I rip open the door of the tent. Nysali runs up to me. “Gunshots, from above, and someone’s coming down the elevator.” She says, her eyes wide. I follow her, and Avelihn and Aidan are locked in heated argument, and they turn to me as I approach.

“Ryan, Rallagh has found us, I’m not sure how, so soon, but they have.” Says Avelihn. Aidan nods, then looks towards the elevator. “They’ll be coming down soon.”

“How?” I ask. “Surely the lift controls are at the bottom?”

“Yeah, they are, but if this comes to a siege, we’d lose. Look at us.” He says, pointing down at his own body. “Lean, no body fat on us, and we only hunt what we need - we don’t stockpile. Helps avoid attention.”

“Then we’ll attack them as soon as they come down.” I suggest. Aidan shakes his head. “Guns, mate. They have guns. Incarnates may be able to get around that, may be strong enough or fast enough to deal with them, but my people aren’t.”

Avelihn is shaking her head slightly. “Damn that curse.” She says. “We’re not dealing with a clearance squad. Elijah’s here…”

Aidan sighs. “Then we have no hope.”

“How did he find us?” I ask. Avelihn shakes her head. “The rumours about a beast taking a women, then that women running off into the forest to find him will have made the rounds in the villages. Elijah is an effective Inquisitor, he has people in the villages that tell him of suspected Incarnates. Then he sends people out to corner and kill them, or capture them. This time, he’s come personally. I don’t know why.”

Nysali shifts uncomfortably.

Aidan roars in frustration, and then shouts to all the wolves to grab any armor they can find. “I’m a damn pilot, not a military tactician. What the hell do we do?”

“There’s only one thing to do. The dungeon. We have to enter it.”

“There’s-“ his words are cut off by a gunshot.

We turn. There’s a man in the centre of the cave. His gunbarrel is smoking. It looks like a revolver. He’s tall, with white hair and slightly wrinkled skin. He holds one arm behind his back, then fires again before anyone can react. How the hell is he here already?

Two wolves die in a second. Aidan clasps me on the back, then charges. Two more shots before Aidan even reaches him. The man smiles. Each shot kills a wolf, with a precision I would have thought impossible. He’s more like a turret than a man, picking his targets in a fraction of second and pulling the trigger before anyone even realizes they are in the sights.

Aidan kicks up sand from the ground, and Elijah flickers as the dust envelops him. Then he’s gone. Aidan looks around, and smacks a nearby wooden torch in anger. I’m dumbstruck, completely disabled by fear… yet… there’s something else there. Something I can’t quite place.

“Aidan. We need to go.” Avelihn shouts. He looks up at her, and nods, defeated and sorrowful.

“We don’t know when he’ll be back. I don’t even know how he got it. The dungeon is the only refuge.”

Nysali plants her crossbow on the ground, then leans against it. The tight fabric of her clothing presses against her breasts, but I avert my eyes, refusing to look, refusing to make her wounds any deeper. If she notices, she doesn’t say anything about it, instead pitching in on the plan of survival. As I should be doing.

“Is there no back-passage, no alternative entrance, not even an escape tunnel?”

“This isn’t a war camp, Nysali. It’s a forge. I was hoping that clearing the dungeon would allow to to fight back, this was a last effort.”

She snorts in derision. “Now look where that’s gotten you.”

Aidan snaps to her eyes, and his hands uncurl from fists. His blood is up, and she’s taunting him. Not a good choice.

Avelihn puts her hand over Nysali’s mouth. “Shut up, girl. Aidan has just lost four of his own.”

I walk forward, towards the dungeon. “Then, should we get everyone in?” I ask. Why am I always asking? Two of the three here are here for me. “We need to get everyone moving. Now.” I say. Aidan turns to me, nods, then shouts to the werewolves to get moving.

It takes only a small while to pack everything essential. I’m impressed how easily they leave their lives behind. I notice some of the Casai come out of the wet tent, and they follow. Fenni also comes, dressed in thick and ragged shorts. His upper half is bare, but he is covered by a blanket. He runs up to us, then spits into his hand.

“Lick it…” he says, playful but serious at the same time. Aidan rubs his brow. “Not the time for antics, Fenni.”

He looks over, and he drops the playful aspect from his face. “Seriously, do it.”

I sigh, and lick his hand.

ALERT: POTION INGESTED. EFFECTS UNKNOWN

The hell?

“Yep. Started being able to do it this morning.” He says smiling.

“You have a class now?” says Avelihn, then looks at me. “Fantastic.”

“I don’t seem to be able to control when I give it out.” I say, and Fenni laughs. “No, you don’t.” He says, then winks at me.

“Either way, I think I want to accompany you.” He says, then gets close to me and rubs his hand across my abdomen, going lower and lower until he’s just about to touch me where I would honestly really love him to again, but a step back.

“That’s probably a bad idea. I have no idea what’s going to be in the dungeon.”

He looks back at me and puts a finger on his lips. “Silly, I’m going into the dungeon anyway. I mean after.”

“Oh.” I say. Why am I so god damn flustered? Over a guy, too? I put on a strong voice. “Let’s talk about it later.” I point to the mass of werewolves that are passing down the tunnel, Aidan left some time ago to shepherd them. “We need to go, now.”

“Okay.” He says, then looks me over once. Nysali walks towards the dungeon, then looks back, her eyes lingering on Fenni just a second longer than me. I am about to follow when the elevator on the other side of the cavern screeches, and falls. It rakes across the sides, banging around and sending waves of splintering wood before cracking in half and smashing into the ground.

Dust chokes the air, and I try to see what’s happened. A single man walks forward, one arm behind his back, the other holding a long-barrelled revolver. He smiles at us, then six other men step out from the elevator’s remains, each holding what looks to be an assault rifle.

Finally, one massive thing steps out of the wreckage. Humanoid in shape, but it’s made of metal, and it walks with the whining of machinery straining against itself.

They have a god damn mech suit.