"No one is going to interrupt you now," Omar reassured Andy. "I know you will amaze us."

Andy nodded, giving him a grateful smile. The mage closed his eyes for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts, before he muttered with more incomprehensible words. He poured two drops of the purple liquid on the handful of grass in his palm, and then, he closed his hand into a fist and slowly he moved his arm in circles. To his amazement, dots of light appeared around the center of the imaginary circle. As the circular movement was getting faster, the dots became bigger, joining each other. A small sun was born in Andy's hand.

Omar could hear the grass crunching under Malanda's wary steps. The girl stood next to him, her hands on her waist. Even she couldn't pretend the show wasn't tempting to watch.

Suddenly the light ball grew, swallowing them inside. Nervously, Malanda stepped back, but Omar held her hand before she got away from the light. She glared at him, probably reminding him with her arrow menace. Don't be stupid, Malanda, he wanted to tell her.

There was no sky when the ball shone like a thousand suns, golden yellow reigning over the whole world. Though Omar hid his eyes with his arms, he felt as if the bright light crept inside his head. His feet couldn't find grass beneath, but he wasn't falling or flying. He was a ray of light himself.

The ground was back, rocky this time. Omar's jaw dropped in awe when the light faded, revealing a cave ahead. The great Andy had done it. Before Omar uttered a word, Malanda's firm hand covered his mouth, her other hand pointing upward behind him. Slowly, he turned his head to contemplate the iron gate they were standing before. A postern gate, he thought to himself. Its structure wasn't as majestic as the front side of the fortress, but it was still guarded. Luckily, from inside.

With a finger on her lips, Malanda gestured to Omar and Andy to remain silent. She walked backward, facing the gate, her hands on her quiver and bow. After she nodded to them, Omar and the mage crept forward toward the cave. Looking over his shoulder, Omar spotted three archers atop the gate, but like the guards, they weren't expecting intruders from the cave direction. But who could bet on that? A whole army would be unleashed if one archer or guard looked back. If you could just take us a bit farther, Andy.

The silent march went peacefully until they reached the cave mouth. "Down." Malanda's voice was low and firm, leaving no room for discussion. Omar was down to the floor on his belly, still curious to know what was happening behind him. Malanda was the only one facing the damned postern gate. "Crawl inside before they see us," she demanded, her eyes gazing at the gate behind him. The archers must have decided to look at the other side of the gate, Omar presumed. But no one from the fortress was yelling so far. That was good news. He knew they were safe to get up when Malanda rose to her feet.

The air was stale inside the cave as they followed the flickering torches hanged on the side walls. "Are we sure we are in the right cave?" Omar wondered. "I expected a heavier guard than this."

"If you didn't notice, there was an entire fortress to guard it," Malanda pointed out.

"Ah, right! You mean the fortress we skipped thanks to Andy, our great mage." Omar knew she bore no affection to the mage.

Someone was coming, Omar heard the echoing footsteps. Two. Six. Thirteen. Now they became too many to count. Malanda held her bow, ready to receive the newcomers. "Now we know we're in the right cave, don't we?" she said.

Andy drew his sword, standing behind Omar and Malanda. "I'll watch your back," he said.

Seriously? Yet the time to discuss battle formations was over. A double column of swordsmen was now visible at the end of the rocky passage. Without waiting for an invitation to show her generosity with arrows, Malanda hunted down three swordsmen before they even charged. The rest of men roared in fury, rushing toward them, but Malanda's pace didn't slow a bit. She kept snipping them with her arrows, one after the other, but she could never hold them on her own forever, Omar knew. He had to keep them at a distance.

"Try not to shoot me." He drew the two swords strapped to his back and lunged forward, slashing the first opponent he reached with the right sword, stabbing another with the left one.

"I'll think about it," her voice came from behind him. Keeping his focus at his foes wasn't that easy with those arrows hissing a few inches from his neck.

"You keep missing me." Omar's swords clashed with those of two opponents at the same time. But neither of them was able to block his next blows, his right sword thrusting into one's chest, his left slashing across the other one's torso. A third foe roared, swinging his sword over his head. But the lion's roar became a crow's caw when an arrow struck his throat.

