The sun had set by the time Corec and Ellerie made it back to the surface. When Boktar let them know Sarette had seen people in the barrens, they’d decided to head back to camp rather than waiting for the stranger to wake up. Leena came as well, in case they needed to send a message to those who’d remained inside the ruins.

Exiting the cave, they met Sarette and Katrin returning from the southern side of the mountain.

“Where’s everyone else?” Katrin asked.

Corec told her what had happened.

“You found one of the Ancients?” she said, her voice rising.

“We’re not sure about that,” Ellerie said. “Whoever she is, she’s unconscious. Treya and the others stayed below to watch her and to watch over the other things we found.”

“Sarette, can you show us what you saw?” Corec asked.

The stormborn woman shook her head. “It’s too dark now, but I think they stopped just after Boktar left to find you.”

“Stopped?” Corec asked. “They made camp? Or you just couldn’t see them?”

“I could see them when there was still some light, but they didn’t seem to be coming any closer. Or going in any other direction.”

“Do they have horses?”

“I don’t know. I can’t even say for sure that they’re actually people—it’s just a tiny bit of movement in the distance. But it doesn’t seem like there’d be a group of wild animals in the barrens.”

“How far away are they?” Ellerie asked.

Sarette thought for a moment, then pulled her writing stick out of her pocket. “I need paper.”

Ellerie handed over the stack of notes she’d been working on inside the ruins. Sarette found a blank page, then looked around and chose the back of Boktar’s armor as the nearest hard surface. Corec held his mage-light lantern up so she could see what she was writing, while the dwarven man grumbled about being used as a table.

Sarette scratched out a series of marks on the page, then turned back to the group. “This isn’t exact, because I’m just estimating my elevation relative to theirs, but I think they’re somewhere around twenty-five miles away. It could be as low as twenty, but I think it’s closer to twenty-five.”

Corec relaxed. “That’ll give us plenty of time to see if they’re coming this way. Even if they’re traveling light and marching straight for us, it would take them most of a day. Are we still moving the camp tonight?” With Sarette leaving to accompany the wagons the next morning, it wasn’t safe to leave the camp out in the open since they’d have no protection in the event of another lightning storm. They’d planned to move back to the abandoned buildings south of the mountain.

“The wagons are already packed,” Boktar said.

“Good. Chances are, these folks are just passing by, but let’s avoid attracting their attention. We can hide the camp inside the buildings, and if Rusol or someone else sent this group after us, it’ll be easier to defend ourselves there too.”

“Should we just move inside the mountain after all?” Ellerie asked. “I don’t really want to stay underground all the time, but it’d be easier than going back and forth.”

“No. We’ve only found one way in or out. They could trap us there.”

Boktar said, “Maybe I should wait another day before heading south with the wagons. Just until we know for sure.”

“Will the supplies hold out if you do that?” Ellerie asked.

“With the extra supply caravan, yes. The problem is that they’re expecting us to meet them. Leena, could you go to Livadi tomorrow and tell Lufton we’ll be late? I don’t think he’s left yet.”

The Sanvari woman didn’t respond right away. She was staring off to the southeast. “Wouldn’t it be better to know for sure, right now?” she said.

“What are you saying?” Ellerie asked.

“Twenty-five miles is within my Seeking range and my Traveling range.”

“Can you do that?” Corec asked. “We don’t know who they are. I thought you said you had to know something about what you’re Seeking.”

“We know where Sarette saw them, or just about. I used that to Seek them.”

Ellerie blinked. “You already found them?”

“Yes. I can go there right now if you want.”

“That’s too dangerous! What if they’re red-eyes? Or those people who’ve been attacking your clan?”

“I can Seek a spot a mile away and walk closer in the dark. If they see me and they don’t look friendly, I’ll just Travel back here.”

“How far away are they?” Corec asked.

“I’m sorry,” Leena said. “I’m still not very good at measuring distances like this. Sarette’s estimate sounds right.”

“Ellerie’s right. It’s dangerous. That’s a long way away if something happens and you need help.”

“If these might be the men who attacked us before, then I have to go. I have a duty to my people.”

Ellerie scowled and looked away.

Corec sighed. He didn’t have any right to stop Leena from doing what she wanted. “If you’re going to try sneaking up on them, you’ll at least need to wear something dark.”

