Ted sat upon a broken tree on the edge of the ruins clearing and waited. Cara stood watch beside him, while Elivala and Jeremy and other Prowlers and Lookouts spread out on the left flank, and Gramok and the dwarves stood ready on the right flank.

  All preparations were made. The light leather armor that Jeremy had gifted pressed snug against his skin, now set with runes to hide the magical effects upon him.

  Idonia’s eyes had lit up with the chance to study Alenia’s gear, and the moment she was done helping establish his link to the Great Forest through the portal stone, she had set upon the task of copying it. They couldn’t afford to let the Destroyer see their plans, else he might run and devise a countermeasure.

  An odd draw sucked a trickle of mana away from Ted—nowhere near enough to counteract his mana regen, but any unknown drain nibbled at his mind. Yet every time he thought of it, his mind went fuzzy. Had to be an unexpected side effect of the Forest link pressing against his mind, calling upon him to dip into its deep reservoirs of spirit. A whole wounded forest of power right there at his fingertips, ready to be devoured and used.

  Well, half a forest, anyway. The reservoir felt oddly vacant, like whiskey in a tumbler. The dryads must have done more damage than they’d thought, though…

  No. His head went fuzzy again. The Forest was too vast, too powerful, too alien to ever truly understand. He was not and never would be a wood elf. Which was precisely why it had to be him—he wouldn’t hear the screams of the Forest as he sucked it dry.

  Cara was still, staring at into the Forest with a rigid posture that screamed with rage. Just because she’d gone for the plan, didn’t mean she had to like it.

  Rising and walking up beside her, Ted resisted the urge to put his arm around her shoulder. “It’s the right choice.”

  “I voted yes,” she said, keeping to her still vigil.

  “It had to be me.”

  “Dark magic. Zelnari runes. Untested madness.” She stole a glance, and graced him with a forced smile that made it only half way across her lips. “Of course it had to be you.”

  “I wish we had another choice.”

  She stared out into the Forest and what little mirth she had fled. “If one of us doesn’t come back…”

  “We will.” Ted draped his arm around her and bent his knees to lean his head upon her shoulder. “We’re going to take him down, and then, I think we’ve earned a break from saving the world.”

  Her hand went up to her eyes as if wiping tears from them, and her words came out sniffly. “Finally get that song you promised, huh?”

  “Cara.” A lump formed in his throat. “The plan will work. We’re both going to make it.”

  “The plan will work.” Her shoulder rose and fell with deep breaths, and she sniffled again. “If you knew it would kill you—properly kill you—would you still do it?”

  Tension coiled through Ted’s stomach. “If I knew it would work.” This wasn’t like Cara, not all. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  She leaned her head against his and for a time said nothing. When she did speak, it was soft and quiet. “Not all of us come back from the dead.”

  “You think I should have taught others Rebirth?”

  “A life for a life.” She pulled away. “I’m a hypocrite.”

  “I made the choice.”

  “And the Keepers endorsed it. All of us.”

  “It’s the right call.” Ted placed his hands upon her shoulders and gently caressed the rock-hard tension there. “You know the lengths people go to save the ones they love.”

  She took another step forward, pulling away once again. “Dungeon spawn will come soon. We must win decisively. Draw out the Destroyer.”

  “Now who’s sounding like Jeremy?”

  That, at least, drew a chuckle, even if sorrow hung to it like an anchor. “Mind on the job, Ted.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “And… I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Ted stroked her back and gave her a smile. “We’re going to make it.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  “We find a way. We always do.” The moment the words left his lips, Ted’s insides turned in on themselves with memories of Orlanda, of fallen dwarves, of Cara’s sorrow for Aidan, of the arrow protruding from Cara’s chest. Sure, they always found a way to win, but at what cost?

  Cara’s grip tightened on her bow, and she said nothing, staring out in the Forest, waiting for the battle that, win or lose, would wreck her home.

  “It’ll recover,” Ted said. “The Forest. She’s strong, and we have Grow now.”

