It should’ve been raining.

  Fulgora was providing the lightning, and the sky provided the darkness. It had all the marks of a storm apart from the impenetrable wall of water. The serpent was the only one with any water and it kept a tight control over all it had left. It was half the reason it was still relevant in the battle.

  The cover of rain would’ve made sneaking a lot easier. Ratface was sure that the elf could hear them approaching. Luckily, Anna knew a spell that would make one of them difficult to track and their footsteps quiet. After a small argument Ratface had managed to convince her to put it on Ratface as she was the only one who knew how to sneak.

  Having Anna to help her was useful. The girl had a plethora of spells available to her which increased the things Ratface could do. She’d already seen her using momentum to move around but she hadn’t known she could use it on others. It’d be useful if she wasn’t trying to sneak.

  They three of them were close enough that there was only a few buildings between them and the elf. They took that moment to split up. Anna wrote a rune on Mathilde and herself shooting the two of them into the sky. The first part of the plan was for them to muddle the breaches to hold off whatever the elf was waiting for. To do that the two of them were essentially going to channel spells high enough up that the elf would hopefully not be able to sense them.

  It was hard to remember that elves had limits sometimes, the fact that this specific elf had always been watching her didn’t help either. She was hoping the elf didn’t think she’d trust a woman that had so obviously hated her. The fact that Ratface was trusting Anna not to stab her in the back despite her dislike was something she was trying not to dwell on.

  Ratface climbed up the elf’s building. At least Fulgora and the serpent were making a big enough flash that it would be difficult to look away for too long. All she had to do was get up there and grab the goblin and some eggs and get out. All while being within a handbreadth of an elf who was actively kidnapping goblins.

  She shook her head as she crested another part of the building. One hand at a time.

  A few more quick scrabbling and she underneath the edge of the balcony. She peeked over to check the elf wasn’t watching her. His eyes were focused on Fulgora and the serpent, a thoughtful frown on his face.

  Ratface smirked inside her helmet and climbed onto the balcony. One of the eggs was close to her and she quickly scooped it up. Her goblin was close to the elf facing away from her. She pulled out her knife and crept closer.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Do you know much about art Ratface?” asked the elf. He turned half to face her and half to watch the battle below. Ratface took a step back but kept her knife out. She wasn’t sure how much good the distance would do her but hopefully Kryssa could get her out of the way.

  “I can’t say it’s a topic I know about,” she said. The elf grinned.

  “Me neither,” he said. “But once a man asked me if I had ever seen a drawing in white.”

  Another breach happened and he glanced at the coordinates. Ratface watched his face for a sign that what he was waiting for was coming. He turned back to her with a grin.

  “I humoured him and told him to show me. What should I find but a beautiful picture drawn on a dark page. You’re a lot like that picture you know.”

  “Beautiful?”

  “Obvious. In a word full of magic, you stand out. Particularly when you’re trying to hide. I would’ve thought you mother taught you better.”

  Another breach ran through the sky, but this one was different. Bigger. A serpentine head ripped through and began to crawl out of the gap. The thing was like the water serpent but if it had been taken to an extreme. Its’ eyes fell on them all and light of a storm raged in it.

  The elf smiled.

  “Finally,” he muttered.

  “You should know, my mother did teach me better,” said Ratface.

  “Oh really? What great secret did she tell you?”

  Ratface grinned.

  “Nobody ever looks up.”

  He didn’t have time to ask her what she meant because a moment after she spoke an orc slammed into him from the sky. The two of them crashed into the building below.

  The balcony began to fall apart and Ratface sprinted for the goblin. She scooped them up and Kryssa zipped them down from the building to the ground. A glance back showed Anna floating down and grabbing the remaining eggs. She looked very smug that it had all worked out.

  Above them the serpent continued to rip itself from the sky. Fulgora and the water serpent sent a shot up. The two attacks splashed harmlessly against the creature and its eyes narrowed. It twisted into the sky, a serpent still but crackling with electricity that held it up. It roared down at them and for the first time since Ratface had been here the sky was hidden as a storm cloud eclipsed it.

  A bolt of thunder slammed toward Fulgora and the serpent. Fulgora jumped and caught it from the sky and deflecting it away from the two of them. A moment later a tail whipped into her and sent her flying.

  The wind began to pick up and the building around them began to groan. Rain fell from the sky and Anna floated down next to her to avoid being caught up in the winds.

  The two of them looked at each other in concern as the Lady still didn’t turn up. Ratface looked up at the great serpent and knew that fighting it was beyond them. She got ready to run with her goblin. At least she could get them out.

  A presence weighed down on, halting her in her tracks. She looked around, though even that was difficult under that weight, to see that Anna was held in place too. Even the storm serpent fell to the ground under the attention.

  “Well well,” said a voice that came from the sky and the runes around them, “this is interesting.”

  The clouds parted and one final breach appeared, a face staring through it.

  The Lady had arrived.