Hogg ignored Zerif’s corpse completely, and went to his writing desk. He pulled an odd piece of equipment out of his pocket, something that looked like a stethoscope and put it in his ears.

Brin moved to open the wardrobe, but Hogg said, “Wait! A guy like him will put traps on his documents to destroy them rather than let someone else see them. I have to do this carefully.”

“Oh,” said Brin, withdrawing his hand.

“So, you know… get out of here,” said Hogg.

“Fine.”

As he was leaving, Hogg turned back to the desk moving the device across it carefully but confidently, like he’d done this a hundred times.

Outside, he supposed that he would have to be the one to appease the crowd.

“What’s going on? Is he really dead?” someone asked.

Brin thought quickly, trying to think of what he could say to get everyone to leave it alone while also not revealing what had happened. But did he even need to? This might just be his [Illusionist] instincts at work.

He decided to go with the truth. “Right now it looks like Zerif was working with the bandits and he directed the attack. We think Pio killed him in retaliation. We’ll know more when Hogg gets done going over his documents, but it’s a very tricky process to get them out without destroying them, so everyone else needs to stay out.”

It probably shouldn’t have surprised him, but even with how upset everyone was that Zerif hadn’t participated in the fight, not everyone was ready to believe he was a traitor.

It was Duelna, the [Merchant] he’d met the first day on the caravan, who defended him the loudest. “I’ve been working with Zerif for years! He would never!” Several more people echoed her in support.

Brin raised his hands. “We don’t know anything for sure, and any evidence we find will be shared with everyone.”

Mumeli the [Dancer] stepped forward. “I’m third after Pio. No one is doing anything without me. Step aside.”

Brin did. “Like you said, I’m not the boss. I’m just telling you what Hogg told me.”

Mumelis seemed a little surprised at Brin’s lack of resistance, but really he was more than happy to let Hogg deal with her. She hesitated at the door frame when she got a first glimpse of Zerif’s corpse, but then firmed herself and stepped inside.

Thinking quick, Brin said, “Zilly, why don’t you go see if he needs a hand, too?”

Watching Hogg carefully break into Zerif’s possessions would probably give her some good Class experience. Hogg would be annoyed, but if he had a problem with it he could toss them out himself.

Zilly quickly darted inside the wagon before anyone could stop her.

Brin wearily walked over to the wagon Lurilan and Hogg had retrieved, and searched for his things. He threw on a shirt, decided that the blood and holes weren’t enough to make him want to change his pants in the middle of the day in front of everyone.

He decided to put on his leather armor, though. He didn’t know exactly how his day was going to go, but he’d be willing to bet it would be a long one.

Annoyingly, his armor didn’t fit very well. It was too small now. He had a hard time remembering that he was still growing, especially since Davi was still so much bigger. The armor was still better than nothing, so he put it on, pulling out the drawstrings everywhere to leave big gaps in places.

He found his spear with the wooden haft, but decided against replacing the glass one he’d used to fight the bandits. Everyone had seen it now, and they might believe he’d summoned it, but it would draw questions if it disappeared again.

All prepared, he made his way to Lurilan, who was waiting a small distance away from the others.

“Did Hogg catch you up?”

Lurilan nodded. “He filled me in on the details, yes. I arrived a few days ago and busied myself with hunting down any odd or exotic beasts in the area. Hogg thought, and I agreed, that the cause of your nighttime troubles–”

“Don’t say it like that. It sounds like I’m wetting the bed,” said Brin.

Lurilan gave a sympathy chuckle. “We thought the monster might be nearby. Then, when you revealed that she was a monster of the sea, we dashed ahead towards the shore. I dare to say we destroyed every sea creature larger than a dolphin within ten miles of Blackcliff. I got some nice levels out of it, and I dare say Hogg did as well.”

Brin slumped. “Oh. Then my lead is worthless. I thought I found her; I got an image of a location of where I was certain she would be in my dream, but it was really close to Blackcliff.”

