Torches sputtered to life as shopkeepers and laborers headed home for the night. Nearby, the city guard patrolled around their barracks, all while Summers watched from the rooftop of a nearby burrow.

That was what they called the small buildings that acted as a roof to the literal holes in the ground that comprised the city. They looked like a sort of mausoleum, leaving the area more graveyard-like than Summers would have preferred. Especially since the flat, low structures made recon difficult. Which may have been the point of building a barracks in such an area.

Luckily, the less affluent area nearby was dotted with the same wood and stone structures Summers had come to associate with this world. If he had to, he could easily lose anyone that spotted him in their dark alleys.

As the thought crossed his mind, he finally saw his target. The lieutenant, Mia, stepped out of the barracks, heading the same direction as she had the last few nights. Both under heavy cover, and guard. Even Summers would be hard pressed to get a clean shot on her here, not that he intended to try.

Near as he could tell, she was here drumming up support with the richer, more influential people throughout the city. That was fine, he didn’t intend to stop her. No, he was just collecting information for now. After talking through it, they’d decided the best way to drive a wedge between Asmund and Mia was to first find what she cared about, and sabotage it. A straight up assassination attempt would be too messy, in part because Summers would likely need to do it in a way that made it look like the elves were responsible. It was very difficult to stab someone without killing them when he didn’t even know his own strength, let alone get away. So, they needed to make it look like Asmund or another power in the city was making a move. And more importantly, they needed to make sure this was a fight the city could win. Which was why Summers was trying to get a feel for Mia’s power here.

Unfortunately, that was turning out to be far more difficult than they’d expected. Mia tended to stay away from the day-to-day dealings of her soldiers, instead preferring to send them alone to handle their business. Probably smart, but he briefly wondered what a conversation with the odd, robotic soldiers were like.

Either way, while they hadn’t found what they wanted, Summers was learning a lot about Mia’s state of mind. In short, the bitch was crazy. Or stressed passed the point of breaking, or both. He frankly had no idea why someone would yell at their zombie-like subordinates, but it wasn’t the sign of a healthy mind. Or maybe she just liked yelling.

When Mia and her men were out of sight, Summers keyed his radio.

“Synel, how are things at that end?”

He’d sequestered the woman to watch their target, in case he did something unexpected.

The radio crackled in response.

“He’s still in the church.”

“Still?”

“He sleeps there,” Synel answered, a bit of irritation in her voice. “So, yes.”

Asmund was turning out to be much more of a homebody than they’d expected, which made their job harder than it should have been. Summers couldn’t exactly force a conflict if he didn’t know what cards the man was holding, or all he’d do would get a lot of innocent people killed.

“No point wasting our time here,” Summers answered. “Head back home. I’ll meet you there.”

“As you say.”

Summers got to his feet, only to kneel a second later as Mia left the building she’d just walked into, looking even angrier than before. She was moving at a fast clip now, towards the poorer side of town. That was a distinct change from her usual routine.

“Synel, cancel that, I think something’s happening. Gonna check it out.”

If the lieutenant was angry about something, that could very well mean good news for them.

“What in the absolute fuck?”

Summers was staring at a pool of flesh. That was the best way he could describe it.

Mia had led her men through the twisting streets of a shanty town to a small, but heavily guarded farm at the ass end of the city. The security might’ve been a problem if Summers couldn’t see perfectly well in the dark, while the guards were limited to the torches in their hands.

What he’d found was a dumping ground. Bodies piled three high, some covered with the same black substance he’d seen in Rhodes’s city. The mass pulsed as corpses were slowly pulled towards the center, a large pit dug into the rock. Several more like it dotted the landscape.

The creature at its center was different than the one he’d seen before, more liquid. As if it were only half formed, limbs slowly moving into place.

Summers was just close enough to see the face of the nearest body, half covered with black liquid. It still wore the ragged, coarse clothes of a slave. Synel had assumed the city was short on slaves because they’d been escaping in the crisis, now he wasn’t so sure that was the case. Judging by the dried, rotten blood and decayed limbs near him, Mia had been doing this a while. She wasn’t recruiting soldiers. She had soldiers. No, she was building a monster.

The woman yelled at one of her men beside a surprisingly large crater. A crater that, after a moment, Summers recognized to be what was left of his Humvee. It looked to have been blown out from the inside, as if something had exploded. His sabotage had apparently borne fruit. The turret had exploded right in their face.

