It started raining during the night, and didn’t let up in the morning. The water thrumming on the tent soothed Xerxes.

As they made ready for travel, he thought back to the storms the constable Daniyel had mentioned.

“That storm from the other day wasn’t a one-off, was it?” he said to Katayoun. “It was the start of the rainy season.”

“I think you’re right.”

In the frenzied flight from the city, they hadn’t been able to free their horses or find new ones. That made the scouting harder. But there were still some members of the old light cavalry units, who were trained for such duties regardless of being mounted or not. One of them, Tustimant, ran ahead of the company to get an idea of the lay of the land. Thanks to his efforts, plus the maps Gandash had, they identified a westward route that would allow them to stay off the road, and hopefully find shelter in caves or forested areas.

Xerxes’ heart was in his throat for almost the entire day. He found himself constantly looking over his shoulder expecting to see a horde of Abhorrent bearing down on them. That was when he wasn’t peering ahead to see where they might be ambushed.

But for an entire day, they didn’t see any signs of movement. Were the Abhorrent really so focused on Puabi that they were going to let Black Jackal company just leave?

They found a dry spot to set up camp. After the tents were pitched and sentries posted in nearby trees, Xerxes huddled by a fire with Katayoun, Teucer, and Dasi.

As they ate gruel and drank water, Katayoun said, “I wonder if the Abhorrent don’t like rain.”

Teucer cocked his head. “We didn’t see a single one when we were holed up in that cave.”

“That could have been coincidence,” Dasi said. “We’d just killed that big one, plus hordes of spawn. Besides, the big one attacked in the middle of a storm.”

“More like the beginning of one.”

Xerxes thought about it for a few spoonfuls of gruel. “If it were as simple as that, we would know about it already. Kat, do you remember anything from that book? Surviving a Trip to the Nightmare Cove?”

Katayoun shook her head. “I read it before the class, and I thought it was fiction, so I wasn’t paying much attention. After Mystic Rabya said it wasn’t fiction, I wanted to re-read it but never had the chance.”

“There was one part,” Dasi said. “Something about a rainforest.”

Katayoun stopped eating. “You’re right. Anunnaki Ninursag was injured and out of melam. She rigged up some sort of raft and floated down a river. Now that you mention it, that was one part of her journey that didn’t mention any Abhorrent.”

“Seriously?” Teucer said. He laughed. “There’s no way the Abhorrent are scared of rain. That’s ridiculous.”

“Who knows?” Katayoun continued. “But I’m certain of that part of the story. The author doesn’t make any speculations about why the Abhorrent didn’t bother Ninursag. But I definitely remember that part. I kept expecting something bad to happen because she had no melam. Isn’t that when you’d expect bad things to happen to a mage in a story? When they can’t use magic?”

“If it’s true, maybe we should keep marching through the night. It’s still raining out there.”

“We have a month to go,” Xerxes said. “No use wearing ourselves out this soon.”

The rain let up during the night, but resumed in the morning. As before, there were no signs of Abhorrent. Of course, with the sky choked with clouds, there was no way to determine with certainty if meteor showers were occurring.

But as the second day of travel turned into a third day, the rain continued. For an entire week, they dealt with mud and cold. The lack of the monsters and their stench made it worth it.

As they entered the second week of travel, everyone in the group was convinced that the presence of rain meant ‘no Abhorrent.’ The events of Puabi weighed on everyone’s hearts, but morale was climbing higher.

The rain stopped on the second day of travel during the second week.

They found a horse. It was impossible to say where it came from, but it had a saddle, and seemed friendly. And it allowed for much more effective scouting runs.

Despite that, and Gandash’s more strict marching orders, anxiety mounted. Without the rain, everyone worried about Abhorrent attacks.

They didn’t come.

Clouds cleared, giving a view of the starry sky. And no meteor showers. Xerxes found it all, in some ways, more disturbing. What happened to the Abhorrent? Where were they?

As the second week of travel came to an end, mountains rose up in front of them. The same mountains the High Seers had attempted to pass not too long ago.

When they reached the road that ran north to south, and found it empty, Xerxes’ enthusiasm to reach the Gateway complex gave way to worry.

Gandash called for a meeting of the mages and officers.

“I have a bad feeling,” he said. “What about the rest of you?”

“I think we all feel the same,” Katayoun said.

Xerxes didn’t hesitate to add. “Where are the Abhorrent?”

Gandash unfurled a map and put it between them all. “There’s one road that actually goes through the mountain. And two obvious areas we can get through without a road. This one here, to the north, is where the High Seers went through. Right, Dasi?”

