The darkness was still present, limiting vision as soon as they stepped outside. The sounds of combat still echoed around, the bodies littering the ground still moving occasionally, everyone taking care to stay away from them for fear of sudden grabs.

Vrintar took the lead despite her injuries, her axe on her shoulder, ready to swing and strike if anything moved towards them. Hakara cast a spell, vanishing from view, Kivata fading as well. She seemed more visible than expected – when Stathis looked, she could see shadowy lines tracing the woman’s movement, fading away and vanishing only when she stopped moving.

A rush of soothing energy washed through her as Pajaran touched her on the shoulder. ‘I’m pretty much tapped out now, so try not to die. Uh, again.’

‘No fear! Let’s just get out of here and then see what the hell is going on.’ The ground shook again, chill wind rushing behind them. ‘I’m just hoping Poratia’s been killed in there. And if she can take whichever other one that was with her, I’m not going to complain.’

‘Ophexia.’

A ghostly voice whispered from over her shoulder, making Stathis twist around before realising that it was Kivata, still shrouded in invisibility.

‘She’s one of the more powerful ones, right?’

‘Yes. She picked her time for betrayal.’ Kivata sounded vaguely mournful. ‘I hope both are deceased.’

‘Certainly would make things easier.’ Stathis had to stride to keep up with Vrintar, Pajaran keeping close. They passed close to a pack of zombies, but they seemed more involved with devouring something or someone, tearing apart an unrecognisable corpse, the reek of gore unpleasant.

Get back, you…

They all froze as Stathis heard Janaxia’s voice in her head, the sounds distant, petering out. Vrintar looked back at her and Stathis nodded. ‘Let’s go, make sure she’s OK.’

The ground beneath them quaked as they moved into a jog, Stathis trying to preserve her stamina, feeling the exertion from her earlier fights wearing at her. Even with healing from Pajaran, she’d still taken a battering!

The gloom didn’t let up even outside of the walls, the open terrain now hard to navigate, without sight of the encampment. Muttered oaths and curses from Janaxia got louder though, giving them some indication of direction, before they came across the outer line of defence. Stathis charged ahead, towards where the tent had been.

The dark mist peeled back, revealing a narrow cylinder of light with Janaxia inside. There was a ragged assembly of undead outside, pressing up against the barrier, the light fading where they pressed against it. Janaxia swung for one, a jet-black blade in her hand. Where it struck, it passed through without resistance, but the creature stiffened and then collapsed to the floor without moving again.

Stathis swung at one from behind, simply slicing through it, feeling meat give way beneath her blade, then finishing it off with a stab to the base of the skull. It managed to groan before sagging downwards, twitching around weakly. Vrintar’s axe sang and battered straight through another, a body torn in half, the torso sliding off and splatting to the ground.

Janaxia stabbed again, blade slicing through a hand that had pushed through the barrier, the dead fingers stopping their twitching.

Oh, so you do remember me? She pushed her hand out, bolts peppering the air. Where they passed through the barrier, their forms grew vague, but they still struck with enough force to propel a zombie backwards.

Stathis shoved another zombie out of the way and then touched her hand against the barrier, willing it to be gone. The golden light felt soft and warm under her touch, popping out of resistance. Janaxia glared at her, emerald eyes narrowing, before gesturing again and smashing a zombie into pieces with a barrage of energy.

‘We need to get out of here.’

The ground shook violently, everyone swaying to try and stay upright.

I would have done if I had not been contained! Without even asking! She gave Stathis another fierce glare before turning to Vrintar. ‘Ah, you have managed to join us. Well, that is probably a story for when we have more time.’ A zombie lunged for her and she delicately twisted to avoid the grab, flicking the shadowy blade in her hands, cutting it across the zombie’s skin. The thing stopped in its tracks, groaning, before teetering backwards and falling to the ground. Pajaran’s mace slammed into its skull, crunching through bone, dull grey brain matter oozing out.

‘Sen, it seems to be safe now.’ If you are going to chase off and leave me behind, you could at least protect those in need.

Sen stepped into sight, her clothing bedraggled, holding a wavey-bladed knife, looking about fearfully.

‘Sorry, Sen. I got carried away with things.’

Hmmmph. Most unsatisfactory. Although I trust that this is my Mother’s doing?

‘Yes. Another of those giant monster-things, and then she drained it of energy.’

Janaxia’s clothing fluttered in a cold wind, making her shiver – it began to change, fur trim appearing around her neck and wrists, some of the patches of bare skin vanishing from sight.

