I walked over to stand next to Knut, who stood eyeing the sheer face of the mesa. His hands seemed to trace the contours of the rock in the air as he analyzed potential ways upward.

  "Not bad," he said. “There. Cracks for fingers. Ledges for feet." He pointed to a zigzagging path up the cliff face. “Path up. Challenging, but possible.”

  “Done this stuff before?" Eryn asked, looking up with apprehension.

  Having spent her early life in caravans I doubted she’d spent time playing in the mountains. Then again, I hadn’t either.

  “Always," Knut said with a hint of pride in his voice. “Northern mountains huge. This like baby's first steps. But, you babies, eh? Safety first.”

  “In a way, yes,” Eryn said and slapped his arm.

  We unpacked our climbing gear, including a lengthy coil of rope that Knut began to arrange and tie into knots.

  “Like this, tie together," he said, demonstrating the knots. “Me first. Ash follow. Nabeeh, then Eryn. If fall, we hold.”

  Before beginning the ascent, we took out most of the carcasses from our storage so we’d have space for the Treeshakers, and stored most of our equipment to reduce weight and free our hands for the climb up. Knut and I stripped down to our long underpants, while Eryn opted to keep her lightweight leather armor on. Nabeeh removed her outer robes, climbing in the shirt and long pants she wore underneath.

  "Is that really necessary?" Nabeeh asked, gesturing at Knut's and my state of undress, while Eryn refused to hide the looks she threw me.

  “Every pound matters on cliff," Knut replied seriously. “If fall, less heavy is good. Matter little if go splat, but if not…might survive.”

  “Might,” she muttered and shook her head.

  “We can use my hammer for any dangerous sections,” I said. "The spike at the bottom of his shaft will be great at anchoring.”

  "Ah, finally some recognition of my practical attributes!" Roq said. "Though I'd prefer to be anchored in monster flesh rather than boring rock."

  With the rope securely fastened around our waists, Knut began the ascent. Hemoved with speed, finding handholds and footholds invisible to my untrained eye. I followed, Roq hanging securely from my belt. My strength stat came in handy as it allowed me to pull myself up with ease, and in case of emergency, haul the girls back up.

  About fifty feet up, Knut encountered a particularly challenging section. The rock face became nearly vertical, with few obvious handholds.

  "Careful," he called down. "Ash. Safe rope.”

  I wrapped the rope around Roq's handle twice and then pushed the spike straight into the stone, letting it melt its way inside.

  “I regret the previous recognition. This is undignified," Roq said. "I am a weapon of war, not a climbing tool."

  "You're whatever I need you to be right now, buddy. Besides, you're made of steelhusk. Nothing's going to damage you."

  “It’s not about physical damage. It is my large and important pride. Just look at me. This is totally not how a weapon of war should be used.”

  As we climbed higher, the wind picked up, whistling around us. Below, the grasslands and forest stretched out, and the Whispering Mire was a dark smudge in the distance.

  "So, Nabeeh," Eryn called up, her voice slightly strained from the effort of climbing. "Tell me more about Azbara's rifts. Are they like ours?"

  Nabeeh seemed glad for the distraction.

  "Some are similar, but each has its own character," she replied, raising her voice so we could actually hear her. "The one I spent most time in was Al-Wadi'al-Khisb. You may have heard of it as the Fertile Valley. The rift is deep in the desert, but Riftside? A vibrant grassland with a huge yellow river.”

  "Sounds beautiful," Eryn said.

  "It is. We've tried many times to farm it," Nabeeh continued as we climbed. "The soil is rich, and more water flows through in a day than we spend in the entire kingdom, but it's been impossible to maintain a presence.”

  "Monsters?" I asked, pausing to loop the rope around Roq before pushing him back into the stone as Knut navigated a tricky overhang.

  "Partly," Nabeeh said. "But more so the logistics. Being in the middle of the desert makes it challenging to get resources to the rift and equally so to transport any goods out. And defenders… We always need more defenders."

  “What do you do instead?" Eryn asked.

  "We defend in the desert, letting the monsters come through and then use hit-and-run tactics. Small, mobile teams of mages and archers strike and withdraw. Once they have been whittled down to those too strong to kill with bow and magic we send in parties to slay them in melee combat. Crack them open and cut them down.”

  “Not dumb,” Knut grunted from above. “Minimize risk.”

  “Dangerous. As I said before, I’d rather fight monsters on a wall than horseback.”

  "You should tell Nina,” Eryn called up. "She dreams of becoming a mounted mage. Sounds like the kind of tactics she'd love."

  "I will,” Nabeeh said. “Sharing knowledge with those who show an interest is always good.”

