Icarus Awakens

“Murdon!” Lograve’s shout echoed the immediate loss in morale that afflicted their side. Is Daniel awake?

“Guy’s coming to, but slowly.” Thomas pinched the Artificer’s cheeks to little effect. Even with a Cleric’s healing and Regeneration in the background, unconsciousness took some time to recover from. “Come on, get up!”

You. Is Murdon still alive? Lograve directed the question as a thought, making an effort to single out the ringcat from the others in the network he was hosting. By default, Lograve’s upgraded Telepathy would send every message to all within his Telepathic Network.

Hunter waited for just a moment before replying. Yes. The dragon will try to finish him first.

How do you know?

I just do.

It’s weakened! Resume fire and charge! Lograve desperately ordered. But while Alost’s archers readied another volley there was hesitation in the front lines. Even a song change from the Bards didn’t spur any motion. Both Murdon’s incapacitation and the violent deaths of the team next to the sacrificial rod had decimated their spirits. Some even eyed Tlara with more hostility than the dragon, knowing what she’d done. There was mindless savagery and then there was betrayal.

Daniel finally awoke amidst the desperate shouting. Lograve was pleading with the unruly forces to act, while Tlara had retreated to the ice dome containing her silk shocker. “What?”

“Sorry, gotta go.” Thomas vaulted the ice wall again, picking up his bow and noting with distaste the eight arrows left in his quiver. He didn’t get a chance to draw one though as another quiver was thrown towards him.

“Regular arrows! The eyes, Focus Fire!”

“Hear just as good,” Daniel muttered, coming to his senses. Had Tlara punched him, or was that just his imagination? Exposure to the full force of the dragon’s terror effect had completely frozen him in both body and mind until he’d lost his senses completely. How long had he been out?

Something grabbed him, drawing him upright. They weren’t hands, and it wasn’t biting him, so it could only be one thing. “Khare?”

“Stand.” Daniel found that he could, though unsteadily. Regaining a better sense of himself, he found several parts of his body were extremely cold to the point of being numb. His eyes were drawn across the battlefield by a snarl. The archers’ most recent volley wasn’t able to hit either eye due to the angle of the dragon’s head but had still caught part of its face which had already been injured by the earlier detonations. Murdon was lying on the ground on the opposite side. No one was doing anything. Why?

“Are we losing?”

“Hmm. It is not good. No one wants to fight. No one but him.” Tak pointed up and to the left, fingering quickly tracing a downwards slash towards the dragon. Only one person would come to Murdon’s defense when everyone else was on the brink of breaking. A Hero.

Gadriel barely used his wings as he descended. Even without Falling Star to ensure a safe landing, he knew there wasn’t a second to waste. He’d sprung from the upper ridge just after the most recent explosion. The aftermath was plainly visible. Murdon would die if no one stopped the dragon, and if he died, they all would. It wasn’t that their strategies relied on him any longer, but it would be the deathblow of their fighting spirit.

In the last moments before landing, Gadriel twisted in the air and brought up his shield. The claws meant for Murdon caught on the metal and tore through it easily. The Hero was another matter as he continued spinning in the air to blunt their effect. His arm and side were gashed either way, but Gadriel landed on his feet instead of into his grave.

“Are you cowards all?” he challenged, now dodging and using his blade to parry when able. This was just like the duel with Heldren, Gadriel possessing only the bare minimum with which to fight against an overwhelming foe. Conditions Gadriel had trained in so frequently that he lost none of his confidence now.

He ducked below another attempt to bite him and used his sword to deflect a claw. The angle had to be glancing, or they’d cut right through the metal, enchanted or not. “What is it you are here for? To cower?” A sword throw, not at anything vital but one of the areas of exposed flesh, while he flipped backward to evade. Balance made it easy to maneuver as such, even on ice. Circle to the side, another sword throw, slide under a swipe. The dragon had taken interest in him, abandoning Murdon. Good. “We are the champions of the Octyrrum! The Blessed!” Backflip, sword throw, sliding dash with a sudden correction using one of the towers. “It is our duty to fight!” Straight jump, flaring his wings, catch the sword and throw again. “So fight! Here, or against those we left behind. Death by our hands would be the more merciful.”

