After days of travel in the tangled woods of the deadlands, the foliage had begun to space out, bushes and weeds becoming more common where no trees dominated the sunlight. When the woods finally opened onto a weed-strewn field, Olivia knew that they had reached the outskirts of Culles.

  “It looks like it’s been untended for a while,” Olivia said, looking out over what must’ve once been farmland. The weeds had grown alongside the tall stalks of untended corn and wheat, making a wall of wild green and brown vegetation taller than Olivia’s head.

  “Not as long as you’d think,” Cadence replied, crouched to investigate the dirt. “At least one full harvest season though… a little over a year, maybe a year and a half.”

  “How do you know?”

  “If it was any longer than that,” Cadence explained, “there would be some big bramble-spawn in there. If a moderate vinegorger or something spawned in the field, then the weeds would start encroaching on the road too.”

  It seemed like they already had, in Olivia’s opinion. Walking down the road was like passing through a corridor of plantlife. “We’re close, though?”

  Cadence stood up and dusted off her breeches. “Yeah. Probably a few miles or so to the village, at the most.”

  Without a word, Olivia slipped her shield onto her arm and drew her sword. Cadence nodded, her mouth set in a grim line, and pulled out her bow, setting an arrow to the string. They didn’t need to discuss strategy anymore. Just like at the cave, if anything attacked, Olivia would shield Cadence, letting her identify and respond to it.

  Cadence’s estimate had overshot it a bit. It wasn’t even half an hour later that the edges of Culles came into view. Olivia couldn’t tell much about it at first, but it didn’t look to be in great shape.

  The squire swallowed. Had this Xythen really destroyed an entire town just for a base? He was probably a necromancer, based on what Egin had told them, but that still just seemed so incredibly callous.

  “Keep walking,” Cadence suddenly said.

  “What?” Olivia turned to look at the celestial. She was still three paces ahead of Cadence.

  “We’re being followed.”

  “What?”

  “Keep walking!” Cadence hissed.

  Olivia frowned, but did so. She had barely paused for a moment! “Where?”

  “They’re in the field to the right, a little ways back from the road. I don’t think they know I’ve noticed them yet, though.”

  Olivia felt her hands tense. She shifted her grip on her shield, rolling her fingers along the leather-wrapped handle. The defense was a fairly new addition to her arsenal, but after seeing how well it had worked for Garret, and against Egin, she felt fairly confident having it ready. It was a way to let her be more aggressive and conservative at the same time, so long as she used it properly.

  “Why not?”

  “They don’t seem to have any awareness boons. They’re staying close, like they’re trying to keep an eye on us, but I can hear them.”

  Olivia swallowed. It was time then. “How do you want to do it?”

  “Up ahead,” Cadence told her. “See that old shed?”

  There was a mostly-collapsed wooden structure not far ahead, on the left side of the road. Perhaps a place to have kept harvested crops for transportation. “Yeah.”

  “We stop for a break there, so we can get our backs to something solid. Ish.”

  Olivia snorted at the caveat.

  “I’ll put my arrow down pointing in their direction, okay? On my mark, you hit them with that big whirlwind of yours, and we go.”

  “Got it.”

  #

  “Look at them!” Allana hissed at Tenebres. “Walking in, bold as can be, not even trying to hide. They must be working with the hag!”

  “But their weapons are drawn,” Tenebres pointed out, keeping his voice as low as hers. They kept moving as they talked, creeping through the thick, overgrown weeds slowly. “If they belong here, why would they look so ready for a fight?”

  Allana crossed her arms. He was right–the big one in the lead, he looked ready to leap at a moment’s notice, and the little one with the bow seemed only slightly less tense, their bow not quite drawn. “Maybe they know we’re here?” she suggested.

  Tenebres rolled his eyes. “Right. They figured out we’re following them, and they decided not to do anything about it.”

  Allana scowled. “Well, what do you think, then?”

  “Maybe they’re from one of the other villages,” Tenebres suggested. “They have that look. Or… well, the blue-haired one does, at least.”

  “I still don’t like it,” Allana insisted. “Even if they’re not necromancers-”

  “They look a lot healthier than most necros we’ve seen,” Tenebres interjected.

