Nope, not going to do it. After only six hours of riding, Cove's back hurt, his arms and legs were sore, he couldn't feel his hands and feet, and his custom saddle left bruises in unmentionable places. He wanted to revitalize himself with a shot of Elystria. Yet, he couldn't risk setting off a flare for any nearby Seekers. Cove had been one of the best Mazer players on the varsity circuit decades ago; he'd even coached youth teams and ridden these roads with Missha before she left, but this... was he getting old?

Just one more hill. Their stop for this afternoon was an abandoned archeological dig whose name eluded him. Uncounted eons ago, it had been a coastal fishing village like Nocht Harbor, where he grew up. Time had elevated the abandoned town into the mountains as two tectonic plates collided. At the same time, landslides and layers of volcanic ash entombed it. It was one of hundreds of historic places along this highway. He glanced down as the gear shift refused to rotate; the worn arrow pointed at a faded number one; he didn't have a lower climbing gear. When did this hill get so steep?

A breeze pushed his trailer, pulling his Hadrosaur Elite toward the mountain and deep into the scree. Traction vanished as the trailer's tongue yanked his rear tire off the rain-washed pavement and into the mud. The trailer axles creaked as a wheel fell into a rut, bounced over two rocks, and jammed behind a third, yanking the whole rig to a stop. Cove flew forward, instinctively twisting his feet free of the pedal cleats and locking the brakes. “Shite! Caicco, are you okay? Everyone, keep going! Don't stop on a hill; you may not be able to start again.” He waved the rest of the crew onward.

Caicco groaned. "Do I have to live?"

"Yes," said Wendy between breaths, her feet pressing her pedals in furious circles to keep her bike and the trailer carrying the unconscious Kendra moving.

Cove set the emergency brake on the trailer, watching the others as they swerved past. "Penny, don't lean so far forward. Keep more weight on the back tire, or you'll lose traction again."

Penny nodded, launching sweat from her brow, and adjusted her stance. Her faun brattiraptor clung to her hair, leaning over Penny's face like the brim of an animated hat, neck outstretched and flapping its wings as if it could lift the young woman to the top of the hill.

Cove’s smile fell into a study. We need proper helmets, cleated riding shoes, and proper clothes for Lyra, Bree, and the guys. He glanced at his bike and added tires and a tune-up for everyone.

"Get up," Cove said as he rapped on the trailer's frame.

Caicco had been unconscious when he’d been healed and tucked into the trailer. Yet, for the last kilometer, he’d exhibited a rather colorful vocabulary with each bump and swerve. The canvas cover rippled and bulged with hand-shaped impressions. Two feet proceeded long legs out the back, and then the rest of him flopped into the mud like a limp fish.

“My mom would not approve,” said Cove as he extended a hand.

“Your mother taught me how to swear like a sailor,” said Caicco. He took the offered hand and stood. “I was being trained to serve as a military chaplain.”

“Well, CC, help me push this rig up the hill.”

“CC?”

“Chaplain Caicco. Now, will you stand there gaping like a grouper or help?”

“Caicco is my given name, my surname is—”

“CC, how much do you know about the Duskfire Brotherhood?”

“Not much; mostly legends and rumor. Why?”

“Last night, you and the other priests were adopted by Dax, a prince of the Duskfire brotherhood. Today is your birthday. The man you were, the family, and the surname you had yesterday are part of history. Dax let you keep your first name, but that was for his convenience. He can change your name if another fits you better and remove it if you dishonor it. You will earn your tribe, clan, and secret names as you progress.”

Caicco’s muscles strained and rippled as he helped Cove push the bike and trailer forward, but his eyes wandered aimlessly, and his mouth moved with silent words.

Dax stopped, dismounting, saying, “Boy, take my bike, join your brothers and sister, and help set up camp.”

“Sir… ah… dad… I want to help mister Nocht… please.”

Dax quirked an eye as he pointed up the hill and into the open air on the unguarded side of the road. “Pick one.”

Caicco gulped and mounted the bike, swerving dangerously close to the drop-off as he steadied himself.

Dax grunted and spat. “Essie Swiftfist is the best of the lot.”

“Swiftfist?”

“Did you see her hands during the battle this morning?”

“No—”

“Neither did I. The name is hers.”

“What about Caicco?”

“He throws water at his attackers, gets captured, and leaves his woman unprotected. That is not worthy of a name.”

“What about the others?”

Dax hawked, spat, and growled.

