***Charlotte, Senior Mistress at The Den Of Inequity***

Thank the gods I kept my head down, Charlotte thought, leaning against the wall, cold sweat dripping off her nose.

When the explosions from the docks had begun, she’d been forced to decide between organizing a heroic effort to ward off the invaders, and coverin her ass.

She’d chosen to cover her ass, waking Michelan, the Den’s headmaster from his Trevor-induced fugue state, then offloading the responability onto him.

He’d performed admirably, using his substantial talents to organize the Den into something resembling a resistance, faster than sh’ed given the old man credit for, and certainly faster than she could’ve done it.

It hadn’t been enough.

The king had been furious at the Den’s paralyzed inactivity, and the excuse that a single inexperienced student had rapidly surpassed all of his teachers, one by one put each of them under his control and used them like puppets to act out childish fantasies…

The excuse was almost comically bad. Especially because the student in question was found dead in his room, unable to substantiate any of the headmaster’s claims.

The king did what the king historically did to people with bad excuses. He drew the Michelan’s mind out of his own body and added him to The Throne, leaving nothing but a crumbling husk in the old headmaster’s clothes, directly in front of the senior staff of the Den.

Those twelve men and women were what Charlotte would consider extremely jaded, but feeling the headmaster’s flickering confusion and agony surface every once in a while from the hurricane of lost souls that swirled about inside the throne filled their hearts with existential dread.

The only thing that stopped them from being added to the maelstrom of captured egos was a sense of restraint atypical of an Ilethan king, and the knowledge that killing all of them would harm the power of Iletha as a nation.

Instead, Jonathan Ilestar had cast his gaze over each of the remaining senior instructors of the Den of Inequity, the force of his will driving each of them to their knees, using their Leashes to infiltrate their minds without any kind of resistance.

Charlotte had been second to last, and when he met her gaze, she had experienced years of miserable captivity and degradation in a fraction of a second, toppling her to the floor just as surely as the rest of them.

“Upon review,” The king said, patting the throne like a faithful hound. “The Headmaster believed himself to be telling the truth. Imagine that. Upon searching the memories of several of your students,” Jonathon glanced at Charlotte momentarily – “I detected an outlier. A slant-eyed Bolesian prince, accompanied by a creature wrapped in rags and composed of inhuman will.”

The king set his scepter on the floor in front of him and folded his hands over it.

“I want the twelve of you to decide amongst yourselves who will take his place,” The king said, pointing at the pile of ash on the floor “And the rest of you will be tasked with learning more about this creature, and the ‘Ravagers’ it spoke of.”

Now she was locked in her study, trying to find a way to calm her nerves, sorting through the harrowing experiences that the king had forced into her, trying to fix the mental wounds he’d caused with a single glance.

The pet cockroach named Anton… False. Charlotte dismissed the memory.

Fingernails peeled off… False.

Not only did she have to pick up the pieces of her broken mind, she had to chase after the creature with the Bolesian brat and ingratiate herself with him somehow.

I’ve done it before, She thought with a shudder as she touched upon a particularly violating memory, choking it out with her will until it was done away with. Every graduate of The Den had to reconstruct their personality to some extent.

Charlotte a bit more than others. One could even say she was proficient at it.

There was a flutter at her window, followed by a soft gust of wind as something unlatched the uleisan glass panels from the outside.

Messenger bird or attack? Charlotte thought, tensing as she spun.

She spotted a human form clambering in her window, and she had her answer.

Charlotte charged over to the lamp on her desk, flinging the gently flickering light source at the ground between them

In a fraction of a second, flames leapt into the air between the two of them.

Transference

24/38 Bent remaining

Charlotte linked the fire to the intruder, funneling the heat of the spell into the hapless fool

Plenty of people had tried to kill Charlotte before, but they found she was far from defenseless in the innocuous sanctuary of her room.

The light Flared momentarily before winking out, leaving a warm floor covered in half-burned lamp-oil.

Charlotte’s eyes adjusted for a moment until she made out…Princess Nadia ilestar, or at least, what was left of her after the Gadveran summoner had somehow trapped her soul.

Nadia was little more than singed, eyeing Charlotte with a scowl. She gave a halfhearted cough, a bit of smoke leaving her lungs the only sign that she’d taken any kind of damage.

“Talk about a warm welcome,” Nadia muttered, taking a step forward, strange insect wings hanging from her hips like one of those vanity capes.

Charlotte raised her hand, aiming to try a different tactic, when Nadia spoke.

“I’ve got a letter for you.” She said, tugging the paper out of her leathers.

“Oh,” Charlotte said, mollified as she dropped her hand. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Don’t you know it’s the height of rudeness to barge in on a lady’s Sanctum Sanctorum?”

