We didn't have this.

Typically, the final fight in the rift consisted of two extremely fast raptorsoars, two flying dinobirds that were closer to mammoth eagles than their faster flying dinobirds of a feather, two larger wannasoars, and one colossal feathered beast that looked like a T-rex had relations with a chicken – all power and little speed or grace.

But probably good eating?

This time, there were three each of the flying creatures along with the two normal emu-like monsters. The bipedal Chicken-Rex had overlapping but moveable plates like a pangolin along its legs and tail, making it even harder to damage, as well as longer arms that were essentially poles with sharp hooks on the end.

As we'd discussed, the general strategy was to try to down the flyers as fast as possible. With only mundane arrows and a depleted mana pool, Romie did their best but it was still not easy to take down a single of the fast flyers, let alone three.

Like a homing missile, one of the larger birds took to the air aiming straight for me even though I was at least 30 paces behind the rest of the group.

Protect Steve.

I prepared for a protracted fight as I saw the others start to engage in their own fights. The clucking roar of the giant monster shook the trees, causing branches to fall down.

It was distracting. But not just to us.

As a branch grazed the giant raptorsoar coming for Steve, I leapt into action. Romie simultaneously hit it in the back with an arrow while I swung in a one-handed overhead strike, trying to ground the beast.

It worked.

But not to my advantage.

The giant flying dinosaur was far more comfortable on land than I expected, launching a quick claw attack from below, impossibly twisting its claw like it had 360 degree lateral rotation to grab upwards and latching onto the bottom edge of my shield, almost tearing it in two.

It tried to pull me forward to unbalance me and launch a strike with its beak at the same time.

Luckily, the footage we reviewed showed it liked to grab onto shields and try to peck at faces. I let go of my shield – my backup shield – and interposed my morningstar directly in front of my face two handed, gritting my teeth, and angled at its throat.

It did most of the work smashing itself against a multitude of spikes and tearing away in agony, leaving a great gash across its neck, spelling its impending doom.

I couldn't relax though as said doom was still seconds away.

I quickly summoned my main shield to my arm, smashed it into the face of the monster, and then used an upswinging strike with my spiked weapon to its shoulder joint, crippling its wing.

Finish the job.

I quickly smashed it twice on the head with the morningstar and waited for the onrush of essence.

Before I could feel it, I had to leap back as one of the fast flyers dove from above, spinning like a top with its blades folded onto the top of its head, acting like a would-be drill seeking either my or Steve's flesh.

I interposed my shield and got a small glancing blow to its wing, slowing it slightly.

I danced around behind the giant dying bird on the ground and smashed the back of its head once more, feeling the essence pour into me, and leaving the morningstar embedded in its crushed skull.

The fast flyer used that as an opening to dive for my throat but that had been my plan. I angled the shield to cover Steve if this didn't work as I hoped and lifted my hand with throwing knives between each of my fingers, quick to get them in front of the talons.

I lost a pinky, it lost both feet.

Better than fair trade. The good ol' Wolverine.

I quickly stored the digit in my bag for hopeful reattachment later, remembering my ring would actually make it decompose faster.

Despite my slightly unbalanced hand, five throwing knife heaves later and I grounded the quickly flitting flying fiend that had gone for me. I grabbed my morningstar and smashed it twice to paste in the bed of reddening leaves before rejoining the larger fight.

Pavel was down to one leg but fighting valiantly against the behemoth while one of the giant wannasoars laid dead to the side. Vidas was distracting the other while Inara laid waste to the back of its neck through a quick series of dash and slash attacks, taking more risks given our general predicament.

One fast flyer was still swooping though noticeably drifting to the side and with a significantly reduced speed.

Romie continued to fire at a prodigious rate. They started the battle with around four hundred mundane arrows in their storage bag and looked like they might try to use all of them before it was done.

The remaining giant flying raptorsoar heard the scream of Steve, still in excruciating pain as I could feel through our bond. All the jostling had woken him and continued to exacerbate his issues though I didn't see the bedding stain any further.

