The sound of feet pounding rapidly through mud came from somewhere in the distance. The sound stopped for a moment, then they heard panicked swearing and the sound started again from a different direction. They heard the wet slap of something landing in the mud and a startled yelp.

“He’s got monsters on him,” Rick barked at the others. “Go!”

They surged over the marshy ground. Hannah had found them a path that was relatively solid and even Jonah powered forwards in his heavy armour. What they found was an indentation in the mud.

Rick looked around, peering at every shadow.

“Hannah?” he asked.

When there was no response, he glanced back.

“Hannah?”

The whole team craned their necks searching in every direction.

“She was right behind me,” Claire said. “We were all running, and…”

“Back the way we came,” Rick said decisively, and so they went. What they found, to their horror, was Hannah’s body, barely moved from where they had started running. Her throat was cut and she dangled macabrely from thick strands of webbing like a puppet on strings.

“It’s not real,” Rick told Claire.

She looked at her sister with a hand over her mouth, eyes shocked wide. He put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

“It’s just illusion,” he told her. “We’ve been through this before. Henry, do you have a scent?”

There was no answer, and they looked again. While they had been looking at Hannah’s corpse, Henry had vanished. That left the two men in their heavy armour and the healer.

“How did he do that?” Jonah asked.

“He’s going for the ones he can kill quick and quiet,” Rick said. “The rest of us won’t go out like that. Our armour and Claire’s magic shield means he can’t take us easily.

Suddenly blue light flared around Claire in the form of a bubble as objects struck it, three in quick succession. They were throwing knives, falling harmlessly into the mud after bouncing off the protective barrier.

“That way!” Jonah called out, but Rick grabbed his arm.

“He’s baiting us,” Rick said. “The way he baited the trap weavers into making all this mess. From now on, we go carefully.”

“How do we find him now?” Jonah asked. “Henry and Hannah were our spotters.”

“We’ve been dancing to his tune the whole time,” Rick said. “Time to change the music. Use your shout.”

“Are you sure?” Jonah asked. “You know what that’ll do to the monsters.”

“He took out our spotters,” Rick said. “The best advantage we have now is a straight-up fight.”

“I don’t think he’s suddenly going to step out for that,” Jonah said.