“I told you this was a stupid plan!” Ameena screamed as they ran through the streets, bolts and arrows flying past her head as she ducked out the way. Ellis held his crossbow behind his head as he raced after her.

  “We got 'em right where we want' em!” Michael shouted back, most of those projectiles plowing into his back as they sprinted down side streets, their pursuers right on their tails.

  They had left right after sunrise because Michael wouldn’t wake up when it was dark. This time, they didn’t even make it to the tunnels before they were attacked. The side alley they were walking through was cut off on both ends, the windows above them shattering as the men and women started to rain down arrows and bolts.

  Sometimes the arrows would double or triple in midair right before they struck, and one woman held her hand under a pot, steam rising out of the top of it a moment later. She threw the large pot with that hand, oil splashing where they had just been and catching Ellis’s arm before he could react. Ellis realized that the people of the underground had learned from their last encounter with them, and decided that keeping their distance was the safest bet.

  Ellis activated his ring, but still ran with his one arm hung limp at his side. He realized the hard way that the ring didn’t mitigate old damage, only incoming. His arm was covered in black oil, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. Even now the flesh burned, no matter how much he pleaded it not too.

  They had fought their way out of the trap, Michael cutting down the men blocking their path that led toward the underground entrance. Once they broke out onto the street separating the houses from the wall, they saw every window that lined the road between where they exited and their hopeful destination held dozens of snarling men and women, all eager to continue riddling their attackers with more arrows.

  It took one look at the waiting ambush for Ameena to take out that ‘insurance’ stone of hers, but Michael grabbed it out of her hand, turned on his heel and started sprinting right back the way they had come. He got a few more bolts for his effort, before he broke through the other side of the alley.

  Now, two minutes later and hundreds of meters from where the ambush had started, they were still sprinting, their attackers not giving them an ounce of reprieve.

  “Michael! Travelstone!” Ameena shouted for the fifth time, smacking him on his shoulder as she did so.

  “Just wait! We lure some of them away and then double back! We can hit them from the opposite side!”

  “You fool! Someone must have already told the guard! We will never have another chance again!” She roared, a vein bulging out of her neck as she ran.

  They had been lucky so far. They hadn’t passed many civilians on their retreat, but Ellis knew those they had passed would be running off to tell someone, sooner rather than later. And now, Ellis could hear the usual city activity in the streets ahead, and realized their luck was running out. Ameena turned down one alley that was hidden from Ellis’s eye. Trying his best to slow down and take the turn, Michael smashed into him from behind, sandwiching Ellis between his broad chest and the alley wall as he bounced off of the brick.

  Despite his ring's protection, Ellis’s head shook as much as the wall did, his arm no longer hurting since all he could focus on was the stars dancing in his eyes. They started to dissipate, Ellis finding himself lying flat on his back and staring at the sky. Michael had his sword drawn and was facing the mouth of the alley with Ameena behind him, her dagger and wand held aloft as she waited for their pursuers.

  Ameena was cursing with as much force her mouth could allow, since the alley was a dead end. Ellis managed to get to his feet, but he couldn’t load the crossbow with his dead arm. So he slung it over his shoulder, and pulled out his stolen dagger.

  Ellis saw Ameena wave her hand as the first man entered the alley. His snarling face disappeared and was replaced by his own hand right as Michael swung his sword. He cut through the man’s wrist like a knife through butter. The scream that leapt from his mouth made Ellis wince, but then his companions started rounding the corner and dragged the screaming man away from the swinging sword that tried to disembowel him.

  Some of his companions tried to enter the alley after the screaming man, but a few more missing limbs convinced them that was a bad idea. They started to spread out just outside the alley, now throwing rocks while waiting for their bowmen to catch up, just out of reach of Michael’s sword.

  “Ellis! We could use some bolts now!” Michael shouted, cutting away at the rocks flying towards him with a flick of his blade.

