Toby is sure that Steve is going to get his butt whooped sparring Douxie with magic, so he makes popcorn for while he and Krel enjoy the show. Steve's been learning magic for almost a week now – which Toby and Krel have been hearing about every night. The Green Knight hasn't attacked them since she escaped Trollmarket, just stalked them creepily, but that's not going to last long. Even if part of Toby is alittlejealous that Steve gets the cool magic powers, they're definitely going to need them.
"This is going to be good," says Krel. He grabs a handful of popcorn for himself.
Steve squares off on one side of Nimue's gym. Douxie stands on the other side, rolling up his hoodie sleeves.
"Okay," Mort says, standing as referee on the side-lines. "This is going to be a simple spar. Ten minutes, or until someone yields. No killing, no maiming, and Douxie? Stick to beginner spells for Steve's sake."
"Sure thing," says Douxie.
"Steve is going to get pummelled," Toby says.
"Ready?" calls Mort. Steve adjusts his stance and gives Douxie a confident grin. Douxie raises an eyebrow and smirks back. "Begin!"
Douxie lets Steve make the first move. Steve raises his hands and a glowing, golden circle forms in front of them – Toby is almost violently reminded of Morgana, but he tells himself that he's never really seen anyone do magic like this so it must be normal. Steve pushes the circle forward, yelling, "Fireball!"
"Why is he yelling his move like an anime character?" Toby scoffs.
Nimue steals a handful of popcorn. "Typical beginner move. Makes it easier to focus intent."
Douxie side-steps the rather pitiful "fireball" and it fizzles out in mid-air. Douxie counters with a wave of a hand and Steve shoots into the air with a screech.
"Douxie, beginner's spells," Mort chides.
"It's levitation!" Douxie protests. "That's a beginner spell! It's even more beginner than the fireball!"
Mort gives him an unimpressed look. Douxie drops Steve, who lands with a thud and a grunt. Steve pushes himself back to his feet. Toby gives him a thumbs-up. Krel cups his hands around his mouth.
"You can do this, Steve!" he calls. Then he grabs another handful of popcorn and mutters to Toby, "He can't do this."
Steve makes another determined attempt at a spell – this one he doesn't yell, but Toby can see him whispering it still. Eh, well, still better for stealth than shouting. His hands light up with the circles again. He slams his hands to the floor, and ice spreads from where his palms touch. Unfortunately for Steve, who was probably hoping the ice would reach Douxie, the ice stops about a half a foot from his hands and no further.
"Oh, come on!" Steve exclaims.
Mort covers his face in that special sort of embarrassment that comes from being the teacher of a student making a fool of themselves in public. Douxie grins and blue-grey circles form around his hands.
"What's with the circles, anyway?" Toby asks, drawing his attention away from the spar for a moment.
"Focusers," says Nimue. She grabs more popcorn. "Even the most experienced wizards need them for a lot of spells. They help prevent our magic from lashing out or reacting wrong."
Toby nods. "But they aren't needed for every spell? 'Cause Douxie did the one spell without them. And I know I saw Morgana do spells without them."
"Yep," says Nimue. "Most simple spells can be done without a focuser. And if you're experienced enough, you can do a good bit without one, so I'm not surprised Morgana could. You can also conjure weapons without one."
Toby snaps back to the duel as Steve, screaming, careens into a wall. Douxie looks smug. Toby has no idea what he did and wishes he'd been paying attention to see it. Mort looks like he's given up.
Douxie readies focusers again and Steve covers his head.
"Yield! I yield!" he cries. Douxie lowers his hand and walks over to Steve to offer him help getting back up. Steve takes it, although with a good measure of Steve-style pouting.
"Not bad, for a beginner," says Douxie.
"And now I know what we need to work on," mutters Mort. "Alright. Later. Right now, I say we go out for ice cream, my treat. In celebration of Steve's progress."
Krel snorts. "What progress?"
"I heard that!" Steve snaps.
