Amalia stalled for a precious moment as Ranvir passed out. For that short period of time, she believed he’d actually just keeled over. Died in her arms. At least, until she jostled his arm and he let out a whimper of pain. Only then did she remember his death would drop his pocket-space into the fold.

Bolts of fire splashed onto the stone at his feet, pulling her attention away. Mercy’s Redoubt was on the move again. The Storm Locust had done a decent job at stalling them considering the circumstances, but Sabas had to have brought the majority of his forces out here.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she groaned, grabbing Ranvir under his shoulders. She didn’t want to disturb his limb, but she didn’t see herself having much choice in the matter. The cruissor had chewed up the flesh and left splinters of pale white in the minced remains.

She glanced towards the mercenaries as she hauled Ranvir towards the water. Sure, the serpent was in there, but it was still safer than having forty men pick them off at a distance.

“Goddess of the Night, save us,” she muttered, witnessing the approach. Ten or twenty people had been set up to rain attacks down on them. They were too far away for much precision, though a few characters stood out as gathering especially powerful, longer range attacks. The rest of the crew were charging across the pillars, their pace rapidly eating up the distance between them. She could still make out a few clumps of the storm locusts nibbling at their heels, but the insects had done all they could.

The stone around the archers exploded into rubble, a massive serpentine form of blue and dark green scales slamming into it. Water geysered high into the air, drowning the screams of the attacked. Momentarily, all action on the platforms stopped.

Why did the serpent… “Oh,” Amalia couldn’t help the sound escaping her mouth as she realized. Ranvir and the cruissor had drawn the serpent up for the quick meal of a weakened target. The storm locusts had attacked Mercy’s Redoubt, not to stop or hurt them, but to wound them. Paint a target on their back.

She hauled Ranvir into the water, just as something massive tore through first air, then scales. A slash of steely, reflective mana bigger than a building ripped into the serpent’s massive form. She caught flickers of lights playing randomly on the edge of the attack before the serpent retreated into the murky depths. Sabas was scary good. She didn’t doubt for a second that he could beat the serpent.

He would have nearly the same points in his main stat as Ranvir, alongside the average defensive distribution, and his Ability Scores would be much higher. She could only imagine he’d remained at the camp so often to remain as an extra ward against escape.

The briny water enveloped her like a familiar embrace, Amalia’s passives kicking into speed as she sank low enough to be both in shadow and underwater. She’d barely gotten a few feet, however, when her passenger started objecting. Ranvir twitching and gasping, sending bubbles of air to the surface, and nearly twisting out of her grip.

She had to resurface. Except, they were currently between two platforms and would pop out in the middle of nowhere, out in the open. May Apisaon build a trap just for you, Ranvir, she cursed before breaching.

Her wounded backpack’s twitching eased slightly, and he gasped loudly as air touched his skin. She didn’t think he was aware, though. Her under-baked plan had nearly cost him his life. Only the most basic of children’s instincts had stopped him from drowning the moment she took him under.

“Over there!” Someone called out. Amalia glimpsed Mihail’s figure pointing in her direction.

“That’s enough air,” she said, clamping a hand over his mouth and nose. Submerging into water that turned frothy moments later with the attacks raining down where they’d been. Quick, quick, quick, please! She cursed, rushing through the brine. Her Abilities were, unfortunately at this moment, designed for scouting alone. Her passives that increased speed only worked on her, turning Ranvir’s limp body into a massive drag.

She still thought she was fast enough until she glimpsed the shadows passing over her as braced jumped the gaps between platforms. Ranvir was already getting uneasy again, stirring in her grip. She needed to find somewhere to hide, even just temporarily.

Scanning her surroundings, she saw the churning water in the serpent’s passing as it fought Sabas. Which meant she was also looking as the serpent attacked back, sending a tremendous wave of water towards the captain. And all that water had to come back down again.

Perfect, she thought, rushing towards the nearest pillar. She didn’t know how old the fold was before it connected with Korfyi, but she would guess pretty old. Mostly because of the deformation around the pillars. Often, she’d find little lips, overhangs providing a bit of shadow. And they were just high enough that a person, if they were careful, could fit their head between the stone and water.

Peaking above the tumultuous water for a moment, she quickly located one such lip and rushed towards it. Ranvir was getting increasingly unsteady in her grip, but she needed him to last just a moment longer.

The serpent rose alongside its wave attack. Sabas hung in the air, far above them, looking mostly like a steely glowing stick figure. Then serpent and water came crashing back down, the noise drowning out all else so no one could hear Ranvir’s reflexive desperate gasping for air, as she rode the wave into the nook.

