"At long last," Mina said, as she flew up over a ridge, "we seem to have reached...nothing."

The other three tiredly sighed, and Camie made a face at her.

They came up to the ridge and looked over.

The signs of the Blight were already eating up the grass here.

Bakugo frowned.

"So this is where they were camping last?" Camie eyed it. "Right in the middle of my territory, huh? It's a good thing we'll be sharing it soon anyway."

"How does your tribe feel about you being gone for so many weeks?" Ei asked.

"I don't know," Camie said. "How do you feel about it, sister?"

They gave her a strange look, till suddenly an arrow shot the hat right off Mina's head.

The air shimmered a few paces down the ridge, and few girls and youths in bandit attire looked up at them.

"You travel with dull-witted companions, Milady," one said, with a disgusted look.

"Well, she's not exactly wrong..." Camie said.

"Hey!" Mina said. "How was I supposed to know? I can't see through illusion magic." She grabbed her hat.

"That could have been your head," the same girl called. "I'm a better shot than that. Next time I'll steal the clothes right off your backside."

"Why don't you just try it!" Mina made a fist.

"Shh," Camie said. "She'll take you up on it. Yea, all of you, where's the Katsuki tribe?"

"That presumptuously named bunch of barbarians cleared out weeks ago," said one of the youths, who had the purple hair of a sprite and the sordid expression of a troll. Or possibly a very grumpy elf.

"Ah, Seiji, you can't say that in front of the King," Camie said.

"You want to try that again, peasant?!!" Bakugo said almost at the same time.

"Is that you, King Bakugo?" Seiji made the King sound sarcastically insulting. "Back from the grave, are you? I heard you'd been thought dead on the quest, but I knew it was too much to hope for."

 "Hey!" Ei said.

"Don't mind him," Camie said. "He was cursed by a troll to say only the stupidest and meanest things that came into his mind since birth."

"That is not true! I am not accursed!" Seiji cried.

"Oh?" Camie looked genuinely surprised. "Then what's your excuse? Taking your life in your hands like that is kind of mad, isn't it?"

"This is why you shouldn't be the prince--" began Seiji, but the others shushed him.

"Excuse him," said the girl with the arrow. "He's a gnome, so, you know, daylight makes him sullen, and darkness makes him reclusive. Bad deal all round."

"But if he's a gnome, what's he doing out of the ground?" Ei asked.

"Is he a garden gnome?" Mina asked with a straight face.

"I am not--" Seiji began.

"Why isn't his hair white?" Mina interrupted.

"Not all gnomes have white--"

"The Dark Lord's forces took over his caverns," the girl said. "Which would make anyone sad, I'll grant you. Hi, I'm Tai Lee." She bowed. [Yes, it's a ATLA reference.]

"She's a band leader," Camie said. "So, uh, respect her and all, or she'll steal your stockings. That's Mai," gesturing at a girl who wasn't speaking and didn't seem inclined to. "And that's Inasa. He's nature sprite, like you, Mina."

"Oh? A wood sprite? You don't look like one," Mina said.

"I'm an elemental sprite," Inasa spoke way too loudly. "I control breezes."

"Then we should get along," Mina said. "I like flowers and stuff. But I also spit acid."

"How does that help flowers?" Seiji said sourly.

"I don't know, it helps kill fungi." Mina shrugged. "What do you do, excavate?"

He frowned in response.

"Well, where's my tribe now, you jackanapes?!" Bakugo got tired of small talk.

They winced.

"You don't have to be so loud," Mai said dully.

"They've moved even farther Southwest," Inasa said. "And our Bandit Tribes have been following them...at a respectful distance, until our lord and lady should come back and call a banquet so we may convene."

"Huh?" Mina said.

"It's where we talk and pretend to not be enemies for a bit," Camie said. "Allegedly, we're allies, but the Barbarians can never remember that. Every year, we steal their stuff to blackmail them into not killing us, and we part as unlikely neutral parties. Then we forget about it in a month, and next quarter the same thing happens."

