The camp had developed defences, piled-up earth pointing outwards, along with scavenged wood from the knocked-down watchtowers used to build some primitive walls. It was daylight now, so they were probably safe, but there was a constant stream of minor undead – zombies and skeletons – along with occasional things that were nastier, and harder to see.

Stathis turned to look at the castle, still encased within the protective bubble-shield. Without ranged attacks, any direct charge would be a nightmare, with nothing to keep the archers on the walls distracted.

Janaxia clicked her tongue, sounding annoyed as she gestured with a hand, a flurry of arcane bolts streaking out and hitting a tree, knocking away lumps of bark.

‘That seemed unnecessary.’

Janaxia turned to glare at her, hair-lash throbbing. This whole affair seems unnecessary!

‘Real voice!’

Stathis heard a psychic grumble, before Janaxia spoke properly. ‘Being besieged is rather horrendous. Simultaneously being both besieged and besieger is simply intolerable!’ She flickered her wrists again, more dark energy lashing forward, obliterating the now-exposed soft wood beneath the bark. ‘Whoever is sending these attackers is being most vexatious! Being penned in here is somewhat irritating.’

Her clothing rippled as she spoke, despite the lack of wind. She was currently dressed in one of her most majestic outfits, dramatic bands of silks wrapped around her body with a translucent shawl over the top, tiny runes of power sparking with fitful red lights as she moved, the material apparently loose enough to let her move without hindrance. The circlet around her forehead had grown into something more arcane-looking, a green gem over her forehead matching her eyes, a veil cover her mouth, more wraps of material part-covering her hands.

‘Well, Zarazonnia should have bought appropriate troops. It’s only been a few days anyway – pretty short for a siege. Although there’s enough of those damn things out there that scouting’s getting hard. This terrain is so rough that we can’t go far without worrying about an ambush. I hope Tounvar doesn’t have any allies nearby! It’s not like you’ve done much beside make yourself comfortable, either. Where did you even get those cushions?’

‘A few of the soldiers had bought some home comforts with them. I simply impressed upon them the importance of my own comfort.’

‘Please don’t bully the soldiers! Although I guess it is more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. I’m just glad those shadow-things haven’t attacked you again. Managed to figure out anything more that can be done about that shield?’

‘He must be drawing power from elsewhere to keep it sustained. Any conventional magic would have expired long since.’ Another burst of bolts smacked into the tree, which started to creak and fall over now that half of the trunk was smashed away. ‘I imagine that would be why he is all the way out here – even by the standards of the arcane community, this place is somewhat isolated. But if he found some ancient treasure or ruin containing power he could use, then, well, of course he would use it. And bring his hired help along with him.’

‘Probably had to clear the place out, yeah. So do you think there’s a physical focus point or something? Maybe those patterns we saw before? Would breaking those do something?’

‘Perhaps. Although the effects of suddenly-unbound magic can be unpleasant.’

As the tree creaked and fell to the ground, birds took flight, leaping from the upper branches, wings flapping. Janaxia drew her hand back, darkness flickering around her fingertips before Stathis grabbed her arm, drawing it back.

‘I don’t think you need to murder the wildlife!’

Janaxia issued a mental grunt of annoyance and impatience, streaks of darkness hurtling into the sky.

This is scarcely what I had envisioned. At the least, I would rather this place be safely secured, so that Zarazonnia can continue, and then rather more personal matters of mine can be resolved. I would prefer not to be targeted! Not that I am not thankful for your assistance, but I would rather sleep without worry.

‘So, you’re going to fight them? Personally? We might be able to take down some of them, but your Mother is not someone we can fight head on! I’m assuming she’s still alive, at least.’ She reconsidered her phrasing. ‘Well, animated, or whatever.’

‘Yes, it is unlikely she will be defeated so easily. But it should be possible to eliminate a few of my other siblings, especially with your aid. I doubt they have much prior experience with someone attempting your particular brand of focused violence. Although Semari would be somewhat more of a wildcard, as being punched in the face is even more of a surprise! And when she starts bending limbs, then it does make spellcasting rather hard.’

‘If you were to practise fighting more, then you might be able to fight her off! Although this isn’t really the time or place for training. Is there anything you can do to maybe track down where they’re coming from? They must have a lot of bodies.’

‘Yes, I had noticed that. And they appear fresh – given that there isn’t much of a local population, I would image that they must be using magic to transport them in. Or had established a stockpile earlier, but that would present certain logistical issues as well as leaving tracks, that I imagine would be fairly obvious.’

‘Yeah, a whole fortress of the things would be pretty obvious. Even if they’re hidden in a cave somewhere, it’s hard to ship a load of corpses around, at least in the numbers needed. So they must be using teleportation spells. That might be a problem if they can keep sending new troops at us. Although they must be getting the bodies from somewhere, which is a bit worrying.’

