I spend a long while with my eyes closed, lost in my thoughts. I got the message out, now it's up to them to try something. If they fail, it might make it harder for me later but Yvonne is no fool so I'm not too worried.

“Elizabeth.” Teva half-shouts at me.

“Uh, yes?” I snap my eyes open.

“I'm ready.” She says.

Her face is fresh like it was just cleaned with water. Her expression is kind but determined. I sigh to myself.

“You're the best thing that's happened to me in years.” I tell her honestly.

“Thanks for saying that.” She replies with a smile but doesn't move to approach me.

I step away from the tree, leaving my hammer behind to open my arms wide. Teva hesitates for a moment but decides to accept the hug.

“I trusted you.” She whispers.

“I know, I'm sorry.” I reply. “You were right about hugs.”

“Of course I was.” She wiggles in my arms and wraps her own around my chain-mail.

“Probably should have taken that off.” I mutter in my helmet.

“I literally exposed myself during my most vulnerable moment because I was sure you wouldn't betray me, that you were going to protect me.” Teva tells me without a hint of accusation in her voice.

“I am, I was.”

“But not only.” She counters.

“I protected you from myself.”

“What do you mean?” She asks, raising her head to look through the opening in my helmet.

“I would have attacked them regardless of the odds if they discovered who I really am. I might have done that anyway if you weren't there, thank you.”

Teva remains silent for a long moment while I cradle her in my arms.

“I'm not getting back with you.” She croaks with a weak voice.

“I know.” I whisper sadly. “Let's go.”

I let her go and grab my hammer. We make our way through the woods together, I make sure to keep my eyesight enhanced with a construct in case their squad is still around.

It takes us about ten minutes but we reach the Rykz camp without trouble. I find a wide circle of thousands of warriors surrounding both Fenyz and Celyz. I adjust my grip on my weapon and assemble a lion strike construct.

We make our way inside. I spot the mercenaries and bandits to the side, guarding the captured Nobles. Teva departs to join Ulf near a supply cart. A small circle of warriors opens up to let me pass and meet the Princesses.

“Celyz, you didn't tell me that the castle we're infiltrating is Lance's.” I open with an annoyed accusation.

“So, it was them after all.” Celyz hums thoughtfully. “Is it a problem?”

“No.” I shrug casually, tightening my left hand's grip on my hammer as I approach her. “Just tell me again what the...” I start a meaningless sentence to distract her while I prepare my attack.

Fenyz seems to notice that something's wrong because she snaps around to face me, she's too far to stop me. I activate my lion strike and swipe my hammer low towards Celyz' leg.

I couldn't take a stance before attacking so there isn't much speed or strength behind the blow but the construct is there to compensate for that. The hammerhead impacts the side of her reversed knee. It breaks with a crunching sound, a small rip opens in her skin and leaks viscous brown blood.

“Celyz!” Fenyz yelps, panicking, as her sister crumbles to the ground. “I'm going to slaughter you, human!” She takes a long step towards me but I place my hammer over Celyz' torso and stare Fenyz down until she stops moving.

The Princess' spearheaded tendrils float around her menacingly. The Rykz warriors nearby are all turned towards me, hesitating, unsure about what to do in this situation but prepared to charge.

“Everyone, stop!” Celyz grunts in a loud resounding voice while waving her tendrils around us. “What are you doing, Jessica?” She asks.

“Trying to find the leash.” I giggle. “Can't you just tell it to paralyze me again?”

“It won't endanger itself by working against its host.” She replies. “I could have told you that.” She complains and makes her tendrils wrap around her broken knee.

“Had to test it to be sure.” I shrug. “Besides, you cost me so much, you're not going to complain about a few broken bones, are you?”

“Fair.” Celyz groans. “Our agreement holds?”

“It holds.” I laugh and remove my hammer from above her chest.

“That was a huge risk to take, Jessica. What if I could order the limb to kill you?”

“I'm not convinced that you can't. You're too smart to use your last resort as a first resort. Just wanted to be sure you didn't have some underhanded way to control me. It also serves to frighten these idiots into obeying me.” I point over my shoulder towards the bandits' general direction. “And keeps you in the back-line where you'll be safe.”

“I'm touched that you care about my safety so much you decided to endanger me as a means of protection.” Celyz spits out with a sarcastic tone.

“She isn't wrong.” Fenyz admits reluctantly with a vibrating voice that is full of anger. “You've ventured too close to the front lines this time.”

“I can't fulfill my role from the hive.” Celyz shakes her head.

“Figure it out, I have things to do.” I giggle in amusement.

I am forced to push a couple of warriors out of my way to make it through the warriors surrounding the Princesses this time. I head towards Ulf, the Rykz don't seem to want to depart anytime soon so I have time to burn.

Teva is staring at me with wide eyes. I want to tease her so much. I take a deep breath and reaffirm my resolve to give her some space. I turn to the Huntsman.