  Cara raised her bowstring hand out to the side with palm outstretched. Her gaze darted from side to side, searching for whatever threat she heard.

  She sent a message through the Communication shared among the leaders. Incoming. Five gorillas, an orc Battlemage, dozens of snakes, and hundreds of wolves and goblins.

  “Alright,” Ted said, rising to his feet and readying his Battlemage staff, “time to show them what we’ve got.”

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  Cara’s gaze settled upon a point within the Forest and pointed at it. It looked just like any other, but if Cara said they were that way, then they were that way.

  Ted drew on his mana, resisting the urge to pull on that endless ocean of power that tingled in the back of his mind. That had to be held back for the Destroyer himself. He drew complex patterns in the air using his staff, tying together Energy and Lightning into a Continuous Orb, and binding that to a Projectile.

  The spell came together and flowed through the staff, its power bristling against the limits of his stability even so, and he shot the crackling silver orb out into the Forest in the direction that Cara had pointed.

  Even as it flew through the air, he pulled on more mana, weaving a Farsight as he cast his attention out after Storm’s orb.

  He closed his eyes and finished the spell. The silver orb came into view again through his second sight, hovering in place ten feet up above the forest floor, lightning arcing out from it.

  Wolves came into view first. Ted focused on them, striking them with lightning from the orb. Each bolt struck true, leaving only charred remains in its wake. Three, four, five, six wolves, each fallen beast replaced by two more.

  Then came the goblins and snakes. Ted switched his focus to those slithering serpents, striking them again and again until each one curled up and convulsed in violent death throes, power crackling across their slimy scales.

  Several slipped by. Ted ignored them, focused on thinning the growing horde still coming, trusting that the dwarves and wood elves could take those he missed.

  An eight-foot-tall figure in black robes like Ted’s charged out from the trees ahead. White magic swirled in his hands, and he fired a bolt of magic straight at the Storm orb, shattering it into a thousand sparks.

  The swish of an arrow tugged on Ted’s focus. He pushed it aside, and focused in on the black-robed figure striding toward his sight, staff in hand. The figure flung back its hood to reveal a sneering orc—a battlemage, though not one Ted recognized.

  The orc ran his finger across his neck and pointed at Ted’s Farsight. A speck of white fired out from his outstretched finger and grew swiftly larger until it engulfed and consumed Ted’s vision, ending the spell.

  Ted opened his eyes to see Cara firing off another arrow. To the left, the wood elves fired off arrows and white forcebolts, while to the right the dwarves formed a shield wall to protect their mages and archers doing the same.

  The battlemage would be shielded by Armor and Absorb. He wouldn’t be stopped by projectiles meant for the swarm of dungeon spawn. The cannon fodder would wear them down, and then the Battlemage would strike. A good plan, but not a serious threat—not with all the wood elven villages working together with the dwarves.

  Break this attack, and the Destroyer would have to fight in person.

  Ted cast Continuous Armor and Absorb upon both himself and Cara and waited, letting what little of his mana regen wasn’t diverted slowly build back up.

  A snake slithered into sight. Cara fired a Force-imbued arrow that buried in the snake’s right eye. The serpent convulsed once, twice, thrice before falling still.

  The ground shook. A gorilla bounded out, barreling a straight line through the vegetarian. Arrow after arrow pelted it, most bouncing off, the others barely even scratching the great beast.

  From the wood elves on the left flew an arrow glowing bright white. It struck the gorilla in the neck, and exploded in a blinding flash and a boom that shook the earth.

  Ted’s clenched eyes shut and he turned away. When he looked again, the mangled corpse of a gorilla lay there, testament to the power of magic, and two more gorillas and a dozen goblins came into view.

  The dwarves and wood elves sustained their fire, as did Cara, the lines of magic along her bow lighting up with every shot. Soon, her mana would run dry, and her rate of fire would drop as she waited on stamina. Then, the spear would strike.

  Ted rested his staff against the nearest tree and drew his bow, adding his own meager shots to the barrage. Stamina wouldn’t decide his fight with the battlemage.

