Ylnah nestled deeper into her travel blanket, the rough-woven fabric scratching pleasantly against her cheek. She sighed and then reflected on her day. I’m part of an adventure crew! And I actually helped. I’m not useless. She rolled onto her back and sighed again, smiling. She whispered to herself, “Today has been a good day.” She closed her eyes, her smile still in place.

  ~~ Keep sleeping, little one. Come join the paaluns. We’ve been waiting for you. You want to be like them. To belong. Keep sleeping. You want to stay here. Make your friends stay here. Keep sleeping. Your mind opens to us now. You desire to be with us. Keep sleeping. Join us and be happy. ~~

  A steel wall slammed into place in Ylnah's mind—her mother's training activating like a tripwire. The voice cut off mid-whisper. Her eyes snapped open, heart hammering against her ribs. Valgrin's silhouette loomed against the wall. "Valgrin!" she hissed, scrambling upright. "Something's in our heads trying to control us through dreams."

  Without waiting for his response, she lunged toward the nearest sleeper, shaking shoulders, her voice rising to a shout. Valgrin moved with sudden urgency, darting between bodies. Confused faces emerged from blankets, hands reaching for weapon, eyes wild with interrupted sleep.

  “What?” Izzy asked before anyone else.

  Ylnah explained the voices she’d heard in her head and how it triggered training she’d gotten to control her dreams. “Being awake is the best thing, according to my mother, if some sort of dream attack is going on. So, I had Valgrin help me wake you all up.”

  “I don’t think they were messing with my head,” Malcolm offered while scratching his scalp.

  Izzy looked at him, shaking her head, “You aren’t a reliable guide of ‘did it impact me’. That said not sure they got to trying anything with me.”

  While the group worked out if any of them were impacted, Ylnah began casting her Silence spell. Visualizing the spell being applied to the inside of the hut. Then she did the same for her Dome of Protection spell, shaping it to match the insides of the hut as well. “Silence and Protection spell in place." She announced, bringing the group to silence.

  Valgrin pointed at the doorway. “Anyway to leave the door open and be able to close behind us if we need to retreat. I don’t think we should stay in here, could end up trapped.”

  Ylnah nodded, making the adjustments, a few seconds later she looked back at Valgrin, “Done. I can close the Protection spell in a matter of a couple of seconds if needed.”

  Bridget stood up and started toward the door, then stopped and faced Ylnah, “Can you also have a Wall of Force in front of us when we’re out there?”

  “Not without impacting what we have in the hut.” Ylnah replied, shaking her head. “It would be spreading my ability to thin and it all might fail at the worst time. Plus, the Wall of Force won’t let us attack, if needed.”

  Malcolm turned from looking out the door, “Don’t think we have time to adjust. Several out there on the other side of the clay field, and some cages on the path headed this way.”

  “Malcolm and Bridget, you both take the flank,” Izzy pointed to each of them, then her finger switched to Valgrin. “You take the middle position, between them on the front row. I’ll be at your shoulder, not sure which side until I see what’s what out there. Ylnah and Skwilly positions behind me ready for support. Lets go!”

  The group stepped out of the hut and quick stepped to their positions in front of the hut. Nori and two other paaluns stood at the opposite side of the clay field.

  “You should join us.” Nori’s mouth moved but the voice came out deeper and monotone, much different than the voice she’d used before.

  "Ylnah," Valgrin whispered, not taking his eyes off Nori, "is that the voice you heard?"

  Ylnah's fingers balled into a fist, "No. Those were wispy, almost seductive. This is…um…something else."

  Valgrin raised his voice across the clay field. “Messing with our heads sort of ruined that for you.”

  Nori's head tilted at an unnatural angle. Raising one arm toward the cages where shadows stirred behind bars. "Let loose the dauruns."

  Three paaluns each stepped to the front of one of the cages.

  The locks began to rattle.

  "This is your last chance," the hollow voice warned, echoing across the suddenly still air. "Join us."

  Ylnah gasped, her eyes widening as tendrils of sickly green light snaked from the fountain. The filaments pulsed, writhing like living things as they plunged into the backs of each paalun's skull. More tendrils stretched toward the cages, where something massive shifted in the shadows of each cage. "The fountain," she choked out, her voice barely above a whisper. "Something's is either in it or using it to control them all. And whatever's in those cages…" She swallowed hard, unable to finish the thought as the largest tendril suddenly twitched in her direction.

