“Silk?” Azalea pressed again.

  “It’s his blood,” I hissed, or tried to. I lacked the mouth parts to properly—wait, why am I even—

  “Silk.”

  “What?” It wasn’t my name, but she couldn’t very well call me Slate looking like this, nor would I want her to.

  Azalea pulled us both even lower. “They’re here.”

  From behind the pillar, Cassytha’s voice boomed, echoing as it bounced around the room. “Alright, which one of you tried to make a run for it? Don’t confess; I want to beat it out of you.”

  “Cass, do you really think they could have made it back here before us?” Reedy-Voice replied.

  “Oh there’s no way they could’ve made it here first,” she replied. “But I don’t need to know that for sure…”

  The miner closest to me took a step and sucked in a breath. I leapt, remembering just in time that I didn’t have my demon limbs. He was mundane—no vitae above ambient in him. Unsuitable prey.

  We fell to the ground with a thump, and above us, Azalea grabbed his dropped pickaxe before it could land.

  The other miner, the one across from us, took the chance to climb nimbly up the pillar. I kept my hand clamped on the man I’d downed, while Azalea, pickaxe in hand, leapt after the other miner. Under me, the man struggled, biting my hand. It felt like he was biting a glove, and keeping him pinned, despite the fact he was a good deal larger than me, took little effort. My vitae made up for the weight difference easily.

  The nimble miner shouted before Azalea reached him. “Hey. I’m pretty fast, you know!”

  Azalea stopped, just inside the shadow of the pillar.

  The miner continued—his voice was smooth, like a career grifter. “I guess I’m happy you high and mighty immortals can underestimate the little folks.”

  “Enic!” Cassytha shouted.

  “Yes, dear? Oh, that’s right, you wanted me not to admit to anything.” Enic. Who is he, and why does he have a death wish?

  Above me, Azalea scooted around the pillar in darkening shadows to peek around the other side from the miner.

  Wait, is he buying us time? I let the palm of my hand come off in the miner’s mouth. The silk warped and stuck it shut as new threads wove over the porcelain-toned hole in my hand.

  “Every word earns you another lash,” Cass warned.

  “Sorry, I guess I’m just a contrarian like that.” I could hear Enic shrugging. “So, did you find any of my little surprises up the tunnel? No?”

  Azalea pointed down into the trench. I hugged the side, ducking past distracted miners and darting over piles of loose blood rock chips. Their vitae called out to me; the tone reminded me too much of the demon’s siren song.

  “I’m really gonna kill you this time,” Cassytha hissed as I made it to the wall perhaps ten meters away from her and the man. One miner looked over—I held a finger to my mouth.

  “Cass, Kobel will—” Reedy-Voice protested.

  I looked up at the pillar. Azalea, wreathed in shadows, hid on one side; the miner covering for us stood openly on the other, resting casually on his pickaxe and wearing a beatific smile.

  Cassytha cut him off and laughed darkly. “Kobel’s not here. Accidents happen.”

  I had moments to plan a strategy, and I also had to admit the reality of my new instincts. The hunt is reaching its climax; the guise is no longer needed. Except it very much was. All I had right now were my old techniques and limited access to my new silk.

  From my hand, I threw a single, shining thread between me and the pillar right before Cassytha leapt over my head. The miner who’d distracted them for us tried to duck behind the pillar, eyes wide. Azalea leapt out from cover.

  Cassytha hit the strand midair. I saw it tear through her robes and a thin line of crimson bloom across her midsection. The strand broke, and she fell into a roll. Immediately, vitae-created flowers bloomed up and down her bare arms, growing vines that shot out toward Azalea and the miner.

  “Enic!” she shouted.

  Does she think that was his doing? Is she an idiot?

  Azalea leapt forward, slicing the vine headed for the miner. The other wrapped her arm and she cried out in pain as tendrils dug into her skin. A slight hesitation, reinforcing that the guise is needed, was all it had taken.

  As Cassytha hit the ground, I launched three needles at her. One hit her shoulder while the others were blocked by—where did he come from!?

  The reedy-voiced man Cassytha was with stood in front of me—and I wasn’t the only one who jumped, if the startled miners were any indication. Some sort of hiding ability? I tried to leap backwards. In my haste I forgot my lack of limbs; Reedy-Voice caught me instead by the wrist, his grip painfully tight.

  No, I’ve caught him. Get close now, strong prey.

  Over his shoulder, I watched Azalea slice through the vine with a spray of… blood? She leapt down and darted inside the range of Cassytha’s vines as the woman grew even more from under her robes.

  “You really thought we didn’t notice, hmm?” the reedy-voiced man taunted as he thrust a small, thin blade forward. “Typical First Ring.”

  I tried to turn away, but he yanked me forward. Pain blossomed as the blade slid between my ribs. He twisted, kicked me away, and…

  Azalea! My next breath was wet and pained, and a look down saw blood seeping through my robes. How? I looked around—only miners nearby, running for cover or cowering against the walls of the pit. No… no vine did this, there was someone else with her, right? Two of them and two of us, we had to take both out. Right?

