“Surprise, friends!” Alex called cheerily as he raised the hidden trap door of a tunnel. A few of an enemy team—packed into the hole—startled, caught off guard. “Nice plan, hiding down here to ambush us, but my friend Brutus over here smelled you guys from a mile away. Or at least a hundred feet away. I dunno, I wasn’t counting exactly. Plus my friend’s pretty good with earth magic, so he noticed where you guys had disturbed the ground with your tunnelling antics.”

The team below began scrambling and chanting spells.

“Oop, none of that! Here’s a present for you!” Alex shot one of his Wizard’s Hands into the hole and slammed the hatch shut.

With a single act of will, his spell crushed the potion bottle: a booby-trapped flight potion.

He heard coughing then cries of alarm coming from below, followed soon after by yelling, then the repeated thudding of bodies slamming into tunnel walls. One by one, each thud and angry shout lessened as the adversaries below ground vanished from The Grand Battle.

Looking around, Alex watched as some of his team members silently opened hatches.

Whooosh.

Claygon blasted more enemy teammates hiding in a different hole.

Crack!

Isolde fired a massive lightning bolt into a third tunnel.

Surprised cries rang out, but were cut-off when Svenia and Hogarth fired arrows into the hole, eliminating anyone who Isolde’s lightning bolt had missed.

Alex’s team was soon standing alone on the plain.

“Well, looks like that takes care of them.” Thundar dusted off his hands. “Let’s move on.”

“Indeed,” Khalik said. “The mountain is close…hmmmm.”

He looked up to where Najyah was circling about a hundred feet above, and called her down. She soared out of the sky to perch on his arm.

Their eyes met in silence for a long moment.

“Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm,” he engaged with his familiar. “Najyah says that no one has reached the top of the mountain yet.”

“Most excellent,” Isolde said. “We shall have a clear run to the top then.”

“Well, maybe,” Theresa said. “If we’re going up there, I say we circle it first. Alex and I found out the hard way what happens when you don’t scout every route to a target. You get ambushed.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “And lemme tell you, that ambush stung.”

Theresa winced. “Not half as much as that joke.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad, wasn’t it?” he agreed. “But seriously, I agree we need to check that mountain out first. What do you all think?”

“Hmmm, I might have another suggestion,” Khalik said. “Perhaps we can pick a ridge or another area with cover and watch the mountain from there. We would be able to see anyone approaching, then ambush them.”

The rest of the team looked at him, pondering the idea for a moment.

“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Alex said. “I think anyone that holds the mountain early will probablyalso get attacked early, and often. They’ll have a better opportunity of earning more points for longer, but a team that holds it later in the contest will have less competition to deal with.”

“Right,” Isolde said. “Then I too think it might be best for us to approach and watch the top.”

They turned and began making their way to the mountain through the tall grass.

“What about there, Lady Van Anmut?” Hogarth pointed to a small forest ahead. “That might provide us with cover.”

“We could check it out first,” Thundar said. “Then, if it’s ok, that’s where we wait for ‘em.”

They watched the skies as they moved closer. Far above, they saw tiny dots floating high in the sky: likely the wizards refereeing the event. Lower down, flying competitors were fighting an aerial battle.

Someone mounted on a wyvern’s back was leading a team against a group of wizards using flight spells. Spells fired: claps of thunder, wind gusts and sheets of ice blasted through the sky above. It was like watching a bunch of Isoldes all throwing everything they had at each other.

“Glad we’re not in that mess,” Thundar said, as they reached the trees. “I’d be blown out of the Battle in like half a minute.”

Theresa and Brutus slipped into the woods, scouting ahead.

“Yeah, agreed,” Alex said.

Moments later, the huntress and her hound returned.

“All clear up ahead,” she said. “Lots of places to hide in there, but we’re the only ones around.”

“Well, that’s perfect for us,” Khalik said. “Let us make this place our ambush point.”

The group slipped into the trees with Claygon’s footsteps thundering through the underbrush. Trees creaked around them and the smell of the forest reached Alex’s nose.

“Well, if anyone was in here, they’d definitely know we were coming,” he said. “Good thing we’re alone.”

“Indeed,” Khalik said as he ducked under a branch. “I would think that-”

He paused.

The prince stopped walking, slowly turning his head. “Alex…these trees. Don’t they look familiar?”

“Hm?” Alex looked up, then blinked in surprise. “Huh, yeah actually. Aren't they Weiss trees?”

“Indeed, they look to be. Look at the shape of the leaves,” Khalik pointed. “They almost look like snowflakes.”

“Wazzat?” Thundar asked from behind a tree trunk.

“Weiss trees,” the prince said. “Their leaves look like snowflakes and turn white in the winter season. They are…native to the northern Rhinean Empire according to our magical botany Professor.”

“Are they now?” Thundar asked. “Looks like maybe they brought some exotic stuff to plant on the island…for the…hold on a minute.”

Thundar paused, looking at the tree closest to him. “Everyone stop!” his voice suddenly rose sharply. “Stop for a minute, I think I got a bur in my hoof!”

Isolde groaned. “Truly? Do you think we…”

She paused.

Thundar wasn’t paying attention to his hoofs: it looked like he’d said that for another reason. He was leaning toward the tree closest to him. A frown deepened on his face as he pressed his hand to the bark. “Feels smooth,” he muttered.

He pushed harder against the tree trunk.

“Thundar, what’s going on?”

“Oh, this bur’s hard to get out, I’m just-” The minotaur kept pressing his weight against the tree.

Alex froze.

Thundar’s body language completely changed for a moment…like another image was trying to mimic his form.

And then-

“It’s a trap!” The minotaur abruptly returned to his own form. “These trees are an illusion! It’s a trap!”

