Standing at attention outside an ornate room tiled with intricate repeating patterns, Mei glanced at the other guard. She was clutching her spear so tightly, her hands shook with the effort. She was afraid too although Mei was more concerned with where she was than with what was happening outside. Nothing here felt quite real, a feeling that was bolstered by the thick bearded deep bronze face she’d caught a glance of in a mirror.

“You must go.” The reedy voice came out of the room Mei was guarding. It sounded like High Tuquese, which didn’t match where they stood. She doubted even the farthest edges of the Empire looked like this place.

“No,” the other person replied in a clipped, cultured, and familiar tones, “you must come with us, my husband!”

During the course of this argument, Mei had learned that the speakers were the emperor and his consort, that their empire was under attack, and that the consort desperately wanted the emperor to run away.

“We’re losing.” The emperor sounded tired. “I have to go out there and make sure that our retreat doesn’t turn into a rout.”

“But they’ll kill you?”

“It’s the only way to keep you and Pari safe.” The emperor lowered his voice. “Call for Nullo. Have them protect you in Vuse. I must go.” As his consort broke down into sobs, the emperor stepped out into the hall. A head shorter than Mei, he was dressed in red and blue robes and wore a crown bearing an encircled red eye on his head.

He turned to Mei. “Your lives for theirs.” There were bags under his wide brown eyes and resignation.

Mei and the other guard’s left fists came up in an unfamiliar salute. “Yes, my liege.”

As Mei tried to figure out how she’d know that salute, the emperor turned and marched down the hall, sweeping up warriors and couriers in his wake.

The other guard sighed. “Let’s go.”

She led Mei into the room where the empress knelt in front of a small tree, her hands clasped in front of her. As Mei watched, the tree rustled as if blown by the wind and shone like a golden sunrise.

***

Mei’s eyes snapped open and she sat up. “Where am I?”

Lord Kalan pulled back from her, confusion and relief fighting for space on his face. Mei frowned. Why hadn’t he understood her? Oh, she’d spoken Tuquese not Souran. She opened her mouth to repeat the question, but Lord Kalan’s hand covered her mouth before she could. He shook his head and then gestured down and started to draw pictures in the dirt. No, not pictures. Words.

Mei peered at them. They were just like the scribbles in Dwayne’s notes, but that meant they were just as intelligible. She shook her head. Lord Kalan goggled at her and then traced out a Tuquese character, one that Mei vaguely recognized from road signs back home but had never needed to heed. Once again, she shook her head. Staggered, the noble mage sat back and stared at Mei, who turned her attention to their surroundings.

Lord Kalan had dragged her into cover behind a low ridge that had ripped itself up out of the garden floor and was the reason why they were no longer caught in the golden light, which filled the rest of the garden and cut them off from the tunnel they’d come in by. Unfortunately he’d only been able to save Mei. Dwayne lay in a nightmare plagued sleep between them and the entrance along with the child who lay just a half wir away near trees that formed the edge of the garden. Mei peered closer at the child. They wore a blue tunic too short for them, its collar barely covering a tattoo. An eye in a circle, just like on the emperor’s crown.

Hadn’t Lord Kalan mentioned something about Yaniti royalty?

That was a question for later. Whatever Lord Kalan’s plan was, it had to include rescuing his apprentice, and the child’s could help with that. First, she had to deal with the golden light. She had plenty of powder but only three bullets. Without Maggie to make more, she’d have to make her shots count. Mei loaded her rifle and then wiped away Lord Kalan’s scribblings and replaced them with a simple map that showed the ridge, themselves, Dwayne, the child, and the lady in the chair. When she’d made sure that Lord Kalan understood with some quick gesticulations, she drew two more mounds, one for Dwayne and another for the child, both positioned to put them in shade. Frowning, Lord Kalan pointed at the second mound and shook his head. Mei scowled and jabbed her finger at the map, but the noble mage pointed to his throat then to the lady’s image in the dirt and then to Dwayne’s. He probably wanted Dwayne to attack the lady in the chair. Mei rolled her eyes, hefted her rifle and slid to the left side of the ridge, the side closest to the child, ignoring Lord Kalan’s attempts to stop her. The map was missing one thing and Mei need to actually see it to gauge where it was. Hopefully the golden light didn’t work instantly.

Mei peeked around the ridge and got a brief glimpse of the pond, the lady’s high arched eyebrows, the golden set into her chair, - a distant pillar of light that cut through an endless expanse of night, twisting and turning as it spat out shimmering dots of - before Lord Kalan pulled her back into the ridge’s shadow. He looked her over, his face pale with fear.

