Praying that the void sphere would hold, I crossed my legs and let my vision drift between the three elves in the sphere. Roo pumped energy into them, which swirled in every color of the rainbow as it flowed away.

The last time I’d done this, it left me drained and near-unconscious. This time I felt invigorated and fresh as I maintained a steady drop of power into the unconscious elves. Wary that I might hit a wall with my face and slide right down, I cut the flow down to a trickle and watched.

Outside of the sphere, the tendrils of the Bedrock Wyrm shook and menaced us as if they could pierce the sphere themselves. I would have to ask how to create this thing once the others woke back up. And our lives weren’t in constant danger.

A figure drifted through the tendrils, floating as if she were a ghost. Lined with pale white fire, I didn’t know how I knew she was a woman. From a strictly visual perspective, she was little more than a candle flame. Despite appearances, she was definitely female.

She moved through the upside down forest of slick black tendrils as if they were not present. In the void, the tendrils looked much as they did to my normal sight. Except that with the specter’s presence they glowed with a blue inner light, as if her proximity excited the vines. I couldn’t blink myself out of the void for risk of disturbing the energy I shared with the elves, so I couldn’t check my normal sight for the ghostly woman.

With a hand pressed over the void sphere, the glowing woman examined the sphere and beckoned to me. My parents had filled my head with too many stories of sirens, will o’wisps and other beasts that tried to lure their hapless victims to their death for me to leave the sphere, no matter how desperate or intense the specter’s cajoling invitation became.

Instead, I turned my vision inward. So many things had happened in the last few weeks, my inner voice had stopped communicating with me. Or I’d stopped listening.

Meditation had always chafed me, made me feel like I was wasting my time. But here, I felt the need to push the specter out of my consciousness and ensure I maintained my steady stream of energy to the elves.

The world stilled around me as I focused inward. None of my panic or worry found me here, none of my anxious worry could surmount my mental buttresses here. And I made a personal discovery: my power was at its height protecting others. I’d had little control over my magic in the Orchid or during lessons with Garaghan; keeping my focus on the void had been hard enough without trying to use the runes. But now, I could fill three different people with energy and watch the movements of a ghost while I meditated.

The key was that I protected those three elves, made sure that each of them would be safe. My mind had a tremendous capacity to protect them while directing itself elsewhere. How far could I take that mental strain? Would I be able to expand my own field of protection? Could I risk trying to drive the spirit off?

Without testing, I could only imagine the limits of my powers under these conditions. I shook my hand at the spirit as if shooing her away. The fires around her flared and for a moment a pair of night-black orbs glared in fury at me through the void sphere. Those two globes flared blue, the same color as the tendrils and I was then certain she was somehow part of the Bedrock Wyrm.

Letting my eyelids fall partially closed, I turned my mind back to Tia and Garaghan, my three companions I’d been snatched from when I fell into the belly of the wyrm. They saw me fall and knew enough to assault the wyrm’s back. They wouldn’t give up on trying to reach me if they could avoid it.

I trusted my friends and that thread of trust lead me to them. I’d never had an out of body experience before. When my awareness flew out of my physical form, shot though the void sphere and out of the wyrm, I had not been prepared for it in the least.

Stars shone overhead and a pair of dragons circled a blazing campfire. Six figures sat upon portable benches, facing each other and warming their hands over the flames. Tia sat in One’s lap and frowned into the fire as the others spoke.

“…rock wyrm. I spoke to Olerandera. They are as dangerous as a Master Dragon, maybe more so. You saw what happened when we tried to attack it directly.” Garaghan’s frown mirrored the others who sat around the fire. “We also do not know if either Harriet or my daughter is alive.”

Tia jumped off of One’s lap and pumped her fist. “I know they’re both alive. Malia too, but she’s not around here.” Tia swiveled her head as if trying to catch sight of a cat slinking through the shadows. “I know they’re alive.”

