BOOM.

A blur of fire and smoke soared into the sky, exploding into a shower of arcing lights that trailed back down toward the city.

Jasper watched as the firework fizzled out, drawing Dapplegrim to a stop. “What’s that about?”

“Some sort of celebration, maybe?” Ihra offered.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Just one firework, every few minutes? Not much of a celebration.” He glanced around at the street. The crowds had been slowly thinning out as they made their way back toward the brothel. Once the sun had set, most of the vendors had closed up shop, save for the taverns whose cheery lights dappled the dark, cobbled streets. But there still had been a steady stream of travelers alongside of them, at least until the first firework had exploded above the rooftops.

It had actually been rather exciting at first. While the firework didn’t feature any of the fancy, multi-triggered designs that had become so common back on earth, it was still something normal. If anything, it had awoken in him a brief wave of homesickness. But after the third firework had gone off, each one broken up by five-minute intervals, his spider-sense had begun tingling.

Something was wrong; the emptiness of the streets was simply not normal.

Ihra grimaced. “You’re right, I suppose. It is suspicious, but what are we going to do about it?”

He glanced behind them. A good distance down the street, a row of lights was slowly bobbing in their direction. Lanterns? Guards maybe?

“Maybe we should get off the main streets,” he suggested. “And find Tsia. Somehow, I have a sneaking suspicion this might be connected to her.” The angry look that had festered in the girl’s eyes as she left to pursue the brothel owner flashed through his mind again. Did she kill Dūrilī?

Adopting his own suggestion, Jasper nudged Dapplegrim toward one of the cramped alleyways. The large horse was barely able to squeeze through the narrow streets, but it pressed on gamely. And once they turned the corner onto one of the narrower avenues, thoroughly hiding them from the source of the approaching lights, he breathed a sigh of relief.

They rode as fast as they could along the back corridors of the buildings. The streets there were plunged into nearly pitch darkness, the massive stone buildings so tall that the light of the moon and stars couldn't reach the bottoms. Unable to see clearly in the dark, Jasper was forced to rely on Ihra and their mounts to lead the way.

Eventually they reached another alley, one that led back toward the main road. A tavern on the corner flooded the narrow street with a welcome, cheery glow, but it also revealed a problem. Ihra reined her stag in, before she peered cautiously around the corner, but she yanked her head back almost immediately. “There’s a bunch of guards barricading the end of the street,” she hissed.

“How many?”

She craned her head cautiously around the corner, trying to get another look. “At least ten, but there could be more on the main road.” At that moment, another firework exploded overhead, this time close enough to them that the narrow alley was briefly illuminated.

And Jasper suddenly realized they were not alone.

He only saw it for a split-second, the brief moment of time that the firework’s light filled the alley. A massive creature was slunk low against the ground. It looked like no creature he was familiar with, sporting an almost cone-shaped head with a wicked set of fangs, and a long, sinewy body that was supported on far too many legs. Its dark grey skin blended into the stonework of the monotone buildings so seamlessly that it wasn’t for the sudden eyeshine caused by the light of the fireworks, Jasper wasn’t sure if he would have spotted the creature even in broad daylight.

He blinked as the firework fizzled out, plunging them back into darkness. That was just a trick of the eyes, right? Was it following us? Did we ride right past it? Keeping his voice low, he nudged his horse closer to his friend, knowing she had much better vision in the dark than him. “Uh, Ihra? Do you see anything strange behind us?” he muttered as softly as he could.

“What?” She tore her eyes away from the waiting guards, glancing over her shoulder. She shook her head. “I don’t see-“ She stopped breathing, her body stilling immediately. After a long heartbeat, she finally spoke. “What the hell is that thing?”

Jasper cursed under his breath at her confirmation. “Damn it. So I wasn’t just seeing things. Is it creeping closer?”

“No.”

Tearing his eyes away from the darkness, he peeked his head around the corner. The guards were still waiting at the intersection with the main road. Cocking his ear, he could just make out one of them speaking.

“What’s taking the puḫmaḫḫu so long?”

“Who cares? It will get ‘em sooner or later, or else it'll chase 'em right to us.”

He pulled his head back as Ihra frantically began tugging on his arm. “Jasper, it moved.”

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He turned back to the dark, utterly unable to distinguish the creature in the alley. The puḫmaḫḫu?

“Where?”

“It took a step forward,” she hissed.

His eyes flicked back to the intersection before them. One alley led back toward the light of the open streets. A group of guards awaited them, and if he’d understood their conversation correctly, the creature might well be working with them. The other led deeper into the darkness, toward the tavern and, hopefully, Tsia. But for all I know, there could be another one of those things waiting on the other side.

“Jasper, it’s inching closer.”

He reached his decision. Better to face the creature in the darkness beyond, than face both the guards and the creature in the streets. Spurring Dapplegrim into action, he snatched Kheresh’s reins up as he bolted past Ihra. “Come on, let’s go.”

Abandoning any attempts at hiding their presence, they thundered past the intersection, plunging into the darkness of the opposite alley. Guards shouted as they passed, but his ears were trained on the rumbling roar that echoed behind them.

Completely unable to see in the dark alley, he put his trust in Dapplegrim, abandoning all attempts to steer her. “Find Tsia,” he whispered, and turned his attention back toward the pandemonium erupting behind them.

