The staff held aloft by the crowned ghoul had a bowl-shaped gem at the end, covered in square sections that projected strings of mana into the centre. The strings flared and wrapped around each other in the form of the spell many times over, drawing in more ambient mana to reinforce the unstable spell.

I fled up the steps two at a time as the attack chased away every shadow ahead of me. The heat on the back of my legs was so severe I couldn’t tell if I was hit or not, but I remained on my feet and ran, putting as many corners between that staff and me as possible.

I’d entertained the delusion I could help Alp for long enough. There was no chance he expected me to find his headdress, which was undoubtedly behind that vault door. A door that had withstood the attacks of a ghoul with a staff to enhance their spells for who knew how long.

Alp was back in his eagle form, flaring his wings to block my path. “Silence will get you far. Not stomping like a wild beast.”

“Shut up,” I snarled, flinging a handful of blades at him.

He was shocked enough by the attack that a blade hit his wing before he completed the shift back into a snake, throwing blood and feathers into the air. The injury wasn’t visible across his new set of scales, yet he hissed in pain, darting towards me.

Alp dodged my next attack and reared back with his fangs on display, testing for ways to close the distance. I was still shaking from almost being roasted alive, and my aim showed that, but there was only so far he could doge in our confined tunnel.

The portcullis at the entrance groaned in the distance, freezing Alp and me in place. We stared at the furthest-lit lantern that flickered and waivered, letting the darkness encroach on us.

An appeal for a truce between us died on my tongue as Alp had already shifted into a mongoose and scampered towards the exit. I followed after him at a distance, looking over my shoulder for the crowned ghoul more than the path ahead.

I turned the last corner as a deep growl echoed through the underground passage. The sleeping ghoul with the gauntlet had awoken and pried apart the iron bars enough to squeeze in but had to duck slightly to fit. Alp crouched before it, dodging fists that slammed into the ground near him.

The armoured ghoul reached forward too far, the mongoose at the edge of its grasp, and lost its footing. Alp dashed between its legs and up the stairs behind. The ghoul clumsily turned in the cramped corridor with no chance of pursuing the smaller critter already past the portcullis.

I snuck towards it, hoping to replicate the feat while its back was turned.

For the second time in mere minutes, a ghoul turned their soulless eyes on me. I stopped in my tracks as it shuffled to face me, unable to turn its neck properly. It wasn’t going to fall for the same escape plan twice, especially on a larger target.

I tried a blast of air to unbalance it, but it had no effect. It raised the gauntlet as I threw sets of air blades at it, drawing blood and sparking against its armoured forearm. Its growl reverberated through my chest, and I turned to run again, needing more time to think about how to get out of this mess.

Getting through the walls was not a possibility, and even if I could get into a side room, I’d be more thoroughly trapped. The ghoul proved it wasn’t easy getting in by accidentally hitting an enchantment field over one of the rooms while trying to beat me into the floor. It howled in pain and bashed the offending field, making it flare to the point of visibility as it repelled the punch.

I went to pass while it was distracted, but it quickly turned back towards me after a single step. “Can’t you let me pass?”

I braced for the mental backlash talking to the individual trapped inside the ghouls always hurled at me. I hadn’t tried to speak to any at the edge of the wall or inner district and had no doubt the mental anguish would be much worse.

“Only one-way intruders leave the castle,” it rumbled.

Besides its spoken word, there was silence in the passageway and mana around us. I wasn’t bothering to comprehend what had been said, just that it spoke. As far as my senses were concerned, this was simply a giant of a person who didn’t like to talk much.

“I’m a guest,” I tried.

“Witches,” it wheezed. “Make bad guests.”

I’d seen a glimmer of hope, or maybe it was hubris, thinking I could trick the creature that talked like a child. The ghoul swung at me, and I stumbled back, turning to run down the few remaining hallways again. It lumbered behind me, finding the turns and stairs difficult to sprint through.

“Oi,” I called out to the crowned ghoul a turn away, uncertain if it was a bright idea. I was sure they’d noticed our noisy approach, and I slowed to let the one behind me catch up slightly. “Someone’s trying to raid your vault.”

