The trail of blood led to a small alcove beneath a rock formation reminiscent of an overpass. There it stopped, a small puddle forming on the ground but no Miles.

“Stopped here to rest? Patch himself up?” I mused.

“Or something picked him off.” Talia said. Like she was hoping it had.

Either way, it looked like a dead end. Miles retreated, dragged himself to cover, and judging from the streak of blood on the rock wall, slid down it to rest. But there was no trail of blood leading away. If a monster attacked him, there would have been more blood in the proximity.

Talia walked a short distance away, nose to the ground. Then doubled back and did the same thing again in another direction, and another.

“His scent is everywhere.” She complained. “Like he couldn’t decide where to go.”

It painted a grim picture. And not one that helped us.

Jaded Eye ground out a warning. Unlike practically every other time the Title helped me, this warning was vague and unspecific. It sensed that something was wrong, but couldn’t tell what.

I absorbed it without reaction, careful to keep my face neutral giving nothing away, and gave the surroundings another once over. It was around two hundred yards of flat ground. Very little cover, beyond a craggy perimeter. Now that I was looking carefully, what bothered me was how exposed the position was. It wasn’t the sort of place Miles was likely to choose unless his hand was forced, or—

Shit.

Heart racing, I went through the tactics Maria described. Miles used his squad to draw fire and floated, taking opportunistic shots and flanking while still protecting his group. If he thought I’d brought Maria’s group in, it had absolutely occurred to him I could do the same thing. Hanging back. Hunting.

If I was him and misled my target? Made them think I was more wounded than I actually was? This was the exact play I’d make.

I stayed perfectly still, staring at the bloodstain.

“Talia, keep sniffing the ground and stay as far from me as you plausibly can. Audrey. Scale the wall. Act like you’re looking for something. ”

The plant summon did as I asked, picking up on the urgency in the message.

Everything in me screamed to move as I crouched down, feigning interest in the trail.

Then leapt straight up. Audrey’s vines yanked me upwards, onto the cliff as the stone below devolved into a magmatic pool of fire, hot enough that I felt my skin burning within my armor. There was an explosion above and Audrey’s vines snapped, her presence vanishing from my mind.

Seconds away from plunging to my death, I kicked off the wall and twisted, landing on my feet, barely clearing the pool. screamed, and I dodged the blur that passed inches from my face and exploded against the wall. Off-balance but predicting the double-tap, I straightened, every nth of focus within me directed towards the series of craggy formations and cast on myself.

The blur came blisteringly fast, rocketing towards my chest.

Can’t dodge.

My intent wavered, and in a lapse of sanity, all focus went to my gauntlet.

I caught it.

The arrow lacked a point. Instead of a tip, it had a dark flathead with a round body large enough to carry a payload. It was tempting to send it back as a warning shot, but this being Miles?

I pulled back my arm and threw it as far as I could.

The arrow exploded before it hit the ground in a sphere of blue fire.

My heart beat like a drum in my ears. I scanned the rocks for him. “You got it wrong. I came to rescue you—”

A half-dozen arrows answered, one after another. The first few went wide, the last shots directed at me with laser precision. They exploded almost randomly as I weaved between them, catching the far edge of more than one shockwave.

I advanced as randomly as I could, zigzagging across the open space. It was far more dangerous than if I was up against an enemy I could see—I couldn’t affect his accuracy. Upside was, he couldn’t exactly reposition without giving himself away.

Every time was off cooldown, I focused on the craggy rocks, trying to pick him out. Finally, I saw it. A small, unnatural looking thin rock, pointed at an angle.

Not unlike the shaft of a bow.

There you are.

I beamed the location to Talia and dodged to the right, leaping over her as she hauled ass directly towards Miles’ hiding place. I pulled a hairpin turn and sprinted directly towards him. Maybe twenty feet behind Talia, but she was faster than me, and the spacing between us was widening.

Jaded Eye’s warning came just in time, I skidded to a stop just as the rock floor before me bubbled, dissipating to nothing, and threw myself to the side as another arrow whistled by my ear.

Talia fumbled through the air, plunging straight downward. I reached out, balanced on the edge, and Talia returned to implement form, zipping back towards me out of the void. Just before I caught the knife, Miles fired another arrow. This time at my feet, and an explosion shook the rock, sending spinning off course, off into the void. I had to move. It would keep trying to return to me, but without a good angle on the opening it—and Talia—were trapped beneath.

“Asshole,” I hissed.

“Prick.” Miles called back. “Knew something was up with that fucking knife.”

