Chapter Thirty Five

"What do you mean you lost the scent?"

Her familiar pointed out she'd also lost the trail of undead energy under the murky water first.

Too confident to start. Experience had been in their favor, but tracking fully skilled people and spirits would be more difficult than hunting beasts or monsters. Hyacinth knew all about being able to teleport, but it still stung.

Harmony signaled Hyacinth to stop the now aimless pursuit. Focusing on the pet bond, she knew Adric was healthy. The man was an adult and could have a private conversation with his sister. Rose only had to ask like a normal person.

"Do you think you can track down the real Maxwell?

Hyacinth's reply was a long, low grumble about being insulted at the implication he couldn't. First, they'd surface to take a new breath.

The cool, crisp night air pulled away the stress of needing to hold out underwater so long. Discomfort around that and not being able to respond to Hargreaves had been irritating. Technically, there had been no reason to chase after the butler except to ask about Max. There was also the butler's change from slightly useful to cold and rude.

"Found him." Hyacinth sent, this time using his words through their bond, but allowing the undertone of the annoyance of being tricked before to slip through.

"Go."

With another deep breath, the pair submerged. Pushing in deeper, they swam to the center of the valley. A castle behind a shimmering sheen waited next to a ring floating below.

Hyacinth burst through the barrier, taking harmony along for the ride. The large toad didn't pop the bubble surrounding the castle; magic held it together, but the sudden transition brought them down with a crash. Two dozen competitors and bonded loitering on the castle ground checked out the new arrivals briefly before they continued their wanderings.

It might not be her grandest entrance, crashing in on top of Hyacinth, but it at least deserved a hello or acknowledgment. People were moving in clusters defined by their tribes, giving opposing ones a wide berth while inspecting detailed carvings in the castle stone. Muthu, the worker she'd met on the first day, gave a brief wave, now wearing the furs that marked him as the same team as Max and Rose to go with his bonded pants, but even he quickly moved on to looking at a carving.

"They're trying to figure out how to unlock the last gate. This one didn't come with instructions." Owlsley's friendly voice mentioned from behind her. "The ring doesn't like violence or touching others with skills. The crazy guy with the swords tried something, and he and his target were teleported away. The same thing happened when someone tried to heal an opposing tribe member."

Harmony glanced toward the glowing white ring hovering as the light source. Good that Felix hadn't managed to kill anyone yet, but it might become a problem.

"And why are…?"

"I was looking for Billups. He had the bad luck to be voted off after the second competition. You saw how abrasive he could be."

The stuck-up kid had left that kind of impression at the dungeon club. His behavior had provided an excuse to insert herself. "I don't think you have to worry about the same fate. Forfeiting this competition probably means my head will be on the block."

Owlsley snorted. "You're the best healer we have. I don't think they'll vote you out this early, Lady White."

"We'll see." People had been pissed off at the choice. Going home to face Kelly so early would be a terrible wound. Not that her pride wouldn't recover. Bates and Ambrosia needed time to handle the situation without her meddling, and while her new class and profession wanted to more permanently remove the source of pain.

Hyacinth shrank down. "Greep," he squeaked, reminding her they had a task to finish.

Picking up the tiny toad, she placed him on her shoulder. "Which way, squeaker?"

Hyacinth's nose pointed her in the right direction, and Harmony's eyes finished the hunt. All she had to do was look for the old man. The new white hair and Max's long, braided beard sharpened his new, unusually stoic and frowning continence. Maybe he was unhappy, as the man prided himself on his looks. It would be hard to attract women who were interested in a well-muscled geriatric. He stood on the far side of the ring, looking up at it, the bright white light of it making him look even paler. His attention was nearly entirely focused on the ring. The change was drastic.

[Poise and Bearing] straightened harmony's spine and allowed her to push forward. "Agent Maxwell, you're looking a bit washed out."

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The harsh grimace he returned to her nearly had Harmony taking a step back. "And you're offering to help? Like you even want me?" As he spoke, a faint spark of pink flickered twice in his eyes.

There was some chaos in there. Was Saccerate taking it all? Feeding some fate into her [Heart], true sight bloomed out to find answers. It brushed up against a wall of nothing enveloping Maxwell. It almost hurt to look at. Soul sight, with its link to her attack, might be too risky and trigger the ring. "Len said you weren't well, and I came to find you. I'll also have concerns about the guest you picked up in the Deadwoods."

"Saccerate, please? She's no trouble. A slight change in my appearance, and you want to swing in for the rescue. Is that why you used some fancy inspection skill on me?" He snapped, his eyes flashing as he ended every sentence with an angry bite to them.

Having her eyes visibly glow while using [Eternal Fable's Heart] hadn't been ideal for being subtle. This cold, barely controlled anger wasn't Maxwell. He was all womanizing swagger and some frustration at his life's choices. It had only been a little more than a week since the start of the games. "This isn't you, Maxwell. Do I need to order you to the surface so I can take a better look at you?"

