When Raelea awoke on her fourth day in this realm she immediately bounced up and began her morning exercises, mid lunge she realised she was free. She’d trained obsessively for more than five turnings her every waking moment spent improving herself so she could prevail over the false god. Now she had and that was both a happy feeling and slightly uncomfortable at the same time because she had to ask herself, what next?

Her movements slowed, surely she was allowed to relax now? Slow her training and just enjoy living for a short while?

She inhaled sharply as something that felt exactly like her old master’s cane cracked across the back of her legs.

“Ow! Alright, alright, I can take a hint.” She went back to her exercises.

As the sun headed toward noon Corvus arrived with a muted crackle that left the air charged and smelling of thunder.

She kept practising her small castings as he wandered over and leaned on a wall, repeating the motions precisely again and again.

He said, “Still training? I’d have thought you’d be done by now.”

“One: a witch who doesn’t train is a witch who is destined to fail.” She walked over and lifting her skirt slightly motioned to the backs of her legs, she said, “And two: I was just reminded of that by something with a strong interest in our aims.”

Corvus looked with interest at the red stripes across the back of her calves, “You were whipped? By who? And who have you told about our agreement? The more who know the greater our danger.”

“I’ve told no one and that is also who whipped me.”

Looking puzzled Corvus said, “Go on. But I begin to wonder if I may have made a mistake, the mentally touched are not good conspirators.”

Fixing him with a filthy look she said, “The same no one who sent me here. I assume you know witches, some of your comments tell me you have experience with us. So you know witches have sources of knowledge other people do not. Those sources are meddlesome, troublesome and quite willing to punish or push there chosen witch to further their goals.”

“I know witches often know far more than you should but I didn’t realise they were treated like misbehaving children by the sources of that information, or perhaps that is just you?” he said, with a smirk.

Raelea heaved a sigh, “I’m glad I can provide amusement. You said you would be coming back in another day, did something happen or did you just come back to annoy me?”

“Why not both? But seriously I found somewhere perfect for you much faster than I’d expected. It’s a small farm far from any active worksite, abandoned and forgotten a few turnings ago due to pestilence.”

Concerned she asked, “Pestilence?”

“A disease that only affected hooved beast. You and Pif will be safe but your horse will need to be sent elsewhere, the illness abides in the soil for over a hundred turnings.”

She shrugged and said, “Not a problem for us, I can either cleanse the pestilence or protect Horse.”

Nodding Corvus said, “Hmm, protecting your horse would be better. If the deer who roam freely throughout the land stop falling ill, it may be noticed.”

“Makes sense. We want to keep as low a profile as possible and avoid being noticed.”

Corvus said, “You certainly do. I told him that Pif had been seen and his immediate reaction was to tell me to capture him so he could cut Pif apart to see how well the alterations he’d made took.”

Voice sharp Raelea said, “Why would you tell him!?”

“Because sooner or later you and Pif will be seen by someone or something that will report it to him, this land is lousy with Valard’s experiments and his watchers. By telling him he left Pif’s capture in my hands and oops what a shame I can’t quite manage it.” He grinned. “More than that Valard becomes obsessively focused on any new experiment and he is currently in the midst of one, he may not even remember I told him Pif was here.”

“Hmm, I don’t like it but I’ll have to trust you. Where’s this farm?”

“Toward the coldlands, far to the north and only just within Valard’s lands. Just this side of the writhing wall that marks the northern boundary.”

Frowning Raelea said, “Writhing wall? What’s that?”

“A chasm, a dozen manlengths wide and nobody knows how deep because the dead still dig it ever deeper. It is both punishment and protection, any Fae who break the rules are killed and their bodies sent to the wall where they dig until they fall apart.”

“That seems gruesome. They’re not dangerous are they?”

“Only if you enter the chas-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as a green missile squealing with happiness slammed into him. “Hello Pif, how are you.”

Raelea said, “He says ‘Hi good-good, you stay?’”

“Sorry Pif I can’t. Lots of things for me to do but I’ll visit lots once you're at your new place.”

He looked thoughtful for a minute, then smiled widely before grabbing Corvus’ hand and tugging on it. Letting go he ran around the fence and started shoving Raelea toward Horse.

Growling at the overexcited Goblin she said, “Hang on, I have to pack our stuff. You like the sleepy-furs don’t you?”

His ears dropped to half-mast, he kicked at the ground then made an impatient shooing motion before he leaned against one of the barns beams tapping his foot with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

Raelea said, “Well I guess I better get packed up and moving, otherwise his face is going to freeze that way.”

Pif looked at her in wide eyed shock for a moment before he scowled again and shook his finger at her as she laughed. She was still chuckling as she quickly rolled up her robe and sleeping pad and loaded it onto the horse.

