Twenty-Eight || Challenge

Klaus showed them the amulet.

It was clear that he had been working on it through the night; the surface of one side was covered in rough-hewn details and spell arrays, and the other side already had a few marks to indicate where he was going to follow along. There was still plenty of work to do – the other side would have be completed, and the one he'd already worked on would need to be detailed and smoothed – but he had made extraordinary progress.

He also looked tired.

"This is... fantastic work, Doctor," Rue said. He picked up the amulet, feeling it hum against his palm, and turned it over a few times to get a look at its markings. He handed it off to Mint, who nodded her approval, but Rue's attention turned back to Klaus himself. "How late you were up working at this?"

Klaus shrugged. "I lost track of time," he said. "I worked at it until I was afraid I'd start carving wrong."

From the corner of the cellar, Prima spoke up. "It was really late."

"No doubt," Mint said. "But damn, you're not half bad at this."

Klaus gave her a half-smile. "Blame Fancy Mel," he said. "I'm just following her instructions."

"When d'you think you'll have it ready?" Mint asked.

"Tonight, or tomorrow." Klaus held out his hand, and Mint handed back the amulet. "Either way, I hope you're all ready. Tomorrow you'll be making your final trip to the lake altar."

"You good for that?" Mint asked. She was looking pointedly at Rue.

"I'm fine," he said. "Yesterday just caught me off-guard."

Klaus looked back at them curiously. "What did happen yesterday?"

"Don't worry about it," Rue said.

Klaus nodded. "Done."

"You gonna go back to work?" Mint asked.

He stood up, reaching for his cane. "Not immediately. I need a bit of a break." He shook out his hand. "Snapping my wrist isn't going to help anybody. I think I'll have a walk around town." He laughed lightly. "I've barely seen anybody since I got back." He made a few steps toward the stairs when he stopped and looked over his shoulder, to the corner of the room. "Would you like to join me, Prima?"

Prima was still sitting on the thin mattress that had been his makeshift bed for the past few days, although over the night he had gotten a few accouterments; sheets and blankets draped over the mattress, pillows stood propped up against the wall, and a small stack of fiction books had materialized near the head of the bed. Prima had actually been working his way through one of them, but when Klaus addressed him he quickly looked up.

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, of course!" He laid the book down and hopped immediately to his feet. "Where're we going?"

"All around," Klaus said. "I'll give you the tour. How's that sound?"

"Great! That sounds great. Let's go!"

Prima practically ran out of the basement, taking the stairs two at a time despite his short stature. Klaus couldn't help but laugh.

"You'll have to give me a minute, Prima, I'm not young anymore!"

"Sorry!"

Klaus was much slower going up the stairs than Prima had been, but Rue and Mint didn't even try to move until he had disappeared completely out of the cellar and his uneven footsteps mostly receded from them.

"And that boy's afraid they'll stick him back in the cube," Mint muttered.

"Grand Magician Elroy was the only person he ever spoke to, before us," Rue said. "I don't know much about Elroy–"

"I wasn't kidding," Mint said. "He was kind of an awful human being."

"–and if that's the case," Rue continued, "then it's little wonder he'd expect anybody else to do the same."

They both made their way up the stairs, heading out of the basement and, a moment later, out of the house.

"That's interesting, though," Mint started. "Prima's so... perky. You'd think Elroy would've made him more... I dunno..."

"Controllable," Rue offered.

"Basically."

Rue turned the statement over a few times. "I'm not sure he could," he said finally. "Wylaf mentioned that the– I forget what he called them. Those dolls in Elroy's and Yordaf's ateliers."

"Yeah?"

"He said they were prototypes for Prima. I think that maybe that's what they were trying to do: sheer off any parts of the soul they couldn't use."

Mint winced, but quickly shook it off. "That's... unpleasant. Although... how did they make him, then? Prima's soul, I mean."

Rue stopped walking and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. "Might be best not to think about it."

Suddenly she elbowed him in the ribs. He flinched away, surprised, but realized quickly that she was pointing ahead. He followed her arm and frowned.

"Friends of yours?" she asked.

"Not even remotely."

Mint was indicating two individuals, running quite pointedly across the street toward them. There was no mistaking their intentions; the front-runner, much taller and leaner than his companion, had his expression focused intently on Rue and Mint, his lips drawn back slightly into a snarl, and was making a beeline straight for them. As he got closer, he slowed down, he stopped, and he leveled his glare directly at Mint.

