Chapter 40.2: Minkus’ Krewe

Minkus rounded the first bend in the ravine, glancing back to see the gates of the Vigil outpost disappear beyond the lichen-coated northern wall. Now he couldn’t even see the glimpses of it he’d been getting between thickets; it was just gone. They were really and truly on their own again. There were three people faithfully following behind him, but even that didn’t expel the sense of loneliness that came with stepping out once more into the Brisban Wildlands. It should have, but it didn’t.

They’d started the day later than usual, letting Jinkke and Wepp get a little sleep after their late night of final testing and calibration. Once those two had woken, the group had recollected their equipment and strapped themselves down with the handful of weapons the captain had given them: a rifle, four daggers, and an asuran warhammer. Finally they’d hoisted the reconstituted smartpack to Minkus’ shoulders, taken Ventyr’s staff, and left, leaving only a few personal belongings and most of their technical equipment behind, which they all agreed to pick up upon return. That was a notion they seemed to take with varying degrees of confidence.

Armored even before they began their hike, Minkus had led the others out of their Metamagicals hollow, through the Vigil camp, and beyond the gates. There were miles to hike, but the way he saw it, he either carried the breastplate, backplate, gauntlets, and boots in another bag also strapped to his back, or he wore it. It was the same weight, and the sweat didn’t bother him. He’d felt weird being at the head of the party from the start, and even more so on receiving a salute and a muttered prayer from the guards on duty at the gate. But then, he was the person who’d brought them all into this, so he was responsible for what they did next. And, he thought with a sigh, what happens to them.

He glanced back toward the gates again. Of course, he still couldn’t see them; they were even further hidden by the towering landscape. He sighed, surrendering the last dregs of optimism that they might have seen Jindel again before leaving. At a camp this small, he was sure she had responsibilities to fulfill all day, every day, but he’d still hoped she might have seen them off.

Before returning his attention ahead, he let his gaze slide past the three trailing him. Jinkke followed most closely, still running last-minute calculations on the data tablet, which she swore was nearly out of power. She would continue rechecking her numbers, of course, right up until the moment the tablet exhausted its power supply. Wepp was right after her, still analyzing the map they’d received from the captain and calling observations up to Minkus and Jinkke whenever they occurred to him. Penny brought up the rear, with Minkus’ own pack slung over her shoulder. It fit perhaps a little too tight, but with him carrying the once-smartpack-now-field-projector, she’d made the trade, filling his backpack with various tricks, explosives, and ammunition that she still had on-hand—things she planned on inserting up select Inquest orifices when they reached Thaumacore. How all these people had wound up here, doing this, should have been a mystery, but it wasn’t. Not at all. They each had personal reasons, yes, but Minkus knew they were there because of him, because he couldn’t leave Ventyr and Yissa defenseless, and willingly or not, they’d all been pulled along into that in his wake.

He hefted the device strapped to his back, adjusting its placement and tightening a strap to keep it as balanced as it could be. His attention stayed on that weight. He felt it shift ever so slightly with each step along the rutted out, ravine path and recalled the sight of it igniting into a pale blue dome of energy just hours before that day’s sunrise. The field projector had worked with the Seer essence, and he needed it to work again. They all did. He couldn’t help looking back again at the three following him. It had to work.

A light crunching of branches jerked Minkus’ attention. His ears twisted instinctively toward the sound, and his eyes followed. Wepp and Jinkke did the same, and after a second Penny followed the example of the three asura, all of them searching the rich foliage along the southern wall for a source of the sound. Hands moved slowly toward sheathed weapons.

A voice came from the tree line. “Calm down. It’s us.”

All eyes zeroed in on the source, and another voice, thick and gravelly, rebuffed from the same patch of shade. “Quiet, human. I said we stay hidden until—”

“They already caught us, Fjornsson, thanks to you and your gigantic feet.”

“Jindel?” Minkus cocked an eyebrow, his ears perking up even farther.

As the two stepped out from the shadows, Penny re-holstered her pistols and buried her face in her hands. “Gods. You? Don’t tell me your boss sent you to stop—”

“Not even close, Arkayd.” The other woman rested a hand atop the axe at her hip. “We’re joining you.” Armored in formed leather, Jindel carried a satchel, heavy with somethings that clacked and rattled as she moved. 

Minkus’ heart skipped.

“I’m sorry, what?” Penny’s incredulity turned nearly to laughter. “You’re joining us?”

Though excited by the offer, Minkus couldn’t help but remember the events of the previous night. He opened his mouth, but his sister beat him to the question. She frowned in distrust. “Your commander insisted that the Vigil could offer us no aid, for reasons of diplomacy. Do you expect us to believe that he’s reassessed his position and concluded differently in the hours since? I don’t know what agenda he could have in presenting this false assistance, but—”

Jindel shook her head. “We’re not our commander.”

“Captain doesn’t even know we’re here,” the norn agreed, stepping up beside Jindel. His voice was bassy in a way that rumbled Minkus’ insides.

“Not yet, anyway,” Jindel muttered. “And we’d better keep it that way if you want our help.”

Penny crossed her arms and glowered at Jindel and then the norn. “I don’t remember saying that we did.”

Jindel took half a step toward Penny but caught herself, turning instead to address the three asura. “You’re taking on more than you know—Dwayna’s light, it sounds like you’re taking on more than the Captain knows. You’ll need all the help you can get, and if it means not losing the Sergeant like we lost Crusader Braxus, I’m not sitting this out.” She unslung the pack from her shoulder and dropped it to the ground, revealing a small collection of additional weapons, ammunition, and various scraps of leather armor. “What did Captain Gelwin give you?” she asked.

“A rifle, four knives, and some kind of hammer,” Jinkke said, only half-watching the woman over her data tablet.  Somehow her calculations had once again become more interesting.

