The four Handmaidens glided through the snow, their skis cutting clean, perfect lines across the slope.
Rielinne was at the front, the wind clawing at her hood as she led them around a ridge. Naelle followed close behind, one arm clutching the glowing lantern. Iserra and Syraleh flanked her, each scanning their surroundings through the blue haze of their visors.
Iserra's voice broke through the comms.
"Stop. Don't go further."
Rielinne immediately dug her skis in, sliding to a halt. "What is it?"
Iserra's visor flickered as she traced the terrain ahead. Her tone was calm, but her eyes were cold.
"They're herding us."
"Herding us?"
"Yeah."
She pointed with her hand toward the ridge below. Through the falling snow, faint figures stood still, their silhouettes blending into the white. Rielinne cursed under her breath.
"How many?"
"At least fifty below. Another thirty closing in from the flank. The ridge is a kill zone. If we drop down there, they'll surround us."
Naelle's voice cracked through the comms, a nervous laugh escaping her. "That's... wow. That's a lot of people for four assassins with skis and a shiny floating lantern."
Syraleh snorted. "You're the one who grabbed it."
"We all agreed to this!"
Rielinne ignored their banter, her mind working fast. "We can't retreat. They've probably got eyes behind us, too."
"So... what, we fight?" Iserra asked, though her tone already knew the answer.
Rielinne exhaled, gripping the edge of her ski pole. "We might have to."
Naelle cut in. "Hold up, hold up. You do remember that we're still Xana-blocked, right? This lantern is restricting our Xana! Without it, we're just mundane humans with pointy sticks!"
"That's your fault," Syraleh muttered dryly.
"Okay, rude. We all agreed to this."
Before Rielinne could reply, something shifted in the air. A surge of heat rolled through the snow. The ridge behind them erupted into a geyser of steam and molten snow. The steam parted, revealing a figure surfing close to them. A woman, her body covered by flames that shimmered orange against the black night, was gliding effortlessly on a snowboard made of molten rock that hardened beneath each step and melted just as quickly behind her.
"Lady Hinesia."
The first daughter of the House of Rameses came to a perfect stop beside Naelle, snow and steam swirling around her. The guards they had left behind were gone-reduced to patches of scorched earth in the snow.
"Hand me the lantern."
Naelle blinked up at her like a deer in headlights. "Oh, uh-yeah! Here, take it! It's all yours, Princess!"
Rielinne shot Naelle a look so sharp it could cut metal, but Hinesia only smiled faintly and took the lantern from her hands. The blue light pulsed, reacting to her touch.
"Good. You did well bringing it this far. It disrupts Xana."
"Yeah, about that," Naelle said, still catching her breath, "it's like allergic to Xana or something. It hates me."
"Of course it does. The lantern rejects Xana. Now that I have it..."
The lantern flared, its light stretching outward in tendrils of blue before dimming again. The interference vanished instantly from their scanners.
Rielinne blinked as her own Flux signature stabilized.
Syraleh cracked her neck. "Finally."
Naelle gasped dramatically. "I'm ALIVE again! I can feel my Xana!"
Iserra muttered dryly, "Try not to make out with it."
"Too late," Naelle said, hugging herself dramatically. "I missed my powers. Don't judge me."
Rielinne ignored them and looked at Hinesia. "What now, Lady Hinesia?"
Hinesia turned her burning gaze uphill.
"You four will circle around the camp's perimeter. Draw their focus away from the center. I'll go to the camp. They've set up a barrier above it and I'll need to burn through it before midnight."
Naelle blinked. "Wait, uphill? But we're skiing. Like, gravity's a thing."
"Not for her," Syraleh murmured.
Hinesia's molten board glowed bright orange and in a burst of heat, she shot uphill. Naelle's jaw dropped.
"Is she surfing upward? That's illegal!"
"Focus. We go sideways. There is less levitation that way so prepare for mid-movement combat."
They nodded, shifting into motion. The four black-clad assassins veered off toward the right, gliding across the slope as their restored Xana began to hum beneath their skin. The snow ridge plunged into darkness except the faint shimmer of the moon crawling along the mountain's edge. Below the ridge, the guards moved with rifles made out of their Combat Flux.
The four assassins were silent—just shadows darting over the frost.
They had already removed their skis and decided to attack while running on foot. Rielinne clenched her fist and placed it on her chest.
"Occultare, everyone."
In perfect sync, they vanished.