"Hey, you didn't do too bad, man," says Toby as Steve and Douxie join the rest of them. "Besides, it was your first spar! You should have seen Jimbo the first time he sparred anyone. Draal totally kicked his butt, like, way worse than this. You'll get the hang of it."
"Toby is right," says Mort. "It takes time and practice."
"Yeah, I guess," grumbles Steve.
"You should have seen Douxie when he was starting out," adds Mort.
Douxie's eyes widen. "No. No, he should not have seen that."
"I have video," says Mort.
"No," moans Douxie.
"It'll definitely make you feel better." Mort pats Steve on the shoulder. Douxie lets out an annoyed groan. "No one starts out a master."
The Green Knight is waiting outside when they come upstairs in the shop. Toby is really sick of her following them around. He hopes she lets them get ice cream in peace. Toby could really go for an ice cream.
Unfortunately, Toby's hopes are in vain. They make it just far enough from the shop that they can't just turn around and run back inside, and then the Green Knight attacks. Mort immediately throws up a shield, golden-bronze focusers lighting up around his hands.
Nimue summons her daggers and mutters a curse under her breath. Krel deactivates his transduction. The rest of them ready their weapons.
"Alright, maybe not ice cream today," says Mort. "We'll have to rain check. Kids, get out of here. I'll hold her off."
"I'll help!" adds Douxie.
Mort shoots his nephew a glare. "I said kids. You are a kid. Go with the kids!"
"Come on," Toby urges. Douxie makes a frustrated noise, then motions for them to follow him. Toby feels a bit bad leaving Mort and Nimue alone, but from the flashes of light behind them, he's pretty sure they'll be okay.They stand a better chance than any of the rest of them.
"Which way to Trollmarket?" Douxie demands as they run.
"This way!" Toby takes the lead, suddenly very glad he still carries the horngazel with him almost everywhere as a force of habit. They'll be safe in Trollmarket for a little bit, even if the Knight does manage to get past Mort.
They barrel past pedestrians in downtown Arcadia on their way to the canal. He misses the time when none of the bad guys ever attacked in broad daylight. Oh, man, things were so much simpler back then.
"Into the canal!" he calls.
Toby stumbles to the wall and opens the portal as quickly as he can. He has no idea how much time they have. As soon as it's open, the four of them rush through. The portal closes behind them. They're safe.
For now.
"Okay," says Toby. "We need to get deeper into Trollmarket. Buy ourselves more time to think up a plan."
"Right, good plan," says Douxie.
"Mort and Nimue can handle her," says Steve. "Right? I mean, he's like – like really good at magic. And Nimue's a great fighter!"
"Yeah, but the Knight is relentless, man," says Toby. "And she doesn't have to beat them to get away."
"Deeper…" repeats Krel to himself. His eyes widen. "That's it! The Deep!"
"What?" says Steve.
"The Deep," Krel repeats. "We can hide in the safe where Can-in-jars hid Gaylen's core!"
"What?"
"No, no, no, Krel's right," says Toby. "Come on, this way."
Toby leads them through the remains of Trollmarket. He really, really hates being here. After this, his new goal is to never come back. They can find somewhere else to hide. Maybe they'll high-tail it to the Janus Order and hide there. Or maybe they can get Not-Enrigue's help and hide in Strickler's office. If the green Knight were a changeling, she'd be in troll form now, right? Since they rescued the familiars? So they'd know if she was a changeling.
They reach the Hero's Forge and the ledge to the Deep. Steve and Douxie both turn pale when they look down. Douxie stumbles back a few steps.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" he asks. "Please tell me jumping off a cliff isn't the plan."
"Kinda the plan," says Toby.
Krel pulls out his hoverboard and drops it. It expands to full size. "Okay," he says. "This can do two at a time. Toby, can you take Douxie?"
Toby activates his war-hammer. "You got it, man."
"Maybe we come up with a different plan," says Douxie.
"Relax," says Krel. "Toby and I have done this before. And the defences are probably off."
"And if they aren't?" Steve squeaks.