Mei waved him away and readied her rifle. Assuming the strange alien imagery was more of the light’s trickery, then she knew where everything was. She fixed it all in her mind. The lady was about three wirs away on the other side of the pond, and she was about half a wir tall in her chair. The star was right above her head. The lady seemed content to hold them back here and wait for her allies to deal with them. She didn’t think they could do anything. She was wrong.

Mei closed her eyes, stood up, aimed, and fired.

The light flickered.

The lady screamed. “NULLO, UIT!”

“Qesueut!”

Mei was pulled back down to the ground, which quaked underneath her. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Lord Kalan hadn’t made two separate ridges but had instead pushed up the ridge they’d been hiding behind and created a shadow that covered both Dwayne and the child. As one, both Mei and Lord Kalan dashed forward and grabbed one person each: she got the child, he got Dwayne. They managed to drag both to the ridge before the golden light flickered back on, brighter than before.

“Pari, pulgisht tghum!

The golden light rose, shrinking the ridge’s shadow and forcing Mei and Lord Kalan to press their backs up against it. They’d succeeded, but had lost ground.

The child stirred in Mei’s arms. “Chei-”

“Shh.” Mei put a finger to the child’s lips and shook her head.

The child nodded and then watched as Lord Kalan awakened his apprentice, covering the boy’s mouth when he tried to speak. Dwayne calmed down and soon he and his master were scribbling in the dirt. Mei left them to it, focusing on checking the child for wounds, ignoring the child’s wide brown eyes and high arched eyebrows. They was fine, just a little scrapped and bruised.

“Pari?” The lady’s voice was choked.

The child Pari got to their feet. Lord Kalan moved to grab them, but Mei fended him off, allowing Pari to place a foot into the golden light and face their mother.

“I’m here, mother. I’m okay,” they said.

Mei stared. What came out of Pari’s mouth was lightly accented High Tuquese although their lips didn’t make the right shapes. It was just like in the dream.

Pari turned to Mei and placed a hand over the tattoo. “I’m Pari. You’re Mei, right? You hunted the big furry thing with a skull for a head with…” She gestured at Mei’s rifle. “That.”

Mei frowned. Big furry thing… “The grimbear?”

Pari nodded. “The grimbear.” They tilted their head. “You were so sad when you had to kill it. Why?”

“She speaks…” Lord Kalan stared. “She speaks Souran.”

Dwayne raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Mei answered the question, carefully speaking Souran so that the others could understand. “I did not want to kill it, just see it.”

“Pari, oma rei!”

“I’m fine, Momma!” Pari glanced at Dwayne and grinned. “You fought Blaadu. You shot fire from your hands!”

Lord Kalan’s astonishment moved to his apprentice. “You did? Excellent.”

Dwayne barely noticed. “You’ve seen our memories.”

“Pari.” The empress’s voice brooked no refusal. “Oma. Rei.”

Pari shook her head. “They’re not bad. They’re just lost.” They reached out to Mei. “You have to stand in Nullo’s light to understand her.”

Mei shook her head. “I don’t want to dream.”

Pari flinched. “Nullo didn’t see me before.” They shook their head. “He won’t do that now.”

Mei glanced at Dwayne, who winced. “This is beyond me.”

She glanced at Pari, whose shoulders were beginning to hunch and sighed. “Okay.” Mei took Pari’s hand and stood up into the golden light and in full view of the lady in the chair. She waited for the dreams, the memories, to catch her, but she felt nothing. The lady in the chair was the woman who’d been praying in front of the little tree. She was the Empress.

Back in the shadow of the ridge, a whispered discussion was had.

“She looks fine.”

“No, you’ll stay here.”

“Master, it’ll be fine.” Dwayne stood up and faced the empress.

“Pari, get away from them.” The empress glared at them. “They hurt Blaadu and Porthop. Their compatriots are fighting them even now.”

Pari gestured to Mei. “Porthop said she-”

“You know what I’ve told you about shapeshifters, alchemists, and,” she sneered at Dwayne, ”fire eaters. They are monsters, monster who took your father away from us. Move away, my child.”

“No.” Pari stepped in front of Mei and Dwayne. “Porthop said that they were nice until I told them to attack Blaadu thinks that-”

“Pari,” the empress rose from her chair, “I’m your mother and you will listen to me. Move. Away.”