The hum of their bodies disappeared into the tree line and for a moment, even the snow stopped whispering. Only the faint click of rifles echoed from below. The first guard didn't even realize he was dying. Syraleh had appeared behind him for less than a blink. A hand covered his mouth. Her dagger pierced up through his neck, the tip coming out under his jaw. There was no sound. She laid him down gently, melting back into the shadows before the others noticed.
Rielinne moved next. She darted between two trees. Before the two guards could blink, twin blades slit their throats in unison. A red mist bloomed in the cold air before freezing, falling as crimson frost on the snow.
Naelle's gleeful voice came through the comms.
"Okay, not going to lie, this is way easier when they don't see me."
"Focus," Rielinne hissed.
"I am focusing. Just appreciating my invisibility arc."
Her dagger spun once in her hand before she drove it into the back of a soldier's knee, twisted, then jammed another between his ribs as he collapsed. She dragged him behind a tree, still humming under her breath.
A moment later, Iserra leapt from a branch, landing on one of the guards crouched with a minigun. The dagger plunged through his skull. She didn't pause as she turned, catching another soldier's throat with the back edge of her blade, pulling him into a choke before slicing him open.
Blood hissed when it hit the snow.
"Ridge clear. Movement on the west side."
Three guards emerged from behind a boulder, their rifles glowing faintly. They scanned the area, unaware that death was already circling them.
"Where are they?"
"How are they killing us off so easily? Are they ghosts?"
Naelle giggled softly. "Guess who~"
A blur appeared behind the first, her dagger slashing clean through his spine. Before the body hit the ground, she rolled under his falling corpse, kicking another man's legs out from beneath him. As he fell, she spun, cutting his throat and catching his rifle before it hit the snow.
She aimed it backward and fired.
A beam of Xana seared through the dark, catching the last guard square in the chest. He collapsed, steam rising from his armor.
"Triple kill."
"Naelle," Rielinne warned again.
"I am focusing," Naelle protested, brushing snow off her hood. "Just… efficiently."
"Less talking," Iserra cut in sharply.
The trees ahead thickened. Rielinne motioned for silence. The four moved again and entered a forested slope, where the real killing began.
Gunfire erupted as someone spotted the shimmer of their movement. Blue Xana bullets cut through the air, splintering trunks and burning lines through the frost. But the Handmaidens were already gone, diving behind trees, rolling through the snow and fading in and out of visibility like ghosts.
Rielinne dashed between roots, thrusting her dagger into the stomach of a guard who tried to reload. She yanked it free, spun, and threw it into another's forehead before he could fire. The blade hit with a wet crunch.
Syraleh dropped from a branch above, landing hard on another Fluxer's shoulders, twisting his head until his neck cracked audibly. She used his body as a shield as another barrage tore through him, then flung him forward into the shooter, knocking him off balance.
Naelle meanwhile, darted through the trees, laughing under her breath every time a bullet missed her by inches. She kicked snow into one guard's face, disarmed him, then stabbed upward through his chin. His body hit the snow with a dull thud.
"I love this job."
"Then stop making noise."
Iserra appeared behind another, slit his throat and melted back into the dark before his body even dropped.
Through it all, Rielinne moved silently. She parried a blade with her daggers, kicked her enemy back and flicked one dagger across the air, cutting a clean red line through his jugular. A sniper bullet lanced through the dark, missing Naelle by an inch. It shattered a tree beside her.
"Sniper on the upper ridge!"
"I see him."
Rielinne blinked out of sight, her Occultare surging through her. She weaved through the trees, low to the ground, her boots barely disturbing the snow. The sniper was lining up another shot, his rifle glowing faintly blue.
Rielinne appeared behind him.
The blade pierced the back of his neck, straight through the throat. She yanked it free and before his body could slump, she caught his sniper and snapped it in half.
"Sniper down."
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Naelle muttered.
Syraleh's voice came through. "They're falling back. Looks like they are retreating."
Rielinne looked over the ridge, scanning through her binoculars. The number of signatures had indeed dropped. Many were retreating deeper into the forest while others were going to defend the lantern's former position.
"Good. Keep circling. Don't get pinned."
"Roger," Iserra replied.
They began to move again, their dark figures blending into the forest shadows. The snow crunched faintly beneath their boots.
"You know, I thought assassinations would be all grim and miserable. But honestly? This is fun."
Syraleh snorted softly. "That's because you're insane, Naelle."
"I call it enthusiastically adaptable."
Rielinne smiled faintly beneath her mask. "Whatever helps you sleep."
"Sleep? I'm too wired for that."
Iserra sighed. "Focus. We're not done yet."