Pirin ran to the door of the vault and leaned outside. In the distance, a single set of footsteps pounded on the floor of the hallway outside. He shut his eyes and tried to sense how strong the approaching person was, but with such powerful elixirs nearby providing such extreme spiritual weights, he couldn’t tell. “Keep watch, Gray. Tell me when you see anyone.”

Yessir!

“Please?”

That wasn’t sarcastic either! Did I use…that word right?

“Just keep watch!”

He sprinted back into the room. “Myraden, do you have everything you need?”

“With the keg, we have everything we need,” she replied.

Sliding to a halt in front of the keg of Ichor-ink, he opened his void pendant. He set it on the ground, then picked up the keg and slotted it inside—into the only open corner of space he had left. There was just barely room for two more barrels, so he took two more powerful elixir kegs from the shelfs and shoved them in. Physically, there was no more room, and with the amount of spiritual power a relatively low-power void pendant had to carry, it was probably just about ready to burst.

He shut the pendant, then picked it up. Even just putting a single extra keg inside was a massive spiritual weight the pendant had to carry, and that translated to physical weight. If Pirin hadn’t enhanced his body, he doubted he’d have been able to carry it for long. Just the necklace made him feel like he was wearing a heavy steel plackart.

Myraden opened her own void pendant and placed the engraving equipment inside it, then shut it and tied it back around her neck.

I see someone! Gray yelled through their bond. They’re moving fast!

Pirin ran back through the vault. Just before he reached the door, an echo of horse hooves trotted down the hallway like they were tinkling across glass. Seconds later, a blast of wind scoured across it, smashing through the stone frame and sending stone shards and dust flying back into the room.

Pirin felt a blunt impact through the Reyad. The explosion flung Gray back and sent her skidding along the floor. She came to a rest beside Pirin, and out of habit, he asked, “Are you alright?”

He knew she was alright.

I’m fine! Just—

A young man appeared in the doorway, short sword in one hand, and a tempest of wind and pale green Essence in the other. He wore heavy leather armour and a helmet with a horsetail hanging out its top. The helmet’s back was open to reveal a mane of white hair running down his back. (Pirin might have thought it was natural, if not for the man’s otherwise brown hair.)

His skin had a faint glassy sheen—the mark of a powerfully, properly enhanced body—and golden tattoos ran up his forearms before disappearing beneath his gambeson. They appeared again beneath his chin.

A Blaze.

He must have been someone important, to have a proper body and proper enhancement signs. A well-groomed horse stood in the hallway behind him, with no armour or even a bridle. It was too tall to fit into the vault.

Pirin glanced at Myraden. Working together, they had exerted enough power to open a door only Blazes could have. They still stood a chance.

“Thieves!” the man yelled. He flourished his sword, then pointed it at Pirin. “You use our resources to advance, and you slink about in the shadows while the Family fights. No more! You fight Ethelvaed Aremir, first son and heir to the Unbound Lordship of One, and you face my Path of the Prairie Gap!”

Pirin blinked a few times, trying to parse the information. He wasn’t used to people yelling at him like this before they fought, even if one of the Saltspray disciples had been willing to do so as well.

The man, Ethelvaed, shouted, “Announce yourself, thieves, if you have any honour at all!”

Pirin drew his sword and held it up in a fighting stance, and Gray hopped to her feet beside him, spreading her wings. Myraden’s spear rushed to her hand and formed up into its normal shape. Bleating, Kythen lowered his horns toward their new foe.

“Nice…uh, nice to meet you?” Pirin said. “We’ll be leaving now, if you don’t mind. You…just go help protect the palace from the angry Wildflames or something…”

Not his best excuse, but there wasn’t time to think of anything better.

“You won’t leave with your heads attached!” Ethelvaed yelled.

“I think that settles it,” Myraden said. “We fight him.”

Pirin had been expecting that, but he had just needed enough time to charge a Shattered Palm.

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He thrust his arm forward, sending a pulse of pale blue energy surging toward Ethelvaed. It formed an enormous blue hand-print shape in the air and slammed into the man, making him stagger and disrupting the tempest in his hand.

Myraden charged on the left, holding her spear ahead of her. Pirin used his Fracturenet and sprinted in from the right.

Ethelvael activated a fortification technique of his own. A network of green Essence-lines lit up along his arms and in his runebond tattoos, glowing green and searingly bright. He spun his sword, deflecting Myraden’s spear into the ground, then swiped at Pirin to keep him back and away.

Gray flapped her wings, blasting a torrent of air at Ethelvaed. The man only shifted back an inch or two, and he leapt back into action in a matter of seconds, swiping at Kythen’s horns with inhuman speed and flinging the beast to the side. He spun with inhuman speed and thrust an open palm out toward Pirin. The air between Ethelvaed’s palm and Pirin’s chest compressed, then smashed back into Pirin like a horse had just struck him with its hoof.

He flew back across the vault and crashed into a shelf of elixirs. A barrel fell on him, and a vibrant magenta liquid dribbled down his shoulder. If he hadn’t had the Fracturenet active or an enhanced body, the impact alone would have killed him.

