Caruso woke in the chill before sunrise to the song of goldfinches and shroomwarblers. Eve and Webber lay snugged up to each other. Pango slept curled into a tight armored ball with his tail kinked out to include his stoat—which also slept tucked into a tight ball. Everyone was soon to wake and they spared no time before they began the day’s trek. They finished off the last of the dog’s vomit as they walked. Eve led the way, blinkingpole in one hand, the other held the sack she'd filled from the animastation, slung over her shoulder.

The forest felt peaceful that morning. Caruso didn’t know exactly why. He had gone to sleep with his mind in turmoil. But the anxieties that had plagued him felt less dire in the morning air. If they travelled far enough today, they would reach the Urqaani camp by nightfall. While previously, Caruso had been uneasy about arriving there, he was now coming around to the idea. Last night, Pango told him all about the Urqaani, their customs, their culture. He painted a picture of a people with devoted respect for the forest and the animals within and, of course, the Godshroom that guides them all. Caruso's curiosity deepened the closer they came.

They hadn’t walked far before a nearby bullroarer upended the forest’s peace. As soon as Caruso heard it, the urgent torrent of anxieties came flooding back. Its deep whirring pulse haunted his mind. To Caruso, it was the herald of death. Everyone stopped and shared in the unsettling panic the sound evoked.

‘Fuck!’ Eve said. Then, after a moment’s indecision, she headed straight for it.

‘Wait, we’re going towards it?’ Caruso asked.

‘We’ve been seen by a Forester patrol,’ Eve said. ‘Whoever it is, is calling for backup. If backup arrives, we’re fucked. But if we’re quick about it, maybe we can silence their call before the backup hears it.’

‘Who do you think it is?’ Pango asked, falling into pace beside Eve. He looked worried.

‘My best guess?’ Eve said. ‘Ferris knows what we did to his animastation. And has come to hunt us down himself, probably with a couple of his best fighters.’

‘I feared that might be the case.’

‘We must’ve really pissed him off,’ said Eve, her mouth twitching into a half grin.

‘Why do you look pleased about that?’

Eve shrugged and continued through the willow trees, towards the bullroarer.

‘Wouldn’t it be safer to run?’ asked Pango.

Eve shook her head. ‘This far out, they'll be horseback. We can’t run. Even if we split up, they’ll track us.’

‘But Eve… we can’t fight Ferris, especially if he has back up.’

‘I know. I doubt its Ferris though, he isn't the "call for backup" type. Let’s just hope whoever has seen us is alone. And no one else has heard the call. That’s our only option.’

Pango sighed. ‘I don’t like it, but you’re right.’

It was clear why Pango and Webber looked to Eve as the leader. Even under pressure she thought clearly and quickly. They followed the sound and soon came to a clearing, about sixty paces across. In its centre was Miles. He was launching himself up with his walls, far higher than the surrounding canopy, all the while spinning his bullroarer, broadcasting its eerie siren across the forest.

Caruso didn't know how he felt. Was he relieved it was only Miles? Afraid? Had some part of him hoped it would be Ferris?

‘It’s Miles,’ Eve said.

‘We can take him,’ said Webber.

‘Don’t get excited, Webber.’ Pango said. ‘This is not like our other fights. There’s little you can do against him. You should sit this one out, somewhere safe. If things start to go south, take Caruso and flee.’ Pango looked towards Eve. Eve nodded.

Webber shook his head and opened his mouth to say something but Eve cut him off. ‘Pango’s right. You’ll just get in our way. And if it comes to fleeing. You and Caruso split up. They won't kill Caruso. But if they catch you, you won’t just be killed, you’ll be taken back to their compound to be tortured on display.’

Caruso cringed at the thought and the matter-of-fact way Eve spoke it. He knew it was true.

‘You know I won’t just leave you to die,’ Webber said.

‘This isn’t a fucking discussion, Webber.’ Her tone didn’t broker any arguments. She was serious. ‘Go now. Climb a tree. Watch out for approaching Foresters. Caruso, make sure Webber doesn’t do anything stupid.’

Caruso nodded. ‘I will.’

‘Fine. Good luck guys,’ Webber said. ‘You got this.’

