Jade stood at the top of the pass, shaking. “She’s here!” Hands over her ears, her eyes were wide, her face contorted in pain. “Don’t let her—no!—here! Go away!” She screamed and collapsed on the ground, grinding her palms like she wanted to crush her ears into her skull. Her panicked eyes darted around, not registering any of us.

“Is it Tamiyat? I’ll fight.” Hasda’s face was as white as his knuckles. It was a wonder he hadn’t bent the hilt of his sword with that death grip. “Let me help her.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“But—”

I shoved him into Malia’s arms. “Keep him here, and safe.”

She looked confused but wrapped her arms more tightly around him.

“No!” Hasda’s face fell. “I want to help. Please.” He struggled against Malia’s hug.

I shrugged off the mounting tension and reached for my astral form. Meeting Malia’s eyes, I said, “Don’t follow me.”

“You old idiot.” Her mouth fell open. “If anyone should be going, it’s me. I’m nearly a Titan myself.”

She sounded almost guilty admitting it. Huffing a laugh, I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. “I’ll be quick.” And with that, I placed my bony hand on Jade’s forehead and tipped backwards.

A nest of thick purple tentacles buried the faint point that was Jade’s astral projection. It was little more than a milky-green pearl, since the lamia was nowhere near crafting herself a higher body, but Tamiyat bombarded it with her corrupting influence nonetheless. The Sea Mother’s words thundered across the astral plane, commanding Jade open herself and submit to the elder goddess’ will.

Since I’d transitioned while physically in contact with Jade, I ended up in the middle of the heavy bundle. The living rope pressed against me, pinning my arms to my sides and threatening to snap my legs. No matter how I twisted, I couldn’t find purchase on their slimy surface, and the harder I struggled, the more infuriated I became.

We’d already beaten off two invasions into Tingid, and the Paedens had yet to learn. Jade was ours, and nobody was going to take her from us. Not the Paedens, not Marudak, and especially not Tamiyat—who’d had the gall to hurt Malia. I suspected she’d been behind the Sisters in Ibithia, too, but even if she wasn’t, well, what did it matter? She wouldn’t even bat an eye smearing Hasda across the earth, given half a chance.

This was my home. These were my people. And she could piss off.

Without really thinking about it, I bit the nearest thread. Instantly the pressure withdrew, the ropes retracting, a strange pink powder hissing from where I’d bit them. They curled behind the heart-achingly beautiful woman form of Tamiyat, who stood galaxies tall off in the distance.

“What an insolent child.” Disgust and disappointment filled the void, her voice collapsing on me with its weight. “I’d thought you more well-mannered than that.”

“Shut up, bitch.” My skeleton expanded as I poured power into it. Unlike the fleshed-out projection I’d tried to fuel on my last incursion into the higher plane, this was stable and solid as it grew. I’d never reach the heights an eldritch being could achieve, but I didn’t need to. My bones felt hard as crystals and durable as the purest celestial steel. I let the flow of battle wash over me, shushing the small voice that protested about revealing all my secrets as I gave in to the berserker state. I didn’t need my experience with Seppo’s mother to know I wasn’t beating Tamiyat today, but I could still drive her off.

She folded her arms and frowned as she watched my stature increase. “What a pleasant parlor trick. If only you’d shown me your potential before, I could have offered you so much better.”

My fingers folded around the cool, reassuring grip of my Sword as it slipped into my palm. I trusted my instincts to transition the weapon into the astral plane, and the spread of its weight felt properly proportioned. I grinned, exposing all my teeth. I could rot in Peklo, but this was going to be very, very satisfying.

“What are you doing?” Real consternation spilled across her face as her mask of confidence slipped.

Her head came off in one stroke. A clean cut, if I did say so myself. The pressure against my spirit lightened slightly, although the grit of the realm remained.

“Can’t infatuate the dead.” I knew my face was feral as I leered down at her head, her face frozen in shock. Her charms probably wouldn’t have swayed me even if I’d been in a more alive, human projection, but they’d done precious little against mere bones. This aspect probably didn’t have combat potential anyways, and simply severing its head wouldn’t have killed it. But it certainly made a statement.

