Cool limestone pressed against Cove's bottom, back, and feet as Dax set him close to the ruined door and next to their prisoner. He scooted away, his face twisted, and his stomach churned as he inspected the Riddere officer.

Sera had ensorcelled the man to shut him up and keep him from running; she may have overdone it. The spell revealed the man as a letch. He drooled as he leered at her, his eyes consuming her while his bruised left hand reached for her. She had tried questioning him, but his only words had been rude, sycophantic pleas for her feminine attention.

Pipster rubbed his feathered crest against Cove, purring and petting his side. He said, "Cove, help Pipster find Tiria and Kee. Cove hurry."

Cove nodded and wobbled to his feet. A hole through the door or the stone was the only way forward, the only way to get to Keekee and their family. He looked at the door and the walls of the tunnel. Reshaping the metal and opening the door was an option. He was good with threads and strands, not the colossal mass moved by Essie while sealing the passage. He could draw the steel into wire, pulling apart the welds until the door opened. However, doing it at a low level to avoid drawing the attention of every seeker in Heim would be tedious, take days, and require more Elystria than he had.

No, he was a Stoneshaper, and his magic worked best with rock and crystal. By blending with Sera to hide their gifts and enough of his energy, he should be able to carve a tunnel they could walk through. He could do it. Yet would he have sufficient to seal the passage behind them? What about the section the girls had said was too narrow for Dax and his shoulders? Bereft of stored power, they could find themselves trapped.

Cove took stock of his Elystria resources. His luminaegis armor was a hazy, almost clear aquamarine color, entombing the soldiers had drained all but the dregs. Sera's Azure bra and panty set were empty, nearly transparent as glass. They would have crumbled to dust without the power trickling from her body. The chunks of Takamot crystal in the cart held enough energy to hold their shape. He could drain them until they shattered, but he had plans for those precious crystals. He needed a way to recharge that did not require spending weeks lying in the sun. He could steal power from other mages; about half of the men and women he'd entombed were magic users, but pulling the energy out of their dead bodies would cost more than he'd gain. No, his source must be alive.

He motioned to Sera and Dax, silencing them, and listened with all his senses. His ears hunted through the background sounds of the caverns while his floating ribs vibrated to the song of Elystria. He filtered out breathing, Sera’s fart, and the rumble of Dax’s stomach. He ignored Sera and Dax. Tuned out the dripping water, moving air, crawling bugs, and the flutter of wings, everything save for the buzz of insects. He heard and felt what he sought. The particular hum that brought shivers, nightmares, and terror to cave divers.

“Pipster, stay here with your hatchlings and guard the cart. Dax, Sera, and whoever you are, follow me at a distance," said Cove as he sprinted into the darkness, letting the dim glow of his armor light his path. He followed his ears and used his floating rib droui glands' as a compass. Dust filled the air with every step. He turned left, stumbling over a broken road, ripping spiderwebs from his face and ignoring those clinging to his body. The buzz grew and dimmed as he passed an intersection.

Sweet blissfire tickled his nose, triggering flashbacks of the Amekia Temple and the more recent prison yards as he returned to the junction. He stumbled and caught himself on the wall. Slow, deep breaths did nothing to calm his trembling hands or dry the sweat beading on his skin, but they did allow him to focus and return to his task. I'm okay. I'm not afraid; I'm just exhausted.

He turned left and stopped two meters later. The roar in his ears and ribs hurt.

Dax's voice filled with caution and a touch of fear as he said, "Cinderweavers.... Coveland, what are you doing?"

"Fueling up," Cove said as he tiptoed forward.

Sera lurched, jerking and tugging against her boyfriend's grip and huffing as she said, "On raw undiluted blissfire? Have you lost your mind?"

"Stay here," whispered Cove.

Dax and Sera exclaimed, "No!"

"Those cinderweavers are neutralizing your gifts. I can deal with them, kill them by draining them when they bite, but you can't. Wait here and be ready to pull me out."

"Damn you," said Sera, "What will I tell Keeva and your daughters?"

