It was far darker than it should be been, the sunlight little more than a twilight-hint. There was no hope for any organisation, the cries from close by nevertheless out of sight. Stathis knew she had moved over the bridge into the castle from the feel of it on her feet, but that was about it.

A wraith shot past her, and she managed to land a glancing blow on it before it vanished from sight.

‘Semari!’ Her cry was lost in the hubbub, a stone wall coming into view. That gave her at least some orientation – she’d made it through the gateway, and was now somewhere to the left-hand side of the entrance.

Movement flickered, a blade swinging, shouts ringing out and she moved towards that. It was a furious scrum, undead and soldiers and Sethans all fighting, no hope of any strategy, just a simple attempt to survive.

Stathis thrust her shield at a soldier, knocking him down as a ghostly form lunged where he had been. Before it could vanish from view, she sliced at it, a portion of ghostly robe fading. As it hissed at her, several motes of fire smacked into it, tearing and blasting more holes through the ethereal body. Where was Sen? She caught a glimpse of retreating silks, heading back to the camp, hopefully safer there.

‘Everyone! Deal with the undead first!’ One of the soldiers attacked her, and she took their blow on her shield before shoving him back, trying to knock him off-balance. ‘The undead will definitely kill you, the rest only might!’ When he attacked her again, she couldn’t block properly, wincing as the sword hit into her pauldron, metal taking the impact but warping under the force.

‘Stop!’ The barked command came from close by, Pajaran’s mace slamming into an armoured head, the wearer taking a dazed step and slumping downwards. The soldier that Stathis had been fighting froze in place for a second, giving Stathis the chance to shoulder-barge him and knock him over.

A Sethan whirled, half-attacking her before recognising her, a look of surprise flashing over his face.

‘Try and keep everyone alive! More bodies means more things trying to kill everyone.’ She moved to block an attack aimed at Pajaran, slapping at another Sethan with the flat of her sword. ‘Go fight the undead!’

She moved back-to-back with Pajaran, glad of some cover.

‘Where did you come from?’

‘Brynwiloch – some elven ruins. Where the hell is this?’

‘I’m not sure – north-east of the ocean, nowhere near anything, as far as I can tell. But there’s weird magic going on, and Janaxia’s acting up again.’

‘She’s not that snake-demon is she?’

They moved in unision, Pajaran blocking an attack, Stathis cutting back and slicing an arm off, then ducking to let Pajaran obliterate the head and chest with a single strike.

‘No! She’s not transformed, just been odd. Skotadi died as well, which isn’t helping. Poratia killed her.’

‘Fuck, that probably would hit hard.’

‘Yeah. How did you get here?’

‘Weird magical portal. One of Janaxia’s siblings was there – Ophexia, I think?’

‘Shit, she’s one of the stronger ones. And Poratia’s here, she’s caused this darkness.’ It seemed to be getting thicker, dense mist surrounding them, cutting off visibility to a terrifying few paces, anything further beyond simply chaotic noise. ‘Are the others all with you?’

‘Yeah. We were hoping to get to you sooner. Sounds like you’ve had a hell of a journey?’

‘Yeah! Setha-in-the-Ash, for starters. And then here, wherever “here” is. There’s an old wizard here, so he’s probably got something hidden away – he was able to throw up a protective aura that kept the Sethans out.’

‘So where’s Janaxia?’

With someone to watch her back, it was easier to move through the countless tiny scrums and melees, trying to shove fighters away from each other without killing them.

‘I left her in a warding circle at the camp, as she was going odd. Again. I don’t know how much is magical stuff, and how much is Skotadi! Or just being in Setha. They treat her like royalty there. Sen’s now her head maid or servant or something!’

‘So what the hell do we do now?’

Stathis heard a loud slithering, Zarazonnia’s tail lashing into sight for a moment before fading back into the darkness. ‘Zarazonnia’s pretty intent on capturing this place, but I don’t know why. She’s too powerful to defeat in a fight, and so is Poratia. Whatever the hell this spell of hers is doing it almost certainly bad news. Hakara might be able to tell us more – do you know where she is?’

