Third Delve

"Hey," Oro grunted one afternoon a couple of months later, "Get your spear and come outside." He thumped his bat lightly on his shoulders as he strolled out the door without waiting to be acknowledged.

Sarahi, and Nayeli and Tuli next to her, gave a questioning look to his back, then to each other. "Is it just me, or is he...?" Nayeli started to ask.

The Sha'khari shook her head, having no answer, but got to her feet. "I don't know, but I'll find out. He's been weird ever since he got fired. I never imagined that would bother him so much." Trotting into the spare room for a moment, she fetched the spear from the closet and followed Oro out into the yard. The Rabbit had been steadily transforming it over the last two months into a kind of obstacle course or training ground, hauling trees out of the edge of the property and driving them into the ground or stacking or nailing them together to create walls and beams and ramps around the property. He was warming up by swinging his bat around at the top of a "staircase" of pillars barely a foot wide.

"I need to get some practice in," he explained as she approached the foot of the narrow stairs, untying the little cloth bag covering the luminous head of her spear. It was supposed to protect expensive golf-clubs, but they figured it would do well enough for her trophy from The Gauntlet, and it had. "Figured you might like to do more than just look a that spear for a change. You up for it?"

"Practice?" she asked with a quirked brow, "You mean like sparring? We're not in school anymore, Oro. I don't expect I'll be dealing with that kind of bully again, or have to resort to that kind of defense."

"So you'll never be mugged, or robbed, or hit on by some tourist too drunk to mind his manners?" the Rabbit rolled his eyes, "Just do it for me, then. No one else around here can make me work like you will."

Despite the warm shot of pride his praise sent through her, Sarahi was reluctant as she nodded her agreement. "That's fine. I don't mind. But...what's bothering you, that you need 'practice'?"

He flipped sideways off the peak, landing in the grass a little in front of her. He didn't seem to be (deliberately) showing off, but Sarahi had to admit he made it look impressive. Even easy. He'd been practicing out here a lot lately, though this was the first time he'd asked her to come spar with him. "I'm thinking of running The Gauntlet again. I can't let myself get rusty."

She planted the butt of the spear in the grass and firmly declared, "No." Less than a second later, gnashing her teeth and hating herself for giving him the opening, she retracted the statement and replaced it with a question: "Why?"

"We are just about out of money," he growled, "And Tuli's about to pop. Any way I look at it, there are going to be hospital bills soon, and none of us has anything like insurance. We'll probably have to hire a doctor privately on top of that, if what happened at her last appointment is any indication. And that's not even thinking about all the stuff we're going to need for a baby, and--"

"Can it," she cut him off, "That's not on you--"

"It damn well is," he cut her off in turn, leveling his bat at her like he intended to hit her with it, "I'm--"

"You'll listen to me this time," she cut him off right back, crossing his bat with the shaft of her spear and meeting his glare unflinchingly, "We're a big family already. No one in their right mind would expect you to earn enough to feed all of us, and you're the closest to crazy out of us all. Diya's business is picking up, and she's popular at weddings. Kylan's working with his dad. He won't be making sales often, probably, but the commission will be pretty good when he does. I know I don't bring in much, but I'm still learning the trade, and Mrs. Rosefur thinks my designs will sell well once they're finished. The only reason Nayeli hasn't gotten a job is because she's been busy applying for nursing school and scholarships, and even Tuli plans to look for work again after the baby's born. I don't doubt she can find it." Sarahi sighed, lowering her spear. "It's not all on you. You can lean on us, too."

His lip curled in a sneer, "That's my line. I'm not my fucking dad. Fuck all if I leave it to all of you to pay the bills without bringing in my share."

Sarahi blinked. "...Oh," she said, suddenly understanding a bit better. They had only talked about his parents once before, and she still winced at the memory. She'd all but forgotten that part of his life since that day. "Look," she began again, more gently, "I know you're disappointed about getting fired...twice. But you've gotten three jobs in two months. And you're still applying. You even take our advice before the interviews, sometimes. You're not being lazy, and we all know it," she assured him, "Keep doing what you're doing. You'll find the place you were made for eventually."

Oro ground his teeth, looking at the lowered end of her spear rather than her eyes. He didn't like to admit it, but he sort of thought he already had...and even he didn't like it. But whether he liked it or not...

The Sha'khari watched him think it over for a minute, lifting her spear and leaning on it. "I know you," she reminded him, "It's never as simple as money. If it was, I fully believe you'd just work three jobs and sleep on your feet in between them. What else is bothering you?"

Finally it was his turn to sigh. "What's going on with Tuli. That ring...I can't call it 'good', even if the spell sounded nice. What's happening to her definitely isn't natural. But getting it off her..."

"Requires something from The Gauntlet," Sarahi finished for him, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Organa told you that, right? Has it occurred to you that she might just be trying to kill you? You haven't exactly been been on good terms since that incident with the Dogs. Not saying I blame you, just saying she's got a motive."

"Well if you know any other centuries-old experts in the arcane who might be able to tell me how to break a curse, be sure to introduce me," the Rabbit growled.

After an awkward moment of quiet, Sarahi took up her spear in both hands again. "Alright. Same deal as last time, then: I'm going with you. At the least, you need someone to watch your back, and the rewards will be greater if there's two of us."

"Fair," he grunted, obviously reluctant but lacking any argument after their previous run, "We're going to start a daily exercise routine, then. Sparring, running, using this obstacle course, the works. I want to be prepared this time."

"Fair," Sarahi answered, pacing off a little ways from him before leveling her spear in his direction and settling into a low, wide stance, "Let's get this thing started, then."

