It was impossible to tell how much time had passed, the chamber having no clocks or external windows. Stathis kept nodding off, her head fogged with legal arguments. Janaxia was in fine fettle, managing to keep her arguments up for however long it had been. The temptation to lay her head against the table and openly sleep was strong, but probably wouldn’t help their case. Quite how Janaxia managed to be so vigorous at this, when she was so laid back when it came to actually fighting, was baffling, but from the look on Udaipur’s face, she was effective.

Hopefully the judges were far enough away that they couldn’t see the patterns on her judicial robe were shifting slowly, whorls of thread slowly moving over the material, emulating the shape of her tattoo. If she was going to get burnt as a witch, then that would probably hurt Semari’s case.

Stathis pinched Semari underneath the table, hard enough to rouse her from her depressed stupor. She grimaced at Stathis, but kept her face on the desk.

‘Try and look innocent.’

Semari mumbled something back, some of the daze leaving her eyes.

‘You really have no idea what’s going on, or where you learnt to fight before Kethys found you?’

‘Punching’s easy, anyone can punch. Just these dicks think they’re, like, special because they can punch as well.’

‘You can punch out demons and spirits though, that’s not normal. I’m pretty surprised you couldn’t punch those vampires to death. Or re-death or whatever.’

It was hard to shrug when sat face down on a table, but Semari managed it. ‘Dunno, where’d you learn to fly and glow and stuff?’

‘I was sort of born with it, and Yeros gave me some pointers.’

That seemed to interest her slightly. ‘Hey, can he fly as well? Is he, like, your granddad or something?’

‘No, not like that. We’re something similar, but he’s weaker.’

‘How come he’s a master and you’re on the road all the time then?’

‘He’s been at it for a long time and is very good at persuading people he’s useful. And he is actually quite good at what he does, it’s just that what he’s good at isn’t fighting. But he is very persuasive, Carissia believes that he’s got special insight or something, even though he just says mystical-sounding crap and for some reason everyone believes it has special meaning.’

Could you kindly stay quiet? I am putting myself through no little exertion on your behalf, so a little respect please? Janaxia managed to broadcast her interjection without breaking her speech, although she did find time for a glare over her shoulder, aimed at Stathis.

Stathis mouthed an apology at her. ‘Just hang in there, Semari. We’ll get you through this. I don’t think you’ve actually done anything wrong, they’re just getting weird about it for some reason. Hakara, are you finding anything?’

The blue sphere between Hakara’s hands was wreathed with tiny wisps of cloud now, a white spark of lightning snapping out into her finger. ‘The power is close. Although now seems angry, from what little I can sense. The binding is very strong though, breaking it will be challenging without access to the physical nexus or whatever is enforcing the binding. Miss Parth, can you see anything?’

‘Bindings of order. Strict, confined.’

Stathis tried to speak as quietly as possible, while still being heard by Parth, who was several seats down from her. ‘Anything actually useful? I know this isn’t an elven place, but it’s all ancient magical stuff, right?’

‘Stone and steel, heavy upon the land. Something broken and caged.’

‘OK, do you mean the city, or this specifically? And please don’t get vague and prophetic.’

‘This. A truth I cannot see, a power I do not know.’ She shivered, looking unhappy. ‘Fire to free the land.’

‘OK, don’t do that. Please? At least without good reason. So do you think that the thing is friendly?’

‘Friendly as the fire, as the storm. In its wake, destruction and birth.’

‘That’s not hugely reassuring. Keep an eye out, and if you see anything odd, let me know.’

Could you stop muttering amongst yourselves? It really is quite distracting, and frankly rude.

Stathis mouthed another apology at Janaxia, although her back was turned, and she couldn’t see out of the back of her head. Probably. She resisted a yawn, trying to look calm and confident rather than incredibly bored, as the discussions continued. It was small consolation that many of the judges looked just as bored. Even some of the attendants seemed to find it wearisome, a few just short of nodding off, trying to lean on the walls without showing it.

Stathis was awoken from a stuttering doze by Hakara grasping her shoulder. She shook her head, trying to wake herself up, as everyone else started to file out. ‘Did we win? Is it over yet?’

Janaxia was still in full imperious mode, robes now covered with swirling glyphs, some shaped like the writing on the tablets along the walls. ‘The charges of murder have been dismissed as the ridiculous, trumped-up ridiculousness that they so obviously are. The simple lack of bodies is damning enough.’

