By moonrise, they had stopped arguing over whether Jin should go.
They were arguing over who got to hit Rook first.
“His hand,” Tamsin said. “Hit the hand with the bell. You can discuss his face afterward.”
Garran rested his hooked pole across his good shoulder.
“Bram takes the lights. Kessa stays with me.”
“Jin takes Rook,” Bram said.
“I haven't agreed to carry him home.”
“You owe me a reel.”
Jin pointed at him.
“That is not how debts work.”
They went through the trees in single file. Jin had the tongue-pin back against his skin and Kessa's spare hunting knife in his hand. His bent purchase stayed with Tamsin's things at the watch building.
The quarry glowed below them.
Four lamps stood around an old loading platform near the pool. Rook sat beneath one, sorting bells from a box. Garran's sword leaned against his chair.
Stacked feed chests blocked the platform's near end.
Two men carried a covered bowl toward the far end of the platform.
The glassmaw followed them.
Its real feet scraped stone. Its false bodies spilled over the pool's edge, walking on water that didn't move beneath them.
Rook lifted the bell in his hand and rang it softly. The real head turned toward the note. He moved his hand left; the creature followed it, ignoring the man holding its food.
“Recall bell,” Tamsin whispered. “He can lead it. Without the cracked calling bell, he can't place every foot for it.”
“Can he replace that one?”
“That's what he's looking for in the box.”
Jin pointed.
Tamsin nodded.
“And light from below will catch the gap in its broken plates. The two Garran cut. Get it over the pool. I'll give you one clear look.”
She lifted a glass pin from her collar. White light trembled inside it.
“Work light,” she said. “Expensive. Don't make me throw it at your head.”
Bram peered toward the platform.
“That's Mistress Vell's mattress.”
A large feather mattress lay on the boards beneath a pale quilt. A glassmaw-sized hollow dented its middle.
“From the inn?” Kessa asked.
“I carried it upstairs last spring.”
A source check shows that the author's official story page carries this chapter; this version was copied without approval.
Jin looked at Rook's creature, busily eating whatever the bowl contained.
“He stole the pillow too,” Bram said, offended.
DAILY QUEST — UNSATISFACTORY ACCOMMODATION
LIE ON THE PREDATOR'S BED FOR THREE FULL BREATHS.
THEN RATE THE ACCOMMODATION ALOUD WITHIN HEARING OF AN OBSERVING WITNESS.
REWARD: EXP +40.
Jin slowly lowered his face into his free hand.
“What?” Kessa whispered.
“Apparently I'm taking the bed.”
They moved while the feeding men blocked Rook's view. Bram slipped toward the far lamps. Garran and Kessa took the rim above the pool.
Jin went down the near steps.
Cold water rose over his trainers. He tested the broad submerged stone with his heel, then walked five short strides back up toward the platform. He turned and walked them down again, recording the descending approach.
At the bottom he checked the footing again. Firm.
He returned to the first mark.
Above him, Garran crouched beside the rim.
“You can still go home.”
Jin looked at the stolen sword beside Rook's chair.
“I'd prefer to go home after this.”
Garran studied him for a moment. Then he moved the pole into position.
“So would I.”
The glassmaw's bowl scraped across stone.
Jin climbed onto the platform, keeping the feed chests between himself and Rook. He put Kessa's knife on the boards within reach and eased onto the quilt.
The smell hit him first.
Wet fur. Old meat. An ambitious quantity of somebody else's spit.
One breath.
Footsteps approached.
Two.
The man carrying the empty bowl stopped beside the platform.
“Rook?”
Three.
Jin sat up.
“One star,” he announced. “Predatory staff. Pillow tastes of crimes.”
The bowl hit the ground.
LEVEL UP: 18 → 19
LEVEL 19: 2/65 | FREE AP: +5
He put three into Strength and two into Agility.
MODIFIERS: STR +27 | AGI +34 | END +29
AP REMAINING: 0
The mattress ropes creaked as he got to his feet. He picked up the knife.
Rook stood so fast his chair went over.
For a moment he simply stared at Jin. At the occupied bed. At the glassmaw turning toward its own smell on Jin's clothes.
“You're trying to take the bond.”
Jin spread his empty hand.
“I'm trying to take the pillow. You're being dramatic.”
Rook struck a bell.
The man snatched up the fallen bowl and lunged at Jin with it. Jin kicked it into his face and jumped down from the platform. The other man took a look at the knife and retreated behind the overturned chair.
The glassmaw came around the corner.
Four bodies now. One carrying its head lower than the rest.
Jin backed to his first mark.
Rook reached for a second bell in the open box.
Garran's hooked pole struck his wrist.
The box flew.
Bells scattered down the platform in a terrible bright clatter.
Bram smothered the two far lamps with his folded coat. Light died along the rim.
The glassmaw's copies shivered.
“Run!” Kessa shouted.
Jin selected Braced Waypoint.
Five strides took him down the wet steps. His heel settled on the submerged stone, holding his arrival while water broke against his shins.
He turned with the knife lifted.
The real creature leapt after him.
So did three that weren't.
Black fans lifted between the clear plates. The light on the wet steps dimmed.
On the rim above, Tamsin threw her light into the pool.
Rook hurled his recall bell toward Tamsin. It struck the rim beside her with a sharp, carrying note.
All four mouths swung toward her instead.