Eko squinted up at the dimly lit space above her head. Sure enough, she was staring up at the shattered planks of an ancient floor. The purple lights of her finder spell had coalesced around the space, pulsing insistently. The hole was not overly high up, maybe eleven feet or so. Eko glared at the walls around them. Her abcimancy had done its job too well, carving a completely smooth crater into the tunnel around them. There was not so much as a crack to exploit for a handhold. She cast a sideways glance over to her companion.

Her obnoxiously tall companion.

Maybe there was some usefulness to all that height after all. She double checked the straps on her bag and stepped closer to Syd’s side. “Give me a boost.”

In very short order, Eko found herself straddling Syd’s shoulders. His grip on her thighs was sure and steady. And if it felt extremely nice to be seated on a pair of broad, solid shoulders – well that was no one’s business but her own. Their combined height made meant that Eko had no problem at all reaching the hole. However, after spending years behind a desk and ruining her posture bent over ancient texts, Eko had no significant upper body strength to speak of. So, while her head and shoulders could clear the space easily, the act of actually pulling herself into the chamber took some doing.

After much wiggling and swearing, Eko managed to haul herself up. She laid on the broken tiles, trying to catch her breath and pretending not to hear Syd snickering below.

“When we get back topside, you’re training with the fledges,” he said from the dark. “I have never seen anyone struggle so much to do a single pull up.”

“Fuck you,” she spat.

“How did you get up on your fence this morning?”

“The wall had footholds.”

Syd laughed harder. Then, just to show off Eko presumed, he jumped. Eko heard the scrape of his boots against the stone as Syd got a running start. She heard him grunt, before a pair of scarred, knuckley hands latched onto the planks and Syd smoothly pulled himself up through the hole.

“You’re not impressing anybody,” Eko groused.

Syd rose to crouch. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll fix your desk riding soon enough.”

Eko stood. “My ‘desk riding’ is what got us this far,” she reminded him. “Not everybody needs a bunch of muscles to get by in life.” She saw no reason to waste time sweating unnecessarily if she did not have to.

The room they had entered was not overly large, maybe thirty feet across and perfectly circular. The walls were completely smooth, and unadorned save for little alcoves where Eko assumed lamps were intended to sit. The domed ceiling was covered in glittering black tiles. Set into the mosaic were twin serpents delicately twining around each other. Their knot took up most of the ceiling. White paint had been used to emphasize bony spikes along the creatures’ backs and the fangs that broke from their open maws. In the center of the room sat a black stone sarcophagus.

Then, Eko noticed the carvings in the floor – and all of the blood.

On her right, Syd had risen to stand. “Don’t move,” she snapped.

Syd froze. At her tone, he sniffed the air and looked around. “Somebody had a bad time in here.”

An understatement if ever there was one. The floor tiles were marked with large smears of blood. The room reeked of rot – and necromancy. Had the two of them been paying attention like they were supposed to, they never would have missed it. For a brief, blessed moment, Eko began to hope. Maybe Jeriko was dead in here and all their problems had solved themselves. However, nothing Eko set her foot in was ever simple. A glance around the room revealed no corpses; they were alone down here.

Eko returned her eyes to the floor. “Did I ever tell you what I studied during my tenure at Jadcrö,” she asked Syd lightly.

“No.” She heard the frown in his voice.

The mage bent, tracing a mark in the stone. “Old magic,” she said. “Specifically, pre-cataclysmic spellwork.”

She pointed to the markings. “Even though they may look similar, runes have the same limitations of language barriers that regular writing exhibits. The Ossoglyphs you find in Tolko will not follow the same convention as the runes in Aster or the ones Krait. Not to mention, the differences between continents. So, they are not reliable for time stamping. However, there’s one way to always tell if the array you’re dealing with was made before or after the fall of the Second World.”

She pointed at the markings in the floor. “Pre-Cataclysm spell arrays all follow a very specific geometry,” she said. “They are only ever made up of two parts: Circular anchor points and straight lines for directions of intention. Anchor points are always in multiples of four.”

This place was practically a textbook example. It was a beautiful, elegant array, stretching all the way to the walls. Whoever had laid these had known exactly what they were doing and thanks to that effort their work had withstood the ravages of time. Good in theory, bad for Eko and Syd. Eko could feel the hum of magic around the space. This room did something and Eko held no delusions about its effect being benign.

