Cekta entered first, followed by me, then Shelli. Kabi took the rear with his sword out. Inside, a smooth stone hallway reminded me of the mines headed into the depths. Bright blue mushrooms lined the ceiling, providing a soft glow of light. The scent of dirt and fresh air came from farther inside.

"The armory isn't far. Everyone had to disarm before entering the city," explained Cekta. "There was no fighting allowed inside."

We crossed several areas where the stone had come down and blocked the hallway, but had been cut away by something sharp. Something appeared on the edges of my senses, but it was gone so quick I wasn't sure I hadn't imagined it. I tightened my fingers on my spear and walked a little closer to Cekta as he read runes carved into the walls.

We paused several feet later at a crossroads. We could go left or right, down more stone hallways either way, though the left looked blocked off after several feet. Ahead, a dark archway opened up into a bigger space. My senses didn't stretch across the entire way, meaning it was a very big space relative to the tight hallways we'd been in so far.

After a moment, Cekta pointed to the right. As he stepped in that direction, the hallway shimmered in front of him and a stone door appeared.

He smiled and sketched a rune on the surface. It glowed a deep green, and he frowned before adding a second. This time it glowed a deep blue, and the stone shimmered and vanished like the front door had. Cekta stepped inside the doorway, and motioned us to follow.

I waved Shelli ahead of me, and Kabi, shifting to take the rear.

Small, blue glowing mushrooms grew along the ceiling, providing a dim blue light. Tables were spaced equal distance apart from one another, and racks of swords covered the walls. Most of them were identical, each to the next.

Kabi headed directly to the racks and lifted one of the blades off before setting it back.

I turned to face the hallway, not needing another blade. My focus remained on stretching my senses as far as I could in every direction. Something tickled me from the direction of the large opening, so I stayed out of the direct line of sight of the archway. Whatever it was, it didn't touch the edges of my senses again. I waited anxiously for it to show up.

The whoosh of Kabi swinging a sword caused me to turn back to the room. Shelli grabbed a staff from a table, while Cekta took a sword. It vanished into his inventory.

Kabi had three swords, one in each of his working hands. His lower left hand didn't hold a sword as it was missing a few fingers. Yet, as I watched, it reached out and grabbed the handle of a fourth blade. He suddenly spun, blades flashing, making a whistling sound.

Woah.

He nodded, and the four swords vanished. He saw me watching and smiled.

"That should be everything," said Kabi.

"Don't you want some armor?" asked Shelli, motioning to some very dust-covered armor in the back of the room.

"No, thank you." He marched past me and into the hall.

Shelli glanced at Cekta, who shook his head as he headed toward the door.

"Armor takes longer. We shouldn't linger here…" he said. Then he left her in the room with me.

Shelli shook her head as she snagged a dagger from a table. Both the dagger and staff vanished. Then we followed the brothers out of the room and back into the hallway.

Cekta closed the room back up, and the door closed before vanishing. Without the door, the empty hallway appeared again. Kabi took the lead back down the way we'd entered the city.

I glanced through the dark archway and saw the ripple of water across the bottom of the room beyond a broken wall. Nothing moved inside that I could see. Whatever was there almost itched, touching the edges of my senses, but it was far enough away to not matter.

It didn't take long to make our way back outside into the bright sunlight.

Kabi pulled his swords out as he stepped into the open. The buzz of insects sounded loud to me after the silence of the dead city. Flies buzzed around a large creature that looked like an armored pig. It had several arrows sticking out of it.

The flies raced away as I stepped closer.

Lenna flashed me a thumbs-up from up high on the hill. Two ferns bent over her head, providing some shade. She made an eating motion with her mouth.

I chuckled to myself as I immediately went to the pig-thing's side to cut it up. Cekta turned to close the entrance to the destroyed city, doing his best to leave no trace of our passage.

By the time he'd finished, I'd stacked massive hunks of meat into my inventory and eaten more than a few bites. It actually tasted like pork. Lenna's arrows had destroyed the heart, so I didn't even bother.

Lenna joined us back on the ground when Kabi pointed to the lake.

"From here we can travel down the shore, though it will be harder to hide."

"How far is the summer camp?" I asked, not feeling anything else around us. I held the arrows I'd cut free out to Lenna.

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"We'll be there by nightfall," said Shelli, glancing up at the sun before frowning. "The burrow is close to the forest edge."

"But the forgers' camp is as well," replied Kabi.

"Let's stick to the forest. I'll scout ahead to make sure we don't run across anyone." I moved to creep back toward the fallen tree when Cekta lightly grabbed my wrist.

"Let me mark you with the talking rune."

"Sure, how far away will it work?"

"Far," he said, as he pulled out his charcoal.

It didn't take long for him to do his magic. This time I felt the energy as he drew the runes on my skin. It felt like when I connected with the crystals.

Kabi had buried what was left of the armored pig while his brother worked, and I was grateful. I didn't want to stay here any longer than we had to.

"Alright, I'll keep you guys in the loop." Finally, I had a chance to pick up my speed as I found a way through the forest without the others. My senses strained to the max, and time passed quickly. The light was dimming when I passed a very clear trail.