"Oi, princess," Blood snarled. "Been lookin' for you."

Mint cocked an eyebrow. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"It don't matter," Blood snapped.

"It does matter," Rue said, stepping forward. "What do you want with her?"

Blood didn't seem to have noticed him until that moment, and when he did, the bandit went rigid, eyes wide but pupils constricted. He set his teeth and turned his full attention to Rue.

"What're you doing here, freak show?"

"Asking you a question," he said quietly. "What do you want?"

The second set of footsteps staggered to a stop, and Smokey fell in alongside Blood. His face was flushed, and he was breathing heavily. He swallowed, pulled himself up, and quickly looked between those already gathered. When his eyes fell on Rue, he yelped and jumped away.

"B-bro!" he cried. "Nobody said he'd be here!"

Now Mint was looking at him. "Friends of yours?" she asked mildly.

"Not in the least," he said. "They attacked Terence."

"The Poppul Purrel?" She turned her attention to the bandits. "Wow, really? That's all kinds of pathetic."

Smokey took the opportunity to take another step back, trying to make himself appear small. Blood, however, set his teeth and clenched his fist. One hand was gravitating toward the blade at his side, but he was exercising an incredibly amount of self-restraint, refusing to actually draw his weapon.

"That ain't the point," Blood said, shooting a venomous glance at Rue. "Said I was lookin' for your girl here, freak, I got nothin' to–"

Without a word of warning, Blood was suddenly laid out on the street, the wind completely knocked out of him, his breath coming in a high, pained wheeze. Mint shook out her hand and looked meaningfully at his portly friend. Smokey stood transfixed, his mouth agape, looking quickly between her and Blood.

"I'm not anybody's girl," she said, "and I will drop kick your face in if you don't get to the point."

Smokey nodded quickly. "R-right, right! We- uh- we wanna ch-challenge you!"

Mint and Rue both stared at him, but it was Mint who finally vocalized their thoughts.

"What."

Smokey dropped his knees and fell alongside Blood. Blood was trying to pull himself upright, but was having trouble breathing, let alone sitting up straight. Smokey managed to pull him into an upright position, and after a bit of hasty whispering took something from Blood's belt.

"We– we wanna challenge you," he repeated.

"Here? Now?" Mint asked. She flashed a grin and cracked her knuckles. "Yeah, that's gonna work out great for you, I can see that already."

"N-no! No, no, no!" Smokey held up the thing he had taken from Blood, revealing it to be an envelope. He stretched his arm as far as he dared, trying to keep his distance from the two of them as much as possible, flinching back when Rue stepped forward to take the letter. He actually dropped it; Rue caught it from the air before it hit the ground. He took a step back, letting Smokey relax, and turned the sealed letter over in his hands a couple of times. Mint leaned in to have a look, but there were no identifying marks, just blank white paper.

"What is this?" Rue asked.

"A... a writ of challenge," Smokey said, very carefully enunciating the words.

"Challenge you," Blood wheezed. He shifted around, getting up to his feet. Smokey followed, allowing Blood to use him as a crutch. When Blood was more or less stable, leaning heavily on Smokey, the taller of the bandits drew in a shaky breath and started speaking. "We're makin' this a– a proper fight. Official-like. Everything is– it's in the thing."

"Or," Mint said brightly, "I could kick your ass right here and we'll be done with it."

"In town?" Smokey squeaked. "That ain't a good idea for nobody."

"He's right," Rue said. "We'll risk other people getting involved."

"Involved?" She laughed. "Listen, pretty-boy, are you looking at the same pair of yahoos that I am? We won't need thirty seconds. Nobody's gonna get involved."

Rue shot her a stern glance.

She shrugged. "Fine, fine."

"C'mon, bro, let's go," Smokey said. He started to pull back, drawing Blood away from the gathering.

"Goddamn weirdo freaks," Blood muttered.

Mint tensed, but didn't follow. When they had staggered their way back out of town, she turned to look at Rue, arching an eyebrow in curiosity. "Man," she said. "They were terrified of you. What did you do to them?"

"I convinced them to leave Terence alone," Rue said, shrugging. "That's all."

She snorted. "You don't expect me to believe that. Not after last night."

"I'd appreciate it if you did," he said, tearing open the letter. He removed the paper inside, blinked, frowned. "What?"

"What's it say?" she asked.