‘Take Steven,’ Pango said, handing his stoat to Webber. Steven struggled in Webber’s grip.

Caruso found a suitable willow tree on the clearing’s perimeter. He scrabbled up to a safe perch with a clear view of Miles and the surrounding tree line. A narrow stream dissected the clearing behind Miles, with red poppy shrooms carpeting its banks. Where the stream emerged, in the shade of a yellow shroomtree, a horse had been corralled inside four short walls.

Miles had positioned himself in the centre of the clearing and made no move to engage, or to flee. For a waller, it was an ideal position—no canopy overhead, and no obstacles around him. Miles continued to launch himself while spinning his bullroarer. Caruso wished he would stop making the noise. The endless throbbing sound churned his guts. He didn’t want to think of the messy complications if Ferris and others heard the call and arrived.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As Webber climbed up to him, the stoat squirmed from his one-armed grip and bounded into the clearing, towards the creek behind Miles. Pango tried to stop it with a fast snare but despite its injured leg, the stoat moved too quickly.

Miles finally dropped down to a standstill, ceased his bullroaring, and watched the incoming stoat. The stoat was heading for the water, but as it came within twenty paces of Miles, it was flung violently upwards. The stoat writhed and screeched as it arched through the air. Miles caught it with a wall and flung it up again. He repeated this several times, watching Pango and Eve as he did, as if goading them to rush to its rescue. Caruso winced at the cruelty of it.

Eve held Pango’s head in her hands, forcing him to look at her and not the helpless stoat. Pango suffered it silently. Miles eventually tired of his gambit and the next time he flung the stoat in the air, he let it thump to the ground, a pace or two shy of the stream. It didn’t move again.

‘Bastard,’ Webber said. ‘Hope they kill him for that.’

‘Me too,’ Caruso was surprised with his conviction. But he'd never had much love for Miles.

As Eve and Pango advanced into the clearing, Caruso felt his heart race. ‘You think they can win this?’

‘Yeah, they’ll be fine,’ Webber said. ‘They always win. Wish I could fight with ‘em though.’

Webber didn’t seem at all nervous about the upcoming fight. He probably wasn’t considering what would happen if they lost. Caruso was. Eve’s words repeated in his head, forcing him to think about Webber being hauled back to the compound to be tortured on display.

‘You seen many fights, then?’ Webber asked.

‘Just a duel between Ferris and an Urqaani threader.’

‘Oh yeah? So is Ferris all that he’s cracked up to be?’

‘Yes.’

‘Would love to see that. Eve taught me all she knows ‘bout fighting, but she’s levels above me. Pango too. Man, it would be sweet being as skilled as those guys.’

Caruso looked at his friend. ‘Aren’t you scared right now?’

‘Not really.’

‘How? How is that possible? So much could go wrong here.’

‘I dunno. Guess I just don’t think about that.’

Caruso could tell Webber’s simple explanation was the truth. ‘Must be nice.’

Eve dumped her sack on the ground, then she and Pango split up to approach Miles from opposite sides. Caruso tried to picture Mile’s walling range extending as a ring twenty paces around him. Eve and Pango circled just outside this ring.

‘This Mile’s guy is cocky,’ Webber said with a smirk.

‘Why’s that?’

‘Look at him, he’s just letting Eve start downzone—that means away from the Godshroom. It’s the most advantageous position for a blinker. Eve’s goal is to reach Mile’s blinkshadow, yeah? But now she doesn’t have to run around him to reach it. This should be a quick fight.’

Caruso nodded. He couldn’t help but feel Webber was underestimating Miles. But maybe Caruso was underestimating Eve. She now stood directly downzone from Miles. The fifteen pace gap between her and Mile’s blinkshadow didn’t seem that far, especially for a blinker. In just three blinks she could reach it, and in four, she could end the fight. But Caruso knew it would not be that simple for Eve to reach Mile's blinkshadow.

Eve held her blinking pole in both hands, and after a shared nod with Pango, the fight began.

Miles’s glance swivelled between the two Urqaani as they stepped into the ring from opposite ends at the same time. He threw an immediate wall between him and Pango, blocking Pango’s advance from that side. Miles then turned his attention to Eve.