I felt a spell tie together before I took the last steps down onto the carpet of the vault room. I’d hoped for an indignant speech on how everything behind those doors belonged to them. Instead, I dove out of the way of a spell that leaked icy air as it flew past and into the entryway.

I hadn’t timed my entrance the best, so the ghoul’s legs were barely visible as the spell hit. The spell structure shattered steps down from the ghoul, and its mana spilt over the ground.

Panicking, I scrambled onto my hands and knees as the spell’s mana flooded out of the entryway as a smokey layer across the floor. The spell wasn’t finished, and a second phase activated, turning the gas to ice. My hurried breaths came out frosty as the armoured ghoul howled in pain amongst the sound of cracking ice.

My robes dangling on the ground froze solid and stuck to the carpet. My hands lost all feeling, and my boots were lodged between the ends of large ice crystals shooting out from the impact point.

The claws saved my hands from direct contact with the frozen carpet but still shook alongside my clattering teeth. I bucked my legs to get them out of the ice but only managed to dislodge my feet from my boots. The frozen pieces of my robe broke off, and I crawled away from the chill.

The armoured ghouls had a different approach and broke through the tall ice shards blocking its path. The crowned ghoul still pointed its staff towards us yet looked longingly towards the vault. The continued smashing recaptured his attention, and another spell was initiated.

I threw my arm out, putting everything I could into a set of blades. They at least caught its attention, and the spellcasting paused. But they didn't hit. The fallen crown around its neck glowed with runes and projected a shield of mana to catch the blades. It wasn’t the usual hazy fog but a solid transparent sheet.

The entrance was blocked, and the only cover in the area was a display case that wasn’t wide enough to hide all of me. The wooden ring resting on a velvet pillow was an enticing but unobtainable prospect hiding beneath thick glass.

The armoured ghoul broke through the last of the icicles and stumbled into the hallway, scattering ice fragments across the frozen carpet. A long, pointed crystal was still within its grip, and they launched it at an unflinching crowned ghoul whose shield was fading.

The ice struck the translucent barrier and evaporated into steam along its length without leaving behind a trace. I crept towards the doorway, hoping to get behind the armoured ghoul and escape while they fought each other. But both ghouls seemed to remember my existence and turned towards me.

The staff shone with another spell while the armoured ghoul hesitated about its next action. While I was the intruder, the crowned ghoul was the deadliest threat. I’d suspected the ghouls in the inner regions, especially the castle, were territorial towards their kind. However, I’d been worried about what they’d do when faced with a common enemy.

I was still worried as the staff swung to point at me instead of the lumbering beast ahead of me. The armoured ghoul was so brawny its neck was a solid block of muscle, barring it from turning its head fully. It shifted between watching the two of us, unsure who to focus on, as I circled further behind it with each shift.

The spell held mid-formation, keeping its effects hidden.

My heart thumped in my ears as I closed in on the doorway, the thin surface of ice sticking to my skin with each step until it melted. “I don’t care for your vault. I just want to leave.”

“Falsehoods.” “Witch talk matters little.”

The voice of the crowned ghoul was clear enough to be mistaken for a person, yet they kept their sentences clipped. “A witch? Do you recognise the work of your kind?”

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They gestured to the vault, and I found faded runes glowing near the deep cavity and around the dark edges of the hall’s arched ceiling. I had my back against the far wall, steps away from the exit, leaning around the armoured ghoul to see them.

The words felt too familiar and brought back painful memories. Usually, it was an obvious answer, though I wasn’t confident about it now. “No. I’m not a witch.”

The ghoul signed despite not breathing the entire time. “A pity.”

The spell coalesced, and a white bolt flew towards us. It hit the armoured ghoul in the chest despite it putting up the gauntlet to block the attack. The bolt pierced its body and singed my hair as I leant out of the way of the weakened beam.

I patted my body and limbs to make sure they were all there and glanced back at the melted stone stairs.

I expected the creature that now had a gaping hole in its chest to fall flat, but it only staggered back. My greedy gaze found the pedestals with esoteric treasures sitting atop them and even the crown around the ghoul's neck.

The staff was also appealing, yet it probably wouldn’t work for me.

