<~> Chapter 139

I kept a wary eye out as Luna, Tor'jek, and Celeste talked about how to track the changeling. While my ability to manipulate my own mana has been improving, I didn't have the ability to track the monster's mana from the corpse like they did. Instead, I prioritized keeping watch for anyone suspicious in the area while my lover was focusing.

No one looked particularly out of place or suspicious. Other than the two of us and Tor'jek, who Celeste cleared right away, everyone else in the area were soldiers. The ones here were split into two obvious camps. The ones who were looking curiously at the dead soldier or what Celeste was doing, and the soldiers who were more disciplined and were still focused on their jobs. The nearby soldiers were sending out groups to see if anyone else was missing or looked out of place. I carefully scanned each person and sniffed the air to see if anything seemed strange, but none of them triggered my suspicions.

("Helena, we're going this direction. Did you find anything?") Luna asked.

I turned back and shook my head. ("No, nothing looks out of place. How about you?")

("It's faint, but there's a trace of mana going this way,") Luna replied before standing up and dusting off her hands.

The three of us followed behind as Tor'jek led the way. Despite my misgivings about him, he was apparently the best at tracking the trail that we were following. It felt odd putting any amount of trust in someone that was trying to kill me only days earlier, but he was the best for this job. It was a weird business I was in now.

"This way," Tor'jek said as he took an abrupt turn. We squeezed past a few tents that had been set up a little bit closer to each other than they were meant to be. "Another one," the blue draco said with a scowl as he pulled a tarp off of another corpse.

"Shit. I liked this one. Good soldier, but he had a bad habit of sneaking off to spend time with women whenever he wasn't on duty. His commanders usually overlooked it because he had never gotten himself into trouble doing it before. He was from the group that came back with me from Clyclostro," Celeste said as she examined the body.

"How long has this one been dead? If he was off duty, he might have been here longer than the last one," I said.

Tor'jek shook his head. "No, this one is recent. It happened today. The mana on him is stronger than the last one. We're getting closer."

("If he was lured here by a woman, that might inform who we're looking for,") Luna pointed out.

Celeste nodded. "He must have been lured here by a woman that wasn't a soldier. Unless he was lured here by a false friend, the changeling is likely disguised as one of the female crafters we brought along. He was smart enough not to get entangled with the other soldiers, that's why we mostly overlooked his indiscretions."

"Unless it stole this man's form. Either way that will narrow down who we're looking for a little. Let's head in the direction of the crafters, the trail looks like it may be going that way," Tor'jek said while squinting at something that wasn't visible to me, even with my blindfold.

"Let's move more quickly then. We're getting closer. I'd like to avoid losing any more of my soldiers on a loose dungeon monster." There was a hint of a growl in Celeste's voice.

Once we pushed back into the main pathway, Celeste quickly flagged a guard to recover the man's body. This time she instructed the soldier to keep this matter quiet so that we wouldn't let the creature know we were getting closer. The soldier nodded and gathered a small group to take care of it while we headed to the area set aside for the crafters.

A short walk through the tents led us to the bustling crafters' area. This spot had a bit of a different air to it. Despite the alarms that had been rung, the people here looked busy and enthusiastic about their work. Since the bells hadn't transitioned to something more serious like an evacuation order, I guessed that most of the crafters assumed that whatever was happening had already been taken care of. The atmosphere was night and day. No one here had been close enough to the deaths or the danger that happened in the dungeon.

"How many of the crafters that we brought along were women?" I asked Celeste.

She frowned in response. "I'm not sure, truthfully. I left the selection of crafters to Callisto."

"I still have a trail to follow, keep an eye out," Tor'jek said quietly.

We walked through the rows of tents interspersed with worktables that had been set up outside in the sun. The sound of the crafters working with their tools was mixed in with the general din of chatter also present in the soldier's area. We took a bit of a winding path that had intersected with itself a few times before Tor'jek stopped us.

The blue draco frowned. "I think it may be leading us in circles now. It might know that we're following it," he whispered.

"One moment," I said. I pulled my hood over my head and closed my eyes. I took a moment to partially shift my face so that I could use my improved nose to see if I could pick up a scent from here. I took a deep breath and sorted through the smells in the area. This intersection was a busy place for the crafters, but slowly, I was able to pick out the scents and attribute them to specific people. I tried to put out of my mind how silly I must have sounded taking so many sniffs of the air. Eventually, I found one that seemed out of place. There was a scent of saltwater mixed in with this one, oil and grease used to treat weapons and armor tinged the scent as well. It wasn't a smith, it smelled like a soldier. I opened my eyes and started walking toward the scent. "This way!"

The four of us walked quickly through the sparse crowd until we found who we were looking for. The soldier we had recently found dead. The man was smiling and flirting with a woman while she carefully worked with shears, cutting fabric backing for a prototype armor made from the giant crab shells. Before we could get close enough, the soldier's eyes fell on our group and his expression fell.

The woman let out a yelp as she was grabbed from behind. The soldier pressed a dagger against her neck and pulled her to her feet while standing behind her. The man's expression had shifted and he now had an inhumanly large grin on his face as the color of his eyes turned an inky black.