“Father said I should go outside when the fight is over.” Pari glanced at Mei. “And I think it’s over. They don’t have memories of us. They’ve not been fighting, not like we were.”

“Your father died to protect you, to protect everything you are.”

“Momma, I-”

“Enough.” The empress sat back down. “Nullo, make her remember.”

“No!” Pari shoved Dwayne and Mei back into the shadow of the ridge but was caught as the golden light turned white. They fell to the ground and into the world of memory.

“That did not go well.” Lord Kalan inched deeper into the shadow. “Did you learn anything?”

Dwayne glanced at Mei. “That light…”

Mei nodded. “Nullo.”

“That light is like the armor or the otter, a creature like them.”

“It’s the tree too.”

“How do you mean?”

Mei couldn’t explain it, but she’d seen the empress with a much smaller version of the tree, and she could feel the garden curl towards them as if it were a hand closing. She reloaded her rifle. “I just do.”

“Right.”

“Kui aman, okau,” said the lady. “Kui aman ye veight!”

“We definitely got Yaniti vowels wrong.” Lord Kalan cracked his knuckles. “I’ll take care of this.”

“No,” said Dwayne. “Did you said that magic wasn’t enough?”

Mei couldn’t watch Pari shiver in that cold white light anymore. “We have to break Nullo.” She closed her eyes, stood up, fired and once again the light flickered behind her eyelids, but it flicked back on just as fast. Mei dropped back down behind the ridge. One shot left. She started to reload.

“Wait,” Dwayne placed his hand on hers, “we need a plan.”

The empress called out and the trees at the edges of the guarding responded, their roots surging towards the ridge.

Mei shook Dwayne off. “We shoot it. We have to hurry.”

The roots were scraping away at the ridge, removing their cover.

“Cups, that’s bad.” Lord Kalan started to rise to feet. “I’ll give you an opening. Just-”

“No!” Dwayne shoved his master back down. “We have to do this together. Mei’s shots aren’t doing enough damage and you will just end up trapped in a dream.” He pulled out his vial of ambersoul and dragonscale. “We need to change it up.”

***

Honestly, neither Huan or the beast cared about Magdala, who was arrogant, bossy, and complained a lot, but when the warrior broke away from their duel to go for the witch, it wounded their pride. After all, who had stolen the armor’s sword and dodged every attack the warrior had dished out, save one? All Magdala had done was throw a shiny firework. To right this wrong, Huan decided to let the beast. Get him.

With a roar, Tiger raced forward and leapt onto the warrior’s back causing him to miss Magdala, but before Tiger could follow up, the warrior reached back, grabbed Tiger by the back of his neck, and flung him to the ground. Head spinning, Tiger swiped to force his opponent back then rolled to his feet and placed himself between the warrior and Magdala.

The thief winced. You can’t keep taking hits like that.

Rabbit called out. “You have to keep control, boy.”

The warrior beckoned Tiger with a hand.

Bastard! Tiger charged. When the warrior swung wide to slam Tiger’s, he ducked under the blow and thrust his sword at the warrior’s side, but his opponent spun away, raised his hammer and tried to bring it down on Tiger’s side. It was a slow clumsy attempt and Tiger easily sidestepped it then countered with a high slash at the neck, but the warrior leaned out of range and wound up for another wide slow swing.

As Tiger dodged yet again, the thief stirred. This didn’t feel right.

Unlike the armor, the warrior’s face was visible, and it had a distracted look, like its owner’s attention was actually elsewhere. That dismissal infuriated Tiger. Throwing away all thought, he began to rain attack after attack on his opponent, and time and time again, each one was dodged, parried, or blocked and the warrior’s face never showed an inkling of interest.

The thief tried to get Tiger’s attention. This has to be a trap.

But Tiger could only see continued insult. Screaming, it leapt into the air with its sword raised high, and the warrior punched him in the stomach. Gasping, Tiger fell to all fours as the warrior slammed his hammer into his true target Rabbit, who’d tried to use the openings that Tiger had made. In moments the tables had turned: Rabbit lay groaning in a patch of golden light, Tiger was fading fast, and the warrior had walked away, his trap sprung.

The beast slunk back and Huan crawled to Rabbit. “Momin.” He turned her over.

When he turned her over, she winced and wheezed. “That thing is too smart.”

“It wanted you the whole time.” Huan glanced at the warrior, who’d started to search the battlefield. “Why you?”