Maybe it was Mantle of Inspiration feeding into Gadriel’s words or the reminder that they were here for more than themselves. Perhaps the small shards of ice prodding into each hesitant warriors’ feet had an impact as well. Lograve had turned from verbal spurring to physical in his desperate attempt to save his friend.

It was after a minute of Gadriel surviving against the dragon that a second charge was made. A few at first, those exceptionally brave or of the Berserker class. The rest followed more hesitantly until a ringcat in golden armor ran past them. That hurt a basic sense of pride most inhabitants of this world were instilled with from birth, the belief of mortal superiority. Cowering before a dragon was one thing, but refusing a fight that an insignificant ringcat would take?

The mortals had been reminded of the stakes of this battle and rallied to the fight. Only the Bards and those with ranged weapons stayed behind. Daniel clutched his crossbow and watched Hunter galloping off with Tak in close pursuit. His first instinct had been to call him back, but that wasn’t right. They needed everyone now and Hunter knew the risks. He was his own person.

As Gadriel continued his insane acrobatics, continually waltzing with death, Tak caught up with Hunter and the two looked at each other. The only thing Daniel could think of at that moment was that it should be him there. It could’ve been, he wasn’t completely useless up close, but it was the actual Totem Warrior who was better suited for it. He didn’t know it, but he also couldn’t do what Tak and Hunter could together.

Something happened when the two got within a few meters of the dragon. At precisely the same time, the ringcat and avianoid split off from each other at a half turn from their initial direction. It looked at first like they were intending to surround the dragon and meet on the other side until they performed a synchronized jump.

The second wave of attackers facing the dragon numbered roughly thirty, and it didn’t seem to take particular notice of the two creatures leaping toward it. That turned out to be a mistake as Hunter and Tak landed on its back, one slightly after the other, and simultaneously tore through the scales. From his perspective, Daniel could only see the sections of flesh that came away in both sets of claws.

Hunter, what was that?

I don’t know. It felt like my other kind of attack, but it needed him. The dragon’s tail came down on its own back in an attempt to crush them, but both were agile enough to dodge the attack which was aimed only through guesswork. No talking. Need to focus.

“They got a combo attack?” Daniel asked aloud, blankly. He didn’t even know those existed. He’d made a joke way back with Gadriel but that had just been good timing. A combo attack? Really? Why didn’t he get one?

“Bond?” Khare asked while firing their two drawn bows. Disincorporated as they were, the voice came from roughly the center of the vines instead of a head.

“Yeah, they have one now. Stupid combo attack.”

“Grafted,” Khare replied pointedly while Daniel took his own shot.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Everything with Hunter right now is just- get down!” In the face of the renewed assaults, the dragon committed to another lightning breath. Instead of targeting those around it, its head turned towards those who had remained around Lograve. Alost had given a similar order with the Bards following close behind through simple observation. While there was no time to create a new barrier, the two already in place blunted the lightning strike enough for those in the back to not be touched. Daniel looked at his lightning armor with some amount of guilt. He hadn’t needed it yet. How many could have been shielded if he’d just made bracers?

The sound of bodies impacting the ground made his heart stop. The towers had deflected the strike, hadn’t they? Sure, something had to explode each time the dragon used its breath, there was just no way they could contain that much energy in the lightning link network. But what about his safeguard? He poked his head up above the wall and saw the breaks in Lograve’s concentric walls. Three meters wide at the farthest ring, but only a half of one in the part of the wall closest to him. The towers had done their work, but the people? Several of the archers were lying on the ground, cowering even after the blast was over. Thomas wasn’t one of them, nor was Alost. Confused, Daniel looked further and saw they’d thrown their quivers away. Sure the arrows could explode, but only if they were the smallest individual components affected by the link.