She looked down at herself. She had on one of her modest dresses, this one in bright yellow. “I could wear a cloak,” she suggested. Her other dresses were all light colors too.

“You can borrow my dark blue dress,” Katrin said. “We’re close to the same size—I think it would fit.”

#

Treya laid her hand over the girl’s forehead to see how she was doing. There didn’t seem to be any change; she was simply asleep.

It was getting late, and Corec and Ellerie had been gone for an hour. It would be at least two more before they returned—possibly longer, if the people Sarette had seen turned out to be a problem.

“Maybe we should wake her up rather than waiting,” Treya murmured to Shavala, who was sitting nearby. “We can’t stay here all night.”

The elven woman wasn’t paying attention, seemingly distracted by the wooden staff she held in her lap. After a moment, she blinked and looked up. “Can you wake her?” she asked.

“I didn’t hurt her that badly, and I can just heal the rest of it normally instead. I mostly only cast the spell to keep her unconscious. I should be able to undo it.”

“What if she tries to kill you again?” Razai called out from the other side of the room, where she was pacing back and forth.

“I stopped her before. Besides, I thought that’s why you stayed here.”

“If you want her dead, talk to me. If you want to keep her alive, she’s yours to deal with.”

“She doesn’t deserve to die. She has no idea what’s happening.”

“So you think.”

Marco came into the throne room carrying his cloak in his arms, using it to hold the jewelry from the room with the enchanted items.

“Is anyone going to help me?” he asked, glaring at the rest of the group.

“Should you be doing that?” Razai asked.

“Ellerie said only the statue was warded. For the rest, she just said not to touch them until we know they’re safe. So I didn’t touch them. But we might as well get it all inventoried and ready to go.” He carefully laid the cloak and the items it held out on the floor.

“I’ll help,” Bobo said. He’d been making sketches of the five thrones. “Shavala, did you bring your gathering sacks?” There was no response. “Shavala?”

“What? Oh, yes, I did.” Shavala put the staff to the side, then stood up and pulled two of her thin cloth sacks from a coat pocket.

“Wait, Bobo, can you stay here?” Treya asked. “I’m going to wake her up and I’ll need your help to talk to her. Marco, maybe Razai can go with you.”

Razai rolled her eyes, but took the sacks Shavala offered her. It wasn’t that Treya distrusted the demonborn woman, but she was hoping to avoid another fight.

She waited until Razai and Marco had left, then said, “I’m going to do it now. It’s probably better to have fewer people around.” She put her hand on the girl’s forehead again and checked to make sure she was fully healed, then removed the healing sleep before backing away.

The girl’s eyes opened slowly at first, then shot wide open as she saw them standing above her. She jerked up into a sitting position and backed away, jabbering incomprehensibly.

Treya held her hands up to show she was unarmed.

“I can’t tell what she’s saying,” Bobo said. “Wait—that was fortress, I think. She’s talking so fast, and all the sounds are different from what I learned. I’m not sure if it’s the first peoples’ language or not.”

“She said vasta,” Shavala mentioned. “Elf.”

The girl pushed herself to her feet, moving easily in her mirror-like plate armor. She stopped and stared when she saw the thrones, seeming to recognize where she was, then renewed her harangue more stridently. She reached for her sword, and when she found the scabbard empty, she spun in a circle, her eyes darting around the room.

Treya said, “Bobo, she’s looking for her sword. Tell her it’s safe.”

“I’ll try.” He spoke a few words, but the girl showed no sign of comprehension. He tried again, varying the pronunciation, and she tilted her head to the side, staring at him with a puzzled look on her face. On his third attempt, she rushed at him and shoved him up against the wall, shouting.

Treya separated them, nudging the girl back with one arm. Luckily, she allowed it. Treya doubted she could have forced her back if she didn’t want to move—not without hitting her as hard as she had before.

Bobo said, “I don’t know what I told her, but she’s not happy about it. Is she saying where?”

“Where what? Is she asking where the sword is?”

“I don’t know! I can’t translate entire sentences when I’ve only understood two words, and I’m not even sure about those!” It was rare to see Bobo so flustered.

“Tell her we want to talk.”

