"Move it or you're gonna lose your head!"

Clearly Jace was more concerned with summoning his steam drakes than the collapsing highbeam above us, so it was up to me to grab the sleeve of his cloak and drag him out of the way – in the nick of time, might I add. His weight threw me off balance, and we both went tumbling to the floor in a heap. The mass of splintering wood met marble right where we had just stood with a sickening crack.

I coughed and pulled my vest up over my face to shield myself from the cloud of dust. When it finally settled enough so that I could breathe – and actually open my eyes without feeling as if they were on fire – I realized that I was lying halfway across the mage's chest, and that his arm had reached out to catch my fall. I flushed instinctually. Dammit Rana, now is not the time!

Jace noticed me staring, and I could swear that when his eyes met mine, I saw him flush too. Wishful thinking.

Kelmor came hurrying up the hallway after us then, plate armor a-clatter. Jace's three drakes keened and swooped to follow him, and came to a neat stop at both of our feet, wings beating the air back hard as they landed on the cracked floor. Jace still hadn't made a move to push me off of him, and I sure as hells wasn't going to be the one to break that – Well, not for a few more seconds at least, anyway. It's purely for the sake of progress! Getting along is better than not getting along right now…

"Do yeh hafta be so messy when yeh cast yer spells, lass?" Kelmor hefted his already-bloodied battleaxe over one shoulder, and let out a derisive snort. "Yeh nearly crushed the both o' ya with that last'n!"

I scowled, and stood swiftly, drawing myself up to my full height as I took a step closer to him. Well, there goes my goal of not being the first one to get up. "At least I got her!" I gestured with a wave at the still form of the fae guard that had charged us, coming out of nowhere from around a corner and straight at my head. I hadn't been too pleased at the thought that I was killing a person this time and not just a summon, but I had had no choice – it was either "be a simpering pacifist," or "get some absurdly pointy weapon shoved in through one eye socket and out the other ear." I couldn't even tell what it had been – My blast of dark magic had rendered it into a twisted lump of steel, unusable and unrecognizable, beside her ashen body. No use trying to figure it out now.

Kelmor shook his head. I could hear Jace scrabbling against the slick marble behind me to get his footing, and then he swore quietly under his breath. Should've worn better boots. "Still…we can' just keep stoppin' here 'n' there 'cause yeh've gotta avoid bein' flattn'd by the scenery. They'll catch up ta us a' this rate!"

As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. It had taken enough for Doran, Broadbark, Odum, and all of the other treefolk (along with Kelmor's…horde, too, I supposed) to busy the army of fae defenders, and to create an effective enough diversion by the main entrance for the three of us to slip in unnoticed. Those defenders would start branching off and pouring in after us soon, and I certainly didn't want our allies' efforts to go to waste. We had to get moving. And I did have to be a bit more careful.

Pressing my fingertips between my eyebrows, I sighed. "Fine, fine. The throne room's just up ahead, then?"

Kelmor nodded. "Aye. She en't gonna leave until the las' man's down ou' there. We're gonna hafta take the fight to her, if'n we wan' ta do so at all."

"I'm assuming you haven't changed your mind on that." Jace came up to stand beside me, brushing the dust off of his cloak and what was visible of his leathers. I glanced over at him, and saw him clench his gloved, etherium fist.

Kelmor nodded again. "Aye. Yeh got tha' right, boyo."

The mage smirked. The sight of his cocky, confident smile was familiar, and it lifted my spirits just a little – but at the same time, there was something about it that unsettled me. Whenever he looked at Kelmor, he got the oddest gleam in those blue eyes of his. I wanted to call it curiosity, almost, but…that didn't seem quite right. Suspicion, perhaps? It was the best guess I had.

And if Jace is suspicious of Kelmor, then maybe I should-

"Alright then." Jace clapped his hands together, and turned to face the drakes that stood, patiently, several feet away from both us and Kelmor. Their tails swished delicately behind them, and their pale grey tongues flickered out to taste the air every few seconds or so. All six of their beady little eyes were focused on their summoner. "I'll send these three in first, to give her something to handle and distract her until we can get close. Sound fair enough to you?"

