Moxie hadn’t been lying.

Todd had hoped that he might have been able to buy at least a few more seconds, or maybe even a minute if he managed to stay ahead of Moxie and avoid her attacks. What he didn’t expect was for a vine to wrap around behind him and strike him in the back, all while he was still focused on the ones at Moxie’s sides.

He was thrown to the ground with a pained grunt, a bruise already forming on his back. Todd threw himself to the side as several more vines slammed down where he’d been a moment before, trying to pin him to the dirt.

Todd tried to rise, but even with the extra speed from his Body Imbuements, Moxie was faster. Several vines wrapped around his legs and jerked them out from under him, lifting him into the air. Todd dangled from them, looking at Moxie from his upside-down position.

“Dead,” Moxie said.

Todd’s pants slid back, revealing the two metal bracelets on his ankles. They sparked, and two streams of concentrated fire shot out, searing through the vines and using up the last of the energy in one of his already faltering Fire Runes.

He dropped to the ground, hitting it in a Roll, and drew on another Fire Rune to push his Body Imbuements to the limit. Todd lunged out of the way, avoiding another vine that scythed toward him by jumping over it, and sprinted behind a tree.

That, unfortunately, was as far as his attempt got him. Todd ran face first into a tree branch that suddenly shifted to get in his path. He fell back to the ground, grabbing his smarting forehead and groaning in pain. Moxie walked out, stopping above him as vines bound both his arms and legs tightly.

“Not a bad attempt,” Moxie said, inclining her head slightly. “But, as I said, you’re already dead. It doesn’t count.”

“How can you control trees that you aren’t touching?” Todd asked. “You aren’t Rank 4, are you?”

Moxie smirked. “No, I’m not. Why don’t you think on that? You’ll have some time to reflect on where you went wrong while you dangle. I’ve got to go find–”

Moxie’s head snapped to the side and an ice arrow whipped past her, slamming into the trunk of the tree behind her. Her eyes narrowed and the vines lifted Todd into the air, binding him tighter.

Emily stepped out of the forest, another arrow nocked in her bow. Moxie let out a heavy sigh.

“I think you might have missed the point of this assignment, Emily. You were supposed to survive for more than a few minutes, you know. It doesn’t end until tonight.”

Emily released the arrow. Vines shot out from within Moxie’s sleeves, forming a barrier before her and blocking the arrow. As they lowered, Isabel charged out of the trees to Moxie’s side, rearing back and hurling a dim blue spear.

Moxie leaned back, avoiding the spear. Emily started to draw back another arrow, but Moxie didn’t give them time to release another round of attacks. Vines erupted from around Moxie, shooting out across the ground.

A stone ramp pulled itself out of the ground before Isabel, but Moxie’s vines burrowed clean through it and grabbed her by the ankles. Isabel let out a yelp as she was yanked off her feet and lifted into the air to dangle beside Todd.

Emily didn’t fare any better. She managed to avoid the first of the vines, but there were dozens. They wound around her, shattering the bow in her grasp as they formed into a cocoon.

Shaking her head, Moxie brought all three of the students to hang before her, turning Todd back right side up in the process. She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow.

“That was horrible,” Moxie said. “Did you understand absolutely none of the assignment?”

“You were both supposed to hide!” Todd exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

Isabel and Emily both looked to the side, not meeting his or Moxie’s eyes. After a few moments of embarrassing silence, Isabel spoke.

“We heard you get captured, so we came to help.”

“Isabel insisted on it,” Emily said quickly.

“No, I didn’t. You did.”

“I did not. I just said it might be a good idea.”

“You’re all idiots,” Moxie declared, setting them back on the ground and unwrapping them. “Walk back to the camp. We’ll go over where you went wrong as we go.”

All looking down in shame, the three fell in behind Moxie.

“First – your initial idea wasn’t bad,” Moxie said. “You sent Todd off to distract the monster while the two of you went to make a shelter. Decent strategy, but that was where it ended. Todd, why did you just drop down in front of me?”

“I needed to distract you,” Todd said, his cheeks red. “You were heading right for the shelter Isabel had made, and I didn’t have enough time to make it there without giving their position away to you.”

“Decent thought process,” Moxie allowed. “But you might have chosen the absolute worst possible way to do it.”

“What do you mean?”

“You could see me with your eye Imbuements, couldn’t you? Why not just attack from a range and stay on the move to make it hard for me to catch you? Even if you didn’t have much energy left, you would have been able to hit me when I couldn’t even see you. That would have let you last at least twice as long, if not more.”

Todd opened his mouth. Then his expression shifted to a grimace and he cleared his throat. “I… uh, didn’t think of that. I was too focused on you reaching the shelter.”

“Well, it got you killed. Don’t let stress affect your decision making. I know I just called you all idiots, but none of you actually are – you’re just acting like them. If you let yourself panic, then you’re going to make stupid moves that put you in more danger than you were in before. How did you even know I was on their tail? I was just wandering around, following the sound of your movement in the trees.”

Todd nodded, looking at the ground in shame.