He wanted to talk. Probably stall, while he cooked up another contingency. Fine.

I drained what little Mana I had, casting on the conspicuously body shaped rock until my vision swam.

If possible, I needed to distract him without making his view of me worse than it already was.

“How much selve did you burn on this?” I called over. “Between the traps and the arrows, couldn’t have been cheap.”

There was a long pause before the answer came. “A lot.”

“Save yourself some cash and talk to me.”

He snorted. “Yeah, never heard that one before.”

“Maybe you have. But I haven’t returned fire. I’m unarmed.”

“Really. You came in here without a single weapon on you?”

I paused a beat. “Well. No. But I’m not holding one.”

“Okay smart guy. You want to talk?” Miles threw out his bow first, then emerged from behind a rock. He looked much as I remembered him from the transposition, but he’d upgraded. His leather armor was reinforced with metal, painted matte black.

And there was pure, unbridled fury in his eyes.

Something held me back, some wariness in the back of my mind. He was being too cooperative, considering the absolute lethality he’d pursued me with just moments before.

I kept my answer short. “Yes.”

“What exactly do we have left to talk about?”

Clink.

bounced against the lip of the chasm and dropped back down again. It was getting closer to where I needed it to be.

His arm twitched, and when I reflexively went for my inventory, he smiled a false smile. “Uh-huh. If you wanted to talk so badly, why didn’t you come and find me after the transposition?”

“After the Overseer blasted me all over the city? Just waltz into your domain with all that fucking heat? Come on, Miles. We both know how that would have gone down.”

“‘Blasted.’ Like you didn’t fucking do it.” Miles paced, but his hand never went far from his side.

“It doesn’t matter what I say. You won’t listen.” Something occurred to me. I cocked my head. “Was your team retreating a gambit to lure me in?”

“Got it in one.” Miles chuckled. “Took a minute to realize you were winding me up, sending amateurs to do your dirty work, but unfortunately for you I’ve seen it before.”

“Listen.” I started.

“Did you massacre Region Six?” Miles asked, point blank.

Clink.

My fist tightened. “No. It was already fucked before I got there. Everything else was the Overseer pulling strings, throwing me under the bus. He seem like the truthful sort to you?”

“And the attack on the apartments? When that short-stack of yours that iced my fucking friend.” He struck his chest, emphasizing the last three words.

“No one was supposed to die. All I wanted was the Legendary User Core. The guy who backed me up was an unknown quantity, someone with future knowledge. And frankly, I’m pretty sure he has it in for me too.”

Miles rolled his eyes. “Putting that massive convenience aside for the moment. You had no intention of killing Matthias to silence him. Really.”

I snorted. “Matt’s the type of motherfucker who memorizes the A section of a dictionary and calls himself a genius after. Not even close to as smart as he thinks he is. Whatever he knows, it can’t hurt me, and I don’t give a shit about anything he could spill. I just wanted the core. And it was going to get a lot harder to get it once you all locked him down.”

Miles made an ‘ahah’ gesture. “Of course. The legendary User Core, along with most of the cores of people in region six. All for that necromancer you ‘saved.’”

I hesitated. He had me there. Any denial would read as false. “Yes.”

Clink. I saw it fall this time. I’d have it soon.

“To what purpose—no, don’t tell me. See, this is our key problem.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You say all that, and despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m inclined to believe you. Like I believed you during the transposition. You’re the best goddamn liar I’ve ever seen, and trust me when I say that’s a high fucking bar. I’m sure if I give you a room to spin something, you’ll have my head spinning like a top, chasing after all manner of bullshit. Which’ll eventually leave me with slack jawed, dick in my hand, when the next grand tragedy hits.”

He paused, stared at me curiously over the gap. “You like westerns, Myrddin?”

The sudden change of topic threw me. “Never dabbled.”

Miles inclined his head. “Right, I forget how young you are. There are some modern ones that are decent. Hostiles, Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma. But the old ones have a certain clarity, a—how do I say it—a purity of focus. White hat, black hat. The clashing of ideals. Good versus evil. And more often than not, it all comes down… to a draw.”

His hand stirred by his side.

I stiffened, ready to activate my Page skill at a moment’s notice.

What the hell was he thinking? He’d seen me fight. He was more technically proficient and better trained, but with getting a weapon out of my inventory the only User who could match my speed was probably another page.

“Don’t do it.” I snapped.

He gave me a look that was almost sad. “The most fucked up part, kid? I really did like you.”

“Don’t—“

Miles drew.