I have a business speech/awards ceremony I have to host and speak at on the 30th September, so that whole week will be no fanfiction as I have to prep, plan and perform, then deal with clients after, break down the show and transport all the equipment back afterwards.

That'll mean no updates on 27th Sept – 3rd OCTOBER inclusive, just to forewarn you all. (Others were a typo! I've edited them). Apologies for that; I got my months mixed up.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 102

Ruby saw the Grimm on moving closer. There weren't many, thankfully, but the one Ursa she saw plod its way between numerous tents without seeking to harm anyone in them was proof enough they'd found the right place. The beast lumbered from one side of the camp to the next, then turned and came back the same way, then repeated the process, presumably forever.

The tents themselves were spread out without any sense of order. Some bunched together, others solitary, some connected to make for multi-person living, others isolated and alone. It was rough and ready, more akin to random travellers than any disciplined force. Log piles and burnt out campfires lay dotted here and there, more than they should have needed. The fact they didn't congregate around one central fire made it seem like they didn't all get along, or that they were too pompous to know better. To be fair, lighting a fire was a lot easier when you were an Arcanist.

And there were Arcanists present. Plenty of them. Ruby counted twelve with a cursory glance, and that was just the ones outside of tents and visible. There could, and probably were, more sentries on the sides they hadn't come from, more asleep in the tents and some roaming the outskirts.

Can I take that many people on? I know Wildmages are powerful but I've only used it against Arcanists a few times. Always against one, and while she'd won that fight handily it had been a single person.

"This has to be it." Blake whispered. "We should return to Vale and pass this on."

"We need to be sure."

Blake's head whipped to Qrow, her lips pursed in a quiet hiss. "Are you mad? There's a tame Grimm walking through the camp. You can see that with your own eyes."

"And it may have been left here to keep order or as a show of force. Or the person we're looking for might be out foraging, taking a leak or at another camp entirely. We need that artifact to protect Vale. If we attack now and scare the person carrying it away, we'll only make things worse."

He had a point, as much as Ruby hated to admit it. They had the element of surprise now but that wouldn't be the same if they brought the wrath of the White Arcana down on these people and found out the one they were after wasn't here. They'd go to ground, spread out their people and place more sentries. Worse, the leader would run every time they were seen, escaping every battle before the White could show up.

"We'll only get one chance." Qrow gave word to her thoughts. "We have to make it count."

"How do we make sure the artifact is here?" Weiss asked. "Do we wait and hope to see them walk by?"

"Their sentries are dead." Blake said. "That won't go unnoticed forever."

"I could put them back in position." Maria offered.

"The Grimm would notice."

"Not if she did it under the Shadow's protection." Qrow looked to Blake as he said that, and the faunus grimaced. "And to answer your question, we can't just wait and hope. Their leader has no reason to come out. We need to give them one. Or we need to get into that camp. How long can you keep us hidden for?"

"A few hours yet," Blake admitted, "But it's going to be much more difficult in the middle of there. I can hide us from eyes and ears, but not from touch. Five metres and they'll see through my cloak. There's not room enough in there for that."

Five metres – or ten going both ways. The tents were loosely spread, but they'd definitely have to walk that close to some of them. A single person walking out and seeing them would set the whole camp off. Damn it. She'd always thought Blake's magic amazing since it kept her hidden from the Collegium, but that had always been at a single place, one of her hiding spots. Those must have been static concealment spells like the one on Maria's cottage – smaller, more successful, mainly because they hid something that didn't move than because of power. Hiding a small party that was actively moving through differing terrain must have been a lot harder.

For Blake, maybe. Not for her. Ruby tugged on Qrow's sleeve and nodded her head toward the camp. He looked confused for a moment and Ruby touched her lips and then nodded to Weiss.

"Maria." Qrow said. "Raise those two bodies. Blake, cover her. If nothing else, we can have one of them do a little scouting for us. Weiss, help Maria with whatever she needs."

That meant they all had to head back to where they'd left the bodies, all keeping within five metres of Blake for safety's sake. Once they got to them Blake stood as far away as she realistically could, pinching her eyes shut and looking in the opposite direction as Maria got to work. Much more interesting, and a little worrying, was how squeamish Weiss wasn't. Weiss got down on her knees and did whatever Maria asked, not seeming to mind being around a dead body.

Qrow touched Ruby's shoulder and drew her to the precipice of Blake's range. She might hear, but Blake already knew, and Weiss and Maria were engaged in their own little conversation, the latter giving instructions to Weiss as she dipped a hand into the dead man's wound and gathered some of his blood.

