There was no true path that led from the king’s road to South Bastion. All that lay between were animal trails and stomped muddied ground created by those traveling by wagon or on foot. Once upon a time Tanya would have been happy to make the journey on these paths. After a few months as a proper noble, she demanded to ride a majestic beast made powerful through magical enhancements or breeding. Now, after spending years as regent, she traveled like no other in her domain, on a massive sword through air flying just above the treetops.

Tanya, Mildrith, and the rest of their party sat comfortably on seats conjured into its frame. Despite the incredible speed they traveled at, their journey was free of wind and just about any discomfort thanks to a mana shield maintained by Asta and Garland.

“Anything yet?” Tanya asked BItarr as she handed him another beast core to drain.

Bitarr drew from the core expanding his magical awareness by nearly a mile. “This is pointless. Even if Brand is nearby, he can’t show himself.”

Mildrith scoffed at his excuse. “You say that, but won’t tell us why.”

“I can’t,” Bitarr said truthfully.

“Like you couldn’t tell us he was attacking the harvest festival,” Alda chided.

“I chose not to tell you that, but I really can’t tell you anymore,” Bitarr answered wishing they’d all stop asking questions he couldn't answer.

The psychomancy currently in his head wouldn't allow him to explain anything. Bitarr could turn back to his cloudy form, but practically all of what Brand knew would disappear at the same time. He’d keep vague impressions, like still remembering the striker's existence, but its members, creed, and plans would be all lost. Writing information down was also not an option. As long as his intention was to spread secrets, the oath would always stand in his way.

“Just forget about it Sis,” Carr said while slumped comfortably in his seat. “Why put so much effort into finding someone that doesn't want to be found.”

“I think he does want to be found,” Bitarr commented, offering a god’s perspective on desire. “If he wanted to disappear permanently, all he had to do was stay away. Instead, he stirs up trouble taking out damn near all your opposition.”

“Stir up trouble?” Alda said as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Is that what you call hundreds dead and a war falling on our heads.”

“Calling it a war at all is a stretch,” Garland said as if to reassure her. “North Bastion won’t last a day when the fighting starts.”

That didn't calm Alda in the least. “And hundreds more will be killed all thanks to Brand who for some reason is still a saint in your eyes. Both your eyes,” She added a moment later with an accusing glare aimed at Mildrith who looked away at the accusation.

Bitarr was about to enter a long speech of the wants of the heart when something entered his magical perception. It wasn't a person or monster but an absence where there seemed to be nothing. He quickly realized it must be the silencing focus that suppressed and unrivaled most forms of magic for a time. Thankfully, at the speeds they were moving, it wasn't much of a threat at least until it disappeared from his awareness.

“We got trouble incoming!” Bitarr exclaimed as the absence repaired off the ground and much closer. “A teleporter!”

With a thought, Mildrith jerked the massive flying sword upwards sending all but herself sprawling. No one had bothered to secure themselves thinking the open sky and moving just behind the speed of sound security enough. Now all but Mildrith smacked against the shield as her sword’s speed increased sharply.

The strange absence in Bitarr’s perception appeared right where they would have been if not for Mildrith. Then it was gone again, appearing right in front of everyone.

In a split second, Bitarr saw who was after them, recognizing neither. Both were beast kin holding onto each other for dear life. One had to have been the teleporter and the other armed with the silencing focus. It wouldn't work on Bitarr or Leo, at least not entirely. They’d still have their magic if only the power to throttle mana, but everyone else would be powerless.

Like it was happening in slow motion, Bitarr saw the silencing aura evaporate Mildrith’s flying sword to nothing after popping the shield protecting everyone like a bubble. The magic everyone prepared for the coming battle disappeared along with it right before they fell.

“Tanya!” Bitarr called out. He tried sky stepping towards her managing to conjure a foothold right before tearing through it like wet paper.

Bitarr might not be silenced, but casting magic externally was impossible. He was forced to watch as his summoner plummeted, the distance between them growing further by the second.

******

Tanya wasn't afraid of heights. With her magic, she could find footholes that shouldn't exist, walk across imaginary ground, and slide down hills existing only in her imagination. She could even fly, not prettily like an expert or with any significant speed, but enough to never fear the uncaring earth below.

The runes on her legs blossomed with pain as she filled them with mana, but nothing happened. It should have felt like suddenly finding out the ground was right beneath her and not several hundred feet down, but there was only burning like walking over a bonfire.

Losing far too many seconds to surprise, Tanya tried her arms next hoping to grab a ledge made of her own magic while feeling her limbs boil. Nothing. She tried her chest and back, the feeling of being branded adding to her panic. Tanya tried and tried again, failing to form a lion around herself, failing to fly, failing to slow her descent at all right until she hit the first branch.

