“A-ha!” Anne shouted and rummaged around in her backpack for something. Micah jogged over the moment he realized what it was.

When she slotted the last marble into the wall, a woven river of silver hands and feet burst from the earth and flowed, fell to its death, and rose again like rolling hills. Each time it did, vines rearranged themselves along the wall to fill in the gaps and support it like—

“A ladder!” she called.

Made of living vines.

Two-thirds the way up the cliffside, a dozen meters or so to the side, Ryan saw, rolled his eyes, and began the arduous process of removing the pitons again.

Lisa looked at her in-progress air cushion, tracked the distance, and groaned.

“If you two had listened to me,” Anne said. “I told you to look for mable slots first.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Micah stopped mid-step and went to Lisa. Maybe they could move the cushion?

“That could work. Give me a second and then take that side? I’ll take this one and we move on three?”

“Sure.” He crouched and focused on his hands while taking deep breaths. I can do this.

“One, two, three—”

Micah lifted a construct made of pure air and magic and ran, but slowed when his fingers began to slip. Lisa bumped into him and his side began to deflate. She dropped hers and rushed around to patch it up again, then had to run back when hers did the same.

They had to take breaks since his grip wasn’t entirely there yet, but it did save them time.

“Good job!” Anne called down.

Shala had run up the ladder as soon as he’d realized what they were doing, before they could get there. Navid had no problems crawling over the air like an idiot. Neither did he, and then he climbed a living ladder in the whipping wind like some kind of [Adventurer].

He let go with one hand and enjoyed the view. He could have hung there forever, but time marched on. Lisa caught up to him, and he pulled himself over the ledge.

They found a similar scene. The grey ruins looked more like a proper building this time around, larger and cut into the mountainside. It reminded him of paintings he’d seen of Trest at the Rock.

“Looks like we’re going to have to spelunk,” Anne said as their team peered into the entrance.

Broken stone tiles, weeds, and piles of rubble greeted them. The light dimmed further in and dirt, roots, and ancient cobwebs littered the air. Obviously, it was trapped to the teeth.

“Unless we want to climb over the building,” Shala joked.

Some of them chuckled or smiled. Then they all looked up.

“It would be slower,” Ryan said.

“Would it? What with having to look for traps?”

“If we did go through, I suppose you could use your stupid meat rush tactic to cheat, Lisa.”

“‘Meat rush’,” Micah laughed. Nobody joined him and he took a step back.

“It would arguably be more dangerous, too. The roof isn’t flat and the rocks hang in places.”

“What’s wrong with a little danger?” Navid asked.

“Vote?”

“Building,” Lisa said. “I like the open space but it’s not like we can do anything with it. It teases us.”

“Same, except for the verdict,” Micah said. “We went underground for our exams and I love the fresh air.”

It seemed better here, even more so than the fresh morning air he used for breathing exercises. Something about the quality, like the difference between a lower-floor crystal and a higher one.

“I agree with Chandler. This way should be quicker, by all accounts.”

“The roof might have hidden treasure?” Anne said. “I say we at least check.”

“Roof,” Shala echoed her.

Ryan sighed. “Great. It’s a tie, then.”

Micah felt anxious, seeing his frustrated expression, and spoke up, “Half us clear this way, the other half check the roof for treasure? Without climbing the cliffside. It’s something we could have done during the second exam.”

It worked for them. Lisa gave them a lizard canary, in case of emergency, and an over-the-shoulder salute before she sent body after body into the building to comb its every surface.

They found a suitable architectural feature to scale, a crumbled niche that made his heart ache to see. He imagined lifting the rubble up, scrubbing the grime, and restoring it to its former glory which had been a … what?

He was no [Architect]. He didn’t even know what a niche was good for. A place to sit, maybe?

Now, it was a stepping stone underneath their boots.

“Stranya,” Shala said. “I’m curious, do you have any climbing Skills, from your [Alchemist] Class, I assume …?”

“Huh? Oh, no. Ryan does, though!” And why would he think he would get those from [Alchemist]?

“So your ‘trick’ earlier …?”

“Ah. Only works on magic.”

I think.

“Good that we’re the ones doing this then,” Anne joked, and immediately ducked her head back down.

“Anne?” Shala whispered.

She signaled them to be quiet and they climbed around. As soon as he peeked over the ledge, he understood why.

Folly Brigands or Hermits—he wasn’t sure with how they’d grouped up—hung where the building cut into the cliff like bats. Their vines threading along the rock, at least four that he could see.

