Less than halfway into the session, the two women gave up. It started with Sam. She was messing up most shots. She tossed the training bow onto one of the tables at the back. “I’m done!” Sam yelled. “I’m not a fucking archer!” She sat on the table, moping. “It’s not fair… why’s he hunting us?” she muttered. “We didn’t do anything to him.”

  Jack could hear the Novice Mage mumbling behind him. You didn’t complain when your rogue went to kill me. He wanted to tell her she’d brought it on herself by going along with the others, but kept quiet. You didn’t think twice before chasing me through the city.

  A minute later, Linda joined her. “Me too,” she said. “This was a long shot at best.” She gave Sam a hug. “Maybe we can hide for a few weeks and pray to the Gods he gives up on us.”

  “You should join a caravan,” Sam said. “You’re a healer… It’s easier for you to find a new party.” Tears welled in her eyes.

  Linda shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here… alone!” She gave her friend another hug. “We’ll get through this together… like we always have.”

  Jack felt a twinge of guilt and sympathy for their situation. He reminded himself of who they are and what they’d done. They laughed about me being killed by their rogue. They’ve probably killed other adventurers.

  Sam wiped her tears. “I know someone in Grime City… a slaver. Maybe we can hide there for a few weeks?”

  “Maybe,” Linda replied. “Let’s get out of here.”

  The pair headed towards the door.

  As they left, Sam called back. “Thanks for the archery tips, Jack. I hope we see you around.”

  Under the mask, Jack’s mouth had dropped open again. “No problem,” he replied. I hope you die in a ditch.

  After Linda and Sam left, Nessa sighed. “Thank the Gods they’ve gone. What a pair of fantasists… who’s ever heard of a changeling Apprentice Mage who’s also an Expert Assassin?” She broke into heavy laughter.

  Ella laughed too. “They’d have to be ancient to achieve that powerful build, and changelings don’t live much longer than us. Pair of deluded fools. Probably making it all up… another one of their schemes.”

  “You should keep away from that pair, Jack,” Nessa warned. “Nothing but trouble. If someone is hunting them, they probably deserve it.”

  Ella nodded in agreement. “They’re bad news, Jack.”

  Jack grinned. “I’ll do my best.” He took a deep breath to relax. Forget about them. I’m here to practice, he told himself. I still have half the session left. He glanced across at Toma, who was concentrating on practice. His forms improved a lot.

  Jack spent the next fifteen minutes concentrating on archery. Every time his mind wandered back to the two women, he took a moment to think of something else. Something important. His mom’s cooking. His baby brother growing up. One of Arman’s wraps, he missed a shot after deciding he’d grab one on the way back home. Spending more time with his dad. Getting Polly back for drenching him. He missed another shot when he recalled the spider eggs he’d forgotten to throw away. Little Zia and how she was fitting into his family.

  It helped. By the time the Guild system announced the end of the round and Ella suggested they move to having some fun, Jack was back to normal.

  “System,” Ella shouted. “Group training, Novice Archer, level zero, beginner level ten.”

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  “Yes!” Toma shouted.

  Jack, Toma, Nessa, and Ella took a moment’s rest while Training Room 13 changed settings.

  The soft mechanical voice acknowledged Ella’s command.

  Novice Archer, level zero. Beginner level ten activated.

  The room stirred to life.

  “Awesome!” Toma shouted while bouncing on his heels. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

  The breeze near Jack and Toma flared into sharp gusts that tugged at their clothes. The overhead lights dimmed, casting the chamber in a twilight haze. Jack felt [Shadow Veil] draw him towards the safety of the new shadows. From hidden speakers, distant screams, panicked shouts, and clashing weapons echoed a battlefield illusion woven from sound.

  Toma’s head whipped around, trying to find the source of the chaos.

  Jack laughed. “It got you again.”

  Toma turned a light shade of pink. “I was just caught off guard, that’s all.”

  “Sure you were,” Jack said, patting the boy on the shoulder.