Bobo said something. The girl, in the midst of one of her tirades, stopped to listen.

“I think she understood me,” he said.

She abruptly stalked over to the wall and ran her fingers across it in a pattern. The black lines in the room—the one that ran across the center of the ceiling and the ones that lined each of the walls, just above eye height—suddenly began to glow, illuminating the entire room more brightly and evenly than the mage lights Ellerie had left.

“Those are lights?” Bobo asked. “Could they do that all along? Or is it something she did?”

The black lines had appeared in nearly every tunnel and room they’d found so far. If the lights worked for anyone, it would have saved them a great deal of effort with mage lights and lanterns.

The girl stared down at the tracks she’d left in the dust on the floor. She spoke a single, sharp sentence—obviously a demand.

Bobo shook his head. “I’m still not sure. I think she said what and you and where, but I didn’t catch the rest. It would help if she spoke more slowly.”

“So tell her that, and let’s start with something easy.” Treya pointed to herself, then her friends. “Treya, Bobo, Shavala.” She repeated the gesture. “Treya, Bobo, Shavala.”

The girl glowered at her, but then pointed at herself and spoke a rush of sounds.

“Aridna?” Treya attempted.

The girl shook her head and repeated her name, this time more slowly.

“Ariadne?” Treya asked. The girl nodded. “Ariadne, we don’t mean you any harm.”

Ariadne looked to Bobo, who attempted to translate. She shook her head, apparently not understanding.

Then she disappeared, reappearing behind them and running south out of the throne room.

“Where—” Bobo started, but Treya didn’t wait to hear what he said.

She sprinted after the girl, Shavala following her. They caught sight of her in the vestibule, where she’d stopped to stare at the destroyed vases, but before they could reach her, she changed directions and headed east. She ran through a group of rooms Ellerie had suggested looked like administrative offices, and then into an area with a series of residential suites.

She stopped at one in particular, running into the nearly empty room, then shaking her head and covering her eyes. When she looked again, she saw Treya and screamed at her, then launched into another diatribe. This time she sounded nearly hysterical. Tears gathered in her eyes, and her voice cracked as she spoke.

Bobo reached them, panting from the run. “What …” He stopped to catch his breath. “What do we do now?”

“Tell her …” Treya trailed off. What could they tell her that would make any sense? “Ask her to come back to the throne room with us so we can talk.”

Ariadne seemed to agree, but when they got back to the vestibule, she broke away again, leaving through the main double doors, which had been left open so they didn’t lock again.

Outside, though, she stopped, her breath catching in her throat. She gazed across the chamber, at the animal statues and the metal sphere. She was silent for a moment, and then she caught sight of the melted stone on the west side. She shrieked and ran to it, scraping at the substance with her fingers. When that didn’t work, she detached the metal scabbard from her armor and used it to pound at the stone.

Ariadne yelled at them, obviously an exhortation to assist her, but she wasn’t making any progress with the scabbard and Treya had left the shovel back in the throne room. It wouldn’t have done much good anyway—if they were going to dig into solid stone, they would need a lot more help.

Finally, the girl stepped back, dropping the scabbard as her legs gave out beneath her. She collapsed to her knees and stayed there, staring silently at the melted wall.

Treya gave her a moment, then murmured, “Let’s see if we can convince her to come back. I don’t think she’ll talk to us out here. She’s too upset.”

She offered Ariadne her hand. The girl ignored it at first, but finally pulled herself to her feet. Without speaking, they returned to the throne room. Marco and Razai were there waiting for them.

“There you are,” Marco said. “Where did these lights—” His eyes widened when he caught sight of Ariadne.

“So, she didn’t kill you after all,” Razai said. “What does she have to say for herself?”

“We can’t understand her,” Bobo said. “Not much, anyway.”

Ariadne glared suspiciously at the newcomers, but then her attention was drawn to the blanket lying at their feet. She blinked out of sight and reappeared next to them, snatching up a simple necklace made of copper links that rested there amongst the other objects.

“Hey, wait!” Marco exclaimed.

She disappeared again, then showed up in front of Treya. Draping the necklace over her own head, she grabbed Treya’s hand.

