Seth crept out into the clearing carefully, alert for any sign of movement and ready to cast Barrier in an instant. Mau had become unusually alarmed when he'd headed into the clearing, so he tried to figure out what she'd seen, but so far there was nothing here but the dead animals.

They needed to know more about the dead animals, what they were, and how they died. And the only way to find out was to go and look.

He understood how dangerous it was. Something out here was able to sever limbs. Seth liked all his limbs attached, and wanted to keep them that way.

Seth recognized the dead animal he'd crept into the clearing to examine. It was a whirling sickle weasel, but he could see no immediate cause of death. It wasn't bleeding, and there were no visible wounds. He was still a few feet away when the wind picked up.

As fast as he could he cast Barrier, and not a moment too soon. A pair of weasels whirled into the clearing, floating in their personal dust devils. The weasels flung cutting blades of silvered air at Seth and his friends.

Seth caught most of one barrage on his Barrier. Booth had cast Barrier in front of him and Owen, while the girls scattered.

Blaise held her hiking stick like a spear, and crouched. She kept Seth and his Barrier between her and the weasels, and waited for her opportunity to strike.

Duvessa pointed at her shadow goat, commanding it. It dodged the incoming blades by laying flat on the ground, and then leaped up and charged the weasels.

Selendrith ducked behind a boulder. Seth couldn't see what she did after that.

Owen was casting Lure. Good. Seth needed to keep the Barrier up, and couldn't split his attention to cast it himself. Once both weasels were diverted, Seth could grab a catchpole himself and capture the one Blaise was not targeting.

The weasels were zipping around the clearing, spinning in their dust devils and shooting wind blades in all directions. Owen finished casting and both weasels paused, their attention snared.

Blaise leapt up and charged the closest weasel. She raised the staff to bash the weasel out of the air, but slipped and landed flat on her back. Mud splattered in every direction. The weasel had flung blades at her that passed over her. Her staff fell to the ground in three pieces.

"Ack! It's all muddy here!" Blaise cried out. "The bastards sliced my staff!"

Seth jumped forward to get his Barrier between Blaise and the weasels. He too slid in the mud, but only fell to one knee. He was able to keep the spell up. "Focus harder on the Lure!" he yelled to Owen.

"Get 'em!" Duvessa commanded her goat, who charged the weasel attacking Seth and Blaise.

The goat charged, head down. The weasel quickly spun in the air and flung another batch of blades about. The first blade severed one of the goat's legs, another sliced one lantern in half, putting it out.

The goat didn't stop and bashed into the weasel, knocking it against Seth's Barrier. Blaise reached up and snatched the weasel out of the air and pushed it into the mud. She quickly got her hands on the back of its head, and on its hind legs and held it to the ground.

"Quickly! I got it! Tie it up!" Blaise shouted.

Duvessa ran over, pulling out a rope. She touched her shadow goat as she passed, and dismissed it. "Good job," she said as it disappeared.

"Ow!" Blaise snarled as the weasel attempted to claw its way loose. "It's not casting those wind blades anymore now that it's out of that whirlwind. No, start with the front claws, Duvessa. I don't want it to claw me again."

"I don't want it to bite me either!" Duvessa said. "Hold its head better!"

"It might not be casting anymore because you've got it flat on the ground," Booth said.

"It's still out of the wind!" Blaise argued. "Try it! These would be a lot less dangerous without those blades."

"Watch it, the other one is heading for you!" Owen called out. "The Lure isn't strong enough. It isn't going to work!"

"Seth, let's trap it between the barriers," Booth said.

"Right," Seth agreed and stepped around Blaise, moving carefully in the mud. He kept the Barrier positioned between the loose weasel and the girls.

"Yeah, I'm dropping the Lure," Owen said. He pulled out a catchpole and moved in behind Booth.

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That was a bad move. When the weasel was no longer distracted by the Lure, it turned its attention into becoming a whirling dervish of death. Cutting wind blades flung in every direction. The dust devil it rode on picked up speed and grew in size.

Owen darted forward and swung his pole, trying to knock the weasel out of the dust devil. Instead he needed to duck and dodge the blades that sliced his pole into short sticks. "Shit! How do we catch it now?" he cried as he darted back behind Booth's Barrier.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can hold this," Booth said. "I don't have the deep pool you do, Seth, and I can feel it draining every time they hit it."

"I'll need to drop the Barrier to cast something else," Seth said. "You two get back to the trees at least, or behind one of those boulders. And put the one you caught in a bag so it can't bite anyone."