“Good to know where they hide,” she mumbled and shifted. She eyed the roof, gave them a signal, and hauled herself up. The moment she did, the monsters’ vines shot out like undulating snakes in the air.

Hackles raised, he assumed.

She leapt where the architecture rose, their enemies detached one by one, and the two of them hurried to catch up.

“Arrow right!” he yelled. Anne kept left. His glue shot grazed a Hermit, popped at the last moment, and splashed away, doing nothing.

Should’ve seen that coming.

Anne didn’t slow down when she met their first enemy. It reached out and she sprinted through its vines. Before it could get a grip, she smacked it aside.

Another ripple shot off its shell as it cracked, the same as she had after her fall, and it rocketed off the to side, its body going slack for a moment.

The vines at her feet jerked as well, making her stumble. Shala cut them and stabbed it.

“Hey, don’t steal my kill!”

He backed off and went after another one.

Micah followed his lead, feeling a little silly with his shield and dagger. Not that he was reconsidering his assessment. It was just, the Guard had been easy enough, but these smaller ones weren’t a good match for him. He couldn’t sever their many smaller limbs as easily.

He dodged, blocked, and ran through reaching vines to get close before it got a grip on him. Then he pushed forward and cut a bundle with a small jerked motion—as far as it would let him.

It went for his throat, but a single cut was all he needed; a flaw in the structure he could exploit.

He breathed to bring the essences closer and clamped down with his will like biting down on something—and clenched his teeth as a mental bridge. Then he jerked his head to the side as Sam had.

An inch of its internal structure pulled out, a fraction of what he could have done up close. It was enough to ease the tension.

With the added mobility, he cut the vines around his throat and dug his fingers into the wounds to tear them off.

The Hermit had tried to weigh him down. When he freed himself, it tried to retreat. He gathered its vines under his arm and twisted, knocking its shell into the roof like a wrestler, then threw himself over it as it tried to choke him. Up close, all he had to do was rip and tear.

Also like eating seafood, he supposed. He was actually starting to get kind of hungry, but the taste of bleeding grass in his mouth made him want to rinse.

A shadow loomed and he almost reached out to yank it down, thinking it was another monster—

It was Shala, sword poised, frowning like he didn’t know whether to help or not. “You fight like a wild animal, Stranya.”

“Thank you? Hey, can you free my legs?” He wiggled a bit. “The vines aren’t bursting as quickly as I had hoped.”

Usually, unmades’ body parts exploded pretty quickly when severed them from their source.

“Knife,” he said, and Micah pressed it into his glove. He crouched down and cut them in a few points that freed him.

Anne stood hunched over her second Hermit and caught her breath. Their shells lay cracked and bruised below her. Dying, not dead. Despite that, she looked at them. Keeping an eye out?

A fifth Hermit detached itself from the cliff, slower or more distant than the others had been, and reached out to broken architectural fixtures to haul itself their way.

Before she could catch her breath, Micah shouted, “OURS!”

“Huh? No fair!”

Shala turned, momentarily surprised, and caught on. “Oh, right. We call dibs on that one!”

Micah kicked his legs to shrug the rest off like loose rope and chased after him. The last Hermit hadn’t learned anything from its kin’s demise, if it had witnessed them at all, but also, they didn’t give it a chance. It tried to chuck a fistful of rubble, Micah stepped in to cover them, and Shala cleared the path.

A rock bounced off his knee and Micah grimaced, then gave a warning and sprinted to tackle the Hermit to the ground in revenge.

Its vines were thickest there. It immediately entangled him, but all he had to do was twist it away from itself, holding its shell off to the side so one of the holes was visible.

Shala stepped up, put a boot down to hold it still, and impaled the Hermit. He cut him free and offered a hand, and Micah pulled himself up in the bursting smoke. He turned and grinned.

Anne stared at them, eyes flickering from face to face, spun around, and walked off the roof.

“Anne?” Shala asked.

“Hey, what happened to looking for treasure!?”

She waved in answer—he didn’t know what it meant—and climbed out of sight.

Micah turned to Shala. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know. We did call dibs, right?”

They hesitated and scanned the rest of the roof.

“Want to go check for treasure?”

“Of course.”

The crystals were easy enough to find. They scoured the roof, checking every step, ledge, and pile of rubble for even the smallest box hidden out of sight. There were none, but they found a hole where the stonework had partially collapsed.

