Ryn barely had time to step aside before the creature's talons tore through the gravel where he'd been crouching a heartbeat ago.
So much for the plan.
Ryn recovered quickly, boots digging into the riverbank as the Cockatrice skidded past him, sending water and flecks of wet stone into the air. The creature twisted unnaturally mid-motion, head snapping toward Amelia with a mixed cry between chicken and eagle.
Amelia pulled out her sword, a rapier, which was a better weapon for dueling, not so great for monster hunting.
She blocked the first swipe, steel sparking against its feathers.
Ryn pressed his palm to the ground, steadying himself as the world stopped tilting from the sudden movement. Motion sickness and close combat were a terrible mix, but he pushed through the nausea and focused
He lunged, blade striking its flank, catching the Cockatrice off guard. Either the monster was either surprisingly durable or Ryn needed a new sword, as it barely pierced the Cockatrice's skin.
The monster shrieked in pain, whipping around with its wing spread out wide, trying to hit everything around it.
Its beak snapped dangerously close as Ryn ducked low, rolling under the trajectory of attack.
It was faster than he expected.
Steel rang as he parried another strike. The Cockatrice stumbled, thrown off-balance by its own momentum.
Amelia didn't waste the opening.
She brought her sword down in a clean, practiced motion. Cutting through the unarmored joint at the base of its wing.
It snapped in half immediately, as the Cockatrice screeched and collapsed partially onto the riverbank.
Its claws scraped against stone, desperate to regain footing.
Ryn stepped in sharply, driving his blade through the back of its skull.
Silence fell.
Broken only by the river's steady rush beside them.
He exhaled once, steadying his breath.
Amelia stood over the corpse, shaking water off her cloak. "Your plan," she muttered, "sucked."
Ryn wiped blood from his blade with a dry leaf. "The plan was perfect," he countered.
"The pinecone was the enemy."
Ryn crouched beside the corpse, wiping a bit of mud aside.
The skin beneath was warm, residual energy thrumming weakly through it.
Exactly what he needed.
He cut a clean section from the flank, wrapping it in cloth and securing it to his pack. The scent alone would carry far on the mountain winds.
Ryn rose, gaze drifting toward the upper cliffs where the trail continued.
Cockatrices were smart in that they always lived near a stronger predator they knew they could steal from. Which meant the Basilisk would be close.
Since they live in caves, all Ryn needed to do was find an abandoned entrance to a quarry.
A bit up from the river…he'd found it. A man-made entrance, half collapsed on one side led into a quarry in the side of the mountain.
They stopped at the entrance, Ryn looking over to Amelia.
"Did you bring it?"
She nodded and pulled a hand mirror from her pack.
"Ryn, I still don't get why we need this."
"You really need to read more books, Amelia."
"Well, I'm sorry, I don't have time to study monster biology!" she snapped, pointing aggressively at the tunnel. "Some of us have noble duties too, you know."
Ryn smothered a laugh. "Right. Every variant of a Basilisk has a skill that's extremely deadly. Stone Stare, which petrifies a person instantly."
Amelia blinked. "...Wait. You mean mirrors actually work on it?"
Her eyes lit up. "Couldn't we just— I don't know— reflect its stare back at it? One shot, clean kill?"
Ryn shook his head immediately. "No. Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because the Stone Stare doesn't just harden the body." His voice dropped.
"It also petrifies the poison gland, the whole reason we're doing all this."
Amelia's face fell. "...Oh."
"We'd get a nice statue," Ryn said dryly, "but nothing we came here for."
She rubbed her forehead. "Fine. So what's the plan, then?"
"We bait it into using the Stare early," Ryn said. "When it fires, I'll use the mirror to avoid the beam—then pretend I got hit."
He pointed farther into the tunnel. "As soon as it thinks I'm down, it'll charge. Basilisks always close in to finish prey."
"That's when I'll position myself underneath a crystal spike growing inside those caverns. Then I'll use Aqui—"
He stopped.
Amelia's head snapped toward him.
"…Use what?"