"It's only your worst fear," reasons Krel. "I managed it. You'll be fine."
"This feels like a terrible idea," says Douxie.
"Just don't let go," says Toby. Krel and Steve climb onto the hoverboard and dive in first, then Douxie grabs onto Toby and they jump off. It takes the wizard a good thirty seconds to realise they aren't plummeting to their dooms, at which point he finally relaxes. They hit the ground outside the safe, which isn't so much a safe anymore as a mostly-caved-in room.
"We'll be safe here for as long as it takes the Knight to find us," says Krel.
"Yeesh, what happened here?" says Steve.
"Morando happened," says Toby. "We fought him to protect Gaylen's core."
"And lost," mutters Krel.
"Yeah, I can see that," says Steve.
"Okay, we need a plan," says Toby. "It's four of us against one of her. You're good at fighting, right, Douxie?"
Douxie winces. "Yes? Not as good as my uncle. If they get past him, we don't stand a chance."
"Thanks for the optimism, man, really appreciate it." Toby starts pacing, trying to come up with something that might help them. On the upside, they're all armed. On the downside, none of them are very good fighters. Douxie is definitely right that if the Green Knight can beat MortandNimue, they're pretty screwed.
Douxie pulls out his phone. "I'm going to see if I can reach Mort."
"Good, good," says Toby. "Steve? Krel? Ideas?"
"Every bad guy has to have a weakness, right?" says Steve. "We just gotta find her weakness!"
"What weakness?" exclaims Krel. "She always finds us and always beats us. It's hopeless!"
Douxie, clearly frustrated, lowers his phone. "No response from Mort. He must be still fighting."
"We're sitting ducks," Toby says.
"Maybe we try to ambush her when she gets here," says Krel. "That way, we have the advantage of surprise."
"Well, that's half a plan," says Douxie. "I like it. Find somewhere to hide and be ready."
Krel uses the jagged stones on the wall to clamber up it. Douxie presses himself to the wall on the other side of the entrance, behind a couple of jagged stones. Toby and Steve both scramble behind the rocks in the rest of the room.
"Now, we wait," Douxie says.
They try calling both Mort and Nimue a couple more times. The more Mort doesn't answer, the more anxious Douxie gets. Toby gets it. He tries to assume they're still fighting and not – well, the alternative – but he also kinda has to assume the alternative just in case.
From outside, Toby hears armoured footsteps. Douxie tenses. All four of them ready themselves to attack.
The second the Green Knight walks in, Krel drops from above her with a yell and serrator-spear activated. He actually manages to knock her backwards, but then she grabs the spear and uses it to slam him into the floor. Steve and Toby both charge, weapons drawn. Douxie's hands light up with focusers and he sends a blast of magic towards her. She leaps out of the way, and Steve and Toby are both bowled over by Douxie's attack.
Krel pushes himself off the floor, groaning, then shifts his serrator into a gun and takes several shots at the Knight. She dodges all of them.
"See?" Krel calls. "No weaknesses!"
Douxie skids in front of the three of them, throwing up a shield and grunting when the Knight attacks it.
"You guys need to get out of here!" he snaps. "It's you she's after. I'll hold her off for as long as I can."
"No way!" Toby cries. "You said it yourself, if she beat Mort, you don't stand a chance!"
"Go!" Douxie snarls, before summoning a sparking battle-staff and charging at the Knight with a fierce yell.
"You heard the wizard!" Krel exclaims.
The three of them run. Krel activates his hoverboard and he and Steve leap on. Toby shoots upward with his war-hammer. He glances back at his friends. "I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work!"
"Better than nothing!" Steve yells.
"Follow me!"
He leads them straight to the Gyre station. To his relief, the Gyre is there waiting for them. He hadn't been sure if it had been destroyed or not, but he's very glad to see it isn't.
"Climb in," he orders. He panics for a moment on where to take them, then remembers he doesn't completely know how the Gyre works and ultimately puts in something at random and hopes it's far enough away that they won't be immediately followed and probably killed.