‘The spiritual binding is rather complex as well. Not the sort of thing that’s entirely practical to do unsupported – unless significant effort has been invested into making a permanent gateway, then they must also the needed supplies on hand. That would take a certain amount of space and leave some residue. The sort of thing that would be rather unpleasant, and leave some obvious signs.’

‘Like what?’

‘Oh, the usual. Blighted trees, dead foliage, animals refusing to go near the place, that sort of thing. Although the terrain would make it hard to scout, I imagine.’

‘It does. Some of the scouts haven’t come back – I’m hoping they’ve just gotten lost, but it’s more likely that they’re dead. Probably either the undead, whoever is commanding, got them, or some local monsters. Could be all sorts out there.’ Stathis reached out and gently pulled at Janaxia’s forelock, seeing the glow against her hand. ‘Shame this thing can’t be used to detect where it is.’

‘Hmph. I would prefer you not to be quite so casual about such things.’ She brushed Stathis’ hand away. ‘Although you are correct to say that the magical effects in use should leave some detectable traces. Hmm, perhaps there is something I can do… Sen, could you bring me the small chest?’

‘Yes, my lady.’ Sen had been stood close by, with a heavy shawl around her shoulders, not liking the comparative chill here. She moved inside and swiftly returned with a small wooden chest, banded with heavy metal, engraved with fine runic detailing.

‘A few of the other, lesser, wizards have offered up some contributions. In case I can make better use of them.’ Her clothing ruffled around her, clinging more tightly for a second. ‘While much of it is incompatible with my own unique style of magic, there are a few items that may be of use.’ She took the chest from Sen, tapping her fingers against the lid, the glow fading as she removed whatever protections were in place on it.

She rummaged around inside of it, before pulling out an assemblage of leather straps and flecks of crystal, along with carved stone feathers and several small skulls, all misshapen, with too many eyes and horns. ‘This, I think I can work with. Well, maybe. Apparently it’s an heirloom, although others have struggled to make it function.’

As soon as she touched it, the eyes of the skulls started to throb with a dull red glow, a pale echo of Janaxia’s hair.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’

Janaxia’s clothing had shifted, the runes on her silken swaddling glowing more brightly now, her back straighter, nails closer to talons again.

‘I would rather attempt something novel rather than be caught in this tiresome engagement for much longer. And a simple divining spell is well within my capacities!’

‘Are you sure? You don’t normally do things like that. Just don’t get possessed or anything. Is there anything I need to keep an eye out for?’

‘This will likely make it rather hard for me to see normally, so if you could try and ensure that I am unharmed. I will need both to maintain my focus and avoid stumbling.’ As she spoke, her heels shrunk down into sensible walking boots, a strangely practical note in the otherwise sultry outfit. ‘The sooner this is dealt with, the better it will be for all concerned.’

Wind started to whip around her as she heard the thing up, dirty cords suspending the ramshackle-looking assemblage, the thing folding out into several loops, wooden circles forced into shape through the leather straps, skulls or crystals at the centre of each. Janaxia’s hair fluttered, her own eyes closing, the metal bands on the book on her waist glinting. The suspended straps moved entirely independently of the wind, spinning around furiously, Janaxia’s hand tightening to keep it from flying off. When it spun towards the castle, the crystals glowed with alternating white and black, flashing in a stinging strobe. When it pointed off into the surrounding hills, it flashed to a bitter and bruised red. Janaxia flicked it and made a disappointed tutting sound, which seemed to help her control it, as the spinning stopped, and she took a slow step forward. Her eyes were still closed, so she had to feel the way, cautiously using her foot to feel ahead of her.

Her steps quickened as she found herself on relatively open ground, Stathis moving to keep up with her, gesturing at Sen to stay behind.

As they moved, she tried to give directions, helping Janaxia around logs and uneven ground, lifting her over cracks and crevasses. The divining circles stopped moving as furiously, keeping more of a consistent direction, only occasionally flicking backwards to point at the castle. Stathis paused for a moment to strap her shield to her arm, before steering Janaxia around a boulder she was about to walk into, resisting the urge to let her walk face-first into it.

‘Can you talk?’

This is rather distracting, but yes. Although if you could ensure I walk without injuring myself, that would be appreciated. My current vision is rather lacking in detail regarding the material plane, at least beyond the most rudimentary details such as “ground level”.

She stepped forward, foot finding empty air as she strode over a deep divot, Stathis grabbing her and keeping her up until her foot found stable ground.

…Precisely so. Although maybe direct me before I encounter an issue?

‘I’ll try. This is rough terrain though. And I’m trying to keep an eye out for any attackers.’

They were moving from the open area around the castle into the craggy ravines, where vision was more limited. She had to keep one hand free in case Janaxia needed help though, so tried to keep her head moving, in case anything suddenly moved into view.