“Up! Now!” Alost yelled at the archers still on the floor. “What are you doing? We went over this. Normal arrows, resume fire on the eyes and Focus Fire!” He saw Daniel look and gestured to a smoking section of ice away from where the line had scorched them. “Any more of those?”

He meant the ball bearings. Technically, they were spineshard enchanted slingshot, but no one here could use them. Their entire purpose was to take the explosion for the archers, but Daniel had only made one bag. Using more would’ve been too complicated and put too many people at risk carrying them. Daniel shook his head mutely.

Alost watched the next volley, and then ordered, “Yellow quivers out! They will kill you now if we’re hit- now, toss them now!”

The dragon was charging another lightning breath, aiming in roughly the same area. The first strike had hit slightly off center of their formation, meaning Lograve’s ice bubble had been only grazed. By the look of the angle, the Arcanist was now dead-center of the corrected blast. It had realized it was being worn down, feeling real pain and the balance of the odds shifting. Murdon’s theory that the dragon would expend only a portion of its mana before retreating was contingent on it being able to do so. Its new plan was clear. Eradicate the backline, then focus on those who were left.

The archer’s quivers now represented the weakest link. The bolts would be next, and then they’d start really losing people.

Is that the arrows gone? Lograve asked, not looking away from the dragon.

“Just the yellow quivers. We still have the normal ones, and purple ones as a last resort.”

Alright. Get rid of your bolts. The next smallest items are the bracers.

“Another blast!” an archer interrupted.

“What is it doing? It’s burning away mana-”

The dragon’s figured out how our system works. Lograve thought quickly. Brace for this attack and then get ready to- There wasn’t time. The dragon hadn’t even moved between bursts of lightning breath.

Damn it, I should have varied the sizes, Daniel cursed, sensing the nearby explosion as the lightning washed over them. But all the ammunition had to be the same size, didn’t it? Otherwise, they’d just go off individually in the dragon. That didn’t change that there was only one step left before the next smallest link would be the armor spread out among them, then the rods themselves, and then… Me.

Lightning was charging again, far too quickly. What was happening? Lograve had the answer. It’s bursting its lightning breath. Mature ones can do this, separating the singular breath into bursts. Tlara! Let the bolts explode and then start isolating the outer lightning rods if possible. Can you do that?

“Fuck. I guess? What should I do when we run out of those?” Lograve answered with silent uncertainty. “Fuck. Alright, got it.”

Spread out! Lograve continued to order, lacking the precision or careful planning Murdon might have had at this moment. Just like the first moments of Roost’s Peak. Lograve was many things, but he wasn’t a leader. Bards, split up. Do what you can, evasion enhancements if possible. Everyone, get rid of your lightning armor unless you’re absolutely sure it’s- Another lightning blast struck, this time dead center on Lograve’s sphere. The ice cracked but did not penetrate thanks to the reduced force of the partial burst. Daniel had realized it soon after Lograve had. The dragon was taking in a large amount of air but expelling it segmentally. Just enough current at a time to overload their link and cause something to explode. Was it really not sapient? And someone get Murdon a damned healing potion!

…

The mortal’s backline was forced to break up as the dragon hammered their defenses, eventually threatening to overwhelm them if they relied on the static tower network. The original strategy of containing the lightning on the opposite side and using it to detonate ammunition that struck the dragon was now useless.

For one, there were too many around the dragon to risk. One plan had been to issue rapid retreat orders whenever it was time to detonate, but without Murdon that much coordination was impossible. Additionally, the only way to safely dispose of the lightning now was to sacrifice lightning rods or any spare armor lying on the ground. Any rod struck was part of the circuit, and the best Tlara could do was sever it from the system to preserve the others.

It was the final act, one they’d hoped not to reach. The Bards were split, the dragon seemed indomitable despite its injuries, and they were still dying. Even amidst its barrage, the dragon had taken six more lives. Now, Daniel found himself scattering with a handful of others. Thomas, Khare, Evalyn, and William for some reason.