Garaghan harumphed and said, “I want to believe you, but our little group can’t fight a Bedrock Wyrm. It’s not even a good idea for us to camp down here.”

Two raised her hand and said, “what if we don’t try to fight it at all.” Garaghan tilted his head and circled his fingers to urge her on. “In other words, what if we try to infiltrate the wyrm?”

“I’m not sure how we’d do that…” Before Garaghan finished, Alaric stood and spat into the fire.

“I’m not sure why we’re even debating this.” He pointed between Garaghan and Two. “Where would we be if not for Harriet?” I’d be dead, and you’d be some old curmudgeon wondering what happened to his daughter and never finding her. And you three… I’ve heard stories around the vine about you. All of you would be beholden to Lord Elven-arse if not for her. Let me get my arm in its eye socket and I will kill any fucking wyrm we meet.” He huffed as he sat down with his hands on his thighs.

Tia nodded at Alaric, folded her arms, and jumped back into One’s lap. “I agree! Let’s go poke its eyes out!”

Garaghan sighed and started to shake his head. But Two said, “according to Yierie’s report, she was looking for a series of caves. The wyrm’s head or other parts might pass through them, we could try that, right?”

“I…”

One cut Garaghan off. “I’m shamed that a pair of humans, a child and a cripple have more loyalty than we four. I do not intend to let Harriet or Yierie die without helping them. Nor do I intend to give up because the wyrm is a hearty foe.” She scanned the faces around the fire. “Let us seek the caves Yierie sought and pray to the Ancestors that we may find them there.”

“Fine, but we can’t get our hopes up…” I felt it as good a time to cut Garaghan off as any.

With my void eyes closed, I focused on increasing my density. As I did, the fires around me burst into life as if I fed them with my being. All five adults kicked their benches over and scrambled away from the fire as I appeared within the center. Tia took to her feet and avoided falling over with One.

She peered into the flames and grinned. “It’s Harriet! Everyone, it’s Harriet!”

Once the initial panic faded, the others picked themselves up and stared into the flames alongside Tia. I opened my mouth to speak to them, but no sound came out. The only thing that happened was the fires rose up around me, crackling in time with my attempts at speech.

“Is it really her?” Three raised the question while Garaghan’s eyes flared to my sight.

He took a step closer to the fire and nodded. “She isn’t dead, she’s projected herself here.” He nodded to me in approval. “Well done, apprentice!”

Opening my mouth to speak again only made the fire rage into greater heights. Shaking my head in frustration, I carved a series of runes with the flames. I found I could take the flickering light into my hand and paint with it like a brush. I spelled out my message, “Yeirie and two hunters trapped within the wyrm, close by. It feeds on magic, do not let it wrap its tendrils around you.” Straining to think of another warning, I added. “Do not use magic within the wyrm’s body.”

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I didn’t know how long we had in the void sphere or whether another problem would arise before we had to leave. But for now, it was all I could say. My flagging energy levels struck me with the force of a hammer between the eyes. Pulling at a bit of flame, as if to bring the fire with me, I let myself get pulled back into the void sphere.

All three of my elven companions were awake surrounding me and standing over me with obvious concern on their faces. Jarahn motioned at me angrily while Sharla and Yierie shook their heads.

When I snapped back into my body, careening through the wyrm’s flesh, I caught a glimpse of the spectral woman hovering outside. I blinked at the three elves and sucked in air before I could speak. Air became a precious luxury for a few seconds while I sucked on the foul atmosphere of the wyrm. “What’s wrong?”

All three elves started. Jarahn snorted at me while Yierie crouched down next to me. “We thought something happened to you, something bad.”

Sharla shook her head. “I didn’t. You fed me essence in the night, didn’t you?”

“I’m not sure what you… you mean magical energy, yeah.”

Yierie grinned at me and put her hands on my cheeks. “That was very clever.”

Jarahn scoffed. “You could have doomed us all if Sharla’s field faded while you were away.”

“Away? You knew I wasn’t here?”

