Ratface left Abigail to fight the elf. She’d been hesitant to do so originally, the last fight between the two hadn’t gone in Abigail’s favour.

It was pretty clear that wasn’t the case this time. She slammed into the elf. Catching the staff with one hand and punching her in the face with the other. Amaranth slid back and touched her face. Her hand came back with blood, and she hissed.

Abigail drew her sword under the elf’s gaze.

“Well, what do you know? Guess it’s a different fight when I’m not exhausted.”

That was all the time Ratface had to watch the fight. The glamour slammed a snake arm towards her and Ratface jumped out of the way. The arm twisted in the air to follow her, and she ducked down. It reared back to strike again but screamed as a knife slammed into the arms eye.

Albert jogged to her side, spear forward.

“I gotta remember to get my knife,” he mumbled.

“You killed the other elf?”

“He got away, a glamour came and helped him. A goblin.”

“Oh, so that’s where he went. I didn’t know the mental ones could manifest.”

“Makes sense, most of us are physical before we sneak into your brain,” said Krysa.

“Neat,” said Ratface. Amaranth’s glamour had stopped reeling and looked at them in anger. It switched shape to a blade horn deer. The dagger Albert had thrown was still in its shoulder. Looked like its injuries were consistent. It charged.

Ratface and Albert dodged out of the way. The glamour switched back to its ape form between them and lashed out at them. Albert caught the attack on his spear and slammed the arm into the ground. Ratface rolled out of the way and stuck her knife into the other eye of the snake. It pulled back, taking Ratface’s knife with it. The thing slammed back and forth on the ground before them in pain. Albert and Ratface backed up. Their spear and sword pointed towards the glamour.

She heard a scream from the mansion and glanced back, had the monsters come for them?

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Instead, she caught the remaining defenders charging into the fray. Hannah led the charge, but goblins and others ran next to her. They slammed into the monsters. They didn’t know how to charge but sometimes numbers made up for it and the monsters hadn’t expected a charge. The monsters buckled and the defenders fell on them. Ratface watched as one of the ones with a prosthetic arm grabbed a monster and squeezed. There was an audible crack and it stopped moving.

Abigail caught an attack by the elf on her sword and slid back next to Ratface and Albert.

“Kill the glamour,” she ordered, then she ran back in.

“What does she think we’re trying to do?” she muttered.

The two children rushed into fighting the glamour again. It had given up on overwhelming them with strength and was now coming for variety. It switched between shapes and attacked them. Unlike when it had gone for big strikes, there was no easy counter they could take. They started to take little wounds as the thing built up its momentum. She could see Suncat and Tiffany trying to get closer to them, but they were penned in by monsters and it was all they could do to hold their ground.

The distraction nearly cost her. The glamour turned into a blade horn and kicked out at her as it swung its head at Albert. Ratface dropped to the floor. She rolled to the side before it could bring the hooves down on her.

Albert wasn’t so lucky. He blocked the first strike, but it scored a hit on his arm on the second and he stumbled back. The glamour took that opportunity to switch back to the lizard ape. It scooped up Ratface before she had a chance to move, and she struggled against it.

“Drop the sword,” Krysa shouted at her. Ratface didn’t question it. She dropped the sword.

An elf hand caught it as Krysa stepped out of Ratface. She ran up the other glamour and plunged her sword into its head. It screamed and slammed her into the ground. Krysa cried out and her body flickered out as she fell back into Ratface. Ratface held her close in her mind as she felt the other girl falling apart.

Amaranth’s glamour fell apart and tried to run back to the elf. Abigail grabbed it before it could join with her.

“I’ve thought a lot about how to beat you,” she said. Her voice was conversational, but Ratface could feel the fury steaming off her.

She rushed at elf in a blur of blue. She swiped in a frenzy at Amaranth, the elf grinned as she dodged.

“If you thought it was sword play, I don’t think you have a chance,” said Amaranth. She continued to dodge as Abigail left deep rents in the ground.

“Not easily. No, I worked it out a few weeks back. Ratface managed to stab you in the first fight. I got a few tricks in as well.”

“Your point?”

Amaranth brought her staff down and Abigail parried the attack. She swept her sword in a wide gouge in front of her and Amaranth danced back.

“You’re too used to winning early, you don’t look to the future. You don’t plan.”

“Why would I need to?”

Abigail laughed.

“Why indeed?”

She gestured to the area she and Amaranth had fought in. The ground was torn up, but there was a pattern to the cuts. Ratface hissed. It was a rune.

Amaranth noticed at the same time Ratface did. She rushed at Abigail, but it was too late. Abigail crushed what was left of the glamour. It shattered and its power rushed into the rune. It burned blue. So bright that Ratface couldn’t watch.

There was a flash of white. Then the elf was gone.