The beetle was a solid chitinous creature about the size of a football that looked like a roach with much sharper mandibles. It spread its wings and prepared itself to launch toward them.

  Ollie pointed his staff at it and a small bolt of fire blasted out of it and shot the creature backward.

  “Go and get help, warn everyone to take shelter in their homes!” Michael yelled at the young squire that was with them as he drew his sword and shield.

  “Michael, I have an idea,” said Ollie as he blasted two more of the creatures with small bolts of fire.

  “Shoot,” Michael was walking toward the well, preparing for the thousands of legs he heard scrabbling up it and the hundreds of wings he was hearing start to flutter.

  “Do the fire thing on your shield and sword and hold them in front of yourself and brace.”

  Michael complied, taking a forward leaning stance as he channeled the divine will of the gods into flames that encircled his shield and kissed his sword.

  Ollie made a circular motion with his staff and twisted his wrist at the same time and very suddenly a circle of giant roaches was roaring toward Michael. They flew into his burning shield, immolating themselves and falling to the ground squirming and writhing for a few moments before settling with their legs in the air as scorched piles of chitin.

  Michael kept his shield up, but was forced to use his sword to strike at several that managed to get around it until he formed a set of barriers that funneled them more directly into his shield where they would burn to death. Luckily, the beetles seemed to be mindless, and after just a few moments of them flying through the portal that Ollie had created into Michael's shield they were all dead.

  Ollie dismissed the portal and stumbled a bit. He was drenched in sweat and panting, relying on his staff to keep from falling over.

  Michael skewered one of the bugs with his sword and examined it more closely. The color of the chitin as well as its yellow ichor-like blood led him to believe it was related to the creature that had ambushed them in the cave with the statue of Seras, and more recently at the lake of beasts. They seemed to be in charge of the horned men and lizardfolk, though he wasn’t exactly certain of the hierarchy. These seemed to be mindless, unlike the larger ones they’d encountered, which had made their fight much easier.

  Ollie pointed at the insect, even as he panted. “I think it needs a bit more time on the grill before you eat it, mate.”

  Michael chuckled and flung it off of his sword and onto the ground. “So they were the source of the tainted water?”

  Ollie nodded. “Yeah. Their waste I’d guess. I thought about just tossing a fireball in there, but I don’t know that I would’ve been able to cleanse it after.”

  “Glad you thought to use the portal.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not. It’s tiring as hell to do on the fly like that.”

  A few moments later the knights arrived along with a dozen militia.

  “It’s okay. We managed to beat them,” said Michael.

  “These were the source of the corruption?” asked Laird.

  Ollie nodded. ‘Yeah, but I still need to clear a bit more of the contaminants from the wellwater itself. Just let me catch my breath.”

  “I’m sorry, had we realized that the contaminant was something of this nature we would have been more prepared.”

  “You’d have to be mad as a cut snake to have predicted that, mate.”

  A woman in hastily strapped-on, half-melted armor stumbled into the group with her sword and shield at the ready.

  “What’s the trouble? Did we get it all sorted or are you all standing around with your thumbs in your asses because we’re fucked anyway?”

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  The woman had short black hair, dark eyes, and very full lips and it took Michael a moment to realize that she was the knight he’d only just healed less than an hour prior.

  “Ser Blake, you should be resting.”

  “No I fucking shouldn’t Lounds. There’s more rifts to close, and shit to do. Besides,” she tossed her sword into the air and caught it by the hilt giving it a twirl. “I feel great.” She looked around at the corpses on the ground, and the well, then Ollie and Michael.

  “Nel, get some of the militia to gather these up and go bury them a short ways out of the wall. I’m guessing they’re the source of the taint in the well and that means we don’t want them in here.” She turned and pointed at Michael and Ollie. “You two, one of you had to have been the one who healed me. Which was it?”

  “Me,” said Michael, stepping toward her. “I’m Michael.”

  She held out a hand and they clasped one another's wrists.

  “I thought I was dead or at least that I’d never fight again. Thanks for that, and especially thanks for saving my men.”

