The first hour of waiting had been dull. The next two were both dull and uncomfortable, Stathis trying to stretch and ease herself, without drawing attention to the bush she was hidden in. Parth had vanished into the undergrowth hours ago, Hakara attempting to hide within a corner of fragmented building. Her attempts were at least better than Janaxia, who had expressed deep-seated objections to dirtying her clothing, and so was clearly visible in her red-and-black leathers, making a token attempt at hiding in the shadows.

Semari was the bait, parading around in the open, making a lot of noise with the aid of some pots found in a ruined kitchen. The local animals had been scared off within minutes, a mass exodus of birds flapping away, unused to such noise. Quite where she got the energy, Stathis didn’t know, but hopefully that damn unicorn would show up sooner rather than later. She squinted, trying to see through the glare of the sun – had Janaxia fallen asleep, leant against an ancient pillar? Not entirely surprising, as she fought off a yawn herself, but this wasn’t really the time or the place!

There was a metallic crashing noise, as Semari banged an ancient, and likely priceless, elven pot against a rock wall, while shouting obscenities. If that unicorn wanted to protect peace and calm, it was definitely taking its own sweet time getting here!

The timbre of the banging and crashing suddenly changed, Stathis shaking herself into wakefulness, and creeping forward to see what was happening. Semari was stood in a clearing, heavily dented pan in each hand. Clearly wanting to make an impressive entrance, it cantered in, hair streaming as it tossed its head. The impact was slightly reduced by the injuries it bore, ugly red gashes down its flanks. Stathis ducked low, glancing over at the others – Hakara was carefully waking Janaxia up, no sign of Parth.

Semari squared off against it, as it reared high, then charged. Semari dodged and evaded, staying just ahead of the thing, tumbling and weaving, luring it closer and closer. Luckily, it was attacking heedlessly, trying to trample or pierce the evading Semari, Stathis’ hand tensing on her sword, waiting until it moved past her. Then she Stathis charged from ambush and scored a hit, while Janaxia flung arcane energy towards it. Arrows whistled through the air, more blood running down its flanks as attacks struck home. Hooves kicked out, knocking Stathis back against a tree, bare moments to dodge aside before the horn stabbed forward and took a chunk out of the tree.

Hakara chanted, a complicated series of spirals twisting into being around her, fractal patterns forming from the air, while her hand danced between pouches, pinches of reagents and components mingling into the pattern, more and more energy being drawn into it. Stathis tried to keep the thing distracted, chopping at the head and making it dance back, as Semari leapt onto its back, getting a few good punches in before being thrown off. The horn sparkled with light before the foliage rustled and moaned, exploding into heavy thorns and vines. This time, Stathis managed to dodge in time, Janaxia not being so lucky, vines binding her in place, pulling tight around her, thorns biting into exposed skin.

‘Look, you pointy-heated bastard, we just need you to unlock a magical seal. If you would stop trying to murder us, then we wouldn’t have to smack you into a coma first!’

Stathis had no idea if it could understand her, but it didn’t stop, spinning with a whirling kick to lash at her, horn slicing through several magical blasts from Janaxia. A hoof caught her shoulder, slamming her down, before it reared up to trample her into the ground, while she tried to scrabble away. Darkness roared around her, the world vanishing as she was plunged into an eternal void, cold biting through her armour and clothing. She threw herself to the side and kept rolling, scraping off what she hoped was a tree as something soft and ridged crept across her hand, acid burning into her flesh.

She scrabbled to her feet, something supporting her above an endless and utterly silent star-streaked void, empty of all other life. She swung her blade, just in case the unicorn was somewhere nearby. The cold was starting to creep into her body, ice forming on her armour, her joints stiffening as she moved, feeling the ground beneath her feet despite only seeing infinite darkness. Then, with a step and a jolt, sunlight, blessed and warm, beamed onto her face, sweet relief from the searing cold of the void. Behind her, there was still a pillar of darkness, unicorn hopefully caught somewhere inside.

Stathis had a moment to catch her breath before the darkness tore apart, the golden horn of the unicorn tearing through it, sundering the magic. The sphere fell to shreds, revealing an area of utter devastation, the trees ripped asunder, even the grass shredded into little more than dust. The unicorn turned its head, slowly looking between them, before settling on the trapped Janaxia, giving an angry whinny and charging forward, horn aimed at her.

Bolts and arrows fired towards it, even a strike from Semari unable to turn it from its path. Stathis charged from behind it, unable to close the gap before it struck Janaxia, horn piercing through her shoulder. Then Hakara’s spell finished, circles collapsing and snapping shut, one after another, until all that was left was a single blue sphere, which shot forward and slammed into the creature, blue light appearing around the horn, still stuck into Janaxia, who had gone into shock, eyes wide, gulping in frantic breaths. While it was stuck in place, everyone else hammering attacks home. It kicked with back hooves, before a golden glow enveloped it, and it vanished. Janaxia slumped to the floor with a groan, fumbling at her wound.

‘Hakara, did your spell get it?’

A blue sphere appeared in her hand, brighter on one side. ‘Yes, Miss Stathis.’

