Chapter 231: Chapter Two Hundred Thirty Two

By the time we arrived at the tent where we had met Cicero the  churning in my stomach had turned into terror. No matter how thoroughly I  told myself my friends were fine, seeing so many dead combined with the  long walk had me terrified of what we would be walking into. I'm  imagining Jessie like that or having to tell Cark's sister her brother  had died, was more terrifying than any bone dragon or elite fighter I  could imagine.

Even Callie noticed how shaky I was,  twining her fingers in mine as we walked, even without removing my arm  from her shoulders. It was a slightly awkward position to walk in, but  neither of us cared, too worried about friends to ignore even the slight  amount of comfort that walking like this provided. Neither of us spoke  at all until we made it to the tent, and I held my breath as we pushed  aside the flap to find...relief.

Jessie was standing next  to Randall, who was literally sitting on Way Crazy Wyatt. The G-ranked  Jerk was hollering threats of bodily harm as soon as he escaped, in  between demands to be set free, and seemed to see no apparent conflict  between those two objectives. Cark and Sage were sitting on a pair of  chairs off to one side, looking drained but unhurt. I noted a few bloody  gashes in Cark's clothes that made me pretty sure Jessie had already  healed some pretty serious damage on our fire calling friend though, so  the fight hadn't been too easy.

As soon as she saw the  three of us Jessie yelped in relief and barreled across the tent  throwing herself at Callie and I first because we were closest and  together. She latched onto us both and squeezed us surprisingly hard for  such a tiny girl, then peeled off and jumped on Benny, who took the  squeezing much less stoically, wheezing a bit at the bone crushing force  until she noticed and let up. She looked over us carefully before  nodding. "Good, you're all ok. I was really worried. I wanted to drag  Randall to find you all, but apparently he's the only thing holding  Wyatt down and despite his weirdness I didn't think any of us wanted him  dead." She chucked her chin at the still screaming meathead, and even I  couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous tableau.

I saw a  few bodies around here too, but no one I recognized. The overwhelming  force they'd brought along had clearly made the difference here, and I  was gratified that our decision to take on the other three with Abel and  Mel was borne out. I wasn't sure even those two could have managed in  the original scenario. They'd been exhausted before the heal bursts, and  the introduction of the trump card artifacts might have proved too  much, especially without us there to distract Beat. Of course, I could  just be humoring myself to feel important, but I was pretty sure we'd  done SOMETHING.

All the dead seemed to be the robed  figures, and while that was still horrible, it was much easier to push  down the nausea at the sight of the bodies when I remembered they were  here to kill my friends, at least in comparison to the loss of people I  knew. I didn't even see any dead Jerks, which considering their penchant  for stupid reckless action was actually a damn miracle. I wondered  briefly if Mr. Jack-tastic might have used a wish to make sure any  bodies would just happen to drop on the side of Sanctuary Hall, but I  had no way to confirm the thought so I dismissed it as soon as I had it.

My  ring buzzed again, another text, and having confirmed the safety of all  my friends I decided to read it. I leaned down to murmur to Callie.  "Hey, Natalie wants a meeting, just us, no bodyguards. I still have a  few stored attacks, so I should be good if she pulls anything, at least  enough to escape or signal for help. Stay here, ok?" It might have been  stupid, but I was tired, and sad, and I didn't have it in me to distrust  the one family member I was now supposed to be able to actually count  on, at least assuming I passed her test.

Callie must have  heard something along those lines in my voice, because despite looking  like she wanted to argue, she bit her lip and nodded, before going up on  tip toes to kiss the cheek of my mask. She squeezed my hand before  letting it go. "Be safe, ok? I'll be here waiting. And if you get into  trouble make some noise and I'll bring everyone running. Bet even her  guards couldn't take down Mel and Abel easily." Her eyes were cold and  hard as she said that last bit, and I leaned down and pulled her into a  hug that might have gone on a bit too long to conceal how upset I was.  She just squeezed me back, and I jumped a bit as I felt Jessie and Benny  both pile on.

I could have laughed it off or made a joke  of it, but I didn't. As lame as it was I kind of needed a hug from my  team right now. This night had been a lot. Eventually I broke away,  nodding to the others as I walked from the tent, heading around to the  area where we'd seen Ronnie make his wish with Natalie. I wasn't worried  about traps, they were all sprung, and the bodies made it easy to  notice what spots to avoid. The circus was going to have to hire some  new G-rankers, or put a lot of time into raising some from their own  staff. Sanctuary Hall... well fuck those guys.

