“What is the significance of the number four in this prophecy?” CJ asked as he and Larl walked up the stairs in their inn.

  Larl stared at the back of CJ’s head as he walked a pace back. “Is this really the time to be thinking about that?” Larl asked. “I’m always excited when you want to learn something new, but I feel like you might be distracting yourself from the issue just before us.

  The last couple of days were spent keeping an eye on the movements of the prison in The Brothers. They made sure the Earl wouldn’t just execute Brook, and tried to find a way to break her out of the prison.

  It lead to dead end after dead end, with the only way they could find into the prison being a walk through the front door, or a one way trip down a mine shaft.

  Every plan CJ could come up with lead to direct confrontation with the prison guards, which meant drawing way too much attention to Cianna and her people. If they had to fight their way out of the city, their faces would end up all over, they might not be able to operate in the Earldom anymore.

  Which was stressful, so yeah Larl was probably somewhat right.

  “I’m just trying to figure out Greywind’s deal.” CJ said. “They seem to want to believe the worst version of that prophecy. You told me there are four variations you’ve heard, but most of them are pretty similar. Four heroes, they all are needed to overcome the new Flamberge Dragon. But why four?”

  Larl stepped quicker to walk beside CJ. “You might have noticed, but we divide most things into fours. There are four Cross in the day, there are four foundational attunements, and there are four groups of first level attunements which are all made up of four.”

  “Sixteen basic attunements?” CJ asked as they got to the door.

  “Yes,” Larl said. “Four is just an essential number, either because so much of our faith is built around it or it being essential made faith build around it. It depends who you ask. Some say the number of hero generals used to be lower or higher, but four is generally agreed upon now.”

  “That kind of answers my question,” CJ said as he went to open the door. Then he looked at Larl. “Everyone else is in position right? I want to just grab Mae and go.”

  Larl nodded. “I had Alyss go find Benton in the crowd, we should be able to find her.”

  CJ opened the door. Inside of their room in the inn was Lady Madaleene strapped to a chair with rolled up sheets. Her chest had a circular spot that was glowing with a faint blueish light, and standing right in front of her was Brother Shaw, picking at her soulstone with a small metal knife.

  He stopped and looked over, then went back to work when he saw it was them.

  “I’m almost finished here sirs,” Shaw said, “and then she will be all yours.”

  CJ walked in, but kept his distance.

  Unlike when Syphar and Zava helped him with his facets, Shaw didn’t have nearly as much special equipment. Larl and Welma nursed the man back to health over a day, first counteracting the poison that was keeping him in a half-dead state. While the man was up and about, it was only today that he stopped shivering nonstop.

  Mae insisted on him working on her, insisted on getting the new attunement in time for their ‘job’ today. Killing the Ashen Cult member Vindis was enough to solidify her soulstone, and she wanted to be as powerful as she could be. CJ couldn’t blame her.

  “Don’t worry about us, we aren’t here to rush you.” CJ lied. He closed the door and looked to Larl.

  Larl seemed interesting in the process. By the way he stared, it seemed Shaw’s method was strange enough that it warranted attention.

  A few more chips into the strange stone, and the older man laid both hands against her shoulder blades before he started chanting.

  CJ could see energy flow from Shaw into Mae. Mae, for her part, seemed to mostly be rigid, with her eyes closed. She was moving, but more like a slight sway instead of any purposeful movement. When Shaw’s energy moved into her, the soulstone retracted back into her body and then the light vanished. She was whole again.

  Then Mae’s eyes snapped open and she let out a loud gasp. “Whoooa!”

  She tried to sit up but met her restraints, then she began struggling. “My goodness, that was terrifying, why did not one say how horrible that feels?”

  Shaw started to free her, and CJ moved up to help. When her arms were clear she took hard breathes and felt around on her body to make sure she was truly whole.

  “Was it that bad?” CJ asked. “Mine was okay, just uncomfortable.”

  “You had a lapidary,” Larl said.

  Brother Shaw’s eyebrow raised. “Oh yes, this method is a little more, raw. Some might even consider it old fashioned. But my hands have gone through these motions hundreds of times, you are fine Madaleene.”

  CJ helped her stand. Her eyes were wide and she looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.

  “You okay?” CJ asked.

