Pajaran clapped her hands and incanted, a silvery light flickering out from between her fingers and illuminating Hakara. The light leapt from her fingers onto Hakara, sparking onto the crystal tip of their wand, mingling with the blue glow of the woman’s spell. The twin lights reflecting into the silver-tinged bowl of water, before Hakara dropped dust, powdered sapphires and rubies. The motes hung in the air, sparkling red and blue, forming into spirals in the air, and then slowly descending into the water. The light from her wand shone more brightly as she moved it towards the water, the light dappling over the darkened room.

She let go of the wand and it hovered in the air as she produced more components from her pouch, powders falling into the water and making the glow even brighter. Pajaran held up her mace, tapping it against the hovering wand, blue and steel-grey reflecting against the water as a chiming sound rang out.

The water rose up into the air, forming itself into a sphere, red and blue swirling inside of it before it became silver and reflective, perfectly reflecting the surrounding dark cellar.

‘Stathis? Can you hear me?’

As Pajaran spoke, the sphere rippled in time with her voice. It shimmered, showing momentary flashes as Hakara tried to guide the magic – quick flashes of empty wilderness, snowy mountains and barren desert, a few flashes of small villages as well.

‘Stathis, are you there?’

Endless ocean flashed past, bright white waves flashing in the sunlight. And then black desert, mile upon mile of ashen waste. And then, suddenly, with bright snaps of colour from a myriad of tents, there was Stathis! She was in full armour, although it looked a bit battered and worn, her hair tied into a practical bun.

‘Stathis!’

She looked up, looking around in confusion before seeing whatever the other end of the spell looked like, raising a hand and cautiously poking at it. She looked around before moving closer, her face getting distorted and oddly stretched. ‘Pajaran?’

‘You can hear me? Good. Every other time we’ve tried to contact you, something gets in the way.’

‘I think there might have been something blocking it, but that’s been dealt with. Maybe. Or we’re outside of its range. I’m in the Ash, coming out of Setha. With, um, an army. Where are you?’

‘Cormontara. Still. Lots of rumours, so it’s hard to get anyway, and the storms are keeping most ships in port.’

‘Any rumours about a demon army? It would be helpful to know where we’re going!’

‘Are you a captive?’ It was hard to see much through the spell, but Pajaran thought she had seen a sword at Stathis’ hip. ‘What’s going on?’

‘How long does this spell last? Because it will take a while to go through!’

Pajaran looked at Hakara, who flicked a finger, a line of light appearing in front of her, one end slowly fading. It looked like they had a few minutes, at least. ‘I think we’ve got time. Sure you’re not being listened to?’

‘I think it’s safe. You go first.’

‘OK. After all the shit that went down in Per Tolith, then we got dumped out into some monster-filled death pit. Managed to fight our way out of there, then made our way cross-country. There’s a lot of people looking for the Uth Tremari – whatever they’re doing is going loud now, there’s armies of undead getting raised up. They haven’t attacked anyone yet, but having all the graveyards spit up their bodies and then they go marching off is freaking people out. A lot. Even Carissia hasn’t got the energy or power to deal with them all. Brina’s been giving me what she knows, but that’s not much.’

‘Brina’s with you?’

‘Not right now, she’s up at the castle again. They’ve had to try and add all sorts of security to prevent people sneaking in. They caught another of those shapeshifters, took twenty men to bring it down, and then they had to burn it to death.’

‘Shit, there’s more of those things? Had one here, although they got killed. I think? Not around anymore, whatever happened to them. But just fire dealt with them?’

‘It was a lot of fire. And even then they kept trying to heal until they were utterly destroyed. Left beyond weird black dust.’

‘Looked metallic?’

‘Yup.’

‘I think that’s being made from some ancient artefact sword that Janaxia’s mother has gotten hold of from somewhere. She’s breaking it apart somehow? And turning people into those things. I don’t know what they actually are though – they seem damn tough, and the one here could warp through shadows. Is Parth with you, and the others?’

‘Yes. All of us, other than you, Skotadi, Sen and Janaxia, got dumped into the same place. Are the others with you?’

‘We came through together. Skotadi… She got killed by Poratia. Her body was disintegrated.’

‘That sounds bad – are you OK?’

‘I’m OK, Janaxia’s taken it hard. I’m trying to keep her going, but we’ve sort of been side-tracked. There’s going to be an attack from Setha-in-the-Ash, although I still don’t know how.’

‘Setha? But they’re…’

‘Miles from anywhere? Yeah, that’s what I thought. But Zarazonnia seems to have a plan. She’s a demon-queen, about thirty feet long, lower half is a snake and she has six arms. Gets on well with Janaxia.’

‘What?’

Stathis took a deep breath. ‘We ended up in Setha, Janaxia got taken for someone of high rank. Her mother was here as well and working with Zarazonnia. Then everything went to hell, Zarazonnia and Poratia both double-crossed each other. Skotadi went very strange and attacked Poratia as well, and we managed to drive her off and make her teleport away. Skotadi died in battle, and Zarazonnia used the whole thing to secure her own power. She wants to conquer the world, so has been trying to organise Setha to do that, and has managed to get most people under her.’

‘So you’re their prisoner?’