"That sounds a little inefficient," Mina said, "but also, awesome. Let's do it!"

"Yea!" Ei agreed.

"Well, darling, it does seem the best way to track everybody down," Camie said to Bakugo. "Hunting them all over will take days. We can just bring them to us, pick a spot, and wait."

"You think I need to make it easier?" Bakugo said.

"Well, think of us," Camie said.

"You're not tough enough, then you shouldn't be here," Bakugo said.

"Ah, no," Camie said. "I'm saying, how will it look if we go traipsing around after our subjects like some common bounty hunters or, even worse, heralds?" She made a face. "They darn well ought to come to us, don't you think? We're the rulers!"

"Who said we weren't?!" Bakugo said. "And who said they weren't coming to us?! All of you, spread the word!" 

"But you don't command us--" Seiji began.

"Oh, we're tying the knot soon anyway." Camie waved her hand. "So just do as he says, or do as I say--it doesn't matter. Go do it!"

"Of course." Tai Lee bowed again, smiling smugly at Seiji. "And where are we meeting?"

"Is Griffon's Rock still in the non-accursed territory?" Bakugo asked.

"Yes," Inasa said.

"Then there! Hurry up!" Bakugo said.

"It'll take while to send the messenger falcons out and spread the word," Mai muttered.

"Did I ask?" Bakugo said.

They took off.

"Watch out for goblins," Tai Lee called. "They keep getting more and more numerous the more the blight spreads, and the timbrewolves also, but there's been griffons and changelings around too."

"Changelings?" Mina said nervously. "Oh...I hate those things."

"Oh, don't worry," Came said. "I'm pretty much immune to their magic, one illusion user to another, and none of us has any babies anyway, so we should be safe."

Ei almost choked when she said the last part.

"But this isn't right," Bakugo said, more grimly. "There's no way my tribe wouldn't have sent out some fools to scout around also, if your nitwit tribe did. Where are they?"

"Late?" Camie said. "We did just get here."

"They better only be late, and when they arrive, I'll pummel them for being slower than a few Bandits," Bakugo said.

"You do know speed is one of our strengths, right?" Camie said.

"Shut up!"

* * *

They marched to Griffon's Rock, which was only half a day's walk for them, and Ei cut it shorter by giving the two humans a lift.

They ran into a few monsters, but only small ones, and they hardly even slowed them down.

But the lack of monsters was almost more eerie. Like they were just lying in wait for the right moment to strike.

No Barbarians ever found them in the time they were walking.

Ei said maybe they were just really far away.

Griffon's rock was just a big, ugly rock jutting out of some smaller rocks that looked like it had been dropped there by a giant, carrying a bag of them with a hole in it.

At least that's what Mina said.

"So why do they call it Griffon's Rock?" she asked.

"A long time ago, a group of Barbarians were attacked by a swarm of griffons there, and they were all killed and eaten and had their blood spilled all over," Bakugo said, as if it was a normal thing to tell. "And when the other found them and killed the griffons, they named it that. Apparently griffons like to land on rocks."

"They...nest in them...and that's a horrible story," Mina said.

"The Barbarian tribe is not huge on nice, comforting, or funny stories." Camie leaned on the rock, despite what they'd just been told about it. "That's more a Bandit thing. Story time is weird when we meet up."

"I don't want to touch it after what you just said." Mina moved farther off.

"Oh, the blood's long been scrubbed away by rain and wind and hail," Camie said, like that made it better.

"Well, I think it's just part of life," Ei said. "You know, monsters kill people, people kill monsters. Maybe because I'm a dragon, I don't see it as anything to be that afraid of. We all gotta go some time, might as well go out fighting. Maybe it's not such a bad story when you look at it that way."

"That's thinking like a Barbarian," Bakugo approved. "None of that sissy talk when the others get here, pink troll. They might skewer you like the tender, little lamb you are."

