Tiria searches my gaze for a moment, then dips her head briefly. Without a word, she holds the talisman. Around her hand and the talisman itself, I watch a pearlescent bubble appear. It’s much like the one that surrounded her during our fight but thicker and more definite.

  “Is your hand going to be alright?” I ask her, concerned that it’s within the bubble with the destruction rune.

  “I’ll withdraw it as soon as I’ve destroyed the talisman,” she assures me. “Would you like me to do so now?”

  I brace myself.

  “Yes, go ahead.”

  Tiria squeezes her hand tightly around the talisman and I heard a muffled cracking noise. She then rapidly withdraws her limb and the bubble seals up behind her.

  The talisman begins to shake and smoke. I trigger my magic-sight to watch. The talisman looks like a glowing red tapestry that has suddenly been ripped apart. Even as I watch, the threads quiver and start writhing like snakes, the weave very quickly falling apart into individual strands still tangled together. The threads darken from bright orange to burnt orange, through to a luminous brown, and finally to a black that somehow still glows even as it also seems to absorb.

  All the magic in the bubble contracts into a small ball of luminous black, and then it shoots at the wall of the bubble that’s closest to the yelna’s chest.

  The clash generates bright white light as the bubble and the ball of blackness react. The blackness doesn’t relent, but presses inexorably onwards. And I see that the bubble is slowly giving way.

  Little by little, the ball makes its way through the pearlescent barrier. Yet it is not unchanged by the experience. By the time it breaks through, the ball is a pea in comparison to the marble that it used to be. Yet, it still exists even as the bubble fades from existence, its own energy used up. The ball immediately presses into the yelna’s chest and the owlbear shrieks quietly in pain.

  My turn.

  I dive into the yelna’s body, heading straight for his heart as I know the ball of destruction must be also. Yet it must burn a hole through him, so by the time it reaches his heart, it is even smaller than it was when it entered. But it still has energy left and I have to work hard to match it.

  It takes almost half my mana reserves to counteract the necrotic damage that continuously consumes the yelna’s flesh. Finally, though, the last speck of destructive magic vanishes, its energy exhausted.

  I feel more than a little grateful towards Tiria – though it’s possible I could have managed by myself, it would have been a lot more difficult and I’d definitely have needed to draw on my companions’ mana. It would have been worse even than when Kalanthia was poisoned by Tree-whisperer in the other world.

  I heal the passage the ball took through the yelna’s chest – it’s already started clotting and healing itself, but there’s no harm in me making sure that no infection creeps in to cause more problems.

  When I withdraw, I see Tiria watching me in fascination.

  “I have never seen something like that. Your magic seemed to…seep into the beast and collect in its heart. What kind of healing Skill do you have?” Then she seems to realise what she’s said and colours. “My apologies, my lord,” she quickly continues, dipping a quick bow. “I did not mean to be impertinent.”

  “No harm done,” I tell her, pushing myself to my feet. I don’t answer her question and she doesn’t press. My mind is whirling at the thought that I might have met someone else with magic-sight, though. Nicholas recognised it when I described it to him, but he doesn’t have it and apparently it’s rare. And mine isn’t even a Skill. Considering how easily I learned it, I’m not sure how that can be, but perhaps it’s connected to Meditation also not being something common here for some reason. “You’re free,” I tell the yelna.

  So I am, he replies with surprise in his mental tone. I get the feeling he can’t really believe it – that he’d resigned himself to his own death one way or another.

  “Come on, let’s join the others,” I say to everyone, stroking Noir’s head when he leans it on my shoulder. I take it Tiria didn’t make a wrong move while I was out of it, I comment privately to him.

  She did not, Noir replies, sounding almost disgruntled about that fact.

  Are you alright with it if she joins us on the expedition? I check with him, aware that he’s the one who suffered most, and would have been subjected to her experiments if she’d been successful in her capture.

  He’s silent but I sense that he’s thinking, so just stay still myself, stroking him absently while I watch Kalanthia, the owlbear – who really needs a name now – and Tiria head over to the cliff face.

  Based on her hurry, I guess that Tiria doesn’t want to risk that I’ll grab her and take her up the cliff the same way that we descended. Kalanthia begins to climb easily, footholds just appearing for her. The yelna uses his roots to lift himself up the cliff face.

  As for Tiria, she concentrates for a moment and a faint red light shimmers around her hands and feet. The red light seems to act as suction caps or something, allowing her to climb the sheer cliff face as if it’s a climbing wall. A nice solution. Perhaps she actually will be useful on the expedition. If Noir is fine with her presence, that is.

  She did little to me, Noir continues finally. The net was painful and demanded my submission, but you dispelled it soon enough. It was just the shock and surprise that ruffled my scales. But I am angry with myself as well as her. Perhaps more. I should have been aware of her presence. What if she had intended to attack you or the others instead of me? I was the guard, and I failed.

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  I hum quietly, considering his words. I hadn’t realised that he was feeling so much guilt, but now it’s been highlighted, I can sense it within him.