Even through all the shaking earlier, the engravings on the floor were still intact. Even if they had been broken, she doubted it would have mattered. Eko knew mages. No matter what age they were from, she was certain whoever had crafted this room made sure to have fail safes in the event that part of the floor was ever damaged. She turned back to Syd, who had his ‘fighter face’ on. His scowl pulled the scars on his cheek into even sharper relief. He’d done his best to wipe the blood from his face, but he missed a few spots. Objectively, he looked terrifying, but Eko found having him at her back to be a comfort. With the merc on guard, she could focus on dealing with the magic and not whatever nasty things were hiding down here in the dark.

“You can read these?”

“I can read some of them, but without my notes on decryption, finding out what precisely they do is impossible.” Notes, which at this very moment were sitting in a tome on her desk at home. The perfect place to help no one. At that moment, more than anything, she wished she had the time to copy this entire array and puzzle over it at her leisure. Unfortunately, they had a job to do. Saving Osso outweighed her professional curiosity. She considered the runes again. Time was not on their side. Every minute spent down here was a minute Jeriko was outpacing them. Not to mention the mounting odds of another ghoul finding its way to the surface. Once again, they had no time for finesse. What a pity. She nudged Syd with her elbow. “Stay right here.”

“What are you doing,” he demanded, as she began to toe off her boots.

Ever so carefully, Eko placed her shoes on an unmarked patch of flooring. “I’m going over to the sarcophagus,” she said. Her socks went next and for good measure, Eko rolled her pants up until the cuffs hit her knees.

On a slow inhale, Eko dispelled her finder spell. Immediately, the little purple motes disappeared. Without them, there were no lights. That meant no shadows to manipulate. The entire room was shrouded in darkness now, which was perfect for their needs. Eko dropped her human seeming and stretched. There was more to this form than what she’d explained to Syd. Its alternate utility was a little harder to explain. By its very nature this body was lighter, less substantial, especially at Eko’s extremities. She was flesh suffused with shadow, in more than just name.

She took another inhale, deeper this time, willing those threads to unravel more and more until she was just barely knit together, and she could hardly tell where the room ended and her body began. Hopefully, it would be enough to hide her. She cast another glance towards the merc at her side. His dark eyes had gone wide with surprise despite his frown. Eko winked at him. Like this, she had no voice and could only hope that Syd followed her direction.

Eko stepped forward, feeling as if she were floating. In a way, she was. She couldn’t feel her feet touch the floor. More importantly, neither could the protection spell. But Eko could not stay this way for very long, or she would risk losing her form entirely. Her body liked being this way, existing as nearly nothing. She could feel it trying to extend beyond her hold and join the darkness entirely. But she only needed to be hidden for a little while, just long enough to get the scope of the runes on the floor.

Eko traveled carefully around the room. The etchings were perfectly symmetrical. Seven runic circles had been placed at strategic points along the wall, the lines script connecting them at all angles like a spider’s web. The lines passed across the floor, carefully surrounding but never cutting under the final anchor point encircling the sarcophagus at the center of the room.

In very little time, she was across the room, standing in the small pocket of unmarked space surrounding the sarcophagus. The mage took a shaky breath, feeling her body strain as it solidified. She was not at her limit, not nearly, but she was using high-intensity spells one right after the other, and that came with a cost. She had to be careful. Who knew what else the day had in store for them?

When she was whole again, Eko examined the structure. Bloody handprints stained the sides of the lid. The blood had gone dark with time, but it was still wet thanks to the cool, damp air underground. Based on the stains, Jeriko had not managed to get the sarcophagus open before whatever happened to him…happened. Whatever was inside the necromage had considered worth risking his life over.

This was a stupid, stupid plan. Unfortunately, it was also the fastest. She turned back to Syd. “I’m going to open it,” she said. “Get ready.”

The merc nodded, swords out.

Eko placed her palms on the lid.

XXX

Syd trusted Eko. In his heart, he knew it. But, as she touched the coffin and a pulse filled the chamber, the merc could not help the anxiety tightening his spine. Eko did not seem to have a clue what the runes on the floor did, and she was pushing ahead anyway.

