“It’s Gydeon, right?” said Kendrick.

“That’s me,” Gydeon replied.

They set up camp for the night at the base of a short mountain, one that would take them the following day to climb and then descend.

Kendrick arranged kindling underneath fallen branches to help start a warding fire. Bellara knelt next to him with a crystal to take over. “And whereabouts are you from?”

Gydeon sat on a stump next to their tent with his hands folded. “Tornbie. It’s a small village not too far from here, perhaps three or four sunstrides on the other side of this slope. I’d wager you’ve never heard of it; most haven’t.”

Sahni unfurled a parchment map from her bag and studied it quietly for a moment. “Oh, I see. Just to the northeast. We should be able to reach it before dusk tomorrow.”

“I can’t thank you three enough for being my escort home,” said Gydeon. He stared at the ground blankly, never meeting their gazes for more than a moment.

Kendrick stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands. “Two or three days of foot travel, that’s not too far. But just what were you doing in Wallbyrde in the first place? Were you alone? Or just the only one who made it out?”

“Kendrick,” Sahni murmured gently. She looked at him as if to scold him for being rude, but her shy demeanor wouldn’t let her.

“What? I’m just asking.”

Gydeon’s face barely reacted to the question. He merely shook his head. “Never should have gone there...” He was quiet after that, and Kendrick felt a pang of guilt for his forward question.

“I’m sorry, man,” he said in a somber tone. “You’re with us now. You’re safe. We’ll get you home.”

He looked up. “You’re witches, right? And a wizard?”

“I’m not a wizard, no.”

“He’s a warrior,” said Bellara. “The two of us are witches. And you?”

“I’m just a humble man with no real desire to practice magic. My father never really cared for it. But it’s nice to meet you three.” Gydeon nodded. “I do feel better now that I’ve met you. Like... maybe this all will have been worth it.”

“Take this and eat up,” said Bellara, divvying up the last of the salted meats and dried fruit between them. “All of you. This is the last of our rations and we’ll need the energy for the hike tomorrow.”

Gydeon was about to take a grateful bite but stopped himself. “No, I couldn’t. Not if this is your last—”

“You seem like a gentleman,” said Bellara, “but I must insist. If you don’t have any magic or any weapons... no offense, but you’ll be a liability in a fight. We need you at full strength in case you need to run.”

Kendrick watched Gydeon nod shyly and take a bite of the food given to him. Huh, he thought. So, that’s what it looks like when she says that kind of stuff.

“We’ll have to stock up on supplies at the next town,” Sahni thought aloud. Bellara nodded.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Gydeon grinned at them. “I’ll make sure you’re well-fed when we get to Tornbie. Take my word for it.”

“We can always forage on the way there, too,” Kendrick offered. Sahni nodded. “Maybe stock up in Tornbie for the rest of the trip tomorrow night or the day after.”

“Where are you going?” Gydeon asked. He positively perked up with this question. Kendrick hesitated, deferring to Bellara for an answer.

“A small town to the east,” said the head witch in charge. “I doubt you’ll have heard of it, either. But it’ll take us a while to get there.”

Good call, thought Kendrick. He seems trustworthy enough, but there’s no need to tell him everything all at once. Gives us time to feel him out more first. Speaking of which...

He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of this already—perhaps it was his debilitating lack of sleep—but he discreetly activated his lens to get a read on their new traveling companion. Sahni, who was sensitive to aura, didn’t seem to get any bad vibes from him, but she was also in a weakened state. There was no telling for sure if they had another jinn in their midst that was waiting for the right time to strike.

HUMAN {35}

He wasn’t kidding, then. No magic. Nothing on him. But shouldn’t his aura be higher than that, even for a regular person?

As if replying to Kendrick’s very thoughts, Gydeon rolled up his sleeve and pinched at a small wound on his bicep. “I’ve already asked so much of you three,” he winced, “but this is starting to burn again. Do any of you know any healing spells? Or do you have a bandage I could use?”

“I can take care of it for you,” said Sahni.

“I don’t know if that’s wise...” Bellara replied. “You’re only back up to {33} now, and still climbing slowly.”

For all her timidity and quiet submission, Sahni ignored Bellara’s words completely, and she was already extending her hands to heal their guest’s wound. “Bhisalva,” she whispered, and white aura emanated from her hands. “An imp, was it?”

Gydeon nodded. “I was lucky I didn’t get worse. There was a demon prowling around these parts not too long ago, you know.” He shook his head, sighing with relief as his skin closed up smoothly. “It’s disturbing what this world is coming to these days. I fear for you two going any farther than Tornbie... Why don’t you stay with me and my family? We can all ride this out together. There’s plenty of food and space to go around.”

Bellara shot Kendrick a look. “Thanks,” she replied, “but we’re on some pretty serious business. Perhaps we can visit you again another time.”