"I– I'm not really sure." He flipped the paper to the side, then upside-down, then tilted his head and squinted. "This handwriting is atrocious."

Mint snatched the paper from him and started to read. Or tried to read. She found quite quickly that he was right; the lettering was almost incomprehensible. She had to turn the paper a few times in order to finally make sense of anything, and once she did–

"'You're a cocky butt-head and we aren't gonna forgive you'," she read. She lowered the paper and looked over to Rue. "Seriously?"

"What else?"

She turned back to the letter, scanned it a couple of times to be sure. "Looks like they want to have a proper fight, out in the forest ruins. The, uh... I think they're talking about Cadomon's blasted atelier. The one at the bottom of the cliffs? Or else there's another set of ruins out there, in which case I dunno what they're talking about and am sorry to say we won't be joining them."

It took Rue a few seconds to realize what, precisely, she was saying. "You're thinking of going?" he asked.

"Well, yeah."

"Why?"

"You think I can stand idly by while somebody calls me a 'cocky butt-head'?" she asked. "That, and I don't really have anything better to do today, not until Prima's ready." She gave him a half-smile. "You wanna come?"

"Not in the least," Rue said. "But I will."

"Oh?"

"Something's wrong. Why are they targeting you?"

"What, I'm not worthy being targeted?"

He shook his head. "Too worthy," he said. "Last I saw, they had ambushed a Poppul Purrel. Now they're making formal challenges, in town, to somebody they've never actually met before? Doesn't make sense."

"Ah. You're worried about me."

He considered his next words very carefully. "I'm worried about them," he said. "Or at least whatever's prompted them to do this. I don't doubt that you can handle yourself."

"You're damn right."

"Is there some kind of time written on there?"

She looked down at the paper again. "Yeah," she said, almost laughing at the cliche of it. "High noon."

. .

The ruins lay spread out beneath them, tucked into the bend of the cliffs, the trees pock-marking their overhead view. Mint was kneeling down at the side of the cliff, scanning the ruins from overhead to see if she could get an angle on what was going on; Rue stood a few feet off, waiting for her assessment. After a moment, she shoved herself back to her feet and turned to face him.

"It's the same as when I saw them," she said. "I don't see them, but I'd wager they're under the tree-line. It's too hot to just stand out in the open."

He nodded. It was growing cooler, but the breeze wasn't enough to fight off the near-noon heat.

Mint indicated for them to start descending, and they did, taking a long, lazy walk around the edge of the cliffs and down to the ruins. Mint was inviting the confrontation, no denying that, but she wasn't in a particular hurry to get there. Based on what Rue had told her, they weren't worth the effort; really, she was more along out of curiosity. Rue seemed much more ill at ease about the whole thing, but she figured that for all he seemed relatively calm and normal, he was still on edge after what had happened the previous evening.

Their descent occurred in silence, Mint keeping her head turned toward the ruins, Rue looking out into the forest. By the time they made it down to the shelves that led down to the ruins themselves, absolutely nothing of interest had occurred. It was probably a little past the time she was supposed to show up. She still didn't see any sign of Blood or Smokey.

She continued to move first, easily descending the rocky shelves and landing on the edge of the ruins. She cast a quick glance around, frowning to herself. There was nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing.

There was... nothing.

She listened.

She heard Rue making his way down the rock shelves to join her, the sound of footfalls, the clatter of kicked debris. She could hear birds, but they were very faint, from well above them, in the other part of the forest. Her gaze raked across the area, up in the trees, across the little pond. Silence and stillness. No animals or monsters.

She would have expected that, if Blood and Smokey had been there, but she realized very shortly that they weren't.

She heard a thump and a dull grunt from behind her as Rue jumped the last step and landed heavily behind her. He approached, his footsteps deliberate and cautious, and a moment later entered the edge of her peripheral vision, his expression blank.

"I don't see anything," he said quietly.

"Maybe they are at a different set of ruins," Mint said, not believing a word of it.

"No," Rue said. "Somebody's here."

Mint stepped forward, working her way toward the pond. "Maybe they thought better of it," she said. "Finally heard about how awesome I am."

Rue was slow to follow her, but eventually he did, taking slow, measured steps several paces behind Mint. Both of them had stopped speaking, the heaviness of the silence weighing them down almost physically, and in the stillness Mint thought she saw something. Her head turned, following the not-quite motion out the corner of her eye, but as soon as she tried to focus she lost sight of it. She turned her attention forward again and took another step near the pool.