Kelmor grunted. With a scrape and a clank he pulled his battleaxe down from his shoulder, and slapped the far end of the handle into his awaiting palm. I winced at the proud red-and-silver shine of the blade, at the way he handled the heavy, curved thing as easily as if it were a child's toy. How much practice had he had with it, to be able to whip it around like that? It was so wicked looking…and even the tips of the handle were spiked at the ends…

Could I ask you a favor, Rana?

Jace's voice snapped me out of my thoughts in an instant, and I blinked before looking up at him. My mind was still half-elsewhere. It took me, in fact, more than several seconds to realize that he was speaking telepathically instead of out loud. What is it?

The mage's hand touched my arm, briefly, before he pulled his cloak's hood up over his head. Just get moving, first. He'll start wondering what's going on if we just stop and stare at each other like we're doing.

Oh! Right, sorry. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jace whispered something to his drakes and then snapped his fingers, sending them soaring off down the hallway and around a corner. Despite their immense size, they moved far more silently than I had expected them to. The three of us set off at a brisk jog after them, throwing looks over our shoulders for pursuers. At least as of yet, there were none.

It was a good minute before I heard Jace's voice in my head again. When I stole a look to my left, I saw that his gaze was fixed straight ahead. His eyes were narrowed dangerously. Behind him, the orderly pattern of tapestries and intricate, organic wooden archways whizzed by in a blur. I need to know what you think about Kelmor.

Me? I already told you what I thought, when we-

That doesn't count. We were under duress then. He had us surrounded on all sides by his menagerie, and even if he wasn't actively threatening us, it was still a hostile situation. I want to know what you think NOW.

So I had been right. Something about the dwarf wasn't sitting well with Jace, after all. Well, I think it's pretty damn convenient that we've only had one or two guards catch up to us, if that's what you're asking.

I could almost feel Jace's eyebrow twitch. Nice to know it's not just me. I don't trust this guy one bit. Yeah, he hasn't done anything YET, but…

…it all seems like it's falling together too easy. I finished Jace's thought as easily as if it had been my own, and now I could feel my eyes starting to narrow as we rounded another corner. I think Doran's too excited to get his tribe and his life back to normal to really look into what Kelmor's plans are, if you ask me.

Or he just doesn't care. To him, any leader is better than the one they have now. Jace's breath was coming hard and fast as he picked up the pace from a jog to a run. I could see the anxiety in his expression, and when we all heard a loud crash from up ahead, followed by a tremendous, roaring screech from what I assumed to be his drakes, it morphed to a look of full-on dread. His muscles visibly tensed, and for a second his eyes flashed a brilliant blue.

"Wha' was tha'?" Kelmor puffed from behind us.

Jace gritted his teeth. "Something's not right," he shouted. The words were for Kelmor only, because almost immediately after they left his mouth, I heard in my head, Stay with me, Rana. I don't know if we're about to run into a trap, but if we are, I'd rather us do it together than alone. At least that way we have two minds working on a way to get out.

There was no tender-heartedness in the way his tone resounded against my skull, but nevertheless his words warmed me. At the very least, it showed that he cared enough to be concerned for my well-being – and that was a Jace whom I could work with. I knew that I wasn't going to get a chance to discuss what had happened between us for quite some time, in all likelihood, but that really didn't matter right now.

All that did was making it through what lay ahead of us in one piece.

The high, sweeping archways of the throne room doors were upon us as soon as we rounded the final corner, and came to a halt at the foot of the carpeted steps leading up to their dais.

The massive wooden panels had been ripped from their hinges by some great force – Jace's drakes, from the looks of the claw marks that gouged them – leaving the room beyond bare for anyone to see. It was composed nearly entirely of panes of colored glass that had somehow been fastened between the tree branches of the forest's natural flora, growing up and around and through everything until the room was more…well…tree, than room. Contrary to the mass of tapestries that had covered the walls on our way here, what few walls there were in this place were unadorned. The only decoration at all that I could see was a thick, plush green carpet, leading up and around the dais upon which stood the ornately carved throne itself.

Upon that throne sat a figure cloaked in shadow. Small, slight. Nearly impossible to see clearly, and in truth, hardly a presence at all.

At its feet we could see the last remnants of Jace's drakes vanishing into the aether, joining back with the substance from whence they came.

"Well, well," came a soft, feminine voice from within those shadows, "this is a surprise."

She giggled. "Welcome back, my dear General."