"Don't ever call me a troll," Mina said, "or I'll tenderize your rear end." She made a face.

"That a challenge?" Bakugo stood up.

"Stop it!" Camie said. "You can't kill her now--we have to plan! I mean, we need to think of some kind of a story. If we tell everyone the 8th is dead, they'll lose it! They might attack each other just to relieve their feelings, and then we'll be in a real fix."

Despite her head being up in the clouds so much, Camie really wasn't so bad at this leadership stuff, Ei and Mina thought. She seemed in tune with what people needed and wanted.

Bakugo, on the other hand...

"Well, it's the truth, and there's no point glossing over it. They'll have to face facts."

"Maybe we can just soften the facts, though," Camie said. "Such as, no, the 8th isn't coming, but the 9th will, and it's not completely hopeless."

"Don't mention that stupid, insipid, little traitor," Bakugo said. "He's no help, and even if he did show up, I'd spit in his face."

"Isn't that a little prideful?" Mina said tentatively. "Helping is his job, even if we don't like him. We'd have to accept. You don't turn down help from the Holder. You just don't."

"When I need you advice, Troll, I'll ask for it," Bakugo said, "which will be never."

"I said not to call me a troll!" 

"Hey!" Ei said. "I think I see some people now."

They all stopped and turned.

A handful of Bandits were coming their way.

They hailed Camie and did some kind of signal that must have been a Bandit code. She returned it.

[I didn't even know Thieve's Cant was a thing in D&D when I wrote this! I only found out after.]

"Now we know it's not an illusion," she explained to the others.

The Bandits came up to the rock and started asking Camie about her adventures.

Camie regaled them with some of the more colorful stories, omitting the conclusion of the quest, to pass the time.

While they talked, more Bandits joined, but no Barbarians.

Bakugo was getting antsier by the moment.

Finally, when the sun had set already, and the first stars were coming out, and Camie had also exhausted her list of stories, a very few barbarian-clad young men, and one girl, came walking into the circle of torchlight that the bandits had made.

A few Bandits called some insult at them, that seemed to be more in fun than anything else, but they weren't returning it. The Barbarians looked very somber and, strangely, not belligerent.

"What's taken you losers so long?" Bakugo didn't even sound that mad.

They bowed slowly.

"King Bakugo," said one, who was tall and broad-shouldered with white-ish hair, "We had given up hope of your return. And I'm afraid the news of our tribe is not good."

"What, did my dumb mother and father split up again?" Bakugo said. "Take one half each? Because it'll be over in about a week."

Ei and Mina exchanged a glance.

"Much worse than that," the same man answered grimly, "the old queen and king have both been taken by the Dark Lord's bounty hunters."

A moment of horrified silence.

"It only just happened a few days ago," said a different Barbarian, the girl. "I guess it hasn't spread to the other tribes yet. There was a skirmish over some water, and they just swooped in and took them. Your mother was fighting and swearing to the last, but there were just too many."

"Sounds like her." Bakugo didn't seem moved at all.

"It does," Camie admitted.

"We think they took them to a stronghold in the hills, by an old rock quarry," said the first man. "But it's hard to track them in the Dark Lands. And we don't know if they will keep them alive... We were going to elect a new leader by trial of combat, if you did not return within the month. But now that you have...the whole tribe is restless. Battle hungry. They await orders, impatiently, I might add."

"Well, they ought to get their tails over here, then, so I can give it to them!" Bakugo said.

"It might take till tomorrow for the rest of us to arrive," said the girl. "We were really far South."

"Then we wait till then to discuss any war plans," Bakugo said. "Pitch your tents or whatever. Don't bother us if you don't want to get beaten."

They nodded and moved away.

"How can you talk to them like that? They just lost their king and queen," Mina said.

