Fang came to a halt in front of one of the many stone buildings. A white sign hung over the top, Scaly Treats being punctuated by a cartoon lizard eating a cookie.
“There!” Nightfree said as she landed on the twimono’s back. “Is that the snake woman you seek?”
Her wing pointed to the glass pane, through which Giu could see a collection of booths and tables. One of which housed a slender reptile with bright pink clothes. A rose-covered hat. Shimmering purple scales. Tea pulled out the photo for comparison. Though she looked a bit older, the two were a close match.
“Either that’s her,” Tea said, “or we just found Juzia’s mo-“
“Hey! Pint size!”
Tea blinked.
“I finally found you!”
They recoiled, Giu recognizing the voice almost instantly. As if he could ever forget that revenge crazy bear.
Crap.
Following the sound, he was greeted by the one person in the world that seemed to show up no matter where they went. He and his ever-expanding roster of friends. Tea groaned, Redge grinning from ear to ear as he and his group wasted no time drawing weapons.
“You and I have unfinished business.”
His eyes glowed with intent, blades growing out of the brown bear’s fur as his teeth sharpened into knives. At his side, one of his friends drew a glowing green sword. Another had an icy chill billowing out of his hands. There were no signs of the clone bear this time around, though. A small consolation.
“No running away this time,” Redge growled. “We settle this here and now.”
Tea was already pulling out their alcohol, Giu reluctantly hopping off the cart.
“Um-“
“Take our advice, Nightfree,” the pixie interrupted. “Don’t get involved here.”
The raven grew quiet, looking from the two of them to the bears. Considering she was a paladin, Giu doubted she would take Tea’s advice. But to his surprise, she actually did, sitting down on Fang’s back.
Huh. Guess no backup for us, then. Great.
He gathered magic around his arms.
Guess we’ll just have to hope they go down this-
“Hey! There you are!”
The duo stopped their approach.
“Step aside, citizens!”
Giu raised a brow, turning to see a concession of reptiles racing towards them. All draped in black armor. Redge’s smile disappeared, along with those of his friends. Tea vanished their bottle away.
“The guards.”
They looked to Redge, whose blades shrunk into himself.
“Crap.”
The bears started to back away.
“Redge, we gotta go.”
They all sheathed their weapons, Redge cursing before quickly signaling the ice bear.
“Crap. Rain check on the battle, pint size!”
The ice bear slammed his hands on the ground, a wall of ice forming in front of them. Giu and Tea exchanged glances, both stepping aside as the concession of reptiles came running.
“Excuse us, civilians! Just doing our duty!”
One blasted a hole through the ice, the others leaping through one by one.
For several moments, the duo only watched as their would-be attackers fled. Their supposed revenge postponed yet again. Giu scratched his head. You’d think I’d get used to this kind of stuff by now. Even Tea was at a loss, giving a shrug and flying off into the sweets shop.
Nightfree was still sitting on Fang, the raven looking to him expectingly. Giu just shook his head.
“Yeah, you’re definitely better off uninvolved,” Giu said. “Trust me.”
With a sigh, he followed Tea inside, trying his best to switch focus back to the Juzia search.
At the very least, Scaly Treats had a nice ambiance to distract him. Smells of cinnamon and honey drifted through his nose. And chocolate, though the scent was a bit different than the stuff Tea used. Or anything he’d smelled in Villa/Syd territory. Looking over to the front counter, he spotted cakes full of the stuff. Tea gave him a nudge.
“Don’t eat anything here,” they whispered.
“Huh?”
“Just don’t. Also, avoid treats around the city too. Just trust me on that, okay.”
He groaned in response but decided to take the pixie’s advice. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but his instincts told him to be wary of lizard-made pastries. After a bit of scanning, he managed to spot their elusive reptile at a faraway booth. She was sitting alone and nibbling at a donut. Or at least she had been alone before they showed up.
“Ms. Juzia, I presume?” the raven asked.
She looked up, amber eyes shifting from Nightfree to Tea before finally landing on Giu. They seemed to linger on him the longest, tongue flicking out a moment. She took a bite out of her donut, patting a napkin over her mouth.