“That bad?”

“Not heroic. Who wants to hear the ballad of the boy who sang accompaniment to his woman?”

Cove cringed. Lyra hadn't been his daughter for long yet... His girls had boyfriends. How was he supposed to react? They were of age, had been for a year before he'd become their daddy, and could legally make choices that terrified him. He remembered their birth parents; the Guardian of the Fields and High Priestess of Life, the leaders of the Temple of Amekia in Oberritterstein. Lyra and Bree would have been raised with a deep respect for the cycles of life, from planting to harvest, to be unashamed of themselves and their place in the circle of creation, and to find happiness and joy along the way. Those were good things, the shiny side of the coin, but what of the dark side of Amekia? Did they know about the breeding chambers under the beautiful sanctuary? Was it something their birth parents would have shared with their daughters? Were they raised with a different perspective on those dark rooms filled with blissfire mists? Would it be appropriate to ask? He needed to discuss it with Keeva.

Cove shook the brooding thoughts from his head and looked up the road to another of the young men who'd joined their group. “I was impressed by Lance.”

“The shifter? He has potential if he crawls out of Peyton’s shadow.”

"What did Pey do to their attackers? What kind of mage is she?"

Dax grunted. "Ask Hanna."

Cove watched Keeva vanish over the top of the hill. Her, Wendy, and Hanna’s baby bumps would rival the Nebelgruft peaks in two or three months at most. “How long before the expecting mothers will be unable to ride?”

“Ask Sera.”

“I will, but things must be done before they are forced into the trailers.”

“Let it be their idea,” said Dax with a muted laugh.

Cove snickered, then coughed and stumbled as Dax gave him a friendly slap across his shoulders. “That will not be the only thing that upsets people.” They rounded to the top of the hill and paused.

A sweet iron scent of blood and death filled the air. The former dig site was a charnel house. Blood flowed in muddy streams, forming pools. Dozens of animals, or people, had been slaughtered and drained. Grass and flowers swayed, heavy and limp, weighed down by radiating splatters of crimson.

The bodies were missing.

Cove ran his hand through his hair as he said, “What happened?”

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“Let me look,” said Dax. He crept forward, inspecting the ground as he moved. Pipster and his flock followed Dax, scampering off in his direction, following their noses and flickering tounges, chasing invisible trails, and returning to report.

Cove moved to stand by Keeva, and they joined everyone else gawking like rubberneckers passing a traffic accident, their curiosity overcoming their senses. Each of his girls was tucked under the arm of their boyfriends, as were all married couples. Many wept, and some hid their eyes. Wendy, who didn't have a partner, and Sera spoke as their fingers pointed around the site.

"We can't stay here," whispered Kee. She pinched her nose and covered her mouth.

"No, we need to move on, but we need to know what happened, or we might walk into a trap."

Kendra heaved a sob. Her chest glowed, and clouds gathered on the horizon. She fell into Caicco’s arms and began to wail. He held her, petting her hair, whispering into her ear, and cradling her.

Triple shadows crept across the ground.

Dax returned with the brattiraptors and motioned for everyone to gather. “A hoard of the unholy descended the mountain and massacred a Riddere camp, probably support staff, administrators, cooks, and other non-combatants. The attackers' footsteps are human, but the gait is wrong, meandering and shambling. They positioned themselves up there, fired on the Riddere, and disemboweled the survivors.”

“That cannot be right,” said Cove. “Where are the bodies? Did someone bury them?”

“No,” said Dax.

“Bodies walk away,” said Pipster. “One life, many not life, all stink.” He circled, stopping with his body pointed north, repeated the maneuver twice more, and sat at Dax’s feet, his eyes locked on the road leading north. “Spoiled food walking.”

Grettaluna said, “The Neo-Mharbh have returned.”

“Impossible,” said Lascivien, “We wiped them out five eons ago and scrubbed all knowledge of them from the world!”

Essie asked, “Neo what?”

Cove ran his hands through his hair as his mind pulled at threads of memory. “It’s from one of the original settlers’ languages. It means non-killed, or more correctly undead.”

Sera shook her head as her eyes scanned the plateau. “Dax, there’s enough blood on the ground for twenty people, maybe more. There is no chance they walked away.”

Dax’s gaze swept the group as he said, “A score came down the hill, and twice as many traveled up the road.”

Wendy, her reptilian eyes gazing up the mountain, asked, “What’s up there?”