  “Silk!” Azalea shouted, ducking one vine as she landed a throwing dagger into Cassytha’s thigh. “A little help here!?”

  I jumped forward, but something—no, someone held me back.

  “Tenacious.”

  My wrist burned as it was slit open; I clutched the limb and stumbled.

  “Silk!” Azalea shouted again.

  Cassytha was injured now, two or three small blades stuck into her, but Azalea was worse off. One vine had an ankle, pulsing angrily, and blood was soaking into her robe from where I’d hurt her earlier. This time, before I leapt I threw out the thinnest lines of silk I could.

  They stuck to the walls of the pit, the pillar, and the far wall, each connecting loosely to my back. Spider legs or not, I’d feel when—now!

  I whirled, bent my legs, and threw the hardest punch I could. Blood from my bleeding wrist arced through the air and my punctured lung burned as my knuckles met bone with a crunch.

  Reedy-Voice reeled backwards, blood pouring from his nose. He opened his mouth to say something, but a shrieking hiss drowned him out. His form blurred, but he touched another silk line and it resolved again.

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  Needle in hand this time, I feinted another punch. He blocked it, and I watched his smug eye widen as my needle went in and through, the poison coating it sizzling all the way. Staggering back, he screamed and turned toward me, back against the pit’s wall and threads of silk wrapping his limbs.

  No disappearing act this time, just throwing knives. Two thudded into me, missing vital areas as I pulled the silk tight around him. Weak. Prey. Fangs clicked as they extended; the silk covering my face started to tear.

  “Silk!” Azalea shrieked.

  I slammed my jaws shut, fake skin rippling. If Reedy-Voice noticed, he didn’t get the chance to shout. Two more of my needles hit home and he slumped, dragging the silk lines down with him. Behind me, Azalea was pale and shaking, a vine wrapped around her torso. Cassytha held her aloft, cackling.

  I threw silk strands at the vines and pulled. They almost cut through, but it was enough for Azalea to crash to the ground. She rolled, slicing at the vines.

  Cassytha looked my way languidly, then fury took her features as she saw Reedy-Voice’s slumping body on the pit’s far wall. She shrieked, and a dozen vines erupted from her torso, shredding her robes. Unlike the others, these were tipped with spikes… like my garden.

  As I watched, her eyes flooded with sickly green, pupils contracting to pinpricks. The first vine crashed next to me, the second I managed to dodge, and the third slammed into my torso, ripping through my silken guise and burrowing into my skin. It pulled at my vitae and I shuddered, stumbling.

  Cassytha’s shrieking reached a feverish pitch, warping hideously as I struggled to free myself. More and more vines shot my way. For every vine I swiped away or held back with silk, another latched on. Worse, as they drained me, I could feel her vines’ grip strengthening.

  Rival! Kill!

  The guise over my face ripped apart in the mass of vines and I bit the nearest one, sinking half a dozen fangs into it. Half of what I got was burning, awful ichor, but the other half was sickly-sweet, familiar demonic vitae.

  All I could do was keep up, weakening us both in the exchange. Unfortunately, my instincts seemed to know I would lose as I used every trick I’d been taught to fight my rising panic.

  Until a five petaled, pinkish-red flower bloomed on the nearest vine. Then another. And another. Cassytha’s inhuman roar of fury morphed into a screech of pain as the vines on me wobbled, then began to withdraw.

  I stayed latched on until the mouthfuls of ichor turned to burning acid. Coughing and sputtering, I retched as I fell to my knees. The burning acid slammed clarity back into me like I’d been struck by a train. Cassytha’s scream trailed off into a final, gurgling hiss; the vitae-infused air shuddered as she died.

  My guise!

  Silk wrapped around my face, fangs snicked back into place, and my jaws locked back into a human-looking shape. When I tried to stand, the burning in my mouth outshone any lingering feeling in my lungs.

  “—lea!” I hacked, stumbling forward.

  Azalea stood in the center of the trench, surrounded by half-melted vines. The same reddish-pink, five-petaled flowers studded her hair. She was pale, wide-eyed, and shivering. When she looked up and saw me, she broke out into a grin.

  Cassytha’s body, or whatever was left of it, was nowhere to be found. Only rapidly decaying vines.

  “Glad…” Azalea coughed, flecks of blood staining her lips. “Glad you finally helped out, asshole.”

  She fell to the side, and I rushed to catch her, just barely making it in time.

  “Hey come on,” she spluttered. “Gimme a bit to rest, okay?”

  “You should stay awake!”

  She waved a hand drunkenly at me, then stopped when her eyes met mine. “I’ll… yeah, alright. Prob’ly should.”

  With some effort, I helped her to her feet, disintegrating flower petals falling from her hair. She winced as she rotated her bad shoulder. “Would’ve been easier if you didn’t stick me earlier, Silk.”

  “Silk?”

  I have a hundred questions, and that’s the one I ask?

  Azalea coughed, then took a deep breath. “Yeah. S’your name. When you’re, you know.” She poked one of my… my breasts.

  I opened my mouth to contest her, then thought for a minute. Already, I could see a bevy of advantages to an alternate identity and form. Silk was an odd name, a little on the nose, but it would do.