She had started with a blink, putting Mile’s blinkshadow just ten paces straight ahead of her. She dashed forward, cutting away more distance with each step. Miles thrust up a wall straight down her path.

Eve gracefully sidestepped to the right, well before the wall gathered enough momentum to launch her. She was fast. The gap between her and Mile’s blinkshadow shrunk further. Caruso leaned forward on his branch—maybe this would be a quick fight.

Eve feigned left, and darted further out to the right. But her sidestep was for naught, as Mile’s follow-up wall went across her path. Eve was forced to blink. She appeared in between Miles and his blinkshadow, but slightly out to the right. Her pole was already swinging towards his shadow. Victory just a heartbeat away.

Miles thrust up a long wall, not at Eve, but to her left, covering his own blinkshadow, blocking her from getting at it. Unlike the other walls, this one remained up, stretching from Miles to the edge of his ring. He then doubled down, producing another wall alongside his previous one, thickening it, ensuring his blinkshadow was now impossible to threaten.

‘Shit,’ Webber said.

Caruso knew what Webber was thinking. As long as Miles stayed at the edge of his twin walls, with his blinkshadow covered by the walls, Eve’s blinking was no longer a viable weapon. She would have to blink multiple times through the entire length of walls to reach him. And Miles obviously wouldn’t allow that. Caruso expected Eve to try and retreat. But instead, she threw caution to the wind and lunged towards him.

Pango had only just emerged around the first wall that blocked his path, and barrelled towards Eve. He moved unopposed—Miles was too busy with his immediate threat. Instead of trying to fight Eve, Mile’s had simply raised himself up on a high wall—out of Eve’s reach—then ripped up a wall beneath her.

As the wall collected her, Eve blinked away, except this wall ran perfectly upzone—so all she accomplished was blinking down its length. The wall shot upwards, taking Eve with it. Caruso gripped the branch he was on, ripping off a section of bark.

But instead of being launched, Eve was tugged violently off the wall. She twisted in the air, landing on all fours like a cat. Caruso didn’t understand. Then he noticed the thread dropping from her waist. When had that happened?

She scampered in one direction, pivoted, and dashed in another away towards the outside of the ring, skirting around Mile’s missed walls. Pango had already retreated to safety, and after a few more light-footed manoeuvres, and a couple of timely blinks, she too escaped Mile’s range. Eve bent over, gripping her waist where the thread had yanked her from the wall. But otherwise looked unhurt.

Caruso let out the breath he'd been holding the entire fight.

‘Holy shit,’ Webber said with a growing grin. ‘That was fucking intense!’

‘You enjoyed watching that?’ Caruso said.

‘How can you not? Did you see what Pango did? The way he anticipated Eve’s blink and had his threads there to save her. Man!’

‘But isn’t this bad? There’s no way for her to blink into Miles now.’

‘Yeah, I dunno. They’ll think of a plan.’

Something else bothered Caruso. ‘And why wouldn’t Miles just put those walls there from the start?’

Webber shrugged. ‘Guess he’s not that good. He didn’t look anything special.’

Caruso knew that wasn’t the case. While Miles certainly wasn't flashy, there was a brutal efficiency to his walling. The short bout had barely lasted ten seconds, and Eve was lucky to have escaped with her life. Caruso now wondered if Miles had baited her by leaving his blinkshadow unguarded, possibly to waste time while he waited for backup.

While Miles waited for Pango and Eve to regroup, he started up his bullroarer once more. Again, he made no move to engage or flee. Eve stabbed her blinking pole into the ground and rifled through her sack, pulling out the crossbow. She shouldered the pouch of a dozen or so bolts, and handed a single bolt to Pango. Pango attached a thread to one end, and grew the same thread to at least twenty paces in length before snipping it from the ground. He then tied this around Eve’s waist and looped the length over her shoulder before stashing the threaded bolt back in her pouch.

Caruso raised an eyebrow at Webber.

‘Don’t ask me what that’s about,’ Webber said.

‘So she can shoot a bolt and then reel it back in?’

‘Yeah. Maybe.’

Eve loaded a plain bolt into her crossbow as she and Pango walked towards the ring. This time they both started upzone from Miles.