A blast of wind flung Huan out of the path of the falling branch. As the branch thudded into the ground, Huan was hauled to his feet by his collar. “You’re not as skilled as your sister, are you?”

“I mean she’s a…” Huan looked down at the hand holding his collar. It was covered in light brown fur. His eyes followed the arm, “She’s a… You’re…” May the Rabbit’s legs and luck protect you. Huan drew his sword. “Get back!”

He slashed, but Rabbit skipped out of range. Huan tried to pursue, but Magdala jumped between them. “Stop! We have a truce.”

Huan tried to shoulder past her. “There’s no way that-”

“We have a truce.” Magdala pushed Huan back then spread her arms to block him moving past her. “Do you understand?”

The beast rumbled. Cut her down.

Huan resisted. While the beast saw Magdala’s bluish lips, her wet clothes, her shivering and saw weakness, it didn’t see how the noble and her companion shifted to flank him or how Rabbit didn’t bother to take a stance. If he attacked Magdala, he’d be dead.

Huan raised his hands in surrender. “If you say so.” He tried not to stare at Rabbit. I thought we had more time.

“Good.” Magdala put her arms down. “Now, what do we do about them?” She gestured to the kid, the bare-chested warrior and the giant bug, who were still deep in discussion at the foot of the giant tree. At least the child and the warrior were.

Can the bug talk? “No idea,” he said. “Why don’t you come up with a plan?”

Lady Pol’s upraised hand cut off Magdala’s retort. “Have either of you seen those forms before?”

Both Huan and Magdala shook their head.

The noble’s shoulders dropped. “A pity.” She straightened up. “Well, since magic is as much form as it is power, if the form changes...”

“The power changes too.” Odette limped to her companion’s side. “So what’s the plan?”

Screw this. Sheathing his sword, Huan slid back from the others and edged towards the fallen branch, which is where he thought Pol’s spell had thrown his sister. I’ll just grab her and escape. They can deal with this. He ran into something. “What the-”

“Surprised?” Rabbit stood in his path. “Your sister would have noticed me.” She removed her mask and revealed the sun-kissed face of Momin.

“You?” Huan staggered back. “How?”

Momin stashed her mask in the belt of her robe. “How what?”

“How can you just take it off like that?”

The merchant gave him a look. “That’s a far more basic question than I expected. The answer is that Tuzhi and I were raised together.” She patted her mask. “So she trusts me to return to her.”

Huan shook his head. “It can’t be that simple.”

Momin chuckled. “The Masks are very simple object. If they were complicated, lay folk like us couldn’t use them.”

Huan raised his chin. “Sorry for being lay folk.” Whatever that means. “I’m going.” He stepped to the side.

Momin mirrored him. “Laohu doesn’t want to be left alone, and he definitely doesn’t want to be destroyed.”

Huan pushed past her. “I took it off once. I can do it again.”

“And if you’re thinking of running away,” Momin was walking backwards, “know that if I find you outside the employ of a Souran noble like Lord Kalan, I will be forced to kill you.”

Huan stopped, ice water pouring into his stomach. “Y-you can try.” In the back of his mind, the beast growled. “I won’t go down easy.”

“Oh?” Momin leaned in. “What about your sister?”

Huan’s hand dropped to his sword hilt. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

Momin grinned. “Then don’t run away from this fight, Huan Li.”

She knows my real name!

“Oh, it looks like they’re finished.” Momin put on her mask.

Huan glanced at the others. They were still talking. “Really?”

“Oh, not them.” Momin pointed. “Them.”

The kid patted the warrior and the bug on the head and then climbed up the tree as they started to approach the rest of the group.

Crap. Huan followed Momin’s lead and put on Tiger’s mask and then ran back to the others. “They’re coming!” He took up position at the front and drew his sword. “Stay behind me. I’ll protect you.”

Odette aimed her crossbow. “Go, Lu.”

The bug’s eyes flashed.