Gydeon shrugged and nodded as if to say, Suit yourself.

They discussed a sleep schedule for the night and arranged for the two young men to take their turn at the same time. At all other times, at least two of them would be awake with Gydeon. There was an unspoken agreement between them that favored caution, at least for the time being, and for that Kendrick was grateful.

Perhaps he was overreacting.

But perhaps not.

***

“What do you suppose it is?” asked Sahni.

“I’d say it’s another temple,” said Kendrick, “but it has no walls. It’s just out in the open.”

Bellara stepped forward and touched one of the eight shoulder-height boulders arranged in a circle. “It’s a shrine.”

Late the following morning, the four of them stumbled upon a strange site halfway through their hike across the mountain slope. The eight rocks surrounded an octagonal wooden post erected in the very center. On the smooth stone “floor” of the display, there was a symbol drawn in white chalk that matched the symbol seen on the temple leaflets back in Wallbyrde.

“Sect of the Skyfather,” said Kendrick. “I guess they’re really popular in this part of Kanthos, huh?”

“You’ve heard of Sect of the Skyfather?” asked Gydeon.

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged. “Not many have. Popular is a strong word to use, at least based on what I’ve heard...”

Bellara gasped. “Look at this.” Outside of the circle, perfectly parallel to the easternmost stone, there was an altar carved out of rock... and stained with dried blood.

“What kind of blood is that?” Kendrick asked. “Maybe a slaughtered animal?”

Bellara looked at her comrades uncertainly. “I... I don’t know. But I don’t have a good feeling about this place.”

“Yes, why don’t we go?” said Sahni. “We can rest a while later instead. I’m starting to get a very bad feeling as well...”

“I wish we’d never seen this,” said Gydeon. His lip quivered. “I’m glad I found you, and that we found each other, before anyone else did. I’m telling you, it’s not safe to be out here in the wild. We should go at once.”

“Clearly something was killed here with a purpose in mind,” Kendrick said. His curiosity wrestled his mounting fear for control of his thoughts. “Why would someone do this?”

Bellara shook her head contemptuously at the altar, running a finger across the dried blood and rubbing her fingers together. “There have always been fanatical cults in the Ecumene. Some worship Aldiel, some worship mythical nature gods and heroes of legend... Some strange folk even worship elves as the ultimate race of beings here in the Ecumene. And, yes, there are more sinister cults who worship the Dark Lord Urobius.” She looked at Kendrick and couched her following words in ambiguity. “I don’t know if your experience has been different, Kendrick, but where I’m from, only an overzealous believer would do something like this.”

“It’s the same where I’m from, too,” Kendrick replied. “Come on. Let’s just get out of here before any worshipers come back.”

“I agree,” said Sahni. “The bad feeling is only getting worse.”

“Wait, what’s this?” Bellara returned to the center of the circle. “Is it another leaflet?” On the westernmost side of the octagonal post in the center of the shrine, a piece of paper was affixed to the wood with a bloody nail. “No, it’s something else.”

They all crowded around to read the text on the page. It was written by hand, unlike the leaflets back at the temple, which looked like they’d been printed with a press. This message read: Aldiel Above, Maker of all that is good and Banisher of all that is evil, please deliver us from the wretched horde of imps that has been plaguing us this year. We wish to worship here again, but the hateful creatures from below have stymied our gatherings. We offer You this unbeliever as atonement. May his blood quench Your thirst for justice and make this place clean once again.

“I would say Aldiel,” Bellara whispered, “but that feels wrong somehow. This is madness.”

“Creepy human sacrifice and an imp problem?” Kendrick interjected. “I vote to leave immediately. All in favor say aye?”

“Aye,” Sahni replied queasily.

“Aye,” agreed Gydeon.

“I... fear it’s too late for that.” Bellara stowed the aurimeter in her bag, but Kendrick was able to glimpse that the needle was swinging wildly. He touched his lens.

IMP {24}

IMP {39}

IMP {21}

IMP {44}

...

“Crap,” said Kendrick. “Sword me!” Bellara reached back into her bag and chucked him the Psysword—but it was intercepted by a leaping imp at the last second. “Hey!”

“Kendrick!”

“It’s not my fault! Come here, you little...” Fueled by surging adrenaline, he charged at the thieving imp, gripping the hilt of the Psysword tightly with one hand. With the other, he bashed at the imp’s head and eyes, trying to get it to release its hold, but it was no use. The imp was short and scrawny but ten times stronger than it looked and mean to boot.

“Pyrios!” shouted Bellara, tossing Sahni the other bag. “Sahni, stand back and watch these. Kendrick, use the sword!”

“I’m trying, but this thing is latched on tight!”

“No, Kendrick, use the sword!”