  She screamed as it shot through the air and hit her in the forehead.

  ~~ Mine now. ~~

  Not a chance. In her mind, Ylnah's fury manifested as a massive silver broadsword. She brought it down on the invading tendril with a mental scream that matched her physical one, each savage hack sending psychic shockwaves through her skull. The tendril writhed and recoiled as she severed it completely. Her eyes blazed as she whirled to face her companions, chest heaving, teeth bared in defiance. "That thing tried to get in my head," she snarled, fists clenched at her sides. "It won't be making that mistake again."

  “You’re okay?” Izzy asked.

  Ylnah nodded, “I’m fi…”

  “Attack!” The monotone voice shouted.

  Three nebulous inky shadows flowed toward the group, their edges rippling like oil on water. Ylnah's throat constricted as they moved—not quite running, not quite floating—with a predatory grace that triggered some primal warning in her brain. Leopard? Srotack? Panther? Something worse? Their forms kept shifting, refusing to settle into anything recognizable. One moment they had four legs, the next six, then what looked like tentacles. They closed the distance with unnatural speed, halting mere yards from the group's frontline, where they swayed and shifted, their bodies seeming to absorb the surrounding light rather than block it.

  With a whispery popping sound the creatures disappeared. A second later Ylnah faced a grey furred monster covered with sickly green spots, reminding her of a leopard in form and in looks. It growled at her from a long muzzle, dripping viscous fluid from it’s mouth. She saw the barbed club of a tail swinging at her, right before it connected with her thigh.

  The world flashed red as she felt her leg shatter. Her scream of pain, and rage, tore her throat raw. It flashed away, as an Ice Dagger whistled over her crumpled form and shattered against the hut. Before she could draw breath, the monster materialized behind Izzy, its claws ripping through leather and flesh with a wet, sickening sound, spraying hot droplets across Ylnah's face. Izzy's shriek pierced the air like a blade. Through tears of pain clouding her vision, she squinted in time to see Valgrin the beast with an Ice Dagger impaling it mid-lunge, following with an Ice Spear skewering the one Bridget engaged. Both of them vanished.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Bridget threw her a potion. “For your leg, it’ll hurt like heck.”

  Ylnah quickly opened the bottle and downed it all in one gulp, the fire hit her leg almost immediately. Her howl of pain ripped through the air. The two monsters materialized ten yards ahead, oil-slick shadows coalescing, pulsing, hungry. Soon they were joined by the one that had engaged with Malcolm. A quick glance let Ylnah know both Bridget and Malcolm had fared okay, bloodied but still in good shape.

  Valgrin turned his head towards Ylnah, “You okay? If so, can you make it to the fountain with me?”

  She nodded, “Yes to bo…”

  A massive paw materialized from nowhere, its razor-sharp claws sinking into Valgrin's back with a squishy, tearing sound. His scream cut short as he crashed onto Ylnah, driving the air from her lungs. Through the tangle of his arms, she glimpsed Izzy lunging with her dagger, the blade disappearing between the monster's shoulder blades, the creature vanished. Ylnah's heart hammered against her ribs as Izzy's momentum carried her forward, her wide eyes meeting Ylnah's in that suspended moment before the dagger plunged into Valgrin's body with a sickening thud. Pinned beneath them both, Ylnah felt warm blood seeping through her clothes as Valgrin's body convulsed and Skwilly squealed in pain.

  Ylnah watched Izzy scramble backward, her tunic soaked crimson, hands trembling as she stared at Valgrin's ashen face. His lips had turned a deeper blue, chest barely rising. Together they heaved his limp form off Ylnah, blood pooling beneath him in an expanding puddle. Ylnah's fingers slipped on his blood-covered skin as she frantically pressed her palm to his chest, channeling healing energy that flickered weakly. Izzy's voice cracked as she knelt beside her, tears cutting clean tracks through the blood spatter on her cheeks. A snarl made Ylnah's head snap up, just in time to see a monster materializing behind Bridget, its jaws clamping down on her thigh with a sickening crunch of bone.