“Ulf, can you help me train the lion's step?” I ask him directly.

“Uhm.” He grunts in agreement.

We head out of the Rykz' large encirclement to find an open space. I start by assembling two low powered lion strike constructs over my legs.

“Like this.” Ulf pauses to make sure that I'm paying attention.

He then leaps forward a small distance, he lands softly on his other leg and takes another step to project himself onward again without a break.

After a few of those to accumulate momentum, he starts jumping several meters all at once. He quickly travels a hundred meters and turns around to come back in the same way.

I hesitate. How does he chain those together? I could barely assemble a lion strike during battle and I had more time between exchanges than he does between leaps.

“How do you chain those together?” I ask.

“Training, you assemble them between jumps.” Ulf replies. “The rest is just habit and form, not that it isn't dangerous. A single misstep will hurt.”

I activate the first construct and jump a tiny distance more than I would have without it. I try to assemble another lion strike but I have to activate the second one to land before I can finish it. I don't need to absorb the landing at this speed but I need to be able to do both if I want to learn this.

“You can store a dozen constructs beforehand to help yourself train but you'll need to be able to assemble them mid-leap at some point.” Ulf mutters.

“The more idle constructs I have, the more flow I burn to sustain them and I'll quickly run out during a run.” I shake my head. “I'll just train the lion strike, for now, to get quicker at it. Thanks for showing me.” I raise my hammer overhead. “So, how did you end up burning down the forest?” I ask while assembling a lion strike construct as quickly as I can.

“I only set it on fire a little, it didn't burn down!” Ulf protests through his beard.

“A little, huh.” I smile while throwing a strike.

“Frieda always exaggerates. Try to assemble your next construct without paying too much attention to the individual segments. You don't need to focus on the exact details to get it right if you've trained yourself well.”

“Isn't that risky?” I ask while following his advice.

“Verify the integrity of it once it's done, it's quicker than being overly deliberate during the assembling process.” Ulf shrugs. “I didn't even mean to set the forest on fire, I just lit up a deer's carcass to distract her father so we could go on a date.”

“I didn't make a single mistake.” I note happily while inspecting the lion strike construct I made. “Did her father dislike you?”

“Not especially, he just thought we spent too much time together instead of working. He wasn't wrong.”

“How did that carcass put the forest on fire?” I ask while casually assembling another construct.

“I foolishly left it under a tree and one of the branches caught fire.” Ulf winces at the memory. “It made a mess but her father decided to let us marry the week after, not sure why.”

“Ah, probably thought it best to remove the threat to his household.” I grin under my helmet.

“I wasn't so bad that he would need to do that.” Ulf grumbles but I can see him smile a little. “I think Frieda strong-armed her father behind my back.”

“Wouldn't surprise me.” I nod. “Didn't make a mistake this time either. Thanks, Ulf. I can keep training that on my own if you want to go.”

“Teva still seems shaken up by the battle and your stunt. I'll go sit with her.” Ulf salutes me casually with one hand.

“Thanks.” I whisper while raising my hammer over my head and activating the construct. “Once more.”

I spend the rest of the afternoon training my attacking stance and assembling speed, burning through the rest of my flow reserves. I should try to ask Teva out on a date once inside Castle Lance, maybe buy her some flowers.

My stomach grumbles vehemently and I make my way back to camp. Celyz is laying inside an empty cart, surrounded by a good hundred warriors who seem ready to depart. I walk up to her, pushing the Rykz that block my way aside.

“They'll get over it, don't worry.” Celyz chuckles. “I was waiting for you, E.Vil.”

“Celyz.” I nod, ignoring her dig. “What is it?” I ask.

I glance at her leg, it is surrounded by the black glow of the Rykz' flow. There are two splints on either side of her knee and a piece of cloth wrapped around to hold them into place.

“I planned to teach you another construct and talk about some methods of infiltration but that's no longer a possibility. We'll have to make do with a brief conversation.” She inclines her ovaloid head.

“What kind? I don't want to learn that fire thing you Rykz do.”

“I'm aware.” Celyz replies. “This one is a lightning construct.” She assembles a black construct and uses a tendril to pass it over to me.

“What use can I make of it?” I link up with it.

The segments don't look anything like those of the fire construct that I know of. I recognize only the most basic timer and targeting segments.

“It can be used to kill or disable. I've only put enough flow to incapacitate in this one.” Celyz explains.

“Alright.” I store the construct. “Can you tell me how to communicate with the arm?”

“Are you having issues with it?”

“It disobeyed and stabbed a Noble's arm to feed on the blood.” I explain.

“You can't change its instincts, how did you get it to release?”

“Broke your Queen's food signal in half and it seemed to understand.”

“That worked?!” Celyz exclaims in a small resounding voice.

“You underestimated this limb's intelligence, huh.” I note.

“Don't you understand what this means?!” She exclaims excitedly.

“More hybrids?” I ask with a worried frown.

