I mentally relaxed as Kliss claimed Leemy, the dragon girl’s teeth digging gently into the dryad’s hand.

I watched as a crimson wave of magic surged from the hoard across Kliss, wrapping itself around Leemy’s soul and planting brilliant sparks all over her. Like before, I carefully and instrumentally trimmed, pruned the connection, snipping away the control mechanism that would eventually turn Leemy into an obedient slave if left unmanaged, leaving only the positively-charged flow of mana.

The dryad’s eyes widened as she sensed the sparks within herself. The violet blossoms adorning her hair seemed to glow brighter, petals unfurling.

“Hrm,” she murmured. “This does feel invigorating. Perhaps I was wrong to resist it. I do hope that this artificial sun does not burn me to cinders one day in the distant future.”

“Don’t worry, Leems, Slava won’t let our dragon girl turn into an outta-control forest fire,” Delta murmured, leaning into her dryad. Leemy relaxed further, wrapping moss-covered hands around my twin. Both of them looked content.

“Right,” I said. “Now that we’re all magically and metaphorically on the same page, we need to finalize our plans for the next two weeks. So, let’s have a brainstorming session. Inquisitor Jubz is bringing two Imperial legions to Skyisle. What does that mean for us?”

I turned to Kliss.

“Each legion will be fourteen armoured men,” she replied. “Each will have a Scrutimancer of some kind, a professional Astral Seer who will smell, or foresee, or taste secrets.”

“We’ve dealt with Foresight magi,” Delta commented. “Violets now work for us. Could we…”

“These will be professional legionnaires dedicated to the Empire and Goddess Equality, not orphans armed with blood-iron artifacts,” Kliss said.

My twin frowned.

“Where do you stand as Baroness in the Imperial hierarchy?” I asked Kliss. “Could they be convinced to serve you?”

“No,” Kliss shook her head. “They will answer to Inquisitor Jubz and will serve only one mission - to tear Skyisle apart while they search for Giovashi and the dragon’s heart.”

“Imperial legions were here during the takeover of Skyisle, they didn’t find anything,” Delta commented.

“It is possible that they didn’t find anything last time because Giovashi misled them with Charisma magic,” I said. “Or she even let them come on purpose so that they could kill her priestesses and slaughter many townspeople.”

“Why would she kill her own priestesses?” Delta demanded.

“Sacrifice,” I said. “Giovashi’s necromagic is powered entirely by soul sacrifices. She made Skyisle an awful place, created various deadly ‘events’ that made the entire town into willing Vow-makers. Giovashi’s goal isn’t to get souls to go to Arx, it’s to tear human souls apart through conflicting Vows so that she could attach the remnants to herself to live longer."

“An imperial Scrutimancer will be able to see through lies like glass,” Kliss said. “They won’t be fooled like Jubz. What's your plan, Slava?

“I can use my Infoscopes to modify, bend their spells,” I replied.

“You’d have to bend the Astral itself… pretty much everywhere all the time then,” Kliss said with a deep frown. “They’ll be looking for specific clues. They’ll see that giant tree in the center of town and ask the villagers questions. A professional Searcher isn’t going to be bamboozled by an ant-powered suit of armor like the villagers of Skyisle.”

“I was really hoping to utilize the Rewind spellchain to trap the Legionnaires in a time loop, repeating their actions endlessly, rendering them ineffective,” I said. “But I think that unfortunately we don’t have enough time to finish it.”

“The root system isn’t ready,” Leemy affirmed. “I’m not ready. Even if we had a hundred Agromancers it will not be possible to finish what you desire to do. More time is needed.”

“The Astral Seers must not be allowed to examine Skyisle from the sky,” Kliss said. “If I… err, Aradria saw your massive hexagram from above then so will a talented Scrutimancer. How did you even plan on hiding something that big?”

“With another big concealment hexagram… which I didn’t get to make yet,” I rubbed the back of my head. “Aradria’s arrival sort of sent all of my plans sideways”

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“That’s what I thought,” Kliss said.

“What do you suggest we do then?” I asked.

“We should take the fight to them,” Kliss said, fiery spirals flickering in her eyes. “They will make a stop in Agamemnon to stock up on a few weeks worth of cheap supplies as Skyisle won’t provide such. We strike them there and we strike them hard, take out the Scrutimancers, weaken the legions… make them follow us.”

“Make them follow us?” I looked at her. “To where?”

“To wherever I am stronger,” Kliss said. “As Aradria I often made foolish skyship captains follow me, making them crash into floating mountains at the spine of the world or plummet into the depths of the magogenic faults.”

“We don’t have a skyship,” Delta said. “How the heck are we going to intercept them?”

She then gave me an annoyed look as if she was holding me personally responsible for the fact that Skyisle lacked a skyship.

