"Why does this place stink so much?" Benbeck complained as they stood atop the pyramid. "This entire place smells like rotten eggs."

"Isn't me boss," Armstrong said, flexing his muscles at the edge of the platform.

"They're on the move," Athena turned to Benbeck, her lip curling in a smile as she held up the revolver. "They're splitting up."

"I wonder what his game is," Benbeck said, rubbing at his pointed beard on his chin as he looked over his crew.

He already considered taking out the hostage. It was what he promised to do, after all. However, even Benbeck didn't like the idea of just killing a kid, even if that kid was a furry little monster. He frowned and closed his eyes as he thought through his options. If Ortega's crew was splitting up, it meant they had a plan. He would need to out-plan that plan.

"How are they splitting up?"

"Ortega's heading toward the main entrance," Athena pointed toward the front of the ruins as her head began to twist to the side, beyond what a human's head should as she pushed into her curse. "Two of them have split up to come at the side entrances. It looks like they're here to back up Ortega. Two more are coming around the temple and approaching from the back."

"What about the last one?"

"'Cold Shot' hasn't moved," Athena's head finished its complete circle, stopping on the part of the jungle she had started on.

Benbeck knew her eyes were golden and slitted like a bird of prey. Her curse, which allowed her to take on the aspects of an owl, gave her superior vision as well as other perks depending on how much she leaned into it. Benbeck took a deep breath. Ortega had a good plan, and he could already see how the outlaw was going to act. The question was how he should respond.

"What's the play, boss?" Armstrong asked, flexing his muscles as he looked out over the jungle.

"Should we cut a path to the first one and take them all out one by one?" Manfried clattered his knives together as he licked his lips. "Now that we know what they're doing, we should press them."

That was a good idea, assuming that Ortega didn't respond to their moment of weakness with his own team. They had 'Cold Shot' to worry about as well. She would be able to spot any of their movements and help her team respond accordingly. Because they were on the top of the temple, their movements would be obvious to anyone watching.

However, there was another option. Benbeck could give Ortega precisely the fight he was looking for. Move for move, counter for counter. His crew was strong. Each of them had their own abilities and curses that could take on Ortega's crew. Bebeck looked over his crew. He liked the idea more with each passing second.

"No," Bebeck said, nodding to Athena. "How do you feel about a little revenge?"

"On 'Cold Shot?'" Athena smiled, her dark pupils dilating wide as she held up her arm in a sling. "This arm is calling for blood."

"Good, here's the plan."

***

Erin and Artur stalked through the brush around the temple together, and for once, Artur was completely silent. The rhyming knight was an oddity to Erin. A prince, a knight, bound to speak in rhyme by vows, he was nothing like what she knew nobles to be.

Nobles in the Twelve Kingdoms were selfish and only cared about how they could better step on the poor and downtrodden around them. Bibi on Diamond Peak was an exemplar of them. He had been arrogant and destructive and cared nothing for the lives he was ripping apart as he tore through the island he claimed as a birthright.

Artur walked in front of her, his shield at the ready as he hacked through the brush with his sword to clear a path. He didn't complain or talk about how this work was beneath him. Just as when they met in Dry Turtle and escaped from some slavers, he merely did what was necessary for the situation and nothing more.

There had to be a catch. Erin knew it, but no matter how much she tried, in their short time together, he hadn't given away a sign of the deplorable nature of the nobility that she was used to. If it wasn't for what she knew already, she would have to rethink everything she knew about them.

"Erin, come quick," Artur whispered as he slunk deeper into the brush. "The temple is before us, in the thick."

Erin ducked through branches as he rushed forward, following after him. They were the key to the plan, and they would need to act quickly when they were at the temple. Alex had given them about fifteen minutes to make their way to the back of the temple. He would then step out and get Benbeck's attention. Hopefully, that would give Erin and Artur time to act and get Ikal out of danger.

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That was the plan anyway.

Erin and Artur stepped out from the brush and stood at the smudged but still gilded foot of the temple's rear. A stepped pyramid rose in front of them, reaching high into the night sky. All around Erin, the surrounding jungle was completely silent. Not even the scratch of insects echoed out from the trees.

She took a deep breath, opening her gate in preparation. Twining energy filled her limbs as she accessed the power of growth inside her body. Power flashed between her heart and the tips of her fingers and tows. Vines of power wrapped around her limbs as she finished her breath.

She had power, and that was a reassurance.

She glanced at Artur, who nodded back at her. It was time to get up the temple and start the plan. Everything depended on them getting up the temple silently and without being detected. The moment Ikal was safe, she would signal the rest of the crew to go all out.

"We will succeed," Artur whispered to her. "Those with luck have the greatest need."