"Now now! Let's not be hasty! You'd better stay over there if you don't want this strumpet to die!" The changeling's voice didn't match the man's face anymore. It took on the high-pitched musical tone the changeling had before.

"You've already killed two of my soldiers. I'm not about to let you get away with that," Celeste said resolutely.

The creature's smile deepened and it tilted its head back the other way. The woman cried out as the dagger dug deeper into her neck and drew blood. "Are you saying that one more death isn't of consequence? That's cold! Not that it's unexpected from a creature like you."

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"Your taunts don't mean anything to me you—"

"Are you going to let me kill this woman the way you let your own children die?" It said with barely restrained laughter.

The rage that came from Celeste was palpable. I heard her fingers crack as her hand shifted into a fist.

"It's trying to enrage you so that it can find an escape. Don't let it work you up," Tor'jek said quietly.

Celeste's jaw clenched, but she didn't acknowledge his words. "What do you want, monster."

"Monster? Me? You hardly have any room to call me that. None of you do," the changeling said with amusement.

"You've already killed two of my soldiers. What else should I call you?" Celeste said spitefully.

The changeling tapped the blade of her dagger against the woman's throat. "Hungry? I was just eating. Preying on you tasty tasty humanoids. So full of emotion and fervor. You're practically filling my belly standing way over there! So exquisite a meal! Do you mourn the crabs you're taking from the dungeon? It's not any different!"

"My soldiers are people! It is different! The crabs can't even think!" Celeste growled out.

The changeling tilted its head the other way. The creepy smile plastered on its face deepened. "Is it different? You humanoids are so silly! Why would it be any different? The crabs can still think, they're just dumb! So was the soldier who's face I'm borrowing! Who would believe this strumpet would suddenly want to suck him off between some tents?"

"The real James is dead?" the woman whimpered.

"Hush, morsel! The big scary monsters are talking!" the changeling said with a titter.

("Helena, what's happening?")

("Piper? Where are you?") I asked. I made a point not to look around and give away her position.

("There's a bit of a crowd forming, but I can see you and Celeste standing taller than everyone else,") Piper replied.

("The changeling is holding a woman hostage, one of the crafters. It's directly in front of us,") I told her.

("Maybe I can sneak up on it. Let me get closer, keep it distracted.")

("I'll try. Don't jump in unless you can guarantee the woman's safety,") I said.

("I'm a healer, it's okay that she gets a little bloody if I'm fast,") Piper replied.

I couldn't help but gulp at the thought. If Piper was fast enough and she had enough magic, she could probably heal the woman through a potentially life threatening wound. I couldn't imagine it wouldn't be incredibly traumatic for the woman in question though.

My attention returned to the changeling when it suddenly cackled. "Here's what we'll do, dragon woman! You're going to let me sneak off, and I won't tell everyone here about the precious secret you're hiding. We both know what I'm talking about, so don't play dumb! I'll tell everyone here if you don't let me go!"

A loud growl rumbled in Celeste's throat. I also knew it was audible to everyone else from the sudden looks she got. She looked absolutely pissed, but for the first time since this started, I could sense the uncertainty in her body language.

("Luna, tell Celeste to stall for time. Piper's approaching it from behind,") I told her through the rings.

("Okay, one moment!") Luna replied.

Celeste took a deep breath and relaxed her hands. She had a look of defeat on her face, and if I hadn't known that Luna relayed the message, I might have been fooled by the gesture.

"Where will you even go, changeling? If I just let you sneak off, you'll continue to kill my soldiers and any secret I might be trying to keep won't matter anymore," Celeste said calmly.

The changeling giggled. "Negotiations, ey?! I love bargaining! So much fun! Alright... if you want me to leave this place too... I'll have to ask for a horse! Something pretty! Like a, gluk—!"

Piper slipped up from behind the changeling and twisted its dagger arm away from the woman before plunging her sword into the changeling's gut. The woman who had been taken hostage slipped away from the monster and ran over to us. I quickly pulled her behind me while Piper gutted the changeling. As the monster died, its features melted back into the small fairy-looking thing I had seen before.

"That bitch Luna is the dragon woman's bastard daughter!" it said from its bleeding mouth. The dying changeling started to cackle. Piper stabbed it in the throat to finish it off. Slowly, its movements faded and went limp in Piper's arms. I felt conflicted by the sight since one of the first things I did in response was lick my lips.

Whispering started carrying through the nearby area. A crowd had gathered of both soldiers and crafters as they watched the stand-off. Piper came over and healed the woman who had been taken hostage while Celeste seethed in anger. For a moment I worried that some of it had been directed at Piper, but a moment later, Celeste screamed and ripped the changeling's head from its corpse before throwing it to the ground and crushing its skull under her boot.

Any pretense of the secret being false had immediately passed. Everyone stared at Luna in a mixture of awe and confusion. Luna's ears went back, and she looked away from the sight, but she didn't flee.

"Consider this secret part of this mission too!" Celeste growled before turning away. She walked in the direction of her tent, still dragging the headless corpse. "Come with me, Luna, Helena," she said as she passed.

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