Lurilan shrugged. “It might be worth a look. Tracking creatures underwater isn’t my specialty. We might also try following that man’s trail. Pio, I believe?”

“Hogg has suspected Pio from the beginning. We know Aberfa was behind some of the monster attacks earlier in the journey, but we never figured out her method. If she is controlling Pio then it would all make sense. If she can just reach out halfway across the world and start controlling any and all monsters, then why not people too? But if it’s Pio, then she only needed to get one person working for her. That’s a lot easier to buy.

“Yesterday, I asked him if he’s ever been to the ocean and he said some of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Pio is a terrible liar. But then today the bandits tried to capture me and Pio fought against them.”

“We shouldn’t assume that all of this is connected. Hogg told me that the bandits worked for Zerif, who is secretly an agent of Prinnash. You’re a son of Lumina; that alone would give them motive.”

“Yes, but we know that Zerif had information that only could’ve come from Aberfa, and not Pio.”

“How so?”

Brin smiled at getting the chance to play Sherlock. “Elementary, my dear Lurilan. The bandits destroyed the sleep protections I had against Aberfa.”

Rather than be impressed, Lurilan frowned. “Show me.”

Brin did, although someone had moved them. In an attempt to restore order, someone had swept away anything broken or ruined, heaping it all into a pile at the edge of camp. Someone had actually folded them and placed them to the side; even torn in half, it was nice fabric. Maybe they knew he’d retrieve the pieces, or maybe they were hoping he wouldn’t.

He held it up.

Lurlan’s frown deepened. “Bandits didn’t do that.”

“Are you sure?” It looked like a very even cut to Brin.

“This is quite literally what I do. I’m sure. A beast bit it there, see the hole? Pressed the other side to the ground with a hoof and tore it in half.”

Brin dropped it, stunned. “Then…”

“Was there anything else?”

He found the shattered jar first, with his affinity to glass.

“Picked up and dropped. I see traces of saliva, so probably with a mouth.”

The broken idol was under some burnt planks.

“Smashed with a tusk. A beast did this.”

Brin felt sick. “A giant boar did this.”

Lurilan turned and dashed towards Zerif’s Wagon. “Hogg. We should away!”

There wasn’t an answer right away, so Lurilan pounded on the door. “We should go now!”

Hogg opened it, looking peeved. “This–”

“We have an answer,” said Lurilan. “Time is wasting.”

Hogg winced. “There are some sensitive things in here.” He glanced around at the curious caravaneers.

Oops. There were probably state secrets in there. Brin probably shouldn’t have promised everyone that they could see what Hogg found.

“Perhaps I could assist.” Jeffrey stepped through the crowd, lute in hand. He turned and leaned against the wagon, strumming his instrument. “I think that if we all thought about it, we’d realize that we aren’t really interested in the contents of this wagon. Whatever Zerif schemes entailed, it won’t bring back the dead or repair broken trust.”

The effect was immediate. Shame-faced, the crowd retreated, back to the work of repairing their lives.

Brin still didn’t know if it was impossible to argue with Jeffrey, or if it was impossible to want to argue with Jeffrey. He thought his Mental Resistance was strong enough that he could do it, except that Jeffrey was definitely doing him a favor right now. Or was that just what he wanted him to think.

Hogg winced, looking at Jeffrey with a pained expression. “I hate to ask this…”

Jeffrey nodded calmly. “I will guard the wagon until your return. No one will even remember it is here.

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“Thank you.”

Jeffrey nodded again. “My apprentice will see to your [Bardic] needs in the meantime.”

Hogg winced again, for a different reason.

Jeffrey raised an eyebrow.

Hogg sighed. “He can come.”

“Then I’m coming, too!” said Zilly.

“And m–” started Myra.

“No way! Just no. This isn’t some System preparation children’s class. We’re going into real combat here.”

Brin thought he’d get a little pushback, but Zilly and Myra nodded silently and walked to the edge of the camp. Zilly deposited her pack with a [Merchant] after a few words, then he noticed Sion do the same, holding only his spear and a small satchel.

