Tymkyn bowed his head without hesitation.
Gabriel rested a hand on his head briefly before removing it. "I thought we'd lost you. You went silent."
"I couldn't get out!" Tymkyn exclaimed. Short, wide and ugly with a bulbous nose, the strong death dealer was Gabriel's best tracker, capable of navigating the changing landscape of the moody underworld. "Wasn't going through Hell again."
Gabriel smiled at his trusted hunter's distraught tone.
"Rhyn told me to find you." Tymkyn's expression changed, grew proud and beaming. "There are sixty death dealers here who refused Harmony's takeover. They're all that remain of the hundred that are loyal to you. She's been systematically tracking them and killing them."
"Sixty." Gabriel kept his tone even.
The number made some part of him weep. There were over a thousand death dealers in existence. About forty were trapped in the human realm, another few picked off by demons. Only sixty in the underworld remained loyal.
Tymkyn waited, excited by the news that filled Gabriel with sorrow.
Because, when this was over, those rebelling would be killed, which meant he'd experience another crisis trying to collect souls. It was more than that, though. It was the knowledge he'd have a hand in killing seven to eight hundred of the men and women who had become his colleagues over the years.
My duty is to something much higher. The souls, he reminded himself.
"That's good, Tymkyn," he said. "Great job locating them."
Tymkyn's smile widened. "I will take you to them!"
"No," Gabriel said quickly. "I cannot stray from my path right now."
"But you're headed to the palace with all of Harmony's dealers. Alone."
"I'm Death."
Tymkyn snorted. "You can still take a sword to the heart. Let me go. It would be the greatest honor to become a member of your vanguard."
Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder, the man's earnestness touching him. "You will, when this is over. For now, I have a matter I have to take care of before I attack them outright. Can you bring the others to my cabin?" he asked, referring to the tiny, wooden home where he'd lived, outside the palace, for hundreds of years. "Stay hidden and await my signal."
"I'd like to object, boss."
"I know, and I thank you for your concern. Consider this an order."
Tymkyn frowned. "I'll gather them now. What will your signal be?"
"I have a feeling you won't be able to miss it," Gabriel said with some humor, knowing how big of a bang he'd make when Harmony's men realized he was in their midst. "Quickly."
Tymkyn nodded and dashed into the brush.