"It looks like here," Angry pointed through the twilight, her dark eyes squinting through the branches of a scraggly pine. Red was at her shoulder, her freckled expression a determined pout. True to the Lady's word, the river had narrowed considerably here; its once gushing flow was now a calmer stream. The river was also deeper, and the bank had transformed into a steep gulch. A dark pit in the browning grass indicated where a tree had once been, the soil overturned by the storm's violent uprooting of the vanished conifer. Angry chewed her lip when she saw far down the river was. She flashed Varian a venomous glance over her shoulder. "Any bright ideas, alchemist? They'll be here soon, and once they see this, Lady Cain will freak out."

Varian knew the tree would no longer be there, but seeing it for himself really drove home how difficult this was going to be. He had bristled, his face screwed into a consternated frown. He looked to Shay, who didn't seem any happier than he was. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

Shay said nothing, but she made a small noise in her throat that clearly indicated reluctance.

Varian blew out his cheeks. "Okay. Everybody, get ready to climb down."

Angry gave a cough of disbelief. "Are you serious? There's no way we can get across once we reach the bottom!"

"There will be a way," Varian hissed back.

"Fine," Angry sneered, and she gestured to Red. "Let's go." They both darted out through the grass like a couple of field mice, and Varian saw them produce two thin coils of rope from the satchels at her waists. Crouching low, they found a craggy outcropping to lash onto. They turned to repel, and Angry flashed Varian and Shay a rude gesture before she disappeared over the edge.

"Rudiger," Varian beckoned, and the racoon scrambled up onto his shoulder. Shay scooped up Killy with trembling hands and tucked the hare into the pocket of her apron before following Varian out to the edge of the gulch. Varian pulled out a curious woven cord (of his own design, of course) with a metal spike at the end that he drove into the ground with his foot. "Let's see," he peered over the edge, calculating in his head. "Seventy times…carry the four…I should have plenty." He felt Rudiger's claws pinch the fabric of his jacket as he bent down to one knee. "Get on," he told Shay. He felt her arms wind around his neck, and he hiked her legs up over his arms before grabbing the rope firmly with both hands.

"Are…" Shay gulped loudly in Varian's ear. "Are you afraid of heights?"

Varian chuckled. "No. No, of course not." But even as he said it, he felt his stomach twist as he started descending into the gulch. It was true that he wasn't afraid of heights; the problem was that he'd never climbed down a rough rock face with an extremely anxious girl clinging to his back like a shivering monkey.

Down below, he could hear Angry call up to him. "What's taking you so long?" Varian couldn't see over his shoulder with Shay on his back, but he heard a light smack from Red as she silently chided her pugnacious companion. "What? If he's going to talk it, he should be walking it. Come on!" she called again. "You could always drop her!"

"I hate her," Shay muttered, then gasped when Varian shifted her weight. "Don't you dare!"

"Will you relax?" Varian grunted, trying to find his next foothold. "If you stopped strangling me for five seconds, I could do this better!"

He heard Angry snigger. "Doubt it. Nice butt, by the way!"

Varian's face flushed when he heard Red give a girlish giggle. "Unbelievable."

"At least she's not calling you 'tuts,'" Shay grumbled. "I swear, if she calls me that again, I'll turn her into a slug."

"You'd be doing us both a favor," Varian panted. The dark of night began to loom as the sun's final rays slipped beyond the gulch. "Of course, if you did that, we – " He never finished his sentence, because the crevasse he'd stuck his foot into collapsed under his weight. They started falling, Rudiger crying out in Varian's ear. Shay's chokehold cut off his air supply; the sudden loss of breath made his grip tighten as a burst of adrenaline flooded his system, and the leather of his gloves ground into his skin as they screeched to an abrupt stop in the air. Inertia wrenched Shay's arms free, and Varian heard her shriek as she fell backwards. He heaved, blindly lashing his hand out to her. He felt her fingers snatch his, and the force of it made him twist, slamming them into the rock face.

"Hey, I was joking!" They heard Angry exclaim, a hint of panic in her voice.