Please no new or old cuts opening. Hang in there little guy.

As it swooped at me, I knew I couldn't use the shield trick again as my backup shield was nearly destroyed. Instead, I quickly flung a dagger at it, only to see it to bounce harmlessly off its chest to a squawk of indignation.

It was enough of a distraction for me to dive underneath and get behind it.

Steve cried in agony as we rolled along the ground, rattling his cage, and I felt it as though it were my own pain through our bond.

Gritting my teeth through the torment – physical and emotional – I swung my morningstar through to clip the back of its wing.

It wasn't very effective.

As it tried to swing around, I mirrored its movements.

Keeping my back to the rest of the fight seemed foolish so I repositioned.

After a protracted battle of it scratching at my shield while I got in light smacks, we both landed a significant hit.

I mistimed my counter swing. Instead of hitting claw to parry, my upswinging strike smashed heavily against the underside of the bird.

As it was twisting to dig its claws into my exposed leg, it begat its own demise as the spiked ball tore through enough of its muscle and tissue to dislodge organs and viscera like the world's worst piñata.

I screamed and Steve joined in as the flying monstrosity ripped its claw from my leg and tumbled into me, briefly pinning me to the ground, beginning its death throes.

I managed to roll out from underneath – though Steve's cage had been compressed somewhat, to his and my dismay – and smash my morningstar down on its back hard enough to snap its spine. That left it open to two quick swings against its head – always finish the job – just as I heard a scream of agony from the rift boss area.

I turned to see Vidas hanging by his arm from the maw of the giant beast, being tossed about like a limp chew toy in puppy's mouth.

I couldn't fathom how he hadn't lost the arm until I noticed his bleeding appendage was slightly glowing, though the light was fading and the man looked panicked.

I rushed to engage, ducking a swing from the poll-arms – heh, no focus! – as I smashed my morningstar seemingly ineffectually against its giant clawed toe.

I must have struck a nerve, one way or another, as it released an angry bellow and started trying to stomp me. A heavily injured but still two-armed Vidas dropped next to me and Inara dashed in to drag him out of harm's way while he recovered.

He ripped the stopper off a potion and drank half, then handed it to Inara who dashed over to Pavel to feed him the rest.

And thus began the fight with the dreaded Chicken-Rex.

***

Vidas Lysenko, Commander of The Order of the Ever-Consuming Glider

Vidas had made some decisions he was less than proud of but still thought they were correct, all things considered. Knocking Terry out and barely healing the sugar glider – Steve. What a silly name for such a potentially dangerous creature – didn't feel good, but it was clearly the right call.

In studying the rift, he had missed the 'call of self-sacrifice' skill the lumbering lizards of claw and maw had and it almost cost his entire Kingdom everything.

They so rarely used it. How could I have reviewed hours of footage in so short a period.

While Pitola was where he currently resided, Jelgada was home.

And it would be destroyed in a matter of months from rift breaks.

If it hasn't been already.

No news was simultaneously good and bad news. No survivors meant no news would reach him.

Terry represented salvation. Yes, Councilor Illeva hinted at another possibility when they met but the woman couldn't be trusted. No nobles could.

He would happily die rather than Terry, knowing his sacrifice had saved those he cared about.

Even if the guy was kind of 'an annoying sodus' as his brother would say.

Shaking out the unkind – but justified – thoughts, Vidas prepared his team.

At the end, he turned to his current source of mixed feelings. "Terry, stay back no matter what. We have this," he said, turning to me.

"Eat a bag of <redacted> Vidas," the man sporting a stylish haircut spat back to poorly stifled laughs from Inara and Romie. While he wasn't sure of the exact word, the meaning was clear. "I am not stupid enough to rush in but I need you to survive this long enough to defeat the boss. All I care is that he lives."

