Valgrin's boots hit the stone floor as he emerged from the shimmering portal. The air in Izzy's downstairs meeting room felt stale compared to the swamp's humid stench.

  Izzy drummed her fingers on the oak table where the others already sat. "Finally decided to grace us with your presence?" Her smile never reached her haunted eyes.

  "Challaretha insisted on a proper farewell ritual." Valgrin brushed phosphorescent spores from his sleeve. "He's offered to guide me to the kroullat holding. Malcolm will get word when." He gestured toward his friend with dirt-caked fingers.

  “Makes sense. Dravokka, the kroullat who is helping me, and I have agreed to meet at the swamp portal so she can continue to help me. I go back tomorrow morning and will be gone most of the day. She wants to meet several times in the upcoming weeks,” Malcolm paused then let out a long sigh. “She has already started helping, and I want that to…”

  The door crashed against the wall. Ylnah stumbled in, leaves tangled in her hair. "Of course you'd return the moment I find a sunny spot in the garden. Sorry about the noise. Are you all okay? Did you find Tahlur?”

  Valgrin started to reply but the clattering of hooves on the stone floor interrupted him.

  "Skwilly!" Ylnah dropped to her knees, her fingers finding the spot behind the priggy's ears that made his left hind leg twitch. "You made it back."

  “Almost didn’t, the little hero saved my life and nearly died on us.” Valgrin said. “Fortunately, Malcolm was able to heal him fast enough. To answer your questions—yes we survived and yes we found, and took care of Tahlur.”

  “He’s dead.” Malcolm added in a low voice, which gained in volume as he went on, “Which brings me back to what I was saying before Ylnah arrived. Which I’m glad of, just using this as a segue. Dravokka helped quite a bit in the swamp, she and I will keep meeting for the foreseeable future.”

  “I’m glad you found help.” Izzy pushed back from the table, her chair scraping. "Everyone sit. I've sent for food. We need to document everything while it's fresh—Drathnor is still out there."

  Ylnah pointed back at the door, “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

  “No, you’re part of this crew. Grab a seat.” Izzy's eyes softened as she gestured to an empty seat. “We can use a fresh perspective. You’ll see things differently and can ask questions that we couldn’t see because we were in the middle of everything.”

  Valgrin scraped a chair across the stone floor while Ylnah settled beside him. Izzy snatched a faded purple cushion from the nearby couch and tossed it onto the table. “Malcolm, help Skwilly up, he can sit on this.”

  Malcolm lifted Skwilly, the priggy's hooves dangling momentarily before finding purchase on the cushion. The creature turned three circles before collapsing with a contented snort.

  Valgrin leaned forward, mud flaking from his sleeves onto the oak table. "Spent a good chunk of time while we were slogging through that swamp turning over possibilities. Drathnor's next move...no idea. I guess we have to stay reactive for the time being."

  Malcolm chimed in, “Yeah, he’s not the type to let this rest. How quick he responds, though, is anyone’s guess. I’d put money on sooner rather than later, but that’s definitely not a certainty.”

  “I’ve been thinking about what I know and some things my Father has shared with me.” Ylnah’s words came out tentatively, her gaze focused on the invisible patterns she traced on the tabletop.

  “And those are?” Deeah asked.

  “Sorry, old habits,” Ylnah looked up at the others. “He’s pointed out that we put too much faith in those that deliver the Structure’s messages to us, like the Movvonian’s and others. He has pointed out they are sentient beings just like us. Meaning fallible and prone to biases and such. They aren’t the Structure, though most see them as such. I mean the entity you have named Sandy is, most likely, several beings using a voice magic to sound the same. Which brings me to what I’ve been thinking.” Ylnah paused and looked around the table.

  “Go on, we’ll hold our questions until you’re done.” Izzy said, raising a hand to silence Valgrin's half-formed question.

  Ylnah nodded, “It would be difficult to get the entire Board to agree to what is happening. Some sort of magic or misdirection is probably going on. I think either this Fred is directing this or someone in the shadows has been manipulating Fred. I doubt the entire Board, if any, knows about this—unless some sort of mind influencing magic is being used. And that type of magic would require a strength that would be nigh impossible to hide, if even possible.” She shrugged as she, once again, looked around the table. “That’s it, quickly worded at least.”

  Izzy exhaled slowly. “That is a lot to think on…and unsettling.”

  Vlagrin quickly added, “But is worth thinking about. My first thoughts is there is quite a bit of merit to what Ylnah has pointed out.” A lot of merit, could it be Fred? If not who is out there trying to bring us down?

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

  Malcolm ran his hand through his hair. "Brilliant observation. Though what we're supposed to do with it..." He trailed off, eyes distant.

  Deeah leaned forward. "What if Drathnor isn't just a pawn? What if there's no one higher?" Her eyes narrowed. "The perfect misdirection."

  The shrill screech of a chair being slid across the floor brought everyone’s attention to Malcolm.

  “Sorry, didn’t plan on making so much noise,” he gave everyone a sheepish grin. “Just think better pacing.” His steps sounded on the stone as he started walking the length of the room.

  Valgrin watched Malcom turn before running into the wall and start his walk back. A few seconds later he cleared his throat to get everybody’s attention, “Based on our recent interaction with Drathnor, he’s not capable of being on the Board and masterminding this. Though more probable, I doubt he could have a puppet on the board either. Even if he remained the character I wrote up, subtlety wasn’t his thing.”

  "Exactly where my thoughts keep landing. Well, except for the character comment." Malcolm said, mid-stride.