  She nodded. “Yes I… well I kind of feel different, you know?”

  |Lady Mae 01% to next Milestone 1 of 10 Milestones

  |Searing Attunement Soulstone Tier 1 Human - Fieldman

  |Allegiance: Cinderhall Mercenaries, The Violet Fighters

  |

  |Strength 4 | Control 4

  |Stamina 5 | Resilience 5

  |Command Avg | Health Avg | Mov. Spd Avg

  |

  |>Facets

  |>Artifacts & Relics

  |>Bond - 3

  “Well you’re stronger, for sure. Finally tier 1, look at you. That must mean you’re ready to kick butt.”

  Mae tried to hide a grin, but as she walked over and grabbed Byr’s blade, she couldn’t help but smile just a little. She put the sword away in a loose sheath, and turned back to Larl and CJ.

  “Let’s go do this, I want to see my facets in action.” Mae said.

  CJ nodded to her, and then went over to Brother Shaw, who was now seated in a chair looking exhausted.

  “Thank you Brother Shaw,” CJ said, “I’m sure you’ve seen how much this means. Sorry that you almost had to bite it for us to get to you.”

  He shook his head no, “Don’t mention it. If it wasn’t for you two, I would have likely died in that closet. Those Ashen Cult villains thought they could douse the coals of the Brotherhood of One Flame, but now… well now I see no other path but for me and my brothers to take up our work once more.”

  “Well if I live through today,” CJ said, fishing a letter out of his side bag and handing it to Shaw, “I think I would love to work alongside you. But in case I don’t, you can find some of the other Akahi survivors here.”

  Shaw took the letter and nodded at him. Mae was speaking with Larl, and CJ went over and interrupted them before all three headed out.

  The streets of The Brothers were dead up until the stage built in the square just shy of the prison. It was wide, with wooden stairs leading up to it. There was a gallows, four hanging ropes there. They were all unused so far, though even as CJ and crew arrived, there were three prisoners on stage that were kneeling. A large man in white stood behind them, carrying a sheathed sword.

  There were normal guards there, wearing a dark red that seemed to represent the guard forces for Shellert Earldom. They all carried spears. One was less armored than the others, and was up on stage with a bound notebook of documents. He had tied back hair and reading glasses, and was reading loudly to the crowd with a simple voice amplifying cone.

  “The next sentence, brought down by the judges of this land, expedited by Earl Shellert himself, is for one Brandyson. A baker who was found to be conspiring to steal taxes from the Earl!”

  As the announcer spoke, a wide man of fifty years or so was dragged onto stage in shackles like the others. He was put in the middle, where the stage seemed to have two directions. There was the side with the three prisoners they had, and there was the side under the ropes.

  “Brandyson is sentenced to a year of forced labor to repay his crimes against the realm! Let this sentence be executed without fuss and he will be freed!”

  Brandyson’s head drooped, and he was added to the group of prisoners already there.

  “Do we know how many prisoners they plant to bring out?” CJ asked as they approached the crowd. The stage had a large crowd of people below. They were a mixed bunch, but all just people of The Brothers. That meant many were laborers, craftsfolk, or just gawkers. As far as crowds preparing to watch an execution, this place didn’t have bloodthirsty rich people like CJ kind of expected in these situations. In fact, no one seemed excited, they were all just talking among themselves.

  “No clue,” Larl said. “The number we heard just four, but that is already wrong if they intend to sentence Brook. They must intend to drag out many criminals.”

  “At least four executions though,” Mae said from the back off the group. “They wouldn’t bring out four ropes and then disappoint the crowd.”

  CJ tried to watch the stage and watch where he was going as they pushed into the crowd, but it didn’t work. He let their slack bond point the way to Alyss. They shoved around a little, the announcer serving as a background noise to their progress through the people.

  “…Her crime is dire, so she will face the appropriate crime of death by hanging!”

  CJ looked up. It was a tall woman, who looked brutal and much older than Brook. Her head was shaved and one of her eyes was missing entirely. She didn’t fight the sentence, and was pushed over to just before one of the ropes.

  The crowd erupted in yelling. Some were cheering, but many more were booing and throwing stuff. Some just had general things to say, jeering the woman or denying her crimes. It was strange to CJ, but he ignored it. They had a job to finish now.

