The Laeshi scrambled through the tunnel, going as fast he could. His lips curled into an ear-to-ear grin and his eyes gleamed with a sparkle he hadn’t felt in years. His heart thumped faster, threatening to burst out of its fleshy confines, leaving him in a state of focus.

After Bian and the human had disappeared into the house, he had found a perch to watch from. But as time passed, he had gotten increasingly anxious until he gave in and risked a closer look, then an even closer one. Eventually, he found himself in front of the door with sweat rolling down his forehead. The door had been unlocked, and he had let himself in, quickly finding the opening in the storage room.

His nocturnal vision had allowed him to pace through the tunnel while on the lookout for any signs of them in front. When he came to the branching passages dimly lit from above, his choice had come easy due to the fresh and heavy imprints in the ground. Not long later, he had arrived at the warehouse just as the melee was maturing, in perfect time to watch Bian fight. His vision had been blurred since he had stayed in the tunnel but he was confident from her transformation she was the missing Cruorem.

But she was nothing, nothing at all next to the dazzling jewel she fought alongside. Next to a Zakari…

The Laeshi had stayed for a while longer, waiting to see what other secrets he could discover, until they showed signs of wanting to leave, at which he had begun his sprint back.

Seeing the end of the tunnel, he sped up and rushed out, coming back into the house. Making his way out, he sprung up and flapped his way into the sky, only stopping to rest on the top of a building a distance away. He dove into his pockets and found the curled horn. Shooting back into the air, he began to blow it, going on for ten minutes to make sure his minions heard, after all, he’d rather not lose them here after gaining such a gem. Afterwards, he sped away from the city, drool dripping down his chin.

He couldn’t imagine what the Cruorems would reward him.

The Seekers made it out of the tunnel, wheezing as they had rushed through the passage. They understood the warehouse held a pivotal role in the war for Visgamar so knew Smith had to know about it as soon as possible. Kora had picked up the items she had dropped in the tunnel, though she chose to buy a new cloak after seeing the state of her old maroon one.

It was while they were walking out that Kora stopped, head cast down with her eyes shut, before staring into the sky.

“Can you hear that?” she asked.

“What?”

“That low whistle. Sounds like it’s from a pipe,” she said.

He focused and heard the wind blowing in his ears. “No,”

She scrunched her forehead and stayed on the spot for a few seconds, before sighing. “Forget it, let’s go,”

They made their way through the streets which now lacked the thieves and murderers who made them dangerous. But this didn’t speed up their journey because as they got closer to Hexham’s road, they figured where the raucous slum-dwellers had migrated to, the streets ahead thick with screams and blood. Orion suggested the roofs and not long after, they were roof-jumping, pacing through the city.

After an easy leap, he turned around to see Kora standing on the previous building, squinting into the skies again. He went back to join her.

“What are you doing? We need to tell Smith,”

She pointed into the air. “See that? That’s the Laeshi, you can tell from his wings,”

Orion focused and discerned a dot. “And? What’s he doing?”

“The whistle I told you about before, it’s coming from him.”

“Are you sure it’s not the air?” Orion questioned. While he could now vaguely hear the noise, there was no difference between it and the wind’s own whistles.

She shook her head. “He’s calling something,”

Just as Orion was going to ask another question, the dot in the distance began to move rapidly, speeding away from the centre of Visgamar. “What the…”

She opened her mouth, then shut it. “He’s leaving. Retreating maybe?”

“He can’t be. I thought Rats had bought him?”

She didn’t respond, instead, watching the dot until it faded. “I’m getting a bad feeling, Jax,”

They stood in silence for a few moments until she sighed again. “Arghh, let’s just go and tell Smith,”

It was close to an hour later when they reached the Seeker’s building. Smith sat upstairs within a mix of men and women, staring at the table with his hand clasped around his jaw as he listened to one of them talk.

“Smith, we killed Grima,” Orion shouted as they made their way.

The others turned towards him while the eye-patched man stayed seated, still watching the table. “You killed him, did you?”

“Well, we killed them. We think that was all of them,” Kora explained.

To this, Smith stood and faced them. “You’re joking. Don’t play with me, girl,”

Orion shook his head and Kora shrugged.

“This is your last chance. If this is a joke, say now and I’ll let you carry on with your lives. Otherwise, I’ll kill you right then and there,”

They stayed quiet until Smith broke into a grin. “Well, fuck me. We’ll find out if you two just gave up your tomorrows,”

He turned to the group he’d been sitting with. “Get your stuff right now. We’re gonna see if there’s any truth to this,” before turning back to Orion and Kora, “Both of you get a drink. You definitely didn’t kill them all, so we’ll have to dash there in case one of the remainers decide to have some fun in your absence,”

A short rest later, the group of nine left the Seeker’s base. In the following seconds, as if by coincidence, a net of smoke swallowed them. While Kora and Orion grew tense and vigilant at this, Smith’s easy guffaw rolled through the smoke.

“A fucking Cloudape to deal with me? You were better to attack the Palace instead of me, monster,” he shouted.

Following the voice, Orion pushed through the smoke and glimpsed Smith slashing at air. Looking closer, he saw some smoke move as a single unit, revealing a disguised figure, but only for a moment as it disappeared again. Considering Orion was only two metres away, Smith also noticed him.

“Get out of here, boy. No use to me,” he said.

Listening, Orion was about to leave when he heard a scream right behind him. Jumping forward and turning around, he saw Smith’s sword stabbed into a cloud-grey fleecy arm. Just as he was about to attack, the figure disappeared again and the smoke strengthened. Realising his uselessness, the pale Seeker sprinted out of the smoke, finding Kora standing with five of the other Seekers.

“Don’t worry, mate,” said the largest member, “Smith’s a 6-star. He’ll be done in seconds,”

It turned out the man wasn’t overselling as the screams were frequent as they waited. The smoke kept getting thicker and spreading further but it didn’t seem to help as the Cloudape continued crying out in pain. It wasn’t much longer till the smoke cleared, revealing Smith walking towards them carrying the Cloudape with one hand.

“Stupid shit kept trying to run. Rats must have told him to distract me. Stupid shit,” the eye-patched man said, his grey hair accented by the smoke. “Come on, one of you take this in while the rest of us go to Grima’s base,” he said dropping the corpse.