"They're probably jumping for joy on the inside for that," Bakugo said. "My mother is a holy terror, and my father is a milksop. They're just glad I'm back, so they can see what a real ruler is like. I've got to think out our next move. Don't cross me." He walked off to the edge of the circle.

Camie sighed. "Don't let him fool you," she said more somberly. "He's not happy about it, and neither are they. Queen Mitsuki is a holy terror, but she took the tribe through a lot of problems. When Bakugo finally beat her in the trial of combat and became the new king, she said he'd better live up to her reputation, or she'd beat the crap out of him at the next year and take the title back. His father didn't even try to challenge him, he just handed it over. Bakugo's the ruler by rights, but with losing the tribe, not everyone thinks he's doing the best at it. He needed to find the 8th holder for more than one reason."

"Oh, wow, he never told me," Ei said.

"He wouldn't. I just know all the gossip through the Bandit vine," Camie said. "We find out everything." She shrugged. "He'd never say any of that out loud. Barbarians don't gripe, they don't cry, and they don't ever accept defeat in the long term. They earn everything. Bandits rely on our wits, but they rely on their strength and their guts. Getting captured is like a personal insult to them. They'd rather die than rot in a prison. The queen is probably already gone if that's the case. The king too."

"So...his parents are dead?" Mina said.

"Or they will be. Maybe they aren't quite out of uses for them yet." Camie shrugged. "Of course, they were powerful mages. The Dark Lord...well, you've heard the stories of what he does to people with magic."

Silence.

"But Bakugo's too tough to talk about that," Camie said, "and that's what the tribe expects. Don't try to show any sympathy--they'll throw it back in your face, take it as an insult. The best thing we can do is just go with whatever decision he makes, as long as it's not bat raving mad."

"Rolling the dice on that one," Ei said. "I feel sorry for him though. I mean...didn't he, you know, like his parents?"

"Barbarians don't have to like each other. They're a valuable loss," Camie said. "They're bonded by being tough, not likable. I don't know how to explain it to an outsider."

"No, I get it. Dragons can be like that," Ei said. "But we get attached to things too...money, possessions, but people, if we're around them enough. And we'd be sad if we lost them, and that's okay. Dragons can die of grief, I've heard."

"Like rabbits?" Mina said.

"Maybe?" Ei wasn't sure.

"Bakugo won't die," Camie said. "He's got a strong heart, even if he's a little angry all the time..."

"A little?" Ei said.

"Maybe you'd be too if you could never show fear," Camie said. "It's rough living on the edge of the Dark Lands, and fear just attracts monsters anyway. The Barbarians don't have it easy ever since the Dark Lord appeared. They fight them up close and personal, or they did. Look how few of them are left. The alliance with our tribe is something they kind of need, even if Bakugo will never admit it... Eh, I used to think that was the only reason he kept pushing for it."

"Is that really why you kept turning him down?" Mina asked.

"Oh, sure. I mean, you didn't think I just thought he was ugly or something, did you?" Camie said. "Because, hey, I'm not blind, girl."

Mina didn't think Bakugo was particularly handsome with how often he scowled, but she said nothing.

"But, hey, you know, he really does like you," Ei said. "I can tell. He's the nicest to you...I mean, as much as he's nice to anyone."

"Well, yeah, now that I've seen how he treats the other girls around here, I get it," Camie said. "Just took some time. But we're good now. Good thing too, we need all the help we can get."

"Do you think there's some way to rescue his parents?" Ei asked.

"I don't know," Camie said, "but it'd crush their pride... Still, maybe they'd forgive us...in a decade or two...but we'd have to be so fast, I don't know if even I could pull off that stealth."

"Shouldn't we try?" Mina said. "It's family."

Camie bit her lip. "I don't know, sister. I just don't know."

* * *

The rest of the Barbarians did arrive, the next day.

They were all somber, because no fight broke out. Perhaps out of respect, the Bandits didn't even try to start any. A few seemed to be on friendly terms with them anyway and greeted old friends, maybe even old flames from the looks of it.

