Return of the Runebound Professor

As soon as the trio emerged from the doorway leading out into the streets, Silvertide was off. In the few seconds that had passed, Mayreena had already vanished from view, but that didn’t seem to hinder Silvertide in the slightest.

He set a brisk pace that forced Noah and Ulya to hover at something between a fast walk and a jog to keep up. They turned down several alleyways, keeping their movements relatively quiet in their pursuit.

After just a few minutes, Noah caught a flash of white hair down the turn of an alley. It was only for an instant, but Silvertide clearly knew exactly where Mayreena was. Noah wasn’t sure why they hadn’t just sped up to catch her by now, but he suspected Silvertide probably knew what he was doing.

Maybe he’s hoping she’ll lead us back to the hive of puppets, or something like that. It feels like it would be monumentally stupid to just have every single puppet hanging out in the same spot after hours, though. It’s not like there’s an evil plant puppet nightclub that they all just kick back at.

Fortunately for Noah’s dwindling patience, they didn’t have to wait much longer. After a few more turns and about a minute of pursuit, Silvertide’s pace finally slowed. They turned a corner, stepping out into an old town square that looked largely abandoned.

They were well into the city at this point, and not the good part of it. The houses were old and unkept, their walls showing signs of age in the cracks that had started to build up along them. A faint moldy smell just barely drifted into Noah’s nostrils even though he couldn’t see any mold in the area.

Mayreena stood at the other end of the square, beside an old fountain that didn’t look like it had been used in a dozen years. Her arms hung straight at her sides as she stared at them, face as expressionless as the night sky above them.

“Well, isn’t that an interesting coincidence?” Silvertide asked, coming to a stop with a final click of his cane against the stone. “I didn’t think we’d run into anyone on our nighttime stroll.”

“You say that as if you haven’t been following me the whole way out of the party tonight,” Mayreena said. “What do you want?”

Ulya stiffened at Noah’s side, her eyes darting left and right to peer into the shadows surrounding them.

“Us? We’re just walking around,” Silvertide said with a small shrug. “And I would never do something as detestable as trail somebody out of a party. Damned Plains, lass. What kind of person do you think I am?”

Noah tried to feel if Mayreena had a heartbeat, but she was still too far for him to check. If they got a bit closer, she’d be within the range of his tremorsense, though he would have preferred to have her within his domain to really get a perfect read.

Then again, if she’s a clone, something tells me I won’t be getting anywhere near close enough to get her inside my domain.

“Is that so?” Mayreena asked. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you. Perhaps you and your friends should direct your stroll in a different direction.”

There was a clear threat in her tone. It was a threat that Silvertide chose to completely and utterly ignore.

“I’m afraid I’ve never been a fan of changing my plans because someone else decided to be in the area,” Silvertide said. He genuinely sounded apologetic about the inconvenience, which nearly made Noah bust out laughing. “Perhaps you should have chosen a different path if you’re uncomfortable with my presence. See, we’re not just strolling around for fun.”

“Is that so?” Mayreena asked. “I couldn’t have guessed.”

“We were patrolling the streets for some rats,” Silvertide continued. He tapped his cane against the cobblestone. “And, as a matter of fact, we’ve been on the tail of one.”

“I think we can cut the games now,” Mayreena said with an annoyed sigh. She rolled her neck and massaged the bridge of her nose. “You’re a real pain in the ass, Silvertide.”

“Many dead men have told me such, but I tend not to listen.”

“Cocky old bugger, aren’t you? I’ve always enjoyed a good opponent, but don’t go strutting around just because you destroyed one of my bodies. I’ve got more than enough to work with – but I’ll be happy to repay the damage you did.”

“Not particularly clever of you to admit to anything,” Silvertide observed. “What if there had been other people lying in wait to see if you were what I claimed?”

“There aren’t,” Mayreena replied. “The only people here are you, the stupid girl that managed to slip out of my grasp the last time, and the masked buffoon. Really, it’s quite convenient. The three idiots responsible for destroying two perfectly good bodies, all gathered up in one place. Perhaps I should thank you.”

“In my defense, you were the one that got caught,” Noah pointed out with a snort. “All I did was toss Will around a bit. You can’t blame me for that.”

“And, if I’m not mistaken, you’re hardly giving me credit,” Silvertide said. “You said we’ve destroyed two – I think that number should be three. We outnumber you.”

Mayreena gave them a crooked smile. “No, you don’t. I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

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Two people stepped out of the darkness behind Mayreena. Noah didn’t recognize either of them – they were both about as plain as plain could go. Both were men, roughly five feet tall with entirely unremarkable faces.

“Three puppets?” Silvertide asked. “That’s all? I’m disappointed.”

He’s trying to bait Wizen into bringing more puppets out. I guess that makes sense, considering what I learned of puppets from earlier tonight. The more of them have to fight at once, the harder it is to control all of them. So, more puppets would actually make the fight easier for us… but there’s no way Wizen wouldn’t know that.

“Three will be more than enough to handle an old man and a masked clown,” Mayreena said with a laugh. “And I’ll be taking your bodies as recompense for the damage you’ve already done.”

The two men at Mayreena’s side doubled over in unison. Loud snaps echoed through the square as the bodies bulged and twisted. Their clothes ripped apart and wooden growths erupted from the puppets’ bodies, writhing across the ground.

