"They spent however long befriending Fenric, gaining his trust, keeping him close, all so they could use him when it was convenient." Shen Yu's voice remained completely even. "That kind of preparation deserves to be rewarded. They will get exactly what they planned for. Just in a different form."
Cherry was quiet for a moment.
[I like you. You're one of those face slapping characters readers love in light novels.]
-_-
Shen Yu sat down at the wooden table. "Now. Tell me everything about their plan. Every detail."
[Of course!] Cherry chimed, and began.
[Their plan is quite detailed so before I continue, I have something to ask!]
Shen Yu looked up from the table.
"What?"
[I have been given permission to materialize into a physical form now that my host has settled into the new world. I will need you to choose.]
A small menu appeared beneath Cherry's text.
[Option one: Fish.]
[Option two: Cat.]
[Option three: Dog.]
[Option four: Falcon.]
Shen Yu looked at the list.
"A fish?"
[It is a valid option!]
"What use is a fish on land?"
Cherry did not respond to that.
Shen Yu looked at the cat and dog options. He thought about fur. He thought about fur getting everywhere. On the bed, on the clothes, on the food.
"Not the cat or dog."
[May I ask why?]
"Fur is too much of a hassle."
[...Noted.]
Shen Yu looked at the last option.
"Falcon."
[Excellent choice!]
The glowing screen flickered once. Then it folded into itself, collapsing smaller and smaller until it was nothing at all.
For a moment the room was completely silent.
Then there was a rush of wings.
A falcon materialized on the edge of the wooden table. She was large, the full size of a grown adult falcon, white feathers sharp as cut paper and her eyes a startling shade of blue that had nothing to do with any natural bird Shen Yu had ever seen.
She was an impressive thing.
Taking up considerably more of the table than the screen ever had.
She blinked at him.
He looked back.
"You will do."
"You will do?!" Cherry's blue eyes went wide. "I am a magnificent blue eyed white falcon and all you can say is you will do? I materialized specifically for you! Do you know how many hosts would weep with joy right now?"
"Are you going to tell me the plan or not?"
Cherry snapped her beak once. Then she smoothed her feathers back down with great dignity.
"Fine. Those three," she said, her cheerful voice dropping into something considerably more serious, "were wicked to the very end."
Shen Yu leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.
"Talk."
"The border raid was never about livestock or supplies," Cherry began. "That was the story they told Fenric."
Shen Yu's eyes narrowed. "Then what was it about?"
"Dorin has been stealing from the territory lord for months. Small amounts at first. Manageable amounts. But he got greedy." Cherry tilted her head. "The territory lord noticed. He has been quietly investigating and Dorin found out. He needed a way out."
"So he planned the raid as a cover."
"Yes. During the chaos of the raid, Dorin intended to plant the evidence of his theft on Fenric. The stolen goods, the records, everything. Fenric would be caught, charged not just for the raid but for months of theft he knew nothing about, and Dorin would walk away clean with Cassie and Wulf backing his alibi."
Shen Yu was quiet for a moment.
"So they were not just going to let him die during the raid. The plot thickens."
"No." Cherry said. "They were going to make sure he rotted in a territory prison for years first. Death would have been a mercy compared to what they actually planned."
The room was very quiet.
Shen Yu leaned back in his chair slowly.
"How long have they been planning this?"
"Four months."
"Four months." He repeated it without inflection. "While eating with him, laughing with him, calling him a friend."
Cherry said nothing. She simply watched him with those startling blue eyes.
Shen Yu stood up.
"Tell me where the stolen goods are hidden."
"A storage unit on the east side of town. Behind the old mill." Cherry paused. "What are you thinking?"
Shen Yu was already moving toward the door.
"I told you." He picked up Fenric's worn coat from the hook on the wall and put it on. "The double crosser is about to be double crossed. If there is evidence sitting somewhere with Fenric's name on it, I want to find it before they do."
"And then?"
Shen Yu opened the door. Morning light spilled into the small room.
"And then I am going to put Dorin's name on it instead."
Cherry spread her large wings and lifted off the table in one smooth motion, landing on Shen Yu's shoulder with surprising lightness for a bird her size.
"Now," she said, her cheerful voice fully restored, "I am starting to see why they chose you."
Shen Yu stepped outside.
"Yes. So I must put on a good show."
The town was busier in the morning than Shen Yu had expected.
Merchants were setting up stalls along the main street, children were running errands with baskets twice their size, and somewhere nearby a blacksmith had already started work. The smell of bread from a bakery two doors down was doing its best to be distracting.
Shen Yu ignored all of it and walked east.
"Third street past the market," Cherry said quietly from his shoulder. "Then left at the well. You will see the mill from there."
"How do you know the layout of this town?"
"I know everything about Ramon," Cherry said, with the satisfaction of someone who had been waiting to say that. "Every territory, every town, every back alley and hidden room. I am a very thorough system."
"Then why did you not just tell me where the evidence was from the beginning?"
Cherry was quiet for a moment.
"I was getting to it."
Shen Yu turned left at the well.
The old mill came into view quickly. It was exactly what it sounded like. Old. The wheel had stopped turning at some point and nobody had bothered to fix it. Behind it, half hidden by overgrown grass, was a low storage unit with a rusted lock on the door.
Shen Yu crouched in front of it and examined the lock.