“Jackie?” Marianne’s voice called out.

I blinked my eyes and took stock of my situation, having just woken up. I felt a second’s worth of confusion, coupled with panic, until I remembered that a lack of vision was due to a lack of ambient light, rather than some unforeseen problem with my vision. This concern though, despite its brevity, delayed me from noticing another oddity.

My left side was leaning against a cold stone, not my bedroll which I would have chosen to fall asleep ordinarily. Additionally, a heavy object was draped across my shoulders, pulling me to my right, where a very warm and fortunately still clothed female body rested, breathing smoothly, at least smoothly if the intermittent half-snort was ignored.

My memories of the previous night lacked the clarity they ought to have had, but that might not have been Kate’s fault. What I did recall left my cheeks warm and my thoughts in turmoil and I had enough self-awareness to recognize the downsides of my ability to compartmentalize emotive triggering memories

“Kate?” Marianne asked again, more nervous than before. “Jackie? Where’d the two of you get off to?”

Area Coverage: 7/9 (+1)

It was then that Kate snorted particularly loudly, waking herself up with a jerk. Her arm tightened around me.

“Kate!” I hissed in her ear. “You let us fall asleep while on watch!”

She opened her mouth to speak but then broke out in a yawn that sent a wave of morning breath my way.

Foul. I cringed and tried pulling away, but she still held me tight, breathing at me. My struggles were apparently unbeknownst to her.

“Hm? Nice way to wake up,” she said, smacking her lips.

I wrestled my right arm out from between us and covered my nose and mouth with my hand, glaring at her.

She likely would have been unable to see the gesture in the dark, but her unnatural Mark-granted sense of perception seemed to help in this regard, as she looked away abashedly. “Relax,” she said. “It’s not a real watch shift anyways. Just practice, y’know? Lighten up.”

My glare intensified as she continued holding me. She then realized she had trapped me and lifted her arm off my shoulder.

“Heh. Guess I’m a clingy sleeper,” she said, almost apologetic in tone.

I huffed but decided not to make a further issue of it. It was not as though the blame lay solely upon Kate, despite what I might try convincing myself otherwise.

During all of this, Marianne was still calling for us, and Gregory had just recently arisen, likely as a result of Marianne’s aforementioned calling.

“Seriously?! Where are you?” Marianne called, louder than before.

A yawn, loud enough to be heard a ways off, emanated from the camp, alongside the unmistakable sound of scratching fabric.

“Is it morning already?” Gregory asked. “I both hope it is and it is not. Sleep came poorly last night… although, if I am awake now anyways…” he must have decided to inspect Marianne, likely deeming her unworthy or some such nonsense “-Please tell me it’s morning. Otherwise, pray tell why you are making such a racket?”

“Uh, yeah… I think it’s morning?” Marianne said, probably wilting beneath Gregory’s attention but rallying all the same despite it. “Feels like it anyways, but don’t you have a time-piece to check?”

He scoffed. “You mean you don’t know?” Gregory asked, annoyed. “Then what in the Crown’s name am I awake for?”

“Well, it’s just, nobody woke me up for my watch… unless…. Did Kate forget to switch off?”

“Nah,” Kate said laconically, standing up and pulling me up as well and heading towards everyone else. “No worries here,” she said. “I had it covered.” Kate paused, then shot a boyish grin my way. “Well, me and Jackie did.”

A sudden urge to throttle someone accosted me at that moment, either because of her presumptuous manner, her oversharing, or her irritating mode of speech. Of course I suppressed this urge, but the very fact that I had the urge I felt was telling. Although telling of what, I remained unsure. As a result of these concerns, I missed some of the conversation.

“-Not that I don’t appreciate it,” Marianne said, “but why? … and why do you–” it was then that Marianne laid eyes on us.

It was then that Marianne visually inspected both myself, then Kate, although Kate bore the brunt of the inspection, most likely as Kate was currently rubbing the sleep from her eyes in a careless manner, followed by a brazen yawn. Kate spent little to no efforts to hide the fact that she had just awoken.

“-You fell asleep, didn’t you?” Marianne asked, her eyes then narrowing at me in a similar state to Kate. “But why would Jackie be with you if–”

it was then that Marianne likely realized what had happened, or judging by her reaction, the more explicit possibility of several. She gasped, covering her mouth in excitement, her eyes brightening significantly. However, she tempered this tone with a sense of scandal and even more irritation at the careless disregard for the group's safety. It led to an odd medley.

“-And Jackie… no! …You didn’t!” Marianne almost seemed to be shivering and visibly repressing herself from rushing me and prying the details through vigorous interrogation. Naturally, this left me uncomfortable. I shied away, partially hiding behind Kate.

Almost unaware of Marianne’s current distress, Gregory instead expressed his dourness at being in such a near proximity to such activity at such an early hour.

“What are you going on about–” Gregory started to ask until he saw the disheveled state that both Kate and I suffered from; even a boy as foolish as he could guess as to what had occurred, “-Oh.”

“Pfft, relax,” Kate told him, before speaking to both Marianne and Gregory. “Nothing happened.” She waved them off. “Isn’t that right Jackie?”

“Nothing of any sort,” I agreed, perhaps awkwardly, however, I did shy back out from behind Kate though. I doubted any believed us, regardless.

“Then you kept watch?” Marianne asked

“And remained professional?” Gregory added.

“Yep. Strictly platonic,” Kate said.

Neither of them were convinced. They were both watching us now, Marianne with bright eyes, Gregory with furrowed brows. Kate appeared indifferent to their scrutiny, while I kept a practiced aire of neutrality.

Perhaps Kate was not so completely unbothered, as she quickly diverted the topic with something she had to have known would press buttons and gain a reaction.

“So… we heading back today?” Kate prompted. “If we do we can always go with my plan.”

“No…” Gregory shook himself and responded. “I expect we shall find my target today. This is the place, and some of the ore is sure to have renewed itself. Of course, the slothful layabout miners have already exhausted the nodes closest to Halftown, so we merely need to press further.”

“Yeah,” Kate said, sounding skeptical. “ I don’t know about how that’ll turn out, but we can do that, if you want. It’s stupid, but we can do it. It’s your party ‘n all.”

Gregory’s nostrils flared and his face reddened, but he kept his silence, avoiding the bait.

Kate’s shoulders sagged slightly when no further argument was forthcoming.

However, now that the topic of mineral resources replenishing had come up in a natural fashion, I decided it was time to raise a concern that had occurred to me in response to a phenomenon that truly should not have existed and seemed foolishly unmonopolized, at least foolish if no other factors were at play. Hence, my concern.

“Is there perhaps a connection between the under-things and the regrowth process?” I hedged, somewhat worried that my ignorance would reveal more of me than I wished to. “I am wondering if we should head towards where we heard them last night.”

“Ah…” Kate trailed off, likely planning to respond by force of habit before realizing she was lacking in an answer. Her mouth snapped shut.

Gregory rolled his eyes, overcoming his previous irritation perhaps by recognizing the opportunity to flaunt his self-ascribed superiority.

“Perhaps there is,” Gregory said. “Yesterday, when we heard the alleged under-things, were you able to discern the direction those echoes were coming from?”

“They were coming from down below, right?” Marianne answered.

“Were you asked?” Gregory snapped at Marianne at the same time Kate seemed to come to a realization.

“Huh,” Kate said. “That’s why you were down there?” She had aimed that question at me in regards to my previous night’s foray.

“What?” Marianne asked. Gregory seemed also curious, in a judgemental fashion.

I decided my best choice in the matter was to remain silent, focusing instead on the jerky I had conveniently just taken a bite of. Kate grinned at me but kept the rest to herself, instead following a tangent instead.

“If we heard them down below us, and if they’re somewhat connected with what we’re looking for, then let's get to climbing down,” she decided.

Her actual reasons to find someone or something to fight were hardly hidden. More remarkable was the fact that no one called her upon her reasoning. Likely because her chain of logic might actually have been sound. Perhaps that was the largest surprise of them all.

When no resistance was forthcoming, Kate cheered.

“Let’s get climbing!”

It was then that the protests occurred.

“There ought to be a ramp down… right? Or some sort of path?” Marianne pointed out, wanting to avoid climbing likely.

“We have yet to eat!” Gregory pointed out. “And my water is yet to boil for tea.”

It was at that point that Kate realized she was hungry, though nothing so comical as a grumbling belly.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Kate said, glancing at where Gregory was hunched over his lantern-stove. “So, you cooking breakfast?” she asked.

“If it means I am given a chance to enjoy said breakfast?” Gregory said, “Then yes.”

“Nice.”

Of course, it could not have been entirely that easy. For after we finished readying ourselves, as Gregory was hammering a pinion into the stone, Marianne pulled me aside.

“So?” she asked, barely withholding her enthusiasm. “Tell me! Give me all the details.”

She was of course referring to my time with Kate the night prior.

I grimaced and shook my head. “Nothing happened between us,” I said.

“Jackie, c’mon! Answer me!” Marianne called after me, her voice echoing.

It was at that time that my salvation came from an unlikely source. Gregory laughed as he finished securing a pinion. “That should hold all of us and our things. And you thought that me packing rope was unnecessary…”

Marianne huffed and gave me another sly look. “Don’t think this is over,” she said, almost taunting.

Conversation came with some difficulty while we rappelled downwards.

The difficulty came not from the amount of focus required, but from the distance required between each of us as we were using the same rope. Unfortunately, difficult did not mean impossible, which meant that Marianne had ample opportunities to continue questioning both myself and Kate as to possible indiscretions.

Surprisingly enough, Kate took to the teasing well. In fact, she even appeared to enjoy it as just dessert and as proof that she had succeeded in some form of conquest. Compared to her, I took it poorly and Gregory took it horribly. The fact that the teasing bothered Gregory likely only encouraged Marianne.

I had no way of determining how long the gentle ribbing would continue, but considering its unpleasant ramifications, the brewing dissent, and the emboldening of Kate, I sought a method to divert our attention as obviously the very act of rappelling was insufficiently complex to absorb everyone’s attention.