"Right," Blaise said. She picked up the caught weasel by the hind legs, and when it twisted up to bite her, she grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. Both Blaise and Duvessa scrambled back to the edge of the clearing.

The girls leaving with the captured weasel enraged the free one. It focused its blades on them and ignored everyone else.

Seth managed to cover them, mostly. Blaise swore softly as one of the blades nicked her.

"How bad did it get you?" Seth asked.

"It's fine. Take that thing down before it does real damage," Blaise said angrily.

The next blade hit the second lantern, sending the clearing into complete darkness.

Dropping his Barrier now would be certain death. But if Seth couldn't manage to cast some type of counter to the weasel, it would overwhelm Booth and kill either him or Owen.

Mau gave a screechy kitten roar, and Seth could sense her leaping into the clearing. He could hear her tussling with the weasel. And some unexpected squawking.

"Did you just hear a chicken?" Booth asked.

Owen snickered. "I think that's the weasel? Are they flying chicken weasels?"

Seth shook his head and focused. Maybe he could make use of the darkness. Most of the blades the weasel hurled were at chest height. Seth decided to gamble on it. He dropped to his knees and ducked, and then let the Barrier go. He closed his eyes and urgently begged the wind for help.

He cast Stillness, and put everything he could into making all the wind stop.

At that moment Selendrith cast Moonlight and lit the clearing.

Stillness didn't stop the weasel's blades, but it did interrupt the dust devil. The wind paused and hitched, causing the weasel to fall. Mau pounced. Once the weasel was out of the dust devil, it dispersed.

"I got it!" Owen shouted and dove onto the weasel that Mau wasn't heavy enough to hold still. The weasel promptly bit him for the trouble. "Ow! Ow! You bugger! No! I'm not letting go!"

Booth dropped his Barrier and whipped out a piece of rope. He quickly got it tied into a loop and around the weasel's back end. He tightened it and went for the claws next.

"Seth, you cast Moonlight now so I can cast Basic Light," Selendrith said.

"Why didn't you start with Basic Light?" Duvessa asked.

"Because it's a more complicated spell and takes longer to cast. I could do Moonlight in a second or two."

"I got it," Seth said, casting Moonlight as he eyed Booth and Owen's mediocre success against the weasel. "Be careful, that thing is going to…"

It ran up Booth's arm and down his back, slipping out of the rope as it ran, its sickle claws leaving bloody scrapes everywhere they touched him. "Fuck!" Booth snarled.

Mau circled the boys, eyes locked on the weasel.

Blaise rushed forward to help catch it. "Don't let it get the wind going again! It can't do those blades without the wind!"

Duvessa finished tying the first weasel's legs together and stuffed it into a canvas bag. She then tied the bag shut.

Selendrith finished the light spell, and focused it on the top half of one of the lanterns.

The moment Seth noticed the other light, he stopped Moonlight and cast Lure. Instead of focusing the spell on a rock or other nearby object, he made Booth the lure.

It was enough.

The moment of distraction was all Booth needed from the weasel to grab it and get the loop back around it before it could get to the ground. With Blaise and Owen's help they had it tied and in a bag in short order.

"Is everyone okay?" Seth asked. "I think some people got hit."

"I'm scratched up and been bit, but I wasn't hit by any blades," Booth said.

"I'm untouched," Duvessa said.

"I got nicked," Blaise said. "It got my arm pretty good, it's long, but not deep."

"I got bit and nicked," Owen said.

"All right, I can split this up amongst you." Seth set about using his amulet to close the wounds. "We should probably bandage them too. A little extra protection and support will prevent them from opening back up on the walk back."

Mau rubbed up against his leg and then jumped up to his shoulder. 'Stupid. Dangerous.'

"Were you worried about us?" Seth said affectionately and rubbed her head. "Ow! What did I say about biting me? Down! Bad kitty! Ow! Stop biting me!"

"She's right," Selendrith said. "That was very reckless and dangerous. You all are very lucky."

"It was teamwork," Duvessa said dismissively. "We had it handled."

"I want to know what all this mud is from," Blaise said. "It hasn't rained in days. It shouldn't be wet like this."

"Yeah, I don't know what killed those other weasels either," Seth said. "I didn't see any marks on them."

"They're wet," Owen reported. "Do you think they drowned?"

"On a mountain? How?" Booth asked.

Selendrith lifted the glowing half of the lantern and examined the clearing. "At least four dead weasels are here," she reported. "The whole area is wet."

"You don't think…" Seth began.

From deep in the cave came the distant bleating of a goat, and the indistinct shrill of a woman yelling angrily.

Blaise's eyes lit up. "They're still here!" She looked around. "Shit. I don't have a weapon."