What were the chances that you would just look up and—
Perian froze.
“Molun,” he called. “Nisal. Is that aribbon?”
They rushed over to him, and he pointed. Molun let out a whoop that he managed to half stifle as they realized that if there was about to be an ambush, they’d probably already given the game away.
Molun grabbed him, hugged him, and pressed a kiss to his hair.
“You’re the best. I knew I picked the right team!”
Perian could only laugh and try to be quiet, because he was still kind of stunned. They all moved forward together, Molun and Nisal on high alert, because if the other team had decided they were going to stay here and defend their ribbon, then the three of them were going to be attacked at any moment.
Perian’s skin prickled with anxiety, but as they carefully approached the tree, there really didn’t seem to be anyone around.
“Stop!” Molun said, voice low but definite, and they froze.
Molun cautiously nudged forward with his foot over the leaf-covered ground in front of them, and then there was a gust of wind that blew away the ground cover that Perian realized was obscuring… a trap.
Oh, wow. A pit had been dug, and thin branches had been laid across it so that the leaves would obscure it. Perian couldn’t tell how deep it was, because it was also filled with water. It was pretty clear the whole team had worked on this. If Perian’s team had fallen through, they would have been wet and annoyed, and Perian didn’t fancy trying to pull himself out without the help of the others.
Molun got a running start and jumped over the divide. It wasn’t too close to the tree, Perian presumed to preserve the root system. He wondered if Arvus had dug around the roots even out here. He probably had. Arvus seemed conscientious like that.
Molun reached up, and after a little bit of fussing, he managed to untie the ribbon. He grinned triumphantly and jumped back over the pit.
The ribbon was tightly clasped in his fist, and he looked triumphant, but he immediately handed it to Perian.
“Are you sure?” Perian checked. “You can probably run faster. Or Nisal. Nisal, you’re so good about not being noticed when you don’t want to be.”
But Molun was shaking his head, and so wasNisal.
“No, you’re the one with the best chance because we can’t slow you down with the elements. Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll head back together, but Nisal or I will keep branching out and making noise elsewhere. Brannal said we all have to get the ribbon to the fire pit, presumably so that we can’t just hide and ambush anyone who came close.”
“If someone pulls it from my hand, you’re still going to love me, right?” Perian wanted to know, mostly joking.
Molun smacked a kiss to his forehead.
“Of course. And remember, them getting the ribbon back doesn’t mean they’ve won. They’ve got to hide it again, and there’s every chance that we can get it back from them, or at least keep harrying them with it. They’d have to shake us all off again to be able to hide it out of sight.”
That was true. They didn’t win by getting their own ribbon back to the fire. That made Perian feel better. He nodded, then looked at Nisal.
“Sound good?”
They grinned. “Sounds great. Let’s do this.”
Nisal went off first, and they heard a bunch of noise in the distance, which they assumed was them being an excellent distraction.
He and Molun were making their way steadily back towards the camp, but they’d agreed to go as quietly as possible. This was the time they really didn’t want to attract attention. Perian had the ribbon clenched hard in his fist, and he tried to relax a little. That nervous energy was definitely piling higher and higher inside of him.
They had a chance of winning now, and he really wanted to do it.
Then Nisal was back, and it was Molun’s turn to take off, which he did with a grin and a wink, and Perian was amazed at how fast he could move without making a ton of sound.
“You all really train for this, don’t you?” he said quietly.
Heknewthey trained, of course, but even with this being an exercise, it felt different from what they did in the castle.
They smiled faintly. “We really do. Going after demons can just be a show of brute force and magic, but sometimes, you have to try to sneak up on a nest or get close to a group of lower demons before they attack.”