Yierie nodded. “We worried that the wyrm had trapped you and found a way to possess your body. Please be careful projecting yourself away like that.”

The black sphere looked smaller now than it had when I’d left previously. “What happened to the void sphere? It should be bigger, right?”

Jarahn snorted and turned away. “She has no idea what she’s doing.” He pointed at me without looking back over his shoulder, “she’s dangerous.”

Yierie ignored him. “It’s been two days, hon.”

“What?”

Apparently it had taken me at least twelve hours to astrally project. I’d wondered about the time outside of the wyrm’s body on the surface, But I had no idea how much time actually passed or what I could do about it. I knew that I wasn’t going to try to project myself again, not without people watching me.

We argued for a few minutes about what to do and I told the others about finding Garaghan and the others. I hadn’t intended to leave the spectral watcher out of my report, but after everything else, she just drifted into the back of my thoughts.

“With Harriet’s help Sharla and I should be able to blast our way through the wyrm vines.” Yierie spoke with Jarahn, who still refused to speak to me much, if at all. “She can feed our Haras and we should be able to get out of here.”

“And the Revenants?” Jarahn folded his arms. “What do we do about them?”

According to what I’d heard, the revenants were essentially impervious to most forms of magic, unless they were about to fire off their own blasts of power. “That’s up to you, Jarahn. Can you fight them off if they attack us?”

He shook his head. “I am not certain.”

I wanted to mock him, to try and point out his admission of powerlessness. But I didn’t want to act like him and I didn’t want to antagonize our best chance to escape the wyrm. No other options presented themselves to us and nothing we did would halt the slow degradation of our void sphere. Sharla made that clear; I could pour as much energy into her as I wanted, but all I could do at this point was slow the decay, not stop it.

After three days, the wyrm’s tendrils had reached all of the way to the ground. Now we couldn’t see more than a few feet past the border of the sphere. Yierie and Jarahn argued while I studied the environment outside of the sphere.

Those tendrils shuddered and twitched as if responding to a wind from deeper in the wyrm. I had a feeling they were feeling for passing creatures, not that they would miss any who passed by.

“Where do we run once we’re away from the tendrils?” I turned back and interrupted Jarahn hissing at Yierie.

He threw his hands up and swore. Yierie narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. “The tendrils will follow us no matter what we do. They are drawn to our natural magic. Even if we break the barrier here, we will be pursued either by the tentacles or by the Revenants.”

“And those can only be stopped by a blade. Can my magical field stop their magical attacks?” It was a simple question, but Jarahn scoffed again and Yierie shrugged.

“We do not know. Does your barrier have a usual force limit?” Yierie continued to ignore Jarahn’s dramatics.

“Beats me, it only works against ranged attacks and I’ve never had anything shatter it. The one time the Revenants attacked me, my barrier deflected their blasts.” My words got the attention of both Sharla and Jarahn then.

Sharla said, “Were you attacked directly? Did the blast deflect off or was it absorbed?”

“I don’t… I think it was absorbed.” I gave it a little thought. “I’m not sure I can take more than one or two hits. But I think I can still take them.”

Yierie turned back to Jarahn. “It’s a chance. The wyrm cannot shift its Revenants so easily.”

He put his face in his hand. “I don’t like depending on this reckless human for our rescue.”

“You know, I don’t hear any great ideas from the jerk side of the sphere either.”

Jarahn leaned down to me as if to accentuate our difference in height. “We could feed you to the wyrm and see if it’s satisfied.” He snickered with his mouth behind his hand as Sharla cursed under her breath.

“You’re an asshole, Jarahn.” I didn’t mind letting him know how I felt, he deserved it.

Bowing as if acknowledging a compliment, Jarahn said, “you are correct.” His expression soured. “And you are also correct in that we do not have any other choices than to trust in your help. I do not have to like it.”

“Wait, what?”

Yierie laughed with her mouth uncovered and patted my cheek. “We are in accord it would seem.”

