Dalgaard stared at Kaldalis as if he’d just opened six extra eyes.

“No,” Dalgaard said firmly. “No. No one has said that. I believe you’d get your ass kicked saying something like that.” They gestured at the door. “Did you want me to get someone to come in here and kick your ass? I could hook that up for you.”

“No, I like my ass at its current state of kickness,” Kaldalis said, raising his empty hands as if in surrender. “But you don’t have the full story.”

“Who sent you here to ask me that?” Dalgaard said, standing up. “Garyung? Monsoon? Don’t tell me it was the monsters. I couldn’t believe for a second that you were so stupid you’d listen to them.”

“Listen,” Kaldalis said, “I just want to explain. Can you just let me get everything out?”

“I can’t believe this.” Dalgaard threw their hands up in exasperation. “It was them, wasn’t it? You had a little sit-down chat with the Jormongumo and they told you that I was being a big meanie-face, and now you’re here to tell me that we should give peace a chance?” They slapped a hand hard to their abdomen. “She ate me, Kal! She jammed her fucking monster claws into me right here, and showed me my guts before eating them!”

“Take your time,” Kaldalis grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. “Just get it all out, and I’ll explain when you’re ready to listen.”

“And not just me!” they continued, ignoring his passive-aggressive response. “A dozen more! People who were in Cotanaku and thought they were safe. People who thought they were protected. And the ones who went looking for revenge alone? They got tortured again!” Dalgaard stepped up towards Kaldalis, gesturing wildly with their hands. “I’m sure this is all a big surprise to you because how could your new friends possibly do something like that, right? There’s no way you could know that and be telling me now that those fucking things deserve to live!”

“I’m not asking you to make friends,” Kaldalis said. “The Jormongumo want to surrender. They want to discuss terms, but you and your tools are using your weapons instead of your brains. You can ask whatever you want. Make them move to the most remote part of the island. Make them swear off human flesh forever.” He pointed in the direction of the Jormongumo village. “They just want to live. They’ll give anything in exchange for the promise of the survival of their species.”

“Because they’ll keep their word,” Dalgaard said with a laugh. “Are you that stupid? Have you never had a videogame character lie to you before? They can do that, you know. They can just fucking lie.” They turned away, shaking their head. “I should have known as soon as I saw you here. Why pretend to feel bad for what Ara did to me if you were just going to turn around and try to convince me it was nothing?”

“I’m not saying anything about what they did,” Kaldalis said. He reached out to grab Dalgaard to turn them around to face him again, but they shrugged off his grip. He continued anyway: “what Ara did was unforgivable. But I’m not asking you to forgive her. I’m asking you not to commit a fucking genocide over a single person’s crime! The Jormongumo are not all Ara. How would you like for us all to face extinction for something Garyung did? It’s not right!”

Kaldalis stopped talking with a grimace.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew what the play was.

He knew how to bait the hook.

“Let Ara pay for Ara’s crimes,” Kaldalis said. “Her people don’t deserve her punishment. You’re killing them just because she has the power to put them in between you and her. Talk instead of fight. And serve justice instead of retribution.”

The bait worked so well that Kaldalis felt dirty when Dalgaard froze in place, thinking instead of talking. Despite all their rage, the idea of direct revenge against Ara was too enticing to give up. It probably didn’t hurt that Kaldalis had used the word “genocide” to actively describe their goals here.

“What do you suggest?” Dalgaard said slowly.

“We talk terms of surrender with them,” Kaldalis said quickly. “You and your whole army march up, but don’t draw weapons. Instead of fighting, we talk. And you make certain that Ara’s fate is not an optional element in the discussion.”

“You think I’m stupid?” Dalgaard snapped. “I tell them that’s what I want, and she vanishes out the back door. They spin some sob story about her going rogue and beg for mercy, and then I’m the bad guy anyway.” They shook their head, chopping a hand through the air in a decisive gesture of refusal. “If we’re going to talk, then I need her dead first. Ara’s head on a plate, and then I’ll entertain the idea of accepting surrender for the rest.”

