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Will of the Feywild was dead. Or rather, Mugan the child-eating Oni pretending to be a child himself was dead.
Bavlorna had run off with the portraits and samples of all their blood, leaving everyone confused and frightened.
The crew had needed to leave Thither immediately after rescuing all the children as part of the deal with Skabatha, forcing them to move as quick as they could to depart while also ensuring the safety of the kids.
And to top it all off, it was raining in the bleak realm of Yon. The dark landscape was littered with tall mountains in every direction. Visibility was low and the wind blew fiercely as Carnivale Lecroux took in their surroundings with various groans and complaints.
Simply put, everyone was exhausted. They had managed to find a large rocky cave to spend the night in and shuffled around as quickly as possible to set up their bedrolls. The cave was deep enough that they all fit in comfortably and were able to put together a small fire pit with rocks and various bits of kindling.
Kremy offered to take first watch (mostly so he could sleep uninterrupted later) and was tending to the fire at the entrance. The gator looked up and noticed that while most of his travelling companions had gone to sleep, one remained, staring into the flames with a pensive expression.
“Torbek? You should go to bed. I'll be fine here.”
The bugbear glanced over quietly and drew in a deep breath before speaking, “Torbek wanted to have a conversation with mister… with Kremy. Alone.”
Intrigued, Kremy answered, “Alright, go for it. What's wrong?”
“Torbek wanted to talk about the deal with Skabatha.”
The gatorfolk raised a brow, “What about it? We killed Will, managed to free most of the children, and in exchange we got our bodies back and the wanted poster prizes.”
“No, not that part. Torbek is very happy about that stuff,” Torbek shifted on the ground, hands fidgeting.
“Then what do you want to discuss?”
“Kremy, Torbek's not stupid. He knows you're purposefully not mentioning the thing Torbek's upset about,” the bugbear huffed.
The warlock sighed and turned to face the fire once more, “...Fine. You want to talk about the part where I okayed the consequence of not stopping Endelyn's play, do I have that right?”
Torbek brought his knees up to his chin and hugged his long arms around them. He nodded, “Yes. Torbek means when you agreed Skabatha could take Torbek.”
Kremy rolled his eyes, “It's not like that's gonna happen. We're going to stop the play in time and you won't have to worry about Skabatha getting her weird fingers on you.”
Torbek hesitated, the crackle of the flames the only noise for a moment, “...But what if it does? Torbek was kind of interested at first when he was gonna get ‘milked dry’ but after Torbek realized it was less of a sex thing and more of a horrific cow situation he didn't want that anymore.”
Kremy glared, “It won’t.”
The bugbear sighed heavily, “Please indulge Torbek. What happens if Skabatha takes him?”
The pair went quiet while Kremy took in what Torbek was truly asking. This wasn’t really a ‘what would happen’ question. It was more of a ‘what would you do’ scenario. His thoughts didn’t matter much, but his actions did.
What would Kremy do? And what could Kremy do right now to convince Torbek that he would keep his word?
Finally the gator turned fully to face Torbek, “Here, how about you and I make a deal? If, by some weird circumstance, we don’t screw with Endelyn’s play in time then me and the guys will find a way to re-enter Thither, find you, and stop Skabatha.” Kremy held out a hand to shake.
Torbek unfurled from his position and regarded the offered hand with wary eyes, “Can Torbek amend that?”
Torbek continued before he could speak, “Torbek knows that there’s a lot going on. He understands he can’t be the number one priority. If Skabatha kidnaps Torbek and the rest of you can’t get to him immediately, that’s fine. Torbek mostly… just doesn’t want to be forgotten.”
The warlock felt his stomach drop and chest grow tight but kept his hand out, “If we fail and Skabatha comes and gets you, I swear by Baron Samedi that we will not forget about you. Even if it takes us a bit, we will find a way to save you.”