“Hey, need a little help if y’all can spare a moment. Things’re gettin’ a little feisty.”

“I don’t think we have another plan at the moment. Do we Daniel?”

He shook his head at Evalyn. “I don’t know how we can kill that thing. Some of its face is missing and it looks like it doesn’t care.”

“Thing like that you have to hit the brain or the heart, assumin’ it has either or just one. If I recall right dragons have two hearts, so the brain’s the best bet. Wouldn’t you know it but that’s where the bone’s strongest.”

“You want us to help you break that?” Daniel asked incredulously. Even if he fired a lightning bolt straight into that bone, Scatter Shot and all, he doubted it’d make a difference.

“Heh. Only thing I think of that’d do that is your armor going up, and you’d have to be in its gullet for it to work.” The attention of the dragon being elsewhere allowed Daniel time to respond with a horrified look. “Probably best we go with plan B for now.”

“You’re going to heal Murdon,” Thomas said, first to catch on.

William held up a bottle, smiled, then quickly replaced it and dove aside as the dragon took notice of them. It was bursting lightning across the battlefield, taking quick aim at groups rushing to harass it. Channeled this way, three snaps of electricity took the place of one stream. If used against an enemy of its level the loss of destructive potential would be noticeable.

Against Daniel and his friends, there wouldn’t be much of a difference. With the short warning William gave them, Evalyn was able to get behind a nearby rod, and Thomas was absorbed into Khare as the gestalt charged through him. Daniel spent a second to realize he couldn’t see the Cleric’s aura anymore, then engaged his defensive ability. Dodge Roll, the one he’d received while getting his Dexterity to level two.

It was similar to Jump in that he could vary the distance and speed of movement to a degree. It even granted a small, universal damage resistance. Not that that would help here. It was the distance from the dragon and the short burst that saved each of them in the end. Lightning briefly arced to Daniel’s armor from the rod which had been struck, before Evalyn ran from that and it exploded.

“Best make this quick. Rod to rod so we can do that again. Any objections?”

“You ate me!” Thomas answered with a challenge to Khare. “What even was that?”

“It’s not how Kob used to move Sigron around. I couldn’t sense you. I think he put you in the same spot they keep their weapons.”

William looked sideways at Khare. “Smuggler’s Cache or somethin’ like it. Useful. Strange in a Martialist.”

Khare just kept moving, silent amongst the group’s attempts to distract themselves from the current threat. They were halfway around the dragon now as other groups from the backline harassed from afar. Lograve himself was no longer in his ice shell which had cracked like an egg from a second lightning burst. Instead of frying, he had slipped out of a small circle he’d cut from under him. Moving had cost the Arcanist his concentration, and the edges of the ice field were beginning to melt.

That imposed another timer on Murdon’s life. The only thing keeping him alive right now, his armor, would cause him to drown should the ice under him break. Even if someone could remove it from a distance, the dragon would just shock him to death. By that same token, William’s particular method of potion administration wouldn’t be effective either. They’d have to get up close, and while the dragon wasn’t right on top of him, it was where the fighting was. “Ok, but what’s our plan after we bring the Commander back up?” Thomas asked. “Because we’re going to be right up next to that bastard.”

“Gotta second potion in mind. I think Murdon’ll understand.”

“Which one?”

“Mana. Just get me there.”

“You could dodge those blasts yourself, what do you need us for?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t need you. Just her. All y’all came on for the ride.”

Evalyn’s song briefly paused as she started. “Lightfoot Song. You knew I was playing it?”

“I knew you were playin’ somethin’ that was stopping them from slippin’ on the ice. Good enough for me.”

Daniel looked down. That was right, he was running on ice like it was solid ground. But Balance was taking care of that, right? Even so, the fact that the others were able to keep up should have tipped him off. Man, it’s really hard to think when a dragon is- shit! “Lightning!”

