Suda found a good defensive position with a branch protecting them from overhead attacks.

“Are you sure we can hide from their air senses?” I asked.

Myantha, Tāwai, Suda and I were having a pre-mission brief with Juth.

“I have had a taste of their attacks and, hence, a taste of their manipulation techniques,” Myantha said. “I suggest we don’t leave until after midnight and approach slowly. We can retreat if Tāwai and I can’t figure it out.”

“The sound attack is the worst. Any ideas for defending against it?” Juth asked.

“Not really,” Myantha said. “Those that defended the best had a toughened skin or body. Everybody had ears affected and therefore their balance. Earplugs of some sort and putting up a layer of something that will mute the sound is all I can think of.”

Juth nodded, “Austin is already making earplugs for everybody.”

My mind was spinning off on a tangent. I have the skill Muffle Sound that muffles the sound I make, but does it also muffle the sound coming in? It is a new skill, so I need to test this. I had not noticed a difference in what I could hear when I had the skill running, but it is low level. Maybe it could be adapted to affect the sound coming in as well as going out.

My second thought was that Nights Embrace muffled the senses, including sound. That is a shadow skill. Could I use Shadow Manipulation to create a sound barrier? That seems like it could be possible, but I don’t have time right now. I will work on that. For now, it is ear plugs and a Toughened Body.

I am still getting used to how amazing the manipulation abilities are. If you use them often enough in the same way, you will develop a new skill. It must be so hard for those without them. They are reliant on Skillstones mostly.

I look in my skill cupboard. I have copies of Earth, Fire, Ice and Water. Pok, our new Trailblazer, is probably compatible with the Fire one. He is not here. I use Appraising Eyes on the squad members that are here. Ryan, Wella, Hist and Austin. Austin has some affinity for water, but it is not high. It is higher than my Death Affinity. Hist has some affinity for Ice, but it is not amazing like Suda’s affinity for plants. Ryan has some Earth affinity. He has a patch over his missing eye. None of them will be able to afford the stones.

“Juth,” I get her attention, “What is Alistern’s position on buying skills for you guys?”

She looked at me suspiciously, “The general policy is that the Trial will provide what is best for you as you conquer the challenges.”

I am not sure I agree with that. If you don’t have the right skills, the Trial will kill you. I didn’t say anything. I just nodded. The Dukes Guard won’t be paying for the skills.

We left at around midnight. Suda led the way, strengthening the branches. I followed with my Pathfinder guiding us. At this point, I was just deepening the Shadows around us with Shadow Manipulation rather than actually Manipulating Light. We all had good stealth, and I was practising my new Shadow Stealth and Muffle Sound. Tāwai was perched on my shoulder, smoothing the air. Myantha was bringing up the rear and layering her Air Manipulation under Tāwai’s.

I asked Rob if he wanted to come or stay behind. If he came, it would have to be in the Tattoo, as his physical size would be a problem. He preferred to be with me. He was summoned for me, and with me, he wanted to stay. Our communication and our connection are improving, and I think it is all to do with the way I treat him. I treat him like a living being, not like an object to be used, like a lot of people. I feed him and care for him, instead of just putting him back in the tattoo when he is not needed, and it is starting to pay off. We are starting to like each other.

I had Nightsight and on for my close surroundings and Spectral Vision (Heat) to pick out the position of the Hornbills.

It wasn’t long till I started sensing still blobs of heat indicating the sleeping or still forms of the Hornbills. Suda picked a path to stay away as far as possible, but this was getting increasingly difficult as the number rose.

We paused often to let disturbed birds settle again. As we got higher and the moons were bright, I increased shadow manipulation. I didn’t bother asking if they were real moons. I put it down to Trial shenanigans.

Shadow Stealth and Muffle Sound levelled, and I started using Feather Fall to lighten my steps. We paused. Suda was looking for a way past a large clump of Hornbills. She indicated left. I touched her shoulder and indicated pause.

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I cast Nights Embrace lightly over the Hornbills nearby, then increased it. They didn’t seem to sense it, so I increased it again. It would dull their senses. Certainly, it dulled sight, hearing and smell. It also had a small effect on Tāwai’s budding air senses when we tested it. It was hard to tell as he was just learning to do it with Air manipulation, so we wouldn’t rely on it.

We moved forward.

I could reach out and touch the nearest Hornbills. We were that close. We crept forward again and stopped. I looked around and saw Suda’s problem. They were too close for us to get past. The one shifted and flexed its wings.