Oro nodded, taking a low stance of his own, Gorgorond extended behind him to hide behind his lean body. A tremor ran through Sarahi, and she grit her teeth, her fingers flexing along the shaft in her hands. "Oro," she hissed, "I don't think...this is a good idea anymore. I...no...this thing...really wants to hurt you." The Sha'khari was looking a little bewildered at the glowing head of the spear, which seemed to have grown more intense as soon as they squared off. The thought had very, very clearly shot through her mind that she could, and should, kill Oro in the opening exchange...and she knew that had not come from her.

What surprised her more, though, was that Oro didn't seem particularly surprised to hear it. "Nah," he smirked, "It couldn't care less about me. Not really. It wants to break Gorgorond. I'm just the guy holding him."

She wanted to put the spear down now. But she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. It was telling her to keep her guard up, to be ready to run him through the moment he moved, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it was right, much as she tried to tell herself these were not her own thoughts. "Oro...how do you know that?" she asked sincerely, at least managing to force the tip toward the ground instead of keeping it aimed directly at his heart.

"Something changed recently," Oro confessed, his ear twitching, "Organa's not the only one talking to me, now." The Rabbit abandoned his stance, standing upright and holding Gorgorond out in front of him now, like a knight displaying his sword as a sign of his authority. "This thing is Gorgorond's Tongue. Just a sliver of the gluttonous demon, actually...but it wants to feed. It eats souls. Well, it eats anything, really, but souls are what nourish it. And since I'm not willing to go around murdering everyone in my home town...it's kind of excited to hear we're going back into The Gauntlet. That thing," he tipped the end of his bat down to point at her spear, "Is Heaven's refuse. It was made to break the arms of Hell, sure, but it's still just an amateur's first attempt at smithing a weapon, unworthy of an angel's hands. It got chucked out with the rest of the garbage."

"Gods forgotten, Oro, stop!" Sarahi begged, feeling the indignation rolling through her, inflaming her pride and her fury, tempting her to make the first strike right now. She was holding it back, but only barely. A thrust. A swing. She could feel the urge to move rippling through her muscles, pointing out several lines of attack she could take against his vulnerable position, if she would just follow through on one of them...

Oro shrugged. "Well, it's a demon telling me this, so take it with a grain of salt. Gorgorond wants to tell it one thing, though," the Rabbit smirked, pulling the bat upright again. "He says, 'Take your best shot.'"

She lost her grip. It nearly pulled her over, dragging some of the skin off her fingers as it jumped from her hands. Sarahi didn't even have time to scream a warning...but Oro's reflexes were as keen as ever. Tipping the bat one way and his head the other, the spear past dangerously close between them, shooting across the yard like an arrow to impale a tree a dozen yards behind him. The trunk exploded as the blade dove into it, punching all the way through to bury itself in the dirt on the other side. It almost got buried under the falling tree, too.

Sarahi took several long breaths, back in control of herself now that the spear was out of contact with her. "I can't use that thing," she sighed, shaking her stinging hands, "It hates your bat. And I'm pretty sure it does hate you, personally, now. We can't afford that kind of conflict if we're fighting for our lives."

"What we can't afford," the Rabbit disagreed, idly strolling over to fetch the spear, "Is not to have every tool in our kit available. Especially something as strong as that." He crouched beside it, thumping Gorgorond lightly on his shoulder as he stared at it. Sarahi cautiously moved up behind him, just as he reached out to pull it free with his spare hand.

Oro's whole body tensed. His muscles twitched in an uncoordinated fashion, like an electrical current was running through his body. "Fuck off," he growled through grit teeth, managing to seize enough control of his body to finish pulling the spear out of the dirt, glaring at it as he fought whatever empathic instructions it was sending him. His wrist turned, bringing the flaring blade around closer to Gorgorond, but the bat thumped down hard on top of the shaft. The crossed weapons made a sound like grinding metal, though neither of them was made of that kind of material, and seemed stuck together for a moment. "You don't have what it takes, and you know it," Oro sneered, straining to pull the weapons back apart. Eventually, the two released their strange grip on one another. "Not yet, anyway. You want that shot?" he pushed his hand in Sarahi's direction, "Show her how it's done. Make her stronger than me. Then you'll get your chance."

Sarahi carefully took the shaft from him, and Oro's body relaxed as he released it. Indignation still radiated from the weapon in her hands...but so did a begrudging respect. The Sha'khari took a deep breath, then spoke to the weapon. "Can you abide by that? Will you teach me how to fight with you, even though I won't let you hurt him?" She couldn't honestly say she had any qualms about breaking the bat, if that was its goal, whenever the chance arose. Now that she'd been told it was a demon intent on eating souls...she actually agreed that needed to happen, though she knew Oro wouldn't make it easy.

Warmth spread through her arms. Acceptance. Those thoughts had been her own, but they were in accord with her weapon's will. They were of one mind in this, and would pursue that goal together. Sarahi sighed in relief. "What a strange day," she whispered, resting the butt of the spear on the ground again and leaning on it. "I still don't think sparring would be a good idea with these things. Not today, at least," she remarked to Oro.

This time, he nodded in agreement. "Fine. Then just practice with it for now. I'm in no hurry to dive back into that place, but we need to make it happen before the baby gets here. At the rate things are going, I don't think we'll have the luxury of another month." Sarahi nodded her agreement, and the pair spent the rest of the afternoon working out in the yard. Sarahi, in particular, spent a good deal of time learning how to interpret the instructions of her spear, which lacked any kind of language and instead came as a sort of "want" to move in a particular way.