She didn't feel the pain at first as the breath forced from her chest screamed for attention. A moment after breaking through the tree’s limb, then five more before free falling again, the agony finally came like a spiked mace to her breast. But in the midst of screaming without breath, she somehow had the frame of mind to feel lucky that her ribs weren’t in splinters.

Opening her eyes, Tanya found herself sprawled out on the ground with the world spinning. She shot up to her feet only to stumble as her vision swam and one thousand pinpricks of pain washed over her. Blood dripped into her eyes from a throbbing head wound and she was sure cuts marred her face from branches whipping her on the way down.

“At least no bones are broken,” she thought, forcing herself to flex through the pain to check herself.

She almost called out but stopped herself from making the lethal mistake. “No magic. No Bitarr. No Leo.” She reached into her trousers not finding a potion that should have been there. “And I lost my fucking potion!”

“They got me good,” Tanya muttered with a smile that didn't reach the intensity in her eyes.

For the first time in years, she was alone, but it wouldn't last. Soon enough someone would find her. Who that would be was the problem. Hopefully, it would be one of her friends. With them by her side, she might even last long enough to regain control of her magic. If not, this attempt on her life might be her last.

Tanya took off at a sprint hoping to catch a familiar scent with each breath. She hadn't seen the enemy, but they were no doubt also beast kin tracking her down like a pack of wolves. Staying still would only give them time to close in so she ran hoping that luck was on her side right until the smell of blood washed over her.

“No,” Tanya whispered, not needing to look for its source. The body hung upside down in a tangle of vines with one thick strand wrapped around a broken neck. “Garland.”

Tanya's resolve faltered, the numbness she felt after so many attempts on her life broke. This wasn't the actions of some half-trained nobody that got his hands on a wand. She could die. Her life could have been snuffed out during her fall or in the next few moments when whoever was after her attacked.

Thoughts of Asta and Mildrith suddenly filled Tanya’s mind. She’d spent a fortune purchasing beast cores in order to open her fourth gate, but they hadn’t. Alda, Carr, and Bitarr, would be just fine, but the others could have died on impact with the ground.

“They actually managed to silence her,” said a gruff voice from behind Tanya.

She spun around and stumbled backward finding two beast kin she recognized from court but who weren't nearly important enough to bother learning their names.

The speaker was a large man who by the look of his ears was a bear kin wearing the leather armor most beast kin cultivators performed. In his hands was a large ax he twirled in anticipation.

The other of Tanya’s assassins was a female bear kin that was probably related to the man by how much they looked alike. She didn't wear robes like a villain but trousers and a loose-fitting coat free of magic obscuring metals. Her stance was anything but casual, unlike her partners. Despite her target being silenced for the next few minutes, she held her baculous ready with a spell glowing ominously at its tip.

“Looks like I'm the one that gets to take her head,” the man said, walking forward with a confident gait.

“Wait! wait!” Tanya pleaded with none of the fire her voice conveyed in court. She backed away but stopped at seeing the mage’s spell grow in power as if she was about to let it fly. “You, you don't have to kill me,” she stuttered.

“Like anyone would be stupid enough to take a Bryer hostage,” the mage spat.

Tanya blinked away tears while her voice grew smaller as the man drew closer. “You don't have to do this.”

“We do,” the man said gently but failed to hide the bloodlust coming off him in waves. “You're a human loving traitor girl. Vellia invading was bad enough, but you'll bring down their god's wrath.” He gripped his weapon tightly as his mana throttling turned the air. “I’ll at least make it quick. Don't want your magic coming back and all.”

“Fine then,” Tanya said, the quivering in her voice replaced with a predator’s fury.

The enchanted greaves on her bare feet flashed turning Tanya's next step into a blur that shook the air. It only lasted a second. Any longer risked what might as well be one hundred pounds of gold burning away like paper in a bonfire, but they got her in range of the man who wasn't fast enough to even stop smiling. His expression only changed as Tanya's claws ripped open his neck, blood drenching her without a mana shield to keep It at bay.

A primal part of her enjoyed the crimson shower and the few coppery droplets she tasted. But the enlightened part of her mind knew a spell was coming so she lifted the dying man off his feet and charged, using him as a shield.

Not wanting to blast her comrade into chunks, the mage hesitated before releasing her spell. The swirling orb of blue exploded against Tanya's impromptu shield tearing his back open but also sending the mage rolling backwards from the blast.

She almost recovered in time to aim her baculus, but Tanya swatted it away just before it unleashed another blast that tore through the trees. Then Tanya roared, letting the savage part of herself take over.