“Wait, we’re not-” There was a wrenching crackle. “-up, snap out of it!” Magdala slapped Huan across the face.

Huan fell to the ground. “Wh-what just happened?”

“You were frozen in time.”

***

When thunder boomed through the chamber, Dwayne tried to peek around the massive tree trunk to see what kind of magic had been cast but the tree’s branches and leaves blocked his view. Too bad. He would have liked a distraction from the memories of the last time he’d climbed trees.

Back on the island plantation, Dwayne had been too weak to carry the barrels of sap, and so the overseers had put him to work setting taps high in the boughs of the ambersoul tree where the sap was watery enough to come out, but the other slaves always complained about how he got sick every time he reached the top. To keep them from complaining, Dwayne had learned how to climb, set the tap fast, and get down fast enough to vomit on the ground and not on the other slaves. At the time, he’d assumed he’d had a fear of heights, but right now he was higher than he’d ever been and his head was clear. It was further proof that he shouldn’t have been on that plantation.

“This… magic is amazing.” Below Dwayne, Lord Kalan spoke between pained breaths. “Its scale, its detail, its… independence, all of it amazing.”

Dwayne grinned down at him. “Yeah, there’s nothing like it in the literature. The Yaniti must have known almost everything about magic!”

“They’re all dead now.” Mei was above and ahead of both mages, matching their slow laborious pace.

“Yes, likely annihilated by our ancestors at the start of the Golden Age.” Lord Kalan huffed as he hauled himself upwards. “I’ve read the stories about the epic battle here. According to them, it was glorious, unlike anything before or since.”

The forge, with its shackles and bones, had displayed none of that glory, but Dwayne didn’t want to get on Lord Kalan’s bad side again. “Yeah, sure.”

At least it was easy to climb the tree. Unlike ambersoul trees, which had smooth flaky bark, the giant tree’s bark was deeply grooved with crevices that Dwayne could fit his whole hand into. It was so easy that Mei made it look like walking although it was clear that Lord Kalan needed to spend more time exercising. Still, he didn’t back down, persevering through lost handholds and stubbed toes.

Seeing his master practically swimming in sweat reminded Dwayne of why they were here. His lie. Dwayne looked down. “I’m sorry, master.”

Lord Kalan hauled himself up and stopped next to Dwane. “For… what?”

“I lied. I…” Dwayne cleared his throat. “I just wanted to do something, go somewhere, and I was tired of failing, so I lied and that’s how we got trapped here, and I’m sorry.”

Lord Kalan glanced upwards. They’d nearly reached the top of the trunk, the source of the harsh golden light that filled the chamber. Mei had climbed on top of and was waiting for them to catch up. This wasn’t the time to apologize, but Dwayne had to.

Lord Kalan sighed. “I never told you her name.”

Dwayne blinked. “Who?”

“The woman who gave me Na’cch, her name was Chika.” He smiled. “A simple name for a complicated woman.” Lord Kalan started to climb again, prompting Dwayne to follow. “I met her on the sea, on my way back home from Vanuria. Well, I say ‘met’ her; she led a pirate attack on our fleet. The first time I laid eyes on her, she was throwing fire onto slavers and ordering her crew to free the slaves. When she swung over to my ship, she walked up to me with her fist covered in blue flame and asked ‘Do you own slaves?’” Lord Kalan laughed. “I should have been scared out of my wits. I’ve never been good at sea, at wind or water, but in that moment all I could think about was how beautiful her fist looked covered in flame, and so instead of answering her question, I said ‘Oh, cups please come back with me!’”

Dwayne paused to stare at his master. Mei snorted.

Lord Kalan chuckle at that. “I know. I wasn’t being dignified. Thank you.” With Mei’s help, he climbed onto the trunk of the tree. “Since then, I hadn’t felt that shiver of discovery.” He reached down and offered his hand. “Until tonight.” He pulled Dwayne onto the ledge and then put a hand on each of his shoulders. “Show me.”