  “My arm doesn’t work! Ameena! Here!” he shouted, tossing his crossbow at her before putting the dagger between his teeth. Stumbling up next to her, he shoved the quiver stuffed with bolts towards her, cursing at his own useless injury.

  She holstered her dagger and caught the crossbow in one smooth motion. Bringing her palm filled with blue up, she shoved it directly into his burnt shoulder before loading the crossbow. The burn slowed, then stopped as she pointed the crossbow over Michael’s shoulder, and pulled the trigger. Bolts leapt from its mouth and crashed into the legs of the men waiting outside the alley. She loaded it within two seconds and fired again. And again. And again.

  Most of their pursuers started retreating within the first two volleys. They started falling back from the onslaught, jumping behind each other to escape the sudden volley of bolts flying their way. That did not save them, and Ameena walked forward, leaving the alley with Michael in tow and continued to fire at their fleeing backs. The pursuers ran away screaming, bolts littering the back of their legs and arses as they did so.

  Michael hummed and hawed, like he wanted to chase them but was deciding against it, before whistling as he looked Ameena up and down. “Damn lady, why don’t you use the crossbow? Seems to suit you nicely.”

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  “Because that little display took most of my mana. I can’t even fully heal you now,” she said, handing the crossbow back to Ellis.

  Ellis thanked her while looking at Michael. He could not fathom how a man could look so similar to a pincushion. His every extremity was covered in bolts, and his back was littered with the projectiles.

  “You got a little something on your… everywhere?” Ellis remarked as he tested the burnt arm. It was stiff, and pained every time he lifted it past his shoulder, but it was far better than earlier.

  Michael thought about it, before a mortified expression crossed his face. “...Please don’t tell me I have bolts in my ass?”

  “...You don’t have bolts in your ass,” Ellis lied.

  Ameena grunted. “Of course you do, we’ll remove them later.”

  Michael pouted at the revelation, patting his own backside as he felt around for the wood sticking out of it.

  Ameena ignored his pouting and held out her hand. “Come on, we’re going back to Leno’s place.”

  “What? Now is the time for us to double back! To flank em!” Michael protested.

  If Ameena’s voice could tiptoe, it did so now. “We could… but I believe they have the entire area surrounding the tunnel we are trying to break into locked down. There is no real way for us to ‘flank' em’. And you need to heal.”

  “Then heal me. And they won’t expect us to attack them again. It will be easy!” He said, placing his hands on hips to mock Ameena’s stance.

  “I don’t have enough mana to fully heal you. And… from the amount of blood leaking out of your thigh, I think they nicked an artery. It’s going to take a while to heal you, Michael. We can try again tomorrow, okay?”

  Michael swore, shook his head once before his jaw locked. “Fine. Fine! Come on then.”

  He started marching down the road, bolts tearing through more of his flesh with every step he took. Ameena and Ellis glanced at each other, before Ellis cleared his throat loudly. “Michael? Do you wanna use the travelstone? I think you might turn a few too many heads looking like that.”

  Michael stopped in his tracks, swore under his breath, before marching back towards them while fishing the travelstone out of his pocket. “Fine! We’ll use the fucking teleportation stone!”

  He held it out in front of him, and Ameena lifted the travelstone out of his hand like she would never let it be stolen again. Grabbing the back of Ellis’s neck and Michael's arm, they went from standing in an alley covered in blood and arrows to standing next to a bunch of bodies, unsalted and now stuffed in the corner.

  Ellis’s eyes widened. Not because of the stench. If the bodies were unsalted, it meant that the neighbours might smell it and come poke around to see what’s going on. But far, far worse than that? It might attract the ants. And from where Ellis was standing, he thought he saw a tiny black speck disappear into one of the guard’s clothes.

  Ellis and Ameena both threw hateful glances at Michael, but any complaints died as they heard the sound of boots rampaging throughout the house, men calling out Leno’s name. He could hear them rummaging through every nook and cranny, counters being turned upside down and beds being thrown over like Leno was hiding from them.