“Good thing you’re not a lady.” Nadia said with a snort, holding the paper outstretched.

Charlotte extended her senses out to the paper, finding it free of any kind of magical traps.

She took the message, opening it and reading the contents all the way down to the bottom line, before breaking into a laugh.

“I almost didn’t think it was real until I read the post script,” Charlotte said, shaking her head before holding the letter over a candle to burn. She didn’t want anyone reading her missives, after all.

“Amusing, but I’ll have to turn the offer down. You can tell your new master that I’ve got more important things to worry about than fixing the mistakes of someone whose balls haven’t dropped.”

Charlotte waved a dismissive hand, expecting the creature to leave.

Nadia cocked her head, studying Charlotte…assessing her weaknesses. The gaze of a predator.

Shit! Charlotte readied herself to cast a spell, but the girl was fast, closing the distance between them faster that an unblinking eye could register, appearing in front of her and cinching a steel hand around Charlotte’s wattle neck.

“It wasn’t a request,” Nadia said, her voice suddenly carrying an inhuman resonance as she stared into the sorceress’s eyes, the wings on her hips slowly raising.

For a split second, the lamplight reflected from Nadia’s pupils, a brilliant blue.

“Gods,” Charlotte choked, beating her fists against the unyielding arm. “What has that man done to you?”

“He’s helping me be what I’ve always wanted to be,” the former princess said with a deranged smile.

BUZZZZ!

The next thing Charlotte knew, she was being hauled through the air at an incomprehensible pace, ground sliding beneath her hundreds of feet away.

***Calvin***

The group was walking south, following the straight trail hacked through the jungle by Calvin’s knick knacks, Nadia keeping an eye on all of them along with their surroundings, while Calvin tried to explain how he’d gotten Baroke out of the pocket dimension.

“For the last time,” Calvin said with a chopping motion, “You weren’t inside the fungus. You were in a bubble of altered space created by the fungus. You weren’t technically anywhere, because the direction you were in doesn’t exist.

“Oh yeah,” Baroke said, glaring up at him, “Then why was I shrunk down in a little cave inside the ground, which you literally pulled me out of!”

“I didn’t pull you out of -” Calvin grabbed his aching forehead. Gods give me strength to explain pocket dimensions to this bonehead.

“You were shrunk because of dimensional lensing, not because there was a miniature terrarium under the ground. Our XYZ dimensions don’t translate on a one-to-one scale, and the ‘shrinking’” Calvin said, making air quotes. “Was your body adjusting between realities.”

“The reason I pulled you out of the ground was because, as the emanation point of the bubble, the fungus was the closest thing to a contact point between the two realities, and the easiest place to create a bridge between them.”

“So you admit that the place you pulled me out of…was the fungus layer.” Baroke said with a smug smirk, crossing his bulky midget arms.

Calvin opened his mouth to give yet another well-constructed, rational argument designed to enlighten Baroke on the difference between coming out of something and using that thing as a medium to create a portal.

Then he thought better of it.

“You’ll understand when you grow up,” Calvin said, tousling Baroke’s curly hair. The tiny giant swatted his hand away, scowling furiously.

“Maybe Maya won’t feel so lonely, now that there’s another person in the midget squad,” Calvin said, chuckling.

Baroke gasped, eyes wide, holding up a finger as though he’d had an epiphany.

“You know what? You’re right. This is actually an opportunity in disguise. Maybe I’ll finally lose my virginity.” Baroke said, nodding with a look of slowly dawning realization on his face.

“Excuse me?” As far as Calvin was aware, there was no way Baroke was a virgin.

Baroke hooked his thumb into his waistband, glancing down into his pants.

“My dick’s finally small enough to have sex with a girl.” He gave Calvin’s crotch an appraising look and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

Calvin punched Baroke’s shoulder. “Fuck you.”

“Eat my ass.”

Baroke gave him a friendly jab to the ribs that nearly sent Calvin tumbling into the jungle.

“Behold,” Kala said, making an exaggerated sweeping gesture in front of Ella, “Male bonding rituals of young men in their teens, too steeped in machismo to admit their primal attraction for each other.”

The princess gave them a wide grin, flexing her claws around the word ‘primal’.

“Like that one book you gave me?” Ella asked, “About two young men captured in a raid and forced to fight in gladiatorial combat, all while trying to come to terms with their budding romance? That was the one with a lot of butt stuff, right?”

Calvin glanced over at Baroke, and the two of them shifted just a bit further apart.

“You ever think maybe you let your wife read too much smut?” Baroke asked once the laughter died down, giving Kala a salty look.