Momin slid off her mask and coughed. “We don’t have time. You must get Laohu to- Move!” She pushed Huan out of the light as it turned harsh and white. Her eyes widened despite its brilliance and she gazed upward in wonder.

“Momin? What are you doing?” Huan looked to Odette. “Help!”

But the archer had her own troubles. Lady Pol, her eyes gazing upward, said nothing as her companion shook her. “Luisa! Luisa, what are you…” Odette looked up and was lost.

Chills traveling down his spine, Huan got to his feet and edged away from the bright patches of light. Whatever this enchantment was, it had taken all three of the adults, leaving himself and the witch to fight the warrior. Huan faced his opponent, who was frowning at the top of tree.

So this was a surprise to him too. Huan had two choices: fight and die here or run and die later. Maybe Momin wouldn’t have presented him with a third option. He’d never know now.

With a shrug, the warrior resumed his search for Magdala, not even throwing a glare back at Huan and it was final dismissal that tipped the balance. Huan would fight. In the back of his mind, the beast limped forward and chuffed.

Yeah, one more time.

***

When Dwayne finished detailing his plan, Mei shook her head. “I can’t make the bullet hit harder. Maggie’s powder is already the best.”

Dwayne’s lips pressed together. He’d have to come up with something else.

“Ah,” Lord Kalan wagged his finger, “but we don’t really require stronger powder. What we require is heat and,” Lord Kalan put a hand on Dwayne’s shoulder, “you’ll provide it.”

Dwayne’s heart sank. “Can’t you modify the powder? I could focus on hardening her weapon.”

“Rifle,” corrected Mei. “In Souran, it’s rifle.”

“Impossible.” Dwayne’s master slapped his hand against the ridge. “Qesueut!” It reformed, but the roots resumed their work. “Even if I could do nQe magic like my niece, I have to maintain this barrier. Its far simpler for you to do it. You’ve created a fireball. You can do this.”

Mei shot a glance at Dwayne’s hands. “Are you going to set my rifle on fire?”

“No, but I-”

“Then there’s no problem.” Lord Kalan pressed his hands against the ridge. “You’d best get started. Qesueut! I only have a few of these in me.”

Dwayne’s hands fell to his side. “But I can’t!” Performing something so precise required practice and he couldn’t mess up here.

On the other side of the ridge, the lady in the chair called out, “Nullo, imo uve com.” The tree roots redoubled their efforts.

“Qesueut! Listen, Dwayne.” Lord Kalan’s face was covered in sweat. “Despite my neglect and incompetence, you are becoming a fine mage. You can do this.”

“Veitch, cuim oup!” The trees leaned down and brought their branches to bear.

“Cups. Qesueut!”

It was now or never. Clutching the ambersoul vial, Dwayne turned to Mei and hovered a hand over her rifle. “May I?”

Mei’s grip on her rifle tightened, but she nodded.

Dwayne touched the long end of her weapon. “Qeuiyit” The rifle gleamed. “Now, where should I make a fire?”

Stone-faced, the hunter opened up the top of her weapon, where a little pan sat. “Here.” She closed it up and placed his hand over it. “Don’t make it in the barrel. Don’t burn me. I will shoot on three. Understand?”

If only nervousness or fear or regret fueled this spell, but Dwayne had to summon rage. “Understood.”

“One.” Mei closed her eyes.

Oh, rage was so distant now after making up with Lord Kalan, finding a new Ri spell and finally, finally casting a Qe spell.

“Two.” Mei’s breath slowed.

Then Dwayne’s eyes slid to the small form clad in blue, twitching on the grass in the harsh pale light. Turns out he didn’t to be angry at himself. What parent put their child through that?

“Three.” Mei stood up and Dwayne shouted “Ri’mwe’po!” as she pulled the trigger. The resulting bang knocked them both down and the white light winked out and a hollow tearing sounded out. The garden’s spring air chilled as a dry wind blew through. They could still see. The white light had been replaced by a softer light. His ears still ringing from the rifleshot, Dwayne peeked over the ridge and gasped. There was a tear in the air above the lady’s chair and beyond it stretched the open desert and right at the horizon stood the ruins of Yumma. They’d made it out.

“Finally,” Lord Kalan clapped Dwayne on the back, “take that exit. I’ll go and retrieve the others.”

“Where’s Pari?” asked Mei. “Where’s the empress?”

Dwayne looked around, but Pari and her mother had disappeared. “I… maybe they were memories too.”