‘Hakara says we need to leave. And not to do anything inter-dimensional, as that might get you killed.’

Duly noted. And Zarazonnia?

‘Not sure. She was fighting with your mother, before everything went to shit. Ophexia was in there as well, I think she was trying to betray Poratia.’ The darkness seemed to be getting thicker, although perhaps the sun was dropping? It was impossible to see the sky, everything hidden in darkness. ‘I’m sorry for sealing you in like that, but you were going weird, there was a lot of ambient magic and I didn’t want you going even more strange. And I wanted to be sure your Mother wasn’t going to abuse you again.’

Hmph.

Janaxia’s response didn’t do much to reassure Stathis.

I will conjure Mavrosa for myself and Sen. I daresay the rest of you will be able to manage. Did you mention Hakara? ‘Vrintar, it is a pleasure to see you again. Despite the circumstances.’ The look she gave Stathis seemed to indicate that it was somehow all Stathis’ fault.

‘Vrintar, do you know where the others might be? Semari was with you, what about Parth and Brina?’

‘Semari got distracted, but I imagine she will have survived. Parth and Brina were going to scout out the area and try and provide support.’

‘So, they should be safe, we just need to find them? Well, Parth can probably find our tracks, unless the ground gives way.’

Hakara’s voice came from shadow-tinted air. ‘Hmmm, well… that is possible, but I would hope that the bedrock would be stable for a little while yet. Although of course it will give way eventually.’

‘Uh, it won’t stop?’

‘It seems likely that it has gathered sufficient energy that it is now meta-stable. It would take quite a lot of focused effort to try and dispel it now. It might fade by itself?’

‘You don’t sound very certain.’

‘Well, it probably won’t… At least not until it has consumed a significant amount of material. A large amount of focused energy could be used to tear the effect apart, probably, but that would take rather more time than we have, and not be practical in the middle of, um, combat.’

‘Just how far away do we need to be to be safe?’

‘Oh, on this plane then the effect is very limited in range. But on the ethereal plane, then the force will be a lot stronger, and passage through to the astral will be very hard, and quite dangerous.’

‘Which plane does Parth go to? Will she be OK?’

‘She travels the ethereal. Although I would hope she has enough experience to sense such things? She seems to have a certain sensitivity to planar movements.’

Janaxia finished her spell, Mavrosa shimmering into existence, mane whipping around before fully materialising. Janaxia mounted up, Sen climbing up behind her.

‘Shall we make a swift exit then? Just in case either Poratia or Ophexia have survived? I would rather not face either of them. Especially if one of them has made the other into a bound servant of some kind.’

Janaxia kicked her heels, spurring Mavrosa forward, moving faster than everyone else, although as soon as she was a short distance she stopped and turned around, waiting for them to catch up. Several people emerged from the fallen-over ruins of a tent – Sethans, but only lightly armed and armoured, looking fearful.

Vrintar readied her axe, before Stathis raised her hand. They spoke to Sen, speaking fast with lots of hand gestures, the harsh-sounding Sethan language, before Sen whispered something to Janaxia.

‘Servants and conscripts. They seek safe passage.’

‘OK.’ Stathis walked closer, looking them over – they had weapons, but didn’t seem entirely sure of how to hold them, and their clothing wasn’t the best suited for combat. They were carrying several bags of what looked like glistening loot, awkwardly trying to hide it from Stathis’ gaze. ‘We’ll try and look after you. I don’t know what’s out there though, so stay close.’

They all bowed deeply, before turning back to Sen and speaking rapidly. Stathis could hear the word “Karhacki” a lot, Janaxia looking smug as she turned to glare at Stathis again. As Sen kept talking, Stathis approached her, having to talk upwards at her.

‘Just to be clear, these aren’t your slaves, and neither is Sen. Nor am I, for that matter!’

Hmph. ‘From what I can gather, they are willing to pledge their allegiance to me as a Karhacki. It seems little different than swearing allegiance to a liege lord, in truth, although I am expected to expend more effort on their upkeep. But as their previous supplier of sustenance has been eliminated, then it seems only courteous to offer them at least some protection.’

‘They don’t look likely to betray us or anything, I guess. And it looks like they were smart enough to grab some valuables on the way out, which will help.’

Well, I wouldn’t want my sla… servants to be less than smart. They also have some travel supplies and food, which should make this travel somewhat easier, I hope. At the least, if we are spared Parthenelle’s attempts at food, that is to be welcomed, is it not?

From somewhere behind them came a loud crack, stone splintering, something heavy falling to the ground.

