When Gandash made the decision for the High Seers to make a break for the Gateway, the Unsighted troops didn’t seem very surprised. Of course, the fact that they were conditioned to follow orders made that something of a foregone conclusion.

Teucer took the news with a taciturn nod of his head, as if he’d expected it to happen.

Kishar wept. Katayoun put an arm around her shoulder and whispered to her softly. The two eventually left the cave to talk in private.

Ningsummunu took the news the worst.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he said. “I stood by your side, Gandash. I voted with you when Jad was leading his insurrection. And this is the thanks I get? Abandoned and left to die?”

“We’re not abandoning you, Ning,” Gandash said. “We’re going to get help.”

Ningsummunu looked away. “That’s exactly what Jad said.”

Xerxes had to admit that Ningsummunu was right. No matter what explanation was given, and no matter how they layered their logic, Gandash was now doing exactly what Jad had pushed so hard for.

Gandash tried to mask his frustration but failed as he said, “Ning, I’ll never forget your loyalty. And I promise you that extracting you from Jehannemid is going to be my top priority once I reach the Gateway. Even if I have to violate orders, I will come back and get you.”

“Not likely. Gandash, you play things by the book. Even this decision, to abandon the rest of us to the monsters, isn’t a rules violation. As the captain, you have every right to make this choice. So don’t try to tell me that you’ll throw away your career just to come back for a cripple and a few Unsighted soldiers.” He heaved himself onto his feet, put his crutch under his arm, and hobbled to the cave entrance.

Gandash opened his mouth, then closed it.

“You’re right, Ning,” Xerxes said. “Gandash does care about his career. But I’m different. If the Sin-Amuhhu Combined Armed Forces don’t immediately send an army to get you, then fuck ‘em. I’ll come back for you. You have my word.”

Frowning, Ningsummunu looked at him, then nodded. “That, I believe.” Then he walked out.

Gandash didn’t say anything else after that.

There wasn’t much to do in terms of preparation. Gandash transferred ownership of the holding bracelet to Kishar. There was enough food inside to keep the remnants of Black Jackal alive for at least two weeks, possibly more depending on how their hunting and foraging efforts went.

There didn’t seem any advantage to traveling at night over daytime. Some Abhorrent seemed nocturnal, others not so much. Besides, being Sighted didn’t provide any boost to mundane vision. If anything, nighttime travel could be more dangerous.

Shortly after dawn, the High Seers left the caves and went to the plateau. Teucer and Kishar came to see them off. Words of farewell were exchanged, and though the two Seers did their best to come across as supportive and encouraging, they seemed defeated and hopeless.

The High Seers left with no fanfare. Xerxes led the way, followed by Katayoun and Gandash, with Kashtiliash bringing up the rear. He set as fast a pace as possible, while simultaneously keeping an eye out for flying Abhorrent. Or any Abhorrent for that matter. Though there were no paths, the vegetation and rocks weren’t so thick as to obstruct easy movement. It took about thirty minutes to reach the foothills. It was there, in what had once been a lush forest but was now a quasi-wasteland, that they saw the first traces of Abhorrent.

It was a variation on the type that looked like a rhino, except with feathers and eye stalks. Xerxes saw it from a distance, and signaled to the others to stop moving. They melted behind half-destroyed trees and stopped moving.

The Abhorrent was at least a hundred cubits away. Was it close enough to sense them?

The High Seers remained stock still as they waited in silence.

The Abhorrent ambled on, but even after, they stayed in place for a time just to be safe.

The Gateway complex was some fifty leagues away. Given a straight road, a High Seer could run that distance in less than two hours. But that would only be possible if they maintained top speed for that entire time, which most mages couldn’t do. Besides, there wasn’t a straight road from their location to the Gateway complex.

Coupled with the fact that most juvenile Abhorrent could match or surpass a High Seer in an outright sprint, and they knew they had to be more careful about their journey.

The morning involved bursts of high speed, interspersed with bouts of hiding. In some instances, they had to move at slower speeds because of the terrain. Now that they were actually moving through lands they’d only studied via spyglass, it became clear that the Abhorrent weren’t as numerous as they had thought. From the mountaintop, Xerxes had imagined fields packed with so many rat-like Abhorrent you couldn’t see the ground.

Instead, monsters roamed the countryside in seemingly random fashion. The mages only saw flying Abhorrent once, a group of four, the same variety that had ended Dasi’s life.

There was no sign of human life. They passed two villages and a town. Both were nothing but ruins. There were a few abandoned campsites. Whether the people using them had moved onto other locations, or experienced other fates, was difficult to tell.

When the sun reached the highest point in the sky, they rested next to a stream in a canyon, under a sprawling sycamore tree.

Xerxes detected a foul odor only seconds before the Abhorrent attacked. He had just enough time to lunge toward Katayoun, wrap her up in his arms, and roll to the ground. The thing sailed past the spot where he’d been sitting and spun toward Gandash. It was the type that looked like a wolf, but with no skin. This was a stronger version than the type the company had faced on the road. It stood on two hind legs, and had abnormally long arms with black claws on the end of human-like fingers.

