"Mina. Come, it is time."

Mina squinted at the light coming through the portal nearby. She grumbled a little, feeling that she'd been just about to have a brilliant idea in her sleep, but still managed to fumble her way out of the chair and into her boots before she made it through the portal.

"Have you discerned anything since last we met?" Ir'alith asked.

The soft, magical light covered the same room they'd sat in the night prior, with the disassembled components of the machine laying on the ground where they'd been.

Mina tried to speak, but her throat was oddly parched. She set a hand over her mouth and awkwardly created a small flow of water, a survival trick she'd learned from Balan during his year of tutoring.

"If you have thirst, ask," said Ir'alith. A half sphere of hazy something formed in the air before her, and water streamed into it. The bowl of water floated over until it was within reach of Mina as she stared.

"Is this…" Mina struggled to understand what she was seeing in her muddled, newly-awoken state. She felt at the bowl with her hands, finding it to be perfectly smooth, almost to the degree that it threatened to slip out of her grasp. "You've created a bowl using wind?"

Ir'alith nodded. "Humans use wind to cut like a blade. I have seen it. You would tell me that you cannot accomplish this?"

Mina felt, as she so often did when Ir'alith used or spoke of her magic, that her mind would surely explode. "But wind doesn't work in that manner!" she stated, glaring at the bowl which indicated to the contrary. "Wind is a force, not some component with which to fashion…"

As she spoke, a second bowl flared into existence in front of the first, this one clearly made from fire. Water poured into the see-through orange bowl, then settled.

"Humans are weaker than I had believed," Ir'alith said.

A third bowl formed, this one of stone, and water filled it. A fourth bowl came into existence, this one blue and made of water. Water filled it.

Mina poked the fourth bowl, finding that it was somehow hard to the touch.

Water poured into the air in another spot, landing as though it had struck a surface. It hung there, suspended in an invisible bowl.

Mina hesitantly reached up to touch the invisible bowl, finding to her amazement that there was, in fact, a solid surface to be touched. The water moved as it should when she tilted the invisible bowl from side to side, and it tasted as it should when she drank from it out of curiosity.

"It is not the power of magic that limits magic," Ir'alith said. "It is the mind."

"But, but…" Mina tried to protest, her eyes looking back and forth between the Demon Queen and the empty, invisible bowl which she still held in her hand. "What of natural law?" she said weakly.

"Natural law?" Ir'alith tilted her head, her tail flicking back and forth on the ground beside her seated position. "Humans are ever arrogant. That which you cannot comprehend or achieve is prohibited by law?"

The invisible bowl vanished, and the others collided, leaving only a visible flame that licked hungrily at the air. Slowly, beginning from the bottom, it began to freeze over. When it was completely frozen, it began to thaw from its tip, restoring itself to its previous state. Then Ir'alith uttered a word in an unfamiliar, guttural tongue, and the flame became a freshly cut rose. A moment later the rose vanished as though it had never been.

"By binding yourself to law, you bind your mind and magic," Ir'alith said, her lips curved in obvious amusement. "All things are possible so long as you possess the strength to achieve them."

Mina stared.

"Do you believe that one such as I would waste my time learning your language?" Ir'alith asked, her mouth very clearly not moving in accordance with the words she slowly spoke now.

"I apologize for my lateness," boomed a familiar voice from beyond the doorway in the darkness of the tree. Jungrathol sauntered into the room and settled heavily onto the ground. "What will we achieve on this night?"

Mina's stare redirected itself, and she felt again a terrible pressure growing inside her head at the revelation. Surely Jungrathol would not be so capable as to learn a second language…

Ir'alith's tail flicked. "Jungrathol, there is no need for you to be present now that I have recovered."

"Last night was interesting, so I am here tonight," he said. His gaze shifted to Mina. "You will not leave this chamber, but I no longer have the desire to kill you."

"Um, my thanks," Mina said, turning to Ir'alith with an amused look of her own as her thoughts reoriented themselves. He's not quite an impediment to our progress, but it's difficult to imagine that he'll be of any great assistance.

The Demon Queen's tail was slapping against the floor in a manner that could only be described as agitated.

"Let's begin," Mina said, trying to reorient the gathering to match her thoughts. "As I'd stated, I've the belief that one of these components is the source of its magic-blocking capabilities." She gestured to a quartet of oddly-shaped objects that had been set aside. "This knowledge could provide some method of neutralizing that capability when you come across the others."

Jungrathol crossed his lower set of arms and reached for one of the pieces with his upper left arm.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Mina slapped his hand lightly. "No, you mustn't bite these."

He glared at her.

"It might kill you," she said, trying to impart some manner of urgency into her voice.

"Leave it," Ir'alith said.

Jungrathol harrumphed, which was an intensely entertaining motion given how petulant it made the four-armed giant appear.

Mina giggled softly at the sight before clearing her throat. "Have you considered further a method of striking from range as I suggested before my departure?"

"I can throw a rock," Jungrathol said.

Mina gave him a questioning look.

"A big rock," he clarified.

