When the door closed, Sheema looked around. It was a nice house, and a fire was burning, keeping out the chill of autumn. She moved closer to the hearth, starting to feel truly warm since the heat of summer had begun to fade. From there, she watched Varga talking eagerly with the veiled woman.

She's supposed to be wearing that horrible cursed necklace underneath. So far, she looks normal, but the magic on her sets my teeth on edge. Sheema was already out of sorts from wearing her own magical slave collar. She felt growing dread that Varga's promises were for nothing and the collar would not be removed.

"Hello?" Varga yelled. Immediately they heard rapid footsteps. Moments later, Diavla ran into the room.

"Varga! Sheema! Rillik! You made it!" Diavla spread her arms as Varga charged her for a hug and a kiss. "Welcome!"

Kervan was next, just sticking his head in the room. "Did everybody make it?"

"Hey, Kervan! Orvan and Brallik are still out there; we had to split up to draw less attention, but hopefully Sheema's latest suitor will be bringing them in any minute," Varga told him.

"What's that?" Diavla asked.

"A human named Kevin decided to help us get past the gate guard because he was charmed by Sheema."

"I did not charm him!" Sheema insisted.

"Spirits, I didn't mean it literally, Sheema!"

"Sorry," Sheema grumbled. "I'm a little on edge because you promised that Tom would take these collars off and he's not here."

"Oh!" Diavla waved a hand. "I can do that. Come with me."

Cheered, Sheema followed her friend into one of the other rooms, where she picked up a belt and started prying items out of it somehow. "It's Tom's hidden pocket," Diavla explained. "He puts the tokens in here for safekeeping. Let me see your collar." Sheema lifted her thick black ringlets out of the way and tilted her head back. Diavla peered at the markings a moment, then went back to the belt.

One by one, she pulled out slave tokens and examined them. On the fourth try, she peered at it, then came back to Sheema and stared at her collar again. "I think this is a match. Just a beat..." Diavla took a firm grip on Sheema's shoulder with one hand, then with the other, fitted the token to the dent in the slave collar. There was a click, and the magic fell away. Sheema yanked the collar off impatiently, sending the token flying.

"Don't lose it!" Diavla shouted, scrambling after the token. "We need to keep using the collars as a disguise." She breathed a sigh of relief and got back on her feet, the token in her hand. She set it on the table with the others.

"Sorry." Sheema rubbed her neck.

"I follow you, Sheema, trust me. Rillik! Come get your collar off!" A few moments later, both Rillik and the human boy ran into the room. "Let me see your collar, Rillik." Sheema watched Diavla fumble a bit, taking a couple of tries to find the right token and free the young elf.

"Charlie?" Diavla got the human boy's attention, then held two fingers to her lips for silence and winked. The boy Charlie babbled something in his language, but he was nodding, so Sheema trusted Diavla to handle it.

"Var—!" She started to shout before seeing that the redhead was already standing in front of her, grinning. "Give me your neck, you."

"I thought you'd never ask," Varga joked breathlessly, posing dramatically.

"Come here, you baby bard." A few moments later, Varga's collar was off. The woman acted as if wearing it was no big deal, which surprised Sheema. How could they get so used to it? I mean, we were stuck wearing the cursed things for months, but...given the chance, why wouldn't she race to get it removed instantly? Sheema mused that perhaps her magical sensitivity made it harder for her to ignore the presence of the control magic.

"That woman Eubexa said something about guarding the back entrance? What's going on?"

"Well, the demon Quazulin apparently is trying to take over Oak Mill," Diavla said matter-of-factly.

"What?" It took Sheema's soul a moment to grip that. "But...why are you still here, then!?"

"Waiting for you, mostly."

"Can we please get out of this town soon?" Eubexa asked from the doorway.

"We're waiting for two more people, Eubexa, and then we have to figure out how to get Tom out of the Temple."

"What's Tom doing in the Temple?" Sheema asked.

"Tom got grabbed by the town guard yesterday. Apparently, Quazulin is using the Captain of the Guard as a host, and controls all the guards. He infected Tom—"

"What!?" Varga interrupted, sounding horrified.

"—and kept him locked up when he didn't succumb right away. We paid some humans to bust him out of there and bring him to the Temple. According to Piper, he made it to the Temple and got across the threshold, so he's all right, but guards are waiting right outside the Temple so he has to figure out how to get past them, join up with us, and then we can get out of town."

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"Who is Piper?" Sheema demanded.

"A human street squirrel who has been helping us," Diavla explained. "She's upstairs with Arven right now, unless...here she comes."

Footsteps came thundering down the stairs. A young girl—very young, given that she was human—came running into the room. She had a mop of golden hair, and clothing that was tattered but clean. She stopped in front of Charlie, who looked to be around the same age, and the two of them started talking in Western. The human boy mentioned Rillik's name.

The girl turned, and said, "Hello, Rillik, I am happy to meet you. My name is Piper."

Sheema blinked.

"You speak Elvish?" Rillik said in surprise.

Piper responded by holding up two fingers pinched together. "No. One two three word." She shrugged.

The human boy seemed a little upset and threw questions at Piper, and pretty soon the two of them were bickering repetitively, an act that transcended the language barrier. Piper shoved her hand in Charlie's face, reciting, "One...two...three," while raising fingers to match.

"One...goo...fee."

Piper corrected his pronunciation mercilessly.