Featherlight: 5/9 (+1)

Hence, when I found an opportune diversion, I eagerly took it.

It was as we were descending past another terraced ledge that I caught sight of something of interest: there were signs of recent traffic, displaced dust and grime beyond what was ordinary. It was to this I alerted the others.

As I had been in the middle of the rappelling line, when I called out that I had found tracks, that meant Gregory and Kate both had to climb back up to the ledge I had found the tracks on. Kate seemed unbothered by the physical excursion of climbing, but Gregory was peeved.

“What did you call us back up for?” Gregory complained. “We saw nothing of note as we passed.”

I crouched down to point out the scuff marks and likely footprint, although the footprints themselves were difficult to determine due to the lack of soft ground. Displaced dust could only reveal so much.

“I believe these were left by someone recently,” I pointed out.

“Really,” Gregory asked, expressing doubt. “And how did you come to this belief?”

“The dust has yet to settle evenly over the displacement,” I explained.

Kate slowly nodded along, before asking, “Where’s the dust coming from, and how fast does it come down?”

Gregory laughed, “Exactly! Several pieces of information are steadily missing in your assumptions, making your belief that these are recent tracks null and void.”

Marianne seemed somewhat put out on my behalf, even though I remained unbothered by Gregory’s assertions. “It’s more of a lead than anything else we’ve found,” Marianne said. “It’s not like we have a better place to start.”

“We could keep going down,” Kate pointed out.

“Exactly,” Gregory agreed with Kate, even though Kate did not sound so certain.

“But if you’re looking for a possible fight,” Marianne said suggestively. “There’s probably a better chance of following recent traffic, right?”

“The tracks may have been left by a person,” I pointed out.

“Pfft, same difference,” Kate said. “You can tell which direction they went?”

I examined the tracks and saw which direction the grime tended to push. While not exactly a science, a foot lands and if scuffs, the toes push sharply forward, while the step forward leaves a fainter trail behind. Of course, the difference is very slight, especially when dealing with hard surfaces and dim lighting.

Impending Sense: 7/9 (+1)

However, I was up for it and after following along, I was more than half certain I could determine the direction the steps were leading.

“I believe so,” I answered Kate, then pointing out the most likely direction.

“Ridiculous,” Gregory muttered, but not disputing my claimed skill, at least not directly at that moment. He seemed content to complain, likely realizing that heading downwards offered no immediate incentive that following the tracks would not. Except for one issue that he did point out. “Say we believe you, and these tracks were left by a person, presumably a laborer or miner. Would not us following these tracks merely lead us towards where they have established themselves, or worse, an exhausted vein?”

“Yeah but,” Kate answered, “We don’t know the veins depleted, and if we find where they set up, I’m pretty sure we can land you what you need fast and easy.”

Gregory frowned at Kate. She punched his shoulder lightly. He grimaced.

“Come on,” Kate weedeled him. “You know this is a better shot at finding you your stuff. “Plus, I’m bored.”

“Fine,” Gregory said with an exasperated groan. “We can try following these alleged tracks, although I am incredibly dubious. But for you Kate, fine.”

We then set off following the trail along the terraced ledge. As there were only two directions, forward and backward, my skills as a tracker were not overly required after declaring the initial direction. Because of this, Kate took point. She set a quick pace that Marianne struggled to maintain casually with her short legs and heavy pack. Gregory was soon breathing harshly as well.

It was Marianne’s struggle that caused me to speak out.

“Pardon, Kate?” I said.

“Yeah? You see something?” Kate asked over her shoulder. “Please tell me you did.”

“Unfortunately not as of yet,” I said.

“Then what’s up?”

Kate slowed her pace as we spoke, perhaps without realizing.

“That is just the issue,” I said. “At our current pace I am unable to ensure we continue following the path.”

Gregory scoffed, but remained silent otherwise.

“So?” Kate said. “Not like we can lose the path…”

“I see your reasoning,” I said. “But what if the one we follow left the ledge? We would be unaware until much too late, and our own traffic is obscuring all signs behind us.”

“Huh.” Kate finally paused, glancing down at the ground, then over the edge, peering into the darkness that our lanterns failed to pierce. “I could see it. You wanna take lead then?”

“I believe that course is our surest option.”

“Yeah…” Kate still hesitated. “That could work. But the first sign of trouble, get behind me, right?”

I regarded Kate cautiously. She would have already lost respect for me had she thought I were helpless in a fight, so it could not have been that. But simply taking actions to pre-emptively hide from a fight, in such an obvious manner, might lead to an appearance of cowardice. I could not simply tell her I was happy to avoid a fight, even though I very much was.

Thankfully, I had anticipated this problem and had prepared accordingly.

“Certainly,” I said with an incredibly dry tone, “I would be loath to part you from your entertainment.”

“Ha!” Kate said, buying the dry wit for what it was, once again proving that she was hardly a simple brute. “Want me to save some for you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Only should there be enough to slake your thirst.”

Marianne pursed her lips, amused, glancing between Kate and I. Her thoughts were unfathomable, but I hoped they involved gratitude as I then took the lead, followed closely by Kate.

The pace I set was far more casual, and I took several overdone pauses to crouch down and check the trail. It was as I rose from one such pause that the conversation turned.

“Where’d you learn to track, Jackie?” Marianne asked. “Isn’t that something for hunters and… mercs, I guess?”

“Mercenaries?” I asked back. “I believe that Sir Gaurdson had attempted to enroll me among their numbers, once.”

“Ha! I did, Forgot about that,” Kate said. “Good source of Cee, that. Why’d you turn that down? Was genius.”

“I believe I explained my reasoning at the time,” I said. “All of the high paying jobs in the near term would have been inordinately risk prone. Likely fatal to any but the most experienced and enhanced. And may I remind you that I do not have a combat rated enhancement?”

“You tried joining the Mercenary Guild?” Marianne asked, amused.

“-No.”

“-Yes,” Kate answered at the same time. “It made sense!”

“A foolish endeavor,” Gregory said, surprising everyone in coming so near to criticizing Kate.

“Yeah?” Kate asked.

“Indeed. It would demean your station. And sending a barmaid or courtier to hunt and fight dangerous entities seems cruel at best.”

I missed a step. Gregory had caught me by surprise by actually showing consideration, even if it came from a place of indulgent superiority.

“That said, however, I find it curious that a barmaid has learned to track. That would be more common for a huntsman from across the Chasm. A curious skill, is it not?”

And there is his angle. He likely only issued his first considerations to cast himself in a reasonable light, which he then used to throw an almost-aspersion towards my character. Because of course, I must have some reason to have such a skill. That, or I was deceiving them, would be the implicit alternative to his reasonableness. The worst part was that I could find no way to easily counter the tactic. It left me regretting that I had bothered demonstrating my skill in the first place. In hindsight, my decision to aid this excursion with anything beyond the bare minimal effort had been foolish.

As I mulled over my sudden decision to sabotage Gregory, Kate continued the conversation, seemingly indifferent to Gregory’s subtleties.

“Yeah, but… it is kinda weird as far as Glyphs and enhancements go,” Kate said. “Especially, you know, considering everything.

“Truly?” I answered, deciding to deflect. “Just as it is strange I learned combat in an arena with you under the tutelage of Instructor Blackrest?”

“Oh yeah…” Kate mused, as though she had just recalled some ancient history. “I guess even then you’re not really using the common skillset, yeah?”

“Exactly,” I said.

We continued onward. I did my best to distance myself from subsequent conversation, losing any interest in dialogue with a cretin such as Gregory Silverborn. Fortunately, within a half hour I found something of note.

If I had been distracted, I would have missed it. I still almost decided to keep this to myself, except then I would be blamed for either losing the trail or deceiving the group. Besides, Kate had been getting antsy lately, and I thought it better for both Marianne’s and my own health to find Kate a productive method to vent. Thus, I paused and pointed out my find.

Even knowing where it was, it was easy to miss, especially with the shadows cast by the dim lanterns. Along the wall, just over the height of a man, wide enough for a hand-cart, and at an offset so as to partially conceal it, there was a chasm-like opening demonstrating signs of frequent travel. Dust and grime had been pushed to the sides, with signs of wear on the stone floor itself.

“I believe we have found the point where the tracks divert from the quarry,” I said, before explaining my findings. Not that they cared for a lengthy explanation. As I noted their short attention spans, I simplified matters. “This is where the subjects enter and exit the quarry, and somewhat frequently at that.

“Subject?” Marianne repeated, confused. “Wait, so what, miners? We’re talking people, right. Not…” she gulped, “underthings?”

“They went in there?” Kate asked, interest piqued. She drew a dagger rather than her short sword or bastard sword. “If that’s the case, then I’m taking point.”

Kate brushed past me in her haste to enter the passage, only a slight green-hued light emanating from her belt where she had a glowstone attached. She preferred her glostone as compared to a lantern for several reasons, largely impacted by her ability to perceive regardless of lumens.

“Are we certain this is appropriate?” Gregory asked, lingering outside of the passage alongside Marianne and I, although I had been in the process of following after Kate.

This caused Kate to pause in the passage-way. “Nah, this is great,” she said. “Best chance we got.”

“But–” Gregory began to protest further.

“-Yeah, but no. I’m not hanging around out there a minute longer. It’s boring as mass–”

“-There is not a single person in living memory that actually knows how boring mass was–” Gregory tried explaining in a patronizing tone before Kate spoke over him.

“-Really?” Kate scoffed, “Technicalities? Point is, I’m bored. This sucks. You can stick around here if you want, but me and Jackie are checking it out.”

I grimaced. There were plenty of issues that I detested about this conversation, but one issue bothered me more than the rest.

“I believe you mean, Jackie and I,” I corrected her grammar. “Additionally, I have yet to consent to this course of action.”

Kate started to scoff, before ending up chuckling and shaking her head.

“Since when does Jackie talk in third person?” Kate asked playfully.

Under her breath, Marianne said, “That’s what she takes from that?”

“Idiotic imbecilic moronic–” Gregory muttered a string of curses.

