"Hydropidax!"

  The resulting water hissed as it made contact with the fire. For the briefest of moments, the flames died back, only to surge upward again, continuing to blacken the wood on the side of the house. It simply was not enough.

  Hamond groaned in frustration, and let the spell fade. It just wasn't created with the goal of combating a fire of this size. He briefly had thought about what sort of spell would be needed for this, but he did not have time to experiment while the fire continued to grow. It would start to burn into the adjacent houses any moment now. He'd been trying to save one, but he couldn't be in two places at the same time.

  "Hamond!" Edeline's voice called out.

  Edeline was sprinting down the street, followed by Ugotlas and...wait, Lady Lace? Hamond was certain he had last seen the noblewoman getting away from the fighting with Myron. How and why Lady Lace had ended up closer to the fighting and the danger, he couldn't figure out.

  "You alright?" Hamond asked as Edeline drew close. Having heard the booming sound of her spell, he had to assume the attacking knights were dealt with, or else she wouldn't have returned here.

  "I have been better," Edeline said, "The attacking knights are dead. Their bombard is destroyed. Now, is no one helping you here?"

  "Why would they?" It wasn't clear what Edeline was thinking. Of course it was far too dangerous to stay anywhere close to where the bombard had been, let alone the knights. Hamond himself had only returned to check if anyone had been left behind.

  And to help Edeline if she needed it.

  "Fools," Edeline muttered, looking over at the burning houses. "Your spells were not enough?"

  "A single water spell isn't doing much," Hamond stated, trying to think. Even with both of them there, they would be limited in how much they could cover. Maybe if they each worked at one side, they could-

  "Then multiply it!" Edeline stated, focusing on the fire. "Tetra hydropidax!"

  Four streams of water shot out, spraying onto the flames. At first, it seemed as useless as Hamond's earlier spells, but slowly, bit after bit, the fire was pushed back. Edeline's modification to the spell, done in the moment, was working.

  Normally, when modifying a spell like this, even a fairly straightforward modification like increasing the effect by a factor of four, a responsible thaumaturge would want to test it safely first. Using an untested spell in the vicinity of peoples' homes was quite risky. At least, that was in line with what Hamond had been taught.

  Well, if it worked for Edeline, he should be willing to bet on it as well. "Tetra hydropidax!" He aimed his spell on the other side from where he was, trying to cut off the fire from the house on the other side.

  It took far too long, what seemed like an eternity, but at last the fire flickered out. The two houses on both sides of the wrecked building still stood, if somewhat charred. Stepping back, Hamond found himself coughing, the smoke and ash floating around finally catching up to him.

  Wiping the tears out of his eyes, he looked over at Edeline. Though clearly worn down, there was a satisfied grin on her face as she met Hamond's gaze. He would have smiled back, but he was too caught up in clearing his throat. They had done it.

  "I suppose with that, you will no longer need my assistance today." Ugotlas started to head off, tail curled up on a spiral over his back. "Go and settle the matter with the elders. Though I would not trust them to any great length. I will meet with you tomorrow shortly after sunrise. Make certain all of you are awake and ready."

  Hamond had to wonder if Ugotlas knew about Myron and Nela sleeping in, and was letting them know in his own way. For that matter, the sphinx probably could have intervened and put the fire out a lot quicker than he and Edeline did. It almost made Hamond want to call out to the departing Ugotlas and ask why he didn't.

  Better that he not, though. With the sphinx's cunning, they didn't need to owe Ugotlas anything more than they already did. Besides, being able to truthfully tell the elders they had handled the fire put them in a stronger position. Maybe it was a bit cynical to think of it that way, but Hamond had a feeling the elders would still be stubborn about it.

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  "And now for you," Edeline said, addressing Lady Lace. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do."

  "Shouldn't it wait until we meet up with Myron?" Hamond asked.

  "Myron?" Lady Lace asked, visibly shaken by the mention of the name.

  Edeline looked equally stricken at the question. "That..." She trailed off, seemingly lost for words.

  Hamond didn't know what to make of this, but if mentioning Myron's name was an issue, it served to prove his point. All four of them needed to sit down together with Lady Lace before they started pressing the woman.

