It was like walking down the stairs at night and missing a step. Where you expected solid ground, there was nothing but air, and now you found yourself plummeting in a sudden flood of fear. Raith took some time in [Staccato] to catch his breath and get to the point where he could think again. It was only a matter of time before the assassins closed in they did not have seconds to waste on him panicking.

  “Get everyone in here, now.”

  Thea hurried off without a word, and within minutes the entire team was crowded into his room, including Zinny. Thea briefed them on the letter and Raith watched the horror creep over each of their faces.

  “Let me start out by saying that anyone who wants to run, do it now.”

  He looked pointedly at Tolliver when he spoke, who stared awkwardly at the ground but made no move to leave. He knew without a doubt that Nyhm wasn’t going anywhere, and he desperately wanted to order Thea to go but she wouldn’t listen.

  “Guess we’re all in, then. Here’s the situation. We are in one of the main strongholds of the Assassin’s Guild, and they almost certainly know I’m here. This is an unfamiliar city where we don’t know anyone and can’t trust anyone to help us.”

  “What about the Players?” Nyhm asked.

  Raith shook his head.

  “They aren’t fighters and I won’t put them in danger. I don’t know anything about the Thieves’ Guild politics here or their relationship with the assassins, so that’s out. Tolliver, what about the Mage’s Guild?”

  The pale [Mage] shrugged helplessly.

  “I am similarly ignorant of their politics and alliances this far from home. I do know that the Mage’s Guild generally has an amenable working relationship with the assassins, and utilizes their services on occasion.”

  “Dammit. We’re sitting ducks if we stay in the city, so I think the priority should be getting out undetected. We can plan our next step after that.”

  Thea held up a finger and her eyes went wide.

  “What about Cross? She has that fancy wagon and is certainly capable of defending herself. If we’re really lucky, maybe Pridian will come along, too.”

  Raith knew better than to hope they’d be that lucky, but it was the best idea they had to work with.

  “Tolliver, fly back to the Mage’s Guild and see if you can locate Cross. Tell her we need to be smuggled out of the city and be honest about why so she can make an informed decision about getting involved. Return here the moment you have an answer. Does everyone still have their anti-scrying amulets on?”

  They all held them up to show that they were still wearing them.

  “Good. Pack up your stuff and meet back in here. We need to be ready to run as soon as Tolliver gets back.”

  Everyone left to carry out his instructions, and Raith plopped onto his bed and put his face in his hands. He again thought of going it alone and just running now. It might be his team’s only chance to avoid sharing his fate to die at the end of an assassin’s blade. His inability to just leave in order to spare them made him feel like a coward.

  I don’t think I can do this alone.

  The problem was, he probably couldn’t do this with everyone’s help either. None of them were powerful enough to fend off the guild for long. Just as he was working up the resolve to flee out the window to save his friends, Nyhm came back into the room. He met Raith’s eyes calmly, as though he knew exactly what he’d been about to do.

  “You aren’t going anywhere without me.”

  “Nor me,” Thea said as she stepped through the door with Zinny close behind.

  “Can I use my special arrows on the assassins?” Zinny asked, and Raith couldn’t help but smile.

  “You can absolutely use all of your arrows on the assassins.”

  Nyhm made everyone some calming tea while they waited impatiently for Tolliver’s return. It would be dark soon, and Raith knew their chances of survival went down considerably if they were stuck in the city after the sun went down. The daylight was probably the only thing keeping them safe even here in the Adventurer’s Guild.

  It felt like an eternity before the bat finally flew back through the window and transformed, but there was still light in the sky so it couldn’t have been too long they had waited.

  “Cross has agreed to get us out of the city immediately. We are to meet her at the stables three blocks from here, as this building is almost certainly being watched. I fear I do not know how to get us to the stables undetected.”

  “Why don’t we just turn invisible?” Zinny asked cheerfully.

  Raith let out a sigh.

  “Can you turn us all invisible?” he asked, daring to hope.

  “No. I can only make people not notice me.”

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  “Weaver’s tits, Zinny. We don’t have time for this shit.”

  Her face took on an uncharacteristically serious countenance.

  “Phineas can do it. He probably can’t make so many big folk invisible for very long, but he could get us to the stables. He’s a very good boy.”

  Tolliver cleared his throat.

  “I can create a sphere of silence. Between the faerie dragon and I we should be able to remain undetected.”

  They quickly enacted the plan, moving carefully, if a bit awkwardly though the guildhall. Getting outside proved to be the trickiest part. The team hit a stroke of luck when the kitchen left the door open for a minute to shuttle out several cans of garbage after the dinner rush, and they darted into the alley out back. From there, it was a simple matter of avoiding bumping into anyone until they arrived at the stables.

  Cross sat calmly on her wagon towards the back of the barn. Raith wasn’t sure if she’d cleared out the stablehands on purpose, but after waiting quietly a few minutes and examining the area intently with [Hawksight] he was convinced no one else was there.

  He’d expected the old caravaner to startle when they dropped the invisibility, but she was too seasoned an adventurer for that. Without a word, she nodded back to the wagon and they piled in through the familiar steel banded doors. He’d expected the inside to have some lingering odor from the whyver, but all he smelled was wood. It was clean and bare, with thick steel rings along the edges to secure cargo and a neat coil of rope in the corner.

