Hannah put a hand over her mouth to muffle her breathing as she and Ace knelt behind a thorny shrub late that night. Keira and Ryder had just dashed ahead to scout out the next leg of their journey into the depths of the enemy encampment and take out any guards who posed too serious a threat. 

Hannah's heart thrashed in her chest as she spotted an Alcontean soldier stepping into the patch of moonlight they had just hurried across. He stooped down and studied the parted grass with squinted eyes that slowly swept their way. With her throat tightening, she turned her head to eye Ace, but he was no longer there. 

She nearly screamed when her dark-skinned companion lunged out of the darkness at the Alcontean. His arm tightened around the man's mouth as they tumbled to the ground together. The Alcontean's rifle clattered against a rock, but after that, the only sounds Hannah could hear were muffled grunts accompanied by the rustle of two men struggling in the grass. Finally, a sizzle, and Ace's opponent moved no more. 

Ace pocketed a tiny black device with a fading glow as he hustled back over to Hannah. He laid a hand on her shoulder and managed a smile. "Stop worrying, girl." he whispered, "We can do this." 

With a gulp, Hannah nodded and tried to convince herself he was correct. Was Sila really right, callin' ya optimism itself the other night? she asked herself. She quickly brushed it aside and prepared to follow Ace. 

Then she jumped at the sound of a voice speaking in her earpiece, Keira's. "All clear up here." she said, "There are some random dudes here and there, but we've got eyes on them." 

"So, just go for it?" Ace said, his voice sounding both in Hannah's ear itself and the device planted in it. 

"Just go for it. You can make it to that stone wall if you hurry." 

"Don't have to ask me twice." 

Ace tugged Hannah by her arm and led her out from the cover of the bush. Into the unknown darkness they travelled, and Hannah could swear her heart pounded loud enough to give them away. Their way of winding through the cluster of tents in no predictable pattern reminded Hannah of a corn maze, but scarier. 

She nearly screamed when a guard rounded the corner and spotted them, but a shuriken emerged from the darkness and ended him. Ace nudged her against the nearest tent and motioned for her to wait quietly. Covering her mouth with her hand again, she obeyed. 

Hannah heard very little sound around the corner. Only a few thumps, another muffled cry, a sound of metal against metal, then a splash of spewing liquid. Then Ace silently reappeared. Sheathing a bloodied dagger, he beckoned her over, and they continued stealing through the darkness. 

After more weaving through the labyrinth of tents, Hannah and Ace finally reached the stone wall. She leaned against it and waited while Ace kicked a nearby stone forward so he could step up and peer over the top. Hannah tensed again at the sound of movement above her, but it was only Keira descending from a tree branch hanging over the wall. She retracted the line and gave the girl a reassuring grin. 

"I see it." Ace hissed down at them before returning his attention to the camp beyond the wall. 

Keira frowned. "See what? I'm confused. Are we going for Dove first, or—" 

"We're nearer Albatross' tent. Not far from that tree." 

Ace scrambled to the top of the wall and stretched his arms out to balance himself. After motioning for the women to follow, he took a careful step forward, one foot in front of the other. He headed for the tree branch hanging over his narrow walkway. 

Keira assisted Hannah in clambering up before following closely behind herself. The trio tip-toed their way across the precarious row of bricks, burdened with the extra task of maintaining complete silence. 

Hannah prodded the next brick with her foot before entrusting it with her weight. She barely contained a yelp when it slipped out of the structure, nearly pulling her down with it. It dropped with a dull thud below, right beside an Alcontean soldier. 

Keira immediately sprung to action. Setting her sniper rifle down on the wall, she leapt onto the man's shoulders and forced him into a forward roll. His face splashed into a puddle and stopped there for a moment. The brunette leapt to her feet and pressed her boot into his head, preventing him from rising. Soon, he drowned, never able to utter a single sound. 

Then she dashed back to the wall and gripped the edge with her fingers. Using leverage, she ran her feet up until one leap brought her to the top again. Dat's pretty impressive, Hannah thought before shifting her attention to forward travel again, stepping over the gap in the bricks with fearful eyes. 

"Ryder, where're you at?" Ace's voice sounded in the earpiece again. 

A moment of silence preceded the deep-voiced man's reply. "I got a little side-tracked. I understand you're almost at Albatross' tent." 

"Correct. One monkeys' swing away from having a good overlooking perch." 

"Sounds like Keira's speciality if my understanding of her's accurate." 

"You've got me down to a T." Keira replied, "Now, can we have a little less chatter?" 

"Hey, get down from there!" Ryder cried through the earpiece. 

Hannah's heart-rate spiked again as she glanced around for a way down. Ace did much the same, aiming his machine gun at the shadowy ground and peering through the sight. Keira hopped to the grass below and landed with a roll. 