We waited for a few hours for the elves to sleep and share their rations. Yierie rubbed her regrown foot and I scarfed down a small amount of trail rations. Elven bread baked with nuts and fruit filled me and tasted lovely, despite the horrid stench of the tunnels. “What do we do once we’re out of the sphere?”

Yierie grimaced as she rubbed her foot. “We will run. Ideally, we will run and restrain from using magic so the vines and the Revenants do not come down on us, but I do not believe our chances are good either way.”

“What do you mean?”

“As we said earlier, the wyrm can sense the natural magic within us. Its defenses will pursue us no matter what.”

“And there’s no way to hide it?”

Yierie shook her head and stretched her back out. “Not without using magic, which would then defeat the original purpose.”

Right, it made no sense to cover magic with magic, like pouring perfume on a pig to cover up the scent. “Which way do we go?”

“Toward the head.” Yierie pointed in the same direction I’d been heading before I found this alcove. “It is the only vulnerable part of a Bedrock Wyrm and our only safe way out.”

“Do you think Garaghan and the others will be able to find us?” I scooted forward and took her foot in my hands.

Yierie let out a sigh of relief as I began to massage her feet. After a moment, she said, “My father is the greatest Elven warrior I know. But even he is not capable of defeating a Bedrock Wyrm. If we had a legion of elves to spare and at least one of the ancient machines of war, I would give us better odds, but those are long since gone.”

I didn’t know what an ancient machine of war was, but I could imagine. Besides, Yierie made it sound like such a thing wasn’t an option in the first place. “What do you usually do with Bedrock Wyrms?”

“Leave them the fuck alone.” She snorted and sighed again as I pressed on the bottom of her foot. “They are incredibly rare, but in the histories, the hunters who discover them mark their territories as a warning to others and then avoid them thereafter.”

“Too bad that’s not an option for us.” I remembered then what had brought Yierie and her hunting party out of the Orchid in the first place. “What happened with the thing you were supposed to fight to begin with? The Tava…”

“The Tavaghast… we defeated it, without losses.” Yierie puffed out her chest in pride at her declaration. I had the impression that she’d just announced a major achievement.

“What is it?”

“A Tavaghast is a kind of Beyonder. They are humanoid magic using monsters who are among the most powerful spellcasters in existence. They despise elves and the Elven Nation with a great fury. When we hear about them, we have to eradicate them otherwise they will come after the Orchid and any elven hunter groups they meet.”

“I’m glad you beat it then.”

“I wish we had returned to the ship directly.” Yierie eyed Jarahn and leaned closer to me. “I’ve missed you.”

“Same here, I have crazy stories to tell.” I looked around at the slowly dwindling sphere around us. “But I suppose that should wait until we’re out of here.”

“Indeed.” Yierie’s eyes flashed with mirth and then hard determination. “This will be dangerous, Harriet. Are you prepared?”

“I’ve been studying with your dad for the last month or so. I better be.”

Jarahn sucked on his teeth as if to gainsay my words, but bit his lip. He must have seen the way Yierie looked at me.

“I am ready.” Sharla stood up and faced the mouth of the little cavern we’d cowered in. “Someone will need to blaze around us lest more of the vines take us by surprise.”

Jarahn nodded. “I am more than capable of doing that while I leap forward.” I got the sense he was bragging, though I also got the sense he could do exactly as promised.

“And I will clear the passage ahead of us.” Yierie looked up at the taller male elf. “Be ready. If needed, I can keep our perimeter free of vines.”

Jarahn gritted his teeth and turned to me. “I can jump safely through your shield?”

“I think so. Others have done it.”

“That will do, I suppose.” He crouched at the ready and I mustered Roo to myself. I had to stand near the front of the group to be sure my barrier activated, otherwise Jarahn would die before he leapt.

The other two elves waited on Yierie’s signal, who put her arm on my back, took a deep breath and said, “now.”