‘Good work, thanks Janaxia.’ She nudged Semari, who had fallen asleep, drooling onto the table.

‘Muh. Gussit. Buggroff.’

‘Say thank you to Janaxia. You’re no longer being charged with murder.’

‘Cool. Thanks, Janaxia.’ She wiped spit off her cheek. ‘You bore them into letting me go?’

‘Oh, there is still the greater charge of knowing sacred secrets. That may be more problematic, as you are quite obviously guilty of that. Also, a little politeness would be appreciated, considering that I did save you from being executed. Quite painfully, I’m given to understand.’

Stathis glanced over at the tablets of law, still utterly incomprehensible to her. ‘What was it going to be?’

‘Boiled for a period, then placed into a sack and beaten with sticks. And then several wild animals are placed in the sack, and then you were to be thrown into a pool of water to drown.’

‘That sounds complicated, what’s wrong with just an axe.’

‘It is similar to how certain fine cuisines are produced – have you ever had Pournalli VeSoir, as it is prepared in Setha-by-the-Ash? It is said to be exquisite and is produced in a similar fashion. Although not from people, at least these days.’

The threat of being eaten seemed to wake Semari up more. ‘Hey, they weren’t going to eat me, were they? I’m not food! Eat Hakara, she’s nice and soft. Or Janaxia, but you might catch evil or something.’

Janaxia flicked her on the forehead. ‘They weren’t going to eat you. You would be far too tough, I suspect. It is simply a method of making sure that the guilty are very much deceased. Between the boiling, the beating, the poison bites, the drowning and then being burnt to ashes afterwards then death is most assured, beyond hope of resurrection. The entire process would take quite some time. Now, any knowledge of how you came to possess your abilities would be appreciated – they are most possessive of their abilities.’

‘Not my fault I know how to fight! They’re just jealous.’

‘Nevertheless, they are demanding that you be rendered incapable of combat or teaching others. A somewhat crueller fate, that, if you will pardon the cliché, could be accurately described as “worse than death”. So any guidance as to how you are not in possession of closely-guarded secrets of the heavens would be very much appreciated.’

Stathis glanced around – a lot of the audience were looking at them. ‘I think we’re being moved, so shall we continue this later? That cell has thick enough walls we should be safe from spies.’

They allowed themselves to be ushered back into their cell, the stone door slamming back into place. Just in case, Stathis checked the walls for any hidden listening holes, but couldn’t find anything. Hakara performed some divinations, also returning nothing.

‘Parth, are you able to ghost through these walls? I think it might be helpful to go scouting, see what we can find. Hakara, you keep doing your thing.’ She turned to Janaxia. ‘Thanks for your help today, you were really good.’

Janaxia appeared taken aback by the praise, clutching awkwardly at her robes while smiling. ‘Well, of course, one tries to do one’s best. And it was rather entertaining to undercut their arguments. But I do hope that you won’t forget our arrangement?’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll take you somewhere nice. Let’s get through this first though? See if you can find out anything more from Semari. Parth, let’s go. If anyone does come to check on us, tell them we’re asleep. And don’t steal all the food if they bring any. Semari, I’m looking at you.’

Semari gave a weary grunt of acknowledgement, before faceplanting onto one of the beds with a dull “thud”. Parth approached, taking Stathis’ hand. There was the strange sensation as they shifted between worlds. The walls shifted to being grey and misty, becoming translucent rather than solid stone.

Stathis looked back at the others – Janaxia was a dark shadow of herself, a statue of moving obsidian, with internal gleamings of light, wrapped in a ghost-like version of her magisterial robes. Here, her lash showed as a brilliant red streak, bright enough to shed illumination. The symbols on her robes were brighter as well, neatly ordered glyphs formed into a grid, almost like a cage printed onto fabric. Semari was a tiny storm, sparking with lightning, although even in this realm, she seemed tired and drained, the sparking motes weak. Although that might just be from being too close to the crimson glare coming from Janaxia.

Parth shuddered and looked away, Stathis following her lead. From here, the neat construction of the place was obvious, the silvery mist showing tidy, neatly-angled hallways and chambers. She kept a firm grip on Parth’s hand, not wanting to end up sinking into the floor.

