"Yeah, we need to figure out how you can bring him along in the future for delves, he was wailing the entire time. Wouldn't even eat." Jasna held out Steve to me the second I exited and the little snot-covered beast jumped onto my face and screeched, eventually climbing on my head, wiping snot and tears in the awful mop of hair, and settling down for a nap.

We got cleaned off, the other members of The Order of the Ever-Consuming Glider stripping buck naked and walking into the river to wash off their clothes and gear like it was nothing.

I mean, when in Putijama?

I tried. I really did. But I still felt the need to go around a bend to wash myself and my gear off. Steve was yelling – whether cheering or jeering, I couldn't tell – the entire time I was doing it from the shore.

We took a few minutes to decompress, dropped off the supplies we collected into a storage box in the holding pen by the rift entrance, and then got back on the road.

I took top of carriage to let my four teammates, who did the vast majority of the work in the rift, relax in comfort. Jasna and Tiesa were happy to scout ahead and behind. Steve was also thrilled to play in the open air, which was a welcome distraction. At least until it started raining lightly but he just crawled into my shirt.

We camped for the night, each taking a watch shift to help let Tiesa and Jasna get some sleep – scouting ahead and behind was hard work.

The next morning, about two hours after sunrise, Jasna came back from scouting looking nonplussed.

"We have a group of five people on horses. They are gaining on us obviously. I spotted them when I climbed a tree to check things out. I estimate it will be another bell before they overtake us. I want to be cautious here," she said, opening up the discussion. "Thoughts?"

"The most likely scenario is they are simply on the same road as we are but I agree with Jazzy. Slightly out of the ordinary for a group on horseback rather than a carriage or carts. Pulling up my map, we can backtrack <five minutes> and take this old path that seems relatively abandoned." She sent us an AAI message with a highlighted route. "It will beat the carriage up a bit more and will add about four bells to our journey but I think it will at least tell us if they're following us specifically."

Pavel looked at me. "There really isn't a dull moment with you around, is there?"

Steve took that as a chance to screech and throw a bit of food at the man, eliciting a chuckle.

"So, are we all in agreement that we backtrack?" At a round of nods from Vidas, Jasna, Pavel, and Tiesa, I continued. "I think the five of us in the carriage as it's the best defended area we have. We don't know their Tier and a random shot from a Tier 4 or more is probably an insta-kill. If they do turn to follow, we'll adjust our plans based on the surroundings and everything else we know as it occurs."

Tiesa looked satisfied. "Jazzy, can you take back and I'll scout ahead?" At her nod, Tiesa immediately updated the carriage driver, who also sent a message off to Councilor Illeva, his boss.

***

Two hours later, we were positive they were following us.

Our backtrack seemed to have fooled them momentarily as they rode past but quickly came back searching for ways we could have gone.

Unfortunately, our carriage made fresh tracks in the rarely used path from the rain the day before.

We guessed they figured out we knew they were coming as the group was going much slower, though we theorized it could also just be the rougher path.

Jasna came back from a scouting mission, running at a speed I wouldn't have thought possible, under perfect control. When we needed to confer, Tiesa pulled me up to the roof. The driver didn't love it as it stressed the carriage to have three up there but it meant we kept going at a good pace.

"They have at least one high Tier with them. I think we can easily handle them Tee-Tee but it looked like possibly a noble," she said grumpily.

"Wait, if you can take them, why is it a bad thing that they are a noble?" I asked.

"There are rules around noble-sanctioned actions. Some stupid idiotic thing from far-past that is outlawed by Velez and is highly frowned-upon in Zalano." Tiesa looked ready to punch something.

"We can't be sure there isn't a contract on you or something – or that they pretend they thought you were someone else and say 'whoops, we killed the wrong guy, let us pay a fine'. There is a Planetary System that is used sparingly – it is exceptionally expensive to call upon – but it can track us based on our AAIs and we can't attack anyone more than one Tier below us based on these old idiotic rules. If they attack us first, that's fine, we can retaliate. But they won't. I am expecting they sent Tier 2s after you all." Tiesa rolled her eyes.

"Uh, why is that allowed?" I asked, starting to feel both a panic and an excitement welling in my stomach. "That seems like it is just sanctioned murder."

"They're nobles? Life isn't fair for us," Jasna shrugged. "From what I know, it really is incredibly expensive. As in it costs about the same to get someone from nothing to the peak of Tier 3 or maybe halfway through Tier 4. Anyway, that's not important right now."

"Agreed. We need to find some place defensible to hole up in. We can't outrun them, our horses already need a break. This trail doesn't seem to have much in that way as far as I can tell but maybe we'll see something." Tiesa was clearly searching on her AAI for more information, sticking her tongue fully through her teeth.

Steve went to grab for said tongue but I caught him before he could get halfway there. I sent a feeling of him being naughty and that not being food which caused him to howl. Jasna absentmindedly handed him a bit of one of his biscuits.

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Something pulled at my cores.

Huh, is there something bond related in my cores? No, doesn't feel like Steve…

I started to pace on the top of the carriage and saw something off through the sparse trees that lined the path. As we came around the bend, a small path off the side of the road leading to a set of buildings became much easier to spot. "What about that?" I said, pointing.

"What about what?" Tiesa asked.

"Hah, very funny; that set of buildings. I feel like with them at our back, we could at least have a better chance. And it was five total horses? Maybe we can add the guards and have it be a fairer fight at seven versus their four non-noble Tier 2s?"

"The guards are Tier 4 unfortunately. And what are you talking about?" Jasna asked testily.

I leapt from the carriage, squelching slightly as I landed. Steve made a happy noise and flapped his limbs while we were airborne. I ran ahead of the plodding horses over to the path and pointed it out.