Dasi leaned over the map. “That’s right.”

“Given your description of the terrain on the other side, it doesn’t seem like the ideal place to cross. And I want to avoid the road as much as possible. But before we commit to climbing a mountain, I want to scout the area. Dasi. Xerxes. I’m assigning you. Xerxes, you’re our only Asgagu High Seer. If fighting breaks out, you’ll be the best choice to deal with it. And Dasi, as our shapeshifter, you have a tremendous advantage over the rest of us. I want you to get to the top of the mountain, shapeshift into a bird form, and see what’s going on. If possible, identify the best path from the mountains to the Gateway complex.”

Xerxes took a moment to digest Gandash’s orders. He looked at Katayoun. Her expression was neutral.

“I’m low on melam,” Dasi said.

“Here.” Gandash held out a pill. “Our last Double Concentrated Melam Pill.”

Dasi took the pill. “I’ll make it count.”

“Good.”

As Xerxes made the final preparations, Katayoun fretted off to the side.

“No, tie the loop the other way,” she said as he worked on binding his garments to allow for high speed running.

He switched the fabric and tied the loop the other way.

“You should bring an extra knife,” she said.

“Isn’t a sword and one knife enough?” he asked.

“Better safe than sorry.”

He put another knife on his belt.

When he was finally ready, he said, “Good enough?”

She nodded, then stepped to him and embraced him. “Come back,” she said.

“Of course I will. We’re going scouting, not raiding.”

There were still hours until sunset as Dasi and Xerxes set out at High Seer speed, racing south down the road. The terrain was familiar. Last time, though, they’d opted to go further north, and hadn’t explored this section of the mountains.

After running for only about ten minutes, they angled into a narrow valley. From the road, the valley looked to be choked with trees. But it became apparent that the forested area quickly gave way to bare land.

“Wish we’d known about this before,” Dasi said when they stopped briefly for water.

He shrugged. “No use second-guessing.”

“True. Ready to run up a mountain?”

“Ready as ever. You lead?”

“Yeah.”

Xerxes double checked his component pouch and sword, then got moving. This mountain path was much easier than the one to the north. They didn’t do any doubling back, and reached the top without incident. They crossed a narrow plateau, and were once again looking out over the lands stretching to the Gateway.

“Holy Pontifarch,” Dasi murmured.

Xerxes’ scalp tingled. The lands below were destroyed. Before, they had been filled with forests, rivers, and other terrain features. Villages and towns had dotted the landscape here and there, and roads had been just barely visible.

Things looked apocalyptic now. Half of the forests burned or leveled. Villages and towns gone. Craters could be seen in numerous locations.

And there was movement everywhere. Packs of Abhorrent were obviously on the move. Some large Abhorrent were visible in a few locations, likely stage five or six juveniles.

“So did they all come here?” Xerxes asked.

Dasi took out a spyglass and put it to her eye. “Maybe. For all we know, they sacked Puabi and kept going east. These could be the ones that fell from the sky.”

Xerxes shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think they went to Eresh thinking the Gateway Key was there. When they realized it wasn’t, they took out Puabi. And when that failed, they took the fast way back, that north road. Think about it, if they’re after that Key, then they know that we’ll come this way. Why waste time hunting for us when we have to come to them?”

Dasi grunted. Replacing her spyglass, she loosened her component pouch. “Well, now’s as good a time as any to get a birds’ eye view of everything. I’m going into eagle form. I’ll fly out as far as I can, and observe as much as I can. If I see a safe spot to land, return to human form, and cast a second spell, I will. Otherwise I’ll come right back.”

“Sounds good. Be safe, Dasi.”

“Always.”

She transformed into a large brown eagle with yellow eyes, and flew off the mountain. The updrafts caught her, and she was soon soaring out across the lands, becoming a dot that Xerxes could barely track, before she finally vanished. From that point, he had nothing to do but wait for her return.

As he looked out at the Abhorrent-choked lands, he wondered what orders Gandash would give when they returned. Could they realistically sneak to the Gateway with the Unsighted in tow? It would be a trip of at least ten or fifteen days, traveling through rough territory controlled by enemies that could sense their presence? If they somehow left the Unsighted behind, for instance, hiding in a cave system with plenty of supplies, would the mages even be able to make the journey with their superior speed? What would happen if the Gateway complex itself was occupied?

Such thoughts occupied him for about fifty minutes. That was when he caught movement below.

“Dasi,” he murmured, standing up. She was flying back toward him in eagle form. Chased by three flying Abhorrent.