  “There she is,” Mae said.

  Alyss was just ahead, talking to a man dressed in a nice coat with a floppy hat. It was Benton, in some sort of disguise. Benton’s bond connection was to the old man, Fuller, who was standing a few people away in the crowd, watching the proceedings intently.

  CJ walked up, “Morning tide.”

  Benton turned to him with a raised eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

  Alyss shook her head no, but CJ rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. “I said, morning tide.”

  “I already checked him,” Alyss said. “You can relax.”

  With everything that happened, they were using code words to confirm their identities. When people remembered, at least. Benton in particular liked to forget. CJ didn’t know why, for a scholar he had a terrible tendency to forget anything and everything.

  “Oh!” Benton exclaimed, smiling and nodding so his hat flopped forward. “Evening Sun.”

  “Good,” CJ said. “How is it all going here?”

  “Just fine, just fine,” Benton said with a shrug. “I’m saddened my position means I’m unlikely to see any action, but I’ll keep this area secure regardless.”

  CJ nodded, “We don’t have enough intelligence on the inside, so it is pretty likely it all falls apart at least a little. Just be ready to help anyone out if we come rushing out of there. If you see too many-“

  Benton raised his hand, and glanced around with a subtle twist of his head. “Yes, yes, I remember.”

  It would be the first time he did remember anything. But CJ accepted that and motioned for Alyss to follow them. Then they kept pushing through the crowd.

  The plan was simple. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that it was simple because his plan was that efficient. Despite all of their observations, they didn’t know much about the inside of the prison at The Brothers. They paid some people who were previously stuck in there, but even the most recent person that was willing to talk hadn’t been in there for years, and the place was supposedly always being expanded.

  In fact, Larl suspected that very few people were being released from there recently. Checking with the local Torchbearer temple, the priests there were concerned that anyone locked up was being left to rot. They were being given sentences that well outstripped their crime. People were getting in local fights and then getting a year of labor. Once their year was up, a new sentence was announced that they earned while in prison.

  It was hard to figure out how long this problem had persisted, everyone’s stories were a little different. But for at least 2 years being taken by the guards meant you may be vanished, and the last year they saw no one released.

  So CJ had to work on old information, no maps, and with only one for sure bit of information. They knew how many guards were usually on duty, and they knew how many of them were being used to keep the crowd under control as they announced new sentences. The prison was running on a minimum staff, which was going to be CJ’s best chance. They just had to get in and get Brook before she was dragged out the front gate and taken to the stage.

  They moved through the crowd and away from the stage. The stage was set up a short way from the ‘front’ gates of the prison. The prison headed underground almost immediately, so the gate was really the top of a set of stairs that headed down into the first floor of the prison complex. That wasn’t the entrance they planned to take.

  A block away from the prison, they met Welma and Land in an alleyway.

  “Night star,” Welma said as they approached.

  “Morning tide,” CJ said as he raised a hand. “You two wanna lead the way?”

  Welma looked to Land. The young man almost seemed excited. He nodded, and CJ motioned for them to go.

  All of The Brothers was built around the mining. When people were sentenced to prison labor, they went down into a certain part of the nearest mine in Righty. There was another entrance to the mine, and Land lead them all over toward a simple brick building that actually held the other exit. The building was part storage, and part guardhouse. As far as CJ could tell with his eye, it was usually guarded on the outside by one bond, and then another bond was stationed inside. Today there was just the one bond, the other was likely over at the stage.

  “Okay, after you,” CJ said.

  Welma and Land snuck around the side of the building where the two guards were leaning against the wall. It was unlikely for anyone to be stupid enough to try to break into a prison, especially when this entrance really only lead to a mine. One guard was leaning against the wall with his head down in a half nap, the other was putting his weight on his polearm.

  It was over fast. Land clubbed one with a small cudgel, and Welma put the second one in a choke hold. CJ watched across from them. The few windows pointing their direction were empty, the city was so quiet because of the executions.

  “Maybe this will be easy,” Alyss whispered.

  A hand motioned for CJ and bond to come closer, and the four ran to meet Welma as Land used stolen keys to open the door.

  “Hurry up,” Welma said as she carried a guard under the pits.

