As Faye rushed through the first floor of the Bánn Steading, she called out as loud as could, “Steader Bánn, Dáithí’s coming back, he’s being chased by monsters. I’m going out for him!”

She was worried that the Steaders would not hear her in her frantic scramble through the hallways. Fortunately, when she skipped down the wide polished stairs into the entryway, the Steader was striding up the steps with a bow — possibly the largest bow Faye had ever seen.

“Go on out, lass. I’ll support from above. I cannot leave the Steading whilst they’re out there.”

Faye nodded, tearing across the entryway and into the door. She pushed on the door but it refused to move quickly.

Steader Meirí was suddenly there, pushing the door open with a hand.

“Go on, I’ll be ready to get him inside.” She had donned a chain coif and shirt of mail.

“I’ll get him back safely,” Faye promised, then she slipped out onto the causeway.

Even the few minutes she had taken to get down from the roof had caused her eyes to readjust to different light. It seemed darker than it had been, now.

“They’re almost on him!” Ceri shouted from the roof, she was leaning over the parapet and pointing. Faye drew her sabre and rushed down the stone ramp to the gravel of the yard.

She could hear something in the field just behind the stables. An ominous rushing, scraping sound. Pushing aside the burst of fear at the strange sound, Faye ran into the gap between the stables and the storage sheds. The space created between them was darker still, but it was empty.

Faye hesitated a moment to ensure she could see.

That was all it took for Dáithí to suddenly charge into the alley at the far end.

“Dáithí, come on, I’m here!” she called.

“They’re right behind me!” he shouted.

Just as the words left his mouth, a nightmarish creature slammed into the right-hand wall. It shone with an internal crimson light that leaked out of seams in its body, but it was the glare of red light from its eyes and wide-open maw that sent a shock of horror through her.

What is that thing?!

Its body was made of thorny vines, all twisted on top of themselves to create a somewhat solid body. It had four limbs and was vaguely gorilla shaped. The two fore limbs were huge, and it pulled itself along with them.

Faye threw out her left hand and called Fire Darts into being as fast as she could.

The flames spat forward in a somewhat quick pattern, and the monster was big enough that no matter what she aimed at, the flames tore off portions of thorny vines and licked at the thing’s body.

Dáithí reached Faye, put his arm out and grabbed hers. He pulled her back out of the alleyway and into the yard; but he’d pulled off her aim and she was about to scold him.

A second vine monster slammed into the ground where she had been standing.

The moment she saw it, she realised that her Sense had been trying to tell her something, but she had ignored it for the monster in front of her.

“Do not let them hit you!” the boy screamed.

Faye whipped her hand forward again and threw another Fire Dart out.

The mana nestled inside of her was steadily draining, but she had enough to carry on throwing out darts for a while.

Just as the second monstrosity turned to face her, and the first emerged from the space between the buildings, an arrow thunked into the centre mass of the second.

And it did not care.

Faye looked over her shoulder. The Steader was perched on top of the parapet, his giant bow held ready. With the dying light of the day barely lighting him from the side, she could not see his expression, but he immediately reached for another arrow, which looked to be about as long as her arm.

The monsters let out a strange, creaking roar. Faye spun back to face them. A decaying, rotting stench accompanied the almost-physical walls of sound they emitted.

“Dáithí, get back to the Steading, now,” she commanded. “Your mother’s waiting for you at the door.”

“You too, miss, you’ll die out ‘ere!”

The monsters did not let them talk about it further. The two she could see roved forward. They were somewhat cautious, but the crimson — almost demonic — look in their eyes spoke of an intelligence she had not yet seen in the creatures around Lóthaven.

The one at the back roared and started moving, fast, in front of the stables, trying to flank Faye on her left. The closer one charged for her. Its limbs slammed into the gravel and propelled it forward.

Launching herself forward, Faye led with her left hand and the Fire Darts that she was pushing forward with all her might. Five paces away from her, another arrow slammed into the monster. This one was wreathed in violet light.

It hurt it.

It let out a pained screech and reared back, its head spasmed. The darts Faye had been preparing launched forward and hit the monster in its chest. It staggered backward a single step, but it was enough. She was able to slip forward on light feet to slash with the sword.

Unfortunately, that was where the similarities to every other fight she had taken part in since arriving ended.

The thorns the monster was made from resisted the blade easily and her attack practically bounced off. She spat out a curse and rushed backward.

A thorny limb whipped forward and scored a hit across her back. Her armour stopped the cutting thorns, but the force of the blow slammed into Faye.

She found herself face down; gravel crunched against her cheek. She lifted herself up to see Dáithí staring at her in horror from the base of the causeway up to the Steading door.

Sound and thought returned at the same time. She threw herself into a roll to the side. A blow from the monster’s limbs crashed into the ground beside her. It roared, its grinding and creaking call breathing fetid air across her.

Her sword had disappeared under the bulk of the monster, and her [Swordfighter’s Sense] told her that the second monster was approaching from the other side, too.

Rolling onto her front, Faye threw up a hand and let out a Fire Dart into the oncoming monster, then scrambling forward, she flung out her other hand and charged two darts for the one that almost pummelled her into the gravel.

An arrow scored another deep hit against the one closest to her. Violet light wreathed the monster like a liquid flame, starting from where the arrow had hit. The monster’s screech rose again, higher.

Letting the two Fire Darts go, they blew off a portion of the thorns on its shoulder.

The crimson light in the monster’s core dimmed.

Faye stepped closer and launched a Fire Dart into its head from only a few feet away.

The impact knocked the monster over, it crashed onto its side.

Congratulations! Your group has defeated a level eight [Awakened Briar].

