By the time Delziel and Peachy had gotten back, it was well past dark. They almost weren't allowed back into the base camp, but one of the guards had broken the rules to open the gate for them. Delziel was glad for it and promised to speak with Captain Mustato about it in the morning.

As promised, he made his way to the command building as soon as day broke.

The older man he'd spoken with the day before was there, sipping his morning sludge and looking grumpy as ever. He barely looked up from the map table he stood behind. Colored pins marked spots in the forest, and Delziel was familiar enough with military operations to know that each pin represented a scout. There were ten deployed. "I heard you made contact with my missing man. Why didn't you bring him back with you?"

Delziel felt Peachy look at him with a slow rotation of his head. Instead of answering the berrykin, he pulled the name badge from his pocket to set on the map table. "Wasn't anything intact enough to bring back. Your man ran into an oshu. But how did you know we found him?"

"His PCD still has power. We've been tracking it," Captain Mustato said, taking the badge with a serious expression, his thick mustache twitching.

Peachy buzzed over to land on the table hard enough to dislodge two pins. "Wait a minute oso! You mean you've known where that guy was this whole time and haven't sent anyone out to get him yourself oso?"

"We did. He went missing, too," the captain said, pointing at one of the pins Peachy had dislodged. "However, Private Ulratch's PCD has been on the move since yesterday. You two were in close proximity of it, but you didn't see anything?"

With a sinking feeling, Delziel shook his head.

"We were looking for Lemon oso." Peachy lifted off the map and carefully put back the pins he'd knocked loose.

"We found what may have been her remains, but her skin is missing," Delziel explained further. "We also tracked the path of a human woman in the company of what we suspect is a demon."

Captain Mustato choked on the thick black coffee he was sipping. Quickly turning away, he set his cup down elsewhere and got a handkerchief out of his pocket to cough into. "Demon?" he choked out amid continued coughing. "Are you sure? Is she working with it?"

"She smelled terrified oso. She might have Ulratch's PCD, though oso." Peachy picked his claws nervously. "If she has his PCD, maybe we could call her oso?"

"No," Delziel said immediately. "If she's still in the demon's company, we don't want it to know we're tracking them and how. It might do something to her. That's if she survived the sasquteel."

"The PCD started moving again this morning," Captain Mustato said, pointing at the map. "It was here all afternoon yesterday."

As the older man had said, the PCD's location had moved at least two miles south. It was moving away from Mt. Pallin, which could mean that she'd gotten away from the demon by pretending to be dead. But given the PCD's prior location, Delziel and Peachy had been within five hundred feet of her at one point.

"There was a recent landslide in that area oso," Peachy reported. "Just loose shale, but there was also a sasquteel oso."

"I'd like to borrow a dergenflurgen," Delziel added.

Mustato frowned, wiping his mustache with his handkerchief. He nodded finally. "Though you'll have to wait until afternoon to have it. It just flew out to base camp two and isn't due back until ten."

Peachy huffed, folding his arms, but even he knew it was important to let their mount rest after a flight like that. "Why's it gone to base camp two oso? We were just there oso."

"We're sharing a Green Mage with them, and they needed her assistance," Mustato explained.

Peachy was forced to relent and dropped his arms to his sides with a sigh. "Even though this woman may have important information about the demon oso. The longer we wait, the more likely it'll be that the demon will kill her oso."

"I'd say it already tried, given the oshu and sasquteel," Delziel said, looking at the map again. "We discovered his body here. But the only oshu we found in the area was here, near where we found Lemon's possible remains." He pointed, and Mustato set new pins. "What sort of supplies was your man carrying?"

"Standard pack," Mustato said. "Unless he added something extra."

Which meant six mid-level healing potions, three mana, a sleeping bag, a pop tent, instaglo, PCD, a couple of tins of rations, a water bottle, and a fire starter kit. Those would be useful for the unknown woman... if she got the chance to use them. Delziel was still mentally kicking himself for missing seeing her when they were that close, though.

I won't lose her today.

While he kept trying to tell himself that it was entirely irrational to expect, Peachy's mention that she smelled like Celestia had not left his mind. He needed to confirm that she was someone entirely different.

"Is the Emelet's Blessing not working?" Captain Mustato asked, rightfully concerned. "It shouldn't be this far away from the mountain. You're sure it's a demon?"

That really was the confusing part about this, Delziel had to admit, and felt chagrined that he'd gotten so wrapped up in needing to save the woman that he'd minimized that part of the situation.

Peachy nodded. "That's what it smells like oso." He looked at Delziel, waiting for him to explain the Emelet's Blessing.

"The Blessing is a banishment spell," Delziel said. "Demons should be expelled back to the peak after a short period. It's still working." He knew that much for certain, since every time he showed some of his demonic traits, he felt the power start to build around him. A silent threat to keep himself under control or get banished to the peak and have to find his own way down. He'd had that happen three times in the past. Getting down from Mt. Pallin was dangerous with provisions. It was much worse without.

"So if it's still working, why hasn't this demon been banished oso?" Peachy asked, frowning at the map table in thought. He gasped. "Do you think... it stole Lemon's skin oso?"

"That's... a very disturbing thought," Mustato said grimly. "But how would that help it evade getting banished?"

Delziel's lips pressed into a line. "Perhaps that's the loophole in the spell. It leaves me alone as long as I'm not using those powers... As long as I appear human."

Mustato looked up. "If that's how it works... we might have an invasion on our hands."