“No, they were real.” Mei tried to get past Lord Kalan. “We have to get them.”

“No, I’m not risking you two any further.”

“Master,” Dwayne stood up. “What about Magdala and the others? We have to…” He reeled and sank to his knees.

Lord Kalan, still holding Mei by the arm, looked Dwayne over. “Thaumaturgical shock. It looks like neither of you are fit to fight. Let’s get you out of here. Qesueut!”

As the ground beneath them rose into the air, Lord Kalan released Mei and jumped off. She tried to join him, but the platform bucked and forced her back on.

“I’ll need you to trust me for just a little bit longer, Mei,” Lord Kalan said. “I’ll get your brother and everyone else out safe, I promise.” Then he ran out the back of the garden. It was the most heroic Dwayne had ever seen his master be.

Still, Mei tried to go after him, but Dwayne caught her arm. “Wait, Mei.”

“I have to go. He needs me. And Pari-”

“Please, just trust Lord Kalan. Huan isn’t alone. He has Magdala and Lady Pol and Odette. They’ll get out.”

The platform of earth dumped them onto the desert sand where they could gaze back through the rent in the air into the wilting garden.

Mei’s hands curled into fists. “They can’t stay with her.”

It took Dwayne a moment to figure out who she meant. “We did our part for Pari.” He wasn’t sure that either the child or their mother were real, but Mei didn’t need to hear that. “They saw our memories. They know that war ended.”

Mei sniffed. “Do you think we’ll meet again?”

Dwayne swallowed a wince and instead shoved warmth into his voice. “Yes.”

Mei sniffed again. “I don’t have any more bullets. I help pull them through.”

“Good.” Dwayne lay down and let the world spin. “That sounds good.”

***

Before the comforting golden light had turned pale and icy, Magdala had been hiding in a knothole big enough to hold two of her because seeing the barbarian’s hammer nearly smash her to pieces had shattered any courage she had left. All she wanted to do was to go home and finally write that letter to her mother. Yes, part of her was appalled that she was cowering so. She’d faced down bandits and dragons and even the barbarian’s otter form and proved that she could stand her ground, but she didn’t want to die, especially in a spatial bubble underneath a desert ruin. Why hadn’t she been scared all those other times?

Now with the pale light had sucked all color out of the air, leaving everything in shades of light and dark like winter had fallen early. Why the light change? They hadn’t done anything to the tree. Magdala’s breath caught. No, no one down here had done anything to the tree. Mei and Dwayne and her lord uncle must have done something and there was nothing that would stop the three of them. All she had to do was make sure that everyone down here lived long enough to make it out.

She realized why she hadn’t been scared those other times, with the otter, with the dragon, with the bandits. She hadn’t been alone.

Her fear vanquished, Magdala made her way out of the knothole and back over to the others, sticking to the shadows as much as she could. It was bad. Lady Pol, her companion, and Mrs. Momin were all staring up at the light, their faces wet with tears and slack with awe, and the barbarian paced the shadows. The light wasn’t stopping time, Magdala saw Lady Pol blink, so she should be able to just move them, but why hadn’t the barbarian just killed them?

The answer to that question darted between the spots of light then pounced, but the barbarian blocked the sword strike then tried to push a masked Huan into the light, but the boy somersaulted away. As Huan attacked again, it became clear that, for all his size and the clumsiness of his weapon, the barbarian was too skilled for Huan. The only reason why Huan’s hit-and-run tactics worked at all was because the barbarian was warily searching the shadows almost like he was…

He was searching for her. It made sense. To him, she was the girl who’d broken the lake and blinded the mantis, both actions that had ended fights, and he’d always targeted her first. She’d be flattered if that weren’t so terrifying. To stave off panic, she focused on her goal: taking the barbarian née otter down. Could she free the adults? Would that worth it? Mrs. Momin looked hurt, Lady Pol’s magic was spent, and Odette had said that she was out of those wind Qe crossbow bolts. She’d fired her last one at the ground. Could Magdala use that? All she had to do was get it, throw it at the barbarian and Huan could finish it off.

Now where was that bolt? Magdala stayed low and crawled over to the chamber wall, her eyes scanning the ground. She finally found the bolt halfway between its owner and the giant tree. Or, in other words, right in the middle of Huan’s fight with the barbarian. Great.

