After knocking away a spear, Mei ducked to allow Saundra to swing at its owner, then darted in to slash at their unarmored feet, which forced them to fall back while their comrade jammed in a spear. Catching it in her cloak, Mei dropped to the ground, yanking the spear and its holder down with her and giving Saundra room to attack both opponents. As one, both monks leapt back, leaving one spear behind for Mei to yank free of her cloak and toss away.

  “Cups,” Saundra muttered as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Mei, “it’s like fighting air.”

  The soldier’s attacks had only managed to nick one monk, the brute with a ponytail poking out from under his helmet. His allies, a skinny man and a blue-eyed woman somehow as wide as Mei was tall, had only lost one spear between them. Sooner or later, the monks’ greater reach and numbers would win them the fight.

  They had to switch it up. “You go.” Mei crouched. “I follow.”

  “Got it.”

  Saundra charged, scattering the monks, Blue Eye going for her lost weapon while Skinny and Ponytail moved to trap Saundra between them. To prevent that, Mei threw her dagger into Ponytail’s face, hitting him in the helmet and blocking his line of sight long enough for Saundra to hack his spear in half. Then Mei turned on her heel, stepped into Skinny’s range and sank an elbow into his stomach. When Ponytail, having thrown away the less dangerous half of his spear, tried to stab Saundra in the back, Mei kicked him in the chin, knocking him off balance. As Ponytail fell back, Skinny stepped in to pole-fight Saundra, using quick swipes and sweeps to keep attention on him and away from Blue Eye who was dashing in, her retrieved spear at the ready. It would have worked, except Saundra’s ax shaft was more than long enough to match Skinny’s moves, and Mei had already placed a foot in Blue Eye’s way. Blue Eye tripped, stumbled into Skinny and together they fell, giving Saundra time to thwack Blue Eye on the helmet before Ponytail roared back into the fight.

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  “Heretics!”

  Ponytail threw his half spear at Mei and used the distraction to snatch Blue Eye’s out of her senseless fingers and pull Skinny to his feet. Together, the two monks executed a series of well-practiced spear thrusts that backed Saundra toward the earth wall as she dodged and parried and blocked. Once she ran out of room, the monks would go in for the kill.

  Except they’d forgotten Mei and her crossbow.

  She raised it and shouted, “Firing!”

  Saundra slammed her back against the wall, and Mei shot a blue canister right between Ponytail and Skinny, who didn’t have time to react before blue smoke engulfed them.

  Three bodies dropped. Mei winced. Despite her warning, Saundra hadn’t been able to get clear. In the future, Mei would… She blinked. The future. She hadn’t thought about that in days.

  “‘kerolia!”

  “Qechimisubersem!”

  Right, Maggie and Fran were still fighting. Considering how many monks Saundra and Mei had fought on this side of the wall, Maggie and Fran holding out against all the others plus the mages was beyond impressive, but it was time to even things up. Loading her crossbow with Mesmer, Mei went over to the other side of the wall, saw that her friends were about to be overwhelmed, and aimed high to limit whatever unknown effect the canister would have.

  “Hey!” As Fran, Delma, and the only monk to make it out of the forest turned to look at her, Mei pulled the trigger. The canister burst barely a wir above them and all thoughts turned magenta.