The passageway stretched on for an interminable distance, cold stone stretching forward. Was it a building, or a cave? There were no signs of any windows. The air was dead and still, dry and strangely flat, reminding her of the other world she had somehow gotten stuck in before. As Mavrosa trotted along, Stathis kept an eye on Janaxia, but she seemed to be normal. At least by her own standards! Sen was on the platform with her, tending to her.

Stathis moved forward, touching her hand against the wall – it was solid stone, somewhat worked to flatten and smooth it out, but not polished to a fine finish. It was chill to the touch, and slightly dusty, fine, soft powder clinging to her hand. There didn’t seem to be any passageways or branches, just the single grand hallway, stretching on and on and on. The walls were plain and unadorned, and there weren’t even any lights, the place being suffused with a dull glow from the air.

She reached forward and rubbed Mavrosa between the ears, receiving a happy whinny in return. ‘You seem perky. You fit right in here though.’ Mavrosa shook her head, mane ruffling. ‘At least you’re nice and calm, good girl.’

With the sounds from the other soldiers, the place felt less dead and still, with the noise echoing around. Mavrosa’s height let her see a little further, over the heads of the other soldiers, and so was able to see those at the front start to stop, as the passageway widened into a large circle.

It was a huge dome of stone, the top just barely visible. At the far end was another stone gateway, currently sealed. Around it were various figures, frozen and motionless – as Stathis got closer, she could see that they were spiked and spined, wings frozen in mid-flap. They were demons, or statues of them, perfectly carved. Stathis drew her sword, just in case they reanimated.

Even the soldiers were keeping their distance, especially from some of the larger ones – Stathis recognised several of the things she had fought at Redcastle, several times the height of a man, with hulking muscles. As the soldiers passed by the statues, they made gestures with their hands – of blessing or warding, Stathis couldn’t tell.

A scraping, slithering sound filled the air, Zarazonnia moving forward, her scales rubbing against the stone. Stathis could see the occasional green fleck left in her wake, where scales had broken off against the stone. Janaxia accelerated forward, although still looked entirely at ease on her hovering platform. Stathis tried to stay close, but it felt awkward making too much noise, Mavrosa’s hooves loud against the stone. There didn’t seem to be much danger of an attack, and there was an entire army, just in case something did happen.

This gateway was more heavily carved than the last, or perhaps less eroded. The carvings made Stathis’ eyes itch, and she had to look away, as Zarazonnia gestured at her spellcasters again. The stone began to creak open, a wind getting called into existence, blowing loose grit around.

Another shimmering, silvery portal appeared from between the stone. The soldiers were faster to move now, probably eager to be gone from this place, even without knowing where the other end would take them, blinking out of sight as they stepped into the mist.

Stathis managed to catch up with Janaxia, who had sat herself up on her platform, her clothing now rearranged to look more magisterial, heavy robes thick with gilt and jewellery.

‘Any idea where we’re going?’

Janaxia didn’t respond, but twisted her fingers through some arcane gestures, her clothing rippling further, hair shaping itself into braided coils tipped with silver spikes. As she moved forward, she reached out, hand lightly trailing against a demonic statue. It started to crumble into dust, form sloughing away until there was nothing left but a pile of dust. Janaxia flicked her fingers to clean them, motes puffing downwards to join the heap.

Stathis rapped the hilt of her sword against another statue – it struck against the stone, not making a dent or scratch in the tough material. Another blow had much the same effect, the stone too tough for her assaults to affect.

‘You feeling OK, Janaxia?’ Her stance and hair hadn’t changed, her forelock still shedding a pale glow.

I would prefer to be in rather nicer surroundings. Perhaps you could treat me to something nice?

‘We should worry more about where we’re going, I think! If we show up with some conquering army, then that’s going to cause a lot of problems. We don’t want to actually conquer anywhere, remember?’

Hmph, well, Zarazonnia seems to have her own plans. She appears rather more pragmatic than brutal though – at least from what I’ve gleaned in conversation. So perhaps things won’t be too bad?

‘An army invading isn’t good for anyone! And there’s your family as well. Random undead are appearing and attacking, which I think might be your siblings. So that’s at least a three-way battle between this lot, the undead and whoever happens to be around. Plus any non-combatants as well. It’s going to be messy!’