I knew that Kate heard both of them, just as I did. However, she ignored them and focused on me.

“You know you wanna,” Kate said. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and grinned as she said that.

“Yes, you are correct,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Fine. Take point, I will follow.”

“You got it, babe.” Kate winked. She turned back towards the passageway ahead of us and continued forward, expecting the rest of us to follow. I was uncertain if she would care overly much if Marianne or Gregory followed after. When Kate detected me following into the passage behind her, her pace quickened slightly.

After only a few moments, Marianne and Gregory followed along after, although there was a significant space between them and Kate, with me in the middle. It was due to this that I heard Marianne and Gregory gossiping behind us.

“I can’t decide if I should be upset that their carelessness might get us killed,” Marianne said, “Or if I should be happy that they’re finally starting to share their feelings with each other…”

Marianne, I had come to realize, was something of a romantic. This was somewhat surprising compared to her initial stance towards Sir Gaurdson, which was more along the lines of a transactional relationship between Kate and I, to take advantage of Kate’s resources.

Of course, Kate’s affections were still contested by Gregory, although he was the only one contesting anything, and it seemed rather more of a foible than anything sensible. Regardless, emotions are not so easily controlled, and Gregory let some bitterness slip in with a denial.

“Please,” Gregory said with a derisive sniff. “They are strictly platonic. A master and a servant, nothing more.”

Marianne’s voice took a teasing lilt.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Marianne said.

The passageway continued on for far longer than I had anticipated. Initially, I had assumed it to be a joining threshold between the quarry and another artificed tunnel. However, the seam we followed along was too consistent to have been formed naturally, at least not all the way. At several points the rocks bore obvious scarring from some sort of tooling.

A half hour later, when all of us realized the narrow passageway would continue onwards, dissent began to be voiced.

“I should be the one taking the lead,” Gregory said. “The excursion is under my name, my project, and I am the sole one here that knows what we seek. Why am I not in front?”

“Does it matter?” Marianne asked. “You’ll see everything we pass just fine where you’re at, right?”

“It matters,” he scoffed, though he failed to provide an explanation as to why.

Eventually, the complaints continued for such a time that Kate grew annoyed and halted, turning to address us, her dagger still held in a loose grip. When we all had stopped and were focused upon her, she snapped.

“Keep it quiet!” she said.

“And why should I?” Gregory asked.

Kate growled, but before she could speak, Marianne chimed in.

“Maybe you should listen to her?” Marianne advised, her eyes glancing over the dagger and then to over Kate’s shoulder where the dark passage loomed

“Ugh. And now the barmaid knows best as well?” Gregory spurned the advice.

Marianne opened her mouth before shutting it once more, likely having seen Kate’s expression.

It was curious, Kate’s sudden turnabout. She had been fine with bantering thus far; her skin impervious to verbal taunts. It left me wondering if Kate’s perception picked up on a threat that I had failed to notice, or if she expected an encounter soon… I strained my senses to see if I could detect any credible obstacle or danger, yet I failed to find anything that would have caused this attitude. As I result, I tilted my head and sent Kate a querying look.

If Kate noticed my attention, she showed no sign. However, she did explain herself, at least partially.

“Just, keep quiet,” Kate said. “Your voices are grating–” My eyes widened at that blunt insult. Who was she directing this at, I wondered. It seemed more towards Gregory, but also somewhat to Marianne. I almost wanted to flinch when Kate’s eyes scanned over me as well, but I resisted the urge as it would only diminish my image. “-and who knows what we’re following here.”

Gregory protested, “You forget yourself, Sir.” While Marianne decided silence the best course of action.

“Nah,” Kate said dismissively, not even bothering to sneer. “I’m just tired of listening to prattle while I’m trying to do my job here.”

“And what job is that?” Gregory asked. “Commandeering my excursion? Leading us headfirst into a possible scenario where we act as brigands?”

“Ughhh, shuddup,” Kate said, pointing her dagger at Gregory, not as an intentional threat but as a speaking aid. “What I’m doing is my job here, which is keeping you safe. Or you forget the ride down to Halftown already? Read too many books that you forgot to appreciate the blade?”

That… was not an idiom that I had heard before, and I suspected that there was some deeper context here that I was missing. This was confirmed when Gregory answered with an equally cryptic taunt.

“Always blayed this, blayed that,” Gregory spat. “Dreor bana ak blayed. Nevermind the rest of the world that actually produces and invents. If not for those such as I, you and yours would be using sticks and stones. Utter folly.”

Those phrases were familiar, but I was unsure of from where. I caught Marianne’s eye and mouthed a question, ‘What?’. She shook her head and mouthed, ‘Later.’

“Just–” Kate said, shuddered as she visibly repressed what was likely anger, “-keep it down. Unless you really do want to go out on your own.”

Gregory frowned, matching Kate’s glare, before scoffing. “Fine. Have your way. Perhaps this prevailing darkness and constant close proximity has dulled all of our patience.”

“Yeah. That,” Kate said.

We had been filing through the narrow canyon, more a crease between two plates than passage, for the better part of thirty minutes before the path split. Kate stepped along one then turned to face me.

“Which way?” she asked.

“Why ask her?!” Gregory demanded.

“She knows how to track,” Kate responded as though Gregory was lacking mental faculties.

“Oh, really?” Gregory sneered. “And where did she learn to do that? In the Grace program, perhaps?”

And once more, this question arose. Once more, I ignored it, refraining from answering. Better an unanswered mystery than a lie, and better a lie than the truth.

Kate scoffed. “What, jealous someone’s actually useful?”

Gregory clenched his fists before performing an abortive breathing exercise. He managed to relax, if only somewhat. His voice was still strained.

“If she’s just pretending and leads us astray?” Gregory said. “Yes, I believe it does. Just what are her credentials?” Gregory turned his attention to Marianne. “Were you taught how to track in that brothel of yours? A useful skill for courtesans, I imagine…”

Marianne flinched, then shook her head. Under her breath, she mumbled, “Don’t work at a brothel.” Neither Kate nor Gregory seemed affected by this mumbling, but Gregory was still waiting for a clear answer.

“Well?” Gregory prompted. “Were you taught this?”

Marianne looked up from the ground and caught Gregory’s eye.

“No,” Marianne said.

Gregory seemed about to once more raise an issue; I decided to cut him off before he could foul the air further with his voice.

I arose from where I had been inspecting the path and I pointed towards the direction that our quarry had left. While I did so, I said, “You act as though more than simple observational powers are required to follow the most worn trail with the most recent signs of disturbance.”

At that, Kate decided to give tracking a try. She peered down at her feet and scuffed some of the dirt, noticing the displaced grime.

“Y’know, I can kinda see it,” Kate said. “But it’d be tough without pretty good eyes.”

Courtly Dancing: Treachery: 8/9 (+1)

From there, Kate led us down the path. We were once more traveling single file. While two of us could walk abreast, the fit would have been uncomfortable.

However, as we followed the trail of what we were growing certain was the trail of humans, likely miners, Marianne raised a valid point.

“If we are following miners… Won’t the stuff be more recently mined here, so none of the ores that we need?”

“Exactly right!” Gregory said, praising Marianne for coming to the same conclusion he had earlier, even though he had never bothered actually verbalizing that conclusion. “So, Sir Gaurdson? Why are we following this alleged trail?”

Kate blew a raspberry but otherwise refrained to respond.

After a moment, Gregory scoffed.

“Is that your answer, really?” He asked.

Another pause. The silence was growing awkward. Eventually, Kate succumbed to the social expectation and she responded.

“I’m bored, alright?” Kate said.

Gregory took an indulgent and patronizing tone, as though he were speaking to a small child.

“If our time down here is boring, then we should find what we need quickly so that we can then leave. This decision to follow after miners returning from the quarry will certainly delay us from achieving what we need. If you dislike our progress currently, then why delay us with this tangential quest to track these people?”

I thought I could hear someone grinding their teeth, possibly Kate.

After Gregory finished his spiel, Kate shot back a simple insult.

“Greggy boy,” Kate said. “Greggy, greggy, schmeggy leggy Greggy,” she added nonsensically.

“This?”Greogry asked, his voice somewhat heated. “I have not heard you speak such crudeness since you were in diapers. I fear you may have regressed.”

“We’re getting your dumb ore right now. It’s why we’re following people that were already here. They know where the stuff’s hidden.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Gregory asked with much sarcasm. “And here I had thought you were merely seeking a fight to relieve your boredom.”

Kate barked a fake laugh, clearly having forgotten her earlier directive of remaining silent to avoid alerting potential enemies. Kate then said with a forced glibness, “Can’t a girl have it both ways? A fight and whatever else we’re looking for?”

“Unbelievable.”

We fell into a sullen silence for some time, which allowed me to hear the sound of metal ringing upon stone first. I tapped Kate’s shoulder then leaned towards her ear.

“Do you hear them ahead?” I asked her.

“Not yet,” Kate answered. “What is it?”

She had halted, causing all of us to to so as well, although Gregory bumped into my back before he realized we had stopped. Surprisingly, he was aware enough to keep from speaking out immediately.

“Miners, I think. It sounds like pickaxes, but I cannot be certain.”

“Perfect,” Kate said. She then resumed her pace, this time with a quick gait that left us behind until we hurried to follow. “‘Bout to prove you wrong, Greggy boy.”

“What do you mean?” Gregory asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously even as he hurried to keep up. “Jackie, what is happening, what did you hear?” He asked me.

As he asked politely, at least for him, I deigned to answer.

“There is activity up ahead,” I said. “What might have been steel striking stone. Somewhat irregular rhythm. There may have been voices as well, although the distance is great enough away I am unsure…”

“Miners then,” Marianne said. “We weren’t sure before, but now we are.”

I glanced behind her and thought I saw her eyes glowing like fresh snow in morning sun, but the illusion faded nearly immediately.

“We will attack them, kill them?” Marianne asked. “Innocents?”

Kate heard and blew a raspberry from up ahead.

