<div>


    <div>


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase"> </h2>


    <div>


    They left in a hurry, with only what they carried on their person. Spouses and children accompanied the geomancers. It wouldn''t be safe to leave them behind even if it meant taking them into a war-torn kingdom. The growers followed, running with jerky movements, as if not fully in control of their own limbs.


    Heylien knocked an arrow to his bow midstride and Emeryn put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Please don’t harm them unless you absolutely have to. We might be able to save them from her in the future."


    Heylien nodded and replaced the arrow back in the quiver by his hip.


    Emeryn and Heylien had dropped back to cover the rear of the fleeing geomancers. Emeryn threw up mounds of dirt and walls of stone in an attempt to hinder the growers’ advance. It slowed them, but it wasn''t enough to deter them outright. They ran relentlessly without regard for their own well-being or exhaustion. Emeryn focused on her attacks, pushing down on the fatigue from her fight with Taera.


    A tall and wide-shouldered man ran in front of her, and Emeryn slammed into his back with a thud when he stopped without warning.


    "What is happening?" she asked, stepping back to look past him. Everyone stopped, some turning on their heels as if they planned on rushing back from where they had come.


    Pushing her way through the crowd of geomancers, Emeryn felt a growing sense of unease. People were pointing and gasping. Someone sobbed.


    At the front of their large group, a young woman stood with her hands covering her mouth, white as a sheet. "That’s her, isn’t it?"


    In the distance, her mother walked toward them. Her movements steady and stiff. "It’s her," Emeryn confirmed.


    "Can we beat her?"


    "No."


    Yena nodded, like the matter was settled. "Then we have to keep running. Quite the mess you brought to our doorstep, girl."


    Emeryn stood on her toes, looking over the shoulders of the geomancers. The growers had stopped their approach and were now spreading out in a wide half-circle, as if intending to surround them.


    "Time is running out. Let’s go," Emeryn said, pointing north.


    "What’s north?" Heylien asked.


    "Nothing," Yena said.


    "Good enough for me."


    Once they began moving again, Taera sped up from her casual walk, as did the growers. They were near enough now that Emeryn could make out their faces. She saw her sister among those coming for them, her face twisted in an internal struggle. They would need to find a way of breaking the god’s grasp around the minds of the growers. There had to be a way.


    As they ran, Emeryn used her command of the earth to craft deep and wide ditches in a desperate attempt to stall the growers’ approach. It looked to have been a successful at first, but then the growers adapted, growing thick roots to act as bridges across the pits.


    Enemies closed in, vines shooting out of the ground to swipe at legs of those who lagged behind. A few were caught and dragged away, screaming. Emeryn wanted to stop, turn, and help, but Heylien pulled her along. In her heart, she knew there would have been little she could do to save the others.


    "We can’t go on like this," Emeryn said, between gasps.


    Heylien looked back at the growers who were gaining ground by the second. "What do you suggest?"


    “Yena!” Emeryn shouted. "Have everyone stop and build a dome around us!"


    "A what?" the geomancer guild’s leader asked, exhausted from running.


    "A dome!" Emeryn repeated, motioning with her hands what she meant. She didn’t wait for Yena to respond before raising the earth around her, seeking out stone and clay to reinforce the earthen wall. Emeryn struggled under the strain of encapsulating all of them. Soon, the other geomancers realized what she was doing and joined in. The earthen wall grew tall and thick, rising high above them until only a small portion of the sky was visible.


    Emeryn spoke loudly to the huddled geomancers. "The growers will try to burrow through. Keep your wits about you!"


    Everyone knew that not even the strongest stone could contain a sprouting plant for long.


    Emeryn quested downward with her mind, casting about for a path forward, an escape.


    There. A cave.


    "Move aside," she told the closest geomancers, as the earthen walls around them came under assault. They could hear the skittering sounds of vines and roots burrowing through their earthen defense.


    A tree sprung from the ground inside the protective dome, growing quickly and forcing geomancers to dive away.


    Emeryn drew on what she’d learned in her underground search for Taera. With time pressing down on her, she tore open the ground. The resulting stairs were crude, with sand, stone, and rubble falling from the roof and walls. It would have to do. She entered first, to keep digging down and north while the rest followed.


    The dome cracked and sand rained down on their heads. Some sort of bush sprang at the top of the dome, shutting out all light and plunging them into darkness.