"The truth," said Cove as he paced. He winced as the first insect latched onto his skin. He reacted on instinct, pulling the Elystria out of the bug. It burst, leaving a smear of guts and blissfire in their place. He advanced, popping the forward guard of insects as they attacked. Cinderweaver soldiers stormed in surges, popped like firecrackers, and rained bliss-fire-scented gore on his body and at his feet. Yet exterminating bugs wasn't why he was here. He walked blindly before bumping his head on a long, dead black, leaf-shaped wax plate of honeycomb reaching the tunnel's roof. Behind it, like the pages of an enormous terror novel suspended by its spine, hung hundreds, maybe thousands, possibly millions of hive plates and the ominous prologue looming over their heads. Tiny insects crawled over every exposed millimeter. Awe, respect, and dread filled him as he considered the countless hordes of cinderweavers living in this space.

Cove’s finger shook as he reached forward and pressed his hand to the nest. Would they notice? Would they object? Could he ask? He closed his eyes and opened his mind. What he found was strange, like touching a single grain of sand in a vast desert or a lone wave in the expanse of the ocean. He was significant only because he disturbed the obsessive yet incomprehensible order. His touch was a stain on the flawless hive, something to be purged, driven away, or made pure and absorbed into the collective. The warriors could not drive him away, and the workers perished as they tried to absorb him, so it offered a compromise: take what you require, take a fraction of our feed, leave us, and never return.

Cove’s mind raced. There was no hint of malice in the hive’s proposal. No, hunger was the only emotion, more an instinct than a feeling, and then only an impression, a mere trace. Why would they offer him food when they need it? Cinderweavers are not known for their hospitality. No, the heartless bugs are notorious for defending their hives and the barbiturate-laced sweetener called blissfire. From one perspective, the drugged treat was a defensive weapon.

On the other hand, the soporific side effects made a person happy, agreeable, and oblivious—the perfect targets to be absorbed into the hive as nourishment. A dollop of thick, heavy syrup landed in his hair.

“Cove,” said Sera, “move! Now! Forget using the cinderweavers. We'll find another way!” Footsteps ran towards him and stopped with shouts of outrage and panic.

But Cove couldn’t withdraw; he came here for Elystria, and he would be damned to the ninth tier of hell before he left, minus his prize. He energized his Stoneshaper glands, converted the gunk from above into a stone helmet, and thickened his skin. Then, with another thought, he formed pockets to catch the blissfire; if the bugs were giving it away, why leave it behind?

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Cove activated his charging droui system and pulled. Elystria glowed in his hand and arm, and the luminaegis armor pulsed in ever-darkening blue waves. Cove thought: The trick is to take enough to fill everything without turning myself into a bomb.

The swarm’s casual disdain flared into concern as it invaded Cove's mind, searching for the meaning of the word bomb. Once they found it, their anxiety grew into a rage-filled panic. The buzz increased, deepened, and thundered.

"Cove!" Dax's voice faded behind the growing roar.

Cinderweavers swarmed, covering every millimeter of his body, crawling up his nose, into his ears, and nipping at his closed eyes. The insects were replaced as fast as they were drained, popped, and fell in heaps at his feet.

The armor charged, but without his eyes, Cove couldn't tell how rapidly or how much more energy he could add before it became dangerous. The vibration in his ribs intensified, but he had no clue what it felt like when the Azure was filled. It's better to have too little than to overfill and explode. He shut off the flow of Elystria from the hive and tried to release his grip but couldn’t. His hand was stuck, glued to the plate, and he couldn’t move. Pulling and yanking only proved how sticky raw blissfire could be. He thought: Maybe I can get sufficient leverage to pull myself free if I step back. He couldn't lift his foot. Oh no, I'm coated from head to toe in this stuff. Toughening his skin and making it proof against the intoxicating effects had not been enough.

