Manee cut the Forger’s head off at my shout, but the wave headed to the man in front of me. I did the only thing I could, and I tried to touch the energy. It moved too fast, slipping by me as I grabbed the collar.

  My hand burned as I yanked it away.

  The Azura man clutched his neck where the collar had fried his skin, but he lived. Others weren’t so lucky. Three people slumped to the ground, not counting the two who were knocked out.

  Five dead.

  “Poison, retreat!” Manee yelled, as she frantically backed away, a green mist rising from the body of the Forger.

  Crystal pinged on the body, and I stepped closer.

  Havi went to grab me, but I held up a hand.

  “I’ll be fine. I need something from the body.” I sprinted into the mist and didn’t even slow down. The ding of my poison resistance working reassured me as I knelt next to the body. I took the ring and quickly searched the dead Forger’s pockets, but nothing came up.

  With a sigh, I retreated.

  The cloud didn’t stretch very far, and a few folks pulled the bodies into a pile. I gave them a nod as I moved closer.

  “I need to remove the collars, so they cannot be used again,” I said as I crept even closer. The folks I didn’t recognize nodded after looking at Havi.

  It took only a few minutes to remove the five collars. Each contained only a small amount of crystal, and not the Stable Mana crystal either, just small amounts of natural crystal from Lenna’s world.

  I now had enough of a mixture of things to do some experimentation, and maybe make a few things to help in the coming siege. Still, looking around at the useless death, we all could see that the Forgers had much to answer for.

  “We are ready to move out after the burial,” said Havi in a low voice.

  A cloaked figure approached, and I was surprised to recognize them.

  [Sile, Spy Master, Level 199, Predator, Unknown.]

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you with the Steadfast forces,” I mumbled. “Hopefully, these aren’t all we have to attack the Fortress.”

  I was concerned, because there weren’t a ton of forces here. Maybe twenty people were in the vicinity, though mostly of fairly high level.

  “Not at all; we have others joining us with a wide range of levels.” He studied me, and I felt him use a skill on me. “You’ve changed rather drastically. All of you have.”

  “Hunting down Forgers will do that,” I added, though I glanced toward a small shadow that darted in my direction.

  Strange skidded to a stop in front of me. “Delivery!”

  “I accept,” I said with a chuckle, before checking his info.

  [Strange, Bonded Compy, Scavenger Shade - level 84, Courier - level 60, Bonded.]

  My eyes widened at the notification. He’d done more than a little growing.

  “Great job, Strange!”

  He vanished into the shadows at my feet, and I felt him curl up to nap.

  Little bugger. I wasn’t sure how much rest he’d gotten while he was gone, but obviously not enough.

  Something tickled at the edge of my radar.

  “We have incoming, a creature of some kind,” I added, turning in the direction of its approach.

  Lenna spoke to Havi while Kabi stood awkwardly next to his mother. They chatted in low voices, until she gave him a hug.

  “Let’s move back to our main host,” said Havi. The next moment, several of the fighters slipped away in the darkness, leaving only a few remaining.

  The group of us took off sprinting into the darkness, with Lenna’s orb overhead.

  Havi and Manee both stayed with us, along with Sile.

  “Do you have another one of those stones?” asked Sile. “Manee has one, but if our forces have one we can coordinate better.”

  “Lenna has one, but we use it to coordinate between us. I might be able to make a few more if we have time to rest.” The crystal from the collars should be enough, if some of it was air crystal. It didn’t take much, and having a few for those giving orders would be helpful.

  Several twists and turns later, a mass of beings slowly popped up on my radar, yet we stayed away from the bulk of them and went in a different direction.

  “Those are friends, right?” I asked quietly as we ran.

  “Yes, that's Steadfast.” Havi chuckled. “We are heading to the front.”

  Questions bubbled up inside me, but I resisted as we raced through the darkness. After a while, Manee took the lead, then slowed down after another couple of turns.

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  “We are almost there…” she whispered before slowing down and touching a wall. A doorway appeared, and Havi headed inside, followed by Kabi. Dengu, Lenna, and I followed, while Sile took the back after Manee.

  The barrow led to a small cavern with a campfire and some sleeping areas.

  “It’s safe to speak in here,” added Havi, motioning to the area. “This area is reserved for your group, we will be heading back to the front after we discuss the plan.”

  “How can you help, besides freeing those who are collared?” asked Sile, after taking a seat.

  “I can hopefully make a few more communication stones, and I can track down Offenders.” In the past, everyone recommended I didn’t share that fact, but I trusted Havi’s parents, and Sile already knew. “Plus, the one who is creating the collars.”

  A look passed between Sile and Manee.

  “We’ve discussed asking you to slip into the Fortress, but we’re not sure that’s a good idea,” added Sile. “Some are of the thought that all of you should stay back from the fight entirely.”

  Lenna snorted. “That’s not going to happen. Alex already freed a set of Aethellians who are marching to the Fortress as we speak. They are why waves of Forgers have been sent out, to recapture them.”

  Sile’s eyes went wide while Havi sighed. But Lenna continued speaking.

  “You’ll want to wait another night, but the best bet is to get close enough to take advantage of the destruction they will cause as they head to the portal.”

  “When will they reach the Fortress?” asked Havi.

  “They are taking their time, searching out all those who have commanded their collars. The stars say tomorrow at dusk.” She nodded at Havi.

