Turn about's fair play

Morning settled heavily over Blackthorn Manor.

For the first time in weeks, no one was laughing.

The long dining table had become an impromptu war room.

Maps covered its polished surface. Satellite photographs sat beside centuries-old hand-drawn charts. Elias had somehow managed to combine modern GPS data with magical ley lines until the entire table looked like someone had let a conspiracy theorist loose with colored markers.

Harold's calm voice drifted from hidden speakers.

**"Current threat assessment: elevated."**

"No kidding," Crystal muttered.

Joey sat beside Cassandra, absently turning his coffee mug between his hands. Taylor occupied the chair on his other side, unusually quiet.

Greta leaned against the far wall with her massive arms folded.

"So," she rumbled. "Tell everyone."

Malcolm stood.

Unlike everyone else, he didn't waste words.

"I found tracks."

Everyone looked up.

"They've been watching the estate."

Joey frowned.

"The scouts from the other night?"

Malcolm nodded.

"They were disciplined. Professional."

Valerie stopped twirling the knife she'd been playing with.

"How many?"

"Four."

"And?"

"I found evidence of at least eight more rotating observation points."

The room became noticeably quieter.

Cassandra's expression darkened.

"They're mapping our routines."

"They already have," Malcolm replied.

Taylor shifted uneasily.

"So they know where I am."

"They know where all of us are."

Greta pushed away from the wall.

"They're getting comfortable."

"They're getting confident," Malcolm corrected.

Elias adjusted his glasses.

"If they're confident enough to scout us openly, then they likely believe we cannot threaten whatever they're hiding."

Joey looked around the table.

"So what do we do?"

Greta answered immediately.

"We return the favor."

She pointed toward Malcolm, Valerie, and Elias.

"The Wrecking Crew goes looking."

Valerie grinned.

"Finally."

"We find their headquarters," Greta continued. "Estimate numbers. Learn how they're organized. Find out who's actually giving orders."

"And if possible," Cassandra added, "identify Leviathan himself."

Malcolm gave one slow nod.

"Observe only."

Valerie made a face.

"...Observe *mostly*."

Greta shot her a look.

"No heroics."

"Fine."

"No improvising."

"...You're really taking all the fun out of this."

Malcolm finally spoke again.

"If we're discovered..."

Everyone looked toward him.

"...we run."

Even Valerie didn't argue.

That alone made Joey uneasy.

---

Three hours later...

The Wrecking Crew disappeared into the forests north of the city.

Malcolm led.

Valerie followed several yards behind, moving almost silently despite carrying enough weapons to start a small war.

Elias brought up the rear, quietly muttering detection spells while tiny enchanted brass spheres floated lazily around him.

No one spoke for nearly an hour.

Valerie eventually broke the silence.

"I smell reptiles."

Malcolm slowed.

"How many?"

She closed her eyes.

"...Hundreds."

Another mile.

The trees began thinning.

Old concrete appeared beneath creeping vines.

Rusted chain-link fences.

Collapsed smokestacks.

Broken railroad tracks.

An abandoned steel mill.

Except...

It wasn't abandoned.

Malcolm knelt beside fresh boot prints.

Military formation.

Hundreds.

Maybe thousands.

Elias touched the cracked concrete.

His face paled.

"...These wards..."

"What?"

"They're ancient."

"How ancient?"

"...Older than Rome."

Even Malcolm looked surprised.

Valerie whispered.

"...That's impossible."

"No."

Elias swallowed.

"It isn't."

They crept forward.

The old mill overlooked an enormous quarry that had partially collapsed decades earlier.

Hidden beneath it...

an entire city.

Torchlight illuminated massive caverns.

Stone barracks.

Training grounds.

Underground forges.

Rows upon rows of armored lizard warriors drilled in perfect formation.

Thousands.

Not dozens.

Not hundreds.

Thousands.

Even Malcolm stopped walking.

Valerie stared.

"...Well..."

"...That's unpleasant."

Then they saw him.

Leviathan.