"Mint, stop!"

Rue's voice reached her a fraction of a second before she saw it, and she saw it a fraction of a second too late to do anything about it.

A fine thread of magic was strung about waist high, taut between two crumbling walls. Mint stepped through it just as she recognized that it was there. The moment hung suspended; she held her breath; nothing seemed to happen.

She shut her eyes tight as the space in front of her exploded.

The force threw her back several feet, slamming her bodily into one of the crumbling walls of the atelier. She slumped to the ground, alternately throbbing and burning, and lay there dazed for several seconds before finally, laboriously, she managed to drag herself back to her feet.

What the hell?

She wheeled, looking for the source of the magic, but the forest was as still as ever, save for the high ringing in her ears. She whirled until she saw Rue again and realized he was standing a short distance away, rigid, breathing shallow.

"What now?" she snarled.

He took a half-step back and indicated where he had been. Rather, the space just in front of where he had been.

Mint didn't understand.

"Magic," he said. "Threads of magic– this place is covered in them."

Then she understood.

She shifted her stance and opened her senses, and it became visible almost immediately, a filigree of magic threads, fine as spider silk, woven into a barrier just ahead of where Rue had been standing. Had he moved any further ahead he would have gone straight through them, and though she couldn't tell what their exact purpose was she knew it would not have ended well.

She reached out to feel the rest of the area, too, and sure enough there it was; individual strands of magic, criss-crossing their way from tree limbs to pillars, wall to wall, even lancing overhead and forming a very loose ceiling. There was nothing else quite like the thick blanket of them that Rue had nearly run into, but it was clear there wasn't supposed to be; each set of magic was woven differently, angled differently, meant to catch them off-guard differently, and all of them probably rigged differently.

It took her only a moment more to recognize what she was looking at.

"Oh, you son of a bitch," she growled. Then, not nearly so quietly; "Hey, asshat! I know you're here!"

To which a voice replied; "You'd better know I'm here. Be no fun if you were that stupid."

Mint wheeled, searching for the origin of the voice, and found it quickly. He was sitting in front of the central feature of the atelier, the massive rocky face mural, draped lazily over the remains of what seemed to have been some kind of stone chair. The flicker around him told her that he had no been waiting there, though; he had teleported in when she had called him out. He'd been close, though, monitoring the situation. Springing the trap.

Because the lines that surrounded her now had definitely not been there when they had arrived. He must have woven the commands and then drawn them taut when she was thoroughly encircled.

She glared up at him, feeling heat flush her skin. There he was the punk from the previous day; spiked-up red hair, goldenrod coat, smug sense of superiority practically dripping from his frame. He leaned back in his seat, grinning down at her, golden eyes laughing.

"Nice of you to show up," he said. "But seriously? All I had to do was send two morons and a shitty letter? You didn't even make this a challenge."

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" she snapped.

He flashed her a sharp, toothy smile. "You can call me Trap Master. Don't worry, princess, I'll give you a minute to figure it out."

Mint clenched her teeth. That didn't help anything.

"All right," she said. "What d'you want?"

"What, me?" He shrugged. "Nothin'."

Mint relaxed, not entirely of her own accord. "You– then what's this all about!"

"You forget our little talk yesterday?" he asked. "I'm hurt." He shoved himself upright in the chair and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand as he watched her. "I told you. I'm bored out of my skull and you're the most interesting person in the whole damn town. I was hoping you'd be more entertaining than this, but it looks like I way overestimated you if you jumped straight into this."

She bristled. "Well," she said tightly. "Sorry I can't be more entertaining."

"Not as sorry as I am, trust me." Suddenly his gaze turned upward, somewhere behind her, and he leaned further forward, almost out of the chair. For a moment his face contorted in confusion, then he laughed. "Well hey, buddy, didn't see you over there, you been so quiet!"

"Don't stop on my account," Rue said.

Mint whirled to face him. With Trap Master's sudden appearance, she had almost forgotten he was there, and apparently he hadn't had any problem with that. Rue had apparently been spending the last few minutes of the exchange working his way around the net– and, now that she was watching him more carefully, through it. He wasn't too far into the weave, but she could see that he had managed to maneuver himself through a few passages of more loosely-bound magic fiber and was just stepping through another, carefully slipping between the threads.

