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"Because my people are broken," Trogg said. "And you have already defeated one of our generals. But there are others, much stronger and cunning than toad Daddy. Darker ones. Those who believe in curses far older than sli."
He looked at Kai. "You will be hunted. Not because you killed Blor’Ghul aka Toad Daddy. But because you carry the aura of sothing ancient. They fear what you are."
Kai said nothing.
Naaro stepped between them. "Then why not stay and help?"
Trogg looked down, his fingers curling slightly as if squeezing invisible threads of mory.
"I am not a warrior," he said, his voice softer now, as though worn out from holding back. "I am a shadow. I slip through cracks. I listen in places where blades cannot reach. I can pass unnoticed, learn things, and deliver whispers others never hear. My skill is to collect information. I don’t have much combat powers."
He lifted his eyes to Kai. Despite the calm tone, sothing bitter stirred behind them. Not fear. Not loyalty. But pain that had hardened into purpose. He wanted sothing from Kai.
"I will contact you again if I find more information. But I do not bring this for free. I only want one thing from you. A promise."
Kai tilted his head slightly, his hands were still. "What promise? What do you want?"
"A promise to help kill soone." Troog replied.
The mountain wind fell silent. Even the rustling leaves seed to pause. Kai did not answer right away. His gaze narrowed, not with suspicion, but with a slow calculation. "Who?" he asked.
Trogg hesitated, then gave a single na. A na none of them recognized. A na that sounded more like a curse than a person.
"Grathuum." The na left his mouth like venom spat into the soil.
Akayoroi’s eyes flickered with interest. Naaro narrowed hers. Vel leaned slightly forward, waiting for elaboration. But Trogg said no more.
He stepped back, drawing his hood up once more. The shadows clung to him too easily, as though he had been born among them.
"I can’t say more. When we et again... I will tell you who that is. First let prove my worth. Then you can decide."
Kai stared at him for a long mont. The flas from the morning fire crackled behind him, casting a faint light across his pale exoskeleton.
Finally, he gave a single nod. "Alright go," he said. "But if you betray us, I will personally stuff you into a mushroom stew and feed you to the diarrhea beasts."
Trogg grinned. The expression looked wrong on his face, too toothy, too tired. "I believe you," he said, as if Kai’s threat gave him comfort. He can help him to kill that person.
And then, without another word, the frog turned and vanished into the mist as silently as he had arrived. The fog closed around him like a curtain. In monts, even his scent was gone.
Azhara clapped her hands once, the sound startling a bird into flight. "Well that was dramatic," she said, cracking her neck. "Do you think he is spying on us right now? Because I have been stretching in very suspicious poses."
Sha sheathed her blade and gave a shrug. "If he is, I hope he enjoys the view. Let him learn sothing useful."
Vel moved back to the scrolls, crouching beside them with her hands moving quickly. "These are encrypted," she said, tracing faint marks across the wax seals. "Not a common dialect. Might be tribal frog runes or sothing old. I will need ti to open them."
Akayoroi stepped beside her, carefully lifting the three toadstones with a folded cloth. They glowed faintly, warm to the touch.
"I will store them with the royal cores," she said. "Whatever these contain, they are powerful. They should be sealed properly."
Kai let out a breath. It misted in the cool air and drifted toward the rising light.
"Then let us finish breakfast, check the supplies, and prepare to fly." His voice was firm, but the undertone was clear. There would be no more delays.
The group dispersed. Sha returned to the packs. Vel tucked the scrolls into her satchel. Naaro handed Kai another leaf bun, this one less spicy. Azhara began humming a strange song about pregnancy, anaconda and arm wrestling.
The mist thinned slowly as the morning stretched forward.
Arrowhead Mountain stood still and ancient beneath their feet, bearing their weight without complaint.
And far ahead, hidden by clouds and ti, the road twisted onward, toward the Monarch Mountain, toward old enemies and new beginnings, toward a future no one could yet na.
The sun climbed higher above Arrowhead Mountain, casting pale warmth across the moss-streaked stone. The mist had mostly cleared, unveiling a jagged landscape that stretched far beyond the ledge. Insects buzzed lazily. Distant birds wheeled through the sky like ink-brush strokes against the canvas of morning.
Kai stood atop a weathered rock, arms crossed, watching the horizon.
Thirty-four percent aura recovery. A body held together by stubbornness. A mountain breeze that made him feel less like a king and more like a tired mailman waiting for his Mail truck / bird to show up.
Behind him, the others were packing camp.
Vel and Sha folded the map. Naaro double checked the egg carriers. Akayoroi carefully sealed the toadstones into a hardened case of organic shell and lined it with a sheet of her silk. Azhara had sohow gotten stuck in a tree trying to chase a shiny beetle that may or may not have insulted her hair.
Alka landed monts later with a flutter of wings and a gust of wind that knocked over Kai’s last piece of breakfast mossbread.
He stared at the now-dusty food with a long, blank look. "Did you do that on purpose?" he asked.
Alka tossed her head arrogantly, feathers shimring in the light. As if she ant, "I do not like bread."
Kai sighed. "Great. I am going to starve because my ride has a bread problem."
Azhara dropped from the tree behind them with an acrobatic flip.
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