Dwayne blinked. “What, now?”

“Yes, now.”

Gulping, Dwayne reached into his pocket for the azade suspension and found shattered glass and gel. Right, the the fall earlier. “Oh, no, is the-” He found the ambersoul vial and pulled it out. It was battered, but still whole. “I don’t know if it’ll work with this.”

Lord Kalan squeezed Dwayne’s shoulders. “Just try.”

“Okay.” Dwayne let out a breath and then, gripping the vial in his left hand, placed his hand on his own right sleeve. “Qesuyit!” Oh. Where casting with the azade had been like twisting open a water faucet - a simple release - the ambersoul slurped up Dwayne’s magic like it was a donkey at an oasis. He tried to cut it off, but not before he felt it drain him. He staggered.

Lord Kalan’s grip kept him standing. “Are you all...” He squeezed Dwayne’s shoulder. “Oh? Oh, you…” A smile chiseled its way onto Lord Kalan’s face. “You’ve done it.”

Dwayne tried to move his right arm, but the cloth, which was as stiff as dragonscale, didn’t let. He grinned. “We did it, master.”

“I’m not sure I’ve earned that.” Lord Kalan patted Dwayne on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get everyone out of here.”

“There’s an entrance there.” Mei pointed over her shoulder.

There was a tunnel, tall enough for a carriage and wide enough for two, that went deeper into the tree, and at the end of it was a curtain of golden light. As they entered it, Dwayne wondered how the tunnel had been formed, though really he wanted to revel in the actual praise he’d finally gotten from Lord Kalan. It was hard to see this trip as a waste of time as a result because between learning a new Ri spell, finally casting a Qe spell, and getting praised, all this had been more than worth it. He even had a guiding principle for properly understanding the Ri spells he’d already cast.

With thoughts of new spells and future praise going through his head, Dwayne was the last one to react when they exited the tunnel, only looking up when he ran into Mei. “Oh, what is it?”

Mei only pointed.

Dwayne went still. The tunnel had led them to the edge of a garden. In it, red, purple and white flowers were arranged around a mirror still pond that reflected tiny star pouring golden light on all of them. The air smelled like nectar and freshly turned earth and felt like the middle of spring.

But they weren’t alone. Across the pond, reclining in a chair hung from a perfectly placed tree branch was a woman wearing a long robe and a tarnished silver crown with a baleful eye in its center.

“Momma!” The child who’d transformed the otter and the armor raced into the room. “Momma!”

Lord Kalan’s expression darkened. “They’re both dressed like Yaniti royalty. How?” He tried to get closer.

Dwayne pulled him back. “Master, I don’t think that’s wise.”

The woman’s eyes snapped to them, her nose crinkling like she’d smelled something foul, and with a grand gesture, she pointed to them and said, “Nullo, humona!”

“Master, we-” Harsh golden light blinded Dwayne.

***

“- should back.” Dwayne blinked. Where was he?

“Get down!” Hands dragged him to the ground as the building next to him exploded, raining ash and debris on him. Dwayne’s savior, a turbaned man whose beard was now more dust than hair, hauled him to his feet. “Run, my child, run!”

Too confused to refuse, Dwayne ran, making his way through the streets of the city, whose shapes looked familiar; The buildings were tall, block-shaped, and looked like they each made out of a single block of stone. This was Yumma, not the pale empty Yumma of the present, but a Yumma whose buildings were painted in dozens of bright colors, a Yumma that was breaking under siege. All around Dwayne, Yumma’s residents, kaftans and veils thrashing, fled the fire bombs and heavy stones descending from the sky.

“Umno!” A woman pointed up. “Umno will stop them!”

A trumpet split the sky, and an elephant the size of a stormcloud, all whirling winds and booming lightning, crashed through the cloud cover and charged, meeting a wall of water that reached to the sky head on. The elephant shoved its six trunks, each made of pure spark and boom, into the wall and vaporized enough water to flood Yumma three times over, but it wasn’t enough. The water kept coming and inch by inch, the elephant was pushed back.

