Chapter 68: Ch. 67 – An Alliance Outside A Pig Farm

Just as Momo was about to reach inner euphoria, Corv’s voice rang out.

“Oh for the sake of Mordecai, it’s that thing again!”

Momo nearly lost her grip as Corv frantically pivoted left. His wings knocked against her, slapping her sideways as he tore in the opposite direction.

“What is it? What thing?” Momo yelped, fighting the force of gravity with all her tiny might.

A yowl pierced the chatter of the crowds. The stomp of heavy feet reverberated off the ground, and Momo managed to see a sliver of fur through her blinded vision.

Oh no.

A wet, stubbly tongue the size of a small mountain came raining down on the pair of them. It licked Corv with the intensity of a bulldozer, sending them off-course and bulleting towards the ground. Momo’s hair whipped back just at the right time for her to see them headed for the pavement, Corv’s wings immobilized from the saliva.

“Shit, brace yourself!” He squawked.

“[Polymorph - Tree Stump]!” Momo cried out, but nothing happened. A piece of parchment appeared in front of her face, but the air stole it violently before she could read the text. It didn’t matter – she knew what it said. I have no mana left.

“There’s a hay pile, maybe if I can just –” Corv shouted, yanking his head upwards. He strained against the perma-glue that painted his wings, managing to tilt them ever so slight upwards so a last gust of wind flew underneath them. They shot upwards, briefly, before the strain was too much – and his wings snapped back into place.

They were once again nosediving.

“Jump, Momo, jump!” he screamed.

Before she could think to move her limbs, they had already made contact with the ground. Momo felt pine needles shoot at her from all directions, spindly things that tickled her cheeks and ankles. Hay coated her legs, and her neck spun around like a spinning top. In front of her, three duplicates of Corv hovered in the air – all six of his eyes staring at her in disbelief.

“We’re alive,” his hydra-like head said, breathing out a long, staccato breath. Momo made an affirmative noise that probably sounded like a choked cry. She braced her head with her hands, desperately trying to force her vision back into place.

“I’m going to end up with more concussions than an NFL player,” she muttered, slurring her words.

“A what?”

“Nothing,” she said, and collapsed again in the hay. The familiar feeling of it immediately sent her back in time. Weeks ago, when she first awoke in the dank abyss beneath the Dawn, curled up in that all-familiar hay pile. If only Momo had known then what she knew now.

Which was a whole lot of nothing, to be completely honest.

But she was alive. And she had escaped. Escaped one of this world’s most powerful spellcasters, if only for a brief moment. As everything spun around her, she took a moment to be proud of herself. She had come a long way from preparing toilet brush dumplings.

After a few restful minutes, Momo finally righted herself. Looking around, she realized that they had flown quite a ways from Nam’Dal central, landing in a rare patch of green in the ordinarily hyper-urban city streets.

The hay pile Momo laid in stood right outside an abandoned barn, in a small, gated grass field. Pigs with red and purple skin grazed on wild outgrowths of vegetation. Their water troughs were festering and rank, smelling more of mildew than water. The barn itself had decayed into a skeleton, pillars of decomposing wood sticking out like jagged bones.

“Where are we?” she mumbled. "What are those?" The pigs looked like they had been scribbled on with rainbow crayons.

“West Nam’Dal. The agricultural sector,” Corv said simply, scowling down at his wings. He was fighting the saliva and losing. "Blasted dog."

“Was that Dogubis? I couldn’t see it, but I assume…”

“There aren’t that many super-sized dogs lying around, no,” Corv grunted. “He was standing guard right outside the window. We’re lucky he only licked us. He seemed confused. He must be in a slight daze, seeing as his master is…”

Corv trailed off.

“Wait, where did that guy go?”

A shiver ran down Momo’s spine in memory.

“Where all the bad birds go, I assume,” she hiccupped. He narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, so she cleared her throat and clarified. “He’s dead.”

His beak opened in surprise, his feathers standing on edge like goosebumps.

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“They killed one of the King’s men? Not just any knight, but him?” he said. “Oh, they must have a death wish. When him and his hound don’t return to the capital, the King will be sending every [Knight of the Sun] in his arsenal to sunray this place into ashes.”