"What is this thing?" Steve demands.
"It's a Gyre!" says Toby. "Hold on tight!"
He turns it on. The Gyre shoots off towards its destination. Steve shrieks in terror. Krel cackles like he's on a rollercoaster. It's over in probably as much time as a rollercoaster would be, depositing them deep in a cave system Toby doesn't recognise.
Toby climbs out. Steve clambers to the nearest outcropping of rock and vomits. Yeah, Toby didn't need to see that. Krel leaps out, still laughing.
"That was amazing!" he exclaims. "We should do it again."
"Not amazing!" Steve manages. "Never again!"
"I think we're safe," says Toby. "For now."
"Where are we?" says Steve.
"Uh, good question," says Toby. "One I do not know the answer to."
"What!?"
"We had to get away! I can't read Trollish! I improvised!"
"We can improvise some more," Krel suggests. "Maybe get even further."
"I am never getting on that thing again!" Steve splutters.
"Gonna have to if you want to get home," Toby points out.
Steve lets out an incoherent, angry yell. Krel hides a laugh, still clearly exhilarated by the ride. Toby makes a note to take Krel to an amusement park if they don't get killed and the world doesn't end.
There are footsteps from further down the cave – armoured footsteps, which immediately puts all three of them back on edge. They ready their weapons. Maybe they didn't get as far as Toby hoped.
The person who rounds the corner isn't the Green Knight. Rather, it's Jim, sword drawn and looking just as blue as the last time Toby saw him.
"Toby!?" he exclaims in shock. Daylight disappears. Toby deactivates his war-hammer as Jim bounds forward and lifts him into a hug. "Tobes! What are you doing here?"
"Jimbo, hey!" Toby laughs and pats his best friend's back. "It's a long story."
Jim puts him down and glances at Krel and Steve. He waves. "Hey, Steve. Krel. I guess I didn't hallucinate that conversation after all."
Krel chuckles awkwardly. "Uh, nope."
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am," says Jim, "but how did you find us?"
"On accident, really," says Toby, nodding to the Gyre. "We were kinda in a rush."
"Toby improvised," says Krel. "It was fantastic."
"Come on," says Jim. "Claire and Blinky will be happy to see you, too. We're camped this way."
The three of them follow Jim back around the corner he'd come from. Coming from the destruction of Trollmarket to see all of the trolls alive and well here feels like a breath of fresh air. Blinky lights up as they approach, and Claire gasps and runs forward to give Toby a hug as well.
"Toby!" she exclaims. She glances at the others. "And Steve and – Krel, right?"
Krel nods and waves.
"Young Tobias, what brings you here?" asks Blinky, giving Toby a two-armed side-hug and a warm smile. All of them sit down in a circle. Krel is still bouncing with energy from the Gyre ride. Jim shifts shortly after sitting to a cross-legged position, leaning back on his hands.
Toby gives the room a cursory look around. He finds Merlin far on the other side, oblivious to their arrival. "Uh, to be fully honest, we were running for our lives."
Jim's brow furrows and he sits up straighter. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"
"Before we tell you, you have to promise not to tell your Merlin," says Krel.
Jim and Claire exchange looks and nod. Blinky harrumphs. "You know I don't trust that man as far as I could throw him."
"Yeah, well, neither do we," says Steve.
"So, for the past couple of weeks, there's been this crazy lady in green armour stalking us," says Toby. "Sometimes attacking us and beating the crap out of us. And she just attacked us again, so we did the smart thing and ran."
"Douxie said she's called the Green Knight," says Krel. "She is a tester of heroes, whatever that means. We keep failing her tests."
"That is highly unusual and concerning," says Blinky.
"Yeah, well, it turns out the world is ending again," says Toby. "Third time this summer. Isn't that great?"
"You know, it's really the fourth if you count the asteroid," points out Krel.
"Thank you, Krel," says Steve flatly. "Four apocalypses since school let out. That's even better."