Her claws ripped at the meat in front of her who tried uselessly to defend herself. Within seconds, her arms were torn to ribbons and then the rest of her soon after. The mage received all of Tanya’s frustration over how much she couldn't do.

There was no one she could hurt when Brand supposedly died, not with the Hall protecting Azmina and her brother. There was nothing she could do against the noble’s open hostility and those that plotted against her. She could only cower in fear of the gods that walked her city. And now one of her honor guards was dead, but at least she had a target this time.

Tanya stopped clawing away long after the mage finished dying. A pang of guilt came over her. There was a dagger tucked away on her person. She didn't have to be nearly as brutal as she was. At the very least, she hadn't needed to be drenched in blood.

Licking the blood off her hands and enjoying the taste more than she’d ever admit, Tanya searched both her attackers. She found a map, a handful of gold she didn't need, and a few weapons that were no better than her claws.

She looked inwardly next hoping to feel her mana and did, just barely. She'd have her magic back within the next few minutes but her keen hearing picked up on something that might not give her the chance.

“Fucking werebeast,” Tanya growled as she freed the dagger that was nearly as long as her forearm.

A dozen beast kin charged out of the thick brush on all fours, their skin covered in fur, mouths elongated, and snarling like animals. They all stopped at one expecting to smell fear but Tanya bared her teeth and stooped down like she was the one meant to do the killing.

She eyed every large cat, dog, and bear-like she was the larger predator, because in her mind she was. South bastion had no powerful nobles, not compared to Vellia. The few there were Brand had killed off leaving mostly those with basic builds and weak magic a first year at the Hall would laugh at. One might get lucky and latch its jar around her throat, but Tanya had trained for far too long to die to a pack of rabid animals.

********

“Gods that hurt,” Carr said looking straight up into the sky. “How did I manage to miss every fucking branch.”

“I guess we're just lucky,'” Mildrith said from on top of him.

They were both without magic for the time being, but Carr managed to transform into a werepanther before being silenced and sent skydiving without flight magic. His quick thinking probably saved his and Mildrith’s life who he managed to grab hold of right before hitting the ground.

Carr rose from the small crater he made with his body lifting Mildrith with the ease of an oversized pillow. He was happy about being stuck as a werepanther until his magic returned. It made him several heads taller than Mildrith who would tower over him otherwise. The added strength and agility was nothing to scoff at either, but what Carr was most grateful for right now was his powerful sense of smell. He’d need it if he wanted to find anyone.

“Let’s get going,” he said, trying to keep his voice light and free of worry. It wasn't his job to be concerned or be angry and frustrated. He was the optimistic one that wouldn't mention that his sisters could have just died. Mildrith would panic all on her own, he didn't need to add to it.

“Go where?” Mildrith asked with the hysteria Carr knew was coming. “We need a plan. We don't have magic, we don't know where anyone else is. We... If we wait a few minutes-”

“That would be a bad idea,” Carr said as if talking about bad weather. “I smell beast kin, lots of them and they probably know where we are.” Carr picked MIldrith up with one hand like a toddler. “Come on Sis.”

“If we don't move right now, we’re dead,” he kept to himself.

Carr jumped onto a large tree branch with Mildrith in tow using his agility to nimbly move above the ground. He moved in a large circle hoping to find Tanay or Asta but only found small packs of werebeast, the more bestial shape kind north and south Bastion implemented.

While their version offered significantly more brute strength than Carr’s build, it wasn't nearly agile allowing him to run circles around those tracking him.

“Where are we going?” Mildrith asked without seeing the danger they were in without her magic.

“Quiet!” Carr scolded a bit more harshly than he meant.

He almost wished he hadn't been stuck with Mildrith or could stash her away somewhere. She was his sister but she wasn't Asta. Without her, Carr and several of his siblings would have starved on the Null Road. Even after being crowned king, men like Elbert still saw no use for their children not possessing powerful focuses. That went double for their sons.

And then there was Tanya. Carr owned her just as much after she got him into the hall and made sure all her father’s bastards had a place to call home. He didn't want to imagine a world where she died.

Like music to his ears, Carr heard the sounds of battle. Battle, meant two sides, and one of them had been on his. He jumped back to the ground sacrificing stealth for speed and found a group a werebeast and magi chasing someone. It was Alda with Asta tied to her back with bloody pieces of her mage robe.

Carr placed Miltdrith back on her. “How much longer until your magic is back. You know what, it doesn't matter.” He freed the swords on his back and smiled. “Just help me kill these guys when you can.”

********

“Oh fuck,” Brand said looking skyward.

“What is it?” Thora asked from within his chest.

Brand let go of the giant snake he was choking to death and took off at a sprint without bothering to sifen the rest of its mana. “A gods damned silencer!” he roared.

“A what?”