At this stupendous display of magic, Dwayne stopped running and stared. How was this possible? If this was the past, was he stuck here? Was there a way home?

“Umno can stop it.” A man held his hands in prayer. “Heavens willing, he can stop those blue-eyed monsters.”

Umno the elephant rallied. Trumpeting, it stepped back and stretched its trunks wide then pressed forward, this time catching more of the wall in its trunk. The water stopped. There were ragged cheers.

Thunk. An spear, as long as a mountain was tall, impaled the elephant in the back. It took a moment for people, for Dwayne, for even Umno to realize what had happened, but when they did, their cries and screams rent the air. Umno staggered, recovered, and pressed back against the wave, but more spears ripped out of the cloudy sky and sank into the great beast’s flank. It was too much. With a final, heart-wrenching trumpet, Umno fell,.

“We’re doomed!”

“Run!”

Once again, Dwayne ran, this time fleeing the streets and ducking into the alleys. He had some sense of getting outside the city, but those spears, that wall of water, they had to have come from somewhere though he hadn’t seen an army yet, just their weapons. He rounded a counter. Maybe he could slip out of the city get away and figure this out.

In front of him, a Wesen woman landed hard, her toes cracking the pavement. Taller and darker than Dwayne and dressed in a wrap robe, she raised a frost-covered fist, her expression grim and determined.

Dwayne raised his hands, tried to say that he was Wesen, that he was on her side, but what came out of his mouth was, “Don’t hurt me!”

The woman’s lips curled, crinkling the white snowflake tattooed on her cheek. She said something in a language Dwayne should know in his bones, but his ears refused to let him.

Behind Dwayne came a reply in another tongue. Dwayne turned around to see that a man, pale skinned and blue eyes and dressed in thick furs, had joined them. He was clearly Souran and the words he spoke that the right shape, yet Dwayne could not understand. The Souran and the Wesen had an argument where they pointed out Dwayne’s his chin, his shoulders, his teeth, but didn’t once actually talk to him.

Someone sniffed Dwayne’s neck and Dwayne turned to his left where a person in a hideously detailed wolf mask glared at him. At least Dwayne had thought it was a mask until the person sniffed again and the mask’s nose crinkled. It barked.

That ended the argument. The other two nodded at the wolf, who knocked Dwayne back against the wall.

No, he wasn’t going like this. Dwayne tried to bring up his fist, tried to summon his magic, but his body wouldn’t listen.

Meanwhile the three formed up.

The Wesen aimed her fist. “yRi'ou’im!”

The Souran pointed. “Qenutgereut!”

The wolf pounced.

As cold sank into his bones, as blood drained out of him, as teeth closed on his neck, Dwayne heard the rustling of leaves in the wind.

***

Huan took up position in front of Magdala, blocking her view of the mantis and the barbarian. “I’ll protect you.” He assumed a basic stance with his sword drawn.

“Wait,” shouted Magdala, “we’re not-”

The air crackled, and Huan, his clothes, everything, froze in place. Magdala stumbled back from him, her eyes wide. Was this the barbarian’s ability? She looked around. No, he was gone, but the giant mantis wasn’t, its eyes intent as it stalked towards them.

“Odette!” Lady Pol tugged at her companion, whose crossbow bolt hung in the air in front of her. “Odette!”

What had Dwayne said about the suit of armor? “How is this shooting lightning?” Magdala asked. “Or moving fast?”

“Change of form, change of magic.” Lady Pol sniffed then scowled. “Obviously, we need to-”

“Duck!” Mrs. Momin’s flying kicked knocked the barbarian’s hammer off course and into the chamber wall.

Magdala laughed. “Good job!” A weapon thrown was a weapon lost. “Now we can…No…” The barbarian raised his hand. “No, don’t.” The hammer dropped into the barbarian’s hand. “No, no, no, that’s not fair!”

