My wings, combined with the shell I built around Dexil, do a pretty good job at protecting me and my two prisoners. They aren’t quite as effective against the after effects: the main downside about having a massive explosion in the basement of a house is that it rather destabilises the structural integrity of the property.

  Moments after the explosion, I grunt as a chunk of stone lands directly on top of my wings. Only the tips braced between two flagstones keep them from collapsing. But if more of the building drops on us, they won’t hold

  I pour the mana I have into the earth and down a mana-regeneration potion. Heat tingles through my fingers as new energy floods in – moments later, I put it to use.

  With the stone that’s already fallen on top of and next to me, I form something of a cave around me and the two I’m sheltering – far faster than if I tried to create one from scratch.

  Thumps sound in my ears and make the floor below and the cave above me tremble. The mage has fallen unconscious and the fighter doesn’t look far off it – their injuries and the stress of the situation are obviously too much for them.

  Finally, everything seems to settle – it’s been a little bit since I last felt the trembling of something collapsing on top of us. Of course, we’re not in the best position – trapped down here. But I’m not panicking yet. My Bonded are another question – now the basement has been destroyed, I feel them clearly again.

  I’m fine, I tell them, pushing along a sense of my well-being. The frantic voices that have been trying to get my attention calm and I take the opportunity to check on them. Are all of you OK? Did everyone get out? What’s happened?

  We’re all out, Bastet assures me.

  The stone hut collapsed, but the Great Predator created a path for us, River confirms. I sigh in relief, then my breath catches.

  Ninja? Fenrir? I demand, suddenly worried about them.

  We’re fine, the lizog answers, then sends me a short memory of looking up to see the ceiling falling in on him and Ninja pulling him out of the door. He feels a little uncertain, as if worried that he might have done the wrong thing.

  No, you did exactly as you should have, I reassure him. He sends me an image of a prisoner as the lizog apparently last saw him – moments before the ceiling fell on the man.

  But…duty.

  If it’s a choice between your safety and theirs, I’ll choose yours every time, I tell him firmly. I admit that I feel a touch guilty about it, but since it was their leader who caused the cave-in I can’t really blame myself. I did everything I could to stop the detonation; all I could have done earlier would have been to take Dexil down before he was able to activate the Skill. Which I would have if I’d had any idea that he had it. I had no idea that such a thing even exists.

  I have identified where you are. Would you like me to retrieve you? asks Kalanthia, breaking into the conversation. She’s sounding calmer than she has been in days – she must have sated her anger on the escaping hostage-takers.

  Yes, please, I accept gratefully. Her earth-magic is still significantly stronger than mine, and she has a much larger mana pool to draw from. It will take her a lot less time to excavate us than for me to do it myself. Hopefully she’ll manage to get down to us before the air here becomes too full of carbon dioxide.

  Though I think to myself, maybe I could figure out how to transform it back with air-magic?

  I decide to keep that as a last resort – experiments often go badly and I don’t want to accidentally change what breathable air remains in here into non-breathable. I might be able to heal myself long enough to be saved, but my two prisoners will definitely be doomed in that case. And I’ve put in enough effort to save them that killing them by accident seems a bit of a waste.

  While Kalanthia carefully digs down, stabilising the debris as she goes, I get the reports from my Bonded of what has been happening. Kalanthia tells me about how she closed the escape tunnels and hunted for those who escaped the house – I don’t think that many of Dexil’s gang have escaped successfully.

  The Shadow doesn’t seem to be one of the number she caught, though. The assassin seems to have slipped past Aingeal and Mathis too.

  The latter takes a few minutes to reassure – due to our Tame Bond being very limited and new, he had seen the house collapse from outside but hadn’t tuned into the conversation that confirmed I survived it. I can tell from the dread and overwhelming relief with which he greets my communication that he’d feared me lost.

  Sirocco informs that she, Ivor, and Noir have been watching from above and also grabbing those who have tried to escape – they’ve been delivering those to the captain. They didn’t see The Shadow either.

  Fenrir briefly lets me know that the guards came to retrieve the prisoners from our earlier battles – it seems that probably only a few were actually killed when the ceiling came down.

  River catches me up on what happened while they were apart from us, and I feel a significant wave of gratitude for Loran’s efforts. I don’t even need to ask him whether he was part of the kidnapping – though it appears that, in a strange coincidence, they were being held by his old gang, it’s very clear that he knew nothing about it. Nor did he betray my companions while in the basement – from the sounds of it, quite the reverse.

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  He’s unconscious right now, so I can’t say anything to him, but as soon as he wakes up, I will. It sounds like he’s definitely in need of a healer, though – I fidget as I wait for Kalanthia to find me. There’s so much to do, but the first priority is checking on all of my Bonded.

  Overall, I'm grateful that it wasn’t worse. We’re all alive. Everything else is just a matter of time and healing.

  Finally, I feel Kalanthia’s magic touch what I’ve already saturated with my own. She pauses.

  You can open up the space now. It’s stable. Her rumble is reassuring and I follow her instructions. Once the cave above us has opened up, I slowly and carefully shift my wings. When nothing but a bit of dust falls down between them, I dismiss them entirely – stone wings are not the most mobile.

  The first thing I see is Kalanthia’s blood-streaked muzzle. The mage had roused briefly, but the new vision sends him into a faint again. She pulls back her head and I see she’s perched delicately on a small lip that sticks out from a wall that extends upwards. Above me is a massive hole that must reach at least a storey above the ground – and I’m one below. But it’s not unmanageable. Once more summoning wings – air ones, this time – I hook one arm under each prisoner and then kick off the ground.