Jim rests his arms on his legs and leans forward. "Do you want us to come help? Not that I don't think you can handle it! But, hey – Trollhunters have to have each other's backs."
"Thanks, Jimbo," says Toby. "But I dunno. We really don't want to bring Merlin into this if we can help it, and if you guys come back to Arcadia, he'll know something's up."
"I know you don't like him, but he might be able to help," points out Jim.
"Mort doesn't trust him either," says Steve. At the others' confused looks, he adds, "Mort's Douxie's uncle. And my magic teacher. I'm a wizard now."
Jim looks appropriately impressed. Claire snorts. "You'rea wizard?"
"Yes!" Steve exclaims, clearly insulted. "Yes, I'm a wizard. I'm a great wizard. Right? Tell her."
"Steve got – how did you say, Toby? – Steve got pummelled this morning in his wizard duel," says Krel.
"Don't tell her that!"
"Well, it's true."
"If you really don't want us to come, we won't," says Jim. "But we can if you do. Just call me anytime. I'll find a way back ASAP."
"I know you will," says Toby.
"I just wish we knew how to defeat her," says Krel. "Nothing we do works. She managed to get past some of the best fighters we know!"
Blinky crosses his arms. "Hm. Have you tried a dwarkstone?"
"Um," says Toby, "no. We don't want to blow her up, we just want her to stop stalking us!"
"It sounds to me like you need to pass her test," says Claire. "I guess – beat her in a fight."
"Again, she beat Mort and Nimue!" Krel points out, throwing a hand out for emphasis. "We don't stand a chance!"
"Well, not with that attitude you don't!" says Blinky.
Jim puts a hand on Toby's shoulder and looks between the three of them. "Hey, did I stand a chance against Draal those first two times I fought him? Or Bular? Or Gunmar and Morgana? No! I was way out-matched. I mean, I wrote goodbye letters for the fight against Draal!"
"Yeah," says Toby. He still has his, tucked away in a bookshelf. As touching as it was, part of it still scares him, that Jim had actually written goodbye letters, that he'd thought he was going to die and Toby couldn't do anything about it. He vows not to let something like that ever happen again. No more goodbyes.
"Even when it seems completely hopeless, you've still got to give it your all," Jim declares. "You guys have something she doesn't – you have each other, and that's all you really need."
"Uh, each other hasn't been enough the past several times," says Krel.
"Then learn from them," says Jim. "I know that if you guysreallywork together and play to each of your strengths, I know you can beat her. You just have to have faith in yourselves."
"You really think we can do this?" Toby asks.
Jim smiles and nods. "I know you can."
Toby glances at Krel and Steve. They don't look convinced, but Steve gives him a shrug and a nod.
"Alright," he says. "Time to go kick some evil knight butt. I guess."
"This is going to go so badly," says Krel.
"Call me afterwards," says Jim. "If you don't, I'm coming back to Arcadia whether you like it or not."
"Okay, okay, I'll call," says Toby.
They all stand. Jim pulls Toby in for another hug, and then Claire and Blinky both join. Toby wishes he knew exactly how he got the Gyre to bring them here, because if he did he'd be visiting Jim, like, all the time. He misses his best friend.
"Be safe," Jim mumbles.
"I'll try," Toby replies.
It seems Steve likes the Gyre just as much the second time around. Krel, at least, has gotten his good adrenaline rush for the week. Before they leave the Gyre station, Toby tries to lay out a plan.
"Okay," he says. "Steve. What magicdoyou know?"
"Um, the basics," says Steve awkwardly. "I can sort of levitate things? Not people. I might catch people on fire."
"I think that would be acceptable," says Krel flatly.
"Um, some basic elemental spells," Steve continues. "That's all Mort taught me. Oh! But I did read in the book about a spell to, like, freeze people in place? That might also catch her on fire. I don't know. I've never tried it."
"Eh, we'll call it a risk worth taking," says Toby. "Krel, you hold her attention. You're pretty good at that, you seem to be her favourite if we're judging by injuries."