Yelling into the darkness for a minute made a bunch of blurry red motes, then Lisa and the others appear, staring up at them. Anne, too.

“What are you doing?” Lisa asked.

“We found a hole.”

Come to think of it, the Hermits probably could have used it to ambush them if they’d ignored the rooftop in the first place.

“We can see that. Need help getting down?”

“Nope.”

“We needed you to check for traps,” Shala explained and threw the rope they’d tied down over the edge.

In a dusty beam of light, the two of them rappelled into the darkness.

It was cool up until they had to send Sam up to go fetch the rope. Still, Micah found his bearings and looked around with a smile. “Where to now?”

They conferred to ensure they were headed Rootward, but the signs of ruin warned them whenever they strayed. In one direction, the building led deeper into a cavern system. They’d had enough of those so they straddled the edge where the greatest number of rooms were.

Lisa made her summons’ glow and fiddled with the effect so they wouldn’t look like blurry spotlights to him. Less essence, more effect.

Micah switched lenses to get a better idea of what they looked like to the others, but it left the rest of the darkness a blurry mess, fields of influence writhing on the walls.

Anne’s was a silent hum that suffused the air. Denser ripples spread whenever she did something. There were moments where they didn’t spread, though, and it was then they looked like wrought iron wheels around her.

Lisa’s was still that titanic centipede coiled around itself, lashing out whenever she cast a spell.

And Ryan’s was somewhere in-between, closer to Anne. More fluid, almost like an actual snake, or rivers. He caught impressions of feathers, horns, and scales against the dark but didn’t know if he was imagining them.

He probably could have made the impressions clearer if he focused on them but … he remembered how he’d changed Mave’s aura from gentle to a storm. He wouldn’t want to twist Ryan’s aura into something it was not.

Surprisingly, the guy conjured a few motes of light himself and for a moment, Micah felt like he was watching him and his mom conjuring dancing lights above their kitchen table again.

They wobbled and smoked as they decayed, though, and he struggled to make them trail after them … or illuminate much in the first place.

“The way they make our eyes adapt probably does more harm than good,” Shala pointed out.

Ryan reluctantly agreed. Before he could dispel the effect, though, Lisa fixed it for him.

“Just this once?” she asked after the fact.

“No, it’s good to see the difference. Thank you.”

If anyone else had done that, Micah thought, he would’ve been grumpy. Not that he wanted him to be grumpy, but … Nevermind. It didn’t matter.

Navid knew a spell that threw a spotlight as well. He scoffed when Micah pointed it out.

“I know more than one light spell.”

For once, Navid and Lisa looked smug together as they led the way.

“I could have made a light potion if I’d known,” he mumbled.

“Totally,” Anne agreed. “I know a light spell, too, but we don’t need any more light and uhm … I’vesortoftaxedmyselfalready.”

Shala stared at them and swung his backpack around. “Do you want torches to feel included?”

Micah firmly shook his head and sped up to peek into the next room. He should have been paying more attention to his surroundings anyway.

The building was covered in thick layers of dust and grime, to the point where he worried about rock diseases—as far as he knew, they weren’t actual diseases. They might not have recognizable essences. But the others seemed unconcerned when he asked and pointed out other dangers instead.

Most of the rooms were filled with the rubble of broken walls and old stone furniture. They searched those for treasure.

And when they found nothing, Micah guessed at what they could have been. Or been good for, as Anne stressed, since this was all apparently artificial in some way.

“Okay, but you have to believe in some conspiracy theory, do you not?” Shala asked her in one of their conversations.

“Yeah!”

“Nope,” she hummed.

“Your cousin,” Navid said, “the rumor-monger. Can’t she intuit which ones have more merit with her Skills?”

She shrugged.

“I see you did not give an answer. Can I take that as a yes?”

She shrugged again, bigger this time.

“If we’re going with conspiracy theories,” Lisa said, “I’m a fan of the toilet theory.”

“Don’t call it the toilet theory.” Micah scowled.

“Sewage theory, then.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean—switch lenses for a moment?”

He did.

“See how many essences decay from us? Now, imagine you’re a much greater being and want perfect control over your surroundings.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He got that without her having to explain. Watching their mana decay into various mental essences around them, or the essences from their sweat, body heat, and scent, he even agreed. It could be useful to control all of that.

He just didn’t like the implications.