“What? No! The Rykz, Jessica! We've been trying to make them smarter for eons before we reached the surface. We've had some success but this new information means that we've overlooked something about our ancestors, we thought they were simply instinctual creatures with some ability to understand simple orders like the rest of the Rykz.”

“But if the limb could comprehend my broken message...” I continue. “Then it has the capability to infer meaning.”

“Yes! Fenyz!” She shouts in such a loud resounding voice that I feel the vibrations on my skin.

“What?” Fenyz yells back, walking over.

“You need to get a message to Mother Grikyz, now! Jessica has told me something that needs to be relayed to the First Hive, post-haste.”

“Is this enough of a contribution to secure my deal with your Queen?” I speak up.

“Enough?” Celyz laughs while Fenyz inclines her head quizzically. “If this works, we will all be in your debt.”

“And how long will it take to find out?” I ask.

“A couple of centuries at the most.” She answers quickly to turn towards Fenyz. “Bring me something to write on and call two thousand scouts over to escort the message back to Mother.”

“Right away.” Fenyz departs.

“That's useless to me.” I shake my head. “I'll come and find you once I've eaten.”

What did I just do? I feel a knot of anxiety form in my guts as I make my way towards a supply cart where workers are busying themselves filling bowls with liquid food.

I'll be long dead before what just happened has any consequences. The Rykz are only potentially in my debt but it's something that I might be able to use to help the Izla.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing, it might bring some freedom to these creatures but it could also make it worse for them.

I tap a worker on its shoulder and it holds a bowl out to me. I drink the odd liquid, the mixture tastes a bit like flour. It takes four more bowls for me to start feeling full.

I check my flow reserves and am glad to find a tiny amount of energy. My regeneration is at least three times faster than before. At least I'm getting something out of betraying Caeviel.

I observe Celyz paint on a roll of parchment from a distance with a brush that she holds with a tendril. I make my way back to her, pushing two of her protecting warriors aside to enter the circle.

“Tell your Queen that I want the Rykz to leave the Izla in exchange for this information and your sister. You won't need to repay me if this works for your species.” I say with determination.

“Are you sure that's what you want? My Queen will agree.”

“Good, I am certain.” I nod.

I don't think they would agree to let my debt for the arm go with just this, anyway. I look over her shoulder as she creates small odd symbols on the parchment with the brush and gray paste.

Fenyz arrives with a scout at about the same time she finishes the letter. Celyz hands it over with a wave of her tendrils. I smell a strong sugary smell in the air.

“Jessica.” Celyz turns to me and assembles a tiny construct that she holds out to me. “It contains all the different signals that your limb will recognize with the corresponding words or meanings in your language.”

“Thanks.” I accept the construct and inspect it. The information is stored in the form of human sounds that I hear when I activate the construct, I change the targeting and the sound changes. “Didn't know that a construct could target itself.”

“Don't try it on any construct not meant for that or you'll blow up. Literally.” She warns me. I nod and anchor the construct inside my chest.

“What kind of advice do you have for me?”

“Don't have anything earth-shattering to tell you. The easiest way to find weak-points is to find the areas that have the most guards, no one knows a castle better than its occupants after all.”

“Seems logical enough.” I agree.

“Don't be afraid to ask for help from normal people as long as your requests seem harmless. But don't offer coin because that is always looked on with suspicion. Humans don't like to separate from their money if they don't have to. Offer some beers or dices to guards instead and they won't look twice.” Celyz chuckles.

“I wonder what I could use to bribe you. Maybe a pot of soil near a sunny window?” I smirk.

“I can see the expression you're making inside your helmet you know.” She chuckles and I roll my eyes. “Your bribes will be more likely to succeed if you tailor them to your target and give a simple excuse to justify your requests, it doesn't really matter whether its petty or romantic reason. You can also use the rivalries among Nobility to gather information and find out who you can pressure.”

“That's all you got for me?” I ask.

“All I can think of right now, we would have had more time to discuss at length... if you didn't break my fucking knee.” Celyz grumbles.

“It looked at me funny.” I joke. “You'll be fine, just hide in some hole until I get your sister back.”

“Do you have any idea how many scouts Fenyz is forcing me to take with me now that I'm injured?”

“How many?” I ask, curious.

“All of them! I can't move around with a damn army following my every step.” Celyz complains.

“Does that matter if you can barely walk? You're probably slower than a worker right now.” I raise my eyebrow mockingly.

“Go away, Jessica.” She sighs oddly, the air exits from the twelve openings in her head simultaneously.

I grin and leave, heading towards a cart to lay down under it since the sun is lowering on the horizon. There is a piece of tarp made of rough fabric covering the amphorae inside the cart.

I take it and look around to find Teva. She is laying down next to Ulf, I walk up to her and give it to her. She accepts it with a smile but doesn't say a word. I'll just leave her alone.

I make my way back to the cart and lay down under it.

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