  CJ and Alyss ran up and grabbed the other guard.

  “I’m hurrying,” Land said as he tried key after key. The door clanked open, and they all piled into a small room with a wooden table and hung guard uniforms. A little further in was a cage with more weapons inside, and then beside it was a mine shaft.

  It was a manual lift shaft, like a platform using a pulley system to turn a bunch of people pulling into the strength needed to move it up and down. But the mechanisms involved were a little fancier than whatever CJ expected. There was some sort of ‘brake’ there to make sure the lift didn’t throw itself off its pulleys. But they were still going to have to use their own strength to get down.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “We’ll go first,” CJ said as he walked over to the wooden platform. “We can clear the way of any guards down there, and then you two follow.”

  Welma nodded, though she was busy shoving the knocked out guards into a corner. “Take uniforms with you, might be useful.”

  They were not clean, and CJ wanted to say no, but it was a good idea. They grabbed some uniforms, and then got onto the rickety platform. It felt like he was floating in the air, and CJ didn’t appreciate the sensation. But he took a deep breath, and then turned up the power of their bond. All at once, he could feel the shock and relief of the other three. They were going to need the extra strength to make the elevator work, which they all immediately agreed was for the best.

  Alyss and Larl started working the rope, and the cart started down in a smooth descent with occasional jerky stops.

  “Okay,” CJ said as they headed down. He didn’t need to speak out loud, they were sharing thoughts rather seamlessly. But it felt good to reiterate their plan.

  “We know Brook should be in her cell, all work has stopped. We can cross the mining floor, get into the prison, and then find her cell. With the place mostly abandoned, it should be easy enough.” CJ said.

  They all nodded. Then the lift came to a slow stop. Mae threw the ‘brake’ to hold the pulley as they got off. There was an unlit lantern there, but the only light in the area was a faint one from above.

  CJ undid the brake after they all got off, and the lift started back up on its own from the counterweight pulling it up.

  “We won’t get lost, will we?” Mae asked as they waited for Welma and Land to come down.

  CJ shook his head. “People work this mine day to day, I feel like it should be easier to navigate than we’d think.”

  Also, Mae had something that could help them. He didn’t know why she was thinking that, but he realized he also didn’t look into her facets. If she had a secret, then he could just look it up. There was a facet, but the relevant one was probably the Feature Facet, which he learned came along with attunements. They were usually less dynamic, but still essential. His Iron Limbs was a good example.

  |White Hot|

  |Feature Facet|

  |Any object held in the hand can be heated up and illuminated using Soulflame. The heat will make the object dangerously hot to anyone that touches it, but the user of the ability is immune to the heat and damage it would cause. If the object is metal, it can glow brightly as if it is much hotter than it is.|

  Mae pulled out Byr’s sword, and it was already glowing red. It wasn’t the instant flame that Byr was capable of with his Purity attunement, but it was already enough that CJ felt secure.

  “Wow,” Larl said.

  Alyss just intently at the blade, but she was impressed and a little sad.

  As the platform came down, Welma and Land watched the soulflame charged blade with awe.

  “That is a nostalgic sight,” Welma said as they stopped the platform. Her and Land were already in guard uniforms. They were even carrying the weapons of the guards from up above.

  “Thank you,” Mae said. “It does bring back good memories.”

  CJ let them marvel for a bit, and then cleared his throat.

  “Okay, we cross the mines together, and then once we hit the prison we can split into two groups. For now, everybody keep an eye out. I don’t have a map down here, so I don’t want to get split up before we have to.”

  Everyone nodded and they headed out, all under the light of Mae’s sword.

  The mine was mostly a tight tunnel. There were clear signs of the labor all around them, carts with gear in them, markers in the walls, but they didn’t see or hear any other people for now.

  Soon they heard a shuffling sound echoing from ahead. His bond all stopped immediately, and Mae snuffed her light, but Larl whispered to Welma and Land to be quiet. They moved into the shadows, and waited.

  A man’s voice preceded him. “I swear I saw it. It was a light coming off the walls just ahead.”

  “This from your phantom noise?” Said a woman.

  They appeared, a pair of guards. They didn’t have weapons out, instead having short swords at their sides. But one was carrying a heavy sack, which she dragged at her side.