“Toilets do help keep the city clean,” he mumbled as if wrestling with the thought, but changed his mind and shook his head. “No. There are no imaginary giants in the sky using the Towers as toilets.”

He didn’t even mind how childish he sounded. Why would they build giant floors and shape their trash and … excrements … into monsters? What about the loot?

She smiled. “Sure.”

Before he could offer a rebuttal, Ryan commented, “Don’t tease him.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

She suppressed a chuckle. “Sure.”

“With the rumors of new humanoid monsters popping up,” Navid changed the topic, “we might get to fight an actual giant someday.”

Anne lit up. “Oh, that could be cool.”

“So now you can talk?”

“Cool?” Ryan asked. “You would be killing something that looks like an actual …” He trailed off, glancing at Lisa.

“Person,” Navid finished for him.

Lisa stared ahead.

“Yeah, but it would probably look different enough. And it would still be a construct, right?”

“There are already giant monsters in the Tower,” Shala said, “so if the idea of being a [Giant Slayer] is the allure …”

Micah wondered about that. He would have to do something with his [Fighter] Class. If Anne thought [Giant Slayers] were cool …?

“Urodrel,” Lisa pointed out, “the Titanic Salamander. I wonder if it is still around.“

“Where else would it have gone?”

“Probably hiding in someone’s backyard. Turn a rock and— ahh!” Navid’s light shook as he chuckled. It swept over something dark in the corner with too many eyes. Not-a-fox. It scuttled away.

“I remember Garen thinking he would have to slay it,” Anne said and turned to look at them despite the dangers.

“Principal Denner wants a round two as well from what I hear. She was the one who discovered it in the first place and had to run.”

“Really—”

“Navid,” Anne chided him, “you’re in no position to gossip about Ms. Denner. If she finds out …”

He sighed. “Sad but true.”

For some reason, Ms. Denner didn’t like Navid, Micah got the sense. Not that she treated him differently for it when it mattered.

They turned a corner. More bodies fled the light. Lisa could have made her scouts attack but from what Micah understood, they were lightweights, not suited to combat. If they ran too far, they could be picked off.

That was fine. The light alone warded some monsters off and they only needed them to avoid ambushes.

There were fewer of the usual suspects, the creepy-crawlies he had come to expect in every nook and cranny of the Tower, or even of the monsters they’d seen so far. Instead, they found large lizards that blended into the dark, snapping turtles that looked like rocks, tall and slinking snails with glowing veins, and dark foxes with too many eyes that watched from afar.

Sam managed to surprise and kill one, but the rest learned their lesson. As soon as it moved, they scurried up the walls or through holes between rooms. They waited for the right moment to strike.

The real threats were the hazards that would invite such a strike, the traps where monsters could ambush them despite their scouts and numbers, the natural hazards, fungi, and glowing sacs of liquid even Micah was afraid of approaching.

He helped Lisa make a screen of wind to reach through when they found one, like working with a hood in the workshop, and sealed them in glass jars, frowning.

More poison, it looked like. He didn’t actually like poison, despite how useful it could be.

Guessing by the way it would have exploded if disturbed, he could maybe use it for something more airborne. Or maybe as a catalyst, depending on how it interacted with other substances. Chemically and alchemically. He might even be able to strip it down to its base pattern to use as a blueprint, wasteful though that may be …

… Or he could sell it.

Decisions.

Sooner or later, they came across a spot that was both an obvious grounds for an ambush and obviously trapped: a courtyard with a dusty desk in one corner. On it, a green crystalline object sat illuminated by a blinding crack of light that barely scraped by one roof top.

It wasn’t even obvious in its mundanity. A literal spotlight shone down on it: ‘Treasure here. At a price.’

The courtyard was small, ringed by the high walls of the building, a walkway, and at least one balcony he could see from their entrance point.

“The proper thing to do,” Ryan said, “would be to circle around and clear the area or upper floors, if we can find an access point, before we step into the light.”

“The proper thing to do,” Anne echoed him.

They didn’t do that.

Lisa began to pull and twist Sam apart like dough. The rest of them rigged some rope and cloth to make an improvised harness for the little beastie. As soon as they fitted it and adjusted their positions, they threw it out and watched it run, now in a more lithe form. Its head darted left, right, and up, and every other time its feet slapped down, dust plumed in its wake.

Micah kept his slingshot ready, his spells on the tip of his tongue now that he couldn’t use his breath attacks anymore. He expected the others did the same.