It might be best, maybe, if Zarazonnia were to be merciful? I suppose it would be unpleasant if there were to be excessive torment or bloodshed. Well, I’m sure she won’t want to waste her forces on needless shows of strength. That makes strategic sense, does it not?

‘Possibly. Although I wasn’t expecting you to be thinking about that sort of thing! Since when have you been thinking about battle plans?’

I suppose some of your more martial attributes may have rubbed off on me. And if I am to succeed to the headship of the Uth Tremari, then I should start thinking about such things, should I not?

‘Oh? You’re going to go up against your mother then? Good, and your siblings as well. Although not face-to-face.

Well, no, that is, sadly, rather beyond me. At least directly. Still, given the right circumstances, it is possible that things could be orchestrated to my preference. And it will be satisfying when I ascend to my rightful place.

‘Let’s maybe just settle for not dying, to start with? And trying to avert as much bloodshed as possible. The others are holed up in an elven fort, Hakara thinks she can do some transportation magic to meet up with us, depending on where we actually go. Although I’m not sure what we can do, even with all of us – we can’t really fight an army. If Zarazonnia is out for conquest, it might be hard to talk her out of it. And the troops probably won’t be too happy about it either.’

They were getting close to the gateway themselves – from this side, there was no indication of where it might be sending them to. Somewhere else in wherever-this-was, or back in the real world? Janaxia descended back to the ground level, standing up then dismissing her platform, dropping to the floor and walking forward, vanishing as she reached out and touched the shimmering gateway. Stathis moved forward herself, sword at the ready before stepping through.

Warm sunlight and a soft breeze touched against her skin. Janaxia was already summoning up her platform again, apparently finding “walking” beneath her station now, elevating herself upwards from the floor in a seated position. They were in a stone valley, high walls on both sides of them, moss and weeds growing from between the rocks, the gateway open from the rock wall. The other soldiers had moved to the valley entrance, not sure of themselves, and without anyone to command them to set up defences or camp.

Stathis didn’t recognise the foliage or terrain – it could have been pretty much anywhere, although at least it was a comfortable temperature, far better than the pounding heat of the desert. While more soldiers filed in, Stathis rode forward towards the valley entrance, wanting to try and see where they were.

From the entrance, she could see rolling hills, simple tracks over green hillsides, a few wild goats wandering about. She could see a few scattered ruins – nothing major, just old stone cottages and farm buildings, all looking abandoned, the roofs fallen in. The fields were still roughly visible, delimited by broken down walls, filled with weeds and foliage, any crops long gone. The tracks were only narrow, looking like they were made by animals rather than people.

Mountains framed the horizon, grey peaks tipped with snow stabbing at the sky. Nestled up around the base of a mountain was a fortress, wrapped in a defensive wall. From the smoke rising up, it was inhabited, and Stathis could just about see people moving on the walls. Outside the walls, the foliage had been burned back and a deep ditch dug to prevent direct access to the walls, with just a single bridge across to the gate, currently blocked by thick wooden gates.

Outside of the walls were watch-towers – only wooden constructs, but enough to show a good defensive network, each manned by what looked like soldiers. Wherever they were, it was defended, then? And there was probably someone nearby, so it wouldn’t be long until the fortress knew they were here. What would Zarazonnia do? She wasn’t equipped for a siege, without access to lots of food or any siege weapons, while the walls looked thick and sturdy. Unless she was planning on using herself to break through the walls? The place seemed pretty remote, but there was always the chance that it had some powerful wizard or fighter in residence, or the ability to call for aid.

Although it was more likely that Zarazonnia didn’t have the ability to control where she could travel, and so had to come out here. But the fortress would need conquering before Zarazonnia could move on – if the gateway was her only supply point, then she’d need to keep it clear, at least until getting to a port or something. And this place didn’t look like it would have many supplies by itself, at least not in terms of supplying an army.

As Stathis watched, she saw a signal fire spark to life on a hilltop, then atop another tower – they had clearly been spotted. Everyone outside the walls started to run inside, a warning bell ringing, echoing against the mountains.

The soldiers immediately reacted, drawing weapons, shouting and starting to spread out, until their commander yelled at them to get back, trying to keep them in order. Zarazonnia’s voice sounded out, yelling orders, commanding everyone to stay still, easily loud enough to be heard by everyone.

