"What—" she hisses, but Rahul cuts her off:

"You'll do as I say or you'll be one teammate short." He's panting, eyes gleaming with the victory of catching them off guard while Lei huffs from the ground, dust spewing out around his face. Lei's eyes are flitting around, calculating, and they meet Allayria's for a moment.

This isn't supposed to be part of the game, she thinks, digging her heel into the dirt as she bends her knees, just barely. I don't know if I can call that knife in time...

"Give me the rope."

She mentally reaches out for the metal, searching for it with that intuitive sense.

I'll knock him across the head with it, and kick him in the face for good measure. We'll just have to swear Finn to secrecy—not that anyone would believe him anyway...

Rahul digs the very tip of the knife into Lei's skin, letting her see a bit of blood bubble up.

"Give me the rope now."

Wait—

Oh Gods.

Allayria Skills out for the knife again, grasping, but she doesn't feel the metal. Her eyes meet Lei's.

"That's right: I don't have a problem hurting Beinsho's toy soldier," Rahul says, misinterpreting her slack expression. "Don't make me ask again."

Allayria begins easing the rope off slowly, letting it pool on the ground next to her.

Ok, Plan B. I could... I could...

But reaching for anything else would take too long.

Spirit-calling, she thinks desperately, trying to ignore the roiling in her stomach at the thought, I would need skin-to-skin contact—

" 'Laryia," Lei croaks.

"Shut it," Rahul warns, and his hand, just below the tip of the knife, smashes Lei's neck against the ground.

"Stop it!" Allayria shouts as Lei gasps and gags, a hand tightening on the rope.

Just do it. Just do it.

But then something strange happens.

It's like Rahul locks in place, going rigid as the knife clatters on the floor. His hands suddenly twitch and seize, folding up across his body in strange twists and angles, and he collapses inward. Knees crunching against the earth as his head is bent back and his wild eyes dart around. Breath spurts out of his mouth in rapid pants, the only thing in the horrified silence, until his head suddenly flies forward, thrown down on a jut of rock with a crack. He crumples.

Allayria feels frozen too as she stares at the stilled heap.

I didn't do anything. I didn't. I know I didn't. How—?

" 'Laryia," Lei rasps again, a hand clutching at his throat as he tries to raise himself off the ground. "W-what did you—?"

But his gaze moves off of her, and Allayria follows it.

Finn stands a few steps behind her, a hand still outstretched, surveying Rahul with a blank look. He must feel their eyes on him, because he glances up.

"It's okay," he tells them. "He can't hurt you anymore."

Allayria's knees weaken and she braces her hands on them to prevent total collapse.

"Finn," she says feebly. "Finn, what the hell was that?"

The boy's large, brown eyes settle onto her, and his brow crinkles in confusion.

"I told him to stop," he explains, voice tilting with the obviousness of it. "And then I told him to crack his skull on the rock. He won't be coming to for a while."

They stare at him and Lei finally manages to sit upright, breathing raggedly as a hand presses against the wound on his neck.

"You Skilled at him?" Allayria asks, the question ridiculous—ludicrous to the thought. Beast-callers can't Skill-talk directly to other humans—people are far too sophisticated, too complex in their thoughts and minds. She knows that. Hell, everyone knows that. And controlling one, winning dominance over the mind to control the body...

"Yep," he says. "It's easier when they don't expect it."

"Have you... have you told anyone you can do this, Finn?" Lei asks, sounding like he has sandpaper coating the inside of his esophagus.

"Oh yes, I showed Commander Beinsho. I think he might have been impressed."

"You think?" Allayria repeats, her voice breaking. "How can you—? How did you even—?"

She forces herself upright, walking over to Lei and crouching down. She prods the back of his head because Gods above it is so much easier to focus on this than it is to deal with what she has just learned.

"Looks shallow." she says and holds out a hand to haul him up. He too is looking a little unsteady.

And here we thought our teammate would be a hindrance.

"Finn," Lei says after a moment, adjusting the pack on his shoulder. "Can you do that again—to somebody else—if we need you to?"

"I think so," the Beast-caller replies, shrugging.

Allayria crouches down, taking the cool, silent knife from Rahul and pocketing it. She then aims a heavy kick at him, the sharp tip of her boot making contact with his lower stomach. She hopes it hurts like hell when he wakes up.

"Ruben said nothing about attacking other teams."

"He didn't," Lei agrees, "but he didn't expressly forbid it either. Not that I think he would have anticipated that."

"What was the point?" Allayria demands. "We're not even at the cliffs yet. And where are his teammates?"

They all glance around, and Lei calls a sharp rock to his hand.

