The fight was a lot closer than either side had expected. Laurence and Quentin meant that the other side had to be balanced with two saints, or equivalent. This test was one of tactical skill and forethought, with a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure.

They began their trial by sending Louisa out on reconnaissance. It was interesting for Laurence to watch the woman climb up one of the larger obsidian plumes and just ride the pulses of heat that jettisoned out of the ground. As her massive wings unfurled she rocketed into the sky, showing out of sight. The small woman looked both stunning and elated as she flew, there was an expression on her face that seemed far more real than the pleasant, motherly smile that she wore when dealing with the rest of the group.

After about five minutes Louisa flew back to the group, dive bombing then tapering off into a slow and graceful descent. “We are looking to get an object. I'm about eighty five percent sure.” She smiled and bowed politely as her wings retreated back into her flesh, clasping her hands and swaying with her knees and hips alternately.

“Only eighty five percent?” Snapped Sara

“Yeah. While I have excellent dynamic vision, I couldn't see all angles of the building. As long as they don't have a secret room to put the person into, we should be facing five people.”

“What are the five targets?” The answer given seemed to be acceptable to the bounty hunter, so she moved on.

“One child, a girl, I assume she's their golden child. Two humans, both male and subservient to the fourth person. One Azure clansman, she's the one who controls the two men. Finally there's a «Kimbramancer» from Avalon.” At the mention of a person from Avalon, Quentin gasped. The great clans of the tower all knew of the Avalonians. It was hard not to know your natural enemy.

Quentin explained to Sara and Laurence that the people of Avalon thought it sacrilegious to try and achieve perfection through the Books. They instead used a force called «Gi» to survive and conquer. Gi seemed to be the antithesis of mana, because when the two came into contact they would quickly neutralise each other and turn to salt. For that reason, and several others, Kimbramancers were regarded as too alien. They were too different, and they hated the clans.

“You can always tell when someone is a Kimbramancer, because they have animal bones as piercings all over their bodies, and wear nothing but leather. It’s something to do with the way they make tools in Avalon. It’s all bone and leather.” Quentin finished, pulling on his fringe. “If any of us come across the Kimbramancer, just use a projectile. They neutralise mana, so any enchanted stuff that any of us have will be pretty much useless.”

“So, what is the plan of attack?” Said Laurence. “Shall I still punch in through the front and you guys go through the back?”

“When I was flying over, I didn’t see anywhere that they particularly protected. So they might be hiding the object or person in plain sight, or in a secret room. Punching through the front will likely draw them to you, so you’ll be in the most danger.” Louisa responded. She cared too much about people, which Laurence was having trouble working out if it was a weakness or a strength.

In the end they followed the plan they set up. Quentin and Sara crept round behind, and about five minutes later Laurence and Yun began moving towards the building. They moved quickly, but not quietly. Their job was amongst other things was to be a distraction. They began picking up speed and quickly reached the nearest pillar. Springing from pillar to pillar, the boy and his dog blasted towards the building at increasing speeds. As they landed in front of the house, Laurence realised his speed was too great and he tried to stop. His shoes began to smoke as the friction of the floor became too much for his clothes to bear. He lost his footing and crashed through the door, crushing one of the people in the enemy team. He rolled over and looked up at the room he had ended up in, before he could take a proper look around, Yun landed on top of him. He pushed his friend off him, and quickly rose to his feet, looking around he got a quick understanding of the area he was in. The two of them were in a large hall, filled with clutter and the writhing corpse of a human man. The room was far too empty for Laurence to feel comfortable. It was odd that they would not cover their easiest front to attack, he thought, but it quickly dawned on him that his team might have been second guessed. He flicked out his hammer and finished off the twitching corpse on the ground. It was a subtle difference, but the moment his hammer was formed Laurence’s eyes dulled and his body relaxed.

Quickly pulling out his red book, Laurence looked at the map on the first page. Excluding his own, and Yun’s there were eight names. Each of the names had an italicised letter beside them, dictating allies and enemies and three names with ‘E’ beside them were bunched together. From what Laurence understood there was little chance that the Kimbramancer would want to stay for very long with the other members of their team, so Laurence assumed the one on their own, named ‘Yveth Rudh’ was the one that they would have most difficulty fighting.

He looked at the map once more then said “Yun, go help the rest of the team. If you finish things quickly then come back, but I will hold off the Kimbramancer off for you guys. If we can take out the team, then we don’t have to think about anything other than finding the object.”

Yun growled in assent and bounded towards the rest of the team. With that decided Laurence discarded thoughts about the rest of his team. He already knew they would win as they were attacking a bunched up group of fighters from all sides with greater numbers and equivalent skill. It was going to be an absolute victory.

He took a few steps before putting his book away and called out. “I know you can see me.” He said. Since he had entered the room he had felt eyes upon him, but the owner of those eyes had decided not to reveal themself as of yet. They had waited for him to open himself up to attack, but he had not. Perhaps him barrelling in had not been the best idea, but the speed he had been travelling had allowed him to enter the room at a speed beyond that of what a normal person would expect.

A tall woman walked out of one of the two existing corridors. She was bone thin, to the point where the skin was stretched out like parchment across wooden spikes. She had two bone yellow piercings through each nostril situated like tusks, and bolts of bone through the skin going up her arms. The piercings seemed to stop at her leather tunic, which was skin tight over her upper body and loose past her boyish hips. The woman, Yveth, stuck out her snake-like tongue and licked her lips at the child before her, revealing one more piercing through the tip.

She looked down at Laurence and pressed her hands together then raised them over her shaven head in some sort of bowing motion. Finally she opened her mouth. “Child, I pray to the Lady that you are at peace with yourself.” Her nasal voice echoed through the room towards Laurence. “For my clan has a blood feud with the practitioners of that thing you had in your hands.” She spat the last sentence out with a venom that was surprising to Laurence, then ran at the boy.