Alex felt mana surge all around them.

“Shit! Everyone down! Scatter!”

The group ran, diving to the earth in different directions.

Something hissed through the air.

Boom!

Heat, flame and rock explosions ripped through the trees. Pebbles fired in all directions like arrows, clacking against Claygon’s body.

Alex heard shouts of alarm and grunts of pain coming from all around, but he couldn’t tell who it was he was hearing. Was it Khalik? Hogarth? Thundar? His ears were ringing: the sensory enhancement potions he’d drunk were amplifying the blasts, disorienting him.

But, his enhanced vision let his eyesight cut through flying dust and debris and as he squinted, the forest faded. The rustle of leaves disappeared, the earthy smell of a woodland was replaced by the scent of burning earth.

Alex cursed.

The illusion had been hiding right there: a flat field covered in gravel and sharp stones. If they hadn’t moved immediately when the explosions hit, they probably would’ve been shredded by shrapnel and out of the contest. Peering past the falling dust and rock, he looked for their attackers…but couldn’t see anyone.

“There!” he heard Theresa cry. “I hear something to the east! I think they’re invisible! No wait, they’re all around us!”

Brutus began barking.

Mana built up from around them.

“More spells!” Alex shouted. “Scatter!”

Alex scrambled to his feet while his friends jumped up, scattering in different directions, trying to put as much distance between each other as they could. They zig-zagged as they moved, making themselves even harder targets to hit.

He heard Khalik, Isolde, and Thundar shouting incantations. Mana bolts, force missiles and lightning arced out in all directions, seeking invisible opponents.

Alex heard a cry of pain.

“I cannot hear the enemy’s incantations!” Khalik shouted. “They’re speaking quietly! Keep shooting!”

‘Claygon strafe the fire-beams around us in a circle!’ Alex thought.

“Incoming!” Theresa shouted.

Another wave of fireballs shot at them from all sides.

Booom! Boooom!

More explosions ripped through the area, and Alex heard stones snap against his force armour and protective rectangles. Someone shouted in surprise, then was abruptly cut off. It was a deeper voice.

He didn’t have time to think about it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Crackle!

Whooooooom!

Fire and lightning bolts blasted the area, followed by streams of acid. Bolts of mana and force flew past him like a swarm of angry wasps. He ducked below some, twisting his body.

Crash!

One of his protective force rectangles shattered as it deflected a bolt of force.

Whooooosh!

Claygon lashed out with all three fire beams, pointing those in his palms in two directions while pointing the forehead beam in a third.

Booooom!

Explosive lines of flame ripped through the air in a circle, there was another cry of pain.

Alex willed a forceball and two Wizard’s Hands toward the noise. He had one Hand crush a booby-trapped mana soothing potion in one area, and the other crush a booby-trapped potion of sensory enhancement in another.

No noises came from the area where the mana soothing potion went off, but sudden cries rose from where the sensory enhancement potion had exploded.

Coughing followed soon after.

“There!” Theresa shouted.

Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!

A pair of arrows and two crossbow bolts shot toward the source of the cries. Two flew straight ahead, but the other pair slammed into something in the air. Two pained shouts were cut off an instant later.

More explosive spells rocketed in from all sides and someone else cried out in pain. Alex leapt away from another explosion and whirled, searching for anything that might reveal their attackers’ locations.

Think.

Adapt.

Think.

Adapt.

Claygon continued to blast his fire-beams all around, but no more cries came from the surrounding area. Their enemies must be on the move.

Alex studied the surroundings: he couldn’t tell where they were. He couldn’t feel any mana coming from them and-

‘Even if I knew where they were, I couldn’t attack them directly,’ he thought as he turned to-

He paused.

That’s right!

If he tried to attack them, then The Mark would protest!

And if The Mark started trying to distract him when he shot his forceball to hit someone…

“Everyone!” he shouted. “Watch my forceball! Attack the air in front of it when I say!”

Without waiting for a response, he shot the forceball across the battlefield in the direction he’d seen the spells come from. It flew around, gathering speed—capable of doing serious damage if it collided with someone—and then-

“Ah!”

The Mark’s interference slammed into him.

“There!” he shouted, grabbing his head. “Fire there!”

His teammates' spells, crossbow bolts, and arrows blasted in the direction he pointed to, in the general area in front of his forceball.

A cry of pain abruptly cut off when one of Theresa’s arrows slammed into whoever the cry came from.

“Yes!” Alex yelled, launching his forceball through the air again.

Another blast of interference from The Mark.

“There!”

More spells and projectiles shot at where he was pointing. He heard the sound of arrows hitting force armour and then-

Twack!

-Grimloch’s crossbow bolt blasted through something solid and another enemy shrieked, then disappeared.

“Alex! Above you!” Theresa shouted.

“Oh hells!” he looked up.

Dozens of glowing chains were streaming down from the sky, followed by a wave of magical force. He called on every bit of agility he’d built up over the past year and leapt out of the spell’s reach.

The chains whirled down, snapping around the empty air where Alex had stood a breath earlier.

Boom!

The force wave blasted a column of dirt into the air.

‘Up there!’ he willed Claygon. ‘Fire!’

Claygon brought his hands up and blasted the area where the spells had come from. Explosions of flame tore through the sky and Alex heard more cries abruptly end.

“Enough!” he heard an unseen attacker shout. “Scatter! Regroup at First Point!”

Silence followed.

No more spells came raining from the sky, or streaking in from all directions.

Alex sighed in relief.

“There’s another team!” Grimloch suddenly roared. “Coming from the ridge!”

Alex whirled toward the mountain.

From behind a rocky outcropping, a line of figures rose into the air.

They were well within spellshot.