Yult rumbled a growl, towering over the young woman who knelt just before him. “I told you they wouldn’t get much if the Captain gave only non-Vigil arms. Honorable man, good commander, but Bear, he’s being too cautious.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jindel agreed. “There are enough confiscated Vigil weapons floating around the world to excuse a few more.” She pressed a pair of pistols, a box of rounds, and a ratty scrap of linen into Wepp’s hands.

He wobbled a little. “You don’t really expect me to—”

The norn grunted. “Spirits only know what we should expect, small one.”

Penny glared again, flicking the snap of a belt pouch open and shut. Minkus glanced at her, knowing her anxious ticks by this point. The knowledge almost made him smile, but he was glad she’d kept her thoughts mostly to herself.

Jindel moved on to Jinkke. “You said you had a rifle and knives?”

Jinkke nodded.

“Good. How many rounds?”

Jinkke didn’t actually know, so Penny interjected. “A couple dozen.”

Jindel glanced at her, but continued speaking to Jinkke. “Good. Let me know if you need more.” She extended an upside-down steel cap with leather gloves and a scrap of fabric stuffed into it.

Minkus stepped between them before he’d realized he was moving, pushing the equipment still in Jindel’s hand back toward the bag. “She doesn’t need this. Or the rifle. I mean, not really— she won’t be in any trouble.” He looked back at his sister. “Jinkke, I never said you would be—”

“Never said I would be what?” Holding the tablet in one hand, she let it hang at her side. Her eyes flared. That in itself seemed to bring her to his height.

“I— well—” Minkus had the words on the edge his tongue, or he thought he did. He could feel them there, but the distance between his tongue and the awaiting air suddenly seemed like miles.

He gulped. “I’m grateful for your help. I am—very much. You and Wepp and Penny, you all did what I could never do. But— but that was what you’re good at, what you’re great at, Jinkke. This— uh, fighting, I mean— if it comes to that—     you don’t know how to—”

“And how, precisely, do you know that, Minkus?” She stepped toward him, glaring indignantly. “You went abroad and received training in magical disciplines. You came back and combatted monstrous wurms, something you’d never before done or been trained for. Who are you to assert that I didn’t do the same in your absence?”

“Did you?” Penny interjected. Both of them looked at her.

“Pardon me?”

“Did you?” Penny repeated. “Did you learn to beat people up with magic? With your fists? With anything?” She began to grin.

Jinkke bit the corner of her lip. “No, but that’s not my point. I could have.” She rounded back on Minkus, locking eyes again as she reached around him to gather up Jindel’s offering. “And even if I haven’t, what authority do you have to impede me?”

“Jinkke,” he sighed, “we made a deal that you could help me until it came to fighting. I— well, I hope it doesn’t, but it could come to that, and—”

Jinkke stomped the ground. “We made no such deal.”

Minkus blinked. “We didn’t? I thought I had— I meant to—”

“You did not.” She took the helmet out of Jindel’s hand, stepping back and squatting up to him once more. “I’ve come this far, Big Brother, and I will continue just as far as you do. If I can’t deter you from this endeavor, then you likewise will not deter me.” She awkwardly sought a way to cross her arms while still holding the new gear and her tablet. It didn’t really work.

Minkus blinked again, processing what she said and all that it meant as quickly as he could. His mouth went dry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“That’s right.” She almost grinned in satisfaction, though a knowing fear still stilted her expression when she looked down at the steel helmet. “If you are in jeopardy, Big Brother, I am in jeopardy. I won’t tell you not to, but I also won’t let you tell me.”

For a moment, everyone stood quiet. Minkus fumbled for words but found nothing. Everyone else, even Jindel, watched them, looking almost as uncomfortable as Minkus felt.

Penny broke the silence, driving the sounds of chittering of jungle creatures back into the trees. “OK? Are we all good and family-like now? Because we need to move. Our Inquest friend isn’t going to knock her own teeth in.”

“And I’d rather not be court marshalled before we do it,” Jindel said, returning to her distribution work.

As all eyes returned to the crusader, Penny rested a hand on Minkus’ shoulder. He looked up, and she met his eye only briefly before wincing and moving on.

Jinkke started to look through the items she was given, holding up the strip of fabric and glancing at the similar one Wepp held.“What is this for?”

“Cut those into face-coverings,” Jindel said. “If we’re not killed, I’ve got a feeling we don’t want to be identified.”

They nodded, appeased by the logic.

As the group began moving again, Jindel strode up beside Minkus and rapped on his golden chest plate. “I think you’re in good shape.” She nodded back toward the sword hilt peeking up over his shoulder. “Are you ready to use that thing, though?”

He nodded. He didn’t feel it inside, but Minkus nodded, all the while praying to the deep magics that the Inquest could still be reasoned with.

“Good.”

Jindel fell back away from him, reaching into the bag and tugging out something big as she slid into step beside Penny. She held out a stiff, leather chest piece. “It—” She stopped, glancing at Penny’s waist. “What are you wearing? A toolbelt?”

“Yeah, and it’s loaded full of fun toys. Why?”

“Fine,” Jindel scoffed, “whatever you want. But here.” She held the chest piece forward again. “It won’t stop rifle shot or magic or whatever the Inquest are packing, but it’s better than your shirt. Take it or leave it, I really don’t—”

Penny reached for it faster than Jindel had anticipated. “That’s just smart. Don’t want to die from something stupid.” She shrugged, and the two exchanged a cool nod.

Quietly, and without drawing Penny’s attention, Minkus let a grin curl the corner of his mouth. Even Penny and Jindel were together on this task of his. They all were.

And that thought brought his attention back to Jinkke, walking quietly, intently beside him. Whatever she said or how far she went with him, Minkus couldn’t let anything happen to her.