Ameena led the way through back alleys and side roads along the giant wall separating the Crumbles from the Silken Cradle, which was decorated with dug-in divots that looked like giant upside down T’s. It made the structure a little more interesting to look at than solid stone. To Ellis’s sharp eyes the ones at the top of the wall seemed hollow, allowing for archers to rain down death if an army happened to make it this far. Surrounding the wall was a narrow road that reminded Ellis of the moat surrounding the city.

  Ameena ran her hand along the stone for a few minutes after they had arrived, before she turned to Ellis and commanded him to activate his necklace, since it would be ‘close’. And that was when Ellis realized she was going off her memory of where this entrance might be, and from her locked jaw, this memory wasn’t as reliable as she wanted it to be.

  But within ten minutes they found it, hidden behind an innocuous divot that had no salt lines lining its edges. It looked so unnatural Ellis reached towards his waist to apply some from his salt pouch, but was only reminded he had left it back in the forest, what felt like a lifetime ago.

  Ameena and Michael crowded around Ellis as he studied this divot. He started reaching his hand toward a strange status screen, his finger lightly tapping a button hidden out of sight in a small hole carved out of the wall. He was about to press it, when a small voice surprised him so badly he smacked his hand against the stone.

  “Who are you?”

  Turning around, Ellis found a young man a little bit older than himself holding a hat in his shaky hands. His shoulders seemed like they wanted to shrink into his body, and he kept glancing at everything but their faces. His cleft lip trembled as he took two steps back and planted himself against the house behind him. Michael stepped forward first, flashing a wide smile as he came to a stop before this odd stranger.

  “I’m the muffin man! Who are you?”

  The stranger’s shoulders hunched like he was trying to disappear, his eyes darting from him to Ameena and Ellis, “I’m just Pedro, no one important.”

  “That’s not true!” a grey light flashed in Ellis’s eye out of nowhere, making him want to shoot a bolt through Michael’s head. “Look at your muscles, how can someone unimportant have muscles like that?” he continued, gesturing at the thin arms like they were equal to the thick ones he possessed.

  And the moment Michael said this, Pedro’s face fell, and his lip almost quivered. He snapped his jaw shut after a moment, before taking a half step away from the wall, angling himself towards an alley a few meters to his left.

  He tried to run away a moment later. Michael caught him by the collar of his shirt before he made it two steps.

  “Now that’s not very nice, is it?” he tsked, wagging a finger at Pedro who dangled from his hand like a sack of potatoes.

  Pedro held up both hands and fell straight through his shirt, landing on his arse with a thump. He was on his feet before Ellis could blink, and made it another two whole steps before Michael’s hand closed around the back of his neck.

  His cordial smile was replaced by a thin frown as he brought Pedro up to eye level. “And that was just plain rude.”

  “Michael! Leave him be! There's clearly something wrong here!” Ellis shouted at his back, rushing towards him before Ameena caught him by the wrist and swung him back toward the city wall.

  She put her own back to the wall, her head scanning the alley the stranger was just about to run to as she took her wand and knife out. Ellis followed suit and hefted the crossbow off his shoulder and into his hands, loading it the way Ameena had shown him before they had left Leno Warde’s home.

  Michael paid no concern to his companions' readiness and started shaking Pedro, “why would you run?”

  “You don’t know the code! You're evil!” he shouted at Michael, then shouted at the top of his lungs as he tried to kick at Michael’s waist. “Help me! I’m being kidnapped! Help me please!”

  Michael gave Pedro a light shake, like he was a broken toy. “Honestly, I’m just tryna have a conversation…”

  His words weren’t cold as a dozen men and women armed to the teeth came stalking out of the alleyway the stranger had been trying to get to. Another dozen steamed out the alley from the other side of the house and cut off the road behind them, trapping them between the wall and the house. Ellis and Ameena were almost back to back, facing the new threats surrounding them.

  The men with shorter weapons stepped in front of those with the longer ones. Ellis’s truth sight disappeared before he could get a read on them, but he managed to see two more status screens in the windows of that house’s second floor.

  Ellis agonized over spending the last of his mana to activate the necklace again, so that he knew for certain what they were up against. But his brain worked for once, and so he kept the silence in his body. By keeping the mana, he allowed himself the use of his crossbow’s ability. And, gods be good, if these armed men and women wanted to negotiate first, he would know if they were lying or not.