A low, angry hiss rang out through the room. Syd craned his neck up – just in time to see the serpents painted on the ceiling peel themselves away from the stone.

Alive and angry.

Each of them stretched to about ten feet long, their pale scales and spines appearing ghostly in the gloom. Their legs were long and muscular, tipped with claws that were sure to open his belly if they caught skin. Twin sets of golden eyes fixed on Eko and the sarcophagus. Twin sets of jaws unhooked to scream.

Syd’s feet were moving before he registered what was going on. The serpents had not noticed him at all. Eko was their target. Eko, who was so busy fighting with the coffin that she hadn’t even turned around. No doubt she heard their noise, it was impossible not to. But she had a job to do and was trusting Syd to do his bit. He would not disappoint her.

Launching himself at full speed, Syd threw his shoulder into the side first serpent’s face, taking it by surprise and ramming it into the other. That got their attention.

“Hurry it up.”

“It has an arcane lock,” Eko bit out. “Buy me some time.”

“That’s a tall order.” Syd’s pulse picked up in anticipation as dropped into a crouch. This was going to be nothing like fighting the voreks. He could see intelligence glittering behind their eyes as both creatures twined to face him. This would be a better fight, if a harder one.

If time was what Eko wanted, she would have it.

His first jump had put some distance between them and the sarcophagus. He just had to keep them away from Eko – and stay alive in the process. Another rule he taught recruits: When dealing with two enemies at once, keep both of them in sight.

The serpent on his left dipped low, the one of his right arced high and they both darted forward. Syd shot backward and to the right, letting the second serpent pass over his head. He whipped around, raking his blades along the first serpent’s hide. Its scales were tough, almost stonelike. He felt his blades catch. Rather than lose them, Syd adjusted his grip and pushed off. His first cuts had been too shallow to do anything aside from piss it off.

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They were fast, snapping at him over and over, switching angles every time so that Syd could not anticipate where the next wall of razor teeth would come from next. His swords were damn near useless. Syd felt like he was trying to chop into a brick wall. Even still, they were his only real protection against losing his limbs down a serpent’s throat.

Sweat stung his eyes as he rolled to dodge another bite. He was just a hair too slow to completely avoid the spiked tail that came whipping at his leg. He swore as a searing pain cut across his calf. The wound was deep, but none of his tendons were cut. He could stil move, and it would heal fully in an hour or two, granted they made it out of here. “How’s it coming back there?”

“Almost,” she called back. “Just a little longer.”

The serpents coiled around him. He had gotten a few good hits in, noting with satisfaction the bloody scores he’d left on their once pristine, white scales. But neither of them were anywhere near ready to give up. Both Syd and his monster were getting frustrated. This fight was going nowhere. In this wide empty room, the serpents had ample space to herd him wherever they wanted. Syd was just doing his best just to keep up his defenses. Thunder rumbled in his chest, waiting and ready to burst. Syd had been avoiding using his gifts ever since they’d gone underground. The tunnels down here were fragile, and the last thing Syd had wanted to do was bury them on accident.

Now, it seemed he had no choice. If he kept it small, maybe he wouldn’t bring the chamber down around their ears. Maybe.

The taste of ozone filled his mouth as sparks raced through his blood. When the serpents lunged again, Syd met them with his fists. He grinned against almost painful release of shock and pressure as his skin met scales. The serpent reared back, screeching in pain. The force pushed it off its feet, sending the creature spiraling into the far wall. Syd arced around and did the same to the second, scaling his thunder back a fraction. Control. His primary goal was keeping the serpents away from Eko. Spreading them too far out would give them an opening to her. Smoking flesh seared his nose. The merc leaned back into a loose fighting stance. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

Now that he had done some real damage, the serpents were wary of him. They twisted more cautiously now, afraid to get hurt again. That is fear fitting for a wyrm, snarled his beast in satisfaction. This time, Syd did not wait for an attack, he lunged first. He hooked to the left, and as the serpent swerved to avoid him, Syd ducked low and hit it where the leg met the body. Bone shattered beneath his knuckles.

“I got it,” Eko crowed.

Syd barely heard her. Serpents, by their nature were predators. Predators, Syd knew from experience, would much rather fight until the bitter end than run away. Not that they had anywhere to run to. If Syd thought they were fast and mean before; they absolutely were savage now.