  “Close to our original time…” he muttered before nodding. “Moving up our timelines by half the night isn’t a problem. Steadfast will be ready.”

  Sile frowned. “The Water Tribe are using the dungeon entrances to get closer, and they might not arrive on time. Still… it's a good plan. They will cause chaos.”

  I pulled the crystal blob I’d gathered over the last couple of days and started separating it into the different elements. The Stable Mana I kept away from this work, since I didn’t know what it’d do.

  The voices inside the crystals hummed happily as I worked. I spoke mentally to them, letting them know what I was doing.

  The amount of air from the two Aethellians’ collars was enough to make four additional communication stones. They took no effort at all. I pushed the notifications away without reading them, since the work didn’t give me any levels.

  The conversation had continued as I worked, and I caught Sile’s eye before I tossed two of them, one after another, to him. The other two went to Havi.

  “Do what you will with them.” Before I could get sucked into the conversation, I went back to the crystal I’d gathered to see what else I could make.

  The tiny bombs had been very effective at destroying stone walls.

  Plus, who didn’t like blowing things up?

  Doc came to mind, and I grinned as I started forming more of the little crystal balls. The explosion rune wasn’t hard to send into the center of each. Again, it didn’t take much effort, and as I communicated my intention to the crystal it became even easier.

  Almost like a conversation.

  Finally, I felt ready to do something with the Stable Mana crystal, and I realized I didn’t have a clue what.

  I took the bunch in my hands and triggered my perception ability. I blinked away the sudden change in light, and instead focused on the pulse of energy within the merged crystal.

  Each place I’d shoved additional crystals together had created a dark line. In fact, each crystal bit still operated separately from the others, even the small pieces from the collars from those in the lab.

  It was strange.

  I let my sight fall and tried to think about how I’d use it. I reread my skill, trying to think about how it was different from the two I’d combined. Not coming up with an easy answer, I pulled out the four pieces of quartz.

  “Where did you get those?” asked Sile, sitting closer than before. He must have moved when I wasn’t paying attention. Of course, at his level he could probably move without me knowing even if I was paying attention, I thought.

  “From a special workshop for rune workers,” I said, wondering how much I should tell him. Hai hadn’t said to keep it a secret, and I knew Sile was actually really good at runes.

  “A workshop…” he mumbled, his eyes drawing close together.

  “We found a place with a Challenge for Runic users.” Just for good measure, I decided to keep going. After all, if Sile wasn’t an ally, this wouldn’t be the information that killed me. “I met Hai, the First Scribe inside.”

  Sile blinked, then glanced at Lenna before turning back to me. “Can you take me there after this is over? Do you know how to get back?”

  “Sure…”

  Havi’s hand clutched into a fist that he touched to his chest. “May the First guide us in this battle.”

  Kabi hadn’t acted this differently when I mentioned it to him before, and I glanced at him.

  “Technically, the First is an ancestor of ours,” he explained, pressing his lips together.

  “His blood runs through all of the immortal families of Steadfest,” added Havi with a hint of pride. “We are the last of his line.”

  Kabi suddenly turned to his father with a frown, his lips parted. Yet, Manee sent him a glance, and he stopped himself from saying whatever he was going to.

  “We don’t have long before we must start the march,” said Sile, shaking his head. “We need to finish this, and then we can discuss what you’ve discovered in the Badlands.”

  “Sile is correct,” said Manee, as she nodded in his direction. “It is time to destroy the Forgers on this planet once and for all.”

  “Destroying the Fortress and closing the portal won’t get rid of everyone,” I warned. It still felt like they’d have plenty of work to do even after this.

  “True, but we have people who have been waiting for a chance to level,” said Sile. “Tracking down remnants won’t be hard, and will be a worthwhile hunt for those looking to grow.”

  I kept the explosion crystals and piled them in one inventory slot, while I slowly pressed the various other crystals types together, except for the Stable Mana Crystal. My storm knife was added to my belt so everything would fit, but it worked for the moment.

  Dengu and I were the last ones inside the barrow, and as we exited, the screams of fighting filled the air.

  “Seems the party started without us,” I muttered as Sile motioned for us to follow him. Havi and Manee split off back to the bulk of the forces.

  “Some Forgers found the party earlier, but that isn’t our concern,” Sile said. He sped up, but not so fast that we couldn’t follow. “I can get you close to the Fortress. We have some lookouts keeping watch. These stones will help keep us in the loop as we approach.”

  He took us to another barrow, except this one rose at an incline, and after a long march it flattened out. It broke to the topside, where only the stars shone, before we ducked into yet another barrow. A screech came from the skies just as we left the cool air.

  Three different times we exited to the darkness before we finally reached the lookout.

  My feet ached a little, as we stopped at a window much like the ones in the towers.

  “There is the Fortress.”

  Two cloaked figures stood next to the windows, and Sile spoke to them, passing off a crystal. Both nodded.

  Down below, lights blazed in the darkness, casting shadows across an enormous expanse. We were off to one side, up high and looking down at the wall and gate.

  Nothing moved on the wall, and the gate stood open like an invitation.

  “Do they not have guards?” I asked, trying to spot anyone hidden along the walls.

  Something felt off about the scene, like an itch I couldn’t scratch. The Forgers weren’t dumb, and this was too empty.