The next morning, Calvin found a letter by his bed. It was from Cambiador.

  

  My favored Calvin,

  Danti has retired from fieldwork. The damage from the cleric’s spell was too severe. I could have healed him if he’d gotten to me sooner, but as it is, the best I can do is give him something to ease the pain and transfer him to my strategy team. He’s disappointed that he won’t get to fight again, but he’s happy for this opportunity to keep serving Talkus.

  Your mission still stands. Gather Pelias and your Unichi recruit and leave at once for Birchdale. Recruit your team from the adventurers there, then execute the mission.

  Talkus guide you,

  Cambiador

  Calvin’s shoulders drooped. He’d really hoped Danti would be able to join them. Instead, he’d be stuck at the base, likely too busy to even wish them luck before they left. Calvin’s stomach squirmed, so he shook his head, dismissing his regrets about Danti. What was done was done. All he could do now was move on with his new mission.

  He notified Pelias and Edwin and prepared to leave. Edwin was happy to help, but sluggish. He’d eaten so much the night before that his belly looked like a large melon. Calvin added a few doses of bloating treatment to his gear. Edwin would certainly need it later, and Calvin wagered that he and Pelias might want some, too.

  Pelias wasn’t phased by Danti’s retirement. “It was inevitable,” he said at their campfire that night. “His injury was worse than Ruven’s.”

  Calvin shoved a bite of gruel into his mouth instead of responding. Edwin was already fast asleep.

  “Have you made a plan yet?” Pelias asked.

  Calvin shook his head. “Still working on it.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Pelias threw a stick on the fire. The flames caught hold of it and ran along its length, devouring it. “I still think the operation we pulled against the Unichi will work. We just need to scale it up. We capture three or four Hark’akuy cultists. Maybe a fanatic as well. What do they call their fanatics?”

  “Binders. And Waska is their Warden.”

  Pelias wrinkled his nose. “You must be joking. The Unichi weren’t half so cheesy with their titles.”

  Calvin gave half a smile. “Won’t matter after their cult falls apart, now, will it?”

  Pelias inclined his head. “Indeed. Consider me doubly motivated for this mission.”

  “Fantastic.” Calvin took another bite of gruel. Despite all the food he’d eaten the night before, he was still absurdly hungry.

  “But back to the plan,” Pelias said. “If we convert a Binder and three or four cultists, we can afford to bring along more recruits. A large group of captives is more believable if more than one cultist is bringing them in, and if anyone questions us, we’ll have the numbers to silence them before they raise any alarm.”

  Calvin shook his head. “We don’t have enough negotiators to convert that many Hark’akuy.”

  Pelias gestured to Edwin. “We may soon. You did bring bloating treatments, right?”

  “Of course I did. But I don’t want to rely on that. You know how badly that can go.”

  “Only if we’re not careful.”

  Calvin shook his head. “I don’t want to put him through that. Not while he’s so new.”

  Pelias rolled his eyes. “Your sentimentality is going to get you killed one of these days.”

  Calvin gave Pelias a stern glare. “You were the new guy once. How would you like it if we were talking about you instead of him?”

  Pelias shook his head. “My point still stands.”

  “As does my decision. The most converting we’ll do is one cultist, and only for information. When we use the bloating treatments, it’ll be strictly for easing the symptoms. The fewer negotiators that go into the Hark’akuy base, the better.”

  Pelias folded his arms. “Then how do you expect us to reach Waska alive?”

  Calvin thought for a while. “Cambiador seems to think brute force would work. If we get enough recruits, enough of us should be able to reach Waska to kill him.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting it’s the Hark’akuy we’re up against? It doesn’t matter how many we have. If they know we’re coming, they’ll spit their venom before we can reach them. We’ll all be paralyzed, and they’ll have over a month’s worth of sacrifices, plus our negotiators.”

  Calvin snapped his fingers. “I’ve got an idea.”