Entering the near-featureless void of the Paths Between Paths was slightly different this time versus any other. Kaldalis had always been basically stationary when activating flicker, having only used it to avoid telegraphed attacks.

As such, he didn’t expect his momentum to carry through into the void.

It took a moment for him to detect, but he was definitely moving, rather than floating in place.

For one thing, he could see the pale floating shapes growing progressively less distant. They were definitely stationary objects in this empty space, growing slowly larger as inertia carried him along.

It made him want to see how much momentum he could get without risking death from fall damage.

If he could get moving fast enough, he might be able to get close enough to see what that was.

For right now, though, he had more immediate concerns.

As he expected, Onirioago was here as well, having used Kaia’s Flicker to jump out of reality to avoid Balrim and Myrin. She was floating in place nearby, and Kaldalis was sailing through space in her direction.

Unfortunately, she’d spotted him around when he spotted her. She had her sword and shield in hand and was flailing her blade at him, but Kaldalis could see it coming. He would be able to defend himself, just as she was now defending herself.

Kaldalis didn’t have his spear in hand, but he did have some new insights. Striking with empty fists wouldn’t cause damage, but it would hurt. When they got back out into the real world, he was going to land on top of her or right behind her.

He didn’t need to hurt her, he needed to set up an advantage when they went back.

Kaldalis snapped his arm out and grabbed her sword hand by the wrist while she was on the backswing of her flailing.

She had seemed panicked before, but now that he had closed the distance, he saw anger in her eyes, not fear. Her free hand clutched at his gripping fingers, trying to regain control of her sword.

Kaldalis tightened his grip as much as he could. But instead of trying to twist her fingers away from his, he made a fist with his other hand and drove it into her midsection, aiming for the solar plexus.

The impact was apparently unexpected.

Onirioago’s mouth opened in a gasp that wasn’t audible in the vacuum of space, but that Kaldalis knew would rip the air from her lungs. The time in the Paths Between Paths had always seemed longer than the amount of time that passed in the real world, and that moment of breathlessness might stretch long enough to put spots in her eyes when they snapped back to reality.

But she wasn’t so easily cowed.

She tried to copy his attack, slamming her shield into his chest. But Kaldalis was ready for the attempt, and he managed to keep his air in his chest. Still unable to wrestle control of her sword from him, she dispelled the sword and shield together and tried to grapple with him in earnest, her hand twisting out of his grip and then darting towards his head.

He had expected her to lash out with curved fingers to scratch at his eyes, and so closed his eyes and turned his face away.

Instead, she drove a balled fist into his temple, rattling him.

In his moment of disorientation, she clawed at him, grabbing at his face and neck. She was a DPS class, and so despite his larger size and more muscular build, she was physically stronger than him, and he couldn’t break her grip or control her movements.

Kaldalis had driven the breath out of her, but not the fight.

He wasn’t going to get anything else out of this struggle, but she still had plenty to gain by trying to grapple with him. Instead of ducking his head and weathering whatever attacks she hammered onto him, he lashed out with both feet, kicking away.

Despite her strong grip on him, his Jump cooldown apparently still worked in here, and the pair rocketed apart. Onirioago clawed at the empty space between them as she sailed away from him, but only for a moment. Her hands went to her throat soon after, the anger and exertion of the struggle having generated a demand for oxygen that her lungs simply did not have.

It was just a few heartbeats before she vanished - her Flicker ending before his - but he could hope it was enough.

Not that it would take long for him to find out.

Kaldalis snapped back to reality, and was almost surprised at the reintroduction of gravity.

He had expected to still be sailing towards Onirioago’s previous location, but his momentum carried in both directions - both into the Paths and back out of them. Having reversed direction by kicking off of her within the Paths, he was back on an upward trajectory now, having effectively double jumped.

Kaldalis wondered if this was possibly a repeatable phenomenon. Could he arrange someone to give him that kick-off in the void to get another Jump? Physical position and orientation in the Paths Between Paths had seemed semi-random. Had he gotten lucky? Was there a pattern he could exploit?

Now wasn’t the time to explore that, though. The double jump gave him an extra couple of seconds in the air to prepare for his landing. Balrim and Myrin were on the ground, apparently having collided after Onirioago had blinked out. They weren’t entirely sprawled out, but were sitting up and visibly recovering.

In considerably worse shape, though, was Onirioago herself. She was on the ground between them, laid out like she’d been sucker punched.