Torbek reached his own hand out to take Kremy's. He softly said, “And if the crew can’t save Torbek, that’s okay. He’ll be happy knowing you tried. When you all leave the feywild, have a drink for Torbek.”
The two hands joined and they shook once, twice, three times, and the deal was set.
As their hands parted Torbek said one last thing, “Kremy, just so you know, Torbek does trust you. He trusts everyone here with his life. If you say we’ll make it to Endelyn in time, Torbek believes you. Good night.”
Satisfied with the outcome, Torbek got up and shambled over to his bedroll, curling up into an impossibly small ball of limbs and feywild machinery. It took maybe five minutes for his breathing to even out and his body to relax, finally succumbing to the toll the day’s events had taken.
Meanwhile, Kremy was reeling. He knew he was supposed to be keeping watch but how could he now when his mind was a jumble of thoughts.
Torbek had just resigned himself to death if they failed. Sure, the bugbear had been an unexpected companion when he had first shown up at the Witchlight Carnival, but Kremy had grown oddly fond of him. He was a great asset in battle, the ability to produce witchlight had many uses, and recently Torbek had started showing a confidence the rest of them hadn’t thought was possible. He was actually willing to throw in his two cents unprompted and expressed his opinions even if he knew the others didn’t agree. He was really part of the team now and Kremy could feel something in him squirm uncomfortably at the idea of Torbek dying.
When Twig died it was upsettingly easy to pretend he didn’t care. That his words were for Gideon’s sake and not to soothe the ache in his own heart. That even though he felt responsible for Twig diving into the strange storage space to retrieve his hat, he could at least acknowledge it wasn’t technically his fault. It also helped that she did come back to them, even if she was a wooden puppet now.
Kremy’s own not-death to the Jabberwock still rattled him to think about. It was easy enough to push those thoughts away if he didn’t focus on them, but when he did? That monster and it’s milky white eyes, the horror of seeing Gideon tossed around like a ragdoll, the feeling of claws rending their way into his body? Knowing that everybody, including Hootsie, had also been killed? That no one had escaped? The gator found his breath catching as he scanned the cave for signs of life from his companions. His eye caught the sight of Gideon rolling over, of the rhythmic up and down of Frost’s chest, of Gricko snoring into Hootsie’s feathers while her paws occasionally twitched in her sleep. And of course the way Torbek grumbled quietly every now and again.
Kremy gazed out into the rain. The outcome of the fight with the Jabberwock was none of their faults. There was nothing they could have done to change what happened. And just when the crew thought they had met their end, they had woken up in the mushroom circle surrounded by roses completely intact and unharmed.
…But if Torbek died after being taken by Skabatha? That was directly on him. He had made the deal. He had agreed despite Torbek’s verbal protest. Kremy had seen the fear in the bugbear’s face, heard it in his voice. He had used Torbek’s life as a bargaining chip.
Kremy was no stranger to using people how he pleased but this felt different. Torbek wasn’t someone who had wronged him. For the gods’ sake, Torbek hadn’t even participated in the riots that led to the Carnivale burning down! Torbek respects him! When Torbek pricked his finger on the portraits, Kremy had been included in the list of people closest to him!
The gatorfolk hadn’t let anyone new into his circle of friends since the day he and Gideon met Gricko, Frost, and Hootsie.
Was that what was happening? Did Kremy consider Torbek… a friend? At the very least, Torbek had somehow become somebody Kremy didn’t want to lose.
And it was terrifying.
Then Torbek had to further tear at Kremy’s feelings by saying he just didn’t want to be forgotten. That he was fine being put on the backburner if it wasn’t feasible to rescue him right away. As if Kremy could allow that now that Torbek had become important to him.
A hand on Kremy’s shoulder jolted the gator out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Gideon yawning and rubbing his eyes with the hand not making contact with Kremy. He must have had an odd look on his face because Gideon tilted his head to the side, eyebrows scrunching in confusion. The genasi sat down with a thump next to Kremy and linked their arms together.