I shifted to the side and let Myantha pass, then followed her. She was the Blade Whisperer Assassin, but we couldn’t let so much as a feather fall. That was my role and my newly upgraded Helping Hands. I now have a second hand, and they can reach further.

Myantha pulled out a long, thin knife, and I created two Shadow Hands that reached past her. Her strike was so fast I didn’t actually see it, but her hand held the Hornbill around the neck, and the knife penetrated into the heart. Even then, it struggled for a few seconds before dying. She held it aloft away from any branches and tightened her Air Manipulation around us, letting Tāwai protect Suda.

Nothing fell. Nothing was disturbed. My Helping Hand was not needed in this case. She withdrew the knife and passed me the corpse, and I stored it.

Myantha turned slightly and struck again. This one was not so lean, as the bird had just started to stretch its wings. They flapped madly for a minute, and she held the bird close to her body, squashing one of the wings against her armour. Her grip on its throat stopped any noise from there, but noise came from the flapping wing, and some feathers came loose in the struggle. My Helping Hand snatched the feathers, and we all held our breaths to see whether her air manipulation would hold.

It did. She passed me the corpse, and we moved forward a few steps. This was the way forward from now, a lot sooner than we expected. Myantha was an exceptional assassin. She dispatched six birds before we had a path through this flock and moved into the gap before the next bunch.

We rested a few moments and then moved forward and up again. We were getting closer.

Four dead birds later, one disturbed its neighbour. I stepped forward immediately, and Ambush Strike separated its head from the rest of it, catching both in my Helping Hands and storing them. We all watched as two feathers floated down out of reach. We watched and waited.

Myantha passed me her corpse, and that was the signal to keep moving. We had got away with it. We moved on.

Now, I was starting to search for the stone tablet. We were close. We were also in the middle of hundreds of Hornbills and only about thirty metres from the sky. These Hornbills were larger and stronger. It was taking Myantha two or three stabs to kill them, and we were both working together to bring them down quietly. Ambush Strike and Shadow Strike both went up a level.

Suda was working hard at giving us solid branches to stand on, moving twigs and leaves out of our way without being noticed. There were a lot more small twigs that would quickly snap if we put a foot wrong. We were moving a lot slower now. Myantha was using her Airstep more, so it was me who was the main danger. I only had Feather Fall, and it had only just ticked up to level 3.

Tāwai was sitting on Suda’s shoulder, with his air manipulation working hard. I was worried about how much mana Myantha was chewing through as she was working the hardest of all of us.

We were moving in a circle-hunting pattern. It was here somewhere. We avoided what we could and assassinated what we had to, but every assassination was a risk.

I was looking for the boss. All these would be guarded by a trial boss, right? I was searching for the largest and meanest hornbill, but there didn’t seem to be one. Maybe the whole flock is the trial boss?

“I think I have found it,” Suda said. “That way, twenty meters, up a bit, wedged in a branch fork. There are six Hornbills within arms reach of it.”

Suda and her wood sensing. We focused our senses on the area, and I could see the hornbills, but the tablet shard was not visible to me. I switched to Spectral Vision (Seethru), and it stood out from the wood.

We moved in that direction, stopping about eight meters short. It was out of reach of my Helping Hands, but the branches were too thin for access from this side. Myantha could get there, but that amount of air magic this close was a disaster. That left Tāwai and his wings.

The shard was quite large. Tāwai would have trouble holding it without air manipulation, which would alert the birds around it.

I looked at Tāwai, and he cocked his head back at me.

We didn’t want to speak this close. In fact, Suda’s tiny whisper was the first word spoken after over an hour of careful tense work.

Tāwai stretched his wings carefully, signalling to the others to get ready. We all put in earplugs.

The Tāwai launched himself across the gap with his Silent Flight. We observed as he braked with his wings and my Manasight picked up some air manipulation. He had his claws on the stone shard. The nearest Hornbill stirred and stretched its wings.

Then he flapped hard to drag the shard out, and four Hornbill heads popped up. As the shard came out, one hornbill’s body visibly dropped, and it squawked. It had been partially on the shard.

A lot of Hornbill heads popped up.

Meanwhile, Tāwai was halfway back, but I could see the shard slipping from his grip. Then the first sonic attack struck him, and the shard dropped, and hundreds of hornbills looked at him.

Tāwai dived after the shard, and I dove after him.