Treya felt a sudden overwhelming weakness. She stumbled to the side, and Bobo caught her, steadying her shoulders. Ariadne didn’t let go. She, too, seemed to be affected, her other hand clutching her head as she winced in pain.

And then Razai was there, forcing them apart. She tripped Ariadne and pushed her to the ground, then drew her knives.

“Wait!” Treya said. The word seemed to echo.

Razai spun to face her, her fangs bared. “Wait for what?” she asked with a snarl. “Wait for her to kill you?”

And then Ariadne spoke. “Who are you?” she demanded loudly in the Eastern tongue. “Where is everyone?” She stood up while everyone stared at her in surprise.

“You can understand us?” Bobo asked.

She pointed to the copper chain around her neck. “Why are there humans and elves in the fortress? I don’t recognize you. What happened?”

Treya said, “We’re not here to hurt you. This is Razai and Marco. If you didn’t hear our names earlier, I’m Treya, and this is Shavala and Bobo.”

“I don’t care about your names! Answer my questions! What happened to Fortress West? Where are the kni …” She stopped and screwed her eyes tightly shut, shaking her head. Then she looked at them again. “Where are the knights?”

“I’ll try to answer your questions, but we don’t know what happened. We found you here in the room with the caskets … the room with the metal tubes. You were sleeping.”

“The stasis room … you’re the one who hit me!”

“I had to. You were trying to kill my friend and he didn’t want to hurt you.”

“A human shouldn’t have been in Fortress East without a badge of rank, whether he’s a war mage or not. None of you should be here! I … the knights, I saw…” She swayed. “The Mage Knights! What happened to them?”

“Who are the Mage Knights?” Bobo asked.

Treya suspected what the answer would be, but was reluctant to say it.

“Everyone knows of the Mage Knights!” Ariadne exclaimed. “I saw … I thought I saw … no! Where are the others?”

“Do you mean the people who were in the room with you?” Treya asked.

“Yes! We all went into stasis together.”

With Corec on the surface, Treya had to be the one to tell her. They were the only two who’d been there.

“There were nine other people in that room wearing the same armor as you, but they didn’t survive,” she said as gently as she could.

Ariadne closed her eyes and bowed her head. “Then only two others lived? They told us the stasis pods would keep us safe.”

“We don’t know what happened to the others. The rest of the room was empty.”

“They must be nearby,” the girl insisted, opening her eyes and looking up again. “They wouldn’t have gone far. What happened to Fortress West? Where is everyone? Did the ritual fail? I don’t feel any different.”

“What ritual?” Bobo asked.

Ariadne glared. “Everyone knows about the ritual! The one to combine the four sources.”

“Four sources?”

“Sources of magic! There’s only supposed to be one now, but I still feel two.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Bobo said. “We’re not from here. Can you tell me who your people are?”

The girl stared at him, confused. “My people? The People! I mean, The Peop …” She stopped, looking frustrated. She grabbed the necklace in her hand, then slowly said, “The Chosar! All these lands are ours, from the sea to the sea and farther! All know this! Where is everyone? Why are you here?”

“We came to explore this place, but you’re the only person we’ve seen here,” Treya said. “Do you know what happened?”

“The only person? What nonsense is this? You’ve been caught somewhere you don’t belong, so you make up lies?”

“I’m telling you the truth. We came here to—”

Bobo interrupted her. “Is this Tir Yadar?” he asked the girl.

“Of course it’s Tir Yadar!” she replied, giving it a slightly different pronunciation. “No! You’ve taken me somewhere else. A fake fortress! That’s why The People aren’t here. Where am I?”

“You’re in Tir Yadar,” Razai cut in. “It’s been abandoned for thousands of years, and you’re the only person we’ve found. The Chosar are long gone. Hardly anyone has ever even heard of them.”

Everyone froze at those words. Treya shot her a frustrated glare. “Razai!”

“What?” Razai said to her. “You were just making it worse, dragging it out like that. She deserves to know.” There was a hint of compassion in her voice. “It would have been better if you’d let me …” She growled and stalked off without finishing the sentence.

“You have eyes like a demon!” Ariadne called after her. “You tell lies. You all tell lies!”

“No, it’s the truth,” Treya said. “Bobo’s a historian, and there’s another, Ellerie. We came here with them searching for the remains of Tir Yadar, and we found you.”