"I never missed you, darling." Malanda shot one last swordsman. The girl had barely spared him a few men to slay. Slinging the bow across her back, she started collecting her arrows from the dead bodies. Omar was told the shafts of these arrows were made from the tress of Ironwood Forest, where she was born. Obviously, everything coming from the Ironwood Forest was unbreakable.

"My uncle wasn't wrong. Shapeshifting is a lie," Omar teased her.

"They shifted from men to corpses." Placing her boot over a dead man's skull, she wrenched her arrow out of his head with one clean pull and flicked the blood away from the arrowhead before she tucked it back into her quiver. He wondered how a slim girl like her could yank the arrows with such a force, as if she was pulling dead weed from the grass.

"Are you alright, great mage?" he asked. "I haven't heard from you since the magnificent light ball."

Andy harrumphed. "I noticed you were doing well without my help."

Malanda curled her lip in disdain, returning the last arrow to her quiver.

"I know you need to replenish your strength." Omar patted his shoulder. "Tell me, do you still have blood for more spells?"

"Two drops for our return." Andy nodded.

"Good. I hope we reach the point of worrying about our return," said Omar. "Let's go."

The cave was too quiet and too hot as they resumed their march. Sweat ran down Omar's body like water down a hill. At the end of the rocky passage, they descended endless, winding, narrow stone steps carved in the heart of the mountain. There must be something worth burying that deep, Omar reflected. The continuous spiraling made him feel a bit dizzy.

At last the stone steps reached an end, ahead was another cave. "Listen." Omar stopped as he heard slow steps coming out of the cave. In a few moments, a silver-haired slender woman appeared at the cave mouth.

"Who are you? And how did you come here?" The silver-haired woman was obviously infuriated by their unexpected visit.

"Don't stand in our way, and I promise we won't hurt you." Omar pointed his blade at her.

She scanned them with her eyes. "Humans," she hissed. "And you." She stared at him. "You're not pure."

Humans? She's a witch, no doubt. "Oh, please." Omar smirked. "No need to hurt my feelings."

"Even if you get past me, you will never get what you want." The woman shook her head, grinning wickedly.

"Even if? You underestimate us, milady. Now tell us where we can find what we want." Omar approached her.

"It's right behind me." Silverhead kept her crooked smile. "But I'm afraid you can't go farther than this."

"I'm sick of this prattle." Malanda shot an arrow at the woman's head, or that what was supposed to happen. Because, simply, Silverhead caught the arrow in the air with one hand, her silver eyes glowing with fury as she stared at Malanda. Omar didn't wait for Silverhead's reply and struck her in the torso and clang!

But a clang wasn't a sound he should hear while slicing...flesh. Omar's eyebrows rose in astonishment when his blade made that vibration, as if it had hit a steel wall. Suddenly, the pale woman was gone and another one made of steel replaced her. Her face features were the same except for one change: skin color became silver like her hair.

Silverhead snarled and slapped him in the face. Omar found himself flying in the air before he landed on his side. Malanda tried her luck more than once, but all her arrows bounced off Silverhead's body. The woman made of steel grabbed Malanda by the throat and threw her away, as if she was tossing a doll.

Andy dropped his sword and knelt as Silverhead approached him. "Coward!" Malanda cried, shooting another arrow at Silverhead's head. Though the arrow didn't even scratch her shinning skin, Silverhead seemed to be aggravated by Malanda's stubbornness. She left Andy behind and strode toward Malanda.

Omar hurried after the woman and locked her neck with both arms. Silverhead forced his arms open, releasing herself from his lock, and turned to punch him in the stomach. The heavy blow sent him for another flight, his back bent this time before he fell on his haunches.

"What sort of a monster is she?" Omar coughed as he rose to his feet.

"A shapeshifter." Low and scared, Andy's voice came from behind him. "The worst of the worst."

Then, why are you still here? You're not fighting anyway. Omar held his screaming belly, as if it was hit by a war hammer. "What happened to those who take the shapes of animals and birds?" He sprinted to stop her from crushing Malanda's throat. Blades, arrows, and punches wouldn't work with Silverhead. He would throw himself on her to distract her for a moment, giving Malanda a chance to flee. That was his best plan for the current situation.

While holding Malanda by the throat with one hand, the silver woman used the other to catch him with an iron grip before he could even touch her. Raising both of Omar and Malanda from the ground, she pinned them to the wall. "I will crush your skulls if I want," she menaced. "But Choleen loves her meat fresh."