  We continued climbing, and I revelled in the joyous feeling of powering my way up the rock face. It was almost like hammering iron; there was both a physical and mental strain as I focused on each handhold, each foothold, all while making sure we weren’t going too fast for the girls to keep up.

  Just as we neared a wider ledge about two-thirds of the way up, a strange sound came from the cliff face. It was a high-pitched, warbling cry that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

  "What was that?" Eryn asked, her voice tense.

  Before anyone could answer, a dark shape detached itself from a crevice above us, unfurling its leathery wings. Then came another. And another.

  “Monsters!” Knut shouted, hanging by one hand and reaching for his mace, only to remember it was stored away.

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  “Echoing Screamers,” I called out, having activated my sigil. “They're green.”

  The creatures resembled bats the size of cats, but with bony protrusions and claws on their wingtips. Beneath their throats sat a purple sac, and it inflated as they started circling, right above Knut.

  “Delightful! You might want to cover your ears. I’ve seen such a sac before.”

  "Cover your ears!" I yelled, hooking my arm around Roq and covering my ears as best I could just as the creatures screamed.

  The sound hit like a physical force. Even with my hands clamped over my ears, the pain quickly built up and after a few seconds we were in deep trouble.

  Knut, who was the highest up and closest to the monsters, went limp, his hands slipping.

  Before I could do anything, the rope snapped taut and pulled my chest into Roq. The rope and my hammer both held as Knut's weight hit, and he swung into the cliff face with a thud, hanging between Nabeeh and me.

  “Get them!” I called to the others, my ears ringing louder as the monsters came closer. With Knut safe for the moment, and me attached to Roq, I pulled my helmet from storage and jammed it on my head, hoping it would provide some protection against the sonic attacks.

  Below me, Nabeeh let go of the rock face, letting herself fall to hang from the rope. I held on to Roq for dear life, glad I had sunk his haft at an angle so he wouldn’t slip out.

  "Don't worry," Roq assured me. "My steelhusk haft won't break from this pitiful weight. Though watching you struggle is quite entertaining. Maybe we should do it again sometime."

  The Screamers attacked then and several flew past me, drawing close to Nabeeh. She unleashed her Fire Breath, engulfing them in flames, their wings charring instantly. It only took her a few seconds to send them plummeting to the ground far below.

  "Eryn!" I called down, punching for one of the creatures as it swooped past, its talons drawing blood from my naked chest. "Can you shoot?"

  "If I can hang!" she replied.

  “Do it!” I said, trusting in Roq and the rope’s strength.

  Eryn slid down until the rope held her. It pulled on me, but their combined weight was still less than Knuts.

  She pulled out her bow and an arrow, braced her legs against the cliff, and aimed at a monster.

  It dove at her and she loosed an arrow, killing it.

  Nabeeh cast Immolation next, targeting the largest monster. It burst into flames and flapped its wings several times, but the flames were too much and it fell, trailing smoke and squealing.

  Below me, Knut stirred as a Screamer landed on his chest, its claws digging into his skin.

  “Knut!” I yelled as the monster opened its mouth, preparing to scream directly into his ear.

  Knut grabbed the creature by its throat so quickly that I thought he’d been faking it, and squeezed so hard the flying monster went limp in seconds. He held it in front of himself and roared in its face before smashing its head against his own forehead. The monster’s skull crunched, splattering goo across the northerners face. For a moment, he stared at it, baring his teeth and cursing something I didn’t understand, but after he was done, Knut tossed it over his shoulder.

  “I always knew we’d find a use for that skull of his sooner or later,” Roq said. “I wonder if it could withstand a–”

  “Don’t even go there.”

  Another bat-like monster flew toward me, before spreading its wings wide and screaming. The shrill sound still hurt even through my helmet, but it was far from as bad as without it. Or maybe my mind stat being higher than Knut’s helped negate some of the damage It floated right in front of me and came closer with every flap of its wings. My hand shot out and I grabbed the little bugger, already planning to do something similar to Knut.

  “Stop! Let me taste it!" Roq demanded as I prepared to squeeze the life from it. "I want to know what these new monsters are made of!"

  I hesitated, but there was only one monster left.

  “It barely has any blood,”

  I sighed but took the time to bash the struggling Screamer against Roq's head, which stuck out of the rock. Its skull cracked, and blood spattered across the hammer's surface.

  "Mmm," Roq hummed appreciatively. "Interesting. High iron content. Traces of something... crystalline? Definitely a newer creation. The Hive Mind is experimenting."

  I swiped the carcass into my storage as Nabeeh unleashed a Fireball at the last visible Screamer, catching it mid-flight. For a moment, we all hung there, breathing heavily, and scanning the sky and rock above for more screamers. When none appeared, I shot a thumbs up to Knut.