Suddenly, she heard a piercing sound like a marsh-caller, coming from upstairs. Eubexa turned and hurried from the room, and Sheema followed, just in time to see the veiled woman open the door to admit Orvan and Brallik. Eubexa peeked outside a moment, then shut the door. Her foot must be healing well. Sheema hadn't noticed a limp. Of course, she might be abusing it, especially if that collar is muting her pain too much.

"Hello, Orvan. And you must be Brallik. Welcome. Did you see a human named Kevin?"

"We met him outside of town. Just now, someone started arguing with a guard at a convenient moment," Orvan observed. "It might have been him; we couldn't spare the time to look."

"Eubexa, I presume?" Brallik asked, still panting from his run.

"The same. All nine of us are together at last. We simply need Tom Walker, and then we can get out of here." Sheema looked at the strange elf, or rather the head-to-toe coverings wrapping it. Honestly, if it weren't for the fluent Elvish with a Northern accent, she could have been a human for all I know.

"Eubexa, I have heard that you are sick, and wearing a collar. I would like to examine you with the collar off," Sheema told her.

"I am happy to do that as soon as we get out of town. I don't want anything to delay our departure," the veiled woman said firmly. "Besides, the children need me to translate."

"So, what in the world and sky has been going on around here?" Varga demanded.

∘ ⛥ ⛯ ⛥ ∘

They spent a while catching each other up on their adventures. Arven congratulated Rillik at length for managing to bring food back to the camp. Charlie and Piper chattered in Western. Charlie picked up a few words of Elvish, and Piper seemed to be soaking the language up like a sponge. When Sheema said as much, Eubexa then had to explain what a sponge was. These children have never seen the ocean, Sheema realized.

When they mentioned Summer Daring, Varga straightened up. "Wait, wait. Stop the wagon. You met Summer Daring?"

"Yes. How do you know her?" Kervan asked in surprise.

"I had a package for her from Mrs. Whistler, remember? Did you give it to her?"

"What package?" Diavla asked.

"It was with my stuff in the wagon. You didn't give it to her?"

"Varga, you didn't tell us about any package."

"I must have!"

The women stared at each other a moment, then Varga turned. "Kervan, you remember stuff. I told you guys about the package, right?" She watched him shake his head slowly, and she wilted. "Aw, crap."

A moment later, she bounced back, dismissing the problem. "Oh, well. We can just bring it to her before we leave town."

Classic Varga, Sheema thought with a sigh.

Piper had spent the night in the house, since apparently she didn't have anywhere better to be. The girl was happy to run errands, and had already gotten in and out of the Temple once to get news from Tom.

It was unclear how much the human children understood about the situation, but some gentle questioning revealed that Charlie's father was showing signs of possession.

Sheema was disturbed and intrigued by the anonymous note revealing the demon's name and Concept. Hate was a nasty one, but at least it was usually obvious. Only a few people had any real skill at concealing hatred. But where did that knowledge come from?

Apparently, the town guard had come by the house twice, first blustering, and then trying to force their way in. They hadn't expected the elves to be decently armed, though, and with the growing chaos in the town, the guard had more important things to do. So, the elves kept a watch on the back and front of the building.

"Normally, I'd say it was suicidal to antagonize the guard, but in present circumstances, it would be suicidal not to fend them off," Diavla explained. "It's hard to know what's going on in the town. A lot depends on whether Quazulin flees or tries to finish taking over here."

"A demon would split the difference," Eubexa opined. "Send a few shards out of town as backup hosts, but keep the primary host in town, give up on stealth, and convert as many people as possible. That way, even if he loses the town, he can flee, switch hosts, and pick up again somewhere else."

Sheema tensed. "'Shards'?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

It was impossible to see Eubexa's expression, but the woman didn't freeze up. "Oh. I've been reading a book written in Western on fighting demons. It sometimes refers to possessed people as 'shards', for some reason. Sorry if I was confusing."

"Ah. That makes sense. It just sounded weird." Sheema deliberately turned to Diavla. "I would love to talk more about how your spirit-sense has improved."

She engaged her friend in technical discussion for the next while. Apparently, losing her virginity had knocked something loose in Diavla's soul, and now spirits of Passion answered her calls. It was not uncommon, but the circumstances still nagged at Sheema a bit.

"May I use my spirit-sense on you?"

"Of course—but you probably don't want to do that right now."

Sheema raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why not?"

"Eubexa's necklace," Diavla explained. "To me, it's so bright that I have trouble seeing anything else. To you, it would probably be utterly blinding."

"Diavla, about that necklace..."

"It's an evil thing, turned to a good use," Diavla reassured her. She got a soft smile. "Because that's what Tom does."

"But are you sure Eubexa is actually all right wearing it? She hasn't been told to say it's fine?"

Diavla nodded. "She had me wear it first, to test it out."

"But she hasn't ever had it removed since she first put it on, has she?"

Diavla paused. "You know, I'm not sure...I think maybe she hasn't."

"In that case, I have to insist that we take that collar off, immediately, at least long enough to ask her."

"That's...fair. I'll get the control wand." Frowning, Diavla left the room for a minute. When she returned, they walked over to Eubexa.

"I heard you talking. Let's go upstairs into an empty room to do this, please," Eubexa asked. "It's annoying, but I see why you want to do it." With a sigh, Eubexa led the way to the stairs, and slowly started climbing. Diavla was by her side in case she needed support, and Sheema followed them both, feeling worried.

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