His whole world narrowed to down to claws and teeth. Syd punched, ducked, and wove his way around the room in a mad dance. His fists were burning, skin beginning to sear from all the energy he was forcing through his body. He sent a concussive hook to the right, landing it right behind the serpent’s jaw. This time when it fell, it did not get up.

That left one. The last serpent rose up on its three good legs and roared. Syd straightened, loosed a cry of his own.

A loud crack burst through the room. Syd’s ears recognized the sound of gunfire. It hit the serpent right between the eyes, shattering its skull. The creature collapsed in a heap at Syd’s feet. Dead.

Syd’s beast snarled, incensed at his stolen kill. They whipped his head around to confront the thief, only to stop short when the recognized the lamplit bodies standing in the doorway behind him.

Despite being covered in dirt and plaster dust, Lily Niyv was easy to pick out. The second was some sort of large feline – leopard maybe? Syd couldn’t parse his smell around all the blood and burnt flesh to be sure who that was. He guessed it was Anujak, the Magehound who Syd had smelled cat on this morning. The third man was the one with the gun. Memphis, the Magehound who had come to the guild earlier today.

He turned to shout at Eko that they had company, but he didn’t need to.

With the newly closed coffin at her back, the mage was facing them. She took in Lily with surprise, but then her eyes landed on Memphis.

Something in the air shifted dangerously. Eko said not a word. She stood stock still, her face smooth and flat as a sheet of polished glass. She could have been mistaken for a statue except that rage had turned her pupils to pinpricks, and that hollowness Syd had sometimes caught glimpses of, he saw reflected in her moonlit eyes.

Eko took a step forward into the closest shadow and disappeared. She emerged half a hair away from Memphis, silent and malevolent. Before Syd could shout, darkness swallowed the Magehuound from ankles to chin. Like the way a spider packaged a fly for dinner, the shadows curled tightly around his body, compressing hard enough that Syd’s sensitive ears could hear the painful wheeze of the air being forced out of Memphis’ lungs.

Roaring, the jaguar – who Syd could only guess was Anujak – lunged toward the mage. Syd was faster, leaping onto Anujak’s back and managing to get his arm around the big cat’s muscular throat. He threw his weight downward, slamming them both on the floor. Keeping an eye out for the big cat’s claws, Syd managed to lock his ankles around Anujak’s middle. Anujak could struggle, but he would not be going anywhere until Syd let him up. For her part, Lily stared on in shock.

Against all Anujak’s squirming, Syd wondered at the speed with which this whole thing had gone tits up. Just last night, he had been walking a pretty, prickly mage home – trying and failing to think of a way to ask her out to dinner without getting his head bitten off. Today, he was blood soaked, standing in a tomb long forgotten to time, and facing down two Magehounds and the sworn enemy of his guild. So now, here they all were, about to watch one of the Magehounds get murdered without half an idea of how to stop it.

When she finally spoke, Eko’s voice was flat and colder than a crypt. “Memphis Bass,” she said over the Magehound’s gasping. “I told you if I ever saw you again, I would kill you. What part of that sounded like a lie?”

In that moment, Syd realized he had never seen Eko truly angry. Irritated, yes. When his mage was annoyed, she turned snappish, sharp. But there was still something lively about it. Angry, this woman was smooth and cold. Resolved in the most fatal way.

With his attention split between watching Eko and keeping Anujak from breaking loose, Syd did not see Lily go for Memphis’ revolver on the ground. He didn’t even know the gun was out until the sound of a hammer cocking reached his ears.

“Let the Magehound go.” Lily’s command was firm, betraying none of her nerves. She held the pistol in a sure grip, its barrel aimed at Eko’s head. “Release him or I will shoot.”

Eko never took her eyes off Memphis. “Shooting me won’t save him,” she said in that same terribly soft tone. Her shadows inched higher, tugging at the Magehound’s face until his bones pressed against the skin. With what little air he had left, Memphis screamed.

Lily squared her shoulders. Her finger twitched against the trigger.