"They are hyenas," Finn answers. "They work alone and rely on the element of surprise. They think we are wildebeests: slow and unsuspecting."

"I..." Lei halts and then sighs, running a hand through his hair. It is abnormally ruffled and he has smudges of dust and dirt patterned along the sides of his face and forehead. "Let's just make sure no one else catches us by surprise."

He begins moving, stiff but determined, and Allayria and Finn follow suit. When Allayria walks by his side, an eye trained at the passing trees, she sees Lei turn slightly.

"The knife..." he begins under his breath, his lips barely moving.

She glances over and then back at Finn who is... who is transfixed by a butterfly.

Our secret weapon, the body controller, distracted by passing insects.

"I couldn't feel it," she whispers back to Lei, pushing aside the urge to snap something reproachful at their other teammate. "It was like the metal wasn't even there. I've only ever felt that twice before..."

His chin dips in a barely perceptible nod.

"It's something the Jarles made," he murmurs. "A way to protect their secrets. It's not exactly something a Keesark noble would have on hand."

They glance at each other, and Allayria wonders how he knows this, but Finn has caught up—plowing between them as he spins on his heel, hand aloft. On his index finger is the butterfly, wings still and antennae twitching.

"She has agreed to help us," he says seriously, gesturing to the insect.

The unhidden exasperation painted across Lei's face is a sign of how much the past hour's events have taken a toll on him.

"She will keep an eye out for us, from the skies," Finn explains, holding up the winged adventurer to Lei's face. "Only she can't really get too far too fast and she can't withstand the wind currents above the trees, so it might take a while..."

"Our list of formidable allies grows by the minute," Allayria deadpans. "You have my gratitude, gracious butterfly."

The insect unsurprisingly says nothing but takes off, wheeling around in the wind like a drunken housecat as it weaves its way through the trees.

The three are like live wire when they step outside the protection of the trees onto the flat, grassy land, heads swiveling up and down the long stretch of approaching cliffs, then back at the trees.

"Do you sense anyone?" Allayria asks Finn. "Can you sense people?"

Finn shrugs.

"Sometimes I think I can," he says. "But they're only distinguishable when they contain overwhelming emotions. I feel life around us, but nothing distinctly human."

"So no one particularly murderous at least," Allayria murmurs.

"No one who feels particularly strongly about murdering us," Lei, ever the optimist, corrects.

As suspected, the outcrops are too symmetrical to be natural. They are also a surprising distance away from the cliffs—more than what one person could jump. Not that she or Lei should need to jump over.

Lei frowns, brows furrowing in the sunlight as he peers up at the nearest column of stone.

"It's too easy," he says.

Gods damn it all, he's right. Allayria glances around again. Something moves in her peripheral, down a ways and up on the cliff. Her neck cracks with the speed in which she turns it back, eyes narrowing as she watches the small, dark form heave a leg up over the lip of the cliff.

"There's someone on top," she says, pointing at them.

They watch as the figure climbs to its feet and then seems to go on its tip-toes, bending over the edge.

"Are they trying to look at the top of the outcrop?" Allayria asks, bewildered.

Lei suddenly pulls up a chunk of rock and whips it toward the base of the nearest pillar. The crumbling, heavy mass of dirt and stone barrels down until, an arms-width away from the base, it suddenly explodes, bits spraying up and out toward them. Amidst the clouds of dust Allayria spies the gaping hole in the ground just above where Lei sent the rock, and as she watches the dirt pass over it, concealing the hidden door from eyesight.

"It's like the trees," she says, gesturing to the now-hidden trap. "Something or someone is reacting when you get too close."

"That's why they're on the cliff," Lei says, glancing back to the figure who is walking toward them along the edge. "They're looking for their pillar before they try to figure out how to get on the outcrop."

"It's a good idea," Allayria admits and they look at each other.

"Finn," Lei says, an authoritative tone taking over his voice. "Go back into the trees and keep an eye out. If you see anyone acting strangely, you know what to do."

Finn, vaguely biting on the nail of his thumb, nods, and he disappears back into the forest.

Hoping their lookout will be a little less preoccupied with the surrounding wildlife when they are explicitly relying on him, Allayria turns back to the cliff and flings a clunk of dirt at it, just in case. The rock smashes against the cliffside without interruption.

Lei nods at her and they begin to climb, hands and feet sinking into the cliff face like it's made of soft tissue. They scuttle up, making quick work with their Skill, and when she gets to the top Allayria rolls over onto her stomach, her upper half hanging over the edge so she can reach down and haul Lei up.

