Clatter.

Erin ran in the shadow of Captain Drake. Claws lashed out, and flames erupted. Knights fell in the dozens with each attack. A dragon's strength broke through the knights, though Captain Drake kept his humanoid form.

"You keeping up, outlaw?" Drake paused in his fight, turning one yellow slitted eye back on Erin.

Erin shuddered under that gaze. He was everything wrong with the Military Police: too much power concentrated in the whims of one person, claws that could be turned on the people far too easily.

Brutality. The knights were torn to shreds as they ripped through them across the bridge. Erin knew they were being controlled, as did Captain Drake, but he hadn't held back. Crushed helmets, charred flesh, and blood pools littered the bridge.

The knights were doing their work under control.

"Is this necessary?" Erin whispered, pausing her stride and resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

She might have healed some, regenerated them to a point, but Drake was through. His flame left nothing but ash in the armor, and his claws severed heads from bodies. The knights had died before they hit the ground.

Not even her curse could restore that.

"Death is the punishment for those who fail the nobles." Drake shrugged. "King Lopold could order my death, and my men would be obliged to carry it out. That is the cost of service, whether to the Military Police or the guard."

"That only works if you prop up the system," Erin whispered. "You could resist. You could travel a different path."

"And they would have my head." Drake shook his head. "Just as they told me when I came to this world. You can serve, or you can die. You outlaws only get away with it for so long because you don't start off strong enough to be a real threat."

Erin grimaced. However, she learned something about Drake with those words. He was from a different world, no different from herself. Her homeworld had been Erys, and the People's Revolution found her soon after coming to Erth.

"That doesn't make giving in right," Erin whispered. "Even if you're weak, if enough people stand up, power has to give in."

"Not the Scions," Drake said. "They do what they will."

Erin held her tongue. She didn't know Drake, but if they were going up against Fingers, she would need his help. Alex had chosen their partners with a purpose. They would not be alone without a strong fighter. Erin with Drake. Wen with Grayson. Neither of them was a great frontline fighter, so it made sense. Harut with Sayed, Alex with Bolton. Sayed and Alex could take on threats directly, while Harut and Bolton were unknown quantities.

Jean and Keita were outliers, but they were also friends.

"Do what you will," Erin whispered.

Drake's teeth flashed in a grin that held far too much malice. He turned away from her and started toward the first wall's gate. Claws tore through knights until none remained.

"I hope we meet better resistance." A fiery plume streamed from Drake's maw as he crossed through the gate.

Erin grimaced, but followed through the gate, and together they stepped into a wide open field of multi-colored flowers. It took Erin a moment, but she quickly picked out a cobblestone path, winding left and right through the field. Near the walls, a variety of round trees bloomed with fruit. In the center stood a small lake, icy blue and cold, even just by the sight of it.

Her fingers flexed, and her mouth went dry. She hadn't seen such a thing in so long—so many varieties, so many different types of plants. Right at her fingertips.

They were in a massive garden stretching one quarter of the keep's walls. Erin resisted the urge to gather and pull seeds from the garden. It was a hobby, and with the second level of her curse, almost a necessity.

Alex had picked a good entrance point if they met resistance. She could turn the entire area into a battlefield if need be, so long as Drake didn't get too carried away with his flames.

However, they couldn't stay there forever.

"Hold." Drake raised his hand, his long neck snapping left and right across the garden.

Erin paused to reach down and take one of the nearest flowers. Despite their greater mission, she had to admit it was too hard to resist. However, she couldn't see what had set Drake off. As near as she could tell, it was just an empty garden.

That was until the trees swayed against the wind.

Four Fingers remained with Mister Deadman's death. One was Mister Tyson, who had fiery abilities, according to Alex. One was Miss Brooke, who was made out of water. The third was Mister Foley, who would manipulate the air. Finally, there was Miss Glory, who controlled plants.

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Where else would she be but in a garden?

"It's—"

Thump.

Tension wrapped around Erin's leg, and her arms splayed around her. She was tossed into the air like a ragdoll, before a second set of vines caught her before she hit the ground. They wrapped around her, coiling tightly around her limbs. Beside her, Drake was trapped in a similar situation.

"Pop Form."

A series of vines writhed together from the ground across from them, wrapping around themselves in an interconnected mass. They formed legs first, before extending up into a torso. Two arms sprouted out from its sides, slightly longer than they should have been. Finally, a bulbous head popped out from its neck, and a bright red flower wrapped around the pod.

It was Miss Glory. Erin hadn't seen her before in person. On the jungle island, she had faced off with Alex and Sayed; neither one was a good matchup for her. In theory, Drake might have an advantage, but she could control the growth of things. She couldn't do much against a woman made of plants.

"I am here to welcome you, as I was asked." Miss Glory's lack of a face masked her intent.

"Mmph." Erin grunted as vines wrapped around her mouth, clamping hard against the corners of her mouth.