  “Alright,” I agreed with a nod. “Silk it is.”

  Azalea’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Just like that?”

  “Just like what?”

  “Never mind.”

  “You know something.”

  “Silk.” She tossed her gaze over my shoulder. The miners were coming out of hiding now. Some stared at us, while others were looking at the only tunnel out of here.

  “Fine.” I grimaced. “You will tell me later.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.”

  I glared at her.

  “Well I can’t very well address you like… you know.”

  I took a deep breath through my nose. “If you’re fine enough to play jokes, then I will assume you’ll live.”

  She nodded. “Probably.”

  “You know I thought she was taking extra shards for herself.”

  I turned my head up so fast I felt my neck pop.

  “Whoa there! Easy!” The miner who’d distracted Cassytha for us earlier had clambered out from behind the pillar.

  He wore a relaxed smile, but I’d dealt with enough nobility to know a calculating gaze when I saw one. The insect is scared.

  “I couldn’t hurt you if I wanted to,” he continued, sliding down to land next to us in the pit. Correct. “Name’s Enic, but you probably figured that out when she shouted it.”

  Enic… Where had I heard that before?

  “I’m Lea!” Azalea said. Oh… I’d almost said her name. That’s… good thinking actually.

  “Silk,” I answered.

  The man held out his hand to shake, and I caught a glimpse of a serpent-like tattoo on his forearm. A serpentine dragon maybe? Azalea took the proffered limb before I could and shook vigorously, getting blood and ichor all over his hand. The man’s easy smile faltered.

  “Are there any other cultivators here? Any other guards?” I asked.

  Enic rubbed his smooth chin. “Did you take out the rocks guy? Kobel-something?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  An odd look crossed Enic’s face, but it quickly turned back into a smile. “That’s two out of three. Can’t say I appreciate getting saved from cloudheads by cloudheads, but I also can’t complain. That… is what you’re doing, right?”

  “Right!” Azalea agreed before I could even open my mouth.

  “Two out of three?” I asked.

  “Don’t know the other guy’s name. Keeps to himself.”

  Other guy… Eyes wide, I ran back to where the body of the reedy-voiced man had been. Sure enough, he was gone, bloodstains the only evidence he’d been there at all.

  “Lea!” I shouted. “Did you catch where the other guy went? The one with the reedy voice?”

  “Who?” she asked as I jogged back over. All around us the miners were coming out of their hiding places. Some bolted for the exit, some stared, a few got on their knees and wept.

  “The guy Cassytha was with.”

  She blinked, then recognition dawned in her eyes. “Shit! I didn’t even see him in the fight. Did he run for help?”

  I glanced at Enic who was looking between us, silent for once. I didn’t care to explain it all in front of him. “He must have. Do you know who he is—is he part of the sect?”

  “I… maybe? I’m not sure if I’ve seen him around. He’s got to be an inner disciple if he is, I think?”

  I swore. “Then we need to move. Fast.”

  Enic stepped up between us. “I don’t suppose the supply boat’s docked out there? I’m not losing this chance.”

  “It is. But how do you know so much?” I prodded. “Could you tell us where their logbooks are kept?”

  He put up his hands. “Don’t know about the logbooks—probably where the lead bastard slept. And I know this because I’ve been trying to figure a way out of here for damn near a year. Tried to go up the cliff, but that Kobel bastard felt it. I’ve got the lash scars if you wanna see?” He paused, hand by the hem of his shirt. “That enough explanation?”

  No, but we didn’t have time. I gestured around the room. “What are you doing here?”

  “Mining.” He had the good sense to continue before I struck him. “You cloudheads take us mundane folks who get in your way and stick ‘em here to mine until they drop dead. This damn red rock kills most folks in a week or so, but some of us ‘lucky’ ones keep on living. Don’t know what the fuck it does to your kind.”

  “What do you mean by ‘get in our way?’” Azalea asked.

  “Geez, do I have to spell it out for you? Here’s an example: let’s say someone invents something that makes a cultivator-only task doable by normal folks. Get it?”

  I narrowed my eyes—unimpressive with only two visible. “If that is the case, I assure you they’re a rogue faction.”

  Enic laughed. “Oh, wait. You’re serious? Look. I don’t have time for this, alright. If you two ‘heroes’ want to know a little bit more about the real world, go to Hearthome and look for a red-roofed trinket shop in the lower market. Ask them”—he leaned in closer—“what the blind serpent sees. Got it?”

  I bristled. “What makes you so certain you’re leaving now?”

  His smile faltered. “Aren’t I? Do you intend to stop me? What do you think’s going to happen to all of us here if you leave?”

  “They’ll kill you,” Azalea whispered. “And bring in new people.”

  “Ooh, top marks for miss pink hair.” Enic started walking toward the exit.

  I almost moved to stop him, but if I did… well I’d just prove him right wouldn’t I? Slate Graystone, champion of the common people stopping someone kept in indentured servitude from walking free.

  “Who are you?” I asked instead as he left, a hiss creeping into the edge of my tone. “Really.”

  Enic smiled over his shoulder and mouthed, “I already told you.”