  “All good to go. Please, do take your time down there as I’m having a peachy time.”

  The big guy grinned and flexed his muscles, which was just too awkward but so Knut-like. I grabbed Roq with both hands and hung on as Knut carefully swung back to the cliff face.

  "Everyone alright?" I said.

  "Fine," Nabeeh replied, having found her own perch again.

  "I'm also fine,” Eryn called up, though her voice was understandably tense.

  Knut hung from the cliff face, rubbing his head.

  “Fine,” he said, but there was a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “New story for mead hall. Bad one.”

  “Sure you're alright?" I asked. "That was a nasty fall."

  He nodded firmly.

  “Hard head. Rock weak. No worry. We go.”

  “WHAT? How dare— Oh. Yeah. Tell him I agree.”

  “Thanks. Not sure what would have happened here if not for you, buddy.”

  “My spike and haft! Never forget how much you loved it right now. Like, love on first-sight kind of love!”

  I rubbed my forehead as Knut climbed past me.

  “Head pain?” he asked.

  “Something like that.”

  "Why weren't those creatures mentioned in the quest details?" Eryn asked. “Seems like pretty important information."

  "Maybe they're new," I suggested, remembering Roq's comment.

  "New monsters?" Nabeeh shot back. “No way. I mean, right? Not this quickly.”

  "Perhaps the Hive Mind is cross-breeding," I said. "Creating new types of monsters to try and counter us better?”

  Knut grunted.

  "Adapting? Learning? Not good."

  We continued our climb, more cautiously now, and wary of other nests and monsters in general. When we finally reached the top of the mesa, Knut pulled himself up, offered me a hand, and I almost went flying. The man was really strong. Nabeeh went next, and Eryn came last. We all collapsed onto the flat surface, taking a moment to recover.

  I sat heavy on the ground, looking across a vast open area on top of the mesa, stretching at least fifty yards before reaching a forest unlike any I'd seen before. Tall, sturdy trees swayed in the powerful wind that swept across the plateau. Their trunks were thick and gnarled, but they stretched upward with elegant, flexible bodies. Each tree was crowned with a spread of broad, fan-shaped leaves that rustled loudly in the constant gale.

  "What kind of trees are those?" I asked, squinting at the distant forest line.

  "Not steelhusk," Knut said, laying down on the ground to rest. “Not oak. Not pine. Never seen."

  Blood trickled from several small cuts and a big bruise was forming around an open wound on his shoulder where he’d impacted the cliff face.

  Eryn knelt beside him.

  “Let me see that," she said, her voice insistent. I knew there’d be no arguing with her..

  Knut though, grunted and tried to wave her away.

  "Is nothing. Small bump. I’m fine. Check your man."

  "Small bump?" Eryn scoffed, ignoring his protests and examining the wounds. "You fell over thirty feet and hit solid rock. You're lucky your skull isn't cracked open."

  "Skull thick," Knut said, his mouth tightening as Eryn put a salve on his shoulder. "Like Ma say. See me bump head with flying cat?"

  "Hold still," Eryn commanded, taking out a bandage from the kit she always carried and wrapped it swiftly. "That Screamer could have killed you. It doesn't matter how strong your muscles are if your brains turn into mush and leak out your ears.”

  I scanned the open expanse between us and the forest, suddenly aware of how exposed we were. The cliff edge loomed just yards behind us—a deadly drop if we were forced back during a fight.

  "We need to move away from the edge and gear up," I said. "If the Treeshakers charge us here, we’ll be true splats as Knut said.”

  "Good thinking," Nabeeh agreed, pushing herself up.

  Eryn sighed but nodded, tying off the bandage before helping Knut to his feet.

  “Get your armor on. And once we’re done here, I'll check the shoulder properly."

  “Mother chicken,” Knut said, grumbling.

  We quickly moved to a safer position, about thirty yards from the cliff edge, and began donning our gear. I pulled the Crackenmail over my head, feeling safer as the weight settled on my shoulders. Knut, moving as if uninjured, strapped on his white-ish Titanfang plate.

  Nabeeh yawned as she lazily pulled her outer robes back on.

  "I'm sure we'll have to track those beasts through that entire forest. Probably spend hours searching. I need a nap."

  Eryn, already nearly dressed in her lightweight leather armor, pulled her last glove on when she suddenly froze, eyes fixed on something in the distance.

  "The trees," she said quietly, pointing. “Aren’t they shaking?”

  I followed her gaze and saw several treetops trembling, as if something large had slammed into it, or jumped off.

  "Oh, this is going to be fun," Roq said. "Two new flavors in one day! I wonder if these Treeshakers taste as good as those flying screamers!”

  "Looks like they found us first.”