"We can talk." Qrow whispered. "What is it?"

"I have my own invisibility spell." Ruby said. "Wild magic. It's better than Blake's. I can walk around freely, and I've had people come right up to it without seeing me. I could walk in, check if the artifact is there and even take it away if someone isn't carrying it."

"That's going to be difficult to explain to your friend, and to the White."

"We'll say a Rogue from the Shadow Arcana helped us and they did it all."

"And the Schnee?"

Ruby bit her lip. Now or never. "I trust Weiss."

"Hmm." Qrow offered no thought on that. "It's ultimately your decision when and how to reveal yourself. I won't lie and say it's not a tempting idea right now. Our only other alternative is to cause a ruckus to try and bring the leader out, and that's risky. How good is your invisibility?"

"Near perfect. I make sound, but I'm light on my feet. No one can sense me. But…"

"I figured there'd be something…"

"Huntsmen can see right through me like I'm stood in the open. They probably don't have any of them, but… well… Grimm see me really easily. Or sense me. I'll be like a bonfire to that thing, and any more they have hanging around. If it wasn't for Blake's magic, they'd be on me already."

"Right. Grimm always have been obsessed with Wildmages for some reason." Qrow looked back to the camp. "We need to do something about that before sending you in, then. Perhaps Maria can help us there."

A soft breathy sound came from behind them. In the old stories and fables she'd imagined undead beings to groan and shamble, and while this thing definitely had the latter down, it didn't make any noise beyond a long exhale and no inhale. It was already paler than it should be, with dried blood crusting to its chest and, to Ruby's dismay, a literal hole carved through its chest.

Blake retched. The only reason Ruby didn't was because she'd seen dead bodies all too many times after the floods. Yang once said that if you'd seen one dead body, you'd seen them all. At least this one wasn't swollen like a bladder ready to burst.

"Fucking hell." Qrow didn't sound disgusted, more… disturbed. "I'm reminded just why you're such a frightening figure, Maria. I'm fairly sure Blake didn't carve the man's chest open when she killed him. Is that necessary?"

"Of course it is!" Maria cackled, hands stained red with blood and smile stretching her wrinkly face in two. That she'd had her hands in a body didn't bother her at all. "I wouldn't have done it otherwise, would I? Say hello to Boris. Or don't."

"That's his name?"

"He's dead, so I wouldn't know. All dead people are Boris to me, but not all Boris are dead people." She grinned. "Yet." When no one laughed at her joke, she sighed. "Tough crowd."

To Ruby's dismay, Weiss didn't seem the slightest bothered by Boris, nor the fact that she too had a little blood on her fingernails. She was normally so fastidious about those things. "He's not really a reanimated body," she whispered to Ruby, excitement – actual excitement – tinging her voice. "He's more like a puppet. That's why Maria needed the chest cavity opened up. Skin is resistant to magical intrusion, so she needs an easy way to weave her magic under it to control the muscles and bones."

"That's…" Ruby fought for the right word. "Nice…?"

"It's clever." Weiss agreed. "I'm not sure it really counts as necromancy at all, but she says she can bring the spirit back as well if she wants. It's just that it's the spirit of an enemy, so it's not going to want to help us. It would probably sound the alarm. Or try. Its lungs aren't working right now."

On account of it being dead. Ruby wasn't as keen on the philosophy of whether turning a human into a meat puppet counted as necromancy or not. To her, it was still wrong. Blake apparently shared that sentiment because she glared hatefully at the thing as she wiped bile off her lips. Ruby had to wonder if Blake was thinking the same thing she was, that someone could do this to her own parents, make a mockery of their bodies and use them as a marionette.

"It is what it is." Qrow said. "Maria, we were hoping you'd be willing to use the corpses to make a distraction. If we toss a cloak over… Boris…" Qrow winced, "-then we're hoping it won't be so obvious he's dead. Can you have him walk into camp?"

"As long as I have line of sight to him. He can't talk, though." Maria patted the dead man's chest. It made a wet, squelching sound. "No air in his lungs, and while I could theoretically stimulate his vocal cords in the right way to make him speak, that's still theoretical for now. Believe me, I've tried. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to see a concert of corpses?"

"Incredible, I'm sure. He won't need to speak. We want him to go in and attack the Grimm."

"Making a body cast spells is impossible. His spark is gone."