"How about not. Len is chasing a conspiracy, as I'm fully healthy. You'll see that you can't order me around now that I've found a way to be free. You've already seen how my new astral bond shields me." The way his eyes flashed pink showed that the chaotic spark hadn't died. But the anger, so much anger, radiated off of him.

Harmony stepped back. Sure, Maxwell whined and complained about the burdens his class and profession had put on him. How he'd felt forced to go and free Adric. The difficult times he'd encountered while countering the impulses to obey her suggestions. Frustrating, yes, but never with this amount of rage.

But she could relate. Almost too much after living with her mother. If a skill, class, or profession tried to tie her up and force her to do things she had no interest in, she'd be angry and resentful. The impulse to murder all problems away was irritating, and she didn't have things half as bad as the singularly sworn. But she'd tried to give Max space, and come to his rescue only when he needed it.

"I'm glad you've overcome the limitations your oath to me put on you, Maxwell. I really did come here thinking you were in trouble and wanting to help."

Max took heavy stomping footsteps forward, forcing Harmony to dance backwards. "Help! Help! Help!" He mocked with a growl. "I need you to recall this conversation whenever you think about helping me again!" With every word, his eyes flashed with chaos.

Was she so awful? Not partial to tears, they were there anyway, as she turned and fled.

Hyacinth tried to send her comforting impressions through [Familiar Bond], but human social relationships were not his strong suit. This was where it was useful to have Adric to lean on, but he'd been whisked away to talk with his sister. Even then, he was only a decent replacement for Ambrosia, who was her real anchor for situations like this.

Not one for sulking and needing a distraction, Harmony turned her new sight onto the castle everyone was fumbling over and fed herself the fate she'd saved up. There was nothing there. It had plenty of text and pretty carved images on it, but the whole castle looked as dead as any rock in this artificially crafted arena. People were prodding the stones with skills and abilities. More were coming, having cleared the other gates, dropping in from the bubble's ceiling.

This last ring was being tricky; all the other ones had come with complicated requirements before allowing people to go through them. It was driving everyone crazy with the need to find out how to get through this one. This one, all you had to do was jump through the circle. Several had tried that, and nothing happened.

"They had to make this last one the hardest to unlock and swim through," Harmony murmured to herself, recalling the requirements of the challenge. The ring just floated there in the air. "No one's going to swim through that."

Forfeited before the match really started, and now figuring out what everyone was missing. That was adding salt to the wound of an already crappy day. Eventually, someone would, but there was no point in losing sleep over not doing it. "Want to pop a bubble?" Harmony asked her familiar.

Passing through with the full-sized toad hadn't burst it. This would require something bigger. Rather than help pick a winner, Harmony went over and recruited Owlsey, whose eyes lit up when Harmony explained what was going on. Her giant sloth, Socks, and Hyacinth, with a little help, should be massive enough. They needed to give them something to break.

At the edge of the bubble, Harmony used [Cold Touch] to form a thin layer of ice on the inner surface. As a Prismatic Enforcer, Owsley increased the resistance by setting up panels of defensive energy to cut into the frozen edge, expanding the surface of solidity. Now they had a thin, breakable wall instead of a permeable bubble. The speedy sloth, Socks, charged in. Hyacinth had a little help as Harmony hurled the tiny version of him at their disturbed spot. While traveling at high speeds, he transformed into the bigger version before he hit.

The pair broke through the barrier and into the water, shattering ice and shields, but not fully to the edge, creating a tunnel for the water to flow through. It didn't so much as flow as shoot out under the massive pressure of being so deep.

[High Kick] jumped Harmony out of the way. Owsley wasn't so lucky. "Gah!" she screamed as she was blasted back, shields forming around her body, protecting her as she was washed backwards.

Their work at the edge of the bubble up until this point had been ignored. "Hey, what are you doing!?" A bunch of competitors descended

The water rose quickly. Harmony waded to the opening and reapplied [Cold Touch] in case it mattered.

"I asked you a question!" Yelled a young man, baby-faced enough to be one of the evolved kingdom's competitors.

"I didn't want to be stuck here all night, so I decided to make it so one of you can clear the competition." Harmony snapped back.

The man was pulled back by one of his teammates, who could put two and two together.

The end of the competition was far less climactic. It was still dark when they were teleported back. Her little crafted spider lights lit up the area enough to show a lot of unhappy faces at the forfeiture. The Obelisk didn't help; cracks now coated the surface with glowing red words.

In one day, you must vote out two members of your tribe.

Even Tyler and Loap frowned at that. More than that was off.

"Where's Adric?" Harmony asked. Her pet, that primal bond, felt far away and as confused as she was when she focused on it.

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