Gandash reacted by scrambling backward and reaching to his component pouch. Before the Abhorrent could lunge at him, Kashtiliash was there, his sword gleaming in the noon sunlight.

The wolf dodged the attack, then snarled as it swept its claws at Kashtiliash’s extended arm. The blow connected, and Kashtiliash yelled as three bloody furrows opened up.

By then, Xerxes was back on his feet and had drawn his sword. The Abhorrent had its back to him, so he took a passing step forward then brought the sword down in the Wrath strike. It hit the Abhorrent on its shoulder, the blade cleaving deep into the thing’s torso.

It yelped and jerked away from him, almost taking his sword with it.

Meanwhile, out of the corner of his eye, Xerxes saw at least two more wolves, the entire group on all fours, which meant they were lower-level.

There was no time to worry about the newcomers. He attacked the humanoid wolf again, but it dodged, and then unleashed its magic. It pursed its fiendish lips and let loose a sound like a combination between a hiss and a howl. A wave of sound slammed into Xerxes, piercing his ears with such pain that he immediately dropped his sword and clamped his hands over the sides of his head.

Even as it happened, he knew he was in immense danger. But his ears were still ringing from the Abhorrent's shriek. He dropped to his knees as the Abhorrent rose up over him and bared its claws for another attack. Kashtiliash’s blade took its head off.

Kashtiliash, his arm soaked and dripping red in his own blood, pointed his sword behind Xerxes. “Look.”

Xerxes turned and realized the two wolves he’d seen were actually six. Three were larger, three were smaller, indicating they were all spawn. He shifted to the Tail guard and started walking forward.

“Should I cast a spell?” Gandash said.

“No,” Xerxes replied. “We got this, right, Kash?”

The bearded mage was right behind Xerxes. “Yeah.”

Xerxes headed toward the largest of the three large wolves. It bared its yellow fangs, but Xerxes didn’t slow his pace a bit. He led with a Sunrise strike, catching the wolf in the lower jaw, and splitting its head in half. However, that didn’t kill the thing. It jumped at him, forcing him to lurch back, then attack again from the side. He hit the thing more with his arms than his sword, and it fell to the side, only to spin and come at him again. He kicked it, then impaled it through the mouth.

Not pausing for a beat, he thrust at one of the smaller wolves, which had circled around and was aiming to get him from the back. He killed it in one blow.

Something barreled into him from the side. Another of the smaller wolves. He fell on the ground with the thing on top of him. As it snapped at his neck, he used his elbow to shove it aside. He kicked it. Stabbed. Slashed.

It was wounded but not dead.

He glanced to the side and saw Kashtiliash standing over the corpse of a smaller wolf. A big one had his entire forearm in its jaws and was trying to yank him to the ground. There wasn’t time to help.

Gandash and Katayoun stood shoulder to shoulder against the trunk of the tree.

More wolves were gathering.

Xerxes eviscerated the throat of the small wolf he’d been fighting, then spun out of the way of another large one. Counter-attacked. Dodged.

He looked up at the newcomers. There were seven of them. Five small, two big.

“Gandy, we need you!” he yelled.

“On it,” Gandash replied, and he began casting a spell.

Xerxes didn’t wait for the outcome. He took the fight to the wolves. This wasn’t a duel, it was a fight for life, so he tried to make every blow a deadly one. He beheaded a small wolf. Paralyzed another small one by severing its spine just below the neck. It wasn’t dead, but he didn’t care. He stabbed one of the large ones as it lunged at him.

A bellow from Kashtiliash caught his attention. He looked over to see the bearded mage on the ground with a big wolf on top of him.

Shit. But there was no way for Xerxes to jump to help him.

He had no idea what Gandash or Katayoun were doing.

More wolves came.

Everything turned into a blur of blood, pain, and desperation.

His sword became heavy. Heavier than anything he’d ever lifted. His shoulders ached. His back screamed at him. But he kept fighting.

Eventually, he couldn’t lift the weapon much past his waist. He lurched forward and stabbed into a wolf’s mouth. It growled, tried to paw at him, then went still. He desperately tried to pull the sword back out, but failed. He yanked at it. Heaved. It was stuck. He let go, and the sword dropped to the ground, still buried in the creature.

He looked around.

The wolves were all dead. The stream flowed with black blood, intermixed with occasional streaks of red.

Ignoring his sword, he turned to look at the tree. Gandash slumped against it. Katayoun stood next to him holding a short sword, panting.

“Kash?” he croaked. He scanned the area. “Kash?”

“There,” Katayoun said, pointing. She threw the sword to the ground and started walking.

Xerxes spotted the bearded mage on the bank of the stream, surrounded by wolf corpses. He lay face down, and he wasn’t breathing.