"Then attack it physically. You don't even need to make it convincing – it'll look like the Grimm killed him if anyone sees. We want to cause a ruckus, see if we can draw out the one in charge."

And if they were lucky then the other Arcanists might fear the Grimm had gone mad and kill it, giving her a clear path in. Qrow was a genius. If this worked. The real problem was if someone tried to approach the corpse, because that thing wasn't going to fool anyone up close.

/-/

The corpse, now wearing the cloak of the second and with its grievous chest wound concealed, took a meandering path toward the camp. It was uneven and slow, and the thing wobbled like it was drunk. Maria kept her eyes locked on it and her hands extended, bony fingers twitching occasionally like a puppeteer with its strings.

It ambled past the last trees and into the camp, stumbled into an old fire pit and kicked ashes over the floor. Luckily, most of the other Arcanists paid little attention, too lost in their conversations or arguments. They were all nobles after all. If this had been soldiers, or even Dredgers, they would have known better than to leave themselves open. The nobility had servants to worry about things like that, however. They weren't used to worrying about it on their own.

The Grimm was padding across the camp again. Its back and forth path really was starting to feel more like force projection now. It wasn't a good way of keeping watch and it didn't serve any purpose other than to remind the people there that Grimm could be controlled.

Maria brought the corpse to a sudden halt. It stood unnaturally still.

"Maria…" Qrow warned.

"I know!" she hissed back. "It's not as simple as it looks."

"I've seen you reanimate dead bodies that can fight."

"That's with their spirits back in them, and usually requires me making a deal for their service. It's harder than it looks."

"What kind of deals are you making with the dead?"

"Simple enough things," she answered. "Passing messages onto loved ones, delivering belongings, taking care of final rites. They're already dead, so they're not afraid to risk their bodies to win a favour. That wouldn't work here, though. I have to do this manually."

"It's going to be noticed."

"It'll be worse if I move deeper in. Just wait!"

The corpse swayed on its spot, leaning left and right unnaturally, and so close to a pair of Arcanists in a heated argument that she was amazed they didn't smell the blood. Probably couldn't for all the perfume they were wearing. The few who did notice something was up didn't bother to check. Whether they assumed the person drunk or just making a scene, she didn't know, but they weren't invested enough to find out. And the Grimm was coming back, returning along its plodding path.

When it walked by the corpse, Maria had it lunge forward. Calling it an attack was generous. They'd tied a knife to its right hand with twine, and she simply swung that at the thing's chest. It probably didn't even hit at the right angle or penetrate with any force if it did, but Maria threw the body into the Grimm all the same.

It worked.

The Ursa roared, reared back and punched its clawed arm, as thick as a tree trunk, through the man's chest. The fact it was an already open and gaping wound meant that the claw pierced through his body and out his back, almost ripping the body in two as it fell to the ground.

That sparked a reaction from the Arcanists too busy to pay attention. Nobles screamed and the two closest flung themselves away in terror. Others were not so unprepared. As more scrambled out of tents to figure out what was going on, a ball of fire arched overhead and slammed into the Grimm's back. It staggered, turned and roared at the one who had attacked it.

Grimm were dangerous, especially to Arcanists, but that always came with the caveat of the numbers being even remotely similar. For all its brute strength and resilience, the monster couldn't withstand the power of over thirty Arcanists attacking it at once. It went down under a wave of spells – fire, lightning, light and more. The Arcanists continued to hurl magic at the Grimm that had, in their eyes, gone mad, until it was reduced to ash floating away on the breeze.

Once it was gone, someone hurried over to check the victim, shaking his head and giving up the second they saw the body. Blake's own killing blow, a simple knife wound to the back of the neck, probably hadn't even been noticed. It was hard to look beyond a gaping hole through your body when searching for a cause of death.

"That's the Grimm dealt with, but I don't see any evidence of this artifact." Blake said. "Maybe this is the wrong camp."

"Give it time." Qrow whispered back. "It's been twenty seconds."

True to his words, it hadn't been long enough for anyone to react other than in fear. With the threat dealt with, the Arcanists began to argue loudly. Ruby could make out some occasional words – unsafe, lied, crazy. It seemed like they were questioning the decision to have a Grimm in camp.