‘We got split up in the darkness. She mumbled something about the magic here, but I’ve no idea what she was talking about.’

‘It sounds like she might have some idea, at least! About all we can do down here is try to keep as many people alive as possible.’

They barrelled into the middle of a fight, slamming the sides apart, Pajaran’s mace smacking against armour, as Stathis tried to knock down as many Sethans as possible.

‘Is it just me, or is it getting colder?’ Pajaran uttered a quick prayer, Stathis feeling power sliding over her, helping to guide her movements.

‘I think so?’ A chill was starting to penetrate through her armour, more obvious around her face, where the helm let air in. ‘More magic stuff! Dammit, we need to know what’s going on.’

The two of them moved together, the air noticeably cooling now – her armour was keeping her warm for now, but if the chill started to penetrate, then it would slow her movements. The lightly-dressed Sethans were affected already, breath wisping in the air.

‘Reckon it might drive the snake-demon into hibernation?’

‘I don’t think so? I’ve seen Zarazonnia conjure up flames, so she can probably manage.’

‘First-name terms?’

‘Don’t ask! She thinks I’m Janaxia’s bodyguard. Not quite as awkward as when we met one of her brothers. If he’d asked me to take me helmet off, I’d have been screwed.’

With the darkness all around them, it was impossible to tell how the battle was going – the sounds of violence still rang out, but that was all that Stathis could tell. It made the pace of combat very jarring – it was impossible to move from fight to fight without being able to see them, instead each confrontation was then followed by an uneasy calm as they tried to find the next one.

A humanoid shape shrugged out of the darkness, wearing plain armour, face covered by a helm. They paused, looking at Stathis, the sword in their hand held ready before they suddenly attacked. They moved with a burst of speed, Stathis only just able to block, the strike far stronger than it should have been.

When Pajaran tried to counterattack, they dodged backwards before leaping back in, drawing a knife in their other hand. Their movements forced Pajaran and Stathis apart, and she glanced over at Pajaran. ‘Keep it simple?’

‘Always!’

Pajaran led, a massively powerful and telegraphed swing with her mace. As the attacker stepped into the opening, Stathis stepped to the side, out of their vision before stepping in herself. Her blade slid onto metal armour as she attacked as strongly as she could, feeling armour splinter under the strike, before she slid to the side, trying to hit their neck.

Their body shifted, somehow evading the attack partway-through, leaving Stathis over-balanced and swaying with one leg far further forward than the other. Their head turned a full three quarters of the way around to look at her, skin melting and warping like hot wax.

Pajaran tried to hit them with her mace again but they stepped inside the arc, taking a hit from the shaft. It was close-in fighting, Stathis unable to use her sword properly, but they moved so fast that letting them have any space was even more dangerous, and might allow them to retreat. They fought in stoic silence, except for grunts of effort as they were worn down.

Stathis blocked a sword-strike, but then the dagger flashed forward, aiming up at her armpit. Just in time, she twisted aside, off-balance again, barely able to stay standing and with her defences open. Someone ran past her, metal clanging under another impact, the attacker staggering backwards.

Pajaran took the chance to attack again as Stathis recovered herself, to see Semari blitzing forward with a rush of attacks, spinning to add extra force to her punches before jumping in the air and dropping her leg down onto them, heel smashing into armour which shattered under the force of the impact.

As they staggered back in a daze, Stathis made her sword glow with sunlight and thrust it forward, stabbing through splintering armour, feeling the shock of impact with flesh. They coughed and gargled, their body rippling, shrinking and expanding, before they sagged, head lolling to one side.

Semari chopped her hand into the side of their neck, breaking the bones, making their head hang at a disturbing angle.

‘It’s, like, best to be sure, right? Even if this one heals, that’ll keep ‘em down a while. Anyway, where have you been? Off relaxing somewhere?’