“Wait,” Syd snapped. He tightened the pressure against Anujak’s throat, until he felt the cat go still beneath him. Not dead, just unconscious. Syd sprang up, putting himself between Lily and his mage. Her shadows had paused, but Eko still hadn’t looked up. She did not need to. Syd could read the lines of her stance, the cemented determination of her spine. Lily was not bluffing and Eko did not care. Without her saying a word, he knew that his mage was alright with dying here, but Memphis would be coming with her. “Let him go, Eko.”

Eko’s eyes rolled around to meet his stare. “No.”

Memphis sank further into nothing.

“Out of the way, Vicemaster,” Lily barked.

Syd tried again. “You kill him here and the captain’s gonna kill you. If I have to take your corpse to your family, it will throw us off schedule.”

“Tejin,” Lily warned, “now.”

“Eko, c’mon.”

“Syd, move.”

A shot burst in the room, and searing pain exploded in his shoulder. Eko’s eyes widened in shock, the shadows dropped from Memphis, and she turned them on Lily. With his good hand, Syd caught Eko by the wrists and snatched her close. “Gotcha.”

He hadn’t been prepared for the raw magic running through Eko. It arced through him as his hands touched her skin. For one single, frightening moment, he felt the yawning maw of nothing pulling at him. It felt like falling apart and being swallowed all at once. He heard Eko curse, and the feeling rushed away from him.

That awful emptiness in her face was gone; Eko’s stare had gone hot as she pulled against his hold. “You’re shot,” Eko snapped. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

That Lily would be too afraid of Wylma’s retribution to aim for his head and kill him outright. And that Eko liked him alive more than she wanted revenge. And that his vest was tough enough to stop a bullet. He had been right on all counts, although that last one still hurt plenty without an entry wound. Who knew that being right could be so incredibly painful?

On the ground Memphis let out a ragged gasp. Alive.

“Well, that’s just fucking great!” Eko shoved at his good shoulder. “Let me go.”

“Nope,” Syd said in her ear, tugging her tighter against him. “I like you right where you are.”

XXX

Someone, somewhere, had cursed him. A dramatic conclusion, but Memphis felt the situation warranted it. A curse was genuinely the only reason Memphis could think of for having to cross paths with Eko Sulio for the third time now.

He laid on the tiled floor of an ancient tomb, fighting to put air back in his lungs. Above him, he could hear Lily shouting questions, and the ragged voice of Scarecrow’s Vicemaster responding. Memphis let the words pass by him.

Foolishly, he had thought he had washed his hands of Jadcrö’s Night Witch. Two years ago, she had turned her back on him, uttering words that Memphis still heard in his nightmares. But Eko had disappeared after that night, and he damn sure had possessed no intention of going to look for her. Memphis had locked away the entire incident in his mind and studiously attempted to forget he’d ever looked Eko in the eye. Just his fucking luck that Jeriko would choose the once place in all of Roa that the person who hated Memphis the most would be hiding out.

If running into her again had been a curse, it was only a miracle that he was alive now. A minute ago, Memphis was sure of his fate. The Night Witch kept her oaths. There had not been a scrap of pity or remorse in her eyes as she had been squeezing the life out of him. He had Lily to thank for saving him. Again.

Well, there was nothing for it. Memphis pushed himself up to his hands and knees. Taking a too shallow, fortifying breath, he stood.

He found Anujak laid out limply, the soft rise and fall of his chest enough to hold off Memphis’ alarm. He was alive, which was most important. Lily stood to the far side, his gun in her hands, the barrel freshly fired and still smoking. Between them Eko stood pressed against Scarecrow’s Vicemaster, both her hands clamped in one of his. How he could manage that and not lose his arm was a wonder. When he saw Memphis get up, Syd stepped back and shifted so they both could look at him.

Even constrained, covered in blood and dust, Eko managed her trademark look of cold condescension flawlessly. She had not changed much in two years. She took him in with a lifted chin and a familiar scowl. “Memphis,” she said. Only a fool would miss the disdain in her tone.

“Eko,” he coughed. “Always a pleasure to see you.”

She strained against Syd’s hold. “I suggest,” she said slowly. “That you tread incredibly carefully.”

No worries there. He liked living.

“I take it you two are familiar,” Lily said, still holding the gun up.

“We’ve worked together in the past,” Memphis said.

“Much to our mutual dismay,” Eko supplied.