"Hold on," Varian gasped, dangling as he tried to get his feet back up on the rock wall. He could feel blood trickling down his face from where his cheek had smashed into the stone. "Hold on," he repeated; he tried once to pull her up, but he barely had the strength to hold on for himself. He could feel Shay slipping; his glove was slowly starting to slide away, and he heard her rasp out something in Celtic, the words clipped and hysterical. "Come on!" Varian shouted out loud, trying again to haul his feet up. This time, he found purchase against the wall, his heels catching the lip of a crevasse. His thighs burned with the effort, and he could feel his arms weakening.

Then his glove came clean off, and Shay was falling.

Two seconds later, something tightened painfully around his naked wrist. It was a glowing red strand, snapped taught by Shay's weight as she dangled from the other end. Varian managed to crane his head down enough to see her nearly twenty feet below, her mismatched eyes wide with terror as her feet trailed dangerously close to the tumbling waters below. The river was small as a stream, but it rushed quickly, white froth licking jagged stone teeth. "Varian!" He heard her anxiously call. "Tell me you have a plan! Please!"

Angry's voice echoed throughout the gulch, an accusation that made Varian even more alarmed. "You can't swim, can you?"

Shay's silence was answer enough.

Varian turned his panicked gaze upward, towards the darkening sky. "Come on," he said again, his voice shaking. "If you've given me this…I need it now!"

Nothing happened at first. He could feel Shay shuddering through her magic thread, and he knew deep down inside that it would soon break. She didn't have the strength to hold on forever. He could hear Angry shouting something else at him, but his brain filtered out all meaning as he summoned every ounce of will he had.

Suddenly, the pain in his wrist disappeared. He jerked his head to look back down, expecting to see Shay tossed down into the treacherous depths. Instead, he saw that the red cord tied around his wrist was turning purple. He focused past it to Shay; her eyes were wide with a different emotion now. Varian later recognized it as awe. The thread continued to turn purple, the violet color spreading down until the coil clutched in Shay's hands sparked with the bright light. Varian watched her duck her head as she looked down at the waves. His heart leapt in his throat when he saw her relinquish one hand, stretching her fingers out towards the river. She cried out her spell, and a cascade of light shot out towards the water. Varian heard a great crack, and then the gulch fell silent as the river expanded and froze to a stop.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Angry and Red gaped openly at the sight.

Varian breathed a shuddering sigh of relief, then gasped when he felt Shay's weight break off. She fell onto the ice in a heap, her black hair obscuring her downturned face. "Oh no." Varian shook the lingering magic from his hand and jumped off the wall, sliding down so fast that the cord burned the skin of his bare hand. He landed on the frozen river and half-ran, half-slid over to Shay's crumpled form. He saw Killy squirm out from under her, his paws clicking on the slippery surface as he sniffed agitatedly at her limp arm.

"Okay, so, what was that?" Angry and Red approached from behind, their feet flying flawlessly over the slick ice. "Your hair was like, whoosh! And now it's not. And now the river is frozen. I thought you said you weren't a wizard!"

Red approached Varian's shoulder, like a timid creature. She jumped when Rudiger leapt from Varian to the ice, his claws clicking across the cold surface as he joined Killy.

"Is she okay?" she asked in a whisper.

Varian glanced up at the sound of her voice. "I…I don't know," he admitted. Shay's head was in his lap; it looked like she was unconscious. "I can't tell if she hit her head or not. If she did, she might have a concussion." It looked like she'd landed on her feet, though, which meant she must have passed out from overexerting herself, like she almost had when they'd left her home.

"What's a con…con…" Red struggled with the word, then fell silent.

"It's when your brain collides with the inside of your skull," Varian explained, giving Shay a shake. "Oh, this is bad."

"Great," Angry grumbled. "So now she's really dead weight."