  Three sharp raps echoed from the door.

  The door swung open with a creak, releasing the aroma of fresh-baked bread that filled the room. Izzy's shoulders dropped an inch.

  "Perfect timing," she said, eyeing the steaming basket. "We need fuel for this conversation."

  Ylnah pulled a small crystal from her pocket, its surface catching the light. "I can set this to record the conversation. You all look like you're about to collapse where you sit."

  Izzy nodded her approval, Ylnah tapped the crystal twice. It hummed to life with a soft blue glow. The others descended on the food, soon they where all seated sharing their stories to Ylnah—Izzy taking the lead and others joining when they had something to add, or clarify.

  Izzy stopped and looked up at Malcolm, “If you want, you can fill in the part where you ran after Tahlur? You don’t have to.”

  Malcolm took in a deep breath, his knuckles whitened around his cup, “Needs to be done. In her questioning Dravokka spent her time focused on the good things. It helped me find my bearings. She also told me that ignoring what happened gives it power to infect me.” He took another deep breath and started down at the table. “There isn’t much to share, healed Skwilly then heard and felt a big boom. Looked up in time to see a scorched Tahlur staggering. I ran towards him, the guards still reeling from the explosion. Tahlur recovered just before I got there and took off running. I followed, I only had eyes for him so I don’t have any details. I got my hammer out and threw it when I gained enough that I knew it’d stop him. The rest is fuzzy to my mind right now, other than I remember the resistance when the dagger went in. The sound. Like punching wet clay. Again and again." He looked up, blinking rapidly. "Then you were there. Maybe something will come to me later, but for now that’s all I have.”

  Izzy squeezed Malcolm’s hand before continuing the story to it’s conclusion. “Any questions Ylnah?”

  “I’ll need to relisten to the story first to come up with questions. Only one comes to my mind straight -away. How did you know you could take a lightning bolt?”

  Skwilly's ears twitched as five heads swiveled toward him like synchronized puppets. “Well, you did.”

  The heads pivoted back to Ylnah, whose nose wrinkled in confusion.

  “Huh?”

  Five pairs of eyes snapped back to him. Skwilly's fur bristled along his spine.

  "That is..." he shuddered visibly, "...deeply unsettling. Anyway, remember when I went to the library with you and you explained my magic. You mentioned lightning magic was similar. I saw Tahlur point and reacted hoping the magic was similar enough. I flashed as bright as I could when I jumped and it seems to have worked. Still a little rattled, spent most of the trip back, after getting used to it, sleeping.”

  “Very risky,” Valgrin said. “But I’m very glad it worked out as it did. Your act of bravery saved me.”

  Cheers for Skwilly filled the room for a moment.

  As they died down, Ylnah asked, “So, I’m guessing no time to loot?”

  Deeah cut through the negative answers, “I was waiting til the time seemed right. It does now.” She pulled a small black bag from her belt. “A genuine Valgrin’s Bag of Folded Space.” She walked to the empty half of the table and tipped her bag. Metallic clanging filled the air, the table no longer empty as several objects fell from the bag. “When Valgrin went to go talk to the kroullat, I did a quick loot run. Left a lot behind but did find a couple of rooms with decent stuff. The last room looked like a storage vault—probably why they had a few locks on the door. None of them slowed me down. Ylnah, with your ability to read some magic, I thought you could look through these and let us know if any are worth following up on.”

  Ylnah's chair clattered backward as she lunged forward, crystal recorder forgotten. Her fingers hovered over the treasures, eyes wide as a child's on her birthday.

  Several oohs and tsks later Ylnah gasped, "Malcolm, this one has your name all over it."

  Malcolm's eyes flicked to the weapon, then away. His jaw tightened. "Not ready for another blade just yet."

  "But the enchantment—" Ylnah spun the dagger between her fingers. "It works for those who have the Flurry of Blows ability, this would let you strike once more. And if you actually attacked with it..." She made a slashing motion. "Double the speed."

  "Hmm, currently that’s four extra strikes," Malcolm murmured, his fingers unconsciously flexing. "Hold onto it. Maybe soon."

  Valgrin leaned closer, his sleeve brushing against a small copper amulet. "Anything else?"

  "Nothing this powerful." Ylnah nudged several items toward the edge of the table with her knuckle. "These I can't even identify."

  Valgrin leaned closer, his sleeve brushing against a small copper amulet. "Anything else?"

  "Nothing this powerful." Ylnah nudged several items toward the edge of the table with her knuckle. "These I can't even identify."

  “Oh, forgot one thing,” Deeah thrust her hand into a pocket and brought out a scrap of paper. “Found this laying on a desk in the vault room, nothing else on the desk. Looks like a drawing of some type of trident, the middle time and handle end both curved. You seen anything like it?” She showed the paper to Ylnah.

  Ylnah squinted. "Like a backward S with arms reaching up? Never seen it."

  Deeah turned the paper, showing it around the table. "Anyone?"

  The color drained from Valgrin's face. "It's upside down," he whispered, voice like gravel. His hand trembled violently as he traced the symbol in the air. "Not arms. Wings. Not an S. Body, beak to tail. Stylized bird." His breathing came in shallow gasps. "The Black Dove."

  "What's the Black Dove?" Izzy demanded.

  Valgrin's eyes, now glassy with terror, remained fixed on the paper as if it might burst into flames. "I am."

  Author page...includes Ground Chuck as well as this book, and within a few days Book Two in the EverNever series.