  “Can we just leave this here?” asked the female guard. These two guards weren’t even in a bond, they were just two intimidating figures to scare prisoners it seemed.

  It didn’t seem like a good idea to kill them, the bond agreed that they needed to conserve their energy for this Beat. But they could probably be knocked out. That meant less people they had to fight down inside the prison. Larl motioned at Welma and Land to wait, then they sprang into action.

  Alyss and Mae rushed the woman, and CJ came out of the shadows and sucker punched the man. His target dropped quickly, but Alyss and Mae pinned the woman down and covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream.

  CJ came over in the darkness. “We aren’t going to kill you, so you can relax. We’ll be out of your hair soon enough. Nod for yes, shake your head for no. Is the direction you came from the prison?”

  She nodded.

  “Is there another guard posting at the gate? Are they expecting you?”

  She hesitated. But that was as telling as any other response. She was trying to think of which response would make sure he didn’t kill her. Eventually she nodded.

  “Don’t lie,” CJ said, “I’ll know if you’re lying. Do we need your key to get in? Or no and any keyring will work.”

  She thought again, and then nodded yes. So CJ grabbed her keyring off her belt.

  “Put her to sleep,” CJ said as he turned around. Alyss put her into a choke hold, and eventually the guard went limp. They got changed, tied the guards up and gagged them.

  After he was ready, Larl checked the bag. CJ couldn’t see inside, but he felt the contents. It was bits of metal covered in dust, Larl thought they looked like broken stuff taken from people. Some of them were strange, like odd shapes, but Larl didn’t want to make any conclusive statements about what they were or were for.

  “Why did they come all the way down here to throw that out?” CJ asked.

  Welma looked at him confused, and then looked at Larl and went to check what he was seeing. “Look at this Land.”

  “I have an idea,” Larl said, “but if I’m right…”

  It was something nefarious. Larl was trying not to think about it, and the urge for the others to hear more was troubling him.

  “We should get in there, fast,” Welma said. “We’ve wasted enough time with disguises.”

  Welma and Land went first. The pair of them looked more like the pair of guards. CJ and the rest stayed back. The mine area, walls of rock reinforced with wooden supports occasionally, turned into wooden stairs that went up toward a light. CJ looked up from the bottom as Welma and Land climbed the stairs.

  The guards heard the stairs and opened the gate absentmindedly, it was just one man there, his spear against a nearby wall. Once the gate was open and they were close enough, Welma and Land walked tense. They reached a point where the guard watched them intently, then gasped.

  Land pounced, leaping through the open gate and tackling the man. Welma rushed past, and then with no one else to attack, she piled onto the guard. They knocked the guy out and then CJ’s group rushed up to join them.

  The inside of the prison was dark gray brick lit by the occasional torch or orb down the curving hall. There near the entrance to the mine there was a staging area, with places to hook the chains up to the wall, an empty set of cells, and bins of mining equipment going down the hallway. The prison split in two directions from there, the path to the left seemed to be a level pathway, the one to the right was a slight descent.

  “Welma, take the left. If you get stuck or it gets bad, retreat right away.” CJ said.

  She nodded, her and Land running off.

  CJ didn’t have to say the opposite, his group headed down the right path. The walkway curved and went down, with some sections going completely dark when the next torch was too far away. It wasn’t a spiral down, but they definitely walked around long enough to go down about a floor.

  It was a strange construction, but the others weren’t worried about the design. Mae’s mind was still on her new abilities, Alyss was on guard for any signs of assault, and Larl was still thinking about the bag.

  Then they heard voices. Up ahead was the sound of a man moaning in anguish. They sounded old and exhausted, and their wailing echoed up the hallway. As they kept going, the voice got louder and was joined by other quieter voices.

  “I’ll shank you myself if you don’t shut it old man,” said an authoritative voice.

  “Don’t get too loud, he’ll just yell to match you.” Said another man.

  “Quiet both of you, we need the next batch,” said a third.

  At least three of them, which meant it wouldn’t be the easiest fight if they were in a bond. But that was where the prisoners were, and it seemed they were preparing another group to take to the top. They had to act fast. Alyss took the front position and they slowed down so they didn’t sound like a stomping troupe going down the hall.