"No, we won't be doing any of that." The bulb almost pulsed with power. "I have strict orders to keep you alive, or you would already be dead. So stay still and go to sleep until the spiders can come for you."

Yellow flowers bloomed from the vines. Erin's eyes widened. She didn't recognize them, but the bulbs were puffy and obviously filled with pollen. She took a quick breath through her nostrils and opened her gate.

Growing, twining, wrapping, and stretching power twisted out from her heart. It wrapped around her limbs, cutting through any tiredness with an innervating energy. Erin pushed against the vines with renewed vigor, but it wasn't enough.

"Pop Puff." Miss Glory reached out with one viney hand, her tendrils extending toward the buds.

Puff.

By Miss Glory's will, the pods exploded, and Erin sucked in a deeper breath through her nose. She might have tried to hold it in, but that solution was too short-term. Instead, she had a more insane plan to fit the situation.

Maybe her friends were rubbing off on her.

Haze settled around her mind, but Erin focused on her body. Calm focus created a hole in the haze as she pulled power from her gate and burned it like a furnace. Her stomach churned and lungs rasped as she forced her body to grow.

Snore.

Beside her, Drake nodded off into his sleep, his eyes closing and the smoke whisping out of his maw lessening by the moment. Miss Glory shambled closer, her vine legs pulling dirt with them as she crossed the distance. Erin didn't have long.

Her fingers and toes itched as her nails grew. Her bangs dropped in front of her eyes. Her skin cracked as a new layer forced itself to the surface.

Rapidly increasing her metabolism was her goal. If the spores were to put her to sleep, she would burn through their effect more quickly than a normal human. Because of her curse, she could burn through the effects that would normally last hours in seconds.

At least, that was her theory behind it. She had never tried it before. In all honesty, before being with her current crew for so long, she would have never been in a situation where this kind of application would make sense. She was a spy in the People's Revolution, and successful spies weren't caught.

Maybe if she were facing interrogation, she might have come up with it. The punishment for standing against the Empyrean was death, though, so talking was pointless. There was no chance of being released if you cooperated.

Erin shook her head against the vines, stretching them and tossing her hair out of her eyes. She needed to focus. Growth rampaged through her body every second she wasted, and she would burn through all her calories if she let it keep going.

Rustle.

She stretched her arm into the back of her cloak. Her fingers found purchase on the back of her belt. The vines limited her movement, but she didn't need to reach far. The black hilt of her stone dagger wasn't too far from reach, even with her arms bound behind her.

Swip.

Her fingers grasped the hilt, and she flipped it, cutting into the vines around her hands with a quick reversal of the grip. She sawed against the vines. They cut with ease, freeing her hands, but not the rest of her body.

She had a problem.

Her power was growth. While she could force plants to grow or even change them, she could not control them. Against someone like Miss Glory, her plants wouldn't do anything. Even some of her newer techniques, which she had developed as they approached Grim Aegis, would be easily dispatched by someone who could control plants.

She wouldn't be able to beat Miss Glory. Not alone.

Drake was the way she would win, but she needed to get free to free him. So, she waited. She waited as Miss Glory shambled closer. When Miss Glory checked to see if Erin was asleep, she would have her opportunity.

"The dragon sleeps." Miss Glory ran a green vine up Drake's jaw, caressing him before turning to where Erin was suspended. "The real threat is dealt with. I can't believe my fortune that I didn't get the swordsman. He was real trouble."

Of course, Sayed's burning blades would be a threat to a woman made out of plants and vines. Erin grimaced as the vines tightened around her body and mouth.

"But wait," Miss Glory said, stopping short of Erin.

Her bulbous head extended beyond her body and high into the air. Erin suddenly felt like she had been caught, but there was little she could do until Miss Glory got closer. She closed her eyes tightly and waited.

Scrtch.

"It must be my imagination," Miss Glory said, and continued her approach. "There is no possible world where someone could resist those spores."

Scrtch.

Erin didn't dare open her eyes. She didn't want to give anything away. When Miss Glory reached and touched her, she would know that she could attack. She just had to be patient.

Her heart raced.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

A long vine touched her cheek. It was sticky and warm. Erin's eyes flashed open, and she saw the black bulbous head staring directly into her eyes. She didn't think. She didn't wait. Erin lashed out with her dagger across the bulb, cutting into it with one swift swing.

"Grah!" Miss Glory fell back, her vines slapping into her face to cover the bulb as a sticky yellow liquid seeped out from it.

Erin's vines loosened, ever so slightly.

Erin didn't wait for her to react further. Her knife cut across the vines holding her body and legs. She tore at the veins over her mouth, ripping them apart and sending sap all over her hands.

Thump.

She landed on the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees before rushing over to Drake. She needed him free if she wanted to survive. She reached out with her knife, but stopped.

Miss Glory stood between them, her vines covering her bleeding bulb and her vine arms outstretched. Erin grimaced. She was too late.

"Shades."

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