Mina didn't care for the rough way the Barbarians spoke to each other as well as her. About all of them called her a troll, a pixie, or a cream puff, or some version of that. But they didn't try to skewer her and roast her alive, so she supposed that was a warm welcome from them.

Bakugo was hard pressed to make a decision by all of the lower leaders of the clans in the tribe.

Ei tried to suggest rescuing his parents to him, and he was told to shut his trap right off.

However, when Bakugo finally spoke, he announced his intention to go after them for himself and confirm what happened.

"If you don't come back, who's going to be in charge?" one snarky Barbarian called.

"You questioning my strength?" Bakugo thundered. "You think I won't come back? Come up here and say that to my face, so I can blow your tail up!"

The Barbarians laughed, and the one shut up.

"Anyway, you know the rules," Bakugo said more evenly. "For now, stick around these useless thieves and watch out for those pathetic monsters. Maybe we'll steal some magic items from the dark wizards and blow them up. Try not to kill all of yourselves while I'm gone."

"Hey, King, permission to join?" Camie called, waving some long plant she was using to polish her nails with.

"I need people who are fast," Bakugo said.

"Duh, why do you think I'm offering? Barbarians are slow," Camie said sassily, earning some grunts from them.

"You want to put that to our blades, girlie?" said one.

"You want me to make you think you're dancing in the rain with a raccoon wearing a tiara?" Camie shot back.

They took a step back.

"Fine," Bakugo said.

"Us too!" Ei said. "I mean, if you want to get there faster, you gotta have a ride, man."

"Sure," Mina said.

"Want some back up?" Tai Lee offered. "I'm a deadshot."

"Just shut up about it," Bakugo said. "I don't care who comes if they don't slow me down."

"That's a yes," Camie hissed. "I guess we're due for another adventure, people."

* * *

https://youtu.be/PUBx34LGHO4

Meanwhile, in another part of the country, Tomura and Kurogiri had found The Tavern they wanted and had to await the Convocation of the Cursed.

The Tavern had about all the roughest, meanest, or most repulsive looking bounty hunters, bandits, and other miscreants in all the lands, both Dark and Light.

The owner asked no questions and answered none, as he'd tell you plainly to your face. He went by Giran.

"This place has gone even more to the pits," Tomura griped, hiding in a corner while they waited.

"I wouldn't say that out loud, sir," Kurogiri said. "We wouldn't want a fight. Bringing this whole place down would leave us no where to meet up."

"Yeah, yeah," Tomura said sourly. "Just keep a look out for trouble."

He sipped his mead in a bored way.

"Are you sure you should have that?" Kurogiri said. "Last time--"

"It's watered down," Tomura said. "I wouldn't drink the milk or water in this pigsty for a pound of gold!"

"Fair enough," Kurogiri admitted. "Lucky for me, I don't need to drink...or eat..."

"Not since Master turned you into a smoke stack," Tomura reflected. "You ought to thank him for saving you money on supplies."

"Indeed. I also don't sleep," Kurogiri said.

"I know that," Tomura said.

"I know, but I was simply commenting on the convenience of having me as your travel companion/guard," Kurogiri said. "So do not fret. I am here to be at your beck and call."

Tomura shifted his feet. "Because you have no choice."

Kurogiri made no answer. He never did. Tomura was convinced it was because he simply could not. The magic that bound him to service also prevented him realizing he was bound and trying to break out of it.

Willpower and magic were closely linked--that's what the Dark Lord had taught Tomura long ago. Any willpower in the subject could be used to fight the magic and might find a way to undo it in the end--or to ask for aid from another third party to undo it. Better to leave no willpower.

Tomura had never been able to bring himself to actually try it, however. The cold, dead way Kurogiri spoke if you tried to question it made him feel uneasy. 

Still, it was effective.

"Oh dear," Kurogiri said suddenly. "I do believe I see trouble."