Erin wished she was that confident in their chances of success. However, a biting doubt still ate at the back of her mind. So many things could go wrong, and everyone's lives were on the line. If they failed to grab Ikal, every second they were behind would endanger Alex. If Alex folded, then the rest of the crew could fold just as easily afterward.

Her hand shook as she forced down the uncertainty and fear. She had a job to do, and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, glorious day, not one but two prey for me to taste."

Erin froze as the voice echoed through the area, its tone burning into the bit of her stomach like a hot coal. Artur moved immediately, his shield glowing as he strode behind her. His sword was ready at his side, but he didn't seem to know where the voice had come from either.

"Come out, you foul nave," Artur said as he searched the brush around them. "I will give you the fight you crave."

Kshing.

Metal scratched against metal in the trees as two sharp objects were drawn across each other. Erin shuddered. She could imagine those blades being drawn across her back as the unseen foe stabbed her in the back. That he remained hidden made the situation all the more terrifying.

"You call on me to come out, but that would take away the fun of the hunt," the voice echoed out from multiple locations in the brush around them as the person moved between hidden locations. "The fun of it all is when your prey's heartbeat is at the loudest in its chest. When its brain shuts down, it collapses in shock. The entire fun of the hunt is in the chase to that point."

"And what if it fights back?" Erin's voice shook,

"Then you have an entirely different but still just as sweet encounter. A struggle for the strongest, where predator and prey are chosen again."

"Such perverse delight," Artur scanned the treeline but seemed just as lost on the man's location as Erin was. "It seems designed to cause fright."

Erin was already making the connections that Artur had yet to. If they were being challenged behind the stepped pyramid, that meant that their enemies had set a watch or knew their movements somehow. The plan was over before it started, and that meant that they wouldn't be able to get to Ikal in time.

How long had passed since they broke with the rest of the group? Five minutes? Ten minutes. Already, Alex had to be moving into place at the front of the temple, ready to start the distraction. Erin bit her lip. Shades. Unless she could get to Ikal, Alex was walking into an unwinnable fight.

"Go and see the plan mend," Artur whispered, his eyes roving over the jungle around them. "It will draw this coward, and I will defend."

Erin gave him a sidelong glance as he stood with his sword out and his shield pointed toward the forest. It might work, but she didn't like the idea of leaving him alone to fight, even if he was noble. Of all the crew, Artur was the only one she had never seen take on a fight. Would his barrier curse be enough to take on the shadowy figure? Would he be able to hold his own while she went after Ikal?

Those doubts wriggled at the back of her mind as she looked between Artur and the temple above.

"Can you handle him?"

"In truth, I do not know," Artur said. "But a knight must hold the line, take the blow."

There came a point where trust was needed. Erin didn't like that Artur was a noble—that he was royalty on the edges of the Twelve Kingdoms. But so far, he hadn't hurt her. So far, he hadn't done anything but conduct in, dare she say, a knightly way. On Dry Turtle, he had helped her free a group of slaves without thinking once of his safety. She would have to put her trust in that and move forward.

"Okay," Erin said, drawing deeper on her curse as she looked up the side of the temple. "I'll do it, but make sure that you don't die."

"A problem for those without guile," Artur laughed. "Even in death, a hero will always smile."

Erin shook her head and embraced her curse more. She would give Arutr what he needed, a distraction to the foe who hid in the shadows, but she would also make sure she wasn't caught. Sprouts grew from her skin beneath her cloak, and an itch cut across her arms as they poked into the fabric. She eyed her path of the steps, and each one was taller than she was.

Her curse made that irrelevant.

She charged for the first step of the pyramid, focusing completely on the distance between her and the height of the step. If she wanted to get it on the first try, she would need to be fast and judge the distance correctly. With the hidden attacker, she needed to get it perfect.

"Sticky Shoot," she threw her hands forward and sent out a vine toward one of the higher steps.

Thwip.

It shot out from her hand with extreme force, coated with a sticky sap that would harden the moment it touched a hard object. As it shot out toward the higher steps, she saw the shadow move from the brush. A man with a long, greasy ponytail and small oval glasses over his beady eyes shot out from the brush, two knives out as he came for her back.

Erin didn't flinch. She had to trust Artur to cover her back while she climbed the pyramid, or everything was lost.

"Radiant Shield!" Artur yelled. "I will not yield!"

Ting.

She didn't see the actual hit, but behind her, she heard the sound of a metal point meeting a rounded barrier. A blue light burned behind her as she put her foot onto the hard stone of the side of the pyramid. The vines in her hands pulled taught against her as she climbed up the first step of the pyramid.

Erin climbed like her life, and the plan depended on it because they both did. She needed to reach the top of the pyramid fast. She only took one moment to spare a look down at the fight below. Artur held the knife-wielding man at bay on the ground, his shield glowing as he leaned forward into the two points of the knife.

Erin didn't waste another second watching. Pulling her vine taut, she started climbing up to the second level.