Sam skittered up a stone fence and onto the table. The moment its teeth bit down on the green object, the three nobles next to him gave an almighty tug and it shot back.

It bounced off the stone fence, Lisa winced, and Micah’s arm jerked up as something skittered out of a crumbling corner where one of the pillars met a walkway.

Spiders. Two, four, eight, dozens; as big as his hand by the looks of it. The first one jumped and landed in the courtyard with a spring in its step.

The green crystal fell out of Sam’s mouth as it tried to clamber up the fence, onto the near side, closest to them.

“Shit!” Micah cursed and loosed his shot, running. The spiders were brown, jagged, mean, but they had come here for a reason.

He snatched the object up, gave Sam a tug to help it over the fence, and jerked back when the first body launched itself at the bars right in front of him.

His heart raced.

It couldn’t fit. Not immediately, at least. But he could have counted its teeth, individual hairs, and its eyes as it tried to climb through.

Someone yelled his name. The others reeled Sam in. Micah scrambled around and booked it.

Ryan shoved him down the moment he stepped through the door and swept an arm out over his head, throwing a blanket of fire at the enemies.

Lisa tucked Sam under her arm and ran her staff around, conjuring a ring of flames along the entrance behind them.

“Run!” was the verdict, because as fast Sam had been, the spiders had crossed the courtyard quicker, and the first jumped through a gap in the ward like a burning hoop.

All of a sudden, the earthy air was hot and smoking, and they were batting spiders out of the air while they screamed tactics at each other. None of them involved him.

Micah focused on the object in his hand, turning it over and glancing at it as he ran. It was about half again as big as his hand and hefty, made of smooth, solid crystal like a jade resin.

It was triangular and had a hole near the back where the crystal ran down like a handhold … His hand fit despite the glove. The heft of the object was familiar.

It looked, well— It looked like a clothing iron without a container to put a heating substance in. It even had a flat bottom on one side to place it on.

Please tell me we aren’t running away from murder spiders for pressed clothes.

What did it do?

As he slid around a corner, he ran a cloud of mana over it to look for an opening and found it easily enough at the top of the handle. He fed it, and the item practically sucked the rest of his mana on its own. The entire corridor in front of him lit up in a beam of light.

Navid turned and cried out. “Argh! Turn it off!”

“Stanya!”

Whoops.

He didn’t know how to turn it off, so he spun and suddenly, he could see every dark body chasing them.

That felt like a mistake, too. They were so much more disgusting in the light, but it helped as one spider jumped him.

He scrambled back and swiped his shield hand out, casting, “[Freeze]!” A cold lump of chitin bounced off his arm and fell, frosted legs cracking as they twitched on the ground.

Micah shuddered in disgust, shaking his arm as the feeling ran through his shoulder down his spine. He disliked normal spiders enough.

“Ryan, cover me,” Lisa said and stepped forward. Her throat and mouth bulged like she was about to throw up, she leaned forward, and then—

Fire. A gout consumed the entire tunnel and every spider that had almost caught up, because they were faster than them. One or two burning bodies still managed to make it out, but Ryan simply struck them out of the air at her side.

Micah didn’t know how. The fire was both blinding and deafening in the tight space, and they were so fast—

He turned away and helped the others.

The not-foxes ambushed them, but they also fell back when they realized they only needed four people to hold them off.

One snarled at him with seven eyes and swished its poofed-up tail back. Spidery legs unfurled from within the base of its tail and dragged it up the wall without it looking away.

The fight ended when Shala stabbed another body he’d frozen up and shuddered. “It feels wrong even to touch them with a sword.”

“I know. Like an extension of yourself.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

They caught their breaths and looked around. The monsters were all dead. Micah chuckled.

“What the fuck were those?” Ryan asked. Not necessarily with a smile in his voice, but not with anger either.

“Baby pincer spiders,” Anne told him. “We must have disturbed a nest. I wonder what triggered them. We were pretty inconspicuous, all things considered, and they’re territorial.”

“Fuck,” he heaved. His face looked like the sudden heat had gotten to him. “Are they poisonous?”

“No, but they can bite through leather so if you felt something—”

“No, my shield though.” He held it up. Branches were missing, bitten clean off. They made small gaps in the wood he could peer through, past two other branches.

“The rest of you, too,” Anne said to them. “If you felt something, you might be losing blood.”

Micah patted himself down and shook his head. When the others gave their all okays as well, he breathed and relief and smiled some more. Freaking spiders.

