Kalina and Jeze lifted the Grinning Death Guard leader and propped him up against a tree. The man's skin was a gray hue, and he shivered. He was older, with a square jaw and a low brow. The man did not put up any resistance.

  "What in the hells did you do to me?" He growled.

  Jeze cocked her head. "You never experienced grave touch before? I thought the Grinning Death Guard were at least Adventurer ranked."

  Lady Kalina shrugged at Jeze and responded to the man, "You'll live. Unless you do not cooperate with us."

  The mercenary chuckled and then coughed. He continued to shiver. I know that feeling, Jeze reflected. Having the life force sucked from me was a terrible experience.

  Out loud Jeze asked, "What's your name?"

  The man narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before conceding. "Axel."

  "Nice to meet you, Mr. Axel," Jeze said.

  The mercenary snorted. "I wish I could say the same."

  Lady Kalina pushed him hard against the tree, and Axel flinched in pain. "We are going to ask you some questions," she growled.

  "Hey, no need to get rough. I'll answer as best I can. You got me, and my fellows, beat," Axel replied.

  "Why did you come after us?" Jeze asked.

  Axel sneered. "Cause I got paid. This is just a job."

  Lady Kalina rolled her eyes and asked, "Who sent you?"

  "The Prince," Axel answered and added, "Prince Rodger, and before you ask. I don't know why. I just took the job, okay? Whatever secret you have is safe with you. Trust me. Me and my mates know nothing else."

  Jeze narrowed her eyes and wondered, "Why didn't the Prince come after us himself?"

  Axel laughed. It shook his chest and triggered a coughing fit. The mercenary grimaced in pain for a moment before he recovered.

  "What's so funny?" Jeze growled.

  "Why, you ask? It's because he is a spoiled rich kid with lots of money. Why would he waste his time trekking across the Wasteland to come here in this blasted forest to look for you when he can pay others to do it for him?" Axel answered.

  "Who else is after us?" Lady Kalina growled.

  Axel shrugged. The pale woman pushed him harder against the tree, and the mercenary grimaced in more pain. He held up his two hands.

  "Ouch, hey, easy there. I'll tell you what I know, but it's just hearsay, okay? It's just gossip amongst us mercenaries," Axel gasped out.

  "Talk," Kalina growled.

  Axel arched an eyebrow. "I just said I will. By the Immortal himself! Give me a moment. The word has it that the other Elites are interested in finding you two as well. Now I do not know why, okay? Whatever dark secret you have is safe with you. I just took the job for the coin, got it?"

  Lady Kalina turned to Jeze. "Others will be here soon."

  "How soon?" Jeze asked Axel.

  The mercenary shrugged. "How in the Immortal's piss should I know? We had a head start because the Prince is bloody rich and was able to hire us. He might have hired others. But yeah, the scary lady here is right. You two should get a move on and fast."

  Jeze scowled. "Don't tell us what to do."

  Axel shrugged. "I wouldn't dare. Call it a professional suggestion."

  Lady Kalina released the mercenary, and he slumped to the ground with a sigh of relief. "We should go," she said to Jeze.

  *****

  The two ladies resumed their fast pace through the forest. Prior to leaving, Jeze used the Life aspect one more time to ensure that all of her wounds would remain closed. Lady Kalina practiced using her hunger ability on the mercenary archer, because she was the one that did the most damage to the undead’s body. The small lady was knocked unconscious by Jeze's boulder attack. When Lady Kalina touched her, she woke up screaming. Kalina released her in time to demonstrate her control. That was horrifying, Jeze reflected as she ran.

  After two hours of steady running, Lady Kalina called for a rest. Jeze was starting to breathe hard and welcomed the break. She missed her team and their companionship. Lady Kalina was not as fun. Jeze sighed. It is what it is, she thought to herself.

  "We need to decide where to go next," Lady Kalina said.

  Jeze shrugged her shoulders. "Aside from the Wandering Spire, the only other place I have been to was the city of Angston."

  "No, we can not go to Angston. It is likely the Prince has alerted the Legion about us through a communication scroll," Kalina said and then swore.

  "What?" Jeze asked.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "We didn't search the Grinning Death Guard for communication scrolls," Kalina growled and punched a tree that sent bark and tinder flying everywhere.

  She is strong! Jeze reflected and said out loud, "That is bad news for us."

  "No kidding!" Lady Kalina snapped, and after a moment, she apologized.

  Jeze decided to let it slide. They were in a stressful predicament, and arguing wouldn't solve anything right now. Instead, Jeze said, "What are our options?"

  Kalina tapped her chin with a pale hand. "We can continue to Giblet."

  "Why?"

  "To get information about the Lich. Someone may have seen him fly by. Or we can encounter some of his agents. He is up to something. I know it." Kalina said.

  Jeze arched an eyebrow and shook her head. "I think it's best that we avoid cities."

  "We need supplies," Kalina added.

  Jeze looked over her torn armor, and her stomach rumbled. "That's true," she conceded.

  "But, there will be some risks," Kalina admitted.

  Jeze narrowed her eyes and stated, "Tell me."

  Kalina sighed. "If we are to assume that the High Cleric Manfeld will be looking for the Hold Core. Then, he had probably sent his Templars. They would head to the Iron Fist cities where they have authority, but lucky for us, they tend to move slowly."

  Jeze noticed something about Kalina's face, and she said, "But there is more."

  Kalina nodded. "The Shadow Shinobi."

