"How do you not lose your mind in here?" Lylisia asked for the fifth time in an hour. "It's nice and cool without the sun, but it's still so dark!"

I rolled my eyes. "Lill, I can't help how dark the forest is alright? It's either the dark trees here, by ourselves, or the sunny plains north where the Corvel soldiers would be happy to figure out exactly what we're doing in Corvelen. Besides, it gives us plenty of time to relax and immerse ourselves in the beauty of the forest." I took a deep breath of fresh air and exhaled slowly. "See?"

Lylisia looked at me blankly for a while and shook her head, silver braid waggling behind her. "I'm glad I sleep while you roam the forest at night. Out here by myself, I'd be just as crazy as you!" She laughed to herself and started to skip down the trail.

After my early morning conversation with Koren, Andrin and Lylisia had woken up quickly, refreshed from their brief sleep. Our Animaré abilities allowed us enhanced endurance—I had only gotten five hours of sleep the night before but felt perfectly rested. The attribute meant that we could travel large distances with astonishing speed.

And good thing too, because the fork in the path I discovered the previous night was a problem. The four us agreed to quickly scout both paths—one pair of Animaré per path—and then meet back at the fork to decide which was best. Lylisia and I had chosen the north path. We could only hope it turned west soon, because as far as I could tell, we were still on a straight shot north.

"Hey don't go off daydreaming in your glorious forest." My Animaré was waiting for me to catch up.

"You know after so much time in here, the wonder has really been lost," I replied loftily.

"Well we'd better keep moving, who knows how much ground there is to cover. We should be back to the fork by noon like Koren said."

"Sure. Remember Andrin needs us to look out for anything we find along the way. If we don't come back this way, we'll want to bring it."

Lylisia's skip melted into a walk at my side. "Is it really that bad?"

"Andrin says it's fine, and I believe him, sort of. But I think we should still keep a sharp eye for anything that he could turn into food."

"If he says it's fine, I'm sure it'll be fine." She nodded to herself and squeezed my arm, but stayed quiet.

"We'll find something, or he will."

Lylisia nodded again and took a deep breath.

"I know. You're right." She smiled, absentmindedly toying with her silver braid. "Let's get going, we've got bigger fish to fry! Well, actually nothing to eat at all, apparently, but anyway..."

She made to skip away again—with effort—but I caught her hand first. "Lyl, there's one more thing."

"From last night?" Her voice was already stronger and she fixed me with a steely gaze.

I wasn't surprised she knew what was on my mind. Sometimes it seemed that Animaré could read each others thoughts. The reality was that reading minds was impossible, for anyone. Animaré had linked souls—two bound into one, really—so while thoughts weren't connected, emotions were. Additionally, Lylisia had a special skill in reading expressions and voices, so it was natural that she knew I had something to say.

"Last night in the forest... I felt something strange." I chose my words slowly. "It was kind of a... disturbance."

"Some kind of fight?"

"Maybe not a disturbance. I felt it in the currents. It was a long way off, but I could almost feel corruption emanating from it. It's hard to describe the feeling. It sent ripples in the currents, that's how I felt it. Like it was this awful magic that interfered with them, and I just felt the shockwave."

Lylisia paused for a moment, a finger tapping the knife at her hip. She rested her palm on the hilt, grip relaxed. "Do you think someone was using magic? And maybe using it wrong?"

"It could have been. It was so far away I couldn't get a feel for the thing itself, just the disturbance it caused. I think we should warn Andrin and Koren. We never know what's out there."

Lylisia set her jaw. "We can take on anything."

I didn't respond.

"We need to be careful, but not afraid, Sedris. We've got each other, and Andrin and Koren. And we've got magic too."

"We've got magic." I swallowed hard, pulling energy from our bond, wrapping it around me like a cloak. "It's stupid, I know, it's just—it felt so... no, never mind, you're right. Together we're strong, together we've got magic."

Lylisia touched my arm and the currents practically hummed between us.

Good thing too, because I sensed a shift at that moment. At the edge of my perception, something moved, something other than an animal. Two somethings, no, three.

"Corvel guards..." I muttered.