“The dust …” the girl said, trailing her gauntlets across the grime on the wall. “No. It’s a lie.” She didn’t sound so certain anymore.

“I’m sorry. We don’t know what happened, but it looks like everyone left. The city’s empty.”

“My parents? My sisters?”

“I don’t know,” Treya said. Of course, she did know. Even if Ariadne’s family survived whatever had happened to this place, they’d certainly died long since.

The girl seemed to realize it anyway, slumping down against the wall, her armor scratching across the stone. She sat on the floor and stared straight ahead, ignoring any further attempts to talk to her.

#

“How does it fit?”

“It’s a little tight, but it’ll do,” Leena said, coming out from behind the wagon where she’d changed clothes. All the tents had already been packed up.

“Is that a tattoo?” Katrin asked, peering at her upper chest.

“Yes.” Leena didn’t elaborate. The other woman’s dresses were less modest than her own. This one had long sleeves, but it showed a bit of cleavage—more on Leena than it did on Katrin. The Zidari weren’t body-shy, but they kept their tattoos covered around outsiders.

“Why a dagger?”

“It’s to mark my blood feud against the men who murdered my parents,” Leena said curtly.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to be rude, but my tattoos are private. I don’t like people to see them.”

“You have more than one? Never mind, you don’t have to answer. Wait here, I’ll go find one of Shavala’s scarves to cover it up.” She was back a moment later, and helped Leena drape the scarf around her neck and chest.

Leena breathed easier once the tattoo was hidden. She thanked Katrin and apologized again for snapping at her, then went to find Ellerie and Corec.

“I’m ready,” she told them.

“I wish you wouldn’t go,” Ellerie said, running her fingers across the back of Leena’s hand.

“I need to find out if it’s them,” Leena replied, returning the gesture. It was the only intimacy they allowed themselves. They’d never spoken of it, but Ellerie seemed to understand that Leena wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted from her task.

Corec didn’t notice the interchange. “Do you know how to recognize the red-eyes?” he asked.

Leena thought back to the stories Ellerie had told her about the encounters. “They have armor like Nedley’s, and their eyes are red. They glow red, I mean.”

“Look for the armor; don’t get close enough to see their eyes. They also don’t speak, and they act strange—not like people.”

“Do you need a light?” Ellerie asked, picking up a rock and whispering the indistinct words to a spell. The rock started glowing. “You could cover it up with something when you get close.”

Corec shook his head. “It’s dark enough out that they’ll see it.”

“I think I’ll be all right without it,” Leena said. They’d asked her to wait until it was fully dark out before she left, so there’d be less chance of being spotted. There was a sliver of moonlight, though. Perhaps it would be enough.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” he said. “I can’t tell you what to do, but it seems too dangerous. It would be different if it was Sarette or Razai, but you’re not a fighter. We still have plenty of time to figure out who they are.”

“But you want to know now, don’t you?”

Corec exhaled. “Yes. If they’re just passing by, we can ignore them. Mostly. But if they’re coming here, we need to set up defenses.”

“Then I’ll go. If there’s trouble, I’ll teleport away. I’ve had plenty of practice now. If something happens, you’ll know where to find me.”

He nodded. “Good luck. We’ll send the wagons on ahead to the old ruins, but I’ll wait here for you.”

“I can find you wherever you go,” she reminded him.

“Oh, right. Well, I’ve still got to fetch the others from inside the mountain as soon as we’re done here, so I’ll stay anyway.”

“Don’t get too close,” Ellerie told her.

Leena nodded, then Traveled, ending up in almost complete darkness. She had to wait for her eyes to adjust. She’d gotten used to the mage lights that lit up the camp each night.

She’d teleported to a spot over a mile away from the visitors, so she couldn’t see them yet. She started off east toward their camp, but after barely a dozen yards, she slipped on a rock she hadn’t seen. The slender crescent moon helped her make out her surroundings, but objects on the ground were still indistinct. Testing her weight on her ankle, she considered how to proceed. Should she go back and get the mage light from Ellerie after all? How close could she get to the visitors before it was seen?

Then the answer occurred to her. She allowed her warden rune to shine. She was able to hide it now most of the time, though it sometimes reappeared if she wasn’t paying close attention. Now, she let it show on purpose. The pale blue glow wouldn’t carry as far as a mage light did, and it provided just enough illumination for her to see where she was putting her feet.

