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    The gateway opened up into an alleyway Lana didn’t recognize. Tall buildings flanked the one-way street and sounds of people talking and moving about drifted toward them.


    "Do you know where we are, Kax?" Lana asked.


    Kax peered up at the buildings, then spun in place, shrugging. "Not exactly. From the smell, I’d say we’re still in the outer city."


    Lana sniffed, then wrinkled her nose. "What is that?"


    "Poor people," Kax answered, grinning so she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. His teeth shone bright in the dim light, further accentuated by the darkness beyond.


    "We should get going," Thys interjected. "There is a lot of ground to cover."


    Kax strolled to the entry of the alley, peering out. "So, how do we do this? Mayhem?"


    "No, not mayhem," Lana said, firmly.


    Thys joined Kax on the street. "There are enough humans out that you won’t attract too much notice. Kax will need to cover his face like a rhinn traveler."


    "Fine," Kax grumbled, unwinding his scarf and tying it so it hid the lower half of his face instead. Lana grimaced at how much Kax''s appearance had changed. The void slowly but surely ate at his skin and was now reaching beyond his jaw. "You sure that will be enough? You rhinn are all so tall."


    Thys glanced at him. "Everyone is tall compared to you two."


    "People will be focused on their own problems, such as their city being occupied by the rhinn. I’m sure we’ll go unnoticed for the most part," Lana said.


    Thys exited the alley and walked into the street with purpose in his step. Lana followed and Kax joined behind them, muttering, "Still think we should go with mayhem."


    The streets were packed with both the Fyrie citizens and rhinn captors and Lana spotted numerous soldiers at every corner. In the distance, a wall towered over the city. On the parapet, rhinn defenders waited. Fyrie was readying for a siege.


    "And a siege you’ll get," she murmured, hurrying to Thys’s side so she wouldn’t get lost in the bustle. As they pushed through the crowd, Lana felt caged in, her senses assaulted from all sides. The air filled with people chatting, screaming, or crying.


    Lana was tempted to pinch her nostrils shut. The stench stung her eyes. She thought it emanated from the crowd around her, but, no, it was her own sweat. The jostling crush made her anxious, the heat from the tight press of their bodies had her sweating profusely. Dark patches formed under her armpits and streaks of sweat drenched her tunic.


    Lana couldn’t take it much longer. "You know where we’re going?"


    A heavy-set man collided with her, and Lana was pushed back hard until she could steady herself and catch back up with the others.


    Thys grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "The priesthood has taken over the pyromancers’ chapter house in Fyrie. We have to get into the inner city first."


    "Can’t you just?" Kax waved his hands around.


    “Can barely open one wide enough to stab my sword through at this point,” Thys said, glancing around at people staring at him. He was tall and broad shouldered, taking up most of the path. The humans in the street kept a wary distance and most of the rhinn gave way when they noted the stripes on his uniform.


    No one questioned their presence, and they eventually pushed through the worst of the throng. Lana breathed a little easier but did her best to keep a neutral expression on her face, mimicking the other humans around her. You never knew who was watching.


    Thys confidently led them through the streets with Kax suggesting alternate routes when applicable. A square opened up before them and Lana recognized that it was the place where they’d fought in the final confrontation in the Eldsprak Academy tournament against Goslin’s brother, Gatling, his pet pyromancer, and a bunch of others banded together under Landé’s banner. She shared a nostalgic look with Kax, but neither of them commented as they crossed the cobblestone.


    A huge wooden sign painted red with a bright orange flame indicated that they arrived at the pyromancers'' chapter house. It was three stories tall and larger than any of the adjacent buildings. Behind it rose a wall that separated the inner city from the Fyrie keep, to which only the most privileged were granted access.


    "There’s a gate through the wall on the inside," Kax said, shaking his head. "Convenient for the mages.”


    "And now for the priests of Wyndemir," Thys added.


    It was still light out and rhinn guards lined the front wall. By the door stood a man robed in red, obviously a pyromancer. Thys led them to the side of the square by an upscale inn where rhinn in important-looking uniforms drank beer under the late afternoon sun.


    They sat down at an empty table, Lana nervously glancing at the other patrons, who thankfully didn’t seem to pay them any mind. "I don’t think we’ll be welcomed here."


    "You’re with me," Thys said, settling the matter.


    Kax leaned out over the table, "Mayhem?"


    Lana rolled her eyes.


    A serving girl placed a clear glass of amber beer in front of each of them, the froth stirring in the gentle breeze. Lana’s throat suddenly felt parched. She remembered feeling the same desperate thirst the time she was tended to by Amira after battling the rhinn. The cool crisp taste of water that Amira poured down her throat.


    She grabbed the glass and took a swig, then another, relishing the sensation of the chilled brew sliding down her throat, while wondering where Amira was at that very moment and if she was safe.


