After Hirrus botched his previously assigned task so spectacularly, the guard captain in the tent was reluctant to give him further responsibilities of similar magnitude. The delay in finding him further work meant that Hirrus was near at hand, but with no task assigned. He was able to loiter and listen to hear a bit more about what was going on, as well as the results of the chaos they’d caused thus far.

The little pockets of trouble they’d created had set everything off-kilter. Guards were being dispatched through the camp in a spread formation. The intent was to improve the information being fed back to the command tent. They knew that the grisly proclamation that Hirrus was actively attacking the camp was false, but word had got to the command tent now that the vanguard at Shemil had been routed. They knew he was near, and they needed to have trustworthy information channels to squash any exaggerated gossip.

The distributed guards were also spread around to help put out smaller fires, literally and figuratively. The unexplained rash of fires through the camp had raised concerns about a potential arsonist among Rumi’s followers, though no one had connected it with the other little calamities that was complicating preparations for the demonstration.

Hirrus’s show of force against the cart hadn’t been as effective as he would have hoped. The damage report that came in after was optimistic. Damage was limited only to the cargo compartment, so the cart was fully functional. They would just need a little bit of extra muscle on hand to keep the cart’s contents secure, since the door would no longer close.

After a few minutes, Nidra returned with the response message that had been requested. As soon as her task was done, she fell in beside Hirrus to await further instruction. Orders didn’t seem to be forthcoming, though. The last of Rumi’s prisoners had been loaded into the cart now, and the remaining leadership were filtering out to head to the event.

“Is, uh,” Alric called as he poked his head back into the tent. “Is the Augur here?”

It took a long moment before he was acknowledged. One of the men coordinating the guard distribution through the camp looked up and around before moving across to Alric.

“The Augur isn’t here,” he said. “Why?”

“I was sent from here to find him, and, wouldn’t you know it,” Alric said with a weak laugh, “nobody knows where he is. I was hoping he beat me back here.”

“Nobody knows where he is?” the man asked. “Really?”

“Well, when I got to his tent, someone said he was dead, but that can’t be true, right?” Alric said, looking around nervously. “Here? In the middle of camp? How could that happen? So I’ve been running all over the place trying to track him down.”

“Dead?” the man asked, suddenly deathly serious. Several others around the command tent stopped what they were doing and turned to look. “You’re right. That can’t be true.”

“If he didn’t beat me back here, though,” Alric said. He started to breathe faster, pretending to hyperventilate in the beginning bud of panic. “Then maybe…”

“No, absolutely not,” the man said, putting a reassuring hand on Alric’s shoulder. “Don’t believe everything you hear. There have been many unfounded and fearful rumors going around the camp. I’ll find him personally. I’m a bit more familiar with his habits. Honestly, Captain Serion shouldn’t have sent you in the first place.”

“Okay,” Alric said, doing an excellent job of pretending to calm down. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

The man grabbed a few other members of the leadership, and excused themselves. Hirrus wondered what they would do when they found the Augur was, in fact, dead. Apparently all of their work up until now had reduced the credibility of new rumors as they came in. Someone had definitely walked in on the corpses already. Alric couldn’t have covered up the killing and rendered the Augur’s disappearance an unsolvable mystery.

Regardless, it seemed that Rumi and his inner circle were making ready for their departure. Even if Alric hadn’t sown further confusion, he had separated a lot of the camp’s leadership. If Rumi had surrounded himself with his most loyal and powerful creations, the bodies that went in search of the Augur were foes that would be far away when it was time to kill Rumi.

There was a flurry of activity as Rumi led the way out of the command tent. The camp leadership all seemed eager and willing to play bodyguard for him, moving around him carefully to ensure that he was not left exposed as he stepped out into the camp.

Alric, Nidra, and Hirrus followed as the group left the tent. It seemed like the thing to do, and nobody was stopping them. Hirrus wanted to start channeling Arcana to unleash hell on the camp’s leadership, but he could already feel Nidra’s glare on the back of his head.