"We see the little path but there's nothing there." Tiesa was getting upset as the carriage slowly passed me.

Jasna jumped down. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked and I grabbed her hand to drag her towards the buildings.

Tiesa started shouting suddenly. "Where did you go?"

Jasna ran back to the carriage, calling for a halt. "Concealment array. Let's hurry before they figure it out!"

She began directing the guards and the carriage ferrying the rest of The Order of the Ever-Consuming Glider down the path.

***

Lady Hilda Petrov, fifth daughter of Councilor Tibor Petrov, House of the Rising Fist

"Elica, Janko, where the jebbie did they go?" She hated that she lowered her speech to that of a commoner when she was flustered. Trying to regain her regal bearing, she said, "Priorly, their tracks were simple to follow. Whatever could have changed? It is as though said tracks merely disappear."

Nailed it.

"Um, your lady…ship? Their carriage tracks pretty clearly turn around here and go up this path. I recommend we go up the path even though the tracks disappear?" Janko said, looking confused.

These commoners are always confused.

"As you can see Janko, as even you pointed out, the tracks disappear. Why would we follow tracks that go nowhere? That is the height of fool…being," Lady Hilda stated simply.

"If I wager a day's rations? If I go there and there's nothing there, I'll go hungry for the day," Janko pressed.

"Why are you being so insistent?" Elica hissed at him as Elson and Livia returned on their horses.

"When you've eliminated the impossible, you're down to the improbable, right? And we don't see any further tracks past here going on the path but we do have some here." He shrugged.

"If they had a concealment array, why would they have waited until here to deploy it, hmm? Or are you saying there is just a concealment array in the middle of bum-jeb…" Lady Hilda took a breath. That's right, calm demeanor, good. "You idiot, why would there be a concealment array in the middle of nowhere?" she bellowed.

"Can we please just let him go? If he gets himself killed, then we don't have to listen to this any longer. And if not, we still get to split his food," Elson said, looking bored. At Janko's hurt expression, they just shrugged.

"Fine, but that is food for two days should you be wrong," Lady Hilda snapped.

Janko took a deep breath and nodded, turning and heading up the path. Just as he reached the end of the tracks, his head turned back. "Okay, I'll—"

The rest of his final words were cut off as an arrow sliced through his neck, leaving a roiling mess of blood and bubbles emerging from where his Adam's apple had been.

Pandemonium ensued.

***

Jasna Zupan

Jasna and Tiesa stood off to the side with the Tier 4 guards. They had elected not to participate unless attacked because it could pull Velez and Councilor Illeva into a noble conflict and be in violation of the no punching down more than 1 Tier laws. It was complicated whether it was truly illegal but they decided to play it safe rather than fall afoul of laws with instant death penalty if found guilty. The carriage driver retreated into one of the buildings.

"I hate the rules sometimes. No, all the time. We all know the 'don't attack down' rules but these noble contracts are utter sarange." Jasna was vibrating with anticipation and donned her sleek, black leather armor and had a throwing knife in one hand and a katana in the other.

Tiesa was wearing a similar set of armor and had studded, glowing gloves covering her fists smattered with small spikes and emitting an increasing hum.

"I think she's Tier 4 so I won't be able to participate even. Can't even give the kiddos advice or it could be seen as interference. We only stop them from getting killed, agreed? I don't think this concealment array will hide us from the AAI in the sky. This sucks." Tiesa pounded her fist into her hand; the magic sparked up, slightly scaring the guards.

Just then, they saw the idiots that had been circling around the path to the concealed area for the last 30 minutes finally come together to discuss.

"Looks like it's showtime," Tiesa and Jasna said simultaneously, bumping forearms.

"Jinx."

***

Standing with my other members of The Order of the Ever-Consuming Glider, we heard the entire argument and how they planned to 'double assassinate' us for making them work so hard. It had been going on for about twenty minutes off and on but finally came to a head.

We also learned far too much about each of the people trying to capture or kill us, including that Elica's husband was cheating on her with relatives of two other people in the group.

Romie drew and then set down their bow seventeen times that far. I started counting on the third draw. I asked my team, via AAI, to make an over/under bet. Then tried to explain an over/under bet, especially half count bets.

Finally Pavel accepted at over ten and a half when Romie was only at five. At the time I thought he was a sucker but those morons cost me ten silver. I started to think maybe Romie was padding their number to help Pavel win but the last six draws were legitimate and I would have lost no matter what.

Finally, this Janko worked up the courage to follow the tracks.

His intelligence was also his stupidity.

If there was a concealment array, that meant the other side had people who were concealed and presumably ready for a fight.

Romie's perfect shot sliced through his neck. They used a barbed arrow and assured me it was because it was actually the most humane high consistency shot and lead to a quick death via blood loss.

Heart shots were not a perfect thing and armor, especially magic armor, was hard to deal with. These were probably Tier 2s so going for exposed flesh and quick death was smart and heads were far more capable of quick movements than necks.

But it was awful to watch: the man's realization that he'd been struck and the slight flash of pain and terror as his life blood started burbling from his neck, when he realized his mistake at seeing us through the array, the moment the lights went out and the eyes lost their luster, as the body slumped to the ground, making a slight squelch, the pool of dark red slowly spreading from his body.

It was all seared into my brain. Before, things on Putijama felt real but maybe not this real. My party had just killed someone. An actual person.

And that person was presumably looking to kill us. To kill me.

Snapping back to the moment, I heard the shouts of our would-be assassins as they charged up the path. Two – I thought they were Elson and Livia from the discussion – dismounted and deployed skills that looked like they were armor focused. Elica, who had been near Janko's side, disappeared from my view.

As I prepared for the onrushing pair, I caught a look of pure horror and terror on the noble woman's face from her horse, still far away and on the path.

Jebbie around, find out.

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