Vidas merely shrugged, turning away and muttering, "If he weren't so important to the Kingdom…"

Slapping his face lightly, he called out the battle formation and, as they advanced, Romie began firing, trying to draw the flyers out or land a lucky shot.

After almost a minute of no success, the entire team started to move forward, Vidas in the lead yelling to draw attention to himself.

Vidas was more concerned with keeping himself and his team – and thus, this area of the Kingdom – safe and alive. His opening sweep against the giant lumbering beast beside the rift boss went better than planned.

The slight downward angle of his powerful swing managed to avoid the parry by the beast's arm and bit deeply into its side. The sound it made was one of fury instead of agony as Vidas lamented not hitting anything vital.

With a slight twist and slicing as deeply as he could, Vidas removed his sword to block the follow-up strike from its screeching head as Inara moved in to slash at the back of its legs. The opening salvo was crucial as he needed to hold off two of the hulking 'dinosaurs', as Terry called them, while his team whittled everything else down.

Vidas wanted to watch the recording later to review how Pavel got injured in the first minute of battle yet managed to stay up.

Probably another silly risk. He values valor more than his life.

He didn't think he could face two completely healthy gigantic lumbering lizards of claw and maw – maybe not even two injured… nope, have to maintain focus and a positive attitude – so wearing one down quickly was vital.

Instead of hoping the second of the giants came to him, Vidas lured the injured one – I'll call you Alma and the uninjured one Oskar – with him and began an exhausting battle of cat and mouse.

He focused on baiting the beasts into huge swings with their beaks, arms, and talons, trusting his extremely honed combat capabilities to allow him to dodge or take only glancing blows. He also maintained his faith in his blacksmith from Pitola – clearly the ones in Velez are no good.

THUNK.

SCREAM.

Romie's shot landed directly in the previously uninjured dinosaur's eye, giving Vidas enough cover to also quickly land a heavy blow to Oskar's leg.

This is going gre—OWWW!

Vidas' momentary elation was shattered as a fast flyer landed a deep gash to his forearm.

Inara shot forward, slashing at its wing and sending it careening away but the damage was done.

Two quick arrows to the back of Alma's leg left it hobbled just as it went for a strike with its legs. The faltering jump gave Vidas the opening to skewer the beast and he ripped upwards, cutting through bone and organ alike. The smell almost made him gag but he kept enough composure to dodge Oskar's enraged strike at his face.

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Inara dashed in and slashed at Alma's throat two times to hasten its end while Oskar went into a frenzy.

Taking a number of small hits, Vidas used a bash with the flat of his gigantic blade to the heavily injured monster's face, leaving Alma stunned as Inara dashed in two more times to slash at its neck, finally opening enough wounds to weaken it for a final decapitating strike from Vidas.

Jubilant in his victory, he saw the giant maw of the rift boss descending to slice his brother clean in half.

Reacting before thinking, he dashed forwards dropping his sword and pulling a wicked dagger as he couldn't interpose the giant blade in time.

With an activation of the skill on the blade – [Impenetrable Penetrating Strike] – Vidas bodied his brother out of the way enough to get him clear while slashing the jagged blade across the giant beast's tongue, his arm entirely in its slavering maw.

A spray of blood and saliva washed over Vidas.

In his momentary second of triumph, he realized his mistake.

The monster lifted the large man into the air and began trying to bite through the skill protecting his arm, shaking him around like he was a particularly abhorrent booger sticking valiantly to the end of a finger.

Well, I'll lose the arm and probably my life but not my brother.

Vidas screamed as his shoulder strained under the immense forces whipping him to and fro. He started to think his arm would simply separate from his body before the teeth even got through.

I wonder which hurts more. Probably having it ripped off rather than bitten off.

And then he was falling, hitting the ground with a thud, while Terry danced away from the enraged, screaming, and stomping monstrosity that almost killed him seconds prior.

Vidas felt the warn and strong hands of Inara, his brother's ever faithful betrothed – and secretly his favorite teammate – pull him away from danger and felt her heavy breathing on his ear.

