Chapter 5: Part 4 - What The Archon Wants To See

Yinn's mercenaries, Vasha thought, had it in for the Nageling Marauders. Ever since leaving the landing site at the foot of the volcano, Roan's team had been accosted at every turn. Worse, they hadn't even managed to find any keys on the mercenaries they defeated.

"No invisibility," Haki said gloomily. "It's the one thing we're missing. The smart teams will just sneak their way to the top and take all the mercenaries by surprise."

No-one agreed out loud, but Vasha knew what they were all thinking. The strategy Haki had described was exactly what the Valpari family were doing.

Roan had been in a foul mood ever since meeting them again. He hadn't said much, but it was clear he was furious to have been taken out by Jean's attack so easily. At every encounter with every new band of mercenaries, his mood became blacker, his attacks more vicious. By the end of the first day, Haki and Gull had to physically restrain the charr to stop him pounding a mercenary's head into the ground with his mace.

Vasha had come to a different conclusion about their fight with the Valparis. They'd been sneaking, as Haki had suggested – and more importantly, they hadn't wanted to be seen. Jean had just got lucky with his earth magic; Vasha had seen how surprised he looked at the ferocity of his attack. The Valparis hadn't stayed to finish their foes, either. They'd slunk off into the shadows, avoiding further violence. They were saving their strength, Vasha thought. They were just as wary of this place as the Marauders were.

Which meant that, if it came to another fight, the Valparis feared they might lose.

Dusk came swiftly to the volcano. There was no direct sunshine inside the cone, but light still crept in somewhere and it faded quickly as the day turned. In its place, the ceilings of blue-green fungi came to life, glowing and rippling in a breeze only they could feel. Watching their movement made Vasha feel faintly nauseous, even if she was glad not to be surrounded by total darkness.

Dark or not, the Marauders didn't halt for long. Roan was relentless as well as angry; even Gull's level head couldn't persuade him to rest.

"We'll sleep when we're dead," he growled, when Haki started shaking out his blankets.

"Which will be sooner rather than later, if we don't sleep," Gull argued.

Roan wouldn't listen. He glared at Haki until the norn, grumbling, began packing up the camp again. Within the hour, they'd eaten some oddly luminous fruit that Gull insisted was safe, then were on the move again.

"If we all stop at once, he can't make us keep marching," Haki murmured, as Roan led them into the darkness.

"He can't," Gull agreed, "but he might be right. We don't know which teams are ahead of us."

"There are only two others left. You really think those idiot asura are a threat?"

"They've made it this far," Gull said. "Don't rule them out yet."

"And the Valparis?" Vasha asked, keeping her voice low.

There was a moment of silence before Gull said, "They might be ahead, but that doesn't mean they know what they're doing."

Vasha couldn't help grinning. Her thoughts exactly.

And it was, indeed, the Nth Degree they ran into next.

They came across them quite suddenly, in a clearing ringed by thick undergrowth. The sounds from the clearing were horrific: mechanical whines and shouting from one side, animal screeches and rough growls from the other. Vasha could easily picture the Nth Degree using a golem to fight off an attack – but from the vicious sounds of the wildlife, she could also picture the asura being torn apart.

Roan led the way in cautiously, pushing aside the surrounding plants as though trying not to be seen. Vasha crouched at his side, peering past a clump of sticky ferns. It was exactly as she'd imagined: the Nth Degree were down to three asura and one golem. They were under siege from an extraordinary array of spiny reptiles and – unlikely though it seemed – sentient mushrooms.

"Gull, you're going to flank them to the south. Get up on that outcrop if you can. Haki, you're going north. Come in behind that golem and back them up. Vasha–"

She found herself staring at Roan, mouth hanging slightly open. "You're not really going to help them?"

Roan looked equally dumbfounded, not an expression he often wore. "They won't last another five minutes without us."

"Don't underestimate them. We don't know they need our help."

She realised Gull and Haki were both staring at her uneasily. "The Nth Degree wouldn't leave us to die," Gull said.

"Wouldn't they?" Vasha shifted, watching one of the reptiles launch itself at an asura. They went down in a snarling heap. "We've never had an alliance with those asura. Even the Valparis turned on us and they were supposed to be our friends."

"We were the ones who turned on them," Roan snapped. Vasha realised, belatedly, that Roan was starting to regret that.

"We all know there can only be one winner," Vasha argued. "Helping the Nth Degree just puts us all in danger–"

Roan's snarl was loud enough to make Vasha flinch. "Enough. I'm not leaving another team to die."

He was remembering Grey, Vasha thought. Rescuing the charr and his team of pirates had been the very opposite of ruthless, but it had brought Roan more peace than fighting ever had. Maybe he thought he could recreate that here.

Vasha wasn't thinking about peace, though. She was here, in this round, to impress Artair; he was almost certainly watching. Helping another team... That didn't sound like something the Archon would do. It showed too much weakness.

Roan's one-eyed gaze was still on her. "I'm not going to force you to fight, Vasha. Just remember that when all this is over, you're the only one who's going to have to live with your actions – or lack of them."

He was gone a moment later, with barely a ripple in the undergrowth to show he'd been there. Haki followed, then Gull, neither of them sparing Vasha more than a glance. She watched them charge into the fight, weapons swinging and pets snarling.

Watched, but didn't move. She wasn't scared, but she couldn't see an alternative to letting the Nth Degree fight – and perhaps die – on their own. She knew Artair was watching and she knew what would impress him – and what wouldn't. She wasn't about to jeopardise the future he'd offered her.

The fight in the clearing was over quickly. Roan and Haki were a blur of blows, working in perfect unison; Gull's bow loosed arrows almost too fast to see. The golem plucked the fallen asura from the ground, holding him aloft, whilst the rest of the Nth Degree staggered into cover around its legs. Creature after creature fell to the weapons of the Marauders, until the last few screeched in protest and fled.

Water was soaking through the knees of Vasha's trousers, but she found herself frozen. The Nth Degree were talking amongst themselves, with a lot of wild gestures. At least two of them were bleeding. In the end, they warily removed three pieces of key from a compartment inside the golem, and after more negotiation, handed one to Roan.

Vasha felt a flush of triumph. If the Nth Degree had already acquired two more pieces, they were tougher than they looked. Roan had put his team in danger for nothing.

But still, she couldn't move. She tried to tell herself it was better if the asura thought the Marauders were also down to three members. That could work in their favour later, if they needed the element of surprise.

Distantly, though, Vasha knew she was making excuses for her inaction. Roan had been right – and he wasn't the only one feeling guilty.