"Sorry, I wasn't talking to you." Ryder sighed, "This one freak appeared outta nowhere and scared the actual daylights outta me." 

Hannah raised an eyebrow. She was hearing Ryder's voice in her earpiece, but now she could swear she was hearing him with her free ear too. She leaned slightly to the right and felt the mystery solved. Their deep-voiced companion was scaling the wall on the other side of the tree branch. Ace aimed his gun at the movement when he first saw it, but then relaxed upon recognizing the face. 

Finally, they came to the branch, and Ace tested its strength with a shove. It didn't budge in the slightest. With a shrug, he leapt on first. With its unusual width, balancing didn't appear to be a struggle in the slightest, which Hannah felt relief over. This whole ordeal was already getting tiring. 

Hannah followed Ace, and Ryder came next. Keira took the rear. When they reached the end of the bough and came to the trunk, Ace led the way around to the west side. Here, maneuvering became a little more difficult, with a tangle of branches to squeeze through, several of which he judged unfit to step on. 

Ace stepped out onto one limb, but still appeared skeptical, as he kept his grasp firm on the one above it. Sure enough, it snapped and plummeted, leaving Ace hanging. Keira's eyes widened, and she fired her grapple hook at the branch, pulling it back up before it could drop onto a tent below and stir up trouble. With Ryder's help, she removed it from the claw and crammed it into a tangle of other limbs. 

Apparently unfazed, Ace swung to another sturdier branch and continued on. Before long, they found themselves in a comfortable platform of limbs on the west side of the tree. The pyramid-shaped tent they'd identified as Albatross' laid only a few yards beyond the farthest branches' reach. 

"Let's rest here a moment." Ace said, settling down on a knobby bough that practically cried for a person to sit on it. 

Hannah eagerly obliged, straddling a leafier branch with her back resting on the trunk. "I ain't complainin' 'bout this arrangement." she commented with a wry smile. 

Keira glanced back with a smirk before she redirected her attention to Ace. "So, now that we're here, what's the plan?" 

Ace was several seconds late in replying, at least as far as courtesy was concerned. "Hannah's gotta go down, obviously. I'll go with her." His eyes darted between Keira and Ryder before settling on the former. "I feel like you'd milk a greater advantage out of staying up here than he would." 

Keira nodded and held up her sniper. "I've been reluctant to noise it up, but maybe with so much cover, that won't be such a problem." 

"Only if absolutely necessary. Use your knives if you can." 

"Of course." 

Ryder cleared his throat. "I see some good spots on the other side of the tent I could hide out in." 

"Good." Ace said before turning to Hannah. "You alright?" 

Hannah swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, just...kinda scared." 

"Don't be. We've got your back, even at our own expense." 

"I know dat, just...it's all so tense, havin' all these dudes around, us tryin' to sneak around them, and I dunno, facin' a god in the first place's bad enough." 

Ace nodded. "I get that. But as Baird likes to remind us so often, he's nothing but a demon-possessed man." 

"That's if he's got his artifact, which I don't think Albatross has." Keira corrected. 

"You sure?" 

"Pretty sure. Brant said even when these guys get their artifact, they have to somehow keep it on their person, for some ceremonial reason, I think. Albatross' thing is like a fern or something, and Aaron said he never saw any such thing on him." 

"Well, it's Dove I'm more scared of, good 'n honestly." Hannah said. "We know good 'n well he's got his." 

"That blasted olive branch, right." Ace growled. "I'm liable to shoot it right outta his flippin' hands." 

"Good luck. You're not the sharpshooter." Keira teased. 

"I'm a perfectly good shot myself, thank you very much." Ace retorted, and by his expression, Hannah was unsure whether he knew Keira had been joking. 

"Tell you what." Ryder said, "I'm gonna head down right now. That'll give you guys some time to keep resting. Once I'm in position, you and Hannah can head down." 

Ace flashed him a thumbs-up. "Stay safe." 

"I plan to." 

With that, Ryder clambered over to the left side of their woody platform, where a series of branches jutted out from the trunk in a regular pattern, as if the tree's maker had built that section for the express purpose of serving as a ladder. He soon became swallowed up in darkness as he dashed across the enemy camp.

******************** 

A/N: Careful now, sitting so close to the edge of your seat there; you might fall. Though I guess the fact I have to say that is pretty flattering itself. 😂 

For real though, if you enjoyed this tense chapter, please remember to vote and comment. Thanks! 

I haven't got a whole lot on my mind this morning, so I'll just ask my random question: What's the most valuable item in your line of sight right now? 

(For me, I've got my saxophone at the foot of my bed, so yeah, I think that counts.) 

Have an awesome day and week! I hope to see you in Saturday's update. 😁