They made a daily habit of it from that afternoon on, exercising in the yard from the moment Sarahi returned from her work at Mrs. Rosefur's shop until shortly after dark, when they finally broke for dinner. Oro did a lot of running and jumping. A lot. That fight with the skeletons had made him painfully aware of the limits of his endurance, and he was determined to push those limits further out. His legs burned, and he had to be careful of his knees as he deliberately ran full laps in short bursts of his quick-step. Over the course of the following weeks, Sarahi thought he was becoming quite the acrobat.

The Sha'khari joined him in his warm-up jogs, embarrassing him just slightly as he learned how little effort four legs had to put in to keep pace with him, and how hard he had to work when Sarahi began actually stretching them. After that, while he climbed and hopped between the pillars and practiced his flips and laps, she moved to the clear part of the yard with her spear. Holding it in a loose grip, she followed the itch in her muscles that constituted its instructions, practicing her thrusts and footwork, sweeps and reversals. Sarahi had worried at first that the spear was a master in its own use and would expect her to be the same. That might be true, but it also seemed to recognize her current skill level, like any instructor should, and was training her in the basics while building her muscle-memory. She made quick progress this way, at least, since it did not have to waste time with watching and correcting her moves: it literally moved her through them, correcting missteps as they were in the midst of occurring. Soon she was twisting and turning through something like the "forms" she'd seen in martial arts movies. It was especially impressive if she continued after dark, when the head of her spear became a glowing line in the yard, streaking in quick spirals and swirls around its wielder, half-highlighting and half-concealing her figure with each turn.

"You're getting good," Oro remarked sincerely one afternoon, tapping Gorgorond against his shoulder after their warm-up run, "Feel like testing it against a real opponent yet?"

Sarahi blew a long, thoughtful exhale. "...Okay," she agreed at last, looking uncertainly at the spear in her hands, "Let me get the cover for it. I'm still not sure it can be fully trusted, and resisting it is hard. It might try to follow through if it spots an opportunity."

Oro quirked a brow, smirking. "And a piece of velvet is going to prevent that?"

"Well...that's true," Sarahi sighed, "Especially the fist. But that's why I'm not comfortable with it."

The Rabbit tilted his head. "The 'fist'?"

Sarahi nodded. "That thing where it jumps out of my hands, like when it first attacked you? It gave me the impression it will do that if I ask, but it wants a formal request. Like reciting a spell, or a prayer. Ceremony means a lot to this thing, if you haven't noticed my bowing and ritual gestures when I start my workouts."

He had, but figured that was just part of the warm-up routine. The Rabbit couldn't help wondering why formalities like that seemed so universally practiced throughout martial arts, even (apparently) unto Heaven. Snorting his habitual contempt, Oro crossed his arms over his chest. "Show me."

Sarahi blinked, then shrugged, and pointed her spear off to the side, toward the empty space she usually practiced in. "Fist of Heaven," she recited in somber tones, and it did sound to Oro like someone repeating a scripted prayer, "Punish the sinful earth." Letting go of her grip on the last syllable, the spear shot across the yard like a bullet, leaving a glowing trail of light in its wake. The instant the blade touched the ground, it was as if she'd thrown a grenade. The explosion tossed chunks of dirt and rock in the air, and the spear itself went flipping into the sky. It landed with the blade stabbing into the ground, standing upright in the middle of a modest crater in the yard.

Sarahi looked even more surprised than Oro. "Holy--! I didn't think it would explode!"

Oro gave a low, impressed whistle. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that punch. That'll sure be handy on a run, though." Looking around the yard, his ears twitched thoughtfully. "Guess I should set up a target for you to practice your aim...but I don't know what would survive a hit like that."

"No no no," the Sha'khari shook her head firmly, "I won't be doing that on the regular. It'd scare the neighbors witless...to say nothing of costing a fortune in topsoil," she grimaced at the bare hole in the yard. They'd need to fill that in or it would become a hazard to their practice.

The Rabbit just shrugged, tapping Gorgorond on his shoulder again. Strolling over to the spear, he pulled it out of the ground...and was pleased to find it did not fight him this time like it had the last time he touched it. Tossing it back to Sarahi, Oro moved his bat from his shoulder to his hand. "I think it knows how the game is played now. Let's give that sparring a try."

Sarahi looked very dubious after that little display. But her weapon felt...restrained...in her hands at the moment, giving her the same impression Oro had voiced. It would play nice...for now. It would practice...for now. It would test its enemy for weaknesses in a friendly, jovial manner...for now. Sarahi still didn't like that line of thought. But she spread her paws in a stable stance, held the spearhead low and the butt high, and took a deep breath...

"I don't like it," Tuli frowned as they gathered around the dinner table later that week. She and Nayeli had been politely ignoring the new exercise regiment Sarahi and Oro had made a habit of these last few weeks, but the increasing aggressiveness of their sparring had stopped looking like fun and fitness. Discovering Sarahi could literally blow craters in the yard had been the last straw, and Tuli had demanded to know what they were preparing for. She mildly regretted having her suspicions confirmed.

"Seems to be the club motto," Oro rolled his eyes, "We should get a plaque. Maybe monogrammed jackets." Sarahi swatted his shin lightly under the table.

"Our funds aren't great right now," Tuli admitted, "But we're far from desperate, and there are ways for the uninsured to get medical bills cut down to something reasonable. I took you to the emergency room twice in the last two years, and my savings barely suffered," the older Lioness reminded him.

