Bang. Crack-tsh.

Wen lined up the shot perfectly, catching the armed guard in his chest. Ice cracked across his chest instantly as the bullet shattered against his armor. He didn't even have time to scream as he froze in place as an ice statue.

It wouldn't kill him, so long as no one broke him. It would keep him frozen for some time, though, until the ambient temperature thawed him. Wen lined up another shot without thinking, her revolver's sights catching on the next guard to rush from the side door.

They had kept the portcullis closed, which, in Wen's mind, wasn't a smart move. Coming through the smaller gate meant that she and Grayson could control how many they faced at a time.

"Step.

Thud.

An older man wearing a long red and black cloak kicked a guard away from the door, landing on one foot before spinning into a second kick to send the next one falling back. He was Captain Grayson, Wen's partner, though she didn't like it.

On Aherlow, he had nearly killed her when they had broken into Tartarus. He had his reasons for hating the crew, of course. They had caused a delay in his retirement. If things had gone differently, he might have faced execution by the Military Police.

Wen hadn't been involved in any of that, though. She had joined the crew on Diamond Peak after they had found the Nighthawk. Not that she could tell Grayson that.

Thump.

"Can't you all just fall over?" Grayson sighed as he kicked another of the guards to the side and advanced through the door. "We all know you're not going to stop us."

Wen raised her revolver and followed after him. She wouldn't object to him taking the lead. Until they found where the Fingers were hiding, or more importantly, Miss Malone, it didn't make sense to activate her curse.

Crack.

She turned the corner to see Grayson slam one of the guard's helmets against the wall. The sound of breaking bones filled her ears, and she frowned. The brutality of it reminded her of their fight in Tartarus. She didn't often get to see members of the Military Police in action as a bounty hunter. Most of the time, she only interacted with them during the payment.

The guards were being manipulated, and the violence didn't sit well with her, but if she confronted him over it, would he turn on her? She'd lose an ally before they had a chance to get to Artur if he did that. That was assuming she could take him down before he slammed her head into a wall.

She held her tongue.

"Poor saps." Grayson shook his head as he stalked up the stairs and onto the next level.

A door lay open at the end of the hall, but no more guards rushed through it. A couple of side doors likely led to separate rooms, but no guards charged through them. Either they had run out of men, or, more likely, they had laid a trap ahead. Grayson didn't stop, rushing ahead while Wen followed him, her gun still held up as she picked her steps through the downed guards.

Wen followed after him. While it may have been a trap, it was better for them to stick together than to separate. At least if they were together, they could cover each other.

"So many of them," she whispered as she reached the door.

"Stop right the—"

Crack. Thud.

As Wen stepped through, Grayson knocked a guard into the wall next to the door. Three guards already lay on the ground, while on both sides of the wall's interior, ten guards surrounded them on each side, behind a set of portcullises. It was a rectangular tower of sorts, built behind the wall as an extra layer of defense. With the portcullises down, the guards could stab through with their polearms and skewer anyone who approached the bars.

"They're making this annoying."

"Look down," Wen whispered. "It's a massive grate."

Clang. Thud.

The door they had passed through slammed, and something heavy dropped behind it. Had there been a bar on the door? Wen hadn't been paying attention to it. Her eyes darted to the left and right as sharp points thrust through the bars.

She backed away from them, her gun leveled at the guards on the other side. Behind her, Grayson did the same, meeting her back with his own. They had been trapped inside. Unless they broke through the bars and polearms, they couldn't escape.

"Fine mess we're in." Grayson sighed. "They're really going to make me work for it."

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Clatter.

"Can you break through the bars?" Wen asked as the polearms thrust further into the trap.

"If you could keep the spears off me, I might." Grayson spat. "But there are too many to dodge them all and get close enough. I'd look like a pincushion before I could break through the gates."

"The gates won't be easy to aim through," Wen said, already knowing she would have to activate her curse soon. "I'll have to make things a lot colder if you want me to push them back."

Keeping a curse active was somewhat draining and affected the user more when they used complex and powerful abilities. While there were monsters like Alex and Sayed, who seemed to fight to their limits and beyond without thought, most people wouldn't just activate their curse on a whim.

From what Wen understood, the second level of a curse would be even more draining. Once it was active, a user could stabilize it and control the flow. However, going into it had a high cost, and being forced out of it would sap the user. She wasn't there yet, but Jean had taught her the principles. It all concerned the aether a person drew in and how it was used.

"Do what you have to." Grayson clenched his fists tightly. "Just free up one side, and I'll shatter it."

"I don't think that will be necessary, my dears," a woman's voice echoed through the trap, soft and bubbly with excitement. "Though I don't know how I was so fortunate and unfortunate to meet you again."

Wen recognized the voice, her revolver quickly sliding across the area to find the source. It was Miss Brooke, the woman she had faced on Dry Turtle. Beating her had nearly killed Wen.