Okay, new plan. Maybe she could create another bomb? No, the barbarian had seen it once and she was out of vials. Could she grab Odette’s crossbow? No, she’d never trained with a crossbow. There were lines her father would not cross. What if she tossed the lead block into the barbarian’s face and… yeah that was just desperation talking. No way she’d get close enough to do any damage before the barbarian saw her and turned her to paste. But the lead block could do something else.

Pulling the lead block out of her cloak, Magdala stood up slowly, keeping her whole body in the shadows. Then, when the barbarian’s back was to her, she hurled the heavy away from her as hard as she could. It thumped onto the ground far closer than she like, but the barbarian’s response was perfect. He turned and rushed in the direction of the block with a snarling Huan in hot pursuit. With both distractions in play, Magdala ran to the crossbow bolt, tugged it out of the ground and threw it at the barbarian, but with no wind, the bolt tumbled through the air and landed harmlessly in a patch of white light. Magdala gaped at it. What happened?

Her antics drew the attention of barbarian, who whirled around with an angry chitter and tried to close on her, but Huan slashed at that barbarian’s side and forced him to defend. That wasn’t going to last so Magdala ran to the patch of light and stopped. Was touching the light dangerous or did she have to look up at it?

Huan yowled. The barbarian’s hammer had hit him in the shoulder. The thief was still on his feet, but the barbarian’s full attention was on him now and now he was in full defense mode.

Unfortunately time wasn’t going to provide an answer. Magdala had to take the chance. She knelt and snatched the arrow out of the light, feeling a strange knowing that passed when her hand left the light. What was- No time. Magdala looked over the bolt and winced.

The bolt’s magic was clearly spent, the symbols carved into its shaft dark. Could she distract the barbarian by trying to stab him with it or by yelling the words carved on it at him? Magdala’s eyes widened. There were words in Old Iani carved along the bolt’s shaft. That language was Early Yaniti’s predecessor so she couldn’t make out all of it, but she could piece together at least two words. Contain. Charge. What had Lady Pol said? “Wind Qe infused arrows?” It probably wasn’t coincidence that the companion of one of the greatest wind Qe mages alive carried something like this. Magdala wasn’t a Qe mage of any sort, but she had an idea.

Holding the bolt in both hands, Magdala focused on the barbarian’s hammer. It was just frozen water at the end of the day. Her earlier bomb had proved that. “nQerm!”

Hearing her invocation, the barbarian kicked Huan back and charged her, his head of his hammer doubling then tripling then quadrupling in size. He raised it high and brought it down on Magdala, but she thrust the bolt up into the air. The hammer hit the tip of the bolt and-

Whoosh!

Cold mist filled her vision as the hammer’s head sublimated into water vapor. Once again, she couldn’t see anything, but there was a snarl, a thunk, a wail, and all went dark.

“Qemilo.” Soft wind blew the cold mist away, revealing a darkened room, and Magdala’s lord uncle. “Good, you’re alive. I believe Mei will murder me if you’d died.”

“Lord uncle? You did it!” Magdala ran over to him.

“Well, Mei and Dwayne did. I only helped. Where’s everyone else?”

“Here.” Odette carried Lady Pol limp over to them.

Lord Kalan stared. “What happened to her?”

Odette glared at him. “When she wakes up, you will thank her profusely for saving your niece.”

“Well I-”

“Bart!”

“Okay, okay. Where’s Mei’s brother and the other one?”

“We’re here.” Huan Mrs. Momin over to them. “She’s unconscious. What are we going to do about that?”

Magdala looked down and quailed. The barbarian barely less than a wir from her. He was grievously wounded with deep cuts leaking pale fluid. His chest moved. He was alive.

“Oh, uh… maybe we should take him too?” said Magdala. “We could do experiments on him.” She glanced over at the tree, where the mantis’s body lay. Was that a twitch she saw?

Huan raised his sword. “We should kill him.”

“No.” The child appeared between them, arms wide. “No.”

Huan growled. “What are you?”

The child caught sight of the sword in Huan’s hand and pointed. “Shmahar Blaadu la guv.”

“Sorry, I don’t understand.” Huan sneered. “Move.”

The child spat a phrase so fast, Magdala couldn’t parse it. Two tears appeared in the air, one beneath the child and the barbarian, and another beneath the mantis. All three dropped into them and were gone. Magdala only remembered the child’s parting glare.

“Well, that’s that then.” Lord Kalan let out a breath. “We’re going. Qesueut!”

As a platform of earth lifted the party upwards, Magdala sat down and started to compose her letter to her mother.