He was also making a very careful loop, she realized. The net was arranged almost like a maze; earlier he had nearly walked into a tightly packed veil, and all around them there were other walls that it would be nigh impossible for a human to fit through, but once she really started looking she realized that there were far more open passages, and they were arranged very deliberately. Trap Master hadn't made walls; he had constructed a labyrinth.

And now that he had noticed Rue, Trap Master was taking a much keener interest.

"Now that's something," he said. "You can see it."

Rue didn't respond directly. Instead, he ducked under another hanging thread, just about level with his neck, and slid through another opening in the passage. The distance between himself and Mint was shortening.

"Oi, princess," Trap Master said. He stood up from the chair and stepped toward the edge of the platform. "You got some interesting friends here."

"You don't know the half of it," she muttered. Her gaze raked across the magic barrier, and she saw the next opening– or the next intended one. The path where she had set off the explosion was open, too, but the tangle of threads further down told her it was a dead end. She began to step backward herself, turning to face the path and sliding easily through it.

Trap Master continued to watch, at first intrigued, then impressed, then, slowly, more and more irate, as the two of them worked their respective ways through the maze, Rue heading deeper toward the center while Mint slipped outward, toward him. He had a head start, and their inevitable meet would take them much closer to the center of the labyrinth than the edge.

As they neared that point – physically, at least, although a too-tight magic curtain kept them from quite meeting – Rue spoke, his voice low and quiet.

"You know him?" he asked.

"I saw him," Mint said. "Yesterday. He dropped a pumpkin on my head."

Rue stared at her. She opened her mouth to clarify, then stopped herself.

"Actually," she said, "I'm gonna let you just imagine that one for yourself."

"Right," he said, and resumed his measured dance through the magic pathway. "Anything you know that might actually be relevant?"

"He set up a trap," Mint said. "And he did it because he was bored."

"That all?"

"He's an arrogant jackass?"

"That's a yes, then."

They both fell briefly silent, concentrating, and then a moment later they were through, standing just about next to each other with a broad opening between them. There wasn't quite enough room between the labyrinth's heavy threads for both of them to stand side-to-side along the thread, but they didn't need to.

"Can we go back out?" Mint asked.

"Probably," Rue said, "although I'm not sure he'd appreciate that." He looked further into the maze, frowning slightly. "He didn't expect us to figure it out that fast."

"Yeah, I feel terrible, ruining his fun," Mint growled. She looked quickly around them again, trying to make sense of the terrain. "You came in from... around that way, right?" She pointed back toward where the rock shelves had led them down to the atelier grounds, and he nodded. "That's pretty far from where he's standing." She turned. "I'll bet that's his game. Reach him."

"Can't be that simple."

"You see this crazy thing he put together?" Mint said. "We are well past simple."

"No, I mean– you know what I mean."

She didn't respond to him, but she did understand. She looked back down the path she had followed, then nudged him and pointed. "Back to the middle. I can't get a good bead on him with all these threads everywhere."

Rue nodded, and Mint led the way back toward the center of the maze, where she had begun. As she did, Trap Master folded his arms and watched them carefully.

"You think you got it figured out?" he called.

"You're not that clever," she said. "Think you–"

Without warning, Rue grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back. She staggered, windmilling her arms to keep her balance, and Rue held her steady so she didn't fall into the trap walls. When she got steady on her feet again, she shot Rue a nasty glare just in time to hear something crash down behind her. Her attention snapped forward again.

Jagged bits of metal splayed out across the stone path, most of them concentrated in a single, sharp-edged lump in the middle of the stonework. She looked up to see where it had come from, but saw only empty sky. She looked down and realized that the stone it had landed on was glowing a dangerous red, only now cooling back to its regular gray color.

"How did I miss that?" she murmured.

"Just look down," Rue said. "Some of the stones are rigged."

Not along the path rue had been following, though. This one stood canted off to the side just at the entrance of the maze's central hollow, where she had been held when the trap was sprung. She examined the stone she had just set off, then looked up again. Noting in the center stood out to her, but further ahead, along the path that led up to where Trap Master was standing, she could almost see it. Certain pieces of the stonework felt taut; when she concentrated, she could feel them buzzing with condensed magic.

Trap Master's eyes narrowed, and his mouth twitched. His actual expression remained largely unreadable. "All right," he said slowly. "I wasn't expecting this."