Least that had worked in their favor, now they just had a horrifying monster to handle. With no explosives, or anything larger than a rifle. Great.

Mia began pacing the edge of the crater.

“We’re not nearly prepared enough, and you idiots set us back?!” The woman bit a nail, agitated.

Just then Summers’ foot slipped, landing in the mud with a wet squelch.

The woman stopped, then, slowly looked in Summers’ direction. “. . .What. . ?”

As she turned fully towards him, Summers’ mind scrambled for an idea. He needed a distraction. His eyes were drawn to the bodies of the dead littering the ground around him.

Summers reached down, grabbing the hand of the closest man, and pressed his will into it. His world exploded with light as his awareness suddenly expanded a hundred-fold, then he pulled with everything he had.

A wet tear echoed around him as the creature at the center of the farm screamed in what might have been pain. The lieutenant’s head snapped back towards it. Summers didn’t wait to see what she did next; he ran into the darkness.

By the time the woman looked back, Summers was already long gone.

“Are you alright?” Synel watched Summers with open concern.

He was laying on the ground on their rented home, barely able to move. Apparently, giving an eldritch being a metaphorical wedgie took a lot out of a guy.

“No,” was all Summers managed in response. He managed to sit up as Roan brought him a cup of water. “Thanks.”

His entire body was sore, and he really needed a nap. Whatever the skeen’s power used, it was a finite resource.

“I have a friend watching the church, we’ll know if Asmund moves. But if what you’re saying is true. . .” Synel trailed off.

“Yeah,” Summers agreed. “We’re kind of fucked.”

Asle moved up to look at him.

“Why hasn’t she used it yet?”

“My guess, she’s been feeding it. That thing isn’t invincible, Rhodes proved that. Hell, we proved it. Could be this is less about the city, and more about having something that can stand up to the army. If she thinks they’re still around, this could be her ace in the hole.”

Both Asle and Synel quirked their heads at him.

“Her trump card?” Summers stopped. Goddamn idioms. “Her best weapon,” he finally said. “Point being the city is a secondary target, she’s playing nice because it’s beneficial right now, she gets more bodies, in better condition. When that stops, that’s when she makes her move.”

“That’s excellent.” Synel said.

“What?”

“Well, we were already planning on making the samr look bad, now we know for a fact they’re plotting against the city. I’ll spread the word with the merchants about this farm of yours and lay the groundwork for our assassination attempt.”

“I don’t think you’re seeing the problem.” Summers gestured at the air. “That thing’s huge. If they use it-“

“If they use it, we’ll leave. Prepared or not.” Synel interrupted. “It’s not as though you can kill it yourself, and the city isn’t likely to move against the samr on anything we say. This is all technically according to plan.”

Summers paused, that was true, but he didn’t like leaving a metaphorical gun to innocent people’s heads, not when he had a say in things.

“Plan’s secondary, I’m not putting people at risk if I don’t have to.”

“Well, if it’s as large as you say it won’t move quietly.” She hesitated, deep in thought. “I can also spread rumors that your army is taking in refugees. So, if Mia makes her move, they will have somewhere to escape. It accomplishes all our goals.”

“There were a lot of bodies there.” Summers replied. “Even if we do nothing, she’s going to keep killing.” He took a breath, then resolved himself. “When’s the next sermon?”

“A few hours?”

“Great, change of plan, we kill Mia and deal with the fallout. Then, we get everyone out.”

“Is that wise?”

“Absolutely not, but it’s the only plan I have.” He considered her. “Synel, you said the city was planning on moving against the samr soon, think you can let the traders think the samr are onto them while you’re at it? That they have a. . . let’s call it a monster. A beast? Either way, they hear shooting, they might be smart enough to run for the base, and some people might be smart enough to follow.”

Synel paused, then looked Summers in the eye. “We can’t save everyone, you know that. We have to prioritize our own safety.”

“I know, but we should still try.”

“Fine. Even if something goes wrong, I’m confident we can make it out. Especially with my apprentice and her new skill.”

Asle looked back at her teacher.

“I remember you saying I was stupid for doing what I did.”

“You were, but now it’s useful.” Synel tussled Asle’s hair.

As Synel moved off, Summers took the time to lay back down, trying to get his head clear. Whether things went smoothly for them or not, it was a sure thing Mia would try to ruin their day. And now that they knew the cards she was holding, that just made it all the worse. He took a breath; their hand was being forced here. He didn't like it, but they had to work with what they had.

They’d have to pray that was enough.