“Maybe I… can just run there?” Kliss mulled. “I could run to Agamemnon across the wilds, over the glaciers and valleys… I more or less know the way. I think that I can make it there in less than two weeks. I’ll simply burn through the magic within the gold from the obelisk. I’m strong now, I can stop them.”

“You can punch your way across twenty eight Imperial legionnaires and Jubz?” Delta asked with a skeptical look.

“Not a direct attack, I’ll steal their skyship while they restock, make them follow me in the second ship… and make sure that they perish in the mountains,” Kliss insisted. “I can do this, I know I can! I have to do this. I want to protect Skyisle, protect all of you!”

Her claws dug into my wrist, making me wince.

“Won’t the Empire just assign another Inquisitor to investigate Skyisle?” I asked.

“They will,” Kliss said. “In time. But, the Imperial bureaucracy is slow. I can delay it even further, if I can make it to the Inquisition Bureau in Cessna… and set it alight with dragonfire. Look, Slava… I know that you want to implement your Rewind hexagram and you will, but… I don’t think that it will work against Scrutimancers who will absolutely sniff it from ten thousand elbows away in the sky and simply won’t land in Skyisle. They’ll bring a hundred times more men to deal with your questionable giant spellchain!”

I pursed my lips.

“Very well,” I said. “But, you’re not going to Agamemnon alone. We will all go there together and derail Jubz, make him believe that Giovashi and her Ishira cultists are targeting him personally. I can use my Infoscopes to send false Identify reports to them, make them think that you’re actually Giovashi in disguise holding a dragonheart in her mage staff or something.”

“How?” Kliss asked. “Neither of you can run with me down the glacier–you're human!”

“You won’t be running as much as you think,” I said. “I’ll build you a glider. You can use it to make it down the valley to the ocean, then walk to Agamemnon. It won’t take as long then. Delta and I will be with you, inside of your backpack as Astral Phantoms.”

“Hang on. Who’s going to make sure that Skyisle is safe?” Delta asked.

“Our parents,” I said. “Plus, Leemy.”

“No, Slava,” Delta said. “What if Giovashi comes back and simply asks everyone to take their necklaces and collars off? Someone needs to stay in Skyisle as Archmage Delta to coordinate the Violets and work on finishing your hexagram. Someone needs to make sure shit doesn’t go tits up in our home.”

“You…?” I looked at her.

“I’ll stay in Skyisle,” Delta nodded. “As much as it’s gonna suck not to have Kliss next to me to keep me warm, I’ll have Leemy. Just… Could you permanently tether her Avatar to my mind to keep me company? You can do that, right?”

“I can do that,” I nodded.

“Then we’re good,” Delta said. “You two can go and derail Jubz and I’ll protect Skyisle!”

Leaving my twin behind in Skyisle while Kliss and I dealt with the Inquisitor was a risk, but she was right–someone needed to stay behind to oversee the completion of the Rewind hexagram and ensure the safety of the village. My parents were capable, but they lacked the specialized knowledge and magical prowess needed to handle a threat like Giovashi or her minions. Delta, for all her eccentricities and impulsiveness, was a formidable Astral Phantom, controller of insects and a skilled Agromancer, intimately familiar with Leemy and the nuances of Skyisle's terrain. She knew how to operate the other physical traps we’ve designed around our workshop.

“Alright,” I said after a minute of tense silence. “I trust you. But promise me you’ll be careful and keep the Violets close. If anything unexpected happens, anything at all – contact me immediately via voicecast.”

“Totes,” Delta nodded, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her silver-blue eyes. “Just make sure Kliss doesn’t burn down Agamemnon or whatever. She seems overly excited to use dragonfire.”

I shot her a reassuring look and turned to Leemy. “You up for this? Can you handle keeping Delta anchored and safe, keep an eye on Skyisle for us while we’re gone?”

“I am up to this goal, Sentinel,” Leemy nodded. “I shall keep my Agromancer focused on her job.”

“So,” Kliss asked. “How soon do we leave?”

“In a few days,” I said. “I’ll get dad to make the wooden frame for the glider and order the seamstress to make the necessary cloth. In the meanwhile, I want you to bite everything of magical value in Skyisle. Every tree, every rock. Everything. Claim it all.”

“Sure,” Kliss nodded.

“Also, there are more bodies and urns filled with crystalline dust in small rooms beneath the catacombs too,” I said. “They’re buried under stone blocks. Pull them free and claim them all. I believe that they are reinforcing the wards Giovashi made.”

Kliss blanched slightly.

“Yeah,” she said. “Can do. Will you come with me and show me where they are?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“It’s a date then,” Kliss suddenly twinkled at me with emerald-amber eyes.

Delta gave her a thumbs up.