He stood atop a stone balcony overlooking the army below.

Nearly eight feet tall.

Broad shouldered.

Powerfully built.

Dark green scales gleamed like polished jade beneath the torchlight.

A long cloak hung from his shoulders.

At his hip rested an enormous black sword.

He wasn't shouting.

He didn't need to.

Thousands of soldiers moved with perfect discipline beneath him.

One commander approached and knelt.

Leviathan listened.

Asked a quiet question.

The commander answered.

Leviathan smiled pleasantly.

Then...

Without warning...

He drew his sword.

One clean strike.

The commander's head rolled across the stone floor.

Not a single soldier moved.

Leviathan calmly wiped the blade clean.

"Failure," he said quietly enough that the words barely carried across the cavern, "is contagious."

Silence.

Then...

"Resume."

The drills immediately continued.

Valerie felt a chill crawl down her spine.

"...We should leave."

Malcolm had already started backing away.

Then Elias froze.

"...Oh no."

"What?"

"My detection spell..."

Valerie's stomach dropped.

"...What about it?"

"It wasn't hidden."

Malcolm's eyes widened.

"It was announcing us."

From somewhere deep within the caverns...

A massive bronze bell rang once.

Every drill stopped.

Thousands of reptilian heads turned toward the ridge simultaneously.

Leviathan looked directly at them.

Despite the impossible distance...

he smiled.

Not cruelly.

Almost politely.

"I believe," he said, his voice somehow carrying effortlessly through the quarry, "our guests have seen enough."

The mountainside exploded.

Hidden tunnels burst open all around them.

Lizard warriors poured from concealed exits.

Hundreds.

"No longer observing," Valerie shouted.

"RUN!"

The forest erupted into chaos.

Malcolm turned and charged directly into the first wave, his enchanted hammer crushing stone and bone alike.

Valerie became a blur of claws and silver blades, weaving between attackers with terrifying speed.

Elias slammed both palms against the earth.

Blue runes ignited beneath pursuing soldiers.

The ground erupted upward, throwing dozens of enemies into the air.

Still they came.

Too many.

Far too many.

Arrows hissed through the trees.

Spears flew from impossible distances.

The three mercenaries fought a disciplined retreat, giving ground one brutal step at a time.

They almost made it.

Almost.

A deafening roar shook the forest.

The earth beneath Malcolm suddenly exploded.

A gigantic reptilian brute—twice the size of any ordinary lizardman—burst upward from below, wielding a massive obsidian axe.

Malcolm barely had time to raise his hammer.

The impact sounded like a cannon.

The hammer flew from Malcolm's hands.

The axe smashed into his side.

Armor buckled.

Bones cracked.

Malcolm was hurled nearly thirty feet, crashing through three trees before slamming into the forest floor.

"Malcolm!" Valerie screamed.

The brute raised the axe again.

Before it could finish him...

Elias thrust both hands forward.

A beam of brilliant white force struck the creature square in the chest, launching it backward into a boulder hard enough to shatter the stone.

"Move!" Elias shouted.

Valerie reached Malcolm first.

He was conscious.

Barely.

Blood soaked his armor.

His breathing came in ragged gasps.

"...Broken..."

He coughed.

"...Everything."

Valerie hooked one of his massive arms over her shoulder.

"We're not dying today."

Together, she and Elias dragged Malcolm through the forest as spells and arrows exploded around them.

Behind them...

Leviathan simply watched from the quarry's edge.

He made no effort to pursue.

He merely folded his arms.

"They have seen what I wished them to see," he said calmly.

One of his officers stepped forward.

"Should we continue the pursuit, my lord?"

Leviathan smiled faintly.

"No."

He looked toward the distant forest.

"They will tell Cassandra."

A pause.

"And fear..."

His golden eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"...travels much faster than soldiers."

Far away, Valerie and Elias finally crossed the manor's outer wards.

The defensive runes flared to life.

Greta burst from the front doors.

Her expression changed the instant she saw Malcolm.

For the first time since Joey had met her...

Greta looked afraid.