Experience awarded.

The light in the briar’s head died first, and the core dimmed low.

[Swordfighter’s Sense] told Faye to move. She ran forward and jumped over the downed monster. Parts of the thorny vines had started rapidly decaying. It was almost deflating.

On the other side of the corpse, she saw the gleam of her sabre. She angled toward it.

The thrum of Bánn’s bow indicated he was still firing.

“More approaching!” the Steader roared.

Faye grimaced.

Exactly what we didn’t need.

Risking a glance behind, Faye saw the second awakened briar sidestep the other corpse to come for her. She turned and crouched into a ducking run, trying to take her sword on the move. She missed it the first time, so she had to stop and scrabble at the gravel for a moment.

That moment meant the briar had the chance to get close. But it did not try to hit her, instead its arm came around and threw something at her.

The decaying pile of sludge hit her in the face, getting some of its rotten compost in her mouth and making her gag.

The briar barrelled into her. She flew for the second time that fight.

Landing on her back was better, the gravel did not penetrate the armour at all. She slid a good few feet on it. She wiped away the gunk the briar had thrown at her.

Steader Bánn’s bow thrummed again and again. The sounds of the impacts were quite loud. One sounded like wood cracking.

The briar roared.

And footsteps came closer, crunching on the gravel near Faye’s head. She flinched and tried to get up, but hands grabbed her shoulder.

“Stay still, I don’t wanna spill it!”

She stilled at Dáithí’s whispered voice.

“Okay, hold your breath.”

She did as he asked, and a moment later cold water splashed across her face. Some of it tried going up her nose, but she blew out and scraped her hand across her face. The black gunk she took away was disgusting, it smelled as rotten as the briar’s breath.

“That’s so gross,” Dáithí continued. “I’ve never seen a monster do that before.”

“What is it?” she whispered back.

“It’s the… remains of the first one.”

“Oh, disgusting.”

She wiped her hand on the gravel and then on her trousers. It wouldn’t all come off, but it did mean she wasn’t covered in it. The briar roared again, and it tried throwing something up to the Steading’s walls, but the Steader ducked back out of sight.

“You need to get inside, Dáithí, what are you even doing out here still?”

The boy just looked at her. “You’d be monster paste if I weren’t.”

“That doesn’t mean you should be out here.”

“I don’t have a weapon. Where’s yer sword?”

“Over there,” she whispered, pointing back toward the distracted briar. “But it was no good.”

“Wood monster, they came from the forest. Fire’s good, keep doing that. Why’ve you got a training sword with you?”

Faye smiled. “Because it is better than literally nothing.”

The boy nodded, seriously. “Good point. Try using it. But fire, it hurts it a lot. Keep doing that.”

“Wait, what are—”

But Dáithí had stood up and run away from her already.

“Shit, that boy…” Faye muttered. She got to her feet, feeling unsteady. The taste in her mouth from the compost-like corpse was threatening to make her gag again, but she forced it down.

Drawing the wooden blade, she shook her head. There was absolutely no guarantee that it would do anything against the wooden briar. But she had to try.

Steader Bánn’s arrows were still flying with unerring accuracy. Though as she was now paying attention, she realised not all of the arrows were coming for this briar. Others were being sent to the other side of the stables. She could trace their path through the darkening sky from the violet glow each one emitted.

The briar was still picking up handfuls of the decaying plant matter its monstrous brother had left behind and flinging them up at the Steader. She waited until it was in the middle of a throw to steal forward.

She rushed in, crouching a little. She readied a Fire Dart in her left hand again. It was getting easier to hold. Instead of it bursting forth in barely over a second, she found herself able to hold it for up to three. On the count of three, she slashed with her sword as she raced past the briar.

The flames and the sword edge hit at practically the same time, though the magic had surged forward and impacted first. As the flames hit the thorny vines, they recoiled. In that moment, her wooden blade found purchase and actually seemed to score a good hit if the roar the monster let out was any indication.

The sound of its roar cut off as the Steader’s arrow found its mark in its throat.

Holding her hand out, Faye let three darts off in quick succession. The rapid drain on her mana reserves made her head flutter and she realised she was almost empty. She had been burning through it too quickly.

With the three flaming impacts, the notification ping sounded, but she ignored it. Something else was coming from the shadows around the stables — and through the stables.

Those poor oxen, she thought.

What seemed to be a living carpet was rapidly engulfing the yard. Dáithí was already standing on the raised stone of the causeway. He gestured to Faye.

“Come on!” he shouted.

She took one last look at her dropped sabre before turning and running for the relatively safety of the causeway. But she was barely a dozen steps away when she realised that whatever the new threat was it would cut her off.

Feeling the dregs of mana in her core, Faye pulled on all she had with desperation. She concentrated and forced the mana to emerge from her hand.

A throbbing pain immediately assaulted her behind the eyes, but she squinted through the migraine-like pain and aimed at the ground in front of her.

With a defiant scream, Faye let the magic ignite.

It cracked and launched forward straight as a lance, hitting the gravel just in front of the causeway’s stone.

Congratulations! You have defeated a level five [Lesser Briar].

Experience awarded.

Congratulations! You have gained enough experience points to level up. You are now level 7.

A rush of energy and power surged through Faye, and she leapt forward. Her long jump took her over the other lesser briars that were carpeting the yard. She landed on the stone of the causeway and took a few more steps higher, the lesser briars following behind like some demented, thorny river.

“Any other ideas?” she asked Dáithí. The lesser briars were steadily following them up the causeway.

The boy looked at her and nodded.

“Aye, get inside the bloody house!”