Chapter 607: The Witch of the Woods
“Fuck the tyrants.” I declared to my friends and family, lifting a cup of tea in toast.
“Fuck the taxes.” Iona heartily agreed. A sentiment I never thought I’d hear from her. I was a terrible, corrupting influence.
“To striking at the root of the problem.” Nina added in her toast. Artemis and Auri voiced their agreement, Raccoon unfortunately on duty. Artemis glanced suspiciously in her cup before she drank. There was no little carved wooden fox in the bottom of her cup… there was one in her pocket. I was just waiting for her to discover it.
Artemis was convinced it was Nina pranking her back for the shaving incident.
It wasn’t.
It was Iona, who was merrily framing Nina and finding the whole thing hilarious. I wasn’t helping with the pranks… but I was keeping my lips sealed.
We could probably fight the first squad the New Remus Empire sent at us, and win. We could probably kill the second squad… and Orthus Town wouldn’t exist in the aftermath. The third wave would murder us all. We couldn’t expect to win against over a hundred combat-focused elves that had up to 2,000 levels on us. It just wasn’t possible… not in open conflict.
Which had us conspiring. Quite openly. Skye had subtly - and when I hadn’t picked up the hints, not so subtly - kicked us out, and told us she absolutely did not want to know what we were planning. That way she could continue to do what was best for Orthus with minimal sweating over what headaches we were concocting.
“I still think it’s a terrible idea not to let queen Skye know what’s going on.” Artemis had already tossed back her drink, and had promptly refilled her cup. “We’re not savages. We think. We’re not going to start a mess here that can be traced back to us.” She hesitated and looked at Iona. “We’re not, right? We’re going to be smart about this?”