Varian turned to snap at her, but he stopped when he realized she was right. If Shay was awake, she could at least help him decide which was the best way to climb out of the other side of the gulch. But Shay had nearly passed out before from casting spells; it was possible this one might have pushed her past her limit. In that case, she just needed to wake up. "Shay," he started patting her cheek. "Shay, come on." When she didn't respond, he sucked in a deep breath. "Please don't hate me for this." He wound back and gave her a sharp slap.

Shay gasped awake, her hand flying to her stinging skin. She said something in Celtic, then her eyes focused on Varian. "Did you just slap me?"

Varian pointed to Angry. "She did it. Ow!" He hissed when Angry planted a swift kick into his back. "Take it easy," he told Shay as she sat up. Killy jumped into her lap, nudging under her shaky arm. "You fell almost ten feet." He glanced around them. "You didn't even need a catalyst. I thought you said you weren't good at ice magic."

"I – I'm not," Shay winced, rubbing her throbbing temple. "The spell I used was very basic, there was no way it could have frozen this much on its own." She pet Killy and gazed dazedly at Varian. "How did you…?"

"I'll try to explain later," Varian sighed. "It's a long story. But we –" He stopped when he heard something, a voice from outside the gulch. It sounded like Lady Caine. "Quick," he whispered, helping her to her feet. She scooped Killy back into her apron, and Rudiger stayed close on Varian's heels. "Everybody, get to the other side and don't move until I say so."

Surprisingly, the thief girls obeyed. "I can't hear what they're saying," Angry muttered as they pressed their backs to the opposite wall. "How do we know it's them and not a militia patrol?"

Red looked up towards the lip of the gulch, flashing a determined expression. Without saying anything, she tapped Angry on the shoulder, then started to climb. Varian scrambled to catch her by the ankle. "Wait a second," he gasped. "You don't have to do this! I'll go."

"Don't be ridiculous." Angry's voice was quiet and level. "She's smaller than you and sneakier than me. She's less likely to make noise." She smirked at him. "You'd just fall and break your neck or trounce around like an elephant and give us away."

The 'elephant' jab caused a low, sullen sound in Varian's throat. But he didn't dispute her point. He was bigger (than a little girl, at least), and stealth wasn't exactly his strong suit. He felt knuckles gently tap the top of his head, and he looked up to see Red waiting for him to let go. Her hair hung in crimson strands around her freckled face, and she gave him just a hint of a smile; a shadow of gratitude for his unexpected concern. He relinquished his grip, and she darted up the rock wall. Everyone watched her find handholds in the increasing darkness, climbing twice as fast as Varian ever could. With baited breath, they saw her reach the top and clamber out of sight.

They waited, listening.

As they waited, a sudden thought made Varian's blood run cold. What if the girls were consorting with Lady Caine? What if this was all some elaborate ruse, a trick to leave him vulnerable, susceptible to capture? What if it wasn't Red who reappeared, but the twisted, haunting face of the Lady instead? He tore his eyes away long enough to glance pointedly at Shay, who stared right back, her lips pursed into a grim look.

The silence was finally broken by a scuffle overhead, and a small smattering of pebbles tumbled down into the gulch as Red popped her head over the edge and gave a swift thumbs-up gesture. Angry's consternated expression cracked into a relieved smile, and she reached up to begin the climb. She looked over her shoulder at Varian. "I swear, if you give us away and mess this up, I'll personally neuter you and wear your racoon on my head." She gave Shay a dismissive frown. "Cross your fingers and hope that Tuts here doesn't pass out again."

Varian wisely chose not to look at Shay; he could practically feel the flames threatening to emanate from her as she roughly rolled up her sleeves and promptly started climbing after the girl. Varian remained wary as he tucked Rudiger up on his shoulder again and proceeded behind. As they grew higher out of the gulch, he could feel his heart start hammering in his chest as suspense and apprehension made his grip tighter, numbing the throbbing skin of his naked hand.

At one point, Shay's foot slipped, and she gasped out loud. Varian caught her heel, grinding his own feet into the rock face as he bore half her weight with gritted teeth. Angry shot a death glare down at them, wordlessly telling them to shut up. Varian managed to guide Shay's toes to a narrow crevice, sighing with relief when he was able to let go. "You alright?" he whispered. When Shay didn't answer, he assumed she hadn't heard him, was concentrating too hard, or that she was trying to stay as quiet as possible. Or she was pissed. Probably the last one.