“Stop complaining,” Mrs. Momin rushed past Magdala, “and start running.”

“No.” Lady Pol pointed at the barbarian. “Start fighting. Qemilo!”

Her gale blew the barbarian back into the tree trunk, but the mantis held on and kept advancing. Already it was almost to Huan, its double jaws opening anticipation. Was it going to bite his head off, like its much smaller cousins? Magdala couldn’t let that happened. Mei would never forgive her. Magdala ran at the mantis.

“Qemilo! What are you doing?” Lady Pol had to shouted over her cyclonic assault. “Get back here!”

What was she doing? Magdala didn’t have a weapon, no sword or crossbow or hand-cannon thing, but the mantis didn’t know that, so… she could bluff, couldn’t she? “Hey. Hey!” Shoving her hands in her cloak, Magdala got between the mantis and its prey. “Hey!”

The mantis’s eyes shifted to her. Hoping that it was surprised, Magdala kept her hands hidden. “Back off or I’ll blow you up!”

To her ears, that didn’t sound at all convincing, but the mantis pulled back turned its head and hissed at its partner who barked back. Right, they can communicate. How much had the otter told the armor? With a hiss of acknowledgment, the mantis faced Magdala, its curled up forelegs moving into position.

Oh, she didn’t have any armor. It was going to cut her in half.

“Fool!” Mrs. Momin kicked the mantis in the side, which knocked it over and gave the merchant time to grab Magdala and haul her back. “That was reckless.”

Magdala nodded weakly. That had been too close and worse if her mother heard about this, Magdala would never see the light of day again. Still despite the chagrin and the terror, a grin found its way onto her face. “We have to adapt. This isn’t working.”

“Qemilo!” Allowing her spell to push the barbarian back again, Lady Pol joined the two of them. “I can’t keep this up. We need to figure out what they can do and,” her jaw tightened, “why the mantis targeted Odette and that bodyguard.”

Magdala watched the barbarian help the mantis to its feet. “They aren’t dumb, even in animal form. So maybe they’re going with who they’re familiar with?”

“Perhaps. That hammer was going for you.” Mrs. Momin kept her eyes on the barbarian. “Lady Pol, what is your companion’s armament?”

“Normal crossbow bolts and a number of Wind Qe infused ones.”

“Oh?” Mrs. Momin raised an eyebrow. “Extravagant.”

Lady Pol shrugged. “Not compared to one of Tuqu’s sacred treasures. Excuse me. Qemilo!” Once again the barbarian was pushed back. Lady Pol gestured at Huan. “What about him?”

“He’s an okay swordsman,” answered Magdala.

“And he wields one of Tuqu’s sacred treasures,” said Mrs. Momin, “badly.”

Magdala sighed. “I wish Mei were here.”

“As do I,” said Mrs. Momin.

“Well, she’s not,” said Lady Pol. “Magdala, what do you understand about their underlying thaumaturgical principles?”

Magdala grimaced. Why was she asking about that now? The barbarian and the mantis were on their way. “No, um…” Wait, she could answer the question. “Time and…space? The otter can connect spaces, and the barbarian can summon the hammer from anywhere. The armor could speed itself up so the mantis can stop time for others.”

“And?” Mrs. Momin was growing agitated. “How does that help us?”

“It suggests a course of action,” said Lady Pol. “Mrs. Momin, I’ll need you to take on the mantis. Break its hold on Odette and the boy.”

Mrs. Momin’s frown was clear even through her mask. “I can’t do that alone.”

“Young Gallus will help you.”

Magdala’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Lady Pol cracked her knuckles. “I’ll take on the barbarian. Then together when they’re down, we’ll take on this tree before that idiot does something stupid. Go!” She spoke a single syllable and rocketed over to the barbarian.

Magdala stared. “So cool.”

“Hey!” Mrs. Momin snapped her fingers in front of Magdala’s face. “Gawk later. Focus. Do you have any idea how to take on that mantis?”

Which had almost reached Odette and Huan.