"This already sounds like I'm getting the worst job," mutters Krel.
"Steve, while she's distracted, you cast that freezing spell," says Toby. "Then I'll come in with my hammer and knock her out! Assuming she's not on fire or something."
"And if she is on fire?" Steve asks.
Toby thinks about it for a second. "You dump water on her and then I'll knock her out."
"I don't know any water spells," Steve says.
"Well, then, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," says Toby. "Everyone got it? Good plan? Playing to our strengths?"
"Apparently my strength is getting injured," grumbles Krel.
"No, your strength is keeping her distracted," Toby corrects.
"Do we have a Plan B?" asks Steve.
"Uh…"
"Get back to the improvisation machine and get out of here," says Krel, jerking his head towards the Gyre.
"The Gyre, and no, we can't run awayagain, guys." Toby activates his war-hammer and twirls it, trying to look cool but also fumbling and almost dropping it. "We cando this. It's like Jimbo said, we just gotta have faith in ourselves!"
"I don't think you understand how incredibly cheesy that is," says Steve. "This isn't a movie!"
"Notyet it's not." That sounded cooler in his head, so he backtracks and tries again. "Look, guys. Just give it a shot. She's just going to keep following us and then one day, she'll give up and just kill us, so we gotta stop her today."
"Or she could just kill us today," Krel points out.
"Enough pessimistic comments from the peanut gallery!" Toby exclaims. Krel makes a baffled face. "You guys ready? Because she's probably waiting for us."
"Ready as we'll ever be," says Steve.
Toby opens the portal back into Trollmarket. They stay on edge, weapons drawn as they walk inside. As if this place wasn't creepy enough without the possibility of a knight trying to kill them lurking around the corner.
The Knight is waiting for them outside what used to be Bagdwella's old place. A few feet behind her, Douxie is unconscious on the stone. Toby forces down his fear at the sight of his friend lying motionless on the ground – Douxie will be fine. Toby can't let himself believe anything else.
"What did you do to Douxie?" Krel demands. The Knight doesn't respond, so Krel activates his serrator sword and runs at her with an angry yell. Toby and Steve start inching around to flank her. Toby keeps an eye on Krel to make sure he's holding his own – the second Krel is in life-threatening danger of any kind, Toby's throwing away the plan. The plan does not include any of them getting killed. Preferably, none of them will get hurt either.
Nimue's lessons have been paying off. Krel's doing a much better job against her than he ever would have done a week ago. Toby nods to Steve. Steve shakes his head and gestures wildly.
"Now," Toby mouths.
Steve points insistently at Krel, then makes a cutthroat motion. Oh. Krel's in the way.
"Krel!" Toby calls.
Krel looks at him for a split-second, but the momentary distraction is all the Green Knight needs to sweep his legs out from under him. Krel lands hard on the stone with a muffled, "Oof!" The Knight raises her sword. Steve panics.
"Freeze!" he yells, throwing out his hands. Golden focusers burst to life. The Green Knight freezes, surrounded by gold, her sword inches away from coming down on Krel's unprotected back.
"Seklos and Gaylen," Krel manages. He shimmies out from under the blade, then stands and gives Toby a wide-eyed look. "Never make me do that again!"
"Yeah, no, we're never doing that again," Toby agrees.
"Uh, guys?" strains Steve. His focusers are flickering. "I can't hold this forever."
"Crap, right!" exclaims Toby. He shoots into the air with his hammer and speeds at her. "Have a nice nap!"
Steve's spell fails just as Toby manages to make contact with the back of the Knight's head. For a second, he's worried at it didn't knock her out, but then she collapses. Toby relaxes.
"We did it?" Steve laughs in disbelief. "We did it! We did it! We beat her!"
"See? I told you we could do it!" Toby holds up his hand to Krel, who grins and high-fives him. Toby took special care to teach him that, so he's proud Krel remembered. "Jimbo was right! All we had to do is believe in ourselves!"
"No, all we had to do is actually come up with a plan for once," says Steve.
