I came to slowly, consciousness seeping back into my world. As I snapped open my eyes to look around I saw my captors, and I wasn't alone, they'd taken Ian too, bringing him along with me for some reason. We were each being carried by a man, tied and slung over his shoulder. It was soon realized that I was awake, even though I'd held off on speaking.

“Ah, you're back with us then?” one of them said sweetly. “Let me introduce myself, I'm Osla, and if I'm not much mistaken you're Justin. Our leader is so very interested in speaking to you.”

“How wonderful, to what do I owe the honor?” I asked, not bothering to hide my sarcasm.

“Oh now, now, I think you know,” he said with a smile. “You're a very useful man.”

“Capturing one with power is difficult,” I observed, I was already thinking of ways I might escape.

“That is true, but that's why we brought your friend here,” he replied genially. “I don't doubt that with time you might be able to slip away, but if you do I'll peel the flesh from his bones while he screams your name.”

Ah, so that was their game. After all it had worked with the children, why not with the adults? It did complicate things, but I still had the feeling that there would be a way, when the time came.

“Why him though?” I asked.

“Did you not think we were paying attention? You stood over your friend here while the others fell. Then again if he's not important we can just kill him now, save everyone the trouble.”

“I would rather you not.” He'd called my bluff beautifully, and patted my back as if to comfort me.

“Don't worry my friend, don't worry at all. Ancient Cino really does want you around it seems. If you prove useful you might even find a place in our new order. It is an honor we'll be extending to only a few.” It wasn't lost on me that this guy really liked to talk, and was trying to be buddy-buddy, maybe he was an interrogator, maybe he was a recruiter, I didn't yet know for sure, but probably a bit of both.

Eventually I was placed on my feet and made to walk. That suited me fine, as it gave me more of an idea of where we were going, not that I knew the area that well. It also allowed Osla to keep talking. If he'd been telling me much useful then it might have served a purpose, but instead he was going on about the local plants, how food was different across the mountains, and generally safe topics. Honestly it was a bit of a surprise he didn't bring up the weather, but that wasn't a trope here yet.

Ian took a bit longer to come to, but he did as well. Unlike me he was promptly informed that he was a hostage and quite disposable, and then mostly ignored. Osla even moved him to a different part of the group both to keep me going and to keep control no doubt.

“If you don't mind my asking, what brought this invasion on?” I inquired as the sun began to fall. “I doubt you're doing it for fun.”

“No,” my minder said seriously. “We are not.” There was a break, a short silence before he sighed. “There's a drought on the other side of those mountains, a long one. Near them it's not so bad, but further out? No rain for almost three years, people were starving, unable to find food, unable to find water.”

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“What about using magic?” I asked, such spells were fairly common.

“It helps, but it's not enough, we need to move, and unfortunately your people are in the way. It also doesn't solve the monster problem. You see as the water got less and less there were fewer places for monsters to go. First they congregated around the water sources that were left, then they started fighting over them. Most of the things over there nowadays are horrors, able to raze an unprepared village. As even the places they've taken over dry though they're moving, trying to find others, and destroying everything in their way.” His eyes were a bit far off, thinking about where he'd come from.

It made sense, greed alone could have been the motivator, but with added need? I can't say that invading was the wrong choice, but that wasn't my main problem with it.

“But the children, you're killing them, you know that right?”

Osla had a pained look, a tired look. “I do, and I'm sorry for it. Sadly we don't have enough people to do it without them or we would. In the end though, your children are less important to me than ours though.”

We didn't get much further, finding a cave where we could all settle down. Ian and I were of course near the rear, while the others took position closer in to watch us. They gave us some food and water, then set up a guard shift.

“How'd you find us by the way?” I asked over dinner.

Osla snorted. “Let's just say some of the folk around here have seen where things are going, and they know which side they want to be on when it's all done.” I'd suspected, but confirmation was good. “No, I won't tell you who, and no, you won't be seeing any, just in case you get any ideas.” That also solved some of my worries, letting me make more immediate plans.

“How are you even doing it?” asked Ian from the side, clearly angry. “I may not know much, but I know that kind of thing like you're doing to the kids isn't easy.”

Osla sneered at him, then steadied his face. “To tell the truth I'm not entirely sure. The Ancient's new whore told him about it, some kind of plant or something. She hates you lot, sold you out like that. One day it'll come back to get her I'm sure, but she did it. Hah, all she even asked was to execute some guy named Elian, got her exiled or something according to her.” I carefully schooled my face, it wasn't unexpected, but I didn't want to give anything away.

“And you think he'll give her what she wants?” I answered.

“Oh yes, Cino's good on his word, takes pride in it. Of course I know he also hates traitors, so as soon as she's had her revenge he'll probably pour boiling sap down her throat. I mean, how many girls has he had over the years? She's nothing special. Stick around and you'll almost certainly get to see, bit of revenge for what she did to you guys right?” There was the wicked smile again, the monster underneath the facade of civility.

He left us to think after that, everyone getting ready for sleep. Ian and I laid back as I set things to motion, an idea I'd been rolling around since we arrived at the cave.

When most of the grew except the guard and us had settled down I began. First I set up a pair of barriers, one over the cave entrance and one over Ian and I. They didn't need to be hard, but they did need to stop air, so it was a weird balancing act. I also didn't want them visible, something that probably wouldn't have been possible in proper daylight, but there was only the small light the guard made to keep everything in sight, and it wasn't bright enough to see them.

Getting a proper air mix in the bubble around Ian and I was a bit of guessing, but guessing I would take. I knew that I needed about twenty percent oxygen, and began to carefully manage that, then I began to alter the mix around our hosts.

I could visualize nitrogen molecules, two atoms with triple bonds, and carbon monoxide as well with ease, it was much the same, but with different atoms. If I could visualize it, I could make it, so make it I did. It took time, and the whole time I feared what I was doing, I knew the results, and this wasn't like a battle, it just felt different. I also knew what would happen if I didn't do it, and that steeled my resolve.

Without carbon dioxide building up in their blood there was no alert, no sense of doom. Doom was coming though, a silent, sure one, without screams, or pain, or glory, just death taking their breath without them even realizing.

The guard didn't seem to realize what was going on, but clearly knew he was sleepy. He stood briefly, splashing a bit of water on his face and smacking it before yawning and sitting back down. A few minutes later the light he was maintaining went out as he slipped into sleep.

“Justin,” Ian whispered, nodding. “We need...”

“Quiet, just wait,” I answered in the same hushed voice. “Don't do anything.” I really didn't want them waking up.

I made my own light while we sat there, time ticking by until one by one the sound of snoring stopped. Even then I gave it more time, because we'd likely only get once chance at this. Once the only sound was Ian and I breathing he turned back to me.

“Are they?” he asked.

“Yes, but we'll need to make sure of it,” I answered, floating over one of their knives.

“But how?” he asked. “You... they're just dead?” He looked at me, alarm on his face.

“It's not something I like, or that I want to explain. Let's just finish this.” With that I used my magic to force the blade I'd taken into one of their chests, not even getting a reaction to that.