Alek wasn’t sure what she had been expecting from the inside of the cave, but it hadn’t been this. They had built the inside upon and moulded to look similar to an upper-class manor house in Mabristan. They had covered the walls in the same velvety wallpaper from the Valcari Manor, in shades of red and gold. Gaslights popped out from black scallop-shaped holders in the walls, casting the large entryway before them in golden light.

The ceiling is was truly grasped Alek’s attention. A thick pane of glass sectioned off the more modern aspects from the visible stalactites that hung down, dripping water that rolled to the edges off the glass into glass gutters and taken elsewhere.

Val looked right at home, wandering in front of the group with her hands deep in her pockets. Her aviator glasses were pushed up into her hairline, her orange-gold eyes fully on display. Alek stayed a few paces behind, body tense and jumping at shadows. Finn stayed close by her side, ready to reassure her whenever she felt unease.

Val marched towards a set of large double doors, running her hand down the intricate carving in the dark wood before giving them a shove open.

Hundred of people inhabited what appeared to be a ballroom. They twirled as they danced together in pairs or groups, effortless and elegant as they easily avoided one another. They were heavily clad in finery, intricate waistcoats and dresses, frilly shirts and capes. Alek felt completely out of place in her now battered suit and greying shirt. She pulled Val back before she could go on any further.

“We look suspicious as hell,” she hissed.

Val shrugged, entering regardless and digging through a barrel at the side of the door. Alek started to chide her but was stopped short by Val shoving a mask into her chest.

“Here, put that on,” she said, eyeing Raelyn and Finn’s attire as she passed each a mask, “oh, you’ll definitely stand out. Right, let’s see what we can do.”

Val pulled them back from the ballroom, back into the entryway. She felt along the walls, running her hands over the velvet, tracing the patterns. She stopped suddenly, pressing at a part of the wall that at been rubbed away at to where the velvety covering had worn away and darkened.

The wall popped backwards, Val pushing it the rest of the way and sliding it to the side. She turned back and grinned triumphantly towards the group.

“How did you know that that was there?” asked Raelyn sceptically, her mask hanging by her side.

“Never mind that,” Val waved away the question, “do you wish to be caught?”

“Well… no. We’ve come this far.”

“Exactly. Now get in.”

The secret door opened to another corridor, built in the same fashion as the entryway, albeit far narrower. Dark wooden doors lined the thin passageway, with the same scallop lights set between each one.

Val guided them through, counting the doors as she passed before ducking into one. Alek’s stomach was in knots. She didn’t like how familiar Val was with the place, despite how it seemed to work in their favour. Ultimately, she didn’t know the woman outside of the few handouts of information she had offered on her own terms.

Val rummaged through lines of clothes, once hung meticulously, now in disarray. She threw a selection at Finn, moving onto the next line in a flash. Alek watched as the shorter woman tore through the racks like a tiny tornado, causing chaos in its wake. She flung clothes in the general direction of the trio, Alek straining to grab them mid-air before they dropped.

“Is this really necessary?” asked Alek, deadpan as she caught a shirt before it hit her face. Val’s only response was tossing another garment in her general vicinity. “Val, seriously?”

“This is high society,” Val stopped in her actions, rolling her eyes, “you’ve been sleeping in those clothes for far too long. If you want your boss back, you need to infiltrate.”

“Can’t you just… pick something and go? We have masks, I’m sure it’s fine.”

Val huffed, muttering something that sounded like ‘kids these days’ as she pulled out the remaining pieces she deemed worthy and send them off to change.

They regrouped in the main entry hall yet again, freshened to Val’s standards. Alek wasn’t sure why she had been forced to change. The clothes that Val had given her were like what she had on already, although clean and paired with a black shirt instead of white. Raelyn stretched, unhappy with the restraints of her clothing.

“I can’t fight in this,” she noted, picking at the golden buttons on her dark blue waistcoat, “this is entirely impractical.”

“People used to fight in this all the time,” huffed Val as she straightened out Finn’s tie - what Val insisted was a cravat, although Alek couldn’t care less. “Quit whining.”

Alek, Raelyn and Finn had matched, more or less. Whether that was Val’s idea was something else entirely. They each had their own colour scheme: red, blue and green respectfully, filling in the colours of the Akeldaman flag. Alek had half expected Val to follow along, although wasn’t surprised when Val had emerged in leather trousers and a frilly shirt pulled together at the wrists before billowing out again.

With one last look over each other, Val finally pleased, they donned their masks.

