Lady Elin, Prime Minister Asibridel, and Nix moved in a long-range, high-speed leapfrog fashion through the Blackroot Forest. From time to time, Lord Walter would nudge Lady Elin to something unseen, and she'd veer slightly off course.

"What are you doing?" Nix asked.

"Avoiding the monsters," Lady Elin said, "So we don't lose time."

The second part of her answer sounded like an afterthought, and, to her, it probably was. After all, why would she need to avoid anything except the worst of the worst? With Lord Walter at her side, even then, that might not be a threat, either.

"How do you know where they are?"

Walter curled his hand. His fingers moved like they operated a puppet on a string. Glowing orbs, the very same he used during the battle, drifted into view from behind the trees. He stretched out his hand; they spread back out. Turning her head, Nix counted ten orbs in a ring around their party, flicking through the trees as they ran and jumped.

At some point, Lord Walter used his spell and distributed them.

"When one of my magic missiles move into close proximity with a monster, they try to attack it, and I sense that," he said.

"You don't need to see them directly? How is that possible?"

"No." Walter cleared his throat. "The best way to describe it is magical artificial intelligence. They move on their own with minimal direction from me. I'd need a moment to describe the entire process."

"I knew there was a trick to it. It's impossible to move hundreds of independent objects with just one's mind, like you did before."

"That time, I did," Walter admitted, "with a visualization, sort of like a movie projector. It was expensive."

"What does that even mean?" Nix asked.

Lady Elin shrugged at Nix as if to say there's no way to understand Lord Walter's explanation.

The explosion rattled Nix's bones.

An orange glow, lighting up the trees as it streaked by, provided Lady Elin with barely enough warning. She kicked off the nearby tree and rocketed away at a tangent. Lady Elin pulled Lord Walter off her back, wrapped around him, cushioned his head, and slammed her feet into the ground. Pebbles scattered from the landing. Their speed carried them forward, and, to distribute their momentum, Lady Elin rolled the two of them like a log.

They didn't slow much because Lady Elin timed a step to regain her footing and half-sprinted-half-flung herself and her fiance behind a Blackroot for cover. A disoriented Lord Walter leaned against the tree and grimaced from dizziness and pain.

"Are you hurt?" Lady Elin said. She patted him, searching for injuries.

He formed a half-smile, "Reminds me of our first goblin ambush."

Nix landed next to them, and Prince Wilhelm dismounted his mistress before drawing one of his three swords off his back. Prime Minister Asibridel followed.

"Your magic didn't detect them?" Lady Elin double-checked for wounds.

Lord Walter tilted his head, thought a moment, and evidence of an epiphany crossed his face. "I programmed them to only target monsters. I didn't want to accidentally hit an elf."

Nix nocked an arrow. "Theocrats."

Prime Minister Asibridel slipped another arrow from Nix's quiver to use as a makeshift weapon. She seemed confident holding it, despite wearing a shredded dress.

"We know you own the prime minister!" a man's voice called out, "We have you surrounded! Transfer ownership to us, and we'll let you go!"

Prime Minister Asibridel locked eyes with Lord Walter, "Releasing me to their custody might solve this issue. What will you do, Lord Walter?"

"Cease your foolishness," Lady Elin released her sword from its sheath. "Of course, he will protect you."

"What she said," Lord Walter chimed in. He used the tree to get to his feet.

Prince Wilhelm returned a raucous laugh and yelled back at the mysterious voice. "You do realize you attacked the Crown Prince of the Wilmand Kingdom, the Rose of the Rapier, and the Black Mage of Eovamund, do you not? Nay, you surrender, and we might not summarily execute you!"

Another fireball exploded. Though it hit the opposite side of the Blackroot tree used for cover, and it provided safety, Nix could feel her teeth shake.

˙Λ ǝlᴉssᴉW ɔᴉƃɐW

Glowing orbs, like luminescent crystal spheres, swirled into existence from motes of blue light. "Now that I know that I'm shooting at humans," Lord Walter grunted, "They're an easy target."

The orbs followed each other, loosely grouped like a giant serpent, and, after a wave of his hand, Lord Walter commanded them to streak out from their hiding place. The magic missile's impacts didn't explode with the same force as the fireballs, but each sounded compact and potent.

"Uh, oh."

"What is it?"

Lord Walter looked at Lady Elin. "They missed somehow."

"Is that possible?"

"They're not foolproof."

Lady Elin barked orders, "Prime minister, Prince Wilhelm, stay with Walter. Nix, you're with me."

The two women moved with the speed and grace of a pouncing lioness. When they returned, they reported what they found.

"There's no one there," Nix said.

"Such incidents happen in the Sanctuary," Prime Minister Asibridel said, "From time to time."

Blackroot trees, like all trees, developed burls and knots, and Blackroots developed these gigantic growths often. Hard as a boulder, surpassing the tree's reputation for density, and no longer compatible with the tree, they separated, fell, and left behind cavities. Most were the size of a closet, and others could be mistaken for the mouth of a cave. Each tree usually had one such hole, some a dozen.

Enterprising elves utilized the spaces as homes. They built semicircular platforms for additional space and gently sloping rooves for shelter. Rope bridges, created with white threads, interlaced with the engineering complexity of a suspension bridge, connected the largest platforms. Winding staircases or ladders connected homes that shared the same tree.

"Welcome to the outer ring of the Sanctuary, Lord Walter, Lady Elin, and Prince Wilhelm. You're the first human visitors in the span of memory," Prime Minister Asibridel said.

Lord Walter looked up. "Tree houses?"

"Unusual, admittedly, but it's far too dangerous to build on the ground."

"Well, most of the dwarves do," Nix corrected, "but they never leave their fortified caves."

"I didn't see any dwarves?" Prince Wilhelm said.

"And you won't, not the ones on the ground," Nix said, "unless they wished you to."

"Are you still in pain? Do you want help to climb up, beloved?" Lady Elin asked.

Lord Walter hissed through his teeth at the suggestion. She waited for an answer, and he relented. He sounded like a kid who realized he can't reach the top of the table. "Yes, please."