"I found their trail," I said quietly to the others.

I touched the area they'd passed by, picturing the little girl in my mind. They weren't far.

Relentless pursuit kicked in, allowing me to track them, and I vanished in the increasingly larger shadows dancing from dark spot to dark spot.

***

She vanished into the darkness beneath the trees, and I felt her creep away from the tree. Without us, she flowed through the trees like she was born to it.

"You need to tell her," whispered Cekta, my brother.

I glared at him, flexing the fingers on my lower limbs. The left still ached, but there was nothing I could do about the missing fingers without a high-level healer. Cekta hoped when we got to Steadfast I could get them regrown, as a thank you for bringing him there. He thought it'd be the honorable thing for them to offer.

I couldn't even think about honor.

"I need to find the right time," I growled, glaring at him to keep his mouth shut. I didn't want Shelli or Lenna to discover the connection between us. Alex wasn't one of our people, and it shouldn't have happened.

Yet it had.

She'd saved my life, after all. My honor required me to follow her, to lend her my strength. My path demanded it. The thought of describing it to someone not of our kind baffled me. I'd try, once we had time to rest. I said this to myself, even though a small voice doubted that I'd have any more clarity at that mystical future time.

I eyed Cekta and Shelli, since we hadn't gotten a good rest after the fight, and now another loomed. The amount of runes Cekta had used since his last rest weighed on me, but urgency to save those who needed saving demanded we keep moving.

Lenna took a few steps toward the fallen one. "We should move."

I nodded and started following the beacon in the distance that was Alex.

My understanding of her didn't make sense when compared to what our leaders had said. She was everything my people weren't. She didn't challenge opponents to duel. Everything she did was at the max, from sneaking in the shadows to helping me kill an opponent. At first, I worried she thought I couldn't handle myself, but then I realized she did it with everyone. She was there, ready to fight with you and win with you. She never took the win for herself, never claimed the honor as her own, even when maybe she deserved it.

"You can just tell her," whispered Lenna.

"What?" My head snapped in her direction, eyes wide.

"That you think she's cute, though I don't know how it'd work with the two of you." She eyed me briefly before turning back to keep watch as we moved. "Could it work for the two of you?" Shrugging, she moved off.

It took several minutes before my brain connected what she was saying with reality. By that time she'd taken the lead, and Cekta along with Shelli had followed, leaving me alone trying to process that.

I blushed, feeling the heat sputtering. I quickly raced after them, wanting to correct her, but not daring once we were beyond the fallen one. Somehow, I needed to set this straight. I wasn't lusting after Alex. My life was bound to her will, that was a completely different thing.

Not to mention she wasn't even blue!

I stewed as time passed, hearing nothing from Alex, and I couldn't help but grow worried, even as the connection between us remained constant. Ignoring it didn't help, but focusing on trying to move silently and not leave a path behind us at least distracted me, taking most of my concentration.

I studied Lenna as she glided through the trees, and tried to copy her movements as time passed, slowly feeling like I was doing better.

[You have unlocked the skill Forest's Dance. Forest Dance: You dance among the trees leaving but the faintest impression. You already have ten skills, would you like to merge it into Blade Dance - III?]

A smile drifted over my face as I prayed to the warriors of old and accepted.

[You have merged Forest's Dance into Blade Dance - III, Blades Dance - III has evolved into the Dance of Thorns. Dance of Thorns: Beautiful and deadly, all your movements flow like a dance using the environment to your advantage, only leaving the whisper of thorns. The dance of your blades is both defensive and offensive, using precise movements to your advantage. A multiplier for each thorn you weld.]

My breath caught in my throat at the description. A skill merge like this was a reason to celebrate. My family would rejoice at the progression.

"I found the trail," said Alex inside my head.

I paused, all thoughts of celebrating gone, and steadied myself for the battle to come.

"Let us know what you find," I sent back, stretching each of my fingers as we all continued hiking through the forest, now at a much slower pace even though Alex was still so far away from us.

Cekta mentally poked me and I stopped moving, waiting for them to catch up.

"I need a rest," he whispered in my mind.

Shelli nodded as well.

Lenna approached, glancing between the two of them before looking at me with a frown.

"Are you two okay?" she asked.

"I can't keep this pace." Shelli shook her head as she squatted down, resting. "You guys will need to go ahead."

I used my Awareness skill on her again.

[Shelli, Runic Armorer, Reinforcement, Level 67, Ally.]

"You need to train more outside." I glanced at Cekta, who was also not doing great, with sweat dripping down his forehead and chest. "Can you two hide?"

Cekta nodded with relief at my question. "I'll need to sleep afterward, but I'm not far from that anyway."

"Why did we get you weapons then?" grumbled Lenna.

"We got Kabi swords," said Cekta, waving a hand at me. "He needs multiple weapons."

I nodded at her, not wanting to explain how things worked for my path. How a Blade Dance with only one blade was almost an insult.

"Fine. Kabi and I should hurry after Alex before she takes on everyone by herself, though…"

"Would she do that?" I asked, slightly worried about the distance between us, and knowing as I asked that she would, if she thought that it could save innocents from suffering. As would I.

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