Barrett wasn't sure what he expected, but he certainly got a cave. A long, winding one, he knew, even if it felt like he had been walking in a straight line for about half an hour now. Geometry folded in on itself here, but that was hardly the first worrying sign. It was far too late to simply be concerned.

He stopped, and stared into the blackness ahead. A cold wind blew in from behind, little ice crystals tickling the tips of his ears. The way out was still open - it was just a matter of finding it. "I know you're there." For the first time since he'd entered the cave, he flicked on the small flashlight clipped to his lapel and turned around, lighting up the pale woman in the infinite tunnel behind him. "Thought you would have attacked me by now."

She made a face. "Perhaps I was too...hasty. What are you?"

"Augmented. Fortified. People use a lot of different words. What are you?"

"You know what I am. The snow. The storm, the ice. Parts of me came from those who were lost in these kinds of places."

"That's not what I was asking."

She said nothing, only leering at him with a menace he knew was hardly tempered.

"That doesn't make it what you are. Why you do the things you do. Neither do my...enhancements."

"It's none of your concern."

"Then leave. I have good reason to think that whatever's at the end of this doesn't want me here. Walk the other way and you get out."

The yuki-onna paused for a long moment, looking into Barrett's eyes, before she spoke: "Those augments make you so unlike the others. How?"

"Do you know what the Wild Hunt is?"

"Doesn't every yokai?" she asked. "Hunger and madness and the never ending bloodshed? The elders scared all of us with the stories. And yet you never turned up. Nobody actually believes you're real."

"But you do," he said.

She let out a chuckle, clearly not expecting to be having the conversation at hand. "After all of this, I was really hoping the Wild Hunt actually did exist, because if they did then I wouldn't have to be alone in this. And then here you are. You're going to end this."

"I'm going to try. You should clear out."

"I have to see how this ends."

Barrett pursed his lips. "How long have you been holding this line?"

"A few...a decade?"

"And in that time you never told someone who could have helped you with this? That could have sent me out here?"

"How the hell is anyone supposed to contact the Wild-" She paused, and he could practically hear the turning gears in her head finally lock into place. Her expression turned sour. "You're not with the Hunt."

"Do I seem mad, or ravenous for revenge? The stories do get some things right."

"What are you?" she asked again, the venom in her words evident.

"Go back to the village. It's the safest place for you until this all blows over." He turned to leave.

Barrett barely made it five steps before he heard her inhale. Made of snow or frost they may be, they were still spirits. Spirits of people, at least partly human, and so they always arrived at that same destination. He decided to wait.

"You want to know why I never called your government?"

He stood still, saying nothing.

"Have you any idea what it's like living out here? You people, your cultures, dragged us out here and then abandoned us. We exist because of your beliefs and the beliefs of your ancestors but you never even-" She paused as Barrett turned around. "I didn't have a choice. How was I supposed to know your people would do anything? You never turned up to solve yokai problems, even when the old elder got torn apart. You're just here I'm guessing because they finally found someone important."

Barrett nodded. "Sucks, doesn't it?" He looked her up and down. Her fists were clenched, but she avoided his eyes. "It's not so hard to see the world as a horrible place. I did too. That's how the Hunt found me."

She said nothing.

"There's always a choice. Let me give you one: want to tell me your name?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"I would prefer to know what to call you, if you’re going to be watching me work." He started back down the tunnel, this time with no intention of stopping. With a swipe of his hand, the light went off again, leaving the both of them in darkness. "Coming?"

"Little more!" Wyland grunted and put all his strength into pulling along with Lucas. The heavy sled they were dragging with them came to a rest just outside the open fence , before Lucas let go of it. Wyland decided it was his turn to rest too, and let his rope go slack, plopping down in the snow.

"How much gear do your losers need?" Lucas asked in exasperation. "And why the hell is there a stash of weapons just lying around on my fucking land?"

"It wasn't always there! Tor likes having a backup plan. Or five. Good thing he didn't put this further out."

"Paranoid much?"

He looked at the Foxhole and sighed. "Guess we're close enough." Wyland unlatched one of the metal boxes mounted on the sled, and removed some heavy paperback books that were stuffed full of handwritten notes, practically exploding out of the sides.

"You know I wasn't being serious earlier."

"Huh?" Wyland started flipping through the pages, skimming all of the symbols and xingram writing and their notes on every other page.

"When I called you a loser. But this nerd shit is really not helping your case."

"It's not mine," he said absently. "This is Kofuku's. She does onmyodo."

"Isn't that...rare?" Lucas removed a flask from his coat and took a sip. "Mmm. I've never met an onmyo- someone who does onmyoji."

"It's more common on UCF worlds, and with the schism...yeah, guess it's rare now. Though there's also this one bushman guy who keeps hanging out half-naked with magic kangaroos all day that Barrett knows somehow. How he learned it I have no idea."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah. That was too much information and a mental image I will never be able to remove from my brain."

Wyland stopped at one of the pages, with the note at the top translating its title into:

Hellfire

"There you are." He unlatched another box to remove a small folder, from which he got out half a dozen blank paper talismans. "You like boiled lobster?"

"You gonna cook the bastard?"

"More like burn him to a crisp. Hellfire is a special reaction that combusts magic-conducting structures. If I stick it one one of these puppies..." He reached into his belt and removed a kunai made from dark metal. "...and then stick a couple of them into the big lobster thing, and boom!"

"It'll explode?"

"In my experience watching Barrett, fleshy things explode when you heat them up very fast."

"Isn't a lobster armoured? And at that size..."

"It's probably a tank," Wyland agreed. "We'll need to soften it up. We do have sticky bombs in stock. How's your throw?"

"He's trash," Raya said, coming out of the front door. She had changed into a new coat that hid her tail, and a beanie with holes cut out for her fluffy ears. "I have a better throw. My dad taught me to throw all kinds of grenades."

"Hold up," Lucas said. "That makes me the fucking target. Why do I have to be the target!?"

"You run fast and have a lot of stamina," Wyland said. "I saw when you came to meet me and the Marshal."

Lucas threw up his hands. "You are literally a ninja. There's no way you're not faster than me."

"Technically I only used to be a ninja. If you don't want to be bait, then Lovelace-"

"Is too slow," Raya interjected. "Also she just had her fourth whiskey. We're better off letting her keep trying to contact the outside."

"...the bald guy?"

"No," Lucas snapped. "Marcello is trying to rebuild his life, man. This is his second chance. He doesn't even cook meth anymore, we can't just feed him to a giant magic lobster that hypnotises people."

Raya raised an eyebrow.

"So I guess I'm bait," Lucas said in defeat. "Well fuck me sideways."

"That's a promise if you survive." Raya winked.

Wyland stared at the both of them as they smiled at each other, before waving his hand between them to get their attention. "I need glue. Do you have any glue?"

"Marcello probably can make some." Lucas took Raya's hand and she helped him get to his feet. "I'll get this in. You go prepare your spell."

"You'll be the bait?"

"Hell yeah I'll be the bait." He grinned, and picked up both of the ropes attached to the sled.

Wyland flipped to his feet, and started towards the door, shaking his head. He cringed a little at the memories of his time on the lodge - his and Kofuku's - and all the times Barrett had also been present as a third. "So that's what it feels like," he mumbled as he slipped through the unbarricaded entrance.