They both stare down the long stretch of the cliff at their competitor, who has noticed them too. The figure is still difficult to make out at the distance, but Allayria thinks she can see a gleam of gold reflecting off the crown of their head.

She groans.

"Well, I suppose that's what we're looking for," Lei says and she turns back, looking out over the edge of the cliff at the flat platform. In its center is a small, thin object, lilac-colored with wide eyes and a mouth, gaping across the empty space in a grotesque leer.

A miniature haunting pillar, Allayria muses, feeling disinclined to touch the thing.

"The items must be color-coordinated," Lei says, glancing down at their periwinkle bands. "We'll have to walk along the cliffs until we find ours."

They both turn, looking at the outcrops in the opposite direction of the distant figure, but the two within eyesight are bare.

"Do you think someone got to them already or are we at the end of the line?" Allayria asks.

"I don't know," Lei answers, "but we know there's at least one down there."

He turns back to the direction of the figure and Allayria follows suit. She wants to ask if it's wise, ask—and her eyes find the congealed blood on the back of Lei's neck—if it's safe.

But he anticipates her, throwing a look over his shoulder and saying in an even, uninflected tone: "Unless you think you can't take them."

Oh, but she bristles at that. Not we, of course, because "you" does exactly what Lei wants it to.

"I'm not the one who spent five minutes eating dirt," she snaps back, pushing past him and heading toward the closest pillar.

The next item is gold and they move on. The figure grows disproportionately larger as they go and there's no denying who is walking toward them now.

She knows Lei is irritated too by the way his scowl etches itself further on his face, cracking along the flinty, stonewalled expression that continually inhabits it.

"Well, there's no one around to threaten with bodily harm," Allayria says after a moment, watching as Hiran stops for a moment, then continues to walk. They are two columns apart now. "You're just going to have to find another way to impress him if you don't want another serving of dust and rock ricotta."

The glare he sends her way informs her that her snark is unappreciated, which is all Allayria really wanted.

"Maybe it's going to be Hiran eating dust and rock ricotta," he returns stiffly.

"Gee, Captain, if you weren't so high and mighty I might think you were fixing for a fight," she throws back, kicking a rock over the edge, toward the closest column. A mass of speeding boulder punches through the sky, splattering it like a beetle.

"It's Lieutenant, Paragon," Lei corrects, "if you're going to start having manners you should at least use the proper title."

She seriously considers kicking him off the cliff. As an experiment.

They're close enough now that Allayria and Hiran lock gazes and he's got his mouth open to say something when they hear the crash. They all jump, knees bending and hands leaning down, lowering their centers of gravity. When the ground remains stable their heads pop over the side, peering down as a large, bulky shape shouts and screams, chucking rocks at one of the pillars.

"Who is that?" Allayria asks Lei, forgetting she had been ignoring him.

"Durai," he supplies, and they watch as the distant form sends a swarm of beetles toward the column, screeching when they are crushed. Personally, she thinks Durai should have seen that coming.

"Enjoying the show?"

They glance around to see Hiran a stone's throw away, strolling toward them with a trio of rocks twisting between his fingers.

"I do so enjoy being up here," he continues, glancing down at the Beast-caller. "For as dumb as he is, he hits like a sledgehammer."

Allayria notes a slight limp in his step.

"You've been having fun with our competitors too then," she notes.

Hiran glances back.

"Oh, did you run into him too?"

"No," Allayria replies. "Rahul."

"Rahul?" Hiran repeats, eyebrows rising. "Really?"

The edge of the cliff begins to crumple and Allayria and Lei jump back. A hand slaps itself over the corner, streaked with dried mud, and Hiran pushes past them, reaching down and hauling Tara up by the shoulders. She's sporting a formidable bruise on her forehead and her straw-yellow hair is plastered with muck and twigs.

"A bit of warning would have been nice," Hiran tells her grumpily. "I would have helped."

"No need," she gasps, pushing a knee under her so she rises to a kneel. "I got it. You found the stone?"

"It's down here somewhere." He throws a thumb back in the direction Lei and Allayria came, and his eyes settle on the two of them. Allayria sees it play in his eyes, a moment of curiosity, intrigue, and then he says to them: "Yours is the next one down, the other way."

Her brows raise, but Lei answers: "Thank you, Hiran. Yours is two back."

He nods and Tara climbs to her feet, patting down her pants with her hands. It's a lost cause.

"Alright, let's get a move on it then," she says, suddenly businesslike. "Bora's—"

And then the mountainside rips apart.

A/N: Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

In all seriousness, to all who celebrate: enjoy! Happy (belated) Hanukkah, (early) Kwanzaa, and general holidays to everyone else.