I wanted something out of this mess, something to make all the danger worth it. Instead, I turned to run past the cooling puddle of molten stone. I’d drag Yis here to fight this thing for me… as long as he brought the entire knighthood along with him. It would mean less for me, but there was enough to go around—a sentiment a voice in the back of my mind argued against.

The armoured ghoul turned to stumble after me as another spell was primed.

Its steps were wobbly and unsure, especially on the slippery surface and half-melted stairs. The crowned ghoul didn’t pursue but let out a pulse of mana that rushed past us and down the passage without effect.

I walked backwards down the hallway to batter the ghoul, who was slower to react to the blades of air, barely lifting the gauntlet to shield its face. Turning the corner of a long passageway, I ducked beside the wall, listening to the lumbering steps gradually catching up. It was likely that another armoured ghoul had heard all the commotion or felt the pulse of mana, and I didn't want to get squashed between two forces again.

The ghoul ran into the wall, pushing off it to make the corner more quickly. I lashed out at its heel, severing the tendon and spraying black blood across the wall. The leg buckled, and the ghoul fell to one knee, reaching out to the wall to avoid falling. I clawed the back of its knee as it flung its steel-covered arm to bat me away.

The spiked fingers of the gauntlet caught the side of my face and sent me careening into a wall. I tripped over my legs to stop myself from hitting the enchantment field of a side room and landed hard on the ground.

The ghoul couldn't follow up with its lame leg and floundered across the floor, crawling the last stretch between us. I closed one eye, blood dripping into it. I kicked away its outstretched hands and hit the ghoul with wind blades that didn’t travel more than an arm's breath before drawing four lines of blood across its face.

It was entirely blind from the attack and grew more frantic as it lashed out. I crawled backwards, unsure of how to take down a creature that already had a hole in its chest. It blocked the way out, throwing its remaining useful limbs to block my passage.

The peluda venom would be great if I could find a way to deliver it because I wouldn’t be biting into a ghoul again. Luckily for my taste buds, its struggle grew weaker during my indecision, and I stood to wait out the last minutes of its life.

I still thought I was doing the right thing despite this ghoul not having an inner voice like the others. Maybe they weren’t trapped, but their mind was so thoroughly warped that it was merely a mimicry of the person they once were. I didn’t know for certain.

I kept an ear out for any motion ahead. The ghoul behind us was likely the king going by the crown, and from what little I knew about The Fall, there were two dukes in the city at the time. The mana pulse may have gone out to them or more armoured ghouls, but I hoped the iron portcullis stopped the pulse before that could happen.

The ghoul stilled, but I waited longer to make sure before approaching, kicking its arm for added certainty. I meant to step over it and escape but leant down to examine the gauntlet.

The steel the knights used now was superior, and their design was sleeker, but extra attention was paid to the aesthetics of this.

This gauntlet was bulky and covered with enchantments that would suck the mana from a mage in a matter of minutes outside the capital. The overlapping plates of steel were riddled with old scares that hadn’t entirely filled in, lacking the steel to do so. I grabbed two fingers and pulled, rocking back and forth to tug it off.

I stumbled back after it gave way and looked it over. After long years of no maintenance, it was naturally filthy. I pushed water through it until the wastewater turned clear. The gauntlet was far too big for me and would engulf my entire arm, but that wouldn't be an issue from what I could glean from the fading enchantments.

I removed the claws on my right hand and hesitantly stuck it inside. The first contact I made with the inner lining of silver tried to pull mana from me, starving after not receiving any since its last owner died just minutes prior. I slowly let it take some, fearful I could pass out from how much it wanted.

The gauntlet shifted like when Annalise shrunk her steel armour. My eyes widened in fear as I imagined it crushing my arm to a pulp. I was ready to yank it out as the gauntlet settled into a snug fit around my hand and forearm, using the excess steel to repair the scratches and cover up to my elbow.

I let it take all the mana it wanted from the length of my arm, and the passageway turned murky momentarily from the resulting headache. When it stopped shifting, the mana equalised across my skin and the silver and steel, feeling almost like an extension of my body. I flexed my fingers and watched the steel plates smoothly slide over one another without catching.

The gauntlet wasn’t dexterous enough to write a formal letter, but I could do almost everything else. The enchantments resisted my nudge to sharpen the elongated ends at my fingertips into claws. When I tried to force the issue with more mana, a section above my palm opened for spellcasting, which was not helpful, so I let it close.