After what felt like hours, they finally neared the top. Rudiger jumped from Varian's shoulder into the grass, and Varian managed to keep his head low as he hauled himself over. The smell of cool earth filled his nose, and he flashed a weak grin in Shay's direction. But Shay did not return the smile. She wore the same face she did when they'd left Caius in Haderon's crypt.

"What is it?" he asked.

Shay's orange eye flitted to his face for an instant. "Did I do anything?" she suddenly asked, her voice a rushed whisper. "Did anything happen when I…when I passed out?"

Varian frowned, confused. He shook his head. "No. Why?"

"Shut up, both of you." Angry's dark eyes glinted like polished black pearls in her head. "Look, over there. Lady Caine and her goons have set up camp down the hill, next to those trees."

Varian looked. Sure enough, the Lady could be seen crouching low outside her stolen wagon, their horses restless as the chill evening turned closer to dark night. It seemed that the Lady had opted not to light a fire, no doubt to conceal her location from any passing Coronan patrols. Varian made this observation out loud to the girls. "It's an advantage we can use to get around, and for you two to get your artifact."

Shay parted her hair away from her concealed red eye, peering just over the grass at the Lady's position. "Varian," she breathed, her words trembling with fear. "There's only one man with her."

Varian's heart stopped. Suddenly, every sound around him was amplified, and his hands felt frozen as blood rushed to his racing head.

The next thirty seconds were a horrifying blur. One of the girls shrieked out loud – Varian saw a flash of red hair – as she was hauled out of her hiding spot by Lady Caine's brutish hire. There was a cry of indignation from Angry, and Varian lurched to his feet, his father's bow in hand. Rudiger was at his feet, snarling and growling. He aimed, but he wasn't fast enough; the arrow was knocked out of his grip, his bow flying into the grass. On impulse, he hauled his fist back and swung, but the force of his attempted punch was caught and thrown back at him, hurling him head-over-heels into the dirt and striking his lungs empty. He heard Shay call his name, saw a burst of red light behind closed eyelids. Then he heard a thud, a sickening crack, and a cry of agony. By the time he managed to reach his knees, he was quickly thrust back down into the dirt, a boot stuck firmly between his shoulder blades.

"End of the line, miscreants." Varian felt a massive hand grip his scalp, forcing him to his feet. His staff was taken away and thrown into the gulch, the light of the vials disappearing over the edge like a falling star. He was half-pushed, half-dragged towards Lady Caine's lightless camp, black clouds overhead shrouding the rugged path. He wasn't allowed to look over his shoulder; he was able only to see where to put his feet in front of him. Soon, he was yanked to a stop and pressed down to his knees. Even when the hand on his head disappeared, he still didn't move. He knew he was in no position to escape this, and as Lady Caine stepped forward of out the wagon's shadow, his hopes quickly dwindled. Echoes of frown lines slowly dissipated from the Lady's beautiful face, her sharp eyes brightening at the sight of what her lackey had caught.

"Well!" She glowed with pleasure. "I was expecting to catch a couple of rats, but I wasn't expecting the infamous alchemist. Even so, clearly it seems I overprepared, even for you." She clucked her tongue and shook her head as deft hands wrenched his arms behind his back, fastening his wrists together. His satchel was wrenched over his neck and tossed unceremoniously to the Lady, who caught it in her free hand. She shook the bag under his nose before hurling it behind her, into the back of the wagon. Varian winced when he heard glass break. "I'm disappointed, Varian. I would have thought you'd put up a decent fight. Why didn't you use all those little tricks and potions you're so well known for?" Her hand suddenly darted out, snatching Spellbane off Varian's back and swiping it out into the open air. "I mean, for Heaven's sake, why aren't you using this? It's lighter than I thought, which I guess explains how a shrimp like you can carry it around." She allowed the realization to dawn exaggeratedly on her face. "Oh, I see. You don't know how to use it. Would you like me to show you?"