    "Hold on," Heylien said. "Give me some room."


    A warm spark broke the darkness behind Emeryn, who focused on digging, and soon thereafter, light flickered from a torch Heylien apparently crafted from one of the tree’s limbs.


    Emeryn was connected enough to the earth to move sure-footedly without using her sight. The earth sang in her ears, revealing the way forward. Every obstacle flowed out of her way as she crafted stairs wide enough for three people walking side by side.


    Despite her quick progress, the geomancers behind her were pushing and talking in hushed and fearful voices. Sounds from the cracking of their hastily constructed dome chased after them in the dark, and Emeryn couldn’t tell if she’d dug far enough for the whole group to join her underground. Light from Heylien’s torch flickered somewhere far above her when she turned to look, but it didn’t provide enough light to see by. The archer stayed behind to cover their retreat.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The cave below beckoned. Emeryn’s inner nurture strained at the edges of her capability, and she wasn’t actually sure she could exert herself long enough to break through the rock. Her work was delicate in a way that made it impossible for those behind her to join in and help, like they’d done with the dome. Pulling up the earth around them was one thing but digging downward with a steep decline without the dirt collapsing down on their heads was quite the challenge.


    She broke through the stone and into the cave with a final, exhausted push. Water rushed in, covering her feet, but did not rise any higher. Emeryn waded into the small pond and collapsed on bare rock once out of the water, the surface jagged and uncomfortable, her chest heaving and her fingers twitching from fatigue. When Yena walked up beside her, Emeryn could barely lift her head to meet her gaze.


    "You did well, young woman."


    "Are they coming?" Emeryn asked, looking at the tunnel from which geomancers were pouring out.


    "They are."


    Emeryn groaned and tried to sit up. "We have to collapse it."


    "Don’t worry yourself with that, you’ve done your part. Let us drive them back now."


    Heylien emerged after all of the geomancers stumbled into the cave. His torch flickered in the stifling darkness, and he bent low to avoid hitting his head on the low cave ceiling. Sand and dirt covered his hair, and he had to keep blinking to get grime out of his eyes. The moment he emerged, he dove for the water, scrubbing at his face to get it off.


    "They’re coming," he said, between bouts of dunking his head into the cold underground pond.


    Emeryn felt the ground groan as Yena and the other geomancers tore at it in a desperate attempt to bury the entrance to her tunnel. The only way in and out. A pocket inside the earth. Emeryn had felt the space and knew with absolute certainty that they would be trapped down there until she could recover.


    The ground trembled and screams drifted down from above. A huge cloud of dust and sand exploded from the tunnel, showering Heylien and the others in even more sand as the entrance came crashing down. The entire cave rumbled as the path behind them filled in with earth from above. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, except for Heylien, who groaned and dunked his head in the water once more.


    Given time, the growers might break through the cave walls, but they could not move the earth like a geomancer. They were safe for the time being.


    The torch did little to provide light or warmth, and Emeryn soon began to shiver. Every surface was damp, and the very air they breathed had a cold dankness to it. The bare but jagged rock made each word uttered boom in the silence. Anxious whispers echoed off the walls.


    Emeryn spoke with deliberate composure. “Calm down everyone. For now, we are safe. Once we’ve recovered a little, we can continue onward before resurfacing somewhere to the north, where the growers can’t get to us."


    Yena picked up the torch from the ground where Heylien left it and let the light shine across the huddled geomancers. "The young woman here is right. Reach out to the earth and see for yourselves. No one is coming."


    A few nods in the crowd were visible in the flickering light, and the escaped geomancers straightened, if only a little. A few even stood, stretching their sore backs.


    Emeryn remained seated, too exhausted to mind the cold stone. Her eyes widened when the stone before her cracked and a small flower in full bloom pushed through the tiny gap.


    "No," she whispered.


    "What was that?" Yena asked.


    "Look," Emeryn said, brushing her hand over the growing flower. More fissures formed, each opening with the sound of a chestnut shell cracking open. Vines slithered out, lethargically at first, but then with more vigor.


    "Suppress them!" Emeryn shouted, her words echoing back and forth in the closed space. Soon, all the geomancers were chattering.


    This wasn''t the work of a grower, but a vengeful god. The broken god seemed determined not to let them slip through her fingers.