  “Good news, the old man is on here,” said the third voice, the guard captain.

  “Finally, freedom from that moaning.”

  Alyss lead far enough that she could see but they couldn’t. There were three guards, standing in the middle of a hallway with cells down both sides. The prisoners were kept in spartan rooms, nothing but some straw on the floor for cushion, and a pot. The bars were rusted on some of the cells, but they all looked sturdy enough to hold strong if they didn’t have the proper keys. That meant they couldn’t risk guards getting away.

  “Smother me,” the guard captain was holding a scroll with instructions and looked annoyed. “We’ll need that woman next, we’ll go get her last.”

  They were talking about Brook most likely, so hopefully she was close. That was enough, CJ pulled his sword and rushed up. Alyss started moving in perfect time to strike at the same time as him.

  The captain turned in time to see their fists meet his face in unison.

  “Attack!?” One guard said. “Ring the alarm!”

  Mae rushed up with her sword drawn, and caught the man trying to ready his weapon. A slash to his arms lead to cries of pain and panic. Alyss went to the last guard and CJ joined Mae’s fight.

  The guards were indeed a bond, but they were slower, weaker. The captain was Iron and the other two Burdens. They didn’t seem prepared for anyone but famished and scared prisoners to attack them.

  The prisoners for their credit quickly figured out what was happening, and started to yell. There were cheers, some rattling their cell doors, which woke up any that weren’t already up. Only half the cells were filled at this point.

  Larl looked over the prisoners, while tracking the fight. He wouldn’t help in punching guards, but he would make sure no one took a blow they didn’t have to.

  Like when the guard Alyss was fighting pulled a dagger and tried to catch her with a sneaky stab to the gut. A shield manifested in front of her, blocking the blow and shocking the guard. Alyss slapped him across the face with the pommel of her sword, then kicked him to the ground.

  “Underhanded bastard,” Alyss hissed, “you’re lucky I don’t need to snuff you.”

  The guy struggled to his knees, and Alyss conked him over the head, knocking him out.

  CJ and Mae worked in unison. Her swordplay only lagged behind his by a moment, and that was with his weapon being so much lighter than hers. A slash downward knocking the man’s weapon away, a check to his chest to knock him off balance, and then a crossed slash to drop him. The brief moment of coordination was exhilarating. There was a sensation of triumph, helped by the cheering and yelling prisoners. They were doing it.

  “We will be back!” CJ shouted to the prisoners, and the cheers became louder but a little confused.

  CJ looked around and saw that Larl wasn’t nearby. He knew immediately that he took a side hall. Between two cells was a small hallway, and Larl started investigating it as soon as the fight was a sure deal.

  Then dread invaded the bond, coming from Larl. “CJ, come see this!”

  He didn’t need to, but he did rush over there. The area at the end of the side hall was hotter, and he knew why. There was a furnace there, a place they probably usually used to heat the whole section of the prison. Toss fuel in, and then heat poured out and through the enclosed hallways.

  But the room was being used for more now. CJ entered the room, Mae and Alyss right behind him. There was a table there, and on it was a dead prisoner. It wasn’t just that they were dead, their skin had gone ash gray, and there was a smoldering red mark on their chest.

  The body was kept right in front of the furnace, with a slide to slip the body into the flames when the furnace was going.

  “I was afraid of this,” Larl whispered.

  He didn’t need to say the rest. The Ashen Cult was already here, operating in the prison. They were taking soulstones from prisoners that had them, even burning the bodies. The signs were all around the room, odd occult tools were on a shelf to the side, odd personal items from prisoners were in a pile in the corner. The terrible marks on the dead prisoner were most damning of all.

  “We gotta hurry,” CJ said. “This… just got a lot more complicated.”

  They got back to the main hall and CJ could feel the pressure of the prisoners around him.

  They didn’t know who these prisoners were, some of them very well could be dangerous enough people that they could cause a problem if released. But leaving them there to be executed by the prison, CJ couldn’t do that. He had a specific goal in The Brothers, and starting a full prison riot wasn’t part of it. But there was a way he could make it work.

  “We need to get these people free,” CJ said. “We’re going to set all of you free, I need you to head out through the mines. The guards there have been neutralized. Understand?”