With their armor gleaming in the reflected light of the tavern, three guards sprinted past the intersection, turning down the alley. A moment later they went flying through the air as the puḫmaḫḫu bulldozed through them. The ground trembled beneath the thunder of its feet, and Jasper fired off a spell. Sacred Star.

Ten small orbs of fire streamed through the alley like a swarm of murderous fireflies, and a ripple of explosions lit up the creature’s back, briefly exposing it to the light once again. The puḫmaḫḫu didn't even react.

Can't say I’m surprised. If the creature's skin is any indication, it probably has some stone affinity.

His guess was affirmed as Ihra screamed a shout of warning in his ear. “Jump!”

He nearly lurched out of his saddle as Dapplegrim responded instantly, soaring into the air, with Kheresh just behind him. The giant horse easily cleared the earthen barricade the puḫmaḫḫu had raised, and when her hooves clanged down on the cobblestones, she cast one of her own on the alley behind him. The rumble of falling rocks echoed loudly a moment later as the puḫmaḫḫu plowed through the barricade undeterred.

The creature roared again, and a blast of hot, putrid washed over him.

“Damn it,” Ihra yelped, clutching her shoulder. “Something just hit me.” The creature roared again, and Jasper joined her cries of pain as a baseball-sized rock smashed into his lower back with the speed of a fastball.

Dapplegrim surged forward again, leaping over another low wall the creature had erected, and slammed down hard on the other side, rocking Jasper in the saddle. Ignoring the aching in his back, he focused on casting another spell. Fiery Shackles. It was as worthless as he feared. The puḫmaḫḫu tore through the fetters as if they were made of paper.

Do I try fiery charge? The image of Abdīlū thrashing on the floor, skin sloughing off him, revealing the muscle and bone beneath flashed through his mind again. He reacted viscerally, acid eating at his throat, but he forced the images away and started forming the spell. Let’s see it shake off this fire.

He never got the chance to fire the spell. A voice in the darkness ahead of them suddenly caught his attention. “Jasper, turn to the left. Now!” Dimly recognizing Tsia’s voice, Jasper jerked hard on the reins.

Running neck and neck, Dapplegrim and Kheresh swept to the left, plunging into a slightly larger street that shot in the opposite direction from the main thoroughfare. Long shadows were suddenly cast in front of him as light bloomed behind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Tsia illumined in the light. Her face was set in a scowl of concentration as she cast what he could only describe as a web of lightning across the narrow alley.

The spell was tested almost immediately when the puḫmaḫḫu charged face-first into it, but it held. The creature's low rumbling roars were replaced by an almost high-pitched scream as the beast stumbled back, with waves of lightning arcing down its back.

Tsia didn’t wait to see how long her spell held. Swinging herself back up on her horse, she and the others charged after Ihra and Jasper. Another scream filled the city as the creature bashed its head into the net once again, and Jasper had the sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to last long. At least it bought us some time, though.

Her horse built for speed above all else, Tsia quickly caught up to Jasper, and he glanced over at her, yelling in order to be heard over the clatter of Dapplegrim’s metal hooves. “Any chance this all has something to do with you?”

Even in the dimly lit alley, he could see the dark blush that spread across her face.

“Does that really matter right now?”

“Kind of,” he yelled back.

She ignored him. “Just keep riding. This street deadends into the city wall.”

He glanced back at her. "And that's a good thing?”

“Just follow,” she screamed back. “I have a plan.”

Spurring her horse faster, she pushed into the lead. The light behind them was suddenly extinguished as the puḫmaḫḫu dismantled the electric net.

Hope she knows what she's doing. But he fell in line behind her, urging Dapplegrim forward.

Tsia’s spell may not have held, but it had bought them space. When they broke out into another one of the main streets a minute later, the thunder of the puḫmaḫḫu’s footsteps had not yet caught up with them. A handful of guards were waiting for them though, springing forward with angry shots and a quick volley of crossbow bolts.

With a swish of her hands, Tsia knocked them off course with a gust of wind as her horse smashed through the little group. Dropping their crossbows in favor of maces, they closed in around her, and she might have been in trouble, but Jasper had already prepared a spell.

With two quick casts of fiery shackles, the guards were frozen in place, unable to move as the group of five bound through them. He winced, though, as Tsia twisted around in her saddle, firing off a wide, crescent-shaped blade of wind that permanently dispossessed them of their heads. Damn, she’s not playing around.

Spinning back into place, Tsia guided her horse straight toward the wall, where a narrow flight of stairs led up to the ramparts. The others followed close behind, their mounts slowing as they struggled up the stairs. Glancing back, he could see the puḫmaḫḫu emerging from the alley, illuminated fully for the first time. It was far larger than he had realized, and despite working with the guards, it was clearly not entirely under their control - the beast paused long enough to snap up a few of the fallen guards, their suits of armor crumbling ineffectively beneath its fangs. He jerked away from the horrifying sight, diverting his attention back to Tsia.

“So, is there like a plan here?” He screamed into the wind. “I can fly two of us out of here at a time, but I can’t recast the spell until the timer’s up.”

Tsia's curls flew wildly to and fro as she shook her head. “That Dūrilī fellow said there’s a hidden exit from the city.”