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    With eyes burning from lack of sleep, Lana made her way up the stairs to the parapet. The chill was setting in more and more each day, but holding on to her source kept her warm.


    Continuous use of both her aeromancy and the new and exciting power the old man showed her strained Lana to her limits. The byproduct of that strain was a noticeable difference in strength. Lana was stronger now than she’d ever dreamed of becoming.


    Conjuring and shaping physical objects out of raw power made for a formidable advantage in most situations, and she’d improved much in a brief period. Her aeromancy skills improved as well, though she couldn’t hold her own against other Loftian aeromancers, much less Wade. Still, it let her jump higher, farther, and more frequently. That, along with changing the trajectory of her daggers, was all she needed.


    “You’re late,” Thys said, once she exited the stairwell and onto the wall.


    “Why do you insist on meeting up here of all places?”


    “I like the view.”


    Her new rhinn friend had teetered on the brink of death after their fight with the priests of Wyndemir, where they interrupted the rhinn ritual used to draw their god closer into Maydian.


    For hours, Lana searched for a Vatner healer. Most of them were unconscious from overusing their power, but she finally found one to drag back and up onto the roof where Thys bled from his grievous injuries. It’d been a close call.


    “You just want to show off your blinking.”


    His wide, rhinn grin proved her right, and he pointed to a tall house about four streets over. “If you found a new way to use your power, wouldn’t you want to use it?”


    “Sure, I guess.”


    He pointed down into the city. “See that building?”


    With that, he was gone. He appeared instantly on top of the roof of the house and waved. It was the farthest he had blinked. Lana was not the only one improving.


    He’d given her an explanation as to why he could transport himself from one location to another instantly while being completely unable to open even the tiniest of gateways. They were the same, but entirely different. Just the sort of explanation Lana had come to expect from the rhinn.


    She returned his wave, then stepped back. When she reached the far wall, she turned and ran, jumping over the parapet. Wind whistled past, whipping against her hair and clothes as she soared through the air. Lana laughed with exhilaration as she neared her landing point, then strained to catch herself on a strong gust of wind to propel her to Thys. She landed gracefully next to him.


    His grin broadened. “Where are we searching today?”


    “Did you check the ritual site?” Lana asked.


    In the distance, light showered down over a city block, sparkling. Both turned to watch Myn’s display.


    “I checked it, even though it creeps me out. There is no way they would return there.”


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    “You never know.”


    A scream pierced the night not far from where they stood.


    “Let’s go,” Lana said, but Thys was already gone. By the time she caught up, the tall rhinn was on the ground, wrestling with a growling man whose arms were growing long and impossibly muscled while his jaw elongated to fit sharp teeth. The opponent was turning into a monster.


    “Find the priest!” Thys yelled.


    Lana spun to face a growing crowd of onlookers. “Get out of here! Scatter!”


    When no one listened to her order, she screamed, “Monster!”


    That set them in motion.


    A jump took her to a rooftop overlooking the crowd. She materialized a spear in her hand. Not a single purple eye among those fleeing. She released the spear and it burst into floating motes of light.


    Peering into the windows of nearby buildings, she knew from experience that these bastards needed to be close to cast their magic. Priests didn’t need to stay with their beasts once they fully transformed, but glancing down at Thys struggling with the man-beast, this one was still changing.


    There! She saw the faint shadow of a man standing in the window of a shop across the street. The faint glow of two purple orbs was all Lana needed to see before she jumped.


    With a conjured, round buckler in front of her, she crashed into the room, landing directly on the priest. They both toppled to the floor. Her knee dug into the priest’s chest, punching the air out of his lungs. Even as he gasped, the eerie shivery sensation of her body transforming washed over her. A knife pointed right at the priest’s eye washed the purple away in no time at all, and her body stopped trying to conform to the priest’s will.


    “You keep popping up like rats. How many more of you are here in the city?”


    The priest showed his teeth, yellow and crooked. Corruption hung heavy in the air around him, and his breath smelled like an open grave.


    Thys appeared beside them. He eyed the priest warily. “Anything?”


    Lana shook her head, prompting Thys to withdraw one of his long, thin blades. He then unceremoniously drove it into the priest’s bicep until it pinned the man into the wooden floor beneath him. The priest screamed.


    They waited for his wailing to turn into whimpers before asking again. “Where are your fellow priests holed up?”


    “You’re all going to die when god descends upon this heretic land.”


    Lana drove a dagger of light into the priest’s other arm. His screams echoed against the bare walls, and she had to shout over him to be heard. “You won’t be here to see your precious god. You won’t be here to see tomorrow if you don’t answer our questions.”


    Blood stained the priest’s teeth. With two disabled arms and multiple jagged pieces of broken glass lodged into his chest, the rhinn priest was entirely defenseless. Still, he showed no hint of fear.


    Lana turned to Thys. “Any ideas? He won’t be long for this life if we keep this up.”


    Thys shrugged. “One less priest to worry about.”


    The priest spat blood and spoke a stream of words through a jaw tight with pain. “I want to meet your leaders. Wyndemir won’t be stopped. You’ll be made to see the light. You’ll join us in the end, or you will be subjugated.”


    Lana stood, her mouth twisted with disgust.


    “What do you want to do?” Thys asked. “They did ask us to bring one in alive.”


    To answer his question, Lana conjured a spear and drove it into the priest’s chest, killing him instantly. “I’ll not allow one of these vermin to worm their way to the ears of those babbling morons on the council.”


    Thys pulled his dagger free from the priest’s limp arm and wiped it clean on the dead man’s robes.


    “Did the man out there make it?”


    “He did. Was a near thing.”


    Back up on the rooftops, Lana surveyed the city. “That makes, what, five of them in the last few days?”


    “Six,” Thys corrected.


    “And that’s just from us running around aimlessly, like a skiff without a rudder. We need help.”


    “There is none to be had. At least not now.”


    “Then we’ll need to work smarter.”


    Thys chuckled and crossed his arms. “You mean like not killing them before they tell us anything of use?”


    Lana smiled wryly.


    In the distance, an inhuman roar rose with a chorus of screams behind it. Thys disappeared and Lana sighed, hurrying to catch up.