“Nah,” Kate reasoned. “Probably criminals. No innocents down here.”

“Do you know this for certain?” Gregory asked, apparently suddenly concerned for his lessers. Whatever his game was, I was unsure. It made me glad that Kate refused to play, merely laughing.

“I may not know if these miners are criminal or not,” Gregory said, continuing this theater. “But what you propose positively is–criminal, that is.”

“Nah,” Kate said. “It’s only criminal if you’re caught.”

“Are you not an agent of the Crown’s Law?” Gregory asked, aping at being horrified for abuses that he was only ‘suddenly’ realizing. What a fool he was.

“It’s only a crime if we’re caught, and none of us’re gonna snitch. At least, I know Jackie won’t. What of you Gregory? You Marianne? Either of you snitches?”

“Unbelievable.”

“Didn’t sound like a no,” Kate said. “Maybe I outta make sure you keep this to yourself?”

I doubted Kate meant anything by the threat, just as I doubted Gregory actually cared about the people we were quickly approaching–because we were quickly approaching them and Gregory had not stopped and Kate continued to stride forward, unbothered by the noise we generated. We were near enough to the ringing metal on stone and the clank of stone falling on stone that everyone else could also hear, although distance was still difficult to determine.

“Fine!” Gregory snapped. “I will refrain from speaking of whatever idiocy is you choose to do, even if it is criminal. Does this leave you happy? Allowing you to pervert the Crown’s Law?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Does it make me happy?” Kate mused, ignoring Gregory’s provocation otherwise. “Good question. Not yet, but, I think it’s about to.”

She picked up the pace even further, nearly running. I kept up, but the other two struggled to maintain the pace while carrying their laden packs.

We were now near enough for me to hear snippets of conversation in husky and worn-down voices.

“-he said that?” A man asked.

“-them words?” The same said after an unheard response.

“-then he outta lick chodes and–”

“-what, you gonna tell ‘im? What I thought.”

“-yeah yeah. Almost done. Not like there’s a lot here–”

None of it was making sense, and while I thought I heard two voices, it may have just been the one talking loudly and with subtle differences. The degree of inconsistency in tonal qualities left it difficult for me to make sense of the overheard conversation’s context.

Kate opened up into a sprint, leaving me behind as she went around a corner, a brighter corner, illuminated from the other end.

I rushed to follow and came around the corner as well.

Up ahead was a chamber carved in the stone, lit by a hanging lantern. A stone was tossed onto a hand-cart, clattering. Metal came down on stone from the side, near one of the crudely carved walls.

Kate was darting forward, her short sword in hand and held behind her like a lazy tail.

Silent and as quick as lightning.

There were two men in the chamber, miners. They were covered in dust and grime, their skin and clothes covered in what could have been paste or chalk, with how thickly the dusty residue stuck to them. Neither of them saw Kate approach. Nor did they hear our footsteps. Nor Gregory calling from somewhere back in the passageway we came from.

The miners may as well have been blind and deaf. Not that it would matter.

The first miner fell, grasping at rent flesh and falling back to the ground to thrash his legs as he bled out.

The second miner finally noticed something was wrong. He turned, confusion writ across his face, pickaxe held loosely, his lips halfway to speaking a question. When his eyes landed on his thrashing coworker and the pool of blood staining the chalky dust red, the miner startled.

It came too little and too late.

I inspected the rest of the room as Kate finished her grisly task.

A lantern hung from the ceiling, rocking slightly from the air currents ever-present in the mines. There was a worn and dry-rotted table pushed to the side of the chamber. A glowing chasm was in the wall, near a half-full ore-cart. The ore-cart also glowed, if subtly.

By the time I finished cataloging the room’s contents, the two men were dead.

Kate turned back towards us, as Gregory and Marianne had finally caught up and had entered the chamber behind us. Kate grinned in a satisfied fashion, as though she just scratched a difficult to reach and persistent ache, reminding me of my own ever-present and ever-worsening itch as I was forced to maintain this false body, this Guise.

But, Kate was still grinning. She pointed towards the ore-cart. Her voice took a smug tone.

“Best of both, what did I tell you?” Kate said. Even though I felt obligated to take her side, and this urge was quite the strange occurrence, despite this suspect obligation, her insufferable tone felt too much to bear.

As Gregory inspected the ore-cart’s contents, which seemed to be mostly rock with sporadic razor thin veins of a glowing substance, one of the assumed deceased miners turned out to be only mostly dead, for while in his death throes, one of the miner’s legs landed upon Gregory’s ankle and boot.

Of course, Gregory cringed and backed away from the whole thing; Kate, unbothered in the slightest, continued to rummage through the ore and held up one specimen that was covered densely with veins, likely the most promising of the lot.

“So?” Kate said, waving the rock around then tossing it to Gregory. He fumbled the catch. “Like I said, we should have done this from the start. We could be back on the surface now, instead of trawling through these tunnels and caves.”

Gregory frowned at the ore in his hand and inspected it from multiple angles. Eventually, his lips curled just slightly before he shook his head.

“Unfortunately for us, this ore is insufficient for our excursion. Perhaps had we merely questioned these men we might have learned where more promising deposits could be found.”

“Laying it on a bit thick,” Marianne muttered, only to be ignored by Gregory.

Kate meanwhile looked as though she had bit into a particularly sour lemon.

Gregory continued to point out just how the ore was insufficient. Whether he was telling the truth or not, I could not be certain, but I doubted he was so compelled by spite to deny the ore before him, at least if the ore were sufficient for his target.

“... And while this ore could be refined into something useful, its base purity is not high enough to make it worthwhile on its own,” Gregory explained.

Kate clicked her tongue, somehow communicating disgust with such a minimal expression.

“Yeah, but if it’s not pure enough, just grab enough of it to melt down or purify it or whatever it is you guys do. Seems simple enough–”

“-Kate,” Gregory cut in.

“Yeah?”

“Are you willing to carry a half-ton of the ore back?”

“I mean, I could… because I can totally lift that much…”

“And carry it all the way back to Halftown?”

Kate winced.

“Exactly,” Gregory said.

“Alright, I see what you’re getting at…”

During this period, Marianne had decided that rather than standing around with mostly-dead miners and listening to Kate and Gregory bicker, Marianne had entered into the roughly hewn recess along the side of the chamber, where the miners had been carving away at what was presumably a vein. This was the same vein that had glowed brightly enough that the light was visible despite the lantern in the chamber.

“-I think there’s some better stuff back here,” Marianne called back out to the chamber. “This one looks bigger than the ones in the cart. Kinda back there though,” she finished, stepping out from the recess and pulling Gregory’s attention away from Kate.

“Then I must check to see if this meets my needs,” Gregory said, entering the recess though stepping carefully around the loose and jagged stones. After several minutes, Gregory returned with his verdict. “There is indeed a node of living materials near to the surface here. The deeper in we go, the better the purity. I expect that with much effort, we could gain access to ore of sufficient purity.”

“Yeah?” Kate said. “Get to it then. Sooner you do, the sooner we can leave.”

Gregory, however, made no move to begin mining for his ore. All of us stared at him for a moment before he glanced back into the recess and gave an ambiguous sniff.

Kate frowned, glancing between him, his lacking arms, and then the pickaxes that the miners had been using.

“Well?” Kate snapped, quickly exhausting her minimal reserves of patience.

Gregory blew out a breath.

“I had hoped you might offer assistance in the matter?”

“Yeah, but no. How long’re you gonna take to get to work?”

It was curious that Kate would decline to do the labor for him, as doing so would see us leave earlier. However, knowing that Kate and Gregory were currently feuding, I could see how Kate would let her emotions cloud her decisions.

“Yes, hm… This may be awkward for me to share, but manual labor is not my strongest skill-set.”

Marianne winced while Kate chuckled and shook her head.

“I would anticipate I would require at least a day? Perhaps more, if the node is further back than I guessed.”

“Do we even have that long to make it back up in time?” Marianne asked.

And then, there was the other uncomfortable fact, one that I would be remiss to fail to mention, that ought to have been common sense, but that was apparently absent from the three teens and their decision making skills. Thus, I pointed it out.

“Presumably,” I said, “These two miners were members of a larger operation. There is a high chance their absence will be noted and then acted upon.”

“Pfft,” Kate scoffed. “I’m not worried. Let ‘em come.”

Gregory also seemed unbothered by the chance of being caught by the deceased miners’ peers.

“And it would only require a day if I received no help,” Gregory said.

Sensing that Kate had no plans to aid in mining, Gregory then turned to Marianne.

“Sorry, but I can’t,” Marianne said. Before Gregory could ask further, Marianne explained, “I’m too small, and too weak. I would be a worse choice than you in the matter…”

Clever, I thought. Claiming that Gregory was her superior both fitted in with his ego and excused her from the labor.

But then, Gregory turned towards me.

Kate stepped between Gregory and myself, pre-empting my own denial, which I would have issued. I had no intention of aiding Gregory either. This excursion had no bearing upon me, in whether Gregory succeeded in claiming his materials or not. Besides, if Kate declined to help, then I could hardly undermine her position by helping myself.

“Ha!” Kate said, gloating. “Looks like you’re on your own, none of us want to help. You might want to hurry and get to work, if we’re gonna meet your deadline. It’s gonna take a couple days to get back.”

Gregory grimaced in discomfort, glanced at the vein and where the node might have been, before shuddering. “What do you recommend then, Sir Gaurdson?” Gregory asked.

Kate was suddenly grinnging, a sadistic cast to her face, especially with the shadows cast by her unruly mop of bluish blonde hair.

“You said there was a larger operation here, Jackie?”

We continued following the tracks, as the miners had not been carrying their ore-cart to the larger quarry, at least not recently. They had been traveling from the chamber towards somewhere else, further in, towards what we hoped was a larger operation for Kate to conquer and then for Gregory to subsequently rob.

The blatant corruption involved in this scenario would have been uncomfortable, except I had always known that nothing touched by humans was incorruptible. Everything and everyone operated per their own needs; it would be the height of lunacy to believe any set of arbitrarily made rules and guidelines could steer a single person, let alone an entire society.