"Healing potion you moron!" she bellowed, almost destroying his eardrum.

Heh, always with the right words that one.

Vidas uncorked the healing potion and almost downed it all, knowing it would be enough to bring his arm to full strength. But seeing his brother, he took half and handed the rest to Inara to give to his idiot sibling.

Rising to his feet, he trudged over to his longsword, swung a few times to get his momentum back, and charged while Pavel did the same.

***

Just dancing and dodging stomps and snaps, while possibly entertaining in the abstract, was the most terrifying ten seconds of my life.

Made all the worse by the dripping mixture of saliva and blood from the Chicken-Rex's glistening mouth/beak hybrid.

Any single miscalculation like not ducking under the swinging poles with glowing dagger-like claws would lead to my, and then quickly thereafter Steve's, doom.

Risto's training and my AAI's predictions kept me from becoming paste but didn't let me do anything more than dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge some more.

Two screams started to contest the cries and squawks of the massive dino-chicken trying to make a meal of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vidas rushing forwards, his sword braced like he was a rather ineffective pole vaulter.

Don't think about that guy and the Olympics…

I still chuckled as Pavel apparently made contact first, drawing the beast's attention to its backside. The sudden swinging of its body almost caught me as I managed to bring my shield up in time to intercept the tail whip.

I used the brief respite to enact Operation LEGO.

Pulling out my warhammer, I quickly flipped it so the spiked end was facing up, bracing it as best I could under where I guessed the beast would step.

It worked, just not all that well. The head snapped off and embedded in the underside of its foot but it seemed to more slightly unbalance the huge beast than hurt it.

Still, that moment of inattention and lack of gracefulness enabled Vidas to land a crucial blow, deeply slicing into one of its arms, leaving it lame and hanging like a kite that flew a little too high and got stuck in a tree.

The Chicken-Rex tried to snap down on Pavel, attempting to make him the snack it couldn't of his brother, but the spear and shield wielder quickly rolled to the side and landed another hit against its tail.

The monster shrieked and moved far faster than I expected, swinging its tail around like a scythe of scaly doom to face and focus on Pavel.

Vidas seemed to anticipate it better than I could and leapt backward early.

I was barely able to get my shield up in time but Steve and I were flung twenty feet and rolled against the ground. I felt Steve's immense pain before it became so intense, he passed out.

Knowing there were almost certainly no other monsters to try to attack him if I put his cage down, I sliced through the repaired bindings on my shoulders and put his cage behind a tree. The wrappings around him were starting to spot with crimson, which had me seeing red.

With a yell that turned into a cough, I charged back into the fight.

***

My first act was to de-arm the monster. The Chicken-Rex swung its remaining good arm for Pavel; his shield pushed it directly into my charging path and I swung two handed with all my might at where the elbow would pass.

I was surprised at how easily my morningstar carved through the arm, sending the appendage careening across the field in a spray of blood as the lumbering beast bellowed an angry and anguished cry.

Inara bravely dashed in and stabbed her dagger, glowing a maleficent red, down as hard as possible into its tail. She was rewarded with a horrifying screech and a flick of said tail, sending her flying to smash into a tree. She looked concussed at best, woozily trying to stand before collapsing at the base of the towering oak she had just struck.

Romie plucked arrows from dead monsters, firing them occasionally at the monster if they were good enough to use. Unfortunately, they mostly only managed to ping the now bent and spent ammunition off its face. The archer apparently had recovered a small amount of mana as a glowing blue arrow sunk deeply into the Chicken-Rex's cheek but it hardly seemed to notice.

Pavel and Vidas were calling out actions to each other but I could barely understand with the cacophony. We really need that AAI coordination software. Each brother was focusing on a different appendage, Vidas the tail and Pavel the relatively uninjured left leg.

That left me to try to bait out it's utterly devastating face pecks and occupy its right leg as both its arms were disabled.

