The assault on the changeling loyalists' lair went rather according to plan. Sort of. The four of them climbed up the mountainside relatively well enough, avoiding the thorns and all, but then Jack lost his footing and plummeted to the ground beneath. That alerted some of the folks inside the loyalist camp who came rushing out to see what had happened. By that time, Blue and Billy were hiding in the bushes and it was up to Dante to stand his ground and attack those that came his way while the two allied changelings threw knives and the werewolf took people down while in urhan.
During all of this, Dante grabbed himself a sword that radiated heat. He didn't know how to work it, but hey. Worse came to worse he could sell it to Stix for something.
They found his mother tied up on a chair with some idiot holding her hostage. Johnny's wind-spirit-thing came rushing up behind him and killed him quick. Which was nice.
Mother wasn't too enthused about being rescued. That old adage, out of the fireplace and into the fire, seemed to have occured to her. Luckily she wasn't so contrary as to not even try to escape.
When asked about Daniel, Dante's older brother, Mother gestured out the window where his brutally tortured corpse swung from a noose.
Dante placed that image into a little mental ball that he pressed deep down into the acidic pit of his belly. Something to deal with another time. Or never. Never sounded good.
The group escaped to the sound of clashing armies at the gates as the loyalists and the Spring / Summer collection slammed into each other. They were taken to meet the monarchs for a rather tense conversation where the monarchs tried to suggest some kind of alliance which Mother resolutely refused. She wasn't about to do deals with demons, after all. The monarchs seemed to hope that Dante would speak for them but Dante knew better than to try to change Mother's mind.
Especially under the circumstances.
So Dante merely recommended Mother's release.
The changelings agreed but asked that Dante and Jack remain behind for a celebration. Dante refused, knowing that he had Mother's secret documentation and therefore needed to go now. Besides which, if she found out about the cold iron before he had the chance to remove them then he'd never get them back.
The monarchs stated that since his short sword was still in use on the field, they would need to meet again to return the blade. Dante made a time for noon that day at a particular location.
When they had been returned to their world, Mother asked Dante what her son had promised him for her rescue, stating that she would uphold whatever bargain was made. Dante merely stated that he was keeping the clothes, to which Mother was nonplussed. Luckily her recent torture and exhaustion kept her from being as suspicious as she normally would be.
So Dante left, taking his friends, his cold iron samples, and his stolen documentation with him. He had Johnny send the wind-ghost-thing to collect the cold iron dagger from the monarch, more out of fear that Mother would have figured out the theft rather than out of fear that the changelings would try to kill him.
The wind-ghost-thing returned with both the short sword and a note from the Spring King himself, who expressed regret that they hadn't met, mentioned that he had expended a lot of effort to have the opportunity to hand over the knife, and who expressed the dear hope that they would meet again.
Dante hoped not. The last thing he needed was another race to save.
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