“Immy never told me she had a son,” she said, her voice a low-pitched accent that caught Giu a bit off guard. That and the words she actually said.
“Son?”
He looked at his hands. Did they really look that similar? Granted, he had wondered when he was little if he and Immy were related. Some long lost ancestry their parents never told them about. It wasn’t like him being part fox was an impossibility. And his mother never told him what kind of canine he actually was. Were they actually relat-
His thoughts cut off as he saw Juzia snickering. She threw her head back in a hissing laugh.
“Oh wow,” she said. “You really are gullible, aren’t you?”
Giu felt his cheeks burn. He’d just met the snake woman and he already hated her. Juzia held her sides, laughter dying out as she stared back at him. A hand rested on the side of her face.
“Yisto, right?” she asked. “Heard you were alive and kicking.”
Giu groaned. “So you already knew who I was?”
Juzia took another bite, swallowing it whole.
“I had a guess, yes,” she said. “Immy’s only ever given me stories to go by. Frankly, you’re a little bigger than I expected.”
“Uh-huh.”
He glared at Tea, who he could see hiding a smile. Between Mr. Stone and Juzia, he could only imagine what stories Immy had been telling everyone about him. I swear if she told people about that time at the waterhole she’s getting slugged. He shook off his anger, taking a seat along with Tea. Nightfree lingered for a moment, though.
“This seems a private matter,” she said. “I suppose…I shall guard your steed in your stead.”
The raven didn’t wait for a response, flying for the entrance and landing right beside Fang. Why she chose to stick around even after helping them was anyone’s guess. Tea certainly didn’t seem to care, continuing on as if nothing had happened.
“So what do you know about our missing fox?” they asked.
“Not a lot,” Juzia said. “Immy loved to keep things close to the chest. But I managed to put two and two together after she disappeared. Especially when those masked guys started harassing us.”
“Masked guys? So you’ve seen them too?”
“Mr. Stone mentioned they attacked his shop,” Giu said.
Juzia nodded. “Makes sense. I only had a few run-ins. Enough to know that they really want you dead, Yisto. No idea why.”
Giu nodded. They could join the short list of enemies he’d already made. Right there with the Croc Bros and the Snake Sisters. And Redge assuming those soldiers didn’t catch them. Which they probably wouldn’t.
“Who are they?” Giu asked.
Juzia shrugged. “That I can’t really say. I did manage to get a name, though. The Crystalites. I'm not sure who they really are beyond that. You’d probably have to really wring them dry to get anything concrete.”
Tea dragged a knife against the table.
“Wringing’s what I’m good at.”
Juzia stared at them. Her tongue flicked out a moment.
“Wait. Are you a pixie?”
Tea smiled. “What, the gem didn’t give it away?”
The snake woman didn’t respond, her eyes darting to Giu as if for confirmation. Or agreement. Reading the reptile’s expression was hard enough given her eyes conveyed the same solid intensity no matter how much her mood changed. The only indication he had of anything was her voice. And she suddenly stopped speaking.
Giu decided to change the subject.
“Did Immy tell you anything that would help point us her way?” he asked. “Or point us towards them?”
Juzia seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in, her head bobbing.
“M-maybe,” she said. “The last time I spoke to Immy, she was talking about some guy who was targeting her.”
“A guy?”
“Yeah. Had this weird shadowy magic. But it wasn’t nature-based.”
Giu sat up. Shadowy? There were only two people he knew who fit that description. And the other was in the middle of a war several miles away.
“That man. Who was he?” Giu asked. “Was- Was he a mystic?”
Juzia took another bite of her donut, her head tilting in thought.
“I think she said he-“
Pieces of glass shattered against her head.
Huh?
The snake woman fell face first on the table, orange liquid pouring over where she’d been hit. Giu blinked, jerking in the opposite direction as he felt his hair rising. A figure standing near one of the other booths.
They were clad in leather armor, a long orange tail swishing against the ground. But it’s their face that really drew Giu’s attention. It was covered by a white mask.