  “Go help Bridget,” Ylnah yelled at Izzy. “I got Valgrin.” She looked down at Valgrin, his color improved as was his breathing but he was still unconscious. “Skwilly watch over him, let me know if a monster shows up.”

  “Will do.” Skwilly took a position next to Valgrin.

  Ylnah stood up and looked over at Bridget, Izzy must have got the monster to retreat again. She noted that Malcolm had invoked his Mist Cloak spell and hovered near Izzy. The three monsters stood away from the group, one of them flickering between phantom and physical form. Wonder if that’s the one Izzy got the dagger into. She cast four Explosive Air spells and hurled them, one after the other, causing the beasts to back up another few yards.

  “Why aren’t they attacking now?” She asked anyone who’d answer.

  “Think we’ve been doing more damage to them than expected. Got the one attacking me, sai right in the eyeball.” Malcolm’s voice floated out of the dark cloud. “Is Valgrin okay?”

  “We got him stable, but didn’t have enough time to heal him again to get him conscious. Skwilly is watching over him." She answered.

  “I’ll keep watch over Bridget and Izzy, you go take care of Valgrin. Holler if you need me. My Mist Cloak seems to confuse them.”

  Ylnah nodded, sent three more Explosive Air spells at the monsters, backing them up again. Then she ran over and knelt next to Valgrin. “Any changes"?” She asked Skwilly.

  “Not that I could tell,” he answered.

  Ylnah cast Stealth Daggers, six nearly invisible daggers circled her.

  Skwilly backed up, “What’s that?”

  “Defensive spell, if a monster appears next to me I’ll be ready this time. Wish I would’ve thought about it before. Going to hit him with another healing and another if needed.”

  She disconnected from her Silence and Protection spells, they weren’t much of a drain, but any drain could hurt her at this point. She then turned to heal Valgrin. She had just finished casting the second healing spell when she felt the puff of displaced air that she’d felt when the monster showed up the first time. She turned to see it wincing from the dagger attack, it phased back to the monster’s safe space.

  “How bad is it?” Valgrin said weakly.

  “At the pace we’re going, we’re not going to have many healing potions or spells left.” Ylnah looked down at Valgrin, “But I think we’ve done some decent damage to the creatures. They seem to be wary of us now. Making quick attempts, but retreating as soon as we make a stand.”

  “Hmm, help me sit up, please. Then check the magic to see if they are still connected to the fountain. Skwilly, may need you to flare as bright as possible here in a few.”

  “Malcolm and ladies, Valgrin’s awake.” Ylnah announced, the others stepped back to talk, their eyes not leaving the shifting shadows lurking at the far edge of the clay field.

  “Going to check the magic flow now.”

  Ylnah focused on the magic around her, letting some of her magic pool points trickle into her eyes. The world exploded into a kaleidoscope of luminescence. There were crimson ribbons pulsing like arteries, violet mists that whispered of ancient secrets, and amber fractals that seemed to fold space upon itself. But beneath it all writhed something unsettling sickly viridian tendrils, the color of gangrene and poison, snaking from the fountain to the monsters. Following their path, she discovered a massive column of the same nauseating green shooting upward from the fountain, branching across the ceiling like the roots of an upside-down tree. She blinked, dispelling the vision, and looked over at Valgrin. " Still there," she said grimly. "And there's more magic emanating from the fountain than I thought."

  Valgrin struggled to stand, “I’m going to get Ylnah to the fountain. With what she’s seen, I think the solution to these monsters is there. Can you all cover?”

  Ylnah watched everyone agree.

  “Skwilly, do your best. Everyone close your eyes for a second.”

  Ylnah squeezed her eyes shut at Valgrin's command, a supernova of light bleeding through her eyelids and painting the darkness behind them a vibrant pink.

  “Open them,” Skwilly instructed.

  The shifting shadow monsters were writhing all three flashing from ever-changing shapes and physical form. The group took advantage and ran to the fountain on the other side of the gravel path.

  After taking a look into the water Ylnah confirmed what Valgrin thought, “The magic linking to the monsters is coming from the fish.”

  Valgrin plunged his fist into the water and ice began to form, he slowly pulled his hand out leaving a solid block of ice behind.

  Ylnah watched the monsters disappear, leaving a small puff of black smoke behind.

  “Uh-oh?” Malcolm pointed to Nori and five other paaluns headed there way. “This could get interesting.”