Anad’s head snapped up as every hair on his body rose in alarm, like the air itself was electrified. A quick glance up and down the path showed he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed it, Mediators all along the line looking around nervously.

“What is it Mediator?” Tory asked, obviously catching on that something was up.

“I don’t know,” Anad said, looking ahead at where the source of the feeling originated. “Some kind of massive spike in chaos energy. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“Sorcerers?” Tory asked, his left hand closing around the hilt of the sabre at his waist. He lifted the weapon a fraction out of the sheath as if checking to make sure it wouldn’t stick.

“What else could it be?” Anad asked, shaking his head, but his eyes scrolled up towards the sky, even though he couldn’t see through the canopy of leaves. The sensation was so strong, he could almost picture a pillar of pink energy stretching towards the clouds. It felt like the ground should be shaking in time with rumbling thunder, but there wasn’t even a breeze along the forest path.

“All Mediators to the front!” a voice called as a Regular jogged down the lines. “All Mediators to the front!”

“Looks like something is going on,” Tory said as they both watched the Regular continue down the line, repeating his words in a low shout. “You should get going.”

“Yeah,” Anad said, not really looking forward to having to face Gevar or Kalesin again. He wasn’t the only one who’d disagreed with burning the bridge over the Okenlock, but he was the only one who’d said anything publicly about it. “I’ll be back for you when I know more.”

“We’ll be ready,” Tory said, lifting his sabre up and dropping it back into the sheath again. Nervous habit?

Well, Anad couldn’t blame him for feeling that way, but he gave a simple salute to his unit and then jogged to the head of the line. Most of the other Mediators had been ahead of him in the line of troops and had already gathered by the time he got there. It was only another minute or two before the rest arrived. Soon enough, close to forty Mediators crowded at the front of the line of troops, with an apparent end to the path a short distance ahead.

Gevar stood in front of the group and looked across the tuxedo-clad gathering, her eyes only scowling slightly when she met Anad’s gaze. “As you likely each noticed, we’re close. Regulars will stay back while we scout things out. Stay to the forest and make sure you aren’t seen until we know what we’re getting into,” she said, then turned and stalked into the woods on one side of the path.

The other Mediators glanced at each other, but Kalesin stepped forward from where he’d been standing near Gevar. “You heard Mediator Warren. Let’s go.”

Without further direction, the Mediators split and moved into the surrounding trees without so much as a whisper, the magic of their tuxedos making them completely silent.

Anad glanced back at the Regulars – it was good Gevar wasn’t risking them for once – then ducked into the woods on his right. The brush was thick but not impassable, and other black and white forms spread out then pushed towards the source of the wild chaos energy. Anad did the same, quickly picking his way between the trees, hand on the hilt of his sword, until he could see the treeline. Getting closer to the edge, he dropped into a crouch and slowed his approach, noting the trees seemed to end quite abruptly.

“That’s… what is that?” one of the Mediators ahead of Anad whispered.

“It’s bad, is what it is,” another responded, and Anad joined the pair on his left without them even glancing in his direction.

Anad couldn’t blame them, as he looked across the gently rolling fields full of tall grass to the crest of one of the largest hills. Twin tornados of pure chaos energy twisted to the sky, gathering up the swarming butterflies in silent fury.

How can that not make any sound at all?

“Hey. Hey, is there somebody standing between those things?” the first Mediator asked.

Anad squinted at the words, and yes, maybe there was somebody there, but it was almost impossible to tell from the distance. Even if there was, what were they up to? What did they need that much power for?

Anad glanced to the left and found a small town nearby. There seemed to be movement there, but nothing frantic enough to indicate the sorcerers were attacking.

What about the other direction?

Anad’s eyes went to the right, then widened when he saw the veritable army of monsters on the other side. There had to be hundreds of the things.

“Those are the same beasts that attacked us on the road, aren’t they?” the second Mediator said.

“Yeah, what are they doing here? Working with the sorcerers?” the other replied.

Anad was already shaking his head.

No, that power isn’t to work together. The sorcerers are planning something to fight against those things. But there are way too many. Is that because they stole the bodies of the Regulars they killed when they ambushed us?

That would have to mean there was one of those portals close. It could explain why there are sorcerers here too. Something doesn’t add up though. We chased the monsters across the river, and now they’re trying to get back across? If they had the portal, wouldn’t it be the sorcerers trying to cross?

Unless the portal is in the town, and the monsters are trying to take it. Which would mean they took the bodies… but haven’t had a chance to change them yet.

We can’t let them take that town.

Before Anad could voice his concerns though, he caught the grumbling of another Mediator to his right.

“No. No it can’t be. We need to get out of here,” the man’s voice said, and Anad recognized him.

“Mediator Hulo?” Anad said, shuffling over to crouch beside the man. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to pull the men back,” Mediator Hulo said, face pale like all the blood had been drained from it.

“I know it looks bad, but…” Anad started until Mediator Hulo spun in his direction with a wild look in his good eye.

“You don’t understand. It’s the same as that day,” Mediator Hulo said.

That day? Could he mean…?