Lylisia squeezed my wrist and held a finger to her lips. I could hear them now, straining my ears, drawing on our magic to hear just a bit farther. The clank of metal armor ground against the whisper of the breeze.

A dozen thoughts raced through my mind. Turn around? We don't know that Andrin and Koren don't have worse news on their path. Hide? Maybe, if we could shove ourselves in a hole in the briars. Fight? My stomach turned at the thought.

I exchanged a glance with Lylisia. She pointed quickly down the trail, toward the soldiers, and traced out the sharp curve up ahead. Without hesitation, her belt came off—pouches, knife, and all attached—and she was off running before it hit the ground. I was right on her heels and crouched as far out of sight around the bend as I could, a large bush hiding most of my slim frame, just getting into position as the guards idle chatter came into normal earshot. Silver hair tousled purposefully, weapons cast aside, Lylisia dashed around the corner and straight into the guards.

"Oh thank all the gods there are, oh finally, guards I—I—oh!"

The breathy gasps, flustered stutter, helpless wailing—it was hard to believe Lylisia was anything other than a panicked damsel, and I'd seen her do it a dozen times. Did she just hug one of them? That's low, Lyl, even for you.

Intermittent sobs muffled her next words, and I could almost feel the shock seeping from soldiers. One man tried to calm her down and started, "Miss, just take a step back, we can..." but she cut him off with a huge wail.

"No no no we cant, we have to find him, my brother, he's gone, oh he's gone, how did this happen! I, I fell asleep for just a few minutes I thought, it's been days since we've—what am I going to do!" And off she went crying again, this time into her hands. I could tell, no thump or scraping of armor like the first time.

"Slow down now, who's lost? We haven't seen anyone in a while, but there have been so many trails..."

"He's lost, I knew it! What would they say, what would my mother say, she said to take him and run, and now I—now I—"

More sobs. I rolled my eyes. Just get on with it, send them back on their way. Go find the little brother. Try as I might to be confident, I couldn't help but wonder where Lylisia saw this one going. She had no excuse not to go with them, would she slip off later? How long would I have to follow?

As if on cue, she piped up again. "Please help me find him, please oh please, he's all I've got left, he has to be safe, I couldn't live—I couldn't l-live if I lost him, please please please..."

One guard cooed softly, reassuring her they'd find the lost boy, the others consulted discreetly. They would never suspect Lylisia could hear the whisper over her own crying, but I was sure we could both hear them plain as day.

"The boy mightta got past us, but I wanna keep her just in case. Not sayin' I don't believe the little thing, but we're pretty deep out here."

Uh oh.

"Oh c'mon, look at 'er! She's cryin' 'erself red, what else she'd be doin' out here?"

"Look I'm sayin' I believe her now, but what if she's one of those girls, seduce a man and cut his throat? You can't just always think with you d—"

"Hey! Get back here!"

Plan B. I wasn't crouched in the dust for nothing, I was backup when things went wrong, and it didn't sound like these men were going to just let her go. A second later, Lylisia flew around the corner, silver braid whipping behind her, tears gone.

I only had a moment to prep myself with a breath or two before the clanking armor slogged closer. Take out their swords, I told myself. Immobilize, incapacitate, subdue. Nobody has to die today.

My stomach turned at the thought as the first Corvel guard passed right by my hiding place. One.

Lylisia and Koren had killed before. Andrin did once too. Not me. Not today, not ever.

The second guard passed too. Two.

Immobilize. We can do this.

Incapacitate. Two versus three, we've faced worse odds.

Subdue. We have magic.

Three. I grit my teeth and dove.

The bush disintegrated in front of me as I called a Naem-shul shield to my left arm and charged forward. Somewhere ahead, Lylisia fed me magic to keep the glowing wall of energy connected to my arm.

I had a small frame, but a huge amount of strength behind my leap, and the shoulder barge sent Guard Three flying into the bushes. I had a split second view of the damage my shield did—a black and red sizzling scorch mark—and swore.

What...? The Naems-shul should've burned right through.

The whole maneuver had taken about a second and a half, and when I landed gracefully in a crouch, the first two guards froze in surprise. Their surprise melted an instant later and both drew huge broadswords.