Alek was pleased to find that her half-moon shaped mask covered the scarring that covered half her face, matching Finn’s which covered his facial markings. They shared a look of exasperation before returning to the ballroom.

Guards now stood by the door at the inside of the entrance, and Alek’s chest filled with dread. She knew that guards and Val didn’t fraternise if the prison break had shown her anything. Alek’s grip tightened on her sword. Val confidently sauntered through with the trio hot at her heels, tilting her head back to acknowledge the far taller guards.

“Aron, Dmitri,” she nodded at each.

“My Thane,” they answered, bowing their heads and letting them past.

Alek narrowed her eyes and ambushed Val on the staircase leading onto the ballroom floor. She grabbed the other marwaid by the arm and spun her around, seething.

“Val,” she hissed, “I think it’s time for answers.”

“And answers you may have,” grinned Val, gesturing to the surrounding room, “welcome to my home.”

“Who are you?”

“All in due course. I think the anticipation will be worth it.”

Alek narrowed her eyes, standing firm. Val rolled her eyes, brushing off Alek’s hand.

“Come on now, that’s no way to treat a host,” grinned Val, barring her two sets fangs, “there’s someone I’d like you to meet. I think she has the answers you seek.” Alek huffed, but said no more. She ushered Val forward, but Val only tutted. “Aleksilkandrin, don’t be rude. Enjoy the amenities. Have a drink or two. I’ll take you to the Queen when she’s ready to see you when she’s not… ah as irritated to see me.”

With that Val took her leave, weaving through the waltzing pairs and getting lost in the forest of bodies. Alek grit her teeth and looked back at the remaining members of the group.

“What the hell do we do now?” she asked; deflated and disappointed by the outcome that should have surprised nobody.

“Blend in, I guess,” said Finn, tugging at his sleeves, “I don’t think she’s left us with a better option.”

Alek put a hand on his arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture, “we’ll find him, Finn, I promise.”

With no other choice, the trio took to the floor. The dancers stopped for no one, moving obstacles in the way of their goals. They moved like gears, perfect interlocking movements that made up the beating heart of a machine. Finn moved fluidly between them, guiding the two women through the flowing movements of the dancing couples. Alek shuffled and tripped over her own feet, out of place in the atmosphere. She had never been to a dance before. She regretted that it had to be here that she had her first.

She held on tightly to Finn and Raelyn’s hands, forming a link as they weaved their way to the refreshments on the side of the room.

The buffet that had been laid out had thankfully been mostly vacant, besides three others who stood on the opposite side. Alek crinkled her nose at the spread.

“What the hell is any of this?” she asked. She picked up a dark, round thing that may have been rubber.

“Volcanic eggs,” sniffed Raelyn, “I think? Try one, I dare you.”

Alek snickered, passing an egg each to Finn and Raelyn, “only if you guys do it with me.”

“Oh no,” laughed Finn, “you can’t drag me into your dumbassery.”

“You’re on,” grinned Raelyn, “count of three?”

Finn rolled his eyes but started the countdown, the three of them biting down into the dark brown egg. A thick sauce filled Alek’s mouth, sticky and incredibly sweet. She held back a gag and swallowed the rest, tactfully getting rid of the half-eaten egg.

“Luka, that’s got a kick,” swallowed Raelyn with a grimace.

“You’re such a pansy,” laughed Finn as Raelyn shot him a glare, “fire wielder, remember? That doesn’t affect me.”

“That,” started Alek, as she felt ready to vomit, “that was gross.”

“Can’t take the heat?” mocked Finn.

“It’s so fucking sweet.”

Finn raised an eyebrow, mouth attempting to form a question, but no sound escaped.

“Elf shit,” clarified Raelyn, to the help of no one. Finn stared at her blankly. “Elf genes? They’re wired differently.”

Alek ignored them, returning to scouring the table and picking out the strangest things to make her friends eat, intent on broadening her own culinary horizons. She picked up a sausage of what meat she wasn’t sure on the tongs of a fork, it’s casing black and it’s centre a wobbly red. She looked to Raelyn for a second opinion but found herself alone in the crowd. Raelyn and Finn had wandered further down the table, pondering over the drinks. Alek let the fork fall back onto the plate and headed over.

“What you find?” she asked, peering at the goblets that had been laid out.

“Wine,” said Finn, “we… think? I actually don’t know.”

“Count of three?” joked Alek.

Raelyn nodded and passed Alek a goblet.

On the count of three, they sipped at the contents. Almost immediately Raelyn turned to spit it out, to the dismay of the other ball goers, Finn reluctantly swallowing and holding his goblet away from him. Alek slammed her empty goblet back down on the table, reaching for another.