  The prisoners let out a cheer. Some had more specific yells but CJ couldn’t hear it in the storm of voices. There was disagreement within his bond, he could feel that Alyss and Mae were unsure about releasing prisoners, but Alyss was willing to go along with whatever plan. Larl wanted them freed, and immediately.

  Larl moved, finding the proper keys and going to each door to let prisoners out. The first man fled as soon as he was out. The second came hobbling out and waited, then went and helped up the old man in the third cell. Together the two made their way up. Some stayed to help their fellow prisoners, some ganged up with others. By the time Larl was done, there was a stream of men and women leaving the hall.

  “We need to Welma what we know,” CJ said.

  He didn’t like the idea, because he had no clue what comes next. If there was someone from the Ashen Cult down here, he could run into real trouble further down. But anyone they let go, their abilities wouldn’t be available once they got far enough away. That meant there was only one good answer…

  “I’ll go,” Alyss said. “I’ll run up, tell her, and come back.”

  Alyss was their best fighter, by far. She trained him how to fight, got Mae up to speed, and was trained by Byr. But he couldn’t go, and sending Larl alone left him vulnerable. Mae was a possibility, but having CJ and Alyss around was relatively redundant.

  CJ nodded, and Alyss wasted no time. She ran to catch up with the line of escaping prisoners.

  “That means we should move fast.” Mae said as they watched Alyss leave.

  They continued down, further and further. They reached another group of prisoners, and freed them. When they asked they were told that Brook was down in the dungeon, the next level down. So they continued.

  The hallway was dimmer, and CJ could hear sounds up ahead of someone moving around. They heard a woman’s cry of pain, and all together they started to run.

  The hall stopped curving and they were met with an open gate to the next area. Past that was a wide room with several cells around the edges of it. Then straight ahead was a room with an open door, and inside of that room they could see a woman tied down to a table.

  “Go,” CJ said as they rushed through the room. There was no sign of whoever was moving around down there, but CJ made it to Brook’s side.

  She was in her prisoner rags, and it looked like the shirt was torn open to reveal a sizzling wound on her chest. It still burned red, like a small coal was jammed into the pit of flesh. CJ pulled down the gag in Brook’s mouth.

  “Who was here?” CJ asked.

  Larl looked around the room, Mae was checking the other cells.

  Brook’s skin was looking pale. Her time here left her with little strength. She looked up at him, recognition seeping in.

  “You…” she whispered. “Why?”

  “Just a job, sorry,” CJ said. “But now we want to get you out. So, who did this?”

  CJ freed her hands from leather straps, but they fell limp.

  “I can answer that,” said a woman. Mae found someone.

  CJ turned at the same time as Larl. Mae had her hands up and her sword in its sheath as she backed through the main room. In front of her was a woman of the Ashen Cult, she her the greyish skin that CJ was getting used to, and two pit marks in her neck that burned with red. Her hair was cut short and looked uneven and singed at the ends. Her expression was annoyed more than anything, a long face with bored eyes.

  Mae was on the defensive because of what the woman was holding, a twisted knife that let off a strange black smoke.

  “You’ve interrupted my work,” the woman said.

  “And who are you?” CJ asked. With the true bond up, with so much power going back and forth, his eye couldn’t focus. He knew it was collecting information, he would know who she is. But it was more of an intuitive knowledge of base details. He knew she was strong, he knew she was an enemy.

  “I should ask you the same.” She said, pointing Mae into the torture room. Mae backed up and got closer to them.

  “I asked first,” CJ said. “You’ve tortured my friend here, so I’m weighing whether or not to beat your ass. Answer fast.”

  He took a deep breath. He didn’t know Brook enough to be angry about what happened to her in particular. But knowing these Ashen Cult people were torturing prisoners, especially in a place like this that was full of poor laborers, it was cruelty all around.

  She furrowed her brow. “You see a three on one fight and assume you can win, that’s quaint. You should know that you are at a terrible disadvantage. Your friend is being prepared to offer up her services to the Smoldering-That-Remains, you should be so lucky. But if you’re foolish enough to come here, I don’t imagine you’re impressive enough to fit the needs of my experiment. You can join the pile of those remaining.”