More blissfire poured from the hive, a thick, heavy syrup waterfall, thrusting his head forward, sealing his ears, nose, and mouth, burdening his shoulders, and pressing him toward the floor. It pooled around his feet, pushing away the dirt and debris, exposing cracked white, blue-veined marble. Desperate for air, Cove Stoneshaped straws from his nostrils and managed to suck several breaths before another ton of sticky goop encased him, weighing him down. The world spun; his lungs demanded he inhale, but his mind knew he would drown in blissfire if he parted his lips. His muscles shook, fighting the weight and dragging his body down while his hand, glued to the hive, cried in agony as the bones and tendons began to separate. Cove's feet pushed against the stone. Adrenaline raced through his blood. He could not die. He had to escape, but what could he do? A maniacal laugh built in his soul as he thought, I am a Stoneshaper inside a mountain and connected to a natural battery.

Cove opened his connection to the cinderweaver nest and pulled power from the ocean of energy into his body, bulking every fiber of muscle and reinforcing his bones. He pressed a finger from his free hand through the mass of blissfire and touched the floor. He extended his senses; within a hundred-meter sphere, he was the mountain and anything touching the stone.

The hive's structure focused, alternating layers of Azure and blissfire forming a battery charged with Elystria gleaned from tree roots. The organic conversion of blissfire into Azure fascinated Cove, diverting his attention. The new understanding gave him an idea that pulled on every trigger and string in his analytical mind.

The protective instincts of a father warred with his scientific lust for knowledge. Yes, he needed to get away and protect his family and friends. Still, knowledge was essential to providing the safety his loved ones required. Taking the time to learn more about Elystria and Azure and their effect on the world could provide the crucial edge to get his household safely out of the country and away from Heim.

First, he had to breathe; he extended and expanded the straws connected to his nose, bending them back and away from the hive. Several clean breaths later, Cove returned his attention to the biochemical transformation of blissfire into Azure and compared it with the formation of the crystals in his body. It wasn’t identical, but it was similar enough to form a testable hypothesis. He drew a trickle of Elystria from the nest, modified it with his Stoneshaper droui glands, and transferred it into the intoxicating gel encasing him. A caustic burn flashed over his skin. He shuddered and clamped his jaw to contain his scream. As the pain subsided, Cove sent his mind into the transformed gel. It had concentrated and shed liquid, a mild acid from how it burned. He tweaked the path of energy and tried again. The heat was replaced with a slight soapy sensation and, seconds later, the gritty texture of salt.

Okay, acid with the first route through his glands and crystals, base with the second; let’s try something in the middle.

Cove adjusted the course and retested his theory. Elystria flooded through his body and into the sweet jelly.

The cinderweavers roared with panic and rage: No! Return our meal! At first, Cove figured the insects were upset because he was taking their Elystria. Yet the sensations and emotions were less about the victim of theft and more about a hunter who’d lost their prey. He smiled. Confidence and determination sharpened his resolve as the insects failed to repossess the power. It was his, and the design of the hive and Cove’s connection to it prevented the swarm from shutting down the energy flow.

The blissfire condensed and began to solidify into a transparent amorphous monolith, closer to a giant pile of hadrosaur dung than anything majestic. Cove wrapped his mind around the material and, using what he had read, gleaned from the Takamot crystal and his own experience, guided the growing mass into a layered interlocking lattice. He pulled the matter tight to his body. He integrated the luminaegis armor, adding flexible joints, boots, gauntlets, a helmet, and other pieces until he was covered from head to toe. He drew upon his memory of Dóiteáin, incorporating sensors, screens, tool attachment points, and a waste recycling system to manage sweat and other disagreeable fluids. He smiled as he used it.

A sharp crack and acute pain shot through his bones as the Azure crystals linked to his Stoneshaper skill grew, giving him greater strength and control.

Cove pulled Elystria from the nest and charged his creation. Then he continued his work; his new suit of armor had consumed less than a third of the Azure Cove had created, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the remainder.

A snap thundered through the cavern before Cove could draw another joule. He spun on his heels and stumbled backward to avoid being crushed by twenty falling slabs of the depleted hive. The power he had been leaching from the nest stopped. To get more, he would have to climb through shattered rubble. Cove chuckled to himself. “I guess that’s one way to cut me off.

“Dax, Sera,” called Cove as he turned, “help me get this stuff to the cart….” His eyes fixed on the three smiling, drugged forms cocooned in blissfire.