“Less chatting, more warnings for a little while,” Ryan said. “It would have been nice to know about those. If they can bite through leather, they can tear through a neck. Unlike Teacup Salamanders, they can jump you in one go.”

Not all of them had coifs.

“Yeah, but they’re rare. That’s why I didn’t think of them,” Anne said, looking up at him as they walked back toward the murder nest they had just run from. “The mature ones are from the sixteenth floor. They’ve got bites that can take off limbs and break bones. The worst thing is, they can sprint faster than a horse across short distances so you can’t even turn your back on them. You have to stand your ground …”

The two of them threw long shadows in the light and didn’t give the item a second thought.

Sam picked up surviving crystals. Lisa helped it.

Even Navid and Shala took a deep breath and began to leave.

Micah awkwardly shook the spotlight. “ … Loot?”

“Oh, right! Let me see that?” Navid asked and spun to walk backward. He compared it against his spell in the either direction. “Hm. More expensive, but brighter, and it might be more cost-effective. Look at that light. Man, I’ve missed this. Finally, we can find worthwhile loot again.”

He seemed genuinely excited and Micah was too, but … he didn’t want to share that excitement with them.

“Search and rescue could probably use something like that,” Shala mused, “or any other kind of night workers. Guards, rangers, travelers, sailors.”

“Mhm. We could definitely sell it well at the loot tent. Or maybe a shop if someone can recommend one, but it would have to be worth our while. Maybe if we find some more stuff to make the trip worth it … or we could keep it?”

“Team decision.”

“Right.”

Micah left them and hurried to catch up.

They found a bundle of quality rope and a water bottle on the other side of the table when they got back to the courtyard, hidden out of sight from where they had been before. It looked almost as if someone had forgotten them and the jade iron there. If so, it must have been weeks ago. When Micah picked up the bottle to inspect, it left a circle in the thick layer of dust.

“Hey, that item we found is a great lamp apparently,” Micah said, sidling up to Ryan. “Navid said so, at least.”

“I saw. ‘Kind of makes me wonder why I’m bothering to learn light spells when items like that are out there.”

Right. No wonder why he wouldn’t be interested.

They also found a way up from the courtyard and further in, an old, partially collapsed stairwell.

A few skirmishes with smaller monsters and one giant spider made out of fox heads later, they found an exit at the end of a hallway that led back to the cliffs and wilds.

A group of hermits had clung to the building above them and tried to ambush them when they stepped out. Micah got tackled to the ground and knew he would be bruised all over tomorrow, but at least it was a mostly harmless lesson to look up when he stepped out of somewhere.

They had to have been on the eighth floor already. He knew the terrain lent itself to a vertical climb and they weren’t being thorough, but it was still insane how quickly they moved outside of an exam while still being somewhat casual about it.

He was glad but … he felt anxious. As he walked with the others in the front, he kept on finding himself glancing back and slowing down, or scratching his leg.

They were right below where Ryan and he had ended up in autumn, where they’d had to scurry around like rats and pick their battles to survive.

The vertical nature soon flattened, though, as the cylinders of nature and negative space—the cliffs and wells—stretched into the distance like rolling hills against the larger mountains of the Root.

They found a high hill to use as a vantage point and searched for good destinations to visit.

One cliffside was overgrown with small trees like baskets they could probably climb up or jump down.

Another had many little holes in it—too small to be hallways, but maybe something monster-made? If so, that pointed toward an infestation. He vetoed that place in his mind.

“I can see stairs and a low stone fence over there,” Lisa said. “Overgrown and tucked away. Awfully unassuming.”

“I see fruit trees,” Shala said and squinted. “I think. They might be monsters clinging to a tree.”

“Binoculars could be useful right now,” Ryan said and turned to Navid, “you wouldn’t happen to have a pair …?”

He gave him a look, like a friendly ‘fuck you’, and said, “No.”

“Stranya, you’re an [Alchemist]. Do you know a lens spell?”

“Uhm, no. Lisa?”

“Nope.”

“Then this is all we’re going to get out of this place,” Ryan said.

“It’s still a good vantage point,” Anne said. “We can vote and— Wow! Look!”

They turned eastward where just past the giant Root in the distance, a massive form crawled out of a well.

Its rough, jagged scales were the color of rust. It moved in a series of stiff steps, or maybe it was just slow. Far slower than Maria had been. It looked like it might have rivaled her in size but definitely not in length. It crawled loosely in their direction and turned doing … something to a cliff.