I stepped back and planted my heel to absorb the force of the first blow. Guard Two, the closest one, swung without mercy. I raised my glowing shield of energy to block his two-handed downstroke and felt the shock all the way down to my toes. I could have sworn my boots sunk into the ground a little, but had no time to tell for sure—the next swipe missed me by a hair as I leapt backwards.

The soldier's broadsword didn't look damaged much at all, despite having absorbed a Naem-shul touch. Naem-shul were created from pure energy, and they were the only way Animaré could make their magic take a physical form. Naem-shul discharged magic like a sledgehammer when something touched them, which burned through an array of shoddily crafted weapons. The huge sword Guard Two now swinging at my feet was no such shoddy weapon, but a sturdy one that took the distributed shock of the shield.

I bit my lip on accident when I jumped away again, tasting blood. Take out the sword, and then one good whack on the head. He'll be out cold for hours. And don't get hit.

It took only a second for the man to take a fourth swing, right at my neck, but it took half that time for my shield to dissipate and a gleaming sword of my own to send his blade bouncing back off. The point of impact was charred and smoking, and a quick glance at his weapon told him he was in trouble. As he stepped back, his comrade stepped forward, and, naturally, mirrored his mistake.

Here we go... shatter. This time I didn't just parry the attack, I swung back with all my might; the force of my counter-strike send his whole body reeling backward. The Naem-shul hit his sword, the force of the impact probably rattling his arm all up to his jaw.

I stepped forward with a prayer and took my first offensive swing at Guard Two. Aim for the shoulder, not the neck. He dodged the swipe as he parried it, and good thing he did—my Naem-shul shattered his sword on impact, metal shards spinning away into the trees. I used my momentum to spin in a full circle, twirling my weapon as I did so for maximum power.

One down.

The flat side of my blade struck Guard Two squarely in the side of his helmet and he dropped instantly. He'd wake up hours later with a headache from hell, but the helmet stayed intact. At least he still had a head.

Two to go.

My exposed flank seemed to be a golden opportunity for Guard One, and I if it wasn't for Lylisia's warning, verbal and magic, I might not have reacted in time.

The jab didn't completely miss. I heard the whisper of fabric tearing, a hot sting leting me know the blade nicked my forearm. I struck automatically at the outstretched blade and dented it, then connected the flat side of my own with the guard's helmeted forehead. He dropped to one knee and blinked unseeingly, slowly sinking down to the ground.

I didn't have it in me to hit him while he was down. Two down.

Before I turned around, I knew Lylisia was finished with the third. And that's three. I let out a relieved breath.

"You okay Sed?" She had barely broken a sweat. The warhammer, Lylisia's weapon of choice, evaporated into the air as she opened her hands. She simply let go as if to drop it on the ground, and the second it left contact with her skin, the weapon dissipated.

Twisting my arm around, I could see there was minimal damage from the cut. It wasn't deep, and my adrenaline was blocking the pain. "I'll be fine, we can heal it up later." I held a spare strip of cloth from my belt to the arm. "Why didn't their armor shatter?"

I stooped to examine the guard at my feet. His eyes fluttered, head lolling gently to the side. Sorry.

"Sed, dont..."

"It's fine, he's pretty much out, won't be able to do much to me. Look at his breastplate, have you seen metal this color?" It wasn't shiny and silver, but drab and streaked with gray. "The other guard's pauldron absorbed a big hit and didn't break. What about yours?"

"Sedris I'm trying to—"

I lost the rest of her words for a second when I saw the last guard. There wasn't much blood, since Lylisia's hammer didn't cut, but there didn't need to be. He was dead. His neck shouldn't turn like that, arms wouldn't splay that way. I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth.

"Lill we didn't need to..."

"Yes we did," Lylisia said softly. She was crouched over the third unconscious guard. "I'm sorry, friend."

My strangled cry drowned out the gurgle of the soldier's throat as Lylisia dragged her knife across it. Blood flowed silently onto the forest floor. I could smell it.

My Animaré quietly wiped her blade on the dying man's trousers and turned to the last guard. "You don't have to do it. You don't even have to watch. But you know we can't let them walk away."