    Emeryn grew up believing in Taera’s benevolence regarding the Kin. Their god loved her Kin and supported their endeavors no matter which circle you were born into. She wondered if there had ever been any truth to those lessons from her youth. In that moment, she could not bring herself to believe so. The broken god cared for no one but herself.


    With the few strands of her power still answering to her call, Emeryn closed the cracks in the stone with a snap, cutting off the vines and the flowers. They immediately shriveled, drying into husks.


    More sprung up, and not just from below them. Yena waved the torch back and forth, revealing how almost every surface around them was cracking and blooming with flowers and vines.


    "Protect the cave," Yena barked, getting down on her knees to touch the ground and joined Emeryn in closing the rapidly appearing gaps in the stone. The two of them couldn’t keep up by themselves, but more and more geomancers fell to their knees to help. Still, they barely kept up with the god’s insistent tendrils, and something else was approaching. The earth in the tunnel shifted and moved, like something was burrowing through it from up above. Taera was coming for them.


    They were running out of options, and they were running out fast.


    "Some of you, create a path forward," Yena shouted, panic running along the edge of her words.


    But the geomancers were too frightened to make any real progress. Several attempted to mold the stone, but stumbled over one another, damaging the rock so that it collapsed.


    "There!"


    It was Heylien’s voice, and she looked to where he pointed. A shimmer appeared in the darkness.


    "Everyone, get ready to run on my word!" Emeryn shouted.


    A gateway opened and Emeryn saw Sarien’s blessed, surprised face on the other side.


    "Go!" she shouted, pushing Yena toward it.


    "What is that?" the older woman asked, terrified.


    "Salvation!" Heylien shouted. The earth from the tunnel billowed out, filling the pond and creating a wave that smashed against the fleeing geomancers.


    The guild mistress grabbed the nearest geomancer, a young man, and shoved him toward the opening. "Go through now, Simmen!"


    He stumbled through and with that, it was like a dam broke. The stunned geomancers got to their feet, pulling people along with them. They ran, first in a single file, then when Sarien widened the gateway, in twos and threes.


    Emeryn kept Taera at bay in the tunnel as best she could, forcing the stone to clamp down. It did not stop the broken god’s rampant advance. It barely slowed her. Emeryn set her jaw and pushed Yena toward the gateway. "Go through. Go through now!"


    Yena gave the tunnel a nervous glance, then turned and ran. Something broke through the earth and Emeryn felt strong hands grab her around her waist. Heylien hauled Emeryn to her feet, and the two of them ran for the gateway. For once, she didn’t stumble. Fresh, warm air filled her lungs as she flung out the other side, falling into Goslin''s arms.


    "Sarien, close the gate!" Heylien shouted.


    The mage held his black flame in one hand, the white in the other, and peered through the gateway for a moment, as if pondering a question. Then he closed it. Emeryn wasn’t sure if she was seeing things, but she thought Sarien''s black flame flickered and pulled toward the gateway, as if wanting to touch it.


    With the gateway closed, the malicious presence that oppressed them disappeared.


    "What was that?" Goslin asked, his voice awed.


    Emeryn threw herself into his embrace, burrowing her face into his shoulder.


    "Taera," she answered. She felt his gasp and that of those around them.


    "She lives?" someone with a faintly familiar voice asked.


    She turned. "Nothing?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"


    Emeryn looked out across a vast field. In the distance, she saw the tower of the mages in Eldsprak. Soldiers gathered everywhere. From the look of things, they were readying for war.


    "His name is Landé," Goslin murmured. "The leader of the resistance. We’re getting ready to drive the rhinn from Eldsprak, from Maydian itself."


    Emeryn broke free of her husband’s tight embrace, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. She cleared her throat. "There is something more coming, not just the rhinn."


    "Wyndemir," Goslin said, speaking the name in a hushed whisper that still carried far enough for all those gathered around to hear.


    "Taera is afraid of Wyndemir. The Kin are leaving this part of Maydian. They are escaping to the dark continent."


    Kax stretched his arms over his head, the sleeves of his tunic pulling back to reveal the black void that was his skin. "Humans have killed gods before. We’ll do it again."


    Sarien coughed, like he got something stuck in his throat.


    Everyone turned to look at the young man and he drew in a deep breath, his gaze flickering between the others. "About that…"