A thoroughly enraged dragon crashed down on me. “HOW DARE YOU?”

“How dare you?” I flung her taloned feet away, propelled backwards from the force of the collision. Sword held at guard, I prepared for another attack or my own strike. “Jade is ours. Piss off.”

The dragon’s glowing eyes narrowed. “YOU WILL SUFFER.”

“Not as much as you.”

Her dragon breath came like a waterfall of stars. Blurs of orange, white, and red flecked the white-blue torrent that lanced towards me. As I pointed my Sword towards the stream, I willed it into my Spear. The weapon shifted, the point making the blast umbrella in front of me. Still, my arms nearly shattered as the full force impacted against the spearhead, and flecks of galactic dragonfire scored my bones. The pits and chunks weren’t enough to break my stance, but they did breach my pain receptors, dull thuds of warmth that stung briefly before being replaced by the chill of the void.

Setting my heels, I put my weight behind the Spear and thrust it into the stream. It lanced up the dragonbreath like a bolt of lightning, traveling so fast it caught even Tamiyat off guard. The spangled cascade cut off abruptly, the Sea Mother jerking back as the Spear sliced her cheek. And kept going, flying off into the void beyond. Wherever it had gone, it didn’t respond to my summons, leaving me with just my Sword.

My knees cracked and my ribs groaned. Loops of sea-green serpent coiled around me, crushing my bones. She hadn’t yet wound herself around my arms, small as I was compared to her, although she looked to simply squash me with her sheer bulk. One arm became entangled, but with my free hand I stabbed and hacked at the glittering scales. More than one blow bounced away harmlessly, like Hasda’s sticks against the forest trunks as he pretended to fell the trees. But one strike, against the grain, caught under the edge of a scale, and I turned my swordpoint against it again and again.

I never thought I’d see the day when my Sword snapped, but it did. Still I hammered against her hide, the jagged edge half the length of its former glory. It was a tool, and that was all I needed. Sparks flew like shooting stars as I struck her scales, but eventually something gave. One blow found the softer flesh, and the serpent shrieked as it contracted.

The cries nearly drowned out the horrible shattering sounds my bones made, and I could tell by the way my feet dangled in the starry abyss that I was going to need a long time to heal. My spirit was finally beginning to falter from sustaining the largest astral form I’d ever held on nothing but rage and sheer determination, and I’d only managed to land essentially a scratch. And only that because she’d held still and let me. I couldn’t tell which stars floating in my vision were real ones, which meant I didn’t have much time left in this fight.

But Tamiyat retreated to the furthest edge of my vision, lengths coiling together as she withdrew. Her headless human form walked along the ridges of the serpent, dragging a dragon wing behind. A taloned limb passed through her as the dragon pawed the air. My head thundered with the effort of containing the vision of her disparate forms.

Two massive eyes opened before me. The galaxies in their irises swirled as they focused on me. CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE, CHILD. YOUR SPIRIT IS ADMIRABLE. The eyes narrowed. AND WASTED, IN YOUR CURRENT STATE. TO ENDURE MY FORMS IN TURN, AS YOU DID... Waves shimmered through the fabric of reality, as if the eyes shook an invisible head. RIVALED ONLY BY YOUR MATE. I WOULD BE PROUD TO HAVE YOU BOTH AS MY ALLIES.

“Eat shit, fishface.” My teeth chattered as I said it, but that didn’t diminish my loopy, overconfident grin.

The eyes faded. IN TIME, YOU WILL TURN. THEY ALWAYS DO.

A sudden pressure pushed me against the film that bounded the astral plane from reality. With a shuddering tear that broke more bones than I had the strength to count, Tamiyat forcibly transitioned me back to the mountainside. And she was kind enough to open the rent several feet above the ground.

“We’ve got a problem.” Warbow out, Malia had her back to me as she scanned the mountainside. “Jade isn’t respond—holy shit.”

My landing was a lot less graceful than I wished. Without my legs, it was more of a conscious fall—I couldn’t even convince myself of the lie that it was even partially controlled—and whatever witty remark I’d thought up flitted away as I passed out. I had just enough energy left to process that Hasda wasn’t in my field of vision before I collapsed.