Rotten wood and vines twisted together, rising up and forming into the kneeling forms of ragged, humanoid creatures. Each one must have been over ten feet tall and was covered with ragged thorns.

The monsters rose to their feet to stand at Mayreena’s sides. Neither of them spoke a word, but just their movements were enough to shake the ground beneath Noah’s feet. They were heavy – and, if he had to guess – quite strong.

“Oh, shit,” Ulya breathed, her face paling. “If he can actually control all three of those, we’re in a lot of trouble. We need to get out of here. Will’s body didn’t have anything like that in it. Those are a lot stronger than what attacked me, and he might have more puppets lying in wait if he knew we were coming. He could just keep throwing them at us every time one of the old ones dies.”

“Nonsense,” Silvertide said. “I suspect we’d be in far more danger if we tried to run. I doubt turning our backs to our friends here would be beneficial for our health.”

“Is there even a reason you’re doing all this shit?” Noah asked, hoping to wring some information from Wizen’s puppets before the fight started. “Isn’t this normally the part where you tell us all your plans since you’re so convinced we’re going to die?”

Mayreena laughed. “You’re a mouthy one. That’s convenient. Those are always easier to mimic.”

Whelp. I guess that would have been asking for too much.

“Shall we?” Noah asked, taking a step forward. “If we aren’t getting anything useful out of this, then I’ve got better things to do with my time than try to banter with a tree.”

Silvertide held his cane out, stopping Noah from moving any further. “No need. I brought you two along for a different reason. I’d be ashamed if I had to ask for help dealing with something as simple as this.”

“Simple?” Mayreena asked with a laugh of disbelief. “I know who you are, Silvertide. Do you really think I’d come to challenge you without the strength to bring you down? Rejecting help now is a damn fool move to make.”

“If that was true, why would you say anything?” Silvertide countered. “Never stop your opponent from making a mistake. Perhaps you aren’t as smart as you think you are.”

“And you aren’t nearly as strong as you think you are.”

“I suppose we’ll have to find out,” Silvertide said with a wry smile. “Care to tell me your name before we fight? I have my suspicions, but it would be nice to have something to think of you as.”

“You already know my name, Silvertide,” Mayreena replied. The monsters at either side of her creaked, the wood on their faces snapping open to form jagged maws. Vines twisted down their arms, forming into menacing axes. “Not that it’ll matter for long. You’re nothing but a Rank 5 soldier that had a few lucky breaks. The only thing I regret is that I won’t be able to let anyone know that you fell at my hands. No matter. Your body will suit me well.”

The huge puppets surged forward. Noah prepared to draw on his magic, but Silvertide rapped him on the wrist with his cane, shooting him a sharp glare.

“I believe I told you that I’d handle this,” Silvertide said, apparently unconcerned about the monsters stampeding toward them. Every step they took made the cobblestone at their feet jump in terror.

“I’m calling my puppets,” Ulya said hurriedly, pressing her back to the wall. “They’ll be here soon, and we can use them to buy time to run. I–”

Ulya’s sentence ended in a scream as one of the puppets leapt into the air, bringing its axe down toward the three of them, likely planning to kill all three with a single blow. Noah wasn’t sure how Wizen planned to harvest any bodies if the squashed them all into paste, but he never got the chance to find out.

Silvertide’s cane tapped against the stone. A grey blur flicked out, slamming into the massive axe and sending it careening to the side. Before the puppet could even land, a second blur slammed into its chest and threw it across the square.

Wood cracked and shattered as the puppet rolled across the ground and slammed into a wall with a loud crash. The second puppet closed in on Silvertide, but it had no more chance to attack than the first did.

Noah didn’t even see what happened. One second, the puppet was bearing down on Silvertide. The second, it was tumbling back, its arm severed right above the elbow. Silvertide’s cane tapped against the stone as he advanced toward Mayreena at a leisurely pace.

Holy shit. Is this guy seriously Rank 5?

The puppets staggered back upright, and wood twisted out of their bodies to repair the damage they’d just taken. They launched themselves toward Silvertide in unison – only to be cut down midair by a blur so fast that Noah’s mind didn’t even properly register the move until it had already finished.

Silvertide continued forward, stepping right past the puppets. They struggled to rise and reach out for him, but every single time they moved, more blurs carved the monsters apart. Within seconds, they’d been reduced to a pile of wooden scrap.

“Is that all?” Silvertide asked, sending a glance back at the puppets with a frown. He turned back to Mayreena. “I was expecting more.”

The puppets exploded. Ulya called out a warning as twisting vines erupted from their bodies, wrapping around Silvertide in a split instant. They constricted – and splattered to the ground, leaving Silvertide standing where he had been before, completely untouched.

“What Rune are you using?” Mayreena asked, taking a step back. “This is impossible. You’re a Rank 5.”

“I sincerely hope you’ve got more than this,” Silvertide said, a small smile creasing his face. “I brought an audience, you know. It would be a shame if I made them leave the party for no reason.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Mayreena growled, her body rippling. Vines erupted from her arm, wrapping around it and forming into a thin blade. “And then I’ll rip the Runes from your body and take them for myself.”

“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard that?” Silvertide asked with a laugh, beckoning Mayreena onward. “And do you know how many people who made that threat are still around? You’d best make your next attack count. You won’t get a chance to make another one.”

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