  CJ didn’t like the way she said Smoldering That Remains, like it was in italics.

  “That your hope? Feed these people to your dead dragon?” CJ asked, watching the woman as she walked into the room with them.

  She shook her head in exhaustion with the conversation, “think what you want. You won’t do much thinking once I’ve filled you with ash.”

  They had to go, Alyss was too far away to feel while the full bond was up. They didn’t know how the rest of the situation was going in the prison and Brook was not healthy.

  CJ pulled his sword. Which the Ash woman reacted to by touching her free hand to the pits at her neck. When CJ took a step forward, prepared to fight, the woman whipped her hand out and a wave of black ash was thrown toward him. It sizzled in the air, some even popping with little bits of red.

  Larl’s shield appeared, and the sizzling ash struck the manifested shield, and then some kept going! CJ forgot that the shield was less effective against soulflame, this was some kind of magical attack. CJ turned to the side and some of the ash hit him along his shoulder. It immediately began to burn through his leather.

  Mae pulled her blade as well, and charged. She went to slash across near the woman’s head, but the jagged knife blocked the blow. There was a hissing in the air as Mae’s glowing blade met with whatever energy rose from the jagged knife.

  CJ came around to join Mae, but as he moved to position, his shoulder that was hit almost felt heavy. He could see small lines of energy, almost like tiny bonds, going from where the ash struck him over to the woman.

  He ignored it and came in with an overhead blow. She broke contact with Mae just in time to leap back.

  Pressure. This woman’s powers were magical in some way, she was able to fight at range. Her stance was stiff, but not as if she didn’t know how to fight. It was her style, she was someone that fought in a regulated arena. They had to make this fast, they couldn’t let her have the fight she wanted.

  She ducked Mae swinging, then swooped out of the way of CJ. She tossed another hand of ash at them and CJ stepped in the way, using Larl’s shield to eat most of the sizzling hot ash. More sprayed across his chest, and he could feel the burning points of heat where it was digging through his armor.

  “This is embarrassing,” she said as she leaped a low swing from Mae, “you should quit, you won’t have to die tired.”

  CJ came for a strike, and cut it short. The woman leaped back regardless, and her back thumped against a cell. She was up against a wall.

  CJ and Mae grinned. They both came in, Mae high and CJ low. As the strike came in, CJ ignored the increased burning across his body, and the lines of power streaking toward the Ashen caster.

  She touched her neck again, and then their blades struck. They crunched into a layer of ash, her skin giving way to ash instead of muscle and bone. Then she slipped away from them.

  “You know I can do this forever right?” She said. “Your souls may not be properly ground down yet, but you’re already powering my every move. You’ll lose as you burn away your flame for this beat, but I can work on mere embers.”

  “Just means we need to kill you faster, huh?” CJ asked. “I can live with that.”

  The woman lifted her nose at them. “Then you’re just a dullard.”

  She grabbed the ash from her neck once more as Mae and CJ rushed her. CJ saw a glimmer from the amount of power she was drawing out of herself, and then it was supplemented by power from him. She really was draining his strength for her own. It shimmered before she pulled the hand in front of her mouth and blew.

  “Down!” CJ shouted.

  CJ dropped, but Mae tripped up before she could sink down. Instead she covered her head and made it to her knees. The shield was able to manifest again, but it meant nothing.

  A wall of black flame exploded outward. It swept out like a plume of smoke, but CJ could feel the heat, an insidious energy. It didn’t light up the darkness, it dimmed the room instead.

  Mae took too much of the hit, and she let out a scream of pain that was felt among the three of them. CJ and Larl yelled in kind, Mae’s pain becoming theirs. She collapsed the rest of the way to the ground, her light armor charred black and still sizzling.

  CJ tried to get back to his feet, but the woman stayed there giggling at Mae writhing in flame.

  “One down, one more to go,” she said. “What is the plan now, little fighter?”

  Then a knife flashed between them, just barely missing both of them and stabbing into the wall just behind the ashen woman. Her eyes turned toward the source, just in time to see the second before it struck her in the shoulder.

  “Ah! Snuff it all!” She said as she stumbled back.

  CJ turned to see Brook, slumped but on her feet. Standing next to her was a copy of herself.

  “One down, three to go,” CJ said.