From how quickly Marianne and Gregory submitted to Kate’s plans, I think that they also were not so naive, that, or they had quickly found a way to justify our actions with lies and delusions.

Eventually, the passageway widened out, enough for two ore-carts to pass side by side. During this period, I walked nearest to Kate, just a half-step behind her.

The other two kept near as well.

Kate was the one to broach the sullen air first.

“Walking through these hallways feels familiar,” she said.

“It does,” Gregory admitted.

Marianne seemed confused by this, and I acted as though I were confused as well. However, I suspected that Kate and Gregory were referring to their time in the wastes when they had joined an ill-fortuned caravan.

“At least we are unpursued this time,” Gregory said.

“Knock on wood, yeah?” Kate said.

“Not that there are little people listening,” Marianne said under her breath. Her eyes once again glowed, if briefly.

“What?” Kate asked Marianne.

“Just a phrase, is all,” Marianne said, sounding embarrassed. “Nothing meant.”

Kate and Gregory let Marianne’s slip of tongue pass; I had no quarrel with the girl, but I had noted several curious observations that I would likely pursue in the future. However, during this current conversation, I kept silent, to avoid drawing any attention towards me in relation to the familiar situation Kate and Gregory were reminiscing about.

It was likely an unnecessary precaution on my part: for while there were superficial similarities between the beast-kin named Jackie and the human girl who also had the same hair and eye color who was also named Jackie. Spells on the same order as my Guise of the Kitsune were practically unheard of. Sometimes I wondered where Emboru had received such a Grimoire.

Eventually we came to a fork. The left path went upwards while the right path remained at the same elevation.

“Which way, you think?” Kate asked me.

“Yes, let us see this famed tracking ability in action,” Gregory said with sarcasm, beginning hostilities once more.

I ignored his needling and explained what I was looking for, pointing at the cart ruts left in the dusty floor.

“Huh. Yeah, I shoulda checked that first.” Kate admitted.

The next fork we came to had ruts following both directions, although neither went up. The left one followed a slight decline.

This time, Kate attempted to make sense of the tracks similar to how I had showed her, but after she had crouched low to investigate the ground for some time, she shrugged. “I got nothing,” she said. “Jackie? You got this?”

I took Kate’s lantern from her as it was close and already lit and I shined it on the ground where the ruts met. The ruts from the left curved in and seemed to lead to the one on the right. I pointed to the right.

We continued.

Several times further we passed forks and side passages, although each time we were able to make a reasonable guess based on the ruts and the direction that they seemed to be headed.

What seemed like hours passed.

“Getting close to dinner,” Kate said.

“Thinking with your stomach?” Marianne teased Kate.

“Ha! Maybe. Should I be thinking of something else?” Kate said, almost leering my way.

Marianne blushed but looked towards me as well.

I groaned for the sake of it and then avoided looking at either of them, crossing my arms.

“We ought to have come across someone by now, at least signs of their operations,” Gregory said.

“So eager to ‘rob’ them now?” Kate asked him. While she had no issue with making battle and claiming the spoils of war, she knew that Gregory was troubled by doing so, or that he had been. She enjoyed bothering him, it seemed.

“No, of course not,” Gregory denied. “We are committed to this plan solely because of you, Kate. Let us not forget. But I am worried that you, and we, are being led astray. How certain are we that we have been led in the correct directions?”

“I have shown my methods at every junction,” I said. “If we have been led astray, then it is a failing of all of ours.”

“You were the one that claimed those methods worked, to justify this alleged skill,” Gregory said.

Kate opened her mouth to protest but I laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She glanced at me, confused. I gave her an apologetic shrug.

“Gregory’s suspicions are shared by myself,” I said, cutting the accusation off by joining his side. “I would have expected to run into someone by now as well.”

We came to another junction.

“So whaddya think?” Kate asked, shining the lantern down at the ground. It was as I joined her that she must have realized something was off, as she said, “That’s not right. Can’t be…”

I glanced down and saw what she meant. While there were signs of previous traffic, the signs were old, much older than the previous ruts we had been following.

“This is unfortunate indeed,” I said, coming out in front of the mistake before it could pile atop me. “It appears I have been misled, or that I have missed some sign. We have lost the trail. My apologies, Sir Gaurdson,” I said, bowing in submission to her.

“Pfft,” Kate scoffed. “None of that. You did your best, and it’s not like I did any better.”

“Of course she justifies the barmaid’s errors. We would have been wise to have never listened to her observations to begin with,” Gregory said snidely.

“Yeah, but no. Cut that off Gregory. We lost the trail. It happens. We’ll just backtrack to the last place we found it and go from there. Easy.”

“Maybe we should take a break?” Marianne asked, rubbing at her lower back by reaching between her pack and her spine. “I know Kate’s getting hungry, and I am as well. If we’re going to back track, then we might as well stop here.”

“Camp sounds good,” Kate said, coming to the decision on behalf of all of us, although Gregory gave a half-hearted protest.

“Another day wasted,” Gregory said. “We should have just stayed back where we found the ore. Could have been finished by now.”

“Hmm, yeah. Hindsight’s like that. You couldn’t have known,” Kate said, patting Gregory on the shoulder consolingly.

He groaned. “Might as well make camp then,” he said. “At least we no longer need to worry about being set upon by the miners’ crew.”

“Yeah, probably not. Should probably keep watch though.”

“No making out this time!” Marianne insisted, glancing between myself and Kate.

I winced.

Kate grinned.

Gregory groaned, and then added “The barmaid is correct in that assertion. It would be unwise to allow Kate and Jackie to distract each other.”

“Why, feeling left out?” Kate taunted.

Gregory flinched, then shook his head. “No, it would be simply unsafe.”

“How do we do this then?” Marianne asked. “We need somebody keeping watch, right?”

“We do,” Gregory agreed. He then pointed at me, “First watch.” To Marianne, “Second watch.” And finally to Kate, “And third.”

“Forgetting yourself?” Kate asked.

“No. I am exhausted from dealing with you. Tomorrow, I expect to be performing labor, regardless of what we find.”

“Yeah, alright, sure,” Kate said. “Whatever. You’ve got cooking and latrine duty then.”

“Latrine… duty?” Marianne asked.

“It’s when we dig holes to–”

“-That is unnecessary in these circumstances–” Gregory cut in with his insistence.

Kate grinned back at him.

“But I agree to the more reasonable demands. I will take care of the camp tasks tonight and tomorrow in exchange for the watch schedule.”

And so, it was decided. We shucked off our packs, stretched, enjoyed the freedom of motion and let the sweat cool from our backs.

Later that night, I finally managed a somewhat private discussion with Marianne.

She likely thought I was to interrogate her over her relations with Gregory, or about some of the inconsistencies that she must have known to have let slip. However, I thought it best to avoid alienating the girl at this time. Rather, I wanted to have more context from a discussion I had heard earlier between Kate and Gregory.

It had been familiar, but I struggled to place where from, and I worried that I would stumble without adequate context. As Marianne was here and somewhat on my side, I chose to ask her. She seemed relieved when I finally posed my question.

It was while she and I had gone off to attend to our necessities. As soon as Marianne and I reached a suitable distance, I finally felt at ease enough to ask a somewhat indirectly sensitive question.

“You wanted to know about the whole ‘blayed’ thing, right?” Marianne asked.

I nodded. “Yes. It seems familiar, but I cannot quite place it.”

“And you felt embarrassed to ask Kate about it?” Marianne said.

“With how tense the topic seemed, I wanted to avoid unintentionally worsening–” I waved my arms broadly about in a vague manner “-that was.”

“Good call… but in this case it might not have been that bad?”

“So you do know? I feel I am out of context in this situation.”

“Don’t blame ya,” Marianne said. “But for all that, you should probably have some context, even if it’s maybe not something the Crown really shares out these days. It’s a bit olden, especially in the South.”

“Is it more current elsewhere in the Middens Kingdom?”

“Yep. By the by, just assume the Middens Kingdom is everything–you’ll come across more cleanly that way and the people here really don’t differentiate.”

“Yes, I had noticed that. Oftentimes this Kingdom is implicitly described as the entirety of existence. I find such curious, as I have seen maps that say otherwise.”

“Ha… yeah. Especially here on the border I guess. But that’s not what you wanted to know about. For the dreor and blayed stuff, it’s from an ancient version of the language–how old, I don’t know–but at least before the Shattering…

“The exact translation is something like blood and glory. You gotta understand, the people used to be warriors, and everything was all about that. Their language reflected that and they began to think being drenched in blood was a good thing. Before the Shattering, back when they, I mean we, were still good with gods and stuff, there was supposed to be a reward for dying bloody. Stupid, I know.

“Now get this, the practice is largely not done, but bits remain in culture here and there. I think some theaters have bits about it?”

“Then how are you aware? Have you seen a troupe, I presume?”

“Eh… up north, the warrior spirit was kept longer with the border raids ‘n stuff. More bad blood left that culture more recent, I guess. Again though, it’s dumb, and it’s going outta practice.”

“I am unsure if I believe that. Afterall, if it were forgotten, then how would Gregory Silverborn, an artificer and not a combatant, know the detail well enough to quote it while in a moment of passion?”

“Yeah, not sure about that. Maybe Kate’s talked about it a lot? Or Gregory’s a history buff or something? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Kate and her family got some sort of tradition built around it. They’re an older line, right?”

“I suppose so,” I said, left with several unanswered questions of an academic nature.

Courtly Dancing: Treachery: 9/9 (+1)

-> Courtly Dancing: Treachery I: 1/9

– Persuasive Lies: 1/9

When we returned, Kate gave a small nod towards me, and soon, all had tucked themselves into their bedrolls, with myself as the exception: I had first watch.

Unfortunately, It took longer than expected for the others to fall asleep.

Perhaps their circadian rhythms had been ruined by the caverns. Perhaps the environment was disquieting. Perhaps their reasons failed to matter in the slightest and they should just… I caught myself clenching my teeth and relaxed myself as best I could.

