He let his shields slip. There were still clay constructs, or whatever they really were, outside again. The sensation of dead magic crawled across his senses and he yanked the shields back up.
But not before he realized there was something deeper in the cave, too. He couldn't really describe how it felt. It was different than any magic he had ever sensed before. The closest thing that he could really compare it to was the miniature temple replica that was in the small grove on his school campus, but even that had magical signatures.
Heln carefully let his shields down again and directed all of his attention to the back of the cave, straining to sense something deeper. It thrummed like a heartbeat, one that pulsed to a rhythm that was familiar and foreign at the same time.
A hand on his shoulder startled him, like he had been asleep. Maybe he had been; he was on his feet and quite a bit farther from the entrance than he had been. Bel gave him an apologetic smile. "Hey, buddy, I really was joking. That would be a really bad idea, come back to the entrance, we should have help soon."
"I…" Heln stared at his half-sister like it was the first time he'd ever seen her. He hadn't even been aware he was moving. "Are you actually agreeing with Rhyss?"
"Ha. No." Bel laughed, but the sound was too uneasy, almost bordering on hysterical. Heln really looked at her and realized it was the first time he'd seen her like this, off-footed and unsure. She was pale and her hands were shaking. "I just think we have enough to deal with outside, without crawling down weird tunnels. I wonder who has a big enough grudge against us to do this?"
"It's probably against Rhyss."
"I'm right here," Rhyss said, but it didn't have any venom, for once. Unless it was untraceable and more deadly than usual. "Maybe it's a grudge against the Enforcers."
"Or the Guard and we really are innocent bystanders." Bel smiled sweetly at her.
Rhyss glared at her, then turned to Heln. "Do you think there's something there? I didn't see anything, but the tunnel smooths out after a while. Maybe it does lead somewhere."
"Nice, change the subject, she can dish it out but—"
"Stuff it, Bel."
"No." Heln shook his head. He pulled his shields back up, turning back to the front of the cave. "I thought I heard something, but it was just a breeze."
"Are you sure, I—" Rhyss was cut off by someone knocking on the shield. The three of them all made noises that they would have to deny later. Rhyss had a completely different dagger in her hand before Heln could even blink. This one looked more utilitarian than the one still in the floor, a straight blade with a black wrapped handle. He had to wonder exactly how many knives she had on her person.
"Rhyss? It's Vin." The voice sounded young, even muffled by the shield. "Why are you holed up in there?"
Rhyss let out a breath, her shoulders slumping, then she straightened into a murder stance. At least the knife had disappeared. "Don't do that!"
"Ask why you're in there?"
"Knock on a barrier, jerk!" she snapped.
Heln decided he didn't want to remind her she'd done the same thing to him when she'd first come upon them or he might actually find out how many knives she'd squirreled away, and he didn't want to know.
"That's my mentor," she added for Heln and Bel's benefits. "And he's still a jerk, but he'll know what to do. Let's get out of here."
"I heard that."
She pulled her dagger out of the ground and the shield faded, allowing moonlight to shine through and paint the cave entrance a pale blue. Heln picked up his light stick, deactivating both sets of magic script. Rhyss sheathed the dagger at her back and punched the arm of the young man standing there.
He looked a few years older than them, his hair bundled at the base of his neck, the edges of his darker coat a little more impressively decorated than Rhyss's and his cape a little longer. "Hey. Why the distress signal? If you wanted to hang out with… wow. A boy and your arch nemesis. Never mind, I understand now."
"Aww Rhyss, are you telling people about how much we hate each other now? I'm touched. Flattered, really." Bel put a hand to her chest and batted her eyes. "I hate you, too."
"Shut up, Bel. They go to my school, I caught them on the side path." Rhyss glared at Vin. "There were some kind of constructs out there, we could have died."
"No constructs now." Vin looked around anyway, but there was nothing but trees and bushes as far as Heln could tell. Vin seemed to be satisfied, too, giving them a smile. "Hey, don't worry, we'll get you back to the Festival, come on out."
"They were trespassing so we will be getting them to an interrogation room."
"Rhyss, we talked about this."
"Yes, about taking my job seriously." Rhyss nodded.
"Actually I was referencing our discussion on not abusing our power, but…"
Before any of them could leave a huge figure silently charged in from the side and slammed into Vin. He barely managed to turn at the last instant, but was still thrown away from the cave. The thing turned to them and made a horrible noise, something between a roar and a landslide.
It was a clay construct, but it was twice as tall and wide as the previous one, with roots and branches sticking out of its chest like spikes. It was almost too big to fit into the cave entrance.
Almost.
"Go!" Rhyss shoved them both. "Go go go!"
"What about—" Bel started to say.
"Just go I'll help Vin!" She had her dagger back out, slashing it through the air in front of the construct. The blue glow of the blade expanding into a scythe of blue light that plowed