Sion and Zilly started stretching and limbering up while Myra started cutting down the grass in the area, weaving it into rope. Brin honestly wasn’t sure what Myra’s plan was, but it looked like Sion and Zilly really thought they were going to get to come along.

Hogg glared at them. “What are you idiots doing?”

“Getting ready for a run,” said Sion. “I will of course be coming as well.”

Hogg shook his head. “I thought you at least were better than this. There’s no way you can keep up with us.”

“I can keep up with Brin,” said Zilly.

“Can you keep up with this?” Hogg turned and rubbed his hands together in excitement. Then he raised both hands and spoke. “”

A pool of black ink appeared on the road and bubbled up and out like an oil spill. The puddle bulged and grew, expanding into a huge, elephant-sized mass. Then legs came down, bending unnaturally and around until there were three of them and two huge pincers. A tail separated itself out of the mass, growing up and around.

In moments, a giant scorpion made of hard light had arisen from the ground.

Brin whistled. “Impressive. I thought you didn’t like using the Language, though.”

Hogg grinned. “It would be a waste to spend all that time around Lumina and not learn anything. Besides, things change. You aren’t looking at a [Shadow Conjurer] any more. I’m a [Shadow Mage].”

He wasn’t either, probably a [Mage of Hard Light], but Brin wasn’t going to ruin the moment. He slapped Hogg on the back. “What? That’s amazing! Congratulations! We need to celebrate.”

Hogg smiled like a toddler on Christmas morning. “I know. I gotta say, Epic Classes are a whole new world. It was all those fish monsters we slaughtered. The ocean is full of nasty things, even close to shore. Just wait until I tell you about–”

Lurilan cleared his throat. “Perhaps now is not the time?”

“You’re right. Hop up!” said Hogg. He lifted his arms to the side, and black wings sprang from his back to lift him up and on top of the head of the giant scorpion. It was a bit of an impressive display, at least until Marksi jumped up after him and Hogg picked him up and pulled his jacket around the little dragon to shield him from the wind.

Brin and Davi awkwardly climbed up the legs, while Lurilan sprang to the top of the scorpion with a single casual hop, unflustered as if he did this sort of thing every day.

The scorpion wasted no time in skittering forward as soon as Brin got on top. He grabbed a hold of the edge of a piece of chitin, and when he did the monster accelerated even faster. The hard light wasn’t completely frictionless, it could be grasped, but it was still very slick, like soapy glass.

The scorpion dashed forward. Every time Brin thought he was getting a hang of the black creature’s top speed, it sped up even faster. The trees whipped by to either side, and when the road grew too narrow, the scorpion's tail streaked forward, quick as lightning, to bend the trees out of the way.

There were other travelers on the road, lots of them as they neared Blackcliff, but the scorpion zipped past them, completely ignoring their cries of alarm and shrugging off the arrows or rocks from the few people who reacted quickly enough.

The one problem was the wind. He had to hold on tight, just to make sure he wouldn’t go flying off, and he saw from Davi’s white-knuckled grip that he had the exact same issue. Hogg totally could’ve made a vehicle of some kind, with a windshield even, but he’d chosen to make a giant shadow scorpion. And people thought Brin was the child.

He tried to yell at Hogg to let him know how silly this was, but the wind carried his words away.

He felt the faint tingle that told him Hogg was calling on his sound magic, and then he heard Hogg’s voice. “Just speak normally. We can all hear you.”

Brin did. “Couldn’t you make a shield for this air, or some proper seats.”

“I could, but… but that would look stupid!”

Brin sniffed. “And I’ll grant that this thing moves a lot faster than I expected, but I bet a plane would be even faster.”

“A what?”

“A flying machine,” said Brin.

Hogg shook his head. “I couldn’t get it to work. In the air at least. I cooked up something for traveling underwater that works wonders.”

“I can attest to that,” said Lurilan.