Only the other mortals splitting the dragon’s attention let William reach his intended target relatively unharmed. Gadriel was still impossibly performing in front of it, though he had to rotate out every so often when the claws started to cut too close to catch his breath. “Alright, just a moment.” William extended a hand and focused. Fog appeared around and ahead of them. The dragon had been tracking them with a sideways glance, guessing their direction if not their intent. It had guessed they’d stop, but not that they’d suddenly have concealment. Its hearing could still have picked them out, but there was another card to play.

“Sorry, Evalyn.” Daniel hit play and the monotonous horns he’d summoned once for Tlara blared out, providing an audible cover as well. The rest of the team followed the plan they’d hastily made when Thomas had asked how they were supposed to dodge lightning and feed Murdon a potion.

Khare, Thomas, and Daniel heaved Murdon away from the spot where he’d landed while Evalyn tried to open the helmet and William readied the potion. As the place they’d just vacated was electrified by a lightning blast, William respectfully grabbed the Bard’s hands, gave her the potion, and undid the split visor. She poured it down, mostly making it into the mouth which was more suitably shaped for this than hers. She scampered away and, moments later, another shot of lightning hit Murdon dead on.

It was the clearing of the mist from the first strike, as well as the faint shimmering from that electrical energy that was imparted onto the draconoid’s armor, which had given the dragon enough to target Murdon. The others had just managed to avoid being struck. Moments later, Murdon stood. Daniel couldn’t help but be reminded of a defibrillator at that moment, even though the lightning had nothing to do with his revival.

“With us Commander. We gotta plan.” William smashed a different potion across the draconoid’s back and explained his idea. It wasn’t complicated, not like all the discussion that had gone into the lightning rod towers which were being systematically destroyed. It was straightforward and honestly unoriginal. They’d already done what Murdon was going to try to do, just in a different way.

“I have this. The rest of you get clear.”

“I can fight up close.” Two almost machete-like knives replaced the bow in William’s hands.

“The rest of you?” No one else in the group took Murdon up on that offer as the still enraged dragon behind the Knight charged another three-shot burst. It- no. It was going for a full breath attack now. “Run! We’re doing this now!”

Murdon took off, able to maneuver on the ice not through song but from the weight of his armor punching through and giving him traction. William ran at an angle from him while the rest of the group that revived him retreated. He was about to be hit by the dragon before he could get close enough to strike himself. There had to be enough rods left to carry the charge. If they all went before he could strike the finishing blow, it was over.

He stepped over a broken staff, torn in two. Just like he’d broken it once before, only he’d stopped at the Focus. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, at least half of the people who’d closed with the dragon had died in one way or another. But Rodrick-

Lightning coursed over him. It was nothing to run against as his armor protected him and cut against the flow. He tightened the grip on his ax and waited. The world turned relatively dark when the prolonged surge of energy ceased. Murdon found himself in the thick of battle, though alone in an area cleared by lightning.

Murdon looked again to make sure no one was too close to his target. There were only a few on the dragon itself, including the ringcat, but none near the head. Too dangerous. Then the ice shook. The rods. The rods! They all hadn’t gone but the ones closest had. The armor he wore proved the fatal conduit. Up until now, Tlara had been able to keep the three or four surrounding the area the dragon was in cut off.

Their inevitable explosion cost another two lives. How many were left? How many more would there have been if he’d done this right from the start? It was ending now, no matter the cost. “GET CLEAR!” Murdon yelled, activating his wings and hunching down. This angle would be very important. A draconic roar met his as a claw tried to come down. His wings activated first, carrying him up at tremendous speed. The head twisted, realizing the threat and trying to bare its fangs to catch him. Too slow. When Daniel had first used these he’d reached his maximum height in seconds. Murdon was going a considerably shorter distance.

He struck an exposed area of the head with the full momentum of the enchanted item. The beam of light continued to propel his ax deeper and deeper until it hit bone. No further. The initial plan had counted on them exposing such a section and focusing attacks on it. Purple ammunition if possible, the explosions would have done good work. All a waste now, only a few had been used for just surface damage. And they had no time left to waste.

