Anya's heart was being... it was being filled with static. Pleasant, fuzzy static. Like mold on her brain. But she still had some mind to her, and as she lay still, a sort of clarity was drifting back. Her senses were inundated by the strong, intoxicating smell of... something. An aphrodisiac, no doubt.
She had been captured by the fey, and the fey did not exactly smoke tobacco.
The straw cot she lay in was soft, but scratchy. Far from the sort of bed she'd always figured she would get if the fey ever enslaved her. Fey were supposed to have big, comfy beds. Beds that could brainwash you just with how soft they were. Beds laced with fleece sprite wool, beds that smelled of roses. This bed smelled of straw. And it was scratchy.
The scratchiness was the problem. Anya was quite certain she could have happily drifted off completely if she was in a comfortable bed. But this cot was scratchy, and whenever the wagon hit a stone, the bed bumped.
Bumped.
She was in a wagon.
She took a shallow breath in, trying not to inhale too much of the pleasant-smelling drug.
She was on a straw cot, in a large wagon, captured by the fey.
"They knew we were making a move." This voice was rough, and raspy, like gravel slipping down a rocky slope. It bore a thick Eastern accent, but spoke in the Western tongue. "They knew, and you tell me they only left a week ago? Did they
know
how bad this could get?"
"Easy, Seng. Easy." This voice was sultry, smooth and sly as smoke. "Have another puff."
"Don't tell me what to do, you smokestack shortstack."
"Ooh. How long did it take you to come up with
that
'insult', deary?"
"Didn't your daddy ever tell you not to talk down to a jami?"
"Oh,
your
daddy's told me some things, let me tell you—"
"That doesn't even make
sense
, we both know you're into women, you fucking—"
As the voices raised, Anya blinked. She became aware that there was a quieter voice beneath it all, speaking rapidly in a tongue she didn't speak. Almost as if... translating?
"Everyone!" snapped a third voice. This one had an even thicker accent than the other two, and had a startling chirpy quality that helped Anya wake herself up a bit more. "We are not here for this stupid infighting. We agreed; it all waits until the Ranch is crushed. Is the Ranch crushed?"
Sour mumbling followed this question.
"Then we do not fight. Kemuri, please don't talk down to an avalanche spirit. Seng, stop taking 'your daddy' jokes literally. Kemuri is trying to anger you by making claims about his own sexual skill coupled with your father's promiscuity."
"Well, why didn't he say so? Smartass smokestack shortstack."
"Seng," said the smoky voice, "please stop repeating that like it is going to become a thing. We need to remain focused on the objective, like our feline friend said."
Anya's eyelids fluttered. The smoke was stronger now, and she realized the hookah had been passed closer to her. A small circle of robed individuals was gathered in the large cart. She leaned back in the cot, as quietly as she could, to avoid secondhand intoxication. These fey could handle it, apparently. She knew she could not.
Some were not in the circle. A few sat to the side, or closer to the source of brightness—the front of the wagon.
And two sat to the side next to Anya's bed. One had a pair of tufted fox ears. She had her arm wrapped around a silver-haired woman. They were not speaking.
"The Ranch," Seng growled.
"The Ranch," Kemuri agreed.
"The wards are ancient," the third speaker declared. "But there is some issue over whether or not they
will
collapse, as we have predicted. If they collapse, the fey prisoners will all be released. But if they hold..."
"If, if, if," whined a low, almost oozing voice. "
Thaaaat's
an 'if',
caaaaatgirl
. And I don't like
iiiiiifs
.
"Well, neither do the others," snapped the 'catgirl' with a little growl of annoyance. "Which is why they only decided to take off now, now that it looks like those wards are going down no matter what we do."
"Vultures," muttered Seng. "We could've used their help earlier!"
"We could still use it now," Kemuri remarked. He cleared his throat. "So I say we wait."
"I don't like that," Seng said. "Holding back like that. But we're, what, five fey left? And a bunch of mortals. Agh, I dunno." Anya heard the 'jami' spit.
"Moving in now will just result in more dead, more scarecrows," Kemuri said. "You haven't seen Bobbin in action. I have. A house fey on her home terrain is truly a force to reckon with. We shouldn't risk it."
The fox-eared figure next to Anya shifted uneasily, speaking up for the first time. "And what of my sister, Kemuri?"
Kemuri gave a little dismissive noise. "She died to bring the Ranch down in flames. She wouldn't want us risking our lives on her account."
The kitsune stiffened. For a moment, Anya thought she was about to spring at the short, curvaceous speaker. Her hand slipped to her side, as though going for a weapon.
But after a moment, she just seemed to crumple into the dark-haired woman's arms.
There was a long quiet.
"And what are plans for... him?" the catgirl asked, clearing her throat. "The new Master? Do we have to
kill
him? Seems... a waste."
"
Theeeeere
are
uuuuuuuses
for him," moaned the oozing speaker.