"What?"
The single word that conveyed his thoughts, feelings, and very existence at that moment. Confusion, realization, accusations, disgust. All converged into a single word, a single thought.
".... What?"
She mimicked back, with her tone conveying less confusion, more of a exasperation.
"Oh, I suppose you're curious why I didn't tell you. Well, it was largely due to your relation to the merchant, I was unsure whether you'd try and tip him off. If it's the injuries you're concerned about, I'll tend to them myself."
She smiled, a innocent and kind one, as if she didn't assist thieves in... whatever they had been doing.
"But... why ally with them over the merchant? Surely he would have payed more if you reported this to him?"
Devyn spoke in utter confusion.
"Valore isn't lacking in money?"
She let out a laugh, before crouching down to face him.
"Ah, well I said this before, but as long as our names spread, I believe it will be beneficial. A simple protection mission may have merchants talking, but it's much more of a larger deal for hired help to turn to the other side."
She placed a hand on the side of his face, turning it so he had to look straight into her eye.
"You don't need to concern yourself with anything, of course. You still hold the same value I mentioned before. And as for other worries, they shouldn't have much issue, for your father will be turning a blind eye."
Many questions flooded his mind, and his gaze turned steel daggers.
Sweat trickled down his back, the color of his face drying to chalk. She wasn't human, was she? Could someone's humanity allow such expressionlessness while saying such things? Could there be a deeper color of black then contained within the void of her eye?
The question he meant to speak earlier came back to him.
"What are you?"
Her smile widened, and her hand climbed from the side of his face into his hair.
"Currently, I'm on your side. That is all you need to know."
His gaze turned to steel daggers.
"How can I trust you, you lying bitch?! How many times have I almost died by your hand in the short time we've known each other!"
Sweeping him up in a princess-carry, she returned his glare with a stone-cold smirk.
"I don't believe I've lied at all since we've met. I've simply withheld some information. There's a difference between silence and lies."
Turning to face the thieves, she gave a softer tone.
"We can continue now. The cart at the front is a trick, he's in the back most one. He'll be crossing shortly."
The two looked at each other, before the Yuan-Ti stepped back towards the road. Not long after, the tigress girl followed.
"It's quite interesting, isn't it? Even with as little knowledge available, I admire them."
Twisting to get out of her grip, Devyn frowned at this statement. Admire? Well, he supposed it would take a monster to like another monster. Of course, his attempts to pry her grip away failed, and when they heard the sound of hoof-beats, they approached the road as well.
"Sorry about that, Izivel. I know we hired you, but we can't exactly have you selling off our tricks to someone else."
The snake-eyed man spoke, dusting off his hands. Making eye contact with Devyn, he seemed confused briefly.
"Hm? Ah, so is this man a ally of yours? Apologies for the injuries then. Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. You may call me Kaliev, and my ally behind me is Sian."
The snake man extended a hand towards him, in a way that seemed not like a handshake, more of a showing that they were unarmed. Devyn did note that it seemed that his ring finger was cut off, a feature he doubted was done on his own.
Sian, the single-eared cat woman, simply gave a menacing smirk, her towering height seeming even more so when he wasn't standing on his own.
"The cart's on it's way. Prolly should duck behind some of the foliage, lest some chunks of road hit you in the head."
Something still seemed off about this plan to Devyn.
"If... the both of you are after what's inside the carts, why do it in such a way where they are so thoroughly wrecked?"
Thinking back to his earlier experience with a shudder, this did seem like a fatal flaw in their plan.
"Ah well, we ain't after what's in them carts, to be exact. That's just a bonus help. Kal, you know more then I, you tell 'em."
"Well, we're after the merchant himself. We suspect that vital information has been stored in his mind using a spell of sorts. A perfect safe, a merchant that's neither rich or in debt. Few would suspect, yes?"
He sighed. It seemed there was more then was told, but even what was told was a bombshell.
"W-wait, so, you're saying someone put something in Thawecliffe's head? Who would eve-"
The sudden hiss of shushing rose, the quiet alerting to the sound of hoof prints rapidly in approach. Izivel ducked into the amber grass, the tips poking his skin. The others seemed unbothered by it, so he bit his tongue and watched between the reeds a replay of his earlier crash, if not from a different perspective.
...
It was horrific, to put it simply. He wasn't sure how he even lived. The whine of the horse as it's chest was pierced by the rapid growth of a tree. The expression in it's visage was almost too human. The widening eyes bore into his soul, as the cart rammed into it, breaking it's lower half on the tree. The cart twisted, and collapsed on it's side, luckily not rolling off the road as his did.
The two inhumans... no, make that three. They didn't even react outwardly. Only he was the one with a horrified look.
Gasping from the wreckage crawled a fattened whale of a merchant, the dusting road almost to give him the look of a beached whale. His white flesh was red with blood, clumping dirt to his pasty forehead and around his open lips.
Catching sight of the group of which Devyn was now associated, he watched as he turned from hope, to terror.
"You...!"
The merchant was interrupted by a fit of coughing.
"Y-you, do you know what you have done?! YOU-"
He was stopped by Kaliev shoving his hand into his left temple.