Katayoun reached Kashtiliash first.

“Kash,” she murmured, grabbing him beneath the armpits and dragging him out of the water.

Xerxes arrived a moment later and helped. Once away from the water, they turned him onto his back in the mud. Gandash reached their side a second later.

Light a lightning bolt from heaven, Xerxes was hit with the memory of Gem laying in a street on Mannemid, his life blood seeping out of him, and Bel to the side. He blinked to clear the memory.

Kashtiliash was covered in blood, black and red. His arm was torn, and at just a single glance, Xerxes spotted many other wounds. However, his throat didn’t seem to be damaged, nor did Xerxes spot any wounds to the abdomen or chest. He had to be alive. Right?

“Kash,” Katayoun said, jabbing her fingers into his throat to feel for a pulse.

“Don’t be dead, you bastard,” Xerxes said.

Katayoun, shifted the angle of her hand and dug her fingers further into Kashtiliash’s neck. “His heart’s beating.”

She opened one of her component pouches, took out a handful of green sand, and traced a rune in it. Xerxes saw the melam gathering, and then the spell was cast. Katayoun touched Kashtiliash’s face gently, and the melam swept through him.

The deep furrows on his forearm stitched together. He spasmed as other injuries were healed. Then Kashtiliash gasped hoarsely. He opened his eyes.

Xerxes reached down and clasped his friend’s shoulder. “You made it,” he said, his voice shaky.

“Guess I did,” Kashtiliash responded. He sat up.

Gandash squatted off to the side. “Xerk, are you hurt?”

For the first time, Xerxes took time to examine himself. Pain was starting to build up. A wolf’s jaws had reached one of his forearms, biting down hard. Blood seeped from several puncture wounds. He had a similar injury on his calf. In general, he felt battered. And now that the fighting was over, he noticed the stench that hung over the area.

“I’m fine.”

Katayoun eyed the blood and puncture wounds. “No you’re not. Maybe you don’t need Minor Restoration, but I need to take care of those wounds. Who knows what disgusting stuff is in Abhorrent saliva. Not to mention the dirt. You could get an infection.”

“I agree,” Gandash said. “Kat, can you patch him up? Then we’ll catch our breath and keep moving.”

He stood, stepped around, and offered a hand to Kashtiliash. Kashtiliash took it and stood.

“You fought like a beast, Kash,” Gandash said.

Kashtiliash nodded. “Thanks.”

Gandash turned his head. “You too, Xerk.”

Xerxes nodded. Katayoun helped him up and took him over to a nearby rock, where there was less blood and gore. She cut away some of the cloth of his garment, then used a rag and some stream water to clean him as best she could. She applied a powder to the wounds, then wrapped them in bandages. The process took about ten minutes.

By that time, the thrill and desperation of the fight had worn off, to be replaced by aches, pain, and exhaustion. Xerxes sagged a bit as he sat on the boulder. “Damn, I’m tired.”

“I can imagine,” Katayoun said as she worked on the bandage around his leg.

“I think you outscored me,” Kashtiliash said, approaching them with Gandash in tow. Both of them had cleaned off in the stream.

“You were keeping a tally?” Xerxes asked with a weak grin.

“At first, yeah. Then things got heated.”

“How bad do you feel, Xerk?” Gandash asked.

Xerxes stretched his neck and cracked his knuckles. “I’ve been worse. Not sure when, exactly. But I’m sure there’s been a time.”

Katayoun pulled the bandage snug and secured it. She stepped away from Xerxes. “If we were in an ordinary situation,” she said, “I’d put you on bed rest immediately.”

“I wish we could all be on bed rest,” Gandash said.

“I’m fine,” Xerxes said, pushing himself onto his haunches, then standing. A wave of dizziness hit him, and his arms windmilled as he tried to catch his balance.

Katayoun grabbed his elbow and steadied him. “I’m not sure about that.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Really, I’m fine.”

“How much blood did he lose, Kat?” Gandash asked.

“It’s hard to say. Those fangs didn’t seem to nick any major blood vessels.”

“We could look for a cave,” Gandash said. “If we can find one deep enough, we can hole up—”

“No,” Xerxes said. Opening his eyes, he gently pushed Katayoun’s hand off of his elbow. “I just got dizzy from sitting in one place for too long. A couple of dog bites aren’t going to stop me. Let me get my sword, and I’ll be ready to go.”

He wrenched his longsword out of the gut of the dead wolf Abhorrent, then took it to the stream and scrubbed it down.

Then they left the grisly clearing of slaughtered wolves behind. They followed the stream for a time, then crossed through a brown forest. A cloud of flying leeches descended on them, but that type of Abhorrent was more annoying than dangerous.

They left behind dozens of slain vermin and received only a few flesh wounds in the process.

Progress slowed.

The terrain grew rougher, and the Abhorrent grew more numerous. They began doubling back more often, and taking greater pains to circle around large Abhorrent, or groups of them.

All the while, the shadow of the mountains on the horizon grew more distinct.

By the time evening fell, they were confident that they had covered about half the distance to their destination.

“We’ll get there tomorrow,” Gandash said as they hunkered down for the night in a section of a forest that barely counted as a clearing.