As she walked back past him she picked up and loaded the still scowling Goblin onto the horse, he broke into a huge smile as she did so and started bouncing in excitement.

Horse grumbled discontentedly.

Raelea said, “Settle down or Horse will throw you, again.”

Pif froze, then very very carefully and gently patted Horse on the neck.

Corvus said, “Right then, can the horse handle strange circumstances. It’ll take more than a tenday to get to get there just by riding so I’d prefer to teleport.”

“Horse will be fine, I’ll tell him to expect something strange and keep talking to him.”

“A useful skill that, I don’t often use a horse because they quite reasonably never get used to the oddities in my life. About to port us in three, two, one, now!”

After a period of brilliant light, a feeling of almost but not quite painful static pops and crackles and the strangest and unpleasant feeling of being elongated and disturbingly liquid, they appeared in front of a small but very well built cottage.

The yard in front was cleared and gravelled though small weeds poked through here and there, there were half a dozen outbuildings around it and overgrown fields stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction.

Raelea said, “Horse is fine, but I’m not sure about me. You travel like that regularly? Are you mad man? I’m certain if you weren’t before if you do that enough you would be. By the Unmentioned’s Frozen Realm that was the strangest thing I’ve ever felt.”

Smirking Corvus said, “Never said I was sane, now did I?”

“True, you never did. Perhaps I should have checked before agreeing to overthrow a deeply entrenched ages old ruling class with you. Now that I put it like that, maybe I’m not sane either so you’re in excellent company at east.”

“Well sane or not I have duties I must attend to and I’m sure you and Pif would like the opportunity to explore the farm. I will return in a couple of days.”

A quick hug from Pif later, a streaked afterimage and he was gone.

Raelea filled and settled Horse’s nosebag before ‘suggesting’ he stay put then said, “Well come on Pif, lets go take a look around and see what’s where.”

Hoof marks still showed in the dirt of the yards and around most of the buildings, while inside the smell of dung and beasts still lingered. Most of the buildings would be useless to her being shelter for the long gone beasts so she didn’t even really bother checking them too closely just a quick peek to make certain nothing troublesome was in there.

A large barn that smelled of summer and hay had stalls for horses. Clearing a patch of floor in the loft out of the way she laid out a ritual, anchoring it to the door between the barn and the yard outside. Every time Horse passed through he would be cleansed of pestilence.

Behind the cottage she found an badly overgrown and neglected kitchen garden and a stone -lined doorway that led down into a rootcellar of raw and unfinished earth that smelled like it.

The instant they walked in Pif sent, “My room! Out-out, mine.”

Chuckling and shaking her head she left him to it as he rushed off to find bedding materials, returning in minutes with an armful of sweet smelling fresh grass while she inspected the outside of her new cottage. Whitewashed walls of thick mudbrick and a roof of faded dusty looking thatch.

Opening the door she discovered that as she walked inside it already felt right, it felt welcoming, comfortable, homey.

There were only three rooms, a kitchen with a large wall filling fireplace, sleeping room with a padded floor and a Fae bathing room, the last a very welcome discovery. She could have made one and probably would have but the hangover of that was very unpleasant. She snorted. She’d come a long way from the girl who found a dip in the waters of the lake once a moon or so to be enough, a warm bathing pool and a self-cleaning toilet were the absolute minimum she’d accept now.

A few small castings and the cottage was cleaned, vermin free and fit for habitation.

Laying out her robe in the sleeping room she made sure to leave enough space for Pif, having no doubt he’d join her as soon as the novelty of his own room wore off.

Dusk was closing in, the ritual had taken a good portion of the afternoon to put in place so she’d just put up some temporary wards tonight and gather the materials for the permanent ones tomorrow. She’d also worry that Aignew still hadn’t returned tomorrow, she was beginning to think he may not return at all. Or was that hope that he wouldn’t? She felt a twinge as something twisted deep within herself at the disloyal thought. She shook it off.

Wards set, she ate, laid down in her robe and drifted off to sleep, already feeling more comfortable than she had in her tent of hides.

Much later her ward triggered and she was wide awake, her Implement warm upon her chest as the protections and enhancements activated in response to the ward’s warning. Without making a sound or moving she felt the icy burn of corruption as she cast a charm of scrying, silent casts used much more magic but she didn’t want to warn whatever it was that had triggered her wards that she was awake.

There was a dark shape circling outside her wards, testing them, finding their limits.

The shape stopped, it’s head lifted and she could feel a gaze fix itself on her through the wards.

A chill voice whispered in her mind, “Let me in my witch, I am returned.”