"Yeah, but thread is cheap, and I never filled the prescription for those pain-pills," he retorted, one ear twitching in annoyance. Just the thought of touching a potentially addicting pharmaceutical rankled him, and filled him with an inexplicable desire to slap his mom. His actual mom. "Crib, diapers, formula, an assortment of obnoxiously loud jingly-toys...setting up for a baby will cost a lot more. We have it. I get it. We just don't have enough to go for long afterward."

Nayeli, just sitting down after she and Diya had served the rest of the table, couldn't quite suppress a smile. Behind the grouchy facade, it seemed to her that he was looking forward to the new arrival. Otherwise he would argue against that presumed pile of toys, especially knowing his own ears would suffer the most from them. At the least, he clearly wanted to provide for it well. "I think we can make the bills work," she tried to assure him, "Dinners will be smaller, and we'll have to figure out a schedule that lets us all carpool in the one van, but we can get by. It's not worth the risk to go back in there."

She looked to Kylan to back her up, as he had quietly become the family accountant at some point none of them clearly remembered or regretted. But the little Feline was thoughtfully cutting up his porkchop with a distant gaze, lost in something in his own head. If he didn't see her look, though, he at least seemed to have felt it. "...I don't know," he sighed after he'd finished cutting the whole piece up into bite-sized pieces, "We live pretty frugally as is, and I'm proud to say that. It just means there's not a lot of fat left to trim from our budget, and it won't amount to much if we do. Yeah, food and gas can be cut back, and water if we really want to push, but the returns...well, I don't really know how much a baby costs monthly, so I can't say for sure whether it will or won't be enough."

Oro snorted, stabbing his chop with his fork and biting a quarter of it off without even looking at his knife. One might expect he'd feel a little vindicated by Kylan's concerns, which supported him more than Tuli and Nayeli, but the Rabbit looked more insulted. "You're all too fucking generous," he grumbled around his mouthful, swallowing it even as Nayeli gave him a scolding look, "Yeah, we could make it work. But what about the next one? And the next?" he scowled at the ring on Tuli's finger, and she covered it self-consciously. "We need to get that thing off you. Otherwise, if anything we think is right, you'll keep spitting out babies like a fucking factory, and there's not a job in town that pays enough to keep up."

Tuli winced. Sarahi stepped on his foot this time. Hard. Not that it phased the young Rabbit, just let him know the extent of her annoyance with him. The older Lioness sighed, pushing her potatoes around with her fork. "I don't like it," she repeated, more softly, "I'm sorry. I can't approve. I can't even offer to go with you," she sighed, looking down at her swollen belly, "Though you're doing it for my sake."

"We can," Diya offered out of the blue. All eyes turned to her, blinking in surprise...including her own. "Gods forgotten, what am I saying?" she asked quietly, covering her own mouth...but then cleared her throat and said it again. "We can go with you. Kylan and me. If he's willing." She cringed a bit, looking at her brother beside her, "Honestly, thinking about facing what you guys described in your first couple of adventures scares me. But I think you're right: Tuli needs help. I want to do my part in that, even if it's not much. So I'd like to go."

"I'm down," Kylan surprised her almost as much as she had him, "You said last time that you get more rewards when there are more people, right? At the least, maybe we can bump it up enough to afford hiring a professional here to break the spell. Then we can worry about the bills afterward." He flexed one of his arms, poking the small muscle. "Heh...not sure how much help I'll be, though. I don't know the first thing about fighting, and I wouldn't bulk up much even if we had the time for it."

Oro shrugged. "It's not all fighting all the time. We were tested in other ways, too. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to toss one of you over a wall than Sarahi, if we have to climb again."

"Wait, you're agreeing to this?!" Nayeli blinked.

"Fuck no," he grunted right back, "I'm just saying nobody's useless. We learned that last time, too. So I appreciate the thought."

"You'd better," Diya smirked, "Because I've made up my mind. I'm going. And there's nothing even the Bully of Southbend High can do to stop me," she declared, taking a bite of her dinner. The narrow look she was getting from Oro said she should rethink that assessment carefully, but he apparently decided to give her some time to come to her senses before he proved it. Or maybe he was finally learning to not to talk with his mouth full of the other three-quarters of a pork-chop.

Nayeli shook her head, poking at her own food, suddenly lacking any appetite. "...I can't," she sighed, "Mom needs someone here with her, as a precaution. I can't imagine coming back from...whatever's in there...just to find her having fallen down the stairs or slipped while getting out of the tub."

Tuli chuckled. "I'm not that debilitated, dear," she tried half-heartedly to assure her daughter, ignoring that she had started taking only showers recently because of a near-mishap, and found standing for that long a period to be exhausting. "But I would be glad not to be alone. I'm going to be worried sick, and an empty house will just make that worse. I still don't want any of you in there."

"Yeah, yeah, tough cookies," Oro grunted, tired now of the repetition, "You get that ring off your finger before we leave, and I'll call the whole thing off in a heartbeat. Until then, save your breath."

"...You make it hard for a girl to be sweet on you," Sarahi muttered beside him, eating what was left of her dinner like it was a solemn duty she'd been sworn to, "Even a mother."

They decided to make their run that same weekend. Sarahi and Oro figured they were as ready as they would ever get in the time that they had, and it was far too late to begin anything that might help the twins. This time, at least, they decided a little more gear might be in order...specifically some rope, plenty of snacks, and water. Sarahi rolled her eyes as Oro unilaterally assigned the twins the task of carrying it all, along with any treasure they might pick up. It seemed to her that the Rabbit only recognized two roles in an adventuring group: fighters and porters.