‘This place probably has a sanctuary or something, right? Let’s look for that. Can you see anything in here?’

Parth pointed, towards a distant spark of light, cool and clear amongst the silver. ‘A guide?’

‘Could be. Or some mystical guardian or something. Let’s go.’

As they left, a pale blue light sprang into being, probably Hakara resuming her spells.

There was a slight resistance as they moved through the walls, something dragging at them and slowing them down, some kind of residual magic in the air. Travelling through the place made it even more clear quite how even and regular the place was, as they travelled through a cluster of small cubical rooms, each laid out with the same furniture of a single bed and a chest – presumably sleeping quarters for the monks here. A few of the beds had dimly-blurred occupants, vaguely person-shaped smears of people sleeping.

They passed through into a larger chamber, Stathis’ feet scrabbling at empty air for a moment before finding purchase in empty air. This must be cut deep into the bedrock, yet the shape was as precisely defined as any of the other passages, the corners neat and precise. The same style of writing as in the trial chamber was present on the walls here, neat and precise calligraphy etched onto the surfaces, glowing with a solid, leaden glaze.

Stathis reached out and touched one – as she moved her hand towards it, there was an increasing resistance, the air growing thicker and thicker, until it was like stone. Parth pulled her hand back, a look of distaste on her face. ‘Binding made solid. Law made physical.’

‘You keep talking about “law”. I thought elves were big on tradition and rules and so forth?’

‘Law and law. Deddf and cyfiawnder. Alike but different. The words without the reasoning. The empire fell to words, words without spirit, faith broken.’ She stared at Stathis, amber eyes bright. ‘This place, deddf, bound without reason. Power untampered. Bound in chains, absent light.’ She was standing well clear of the writing, clearly wanting no part of whatever they represented. ‘You, words and light. Janaxia, words and dark. Semari, made by words, but now born of the storm, unbound. And I know the words but…’ she paused, struggling for the right words, ‘…selective interpretation.’

She pulled out her necklace of rings and shook it.

‘Uh, OK. So you’re saying they have their law, but not the reasoning behind it?’

Parth gave her a wide smile and nodded. ‘Deddf absent cyfiawnder is the breaking of things. Peace without, chaos bred in order.’ She prodded Stathis’ armour. ‘You bear the light. Unlike Larrik.’ She scowled, Larrik clearly having managed to make a negative impression despite the tiny amount of time they had known each other.

‘I guess that explains why they don’t like Semari. If they want everything to be ordered, then she’s a bit of a wildcard. And anyone she teaches won’t follow their rules.’

‘Devil-maid.’

‘Yeah, Misutira. Wasn’t she learning from Kinnevar as well? She’s going to be something to be reckoned with, fist-fighting and whatever stuff she learns from him. Probably still going to be less creepy than Janaxia though.’

‘Devil-maid. Words of old, words of shadow, strike like the storm.’ She tapped Stathis on the shoulder. ‘Words of light?’

‘Unless she wants to armour up, I don’t think my fighting style would suit her. And I don’t know if she’s eligible, it’s not something that can really be taught. Plus it might make her soul blow up or something if she tries to learn too much weird stuff. Hey, what’s that?’

Rather than the vague blurriness of most people, something that was clearly and obviously person-shaped entered. They sunk down to get a closer look – it was an elderly man, his robe tied with a belt of woven metal, his robes rather ratty looking. He looked around shiftily, then pulled out a pipe and lit out, leaning against the wall in the familiar pose of the relaxed smoker. Stathis slowly extended a hand towards him, before Parth pulled her back, shaking her head.

The smoker paused suddenly, tapping out their pipe, hiding it in their robe, and waving their hand to try and dispel the smoke. From out of the silvery mist emerged another figure, this one defined as a storm bound into a humanoid shape, lightning crashing from thick clouds against the outline.

The pair talked, clearly disagreeing, the smoker trying to wave off some criticism from the storm, waving their hand to try and scatter the scent of the smoke further. Both were tense, having some form of disagreement, but without resorting to violence, despite the rigidity of the storm’s body, the tenseness of their fists.

The dispute came to an end, the storm leaving. After an appropriate pause, the smoker pulled out their pipe again and lit up, this time taking the time to properly savour it, blowing smoke rings. A hand came up, fingers trailing through the smoke in slow, deliberate patterns, somehow managing to shape it, twisting it into a pointed shaft before it drifted apart. Another puff, and this time it formed a lightning bolt, drifting away into nothingness.