Memphis grunted. In truth, working together hadn’t been all bad. The mage had been prickly and decidedly unfriendly. However, at the same time she had proven her work to be focused, and goal oriented. She was efficient, and Memphis had grown to appreciate having her along. Until the end, that was.

And Eko had just proven that the good times weighed very little in her memory. “Magehound,” she said. “What brings you so far north?”

“I assume the same reason that dragged you underground,” Memphis said stiffly. Then, because she had just tried to kill him, Memphis continued pettily. “You’re working for mercenaries now? I guess disgrace leaves you with little other options.”

Eko’s face twisted into a sneer, but it was Syd who spoke.

“Watch it,” the Vicemaster warned, looming over the mage’s shoulder like a bloodstained haint.

“Syd Tejin,” Lily intoned darkly. “This is an active guard investigation, under which the Scarecrows have no jurisdiction.”

“Oh really,” Syd asked. His tone was mocking. “You and your toy soldiers here are gonna hunt down ghouls all by yourselves?”

“My people are more than capable of securing the situation.”

“That’s horseshit and you know it,” he spat.

A hard look came into the captain’s eye. “Considering you are out of your realm of responsibility and your companion just tried to murder an officer under my care, I would be well within my rights to arrest the pair of you.”

During the argument, Eko’s eyes had never left Memphis’s face. At the mention of arrest, she swiveled to face the captain. “You have got to be joking.”

“I assure you, miss, I am not.” Lily trained the gun toward Eko’s chest.

Once again, the tension in the room expanded. There was not an ounce of humor in Eko’s face. The chamber grew darker, shadows gathering weight under the mage’s direction. Her chin inclined upward, imperious, as she eyed the captain. “You are welcome to try.”

“Alright, folks, that’s enough theatrics,” Syd said loudly. He gave Eko a small shake. For a few tense seconds, it seemed as if things would end badly. Then she blinked once, twice, and relaxed. Light and warmth returned to the space, leaving Memphis feeling as if he’d narrowly missed getting hit by a train. “Give us a second.”

Without waiting for a response, Syd took a few long strides backward, hauling Eko along with him. Memphis wondered what exactly was between those two that the big merc could get away with that and survive. Syd was either incredibly brave or amazingly stupid. Memphis certainly would not have touched Eko with the state she was in.

But that was exactly what Syd did. Gently, he spun her around to face him and bent so they were eye level. While they were speaking, Memphis went to go check on Anujak. Out cold, he was. A couple of light smacks fixed that. Anujak woke with a start, springing upright, teeth bared against oncoming attack. “You’re late to the party, kid,” Memphis muttered. “Stand down.” With his partner squared away, Memphis moved over next to Lily. “I’ll take my pistol back, now.”

She handed it over without argument, frowning over to where Syd and Eko were still whispering among themselves. “I don’t like this,” the captain growled.

“None of it is ideal,” Memphis agreed, stowing his gun and reaching for a fresh cigarette. He set it against the lantern flame and took a deep lungful of soothing smoke.

Between Syd’s alarmingly jagged voice and their low tones, it was hard to make out what they were saying, but Memphis did manage to hear Syd’s mangled, “Trust me.”

He watched as Eko gave a stiff nod before she turned back to face them. Beside him, Lily tensed, “Well?”

Eko looked back at Syd, who gave her a thumbs up that Memphis guessed was supposed to be encouraging. “It has been explained to me that matters will be simpler if we go with you now than it would be to explain your disappearances later,” she said, not sounding entirely convinced. She turned her scowl toward Memphis. “This whole arrest is nonsense,” she told him. “We are all after the same goal which takes precedence over history.” The emphasis placed on that last bit led Memphis to believe those specific words were Syd’s. She shifted her attention to Lily. “To achieve that, you will take what help we give you.”

“Accepted,” Memphis cut in before the captain could protest. No matter how Eko felt about him – and she had been extremely clear on that front – Memphis knew a boon when he saw one. If he had her on this job at the beginning, they would have had Jeriko caught in a week. Of that, he was certain. Anujak nudged his knee, disapproval darkening his emerald eyes.

“It will take some time to get back to the surface,” Memphis said. “We should get moving.”

Eko’s eyes took on a malevolent shine. “No need.”

And then, shadows swallowed them all.