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"Yes, we do. If they're what I think they are, the camp is already in danger."

She left the marked route and moved along the higher bank, where exposed roots offered firmer footing. I followed within arm's reach. The basin ahead stretched farther than the map suggested, water spilling between trees that had marked its outer boundary when we arrived.

Jade lowered herself behind a ridge of stone. I joined her beneath the fern line and looked across the water.

Submerged roots formed a dense lattice beneath the surface. Blue shapes rested among them.

Eggs.

Each was nearly as wide as Jade's chest, round rather than tapered and secured with woven strips of bark. Pale light shifted within the shells. There were dozens, clustered so tightly that they formed a single blue mass beneath the dark water.

The nest looked established until I noticed the sap bleeding from the bindings. Broken leaves still floated around them, bright green and unwilted, while mud clouded the water where the roots had recently been disturbed.

One shell moved. Water shivered as something inside pressed against it, sending a pulse of blue light into the neighboring roots. Three more eggs answered, then another five, until the glow traveled through the entire clutch and made the basin appear to breathe.

Jade's hand closed around my sleeve. "They moved them."

"The eggs?"

"Water Zrakes can relocate their clutches when Rift conditions change. The shells absorb magic from the surrounding water, so a strong flare can draw adults from miles away. Their last location was over one hundred and fifty clicks away. The researchers probably didn't think they would come this far." She examined the fresh bindings. "They brought these here overnight."

The basin rose.

At first my eyes tried to understand the movement. Then a ridged back broke the surface, and water poured from slate-blue scales as a Water Zrake lifted its head between the trees. It was larger than the field sketches suggested. Its skull alone was longer than my torso, tapering into a powerful jaw lined with narrow teeth. Folded wings pressed against its flanks beneath the water, their outer joints rising like additional spines. Thin fins opened behind its jaw as it tasted the air, each threaded with pale blue light.

It let out a long breath. The sound traveled across the basin as a low rush, while bubbles rose through the roots around the eggs.

A second head surfaced farther out, followed by a third. One adult dragged another strip of bark beneath the roots, while two more circled farther out and marked trees with their scales. They were not returning to an established breeding ground. They were building one around the last magic flare.

Jade eased backward until the ridge hid us. "They weren't here yesterday."

"How much territory will they take?"

"All of it. Nesting Zrakes claim the entire landmass around their clutches. Once enough adults gather, they sweep outwards until every creature that might threaten the eggs has left or been killed."

"How aggressive?"

"They may still warn while they establish the boundary, but they won't keep doing it. By the end of today, anything remaining on the island will be treated as a threat."

A shadow passed beneath the water on our right and turned toward the ridge.

"They've already started," Jade said.

"Can you do anything to protect the camp?"

"No. Zrakes are pure Rift creatures. My Biomancy doesn't work on them. I can sense something this large, but I can't reach inside its body. I can't calm it or stop it."

"Can we defend the camp with shields?"

"A barrier tells them we're trying to hold part of the island. They'll attack until it breaks."

"What if we relocate to the northern bank?"

"They'll claim that as well. There is nowhere on this island they will tolerate us while the eggs are here."

Citadel law allowed Rift life to be destroyed only when preserving human life left no other choice. The Zrakes had followed a change in the Rift and selected an island that had been empty before our arrival. Fighting them because our camp happened to be here would turn an evacuation into a slaughter, assuming we survived long enough to win.

My hand had curled at my side again, the same old habit finding me before I caught it this time. There was no shield to hold here, nothing to brace against, just a decision with no version that cost nothing.