Momo swallowed. “Oh… and how long do you think that’ll take?”

Corv hummed. “A bit, probably. If the new necromancer in charge knows what’s good for her, she’ll probably fake some correspondence back to the capital. Make up some story about how the prisoner exchange is taking longer than anticipated. Bide her time. With a good alibi, she could probably delay it for a few weeks.”

“A good alibi?”

“Is that bear Gunther still alive?” he asked. “I’ll bet he is, if she’s got any brain at all.”

Momo thought back. She did watch a door get launched at him, but she imagined he could survive that. From what she saw, he hadn’t been turned into a zombie yet, either. He was probably still around there somewhere – maybe hibernating in the jailhouse.

“Yeah, I think he is,” she nodded. “You think she’ll use him to lie to the King?”

“Definitely. Just point a [Black Thunderbolt] at his head, and make him blabber on about bureaucracy, traffic, bad weather. It’ll give her plenty of time to figure out her next move. ‘Course, it doesn’t matter what her next move is. She’ll be dead regardless.”

Momo frowned. She didn’t particularly like Sera – see: the threats made on Momo’s life – but she didn’t like the optics of the King’s men trampling an Excalibur necromancer, nor did she want them coming so close to Brulane.

Nam’Dal was a distance from the Dawn, but from what Momo had heard, the capital was much farther. If Sera attracted their attention all the way down here, they would undoubtedly hear rumors of Valerica’s little necromantic outfit.

A chill breeze blew by them, and Corv wrapped his hands around himself. He was shivering. The permanent dampness of Dogubis’ saliva was stuck to him like glue. Momo frowned. She had mostly forgotten about the cold entirely – her adrenaline raging too high at all times to consider it. Plus, winters here were far milder than they were back in New York.

But the ravens clearly didn’t have the same tolerance.

“We should get you somewhere warm,” Momo said, concerned.

“I’m fine,” Corv chattered, waving a dismissive talon. “We just need to find the others. Salvo. Geff. At least I do. I won’t assume you’ll be following me around like a helpless puppy dog.”

Momo frowned. Well, she had planned on doing just that, at least until she located Komodo. But now she felt embarrassed about it. Whatever, she thought. They’d be lucky to travel with me.

“Do you know where Komodo is?” she asked for what felt like the hundredth time. She was starting to feel like an extra in Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

“Oof,” Corv laughed through his chattering teeth. “You got business with that lizard? You’ve got worse luck than all of us combined.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Momo sighed, and tried to remember what the talking bauble had told her. Something about the northern border…? She was grateful she had stored him in her bloody backpack before launching into the sky. “Do you know if she’s still running things at the northern border?”

“The northern border? Come on now. She runs the whole border. Can’t get in or out anywhere without her say-so.”

Well then. Letter or not, it seemed that Momo would have to deal with the woman if she wanted to get back to Brulane, either way. Of course, Radu could probably call Alexi back up – but she had no idea where that lizard had run off to. She visualized his weird series of gestures from before, but she was still as dense as a rock.

What was it he was trying to say? The Whacked Bag, or something?

“As much as I’d like to stand here and get frostbite, I’m gonna dart,” Corv said. “Only a matter of time before Sera’s got a patrol looking for us in every corner of the city.”

“Are you headed towards the border, by any chance?” Momo mumbled, looking up at him with what she hoped were doe eyes. "Then, perhaps, we could travel together..."

He sighed. “Most people go out of their way to avoid Komodo, you know.” He paused, and then shook his head. “Fine, yeah. My crew hangs out in a hole near the Western Watchtower. If you’re mad enough to climb up it, you’ll likely find the lizard at the top.”

Momo stuck out her hand.

“I will be cowering behind your wings the whole way,” she grinned.

He sighed, but Momo could see a twinge of amusement pass his face. He rummaged his feathers to his best ability, shaking off the cold air.

“Deal,” he said, placing his talons in hers. “As long as you’re okay with dragging my corpse the rest of the way once I’ve gone completely icicle.”

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