Isla was in the middle of explaining her plan when Thor let loose a series of low whines.

My shoulders tensed. It was Lira. It had to be.

"Everyone, get down!"

"What?" Isla asked.

Castille grabbed Isla's head and threw them both down onto the blanket. Dugan doubled over, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his right shoulder.

I knew it!

I traced the line from the crossbow bolt to the treeline on our right.

I pointed at the origin of the attack and shouted.

"..."

What?

I grabbed my throat. Castille mouthed commands on deaf ears. Thor's whines were muted.

Realization dawned on me.

This was Lira's work. She extended her silence over the camp.

A jolt of fear, and my eyes darted back to the forest. Her next attack could come from anywhere.

I glanced at Thor. His nose tracked our attacker, moving to the right.

She was going for the horses?!

I got up to run to them and then paused as something moved in the corner of my eye.

It was Isla.

She waved her right hand to get our attention. The blanket we were eating on was bunched around her knees, her left hand touching the bare earth. She stopped waving and curled her pinky against her palm, followed by her next finger.

I understood.

It was a countdown.

Three...

Two…

One!

The treeline exploded with a ring of dust. The silent detonation sent a tremor through my legs. When the shaking stopped, we moved.

Castille jumped to her feet and made a break for our horses. Isla scooped up the blanket of rations and threw it over her shoulder. I ran to my pack on the other side of camp, while Dugan staggered to his feet with Thor's help.

I spared a glance over my shoulder.

A dust-covered figure stumbled into the camp next to our horses.

Lira!

She tossed her crossbow at Castille, reaching across her body for something on her hip.

My eyes widened.

She was going to cut the horses loose!

I tried to shout, but my voice was muted.

The thrown crossbow knocked against Castille's raised arms without a sound.

Lira unsheathed an invisible blade that hacked through the reins in a single slice.

My eyes darted from Lira to the spooked horses stampeding in my direction.

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I swiped my left hand to the side, sending a fiery streak to the ground that shot up into a flaming fence in front of me. They reared up on their hind legs but did not jump over it.

On my right, Castille recovered from the surprise crossbow to the face. She drew her black sword, Dusk, and slashed in an overhead swing down on Lira's body.

Lira raised her invisible sword, and the two blades met in a silent clash.

My eyes widened at what happened next.

Dusk passed through Lira's invisible blade, carving a bloody line into the Southern noble's shoulder. Half of a curved scimitar tumbled to the ground, landing with a thump.

Sound exploded around us. My crackling fire. The neighing horses. Lira's scream of pain.

As the mage lost focus, her invisibility dropped. Through the layer of dust coating her body, Lira grimaced from her injury.

"Help me with the horses!" I said, fear trickling into my voice.

I ran around my fence of fire to grab the reins of Dugan's gelding. Across from me, another wall of earth shot up between the trees, blocking another path of escape.

Isla ran up to me, weighed down by the bag of rations and the two packs. Our sleeping bags lay strewn about the camp. We would have to leave them behind. Dugan walked up next, his right arm hanging loose, and Thor balancing his pack on his back.

"Jacob. You ride," Dugan said.

"What?!"

"Do it! There's no time," Isla said.

She looked over her shoulder.

"Castille, we're leaving!"

I turned back to the fight on our right. Lira had switched to her secondary weapon, a thick-bladed knife with a wide hilt. She was good, recovering from Castille's surprise attack and fending off the Northern woman's continued assault.

"Coming!" Castille said.

She backed away in our direction as I extinguished my fire and grabbed the reins of the remaining horses.

Lira kept her long knife raised to Castille, leaning against a tree to support herself.

Our eyes met, and an understanding passed between us. The next time we saw each other, one of us would die.

Castille ran to her horse, taking her pack from Isla.

"Jacob, your pack."

"Right."

I let Dugan handle the reins and ran for my pack. I walked back to hitch it to the side of the gelding. Dugan kept his horse steady as I swung into the saddle. He walked around to the side of the horse, working the arrow out of his arm before climbing up behind me.

"I'm liking this less and less."

"Just ride," Dugan said with an exhausted grumble.

Isla mounted her horse, her determined eyes fixed forward. Castille followed beside her, sitting upright on her black mare. Sunlight crested over the valley. The scattered beams cast warped shadows on the scarred and pitted earth.

"Let's go!"

I bumped my heels into the gelding's flanks and held on for dear life.

Our horses weaved between the tree's grasping limbs, breaking past the forest and climbing to the top of the valley. In the distance, the silhouettes of riders cut a dark contrast against the rising sun.

The Lagos Cartel.

They were closer than we expected.

We turned our horses South.

Even with less time to set up our ambush, the plan wouldn't change.

We would face them at Southsun, and one of us would die.

# # #

The sun was setting when we caught sight of the sun-bleached roofs of Southsun village. My thighs were sore from the hours of hard riding, and my reins were wet from the sweat lathering my horse's neck.

Castille raised her hand, signalling us to slow to trot.

Beside me, Thor huffed with each step. A new coat of rust red dust mixed with his brown fur.

The pack animal wasn't doing well, and if he wasn't-

THUD!

"Castille. Stop!"

Castille and Isla turned back to look at us. Isla's eyes went wide.

"Dugan!"

Castille jumped off her horse, running to Dugan's fallen form. He was pale, with dark circles around his eyes. His body was limp, blood still leaking from the wound on his shoulder.

Why wasn't he healing himself?

I dismounted, forcing myself to stand on shaky legs.

Castille cradled the older man's head.

"We need to get him into the village. The Lagos cartel is an hour or two behind us. Isla, you heal, I carry. Jacob, take our horses and warn Mother Geslin that she'll have company."

Isla dismounted.

"It could be dangerous to move him. I can heal him a bit first before we find a bed."

"Aye, it's like a plan."

I collected the reins and led the horses into the village while they tended to Dugan. I was glad to be on my feet again, but the effort reminded me that I skipped lunch and would probably skip dinner.

Little had changed in Southsun since our last visit. I cut a path through the ruined homes to the headman's house, where Mother Geslin squatted.

I shook my head, thinking of the old woman. She was right. By fate or luck, we saved Luskaine.

I was a hero.

The thought was uncomfortable, like wearing clothes that were too tight.

What would Sin think of me?

I shook my head harder, biting back a frown.

It didn't matter what she thought. Not anymore.

After minutes of walking, I spotted the large house with the gaping hole for an entrance.

I tied off the horses and navigated the rubble strewn over its main floor.

"Geslin! We're back!"

"Mother Ge-"

My voice cut off when I turned to the dining room. Mother Geslin sat, tied to a chair by a bundle of rope. A strip of white cloth gagged her mouth. She turned to look at me with wide eyes.

A man sat across from her, eating the field rations we traded on a fine porcelain plate. He cut pieces of dried meat with silver cutlery.

He turned to face me. His one scarred eye gleamed from the light of the table's lantern, the other eye hidden behind a black eye patch.

Took's wide mouth split into a sadistic grin.

"What took you so long?"

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