    "Don’t get drunk on us now," Kax said, pulling down his scarf to take a drink from his own glass. He turned to Thys. "So, what is the plan?"


    "Time is of the essence, and full dark is still hours away, so we can’t wait for it," Thys began. He eyed the building intently, then closed his eyes.


    Kax looked to Lana, who shrugged.


    "I might be able to open a waypoint large enough for us to crawl through if we’re close enough," Thys said, opening his eyes.


    "How heroic," Kax muttered. "In that case, I could just as easily slice a hole in the wall from the next building over."


    He pointed as he spoke and Lana grabbed his arm, hissing, "Don’t be so obvious!"


    A few rhinn glanced in their direction, but they all looked away when Thys glared at them. He stood without touching his own glass. "Let’s go."


    Shortly after, the three of them found themselves crowded into a small room by the leftmost outer perimeter of the inn located next to, and sharing a wall with, the pyromancers’ chapterhouse. The space was tight as it was meant only for a single person and consisted of a washstand and a bed.


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    Thys waved at the wall. "Come on then, Kax."


    "Really?" Kax asked, summoning one of his impossibly dark blades out of thin air.


    Thys folded his arms, waiting.


    Kax shrugged, then grinned, removing the cloth covering from his face. "Mayhem?"


    "It’s time," Thys agreed. "Once inside, we make sure no priests of Wyndemir make it out alive."


    The dark blade sliced through the stone like it was cutting through water. It took Kax a few slashes to tunnel through and emerge in what appeared to be a dressing room. Red robes hung around them.


    Kax kicked down the door without waiting for Thys and Lana.


    "I’m back for more!" he shouted, setting off at full speed.


    By the time Lana made it out into the corridor, bodies were already slumping on the floor. Soldiers, by the look of them. Kax was nowhere to be seen.


    A sound behind Lana made her turn and throw a white dagger reflexively, barely missing a woman wearing a chef’s apron who looked like she couldn’t believe her eyes.


    "Get the staff out of this house right now," Lana said, speaking in a hushed tone.


    "W-what?" the woman asked, swaying slightly on her feet. The woman was on the verge of fainting.


    Lana bit back an exasperated groan and shouted, "Get out of here!" She pointed to the room she had exited.


    The woman scurried away, throwing terrified glances at the bodies on the floor. Lana’s shout drew the attention of someone, who scuffled behind a nearby closed door. She threw it open and came face to face with a rhinn guard. Before the rhinn could cry out, she rammed a dagger up through his neck. Blood sprayed across her hands, and she stepped back to avoid the corpse tackling her on the way down.


    Lana wiped her hands on his coat, looking down the corridor to Thys, who was listening by a door. Kax’s rampage through the bottom floor still hadn''t sounded the alarms. That was something, at least.


    "Empty, I think," Thys whispered, when Lana reached him.


    She nodded down the corridor. "Let’s find those priests."


    "They’ll be either upstairs or down. Split up?" Thys asked.


    "Better stick together," Lana said. "Without your gateways, you’re just a pair of broad shoulders."


    He couldn’t stop himself from laughing, and the barking sound echoed through the silence.


    Lana shushed him, placing a finger across her lips. He sobered instantly and nodded.


    They made it to the front hall undetected where they directed more of the servants, all humans, back to the dressing room and into the inn. None of them made any fuss. Apparently, they weren’t all too happy about their new overlords, judging by the thankful smiles on their faces.


    Lana peered out a small window on the front door that would take them back out into the square. Through it she saw the back of the pyromancer standing guard. Her fingers itched to throw the door open and stick a dagger through his red robe, but she refrained. A pyromancer murdered out in the open in the middle of the day with a whole slew of onlookers might prove difficult to obscure.


    Instead, she turned to face the stairwell that started just a few steps from the front door.


    "Are we going up?" she asked. A few whimpers from above made her think Kax chose that route.


    Thys shook his head and pointed to a side door. "We''ll go down."


    Kax had already killed a guard standing by that door, slicing the rhinn man in half. Lana stepped over the corpse gingerly so she wouldn’t slip on the gore.


    The door was locked, but a well-aimed kick to the mechanism was enough to break it. Like Thys said, there were stairs leading down to the next floor. Thys pushed her aside to take the lead.


    "Be careful," he said. "The priests are dangerous."


    "Like I didn’t know that already," Lana muttered, following him. Lanterns hung on the wall flickered as they descended.


    The steps down were slightly concave, ebbed away from tens of thousands of footfalls on its surface. Like the cliff faces overlooking the sea, scoured by wind and water. It made for treacherous footing, and she was glad to see the stairs end.


    A small room with a single wooden door sat at the bottom of the stairs. A dank smell spread from beyond it.


    "Sewers?" Lana asked.


    Thys stepped up to the door and put his ear to it. "Maybe."


    A voice echoed down the steps they’d come from, tense and more than a little frightened. "Do you think they went down here?"