Varian swallowed. "You won't kill me," he said; he sounded calmer than he felt. "I'm more valuable to you alive."

"Maybe so." The Lady lowered the sword, and her eyes darted to Varian's right. "But what about your friends?" She chuckled darkly. "If you even call them that. I'm sure the little rats here were plotting to sell you out the moment they had the chance!"

Varian looked, and dread filled his stomach like cement. The two thieves had been tied with their hands behind their backs, their faces dirty and their hair disheveled. Red looked like she was trying not to cry, and Angry's furious expression was a wavering mask to hide her own fear. Shay wasn't even tied; Varian could see that it wasn't necessary. She was turned away, curled up into a ball of pain, her right arm splayed and twitching. Varian could tell immediately that it was broken – a dark bruise had blossomed across her forearm; a multiple fracture, one that was sure to heal improperly if he didn't do something about it. He spared a moment to give Lady Caine's henchman a lowery glare. The heard the Lady's other henchman grunt, directing Varian's attention back to the woman. "I'll make you pay for that."

"For what? Her?" Lady Caine chuckled again. "Jorgen, keep an eye on this for me." She handed Spellbane to her second goon. "Kerick did what was necessary to keep your waifish friend from doing something she might regret. I assure you, he could have done far worse." She crouched down to Varian's level and smoothed the hair back from his forehead. The touch burned his skin, and he fought the urge to slap her hand away. "You know, Varian, darling," she said in a cool voice, "we don't have to be enemies here. We have a common goal, you and I. We both hate the royal family for what they did to us. We both lost our fathers because of them."

Varian couldn't stop the smallest smirk from twitching at the corner of his mouth. "At least my father's not dead."

The sound of Lady Caine's open hand as she slapped him echoed through the nearby trees. The force of it cut the inside of Varian's lip over his teeth. The Lady's cool fingers reached for his chin, forcing him to look at her again. "Ooh, that's too bad," she crooned, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with her thumb. "I might be able to forgive you for that…at least, enough not to kill you." She roughly tossed his face aside again and stood up, giggling. "I'll let Corona do that for me instead. Throw him in the wagon with the rats."

Varian's left eye throbbed from the hit. Through it, he could just make out a flicker of movement past the Lady's shoulder. A pair of racoon eyes glinted back at him, yellow orbs nearing the wagon.

Kerick pointed down at Shay's prone, shivering form. "What about her?"

"The waif? Get rid of her. The river will work."

"What?! NO!" Varian struggled, kicked, and strained as Jorgen came and bodily hoisted him over his burly shoulder, like a sack of flour. "Wait, please, she has nothing to do with this!"

"No?" Lady Caine fixed him with a smug look as Jorgen hauled him past her. "Then you shouldn't care. In fact, I'm surprised you do. I thought you didn't care about anyone but Daddy anymore. Didn't the princess learn that the hard way?"

"I'm nothing like you!" Varian shouted defiantly.

The Lady threw her dark red head back and shrieked with laughter. "You're exactly like me," she cackled. "Manipulating others, motivated by vengeance…All you need now is to ditch the denia –"

She was cut off by a bright red thread that appeared around her neck.

Varian gasped, following the strand to where Kerick lay in a heap in the grass, less than ten feet from the edge of the gulch. Shay stood there, her broken arm hanging limp at her side. Her eyes were half-open, and Varian could see red light bleeding from them. Her hair was glowing in red sheets around her expressionless face.

Jorgen!" Lady Caine barked before she was yanked backwards into the dirt.

Jorgen dropped Varian to the ground; Varian rolled, working his arms past his legs until his hands were in front of him again. He could hear the thief girls shouting as they worked to free each other. He scrambled to his feet, rushing to the back of the wagon. Rudiger was there with Killy, sniffing and searching in vain through the contents of Varian's satchel. Desperate, Varian lifted the flap away and sifted clumsily through with his bound hands until he found the chimera serum. "Hurry!" he begged, forcing the stopper off and tipping the last drops of the vial into Rudiger's mouth.