  “-they could still be mercenaries or something.”

  “It just doesn’t fit them,” Tenebres insisted. “Look, they’re stopping.”

  Oddly enough, he was right. The two seemed to relax a little as they ducked into the shade of a crumbling old shed. The big one kept his weapon in hand, but lowered his sword and shield by an inch or two, while the other took their arrow away from their bow, setting it on the ground. The blue-haired one, their gender indeterminate and their build as androgynous as Tenebres, sat down and leaned against the single standing wall of the ruined outbuilding.

  “What are they doing?” Allana asked, confused. Whether they were working with the hag or not, it didn’t make sense to stop for a break so close to the ruins of Culles. Allana’s eyes narrowed as she stared at them. The tip of the archer’s arrow was placed so it was just outside the shed’s shadow, and the late afternoon sunlight glinted off of it, getting in Allana’s eyes.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “I don’t know,” Tenebres said, “but this is as good a time as any to try to talk to them.” The boy stood up from his crouch, starting to push through the tall weeds in their direction.

  Allana stayed where she was, mind working furiously. Why would they stop like that? It was just stupid. Unless…

  Unless it was a trick, her new gift seemed to whisper.

  “Tenebres, no!” Allana jumped up, reaching out for him, and then the surrounding weeds were suddenly blown flat, exposing them.

  #

  Cadence leaped to her feet as Olivia let loose her Gust Blast. She had another arrow nocked in a moment, and Cadence leveled her bow in the direction of the two bandits that had been following them.

  Her eyes focused first on the girl slightly farther back. She was tall for a girl, nearly six feet, maybe a few years older than herself and Olivia. And Elder’s beard, she was gorgeous, her body curved in a way that even her powerful muscles and deep purple skin couldn’t hide. Her hair, a similar shade of purple to her skin but highlighted with bright violet, was chopped short, giving her an air of bluntness and solidity.

  [Gift Divination] - Wanderer, Echo - Active, Utility, Soul - Learn the gifts possessed by a target. Can only be used on targets your level or lower.

  [Gift Divination] failed

  Not good. The girl was at least an Apprentice, if Gift Divination had failed. The one in front of her was equally intriguing. Their body, like Cadence’s, was androgynous, but they lacked the whipcord thin muscles Cadence had built up from a lifetime spent outdoors, giving them a softness only emphasized by the tight black leather both of the bandits favored. Just like the first girl, they had uncanny features, with their sickly gray skin, bleached hair, and red eyes giving them an inhuman appearance. Wraiths, Storyteller had called them. The descendents of people exposed to too much raw magical energy in the earliest days of the Realm.

  [Gift Divination] successful

  Novice Level

  [Unknown Gift]

  [Gift of the Evoker]

  Cadence’s eyes widened. She had never seen that message before–her Gift Divination either worked, identifying her target's gifts, or failed. This was the first time it had worked, yet was unable to identify a gift.

  No time to figure it out. That mysterious gift made Cadence even more nervous than the Apprentice level girl, and she adjusted her aim and let a green-fletched arrow fly at the closer bandit even as Olivia swung her sword through the air, sending one of those solid wind projectiles at the same target.

  The two of them had hesitated a moment too long. Even as the plants around them were knocked flat, the front bandit lifted their hand. A look of intense focus crossed their face, and by the time the ranged attacks reached them, a disc of blue light had appeared in the air before the two bandits, deflecting both in a flash of brilliant cerulean.

  That was when Cadence noticed that the other bandit, the purple-skinned one, had vanished.

  #

  Tenebres watched as Allana appeared behind the blue-haired archer, taking them by surprise. They reacted quickly enough to keep Allana’s first dagger from stabbing into their back, but her second flicked out and cut their bowstring with a loud twang.

  Then Tenebres couldn’t give them any more focus, as the swordsman was charging him, sword and shield raised.

  Tenebres raised a hand and sent a trio of glittering blue force bolts at the warrior’s face, forcing him to lift his shield to block them. His eyes covered, the swordsman’s steps faltered for a moment, time enough for Tenebres to reach for the gift of the void.