Stone temple,” said Tiria.

Cove scanned the peaks and landmarks before saying, “Our ceremony site is up that hill. This must have been the Riddere base camp.”

“Oh no,” whispered Wendy.

Cove looked at the woman and motioned her to continue.

She took a long, steadying breath, let it out, and drew another before saying, “Chief Ceallach… she’s going to get herself killed.”

“Out with it, woman,” said Cove, his tone soft yet commanding.

“She’s a dark magic leash—”

“They’re all filthy black mages,” said Sera.

“No,” said Wendy, gesturing to the wheel of her bike as she spoke. “Any mage with a hint of psycomancy can become a leash. Even a Healer and Erotomancer like you can learn to leash."

"Never! I don't know about my magic color, but I will never Leash someone."

Lascivien said, "You are a white mage, a Healer with a powerful dose of psychomancy, which your prior occupation groomed into erotomancy."

Penny, acting as the voice of Eidilorn, said, "The types of magic are like twenty progressively smaller wheels stacked inside two cones touching at their points. One cone represents the internal path, and the other the external. The space between the spokes represents the types of magic, brown for earth, red for thermomancy, etc. An individual's gift can be plotted somewhere between each spoke. The closer to the axel, the more mental or psycomantic; the further towards the rim, the more physical or biomantic the gift. A person advances from tier to tier as their skill and Azure grow, but not all paths lead to the pinnacle. Necromancy is one of the few paths that leads to the peak of power."

“Most leashes fall near the axle and are grey or white mages.”

“What is CWO Ceallach?”

“She was one of my instructors. She's a grey mage, almost on the spoke separating grey and black, and a pure psychomancer,” whispered Wendy. Her eyes snapped to Cove, and her lips quivered as she said, “If she’s crossed into black magic… that’s a capital crime in every country.”

Anxiety filled Keeva’s voice as she said, “Will Heim care about her crime if she has Cove on a leash?”

"I don't know...," Wendy said, shrugging as she gazed at her daughters safely tucked under their boyfriends' arms. "I haven't met Heim."

"He needs my knowledge and gifts," said Cove. "Nothing is going to stop him. Hells! The man broke the sanctuary of a temple and destroyed it."

"Nay laddie," said Grettaluna, "Heim led the Heroes against the last great coven of necromancers. We were there. His loathing of the undead runs deeper than the Kraken's Trench. He would take ye, then squash the mage and all her minions."

"Then why would CWO Ceallach choose the path of necromancy?"

Wendy raised her hands in a gesture of confusion. “We’re all taught to avoid certain paths. I don’t know why.”

Grettaluna said, “There’s no benefit. The undead do not grow Azure. They make poor workers or field hands, and animals flee or attack. They’re only valuable for war.”

“Coveland,” whispered Keeva, her voice crawling with unease and disgust, “The girls and I aren’t staying here another minute.”

“I agree,” Cove said, “but we can’t continue north, and there’s no safety in going back.”

“Safety,” Dax said, “there is no peace for us in Heim. We must go west.”

Cove coughed into his fist before pointing at the towering peaks. “There isn’t a pass this team can ride for hundreds of kilometers.”

“We can follow the forest trails to one of the safe passes,” offered Wendy.

“Nobody has passports or travel documents,” said Roy.

Hanna nodded as she added, “If we don’t get arrested for being undocumented at the Hiem border station, we’ll be shot trying to illegally emigrate into Milch und Honig.”

“We can’t just walk into the Heim State Department or a Bureau of Consular Affairs and buy one like a candy bar,” said Wendy.

Sera asked, “Can we find the hacker who made my documents?”

Cove rubbed his brow as he dug back into his memories. “No. Uncle Petrov might know how to contact him or her, but I was kept out of that part of the Road to Valles Verde.”

Gath tapped Roy on the shoulder and whispered into his ear.

Roy stared into the sky, muttering unintelligibly before saying, “No. We do not break the law.”

“Dad! It’s the only way—”

“No!”

“What is he suggesting, dear.”

“No, Hanna. We will not sneak into a government building and steal the documents. We can’t get past the security, and trying is against the law.”

Essie whispered into Dax’s ear, and the large man chuckled, a proud grin flowing across his face. “Speak, princess.”

“Uncle Cove can get in and out,” said Essie, “and I know how.”

Cove blinked and stared at Essie, sure she was playing a Veneday joke.

“First,” said Essie, “We need to go to a city.”