"I..." The magic stretched taut between our souls as the tension grew within us. I thought heart was going to beat out of my chest, the energy roiling in the currents. Our two souls were woven together so closely they were bound into one. But now they were pulling and shoving against each other.

"...no." I stepped over the last soldier, who was still twitching on the ground, and held out a hand. "We can grab Andrin and Koren, we can be long gone before he even wakes up, they'll never catch us."

Lylisia was already shaking her head. "They'll know too much, they'll know we're Animaré, that we're dangerous. Look he's already coming to."

The man's eyes were still rolling, but he wasn't twitching, and his breathing was more even.

"I won't let—"

Then we felt it.

The currents quivered. A chill started at the top of my head and crept down my spine, and soon every hair was standing on end. It wasn't nearly as powerful this time, but it was just as terrifying—the dark presence.

Lylisia glanced warily around her. I could feel her every sense on high alert, ready to jump at the slightest hint of danger. The thing was a long way off still, out of my range of sight in the currents, but again, I could feel the edges fraying.

This time though, it didn't stop. Like a cloth unravelling strand by strand, the disrupted fringe moved closer, a wall of loose threads in chaos. It still wasn't much closer than before, but the weight it put on my soul doubled. My chest tightened and the currents constricted around me like clenched muscles. I dropped to one knee, vision swimming, and dimly felt Lylisia do the same. But no, then she was up again, staggering down the path...

With horror, I realized Lylisia was still struggling to stay upright. The guard. He came to and ran for his life. He couldn't see the currents, he didn't have knots twisting in his gut. I tried to take a step after him, but nearly toppled over when my leg gave out.

What have I done?

Lylisia lurched toward me and gripped my forearm, the injured one. I bit down hard and tried to force the wildness of the currents out of my soul, just for one moment to breathe. We knelt there for who knows how long—seconds, minutes—inching back down the path, away from the darkness, away from the battle, from the death.

The frayed edges did recede, after a while. Maybe we put enough distance between the shadow and ourselves, maybe it moved away. But we could stand, if shakily, and my eyes weren't seeing spots anymore. I still never came close to seeing the thing itself in the currents. Not that I wanted to. But if it crippled us like that from that far away, what could it do up close?

Lylisia took a deep breath. She didn't even try to run after the soldier. We both knew he was long gone. It was another moment before she spoke.

"I won't tell the others. If you don't want me to. He could've just... 'gotten away'."

I couldn't meet her gaze.

"I know you try to do the right thing. But sometimes it's... not what you think."

She didn't wait for a response. A tight smile, then she spun and started back down the path.

Behind us, one man's empty stare raked the treeline, the other's blood stained the fresh grass.

* * *

"And the shadow just disappeared like that?"

"It... wasn't natural. I could barely think, let alone move."

Koren rested his forehead on one clenched fist. The other tapped his leg as he listened to Lylisia recount our story. We were all huddled in a small, grassy clearing off the main trail, the dim light hemming us in on every side.

"And when we could stand again..." Lylisia's eyes darted toward me and back again.

"The last guard was gone. I didn't let Lylisia finish him off."

Andrin groaned and dropped his head into his hands. Koren looked up and fixed me with a stare, his lips pressed in a thin line. "And there was no catching him after?"

I shook my head and fixed my eyes on the ground. "I just didn't think we had to kill them."

"Sedris we can't—!" Koren's tapping grew faster, but he leveled his tone. "Sedris. Nobody here takes life lightly, least of all Lylisia. But sometimes there isn't a good way out, and we have to do what's right by us."

Is 'right by us' all that matters though?

"At least only one of them can warn anyone about us. And it sounds like he's seeing stars still," said Andrin. His gangly arms hung low between his legs and his head bobbed uncertainly.

"This won't be the first roadblock on this job. Sed, I want to do the right thing too, but first and foremost I'm fighting for you three, even if it means ending a life. Better three of theirs than any one of yours."

"You're right Koren, I'd do the same. Sedris didn't know the shadow was coming though, there was no way to know we couldn't talk about it before we lost the chance." Lylisia flipped her silver braid over her shoulder hauled herself up. "C'mon, we know the way now at least. What's done is done."

Koren followed suit, and Andrin shot to his feet behind him.