"Whoa...," the twins whispered in unison as the gate opened in front of them. Oro rolled his eyes, and Sarahi chuckled, remembering having the exact same reaction.

Adding to the nostalgia, Oro pulled the knife from his first run out of the pocket of his hoodie, flipping it over in his hand a couple of times as he considered the twins...and finally offered it to Kylan. "You get the Newbie Knife, but it comes with the job of keeping your sister safe. Not gonna lie: you can count on shit going sideways sooner or later in here, and Sarahi and I will have our hands full. Don't wait to be rescued."

The little male swallowed hard as he accepted the handle. He couldn't tell if it felt heavy because of the material or the responsibility it represented...

Sarahi wished she could add something comforting to that, but given her one and only experience with The Gauntlet...she thought Oro's assessment fair. "I will do everything I can to make that unnecessary," she promised, clutching her spear tight in both hands, "But he's right. If it comes to a fight...do anything it takes to keep yourselves alive." With a nod, the pair steeled their nerves, centered the packs on their backs, and followed the Rabbit and Sha'khari into the consuming darkness.

"Welcome, Champion and Company!" the voice of The Gauntlet boomed cheerfully. The twins jumped in unison, each clamping onto one of Sarahi's back legs. Oro just smirked.

"Sorry," Sarahi gave them an apologetic smile, "We should have warned you about that."

"Nah," Oro chuckled, "It's starting to become amusing now. Anyway," he turned his attention to The Gauntlet's walls, "I need something to break the spell of that ring you gave us last time. I don't know what you thought we'd want it for, but right now it's more a curse than a help."

"I am The Gauntlet," the voice answered, and Oro once more rolled his eyes and started to mouth the opening sequence along with her...but this time, it wasn't quite the same. "Not some shop to be perused! You will be tested within my walls, Champion. Succeed, and your rewards shall reflect both what you want and what you deserve. Fail, and your soul shall join with my halls!"

Oro quirked a brow, his annoyed frown slowly turning back up into a grin. "Oh, did I strike a nerve there? Never would have guessed fucking tunnels had feelings."

"Keep your wits close to your courage, Champion," The Gauntlet warned, "For this time, they will be tested together..."

"I don't like the sound of that," Sarahi admitted quietly, holding her spear out and up like a torch. The entry was the same as before: a short tunnel flanked by two statues. But instead of a room, this time the tunnel seemed to simply end a little past the entrance. A flat wall closed off the route, decorated with dozens of unfamiliar runes that seemed to be drawn on it with chalk. "That's...even less to work with than we had last time," the Sha'khari quirked a brow, sliding her hand along the corners of the wall. It felt solid and seamless all the way around, like whoever had dug out the tunnel had just stopped at this point.

Oro thumped his bat thoughtfully on his shoulder. "Guess it's a good thing we brought snacks this time," the Rabbit grunted as he tapped the bat against the wall beside him, "We might be stuck here for a little while." Tapping the bat on the wall ahead, his ears twitched. "Well, it's hollow on the other side, so this is definitely the way. Give me some room," he instructed, waving for them all to step back. Once the other three had retreated a few paces, the Rabbit took Gorgorond in both hands, drawing it back like he was going to knock a ball right out of the park...

The connection was explosive. The runes drawn on the wall flared violently, and Oro was sent tumbling right into Sarahi's legs by the backlash. "Fuuuuuck," the Rabbit groaned dizzily, blinking his eyes until they could both look in the same direction again.

"I...uh...guess those are there to prevent that approach," Diya noted, eying the flaring runes as they slowly died down into mere marks again. Sarahi encouraged Oro to stay sitting down, supported by her legs until he could recover himself, while Kylan and Diya continued inspecting the wall. "Hey...how did you do that?" Diya asked a few minutes later, looking at something her brother was doing on the wall.

Kylan seemed just as surprised as she was. "I was just trying to see how they're drawn. I can't tell if it's paint or chalk. But when I touched it..." He cautiously pushed a few more of the runes around the face of the wall, watching them glow very faintly as he touched them. "They're cold," he remarked, rubbing his fingers against his thumb.

The little Felines spent a few minutes poking at the movable runes, like they were arranging something on a giant touchscreen. Diya finally sat back, frowning at the strange wall. "Well, that's neat I guess, but I don't get the point. Is that even supposed to be a clue?"

"I think so," Kylan nodded. He'd stopped sliding the marks around at random, and now seemed to be trying to place them in a very specific area on the wall. "Look. These three don't move," he ran his finger over three runes spread out in a large triangle on the stone. The area between them was a faintly darker shade, as if recently exposed. "And we can't rotate any of them...so there's really only three shapes here. I think it's a puzzle. We have to fill in the triangle." He was already working on getting all the flat-bottomed runes lined up between the two lower anchors. Looking over the wall, Diya could clearly see the other two kinds of runes each had a slant along one edge: one to the left, and one to the right. She began filling in the rest of the frame. After that, they had to spend another hour figuring out the interior pattern. It was something like a recursive knot formed from the three runes. Once they had the pattern established, though, finishing the puzzle went quickly.

The runes glowed faintly, contracted and condensed, and protruded from the wall...as a thin, triangular book. Quirking a brow, Kylan reached out and pulled the book away from the wall. The wall erupted in cracks, and swiftly fell apart as soon as the book was claimed. Kylan had to back-step quickly to avoid getting his toes mashed. The tunnel continued on the other side of the wall, and the group could see a light ahead...a familiar sight to Oro and Sarahi. A breeze drifted in from that direction, carrying an uncomfortable chill with it.

