There was a loud plop sound as another drop of blood-ichor oozed out of the monstrous form and splashed downwards – the pool it dropped into was so black that it was invisible except for the ripples, which soon faded away. It was hard to get any sense of how far below them the liquid was, and impossible to tell how deep it was.

‘Hey, it’s like the place back on that island. Although with a thingie this time.’ Semari pointed at the giant suspended figure. ‘Reckon it’s alive? Or, like, dead but not dead?’

‘I’m not sure if I want to find out!’ Stathis looked at it – along with the spiked and barbed chains, more delicate incisions had been made, thinner spikes and wires stuck into the body, trailing outwards to the wall, then upwards and out of view.

Before Stathis could stop her, Semari had jumped upwards and landed on one of them, somehow managing to balance herself on the thin metal strand, the low light making it look like she was floating.

‘This thing’s really cold!’

‘Well, it’s probably doing something creepy to that thing! And not designed to be touched.’

Semari slowly walked along the wire, like a trapeze artist, getting closer towards the whatever-it-was.

‘It’s still bleeding, so that thing is probably at least semi-alive! Or not properly undead or both or something!’ It would be useful if Hakara were here to try and explain some of this, or to figure out what was going on.

‘Reckon we should get closer?’

‘I reckon this is what everyone’s fighting over. And what was probably powering all the magical defences – I’m no expert, but a regenerating trapped demon-thing sounds like something that could be used as a power source. At least by a wizard without many morals.’

Stathis put a foot on the rope bridge. It creaked, but held steady, able to take her weight, only swaying slightly as she walked, the movement increasing as Pajaran followed her. There were no lights other than from Pajaran’s lantern, the glow swallowed up by the surrounding darkness, barely illuminating the liquid below.

‘Reckon Janaxia might know?’

‘Probably better to keep her away from this. Given that I think she ate or absorbed the one back on that island, then bringing her close to another one seems a bad idea. She’s been getting even stranger lately – between being treated like royalty, Skotadi’s death and everything else, I don’t think she’s doing that well, and there’s not been much of a chance to talk. She’s still kind of pissy about everything. She does want to kill her mother though, so I suppose that’s progress of a sort?’

‘Speaking of which… want to know how the Commander is doing?’

Stathis winced. ‘Last I heard, trying to hold everything together? I need to try and get in touch with her in a way that she can trust, that won’t get me killed. I imagine she’s not entirely happy about me stealing my body back.’

‘I’ve only heard about it second-hand from Brina and the reports she gets, but yeah, “unhappy” might be an understatement. If it wasn’t for the Uth Tremari’s kicking off, and now this demon invasion, then things would be a lot messier. As it is, the Iristari are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in keeping things together – turns out that having undead pop up all the time does sort of bugger everything else up. Other nations are even trying to hire the Iristari again.’

‘Well, that’ll appeal to the old wierdos that want to go back to being mercenaries. Who I imagine will find it not quite as nice as they remember, especially if they’re being held in check and so can’t pillage fully.’

‘That does tend to hurt profit margins, yeah. Carissia’s wearing herself ragged as well – she’s blasted her way through a lot of problems that should have been dealt with before, but she’s burning herself out.’

‘Well, if we meet then that might make it possible to take her down. She’s not the easiest to talk to.’ As they got closer to the figure, it loomed larger and larger, the rope-bridge winding upwards. The pale flesh was marked with old, healed scars and wounds, as well as ones opened up by the barbed chain, and the smaller, neater slices.

‘What is it with these demon-pit-things?’ Stathis’ voice sank into the darkness, the space too large for it too even echo.

‘Not going to ask about Brina?’

‘It’d be nice to see her, but this seems a little more important.’

‘She did come through with us.’

Stathis froze. ‘Really? Shit, is she OK?’

‘Well, she’s been helping to clear out the Cormontara underground, so she’s a bit more skilled than she was. But she’s been wanting to see you. Says you were very accommodating when you last spoke.’

Stathis coughed, feeling awkward. ‘Yeah, it was, um, good to see her again. And nice to help the city out. Although finding out that she was an Iristari agent was a bit of a surprise!’

‘No other questions? You two were pretty close, and it sounds like you enjoyed her company when you were there. Apparently Janaxia got a little spiky though?’

‘Pretty much literally, although I think that was those evil spike-things. So bringing her close to whatever the hell this is, is almost certainly not a good idea.’

The rope bridge started to shake, Semari’s surprised yelp coming from somewhere up above, and the snapping twang of wire breaking under too much pressure. Stone crunched and ground, grit and debris falling down and bounding off Stathis’ armour. There was a loud crack, and then another one, the torrent of debris getting stronger.