  Shot after shot he fired, until the battlemage emerged from the trees, striding straight for him with terrible purpose.

  Ted took aim and fired. The arrow flew true, yet at the last moment, with a flick of his hand, the battlemage flashed a swirling barrier and sent the arrow clattering to the ground.

  The battlemage is mine, Ted messaged out, casting aside his bow and grasping his staff. Focus on the dungeon spawn.

  “The Destroyer will accept your surrender,” boomed the orc’s voice, grating against Ted’s ears. “Your life, and that of your father’s, and this Great Forest need not be burned to the ground.”

  Ted fired off a weak Dispel, missing the orc by mere inches. “How stupid do you think I am?”

  “Very, judging by your current choices.” The battlemage advanced at a steady pace, deflecting the odd arrow that came his way with flicks of his wrist producing perfectly timed barriers. “The Destroyer’s created us, defined us, gave us purpose. His reign is inevitable.”

  “If it’s inevitable, why worry?”

  The battlemage came to a stop fifty yard ahead. He planted his staff into the ground, his eyes glowed purple, and the Destroyer’s gravelly voice rumbled out from him. “You have done well, Edwin Williams.”

  Ted stepped forward, gripping his staff tightly. “So much for the truce.”

  To the left and right, dungeon spawn poured out, each falling a little closer to the lines of elves and dwarves, yet around the battlemage, no dungeon spawn came. “I cannot allow you to rally an alliance against me.”

  “Then come stop me.” Ted tilted forward his staff. His Contingency triggered, firing a dispelbolt along his gaze, and he unleashed the high-potency firebolt stored within the staff.

  The battlemage’s glowing eyes widened. He raised his hand, swirling a barrier that shattered before the Dispel. Arcs of white magic shot out, smashing against the teal Absorb around the orc. The orange-red bolt that followed broke through the weakened Aegis and engulfed the orc in flames. He cried out, screaming in his own tongue for an instant before death cut it short.

  The purple glow of his eyes vanished, and he collapsed as if a puppet with its strings cut, and a voice hammered into Ted’s mind. You have sealed the Forest’s doom.

  A shiver ran down Ted’s spine, and he surveyed the battlefield. To the left, a gorilla pounced at the wood elven lines, only to be met by a huge bear that endured its blows and swatted back with a swipe that staggered the larger beast. To the right, vines entangled dozens of goblins while spears held at bay a four-legged beast the size of a horse with three long-beaked heads, each one snapping at the shield wall.

  Cara took aim at one of the heads and fired. Her shot hit the beast in one of its many eyes. It screamed and flailed, and half a dozen spears drove forward into its necks, bringing down the beast.

  Magic tingled in the air, everywhere and nowhere all at once, and a chill washed over Ted. “He’s coming.” Fall back! FALL BACK!

  Cara turned and ran without argument, without even a glance back at him.

  Good. This battle would be beyond her. He cast a high-potency short duration Self Telekinesis as a Contingency—good for a quick dodge—and placed another Firebolt into his staff.

  Magic vibrated faster and faster against Ted’s skin, and he saw it now—a nexus of power building around the battlemage’s corpse. Blue magic swirled faster and faster, building brighter and brighter.

  Ted reached into that vast pool of power and poured a small measure into an Absorb and an Armor, casting one with each hand upon himself. Protection magic tingled across his skin, overwriting the much weaker Continuous versions.

  The nexus of Portals magic swelled larger and brighter. It burst out into a ring that spun for an instance before collapsing in on itself in an explosion of blue.

  Air blasted Ted in the face. A boom stabbed into his ears. His eyes clenched shut, yet the light still shone through, and heat seared his cheeks.

  The glow dimmed, and Ted opened his eyes to see another orc standing over the battlemage’s corpse, wearing that tight silver tunic with a cowl neck, though now teal magic bathed him and steel wrist guards glinted on his forearms.

  The Destroyer, in the flesh.