Murdon’s ax bounced off the bone. He brought it down again, then again. The second time it struck the bone it stuck. He brought it out one last time, considered his options, and maneuvered differently for the third strike. Both he and the dragon writhed in pain from that blow. There’d be more pain before it was over.

Murdon pulled himself unsteadily from where his ax was lodged and moved up to the crest of the dragon’s head. Past the strange swelling that not even scouring of the surface flesh had relieved and to the horn. There was enough current running through it to make this work.

“If, IF IT SURVIVES,” Murdon cried out. “TARGET WHERE I HIT IT. FORGET ME!”

“Murdon!” Lograve’s shout came to him from where the Arcanist was reforming his ice sphere. The rods are gone! Nothing else is in range!

Did you think I’d forgotten?

I will not accept victory at the cost of your life! Gods dammit Murdon don’t do it. Don’t-

It’s fine. I gave the dragon a hand.

You what? Murdon just smiled as he grasped the dragon’s horn.

Lightning streamed across the draconoid’s armor as much as it went into him. Direct contact with the horn was burning him alive just as it had before. That time, the overcharged energy was bled off by the ammunition in the dragon. None of that was left, but Murdon had asked himself a question throughout the battle. Did one item always count as one item when it came to lightning link?

His arm had been harder to cut through than the vambrace around it. After all, the armor was an extension of himself. If he wanted it to break, it could. There were other parts he could have broken off, but only one could hold his ax backwards and the gauntlets would not come off the normal way fast enough. His severed hand still gripped the shaft tightly in a death grip.

The conduit between Murdon and his hand burned with electrical energy, trying to equalize it like a cup catching water from a fire hose. When the bottom broke, he let go. “This, this is how I say goodbye.” The crude shaped charge he’d created released most of its energy out of the wound as nothing was compressing it. The trick was, when the weakest link went it went with all the energy in the network. Direct contact with the source of the dragon’s lightning meant there was plenty to spare forward as Murdon’s severed hand propelled the head of the ax through the bone and then deeper.

The dragon’s head shot to the side like it had been punched by something twice its size. Its neck didn’t break but the damage had been done. It reeled and fell, limbs jerking as electrical energy coursed through its body. Something twitched and woke up. The mortals didn’t know. They’d seen enough to be suspicious under normal circumstances but had let the battle distract them. They continued as they drove weapon, spell, and a few of the purple exploding arrows into the hole opened up by Murdon.

Even with its impressive attributes, the monster was still chained by its biology. It had nothing atypical which would allow survival of such injuries. Something that might be considered a fatal flaw for a monster of its level, for all its advantages. The surviving mortals gradually burned the remaining life from it, and it was done.

…

A collective moment passed as everyone processed victory differently. Only Daniel’s group had been completely unscathed. Several of the Bards and archers had been hit by lightning blasts while they were making their way to Murdon. On the other hand, Tak and Hunter had been relatively safe on the back of the dragon considering its wings were crippled and its tail too slow to pin them down. They all gravitated near Tlara. It wasn’t for her personality, but her distance from the dragon and proximity to Lograve.

The Beastmaster took a moment to make sure the dragon was dead before she shook her head.“That was sloppy. I mean, damn, how many people died?”

“63.” Daniel couldn’t hide from the number. It was just subtraction, taking the number of auras remaining and comparing it to how many they’d started with.

“Fuck. Worth it though. Hey, mage, get my beast out of this thing. I’m going to go kill Gadriel.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Lograve said through gritted teeth. “Although I’m afraid I might get in your way.”

“Huh?”

“His hand. He cut off his hand!” Lograve made a fist and ice formed around it. “I’m going to beat so much sense into Murdon that I might accidentally beat it out of him too.”

“If you still have it, we could try reattaching it. Quala could at least. I could go get her.”