  At the far end, the stationary targets gave a mechanical whine and slid aside, vanishing into the walls with a series of sharp clicks. In their place, new constructs emerged; clockwork mannequins armed with shields, gears clicking as they moved. Some lunged forward on piston-driven legs, while others raised their shield-carrying arms in defence. Above, runes flickered to life, casting flickering light across the room like a dying sun.

  The group of four each grabbed a fresh quiver of training arrows and prepared for the chaos to begin.

  The moment the training room came to life, the ground shivered beneath their feet. Arcs of blue light zipped from hidden vents, charging the atmosphere with a low hum. Aether-blasts exploded across the mock battlefield in dazzling streaks of sapphire aether-steam, and the training dummies deployed with a metallic clunk, eyes flickering with cold, artificial light.

  Jack ducked as the first aether-blast whizzed past him. It burst against the wall behind him with a hiss, its blue vapour coiling like smoke snakes through the air. “Already?” he muttered, nocking an arrow. “This room’s out for blood today.”

  Toma squeaked as the mannequin opposite him jerked to life and shot an aether-blast. The harmless projectile missed by a wide margin and struck the back wall, but it was enough to send the boy scrambling behind a low, crate-shaped fixture.

  Nessa leapt up from her lane, did a wild somersault over a waist-high barrier, and landed hard beside Ella.

  Ella stared. “What are you doing?”

  “Tactical repositioning,” Nessa grinned, acting like she’d dodged a real arrow.

  “That was a cartwheel into cover,” Jack called from the left. “Not a battle manoeuvre.”

  “Tell that to the aether-blast that nearly clipped my braid!” she shouted, loosing two arrows in quick succession.

  Toma popped up from cover, released, and hit the mannequin that had targeted him. The arrow thudded against its chest, just left of centre.

  “Nice!” Jack shouted. “Good aim.”

  “I was aiming for the other target!” Toma replied, his eyes wide in disbelief. “But I’ll take it.”

  Jack couldn’t help but laugh as he spun, shot, and hit nothing but air. “And… I missed entirely. Typical.”

  The room was filled with thunks and dings as the four loosed arrows and dodged aether-blasts.

  On the far right, Ella had claimed the high ground, a narrow platform near a raised fixture. From her vantage point, she shot down at the targets. “Watch the one with the hat,” she shouted.

  “It has a hat?” Jack asked, puzzled.

  Ella loosed an arrow. “It does now. Look.”

  Sure enough, one of the training dummies had been given a ridiculous brass top hat. Ella’s arrow bounced off it with a clang, prompting Nessa to burst out laughing.

  “That hat’s enchanted!” Ella called. “Legendary dungeon drop!” She joked.

  Jack aimed for it. “I want the hat! It will make me a noble, and I’ll choose a second name. Jack Hat… Earl Hat.”

  The others laughed.

  Toma joined in, releasing his own arrows at the ‘boss dummy’. “I’ll be Toma Hat. My brothers will have to call me Lord Hat.” The boy’s shot missed by a mile and instead hit another mannequin in the throat, causing it to mock explode in a puff of blue aether-steam.

  “Achievement unlocked!” Jack called. “Lord Toma Hat the Accidental Slayer.”

  Toma whooped and tried to reload, only to fumble his arrow and drop it down a floor grate. “Nooo! Will the skittery collector things be able to retrieve it?”

  An aether-blast caught Jack while he was laughing. “Ow. My Leg!” The aether-blast didn’t hurt much, but he shouted on instinct. “Damned top hat guy got me! Tell my kids…” He fake coughed. “Tell my little ones that I died for Merciar, I died for their future!” He fell to the floor laughing.

  Toma dropped another arrow from laughing too hard.

  Nessa rolled into cover beside Jack, out of breath and grinning. “I think this room’s out to get us.”

  Jack leaned against the barrier, panting. “If it is, it’s doing a damn good job of it.”

  From her perch, Ella loosed another arrow and scored a direct hit on a mannequin’s eye. “Headshot hunter!” she crowed, pumping a fist.

  “Was that luck or skill?” Nessa teased.

  Ella smirked. “Yes. Yes, it was.”

  The group laughed as they dodged more aether-blasts.

  Chapter 114 Adventurers Guild Membership