Her ankle seemed fine, so she continued east. Sounds echoed over the barren landscape, growing steadily louder as she approached—people talking and shouting and laughing. Finally, after nearly half an hour, she could see movement ahead of her.

She immediately hid her rune again and crept closer in the dark. It can’t really be them, she tried to convince herself. None of the trained Seekers had been able to find the men who’d attacked the Zidari, so she certainly wouldn’t be able to. But then, she hadn’t been Seeking those men—not this time, at least. She’d tried it before, and had failed like all the other Seekers.

But this time, she’d simply been looking for a group of people to the southeast, within her Seeking range. Would that change things? It shouldn’t, as far as she was aware. A warding against scrying should block all scrying. But the more she learned about her abilities, the more she realized she didn’t know. She hadn’t been trained as a Seeker—she’d hardly even been trained as a Traveler.

The camp was mostly dark. Like Leena’s companions, this group hadn’t found any firewood in the barrens, or brought any with them. There was a light hovering over a large, square tent that was tall enough to stand up in. Leena had seen enough mage lights by now to recognize one. A wizard? Ellerie and Corec would want to know that.

She stayed well away from the light, not wanting to risk being seen. Instead, she decided to circle around the camp to see if she could find anything else useful.

Her first impression was that it was much too big. The talking and shouting were constant, coming from the numerous small groups scattered around. She couldn’t understand what they were saying. They were speaking Nysan, she thought, the same language spoken elsewhere in southern Cordaea.

Why had such a large group entered the barrens? A trading caravan would have gone around, and she hadn’t seen any sign of horses or mules.

There was movement in the darkness ahead of her and she stopped, her heart pounding. A bulky figure, but she’d only seen it because it blocked her view of the stars in the night sky. The figure walked away from the camp, then turned and walked back. The mage light briefly reflected off the metal bands of a shield.

An armed guard. Not unusual, but Leena hadn’t considered the idea until he’d been right in front of her. She crept farther away from the camp before continuing her circuit.

There were several boxy shapes just beyond the southernmost cluster of tents. After checking for more guards, Leena crept closer for a better look. The shapes turned out to be hand-drawn carts, which must have been how the group was hauling their supplies. Without animals to feed, they didn’t need to carry as much as Leena’s companions did.

She was between two of the carts when someone else walked past in the dark. She froze, hoping he hadn’t seen her, then ducked down after he’d passed by. It wasn’t an armed guard this time, but just a man going out to water the dirt.

She stayed down and waited until he returned. He was wearing simple, sturdy clothes, and had a knife on his belt. It was too dark to get a good look at it.

Back in the camp, he sat down with several others who also wore simple clothing. Next to them was a boisterous group of men with armor and weapons. The two groups didn’t mingle, and appeared to be ignoring each other.

Then, farther in, someone walked past the mage light, making it easier to see his features. He looked like a Sanvarite, but he wore long sleeves. His shirt was laced up to his neck. A Zidari? What would another Zidari be doing all the way out here?

Except for him, the group reminded Leena of the men who’d attacked them outside Tir Shar. She’d know for certain if she could just get a closer look at the knife she’d seen, but she couldn’t think of any way to do that without alerting the camp to her presence.

She Traveled back, finding just Corec and Ellerie. The others were gone, along with the wagons, heading back to the ruined buildings south of the mountain.

“How did it go?” Ellerie asked, relief in her voice.

Leena relayed what she’d seen.

“Carts?” Corec asked. “What did they look like?”

“Two-wheeled, hand-drawn. They were half full, but I couldn’t risk looking through them.”

“And no animals, you said?”

“None that I saw, just a lot of men. If the rest of the camp is like the eastern and southern sides, there must be over a hundred of them.”

He nodded. “That could be trouble, especially if the knife you saw is one of those snake knives, but the carts will give us a chance to watch them more carefully. They won’t be able to go more than ten or fifteen miles a day with those. We’ll have time to get ready.”

[Note: Next week, I plan to switch the story's thumbnail image to the Book 3 cover, so if you find the updates each week by looking for the cover, I'd recommend following the story instead.]