He jumped to his feet and sprinted back across the vault. He moved fast creating a current that extinguished both the candles in the vault. There was still enough glowing Essence in the air to illuminate the room.

Myraden and Kythen attacked from one direction, stabbing and lunging. She filled the fabric shaft of her spear with Essence to fortify it whenever Ethelvaed slashed at it. Gray attacked from the other direction, swatting the man with her wings to little effect.

Whether this man had any weaknesses or not, Pirin couldn’t say. They just needed to get past him.

The palace shook and shuttered. Wood splintered and debris pattered overhead. If they didn’t get out quickly, they’d be trapped under a mound of collapsed stone and wood.

Pirin rushed forward, ducking under Gray’s wing and vaulting over Myraden’s whirling spear, then drove a Shattered Palm right into Ethelvaed’s chest. The skin of his hand contacted the man’s armour and flung him back out the vault’s doorway and into the wall on the other side. The stone cracked under the impact.

“Run!” Pirin yelled to Myraden. “Just get out of here! We don’t need to kill him!”

And, whether he wanted to admit it or not, this man was stronger than both of them. He was fast enough to take their attacks and give out some of his own.

If he was the heir to the Aremir family, as he claimed, he had better be a good fighter.

Myraden ran out into the hall first, leading with her spear. Ethelvaed was already standing up, ready to meet her blows, and his horse lashed out with hoofs. She blocked one with her spear and held her ground, and Kythen headbutted the horse in the shoulder, pushing the second hoof out of the way.

Gray was next out of the vault. She fluttered again, creating another gale to keep Ethelvaed away, and Pirin ran out last, only barely deflecting a swipe of the wizard’s short sword. Pirin staggered, and instead of running, he had to block the man’s next swipe. He conjured a shield of air and green horse Essence around his blade, and Pirin disabled it with a push of Reign.

Then Ethelvaed’s sword brightened, and a faint shhhhing ran down the blade, like someone had scraped a stone along it.

Of course the skilled heir of an Unbound Lord could use Reign as well. Without a technique to eat into, the Reign would cut through Pirin’s own sword.

Reign against Reign was a contest of wills and arcane control. Pirin was a Flare, and Ethelvaed was a Blaze—it wasn’t a fair challenge.

Pirin backed away, whirling his sword, and let Ethelvaed slash into the empty air. The man followed through and hacked a clean line through the stone.

Myraden launched two arcs of crimson Essence off the end of her spear. One crashed into the horse’s chest, and the other into Ethelvaed’s shoulder. It was just the gap Pirin needed. Not enough to land a killing blow, but enough to let him escape. He pushed the majority of the Fracturenet to his legs and sprinted away down the corridor.

They ran in the opposite direction they came in, both moving faster with the help of their fortification techniques. Pirin couldn’t share the Fracturenet with Gray without a full Reyad active, so he slipped his mask on as he ran and weathered the diminished strain of forming the bond. He only went a few seconds without a fortification technique up.

Once he connected with Gray and stabilized his magic, he pushed them both from behind with wind and enveloped them in air. They bolted off down the hallway, catching up with Myraden and Kythen.

They rounded a corner. Pirin controlled the winds to make himself and Gray more agile and help them turn the corner, but Myraden just slammed into the wall with her Tundra Veins-enhanced shoulder, cracking the stone and sending dust falling from the ceiling.

Ethelvaed wasn’t nearly as fast as Pirin, but his fortification technique—a green aura—would let him catch up to Myraden. He was already gaining on them.

Then, in a white blur, the horse shot past, galloping between them as fast as an arrow. It knocked Myraden aside into the wall, and it rammed into Pirin’s shoulder, sending him sprawling to the ground. Gray and Kythen skittered to a halt.

“You defiled the family! You dishonour us!” Ethelvaed yelled. “The Aremirs never forget! The family is everything!” He flourished his sword at his sword at his side. “An Embercore, nonetheless! Weak, foolish, and a failure.” Narrowing his eyes, he pointed his sword straight ahead. “Would you happen to have pointed ears under that mop of black hair, Embercore?”

Pirin’s left shoulder burned with pain. His bones ached—something had to be broken—and he’d have a horrible bruise.

But he had an enhanced body, now, and it should be easy to heal. Once they got to safety, that is. He shut his eyes and tried to ignore his body’s protests. They had to keep running.

Ethelvaed was only a few seconds away. His horse trotted around, sprinting back to its master’s side.

Panting, Pirin ran over to Myraden. She rolled onto her back and jumped to her feet with a groan. Kythen nudged her. “I am alright, I—”

Before she could finish, the roof collapsed between them and Ethelvaed. With her wings spread, Gray tackled the three others out of the way of the falling debris. It formed a mound between them and Ethelvaed, blocking the tunnel and preventing anyone from passing through—at least, for a few minutes.

Pirin pushed himself up, ready to keep running, but before he could take a step, a new voice called out, “Nobody move!” Essence crackled, and a boar snorted.

Pirin whirled around. A woman had dropped down along with the debris—a seafolk woman with bright scarlet hair and gills on the side of her head. She wore the white cloak of a Dominion wizard and carried a Dominion sword.

Khara.