My AAI helped moderately with predictions but when it told me to dodge a strike and retreat, I turned it off, sinking into the wonderful feeling of combat.

I'm needed here so here I shall be.

My shield movements started to feel more and more natural and my morningstar swings, while far fewer as I was the bait, felt like a natural extension of my arm.

My revelations were cut short by another jolt of pain through my bond link with Steve and I started to get more aggressive, slamming on toes with both my shield and weapon. I hit a nerve before, I can do it again.

Vidas finally landed a heavy, enchantment-enhanced strike on the tail directly next to Inara's dagger, leaving a bloody stump and an enraged beast to solely focus on him.

As it turned to face the large man, the disfigured tail ended up directly in front of me.

Going for a risk, I tried for a finishing combo.

I signaled to Pavel and smashed my weapon into the openly bleeding stump as Pavel braced his spear to where he guessed the neck would be if the Chicken-Rex swung back to face me.

He wasn't perfect but the spear deeply embedded into its carotid artery on its neck before it was ripped from his hands.

Thinking quickly, I used a shield bash to shove it in deeper and then dove out of the way of an incredibly fast bite that would have killed me in less than the blink of an eye.

That movement caused the spear to move further, widening the torrent of blood pouring down.

Inara dashed in, grabbing the spear and ripping it from the monster's neck.

The gout of arterial blood sprayed the entire battlefield, almost hitting Romie twenty feet (6m) away.

While I wanted to wait for it to slowly bleed out, I didn't think Steve had that luxury. I called to Inara and Romie to check on him but neither complied – whether they heard or not, I had no idea.

As the lumbering beast was slowing down, Vidas and Pavel landed simultaneous blows to the legs, Vidas managing to break through and Pavel to strike between the leg plates for a deep gash respectively.

The Chicken-Rex buckled and I leapt onto its back, smashing at its head with my slightly mangled right hand while holding on for dear life with my right.

Despite its lack of arms and dwindling blood supply, the rift boss still bucked and rolled worse than the mechanical bull at that country bar a date took me to – and subsequently walked out with her ex.

Unlike then, I won the battle, finally smashing it in the head for the umpteenth time.

Falling like a first grader that got beaned with the kickball, I smashed into the ground but didn't care.

I won.

***

As soon as I felt the rush of essence, I got to my feet and ran to Steve's cage, pelting for the rift exit. Vidas tried to yell something but Inara hissed in return and the large man went silent.

I almost fell over in my hurry at the disorientation from exiting. I stumbled into someone familiar with a worried face.

"Cleared?" was all Aras asked.

"Yes, but I need a healing potion. Please tell me you have one!" I was panicked but didn't care about our audience of three other people. In the dark of the night, my recently repaired eyes were having difficulty making them out.

A man wearing full plate and wielding a halberd stepped forward, looking me up and down including a pause on my missing pinky. "You're fine, calm down. Beat up yes, but we don't need to waste a potion on your boo-boos. Where are the others? Don't tell me the carry made it out but not the carriers. Explain."

"It's my bond. He's dying. I need something to help. Quick!" The panic in my voice was clearly rising but I didn't try to fight it.

"He's not on the list of the official summons. Denied. Now, answer my question or will I have to beat it out of you?" The man took a step forward towards me before Aras got in his way.

"Goran, he's in distress. Have decorum. Don't be a sickna." Turning back to me, he said, "We will try to help. Are the others alive?"

"Yes, we cleared it. I rushed out to get him help," I frantically waved at the cage filled with makeshift bedding turning more and more crimson.

"Oh, good. Then we can stand down. Now, I need to fully debrief you. What was—"

"I don't care! Do you have a potion or not?" I growled at the idiot in my way.

"Only for those officially on the summons. As I said. A pet," he spat, "does not deserve something. Just get another, they only last a few years anyway. Why would you bring it on a delve? Seems utterly foolish."

Aras held up a hand. "Only Goran has a potion. We are here if the rift overflows but came without delay. Closest is in town I would bet."

