SOMD Ch37: Expedition 2 (Patreon)

Prim

"You do realize, there likely exists a world where you never told Alice about her former friend," Numi said as the two dragons flew over the fence of the mining camp, invisible thanks to Prim's illusions. "And in that world, the two of us are sleeping right now, like any proper dragon should do at night. And Alice would not be in any danger."

Prim shot Numi a quelling look, though she did not necessarily disagree. 

"Are you suggesting that I keep the truth away from Alice?" she asked, making her voice dangerously sweet. 

"No, but there are technically several shades of truth," Numi said. "She would have likely wanted to come here anyway, if only for the wood dragons. But if she didn't know about Dolly, she wouldn't have been in such a hurry, and the two of us would likely be asleep."

Prim hated arguing against Numi because the dragon was so factual, and unfortunately, she did bring up good points. 

"Except that we wouldn't be asleep, because your sub-aspect would likely be madly fixing everything within sight to make up for lost time," Prim said, lifting her muzzle into the air, although Numi could not have possibly seen it. 

The silence from the other dragon told Prim that she had scored a point of her own. 

Below, a few human guards patrolled around the camp, but none had a sorcerer or wizard class tag. Prim was not surprised as she had felt their energy concentrated in one of the nicest buildings—the one that actually looked like a house. Since they were of the higher classes, they took the best of everything. 

It reminded her of her early hatchling days in the noble estate and was doubly glad that Alice had gotten out of there. The last thing she wanted was for Alice to be dragged back to a terrible place like this, surrounded by guards and no way for her to communicate with her dragons. 

She won't be made to stay here because we will all fight for her, she reminded herself. Then, as they were coming up to the long barracks, she said, "There! Land in the shadows, right to the side of that one. It’s near the fence and you can start your search from there.”

Prim pointed, though of course Numi could not see through the illusion. The shadowed area created by the moon hitting the barracks at an angle was easy to see. And it was doubly dark because it was close by the other side of the fence. 

They landed and Prim retracted her illusion from Numi to save energy. 

The grass was high here, uncut, and not often trodden upon. After flattening herself out, Numi scuttled through the grass like a snake. She was only visible by the slight disturbance of the grass stalks. And that could be easily discounted as there was a slight breeze. 

The high grass reminded Prim uncomfortably of the wood dragons. Vegetation was their element, like Spark was to his lightning.

She reminded herself that Iggy would ensure that nobody came close to Alice. At the very least, he would set something on fire, and then Prim would know instantly and could return to Alice’s side. 

As Numi explored the fence area for any holes, Prim began her own mission.

She sniffed around, which she did not like to do in public because it made her look like a common dog. But it needed to be done. She had spent her first formative days in that little cubicle that Alice had shared with the dishonorable Dolly, and so she remembered the other woman's scent quite well. It had been full of artificial perfumes and had not been nearly as nice as Alice's. 

With her illusions pulled tight to conceal her, Prim hopped from one building to another, sniffing and finding nothing, until on the third building , she caught the scent that she had been looking for. 

It seemed that these barracks had been made in a hurry, full of rough wood logs jammed together, and there were many gaps in the walls. Some people had tried to half-heartedly fill those with straw or mud to keep the elements out, but there were many open places left. Noises and scent passed through easily. Inside, she heard snoring and some muffled whimpering.

Marking the place where Dolly’s smell came from the strongest, she reached out with one claw and drew an X.

Then she flapped and headed back to the meeting point. Down below her, she saw a sneaky pattern weaving its way through the grass. Numi briefly popped her head over the grass, checked her position, and returned to the spot where she and Prim had parted.

"I found a place for Alice to sneak in," Numi said quietly, the moment that Prim landed. "Though I'm not sure you will not like it."

"I like none of this," Prim said bluntly, "and I have found the dishonorable girl." She paused, and though it hurt her pride to say it, she added, "Next time there is news like this... perhaps you should be the one to deliver it to Alice. You might be able to… spin it differently."

Numi grinned wide, showing needle teeth. “Are you saying someone else can do something better than you?”

“I said no such thing,” Prim grumped, and took to the sky. Laughing, Numi followed.