Growing anxious would hardly ameliorate the itch. No, to resolve that I would need to drop my Guise. Except I could hardly do so while Gregory and Kate both remained awake. Why would they bother tucking themselves in if they were to just lay there in silence? Did they think they were fooling me?

I began pacing, intermittently pausing to listen to their breathing before resuming once more. I considered the risk of ‘scouting’ now, rather than when I could confirm everyone slumbered. But that would be risky, even if I could have sold my absence as scouting of some kind. I might have been able to argue the benefits of scouting if there was only one direction that we could be stumbled upon from. But at our campsite there were three, and they lacked the obvious signs I could point to for even a weak justification.

This period of waiting lasted the better part of an hour. Their breathing still sounded too regular, and occasionally one of them shifted. Then, when I suspected they had finally succumbed, Kate half-snorted in her sleep, causing Gregory to start and restarting the process once more. Thankfully the second time went faster.

When my watch-shift was half expired, I finally had the chance to safely put distance between myself and the camp. I departed, heading towards one of the tunnels we had been heading towards. Despite the urgency caused by the near immediacy of relief, I managed to delay my reversion until I was certain I was beyond earshot of the others.

Finally, finally, my Guise dropped.

I sighed in relief as my form reverted: the lessening pressure while my spine decompressed and as my hideously naked skin was buried and my face restructured itself plunging the world into a grayscale version of itself that still felt richer. The one detriment was that I kept my boots on, leaving my feet cramped, but I thought my time was too limited to bother.

Instead I stretched and enjoyed, I relaxed. I was unafraid that one of the humans would sneak up on me as I would hear their clumsy footfalls long before they detected me. Even Kate. While she might have the better perception, she was heavier and tended to stride with a loud confidence.

To be safe, though, I flicked my ears.

I regretted that I was forced to give up my incredible sense of hearing so often. To a lesser extent, I regretted giving up on my sense of smell, less as largely humans stank.

It was due to these senses that I heard them approach, though at first it was vague and distant and difficult to discern; I almost thought I was imagining it.

Then came a high pitched shriek, but was animalistic in ways that a voice never was. It echoed and bounced and muddled itself that I could not be certain it was not more than a bark or a yip to begin with.

Then came a chittering.

It sounded far off, still echoing, but I thought it might have been approaching.

Then a bark, but this time clearly defined.

I had yet to have even twenty minutes to myself, and already my time was cut short.

I wanted to curse and swear. But rather than swearing or otherwise dwelling on it, I began redonning my Guise as I hurried back to camp. After I had returned to my human form, I could no longer hear the animalistic calls, so they were likely far enough away that a minute’s delay would not be overly terrible.

I entered camp and went to Kate first. I crouched and shook her shoulder–

A flash of steel and motion; I fell back and rolled, barely avoiding a thrusting knife.

After I rolled backwards I pushed off the ground with my hands and flipped back to my feet, landing in a crouch and considered: Kate had attempted to stab me with her dagger. She must have slept with it unsheathed and ready and then lashed out by reflex. I doubt she would have stabbed me otherwise. But that reflex of hers seemed suspicious. How was anyone supposed to wake her for a watch-shift if the first thing she did was slice and stab? Very suspicious. I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes as Kate got her bearings.

“Huzzawhat?” Kate grumbled, rubbing at her eyes while still holding the dagger which led to the edge catching her hair. “Jackie?” she asked, perceiving me without looking. “What’s wrong?”

Besides the approaching under-things that were still a ways off, there was the more immediate problem, and one I could not simply let pass without voicing my dissatisfaction; for if I failed to voice this, I would likely be perceived as lesser. But how far should I take this, and in what manner? I decided for a middling approach.

“Several things,” I said, still crouched and still glaring. “But first, why did you attempt to stab me? Were I anyone else, we likely would have suffered a medical emergency.”

“What?” Kate scoffed, extricating herself from her bedroll and beginning to stretch.

She was making no attempts to keep her voice down, but nor did I. If the under-things were indeed heading our way, then they would do so, regardless of how loud our conversation was. I doubted that their senses were much worse than my true form. This may have been careless of us, but in Kate’s defense, she had yet to be alerted that there were under-things approaching. Thus, Kate continued to protest loudly without consideration for the other two members of our party.

“Nu-huh,” Kate said. “If I tried you woulda been stabbed. You don’t look stabbed, so I must not’ve tried.”

“A tautology then?” I said. “You never attempted as you never succeeded so it must not have happened?”

Kate made an unflattering sound.

“Exactly.”

“It must have been someone else that flashed a dagger across where my face had been then,” I mocked. “We should find this perpetrator then as we are all at risk.” I may have laid the sarcasm on too thickly, but I felt the weight was required to actually breach Kate’s skull.

“Well,” she said, visibly thinking it over. “That might’ve been a misunderstanding. I was just stretching when I got up, and I was holding the dagger, so probably you just overreacted. Besides, you didn’t get cut, did you?”

I rolled my eyes and decided to drop the matter, especially as we had greater concerns.

“A misunderstanding then,” I said with a nod.

Of course, our conversation was loud enough to wake the others, although they took longer than I had expected for them to engage.

Marianne stirred awake first.

“Jackie?” Marianne said. “Why–what time is it? Why is Kate up too? I had thought…” she trailed off, confused, likely because she had been supposed to have taken the middle shift.

“Oh, hey!” Kate said, realizing that I must have woken her for a reason. “You didn’t get me up just to smog, yeah? Or… did you?” she said with a lopsided snarl of a grin.

“No, Kate. I did not wake you to smog,” I said with disgust. “Gregory should wake as well. We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Kate asked, beginning to grow excited. “Did you find something? No… wait… you were on watch, so you probably went off and did something… we really need to talk about what a shift actually entails, cause I think you’re doing it wrong.”

“As if you are a paragon of responsibility,” I said, figuring the best defense was an accusation in this case, as she and I both knew full well that my watch shifts had been somewhat reckless. It was better to divert and aggregate others with myself when guilt was assured. “But, yes. Fortunately I found them before they found us. But I do believe they are headed this way.”

“What’s headed this way?” Kate asked, suddenly serious, though still bright eyed. “How long? How many?”

“Under-things, possibly canine in nature. How many and how long? I am uncertain.”

“Under–” Marianne swallowed “-things?”

“That’s fine,” Kate said, still stretching and warming up. “It’s about time something happens. If it’s just under-things I’ll be able to handle it.”

“But–but isn’t there worse ones the deeper we go? We’re pretty deep already,” Marianne said, only partially reassured by Kate’s confidence.

“Yeah, but not really. Deep tunnels got barriers on ‘em, so really it’s only a bit worse than further up. But Jackie, you said they were canine? Not rats?”

“I heard what sounded similar to a bark, and I heard their movement. If they are rats, they are quite large.”

“Ha!” Kate laughed, taking command of the situation. “Well, you’ve seen the shit that lives down here. Deviants and alchemicals and all sorts of… I don’t even know. Hope it’s not rats though, swarms are irksome. Might wanna pack up though, especially the sundries. Don’t wanna lose those an’ be forced to eat whatever’s down here.

“But still, how long you think till they get here? Coulda let me sleep a bit longer.”

I rolled my eyes. “I am certain you would have been pleased to have woken up just as these creatures stumbled upon our camp. My apologies for my consideration.”

Kate coughed and looked away, her eyes landing on Gregory. She gained a devious smirk.

“Speaking of sleeping beauties,” Kate said. “If I can’t sleep, neither can he.” She nudged Gregory with her foot rather aggressively, likely paying him back for when he had ‘nudged’ me.

However, Gregory merely groaned, gave a lazy swat towards Kate’s leg, and then rolled over, still mostly asleep.

This irritated Kate. She raised her leg as though to stomp on Gregory’s midsection. I might have protested, but Gregory deserved it. It may have been suboptimal and dependent on spite, but I truly disliked the boy and wished him ill. Thus, I may have encouraged Kate’s behavior with silence and rapt attention.

However, Marianne’s heart was softer than her mind keen, leading her to interrupt Kate prior to stomping.

“Uh, hey–” Marianne started, bending down by Gregory and partially obstructing Kate. “-shouldn’t be too hard to wake him the right way. Don’t wanna hurt him before a fight, right?” she finished nervously while beginning to shake Gregory.

“Ggh,” Gregory said, scratching the side of his mouth.

“Not so difficult,” Marianne said, pulling away from Gregory before he could protest her proximity.

Gregory smacked his lips and cracked his eyes before realizing we were all up and packing our sundries in case the under-things came with a swarm of pests. Of course, this state of affairs caused him disorientiation.

“D-did I miss breakfast then?” Gregory asked. “Why am I so tired still? This does not feel–is something happening?”

As he spoke, he took initiative to begin preparing for the day, wetting a rag and beginning to watch himself.

Kate seemed amused by his priorities, but otherwise largely indifferent. Likely she planned on fighting everything herself, and merely bothered to wake Gregory up because she felt like it, not because she wanted his help. She waited until he was in the middle of giving himself a sponge-bath before filling him in on the situation.

“We’re about to be attacked,” Kate said simply. “Y’know, a fight? Thought you might wanna be awake to defend yourself. But if you need to get clean and relieve yourself, maybe make tea? That’s fine. Just be sure to make some for me too for after I’m done.”

“Attacked?!” Gregory said, realizing that Kate’s casual demeanor was opposed to the situation. “By whom? Where? Do they have living materials, you think?”

“Oh? Do under-things normally mine and carry that sort of stuff?” Kate asked sarcastically, even though Gregory had yet to even learn what was attacking, but Kate must have known that. I checked her face, and noticed she had a mean smile. I wondered if the hostility from the previous day was carrying forward and souring Gregory and Kate’s friendship.

“Under-things? Where are they then? Were those the tracks we were following?” Gregory asked.

“Jackie heard them a bit back,” Marianne answered as Kate seemed to be content watching Gregory flounder. “Though, I’m curious why we have yet to hear anything. I hadn’t thought Jackie’s hearing was enhanced that much…”

“Of course the courtesan would have enhanced hearing; better to learn rumors and secrets to hold over her betters…” Gregory said, thinking aloud.