"Um…"

"I can use a bow," he continued, "or I can throw a spear, or I can use a bow to shoot a spear, or—"

"Those are all fine ideas," Mina said, nodding at him.

Jungrathol grinned at her, nodding in return. "My bow is taller than you. It is strong, and my skill is great."

"I could flood the city," Ir'alith said slowly. "These machines need not breathe, but they may yet be affected if they are fully submerged."

"Perhaps," Mina said, stroking her chin. If the outer metal has gaps, then perhaps the water may infiltrate and disrupt its components?

"We cannot do this, however," Ir'alith continued. "I will undertake no action which risks the life of a dwarf. If the city is flooded, they will die."

Mina grimaced. "Yes, I'd like to see this done without that happening as well." I wonder how Valgud fares. Perhaps he lives in this very city we now discuss? A new thought occurred to her. "How many of these machines must we defeat?"

"I know not," Ir'alith said. "Their numbers were plentiful, and I was unable to determine their full accounting."

Mina felt her stomach twist. "Do you… Do you mean there's many of them?" I'd thought there would be only a dozen or, at worst, two dozen.

Ir'alith nodded. "I slew many tens of them, but still they continued to arrive."

And then they overpowered her. Which means… "Is there any way I could see their numbers with my own eyes?"

"We could destroy them all, and you could count their remains?" Jungrathol suggested.

Mina sighed.

"There is a way," Ir'alith said. "It will involve risk, but you will be able to see."

"How much risk?"

"If I am not correct in my judgment, we may die," Ir'alith said.

"You cannot die," Jungrathol said firmly.

"So my father makes me aware," Ir'alith said, her expression changing to a grimace.

"You misunderstand," Jungrathol said, resting his lower hands on his knees as he leaned forward. "I have considered this over the past day. You said you should have been dead yesterday. You are not dead. Therefore, you cannot die."

Mina pinched the bridge of her nose. He's quite logical, but he lacks some manner of wit that would make him sensible as well.

"I find your confidence inspiring, Jungrathol," Ir'alith said.

The giant red creature known as Jungrathol puffed out his chest. "As was my aim, protector."

"Since Jungrathol believes me to be incapable of death, there is no risk," Ir'alith said in an amused tone. She stood up and gestured for Mina to do the same. "Come. We will scout."

Mina started to stand, but before she could regain her feet she was scooped up into the air and dragged along as the blue-skinned Demon Queen walked through the wall behind her.

Immediately upon passing through the portal, Mina began to fall. She was impossibly high up in the sky with the ground dimly visible in the light of the moon far below.

She shrieked in fear.

"Be silent. I am with you," Ir'alith's calm voice echoed around her, sounding oddly resonant and deep.

Mina's head darted back and forth, unable to see anyone else while she fell towards the ground in near-total darkness, where she would surely die from the impact. The wind…

She frowned. The wind should have been ruffling her clothing and her hair as she fell. It was one of the basic principles of aerodynamics she'd learned. Before she could ponder this further, a massive, winged shape swooped in from the side, and she settled atop it, feeling as though her feet were fixed to the scaly, armored surface.

"We are high above the region within which Khag Daruhm lies," Ir'alith said.

The sense of falling ceased, and it was as though Mina was riding along an especially smooth road in her steamcar with only the roaring of wind surrounding her to indicate any form of motion. "Are you a dragon?" she shouted. The scales between the gaps in the enlarged sections of glowing armor, and the wings, and the horns on the head at the end of the long, sinuous neck brought to mind only one creature from myth as she stared.

"I possess the bloodline, but I am no dragon," Ir'alith replied, her voice mirthful. "This is the form I use for flight. We will pass over the city soon."

"I don't believe I'll be able to see that far," Mina shouted, unsure whether the dragon could hear her. I'd always thought they were nothing more than myth, but here I am flying atop one! She began to laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

"Such weakness. What of your vision now?"

At some point during the question, Mina felt her sight shift, and her surroundings brightened as they had when she'd drank the strange potion Carl had given to her during the auction. "It's…" She stopped, having been about to say that she still wouldn't be able to see anything of use at such a distance, but she'd looked over the side of the massive blue wing and seen a great mountain in the distance.

Then she'd seen it.

As though she were being continually drawn closer, her vision had grown clearer and clearer until she could discern the horns of the odd, goat-like creatures frolicking on its rocky side.

"Yes, this will do," she said, feeling her mind attempting frantically to keep up with the new developments.

"Good. We have arrived."

At this statement, everything turned upside down.

Mina screamed a little as she looked up at the ground, but she was still fastened to Ir'alith's broad, scaly back while they glided over the dwarven city at an incredible height. Upon realizing that she was not about to fall, she relaxed slightly, her regular thoughts again coming to the fore. If I could manage to learn this method of fastening, I would have no need for seatbelts!

"See how they move below us," Ir'alith remarked.

Mina concentrated, her vision magnifying the city of stone and steel that they were passing over. There were a considerable number of moving objects, and it was difficult to focus on any one with the speed they were traveling.

"They are all machines such as the one you saw. We must slay them all."

Mina's eyes widened. There must be hundreds! Perhaps even thousands!