He stepped forward, flickered out of existence, and completed his second step as he reappeared on the far side of the maze's center. The threads bent around him, belling outward until the circle that had been the labyrinth's heart was significantly wider. Around them the magic twisted and wove, forming a dense fence around them– this time, without any openings.

Trap Master came to a stop after a few more paces, watching the two of them carefully. Neither Rue nor Mint moved, although the air around them was nearly electric, both waiting to see what Trap Master would do. Trap Master continued to watch them, allowing the silence to stretch for several seconds.

Then his eyes widened.

"Wait a minute–"

Mint didn't.

As soon as she saw the hesitation, she moved, snapping the Dual Halos to her hands and striking them against each other. Electricity snapped between them, unleashing a spark that turned suddenly to a bolt and launched a burst of lightning toward Trap Master. He scrambled out of the way, throwing himself to the side just before the lightning could strike him, and spun around to face the two of them properly. His confusion was gone.

Mint leapt forward, the Dual Halos burning in her hands, preparing for another strike, but Trap Master slammed his palm into the ground and the stonework suddenly erupted, a wave of rock flaring upward and outward toward her. Mint jumped to the side, rolled, and as soon as she stopped she pointed the Halos at Trap Master. Without even bothering to stand back up, she aimed them straight for him and charged energy through them. Scythes of wind cut through the air, lancing toward Trap Master, but he was ready this time; he slashed his hand through the air and pulled the energy in front of him taught, countering the razor wind with a small, disruptive explosion. Mint's attack dissipated.

She was about to heave herself to her feet again when something tore just overhead, hit the ground in front of her, and charged. Rue was heading for Trap Master, and, Mint realized, he was weaponless. Or nearly; he didn't have a sword – he wasn't even wearing the scabbard – but his hand gripped one of the larger pieces of metal from Trap Master's earlier prop.

The directness of the assault nearly overwhelmed him. Trap Master abruptly torqued his whole body back, nearly losing his balance, as Rue was suddenly just in front of him, lashing out at him with the makeshift knife. Rue slashed upward, then downward, and Trap Mast twisted his body to the side to evade the blow. Rue pulled himself to a halt and turned, sweeping the metal blade toward Trap Master, but Trap Master kicked, caught Rue's leg, and sent him crashing against the ground. Rue let out a cry of surprise and pain, and the metal shard clattered away, its edge slick with blood.

Trap Master raised his hand and tightened his fist, pulling energy toward him, but before he could do much of anything something struck him hard up the side of the head and he slammed bodily into the ground, dazed. Mint rebounded from her jump kick, riding an air current to flip herself easily onto her feet again, and quickly looked over to Rue. He was dragging himself back upright, using his right hand as little as possible to do so. She gave up waiting and hooked her hand under his arm, yanking him upright.

"Thanks," he said.

"Did he get you?"

"Got myself." He opened his hand. The center of his palm had been gouged open and was freely dripping blood onto the stones. "That stuff is sharp."

Mint looked quickly to Trap Master, just beginning to pull himself up to his feet. Then, back to Rue, she charged one of the Dual Haloes with bright white energy and pressed it into his hand. He winced and bit back a shout.

"What was that for?" he hissed.

"Suck it up," Mint snapped. The gleam of energy that had suffused the halo disappeared. "That'll keep you from bleeding out for a bit. Take the ring."

"What d'you–"

"RIGHT NOW!"

At her urgency, he yanked the ring out of her hand and leapt to the side just as Mint leapt the other way. Trap Master had rebounded, flipped, and snapped himself back to his feet, jerking his body to try and kick them as he got up. He landed just between where the two of them had been standing and looked quickly to Rue, then to Mint, back and forth until he gave up on that and just hit the ground, palms against the stone.

Spires of rock erupted from the ground. Rue and Mint dodged, the spikes biting into the air just behind them before exploding into debris, showering them with bits of rubble. Some of the harder edges bit into Mint's skin, but it was little more than an inconvenience, and she simply raised her free hand to keep the shower of stone out of her eyes.

Suddenly she was staring into Trap Master's face, golden eyes burning into wine red, and an instant later pain erupted just beneath her ribcage. She staggered back, the breath completely knocked out of her body, and sank to her knees. Her vision blurred. She dragged energy out of the air around her, trying to expedite her recovery, but Trap Master lashed out and kicked her in the side, laying her out on the stone.

"I take it back," he said. "This was kinda entertaining."