‘Good. Try and get an idea of how far it is.’ Stathis knelt by Janaxia, checking her wound. ‘OK, stay with me. It looks worse than it is.’ At least her red leathers hid the blood – it was fairly deep, but nothing crippling.

Janaxia grabbed her with the uninjured arm, voice barely audible. ‘The pain! It hurts, so much. Please, if I die, tell my mother…’

Stathis shook her off. ‘Janaxia, you’re not going to die. It’s messy, but this is why I told you to get some proper armour, it helps stuff like this not happen.’ Janaxia groaned in pain. ‘Wait, is this the first time you’ve been stabbed?’

‘Ah, the agony! I feel death calling for me.’

Stathis sighed. ‘Janaxia, it’s a stab wound. Yes, it hurts. Think of it as an incentive to not get stabbed again. Drink this.’ Shaking off Janaxia’s surprisingly strong grip, she uncorked a healing potion, pouring it down Janaxia’s throat, ignoring the spluttering and choking sounds. ‘If you want to be up front, then you’re going to need to take hits like that more often. Yeah, they suck and hurt a lot. Deal with it.’ The pallor faded from Janaxia’s skin, flow of blood stopping, wound scabbing over. ‘We’ve not get many left, so try to avoid getting stabbed again. Now get up, we need to catch that damn thing. And we’ve talked about that bloody darkness and acid spell of yours. Whatever that thing does, it’s creepy and weird and no-one likes it.’ Stathis flexed her gauntlet, feeling some of the straps weakened from the acid. ‘So unless I very explicitly ask to be plunged into an infinite hell-void filled with burning cold and acid, assume that I don’t. And if I do, then blast me, because I’ve probably been switched for a doppelganger.’ She snapped fingers in Janaxia’s face as her gaze wavered. ‘It was one stab wound, stay with me here!’

When Janaxia’s resolute attempts at milking sympathy failed, she stood, already starting to clean her clothing, between cautiously poking her semi-healed wound, clearly unused to the sensations of being healed. Well, it would probably be a good incentive for her to not get hit again.

‘OK, Hakara, can you track it? Everyone else, you doing OK? Anyone else need healing?’

‘Let go get that thing!’ Semari punched the air, then winced and cradled her arm. ‘Owww! Lets bash it, then we can go relax again. Those hotsprings are hella nice. And I bet if we save everyone, then we’ll get more free drinks.’

She glanced up at the sun – they had a good few hours before dark, it should be safe to continue before the ghosts showed up.

‘OK everyone, let’s go. Hakara, how far do you think we have to go?’

‘A few miles, I think.’ The blue sphere was twitching and flickering, but gave them some direction, as they started to push through the wildness, Parth and Semari leading the way, Janaxia still dazed from her wound. As they marched, Hakara stayed close by, nervously twitching at random sounds, hands fiddling with her magical crystal. ‘Miss Stathis, can I ask you something?’

‘You don’t need to call me “Miss”, but sure. Just keep an eye out in case that damn unicorn comes back, OK?’

Hakara’s head immediately began to swivel around, as though expecting the creature to burst through the woodlands at any moment. Which, to be fair, it might do, but was hopefully resting somewhere. ‘It’s about this place. From what Miss Fionarasa, it sounds as though they cast a refractory self-reinforcing spell matrix, bound by the souls of the elves. Would you agree?’

Stathis tried to look as though she understood, nodding along.

‘So that means that as soon as anything from outside comes into the radius of the spell, it will begin to unravel the entire fabric. But in an uncontrolled fashion, meaning that objects within the area will be afflicted by all the time that has passed outside of the area, all at once. On the very boundary, not doubt the petrifying mist was a measures taken to protect against incursions, but we must be the first to make it further inside, which resulted in the spell started to cancel itself.’ There was a soft crunching, mulching sound, as a nearby tree suddenly twisted and writhed, verdant greenery changing to dust and ash. ‘I’m sure you have everything under control, but it would be preferable to resolve this swiftly. I can’t be very precise, but I think the warded area may collapse in on itself within a short time.’

‘When you say “short”, then…?’

‘Maybe a day or two? The magic is so old, that when it snaps and breaks, it will be quick. Um, and very, uh, brutal. I’m sure that Miss Janaxia has already noticed, and spoken to you about it though. As long as we can convince that unicorn to come with us back to the palace, then we’ll be OK, won’t we?’

“Convince” was not the most exact of words, given the circumstances, but close enough. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get the unicorn, then go deal with that ghost. Just stay calm, and let me know if you see anything else weird. I’m relying on you for anything magical. Keep close to everyone, stay calm and we’ll be fine.’

‘Yes, Mi… Stathis. Thank you. I hope we’re not going to die.’

‘Trust me, so do I. Let’s go get this unicorn, and then we can deal with the ghost. Your wounds from the other ghosts doing OK?’

Hakara drew back a sleeve, revealing dark, ugly bruises around her arm. ‘Still rather sore, but I don’t think it will be anything permanent. Will Miss Janaxia be alright? She appeared rather traumatised.’

‘She’ll live. Probably do her good, and teach her to be a bit more cautious in the future. She’s somehow avoided ever being stabbed before, so it came as a bit of a shock. It’s not that bad a wound though.’