  They all tiptoed over to the door, Ameena snarling at Michael and Ellis every time they made a slight noise. They pressed their ears against the wood and eavesdropped on their new houseguests.

  “Have you found something?” A gruff voice called out to the house.

  “No sir!” The men answered back, the frantic searching somehow growing even more frantic at the sound of the voice.

  “Are you sure? Because I don’t know if you fucking noticed, but that smell is the stink of death! And none of you can find a thing!?”

  “Maximus, sir! It might just be a dead rat! We have looked everywhere, and we can’t find it!” A shaky voice answered.

  “Rotting rats don’t smell like that unless their whole nest died! None of you may leave the house until you have found the source of that smell! We don’t want ants coming here!” The voice, Maximus, called back, before the sound of a door slamming echoed throughout the house.

  Muttered complaints followed soon after.

  Ellis whispered when the sound of wooden boards being ripped up started. “I think we need a new fall back point.”

  A vein had popped out of Ameena’s forehead. “Michael. Why did you not salt the bodies?”

  He ignored her. “I count three to five of em. Let’s just kill 'em, it’d be easier that way.”

  Ellis heard at least seven. He didn’t correct him.

  Ameena looked like she was trying to strangle her wand. “Give it a moment. And yes, Ellis, you are correct. We need to find somewhere else to lay low.”

  Nodding, Ellis placed his ear to the door since another conversation had started up between the guards. The conversation sounded like they were having it on the stairs right above where the trio were hiding.

  “Did you really see him two days ago?” said the first man. He had a higher voice that betrayed his youth.

  “Him and the rest!” responded a second voice, almost equal to the first in youth except accompanied by a nasal quality, like he was suffering from the springtime air. “They said they were coming here to celebrate. I don’t know where they went and why they didn’t answer the call to serve, but it’s not like them. Their off days wouldn’t have the men just… leave! They should be somewhere in the city, we just need to find them.”

  It didn't take Ellis much imagination to know the first youth was shaking his head. “Guards disappearing into thin air, a gang war, and now mana users roaming the streets! What the fuck is happening to our city?”

  “I don’t know. But just wait until I get my hands on those bastards. You know the description right?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I got it. It was a…”

  “What are they saying?" Ameena whispered, interrupting Ellis’s eavesdropping.

  Ellis glanced back at her, thanking the gods his plan the day before had worked. “They’re talking about mana users. They’re describing us.”

  Ameena cursed once again, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Those bastards! Those rotten, ambushing cowards! They ratted us out!”

  Michael shrugged from behind her, leaning against the wall without a care in the world. “Maybe. It doesn’t matter now. Why are we waiting?”

  “We are waiting to see if their numbers thin out,” Ameena answered.

  Michael sighed, and twiddled his thumbs against the door. But Ellis did not hear anything else he deemed important for himself or for them.

  “Ameena,” Ellis whispered, trying to speak only so that she could hear.

  “What?” She whispered back.

  “Cast an illusion of that voice? Tell them to leave? Or maybe the sound of a fight outside the house?”

  “If you do that I will break that door down and leave you to fight them alone, Ellis,” Michael answered for her.

  “Michael, it’s a good plan—” Ameena said, like she was defending him. She was silenced when Michael’s lazy stare turned to her.

  “It’s a great plan if you want to avoid the fight, and I don’t wanna do that. Besides, I wanna level… Or does killing guards upset you now?” he said, gesturing at the bodies right behind them.

  He looked at Ameena when he said this, but Ellis knew that he was the one being questioned. He looked away, in case he gave the answer he truly felt. Ameena was silent for a moment, the air thick as they stared at each other. It was broken when a loud voice echoed throughout the house.

  “Boys! I found something under the stairs! Come help me!”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed, and a grin tugged at his lips. “Well?”

  Ellis’s heart sank at her response.

  “...Let’s make it quick, at least.” Ameena said.

  “Then get out of the way,” Michael said, stepping in front of the door and kicking it off its hinges.