Rumi climbed into the back of the cart, insisting that he needed to keep an eye on the prisoners, since the damaged cart wouldn’t close properly. Someone roped a handful of nearby guards in to the job of walking along behind the cart to make sure anything that ‘fell’ would be quickly ‘retrieved.’

Hirrus, Alric, and Nidra fell in with this group. Hirrus felt the urge to force himself to the front of the tailing guards to ensure that if an opportunity appeared, he could lunge for Rumi and finish this farce. But he knew that was risky. The captured civilians in the cart knew he was here. They knew who he was, and would recognize him. The last thing he wanted was to take a stupid risk that one might do or say something to get him caught before it was time to strike.

“Just relax,” Nidra said quietly. “The time will come.”

“When?” Hirrus asked. He reviewed his Arcana list and carefully considered the power he could bring to bear behind a Civilization Buster. He could obliterate a corridor of the camp in a single strike, reducing Rumi to ash in a blink. “When will it be the time?”

“After this demonstration,” Nidra insisted. “There’s too much security around him right now. There’s no way to escape when it’s done.”

“Why does it matter?” Hirrus asked. “Rumi is all we need.”

“It’s not about Rumi,” Alric cut in. “It’s about Rumi’s process. If his followers are going to pick up where he left off, then they’ll need to be stopped, too, right?”

“Trust me,” Hirrus said with a grimace. “I do not intend to lay down and die after beating one man. This camp will be a smoldering ruin before I fall. If I leave enough alive to continue Rumi’s work, then I deserve oblivion.”

“It’s not just about this camp,” Nida hissed. “Who else can we trust to do what needs to be done until things go back to normal?” She thumped her hand to her chest. “If we’re gone, there’s no one left to handle the next threat.”

Hirrus fixed her with a glare. “Next threat,” he said, spitting the words. “What next threat? What needs to be done?”

Nidra was clearly about to snap something, but visibly bit back the comment before it slipped through.

“You’re hiding something,” Hirrus said, narrowing his eyes at her. It wasn’t a question.

Nidra pressed her lips together. She didn’t say anything, but it was clear she couldn’t deny the accusation.

“It’s not important,” Alric said, putting a hand on Hirrus’s shoulder. “We’re on the same side here, right?”

“I’m not sure,” Hirrus said. “Are we?”

“I want Rumi taken care of,” Nidra hissed. “My existence depends on it as much as yours does.”

“So what are you hiding?” Hirrus asked. “What could be more important than seeing the end of this?”

Hirrus gestured at the back of the cart ahead of them as the damaged vehicle limped through the camp’s paths towards the east side. Rumi was audibly and visibly tormenting the prisoners, poking at their injuries and loudly announcing that they would be free soon.

“This isn’t the time for this,” Nidra snapped. “If we survive this, then I promise I will answer every question you can ask me. But we must survive.” She shook her head. “It shouldn’t be this hard to convince you that you want to live.”

Hirrus grimaced. He didn’t like this. It wasn’t just that he didn’t have the skill to read people to determine anything about her intent. She was a closed book. His desire for answers meant that her offer was targeted very specifically at getting him to do what she wanted.

But could he trust her?

Nidra had seemed to be on his side this whole time. She was the only person he’d met who was free of her decision tree, but was against Rumi and not with him. But what could she be hiding that she couldn’t bring herself to say? And could it be bad enough that he would want to act against her?

“Let’s just relax,” Alric said quickly, pushing himself between them. “We’re after the same thing for right now.” He turned towards Hirrus. “We’re not here for this discussion, right? We’re here to kill Rumi. Can we focus on that?”

“Excuse me,” someone said from behind the three of them. Hirrus whirled and saw a guard with a sword drawn and menacing Alric’s back. “What did you just say?”

Hirrus winced. While they had been keeping their voices down, Alric had been slightly too loud out of fear that the argument would escalate.

And now it seemed Hirrus was going to have his way. They had been discovered, which meant he would have to go straight for Rumi before he could escape. He supposed it would remain to be seen if Nidra would have her way as well.