“Fork Valley?” Anad asked, thinking back to their previous conversations on the topic. Mediator Hulo had been pretty tight-lipped about what had transpired there. “What does this have to do with Fork Valley? Is that…” Anad said, pointing at the twin tornados of chaos, “…because of a Reaper?”

Mediator Hulo squeezed his eyes shut like he was trying to block it all out or wake up from a bad dream, but finally opened them and looked at Anad, then gently shook his head.

“You don’t know the whole story, almost nobody does. The tale you hear in the taverns is wrong,” Mediator Hulo said.

“There wasn’t a Reaper?” Anad asked, trying to piece together the man’s meaning.

“There was a Reaper,” Mediator Hulo said. “But, that wasn’t why we were there in the first place. Mediators don’t hunt Reapers.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Don’t hunt Reapers? Well, that’s true, but the way he said it…

“You were after a sorcerer,” Anad said, putting it together.

“Yes,” Mediator Hulo said. “A boy, maybe a teenager.”

“But there were Black Eyes with you, and more than twenty Mediators. Or is that part of the story wrong too?” Anad asked.

“Twenty-five of us. Twenty of them full-blown Black Eyes ready to burn themselves out completely for the hunt,” Mediator said, his gaze turning back to the whirling chaos.

“What happened?” Anad asked, voice barely a whisper.

“The sorcerer we were after had already killed eight Mediators, so we were sent out to bring down the hammer, so to speak. To make an example of this sorcerer and remind the others what would happen if they dared to kill one of our own. When we got to Fork Valley, though, we found…” he trailed off and pointed at the spiraling chaos on the hill ahead of them. “Just like this. We attacked, but then the Reaper showed up.

“I don’t know if it was coincidence, but… but I was the only one who survived,” he said, running a finger down the scar of the wound that had taken his left eye.

Anad turned his attention back to the hill, growing black light spilling from the base of the pink tornados. Whatever was happening up there couldn’t be good. But, if those monsters took the town, and the portal he suspected was hidden there, that would be worse.

“We have to stop those monsters,” Anad said, making the decision.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Kalesin’s voice said from behind, and Anad turned to find him approaching. “New orders from Mediator Warren. We’re to sit and wait until the two sides thin themselves out. Once they’re both weakened, we’ll make our move.

“We can’t wait,” Mediator Hulo said. “We need to…”

“Quiet, coward,” Kalesin cut him off, violet light with a line of black running through it tinting his eyes. “You two,” Kalesin said when it was clear Medaitor Hulo wasn’t going to speak up again, and pointed at the pair of Mediators next to Anad. “Go and get the Regulars ready. At Mediator Warren’s command, you’ll take the town. It’s bound to be full of sorcerers. Don’t give them a chance to counter-attack. No survivors.”

“We don’t know they’re sorcerers,” Anad objected, but considering the display on the hill, the words sounded weak even to his ears.

“And we don’t know they aren’t,” Kalesin shot back. “This is the sounder method. Weren’t you the one complaining about keeping the Regulars safe? There won’t be any argument on this. Understand?”

Anad glared at the man, but kept his mouth shut.

“What about the other Mediators?” one of the pair asked Kalesin.

“We’ll clean up whatever’s left between the sorcerers and those monsters,” Kalesin said, then looked at Anad and Mediator Hulo. “Just try not to mess anything else up.”

*

Shara jogged along the air, if it could even be called that, her feet sinking in a swirl of butterflies with every step like she was running through mud. She barely had enough chaos energy to keep herself aloft. How Tel thought they were going to hold off the monsters like that was just one more mystery.

At the thought of the usually quiet Clocksmith, Shara spared a glance back up the hill to where he stood, framed by those crazy pillars of spinning energy. This wasn’t like him. Or, maybe it was? He’d said he was going to stop pretending. Was the Tel she’d travelled with the last few days just a disguise?

And if it was, was she going to like who was underneath?

“Don’t be silly,” she told herself and forced her attention back to the monsters ahead of her. “Tel is Tel. It’ll be fine.”

“What do you see?” Neela’s voice called up to her.

“Bunch of ugly monsters who want to kill us!” Shara answered. “Same as before. Except now they’re a bit more than halfway across the river. We don’t have much time if we want to stop them all from getting across.”

“Right,” Neela said. “Count, I want you to start setting up traps here. Key them to those things crossing, but try not to catch any of us in it.”

“The Count is on it,” Count said, falling back a few steps and pulling one of the long strands of hair from the back of his head.

Neela only shook her head then looked at one of the women Shara didn’t know. “Lance, you and Shara will be in charge of artillery support while the rest of us hold the line. Do what you can to help us out, but your focus needs to be destroying that dam.”

“As soon as we target the dam, those Twitchers are going to be all over us,” Shara said, climbing down pink stairs to join Neela, and gave Lance a quick nod of greeting. “I barely got away from one when my magic was in peak condition. And why don’t you want me up front with the rest of you?”

“Like you just said, your magic isn’t in its peak condition, like the rest of us. I’m hoping your chain still works though,” Neela answered. “As for the Twitchers, wait until we engage them before you start going after the dam.”