  Michael nodded. “I was glad to help.”

  “Can’t believe the luck to be honest. You’re not some kind of strange rift monster hiding among us or something, eh?”

  “Well, I am a taker, but it’s not quite the same.”

  She spat on the ground. “Well fuck. I don’t like kid killers, but you saved me and mine so we’ll say you're even. Probably more than even if you make a habit of healing folks like that.”

  Michael was unsure of how to respond to that, but she’d already moved on to Ollie.

  “By the king I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an obvious mage in my entire life. And you’re as high as the fucking wall. How have you not been shot in the head by now?”

  “I have. It just doesn’t take. Bullets pass clean through because I’ve got nothing between the ears.”

  She laughed. “We should all be so lucky.”

  She held a hand to him.

  “Ollie,” he said as she clasped it and she nodded and looked back at the other knights. “Lounds, Hu, Laird, we should all talk about next steps. I also would like to know why you’re here.”

  “If you’d just waited a few moments we had just been heading back to the infirmary to tell you when this,” he gestured to the pile of smoldering insect corpses, “happened.”

  “Oh, well let’s go back there. Should be mostly empty now with the militia members healed and back at their homes.”

  They all made their way back to infirmary. Blake said hellos to several of the non-militia villagers and gave brief chest slamming salutes to the others as they made their way back to the infirmary. Once they were inside Hu and Laird explained to her in detail what had happened in their village of responsibility, Ollie and Michael’s part in it, and the plan to travel with him up along the road closing rifts and fortifying villages on the way. She nodded, asking them several pointed questions or adding pithy remarks as they told their story.

  By the end of it she was nodding in understanding with a smile on her face. “What a thing to fall so easily into our laps,” the smile dropped suddenly. “I don’t trust luck like that.” She looked at Michael and placed her sword on her hip.

  “What’s your motivation? Why are you here?”

  “Blake…” said Hu, his own hand on the hilt of his sword.

  Laird just shook his head at the exercise.

  “It’s okay. I’ll answer,” replied Michael. “I am here because the gods want me here.”

  “The gods?”

  “Yes. The divine is no longer whole. The gods are separate once again and they need our faith, our help to keep the world from falling apart.”

  “Why here?”

  “This is where the barrier between the worlds is weakest. This is where we have to make our stand.”

  She laughed. “I’ve met diviners who could heal before and I've seen dozens of rifts closed by them too. That doesn’t mean you’re connected to the gods. All I see in front of me is a possible agitator from Stent masquerading as a taker to throw off people’s scent. I’d have you divined, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you could mix up your titles and deeds.”

  Michael shook his head. He hadn’t even considered this kind of suspicion, but he supposed he should have. Stent was just across the bay according to the maps and he knew from his experiences with Bayle and Crick that they had a surprisingly mature intelligence service.

  He looked at her for a moment, his eyes turning silver and as he read the history written on her soul and the connections that spiraled off of her.

  “You accidentally dropped your sister on her head when she was a baby and never told anyone.” he chuckled. “Don’t worry, siblings drop each other all the time. You also mixed mud into the knight you squired for’s breakfast every morning for a week once. I’m guessing he earned it. You have two lovers in the village, but your connection to them is tenuous. You have family to the west that you care deeply for. I’m currently taking on the pain you were feeling from where your armor had melted into jagged edges and was pressing into your flesh. If it leaves a mark or breaks the skin I can heal that for you. Durand, please bless this Knight of the Realm with the strength she needs to protect it. There I just gave you minor Strength as a title.”

  He leaned back a bit in his chair. It seemed he’d gained at least seven more slots to grant people blessings. He’d have to see if he’d gained any more than that after this.

  “My connection to the divine is greater than any other diviner. I know this, because it is what the gods tell me. Would you like me to ignite my sword with holy flame as further proof or should we save that for while I help you seal all the rifts nearby while keeping all of the men and women fighting with you alive?”

  She shook her head. “We can save it for the rifts.”