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Loren almost pitied the little Freeman. He'd seen Zahi get like this before. The man wouldn't stop talking until his listeners either ran away or caved to his implied demands.

In both cases, Loren's role in this conversation was pretty much over, so he decided to speak privately with Rezolo instead. 'What are you thinking?' he asked.

'Do you wish to join this Fellowship?' said the reaper, echoing.

'It has me curious, at least.'

'Fine. Then you have my permission, on the condition that you use it as leverage to get us transferred out of this sect.'

Loren had to stop himself from reacting visibly to that. 'You want out? You never mentioned that before.'

'I didn't have a problem with it until today.'

It took him a second to put those clues together. 'You're afraid of the Riders...'

'I am. And if you are not, then you are a fool. The Mendocava are far beyond our ability to deal with--beyond anyone in this camp.'

'They didn't attack us, though. Only the aberration.'

'Yes, and they rent him to dust. Even his bones cannot be harvested now.'

Loren threw another look around the encampment. Everyone else seemed to have already settled back down after the encounter with the Riders, but that wasn't terribly strange, he supposed. These were soldiers and madmen of Abolish. Flexibility under stress was arguably their greatest strength as a unit.

And yet here was Rezolo. The reaper might have sounded as calm as ever, but these weren't the words of someone confident or comfortable. In fact, this might've been the most scared that Loren had ever heard him.

'And as it will likely prove relevant to the mission,' the reaper went on, 'Kareem will keep prodding them. I would rather not be here the next time they appear.'