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The creature tilted its head and looked at Iryana. After a moment of staring at her with those deep black eyes, it reared up again. Iryana stiffened but didn’t jerk away like her every impulse begged her to. The creature’s hot paw landed on her forehead, and her vision went black.

When light and color returned, Iryana was seeing through the gaze of the fox-serpent. It was high up in a tree, slinking through the branches as it looked down on the temple Hadima had described. The pit in the ground that had been cleared away glowed with a strange maroon light. It almost seemed to vibrate as the fox-serpent’s gaze focused, like the creature of fire could see fire magic emanating from the ground. The pit was nestled against the main round building of the temple, a swath of cleared ground at its edges. Beyond that, piles of stone cluttered the courtyard.

Robed figures were leading animals into the clearing, tying them to stakes at one end so they couldn’t get away. Offerings? Or food for the monster they were going to create.

Iryana blinked again, finding herself staring up at a deep blue sky with soft pink clouds trimmed in purple. Hadima and Pyetar hovered over her, Hadima’s face bright with excitement while Pyetar’s was dark with worry.

“They’re definitely getting ready for the ritual,” Iryana croaked, trying to sit up in the snow. Pyetar’s hands gripped her shoulder to help her up. “But they haven’t started.”

“So, we’re not too late yet.” Pyetar let out a relieved breath.

Iryana nodded, then looked over to the little fox-serpent lingering nearby. “Thank you,” she told it as sincerely as she could. And then pulled out some of her own rations and offered them to the creature.

It grabbed the food from her hand with its jaws and then darted back toward the pines, clearly satisfied with what it had shared. Like Limhiz’s armored bears, Mhakiza’s fox-serpents had clearly been created with care for humans. It was an advantage she would happily take.

“Do you think it just wanted to show us we still have time?” Lidishta asked from Vaneshta’s side.

Iryana closed her eyes, describing everything she saw, every detail.

“I think it scouted for us,” Pepha gasped, voice light with excitement. “We can decide how to approach them and get the best advantage.”

Iryana nodded, realizing Pepha was right. She described the area again, Lidishta adding some of the details she remembered, until they had painted a picture of the temple. They worked through options, determining the best way to approach based on what state it was in when they arrived.

As they finished climbing the ridge, she was feeling light and optimistic. She liked having a plan and she liked having backup plans even more. It felt like there was real hope that they’d be successful. That they would all go home safely.

“Oh shit,” Vabihn exclaimed as he crested first, staring over the other side of the ridge as he was battered by the wind.

Dread surged in her. Iryana and the others rushed up to join him, freezing at his side with similar exclamations.

From their vantage, they could see miles and miles down into the snow-covered Lasharye Highlands.

In one of the valleys between two hills, Iryana could make out a small village, the houses dark smudges against the white. But that wasn’t the notable part. A steep mound of dark brown earth was piled in the center of that village, as high as six of the little houses would be stacked on top of each other. Perhaps even taller than that. And even that wasn’t what caught her eye. Next to that pile was a dark hole.

As they watched, a chunk of ground splintered off, sinking into the gaping maw of the pit. The trees nearby waved, and they could see an echo spread out from that hole as the ground rippled. They watched it expand until it was racing toward them. Until suddenly the ground shook wildly, forcing them to scurry backward as a chunk of snow fell off the ridge in front of them. They braced themselves against each other, keeping everyone upright as they rode out the earthquake.

When the ground finally calmed, Iryana turned back to the highlands below, legs trembling. She scanned the landscape, finding more pits. It was as if Noshtiz wasn’t entirely sure where his creatures needed to dig. As if he was searching.

Iryana had known Noshtiz and his metal-badgers had been causing the earthquakes, but seeing it for herself sent shivers up her spine and nausea up her throat. Noshtiz was ripping Istri apart, and Iryana felt the desperate urge to stop him. To put an end to it all. But what could she do? What could any of them do?

Not a single thing.

“We need to keep moving,” Iryana said tightly, forcing herself to turn back toward the ridge.

Adrenaline was the only thing fighting off the cold as Iryana looked between the others, ready for battle. They had stashed their packs and outermost layers a short distance away. It felt good to look down and see the rows of leather lamellar, the armor of the clans.

They glimpsed between the trees, finding the temple just as Iryana had seen from the fox-serpent’s eyes. The Keepers—the Steelsworn—were in a circle around the pit, hands outstretched as they pulled tendrils of maroon magic. There were far more of them than she’d ever expected, dozens around the pit and dozens more loitering in the clearing.

They weren’t too late, but the ritual had already started. They needed to be quick.

“The Keeper with that cane, he’s mine,” Lidishta hissed as she slipped past them, headed toward her spot, Vaneshta following closely behind. Iryana glanced back through the trees to pick out the Keeper she’d mentioned, the one who had likely performed Lidishta’s forging.

The man wore dark robes like the others, like all Keepers, but in his hand was a forged cane. It was darker than any forging she’d ever seen. Like it didn’t have any of the opaque white raw magic worked into it. Like it was pure metal magic.

“I suppose I can spare one,” Vabihn chuckled quietly, heading off at a slightly different angle into the trees.

Iryana turned to Pyetar, grabbing his face and pulling it down to kiss him. She put every ounce of what-ifs into that kiss before pulling away.

He ran a thumb down her face. “Be careful. Promise you’ll be careful.”