After the lengthy boat-trip, stepping onto dry land had taken several moments of re-orientation, having a truly stable surface underfoot seeming strange. But it was nice to be back on land, with something other than the sounds of the sea for company. The dock was busy and crowded, cargoes getting loaded and unloaded, all sorts of business and bustle going on.

Semari had, apparently out of boredom, swum to shore as soon as the harbour had been in sight. But she had been waiting for them, with a group of horses. Not the finest of steeds, but it should make movement easier. Janaxia had required coaxing from her cabin, only willing to emerge after Stathis had threatened to flood the darkness with blinding sunlight.

‘Hakara, are you OK? You look exhausted.’

Her skin was tanned from her time on deck, but drawn tightly around her face, and she didn’t look as though she had been sleeping much. She was carrying a wooden casket carved with rune-marks, holding the artefact Janaxia had acquired beneath Belazaan.

‘It was more work than I thought to collapse and coalesce the protective spells. We should also try and stay together, as I don’t know what their range is, now we are no longer on board.’ She gave a big yawn, a magical aura rippling around her as she moved.

‘Are you going to be fit for service? I don’t think anything is going to happen, but I don’t want you at risk.’

‘I have prepared a few basic protective spells, but sadly much of my energy is still bound up into the bindings and aura. I’m afraid there is little I can contribute if a fight should happen.’

‘OK, you stay at the back. Kivata, I hope it won’t happen, but would you be able to help if a fight does happen?’

The woman flinched at the mention of her name, moving to hide behind Hakara, her eyes downcast, staying silent until Hakara urged her to speak. ‘I… will do what I can, Lady Stathis.’ Her eyes moved upwards, and she gave a visible shudder. Stathis turned around to see Janaxia walking down the gangplank, Skotadi close behind. Both were dressed in clothing that covering their entire bodies, although Janaxia’s was tight enough to show the shape of her body, Skotadi not yet having much of a figure to show, both veiled and looking eerily like they were in mourning. Stathis wondered if it would be possible to get her to change her dress to being in red, so at least they would look a little less stark. Janaxia looked down at them, giving a tight little smile as she stepped off the gangplank, before moving to the side and twisting her hands through the air, a magical circle of darkest night appearing, extending upwards into a column of darkness, as she summoned Mavrosa.

Janaxia was far enough away, and busy enough, that she shouldn’t be able to hear as Stathis asked Kivata a question. ‘Is there anything you know about Janaxia or Skotadi? I’ve tried talking to them, but Janaxia barely ever leaves her room and I think Skotadi is avoiding me.’

Kivata shuddered and looked away, pressing herself tightly against Hakara, who looked slightly taken aback and had to struggle to keep her balance. ‘She is… claimed. The chains that bound me were broken. The binding of my soul…’ She trailed off, eyes wet.

‘So you were bound by something?’

‘Yes, Poratia bound me, to not speak of…’ She trailed off again, a hand coming up to feel at one of her eyes.

Stathis patted her on the shoulder, trying to comfort her, although she still gave an awkward yelp, apparently unused to physical contact. ‘I don’t suppose you could tell me? It might be helpful. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.’

The column of darkness faded away, revealing the sleek and powerful lines of Mavrosa as it disappeared, the horse immediately moving to nuzzle Janaxia, head nudging away at her veils, Janaxia not fast enough to evade and getting a faceful of horse slobber.

‘I… I don’t know what Mother intends. But the shards of the blade are powerful and can bind people’s wills.’

‘These shards, would they look like dark metal spikes?’

Kivata nodded. ‘Shards of ancient power, an ancient darkness suborned.’

‘Would you be able to tell Hakara everything? And then Hakara, if you could tell me if there’s anything to be concerned about and what’s going on? Unless she’s already told you about it?’

Hakara managed to steady herself, holding Hakara off a little. ‘We were too focused on maintaining the ritual circle. It sounds interesting though. Perhaps it’s a…’ She spoke a lot of words that Stathis didn’t even try to understand, a torrent of theoretical mage-craft that was probably very clever, but entirely incomprehensible.

‘If there’s anything you can figure out to detect or disrupt those spikes – I think they’re going to be what we saw in Cormontara. Don’t suppose you know anything about mind-controlling swords? Most I know of stab people better, they don’t do mind control or anything like that.’

Hakara nodded.

‘Don’t strain yourself though. Sorry, I’ve been putting a lot onto you. I’ll try and see you get paid at the end of all of this, you deserve it. You’re probably looking forward to a nice break back at a magical academy or college or something, so you can get stuck into research and not have to worry about other things.’

‘It’s been fascinating, having the chance to apply all the theories! I think I have enough to use for my thesis now. At least if I get the time to write it up.’

‘If you need to rest, let me know. You’ve been working hard for quite a while. But from here, we should be able to move onto the back roads and get to Per Tolith, and then I can get my body back. Uh, will anyone need to do anything special for that, or do I just touch it, or what?’

Hakara looked at Kivata, and then gave her a pointed nudge, prompting her into speaking. Her words were hasty, jumbled together and too fast, spilling out in a semi-rehearsed gabble.

‘It is rare for a soul to be made manifest outside of a body, without forming a coalesced form like a ghost or spectre. But Stathis appears to be wholly material, anchored somehow through a bond to Janaxia. How it remains stable I’m not sure, perhaps an inversion of the Taridis diktat, bound into a physical form, akin to the phylactery of a lich, but without the Morabanean effects that lead to the decay of flesh? Her spirit will still seek it’s home, so unless something else has claimed her body, then reuniting the body and soul should be simple.’

‘Wait, what? Something else can possess my body?’