“You don’t have to look too unhappy,” Moxie said as they came to a large twisting bundle of trees. As they walked around it, she sent a glance over her shoulder at Isabel and Emily. “The two of you – what were you thinking? You had a shelter, but you left it.”

“We heard you catch Todd,” Isabel said.

Moxie arched an eyebrow. “That didn’t un-kill him.”

“We had to try.”

“If you were planning to fight, then you should have done it from the start,” Moxie said. “Did you hear the fight going on?”

Isabel and Emily nodded.

“Then you should have made a move before Todd went down, not after. If you’d joined forces with him, then I could see it as a valid strategy. Instead, you just showed up after he was already dead and completely wasted his sacrifice.”

Isabel and Emily fell silent. They walked without speaking for a few minutes. Moxie let out a sigh and shook her head.

“All of that said, I do have to compliment you all for coming back for Todd. Even if you completely botched the execution, I would have been incredibly disappointed if you’d just let him die.”

“But… I thought you said it was the wrong choice?” Emily frowned in confusion.

“It was,” Moxie said. “But your heart was in the right place. Just don’t screw it up so badly next time. Don’t look too put out. You’re going to have a lot of opportunities to get things right. We’ll be doing this exercise quite a bit.”

All three of the students shuddered at that. A few minutes later, they arrived back at the camp, where Lee was still running laps. She finally skidded to a stop as they emerged from the forest and wiped a small amount of sweat from her forehead.

“Oh, you’re back. Moxie, the running doesn’t feel like it’s working.”

“Try running faster,” Moxie suggested. “You of all people could definitely do with a bit less energy to spare.”

“Running faster. Gotcha,” Lee said. She zipped into the forest, kicking up a small cloud of dirt in her wake and moving so quickly that Todd could barely even keep track of her. All of them watched her vanish into the leaves.

“I feel sorry for whatever runs into her,” Moxie said. She gestured to the camp. “Relax. Spend some time sitting around and recuperating. Reflect on what you did wrong and what you did right, and see if you can think of a better strategy for the future. Just be aware that not every exercise is going to be the same, so don’t hyperfocus on one thing. You’ve got a few hours to yourselves.”

Todd and the others didn’t need to be told twice. They all flopped to the ground where they stood, not willing to waste the chance to finally catch their breath. Even though they had only been training for a short while, it was the most tired that Todd had felt in years.

Every single one of his muscles ached, his neck hurt, and there was a stitch in his side. The stark lack of energy in his Runes felt like he was missing a part of himself, and the sting of their complete and utter defeat at Moxie’s hands hurt more than he cared to admit.

Moxie headed off into the forest, leaving them alone in the camp – at least, Todd suspected they were alone. He didn’t see Vermil sitting around anywhere, but he was too tired to spend any energy actually looking for him.

It was several minutes before Emily finally broke the silence.

“Sorry,” Emily said, not lifting her eyes from the ground. “I wasn’t good enough.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Todd replied idly. “Moxie was right. If I’d just kept my distance, I could have bought you way more time.”

“Except we showed up too late for it to matter,” Isabel pointed out. “But Todd is right – it wasn’t just you, Emily. We all messed up. You aren’t that much stronger or more powerful than we are, so it’s not fair for you to take all the blame.”

Emily drew idly on the ground with a finger, lost in thought for a few moments. Eventually, she raised her head again and looked to Todd. An internal battle played across her face for a few moments before one side finally won and she let out a small sigh.

“Could… you help me with something?”

“Me?” Todd asked, blinking. “With what?”

“You’re really good at Body Imbuements, but I can’t get mine to work at all,” Emily said. “Can you show me what you did for yours?”

“I’ve got that issue as well,” Isabel admitted. A note of pride entered her voice. “Todd’s a genius at them, though. He’s already got one of each of his limbs and eyes.”

“It’s just a lot of practice,” Todd said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“How much? We only learned how to do them recently,” Emily said with a frown.

It took Todd several moments to respond. He exchanged a long glance with Isabel before letting out a small laugh. “I didn’t. I’ve known for a long time. I just didn’t mention it. My dad taught me about Imbuement when I was really young.”

“Seriously?” Emily leaned forward. “So you’re like an expert or something? Why would you hide that?”

“Just bad memories,” Todd said. He shook his head. “I can try to help, but I wasn’t able to do much for Isabel. I don’t know if I’m a very good teacher.”

“Anything is better than where I am right now, and Lee isn’t here to help right now,” Emily said. “You’re really willing to help?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I – yeah, I guess that’s a fair point. So, where do we start?”

“Well, why don’t we begin with you showing me how you’d imbue a Rune on this rock?” Todd asked, picking up a smooth stone from the ground beside him and tossing it to Emily. “I’ll see if I can figure out the problem by watching you work.”

“I’ll do the same,” Isabel said, grabbing a rock for herself.

Emily grinned and nodded, pushing a strand of hair out of her face as she leaned forward and got to work. Todd hadn’t thought any of them would have much strength after Moxie’s training, but he was surprised to find that even he was feeling just a little motivated.

Maybe we can actually get Moxie next time around.