And of course she was. Just as Kaldalis had the added momentum of the Jump, Onirioago was a victim of Newtonian physics. He had gained upwards momentum when kicking off of her, and so she had gained downwards momentum from the kick in turn. When she snapped back to the real world, she must have hit the ground as if falling.

That moment of suffocation probably didn’t help her get her bearings, either.

Kaldalis hit the ground just a moment after she started to scramble, landing a few feet away. The (hopefully former) expedition leader tried to get back to her feet, but Balrim and Myrin pounced. Onirioago shoved Balrim away easily, and Myrin’s small size meant that despite her DPS class putting them on more even ground strength-wise, Onirioago was simply able to lift Myrin with her as she got up to a kneeling position.

Kaldalis had to tip the scales himself and he dove on top of her.

What he lacked in strength, he made up for in weight, and what Myrin lacked in weight, she made up for with strength. Together, they overpowered Onirioago, got her legs out from under her, and pinned her facedown on the ground.

“You can’t hold me,” Onirioago snarled, spittal on her lips. “You don’t have the authority.”

“I dunno,” Myrin said cheerfully. “Seems to me like physical capacity is trumping authority pretty well right now.”

Onirioago suddenly redoubled her struggle, almost throwing Kaldalis off as she got her hands under her to push back up off the ground. Myrin scrambled to get her arms under control, stalling just long enough for Kaldalis to dive back on top of her, straddling her back.

“Close,” Myrin chirped as she twisted the expedition leader’s arms behind her back, “but no cigar.”

Balrim scrambled up with a length of plant fiber rope. It didn’t look super sturdy, but in the absence of an alternative, they trussed her up as best they could.

They started by tying her wrists, and then Myrin and Kaldalis lifted her a little to allow Balrim to wind the rope around her chest, pinning her arms to her sides. After a moment of trepidation, Kaldalis allowed his talsar friend to wrap the other end of the rope around his waist to anchor her to him. Though she had proved herself strong enough to manhandle him, he was the heaviest of them. If she broke away and made a run for it, he had the greatest capacity to slow her down.

“You won’t get away with this,” she snapped. “You haven’t won!”

“No, no,” Myrin said. “You’re supposed to say that you would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for us meddling kids.”

“I’ll still get away with it,” she hissed. “This isn’t over unless you’re going to kill me. None of you have the stomach for that.”

“Yeah,” Kaldalis said, “we aren’t you. Explicit evil isn’t in our repertoire.”

“Bangen has probably gotten to Ikzoz by now,” Balrim said. “Should we head to his tent? Or try and find somewhere to lock her up?”

“Ikzoz first,” Myrin said. “The sooner we know if he’s on our side or still in her pocket, the better.”

“I have faith in him,” Kaldalis said.

“Me too,” Onirioago interrupted with a scowl. “You know, he would be nothing without me? He’d still be back in Baimer, slaving away doing scut work for people who are his superior only in seniority, not skill. He’s a smart man. He knows who got him the authority he deserves.”

“If he’s a smart man,” Kaldalis countered, “then he’ll know he can’t side with you and keep his authority. And if he’s ambitious, he’ll recognize that there’s about to be a job opening above his current station.” He jerked on the rope, yanking her a step forward as he took the lead towards Ikzoz’s tent.

She felt silent at that, and Balrim and Myrin took positions around her so that the trio formed a triangle around her. Kaldalis hoped that would contain her for now.

As they returned to the area of the camp more densely packed with tents, Onirioago played her last - and weakest - gambit.

“Traitors!” she bellowed, “criminals in the camp! To me! To battle! We’re under attack!”

There were a few alarmed shouts from nearby, and Kaldalis whirled. He slapped a hand over her mouth and she bit his finger.

“Traitors!” she screamed as he jolted away. “To my aid! Please! Help!”

Balrim grabbed her by the shoulder and, with his other hand, jammed a brightly-colored jungle fruit in her mouth, effectively gagging her.

“Actually,” Kaldalis said, “don’t bother, Balrim.” He turned his head and raised his voice, though he maintained eye contact with Onirioago as he shouted: “Go ahead and let her tell them! They all deserve to know there’s a criminal in camp; a traitor to the League’s ideals right here in our midsts. The sooner they all wake up and come investigate, the sooner they’ll know exactly who it is.”

Balrim took the fruit away from her mouth, and though her eyes burned with fury, she held her tongue. Balrim took one look at the bitemarks in the fruit and grimaced before discarding it.

“Let’s get her to Ikzoz,” Kaldalis said. “The sooner she’s someone else’s problem, the better.”