Lograve shook his head at Thomas. “It’s gone. He’ll need it grown back.”

“Hey. Get Spinner out of this.”

Daniel blinked at Tlara. “I thought you didn’t name the beasts you captured.”

“I don-” She glared at him, tried to find the one who’d named the monster, and couldn’t. “I don’t. It’s just a dumb name.”

“I think it’s better than Hunter though. What?” Evalyn shrugged at Daniel’s scandalized look. “It at least attempts metaphor.”

“Hunter picked his name and it’s perfectly fine.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Killing the Hero now.” Tlara vaulted to the top of her silk shocker. “Any actual objections?”

“Pretty sure you can’t beat him?” Thomas only backed up a little when Spinner focused on him. “What? You saw him fighting that dragon solo. Murdon’s the only other one that pulled that off and he had at least 20 buffs on him.”

“He got my wyvern killed.”

“Got another one don’t you?”

“I liked having two. Where the fuck am I going to get another one?”

“Why don’t you just ask him to help you get another one? If there are any in the next region, I mean.” Daniel looked to the darkening horizon. The night was here. “We can talk about that now. We won. We did win, right?”

“What is wrong?” Tak out of everyone caught the faintest bit of confusion in his voice.

“My Focus tells me whenever I earn advancement, and what for. I’ve always gotten stuff from fighting monsters right after the fight ends.” A screen no one else could read lit up to emphasize this. “I haven’t gotten anything yet. I don’t know if you guys can sense that stuff immediately, can you?”

“Tlara just needs to calm that thing down. It’s still staring at me,” Thomas complained.

“Fuck you, dominated monsters wouldn’t count.” A few people looked at her in surprise, Thomas included. “What? You think it’d be that easy to advance? Just get a high level Beastmaster to let you take apart its minions? Why don’t we pin down that ringcat and see what happens.”

“It’s not Hunter either. Neither of us sense anything. No monster auras, nothing in the lake. I think some things attacked the people we left behind but those are all dead now. Uh, no major casualties,” he reassured Lograve. “Nothing above level 2 that I saw when I was conscious.”

“So what, fight’s not over? Looks like it to me,” Tlara changed the topic quickly. “Your thing’s either broken or you didn’t do enough to be worth it. Fuck, did you even shoot that thing?”

“Could there be any enemies concealed from Hunter’s senses?” Lograve asked, reforming the ice shield around him and scanning the skies. Rorshawd wasn’t detectable until the last moment.

“Anything that has a stealth ability maybe. Or that he couldn’t smell, hear, see? I don’t know. At the bottom of the lake?”

Hold on. Lograve held up a hand to his head and closed his eyes. In the distance, William blinked, nodded, then knelt to a thinning part of the ice and knocked on it with one of his ears to the ground. Other people were looking around too and Murdon’s armored frame straightened.

“Woah, you can reach that far?”

Level 4 Telepathy. Does more than go farther, Thomas.

“Just because my feature doesn’t work on you doesn’t mean you’re not lying. Probably.”

Tell yourself that. Anyway, William says there’s nothing alive in the lake. A lot of dead fish. Long dead. I’d almost joined them that day. No one else can sense anything larger than a grasshopper. It’s the lair effect. The dragon had a presence that told the other monsters they’d die just from stepping foot on its turf. There shouldn’t be anything else here.

Tlara impatiently snapped her fingers. “So we’re good? Good, back to that chat with Gadriel.”

“Moving.”

Daniel’s head perked up. “What is, Khare?”

“Dragon.” The gestalt had been the only one to notice. Maybe because they weren’t listening closely to the whole conversation, only the important parts. Everyone else was worried about another monster. Khare had feared the dragon was only playing dead. Their suspicion was briefly confirmed when a spot on its head pulsed. Then, something else entirely appeared in a spray of broken bone and flesh. Elsewhere in the world a god of monsters raged in triumph, and Mavar Helioc realized why Torch was paying him a visit.