Digging?

It was so far away. Micah’s heart thumped once, loud enough to feel it in his neck. He croaked, “Is that Morgana?”

“Huh?” Anne glanced at him. “No. No, it’s one of her minions?”

He blinked. “That?!”

“Yeah. What did you expect?”

“Like … uhm … Coldlight Bats?” he asked.

“Morgana is a supporter,” Shala explained, “she relies more on her minions than her siblings do. She has many different ones. Large ones like it, or tiny ones which clean single cogs in traps, or that put down marbles to lure climbers places.”

Anne nodded eagerly.

“I heard a rumor she has rubble demons,” Navid said. “If you see one, capture it by all means. They’re a protected species in some countries and might sell for a fortune.”

“I wouldn’t have called the Coldlight Bats Maria’s ‘minions’,” Ryan said, “they were more like scavengers, following her around. They scattered the moment she cried out, do you remember?”

“Maybe,” Micah said. He didn’t really want to.

“The important thing is,” Anne brought their attention back again, “it’s right there. If we hurry and catch up, we can kill it.”

“Huh?”

“Anne—” Navid started.

“No,” Shala told her.

“No?”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Lisa winced. “As much as it hurts to say, I kind of agree with them.”

“No! C’mon, I’ve read lots of reports on them. Her Automata. Of skirmishes and wins. Trust me, we can beat it!”

“With him,” Navid stressed, not wanting to be included with Shala. “Since when do you say no to a challenge, Chandler? Are you afraid?”

“No,” she scoffed. “Not for myself. But I can see one of you breaking a limb or getting hurt, like Micah was, and I don’t want us to be benched for another few weeks while you recover. Not on the first day of summer break. What happened to a casual day trip to get us back into things?”

“Exactly,” Shala agreed with her, “and both of your families would kill me if they found out, if they got to me before my own did. Though, knowing them, they’d find some way to resurrect me just so they could do it twice.”

“Don’t say that. You’re overreacting.”

Micah stared at the giant form in the distance and felt an itch in his leg, in his fingers, and then his skull when Lisa mentioned his injury. She didn’t have to call him out like that.

He clenched his jaw. He wasn’t afraid.

When he spoke, though, he scoffed, “If I can kill a Coldlight Bat on my own, the six of us can kill that thing. No problem.”

Shala scowled at him.

Lisa gave him a look. “Micah.”

“What? It’s true. Anne says so, too.”

“I do!”

She seemed excited by his support, and he knew he’d said the right thing.

“Vote,” Navid told them.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“No,” Shala insisted.

“No,” Lisa said. “Ryan?”

“I say yes.”

“What?” Micah snapped up to stare at him, eyes wide, excitement running through his chest.

“Anne wouldn’t lie,” Ryan said. “I believe her when she says she thinks we can slay it. So I say we kill it because we can.”

“Well, isn’t that a surprise?” Navid said and smiled. “I say yes then, too. Let’s get it. Sion?”

He hesitated. “We need a plan. A damn good one. And we only fight it if we can fight it alone, not if any other Automata are in the area or, doors closed, Morgana herself shows up.”

“You’ll get one,” Navid told him and turned to Anne, “I trust?”

“Yes.”

Ryan led the way to find a path down then, eastward. Lisa sighed but lashed her influence out, a flicker in his vision, and her summons scouted ahead. “There should be a path leading down the mountain around the corner.”

As Micah followed them with a bounce in his step, Anne joined him and asked, “You can kill a Coldlight Bat on your own?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

She stared.

“I mean, I did. Once. Almost alone. Ryan helped a little?” He hesitated, unsure how much he had to explain to make sure she wouldn’t think it was a lie. But it wasn’t. He’d killed one.

“Oh,” she said.

“Anne,” Shala called back. “Your plan?”

“Right!” She left him.

As a group, they descended along a steep mountain path to a wide crevice below. It looked as if it had been cut by water, though the area didn’t seem wet.

The others discussed and Micah added what he could, but he was busy checking his supplies and the ingredients they’d already collected to see if there was anything more he could contribute.

It was hard. He didn’t have a workshop or the time to make anything on the fly. He doubted his glue shots would do anything against a monster of its size, unless he somehow targeted its inner workings—if they broke its scales to force an opening.