"If it's Dabi, he's going to be his usual self," Tomura said.

"No, sir, I mean an entirely new trouble," Kurogiri said. "Look yonder, at the far end of The Tavern. There's someone staring at us."

Tomura turned his head.

"I don't see anyone."

"She's rather small, for a bounty hunter. Perhaps she's a thief," Kurogiri said. "Only, I suspected a hunter, because a thief wouldn't be staring at anyone. Too easy to draw attention."

Tomura finally spotted something female, but whether it was a woman or not, he wasn't sure. 

She had rabbit ears and a tail and feet to match, more tanned skin than most people who lived in the shadow lands, and the brash expression of a sailor, not a hunter.

She was eyeing him without trying to hide it at all--and also Kurogiri, with some kind of befuddled look.

Seeing him looking, she winked sassily.

Tomura turned back. "She's just trying to start a fight."

"That is precisely my point, sir. We're twice her size--why is she trying to start a fight? And why is such an obviously cursed person drawing our attention anyway?"

"Well, you're cursed," Tomura said. "So am I, so are 90% of the people in this tavern."

"I know, but animal curses are peculiar." Kurogiri told him what he already knew, as he was in the annoying habit of doing (but trying to stop him never worked; he was just conditioned to do it). "They are either the work of the Master's amalgamations and usually, in that case, coming with other side effects such as monstrous tendencies in their owners, or a sensitivity to darkness, or both. Or insanity, in some cases--or they are the work of witches and trolls, which are weaker but still burdensome and usually make the bearer an outcast. There have been rare cases of a fairy doing it as a sort of punishment, but there is always a way to lift them, usually true love's kiss, or loyalty, or some penance of some sort."

"You actually believe stories about true love's kiss breaking curses?" Tomura scoffed. "I could believe the penance, but that's just a lot of nonsense, and that thing over there is probably cursed by a witch for doing something stupid--she looks dumb enough to. And we're not going to take the obvious bait and find out. We are here for one reason and one reason only. Keep your smokey eyes on the target."

"But I was afraid she might recognize us. That's what I was trying to tell you," Kurogiri said. "And it's pertinent, because she's standing right behind you."

Tomura had been so busy deriding his suspicions he hadn't even sensed someone come that close.

He turned. The rabbit girl was standing there, looking peeved.

"Hey, I heard what you said about me, jackdaw," she said. "Do you usually insult cursed people where they can hear you?"

"Do you usually walk up to people who are minding their own business and ask them stupid questions?" Tomura said. "Go away, we're not talking to you."

She put one boot on their table, right over his plate--mostly untouched. "You want to try that again?"

"Sir, the advisability of fighting her is poor," Kurogiri said, in the same bland tone as he always used. "The whole place will erupt. And be useless for hours."

"I could just kill--" Tomura suggested.

"What, with that destruction magic you think is so tough?" she shot back. "The walking smoke stack here shouldn't run his mouth so much. I know who you are."

She looked up and noticed other people were glancing their way.

She lowered her voice. "I'm not ready to fight off half the crooks in here before I've finished eating, but later, don't even think of trying to skip town. I never lose a target."

She smirked diabolically. "Name's Rumi, by the way. Don't forget it."

She walked away.

"Oh dear," Kurogiri said. "That might be a problem later."

"Eh, we'll get the Convocation to take care of her if she pesters us," Tomura dismissed it. "Some easily offended gremlin is not going to stop us."

"Just the same, if she did know us, she might not be the only one.... How could she know us? Did you ever offend someone with rabbit ears?" Kurogiri asked.

"I've never seen her before. She probably mistook us for someone else," Tomura said. "It doesn't matter."

"Very well. You're right, no doubt," Kurogiri said.

[Yep, she's in the story too. Couldn't resist, she was too much fun in my other one to leave out.

Stay tuned for next week's chapter. Hopefully I'll get in out on time this time. Last week I kind of got caught up in another project and forgot to update.]