It was clear why this type of armour wasn’t made anymore, without the concentration of mana inside the capital to empower it. However, I was hopeful I could bridge the gap. The problem was walking about with it without being hounded for details.

I took the gauntlet off and tried to shrink it further, but unlike Annalise’s spell, the enchantment was for resizing, not shrinking. The steel and silver had to go somewhere while keeping its original shape, and my hands were already near the limit it could go to.

I put it back on, pushing the issue into the future and stepped over the ghoul.

When I walked through the bent and broken portcullis, I paused. It took me far too long to understand why the room looked off. The suits of unenchanted armour standing guard beside the entrance were missing.

Click.

I flinched at the faint sound from the landing above. One of the suits of armour held a loaded crossbow; a bolt pointed between my eyes.

Click.

The bowstring of the weapon had long since rotted to nothing, and the bolt stayed where it was.

Click.

The suit repeatedly pulled the trigger of the mechanism and tried to fit another bolt onto the already loaded crossbow. I danced out of the way of the extra bolts that fell around me.

I searched the room for the second suit of armour while the first continued to drop a bolt, aim the crossbow and repeat.

There was a howl of pain through the open double doors at the top of the twin staircase behind the suit. Seconds later, an empty steel helmet with a dent in it flew out and struck the far wall, clattering to the ground.

A ghoul with both gauntlets stumbled out of the room with a spear lodged in its leg. The suit with the crossbow turned in time to see the punch that sent it flying over the railing to land before me.

I was already racing for the door since I didn't have a staff capable of piercing the creature, and wanting another pair of gauntlets was just plain greedy. Throughout my trek outside, armoured suits patrolled the halls or lay in pieces near empty spots where ghouls had once slept.

It was easier to sneak past unthinking metal and distracted ghouls, so I made it to the gate without fighting. I checked that I still had my satchel of jewels with me and guessed the direction I needed to go to find the original gatehouse the girls should have used.

Only a short distance from the castle, the ghouls were no longer sleeping but rather lying about with their glowing eyes open. The gauntlet wasn’t as porous as I was with my mana and was more akin to Alp, an equalised concentration of mana that didn’t flow properly. It was still enough not to gain the attention of the mana-sensitive creatures.

Alp was also nowhere to be seen, and I hoped he gave up on me getting his headdress for him. I didn’t know the lifespan of a creature like him, but I was sure he could wait a couple more years till the king broke through the vault door. As much as I was curious about what was inside the vault, I wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

Inside the first estate next to the girls' gatehouse, I found three sets of maneless spaces. They hadn’t retreated as I’d hoped, but hiding out was the next best option. I kept my distance from several ghouls lying in the street with their skin melted off, emitting a putrid stench.

I waded through the tall grass and stepped into the building that didn’t have a door to lock. Whispers between Andria and Maisie started as I went up the creaky stairs. “Hello?”

“Patela?” Andria asked.

“Ah, yes.”

Hurried footsteps approached, and she appeared at the top of the stairs, motioning for me to follow. “Was there any outside? What happened to your face?”

“Ghouls? Only the dead ones.”

Andria sighed in relief. “We were worried the smell would bring more.”

“Why haven’t you moved then? Or go back to the outer district?”

We entered one of the bedrooms, and I saw the reason why. Darine lay on a pile of old blankets, the robes below her waist torn to shreds. Bloody cloth lay beside her, and a healing rune was atop her chest. That and the empty vials to the side were why her legs weren’t in a similar state to her robes.

The deep gouges in her legs had scabbed over, but the missing muscle was still evident. Her thigh on her left side was the worst, with a handful of claw marks raked across it. Her ankles were covered in scratches, and some showed fresh skin. I doubted she could walk but couldn’t ask since she was asleep.

“What happened?”

Maisie looked in no shape to talk, holding her legs while sitting next to the injured girl.

“We got through after they all ran off to whatever you did,” Andria said, sitting down. “The ones left were on us as soon as we walked through the gate. Darine killed those outside while we got onto the roof here, but one grabbed onto her legs as she was climbing up and almost dragged her down. There was so much blood, and we needed a better place to stop the bleeding…”