  "You spoke with him before," Hamond explained, "Myron was the one you were supposed to be following to get away from the knights."

  "She thought she could turn herself over to the knights so they might spare Faehaven," Edeline said. Hamond grimaced in response. That was a gamble that had no chance of paying off regardless of just who Lady Lace was, not with the way the knights were.

  "I had not thought there would be a thaumaturge here capable of fighting, let alone several. Without you, the elves truly would have been defenseless."

  Hamond wasn't sure how he should feel about that. He couldn't deny it was true, but the Elefae could hardly be considered safe with Edeline being their only line of defense. And given that they were planning on leaving soon, the place would be unguarded unless something changed.

  Yet another matter for the four of them to discuss together. "We can bring it up with the others. Let's get moving."

  The three had made it partway down the street when Myron sprinted around the corner. "Have you seen-" he started to ask breathlessly, then stopped as he saw them. "Thank Aether."

  Edeline sighed. "I suppose I cannot blame you for losing sight of her after what happened with Jelinia, but we should try to do better."

  Myron scowled. "You had the easy job. I was herding who knows how many Elefae out of Faehaven. I couldn't possibly keep my eyes on every single person."

  Hamond could hear Edeline gritting her teeth from where he stood. She wasn't about to hold back on whatever retort was coming next. Right, time to intervene before they had a repeat of that one argument the two had back in Hallowscroft.

  "I would've thought defeating the knights would be enough of a battle for one day."

  Edeline looked over at Hamond, her frustration giving way to a tired resignation. "You're right. This is pointless."

  Myron's own expression softened. "Sorry. I've just been panicking. If something had happened to her..." He gestured at Lady Lace as he trailed off.

  "I should be the one apologizing," the noblewoman blurted out, "I am the one who chose to come over here. Had I known you were all this...capable, I would not have risked myself."

  "In honesty, half the time we do not know what we're doing." Edeline remarked, then turned her attention back to Myron. "I take it that means you already figured out who she is?"

  "Yes," Myron answered gravely.

  "Well, I have not," Hamond said, pushing aside a bit of irritation. He could hardly complain about either of them being vague, when he had just insisted that all four of them gather before dealing with this. "Let's go meet up with Nela."

  "Where is she, anyway?" Edeline asked.

  "Tending to the wounded. A couple of people were in that house when the bombard shot hit, and were badly hurt." Myron closed his eyes. "I'm not sure she'll be available for a while."

  "Well, we will have to let her know the details later." The look Edeline gave her brother was disturbingly intense. "So, to formally introduce you, this is Lady Anthyla Kelshir."

  Hamond was not too terribly surprised. Her clothing had already given her away as nobility. It was not even the first time, as he had figured out Edeline's background in a similar manner when they first met. Of course, the difference there was that Edeline had been wounded in an attack on her home. With her outfit being heavily stained with blood, it had taken Hamond a while to catch that detail.

  "Again, I am sorry. I did not mean for it to come to this." Lady Kelshir's gaze wandered down the street, to where the burned house's remains lay.

  "It could have been worse," Edeline said quickly.

  "The next step is what matters." Myron crossed his arms. "This couldn't have been the entire forces of the knights. And we know they too have a thaumaturge in their ranks."

  "Excuse me?" Lady Kelshir drew back in shock.

  "I'm going to guess you don't know about what happened in Verdan either," Hamond noted.

  "I know of the village," she answered, "The elder did mention something about the harvest there. What exactly is the problem there?"

  Myron exchanged glances with Hamond. "The knights razed Verdan and slaughtered many of the people there," Myron told her, "We had been passing through, and managed to escape with a few of the villagers. That's how we got involved in this entire mess."

  "By Aether..." Lady Kelshir's face was deathly pale. "I had no idea."

  "We've figured out they're not just going after the elves," Myron continued, "They're going after anyone who aided the elves. Verdan was trading food and supplies with Faehaven. If you were helping to do the same, you could very well be a target as well."

  "I...I understand. Though...is there really any place where I would be safe?"

  "Where we are," Edeline answered confidently. Hamond wished he shared that confidence. They still did not know where the Witch of Wrath was or what she was after. Between her and the unknown thaumaturge, this situation was likely to only get more complicated. For now, though…

  ...for now, they had won.