  [Void Invocation] activated

  Coordination attribute sacrificed

  Minor fiend tentacular fright successfully invoked

  The slick knot of tentacles appeared in front of the swordsman and promptly went to work, winding around his arms and legs to bind and hinder his movements. The large man responded surprisingly fast, his sword shooting down to cut through an appendage encircling one leg, but that just made it easier for the fiend to grab his sword arm and keep him from lifting it back up.

  “Noble’s name, what is this fucking thing?”

  Tenebres eyes went wide at the curse.

  “Allana! Stop!”

  His barked command reached the girl just in time, and she pulled back a hair before her dagger would’ve entered the archer’s throat–and half a moment before their hatchet would have lopped off Allana’s arm.

  Allana Trick Stepped away, reappearing next to Tenebres. She blinked, fighting away the disorientation of the teleport, he knew, then crouched in front of him, daggers ready. “What’s up?” she asked

  “I was right,” Tenebres said. “The big guy–I heard him swear by the Noble’s name.”

  Allana shot a restless look over her shoulder. He could tell she didn’t want to believe him, but they both knew that even if someone tried to lie about their identity, a surprised curse was unlikely to be convincingly faked.

  “What about the other one?”

  “My name is Cadence!” the blue-haired person called back. “Cadence of Felisen! My companion goes by Oli. We’re after a bandit leader–a necromancer, we think–that’s rumored to be hiding out in this town.”

  “Then why’d you attack us!?” Allana spat at them.

  “Because you were following us!” shouted the big one with the sword indignantly. “We figured you were working with him!”

  Tenebres sighed, slowly relaxing. He really had been right. It was just blind luck that had brought the two pairs down the same road at the same time.

  “It’s fine Allana,” he told her, “I think this really was just an accident.”

  “I’m so happy we’re agreed on that,” the swordsman said, his voice dripping sarcasm, “Now can you please get this thing off of me!?”

  Tenebres blew out a breath and focused his attention on the fright, willing it to pull back.

  It refused.

  Tenebres frowned and forced it a little harder, but the minor fiend refused to relinquish its hold and, in fact, its coils only tightened.

  Tenebres sighed. The fiends weren’t too hard to control mid-combat, when he just had to point them at a target, but trying to get them to not attack something was much more difficult.

  “Uhm… A little help, Allana?”

  Allana rolled her eyes and sauntered over to the bound swordsman, lifting a dagger to saw him free of the tentacles. While she began to cut the warrior free, the archer, Cadence, walked over. Tenebres noted that once Allana had engaged them, they had dropped their bow and switched to an odd combination of a hatchet in one hand and a glassy shortsword in the other.

  “Tenebres,” he introduced himself, once they were close enough, “of Culles.”

  That raised their eyebrows. “Well… that explains why you’re here, I guess.”

  Tenebres sighed. “In a roundabout way. It’s complicated.”

  Cadence nodded. “Tell me about it.” They paused for a moment, then added, “Thanks, by the way. For calling your friend off.”

  “I’m just thankful you didn’t take off Allana’s arm before I did,” Tenebres told them with a little snort.

  “Hey!” Allana called over. “I almost had her!”

  “Can you please cut a little faster?” the swordsman asked.

  “Ignore Oli,” Cadence confided to Tenebres in a conspiratorial whisper, “he’s just mad you got the drop on him.”

  Tenebres began to relax a little as the traveler joked with him–until they were suddenly interrupted.

  “I’m so happy you’re all getting along so well,” a new voice sneered, its source hidden in the tall weeds around them. “It’s so sweet, really, it just warms my heart!”

  Tenebres froze in place at the words, while Cadence and Allana dropped into battle-ready stances, eyes scanning the overgrowth around them–which was starting to shake on every side.

  “I hope you keep being friends once I reanimate you all!”

  Was that supposed to be menacing? Tenebres thought, a helpless little chuckle escaping his mouth. The threat was somehow melodramatic and clumsy at the same time.

  Unfortunately, the half dozen shapes that burst out of the untended crops were much less ridiculous.