“Pfft, sounds like you’re jealous,” Kate said. “But even then, I’ve got good hearing too and I haven’t picked ‘em up yet. You sure they’re coming?” she asked.

I shrugged. “They may have turned back, but I doubt it. Are not under-things typically aggressive?”

“Depends on how hungry they are,” Kate mused. “How far out were you when you heard ‘em?”

“How far out… ?” Marianne repeated before turning her full attention upon me. “What–were you off gallivanting again? That’s what Kate meant earlier, wasn’t it? Frosted tits!” Marianne swore. “Jackie! That’s not–even I know you’re supposed to stay near the camp… if you run off, then what if we’re attacked while you’re gone and we’re sleeping?”

“Agreed,” Gregory said, ire in his voice. He seemed satisfied that he now had a target. “One would wonder what the point of keeping watch is at all if one fails to actually keep watch. It leaves the rest of us at risk. How do you account for this, barmaid?”

“Did you two become friends or something?” Kate asked, referring to Gregory and Marianne, likely prompted by the fact that he had agreed with Marianne. “I didn’t know she was your type, or that she could put up with your–” she nodded at Gregory “-you-ness.”

Marianne blushed and looked at the ground.

Gregory scoffed. “As if I would denigrate myself. But if a pauper has a proper idea, then why can I not agree?”

However, this shifted the discussion away from my own mis-deeds, and I intended to seize upon it.

“How have I failed to see this until now?” I asked, faking a scandalized tone. “They have been expressing signs of infatuation. Did we not just witness Marianne engaging Gregory with intimacy as she spared him from your boot?” I referred to when Marianne had woken Gregory, obviously misconstrued to further deflect the conversation.

“What?!” Gregory demanded, then glaring at Marianne. “Did you take liberties while I slept?!”

It was interesting that he completely ignored the fact that Kate had been willing to stomp on him while he slept. Perhaps he had not realized the danger Marianne had saved him from, and instead fixated upon Marianne. It was easier to ‘punch down,’ as the crass would say.

“No!” Marianne sputtered. “Of course not! Why would I–” she sent an irritated glare my way “-I don’t even favor boys. That would be disgusting. I’m sorry Gregory, but no. Not my type.”

“Nonsense,” Gregory spat. “Likely story you would claim that. Likely you wish to take advantage of the Silverborns! No use denying it–”

“-Yeah, but no,” Kate cut in. “This is dumb. The whole thing.” She shut down the entire discussion, likely saving Gregory from making a fool of himself and saving the amicable relations between Marianne, Kate, and I. Besides, Kate was correct. There were better ways to spend our time with potential enemies approaching.

“It’s like this. Jackie took watch. She went to scout, probably cause standing around is lame. And it’s a good thing she did, cause she detected the under-things while they’re still a ways off. She came back, woke me up, since obviously I’m gonna fight ‘em. Then you two woke up–” she pointed at Marianne and Gregory “-to break camp while I get ready to fight. But then you guys start arguing about the dumbest things.”

“-hey!” Gregory tried to protest, but Kate continued on without paus.

“And now we’ve got actual things to focus on. So hop to it–” she clapped her hands “-get packing. Seriously.”

Kate then focused on me. “How far out did you go before you detected them?”

This question forced me to make an educated guess. As I had dropped my Guise when I had first heard them, my hearing had been incredibly enhanced, allowing me to hear further than I could with the Guise up. This difference in hearing equated to a certain distance, which I had to estimate and then add in the actual true distance that I had actually traveled. Of course, without knowing how far sound traveled in the tunnels or how loud the actual source of the noise was, my guess was likely inaccurate. Likely the effort was unnecessary. Better safe than sorry, in the instance where Kate somehow decided to fact-check my story.

“No more than a mile,” I said with caution. “But I am uncertain.”

“That far?!” Kate said, sounding surprised. “What if you got lost, or got jumped? I wouldn’t have been there–”

“-Kate,” I interrupted her. “You are aware of my capabilities. You have seen me defend myself, along with the results. There should be no cause for concern here.”

“Yeah, but… if something did happen to you, we’d have no idea where you went or were. See where I’m coming from here? Buddy systems exist for a reason.”

I frowned at Kate and was forced to concede that she was correct. I had put myself and the party in somewhat of a precarious situation in that regard.

“I dislike it when you make well-reasoned arguments,” I said with an artificial pout.

“Yeah, I’m not liking making those either,” Kate said. “Better to flex arguments into submission.” She made a show of flexing her biceps and winking at me.

Several minutes passed as we packed our backs and readied our weapons to defend ourselves, Kate’s short sword was out and Gregory had his arc-bow slotted with a fresh Charger. Marianne lacked any weapons, but she held Gregory’s lamp. I considered using my battle-ribbon, but thought it best to avoid using a weapon that required so much space and maneuverability. Instead I had my knife out and my false-arm ready.

As these minutes passed, Gregory began to express doubts that enemies were coming, while Marianne hoped that the under-things had turned away. Kate was growing bored and was just proposing that we head out towards where I had heard the under-things coming from, when the under-things were once more heard.

Of course, I picked up on the approaching creatures first. My hearing was still enhanced compared to the likes of Gregory and Marianne.

“-I hear them approaching now,” I said, cutting into Gregory’s inane complaints.

“-Bout time!” Kate said.

“-W-where?” Marianne asked, turning her lantern quickly from each of the three passages leading away from our camp.

Taking mercy on Marianne, I pointed the passage to her. No surprise the beasts approached from the tunnel I had first scouted.

Forty seconds passed. While I heard the beasts slowly growing louder as they approached, the others had yet to notice anything. Eventually, Kate commented.

“Just how good is your hearing, Jackie?” Kate asked. “I mean, there’s enhanced, and then there’s this. Makes a gal wonder, y’know?”

I grimaced but refrained from commenting, lest I reveal more than I had intended. Before Kate could bother me further, Gregory responded with an acidic retort.

“Is this really the time to be asking that?” Gregory said. “Now, shine the lantern I lent you on its greatest setting,” he commanded Marianne.

Marianne obliged, finding the knob on the side of the lantern and boosted the intensity. A stream of light shined deep into the passage, until it curved upwards to the left.

“Be warned,” he said. “This will not last longer than five minutes,” he explained.

“There they are,” Kate said, more to herself than anyone else. She had finally heard them approach. “Don’t sound that bad. Bet they don’t last a minute.”

Marianne chewed her chapped lips before asking, “M-maybe not the best time… Uhm, but, but what are under-things, exactly?” As she lit her lantern, her eyes almost seemed to glow blue, although that must have been a trick of the light.

“Might as well chat,” Kate said. “No harm in it. But to answer that, under-things can be anything.”

Gregory rolled his eyes and huffed. “That is both true and useless. She likely desires specifics.”

Marianne nodded, if slightly.

“Have at it, loverboy,” Kate said, grinning mockingly at him.

He glared at her but answered all the same. “Under-things are almost always deformed beasts, deposited by the Firmament. There is a degree of randomness, but always hostile. Typically they are no worse than a mangy oversized rat. But there is an immense amount of variability.”

“And these?” Marianne asked, flinching as one of the under-things barked in the distance.

“Maybe hundeor?” Gregory said with a shrug. “Regardless, Kate is correct. They will prove no match for us.”

The barks and snarling yips increased in volume, along with the sound of talons clicking on stone, frequent enough to remind me of the Infested of the Mucary, although from my false-arms lack of reaction, I thought the similarity merely a coincidence.

There was a snap followed by a whimper, then the first under-thing stepped into the illuminated passage, limping on a hindleg with its tail tucked and its ears flattened. After it entered the light, it paused, snarling with foam dripping from its maw. When it deemed it safe, it glanced behind itself, where it was ushered on by another beast’s growls. The first began approaching, if slowly.

Seconds later, another beast came around the corner, again freezing upon entering the illumination. This one appeared larger, though just as gaunt. Its tail was less tucked, but its ears just as flat. It had a sparse reverse-brindle coat, less fur than not.

Then another came around the corner, with no signs of it being the last one.

“Wolves?” Marianne said under her breath. While I recognized the word, it was not from the human tongue, nor the Kaivan, nor any other I had learned since arriving in this forsaken world.

“Worgs?” Kate asked. “No, that’s not it. What’d ya call ‘em, wolves?”

“Nevermind it,” Marianne said, suddenly shy. “They just reminded me of something. Probably whatever you call worgs.”

I found it strange that Kate seemed to not realize what Marianne was talking about, but then I remembered the dearth of wildlife I had seen in the wastes, and considered that wolves and dogs may have been extinct, at least locally. Also, I had yet to hear anything of ‘worgs.’

“Worgs are like Hundeor, but quadrupeds,” Kate explained. “Usually bigger too.”

Another beast came around, followed by another, the largest one yet, coming to the height of my waist. There were five of these mangy and rabid dog-like creatures. Kate took a position in front of us, light on the balls of her feet. Before the beasts made it more than halfway to us, Kate thought of one more thing.

“Hey Gregory?” Kate called out behind her, though she never let her attention off the beasts. “Don’t shoot me in the back.”

“I will strive to avoid doing so,” Gregory said, his voice less shaky as he went and ending in a droll tone.

As the beasts came near, I caught scent of them, acerbic and musky and covered in the stench of waste and rotten flesh. Their gums were blistered and oozing and none of them had a full set of teeth, though they had fang enough to bite.

It was then that the rearmost beast growl-snarled into a bark.

The leading beast flinched at that, hesitated a second, lowered itself, then bounded forward in a reckless suicidal charge. It leapt, not directly at Kate, but slightly to her side. The tactic made no difference. Her sword flashed out with a reverse chop, opening the beast just behind its forelimb, causing the beast to yelp and lose control of its trajectory. When it landed it crumpled and slid.

The second beast leapt just after the first left the ground. While conserving momentum Kate performed an unnecessary twisting flair before chopping once more, this time opening the side of the beast’s neck.

