Cara forced herself to stare at the problem spreading before her. No wonder the rangers didn’t really trust her.

It was fine. She could sort it. Jeremy didn’t need to ever know.

Gramok stared back at her. Wild panic really didn’t suit him. “What do we do?”

Not use fire magic in the forest? Cara swallowed, but the lump in her throat refused to budge. Where had that thought been when she’d needed it?

Right. She’d had it and ignored it. Why had she been that stupid? Fire, forest, bad idea! Jeremy refusing to teach her any fire magic, unfair as it was, kind of made sense now.

Do something! Her heart raced. What? She couldn’t shoot her way out of a forest fire.

Couldn’t she? A tingle fluttered across her chest. She set her bow to water, activated Rapid Shot, and let those arrows fly. Water splashed out from each shot, extinguishing fire after fire.

Maybe it wasn’t the end of the world after all.

Well, it might still be, but at least it wouldn’t be her fault. And she was working on the dungeon spawn problem! Right after this one.

The last of the fires went out. Gramok gave her that look of amazed incredulity—not all the good kind—that people had whenever she set everything on fire only to save the day from herself. It wasn’t usually quite so literal.

Jeremy could never know.

Cara put on her serious face. “Not. A. Word.”

“Oh, this is going in the epic I’ll write!”

She narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw.

“A word?” Gramok’s expression went blank. “Why would I say a word, when there’s nothing to talk about?”

“Good.” She yanked her myrellium-tipped arrow out of the dead tree and set course for Tolabar.

The tree-song wound faded into the background as they traveled through the forest, but bitter obligation refused to stop tugging at her chest. The corrupted tree had been tough, dangerously so. It had to have had well over 1728 armor, and probably the deflection to match. If she hadn’t had that magic bow, hadn’t opened with a Stealth Attack, hadn’t critted…

The next ranger to run into one wouldn’t be so lucky, and there was valuable intel in that battle. She couldn’t keep it to herself. She would have to tell Jeremy the truth. But how?

That was a problem for future Cara. Present Cara checked out the shiny new Advanced Perk.

Piercing Shot (0/1): Grants the Piercing Shot ability, which hits with double the penetration.

Ability learned: Piercing Shot.

Stealth was a harder choice. Stealth Attack was tempting, even if another point only went from 3 to 4 times damage. Where else could she put it? Sneak and Easy Stealth were pretty much useless anyway with Gramok and Jake stomping around behind her.

She shrugged, put the point into Stealth Attack, and continued on her way.

About half an hour out from Tolabar, they ran into a ranger patrol. Or, more accurately, a ranger patrol ran into them. Tomas stepped out of the trees, flanked by Vevila and Logan, arrows notched but their bows down.

“Cara!” Tomas said, continuing in Common. “We heard you might be returning home. Is Jake not with you?”

Logan looked away and scoffed. “He abandoned us,” he said in Wood Elvish. “Did anyone expect any different?”

Fire raged in Cara’s chest. She stepped forward with her fists clenched. “He didn’t abandon anyone!” She bit her lip. No need to make any more enemies. “He’ll be here when he can.”

Logan’s expression hardened, but he said nothing.

Tomas gestured to Gramok. “Who is your friend here?” The words were friendly enough, but all three of the rangers clenched their bows and tensed up.

Did they think she was a prisoner or something? Cara’s heart swelled and clenched at the same time. She was home, home with people who would die to defend her. Yet, they saw her with a friend, and their first instinct was to violence. “This is Sir Gramok Kadora. He’s here to help us.”

The rangers relaxed, at least a little. Tomas nodded. “We need all the help we can get.”

His expression was grim. Tomas’s face was never grim. How bad had things gotten?

“If you move fast, you might catch Jeremy before he goes out on patrol again.”

Jeremy. A knot twisted in Cara’s chest. He’d be happy to see her, less happy that she’d nearly burned down the Forest. “Thank you.”

They continued on their way. Before long, they were back at the village itself. Erin greeted them with a grunt and rode up the elevator with them.

“How are things?” Cara asked.

Erin shook his head and looked away, out over the forest.

Bad. Cara’s heart sank. So much she didn’t know. How to even ask how many were dead? “Just how bad is it?”

“You left to stop the dungeon spawn.”

Cara bit her lip. Was that what this was about?

“And now you’re back. And they’re still here.”

Silence. There wasn’t anything to say. She’d failed.

Erin shrugged. “Welcome back. I’m sure you did your best. Jeremy and Elivala should be in the meeting room.”

Cara bowed her head and headed for the meeting room. Maybe they’d give some straight answers.

“You alright?” Gramok asked.

“I’m fine.” She clenched her teeth. It wasn’t meant to be like this. The tree-song was wrong, everyone was mad at her or, worse, disappointed, Jeremy was going to be ashamed to even know her, Jake was miles away, why did everything have to go so wrong?