“Understood,” Lance said calmly, her mouth a thin line.

“Good,” Neela said, then turned to address the rest of the people present. Besides the few sorcerers, there were also about twice as many normal people who’d volunteered to help, though Shara had to wonder if their simple weapons would be much good. “Like you heard, our goal is to delay those things until Tel finishes… whatever the hell he’s doing. Don’t die,” she finished, drew the swords over her shoulder, and started jogging towards the river.

“Don’t die,” Count repeated. “Such inspiring words.”

“Seems like good advice,” Shara said, while Lance stepped ahead a few paces and held her right hand out.

The ground around the woman cracked slightly, and a spike of stone rose into the air to hover beside the woman, then another.

“Hey,” Shara said to Count while Lance pulled more stone arrows out of the ground. “Did you finish trapping the tunnel?”

“Finish?” Count said then pushed a flaming number into the ground at his feet. “Ugly monster runs over you,” he muttered to it. “I didn’t even get started before Neela showed up and grabbed me.”

“Damnit,” Shara cursed, but maybe it didn’t matter. If it was anything like in the forest bunker, the pylons should keep the monsters back on their own. But… wouldn’t they know that too? Maybe she was overthinking things, but if they’d known enough to destroy the clocks, wouldn’t they…

“Shouldn’t you be doing something?” Count asked, interrupting her thoughts, and nodded towards Lance.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Shara said, taking her cudgel in her hand. “Just make sure you have some surprises waiting for any that get past us.”

“Don’t worry, The Count has your back,” he said, then whistled as another flaming number appeared in his hand. “Uh, you might want to stand further away.”

Shara shook her head and jogged up to join Lance. “You ready?”

“Hardly, but it will have to do,” Lance said, her voice silky-smooth. Arrow-like spikes of stone hovered in the air all around the woman, then tilted up slightly to match the angle of her upraised arm. “This is the best I can do with the dregs of magic your friend is letting us have. Whatever he’s doing better be worth our lives.”

“It will be,” Shara said. “Look. I’ll attack once with you right at the beginning, then I’ll cover you. You focus on hitting that dam with everything you’ve got.”

Lance nodded, but didn’t say anything, and they both looked to the river just as Neela and the others crashed into the line of Twitchers.

“We’re up,” Shara said, climbing into the air, her feet sinking an extra inch for every step she took up, and her whip spinning at her side. Even as she channeled energy into the chain, her feet sunk deeper into the chaos butterflies holding her up. If a Twitcher caught her in the air like this, she’d never be able to avoid it. “Problem for later,” she muttered, lifting her arm above her head and swinging the fist around and around to build up its own charge.

“Ready,” Lance said, her horde of stone arrows angled towards the growing dam that stretched almost two thirds of the way across the roaring river.

“Now!” Shara shouted, the watermelon-sized glow around the fist demanding release, and she snapped her arm forward. Link after link of chain magically formed as the fist raced up and over the furious melee along the riverside, and long slivers of stone followed a heartbeat later.

WHOMP her fist hit the middle of the dam with explosive results, the water erupting in a wide sphere while wood and rock chips shot in every direction. Not even a second later, a hail of stone arrows rained down on the logs, their natural weight and the force of their fall splintering and severing wood as cracks echoed over the roaring river.

“Yes!” Shara said, dispelling her extended chain so the fist reappeared at her side, and watched the swirling water to survey the damage. Her elation almost immediately turned to despair as the water calmed – they’d heavily damaged the dam, but more logs were already filling the gap, the natural flow of the river pulling nearby trunks to plug the holes.

Still, the dam was only three-quarters of the way to their side of the river, and Neela and the others were keeping the Twitchers busy. They had time.

“Get ready for another volley,” she called down to Lance, but a rush of movement on the other bank caught her attention.

Monsters all along the river dropped the logs from their shoulders as something pushed its way out of the tree line. Easily as tall as three people on each others’ shoulders, the thing stood on four legs that looked more like multi-jointed arms, each ending in huge hands. Its wide torso sported numerous mouths like the smaller creatures had running down the center of their chests, dozens of the serpentine tongues snapping at the air around it, and tree-trunk-like arms sprouted from its shoulders. At the elbows, those arms split each into two more appendages, some kind of crab-like claw and a thick sucker-lined tentacle.

As it ducked out of the trees, its long serpentine neck reached for the sky, multiple heads running up its length. Closest to its shoulders, some kind of demonic deer, with a snapping crow above that, then a wide-faced rodent of some kind, and finally a grey-skinned shark at the top.

Shara could only watch as one of the legs lifted for the hand at the end to point at the line of logs, and then the mass of monsters rushed down the riverbank. They swarmed across the uneven dam, more than one falling between to be crushed by the mass of the trees or swallowed by the raging river, but it didn’t stop the horde. And, as they reached the end of the unfinished wooden bridge, they leapt into the air, their powerful jumps carrying most of them across the foaming white rapids to crash into the ground.

As the first pushed itself back to its feet, seemingly uninjured by the awkward landing and more touching down behind it with every second, Shara glanced back at the clocks swirling around Tel.

They were out of time.