‘Sen, can you keep an eye on them? Make sure they know to stay together and that we won’t hurt them or anything?’

Sen dipped her head, although her position on the back of the horse, above Statis, made it seem rather less a gesture of respect. ‘Yes, Lady Stathis. I will ensure there are no incidents.’ She smiled, showing off her fangs, before turning back to the others, barking several commands at them. Stathis winced, hoping she hadn’t unleashed a monster, the servants shuffling together, forming up around Mavrosa, both Sen and Janaxia now looking smug.

‘Everybody, stay together! Vrintar, you’re up front, Hakara and Kivata, stay in the centre, I’ll take the rear.’

They started to move forward, with some awkward shuffling as Hakara and Kivata joined the central group, still invisible, the Sethans shying away until the spell was dropped and the two wizards appeared. After a brief flurry of respectful bows, they started to move again, Vrintar loping ahead.

They managed a brisk pace, Stathis trusting Vrintar’s navigation to at least get them away. With the darkness lingering, Stathis couldn’t see much more than a small bubble of surrounding terrain, scrubby grass and bushes, without even animal tracks.

Pajaran dropped back, walking along with Stathis, mace in hand. ‘Any plans?’

‘Right now? Try not to die, get away from here and figure out what’s going on. And hope that whatever just happened doesn’t get any worse. It’d be nice to get away from this darkness as well! Can’t even tell what time of day it is.’

‘That looked pretty major, whatever it was.’

‘Yup. At least Janaxia didn’t get dragged into it this time, although she’s going to be grumpy about getting shoved away again. Having some people to look after might help. Although Sen looks like she might be getting a bit much into it.’ Ahead of them, Sen snapped her fingers at one of them that had drifted slightly away from the group, herding them back into position. ‘I think she likes having underlings herself. Well, as long as she doesn’t bully them too much.’

They managed a brisk pace for several hours, the only interruption a sudden growl, followed by the thwack of Vrintar’s axe into meat, before anyone else even had time to react. As they progressed onwards, there was the corpse of an owlbear, head smashed in, body still twitching. The Sethans murmured in admiration, looking at the bulky corpse as they moved past it, into a copse of trees.

Stathis heard a rustle behind herself and whirled, sword in hand. Something grabbed it, twisting it from her hand, a hand slapping against her breastplate.

‘Whoa! Twitchy much?’

It was Semari, now holding Stathis’ sword, careful to pinch it between her fingers and keep her hand away from the edge.

‘You managed to make it out then?’

‘Yeah. Had to, like, punch out a load of dudes and monsters. Wasn’t able to break Janaxia’s sister’s arm either. Hey, Janaxia! Which one was that?’

Janaxia didn’t turn around as she responded. Ophexia. A powerful foe, to be sure. A shame you were not able to maim her.

‘Yeah, that one. Everything was kinda falling apart, so I booked it. Found Parth as well.’

Leaves rustled close by, Stathis raising her hand to acknowledge Parth before taking her sword back from Semari. ‘And Brina?’

‘The traveller endures.’

Brina stepped out from behind a tree – her braids were dishevelled, the bells grimy, hair tangled up with leaves and grass caught between the beads, her clothing ragged and tattered.

She moved toward Stathis, grinning broadly and then hugging her, face looking up at her. ‘Damn, good to see you! So, you survivin’ then?’

‘Just about. Shouldn’t you be in Cormontara?’

‘Eh, I figured you might need the help more. Plus, Cormontara was locked down, nothin’ going in or out, so couldn’t do much there. Figured you could use some help. Wasn’t expectin’ somethin’ like this though. All kinds of crazy shit.’

Semari was staring at Brina, then at Janaxia, now sat stiff-backed on her horse, having slowed down.

‘Please tell me you’re not betting on something?’

Semari shrugged and smiled. ‘Couldn’t say, would ruin it! Anyway, how much shit we in? Sky’s gone a bit crappy. Did Poratia manage to destroy the sun?’

‘No! Uh, at least I don’t think so. Hakara, what’s going on with the darkness? Any idea how far it might stretch?’

‘I’m not sure. It has already exceeded what I expected! When we make camp, then myself and Kivata can conduct some tests. That it is still here shows that whatever effect Poratia was conjuring is still empowered. Which is, um, not good.’

‘Let’s keep going until we find somewhere safe, then we can rest up and discuss what the hell is going on, and where we’re going.’

Brina detached herself from Stathis, but stayed close by, her shoulders touching against Stathis’ breastplate as they walked onwards, through increasingly steep hills and slopes.