“Alek, I’m pretty sure that’s blood,” said Raelyn gently, pulling Alek’s hand away from a fresh goblet, “are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m good,” nodded Alek, “great actually.”

Raelyn nodded, wincing from the taste left in her mouth, “what the hell is wrong with these people? I don’t think any of these are wine -”

A loud horn cut Raelyn off, sounding from somewhere at the back of the room. The dancers stopped and dispersed in sync as if they had truly been nothing more than machines. From the top of the stairs on the opposite side of the room stood a tall woman flanked by guards. By their side stood Val looking incredibly smug. From where she stood, Alek could have sworn that the first woman had a skull for a face, but couldn’t be sure.

“Step forward, champion of Artemis,” she bellowed across the crowd, the inhabitance of the ballroom floor muttering amongst themselves. Raelyn gripped Alek’s hand, staring wide-eyed at the announcer. With no one moving forward, the woman sighed, turning to presumably talk amongst her guards and Val, before turning back to her rapt audience, “Aleksilkandrin?”

Alek’s blood ran cold. She gripped Raelyn’s hand in turn, then dropping it before she stepped forward. The crowd parted before her, letting her pass. Raelyn and Finn flanked her, thankfully refusing to leave her side.

She climbed the stairs with some difficulty, the uneven floor causing havoc with her leg. Finn held her steady, looping his arm through hers with a pained smile. Curtains closed behind them once they reached the top, locking them in with the small crowd gathered.

“So this is your champion?” hissed the unknown woman, “honestly, mother, you could have done better.”

“Mother?” questioned Alek, eyes wide, “Val, your daughter is an adult?”

“Never mind that, Champion of Artemis?” demanded Raelyn, “what the hell does that mean?”

“Well,” smirked Val, “simply put, I’ve chosen Aleksilkandrin here to fight in my place. Even the playing field, so to speak.”

“You didn’t tell her,” deadpanned Val’s daughter, removing her skull mask that may have been real bone, “what am I saying? Of course you didn’t tell her.”

“Now, now, Valdis, I had to deem her worthy.”

Valdis glared at her mother, her matching orange-gold eyes burrowing into the side of Val’s face. “You didn’t tell them anything, did you?”

Val ran a hand down her arm, is if absent mindedly getting rid of non-existent creases.

“Well, I suppose I can’t keep them in the dark any longer,” sighed Val, as if the very notion was exhausting, “very well. I am the one they call the ‘Mother of Blood’. My name is Artemis Valcari, and this-” she gestured around her “-is my army.”

Alek grumbled as she paced along the lengths of the room. Valdis had sent her guards to escort them after an outburst that Alek thought was perfectly justified. At her reintroduction, Alek lunged herself at the woman she had travelled alongside for weeks, only to be stopped in her tracks by the heavy hands of a bodyguard. She had fought - tried to, at least - and had got taken into custody. She had graciously been allowed to ‘cool off’ in one of the living rooms instead of the holding cell Valdis had wished.

Raelyn sat on one couch, leaning over with her elbows on her knees. She had barely moved since someone had tossed them in close to an hour ago, frozen in shock. Everything she wanted to know was right at her fingertips, words hidden behind the lips of a woman who should have been dead.

Alek wasn’t sure how to cope. The woman she may not have trusted had lied to them. She didn’t know how to process that information. It wasn’t as if she could ever truly believe Val’s words. Artemis’ words. Still, she had never expected the woman to reveal herself. A notorious murderer who terrorised entire countries four centuries prior.

Finn had taken the news worse of all, his body covered in a thin flame, keeping the two women far away from them lest they burn. Alek didn’t think he would hurt them, but she didn’t want to put it to chance. She had more important matters. Like pacing and figuring out how to get out of there.

She groaned, shaking the door handle for what seemed to be the hundredth time since they were locked in. Raelyn sighed, finally standing, her stature slumped and defeated.

“Give it a rest, Al,” she said softly, “we’re stuck in here.”

“They can’t keep us here forever,” grumbled Alek in return, rearing back and kicking the door with the flat of her boot. She bounced back with a pained hiss, rubbing at her knee.

“They can absolutely keep us here forever,” growled Finn, “that’s what they’re doing to Barney, ain’t it?”

“Alright, I get it,” huffed Raelyn, “you’re both pissed, I am too, but unless you know how to pick a lock, we have to wait it out.”

Alek deflated, rubbing her hands down her face. She knew Raelyn was right, yet regretted not paying closer attention when Val - Artemis, she had to still correct herself - picked the lock at the prison. She wasn’t even sure if she could face her again.

