"Haha!", Ablee yells. The fake Karich throws up a massive hand, grasping for her. Clinging tightly to his neck, she twists her body, letting out a raucous howl as she avoids his grasp.

“Not today bastard!” Zeph’s voice cuts through the din. BANG, Applause barks, and a bullet slams into Karich's knuckles. Stone splinters fly as he swings his arm wildly, howling.

"Thanks witch!” Ablee yells, her voice electric. She doesn’t spare a glance behind her, too intent on battering the head of her father's stone facsimile.

The storm intensifies, whipping furiously through the commotion. It batters against Karich, his body becoming a canvas for the rainbow of chalky colors the villagers left behind. Vibrant streaks of red, gold, and blue coat its surface.

Zeph, breathing heavily, reloads Applause.

Thowing a quick glance towards the door, she catches sight of Rinval, the collar of his cloak pulled tight across the lower half of his face. He meets her gaze and the room shrinks, tightening around the chest wound that slowly gluts out her resolve.

“Huhah,” he chuckles, his tone as grating as sandpaper. “Whats the matter, coming to terms with your mortality?”

Zeph grits her teeth, trying to steady herself. The pull of his influence gnaws at her focus, clouding her thoughts and making every glance in his direction feel like staring into the sun. Her shoulder's incision burns with every breath, her body screaming for respite.

“You’re lucky I can’t see straight,” she growls, taking to her feet and stumbling in his direction, her gaze on the floor. She throws a wild swing with Applause's butt, which he sidesteps easily, his laughter cutting like a knife.

Rhody skirts the cell to avoid Karich's erratic movements. With some distance established, she drops her pack to the ground with a thud. Rummaging through it her movements are purposeful but frantic. She pulls out a bulky clothes-iron, its wooden handle well worn from maintaining Zeph's immaculate appearance.

She grips the iron tightly, her small frame taut with determination. Keeping to the chamber's edge, she creeps toward Rinval. Her breath hitches as she rounds his flank.

Zeph notices her approach out of the corner of her eye. She glares at the girl, her expression begging the question, “What the hell are you going to do with that?” She pushes herself to maintain her assault, and Rinval's attention.

Rhody bends her knees and pops up into the air, raising the iron high and bringing it down toward Rinval’s back. He twists at the last moment, the blow grazing his arm but doing little of substance.

“Amateurs,” Rinval sneers, spinning his polearm in a wide arc to keep both of them at bay, "Your employers must really hate you, sending you on such an ill-conceived errand." Zeph is forced to step back, her grip tightening on Applause.

“I can’t get a bead on him!” Zeph snarls, frustration boiling over. “Looking at him is like—”

Rinval takes a step forward, his presence overwhelming, his voice smooth and relentless. “Like fighting a rip-tide.”

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Ablee clings to Karic as he thrashes wildly. Her iron-coated fists pound against its head, cracks spider-webbing outward with each strike. She grins through gritted teeth, the force of each blow reverberating up her arms.

“Go ahead!” she taunts. “Try and smash me! I dare you!”

Karich obliges, slamming its back—and Ablee along with it—into the nearest wall. The stone ripples, and Ablee's body submerges into it. As he leans back forward, she's unscathed, still perched and ready for another assault.

Karich roars, his rage vibrating through the air. He swings his arm back again, his hand narrowly missing as Ablee ducks low and delivers another punishing strike to its fractured head.

“Come on now you poor excuse for a Dad!” Ablee shouts, her voice ringing with exhilaration. “You’re barely making me work!”

The storm still swirls in chaotic bursts, its chalky wind pummeling the Karich's form. Vibrant colors seep deeper into his cracks.

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Zeph sidesteps a swing from Rinval’s polearm, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Rhody darts in again, swinging the iron with surprising force for someone her size. This time, it connects with Rinval’s wrist, eliciting a hiss of annoyance as his grip momentarily falters.

“Nice work Rhody!” Zeph calls, “Keep at it!"

Rinval's pole-arm swings in a wide arc and Rhody pulls back just in time to avoid it. “You're supposed to be fighting these guys!” she shoots back at Zeph.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Zeph raises Applause, but the swirling disorientation brought on by Rinval’s presence throws her aim. BANG! Zeph mutters a curse under her breath as the shot goes wide.

Ablee, meanwhile, rides out another of Karich's violent thrashes. Her relentless assault does not slow. Each strike against his head lands with an audible crunch, the fractures in his surface growing wider, more jagged.

“Time to crack this egg!” Ablee shouts, laughter bubbling out between her words. She feels his movements slowing, turning desperate. His strength wanes under the combined assault of the storm and her iron fists.

“Zeph!” Rhody calls out, sharp and urgent. She has her iron raised defensively as Rinval cleaves strike after strike in her direction. “Help!?”

The chaos around Rhody begins to feel distant and slowed, like the world has been submerged in thick syrup. Her breath steadies as the storm of movement congeals into a tableau of possibility. She realizes, this sensation— she was too frightened to recognize it earlier. Clarity, the gift of an Ace of Wands. I'm on a path! she squeals internally.

She feels it thrumming within her, igniting her senses and sharpening her focus. The frantic energy of just moments before seeps out of her pores, replaced with a dutiful calm. She knows what she has to do: get Zeph a clean shot at Rinval.