Brin watched the surroundings blur by for a while. It was a strange fact of moving fast that no matter how fast you were going, eventually you got used to it and started to wish that you were going even faster. Sure, the road and the nearby trees were moving by so fast it was hard to see, but the horizon didn’t seem to change at all, and neither did the clouds in the sky.

Lurilan broke the silence next. “You could have brought them, you know.”

“What? The kids? You’re kidding. You’re the last person I’d expect to want to bring along a bunch of fool teenagers,” said Hogg.

Lurilan shrugged. “The way that foolish teenagers grow to become wise adults is through conflict. The best way is to face minor peril under the supervision of competent adults.”

“Minor peril?” asked Brin. “You seem awfully confident that we can beat Aberfa.”

Lurilan shrugged again. “Actually killing the monster I’m hunting was never the hard part for me.”

“Then what’s the hard part?” Brin asked.

“Let me tell you something that my trainer told me. Anyone can kill any monster. I mean that. Levels, Classes, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Levels can be gained, Classes can be earned, equipment can be purchased. If you are willing to do what it takes, to put in the time it takes, you can do it. The pride of mankind isn’t our strong arms or our swords or even our bows. The glory of mankind is intelligence. With time, preparation, the right equipment, and careful planning, the lowest [Washerwoman] can kill even dragons.”

Marksi made a squeaky harrumph. Other dragons, maybe. He was too clever.

“The hard part,” Lurilan continued, “has never been killing the monster that I was hunting. The hard part comes in surviving the monsters that I didn’t expect. The ones that are hunting me.”

Brin gave that some thought, and Davi repeated the words, singing them to himself under his breath. “...levels can be gained.” He looked like he forgot that Hogg’s spell was sending everyone his words as he repeated Lurilan’s entire speech. When he noticed them all staring at him, he scratched his head, looking suddenly embarrassed.

“Sorry, I just wanted to remember what you said. I never forget anything that counts as music, so I sing it.”

“I understand,” said Lurilan. He turned to Hogg. “Do you really mean to leave them there? At this point they’ll be worn out before we arrive.”

“I didn’t ask them to tag along,” said Hogg.

“What are you two talking about?” Brin asked.

Neither seemed keen on answering him, so he activated a directed thread to scout around with an invisible eye. He also cast a sheet of glass for himself to use as a viewscreen. If that short spell Hogg had given him earlier worked, he should be able to project an image onto it.

The directed thread returned soon later with a failure; it hadn’t been able to figure out how to combine the spells. He should’ve expected that; directed threads were only good at doing things by rote. He made a regular thread, giving it 10% of his brain space, and let it know it was allowed to use additional resources if it needed them.

A minute or two later, he felt the drain on his magic, and saw something appear on the screen. Davi scooted over to watch beside him.

The view was insane. As crazy as it was to be on a giant black scorpion, watching it tear down the road from a little bit away was absolutely mind boggling. Hogg wasn’t being subtle here.

Had he decided to be more open with his powers? More likely, this was for Brin. Because there was no way to be subtle at the speeds they needed to travel, so he’d sacrificed his anonymity for the sake of Brin’s mission. No, he probably didn’t care about that. He’d done this for the sake of Brin’s closure.

He was so caught up in thought that he missed it, but luckily his thread wasn’t caught up in introspection. The image on his glass zoomed in. There was something hanging off the back of the scorpion.

Thick green ropes were tied to the back of the scorpion's tail, holding three irresponsible teenagers. Myra was sweating and pale with mental strain as she fought to keep them together. Sion was hanging on for dear life, his eyes shut and teeth in a grimace. Zilly was trying to hold on to the ropes while also keeping Myra and Sion from falling, three things to grab with only two hands.

As he watched, black saws cut the ropes, and then grasping black tentacles shot out from the back of the scorpion to wrap around all three of them. Zilly fought for a moment, but they grabbed her hand and pinned her back against the wall. When she figured out that they were helping her keep from falling rather than something unseemly, she slumped in relief. Myra dropped her ropes, gasping and crying a little in relief, while Sion kept his eyes shut though his mouth started moving, a prayer from the looks of it.