  “Your situational awareness clearly could do with some work,” I agree finally. Because he’s right – Tiria got the drop on him when she really shouldn’t have been able to. “But I think that was because you were focusing all of your attention on us. You just need to practise.” Certainly I know that my own situational awareness was rubbish when I first arrived in the other world, and it isn’t perfect even now. Practice helps, though, and this situation will hopefully have reminded Noir of that. “But you didn’t answer my question. Are you alright with Tiria joining us?”

  The alcaoris lets out a gusty sigh.

  As long as I don’t have to be in a team with her, yes, he agrees finally. I smile and give him a scratch in his favourite spot at the base of his skull.

  “Thank you,” I tell him. “And three of the Cores we got from the yelnas are yours if you want them.”

  Perhaps the Cores from the helvens, if I can, he asks instead. I sense they would be more suited to me.

  “Sure, no problem,” I agree. “Come on, let’s join the others – Tiria’s almost at the top and you want to beat her there, right?”

  The strong sense of agreement that hits me through our Bond makes me chuckle. Noir’s backdraft rocks me back a little, but I quickly catch up with him as I use a bit of air mana to fuel my wings. We both soar over Tiria’s head as she finally reaches the top of the cliff. I feel a hint of amused glee as I see her grumpy expression as she spots us waiting for her – I’m not sure if it’s my own or Noir’s at this point.

  “Alright everyone. Welcome to our newest packmate, please,” I ask and everyone sends their messages of welcome to the owlbear. “Name suggestions would be useful – as we walk,” I hurry to add since I see Sorya open her mouth. “Also, as you’ve probably already gathered, Mage Worddelver will be joining us for now. If she impresses me while we search for the rift, she’ll join us for the expedition too. Sulir, have you seen anything that indicates where we should go from here?”

  I refocus us on our objective – the Bonds I have with those who went on to Zlona are reverberating with tension. All of them are still intact, fortunately, but they’re clearly being pressed. The sooner we can deal with the rift, the sooner we can go and help them.

  “While you were helping the yelna, I investigated a little,” Sulir reports. “There are lots of tracks in the area, but I’m finding it oddly hard to follow them back to their origin point. They almost seem to go in circles.” He sounds troubled. “There must be magic involved that’s interfering with me and my Skills, because I do not see how what I have discovered could be reality.”

  “Let’s all go and investigate, then,” I decide. “Perhaps one of us will be able to see what the problem is.”

  We follow the tracks and it’s less than an hour before I can see what Sulir means. As far as I’m aware, we’ve been following the very clear marks in a straight line, but somehow we end up right back where we started – within sight of the cliff top.

  “Damn,” I curse. “Did any of you see what exactly happened there?”

  “We were just following the tracks, like you,” grunts Thiar, dissatisfaction playing on his features. Nurisoth nods in agreement while Sulir sighs.

  “That’s the same thing that happened to me. But it didn’t feel like we were moving in a circle.”

  Sorya exchanges a glance with Tiria.

  “What do you think – spatial warp or mind-control?” the Dragon team mage asks.

  “Not a spatial warp,” Tiria replies thoughtfully. “But I have a tattoo that protects me against most overt mind-effects.”

  “Then it must be a covert one,” Sorya concludes. She gazes into the forest with her eyes narrowed. “A befuddlement curse, perhaps? But no – my own wards would have picked that up.” She falls silent, still gazing into the trees.

  I look around at my companions.

  “Did you guys feel or see anything?”

  I was uneasy being close, Bastet admits.

  Not safe, Artemis agrees and Orion presses closer to her.

  I glance at Kalanthia and Lathani.

  What about you guys? Surely one of you picked up something – what did your Earth Sense say, Kalanthia? Or the shadows, Lathani?

  The shadows were wrong, Lathani tells me firmly. I would not dare Shadow Hop on one side of the tracks.

  Which side? I ask sharply. She indicates the right side with her paw.

  Earth Sense told me nothing, Kalanthia contributes. However, I sensed one of my Evolution level close enough that our domains should be touching, yet they did not.

  I frown. The mystery deepens. Then I remember that I had eyes in the air and wonder what she might have seen.

  Sirocco? What happened to us – could you see?

  As far as my eyes can tell, you walked in a circle around a section of trees, she tells me nonchalantly.

  And what was in those trees?

  Nothing of interest, she replies.

  My brows furrow further.

  Nothing of interest? But what was there?

  I…she hesitates uncharacteristically. I do not know. Trees, I suppose.

  What about now, what can you see?

  I…I cannot focus on it, she confesses, sounding alarmed now. My eyes slip away every time I try.

  It’s alright, I say, sending her waves of calm. There must be magic involved – it’s not something wrong with you, I promise. Since that seems to be her biggest worry. Tell me when I’m pointing at the uninteresting area in question. I step away from the group and then lift my arm, pointing ahead of me.

  “Lord Markus, what are you doing?” Sorya asks curiously.

  “Hold on a minute,” I ask her absently, turning little by little until Sirocco says to stop. I lower my hand and look ahead. Sirocco’s right, the trees there are incredibly uninteresting. I don’t even know why I’m looking at them.

  I turn to walk away and do…whatever it was that I should be doing, but in turning, I see Sorya’s expectant expression.

  “So, what were you doing?”

  No longer looking at the trees, I remember exactly what I was doing – and why.

  “Son of a–” I cut myself off and clench my teeth. It got me!

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here