"Good work," the Rabbit patted Kylan and Diya's shoulders, eying the tunnel warily, "Now I think it's my turn, and Sarahi's. You ready?" he asked the Sha'khari as she took her up her spear.

Sarahi chuckled, and held out her fist in his direction. "Who's the biggest dick in the dungeon?" she prompted.

He bumped knuckles with her encouragingly, but the Rabbit's answer surprised her. "Fuck the dicks," Oro growled, thumping his bat on his shoulder as he started down the tunnel, "We're the fucking monsters."

The Gauntlet wasn't the only one upping the ante with each run. Sarahi looked at his receding back with some concern, but was quick to follow, waving for the other two to join them. The twins pulled their packs back onto their shoulders and trotted up the tunnel to find Sarahi and Oro standing at the end of it, looking out into the light.

It wasn't an arena. It was a wilderness. The tunnel opened out into the hills of a mountain range, giving them a view of the peaks surrounding them on nearly all sides and the expanse of evergreen wilderness between them and the only visible gap in the mountains. A layer of snow blanketed the ground and the upper branches of the trees.

"Well...fuck," Oro sighed, thumping his bat on his back again, "Something new every time."

Sarahi could only nod slowly, clearly shocked by the sight in front of them. "Oro...we didn't come prepared for this," she whispered, as a breeze sent shivers through the group whenever it blew against them, "Where are we going? What are we looking for?" They'd brought snacks, not meals, and absolutely no camping gear. They hadn't even brought their jackets, as they expected to be "indoors", effectively.

"No fucking clue," Oro agreed, taking the first determined step out into the snow, "But we won't find it by holing up here. Keep an eye on the peaks. If we still don't know what we're looking for when it starts to get dark, we'll come back here for shelter. Better than being out in the open, anyway."

None of the others felt nearly as confident in this plan as he sounded...but standing still was definitely a death-sentence, they agreed, so all three reluctantly set off through the snow after their unofficial leader. Sarahi invited the twins onto her back, and they gratefully accepted: in exchange for the extra weight, the three effectively shared their body-heat, with the twins clinging tight to Sarahi's shoulders. How Oro was tolerating the temperatures was anyone's guess, though Sarahi suspected he was simply being his usual, stubborn self.

The trees offered some relief, breaking up the wind that threatened to rip the heat right out of their flesh, but also obscured the mountains that were their only landmarks. It was unnerving at first, walking aimlessly through the woods in that oppressive hush that a fresh snow carries, and a wary quiet settled over the group. Sarahi kept trying to remind herself that they were inside a sentient prison whose mission in life was to "test the champion". But as the cold began to really set into them, and the quiet remained unbroken, she began to worry that just surviving this landscape was the test...and that they were going to fail.

"About fucking time," Oro suddenly hissed between clenched teeth. Ahead of them, the stagger of the trees was broken by three low mounds covered in snow, arranged in the middle of a clearing. The breeze caused a flap to wave in the front of one of them, signaling the mounds were actually tents. As they got closer, they could also make out the snow-covered remains of a fire-pit between the tents, and packs leaning against crude posts outside each. "Get under cover. I'll see if there's anything useful in here," Oro suggested, flipping over the top flap of the nearest pack.

"Rude!" Diya glared, despite her discomfort, and reminded him, "This stuff isn't ours."

"We're in a fucking magical murder-dungeon," Oro retorted, "Whatever we find is ours, even if I have to kill the bast--"

He was interrupted by a shriek from the tent Kylan had just ducked into. Apparently he wasn't as concerned about etiquette and ownership as his sister, given their situation...but judging from how he came jumping back out of the tent to take shelter behind Sarahi, he might wish he'd been a little more cautious going in. Sarahi leveled her spear at the tent reflexively, and Oro began approaching it cautiously with his bat at the ready. "Sorry," Kylan shuddered, "I wasn't ready for that. There's a body in there, Oro. Be careful."

Oro nodded, his face set grimly, and used his bat to push aside the heavy canvas flap. Inside was something like a sleeping bag, one of the old-fashioned kind made of wool and fur wrapped around a body like a burrito. A body. Still in the bedroll. Oro ducked inside, letting the flap close behind him briefly, then emerged again a moment later. Sarahi looked askance, and the Rabbit shook his head. "Long gone. Not from the cold, either," he warned, eying the trees, "Or at least not just from the cold." He made a quick round of the other tents, and was just coming out of the last one when a low, distant howl cut through the cold air. "Terrific," the Rabbit rolled his eyes, dragging an occupied bedroll behind him with the blankets carefully pulled over whatever remained inside. He pulled it into the first tent Kylan had gone into, then moved the empty bedroll from that tent into the one he'd just cleared, and motioned everyone inside.

Diya, now openly shivering, ducked inside despite her reservations, and the rest followed quickly. Oro let the flap fall closed behind him as they huddled under the low roof, sitting on the mercifully dry bedrolls. "Okay, these are our next steps," the Rabbit told them with an uncommon sympathy in his voice, "You three stay here and warm up. I'm going to check those packs for anything useful, and take down at least one of the tents. Obviously, there are wolves in the woods, and there are more beds than bodies, so these guys might have friends still alive around here. Keep your eyes and ears open, and call out anything you notice."

"Were those...people?" Sarahi asked, wincing even as she said it, "I thought there were only monsters in The Gauntlet."

