nuzzled into it and someone chuckled somewhere above her. She blinked her eyes open to an out of focus world of pinks and greens and blues.
"Hey there, sugar pea," Caduceus said from above her, his voice rumbly and low and rough with sleep. She rubbed her cheek against the soft material of his pant leg.
"Hi, Caduceus. Where are we?” She tried to sit up but was stopped by the pain in her head and strong arms wrapped around her waist.
“We’re in Essek’s lab. Caleb teleported us here. We’ve been resting for a little while.” She let her eyes drift closed again, shutting out the painful world. She could feel exhaustion pulling at her bones, trying to drag her back into unconsciousness where nothing hurt.
“You’re a very nice pillow,” she replied with a soft smile.
"Why thank you. We were worried about you." Jester exhaled shakily. It felt like there was something big and hard in her chest, taking up all the space for her lungs to expand, for her heart to beat.
"I'm fine," she replied, squeezing her arms tighter around his leg. She smiled up at him, as bubbly and bright as ever. The other started to stir at the sound of her voice, still slightly hoarse from screaming.
"Are you sure?" He ran his fingers through her deep blue hair, still damp with sweat and melted snow. "It's alright if you aren't, after what you just experienced."
"Well. I don't know. He got away because you were all looking after me." Yasha's arms squeezed around her waist, but it just made her chest feel tighter. Caduceus' hand stilled in her hair.
"We thought you were dying, Jes," Fjord said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Of course we turned away. We're not mad at you for that. How could we be?" Tears started to build in her throat but she swallowed against it.
"I thought maybe--" she brought a hand up to wipe at her eyes, "It's just that he tried to kill Beau, you know. He should be dead. We don't let people hurt each other. "
"Okay, but that applies to you too," Beau said brusquely. Caleb brushed his fingers across the back of her hand. She caught him and wove their hands together before he got the chance to pull away.
"Jester," Caleb said, "Essek has taught me a great deal about the magic of possibility. He has taught me how to reach between timelines, to see what may have happened if different choices were made. I am still learning, but this I know for sure." He squeezed her hand. "There is no timeline where we did not turn to help you. It was not an option, liebste."
"Caleb," Jester said, her face screwing up as she fought against the rising tide of emotion. “You can’t say things like that.” She blinked and tears ran down her cheeks. For the second time that day, they watched Jester cry. The tightness in her chest released and she could breathe again. She inhaled deeply and felt her ribs expand.
“I’m sorry, Blueberry." Caleb brought her hand to his lips and kissed the soft, blue skin there, the lingered for a second longer. "I didn't mean to make you upset." She choked out half a watery laugh.
"No, no it wasn't you. Ugh. This really sucked, you guys," she sniffled. "I thought- It's stupid but, I thought I was going to die. And I knew that if I did, Caduceus could bring me back, but…” she trailed off. The air was silent for a moment as they waited from her to finish, but she didn’t. Another tear fell. Cad's hand left her hair and started tracing patterns on her shoulders.
"That's not stupid. It's alright to be afraid, Jester," Yasha said, holding her close. “We would not ask you to not feel your fear.”
"I guess." Jester wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"No guessing. We love and care about you, full stop. So, how do you feel?” Beau said, sitting up to get a look at her friend’s face. She held back a wince when the movement tugged at a bruised rib. “Honest.”
“I’m tired. My head hurts. I miss my momma. I'm worried that those people will come back for you, Beau." Her voice cracked around the words.
"See, those are some problems we can help with, sugar pea." Caduceus said with a soft smile that made Jester want to cry even harder. "I don't have any healing left, but I have some tea that might help a headache. Caleb has the dome up, and Essek tells us that his lab is well protected. We can even take watches if you'd like."
"Please?" Jester said, so quietly it was almost hard to hear. She closed her eyes. She didn't want to see the looks on their faces. There was some movement around her, and she felt a warm, compact body snuggle up against her chest.
"We're okay," Beau said, and Jester could feel her friend's breath against her chest. She let some of the tension in her body go and the pain eased with it.
"I can take this watch," Fjord sighed, "Jessie if you want Deuces to make you tea, you have to let him up." Caduceus checked softly from above her.
"I'm very tired," she said in lieu of an answer. Caduceus kept tracing a shape on her shoulder with the pad of his finger but she couldn't figure out what it was
"You can sleep. We're safe, we can rest." There were more shifting sounds as she felt Caleb's hand move, but he didn't let go.
A heart, she realized the moment before she slipped back into a dreamless sleep. Caduceus was drawing a heart.