A tight stand of trees blocked their view of wherever Mont had pointed. The man stopped, frowning at the trees. Ike glanced at him, and Mont nodded. Drawing out his wolf pelt, Ike pulled it around him, going invisible save his eyes. Beside him, Wisp hopped into the trees and did the same. The two of them circled toward the trees, pulling wide to get a better angle at whatever awaited them on the other side.

They came around the edge of the trees. Tents stood in a semicircle around the far side of the stand. Black-robed mages stood around, sitting, crouching, standing, none of them particularly alert. Black stakes jutted out of the ground at the perimeter of their camp, exuding the same kind of pressure as the barrier at the top of the Abyss had.

Ike slowed. He crouched just outside of the barrier, in front of a tree, lining his eyes up with a few knots in the bark so the mages might not immediately recognize him as human. Stretching his aether forth, he examined the edge of the barrier from afar. Nothing passed through, but neither did he sense an overwhelming welling up of aether or mana from the far side of the barrier. Nor did a strong vein of mana pass through the ground below him. Ike’s brows furrowed, and he put a hand on his chin. He didn’t know exactly what a mana vein felt like, but this didn’t feel like one. Not a plugged, stoppered, or siphoned one, ether. It simply… didn’t feel like a whole lot of magic.

“It isn’t here,” Wisp said.

Ike jumped. He whirled. “Don’t do that!”

She chuckled quietly, her eyes crinkling in amusement. She retreated some from the barrier, and Ike followed her, not wanting to chat so close to the mages. “You sensed it too, right? It isn’t here.”

“Yeah. It’s like it moved, or something. But why would the black-robed mages have their camp here if it wasn’t on the mana vein? It’s suspicious that they’re right where the mana vein is supposed to be,” Ike said.

Wisp flicked an acorn at the barrier. It pinged off, falling harmlessly to the ground. None of the mages so much as looked over. “Unless…”

“Unless they moved it, and they’re having to sustain the effort to keep it moved. Unless someone else moved it away from them.” Ike shrugged.

“So it could be anywhere,” Wisp grumbled.

“That’s not what I said. If the black mages moved it, it should be at their main camp. If someone moved it away from them, then it’s probably the people who benefit the most from taking mana away from the mages—in other words, the foxes.”

Wisp sighed. “So it could be anywhere.”

Ike laughed. “We did narrow it down to the two prime suspects we had from the start, it’s true.”

Her eyes bobbled backward as she nodded back toward Mont. “Let’s go report.”

It only took them a second to return. Mont didn’t look surprised at their findings. “I suspected it wasn’t here any longer, but it’s good to confirm it. I have two… no, three prime candidates for the vein’s new location.”

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“The black-robed mages’ camp, the inn, and…?” Ike ran out of guesses.

“And the foxes’ clan. The inn is only their outpost. Their clan is elsewhere, in a hidden space at the mountain’s peak.” Mont looked upward. For just a moment, the peak of the mountain shimmered, and ornate buildings and floating mages appeared over the bare stone. Then the shimmering settled, and the image vanished once more.

“Whoa,” Ike murmured.

Mont snorted. “As you can see, they aren’t taking those mages very seriously.”

“No kidding,” Ike said. Thank goodness I wasn’t stupid enough to take the mages up on their ‘help us, we’re humans’ offer. They brought enough men to overrun the inn, but there’s a whole clan just overhead, out of sight. The foxes are only toying with them. The mages are the losing side here, and they haven’t even realized it.

“Where to next?” Wisp asked.

Mont hummed. “The foxes have been living on the peak peacefully for a long time without bothering the mana veins. It’s true that they didn’t particularly benefit from this one’s location, but they had no particular reason to move it, either. And none of us sensed it at the inn, no?”

“No,” Ike agreed. Wisp shook her head.

“Then that leaves the mages’ main camp as our primary suspect,” Mont said. He nodded to himself, pinching his chin. Abruptly, he turned to Wisp and Ike. “Shall we?”

“You know where that is?” Ike asked.

Mont laughed. “I know where everything is on the mountain.”

Wisp squinted at him. “Are you some kind of bird?”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, little spider. I don’t eat bugs.”

“Not a bird, then,” Wisp muttered. She shook her head.

Mont hasn’t asked what I am, but he has asked Wisp. I wonder if he knows…? Ike considered, but quickly dismissed it. Whether Mont knew he was a human or not, the man had shown him no aggression. It might not matter to Mont if he was human or not, the same way it hadn’t mattered to Silver or Wisp.

Mont turned around and headed further down the mountain. Clouds welled up as they wandered down the far side of the mountain. They darkened, threatening rain. The forest grew denser as they walked on. Brambles, vines, and undergrowth clogged their feet. Wisp clambered through the trees, avoiding the mess, but Mont and Ike had to kick their way through. Ike marveled at how little effort he had to exert to pierce through the vines, now that he was Rank 2. It felt like walking through wet grass. Barely any resistance. He looked at Mont, curious how the other man fared.

The brambles parted before Mont and closed again behind him. He walked over clean ground that existed only for him, leaving no tracks behind him.

Ike instantly felt his ego deflating. He pressed his lips together. Damn. Mont is insanely more powerful. He doesn’t even need to kick his way through the woods, the woods move out of his way!

Mont caught his gaze and grinned. He stretched his hand out. “You want some help?”

“I—uh, actually, that would be nice,” Ike admitted, a little sheepishly. He wasn’t above a little quality of life improvement.

Mont snapped his fingers. The brambles parted before Ike as well. He walked easily, as though he was on an open path. Instantly, he felt relief he hadn’t even known he’d needed.

“Inferior floor-walkers,” Wisp muttered down at Ike.

“I dunno, Mont seems to have this thing down,” Ike returned.

A black-robed mage flew over the trio’s heads. Wisp and Ike reached for their wolf pelts, while Mont simply stared upward. Ike couldn’t say how, or why, but Mont was suddenly harder to perceive. It was almost as if he faded into the background, becoming just another rock or tree on the mountain, despite his garish clothes. The black mage soared past, dismounting a small black broom as he dropped into the trees nearby.

“We’re close. Go on ahead,” Mont said, drawing to a halt.

“Understood.” Ike and Wisp exchanged glances. They sprinted ahead again, separating to close in on the camp from either side.