“I think we do exactly what we did before.” Magdala still needed a weapon. “I distract it. You hit it. Hard.” In desperation, she put her hands in her pockets and found something. It would have to do. “Any magic that maintains an effect over time like that requires concentration. Don’t hold back.”

Mrs. Momin narrowed her eyes. “That is not a-“

“Go!”

“Wait!”

Again Magdala ran at the mantis, which saw her and turned to meet her, its forelegs already spread wide. Before entering its range, Magdala skidded to a stop, pulled out the block of lead, and shouted, “Qeplosion!”

Despite that being the dumbest thing she’d ever said, the mantis flinched and bring up both of its forelegs up to block a blast that never came. Then with a whoosh, Mrs. Momin was there, delivering a double kick to the mantis’s side, no its blocking foreleg? The mantis rebuffed the spy’s attack and slapped her to the ground. With a hiss, it raised a foreleg to strike.

No, they would not, could not, fail. Rushing forward, Magdala jumped onto the mantis’s back and brained it with her lead block. The air crackled, the mantis bucked Magdala off, and she and Momin backed off.

“Did it work?” Magdala looked to Odette and Huan. Both were still stuck. “Oh, come on!” Magdala marched over to Huan and slapped him. “By the cup, snap out of it!”

He fell to the ground. “Wh-what just happened?”

It worked. “You were frozen in time,” answered Magdala.

“What did you say?” Odette shook her head. “How?”

“I don’t know, but the mantis stopped time for you and Huan.” Magdala cupped her hands around her mouth. “Lady Pol, it worked!”

The noble dodged a punch and then slid under the barbarian. “Qemiear!” As her spell sent the barbarian up into the boughs of the tree, Lady Pol flew back and caught Odette in a hug. “You’re all right!”

Odette smiled through a wince. “Are you jealous that I’m that much younger than you now?”

“No,” Lady Pol glared up at her, “I’m jealous that you got to take a break. You’ll have to make it up to me.”

“Oh?” Odette watched her breath hang in the air. “Huh, when did it get so cold?”

“Oh, no.” Magdala looked up at the tree, whose leaves were beginning to whiten with frost. “It’s the barbarian.”

Lady Pol’s lips pursed. “I suspect that the hammer is about to come-” She coughed.

Odette looked her over. “How much magic have you cast?”

“I’m fine.” Lady Pol took a deep breath. “I can take him.”

The barbarian dropped out of the tree, holding a long white rod aloft.

Magdala grimaced. “Where’s the rest of his…oh…”

The head of the hammer emerged from the boughs of the tree, a two dozen wir long and dozen wir wide block of ice covered in writhing archaic symbols. As the barbarian dropped, the mantis righted itself and trained its bulbous eyes on the party.

“That’s too big to kick,” said Momin.

“We should run,” said Huan.

“Where to?” Odette reloaded her crossbow with a glowing bolt. “They’ll just chase us.”

Magdala flicked her eyes from the hammer to the mantis and back. No, they couldn’t run, and they couldn’t block that giant hammer, but they couldn’t let the mantis and the barbarian work together. Their backs were against the wall. But she wasn’t out of ideas. First they had to-

“Dodge!”

They scattered out from under the hammer, which slammed and burst into the ground sending leaves, frost, and ice shards in every direction. Using her cloak to shield herself from the onslaught, Magdala tried to discern the next step of the plan, starting with the question: why hadn’t the mantis’s attack stopped time for all of them? The answer came to her when she thought back to the mantis’s opening attack. Odette and Huan had been in front blocking the mantis’s view of everyone else. “We need a smokescreen.”

“What did you say?” Lady Pol was shivering.

“How would smoke help?” asked Huan.

Magdala glanced at their opponents. The barbarian’s hammer had shrunk back down to normal size as its owner slid back to protect the mantis. They had to hurry. “The mantis has to see us to stop t-time for us.”

“Understood.” Lady Pol pointed to the ground. “Odette, if you please.”