Janaxia needed steering several times, pulling back from walking into the remnants of walls, hissing in displeasure when she walked into a stream, ice-cold water splashing over her legs, staining her silks dark. They had to reverse directions a few times as Janaxia directed them into dead-end gullies, before walking up onto a ridge.

Up here, there was more of a view, dull grey rock stretching ahead of them, broken up by occasional splashes of green and brown, where enough soil had gathered to let something grow. A few of the highest points had standing stones atop them, but Stathis couldn’t tell if they were naturally formed by the weather, or had been placed there as monuments or to do something magical.

She put one hand on Janaxia’s shoulder, using it to keep her in the middle of the ridge, as far from the edge as possible. The device was now virtually horizontal, magical energy tugging it straight forward.

‘Do you have any sense of distance? We’ve been walking for a while now.’

I believe we are close, physically. Although the terrain makes that rather meaningless in practical terms. And there seems to be some form of magical protection shrouding it further.

‘True. Hold up, I think I saw something.’

Had that been movement? She carefully moved around Janaxia so that she was at the front, looking down a scree slope into a broad dip, filled with dead-looking thorny bushes. A wind blew upwards at her, bringing with it a rank and charnel stench – looking closer, she could see dead animals amongst the undergrowth, bodies rotting and festering.

Several shapes moved from the undergrowth, shambling humanoids moving through the spiky bushes without any care for their own health, wood snapping and cracking as they did so. Stathis turned and pulled down on Janaxia’s shoulder to pull her down, ignoring her grunt of protest.

‘Down! There’s something there. Can you see anything?’

Janaxia’s clothing didn’t seem particularly suited for such an activity, moving strangely and binding tightly or loosely in ways that looked uncomfortable, seeds and grass immediately attaching themselves to the silk.

‘My vision extends beyond the mortal realm!’

‘You could just say “no”.’ There were quite a few of the things, moving with vague purpose, stamping around and flattening grass before wandering back and out of view. ‘It’s impressive you were able to find this place though. What does it look like to you?’

‘It’s nice you have some appreciation of my talents! It appears as a twisted sinkhole of darkness, a spear stabbing upwards, up and out of sight. I’m not sure quite what it is, although it is majestic, at least in scale. Sadly, it seems so overwhelming that any other detail is impossible.’ Janaxia was craning her head upwards, giving some idea of how big the thing must be. In the normal world at least, there was nothing – there was a slight chill wind, but they were up on a hillside after all.

‘Can you see anything else?’

‘Some motes of darkness. Or deeper darkness, I should say. Like droplets of ink on dark paper, slowly fading into the greater darkness.’

‘And you don’t feel anything else? You do sometimes get a bit funny around big magical things.’

Janaxia wriggled forward, then hissed in pain – Stathis twisted to see that a thorn had scratched down Janaxia’s flank, tearing the silks to reveal the flesh beneath, the scratch starting to ooze blood.

‘Let me get that for you.’ Staths reached out and tried to work out the best place to touch Janaxia, not wanting to just grope her silk-wrapped buttocks, settling for laying a gauntlet atop her lower back. She focused her energies, using a tiny trickle of energy to try and heal the wound.

Janaxia made a pained sound. The golden light washed out from Stathis’ hand, as she writhed in seeming pain – steam raised up, Janaxia’s clothing peeling and melting away, her body tensing up. When the light struck against her now-bare flesh, it pinked as though sunburnt. Stathis tried to draw her hand away, but her muscles had tensed up, not letting her go, her gauntleted fingers digging down skin.

Owww! What are you doing? Janaxia tried to shake her off, twisting around to look back at Stathis, who could feel energy being drained from her. Her fingers felt bitterly cold, ice forming on her metal-wrapped fingers, making indented marks into the soft skin.

‘I can’t let go! What are you doing?’ Her whole arm was starting to go numb, the sensation spreading upwards, more frost forming on her arm. It was like being electrocuted, her body not moving according to her own will. She heard a low groan from downhill, the shambling creatures now looking up at them, starting to make their way up the hill.

Stathis strained, trying to move her arm away, Janaxia’s skin looking more and more sunburned, her clothing continuing to melt away. The creatures were moving faster now, as Stathis twisted, getting her other arm underneath Janaxia and lifting her up, awkwardly coming to her feet. They started shambling upwards, pressing their way through the undergrowth.

‘We need to get out of here!’

Janaxia was wriggling on her shoulder, clothing melting away, legs down Stathis’ breastplate. She moaned in pain, her body limp and floppy, Stathis taking a slow step herself, her vision blurring. She took a step forward, hearing something crunch underfoot, looking down to see that it was Janaxia’s spell focus. The crimson lights faded, the draining sucking forcing her hand to cling to Janaxia vanishing. Some of her strength returned, and she started to beat a retreat, trying to track where she was so that the place could be found again. Janaxia was worryingly limp, but that could be solved later!