Calvin considered it for a moment, head cocked. “Better too much than not enough. I mean…” It seemed pretty self-evident.

“Aye, that’s fair.” Baroke said, nodding sagely. “No one likes a cold fish.”

Calvin. Charlotte’s agreed to help. Where do you want her?

Excellent. Wait, you’re bringing her back?

I was there. Nadia’s voice came with the feel of a mental shrug.

Alright, even faster than I was hoping. Drop her off near Calvin’s march, outfit her with a big wagon of thermite from the treasury, and a couple dozen laborers to dig out her samples.

Samples?

She’s going to use her wacky power of destroying similar objects to accurately target all the fungus in an area by using one chunk of it as a representative sample.

Ah, I see. Is she going to be the primary cutter, then?

No, she’s too valuable to put where she can get sucked up. We’re going to use her to sweep in behind the line of homesteaders and make sure every ounce of the fungus, including the stuff that’s out of sight, has been incinerated.

I’ll get her there. I’m sure Kurawe is already working on getting her started. Nadia said.

Indeed. It is but the work of an afternoon, Ravager.

Good. This is the biggest thing I’ve ever delegated, and I’d like for it to go off without a hitch.

I’ll make sure our laborers understand the importance, Ravager.

Yeah, I’ll get it done.

“You had a blank look,” Baroke said. “like you were taking a shit.”

“Remind me why I saved you again?” Calvin asked, frowning.

Baroke’s chuckling was cut off by a wailing cry in the distance, followed by a rumbling that soaked into the earth itself.

“What’s going on?” Calvin asked, glancing up at one of the Nadia tasked with keeping him observed.

“It’s a bit outside my range. Let me –“ Nadia’s eyes widened, “They’re coming out of the ground!”

Dozens of lanky creatures with patchy fur tore themselves out of the earth, charging suicidally toward them.

Baroke might be smaller, but he was every bit the same ungodly strength as he was before, sending arrow after arrow streaking through their numbers, punching holes through the entire formation.

Calvin drew his backup knife and flooded it with Bent, making the invisible extension reach nearly the length of a sword.

Calvin was holding his blade tucked in close so as not to let his teammates fumble into the invisible blade, when he heard a flutter of wings above them.

Shit.

“Up!” Calvin said, looking up at the incoming threat. It was far too late, as the rounded creatures, that looked like inflatable bladders on Tarak wings, opened tiny mouths which erupted with a thick yellowish mist, deflating as they spewed the toxic mixture.

The vapor descended all around them in a fraction of a second, and Calvin immediately felt the effects as his eye began to burn like fire.

Tear Gas! Elliot shouted, as if that should mean something to him.

They’re trying to break up our formation! Calvin thought, tears obscuring his vision as he tried to stop himself from closing his eyes. If enough of them closed their eyes from the pain, someone would get lost in the shuffle. The creature could take people in a fraction of a second of inattention, after all.

Calvin burst out of the miasma, coughing and wiping tears out of his eyes.

One of the wide-faced creatures howled at him, trying to rake its claws across his face.

Calvin interposed his knife, allowing the creature to cut off its own claws.

He dodged a swipe coming from behind him before gutting the bewildered creature.

When the choking finally cleared, Calvin was standing at the center of a pile of dead foot soldiers, while Baroke had similarly mangled his attackers.

Ella, Kala, and Aoehe were nowhere to be seen. Learner was still with them, glancing around curiously between dainty bites of one of the monster’s calves.

Damn. Looks like it’s serious about killing us now, Calvin thought with a scowl. It had thrown the twelve hour limit out the window now that it realized they were coming straight for it.

“Did we get got?” Baroke asked, glancing around

“No, we’re still topside.” Calvin said, his knuckles turning white on the handle of his knife. Both his wives were in a pocket dimension. He couldn’t fault Nadia this time around: that attack had been designed to make them blink long enough to snatch half their party away.

“How do you know?” Baroke glanced around the forest. “I couldn’t tell last time, at all.”

There’s an intelligence behind this, and it’s trying to avoid a repeat of our escape. It took everyone who didn’t escape the bubble last time. It’s trying to keep you and me on the same side of the bubble so we can’t make a bridge like last time.”

Calvin glanced at Baroke. “That and you’re still short. If you were back in the bubble, you’d be tall, but you’re not tall, you’re short.”

“Goddamnit Calvin!”

“Don’t get short with me.”

The two of them burst into bellowing guffaws.

“Aaaah, I hope my wives don’t die. I’m gonna murder this thing.” Calvin said, wiping more tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Your levity is good,” Learner chimed in. “It relieves tension, and the fear of death.”