Xerxes felt more exhausted than he ever had in his life. The soles of his feet radiated pain up through his calves and past his knees. There were blisters on his hands, and the stench made it difficult to breathe. His wounds ached, and he was sore from the fighting. Thinking that he hurt too badly to sleep, he offered to take the first watch. Gandash refused and insisted on taking that slot.

There was a tree directly overhead that rose a bit higher than the average tree in the forest, and it seemed as good a spot as any to keep a lookout on the surroundings.

Xerxes decided he would rest his head for a few minutes, and after it was certain he couldn’t sleep, would demand to take over the watch.

He was out cold within seconds.

Katayoun shook him awake when it was still dark. “I need rest,” she said. “You have the last watch.”

Stifling a groan, he got to his feet and climbed the tree. Every part of him ached, but it wasn’t as bad as before he’d fallen asleep.

The night was still. There were a few patchy clouds, but the stars were out. After everything that had happened, he looked up and wondered when he would see a meteor.

There were none.

His mind wandered.

Was the mission really almost over? All they had to do was travel for a day to the Gateway complex. Then they could use the Key to leave Jehannemid and go to Humusi.

How long would it take the higher-ups in the military to decide what to do about Kishar, Teucer, Ningsummunu, and the Unsighted? How long before Xerxes had to follow through with his promise to return on his own if he had to? What would Katayoun think if he did that? He hadn’t talked to her about it, neither before he made his promise, nor after.

He thought about Gandash, and wondered if he’d noticed the efforts Xerxes had been making to smooth things out between them. I’ve been going along with all his decisions. Supporting him at every turn. He must have realized it.

Shortly before dawn, a shadow startled him. Looking up, he saw three flying Abhorrent soaring overhead. He leaned away from the tree trunk as he tracked them. They obviously hadn’t sensed the presence of the mages, as they flew onward in the general direction of the mountains.

Then the sun rose, and he shinnied down the tree to wake Gandash, Katayoun, and Kashtiliash. They ate and continued on their way.

Their progress slowed even more. Worse terrain. More Abhorrent.

More combat.

In each instance, they ended fights quickly and efficiently. They always wiped out the Abhorrent to the last monster, never letting a straggler escape. Not once did any of them get hurt badly enough to warrant spellcasting by Katayoun.

The mountains were getting closer. They were now distinctly visible on the horizon, and rising higher and higher.

More wolves fell on them as afternoon gave way to evening. The terrain was more in the favor of the High Seers though, and they slaughtered the beasts with impunity. Except, as the fight wore down to the end, for the first time, one of the Abhorrent escaped. Two of the larger spawn turned tail and ran. Kashtiliash and Xerxes, wrapped up in combat with a juvenile, couldn’t give chase. Gandash was also fighting. Katayoun ran after the two spawn for a short distance, until Xerxes shouted for her to return.

They wrapped up the fight within a minute.

As Xerxes cleaned his blade, he said, “Is it really that bad that two of them got away?”

Gandash looked in the direction the stray wolves had fled. “I don’t know. We haven’t heard the wolf-types talk, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.”

“If they tell one of the bigger juveniles about us…” Katayoun said, but didn’t finish her sentence.

Kashtiliash resheathed his sword. “So we keep moving.”

“Yes,” Gandash said.

And they did. However, it soon became apparent that their fears had been confirmed. Abhorrent came at them from the north. Rat-type. They were only spawn, but they were numerous. Dozens upon dozens.

Before the High Seers could dispatch them, another pack of wolves appeared from the northwest.

Two flying Abhorrent dropped from above.

Flying leeches flew out of the trees.

The four High Seers stood in a square formation and destroyed wave after wave of the monsters. Katyoun fought with her short sword. Gandash used a spear.

Corpses piled around them.

The only upside was that no juveniles were present. The fighting turned from grinding violence into gritty desperation. The exhaustion Xerxes had felt before compounded on itself. He didn’t think he could keep swinging the longsword.

And then, the remaining spawn turned around and fled. In a matter of seconds, it went from a scene of chaos to one of stillness.

The four High Seers panted and looked around.

Xerxes let his sword tip rest against the ground, black blood oozing off of it. “What the hell happened?”

Kashtiliash’s sword was in a similar position. “Fuck if I know.”

Breathing heavily, Gandash said, “We need to move again. The most likely reason a bunch of spawn would flee is—”

A crashing sound reached their ears from the west, followed by a faint tremor in the ground.

Xerxes turned to look in the direction of the sound, but didn’t see anything. “Is what?” he said.

Gandash didn’t respond.

Kashtiliash and Katayoun were looking in the same direction as Xerxes.

“Is what…?” Xerxes repeated. “Why would the spawn flee?”

Another crashing sound echoed through the forest. Silence.

Then something smashed through the trees fifteen cubits away, landing hard on the ground and shaking it so violently Xerxes had to take a step to the side. Katayoun dropped to her knees. Broken branches, pebbles, and other debris rained down around them.

Fifteen cubits away was a pale-skinned humanoid Abhorrent, surrounded by a cloak made of countless spider-like legs. She’d landed on one knee, but was already rising to both feet.

Another crash echoed out, and a second humanoid Abhorrent smashed through the trees and landed next to the first one. A third arrived half a second later.

“Grk bak losh, Melam-oth?” the first one said. She grinned. Then she took a step toward them.