“Somethin’ wrong?” Gideon asked, voice low and raspy.
Kremy debated on whether to tell him the truth and settled on, “Do you think we’ll get to Endelyn in time? To mess up her play?”
Gideon looked even more confused now, “Yeah? Of course we will. We’ll fuck up her stupid play so good she might just shrivel up and die of embarrassment right then and there!”
The two chuckled until Gideon asked, “Why? You’ve never worried about stuff like that before.”
Instead of answering, Kremy asked a question of his own, “Gideon, do you consider Torbek a friend?”
“I do! I mean, he smells weird and could probably use some better clothes, but he’s also a real good fighter, he can be pretty funny, and lately he’s even started talkin’ to us like equals.”
“Is that the only criteria for being your friend?” Kremy scoffed.
“Pretty much. But you only get husband status if you cook well too,” Gideon winked.
Kremy took the hand not entwined with Gideon’s and smacked the genasi’s thigh, “You are incorrigible.”
Gideon’s eyes lit up, “You know I don’t know what that means. But what does Torbek being our friend have to do with Endelyn’s dumb play? You’re gonna have to connect the dots for me.”
The gator took a breath, “It’s… the deal we made with Skabatha. That if we don’t ruin the play, she gets to snatch up Torbek and keep him as payment.”
“Well it won’t happen.”
“That’s what I told him!”
Gideon stopped, “Torbek talked to you about that? He worried or something?”
“He is.”
“Well he shouldn’t be.”
Kremy shut his eyes. While Gideon’s blind faith was endearing, it wasn’t helpful in the moment. He hadn’t been intending on telling the genasi about the agreement he and Torbek had come to, but Kremy was tired and what he really wanted was reassurance that Torbek wasn’t going to die.
“He and I made a deal that if Skabatha takes him away that, at some point, we’ll come back for him.”
Gideon reeled back slightly, “At some point? We’d be going right away! We wouldn’t leave him behind!”
Kremy re-opened his eyes, “That’s what I tried to tell him, Gid. But he was insistent that he just didn’t want any of us to forget about him and that it was okay if it took some time.”
The gatorfolk continued, “He also said that if we’re too late and he… if he dies before we can save him, that he’d be fine knowing we tried.”
Gideon’s face grew dark, a deep frown forming. He looked seconds away from standing up and shaking some sense into Torbek. Kremy squeezed the genasi’s hand. Finally Gideon calmed down enough to say, “...Well he’s stupid. Cause none of that will even happen. We’ll fuck up the play and he’ll never have to think about that again.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, one quietly seething and the other wondering if he could bring himself to vocalize his next thought.
Kremy whispered, “If we fail, this is on me.”
Caught off guard Gideon shouted, “What!? No it’s not! It’s that stupid hag’s fault for wanting to suck all the witchlight outta Torbek!”
“Keep your voice down, everyone’s sleeping!”
Lowering his volume Gideon said, “Seriously, this deal is not your fault. That bitch could’ve asked for anything and you would’ve had to say yes. We needed to get out of there, kill Will, and free those kids. Honestly, we should be glad she didn’t ask to keep Torbek as collateral or somethin’!”
Kremy glanced at Gideon with a soft exhale, “Thanks for talking me down. I was starting to spiral.”
The genasi shot him a wide smile, “Any time, Krems. You really should go to sleep now.”
Reluctantly, Kremy unhooked their arms and stood up. He stretched, now acutely aware of how he had been sitting in the same position for too long, joints cracking and popping. His hand then landed in Gideon’s hair and ruffled it lightly.
“Good night Gid.”
“G’night Kremy.”
Then Kremy went and laid down in his bedroll knowing perfectly well that his thoughts would continue to swirl for a few more hours. As thankful as he was for Gideon’s words, Kremy knew in his heart that his husband was wrong. If Torbek died in Skabatha’s clutches, it was his fault. So he would have to do everything in his power to prevent it.
Torbek would not die because of him.