Her fingers drifted to her sword hilt, or where her sword had been. The guards had it confiscated before shoving her in. It had been a comfort, ultimately, although whether she could still carry Artemis’ old blade in good faith was entirely different.

It had been close to another hour before she could hear a key scrapping within the lock.

The door swung open, revealing their old party member. She hadn’t changed, although Alek wasn’t sure why she expected it. It had only been a few hours, and she wouldn’t look different only because she used her true name. She looked as smug as ever.

“Hello Aleksilkandrin,” she grinned, “I hope you found the room fitting, I couldn’t bear to let my rat of a daughter lock you all up.”

“Like you had Barnaby locked up,” said Finn in a low voice.

“Look, I had to get Aleksilkandrin here somehow. He was just… how should I say? Collateral damage.”

Finn moved forward to lunge at her, much like Alek did earlier, but Raelyn clamped her hand down on his arm and shook her head. He huffed but remained cemented in place. Raelyn glared at Artemis, silent but with unnerving anger.

Artemis sighed. “What is it, Raelyn?”

“You ruined my family,” Raelyn’s voice was strained, she fought to keep it level but couldn’t keep it contained. “You ruined Alice.”

“Is that what they told you?”

Artemis laughed, rough and loud. Raelyn frowned and took a step back.

“They told me the truth,” said Raelyn, “why should I even trust you?”

“I never asked Alice to follow me across Kirus, in fact, I told her to leave me alone,” Artemis rolled her head around her shoulders with a crack. “but is it love if it doesn’t hurt?If it doesn’t kill you? What is it you want, Miss Godrick? Revenge?-” Artemis pulled out a knife from her belt and tossed it at Raelyn’s feet - “then go ahead.”

Raelyn slowly kneeled down to pick up the blade, her eyes untrusting, never leaving Artemis. Blade in hand, shaking in her tightly clamped fist, she raised it towards Artemis. Artemis, who only smiled, walking closer so that the blade poked at her chest. At her heart.

“Go ahead, I won’t stop you.”

Raelyn swallowed, dropping her hand to her side.

Artemis hummed, pleased. “Just as I thought. Now, Aleksilkandrin, let’s take a walk.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” said Alek, voice firm.

“Oh, I wasn’t asking. Now, come before I do something you’ll regret.”

Artemis had led Alek deeper into the Sanguine caverns, past its refurbishments. The tunnels opened to a deep chasm, filled with the sound of a waterfall gushing and echoing throughout. An iron rail bordered the thick walkway. The sight of is disappearing in the steam that had accumulated from the heat of the water.

Artemis had finally stopped in front of a row of cells, a sight that was far too familiar for Alek’s tastes. Her heart leapt at the sight. Inside the cells were Cryptlings. The very thing that caused her demise. She turned to leave, but Artemis clamped her hand down hard on Alek’s arm, nails digging into flesh. Alek hissed and tugged her arm back, nails tearing through fabric.

Artemis gestured back to the cell, face denying any emotion. “I want you to watch.”

A hatch opened behind the creature, revealing a metal chute. They punctured the air with the sounds of clanging and pained screams until a man fell from the bottom and into the cell. The creature clicked its mandibles of fused humanoid bone, shrieking before it lunged. Alek’s stomach twisted, her blood running cold, yet she couldn’t find it within her to tear her eyes from the sight. She watched as the creature pinned its prey, skewering it as easily as tearing paper. The man’s veins bulged from the fast-acting toxin, large enough that Alek could see them clearly from where she stood. They popped, spewing red blood darkened with the black viscous liquid that soon followed. He had stopped moving, but Alek could only hope that he had died.

“Why show me this?” asked Alek, her voice almost lost in her throat, coming out in a horrified whisper.

“That is what happens to their victims, Aleksilkandrin,” stated Artemis, “but you? You live, and as a marwaid at that. Your blood was strong enough to awaken that within you. That is why I found you, chose you as my champion.”

“I never asked for any of this. I just want to go home.”

Artemis clicked her tongue. “Such… mediocre wants. Here, you could be the champion. The ruler. ”

“I don’t want any of that,” said Alek desperately, “I’ve already given my life to the Temple, I can’t be your champion.”

“Your blood suggests differently.”

Alek looked at her with a curious expression, her lips parting to ask a question before closing them once more.

“Oh come on now, little lion cub,” grinned Artemis, her fangs on display; white and dangerous, “couldn’t you guess? You have my blood, Aleksilkandrin. You, are a Valcari.”