  The moment the door shut, the wagon lurched into motion. No one spoke as they were jostled and bounced through the city streets. They all held their breath at the gate, muffled voices of Cross speaking with the guards barely audible through the thick wooden walls. Raith nearly jumped as someone let out a bark of laughter, but the wagon soon resumed its journey.

  Raith guessed it was about two hours before they finally stopped. The little window at the front slid open, and Cross’s voice came through.

  “We’re here. You all can come out now.”

  They stepped out into a dark, moonless night. Cross had brought them to the bottom of a nearby canyon. The road continued to wind up the other side, separated from them by a shallow, rocky stream. Their driver pointed down the canyon to their left.

  “There’s a good shelf up the side of the canyon wall a few hundred yards around the bend. I’ll catch a caravan back through here in a few days and pick you up to head back west. If you leave before then, just leave a stack of rocks along the road. There’s no one else out here, so I’ll know what it means.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you for this.”

  She waved him off with a sun weathered hand.

  “I wouldn’t be here today if people hadn’t done me a good turn now and again over the years. It’s just my turn to pay it back. If you want to thank me, just remember to help out the next lot of pathetic youngins who need it.”

  With a smile and a wink, she took the reins and sent her horses back the way they came. The team made their way around the bend where Cross had indicated. Sure enough, about thirty feet up was a flat shelf of rock a few dozen feet across. It was sheer on all sides except the one furthest from them, which had a narrow but gentle slope to the top.

  Raith considered the strategic value of the spot. He could easily scale the canyon wall up or down and even jump off if he needed to. Tolliver and Zinny could fly, but Nyhm and Thea were a different story.

  “That looks pretty defensible, but I’m afraid some of us could get trapped up there.”

  “I can jump down from the height, no problem,” Nyhm reassured him.

  Thea pulled out a seed and grew her [Vine Gauntlet]. Aiming her fist upwards, a tangle of vines crept towards the top of the shelf, snaking over the side and finding purchase in the crevices above. As soon as the tendrils were set, the vines began to retract and pull her upwards at a slow clip.

  “See you on top,” she said with a smile.

  Raith returned the smile and began to scramble up the wall, racing her to the shelf. When she saw him overtaking her steady ascent, she frowned, but evidently could not make the vines retract any faster. He got to the top well ahead and gave a little whoop of triumph. It echoed off the canyon walls, and he slapped a hand over his mouth in alarm.

  The reminder of their precarious state was sobering, and the Myth Seekers set up the makeshift camp in silence after that. Raith went back to where Cross had dropped them off and brushed out their tracks up to the base of their hideout. Any leaving they had to do over the next few days would be away from the road to avoid exposing their position.

  “We’ll have two on watch at all times. Tolliver, you’re the only one who patrols up top, and only as a bat. I don’t want anyone spotting us on the mesa, and people can see a long way out here.”

  “What about me?” asked Zinny. “With Phineas, I can be invisible, remember?”

  “I do. And I need you both to invisibly patrol the canyon and make sure no monsters sneak up on us. Assassins aren’t the only thing we need to worry about out here.”

  She seemed satisfied with the importance of the task and gave him a solemn salute.

  They fell into a silent routine for the next three days. Patrol, sleep, watch, rest, patrol again. Raith found the tracks of an alarmingly large cat, but whatever it was never came close enough to bother them.

  Night fell on the third day with no sign of Cross. No one wanted to voice their concerns, but they were all wondering what they would do if she didn’t show. As the sun began to touch the horizon on the fourth day, Raith was about to open discussions for an alternate plan when Tolliver returned from patrol with the news.

  “She’s coming. Less than a mile out and moving fast.”

  Raith breathed a sigh of relief.

  “How big is the caravan?”

  The [Mage] frowned at this.

  “It was her wagon alone.”

  Everyone had gathered around and shot a look of concern in the direction of the road. Raith tried to remain optimistic.

  “Maybe no one is heading west right now. Many prefer to go south to the coast rather than risk the Arhnzee Plains.”

  They packed their things in case it was time to leave. It would be easy enough to set back up if they needed to stay a couple more days. The team arrived next to the road just as the horses crested the canyon above and began to wind their way down.

  Even as the deepening dusk cast long shadows throughout the canyon, Raith’s keen sight was able to make out the sickly pallor to Cross’s face as she pulled the wagon to a stop beside them.

  “Are you ok?”

  She gave him a wan smile.

  “Been a rough couple of days, and I’m not feeling so hot.”

  Raith walked over, team close behind, and smiled up at her.

  “Well, I appreciate you coming even though you’re sick. What’s the plan?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but started coughing. The cough turned into a deep hacking noise, and Raith climbed up next to her with concern.

  “Do you need a healing potion? Or Nyhm might be able to brew something for you.”

  He glanced back at his brother for confirmation as he placed a comforting hand on her back. Nyhm’s eyes shot wide, and Raith felt her slipping towards him beneath his hand. He turned to look as Cross’s headless body flopped onto his lap, a slow trickle of blood leaking out onto his leg. The head tumbled the other direction, thumping onto the floor and then rolling off to land face down in the sand.

  Raith jumped up and leapt backwards off the wagon, whipping out his rope dart as his companions similarly prepared. A man cloaked in impenetrable shadow rose up from on top of the wagon and made tsking sound.

  “You broke my puppet before I was done playing with it. That wasn’t very nice.”

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