“Why is it so busy here?”

“You never heard of the Maze?” Janx said.

“Only vaguely.”

“Well, if Ezzez is the dark heart of alchemy in the world, Doc, the Maze is its showroom.”

They passed out of the Maze and came into a district of crumbled, jungle-overgrown mansions. The buildings had been refurbished, but they showed signs of terrible neglect in the past, a posh sector devalued, then made good again. At one particular estate they stopped and disembarked, and Avery stared over a high brick fence to the sturdy mansion beyond, some of its slopes and summits overgrown with greenery. Trees leaned against it, some even jutting through the edges of its slate roofs or thrusting through its windows. Birds fluttered about its summits, or something like birds; they had the texture of sea horses. Slimy white things with many legs scuttled about on wall and roof, and the trees growing on the four chimneys dripped tentacles coated in what was surely poison. The fading sun painted it all in tones of red.

The gates sagged open, the breath of the city oozing through them.

Trading looks, the company moved through the gates and into the lushly overgrown grounds. Things moved in the shadows around them, and trees dripped poison to either side. Blanching at the noxious smell, Avery gripped his pistol tighter; even he was armed. His god-killing knife rested in his pocket. They shoved their way through the trees, occasionally having to slash their way forward with machetes, and finally reached the stone doors leading into the massive brick edifice. A finned animal large as a boar shambled away, unhurried. Others joined it.

“Fuck this place,” Hildra said, but she said it in a whisper.

Major Nezine pried the door open, and several of his men entered, then called back that the way was clear. Another group entered, then Avery and his party, followed by more troops. Avery glanced uneasily at the silent halls and empty rooms around him. The place seemed abandoned. It reeked of mold and rotten vegetation … and something else, too. Something sickly sweet.

“Is anyone here?” Avery called. “Mr. Coleel?”

He tensed as his voice echoed in the large, ivy-covered halls, but he called again. No one answered.

“No one’s here,” Janx said. “I think we should go.”

“Maybe we can find some documents,” Layanna said. “Some record of the nectar or Coleel’s whereabouts.”

They began a search, going from floor to floor.

“Anything?” Avery asked Layanna, as they rifled through a study.

“Nothing.” She was about to say more when shouts came from down a hall, and they all converged to see some of the soldiers standing over a pile of bodies. Flies crawled across the faces of the dead men, who wore the same green uniforms the soldiers did. Blood stained them, and a foul, sickly sweet odor rose from their remains. Animals had obviously been gnawing at them, and Avery was sure that had this place not been so overgrown they would have stumbled across bones before now.

Looking grim, Lisam turned to Layanna. “These were some of the men sent to find Coleel originally.”

Layanna gasped.

Avery spun to see a dart standing out on her neck. Raising his gun, he fired at a shape disappearing into an air vent, and several nearby soldiers fired, too. The shape vanished.

Layanna sank to her knees. Dropping to his own, Avery caught her.

“Layanna? Layanna? Are you all right?”

She blinked, and he slapped her lightly.

Her eyes popped open. “Francis?”

Janx and Hildra gathered around. “You alright, darlin’?” Janx said.

“I’m … fine.”

The major barked an order, and soldiers poured out in every direction, hunting the would-be assassin.

Gunfire sounded outside. Looking startled, Major Nezine said, “We’re being attacked. Recon!”

He ordered a small group to venture outside and report back. Instantly upon their leaving, a bullet storm erupted. Avery and the others hunkered against the walls, Avery dragging Layanna with him. She looked pale and sweaty, and her skin burned his fingers. He plucked the dart out, sniffed it and flung it away. More gunshots sounded down the halls. The group had been well and truly ambushed.

“Traitors,” a soldier said, returning from the fight to deliver his report, and Avery knew he meant local soldiers under the command of Octung. Collaborators. “Bloody bastards’ve taken down six men.”

“Damn it!” Nezine said, and slammed a fist against a wall. Cracks spread out from the impact on the wall, and the vines he’d struck writhed in agitation.

“Can you bring your other-self over?” Avery asked Layanna.

Trembling, she shook her head. “That … weapon …”

He swore. “Jellyfish venom, I’d bet.”

“Well, that sucks,” Hildra said. Then, angrily, to Avery: “This is your fault. Sheridan must have told them. Thanks, bones.”

“Enough,” said Janx. “We’ve got to get out of this. If the Octunggen are attacking us, or sending their puppets, they ain’t playin’ to lose.” To the major, he said, “Tell your people to get out of here.”

“I won’t run,” the major said. “Besides, there’s nowhere to go.”

“What if there was?” said Avery. “I don’t hear any gunfire above. We can flee to the roof. The trees—”

“Very well.” Nezine snapped some orders to his men, and they began to fall back to the stairway, then up it. Avery and the others stayed with the major, Avery helping Layanna as she went.

They emerged into the less-than-fresh air of the roof. The sun was just setting, throwing dark shadows across them, and the white, many-legged creatures, each about the height of a cat but long as a snake, scuttled into the protection of the dripping, glistening trees that tainted the air with ammonia and less easily-identified chemicals. The reek burned Avery’s eyes and nose.

Janx approached the edge of the roof. He reeled back as gunfire ripped the gutter and flung shrapnel up around him. He fired off a couple of rounds from his big revolver, brought along, just like Avery’s knife, in their suitcases, and made his way over to Hildra, who had gone to the other side of the building. She seemed relieved to see that he hadn’t been hit, and she gestured for them all to approach.

“No one’s here,” she said.

No wonder, Avery saw, as he neared the edge—the jungle had grown thick in the yard below—thick and dangerous. Still, having no choice, the soldiers began to climb out onto the trees. Janx and Avery helped Layanna out onto one branch while Hildra scouted the way ahead and called back suggestions.

Soldiers, still firing back at the enemy troops, slammed the roof door shut and dragged the bodies of two of their own before it to hold it closed, then ran for the trees. The enemy soldiers were already shoving at the bodies as the rebels reached the vegetation and climbed out onto it.

Gunfire sounded behind Avery. A bullet whizzed by his cheek. He forced himself not to look back. It was all he could do to navigate the carapace-covered branches and avoid the dripping tentacles while at the same time half-supporting Layanna. At last he and Janx were able to bring her to a lower branch, then a still lower one, a route which Hildra had found for them.

“Come on!” she said, leaping to the ground. She spun and fired at something. “It’s okay, keep going.”

They reached the ground, surrounded by soldiers doing the same, and made for the nearest stretch of the wall around the estate, just visible between the trees. The green fog devoured them, and Avery wished he had a gas mask. A soldier cried out as something jerked him into the shadows. Others swiveled to fire at whatever it had been, but, when they did, the enemy soldiers, having reached the lip of the roof behind them, let loose with their own guns. Two of the rebel soldiers flew backward, blood spurting.

The rest ran, including Avery’s party. He breathed heavily under Layanna’s weight. Janx had let her go and turned to fire at the shadows around them—and shadows did move around them. Avery saw glowing eyes in the mist.

Hildra ran back from somewhere. “Hurry! Hurry!”

They reached the wall. Hildra scrambled up it, amazingly nimble for someone with one hand. Janx grabbed Layanna and flung her up, and Hildra caught her and brought her over. Next Janx gave Avery a boost, and Avery awkwardly fumbled his way over the top and dropped to the other side in an ungainly display, biting his tongue as he did and nearly breaking his hip. Janx dropped beside him, heavy and not as young as he used to be, but up to the task for all that.

Soldiers spilled over around them. Blood dripping from an ear, Lisam approached, saying, rather needlessly, “We have to get out of here!”