Gramok’s huge hand rested heavily upon her shoulder. “It’s alright not to be okay.”

She let out a long exhale. Her heart refused to stop hammering away, but she couldn’t let fear get the better of her. Rangers did what was needed, and right now, her Forest needed her.

“Is it?” She straightened up and recomposed herself. “Let’s go get you signed up to the Rangers.”

The huge meeting room was eerily empty with only Elivala and Jeremy in it. Her last visit here had been at the other end of time. How long ago had that meeting been?

She swallowed. A week? Two? Everything was different now.

Jeremy greeted her even more gruffly than usual, while Elivala was as aloof as ever. There wasn’t time for pleasantries, anyway. At least they were happy to deputize Gramok into the Rangers.

Cara caught them up on all that had happened as quickly as possible, even the part where she nearly burned the Forest to the ground. And there it was, Jeremy’s lips pressed together into a thin line of disappointment.

A chill swept over Cara. This wasn’t how coming home was meant to be. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have.”

“No.” He paused, and shook his head slowly. “Elivala, I’ll handle teaching all our casters additional fire magic.”

The Keeper nodded solemnly. “Agreed.”

“But…” Cara’s jaw hung open. They couldn’t possibly mean that. “What about the Forest?”

“The Forest can heal,” Jeremy said.

A heavy, tired weight came over her. That’s how bad it was. “They said there’s an army gathering?”

Elivala turned away and with a barely audible sigh. “Yes. Various creatures from the Deep-Forest, including dryads of some kind. Named dryads. They are likely connected to the corrupted trees that now encircle Tolabar.”

“We need information,” Jeremy said. “We’ve lost several Lookouts already. Prowler Phelan is briefing his squad in the ranger den. Join him.”

Cara bit her lip and scowled. Phelan? When did that slimy toad become a Prowler?

Jeremy stared at her somberly. “That’s an order, as is remembering your duty.”

Duty. Pfft. “Yes. Sir.” She glanced at Gramok. What about him?

“I’ll be fine,” he said, clapping her on the back. “Go. You don’t want clanky old me on a scouting mission, not when there are trees waiting to ambush you.”

The snooty stare from Elivala made crystal clear that Cara was supposed to be gone already. Fine, she didn’t want to be stuck in a meeting room, anyway. She stomped off toward the ranger den. Prowler Phelan? What was the world coming to?

Not that it was worse than dungeon spawn. But, argh! She rounded the corner, and there he was, leaning against the desk and lording it over three terrified Lookouts.

His gaze sauntered over to her and a sneer spread slimy smugness across his stupid face. “Ah, excellent. Just what we needed, Jeremy’s pet Hero-worshiper.”

Maybe it was worse than dungeon spawn.

***

Luther led Jake down the spiral staircase that led to the portal room. Was this Luther’s idea of a joke? Magic was best learned away from anything breakable, sure, but did they have to do it there?

And after he’d been the one to recover the damned portal stone in the first place.

“You’re right about one thing,” Luther said. “Alliances are built upon trust.”

Jake snorted. Fat lot of good being right did. “Then why won’t you trust me?”

“It’s not my decision to make. However, you are a dwarf-friend and an ally. I will teach you what magic I know.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Jake shook his head. “But not the portal code.”

“No,” Luther said, “not the code.” He pulled open the metal door and turned to Jake with a smile. “You are a dwarf-friend. I trust that you will respect our secrets, and that you will not avail yourself of any opportunities to steal them.”

Why was he smiling like that? Jake bit his lip and mulled it over. Did that mean what he thought it meant? “It would be bad if I broke your trust, wouldn’t it?”

A pause. The corners of Luther’s lips twitched up. “You are an ally, not a subject. I trust that you will do right by us, not that you will always do as commanded.”

Right. Jake nodded knowingly. Hopefully knowingly, anyway. That, or there was some serious dwarf-human miscommunication going on and an international incident in the making. “You said you had some magic to teach me?”

“Yes.” They headed through into the diamond-shaped room that was encased in powerful protective runes. “Let’s make it quick. We both have important business to attend to.”

Between level 5 Discern Magic and Luther’s excellent teaching, Jake picked up the new spells quickly. Freeze was simple enough, although it was under Fire instead of Ice. It made a certain kind of sense—cold is merely a lower level of heat—but it still felt wrong.

Getting a proper Communicate spell, at last, was a relief. The range wasn’t huge, but silent communication would be incredibly useful in combat. It acted like a group conference call for everyone affected, whether by an Area aspect or multiple Forms. With a couple of Target forms, it was even possible to create a conversation without him being on it.

Finally, there was Detect Ore. What good was that meant to be? He wasn’t a miner.