It just now registered in his mind that the imp was trying to latch its mouthparts onto the crystal in the center of the crossguard. “Oh. Duh.” He closed his eyes, breathed out to draw up his reserves of aura, and let it flow through the weapon. Thuuum. In an instant, the imp was vanquished.

“Whoa!” Gydeon exclaimed. “That’s incredible! What is that?”

Kendrick grabbed the hilt with both hands now, holding it upright and grinning with sudden pride. “Just stand back and let us handle this. Shouldn’t take long.” Whir! He swung the blade through two imps at once, savoring the crackle of the white-hot energy. His aura output was still going strong.

But his bravado faltered when he heard Sahni’s voice next. “Bell! Help! The bags—” He turned to see Sahni trying to wrestle both of their magically-spacious bags out of the claws of three imps.

One of them snatched the aurimeter.

“Aldzin!” Bellara called out. A beam of light singed that imp, but it was merely a nuisance, not the killing blow it would have been to a shade. “I can’t use battle magic! It'll destroy the aurimeter! Obstrae!” A ring of white aura closed around one of the imps now fighting over the aurimeter—until yet another one latched onto the back of Bellara’s head. “Damn it all!” This distraction was enough to break the spell—and enough to let the two imps, now working in tandem, to escape with the aurimeter.

“Oh no you don’t!” said Kendrick. He chased after the pilfering pair with the Psysword held high, scaling one of the rocks of the shrine as a shortcut to keep up with them. “Oh, shit!” One misstep sent him tumbling from the top of the rock onto the ground—narrowly avoiding bisecting his own head with his sword on the way down. When he landed painfully on his fingers, he instinctively held his head up, staring down at the sharpened edge of his own blade between his eyes, close enough that he could feel the magical vibrations. “Hey, I’m doing it! It’s sharp again! Wait—focus!”

“Parto!” Sahni called out. Kendrick watched a translucent barrier go up, sparking with aural energy, before fizzling out. The imps skittered through like nothing happened while Sahni nearly lost her balance. “Come on... Parto!” This spell was even less successful than the last.

Bellara wrestled with the imp tangled in her hair. “Pugnus!” With a magically-enhanced fist, she beat the creature repeatedly from the side. When it finally dislodged, she wheeled around with her teeth bared and glaring, focused eyes. “Pyrios ampla!”

Shooom! A plume of flame exploded out from her fist and incinerated the imp in question, along with four others, in one go. By that point, the aurimeter was long gone.

“Sahni, are you okay?” asked Gydeon. He cradled her head as she lay on the ground.

Kendrick let his weapon go dormant and stood up gingerly, massaging his scraped knuckles and tender wrists. His lens reported on his blue-haired friend’s condition.

SAHNI {21} HUMAN WITCH

GYDEON {44} HUMAN

“I would insist on bedrest until you get your aura back up to normal again,” said Bellara, “but that aurimeter is a priceless artifact. It has an accurate range of well over triple that of Kendrick’s lens, and a detection range easily a hundred times greater. We’ll be bedded deer without it.”

“Bedded deer?” Kendrick echoed.

“Yes, like a deer lying down, defenseless and easy to kill. It’s an expression.”

“Oh, I get it. You mean like sitting ducks?”

“What in the Ecumene is a duck?”

Kendrick shook his head. “It would take too long to explain.”

“Whatever, enough! This is time we don’t have to waste. Gydeon, help Sahni up. You’ll both be safer with us. Kendrick, keep the sword handy and your lens on at all times. It'll burn through a lot of its own stored aura long term but we need it now more than ever to get the aurimeter back. Now let’s go!”

“So,” Kendrick huffed, trotting to keep up with Bellara as they descended the slope, “worst case scenario... what happens if we lose the aurimeter for good?”

“Exactly what I said,” she answered, much less out of breath than him. “We’ll have to rely on your lens, and Sahni’s sensitivity, to feel out any oncoming threats. Sahni is imprecise, and your lens is incredibly short-range. So, Sahni might be able to tell an archdemon is a sunstride away from us, for all we know, and we won’t know for sure with your lens until it’s already on top of us.”

“Damn.”

“Correct. A slightly better-case scenario for us in the short term would be...” She looked back to make sure Sahni and Gydeon were close behind them. “The imps are taking it back to their master nearby.”

“That would mean we’d have to fight a demon to get it back, though. I don’t know if I’m enthusiastic about that part.”

“Well, then we’d better pick up the pace before it’s too late. Even that is a better option than losing the aurimeter.”

Kendrick remembered his first day in the Ecumene, and the distant roar of some unseen abomination. How desperate Bellara and Sahni had been to run from it, to hide, to avoid it... Now they may have been charging straight toward that very same monster. They’d come a long way as a group.

He hoped that this wasn’t about to be the end of their journey together.

Just then, his lens tagged a new reading.