    Footsteps followed and Lana held her breath, listening to the shuffle of people descending. Three of them, at least, judging by the sounds of their steps. Lana pulled two metal daggers free and held them up to Thys.


    He looked from the door to the stairs and then to her, nodding.


    Lana stepped out to peer up the stairs and saw at least five men descending, not three. They stopped suddenly and stared at her in surprise, the flames from the lanterns reflecting in their large rhinn eyes.


    "Stop!" the first one began.


    Lana didn’t wait for what would follow. Instead, she threw a dagger at the soldier in front, and then the other into the middle of the group. They screamed, and she conjured another dagger out of white light and threw it in the back of the one at the top of the stairs, who’d turned to flee.


    In that moment, the door exploded open, throwing Thys into the wall with a dull thud. A creature out of nightmare screeched through elongated jaws. It stood tall, like a man, but looked like a wolf in all other respects.


    Dark beady eyes fixed on Lana, and it hissed, throwing itself at her. Lana threw up a white plate for protection, and while it did protect her from the creature’s swiping claws and snapping teeth, it did not lessen the impact.


    Lana was thrown onto the floor with the thing on top of her, only the conjured shield protecting her while she struggled for breath and control. More soldiers poured into the stairs, climbing over their fallen comrades and making escape back the way they’d come impossible.


    A set of claws tore into her shirt, drawing blood. The sight of her blood sent the creature into a frenzy as it redoubled its efforts to end her life. Lana struggled and finally got a hand free from under her shield and conjured a long dagger that she plunged into the thing’s unprotected flank.


    It drew back, crying out in inhuman pain. The dagger slid free of its flesh, and Lana scrambled to her feet to stand with the stone wall at her back.


    Thys lunged for the creature with his sword drawn. When the creature turned to avoid the blows, it allowed Lana to throw two daggers that ripped into its shoulder and back, wounding it further.


    The rhinn came crashing down the stairs, tripping over each other. Lana kicked the closest one in the head and circled in the cramped room so she wouldn’t have any opponents at her back.


    Thys struck out again, thrusting at the wolf-like creature’s muscular thigh. He was successful this time and dark blood oozed out of the wound in the creature''s leg. It roared again and charged Thys, who danced away to the side. He immediately slipped on a puddle of blood.


    Lana reacted a hair’s breadth quicker than the monster as it lunged at Thys, throwing a dagger that jutted into its throat. Massive amounts of blood sprayed out of its neck and the beast fell dead on top of gateway warrior.


    Thys grunted, "Get it off me."


    Lana began moving toward him when an alarm bell rang from somewhere up above. More soldiers crowded into the stairwell. Lana watched in disgust as their flesh on their faces twisted and split into festering sores. Their bodies jerked, their heads lolled, as they began to transform.


    "Lana!" Thys shouted.


    She pulled her gaze away from the approaching rhinn to see the same shock reflected in Thys''s face—only he was staring at her and not at the rhinn soldiers. She felt something bubble inside her, under her skin. She held up her hands. Her fingernails grew long and thick, like claws. Her fingers thickening and contorting, curling in on themselves.


    "What is happening?" Lana cried. Her voice sounded different, too. Harsher, guttural.


    "Priest!" Thys screeched, his face pulled long. Distorted. Bestial.


    Lana didn’t hesitate. She pushed through her fear and lunged out the ruined door. She saw a pair of purple eyes glittering in the darkness. She reached for the white light inside her to conjure a dagger. It didn’t respond. There was nothing there. Only emptiness.


    Her scream when she leapt for the priest was equal parts fear, anger, and a terrible hunger.


    Lana ripped into him with her claws and her fangs, reveling in the slaughter.


    The purple light faded, and with it, the transformation reversed.


    Blood filled her mouth. Lana gagged then vomited all over the priest’s corpse, tears streaking down her dirty face.


    "Lana!"


    Thys’s scream brought her back, and she scrambled to her feet. As she ran back into the other room, she glanced at her hands. They were back to normal. Hoping more than she’d ever hoped for anything ever before, she called the source inside her.


    It responded.


    Crying tears of relief, she conjured dagger after dagger, throwing them into the mass of soldiers who once again looked like rhinn. Feeling the power flare inside her gave Lana the power to go on after what that priest had just put her through.


    The soldiers died before they saw her coming.


    Thys managed to slither out from under the heavy creature, most of him covered in its blood.


    "Did you kill the priest?" he asked.


    Lana cleared her throat and spat on the ground, trying to get the taste of blood out of her mouth. "I did." She looked up at him. "Did you know they could do that?"


    He shuddered. “I didn’t. Not like that. Not against our will.”


    Lana peered back into the room where the priest laid in pieces. "Do we go on or do we get out of here?"


    "There is no turning back now.”


    Lana’s own mind screamed at her to flee, to get away, but she set her jaw, nodding.


    The priests could not be allowed to live.