At that, I ran over to the horse pen and cut one of the reins rather than untying it, dragging the horse to face back towards town. I leapt up into the saddle, trying to jostle Steve's cage as little as possible.

Goran tried to get in the way but I swung the beast around him and kicked into its sides.

"He's getting away! Fire! Take down the horse!" Goran immediately started shouting.

I saw a light burst behind me and chanced a glance back. Aras had let off some skill or spell and now had a sword at Goran's neck.

Guess I owe that guy more than some food.

I rode on, starting to send off urgent messages to anyone I could in Velez.

***

Eight minutes later – I had set a timer – I met a guard riding a horse who called out to me. "Steve's potion delivery!"

I pulled the horse to a quick stop and dismounted as fast as I could, running over to the man still on his horse, cage in hand.

Nearly breaking the bottle in my haste, I removed the stopper, dug Steve from his damp and soiled bedding and began the delicate process of pouring the liquid on the wounds while trying to feed him small sips. Eventually resorting to dipping my finger in and then shoving it into his mouth, the wounds started to heal.

Not the most sanitary but the most expedient.

I knew time was of the essence. I felt him start to stir, still in pain but that was significantly diminished from the feelings he'd shared – and his agonized screams – in the rift.

I sent an urgent request to drink through our bond and he complied as I brought the potion to his face. As some dribbled down his chin, I splashed some on his eyes, much to his annoyance.

The ruined orbs started to knit back together but remained cloudy. Confusion and anguish surged through our connection as he sent feelings of terror at not being able to see.

"Looks like we got to him in time to save him. Gabor will be pleased," the guard said as he looked fondly on the mess of red-stained matted fur.

Trying to smile felt completely alien but I was genuinely thankful Gabor had sent the man out on the fastest horse available at the gate. My voice felt and sounded like not my own, "Yes, thank you for your hard work. Without you, I think he might have died."

"All in day's work, ya know? Uh, so I was told to escort you back and we aren't really supposed to be away for too long. I know Gabor requested it but it wasn't a technical order so…" His voice died off at the haggard look on my face but I slowly nodded, walking over to my horse, still cradling Steve.

"Uh, how about I get off and hand him up to you? We don't need to hurry back so you should be good to carry him. Plus, he's Tier 1, so even a fall from a horse probably wouldn't do much damage, ha. Nope, yeah, let's be careful," the guard quickly amended his pitch at the angry dead-eyed glare I gave him.

At the gates, Gabor, Tiesa, Jasna, and surprisingly Vana stood waiting. I clumsily handed Steve to Vana, who had one hand full of food already, and dismounted.

Steve's happy eating noises provided a strange backdrop.

"Thanks Niko," Gabor said, clapping the man on the back as he brought both horses back inside the gate. "So, by official decree, you are hereby under arrest for insubordination and dereliction of duty. How do you plead?"

At my confused look, he nodded. "Okay, and let me investigate. Did you attack one of those who was standing guard if the rift broke? Oh, I see video evidence that no you did not. And did you abandon your duty? I see more evidence that, without being a total moron on my side, also exonerates you there. No dereliction: you cleared the rift and debriefed appropriately. Okay, my investigation has ended and you are officially cleared of all charges."

"What the absolute jebbie are you doing my love?" Tiesa asked.

"Oh, Goran pressed formal charges against Terry here. Luckily Aras heard him mention he was going to and sent in full video of the encounter. I even have the video of that piece of sodus ordering them to fire on you while you rode away. He's protected but I'm going to see if I can make a move against him somehow, maybe even bring him up on his own charges. Not likely to stick though." Gabor looked proud of himself and beamed to everyone who, at best, rolled their eyes at the man.

"Good work, not the time dear," Tiesa said softly. "Terry, we got the message from Niko. Is he really…" she trailed off.

"Blind? Yeah. And I was too, at least in one eye. The morons refused to heal him and now he'll never see again." I laughed bitterly, biting back tears.