‘Long story! Good to see you. Now let’s try to stay alive.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Worst case, I’m on team snake-lady, she looks badass. Six arms! You fought her yet? Wait, it’s not, like, ultra-Janaxia is it? She shed her skin and learned how to fight?’

‘No, it’s not! She’s stuck in a warding circle. Or at least I hope she is, at least there she’s out of the way.’

‘Cool. So, like, snake-demon-queen, Janaxia’s mom was floating around up there, it looked like some other wizards in here, anything else to worry about?’

‘There’s probably something nearby that everyone wants to get hold of. Which would probably be very bad if they did get hold of.’

‘Oooo, secret lair! Parth’s already ghosted for the day, otherwise she’d be able to drop down there – although I don’t know where she’s gone.’ She looked upwards at the darkness. ‘Even for her, shooting anything in this might be hard!’ The figure on the ground groaned, Semari leaning down and using both fists to launch a series of brutal-sounding punches, armour shattering, meaty squelching sounds coming out, before bone cracked. ‘Stathis, do, like, the glowy thing and finish him off.’

She took her sword and carefully placed it against the thing’s neck, before using her power, sliding it forward. As soon as the sword started to glow, then the resistance of the flesh faded, the blade easily sliding forward. Their struggles faded, then stopped, a rancid stench filling the air. Strange, bloody-black goop was flowing out from the corpse, all of them taking a step back.

‘See, that’s proper eldritch, is what that is. Need to get Janaxia to soak up their magic or whatever she’s doing. So, now what?’

‘Why are you asking me!?’

‘You’re the leader, and now you’re, like here! It’s no fun just beating up random monsters.’ Semari twisted on a heel, gracefully evading a sudden axe-swing from a Sethan, before she jumped into a somersault kick, her heel colliding with his chin and knocking him backwards. He slammed to the ground, struggling to get up for a moment before Semari glared down at him, and he decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed down.

‘We need to find whatever this place is protecting. It’s probably beneath us, so there must be an entrance inside. We need to get there before Zarazonnia and definitely before Poratia.’

‘See? That’s the spirit. Pajaran, be more like her.’ Semari turned to Stathis, ignoring Pajaran’s offended look. ‘She’s too polite. Keeps, like, letting people have opinions. Can see why you ended up in charge. Think there’s an entrance over here.’

Before Stathis could stop her, she had jumped away, vanishing from sight. Stathis sighed and looked at Pajaran, who shrugged. ‘Hey, you’re the leader, she’s part of your adventuring company.’

Stathis moved in the same direction Semari had gone, glad to quickly find another wall, following it around until she found a door, hanging off its hinges – probably punched open by Semari. Inside, it was a kitchen, things were still relatively ordered, the place not yet ransacked or destroyed by fighting, although it was dark and gloomy.

Pajaran drew closer to her. ‘I can’t see a damn thing in here!’

Stathis looked around, every dull and grainy in the low light, but she could see a lantern on a table. It took a few tries to light it, but it shed a wan light, colour appearing. Pajaran stowed her shield on her back, carrying the lantern in her off-hand as they advanced again.

The sounds of wood getting broken, metal hinges tearing apart, made Semari’s presence easy to find. Were the doors even locked? Whatever chaos was happening outside was keeping everyone distracted though, the soldiers all fighting, rather than inside the castle.

‘Hey! This way!’

Semari’s voice came from somewhere out of sight, up and ahead – a narrow and twisting stairwell, that Stathis took as fast as she could, her shield scraping the wall, not wanting to get trapped here in case of attackers coming the other way. The lantern only just illuminated the confined space, grey stone twisting up around and ahead of her, before opening out onto a landing. Semari’s voice came from ahead of her.

‘Over here! It’s full of, like, wizard shit, so this is probably the place.’

In a more open space, the lantern only lit the space directly around them, as they passed through what had been a large and impressive-looking door, now rather pathetically hanging off a hinge. A runic inscription on the floor wanly flickered at them as they passed, Stathis feeling a staticky sensation passing over her skin, something trying to ward her, and failing.