The wagon exploded as Rudiger grew ten times in size, unleashing a bellowing howl. Killy yelped, disappearing into the night. Varian reached into Rudiger's gaping maw and severed the rope from his wrists, shaking his fingers free. "Go!" he screeched, pointing fiercely at Jorgen's sprinting form as the man rushed at Shay. Rudiger surged forward, closing the distance quicker than any horse could. He bowled over Jorgen like a wolf tackling a kitten, pinning the man down with his drooling muzzle looming inches away. Angry darted into the shadows with Red, ducking swiftly past Varian towards what was left of the wagon.

"Shay!" Varian stood in the cold distance between the girl and Lady Caine. The red strand was getting tighter, and the Lady began to be dragged closer towards where Shay stood near the gulch. "Shay, it's over, let her go!"

But Shay didn't seem to hear. She didn't even seem aware of what was happening around her. Her broken arm slowly moved upwards until she was holding the crimson thread with both hands. She looked lifeless, empty, and Varian knew she wasn't about to let go. He looked about frantically, his mind a wordless blur as he searched for something, anything to stop her from killing the woman.

His blue eyes fell on Spellbane, runes glinting in the grass like flecks of starlight.

Varian lurched forward, crashing to his knees as he snatched the sword up from the ground. He tried to regain his footing once, twice, before he found the strength to support his own weight under his feet. He half-held, half-dragged the sword over to where Lady Caine lay, breathless and clutching feebly at the magical cord around her reddening throat. Moonlight finally broke through the black atmosphere, streams of lunar light illuminating the landscape like a holy lamp as black spikes in the distance danced with eerie luminance. Varian could see blue flickering over his nose as he summoned every ounce of will left to raise the sword over his head, and he brought it down on the thread like an executioner at the beheading block.

The thread snapped cleanly in two, and the Lady rolled over, coughing and retching. The remaining strand dispersed into the night air in a flutter of dying sparks. Varian didn't wait for the Lady to regain her composure before winding his foot back and kicking her square in the face. Lady Caine fell back into the grass; unconscious, but alive.

"Hey!" Varian heard Angry yell through the buzzing of adrenaline in his ears. "We found the relic!"

"Rudiger!" Varian hoisted the sword back into its sheath on his back. "Get the bow!" The gigantic racoon lifted his weight off of Jorgen and ran to fetch his master's weapon. Varian sprinted to where Shay stood; her arms were slack at her sides, her shoulders slumped and unmoving. Varian gripped them and shook her, trying to get her to snap out of it. "Shay, we have to go. Now!" Was she in shock? Her hair was still a red blaze, and her eyes were barely open. What was happening? He grabbed her face, willing her to come back to her senses. A faint light seeped from his fingertips into her skin, and she jolted for an instant, as if he'd electrocuted her. A flash of purple light blinded him, and then Shay fell with a sigh.

"Come on, alchemist!" Angry heralded reality back to Varian's awareness. He looked to see that she and Red had procured one of Lady Caine's horses, and they both were staring expectantly in his direction. "We're getting out of here!"

"Right." Varian whistled for Rudiger. The racoon bounded to his side, dropping the bow in a slobbery mess from his mouth. Varian slung it over his shoulder and hauled Shay's body over Rudiger's back before climbing on. Killy was missing. What would Shay think? How could he tell her? Her arm was broken, he needed to bind it as soon as possible. As they followed the girls down the hill and deep into the moonlit night, he expected fatigue to overtake him. Instead, he felt invigorated, energized, his thoughts racing and wandering. The sight of the black rocks through the shadowy trees, once menacing and otherworldly, were now comforting and familiar. The feeling would have once sickened Varian, but at the moment, he didn't care. As they rode on, the thief girls said nothing to him. He could tell from their stunned, dazed expressions that they weren't in the mood to talk, but he was sure they had many questions. He wasn't sure if he wanted to answer any of them.

He wasn't sure of anything, anymore.