The sharp shriek of a Nevermore, sharp and quick, silenced them. It wasn't big. Ruby had heard of the monstrous Nevermore Blake and Yang encountered – the one that had gone on to attack the Collegium. That thing had been as big as a house, while this was small. Small enough to perch on the arm of a figure in dark black robes. The hood was drawn up, but from this distance it looked like a man, tall and narrow without any curves. It could have been a very unhealthy woman, but given the state of the upper Arcanists, she doubted it. They took what they wanted, and they were used to eating fine food.

As the man walked toward the commotion, people moved out his way. They backed up, several bowing their heads low and others refusing, but still giving him a wide berth. He had authority. Power.

That had to be the one.

"There's something in his left hand." Blake said. "A staff? No, it's a rod. Could that be it?"

"It must be." Qrow said. "All the Grimm we've encountered before have been used in a mostly berserk fashion. Attack this, move here, guard this. To have a Nevermore ride on his arm so brazenly. There's no way someone who couldn't control them would dare allow that."

The man reached the dead body on the floor and looked down on it. He said something to the others. The camp was silent, but that meant the man could speak normally, much too quiet for them to make out anything. What was clear was that not everyone was happy. Someone pointed to the dead body and asked, or demanded, an answer. Others nodded their heads, several crossing arms and one going so far as to point accusingly at the figure in black.

Ruby half-expected them to react by killing those questioning them, but that didn't happen. The person instead continued to talk to them, then rose his rod into the air. Immediately, several Nevermore flew out of the nearby trees and landed before him, spread their wings and touched their beaks to the floor.

The message was clear – his control was absolute, and that the Grimm would not act without reason. She wasn't sure if he convinced them the dead man attacked first, or if he just used it as a threat to ensure their compliance. Either way, the crowd of Arcanists shuffled about awkwardly, a few breaking off to return to their tents.

"That's our confirmation." Qrow said. "He's the one we're after."

"We're done here, then." Blake said icily. "We leave, you contact the White and this place, and that man, are brought down. I'd rather not be here when that happens. I don't trust yours not to see a faunus without an Arcanum and assume I'm with them."

"We would say you helped us." Weiss said.

Blake snorted, clearly amused at the thought that would make any difference whatsoever. It probably wouldn't. For all her good deeds, a Rogue Arcanist was a Rogue. Maybe – maybe – Glynda would see fit to forgive her for helping foil this, but she'd demand she joined the Collegium, and she'd probably be forced to both give up the Shadow Arcana and only take one gemstone for the rest of her life. Couldn't have her be a three-gem Arcanist, could they? As for her dream of rebuilding Menagerie, that would never happen.

Ruby looked meaningfully at Qrow. There was still time for her to sneak in and take the sceptre. He shook his head. "We only needed to confirm what we're dealing with. Now that we have, it's best we summon the White. Anything we do more only risks warning him. He has a Grimm with him as well."

The last was said solely for her, a harsh reminder that this man wasn't dumb enough to leave himself unprotected. Except that hee shouldn't have needed that at all. Grimm couldn't detect Shadow magic, so why was he keeping a small Nevermore with him? Protection? It wasn't large enough to be a threat, but it could probably go for someone's eyes and buy him a few seconds. Important if one of his Arcanists tried to betray him.

That has to be it, she thought. It's to scare others, not because he actually expects a Wildmage to be a problem.

The Collegium wouldn't use them, and no one had any reason to think the one rumoured to be in the city was anyone other than Adam, and if they did believe, these people came from Menagerie. It was just plain old bad lucky that she wouldn't be able to use her invisibility to sneak in and take the sceptre out from under them.

Best they go back, tell the White and get all these people dealt with. The best part was that she didn't even have to reveal her secret to have that happen. No one had to know she was a Wildmage, and no one ever would.

And then the Arcanist in black reached their hands up and drew down their hood, perhaps to be heard clearly or maybe to appeal to his fellows with a face. Whatever the case, it sucked the air right out of Ruby's body and rooted her feet to the spot.

"Is that-?" Weiss asked.

"It is," Qrow snarled. "It's-"

Ruby warbled out a name. "Merlot…"

Bit of a short chapter. Mostly just because I planned for this ending and didn't want to go past it. I did consider slamming some bumf in the middle to stretch it out, but then is that really how writing should be? No, it isn't. So yep, Merlot is the big bad controlling the Grimm and has been since the beginning, and he knows about Ruby being a Wildmage, which means she kind of has to deal with him now.

How did he orchestrate the fall of Menagerie from Vale? How can he be in multiple places? I'm sure a lot of you clever folk have already guessed, but we'll go through it next chapter anyway.

The fallout next week!

Next Chapter: 12th September

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