"Fuck if I know," Oro shrugged, "Maybe it's all staged, like a video-game. Maybe they came in with one of the older champions, and didn't make it back out. Only thing I know for sure," he promised them, giving each in turn a meaningful look, "Is I'm not leaving any of you like that. Now huddle up. We won't be here long." And with that, he slipped back out into the cold.

Carefully turning her spear around in the confined space, Sarahi laid it flat on the ground and slid part of the handle under the door, leaving the luminous blade in the center of the tent. As if made of sunlight borrowed from a bright summer day, the weapon slowly but surely warmed the tent as well as illuminating it. Diya knelt with her hands held gratefully over the warm glow, while Kylan leaned against Sarahi, eyes closed and trying to recollect himself. "So...what's that book about?" the Sha'khari asked, trying to find something to distract her friend from his recent shock.

"Huh? Oh!" Kylan pulled his backpack off his shoulders and unzipped the top, retrieving the book he'd pulled off the wall back at the entrance. The intricate cover displayed no title. Opening to the first page, Kylan had to rotate the book so that he held the raised cover above the pages, like a calendar. "Uh...'Runic Primer'," he read the title aloud, "'An introduction to rune scribing and the channeling of magic.' Looks like it's written in Heartheran, at least," he sighed, and immediately dove into reading the thin volume, grateful for the distraction.

Diya scooted around to Sarahi's shoulder, leaning back against her while Kylan read. "So...you guys didn't see anything like this the first time you came here?"

The Sha'khari shook her head. "No. The closest thing we encountered were things we've been calling 'doppelgangers', because they looked like us. I ended up killing the one that looked like Oro...and that nearly wrecked me," she admitted with a cringe at the memory, "It was hard to be sure what was real at that moment. But it didn't leave a body...just crumbled into dust or something, so I knew right away it wasn't really Oro. This place...the challenges keep getting harder every time he comes here. I wish I could have warned you guys, or done more to prepare you, but...well, as you can see, Oro and I aren't really sure what to expect, either."

A knock came at the tent-pole, before Oro tossed three thick bundles of leather and fur through the flap. "Put those on," he grunted, never coming inside, and they could hear his feet crunch the snow as he started toward one of the other tents.

"He's taking it well," Diya remarked, lifting one of the bundles to find it was a thick, warm coat, "I mean, I've known for a while that he's as tough as he is mean, but..."

"Finally realizing it's not all just bravado, huh?" Sarahi chuckled as they squirmed into the coats. The thick, protective layer was long on the twins, covering them all the way down to their toes, though neither of them was complaining. "I know he's not as open with you guys as he is with me. I don't think he likes being open with anyone, really. But even if he seems rough, and keeps you at arm's length...you can trust him to look out for you, especially here. You'll see before we get out, I bet...much as I wish it wouldn't come to that. It shocked me last time, but he's really in his element here. So much so that I think he's kind of wasted back home, actually."

"Look," Oro barked from outside, "I know I'm pretty much useless outside a fight, but you don't have to say it out loud! I'll find a job somewhere that I can do."

Both girls winced, having forgotten for a moment that his ears were super sharp and he could clearly hear everything they might say in this little camp. "You know that is not what I meant!" Sarahi assured him, but Oro was too busy trying to roll up the tent to bother answering her.

"...It really bothers him, doesn't it?" Diya whispered as softly as she could, and Sarahi just nodded. They waited quietly from that point, until Oro shoved through the flap to warm himself over Sarahi's spear for a moment, also wearing one of the heavy coats.

"There's a pack for each of us," he told Sarahi bluntly, "The good news is there's food in them. Just bread and jerky and some kind of butter, I think, but it all still looks good. Bad news is they're heavy. When it comes time to fight, we'll have to drop them."

"...I really hate to ask this," Sarahi said slowly, "But...how many days? Of food, I mean. I have this bad feeling this isn't going to be a quick trip, like last time."

Oro's teeth ground thoughtfully before he answered. "I'd say that's a pretty safe bet," he answered reluctantly, "And I've never really been camping before, so Hell if I know. It doesn't look like much, though. Maybe...three days, if I don't start snacking?" It was a very rough estimate, and he had no experience to draw from, but the idea of stretching out the meals any further than that worried him. A lot of this situation worried him, actually.

Sarahi nodded. "Okay. Let's try to get out of here before that, then. Where are we going?"

"I think we should make for that gap in the mountains," Oro shrugged, "No reason except that it's the most obvious landmark. If anyone has a more reasonable idea, or comes up with one as we go, speak up." Diya and Kylan both could only shrug their shoulders as he looked at them. "Okay. Let's move, then, while we've still got most of the day to cover ground."

It was slower going with the extra packs, but the coats kept them warm, making the trek much more tolerable. From time to time Oro would hop up a tree to take a look at the mountains and confirm they were still traveling in the right direction, but mostly it was just a quiet walk through the sound-choking trees. When the sun began nesting itself in the center of the gap they were aiming for, Oro called a stop to the trek. "Let's pitch the tents while there's still enough light to see what we're doing without being rushed," he suggested, "I'm not exactly confident in my ability to tie knots."

Sarahi snorted, trying to choke back a giggle. Oro arched a brow at her. "Sorry," the Sha'khari grinned apologetically, "I'm desperate for distraction. Mind's in the gutter."

The twins blinked at her...then also started giggling as several possible innuendos came to mind. "Yeah, yeah," Oro just rolled his eyes, shrugging off his pack, "Can't tie what you don't have, or something like that, right?"

The Sha'khari covered her mouth, the color burning in her cheeks, "Actually...the line in my head was that I'm pretty good at it...but only if Nayeli helps."