‘Today the conquest starts! Follow my lead!’ Zarazonnia slithered forward with surprising speed, her own troops forming up in good order behind her, shields coming to the fore, everyone else more ragged and tattered in their formations. The lizard-cavalry skittered forward, faster than the rest.

Stathis looked at Janaxia, as her disc moved forward, slower than a run. I suppose it may be best if we were able to perhaps aid Zarazonnia in her aims more peaceably? It would certainly lessen the risk to ourselves if there were less lethal force being engaged.

‘Yes! And this is going to be a shitshow if it ends up turning violent. Enough people are pissed at your already that showing up at the head of a demonic army is going to cause assassination attempts from anyone that didn’t want you dead before.’

There’s no need to make it personal! Really, that seems unduly harsh.

Stathis moved Mavrosa so that she was trotting alongside the platform. ‘Carissia wants you dead personally, and you’re not really in the good graces of my mother generally. Your mother very much wants you dead, or worse, as do all your siblings expect maybe Kivata. Some of Zarazonnia’s “allies” probably want you gone, and so will whoever lives here. You’re not making a very good job of making allies!’

Hmph. Well, I suppose at least you are reliable?

‘Yeah, but let’s try and sort this out in the least shit-show way possible. And then we can figure out how to defuse this whole mess. Without getting killed by anyone!’

It was a fair distance to the fortress, long enough for the defenders to withdraw themselves fully, the gates shutting. She could see defenders on the walls, bows at the ready, but there weren’t any pennants or flags to give an indication of where they were or who they were attacking. A few arrows shot out, even though they were still out of range. Zarazonnia was leading from the front, able to move faster than her soldiers, keeping pace with the lizard-riders.

As she passed one of the watchtowers, Zarazonnia gestured with one of her swords, a bead of fire shooting out. When it impacted the wooden structure, it exploded into an explosive blast, with enough force to blow the structure apart, the whole thing falling over, wood on fire, parts falling off. There was nothing else nearby for the fire to spread to, but it was an impressive show of force.

‘Can’t you make that thing go any faster?’

Janaxia rolled her eyes before twisting her fingers, the disc shooting forward, Sen making a nervous squeak. Mavrosa moved into an easy run, seeming glad to be allowed to move at full speed. Another flight of arrows, more co-ordinated this time, shot out, rattling off shields this time. If they keep using their shots at extreme range, then they’d waste their ammunition without achieving anything.

Zarazonnia skidded to a stop, her bulk cutting a gouge into the ground from her momentum. Her swords snapped around her head, slicing at arrows, cutting them from the air. One got through, rattling off her iron-hard scales without effect. Fire shot from one of her swords, arching towards the walls. A gleaming mote of light shot back towards it, intercepting it in mid-air. The explosion shattered in the air, blasting out without hitting anyone. As the blast faded, Stathis could see that there was a dome of energy, visible for a second before fading from sight.

Janaxia made an interested noise before clicking her fingers, bolts of darkness lashing out. They struck the same dome of force, black lines streaking out as the force was dissipated.

‘That looks quite impressive?’

Yes, to sustain such a thing would take a lot of power. That may complicate matters, especially as they seem to have mundane forces as well.

Zarazonnia conjured up another ball of fire, but with no more effect than the first. ‘You will fall to our blades! Surrender now, and I shall be merciful.’

There was no response.

‘Well, so much for the peaceful approach.’

A single arrow flew back, arcing high into the sky before plummeting downwards. Zarazonnia moved to block it, two of her swords forming a shining “X” of steel. It struck against the cross-shape with a loud chiming noise. A shockwave of force slammed outwards, a visible corona of dust that knocked over the soldiers closest to Zarazonnia. The metal tip of the arrow screeched against Zarazonnia’s swords, trying to break through them, propelled by some magic. A spinning swirl of runes appeared, more power pushing against Zarazonnia, managing to push her downwards slightly, her snake-rear contracting.

She pushed back upwards, serpentine coils unwinding and pushing her torso upwards, two more swords moving in and slicing the arrow apart, the spell disintegrating and fading with a dull burst of energy.

‘Conquest then! Setha shall bare it’s fangs again, and conquer this land!’

The rest of the army had caught up, although was ragged and not formed up properly. Still, they managed a rough cheer, although there were any ranged weapons to fire back with.

Stathis sighed. ‘A siege. Well, at least it gives us some time to figure something out. And it’s probably better to be on the outside than the inside!’