An hour later, they lay together in the tent, their clothes thrown off to the side somewhere. She nestled against him, her face buried against his neck, her hair spilled out over his chest. He held her with one arm.

“I can hear your heart beating,” she whispered, running a finger round his belly button.

“That tickles,” he said. Smiling, he reached down to push her hand away.

She smacked his hand away and kept circling his belly button. She kissed his neck. “When we get back to Sin-Amuhhu, let’s get an apartment.”

“What?”

“I heard a rumor. Once we’re back, and we get paid, it’s going to be something like two or three hundred shekels. If you and I pool our money, we could afford it.”

He thought about it. He and Katayoun, getting a tiny apartment somewhere in Sin-Amuhhu. Living together. Maybe they could have a vegetable garden. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

They whispered into the night. For a short time, they forgot about everything outside the tent. The monsters and the death.

They were happy.

It didn’t go unnoticed that Xerxes and Katayoun emerged from the same tent in the morning. They weren’t the only ones. Ningal and Atra-Hasis had spent the night in each other’s arms.

Nobody said anything.

Xerxes couldn’t keep hold of his bliss upon waking and seeing all the dried blood and grim faces around him. Morale was at rock-bottom. Their mission had been described as an overland journey and an escort job. Instead, it was turning into a death sentence.

But after the previous night, at least Xerxes wasn’t hovering on the brink of despair.

As promised, Gandash pushed them to their limits.

He had Dasi shapeshift into the form of an eagle and fly high into the sky to keep an eye on the surrounding terrain.

It started raining. Not a downpour, just a light drizzle, enough to make the air cool, but not soak them. It felt nice.

The next attack came after the lunch hour. It wasn’t as dramatic or shocking as the night-time battle. There were none of the large or massive juveniles.

Instead, it was a horde of the rat-like Abhorrent, intermixed with even smaller, leech-like creatures with wings.

They fell upon the company without any warning, erupting from the underbrush like bees from a hive.

Five soldiers were dead before the company as a whole realized what was happening.

It was complete chaos. No line of shields could stop flying leeches. And the rats seemed smarter than before, squirreling past the feet and legs of the armored heavy infantry to attack easier targets.

Xerxes felt almost useless. Neither his understanding of the Epitome nor his spellcasting could do much against an attack by vermin.

It boiled down to frantically stomping on rodents and slapping the flying lumps of wriggling flesh out of the sky.

Within minutes of the opening attack, Xerxes was bleeding from numerous wounds. The flying leeches had circular mouths with razor-sharp teeth that spun as if on ball bearings. They couldn’t pierce armor, but they sliced through ordinary cloth with relative ease.

It took thirty minutes to eradicate enough of the pest-like Abhorrent that the survivors scuttled away into the shadows.

Afterward, the company’s surgeon and others with medical experience bandaged the wounded. As a result, the company as a whole had to stay in place on the road for nearly an hour.

The Balatu mages were judicious in their healings. As per Gandash’s orders, they only cast spells to heal life-threatening wounds. But Xerxes could still see melam flow as Katayoun and the other healers did their work.

“We’re sitting ducks,” Jad muttered. “We should be moving.”

“They have to bandage everybody up,” Teucer said. “It’d be stupid to waste healer melam on what amounts to some scratches.”

“True,” Kashtiliash said, rubbing his arm where a leech had burrowed into the crook of his elbow.

While they talked, Xerxes kept his eyes on Katayoun, who was working side by side with the surgeon. More than ever, he need to always know where she was.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. Jad wasn’t letting go of his anger over Enusat’s death. Every chance he got, he complained about Gandash or tried to subvert his authority.

For the time being, the other mages he shared his resentment with did little more than grunts and nods.

Gandash still commanded respect and authority, despite the low morale and disastrous night battles.

They were on the move again, rushing toward what the map indicated was the first and only town they would pass through on the way to Puabi.

As they trudged through the final league, a meteor shower started. At first, it wasn’t as dramatic as the previous massive meteor shower. There were only a few scattered streaks of light visible through the clouds and rain. Until the massive ball of burning fire appeared.

As soon as Xerxes’ saw it, his heart sank. Everyone craned their necks as the huge falling meteor rumbled overhead, then disappeared beyond their field of view. Moments later, a distant thumping sound echoed out, followed by a cloud of dust rising into the air.

“Dasi!” Gandash shouted.

She didn’t need him to explain the orders. She shapeshifted and flew in the direction of the meteor.

The rain started to fall in earnest then, a steady stream that caused pools of muddy water to build up everywhere.

Meanwhile, the company formed ranks. Dasi returned only ten minutes later.

Returning to human form she yelled, “A big one’s coming right toward us. It’s a variation on the kind with arms. It’s massive. Probably stage five or six.”

Almost as if in coordination with her words, they heard a muffled thump in the distance. Then another.

“It’s coming,” someone said.

“Unsighted, fall back!” Gandash yelled. “Mages, get your components ready. Dasi, I want you to shrink the thing down. Xerk, you lead the Asgagu mages and get on top of it. Once you’re there, use Minor Augmentation on your sword and stab the fuck out of the thing. Get to its brain as quickly as possible. Then—”

A shadow fell over them, and then the gigantic Abhorrent smashed into the nearby forest. There was no more time for orders.

Xerxes ran forward, pulling out a handful of stibnite talc to cast Minor Augmentation. Before he could, a massive hand crashed through the trees, grabbed him, and flung him to the side. He hit a tree, and everything went black.