  Michael spread his arms wide to the people surrounding the trio now, turning in a slow circle as Pedro kicked and fought as Michael flung him back and forth with his every gesture. “Are you my welcoming party!?”

  “Drop my child!” A man with a scarred face snarled, unsheathing the sword at his hip. A few of them had swords, one on Ellis’s left had a spear and the rest had rakes or spades, the tips glinting with sharpened edges.

  “Wait! Michael! Come here! And drop the man, please?” Ellis begged, holding up his hands above his head as he approached his companion with careful steps.

  Ameena followed his lead to Michael, but did not raise her hands. She did back Ellis up by throwing a harsh look Michael's way. With a roll of his eyes Michael dropped the man, who ran away like a startled rabbit, his legs moving before they even touched the floor.

  Ellis mimicked Michael by spreading his arms and addressing the people surrounding them, but tried to make the gesture welcoming instead of threatening. “Now ladies and gentleman, can we all calm down and discuss this like rational peop—”

  “How do you know about this place?” The scarred man asked, the tip of his sword shaking as he held it towards them. Pedro peaked out from behind his shoulder, now armed with a small dagger that he pointed directly at Ellis’s chest.

  Glancing back at Ameena, Elis guessed keeping her part in this private was probably for the best. So, he put on a shaky smile, and tried to spin a lie. “My good sir, when I was young I used to play along this street, and found something in this divot! I wanted to chec—”

  “He’s lying!” a woman with a sharpened spade spat as she stepped forward. She had her hand clamped over her right eye, the left one cold as she sneered at him.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Ellis was immediately stumped at being called out so quickly. “Then how did I find it!? How else could I have possibly known this was here?”

  “I do not know, I just know you didn’t find it as a child, boy!”

  “Please, ma’am, I have no intention of lyin—”

  Ameena whispered so that only they could hear, and it made his heart break. “We can’t have them knowing about our comings and goings. Sorry Ellis… but this is a job for Michael.”

  “But… but why? They don’t need to die! They’re just—”

  Ameena didn’t meet his eyes. “I am truly sorry, Ellis.”

  “Step out of the way! They came here for a party, I'll give em one!” Michael shouted in glee, sprinting at the scarred man on the right as two bolts shattered the window above, one whizzing past Ellis’s ear and the other hitting Michael in his shoulder.

  Ellis grabbed Ameena, and started half carrying her back toward the wall as he pumped mana into his crossbow, firing it at the men charging from the left. The moment the bolt left the crossbow, it split into 6 individual ones that leapt across the space between them.

  The bolts started spreading, but the men were too close. 2 of the 6 bolts ended up hitting only one man as the rest flew harmlessly past his screaming comrades. He swung the crossbow back onto his shoulder the moment his back hit the wall, Ameena pushed his arm off her waist and started waving her wand at everything.

  The broken window was replaced by the wooden walls it decorated. Michael split into three, his laugh even more horrifying as it echoed down the street.

  And then mist started coming up from the ground, which made her wand waving stop and her eyes go wide.

  “I didn’t cast that!”

  Ellis did not have time to worry about what she just said as the men’s silhouettes in the smoke grew closer and closer. The first sword swing that swung towards him was laughably slow thanks to his cloak. Tearing the knife from the scabbard at his waist, he lashed out towards where the sword had just been and felt the blade tear through skin and bone. A gurgled cry filled the air, which caused more sword swings to follow. They were as slow as the first, but when there are close to a dozen being swung at you, even slow speeds become dangerous.

  Ameena joined him a moment later, swinging her dagger at the silhouettes surrounding them now. “Michael! We need you!”

  “I’m a bit busy!” he called back, out of sight.

  “Then get unbusy!” Ellis shouted, unsheathing his mother’s dagger as he kept dodging more and more attacks, each one getting closer and closer.

  He heard a whizz in the air and jerked his head out the way. A crossbow bolt aimed at his eye tore through the side of scalp, blood pouring out of it a moment later. He wished he’d been smart, and activated his ring instead of the stupid crossbow.

  “Ameena! Can you get rid of the mist!?” he seethed, clutching at his head while listening to his attackers.

  His high perception was letting him get a few hits in, but every time Ameena swung her dagger at a spade or rake flying past her face, she would hit nothing.

  “I told you! I didn’t cast it! I can’t get rid of this!”

  “Then what do we do!?”

  She didn’t hesitate before taking off. “Go left! Get to Michael!” she shouted.