Stathis moved to the front of him, waving a hand in front of his eyes. They didn’t react, although he was like a living, translucent statue, without any colour save a pale, translucent blue sheen.

Parth shrugged. ‘Oddity.’

‘Yeah, I’ll say. I think we found the physical nexus though, at least if we can find out who that was. Now we need to figure out who this is, as they seem willing to help.’ They blew another smoke-pattern, this one forming into a winged sword. ‘Yeah, they definitely know who I am then. Be nice if all these mysterious, cryptic elders would actually come out and help, once in a while though, instead of being all cryptic!’

Parth shrugged.

‘You could help more. Although thanks for what you said earlier, that clarified things a lot. Is Janaxia in any danger? I mean, more than usual? She seems to soak up spiritual essences from anything, and I don’t think I’m ready to deal with her becoming a martinet.’

Parth grinned and made a whip-crack motion.

‘I guess it makes a change to see her actively engaged and involved? But she’s not in danger of getting possessed by some spirit of law or something like that, do you think?’

‘Bound by darkness. Words of darkness, a cursed field, nothing else may root there.’ She gave Stathis a nudge with her elbow. ‘Light may bring hope to tainted fields.’

‘You’ve been spending too much time with Semari. Let’s explore more, see if we can find anything else. Let me know when we need to head back, getting stuck in the wrong room would end badly if we get caught.’

They explored through more of the place, stretches of more of the eerily precise tunnels, everything neat and precise. Most of the place seemed to be empty and unused, although kept tidy without the usual boxes of old stuff. There didn’t seem to be any conveniently-located glowing pillar of light to indicate a prison or similar, unfortunately, so they returned to their cell.

Semari was still asleep, or at least curled up in bed, the sheets doing nothing to shroud the lightning sparking within her body. Janaxia’s body of darkness was no longer wreathed in robes, although her obsidian-black bare skin had tracings of writing on, silvery glyphs forming, distinct from the raised whorl of her tattoo, rippling like oil atop her body. As they moved into the room, it shifted around on Janaxia’s body, pointing itself squarely at Stathis.

They dropped back into the room, startling Hakara, blue glow around her flickering for a moment. Slightly disappointingly, Janaxia was actually clothed in a light robe, as she stared through the window-slit, likely trying to read more of the holy laws.

‘Was your exploration successful? Semari was quite unforthcoming about her own past, beyond having spent a frankly worrying amount of time pursuing various criminal activities. I really am quite impressed she wasn’t apprehended for any of her prior illegal acts! But it seems that she has always possessed her abilities, despite Kethys’ best attempts to teach her more mundane techniques.’

‘This place is pretty large, although a lot of it is unused. All very neat and tidy. Found another hall with engraved tablets, they’re solid even in the ethereal plane. And then someone stopped for a smoke, and I’m pretty sure they knew we were there, before they spoke to a storm-person. So that’s probably the “physical nexus” you mentioned, Hakara. Did you find out anything else?’

‘The nexus appears to keep moving, which would fit with it being a person. Unfortunately I had to shock Miss Semari a few times, but she appears none the worse for it. We should try again at morning bell and see if that strengthens the link.’

Semari groaned and cocooned herself deeper into the blankets.

‘Sorry Semari! Shouldn’t be much longer. Hopefully.’

Janaxia walked closer, shorter than normal, barefoot and out of heels. ‘Now that you are returned, perhaps we should rest then? And if you could kindly remove this?’ She brushed her choker.

‘It’s not cursed or anything is it? Can’t you take it off by yourself?’

‘Well, yes, but it was a gift from you, so it seems fitting for you to do so.’ She turned around in front of Stathis, tilting her head forward. It took Stathis a moment to find the catch, unclipping it.

‘There you go. And yes, resting would probably be a good idea. Tomorrow is likely to be a long day.’

Stathis handed the choker over, Janaxia taking it with a bizarrely smug expression before everyone went to bed. Before resting herself, she went over to Semari, bunded up in the sheets like a giant caterpillar, and gave her what was hopefully a reassuring pat. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure things will be fine soon.’ A grumbling came from within the sheets, Semari shifting slightly without speaking.