"The healing is going to be expensive but I'm going to petition the town for it. I'd go to Katarina but I'm not sure we'll like the trade." Gabor nodded.

Jasna smacked him on the back of the head.

"What was that for!?" he barked, rubbing his head.

"Stop making unilateral choices," was all she said and crossed her arms again.

"Yeah, she's right. We need to strategize. But the damage is done – sorry Terry, but rushing now will do little if a mid-grade healing potion didn't help a low Tier 1.0 fully heal up – so we just need to rest and recuperate and discuss in the morning." Tiesa gave her husband a withering look.

"I'll take the little monster back to the inn while you all discuss?" Vana offered but I shook my head.

"No, I don't want him out of my sight. This is my fault. Well, partly my fault. God damn Council ordering us out there, what were they thinking!" My emotions were rocketing around again.

"If you want an honest answer, they were thinking they would get a significant amount of revenue from an overflowing rift if they sent in a Tier 1 team. This was a money-driven decision."

Gabor sighed and continued. "Would have been hard to get two full peak Tier 1.9 teams out there in time that could supposedly handle it. But if all they wanted was a clear to prevent an overflow, any single one of the three of us – no, you're right Vana, you're capable too – could have handled it easily." I couldn't really interpret Gabor's face.

At my confused look, Tiesa explained. "If you send in anyone above the Tier of the rift, you'll get something mediocre at best from the reward distortion. That means nothing to tax for the city. And often, if someone is way above the Tier, the rift will only put out a few enemies because there are some inherent formulas it uses.

"So any of us would have had to delve it probably fifteen times back-to-back to drain it to safety. Of course, we could just skip to the boss and kill it in a few minutes each time so that would have taken maybe an hour. There was a bit more risk of the rift breaking and sending a wave of pretty terrible monsters out into the area but really, this smells of money." She gave a disgusted look back into the city at an opulent mansion near the gates.

"I'm… I want revenge but I have no idea on who. I want them to heal Steve but no idea who 'them' even is. I just…" Too numb to even feel, I sort of just floated there despite my feet being firmly planted on the ground.

Vana cut in. "Gabor, you help the boy back to my inn. He needs a meal and some company. We can sort this in the morning. Plus I left Elda tending things and she's a moron so I've gotta go. And I don't think I'll be handing this one off until he's finished his meal." To illustrate the point, she had pulled her hand with food in it away from Steve and the small bloody menace was trying to reach out around him and even attempted to leap towards where he guessed the food had gone.

I nodded dumbly and Gabor put my shoulder on his, starting to guide me towards the inn.

We all walked in silence other than Steve, who seemed completely immune to the gravity of the moment.

As we entered, Vana quickly disappeared to give Steve a quick bath as I was directed towards a table in the mercifully empty common room.

"We can't discuss too much here, too many potential ways for information to leak. Yes, even though it's currently empty," Tiesa said, looking to me. "But I think it's pretty clear we need to petition the Council for answers and to heal Steve."

As Gabor and Jasna nodded, Vana came back with a pile of food and a cooing Steve wrapped in a towel, placed on top like a very mischievous dollop of whipped cream.

"Terry, thoughts?" Gabor asked.

"I have many but they are too muddled right now to really plan appropriately. I just need to eat, take a quick bath, and then fall asleep. As you said Tiesa, not much we can do now as there's nothing where time is of the essence. But we'll make the bastards pay, mark my words."

I didn't realize I was slamming my fist on the table until Jasna lightly took my hand and settled it by my plate.

"I'll stay here, you two take off," Jasna said to Tiesa and Gabor.

"Yeah, I actually do want to plan and work out some of this tension. Time to go home oh husband of mine," Tiesa said as she took his hand and led him from the inn.

The rest of the night was simply a blur, completely blank from my memory other than my thoughts of Steve who still seemed confused by the lack of sight but happy with the pampering.

My last thought when I went to bed was a simple one: Time to take things into my own hands.

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