"We should do this planning thing more often," agrees Krel. Then his eyes widen. "Douxie!"
Toby's good mood flees him in an instant. The three of them run to Douxie's side and kneel beside him. Krel's eyes dart over his form, four hands hovering as if afraid to touch him. Steve gently turns him onto his back. There aren't any stab wounds that Toby can see, and he's breathing, both pluses. Steve shakes him lightly, careful not to hurt him worse.
Douxie groans and scrunches up his face, before blinking his eyes open and sitting up. He puts a hand to his head. "Guys? What – happened?"
"We should be asking you that, man," says Toby. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh, nothing a quick headache potion won't fix," says Douxie. Then he gasps. "The Knight – I couldn't beat her, you guys need to get out of here."
"Hey, hey, it's okay," says Krel. "We beat her."
"You – what?"
"We beat her," says Steve, puffing out his chest proudly. "We made a plan and it actually worked. See?"
Douxie squints past them and shakes his head. "Huh. Nicely done. We should get her back to the shop – oh, no, Mort!"
He digs his phone out of his pocket and fumbles to dial his uncle. With a glance at the rest of them, he puts it on speaker-phone. It rings once, then Mort picks up. "Douxie!? Douxie, where are you? Why haven't you been picking up your phone? Are you and the others okay? I'm coming to get you, stay where you are. You're trying to give me a heart attack–"
"I'm okay, Uncle Mort," Douxie cuts in. "So are the others. We're in Trollmarket, and I don't think your truck can drive in here."
"And what of the Green Knight?"
"We beat her!" Toby exclaims. "We actually won!"
"You did? Oh, that's fantastic news. Alright, I'll meet you outside Trollmarket with my truck. Er – where is Trollmarket?"
"The canal," Toby, Krel, and Steve chorus. Toby supposes they've heard him yell "Get to the canal!" enough that it's ingrained in their memories.
"Alright, see you in a few."
Mort hangs up. Douxie visibly relaxes.
"Thank goodness he's okay," he says. Then he glares at the rest of them. "We are not telling him I got knocked out. I'll never hear the end of it."
"As long as you don't tell him I tried a spell I wasn't supposed to," says Steve.
Douxie gives him an appraising look and nods. "Deal."
They bring the Green Knight back to Mort's shop and tie her up in the library. Nimue checks in briefly to assure them she's fine and congratulate them for getting lucky. Mort insists on checking all of them for injuries like a frazzled parent, muttering about how he should have known better than to let them go off alone. He tuts at the dark bruises blossoming on Krel's back and frets at the lump on Douxie's head.
"Okay," says Mort as they gather in the library with the unconscious Knight. "I'm going to wake her. I want you boys to try to contain your questions and let me handle this."
They all nod obediently.
Mort waves a hand in front of her and snaps. She gasps awake. Her eyes dart between all of them, disoriented, then she realises she's tied to a chair in an unfamiliar room and starts immediately struggling.
"Calm down, we won't hurt you," says Mort. "We just want to ask you some questions, alright?"
She meets his eyes.
"Where am I?" she demands.
"You're in my home, you're safe," says Mort. "My name is Mort Penn. I'm a wizard. This is my nephew, Douxie. And these boys are Toby, Krel, and Steve. Do you recognise them?"
Steve scoffs and opens his mouth to say something, but Krel shoots him a look and shakes his head.
"I – yes, vaguely," she says. "The boys I was sent to – oh, no. No, no, no, please tell me I didn't hurt them."
"Vaguely?" prompts Mort. He speaks like he's realising he actually got the answer right on a particularly hard math problem.
"Yes, vaguely – ugh, will you please untie me, this is incredibly uncomfortable," she says. At their dubious looks, she adds. "I'm not going to hurt you, either. Please."
"Why did you attack these boys?" Mort asks.
She makes a frustrated noise. "I had to – I was mind-controlled."
Mort leans back and nods, unsurprised. The rest of them exchange wide-eyed looks.
"Well?" says the Knight.