Nicole considered whether she actually had a choice in the matter, and given the circumstances, she nodded her agreement. The coin was instantly cold and she shivered slightly. Then the feeling was gone and the coin simply felt like a coin. Nancey took the coin back and slipped it back into her cloak. She picked up a bowl, scooped something from the steaming pot over the fire and passed it and a spoon to Nicole. Then she served herself one. Nicole was sure Nancey's eyes had been green, but now they looked gray.
Then Nancey sat down cross-legged next to the fire sipping some of the soupy substance from her spoon and said, "Ask away."
Nicole began with "What's with the cloak?"
"The inner lining has a fastening slit to a pocket dimension that was created by a lesser demon that owed me a favor. I can fit all sorts of things in there, but I have to keep them small, otherwise it would be difficult to get them through the opening. Really, the cloak was the bigger concern? Not the oath or what happens if you break it or where we're going or even what we're doing?"
Hearing that Nancey consorted with demons told Nicole what the coin was. "From what I've heard, if I violate that oath, then something will hunt me down and I will disappear." It was quite possible that whoever was near her when it found her would also disappear.
More curious wasn't the coin, but instead, "Why didn't you choose a more restrictive oath to guarantee my cooperation in everything you asked of me?"
Nancey smiled, "I expect you to carry out my requests, but when I said you were my servant, I meant it more in the traditional sense of master and apprentice, not master and slave. You're no slave and I'm not your keeper. I used the coin to prevent you from inadvertently hurting either of us. The cost is a reflection of the risk. When you understand your new responsibilities, I'll dissolve the oath." Then, cocking an eyebrow and glancing at her bowl, "How's the soup?"
Nicole took a tentative sip. It had an earthy aroma and tasted faintly of peppers, mushrooms, and some sort of meaty gravy. It was mild in taste, but incredibly satisfying. She abandoned the spoon and drank directly from the bowl.
"I guess it's good?" And Nicole simply nodded as she swallowed the last of it.
Nicole was pretty sure she wasn't in immediate danger. Nancey had clearly gone through some effort to keep her alive and seemed oddly genuine in what she had told her so far.
"Although you do consort with demons, you're not a soul drinker, why did my former employer send me after you?"
"Someone paid him to. Well, not you specifically. Well, you specifically, but not me specifically. I took care of the original pest, but you picked up my trail and started following me. I lied a little yesterday, if you had tried to turn in my necklace for the reward, your employer probably would have looked at you funny and refused to pay."
"Anyway, after I dispatched your original quarry, I led you on a bit of a goose chase to see if you could keep following the trail." Nancey relayed these details around sips from her own bowl.
"You did really well, by the way. But I was having such fun moving the trail around that I sort of lost track of time and speaking of which, we need to move. I was too slow to warn you about using sources and now we're kind of being tracked, so we need to get moving." She picked up the flask from next to the fire, took a few swigs, and passed it to Nicole. While Nicole was emptying the flask, Nancey retrieved Nicole's tattered cloak, wrapped it around the cook pot, and slid both items into her own cloak. She folded the tripod and stored it away similarly.
"Who's coming?" Nicole asked. And then, after looking around, "Where are we?"
"We're possibly further east than you've ever been. We're near the Kingdom of Sept. They don't like magic or sorcery of any kind. They use plants, animals and now machines, that are sensitive to sorcery in order to sniff it out and destroy it. They claim it goes against the natural order." Nancey rolled her eyes as she finished explaining.
"They only tolerate sorcery in Gorsyth, nothing new here," Nicole replied.
"Oh really? They have a college not two days from Gorsyth. I don't mean they're overtly bigoted and scowl at sorcery here. I mean they will kill you if they suspect you've anything to do with sorcery."
Nicole looked around the camp site and other than the pile of ferns and the fire pit, it didn't look like a very convincing camp site. It suddenly looked a bit like evidence that might be used against them.
Concern creased Nicole's brow and then she began to think aloud, "We have no reason to be here, there's no way we'd survive out here with no provisions. And if they search you-"
"They wont find the pocket," Nancey interrupted, "but we still need to get moving."
Nicole began to fabricate an alibi, "If Sept is west of here, then we were traveling east from Ortus-"
"Ortus is east of here, but we're west of Summit," Nancey pointed out.
Nicole started again. "Then we were traveling east from Summit on our way to Ortus-"
"I applaud your knowledge of geography this far from home, but Summit is at odds with Sept right now and if our pursuers are Pursuers from Sept, they would probably murder us and take whatever they find on our persons," Nancey explained.
"When did this happen, and if our pursuers are what? You know what, I don't care. We were traveling from the southern border of Sept on our way to visit family living between Ortus and Summit when we were set upon by bandits that harnessed powerful magics. We only managed to escape with what we were carrying because we were away from the party stretching our legs and refilling our flasks when they were attacked."
Nancey frowned, "That's pretty elaborate, but what evidence do we provide to support our story?"
"I have an uncle that lives out that way. I haven't seen him in ages and I haven't heard from him in a few years so it would actually be nice to find out how he's doing." Nicole explained while she dispersed the pile of ferns and Nancey worked to break down the fire. "At least, this is the story I'm using, I've only just met you, I don't know why you were traveling with us."
"This is futile, there's nothing we can really do to this to hide our tracks without sorcery," Nancey pointed out. "Let's just move." She pulled a water skin from her cloak and passed it to Nicole.
"What's this for?" Nicole asked as she took it.
"It's the skin you were filling when we ran away. There's a river that flows northwest to southeast about two miles from here. We're actually on track to pass mid-way between Ortus and Summit. There's a road running north and south about five miles from here that crosses that river. If we were "circling back" to that road, that actually gives us a plausible excuse for being here." Nancey continued with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "Those bandits must be close if the Pursuers thought we were the ones casting."
"So where are we running to?" asked Nicole. "And how am I not even bruised from our altercation?"
"We're going to Basil, the capital of Sept. And I took care of your scrapes and bruises."
Nicole asked wryly, "We're going to the magic-hating capital?"
Image was my own. I'm hoping I get better at it... so apologies to all the real artists. Maybe I should try steemgigs or something and send some SBD to a real artist...