"Now, it's time to pull the lever, dears," Miss Brooke said.

Clank. Clack. Splash.

The floor dropped beneath them, sending them tumbling into darkness and water. Cold wrapped around Wen as her vision blurred. She started to breathe, but her lungs only found water. Her gun slipped from her fingers and into the darkness. Her heart raced as she struggled against the water's pull, but then she stopped.

She knew better than to panic.

She exhaled bubbles around her face, closing her eyes and righting herself in the water. Already, she had begun to float, though it was hard to tell in the darkness. She threw her arms into a strong stroke in the direction she floated, throwing herself toward the surface.

Splash.

Her lungs burned, but it didn't take long to break through. She crashed through the surface, her hands slapping the water as she drew in a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was darkness.

"Over here!" Wen followed the voice.

A shadow stood on a large stone raised from the water on the side of a curved wall. In the distance, a faint orange light glowed through a crumbling stone tunnel. Wen didn't hesitate. She swam toward the stone until her feet found solid ground beneath her. She threw herself up onto the cold surface when she was close enough.

"You alive, outlaw?"

Wen blinked, noticing Grayson's rugged beard through her bleary eyes. She groaned, but nodded, pushing herself up from the stone and looking out into the well. Everything in her body burned. The shock of the drop had sent her body into overdrive, and it needed time to calm down.

She didn't think she would get that time.

"Must be some sort of cistern." Grayson looked up at the faint pinprick of light at the top of the well.

Cough.

"It doesn't make sense," Wen whispered in a raspy voice after she coughed up some of the water in her lungs. "The castle's on a lake. They don't need a cistern."

"But they have one," Grayson said. "That's not sewage we dropped into, thank the Scions for that."

Wen narrowed her eyes, but he was right. The water was clear enough in the faint orange light. It didn't smell. It was probably drinking water, which made no sense.

"Unless it wasn't always a lake." Wen closed her eyes as a headache started in her forehead. "This is all on top of a mountain."

"A crater, maybe." Grayson spat into the water.

"Or a volcano." Wen forced herself up, her joints cracking as she forced herself to her knees first.

"Don't overthink it." Grayson reached down with one hand, and Wen took it. "All we need to do is get out of here and back up to the keep. There's a tunnel and light. That means there should be a way up."

"She's going to be in here," Wen said as she rose to her feet. "If I were her, I wouldn't want to fight us anywhere else."

"The woman." Grayson frowned.

"Miss Brooke." Wen nodded. "Her curse allows her to control, even become, water."

"That's a troublesome ability." Grayson looked at the tunnel. "And a troublesome place to fight it in."

Wen nodded, drawing her secondary revolver from her left hand. She had six bullets chambered inside, and another six in a speed loader. It might be enough to take out Miss Brooke without having to use her curse.

"She's got an advantage, but so do we," Wen said. "My curse isn't good for her health."

"Cold." Grayson eyed her. "That would make sense. Not a perfect counter, but a way to take her out without mastering the Path of Will. Together we might be able to do it."

"If you don't mind working with an outlaw." Wen grinned.

"We'll see." Grayson turned and started down the tunnel.

Wen followed after him, leaving the cistern behind. The tunnel wound, old stones embedded in the walls providing a smokeless light as they walked through the glistening gray stones. Grayson paused as they came to an opening. Another larger domed cistern opened up in front of them, mostly darkness in the dim light from the tunnel.

Why he paused became evident a moment afterward. A tall, pale woman in a long black dress and a wide black hat stood out on the water. Her high heels didn't reach into the water as she leaned on a closed black umbrella.

Dark eyes looked out over the water at Grayson, and slowly turned to Wen as she appeared behind him. Wen clenched her revolver. There was no helping it. They'd have to beat Miss Brooke before moving on.

"Good to see you down here, dears." Miss Brooke smiled, stepping toward them across the water.

Click. Click. Click.

"You know, I didn't know whom I would end up catching in my trap. I didn't think we would have a chance for a rematch so soon."

"You're one of the Fingers, then." Grayson tucked his hands in his jacket pockets as he stepped away from the tunnel and onto the rocky cistern's shore. "You don't look like much of a fighter."

"Looks can be deceiving." Miss Brooke smiled, showing all her teeth. "The little bounty hunter over there would know. She hardly looks like the kind of person who could beat me, but she almost killed me back on Dry Turtle. I don't know who you are, but you'll get caught up in it, too. Neither of you is going to walk away from this."

So much for the idea that the Fingers were trying to avoid killing them. However, maybe the intelligence was right, but Miss Brooke was ignoring the order. Wen raised her revolver, sighting on Miss Brooke.

"I guess we're getting started." Wen jumped to the side as the voice rose behind her. "Steam Shot!"

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