Kivata’s eyes snapped forward, suddenly seeing her again and she flinched against Hakara. ‘Ye… yes, it is currently bereft of a guiding spirit.’

‘Well, I hope it’s surrounded by wards to keep any other spirits and stuff out! Having to beat my own body up sounds pretty messy. But other than that, it should be straightforward?’

Kivata gave a slow and hesitant nod. ‘I believe so, Lady Stathis.’

‘Thanks, that’s something of a relief. Let’s go then.’

Janaxia had managed to get Mavrosa under some level of control, using a hand to keep Mavrosa’s head away, the horse stamping at the ground as she tried to push closer to Janaxia. Skotadi had called up a steed of her own – another night-black steed, with blazing red eyes, although at least it was smaller than Mavrosa, making it slightly less intimidating. Watching Janaxia help Skotadi mount it was slightly bizarre, a platform of darkness getting called up to raise Skotadi high enough to get onto her own summoned steed. Sen had an easier time of it, her horse a well-trained and slightly podgy lump that passively waited for a command.

‘So, we’ve got, like, Horse-naxia and Mini-Naxia? She collecting a group you think? Wonder if we’ll get Man-naxia?’ Semari made a masculine grunt.

Stathis mounted herself, using the reins to urge the horse forward. ‘Mavrosa’s pretty friendly, despite her looks. I’ve still no idea about Skotadi though, I still think she’s suspicious. Keep an eye on her. It might be easier to talk to her now she can’t hide in Janaxia’s cabin all day.’

‘She’s a bit spooky and eldritch, right? We could just ditch her. Probably not very good at tracking through the wilderness.’

‘That’s a bit harsh. Just keep an eye on her, maybe try and talk to her? Could you try and distract Janaxia at some point?’ Semari snickered. ‘Without punching her in the head or anything! Just talk to her normally. Be interesting to see what she thinks about all of this. I certainly wasn’t expecting Janaxia to find an apprentice. And I’m surprised that she’s actually managing to deal with her at all, I wouldn’t have thought she would have managed to manage with her at all.’

‘Maybe one of them is going to, like, eat or absorb the other one? That’s what some demons do, right? Can only have two and then one gets bigger and om-nom-nom-nom. And mini-naxia does have very sharp teeth.’

‘Janaxia’s teaching her to be a lady, so I don’t think either of them are likely to be eating the other one. And Skotadi’s too young for any other kind of eating, before you say anything! Anyway, you got everything you need? We want to be quiet and unobtrusive, so try to avoid getting into any fights.’

‘Yeah, we’ve got food and everything. Vrintar says she can scrounge up some food as well. Shouldn’t you know about, like, hidden caches or something?’

‘There’s a few, but there’s watchers and wards on them, so it’s easier not to trigger them. Safer just to get supplies normally. Has Parth disappeared already?’

‘Said she was going scouting.’

‘Well, as long as she catches up with us. Right then, is everyone ready?’ She looked around herself – everyone was mounted except for Semari and Vrintar. Mavrosa and Skotadi’s steed both gleamed with dark lustres, a massive contrast to the dustier and more worn horses the rest of them were mounted on, the dresses they wore both deep black, decorated with dark rubies and shards of onyx, their faces still covered by veils. Skotadi flicked her wrist and conjured up a parasol, the shadows around her deepening, the dainty thing doing little to make her less ominous. Any travellers that encountered the two of them would probably think they were omens of doom and run away!

‘Right then, is everyone ready? From here, we try and stay quiet and unobtrusive. No fights – Semari, I’m looking at you. Janaxia, you look great, but could you try and be a little less… occult witch out for vengeance looking? That’s a lot of black, and you don’t need the veil.’

Janaxia emitted a mental “hmph”, but her clothing reformed into a less obtrusive riding dress, albeit still in black, and with gems sparkling amongst the fabric. Well, the area was patrolled well enough that bandits probably wouldn’t be a problem, and they could deal with any that were foolish enough to attack. Skotadi looked at her, frowned, and then her own clothes shimmered and reformed into a similar style.

‘We’ll be taking backroads and side-tracks, so it might be a bit harder going than usual. If we get to a checkpoint, then play nice – they’re probably not looking for me. Although, Janaxia, they’re probably looking for you, so if you could disguise yourself at all?’ That earned her a disgusted “hmph”. ‘Look, I’m not happy about it either, but you’re very attractive and that makes you stand out.’

She smiled at Janaxia, trying to make it into a compliment, which seemed to mollify Janaxia slightly, but only very slightly. Her clothing paled in colour, until it looked more like mundane, normal clothing, rather than fine and magnificent and worthy of a noble. The gemstones faded away until the only wealth she was showing was the golden choker around her neck.

‘Thank you. I’ll try and make it up to you.’ That got her a tight-lipped smile and a narrowing of the eyes – Janaxia was definitely going to remember this. What would make a nice gift?

‘Hey, do I get anything? I don’t even have to put effort in to disguise myself, because I’m not a soul-eating murder-witch.’

‘I don’t think Janaxia’s actually murdered anyone. Um, I’ll get you fed?’

‘Yeah, you better!’ Semari shook her fist. ‘I want, like, an entire herd of cows served up!’

Vrintar chuckled. ‘That sounds like a challenge worthy of a divine champion! Although that might be enough to defeat even you, Semari.’ She looked up at the sky above, where clouds were gathering, promising to spill down with rain soon. ‘Shall we depart?’

‘Yes, before anyone notices us.’ It would have been nice to kick her heels in and make the horse rise up, but it would have drawn attention, and the horse probably wasn’t capable of such a thing, so instead she cracked the reins and made it start to trot away from the port area, the others following behind.