Stathis looked around – it was an archetypal wizard’s chamber, with strange shapes of metal slowly rotating and twisting, odd symbols carved onto the walls, a few of them making Stathis’ eyes move away before she could properly perceive them.

There was a crashing sound, following by soft flutterings and scrapings, as several rolls of parchments moved into view.

‘Are you just tearing the shelves down?’

‘Seems the quickest way! There’s probably a hidden entrance, right? There normally is, and it’s not like we know the guy or anything!’

‘She’s got a point.’ Pajaran put the lantern down and went to a heavy-looking set of shelves, full with magical ornaments, strangely-coloured rocks and shards of metal, then started to pull it over. Stathis went to help, grabbing the other side, heaving in time with her. It was securely attached to the wall, but she could feel the resistance changing with each yank, until something popped free and the unit came free of the wall. All the ornaments fell to the floor, Stathis wincing at the sounds of things cracking and breaking. Behind it, there was only bare wall.

‘Well, next one then.’

They moved around the room, pulling at each set of shelves in turn, hearing more sounds of crashing from close by, Semari doing the same.

‘Hey, I think I found it!’ There was a zapping sound, and Semari yelped it pain. ‘Oww! Asshole wizard. Well, it’s definitely something being protected.’

They moved towards Semari’s voice, finding her stood next to another bookcase. She had a finger extended to poke it, a glowing blue circle illuminating her face. When she pushed her finger a little bit further forward, a spark of lighting shot out zapping her finger and make her arm jolt and judder around.

Stathis drew her sword again and cut at the shelf. As her sword neared it, lightning flared out, striking down the blade. She felt it tingle at her, make her heart judder, but she kept going, chopping at the wood, aiming for the centre of the runes. It took several attacks, but the blue glow faded with each she landed, the shocks getting weaker each time, until it blinked out entirely.

As soon as she had done that, Semari stepped forward and grabbed at a shelf, Pajaran doing the same on the other side. Something metal cracked out of sight, groaning and clicking as they pulled on the wood. Stathis dug her fingers in as much as she could and pulled as well, the whole thing giving way with a sudden crack, all three of them staggering backwards, suddenly holding the shelving unit up, before casting it aside.

Behind it there was a dark passageway, cutting deep into naked rock. A chill air rushed past them from below, Semari visibly shivering.

‘At least snake-lady can’t get down here. Unless she can, like, shrink. Can she do that, Stathis?’

‘I don’t think so. But she does have wizards under her command, so let’s get a move on. And hope that Poratia doesn’t make her way down here.’

Semari hung back to let Stathis lead the way, down into the narrow tunnel. It dove steeply down, just about wide enough for a single person, the roof knocking against Stathis’ helmet if she wasn’t careful to duck her head. The air was getting noticeably colder the further in they went, Semari’s breath misting in the lantern light.

It was quiet, the only sound that of their own footsteps, the passageway moving in a steep and narrow spiral downwards – they must be quite far beneath the surface by now, but probably still beneath the castle itself.

It started to open up, the passage widening from a single-person width to something that would let four or more people stand abreast. A deep darkness loomed ahead of them, the passageway opening up even more.

Pajaran moved up close to Stathis, even Semari hanging back as Pajaran whispered. ‘What is it?’

Stathis squinted into the darkness – she thought she could see something there, hanging in the darkness? A pale shape, roughly humanoid?

They moved forward with more cautiousness now, the lantern soon finding the edge of the passage, cutting suddenly off into a drop, although a rope walkway had been erected, swaying in the cold wind, suspended from nails bashed into the rock.

They were on the same level as a suspended giant, barbed chains wrapped into pallid flesh, gouging out black blood, slowly tricking down the over-sized body. The whole thing was suspended, arms outstretched, legs bound together by the barbed chain, a metal muzzle-helmet where the head would be. It was utterly silent, save for a soft liquid plop as the black ichor flowed down the body.