Although, enough spider strings could inconvenience even the largest of prey, so if he spread the glue out …

Anne explained that automata were more like machines than elementals. Half magic construct, half actual construct, powered by Morgana’s magic. Already, [Enchanters] and [Mages] were hunting these new models down to study them. There was a small chance they could glean something from her spellscripts, though they were in a different ‘language’, so to speak. In magic, meaning was assigned, not inherit.

Micah thought of water mills and stoves. Would glue be enough to break something inside them, or should he go for layers of web like a spider? Maybe if he made a bomb …

He couldn’t make a bomb. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t have the resources on hand.

Damn.

They hurried through the damp and rocky area around them, swiftly killing any enemy that got in their way, avoiding the larger ones, and Micah waited for a break in the planning to ask Lisa about her [Fire Charge].

They could work together, as they had with their wind constructs? What would a glue shot do if it exploded?

She found a way up, a cavern entrance, when a shadow fell over them.

The others immediately tried to shove them inside and drew their weapons, looking up in alarm—

But it was a person, a man, dark against the sunlight.

He fell a few meters, held an arm out, and skid to a halt along the cliffside with one hand and boot only. Rocks tumbled down the wall. His voice carried like he was talking to someone, but Micah couldn’t see anyone else. Who?

Ryan opened his mouth to yell and the person looked down at them. They both froze.

“‘Six noncombatants spotted’,” Ryan repeated next to him. “‘I repeat. Six noncombatants due west-southwest, three hundred and seventy-four meters from the target.’”

“Noncombatants?” Micah asked.

“It means ‘weaklings’ in Guildspeak,” Navid sneered.

“Well, that solves that problem,” Shala said and sighed in relief.

“Aw, but—” Anne said and stopped, apparently lost for words.

“You want us to offer our help?” Lisa asked.

“Maybe?”

By then, Micah realized what was happening. “Noo.” He sagged. “Not again.” They were too late.

More rocks fell as the man skid and let himself drop in front of them. He was scruffy, in thick clothes with hints of chainmail, and covered in pockets and equipment, including a blue glass bow and quiver.

Sinkholes popped up around it like black spots in his eyes—lightning essence. It was rare Micah saw a magic item passively show essences.

He spoke first, “You can’t be here. Turn back and vacate the area.”

“On whose authori—?” Navid started.

Anne shoved herself in front of him. “Apologies, sir. We were actually hoping to hunt that automaton ourselves. Is there any chance we could help?”

He glanced at him and cracked a smile. “Yeah, no. I’m saving your lives then. No, we do not need the help of school children. Leave.”

Micah frowned. Rude.

“We’re not school children,” Navid said. “You’re speaking to Navid Madin. Act like it. Identify yourself properly and hear us out.”

Micah blinked. Also rude.

The man brushed him off without a reaction. “I don’t care who you claim your parents are—”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

Micah edged closer to Navid. Maybe a well-placed elbow in his ribs would get him to shut up?

“No, I am telling you, as a climber who has a prior claim to this area—”

“She’s Annebeth Heswaren, if you do not believe me. Anne, do your thing?”

She gave him an awkward look.

The man sighed. “Claiming you’re a Heswaren means nothing. If you’re lying about it, you can lie about anything, and anyway—”

He frowned, stopped, and held his hand up. In it lay a small blunt knife like a letter opener. “Yes, west-southwest. I confirm. Three hundred and— No. Do not lead it in my direction. I repeat—”

“‘We’re not’,” Ryan mumbled. “‘Target broke containment line and is behaving erratically. Evacuate the noncombatants immediately’.” When they looked at him, he casually tapped his ear underneath his yellow coif. “There’s a tiny voice in his ear. I think it’s a Skill?”

“If it’s coming our way then—” Anne said.

“No. You need to leave now. Go back from wherever you came from—”

“That way,” Lisa pointed.

By the look on his face, ‘that way’ was not a good direction to run. “The nearest portal is …” the man mumbled to himself. “No. Go inside. Travel at least one bend and hunker down for a few hours. Watch out for traps. It shouldn’t come after you if— It shouldn’t …”

He trailed off, giving Navid a wide-eyed look. “God dammit. You’re actually nobles, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because we’re hunting a collector,” he said like a curse. “It can smell magic items.”

Micah stared at Ryan, who stood there in his patchy armor he had strapped over an oversized, loose, and see-through yellow coat. “The raincoat.”

Morgana’s kin, Maria’s raincoat.

“Oh crap.”