‘No, I’m Janaxia’s bodyguard.’ Stathis sighed again. ‘Zarazonnia is very impressed with me! I think Janaxia’s creepy aura is covering me or something though, so no-one’s asking any awkward questions or thinks I’m anything other than a bodyguard.’

‘Can you sabotage them?’

‘I’d love to try, but Zarazonnia is pretty good at organising things. They’ve got all the rations they needed, she’s even managed to round up wizards to keep their supply lines properly maintained, and she’s threatened, bribed or otherwise convinced them to follow her. I could probably manage to deal with some of the food, but there’s enough it wouldn’t make much difference.’

‘What about Janaxia?’

‘She’s taken Skotadi’s death hard. And is currently being carried everywhere by sedan chair, I think she might like that a little too much. She’s functional, but a bit obsessed with killing her mother. Would have been nice if she’d had that much drive earlier, but better late than never. I don’t know where we’re going or how long until we get there though.’

‘What forces?’

‘Mixed. There’s no regular infantry, but Zarazonnia’s got smiths, wizards and crafters cranking out gear as we go. Lots of heavy infantry and specialist fighters, battle-wizards, quite a lot of summoned demons, very few ranged attacks. They’re geared up for assaults, not for sieges or pitched battles. Skilled fighters though, and with enough strange powers and weapons that they can probably overwhelm a castle if they can get the element of surprise. I’m not sure of precise numbers, but at least three legions and full support staff.’

‘With those kind of numbers, most places don’t stand a chance. Shit.’

‘Yeah. I’ve no idea where we’re going, either. This desert seems to go on forever, and the black sand is quite creepy. It’s like the stuff those metal spikes turn into, metallic and gritty. Blows into my armour and scratching around, and I can’t get the stuff out without taking it all off. Anyway, are you all safe?’

‘I think so. Semari keeps getting bored and going out, but I don’t think there’s any way to stop that, and Vrintar got into some fights at the docks, but nothing serious. Hakara’s been trying to get in contact with you, Parth’s off speaking to elves again. I’m not sure about what.’

‘Try and find out, just in case it’s anything we need to know. There’s been a lot of mentions of the Black Triad, so it wouldn’t be entirely a surprise if the elves are gearing up for war. Any word from Per Tolith?’

‘Still looking for you. And for us. You might want to be careful now that you’re not protected by whatever it was before, in case Carissia shows up.’

‘I’m hoping she has better things to do, and enough sense not to charge in. Zarazonnia would be a match for her by herself, without all of her own guards and everything else. If you can use Brina to channel any information back, try and tell everyone to stay on guard, and don’t launch any attacks. I’ve no idea what I can do from this end, but hopefully something to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. Say “hi” to Brina for me as well.’

‘Will do. Uh, does she know about you and Janaxia? What’s going on with you two now?’

‘I’m trying to keep her from doing anything stupid, mostly. Oh, her weird magical book is some artefact that Poratia was after as well. She doesn’t think she’s under any mental influences, but she’s not really the best at judging that sort of thing herself. She’s physically fine, but pretty hung up on revenge, and I’ve heard her crying to herself at night. She’s a bit of a mess, to be honest. Although pretends to be fine as soon as there’s anyone else around.’

The image started to flicker and waver – the line in front of Hakara was burnt down to almost nothing. ‘I think the spell’s about to fade. We should be able to get through again, but will have to be careful not to get detected.’

‘If I figure out where the hell we’re going, then I’ll try and get word to you as well.’

The image of Stathis suddenly vanished, the water splashing downwards, only some of it falling back into the bowl, the rest falling to the ground. Hakara’s wand fell as well, her attempt at a catch getting fumbled. Kivata scuttled out of the shadows and bent over to pick it up, wiping it clean on her robe before handing it back to Hakara.

‘A demon army? How are they going to get out of Setha?’

Hakara gave her wand another few wipes. ‘Well, large scale transportation magic is possible. But it takes preparation in advance, and several skilled wizards working in conjunction, and there’s the danger of being ambushed on arrival. Per Tolith has the advantage of infrastructure – from what I hear of Setha-in-the-Ash, it is prone to infighting and factionalism.’

‘Guess a giant snake-woman can sort that out? Maybe if she’s eliminated, then the rest will split apart and go home? Although if Stathis says that she’s more powerful that Carissia, then getting rid of her sounds like it might be a problem.’

Wood banged upstairs, making everyone flinch. A cold draught blew through the air, making the candles stutter and flicker, before Semari’s voice sounded out.

‘Hey, you guys around?’ Semari’s face appeared at the top of the cellar stairs, before she took a swig from a beer bottle. ‘Oooo, magic stuff. Manage to get any, like, actual results this time?’

‘Yeah, managed to get through to Stathis. She’s with a demon army.’

‘Really? Huh, Janaxia finally gone full evil-queen then? Parth owns me money.’

‘No, there’s a half-snake woman in charge, or at least that’s what Stathis says. They’re marching through the ash now. She doesn’t know where they’re going, but there’s a lot of fighters.’

‘So, might have to fight a demon army? Sounds crap. Be more interesting than sticking around here though.’ She took another swig, chugging until the bottle was empty. ‘Storms are still up, not many ships are getting through. So we gonna go overland or hide out here?’

‘We’ll wait until Vrintar’s back and then discuss it. Maybe once we know where Stathis is going, then we can arrange to be there.’