The beasts must have had some modicum of intelligence, as instead of lining up to perish, one by one, they nearly all leapt at once, with not even a heartbeat between each of their attacks.

The third beast soared past Kate as she dealt with the second. It was the third that first entered our ranks.

Marianne whimpered and backed away. Gregory aimed his arc-bow with partially shaking hands.

I was momentarily blinded by a bright actinic pink flash. The scent of burnt flesh came next. As I heard no patter of paws and smelled it cooking, nor were their any pained shouts from my party, I assumed that the third beast had fallen.

It was while I was blinking my eyes to regain my vision that the fourth beast landed straight on Kate’s blade, impaled to the hilt through its chest, blade locked in bone, at least temporarily. I lacked the time to even consider how Kate had allowed this to happen. It was sloppy. Incredibly so. She knew better than to leave herself exposed in such a way.

As I was trying to understand what game Kate was playing, the fifth beast, the largest of them, slammed down atop Kate, taking her to the ground. She rolled backwards, almost succeeded in throwing the beast off with its own momentum, but its jaws clamped around her off arm, on her wrist.

How this had occurred I was unsure. Something within me snapped. I could not understand what it was, nor why it did. For all the time I had known Kate, she had been invincible, untouchable… as well as an incorrigible flirt, not that the flirtatious part had anything to do with whatever unidentified high-tension string-like thing snapping. What I did know was that the thought of this mongrel harming Kate seemed instantly loathsome and intolerable in all the worst ways.

I acted before my false-arm decided to resolve the problem. The fact that I had better tools to safely remove the creature failed to cross my mind. I acted the fool in a shameful fashion.

“Kate!” I screamed.

I dived into the mess, narrowly avoiding the tip of her sword poking through the back of the fourth beast. I tackled the fifth, knocking its jaws loose from Kate.

It snarled, snapped at me but found my false arm in its jaws instead of anything I cared for. In the meantime, I jabbed my knife in through its shoulder, above its clavicle equivalent and into its thoracic chamber. I withdrew and jabbed, over and over, the knife eventually turning in my hand and only cutting shallowly, more of a cheap shiv than a sharpened kbar knife.

Eschiver I: 4/9 (+1)

It would not have been enough. Its jaws were too close. It had spat my false-arm from its mouth and could have easily clamped them about my throat instead, or anything else. Its claws were an entity I had failed to consider as well.

But as Kate shouted, a mix of anger and perhaps fear, another actinic pink flash blinded me. Heat washed over my cheek, then floated up and caught me as speckles of hot flesh hit me.

The creature yelped into a whimper, it thrashed into stillness.

From somewhere behind me, there was another pop, another yelp, and then silence. No more talons scampering, nor labored wheezes.

The last of the creatures had been neutralized. I remained down where I was, far to near the stench of the both partially cooked and rotten flesh. I needed to take stock. I tried to understand why I had acted so foolishly. I tried to discern why my false-arm had allowed me to engage in such a risky endeavor without aiding me.

But these answers were not forthcoming. I may have been in some form of shock, in hindsight, as I failed to even realize when Kate helped me up to my feet, her calloused hands clasped about me.

Kate held me by her side. Already she had patted me down, not even bothering to steal a grope. When she was satisfied, she spat on the fifth beast.

“So…” Kate said, glancing down at my gore-smattered knife and hand. “A knife, huh? Thought you were using the battle-ribbon, but maybe not? Guess it’s a bit unwieldy, but wow. You stabbed it pretty good, yeah?”

I winced at the reminder of my own folly.

“This might not have been my finest moment,” I confessed.

“Ha!” Kate laughed. “Well I wouldn’t know about that. You came out on top, but, y’know…”

“The battle-ribbon, or I suppose Urumi, would not have been appropriate in this fight.”

“I mean, there’re other weapons?”

“Such as a knife?”

“Besides that,” she said, amused I would even consider what could have been cutlery as a weapon.

“I had expected you to deal with them before I had the chance to engage,” I said.

“Yeah… Guess that’s fair.”

After the brief battle, Gregory reclaimed his lantern and returned it to the default setting. Marianne and Gregory went about moving their supplies, debating if we should travel now, or take a moment to decompress with perhaps hot-toddies or just plain tea.

Kate and I had already packed though, and she amused herself by prodding the largest of the dead beasts with her sword.

“Are you seeking out its heart?” I asked her.

She laughed and shrugged, “Maybe. See how big it is, or if it’s rotted or something.”

Personally, I was unsure of how she stomached to be so near the foul thing, but I also understood that she found entertainment in the odder venues. It was as I observed her that I noticed her cock her head and lean in further, releasing her sword and reaching her hand into its chest.

“Kate!” I said, hoping to snap her out of this unusual level of perversion, even for her.

“Hold on, I think I found something.”

“But–” I started, before I was cut off by her shout as she held something aloft in her gore and gristle covered fingers. I thought there may have been a few veins trailing down the side of her wrists, but I was unsure.

“Check it out,” she said, holding it out for me to inspect. And while it was discolored from being inside the creature, it had plenty of hard angles and was solid in a way that not even bone could claim.

“-What–?” I asked, unsure of why a possible gem had been lodged within the creature’s chest, not even its stomach. By this point, our commotion had drawn both Gregory and Marianne over to also inspect this oddity.

It seemed that Gregory recognized what it might have been while Kate cleaned the stone off with a rag. It was definitely a gem of some kind. It even contained its own luminescence, which challenged a lot of what I knew regarding biology.

“That,” Gregory said, peering even closer at the object in Kate’s hands than anyone else. Gregory’s face went through a range of expressions, before he shook himself and back up. “No, that’s impossible. That cannot just be there. Kate, what trick are you attempting to play? This meanspirited plow will not work, I guarantee it. This is crass, even for you.”

“Yeah, but no. I don’t even know what this thing is. It was hanging out in the big one. Bet you could find more of ‘em in the other under-things too.”

“Please. You expect me to carve through these? Is this your ploy then?”

“What is it?” Marianne asked. “That’s the same thing that goes into Chargers, right?”

“If it is what I think it is? Yes. Dungeon Stone, or Spirit Stone, I suppose. The problem is that only Marked Cities produce it, and that is out of specialized subterranean facilities. Most certainly not some random cave beneath some unmarked place such as Southbridge. Even owning such a stone, raw and uncut, I think is in violation of the Crown’s remit. It begs the question how Kate has such a thing in her possession.”

“And I’m telling you, I found it in there!” Kate snapped, growing irritated that she was not being believed. When she glanced my way, I felt compelled to agree.

“Kate is correct. I saw her pull that Spirit Stone, is it? She pulled it from the beast’s chest. Should you doubt her still, you are more than welcome to verify with the other beasts, as she mentioned. I doubt the only stone would so happen to be contained within the beast she checked.”

It was then that I noticed another sound, approaching from the same passage that the beasts had emerged from. Again, it sounded of beasts, though more of a pitter-patter and less of anything else.

“There are more beasts approaching from the same direction,” I said, regardless of the futile protest that Gregory was making regarding what he expected and what Kate had found.

“M-more?!” Marianne said.

“Indeed,” I said. “You should be able to hear them soon. I was unable to detect them as early as I could thanks to our current volume of… discussion,” I finished, settling on a rather charitable term.

“You think they’ll have more of these?” Kate asked, waving the Spirit Stone.

I shrugged. “Perhaps?”

“How much you think these are worth, Gregory?” Kate asked.

“Considering possession is very likely a hangable offense?” Gregory asked. “Priceless.”

“Nice,” Kate said. “Alright, new plan. Jackie, you’re with me. Let’s go see what these next ones are like.”

“Unbelievable,” Gregory said, making the word sound like a curse.

“Aw, lighten up!” Kate said, grinning with menace. “Who knows? Bet we could get a reward from Princess Marissa for bringing this to her. Probably get the good stuff. What’re they called, Imperial Sigils?”

“That would be incredibly shortsighted for so many reasons,” Gregory protested. “You know the limitations those sigils carry with them. Since when were you willing to shackle yourself with such heavy commitments?”

“Ha, yeah, I know,” Kate said. “But it’s fun to think about, right? Anyways,” she slapped me on the back, or more appropriately my backpack which I had just strapped on. “Let’s get to hunting!”

She then began jogging off into the mostly dark tunnel, her only source of illumination a glowstone about her belt. Before she disappeared, I glanced back at Marianne who was frowning nervously at the tunnel, then at me, and finally at Gregory. The indecisiveness was painful to see.

But I could hardly allow Kate to run off on her own–should she go missing, there was a likely chance we would all suffer dire fates upon our return. Additionally, Gregory’s presence put me in a foul mood. So, with my own mind made up, I said to Marianne, “If we hit a fork, I will either wait for you or draw an arrow.”

I proceeded to jog after Kate, into the darkness myself. Afterall, if I were not there alongside her, then there was no telling what manner of problems she might find herself facing.

Trackless Tracks I: 7/9 (+1)

Symbiotic Parasite (aka false-arm)

4.3 Tendrils, approximately 1.5 yards in length, unspooled.

Talents:

* Athleticism I (3/9):

* Climbing I (5/9)

* Featherlight I (5/9) (+1)

* Inversion (2/9)

* Gymnastics (5/9)

* Stealth II (2/9)

* Trackless Tracks I (7/9) (+1)

* Area Coverage (7/9) (+1)

* Alchemical Immunity (ineligible for growth)

* Unnatural Concealment: (2/9)

* Eschiver I (4/9) (+1)

* Evasion I (3/9)

* Impending Sense (6/9)

* Lucky Break I (3/9)

* Chance Encounter (5/9)

* Courtly Dancing: Treachery I (1/9) (+2)

* Flexibility I (1/9)

* Persuasive Lies (1/9)

Spells:

* Illusion I (8/9)

* Touch (8/9)

* Guise of the Kitsune I (2/9)

* Malleable Form: 3/9

* Passive Enervation: (3/9)

Gifts:

* Obsession (5/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)