I scrambled up the ladder. I no longer wanted to fight this Hunter. A single hit from him, and I’d start Bleeding.

  I didn’t move fast enough.

  White-hot pain lit up my shoulder, and I let loose a strangled noise as my arm went numb and the Bleed alarm started going off. I had just taken some sort of projectile. Why were none of these aliens melee fighters?

  Ha. You should be so lucky.

  I tried to scale the rest of the ladder, but it was slow-going without my one arm working. I heard shouts and twangs behind me, and I looked down to see Hergvor at the base of the ladder, his bow out. He was firing on the other Hunter.

  Right—he’s on my team!

  I’d set him to fight alongside me, so any enemy of mine was an enemy of his. I turned all the way around to see the rock-creature hunched down behind a big wooden shield he must have found in the forest. But Hergvor’s arrows were thunking into the shield, not the Hunter, despite the fact the creature was much too large to fit behind the object.

  Game logic yet again; if you’re on guard and shielding, it takes a critical hit to get past the shield. At the same time, the Hunter couldn’t attack us.

  The Bleed alarm pulsed in my ears. Hergvor was covering me. I could get out of here. But what then? Would they kill him?

  Could I let Moran die to save me?

  I made an exasperated noise and dropped back down, cursing myself for caring about a man who’d once made me dig up salt in a desert all day.

  “I’m almost out of arrows!” Hergvor warned me, just as the Hunter squealed in pain. One of the bolts had gotten through on a critical hit, but the health bar floating above the rock guy had still barely moved.

  I pulled out my katana, took a step, and then stopped. If this guy had high enough constitution to take almost no damage from a critical hit by a level-20 NPC, then my little jingle-bell katana wasn’t going to cut it.

  That shield is good against physical attacks. Meaning I need magic. But I haven’t got any yet….

  My thought came to a roaring halt, and I glanced left. The Riftguard soldiers at the base of the ladder were both mages, but they were doing nothing.

  I spun and tapped the Conscript symbol above Hergvor’s head. His options came up.

  I changed his Task to Manning the Wall.

  Hergvor didn’t stop firing, but the two Riftguards to either side of me suddenly joined him. Both gave a shout and punched their fists together, making their skin glow with bright red veins as they triggered their Infernal magic. Atop the wall, the two other Riftguards triggered their magic as well, but one began casting buffs while the other began firing flaming arrows.

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  The first arrow hit the rock Hunter’s shield, which caught fire. He gave a roar of dismay, but it was quieter than the fearsome battle cries of the two Infernal Riftguards now running straight at him.

  I was still draining health. I needed Hergvor’s healing, and fast, which meant I needed to finish this guy off. I drew the katana in my good hand, which was unfortunately my off-hand, and I ran awkwardly toward the Hunter.

  He stood up before I could reach him, dropping the shield to one side and pulling out a wand. My pulse kicked as he waved it, and suddenly a spectral shard appeared in midair, formed from the blue, glowing lines of Oneiric magic.

  He waved the wand, sending the arrow hurtling toward me. All I could think was, Since when do other Hunters have magic?

  To get spells in the game, a Hunter had to reach level 10 and go to the Gem Baths in the next area to choose what kind of magic they wanted. This guy had obviously beaten me to that, if he was casting Oneiric spells.

  I tried to dodge the ghost arrow, but it grazed me. My Dexterity was at zero, so no surprise there. The hit only did around 20 damage, but that was enough to drain me down to half health. I had a minute left before the Bleed alone would kill me.

  I swung the katana, closing with the Hunter just as one of the Riftguards hit him with a punch to the chest. He staggered back, health bar dipping, and I brought my sword up, aiming for the underside of his chin, a finishing blow.

  He flicked a hand, and his solid-rock fist sent me sprawling, easy as that. I crashed into the dirt, dropping another seven health and barely keeping hold of the katana.

  The level-40 Riftguards were taking him to task, though. He couldn’t hold all of us off. Hergvor had run out of arrows by this point, and he had summoned his own Infernal power, his arms vibrant with red lines and his eyes glowing demonically. He cast a boosting spell that I recognized, improving his own damage output.

  I darted around the Hunter, and his eyes followed me. I could see the words above his head now—he was only level 11. He must have sunk all his points into Constitution so far.

  With a cry, he cast a second spell, repelling the first two Riftguards in a blast of red power. It made the stun icon appear above their heads, and they became suddenly inert.

  I darted in, katana out. The Hunter pulled back his fist.

  And Hergvor slammed into him from behind.

  It wasn’t a fatal blow, but it threw off the Hunter’s punch, allowing me to dodge it and plunge my katana into his stomach. His health bar dipped precariously, and I yanked my blade out to stab him again, but there wasn’t time. He was toppling, and he would crush me if I didn’t move.

  I threw myself to one side as the Hunter landed with a groan. He started to get up immediately, and I acted, bringing a kick down on the back of his big rocky head.

  Where I expected to meet stone, my foot instead met the sensation of a snapping twig. The Hunter’s neck broke with a crack.

  He was dead.

  Of course. My Strength stat works for fighting open-handed, just as much as it works for melee weapons. Still, the katana should have done more.

  Heart still pounding, I looted the corpse, but a flash of movement drew my attention. I looked left, but saw nothing.

  I knew there wasn’t nothing.

  We’d drawn the other Hunters to us, and there were at least three left. I was once again down to my last quarter of health. I couldn’t take another Hunter, not even with five Riftguard to help me.

  Hergvor still stood next to me, so I opened his info-box and switched his Task back to fighting at my side. He didn’t lose his Infernal visage, but he straightened and moved behind me, ready to follow me again. That’s what I needed from him right now.

  I launched into a sprint for the ladder as the four other Riftguards resumed their calm, collected positions beside the ladder and along the wall. I skittered up the ladder as fast as I could, given my right arm still wasn’t working quite right.

  Hergvor followed me. I reached the top. Once again, something hit me—a blast of wind.

  It hurled me clear off the wall.