Ryn blinked. "…Enhanced Senses."
"No," she said slowly. "You were about to say something else."
Ryn's jaw tightened.
Amelia stared at him for a long moment, breath steadying.
"I kinda expected it, but you really do have another Blessing."
Ryn didn't deny it.
He only looked away, eyes settling back on the tunnel.
"We'll talk about it later," he murmured. "Right now, we just need to kill the Basilisk."
Amelia let out a quiet exhale.
"Fine."
He nodded once.
And together, they moved toward the darkness ahead.
***
The tunnel widened as they moved deeper, the walls shifting from rough natural stone to carved, structured rock—the unmistakable remains of old mining work.
Wooden support beams, long since rotted, leaned at dangerous angles. Rusted tools lay half-buried in dust. Chisel marks scarred the stone in repeating patterns, fading into the dark.
Amelia conjured a small ball of fire to act as a light source. The faint glimmer of ore streaks caught the light.
"This really was a mine," she murmured.
"Not just any mine," Ryn said softly. "Ironspine used to be one of the richest mineral sites in the region."
He stepped over a collapsed cart, his voice quiet but certain.
"Deimos actually used to be a mining city instead of an agricultural one."
Amelia glanced at him. "Then losing it shouldn't have been possible."
Ryn hesitated.
"Because the mine collapsed at the exact wrong moment."
Amelia slowed, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
"…That was the year the King fell sick."
Ryn glanced at her.
She continued, voice quiet, informed:
"Right, it shook the kingdom. All the royal children started a power struggle almost immediately. Every noble house had to choose a side."
Ryn nodded.
"Yup, and all the nobles, including our fathers, were too busy fortifying their positions, military, and whatnot."
They both came to the same realization. That Deimos' plea for help had gone unanswered, as the kingdom was on the brink of a civil war.
She ran her fingers along a cold ore vein.
"With tensions that high, the mine — even one this valuable — became a casualty of politics."
"An acceptable loss," Ryn muttered.
They continued deeper. The air grew colder, heavier, and metallic in an unnatural way. Mineral veins thickened, glowing faintly under the fire glow, twisting like veins beneath the mountain's skin.
Ryn halted, grip tightening on his sword.
"The heart of the mine is close," he murmured.
Amelia nodded, her expression hardening with resolve.
"Then let's finish what everyone else abandoned."
A cavern unfolded before them.
It was enormous, easily large enough to fit two or three of Baron Deimos' estate.
Shards of crystal jutted from the ground and walls like frozen lightning, some as thin as knives, others thick enough to be pillars. Light from the lantern refracted through them, scattering fragments of color across the cavern until it shimmered like a fractured sunrise.
Amelia exhaled softly. "This is… beautiful."
"Mhmm, but don't get distracted," Ryn murmured.
His eyes weren't on the walls.
They were drawn to the center.
There, rising from a cluster of mineral growths, stood a crystal spike so massive it looked like the spine of the mountain itself. The base was as thick as an oak trunk, fused seamlessly to the ceiling stone.
It was impossibly conspicuous.
Amelia followed his gaze.
"…Please tell me that's not what you were talking about."
"Yup," Ryn said quietly. "That's the one."
Amelia stared at the spike again, slowly processing the sheer size of it. "You said there'd be… a crystal spike. Not that it would be that."
"I said it would be big," Ryn replied. "And we need big."
"Ryn, that's… that's insane."
"It's also the only thing in this cavern strong enough to hold the Basilisk still."
He walked forward another few steps, examining the ground. Contrary to what he thought, the ground was completely smooth, likely from the Basilisk absorbing all debris as it slithered.
"The Basilisk will use this place as its nest," he said. "It's nearby. Very nearby."
Amelia tightened her grip on her blade. "So this is where we make our stand."
"No," Ryn murmured, placing the piece of Cockatrice meat on the floor and backing away.
"This is where we kill it."
A faint vibration trembled through the cavern floor.
Amelia froze.
Ryn's eyes sharpened. "It's awake."