  He rushed after her. A man stupid enough to step out of the mist hiding him appeared as Ellis started sprinting. Ellis’s knife cut across his throat in one smooth motion, the man’s panicked cry disappearing as he fell onto his back.

  They ran to the sound of steel clanging on steel. Ellis was right on Ameena’s heels, glancing back at the man he had just felled and seeing a woman jump on top of him. She pressed her hands down on his neck, and then they disappeared as the mist covered them.

  But it also covered traps. Ameena’s sharp cry filled the air as the sound of metal snapping shut echoed in front of him. He ran into her, as she was bent over and clutching the Rass trap stuck to her leg, the sound of skin tearing sending a shiver down Ellis’s spine.

  Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her and the trap onto his shoulder, before continuing his mad sprint.

  Bursting through the mist, Ellis saw four bodies lying on the floor, two of them missing limbs and the other two burned to a crisp. Michael stood tall amongst them, despite the spear stuck through his thigh, the knife in his ribs and the bolt still sticking out of his shoulder.

  But his injuries did not cause Ellis to worry. No, what caused him to stop and stare was the scarred man going toe to toe with Michael. Their blades danced in the space between them as they circled one another, sparks flying off in every direction.

  Their swords locked together with almighty ‘clang!’, which Michael grinned at. He cocked back a wrist and punched the scarred man square across the jaw, the thud almost equaling the clang that had preceded it.

  And with a shake of his head, the scarred man was back in the fight like Michael’s punch had done nothing.

  The men and women still alive beyond the mist were as entranced as Ellis was, but a swift smack to the back of his head followed shortly by Ameena’s harsh voice screeching, “Help you idiot!” shook him back to reality, and he got to work.

  He whirled back towards the mist, their pursers bursting out of it at the same moment. They wasted not a single second to start swinging their swords at Ellis, and he had a far harder time dodging now than he did earlier thanks to Ameena over his shoulder.

  “Help me woman!” He shouted as he deflected a sword swing with the butt of his crossbow.

  “I am!” She protested, waving at the illusion of him dodging and twirling the same way he was, just without Ameena on his shoulder.

  He grunted a thanks, before glancing over his shoulder. Michael and the scarred man kept fighting, but despite the man’s ability to fight Michael on even footing, it did not mean he wasn’t falling behind. His companions had started assisting, shooting bolts and charging in with their spades.

  Somehow, despite all of that, Michael still managed to kill two men before a lucky bolt stuck itself fast in his neck, just below his overly pronounced Adam's apple. The wound started pissing with blood which caused him to snarl. With his free hand, he pointed a fist at the scarred man and engulfed him in flame, screams echoing loudly throughout the alley as Michael walked back over to Ellis.

  “We need to retreat!” Ellis shouted as he kicked a man back into the mist.

  “Fuck that! I’m not done yet!” Michael swore.

  “She is! Look at her!” Ellis waved at Ameena over his shoulder.

  Michael glanced at her, and his frown turned hideous as he squared his stance at the people surrounding them.

  “I’m fine…” she argued, but her complexion grew paler by the moment.

  “No you're not,” Michael sighed. “Fine. Let’s run away.”

  “No! We have to kill that bastard today! We are not running!” she shouted, drawing her dagger.

  “Lady after my own heart.”

  Michael grinned. He grabbed her pants by the waist, and hauled her onto his shoulder instead. Her weight didn’t even seem to phase him as he struck a bolt out of midair.

  Ellis could not believe she was the stupid one right now, but from her eyes he knew there was no convincing her. “Michael! Cut us a path back to that wall! We’ll retreat through there!”

  Michael nodded, before spinning on his heel and sprinting forward, shouting about the men's mothers as he did so. Ellis followed in his wake as Michael charged straight through swords and bolts, and if the former landed, they received his fist or a sword to the face in retribution.

  They were back at the wall a moment later. “Michael! Keep em off me!” Ellis commanded, shoving his hand into the divot and feeling around for the button.

  “What do you think I’ve been doing?” He complained, just as a seam appeared through the solid stone wall next to Ellis, opening up like a common door as it swung inward.

  “In! In! In!” Elllis ordered. Michael grabbed Ellis by his shirt collar and tossed him through the doorway, before stumbling in after him. Ameena slammed the door shut the moment he crossed the threshold.

  They were sprinting into the dark the instant it closed.