Breathing deeply, she clutched at the rough stone to keep out of sight. She couldn’t pull Ranvir in close, but if she maneuvered him right, he shouldn’t be immediately visible. Frowning, she examined the field. In the darkness, her Abilities aiding her secrecy, even stretching to cover the worst of Ranvir’s huge shape, his damned glowing eyes.

She didn’t need to hasten. Right now, she needed to move purposefully. She ripped off her belt and quickly tied it around Ranvir’s shoulder as a tourniquet. That should not have taken her that long to realize. That fight with the monster, it finding them in their hideout, had her frazzled.

This is why I avoid dangers like these, she groused to herself. Light caught on her shadow coating, her powers alerting her to presence. Glancing around, she quickly realized where it came from. The serpent had tried another devastating dive-bomb, like the one that shattered the platform with all the rangers. Sabas had not been so easy to handle, however, and left two dozen deep slices in the worm’s massive frame. Even from here, Amalia could smell the blood in the air as the creature screamed.

They wouldn’t be distracting anyone for long, either. She tugged Ranvir closer to the stone, making sure the knot was tight. Ranvir was difficult to travel with and maneuver, even when he wasn’t dying. She licked her lips, tasting saltwater as she glanced around. It would be easier, safer really, to just leave him behind.

If Amalia left him here, she could grab Alexis and get to the entrance in no time at all. Now that it time had passed, the seal likely had weakened and she might break it with one of her tools. Like she would forcibly open a fold or break a knotting point. Sabas was here, his tracker like wise-

Ranvir sputtered as a wave from the fight washed over his face. She covered his mouth quickly and pulled him a little closer. She couldn’t leave him, though. He’d risked everything for them. He didn’t have to stay in the hideout. He was the only one of them who could’ve gotten past the cruissor, yet he’d fought for them. He risked never seeing Frija again, and she was considering abandoning him for the chance of seeing Elpir?

Like father, like daughter? She thought to herself caustically. Fuck that, absolutely not! She would find a way, no matter-

“I thought I heard something over here,” Mihail’s voice called. “Check around the platform. They can’t have gotten far away.”

“Sir!” a woman called out loudly and ran off. Amalia heard the dispersal of the order and the rapid footsteps as the mercenaries did as they were told.

Heart racing to break out of her chest and run out of her throat, Amalia pushed in tight to the wall. Twenty meters to her right, something pushed into the water and waved about. Glancing over, she saw the spear pull back out, then splash down another five feet.

With bated breath, she watched it coming back out again. Next time, it might miss her entirely. She was pretty slim and vertical in the water, but Ranvir? No chance. This close, she could see the head of the spear as the soldier moved closer. But somehow, she missed the ten story-long serpent rushing past fast enough and near enough to drag her and Ranvir down with it.

Amalia almost let out a scream, as she thought the serpent had caught them, until she realized the whirlpool of its passing was all that caught them. But they were so dangerously close to its face. It’s silvery glowing face. The glow turned into a pillar, splitting the triangular head down to its next, spraying blood and gray matter into the water around them.

Amalia, shrouded in darkness and wrapped in water, watched as Sabas swam out of the serpent’s now useless maw and towards the air. He must’ve been pretty close to out of breath, if he’s not stopping to claim the serpent, Amalia thought, then realized she was just hanging in the water. Anybody could’ve seen her. Even if her powers hid her, they didn’t make her invisible.

Looking for cover, all she could find for now was the serpent’s massive corpse. Perhaps, she could swim away in the after Sabas returned to turn it to katapetra. They were only a hundred feet under the surface, but already very little light was reaching them. The scales, so bright and beautiful above the water, were dim and near color-less down here.

Grasping at the hide to pull herself closer, she checked on Ranvir to make sure he was okay. He seemed to be holding up after getting a little breather under the lip. Turning back, she let out a quiet gasp. An empty eye socket stared back at her. The bubbles rose rapidly on the surface, but perhaps no one would notice?

She glanced back at the corpse peaking through the one massive rip in the serpent’s stomach. She assumed it was the stomach. The snake-like creature was so big and relatively narrow, it had to be mostly stomach. Sabas had torn the monster up so badly, its food was nearly falling out of the holes he’d put it in.

I wonder if enough time has passed since Ranvir killed it to claim it, Amalia wondered, peaking about the stomach to see if another high-tiered monster was lying about in there somewhere to claim, when the realization struck her. Ranvir didn’t kill the cruissor, the serpent did.