The silent response to his declaration caused Chuck to look up and scan the other three in the room. Marl and Whyth returned his gaze. A lavender curtain of hair blocked his view of Rahmys’ face. Graff lay motionless next to the far wall.

  Marl raised his chin in Chuck’s direction. “Looked like you were leveling up.”

  “Mmm-hmm. What did we just face? The creature and whatever that was at the end?”

  “The dowan was actually a shadow beast in dowan form. I'm not sure about the thing that shot fire at you,” Marl answered.

  Thinking through his list of questions, Chuck found one he needed to ask. “Did I kill it?”

  “Aaarrrggg!!” Rahmys jumped up to her feet. “Questions! All the hytto’n questions. You were there. You saw. You heard. We don’t need to relive it all again.” Tears streamed down her face. Her shoulders trembled from her sobs.

  Chuck pushed himself to stand. “I didn’t mean to upset…”

  A stream of purple light flowed from Rahmys’ pointing finger. It crackled on the cave wall a couple of feet from Chuck’s head. Tiny shards of stone pricked along his body. Marl and Whyth both shouted, leaping toward Rahmys.

  Her mouth fell open. Her eyes grew wide and round. Her hand bounced off her thigh, and she dropped it to her side. Marl and Whyth grabbed hold of her, keeping her from collapsing to the ground. With a sudden lurch and twist, she broke free and stumbled to a halt in front of Chuck.

  “Rawlt. I don’t know—I mean I am so—rawlt—sorry. I don’t know why I did that. Sorry…” She flung her arms wide and embraced Chuck, the rest of her words too muffled to make out. Several seconds later, she giggled and stepped out of the hug. “Nothing personal, but it’s unsettling to hug you. You’re way too squishy.”

  Chuck stood, staring back at Rahmys, a grunt his only response.

  She blushed and momentarily looked down at the ground, then looked back up. “I can only offer that my brain misfired, or I became overwhelmed. Neither are valid reasons for my actions.” She looked back down at her feet. “I am deeply sorry.”

  “I’ve been on the verge of doing something like that—not knowing how may be the only reason I haven’t yet. I understand.” Chuck concentrated and his hand reformed into the best replication so far. He rested his pink fingers on her shoulder.

  “Good control,” Marl commented.

  “According to the Structure, I should gain the ability to refine my skill, so it actually looks like skin, or close enough.”

  Rahmys patted Chuck’s hand. “Let’s head on down the hallway. We can seal the room and leave Graff for now. We should be close to one exit that is outside of the village. I want to get in the open, or at least out of these tunnels. We can talk and answer questions along the way or once we get there.”

  Whyth turned from the closed door. “Sealed, minor one—easy to break, but will require enough effort he should be safe.”

  They turned and shuffled down the hall. Chuck noticed Rahmys’ slumped shoulders and Whyth’s vacant look and kept the questions to himself, for now. Marl came alongside him and gave him a quick nod and smile.

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  “It’s here,” Rahmys called out. She waved her hand over the wall and a ladder extracted from the stone wall. She scurried up as fast as it appeared. Whyth close behind.

  “Can you climb it?” Marl asked Chuck.

  “Should be able to.” He grabbed a rung and started up. Lengthening his legs, he climbed through the opening above him.

  Marl closed the hatch behind him, then walked over to the group of stones where everyone else sat.

  “Chuck, thank you for letting me think and process.” Rahmys’ weak smile added extra weight to her words.

  Whyth nodded, “Thanks from me too.”

  Rahmys plucked at an invisible thread on her sleeve. “Time for questions.”

  Clearing his throat, Marl jumped up. “Let’s start with an answer to Chuck’s last question. I don’t know if you killed it, the caster, that is. The shadow beast wasn’t really alive. I’ve been thinking about the mage and the beast. Could it have been smoke magic instead of shadow magic? Either way, it would seem we’re dealing with someone who has strong fire magic in a secondary slot, if not primary.”

  “The eyes and colors around him, along with him casting fire, would be giveaways.” Whyth smiled, taking the sting out of his sarcasm.

  Returning the smile, Marl responded. “Agree, thought I’d settle us all down with a dose of obvious.”

  “Ummm…” Rahmys scratched at the rock she sat on. “I think I know who that was. She’s a Dark Mage, and her name is Chartris. She and Vassyn were rivals. He never shared the story with me, but something happened in their past. Something that neither ever got over. Both would go out of their way to undermine the other. With Vassyn being killed a few days ago and she’s showing up down here, it makes me wonder if she’s involved. If so, I doubt his death is related to Bythnahr. I don’t see her throwing in with the Bythies.”

  “Any reason she wouldn’t?” Marl asked.

  Rahmys cocked her head. “I guess it is possible. Her politics were of the local kind. Jealous of the pull Vassyn had around here. She sided with the Rynthar faction, and they played along the boundaries of ally and enemy of the Bythnahr. Still doesn’t seem to fit. She’d not make a power play for the benefit of others.”

  Marl kicked at the red and blue fallen leaves. “Unless the Bythies offered her control of the region for helping them?”

  “We must keep that in play at least,” Rahmys responded.

  Chuck broke in. “Dark Mage sounds ominous.”

  With a shrug, Rahmys turned to Chuck. “Can be, but no more than a Light Mage. The title Dark and Light can be misleading regarding magic types. Some of it is how they align with traditional scopes of control—night and day type things. Both play in shadow magic—you can’t have shadows without light, but the substance of shadows is dark. Some of the traditional powers have a flavor of dark is evil and light is good, but those are only words and don’t apply in truth. There are evil dark things and there are evil light things. Same thing as far as good, too.”

  “Hmm, and does this Chartris do fire magic too? I think Marl called it a secondary slot.” Chuck asked.

  “She does. Vassyn, for all his hatred of her, respected her abilities. He told me her abilities in fire magic were more like a second primary mastery, not a secondary ability. If she can weave shadows and smoke together and use that to create beasts, they’d have the power of a shadow beast, along with the solidity offered by the fact smoke has a physical form.”

  Marl spun to face Rahmys, his mouth open. Chuck beat him to the question. “So that spike thing was solid because of the smoke magic, not shadow magic?”

  Rahmys nodded. “Seems like you’re catching on.” Her voice cracked, and a tear slid down her cheek.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a memory.” Chuck quivered.

  “Thank you. Not your fault. The situation forces us to charge ahead. Now, we have to be aware of a possible second front or a powerful addition to the one front we knew about. As far as you killing her, I doubt it. Though you probably shook her up. I doubt she’s ever had someone turn her spell against her. I hadn’t thought about that until just now. What did you cast, and at what level?”

  “Control fire. I advanced two levels because of what I did. Landed on level four.”

  Whyth shook his head, joining the discussion. “That was more than a fourth-level casting, let alone the second-level.”

  “Or Chartris didn’t use her full power.” Rahmys offered.

  “True. She may not have seen Chuck as much more than a novice.” Whyth replied.

  “I feel like a novice would overstate my abilities right now.”

  The wave of laughter at Chuck’s quip brought a much-needed release of tension to the group.