Odette gave her a look. “Are you sure? Okay.” She fired a glowing arrow into the ground. A gust of wind hit a moment after, throwing leaves, dirt, and frost into the air. “And that was my last windbolt.”

Huan stared. “And we used it on- ow ow ow!”

Mrs. Momin pulled Huan away by his ear. “We’re going.” They entered the smokescreen.

Lady Pol staggered.

Odette rushed to her. “Lu, are you okay?”

Lady Pol nodded. “I’m fine. Gallus? Gallus?” Her call got Magdala to come voer. “I only have one good strike left in me. Wind won’t cut it, so I’ll have to do… well, you should know.”

Magdala’s eyes widened. “I’ve read the reports but-”

“Shh, no time to get into the details. Give me an opening.” Lady Pol grinned. “Surely Sage Iona’s daughter can do that.”

Magdala went rigid. “I’m not Qe, I’m just nQe and…”

“Does it matter? Go!” Lady Pol pushed Magdala into the smokescreen.

Inside, the sounds of Mrs. Momin’s and Huan’s battle were muffled growls and grunts and yelps and was cold like walking through late winter mist. As she’d requested, Magdala couldn’t see a thing, and if she went the wrong way, her best case scenario was that she ended up far away from the battle and unable to help. So how was she going to make an opening? Her foot knocked against a tree root. Right, they were fighting under a tree. All she had to do was follow it to the tree trunk. She got on all fours and crawled, picking her way over ice chunks and roots as she went.

“Look out!”

The ground shook.

“Get back here!”

The ground shook again. That fight must be epic, one that poets dream of writing about although honestly all of this was pretty poem worthy. All of it except Magdala’s part in it. Up until now, she’d been running around, not thinking, not planning, not even trying to grasp the situation. Well, she’d earn that poem. What did she have? One empty vial, a stopper, the bar of lead, her hair clip, and her cloak. What did she need?

Her hand found the trunk of the tree. Stilling her breath, Magdala listened for any sign of the mantis, straining her ears to filter out the signs of battle. Then after too long, she heard it, a soft whisper of metal on metal.

It was near.

Lady Pol needed two things for her signature move: time and a clear line of sight. Unfortunately braining the mantis would only create the former and not the latter. To create both she’d have to… Make a bomb. She knew just the thing. Quickly she grabbed a chunk of ice off the ground, shoved it into her vial along with a handful of dirt, then broke off a piece of her aluminum hair clip and dropped it all into the vial too. Then she stoppered the assortment, focused on her target effect, and said, “nQerm.”

Now for the hard part. “Hey!” Once again, Magdala stepped out in front of the mantis. “Did you know I could do this?” Screwing her eyes shut, she threw the bomb into its face. “Everyone, close your eyes!”

The vial smashed, and a blast blew dust and mist into Magdala’s face as the back of her eyelids lit up. Magdala was a natural at basic explosions, which created force, but shat she needed was to create a bright light. That’s why she’d included a piece of her hair clip.

As the mantis screamed, it couldn’t close its eyes, Magdala opened hers. The explosion had cleared away the smokescreen, Huan and Mrs. Momin were holding off the barbarian, and there was nothing left between Lady Pol and the mantis.

“Get down, Gallus!” shouted Odette.

Lady Pol raised her voice. “EM!”

The air around the wind mage and its counterpart behind the mantis twisted into themselves and created two tiny storms, that, as Magdala dropped to the ground, unleashed a bolt of lightning arced between them and caught the mantis in the middle. Electricity shook the insect, which convulsed and flailed. When the spell was completed, both its caster and its target collapsed to the ground.

“Blaadu!” The barbarian tossed Mrs. Momin into the air, backhanded Huan and then charged Magdala, his hammer doubling in size.

With Lady Pol down, Odette tending to her, Momin up in the air, and Huan out of position, it was up to Magdala and her little block of lead to defend her. She raised it like a shield.