Divination magic skill increased 0 → 1!

Jake’s heart leaped as he examined the Detect aspect. “This is… wow.” The spell itself detected only ore, but, with a few tweaks, the aspect could detect almost anything.

“I thought you might say that.” Luther straightened up and pulled his hands behind his back. “I neglected to tell Zelig something. I must return to the barracks. I’ll be back shortly.”

He strode to the staircase and circled up out of view, his footsteps fading away into nothing. How long did Jake have?

Long enough. He hurried out to the portal room itself. Where would the code be? The portal stone was the conduit that controlled it. That was the place to start.

With Discern Magic maxed out and an understanding of Portals, locating the code was easy enough. He headed back into the diamond room and checked out the Divination perks.

Stability (0/5): Increases stability of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Power (0/5): Increases potency of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Range (0/5): Increases the range of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Precision (0/5): Increases precision of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Sensitivity (0/5): Increases sensitivity of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Specificity (0/5): Increases specificity of Divination magic by 20% per level.

Jake’s shoulders slumped. Different from the usual, but not in a good way. Stability, Power, Range? Great. Precision, Sensitivity, and Specificity? Seriously? Spells were meant to simplify things, not require a confusion matrix.

At least it was better than nothing. He paced up and down the room. How long would Luther be? It was a fair way to the barracks and back. Might as well make himself useful in the meantime. He sat down, closed his eyes, and started crafting spells.

What would be useful? Detect Life. Frostbolt. Detect Magic. He bit his lip. Would it be possible to combine Detect Magic with Sight in some way? A poor man’s Discern Magic might help Cara and others like her a lot.

Cara. His cheek tingled and heat flushed through him. Cara, Cara, Cara. Why did she have to be so far away?

Footsteps echoed down from the staircase. Jake opened his eyes and rose to his feet. Luther re-entered the room carrying a dwarven pack. The pack was full, its straps haphazardly adjusted to be longer.

“For you,” he said, handing it over, “in case you take my very firm advice to leave here immediately. Zelig charted the best route to the surface on the maps. I hope you have everything you need.”

“Thank you.”

Jake quickly taught Luther a few spells that might help with the defense before heading for the nearest gate. The sooner he got outside the town’s runes, the faster he could get on with the journey.

Alone again. He snorted. Alone, saving yet more strangers who refused to trust him. Well, some of them refused to trust him, anyway. Thank the Forest that Luther was smarter than that.

Thank the Forest? Shit, he was going native. Maybe he had been spending too much time with the wood elves. A dull ache tore at his chest. That week, and the routine they’d settled into. It hadn’t been so bad, had it?

That, or all the dying and fighting since was so terrible that it made awful look good in comparison.

His cheek tingled, and he chuckled. Not everything was terrible.

A guard pulled to attention and saluted him as he approached. “Thank you, sir. For everything you’ve done.” The voice was youthful. Enthusiastic. Naïve.

Jake shrugged. “I haven’t done much.” He paused and cocked his head. “Do I know you?”

The guard pulled off his helmet, revealing a fresh-faced dwarf. Well, fresh-faced aside from the scar across his face. “Not surprised you don’t recognize me, sir. I was covered in blood last time. And screaming, apparently. Not my finest hour.”

One of the dwarves he’d healed, back when he still could. Great, exactly what he wanted before a solo trip. A reminder of both how dangerous the world was and what Death had stolen from him.

Not that any of that was the kid’s fault. Jake rested his hand upon the young soldier’s pauldron. “Keep yourself alive. Don’t count on it happening again.”

“I won’t, sir. Good luck.”

They exchanged nods, and the gate creaked open. If this didn’t work, the kid had less than two days to live. Hell, even if this did work, the kid might still bite it in two days, if not sooner. There was no more justice in this world than on Earth.

Focus on the job. That was the best thing he could do now for any of them. Getting attached would only make him vulnerable. He passed through the portcullis and pulled out the highly detailed maps.

A line bounced across the pages from cave to cave, leading right up to the surface. Each jump had precise distances listed, and none were longer than his mostly safe Teleport distance. The well-optimized path would save much-needed time. Zelig must have stayed up all night working on it.

Jake put his free Portals perk point into Accuracy (better safe than sorry) and his Divination perk into Range. Without Cara, he had to watch his own back with every edge he could find, and Detect Life would help with that.

Farsight would be getting a lot of use, too. He slipped both unallocated Telepathy perk points into Power. 40% higher Potency meant spells with about 29% lower base potency, and saving even more mana than that when pushing the effect into diminishing returns.

He was ready. Between Zelig’s route, the Boots of Speed, and Levitate spells, once he got to the surface, he could do the three-day journey in under half that time. No problem.

A shame that was the easy part.