Oro chuckled. The humor was good for their morale, and he was terrible at that sort of thing, so he didn't care if it came at his expense. "Get Kylan to help, then," the Rabbit remarked as he unrolled one of the bundled tents, "Between the two of--"

One of his ears snapped around, and his eyes were quick to follow as he raised his hand to indicate the others should be quiet. After a minute of hard listening, he started unfastening his coat despite the cold. "Something's coming," he growled in answer to Sarahi's questioning look, "Big."

She thought her heart was going to stop in her chest, but the Sha'khari nodded, taking up her spear. Kylan drew the knife Oro had given him, but not to fight. Clearing off a wide patch of dirt with his sleeve, he began scratching something on the cold, wet surface.

Oro thumped his bat on his back, taking a couple of paces toward the edge of the clearing and facing the woods. "Well, well, well," he announced loudly as three large shapes became clearer, moving through the trees, "If it isn't Papa Bear. Goldilocks isn't here, but we could sure use some porridge," the Rabbit sneered, "Did you bring me some?"

Out of the trees lumbered three ink-black bears with white faces. The contrasting marks looked more like paint than a pattern in their fur, and resembled skulls laid like masks over their heads. Just like the fairy-tale Oro referenced, one was significantly larger than the other two, and one was somewhat smaller...but even the smallest was easily bigger than anything native to their own world. The largest of the three led the way, and stood on its back legs as they entered the clearing, snarling down at Oro from nearly three times his own height.

"You're gonna want a softer bed after this," Oro warned. The monster roared, opening its mouth wide enough to fit half of the Rabbit inside in a single gulp. Oro answered by ducking behind those jaws, underneath the long claws, and slamming his bat with both hands against the creature's kneecap. Its next roar was more pained than threatening, and its companions moved to trap the Rabbit between them.

Sarahi made them rethink that plan, charging forward to shove her spear between the ribs of the nearest bear. Its hide was tough, and its muscles were thick, but her spear was sharp and hot and determined to cut deep. The bear bellowed, then turned on her as she drew back for another thrust. Oro squared off against its uninjured companion.

"No porridge?" he snarled, dancing aside as the bear bit and clawed at him, "Guess I'll just eat you, then!" Gorgorond slammed hard against its broad side. The bear didn't even try to dodge, probably believing the scrawny-looking Rabbit couldn't possibly possess enough strength to injure its sturdy ribs. It regretted any and all such beliefs as the bones cracked, followed by the blunt wood sliding through its flesh like the world's largest meat-cleaver. With as much reach as Oro could offer, the bat entered one side and arched around and through the beast's body to emerge just a little below its throat. With one lung sliced in two, one arm severed just below the shoulder, and who knew how much of its internal organs chewed up, the beast fell dead without even a whimper.

Sarahi was so stunned (to say nothing of disgusted) by the spray of blood and viscera that followed in the wake of that attack that she nearly forgot she was dealing with a monster herself...and it didn't seem much put off by its companion's death. She skittered back as it tried to crush her, dropping all its weight onto its front paws, then reared on her back legs to rake its face with her own claws. Before they could find flesh to tear, though, the creature rushed in to butt its head against her lower ribs then rise straight up, scooping her up in its paws. When she tried to kick away, the beast seemed only too happy to toss her right over the twins' heads, landing the Sha'khari hard on her side. She lost track of where her spear went during the brief flight.

With murderous eyes still fixed on Sarahi, the bear seemed like it would crush the two smaller felines under foot without even a thought as it past. Kylan, hand pressed against the ground he'd been scratching on, closed his eyes in desperation as the creature's paw came down...and a slab of rough stone erupted from the ground between them, clapping the beast's chin and nearly flipping it backwards. Kylan took three deep gulps of air, his lungs suddenly remembering their job in his relief.

The bear's head hit the face of the stone wall again, hard. "Ha!" Oro laughed as his bat followed his foot, smashing the bear's face against the stone a third time, hard enough to crack the rock, "Not so easy, are they?! Fucking animal," he muttered as the creature slowly slid to the ground, taking one more swing at the back of its neck for good measure, and Gorgorond ate through the extremity, severing the head. His companions were spared the sight by the wall between them and the victim.

Oro was grinning now, showing all his teeth to "Papa Bear" beneath the scarlet glow of his eyes. "That coat looks warm," he remarked, pointing his bat at the creature...which seemed suddenly and amazingly capable of expressing emotions. There was only one written across its large face, though: fear. "I think I'll keep it." The bear turned to flee like a frightened rabbit. Oro pounced like a hungry wolf. Two swift cracks of the bat later, and the bear was a still mass on the snowy forest floor.

"..._Fff-_uck," he hissed, still clenching his bat hard as he fought down the urge to continue beating the ground around the body that no longer existed. In its place was a large, black crystal laced with pearly veins. "I really wanted to eat that guy," he hissed.

"Oro...?" Sarahi approached cautiously, eying the bat more than him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thrill of the fight and all that," Oro grunted, tossing Gorgorond aside into the snow for her peace of mind, "Come on. Let's get the tent up and a fire started. Better yet, the other way around. You two collect the crystals," he told the twins, "Those are our rewards for surviving these little encounters. Worth a lot back home. Especially to magicians." He ran an arm across his forehead, starting to walk past Sarahi. "You hot?" he asked, his sentences becoming shorter even in his head. The world pitched sideways in the middle of his next step, and he barely felt the ground slap his cheek as if trying to bring him back to his senses. Instead, it was like it broke a bulb, and all the lights went out...