Well, they’d probably learned their lesson, whatever that was.

“You actually let them come?” Brin asked.

“I didn’t stop them. There’s a difference.”

They could see Blackcliff off in the distance. The city was dark; maybe early in the night there would be a galaxy of twinkling lamps, but right now it was an hour before dawn and the city was asleep. It lay in repose upon a steep hill, rising steadily towards the shore, as if no one had thought to tell them that the sea was in that direction.

The hill cut off abruptly, into the shape of breathtaking black cliffs, the namesake of the city. They were ominous and otherworldly, and startlingly beautiful in the darkness. Maybe in his old life he would’ve rather seen them in the day, but with his darkvision this was the perfect time. Every detail was visible in the starlight, but no splash of color tried to make the cliffs look anything but black.

The cliffs faced the ocean, and black islets jutted out of the water near the shore like towers, stark and somber.

Brin’s thread returned, but he sent it out again. This time, he sent his thread to look for the place he found in his dream. Hogg was already starting to turn to curve around the city. Soon, he’d need directions.

The glass lit up with a new image as the new invisible eye was cast. Brin watched in a trance, wind rushing by his ears. He saw the landscape leap past as the Invisible Eye surged forward, passing houses and trees, farms and fields, people who were already turning the other way to look at the black scorpion.

The image passed walls, buildings, and then suddenly everything was gone and it was soaring out into space over the ocean.

It halted, turned the other way, and now it was flying along a path he recognized. He’d seen this path in his dreams. He followed the trail, the direction that he and Lumina had gone, hunting Aberfa in his dreams. He found it. Columns of black cliff, shallow water near the shore. Here. This was the place.

“Hogg–”

“I see it,” said Hogg.

Then Brin followed the path for a third time as Hogg carried them along it. Time seemed to blur by, because before he knew it, they’d stopped and Brin was setting down on the rocky shore of the place he’d seen in his dreams.

He heard Myra, Sion and Zilly being let down from the scorpion; one of them retched. He heard Davi saying something to them, but he could scarcely listen to them. His attention was fixed on the water in front of him.

It was utterly surreal being in a place that he’d first seen in his dreams. Deja Vu in the worst possible way.

Hogg put a hand on his shoulder, but even that didn’t fully snap him out of the eerie feeling. “We searched here. We searched everywhere.”

Brin shook his head. “She’s down there.”

Hogg opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again.

Something broke the surface of the water; a head gasping for air. It was Pio.

“No. No!” Pio gasped.

“Why don’t you come on out of there and tell us what’s going on,” Hogg called.

“No! Not when I’m so close!”

“Did you kill Zerif?” Brin asked. “Pio, why?”

“He betrayed us! He…” Pio panted, out of breath. “He called those bandits on us. He directed those bandits! We all came to Frenaria for a new life, a new start, but he still keeps one foot in Prinnash. That alone would be enough. If he were discovered it would lead us all to ruin. But then he goes and attacks his own caravan? He kills good men of Prinnash? I could not bear it.”

“You made all those monsters attack the caravan. Isn’t that the exact same thing?” Hogg asked.

Pio tread water, eyes frantically searching the water for something. “It’s different. You were never in any real danger.”

“Doesn’t seem that different to me,” said Hogg.

“You’ll understand. Soon you’ll understand why. It will all be worth it. You’ll see. I just need to–”

“I think I’ve seen enough,” said Hogg.

Black bullets flew through the air, but Pio dove underneath the water again before they hit him.

Brin expected to see red in the water, or maybe he expected to see Pio being dragged back out and up.

Instead, the water started to boil. Just like in his dream, when Lumina boiled the ocean. Had she actually done that, or just said that she could? Either way, it seemed like Pio could, because the ocean started to churn and froth white and bubbling, in a huge circle for a hundred feet in each direction.

But Pio didn’t have water powers. He could control beasts; and that’s just what this was. As Brin watched, an army of sea monsters rose up from the depths below.