  Jeze heard tales about them since her parents were from the Jade Principality. "Why would those infamous spies and assassins be after us?"

  "If we believe what the mercenary told us that the Elites are after the Hold Core. Zen Fu would send them after us," Kalina answered.

  "That old man? He seems so grandfatherly," Jeze replied.

  Kalina shook her head, and her black orbs were serious like death. "Do not be deceived by his demeanor. He is an Elite, and all Elites are power-hungry. They would betray their own mothers if it meant they could get stronger."

  Jeze sighed. This seemed so helpless. But, one thing she learned from her time in the Wandering Spire was that it was best to solve the problems you can right in front of you. It was also something Raynor had told her. Jeze wiped her eyes to curtail the tears that threatened to unleash themselves. I miss you, Old Goat!

  The teenager stated, "Well if we are going to head into a city, we need to do something about the way you look."

  Lady Kalina glanced down at her pale arms as if she just noticed her appearance for the first time. "What can we do?"

  Jeze grinned as she removed her pack to settle it on the ground. "I can make an illusion charm."

  "Do we have time for this?" Kalina asked.

  Jeze shrugged. "Probably not, but we also can't have you scaring the locals. Especially if what you said might be true. We will have plenty of people looking for us."

  "You know enough of the Light aspect where you can change my appearance?" Kalina asked.

  "I think so," Jeze said as she pulled out her engraving tools and her tomes. She added, "If not, we can figure it out."

  In her pack, Jeze had collected numerous bracelets and jewelry she found from traveling the Wandering Spire. There was much that she didn't sell because she had hoped to use them to make Channeling tools, and in this case, magic charms. Jeze bit her lip as she carefully etched the Light aspect Runes along a silver bracelet.

  Kalina knew how important it was to not be distracted when engraving Runes so she left Jeze to her work and patrolled the perimeter. A thought occurred to the pale lady. She needed to control the hunger and prevent it from consuming her identity. She learned that breathing helped, which was ironic because she didn't need to breathe anymore. The action itself was a good focus. Kalina sat cross-legged upon a large rock and focused on her breathing. From there, she honed in her Will and found the part in her mind that she felt was her. What she felt was the essence that was Lady Kalina. She felt the hunger and rage consume it like fire along the edges of a piece of paper. Kalina gritted her teeth as she strengthened her essence, her identity. With effort and extreme focus, she felt the fires die out, and the part that was her remained strong. Kalina smiled, but as soon as she relaxed, she immediately felt the fires return. Kalina sighed and looked up to see Jeze hard at work.

  "Need any help?" Kalina asked.

  Jeze shook her head. "How good are you with the Fire aspect? Never mind, I could empower this with the Earth aspect."

  Kalina walked over and squinted to see the tiny intricate Runes that Jeze etched onto the bracelet. "That is good work," she said.

  Jeze glanced up and smiled, "Thank you."

  Kalina tapped her chin and observed, "You are using the Light aspect to create a distortion to change my appearance?"

  Jeze nodded, "I can't do too much. But, I believe I can, at the very least, make your skin look normal and your eyes not appear like the dark pits from hell."

  Kalina flinched and said, "My eyes are not that bad."

  Jeze shook her head. "Oh no, they are horrifying."

  Kalina sulked and then wondered, "Why did you ask if I could use the Fire aspect?"

  "In order for an enchanted item to work, it needs a power source. I am using the Light aspect for the spell, and I will overlay it with the Earth aspect so that you can charge the ring. I think the Earth aspect could work because the bracelet is made out of Silver," Jeze answered.

  Lady Kalina nodded and replied, "I'm still not sure if I can Shape runes."

  "Sure you can. You contained your hunger, that means you can control it enough so that your Will is pure," Jeze said.

  Kalina chuckled. "I appreciate your optimism. For an illusion, it makes sense to use the Fire or Darkness aspects."

  "How good are you with those?" Jeze asked.

  Kalina shook her head. "Not very good."

  "Earth it is," Jeze said. She returned back to inscribing and asked without looking up, "How did your meditation go?"

  Kalina sighed. "It helped, but I fear that I will lose who I am and will one day be taken over by this hunger and rage that is slowly consuming me."

  "Helped? How so?" Jeze asked.

  Kalina sat down and answered, "I felt I was able to stop the fires. But as soon as I let up, they resumed."

  Jeze glanced up. "So get back to it! This is going to take me a while."

  Kalina scowled. "I just told you, it didn't cure me."

  "That means your Will is not strong enough. You need to keep practicing until you are able to control this hunger and remain, Lady Kalina," Jeze snapped.

  "I'll have you know, I am Adept ranked. I have a stronger Will than you can imagine," Kalina shot back.

  "No, you don't," Jeze stated flatly and returned back to her work.

  "How dare you," Kalina growled.

  "If you had a strong Will, you wouldn't be giving up," Jeze pointed out.

  "It's more complicated than that," Kalina replied in a soft voice.

  Jeze paused her work to look up at her pale companion. "Listen, your Will may have been good for an Adept rank, but you are no longer Adept rank. Whether you like it or not, you are an Elite now. You jumped up very fast, and so, of course, you will need to do some work for your Will to catch up."

  Lady Kalina's lips pulled back into a sneer as she prepared a remark but paused. The pale lady nodded. "You are right. I thought I was going to be the teacher."

  Jeze shrugged. "We can teach each other," she said and returned back to engraving Runes on the bracelet.