  My Strength-fueled leap sends me half the way up; my wings get me the rest of the way. Hovering briefly in mid-air, I stare at the destruction with my stomach clenching. There’s practically nothing left of the gang’s house – only the outer walls still remain, and even they have crumbled to less than a single storey. The rest is just rubble.

  It’s not just Dexil’s headquarters that was affected – the walls around the three properties adjoining it have crumbled, and one of them, the closest to the basement, is showing some structural damage to the house itself. I resolve to make sure those are fixed for them – it’s not fair that they have to suffer for having unwittingly shared a wall with criminal neighbours.

  I spot where my Bonded are congregating and glide down to join them. Layton isn’t there, but since Bastet had already told me that he’d gone off to speak to the captain, I’m not surprised by his absence. Kalanthia leaps up easily out of the hole and, after dumping my prisoners down, the first thing I do is go and thank her for the rescue. She accepts the chin caresses as her due, and then moves over to rub heads with Artemis and Orion.

  That triggers a whole pack greeting. Everywhere I look, my companions are rubbing and licking at each other – both those who have been separated by distance, and those who have been kept in the same room – so close yet still unable to touch.

  I knew you’d come, River breathes as I embrace her – I’ve already rubbed cheeks in the samuran way, but I couldn’t resist the urge to convey my affection and relief in a very human way. She doesn’t just endure it – she clings to me fiercely, her Bond full of trust and relief.

  There was no way I would leave you in the hands of enemies any longer than I had to, I reply, though shame creeps through me at how long it took me. Supportive love floods down the Bond from the Pathwalker and I clutch at her again as my eyes start prickling. I fight back the tears by sending magic into her system.

  The first thing I seek out are the eggs in her womb – and I let out a slow breath of relief when I feel that they’re all alive. They don’t feel as healthy as they should be, but they’re in significantly better condition than River herself. My teeth clench tightly enough to almost crack my molars as I see just how much damage has been done to her.

  It’s not broken bones or bruises, but the evidence of starvation and dehydration is damning. And as I go from companion to companion, I find more of it. The three Pathwalkers are the worst off – their bodies must have prioritised keeping their eggs alive, dragging resources from their muscles and bones in lieu of food – but even the non-humanoids are weak.

  If Dexil hadn’t already killed himself, I would do so on the spot for what he’s done to my companions. In his absence, I’ll add it to the bill I’m determined to present to Torrent – and his lady helper.

  Everyone has clearly been neglected – the samurans are just the worst off in that respect. The traces of another healer’s magic that I find in their bodies indicate that they were truly kept alive with the bare minimum – and the clear evidence of rubbed-raw wrists and ankles show just how tightly they were chained. Their bodies and tails are thinner; their movements are careful and without their normal grace.

  The adrenaline of battle has kept them going longer than they should be capable of, but I can see that they’re beginning to crash. I pull out several carcasses, pots of water, healing potions, and some Energy Hearts to help speed them on the way to recuperation.

  Because I’ve got another priority for healing – though the samurans are the worst-neglected, Loran is in the worst overall condition.

  He’s lying on the ground at the centre of the group, guarded by the pack. An unfamiliar girl is sitting next to him. She’s already tense, but as she notices my approach, she starts trembling.

  “You must be Alyna,” I start, fighting to keep my voice level. I do appreciate the aid that she offered. She helped more of my companions escape their bonds, which meant that when Dexil descended into the basement, he met the full force of those he’d kidnapped. If some of them had still been captive at the time, they might not have been able to stall Dexil’s group of Classers – and his mage – so long. The thought that I could have entered the basement only to see them vanish before my eyes again makes my stomach clench.

  But at the same time, River’s report made it very clear that she only switched sides when I attacked – when she realised that the writing was on the wall. I understand that she was afraid of Dexil, but I can’t help thinking that if she had helped sneak my companions out of the basement earlier, Loran wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice himself for the others. And sacrifice himself it’s clear he’s done – his curled up form is a sorry sight.

  “Yes, m’lord,” Alyna answers with a tremble in her voice. She flinches as I come to kneel next to Loran and reach out to place my hand on his chest.

  “Don’t go anywhere,” I order her when it looks like she might get up.

  “Y-yes m’lord,” she replies meekly, settling down again. I close my eyes, trusting in my companions to watch my back – and her – and send my awareness into Loran’s body.

  I curse loudly at the wounds I find, wishing Dexil had survived his final Skill usage just so I can take Loran’s injuries out of his hide. And he enjoyed this.

  Someone, or multiple someones from the looks of it, have definitely worked Loran over – but have been very intentional about it. It’s clear that their aim was pain, not death – unless they let the injuries become infected afterwards. My lip curls. This is the message they were trying to send?

  The most dangerous of his previous injuries are his ribs – one has actually fully fractured and risks damaging his lung if he moves wrongly. And the most gruesome is his right hand – without magical healing, he would be permanently crippled. Fortunately, he’s my Bonded – I’ve regrown an entire hand before; healing his bones will just take time and mana.

  His unconscious state seems to stem from an impact between the back of his head and something hard – I send my magic into the area and repair the wound while reducing the swelling of his brain. We’ll have to see when he wakes, but I don’t think any permanent damage has been done there.

  I settle in for a long healing session – I don’t want to go anywhere until I’m certain that everyone is out of danger.

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