Dasi flapped her wings as she shot through the sky toward the mountains. The Abhorrent were so far behind her that Xerxes couldn’t make out any details about them. But he could tell they were catching up to their quarry.

“Come on, Dasi,” he said, reaching around to the hilt of his sword. He pulled the weapon off his back. Not that it would do any good until Dasi was at his side. Even though he wasn’t an archer, he suddenly wished he’d brought a bow and arrows. Or even a few javelins.

Dasi caught an updraft, soaring high before tucking her wings against her side and increasing speed rapidly in a dive. However, it only got her so far before she had to spread her wings wide again and gain altitude.

By the time she halved the distance to Xerxes, he got a clear view of the flying Abhorrent. They didn’t correlate to any existing living things he knew. They had wings, of a sort. Massive, leathery appendages that stretched away from oblong bodies. The beasts had single eyes up front, black orbs that glistened wetly as they flew along. Hanging beneath them were dozen of tentacles, octopus-like, except with sharp hooks at the end.

He tried to assess their size, to get an idea of whether they were spawn or juveniles, but the perspective and angle made that difficult.

Dasi raced toward him. The Abhorrent flew after.

One of the monsters angled up, gaining altitude rapidly while the other two got closer and closer to Dasi.

They’re not that big. Probably spawn. There’s no way some spawn will cause real trouble for Dasi.

He loosened his component pouch. His current plan was to wait until Dasi was just about to land. Then he would cast Minor Augmentation and unleash fury on the Abhorrent. He would stab their black eyes, and hopefully kill each one with a single attack. The things didn’t have any natural armor, so it seemed reasonable to assume they would die easily.

The monster who’d climbed into the sky tucked its wings against its body and dove, heading toward Dasi at high speed.

“Watch out, Dasi,” he said, his fingers tightening on the hilt of his sword. “Behind you!”

Dasi noticed at the very last second. She tucked her wings in slightly and veered to the left to avoid the falling Abhorrent.

Except, its tentacles were long. They shot out, the hooks slicing through the air like a farmer’s scythe.

One of the hooks hit Dasi. It knocked her in a loop and caused a puff of feathers.

The diving Abhorrent was now below her. The other two were close behind her. She flapped her wings and tried to gain altitude, but was favoring the wing that had been hit.

“Just get to me, Dasi. I’ll handle them.”

Dasi climbed higher, then higher still. Then she tried to gain speed and distance with another dive.

Xerxes tore his attention from the chase to look around his current position. He had no ranged weapons on his person, but if he could find some good rocks, there was always a chance he could throw them at the Abhorrent.

Unfortunately, the ground was nothing but packed earth, and the rocks were all boulders.

Dasi was now flipping through the air left and right to avoid the Abhorrent and their tentacles. Up and down. Left and right.

All the while, she favored her injured wing. At the moment, they were at least a hundred cubits away from Xerxes’ position, and about half that above the surface of the mountain.

An Abhorrent climbed and dove. It hit her, striking with the backs of its tentacles.

Dasi started falling, reverting to her human shape along the way. Below her were countless sharp rock formations, interspersed with hard-packed earth.

“Fuck,” Xerxes blurted, taking another step forward. Could he throw his sword? Even if he could, there were three enemies to deal with. If he killed one, he would then be unarmed but for Singular Lethality.

Dasi flailed her arms and legs, but quickly tucked them in and reached for her component pouch. Spellcasting while falling out of the sky? It wasn’t impossible. In the Institute, they’d received instruction on how to cast spells in difficult conditions, such as during windstorms or rainfall. But in those situations, the first step was to find a stable place to plant your feet.

There were only seconds to work with. Dasi had to get out her component, trace the rune, and shapeshift back into a flying creature before she got too close to the ground.

Xerxes felt like his jaw was about to fall off from clenching it so tightly.

“You can do this,” he murmured.

He saw melam stirring around her. And then an Abhorrent slammed into her from the side. The melam stopped.

She tumbled as the Abhorrent wheeled away and turned around.

Her arms and legs had gone slack. They whipped in the wind as she fell back-first toward the steep mountain side.

“No. Wake up, Dasi. There’s still time.”

The three Abhorrent soared above her falling form.

She was only ten cubits from the ground.

Five cubits.

Xerxes closed his eyes and looked away when she hit.

Opening his eyes, he saw the Abhorrent dropping down. Dasi had fallen behind a rock outcropping, such that he had no way to see her. But she’d fallen at least fifty or more cubits. Not even a High Seer could survive that.

He broke into a jog, determined to make his way down the slope and slay the Abhorrent. What if, by some wild twist of fate, Dasi had landed in a way that enabled her to survive?

But the Abhorrent were already on the ground. He stopped walking.

Dasi was gone. She had to be.