Before Trap Master could move again, something arced brilliant blue and cracked against the side of his head. He staggered, nearly fell, barely kept his balance. Behind him, Rue stepped forward, the Dual Halo in his hand burning with a rich, cobalt aura. He reached down to Mint, she took his hand, and he hauled her back to her feet.

"You okay?"

"Be fine," she said, still a little breathless.

"Then cover me," Rue said, and he wheeled and turned on Trap Master.

Trap Master had recovered from the blow and was reaching into his coat pocket for something. As Rue bore down on him, Trap Master whipped his hand out, hurling out several small flecks of gleaming, green-hued stone. Trap Master snapped his fingers, and the stone flecks – bits of phantomite dust – suddenly erupted in flame. Rue ducked his head and charged straight through the small cloud of explosions, and was on Trap Master before Trap Master could ready another attack.

And Rue would not allow him another attack. His assault was wild, random, and utterly without aim; he sliced the halo through the air, up and sideways and diagonally, leaving a blazing trail of blue afterimages behind him. Trap Master dodged or parried every one of them, probing for an opening that Rue didn't allow him to find, until their fight took them near the edge of Trap Master's makeshift arena, close to the pool.

Mint swept her arm.

The water in the pool suddenly erupted upward, forming a free-standing water spout that twisted and writhed overhead. The top of it turned, angling downward, and Mint closed her eyes and concentrated. The tip of the spout extended, turning into a liquid spike, and with another order she forced it to freeze.

Then she let it go.

Rue felt the magic before it was done, saw the spire forming overhead, and leapt back just when Mint severed her connection. The whole lot of it – the twisted water spout, the spire of ice – suddenly came crashing down. Trap Master looked up to see the pillar of ice screaming toward his head, and let loose a powerful curse just before the whole of crashed down where he had been. The ice spire exploded outward, pelting Rue and Mint in a volley of frigid shrapnel. The rest of the water spout splashed down just behind it in a spray of water and algae and an eruption of mist, leaving the arena hazy and water-logged.

Trap Master's stream of expletives was audible from where they stood.

"Son of a bitch!" he finished. His hazy form was solidifying up on the steps of the atelier again, the easy arrogance he had previously met them with long departed. He was slick with sweat, clearly starting to bruise, and looked horribly disheveled. Nothing he had taken had left him bleeding, but his breathing was labored and his shoulders shuddering.

Mint turned fully to face him, flashing a grin. She was still a little out of it, too, and Rue was breathing heavily alongside her, but it was clear who had won that confrontation, and she wasn't shy about admitting it. "Want another round?" she yelled.

"Screw you!" Trap Master shouted. He flicked his wrist, and the magic around them collapsed. She saw part of the energy disperse back into the environment; the rest of it returned to Trap Master himself. "You got lucky, you little bitch. If he wasn't here–"

"I'd still kick your ass," she said. "Go back to your minions and let 'em know they're working for a chump."

Trap Master responded to her statement with a rude gesture, then spun around. Before he had fully turned he had disappeared again, teleporting away.

Rue and Mint stood in the middle of the old atelier, the only sound their heavy breathing. Mint looked around, waiting to see if Trap Master had reappeared somewhere nearby. There was nothing.

"What the hell was that about?" she breathed.

"I don't–" Rue cut himself off, shook his head, massaged his temples. "I can't imagine. You've– that's really the only time you've ever seen him? When he threw a pumpkin at you?"

"That's not what happened," she said. "I'll explain it better." She looked around again. "Let's go back. This was a waste of time."

"Agreed." Rue held out his hand, producing the Dual Halo. "You'll want this back, I take it."

"Yeah, thanks, I–"

She stopped for a moment, staring at it. The golden hoop was still surrounded by a blue aura– faint, and to an untrained eye probably invisible. But she was a child of East Heaven, trained in the mystic arts from the time she had learned how to read.

"Magic?" she asked.

He looked at her, frowning. "Sorry?".

She gripped the halo, but didn't quite take it from him, instead letting its magic pulse under her skin. The phantomite core hummed under her fingers, alive, reacting to– to him. There was no conscious channeling of magic; the phantomite simply responded to him.

She yanked the ring out of his hand, a little more roughly than she had intended, and tied it back to her belt.

"You are– you are some kind of freak show, you realize this, right?"

Rue gave her a faint smile. It didn't quite reach his eyes. "So I've been told."

She sighed irritably. "Come on," she grumbled. "I need to change into something clean."