Her eyes dart across the room, cataloging every angle, every surface. Zeph circles him warily, her revolver in hand but her stance faltering. Rhody sees it—the subtle tilt of Zeph’s frame, the way her shoulders sway with each shallow breath. Zeph is barely holding on.

Rhody clenches her jaw, her fingers tightening around the iron in her hand. The stone walls of the room loom around her, their unyielding surfaces mocking her desperate calculations. A straight shot at Rinval is impossible; Zeph’s hesitation and Rinval’s deft movements won't let it happen. A missed bullet could ricochet and strike Ablee, Zeph, or herself.

But a controlled ricochet...

Her gaze falls to the iron in her hand, its scuffed surface reflecting the flickering torchlight. The realization strikes her with the force of a thunderclap. She can make this work.

Rhody takes a deep breath and shifts her weight, stepping back to position herself. She angles the iron carefully, its face tilted to catch the bullet just right. Her pulse pounds in her ears, but her grip remains steady. She glances up at Zeph.

“Zeph!” she shouts, her voice cutting through the din. Time stretches as Zeph’s head snaps toward her, her golden hair haloing across her face. Rhody doesn’t waste a second, raising the iron slightly and then shifting her gaze from it to Rinval. Her meaning is clear: Here. Shoot here.

Zeph’s brow furrows, the weight of Rhody’s plan crashing into her like a blow. “Rhody, no,” she growls, shaking her head as if to dispel the idea. Her grip on Applause tightens, but she doesn’t raise it. “You’re in the line of fire!”

“Trust me!” Rhody snaps, her voice firm, louder than she’s ever known it to be. “You can do this!”

Zeph hesitates, her instincts warring with her exhaustion. Her aim hasn’t been steady since the fight began. Rinval paces lazily toward her, his pole-arm poised like a tailor's needle. His every step radiates oppressive weight.

“If I miss...” Zeph growls, her voice barely audible over the storm.

Rhody's eyes lock onto Zeph's like a flare through the haze of Rinval's presence. “You're Zeph, you don’t miss!”

Zeph’s expression shifts, her lips pressing into a tight line. She exhales sharply, her resolve hardening. “Hold tight!” she shouts, raising Applause. Her finger curls around the trigger, and for a brief moment, the world is completely silent.

BANG!

The bullet tears from the revolver, a streak of silver against the tumultuous backdrop of the room. It pounds the iron in Rhody's hands, sending shock-waves through her body that make her teeth ache. The collision rings out like a bell, and the bullet ricochets cleanly, flying toward its true target.

The shot blows through his hand with a sickening crack, shattering bone. His pole-arm clangs against the floor and he howls in pain, his voice raw and venomous.

Zeph doesn’t wait. She surges forward, her exhaustion forgotten in a rush of adrenaline. Applause shifts in her grip, and as Rinval clutches his wounded hand, she brings the butt of the revolver down hard on his head. The impact is sharp, brutal, and final. Rinval collapses to the ground in an awkward heap.

The sudden absence of Rinval's spiritual pressure is exhilarating. Zeph feels like she's just clawed her way through six feet of dirt to take a breath of fresh air. She lowers Applause, her shoulders heaving. The girl Ablee hollers wildly from the other side of the room, clearly ecstatic to be punishing her father's imitator.

“They taught you that shit at the temple?” Zeph asks Rhody, her tone laced with respect.

Rhody exhales shakily, the weight of the moment crashing over her now that her new-found clarity has past. She forces a wavering grin. “No, that's why I'm here.”

Zeph's eyes flick to Rinval’s unconscious form before settling on Ablee and Karich. “I guess we should help the brat...”

Rhody nods, the iron still clutched tightly in her hand. Her body aches, her nerves are frayed, but she feels a flicker of pride. I did it.

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Karich staggers, his towering frame cracking under the relentless assault. His fractured surface spills powdery chalk-dust with every lumbering step. Ablee, perched precariously on his back. the vibrations crawling up her stony arms like spiderwebs of tension. She grits her teeth, hammering blow after blow onto his crumbling head, her legs locked tightly around its neck.

Karich roars—a hollow, grinding sound—and suddenly lurches toward the windowed wall. His glowing eyes fix on the jagged cliff-side beyond as it gathers the last of its waning strength. Ablee glances up, her smirk faltering as she realizes its intention.

"Oh, no you don't!" she growls, pulling back her fist for another strike.

Before she can think to pull herself free, he charges forward, his massive weight breaking through the keep's outer wall. A shower of stone and dust surround them as they plummet.

Ablee’s stomach flips as the wind tears at her. For a split second, everything is silent—the world holding its breath. Then the cliff-side rushes up to meet her, and Karich slams into the earth with a thunderous impact, a shock-wave rippling through the ground. Ablee is crushed beneath its massive frame, the force of the collision punching the air from her lungs.

Her powers ignite instinctively, and she's sent crashing into the earth beneath the fake Karich's shattered body. The stone around her softens, warping into thick, suffocating paint. She plunges deep into the inky blackness, the ground swallowing her whole like a predator claiming its prey.

Her world becomes a void. Weightless and disoriented, Ablee struggles to right herself, her breath locked tight in her chest. She tries to scream, but the thick paint muffles everything, pressing against her like a cocoon. Her limbs flail as she tries to find the surface, but the swirling black seems endless, directionless.

Move. MOVE.