Zia let out a haggered squeal as Irina's arm hooked around her neck. She constricted around Zia and pressed her face close to the bandaged girl's ear.

  “Little birdies should stay in the air,” Irina said menacingly. She quickly raised her hand, revealing a thin, needle-like shard from her kindjal, and jamming it into Zia's neck. Zia choked, gasping for air one final time before falling limp in Irina’s arms. She dropped Zia's body unceremoniously, stepping over it towards Norok. A shot from the hidden Leka whizzed towards her, but Irina simply cocked her head to the side and continued her stride, letting the bullet soar over her shoulder indifferently.

  Norok shifted uncomfortably. He was stricken with indecisiveness, and that feeling hadn't subsided with Zia’s defeat. Leka was somewhere where he couldn't see her, but she could clearly see him, and the hole left in his hand made it too hard to focus his magic through it. Not to mention, if Zia was here, then Rik wasn't far behind, and her unyielding confidence prior to Irina’s arrival led Norok to believe Rik would be completely battle-ready again. If he were with anyone else from his squad, he might find a semblance of a chance of victory here. But being stuck with the uncommunicative and reckless Irina? There was no hope here.

  “You have same issue as Sparkboy,” Irina said, interrupting his self-pitying inner monologue. “You think too long.”

  “How else are we supposed to get through this?” Norok grumbled. Another one of Leka's shots tore through his side, and Irina leapt over towards him. Grabbing him by the collar, she dragged him down behind a fallen log.

  “Tadpole,” Irina said plainly. “The odds are against us. But they have always been. The rest of our squad is full of insipid little men who are struggling against the vedma’s hands.”

  “But let me guess,” Norok huffed, rolling his eyes. “They're still fighting, so I should too.”

  “No, no,” Irina chuckled. “You get in my way. Whether you fight or turn tail is little matter to me.”

  “Thanks, that's--” Norok yelped painfully, as Irina shoved him down, her fingers curled roughly at the top of his scalp. He grunted, feeling the sharp wind following another bullet from Leka rush over his head. “That's reassuring.”

  “But you have something that the other worthless frogs here do not,” Irina said earnestly. Her piercing eyes sparkled, and for once, Norok felt that she wasn't scrutinizing him. She was showing admiration for him. Norok swallowed nervously, cheeks flushing as he stared back at her. Then, softly, Irina placed a hand on his shoulder, and finished her grand statement. “You have Daimona.”

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  Norok's face immediately fell. Irina went on to gush about Daimona's strength, and how proud she was of Daimona's perseverance through bootcamp, but Norok quickly tuned her raving monologue out. As far as he was concerned, his self-centered little sister had taken the easier task and abandoned him to his doom. He could already hear her voice calling to him with an exaggeratedly innocent tone-- “I just thought you'd take care of it, Norok! If you were really that weak, you should've told me sooner.”

  He made a mental note to punch her as hard as he could the next time she showed up and pinned it promptly to the back of his skull. How exactly was he supposed to ‘take care’ of this anyways? Norok didn't have the first clue how to find Leka. But then again, if Daimona were in his position, it's not like she'd have it any easier. She’d probably just run around and shake every tree out to find the hidden sniper.

  That's not true at all. Mona’s pretty good at hunting, remember? You know exactly what she'd do.

  Norok's eyes grew wide as the words sunk in, and the realization finally dawned on him. “Wait,” Norok said, raising a hand to silence Irina. “Shut up for a second. I think I can catch Leka.”

  Irina raised a skeptical eyebrow, but she kept her mouth tight in a thin, firm line. Norok closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and listened to the sounds of the forest. He knew he'd never be as precise at sound magic as Daimona. He wouldn't be able to make people listen to him, or create noises of his own, but he didn't need to do any of that. All Norok needed to do was listen.

  Several moving threads appeared before him in the dark of his mind. One belonged to him, bright pink and jolting with each breath. Another silver strand belonged to Irina. It rose and fell in a consistent rhythm, the beating of her heart low and controlled. There were at least a dozen others, some faded and dull because of how far off they were. The sound of leaves falling, of footsteps he couldn’t quite place identities to, even the rumbling red lines of Bash’s lurking creatures far off beneath the rival tower were visible to him now.

  But Norok didn’t care about any of those. The one he was looking for appeared in bold, dandelion yellow. It flashed in time with the sound of Leka’s gun going off again. It would have been undeniably harder if she was using her bow, but thankfully, the rival team didn’t seem to be pulling any of their punches for today’s trial. Norok would make them all regret that, starting with the arrogant sniper. He reached out with his hand, stringing Leka’s noise around his fist. He opened his eyes and gave Irina a proud nod.

  “She’s close,” he said quickly. He pointed where the invisible thread strummed around the flesh of his palm. “Over there, to the right.”

  Norok expected Irina to doubt him, but to his surprise, she rose without another word. With a malicious smirk, she flicked her hand, summoning her kindjal to its full form. “Very good, Tadpole.”

  She sprinted headfirst in the direction. On instinct, Norok leapt up to race after her. Leka’s shots grew frenzied and frantic, giving away her location in a group of tall, evergreen bushes. Irina lunged forward as Leka struggled with her rifle. Once she had Leka pinned to the ground, she raised her kindjal high, and sliced downwards at Leka’s shocked face.

  From behind them, a jagged rock of smooth, black stone sailed through the air. It lodged deep in Irina’s chest, causing her to fly back off of Leka. Rik stepped forward, haggard and red in the face, his model black curls looking more and more like a madman’s mess.

  Norok felt his gut churn as their eyes met, and cursed Daimona under his breath one last time before rushing forward.