And the Abhorrent had wings. If he didn’t kill them all with extreme efficiency, one or more could get airborne and quickly bring reinforcements. Juvenile Abhorrent that could outrun him, were stronger than him, and had magical abilities.

He ground his teeth as he stood looking down the slope. Then he took three steps back and leaned against a boulder.

A few seconds later, he heard a piercing, inhuman scream accompanied by a shockwave of melam. One of the Abhorrent shot straight up into the air, surrounded by strands of melam, its odd wings grew in size, while at the same time, the tentacles beneath it entwined around each other.

It was experiencing a breakthrough. Which meant that it had consumed Dasi’s melam from her chambers of energy.

Xerxes felt emptiness growing within him.

The Abhorrent’s multiple tentacles combined into a single, larger tentacle. What was more, its single black eye split apart into four eyes in a diamond configuration.

It shrieked again as it climbed higher into the sky. The other two monsters took to flight, following it away.

Xerxes simply leaned against the boulder for a while. He felt like he should be crying, yet tears wouldn’t come. When he was sure the flying beasts weren’t coming back, he went down the slope.

When he found Dasi’s corpse, he dropped to his knees and threw up.

Her body wasn’t even in one piece. The Abhorrent must have fought over her like wolves fighting over a fallen sheep. And that was after she’d hit the rocks.

Mystic Rabya’s words from a lecture popped into his mind.

“You’re in Military Magic, my friends,” she said. “And military means war. You’re going to see friends die. Maybe in horrible ways. You’ll have to learn to compartmentalize. Put the horror and the sadness away, and focus on practical things. As mages, components are important. Is a fallen friend’s component pouch visible? Take it. Do they have money on their person? Don’t let the enemy get it. You’ll have time for mourning and heartache later. But not in the field.”

He took a deep breath and found Dasi’s component pouch. It was empty.

He muttered a curse.

Dasi’s head, neck, and shoulders were all in one piece. Even in death, she was pretty. Exotic, with her piercings. Memories flashed through his mind. Times in the Institute. The failed attempt to reach the Gateway complex. The infiltration of Puabi.

Crouching next to her, he closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Dasi,” he said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

He carefully unclasped the silver necklace she’d worn and put it away. Perhaps one day he would be able to find her family and give it to them.

The ground was hard, but using his sword, he was able to scrape out a very shallow grave, into which he gathered her remains. After pushing the dirt on top of the hole, he wrenched a small boulder out of the ground and placed it on top.

Looking down at the grave, he thought about offering a prayer.

But to who?

As he considered what to say, he found his breathing turning heavier and more ragged. His cheeks became more slick.

Finally, he prayed, Monad. Pontifarch. I don’t care who you are. We asked for your help, and you didn’t give anything. Did you even hear Kat’s prayer when Jad died? Or did you hear it but just ignore it?

He stood there in the wind, shaking his head slowly as he looked at Dasi’s grave. Then he looked out at the lands below. There was still lots of movement. Perhaps some of the flying Abhorrent. Maybe something else. It was too far to tell for sure.

It was time to leave.

He looked up into the sky. Enusat. Jad. Dasi. Arwia. Kuri. Tizqar. Ningal. Atra-Hasis. Laxu. Vadamerca. I remember all of their names, even if you don’t. You didn’t help us at all. Not one bit. So I’m done offering my prayers to you. Goodbye.

He walked back up the slope, crossed the mountain, then started running down.

Thinking back to Mystic Rabya’s advice, he crushed the tumult within him and focused on the task of getting down the mountains safely. For one thing, he kept checking the skies above him. Now that large flying Abhorrent were part of the scenario, everything was different.

However, none appeared, nor any other type of monster. He made it down the mountain, through the trees, and then ran up the road toward the camp.

Before entering, he stopped to compose himself, initially intending to take a few seconds to simply catch his breath. But the seconds turned into a minute. Then minutes.

The memory of Dasi’s mangled corpse seemed unshakable.

Finally, he entered the camp. Many eyes locked onto him, including those of Sighted and Unsighted. Katayoun rushed over.

“Where’s Dasi?”

He didn’t answer. He just took her hand and pulled her with him toward Gandash’s tent.

Gandash opened the flap as Xerxes neared.

Xerxes stopped a few cubits away. He opened his mouth to speak, only to find words failing him.

Gandash stepped out, his face a stony mask. “Xerk….”

“Dasi’s dead. There are big flying Abhorrent on the other side of the mountain. She shapeshifted into an eagle. They got to her before she could land. I couldn’t—” His voice cracked suddenly, and his throat felt swollen. He swallowed hard. “She’s dead.”

Gandash was clearly trying hard not to react, but couldn’t prevent his cheek from twitching. “I see.”

Feeling more tightness in his chest and throat, Xerxes continued, “The situation is bad. Abhorrent are everywhere. As far as the eye can see. I don’t know how we’ll get to the Gateway. Can I go now?”

“Of course. You’re dismissed.”