Kaldalis paused for a moment. He didn’t like where this was going. If there wasn’t going to be negotiations, then it was going to be a real challenge to get what he wanted out of all this before the end.

“I know where she’ll be,” Kaldalis said carefully. “I was with her when your last attack happened. She rushed to the fight to bear witness, but she didn’t join the fray. But I know where she likes to stand. We feint.” He gestured with his hands, even though Dalgaard was still facing away from him. “A handful of your forces attack. As soon as we hear their warning horn, you and I and a handful of DPS come in on the flank.”

Dalgaard turned around. They searched Kaldalis’s face for a long moment, looking for the lie.

They didn’t find one.

“Not just us,” Dalgaard said. “Everyone. We zerg her.” Their face split in a grin. “I’ve been metering our resources carefully to keep them bottled up so that they don’t have time to retaliate against Cotanaku. But if we just want her? We grind them to dust. We fight. We die. We fight again.” They clenched their hand slowly. “She’ll be dead by the time the sun sets. This can be over.”

Dalgaard hadn’t just bit on the bait.

They’d pounced on it.

Kaldalis hadn’t quite realized the state of this group. Dalgaard had brought them out here with the promise of eradicating a force of evil. Finding themselves outgunned, they’d become resigned to acting like the Medjai in The Mummy, containing a threat that they couldn’t defeat. Kaldalis hadn’t just offered Dalgaard personal revenge. He’d offered them an end to a crusade that had dragged out far longer than they’d planned.

“I have terms,” Kaldalis said quickly. “We need to do this my way or not at all.”

Dalgaard gave him an uncertain look for a moment, but gestured for him to continue.

“No killing,” Kaldalis said first, holding up a finger. “I won’t be a part of your genocide. If we do this, we go for Ara and Ara alone. Their surrender will be easier for them to stomach if we don’t make unnecessary additions to their death toll.”

Dalgaard grunted, neither in agreement or refusal.

“I need to be there, too,” Kaldalis added, holding up a second finger. “No cutting me out. What Ara did to you was worse than what she did to me, but I still want my closure. Both for what she did, and what she offered me to get me to broker this agreement.”

“And what did she offer?” Dalgaard asked, arching an eyebrow.

“That’s too complicated to get into right now,” Kaldalis said. He looked around, as if he expected to be able to see if people were listening in while they were inside a windowless wooden shed. “We can discuss that when we have actual privacy and not just the illusion of it.”

“Alright,” Dalgaard said. “Is there anything else?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Kaldalis said, “but I don’t exactly trust your little group.” He held up a third finger. “I want some people I can trust. Send someone back to Cotanaku and get Balrim and Myrin for me. They know what happened to us, so they’ll be on our side here without needing to be told the story all over again.”

Kaldalis could also hope that it might get word out what had happened to him. Balrim and Myrin were probably already searching for him. It was possible that Courbois, Reno, and Ess had somehow been brought in to help try and hunt him down. He could even imagine things escalating further to drag Garyung and the authorities into it. Or even, god forbid, Heluna. If Balrim and Myrin could be fetched, maybe everyone searching could be told where he was and that he was okay.

More or less okay, at least.

Dalgaard furrowed their brow at that for a long moment. “Anything else?”

Kaldalis wanted to make a pointless demand to give up in negotiation, but Dalgaard deserved better than that. They’d offered him a lot of good faith discussion here, from apology to terms. He didn’t want to spoil that by being a smartass now.

“That’s all,” Kaldalis said, re-counting his fingers. “Go non-lethal on everyone who isn’t Ara, I’m with you when we corner her, and I get my people to back me up.” He nodded. “Give me that, and I will guide your blades right to her heart.”

“I accept. But I have a demand as well,” Dalgaard said. “Just one.”

“If you give me my terms,” Kaldalis said. “I’ll give you yours.”

“When the time comes?” Dalgaard drew a dagger. “I’m the one who finishes her. I don’t care how much harder it gets. I kill her. No one else. I want to open her torso.”

Kaldalis offered his hand. “Deal.”

Dalgaard accepted, giving a firm and eager shake.