When I  finally reached the spot we'd seen them, I recognized Natalie easily  enough, standing in the same place with her back to me, alone and with  her hood up. When she heard me coming she turned to look at me, smiling  widely as she did, her face visible instead of obscured by shadow. She  gave me a wave. "Hey, there's my new favorite cousin. I caught the show.  Very impressive work. You have a few interesting tricks up your sleeve  huh?"

It was hard not to wonder how she'd managed to watch  the fight without anyone noticing, but I better than anyone knew how  the rules could bend when you had the Wish ability. I wasn't exactly in a  great mood, but she was being friendly, and there was no reason to  shoot down an ally after going through so much to land her support. I  shrugged at the comment. "Thanks. I didn't do that much, Abel and Mel  were the real MVPs of the night." Which was true. I'd done ok in the  fight with Beat, but those two had taken out the main threats.

Natalie  just laughed and shook her head. "You need to get used to taking  credit. In the family, what your people accomplish, you accomplish.  Building alliances and spotting talent is what its all about. We can  pump up anyone we find, so it takes a serious eye for potential to get  ahead. Your allies were scary good, which means you've got the skills to  find the right subordinates. Even if you don't really feel it, you need  to keep up appearances, especially if we're going to be allies."

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I  cocked my head. "And are we?" I asked bluntly. "Going to be allies?  Because this whole thing feels sort of...half assed. No offense, but you  changed lanes pretty quick, and I'm stuck waiting for the other shoe to  drop. I don't really know you, and this all seems..." I thought back to  the bodies lying in the paths on the way here. "Well, not easy, but  convenient?" Or maybe Cicero had just given me trust issues.

Far  from being upset, Natalie looked pleased by the question. "Good. You  had a problem and you came out and said it. I knew I liked your vibe.  The answer is yes. This is convenient for you, but sometimes things are.  We live in a world of conflicting forces. Especially for our family,  it's important to remember that there are almost always things going on  behind the scenes. For the moment, your relation to me makes you a  desirable ally, later on...well there's no guarantees with the final  prize on the line."

"Gee. Thanks." My deadpan sarcasm was  so thick in my voice I was pretty sure she could HEAR me rolling my  eyes. "That's comforting. You basically didn't say anything at all. 'Oh,  I'm going to work with you but I might betray you later' isn't exactly a  confidence booster from a prospective ally. I get that you're trying to  educate me or whatever, but can I at least get some kind of guarantee?  Not permanent, but some limited time contract or geas that'll make sure I  don't have to worry in the short term."

Once  again, Natalie seemed completely unbothered. "Of course. That's how  most of us do these things. Traditionally we do it by contract directly,  but since we're establishing a baseline I'll tell you what. I'll give  you a wish. It's considered bad form for us to do feedback loops, but  for an alliance contract that won't be pushing things." My head had  jerked up a bit at that. I couldn't help it, I hadn't even considered  that possibility, but it was...it could change so many things for me. I  could wish for anything.

I  forced myself to calm down. I couldn't wish for anything. She had the  same power as me, at around the same level. She was limited in what she  could give me. Still, it was an overwhelming amount of choice to put on  someone on the spot. I couldn't think of what to ask for. My first wish,  and I was drawing a blank. Now I knew how all of my clients felt during  this part of the process. obviously I'd be paying with the contract for  the alliance, so it would need to be something commensurate to that. I  assumed she would be wishing for something next so we could finalize the  terms on both sides too.

With  those caveats, it was easier to consider but still overwhelming. What  it came down to though was what I needed most. That wasn't stats, or  powers, or attacks. I had a nice toolkit right now. What I needed was  the ability to use it more. I'd been hitting the end of my rope with DS  Mastery constantly. I could wish for an upgrade of the Skill itself, but  I was on track to do that on my own, and if I did it that way I'd give  up plenty of fine tuning I was looking forward to figuring out for  myself.

In  the end, the best move for me was a simple one, even if it wasn't as  flashy as some other wishes. I fixed her with a stare. "I'll expect you  to make your wish before granting mine so we can do the contracts  simultaneously. But I wish for the highest Beginner Enchanting Skill you  can give me. I'll be paying with a contract of alliance for the next  ten years, to be cancelled in the even of the final showdown for  Wishmaster occurring, and in that scenario, only after we've both  confirmed the others awareness, and with a seventy two hour grace  period." I watched the purple electricity begin to build as soon as I  finished talking, and I knew exactly what she was seeing.

We'd  discussed alliance terms already at least enough for it to be easily  referred to in the cost of the wish. Natalie grinned widely. "Damn,  that's air tight. In that case, I wish for a Beginner Contract Negotiation Skill. I've been dying to get that one but no one is ever  willing to trade for it. I'll offer the same terms for an alliance  contract as payment, with the same stipulations."

As expected, I saw the usual words flow across my vision.

 

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