‘Semari? You OK?’

‘Still good!’

Something whooshed past in the darkness, splashing into the liquid below and splashing it upwards, followed by the sound of droplets landing back into the main body.

‘Reckon this thing is safe?’ The lantern-light flickered around as Pajaran turned – the entrance they had come from was just barely visible, rope swinging, making it hard to keep balance.

‘Semari! We’re heading back, this isn’t safe!’

Stone cracked again, the grit and debris rain getting heavier, drumming against Stathis’ helmet, the sound inside the metal making her ears ring. Light, wan and obscured by dust, shone into the chamber. Stathis looked up towards the light, trying to see what had managed to break in, shielding her eye-slot with her hand to prevent any grit falling in.

A sickly yellow light erupted into being, swirling coils shaping around empty space, a diffuse loop of light. Behind it was a floating, dark-wrapped figure, holding a long staff, staring down at them.

Another heavy chunk of rock fell, slamming against the rope bridge. It couldn’t take the impact, the stone simply breaking through, the rock slapping downwards into the water.

Stathis jumped, igniting her wings and grabbing at Pajaran, just in time as the bridge gave way, torn in half, dropping downwards.

Her wings shed more light than the lantern, better illuminating the place, ancient runes cut into the walls, the chains connected to massive metal spikes hammered into the walls, rust leaching the stone red. She flew upwards, past a surprised-looking Semari that was running up the wires, jumping between them.

‘Get higher!’

‘The troublesome whelp of light again!’ The voice, full of scorn, came from the robe figure, as Poratia gestured with her staff, the yellow light firming up, then streaking towards Stathis.

She jinked to the side, the yellow lash homing in towards her, Pajaran bulky in her arms – at least Janaxia didn’t wear armour!

Pajaran incanted a quick prayer, gesturing towards Poratia, mace dangling from its wrist strap and knocking against Stathis’ armour. A ray of light shone outwards, illuminating the thick haze of dust for a second before a magical aura shimmered into existence around Poratia, absorbing the magical attack.

Stathis twisted in the air, diving behind the suspended giant, hoping to outpace whatever the lash was, diving downwards to accelerate faster. The light from her wings made a bright glare on the surface of the liquid, and she pulled up just in time, skimming just above the surface before twisting upwards.

‘Any plans?’ Pajaran’s voice was almost lost in the swoosh of air.

‘Don’t die? We need to get out of here, but she’s too powerful to take directly.’ Stathis was gaining height now, the body of the giant streaking past. She glanced around – there was no sign of the lash anymore.

There were the sounds of an impact, followed by Semari grunting. Up above them, Semari and Poratia were close to each other, Semari held suspended in mid-air, her fist bare inches from Poratia’s face, her body limned in a yellow glow, straining to escape whatever power was holding her there.

‘Hmmm, an associate of my renegade daughter. Although far more powerful than she is – I wonder what power fuels you? Perhaps I should give you to Trakatha to find out? I’m sure you would make a wonderful flesh puppet.’ She gestured, tossing Semari downwards, making a casual gesture and sending a spray of magical bolts after her, as Semari dropped into the darkness, twisting around for something to grab hold of.

‘And you. Again. Such a recurrent problem!’

She floated downwards, some magical force keeping her suspended, her black robes fluttering around her. Stathis had lost track of Semari in the darkness, but had to hope that she’d found something to grab hold of. A barrage of magical energy shot forth from Poratia, slamming towards Stathis. They were too fast for her to fully dodge, and with Pajaran in her arms she couldn’t block either, at least other than using Pajaran as a shield.

Several of the darts connected, a cold energy clutching at Stathis’ soul and making her shudder, the light from her wings fading away a little. Pajaran grunted in pain, having been hit as well, before flinging her hand in Poratia’s direction, a bright bolt of light shooting out. This time it hit, Poratia’s bony frame now surrounded by clean, white light, her face contorted in annoyance.

The light shall rise!

Stathis looked around in confusion – where had that voice come from? It hadn’t sounded like Janaxia? Her wings started to burn more brightly, forcing Poratia to look away and cover her eyes, incanting another spell already. Darkness flickered into being around her staff, wisps of shadow forming into a monstrous bird-shape, which swooped towards Stathis, jagged-edge beak opening wide.

Pajaran shifted in her grip, managing to take a swing and knocking it back, Stathis trying to keep herself stable, flapping her wings to send up large gusts of wind, just about staying stable.

‘Easy with that! It’s hard enough flying without you swinging around.’

‘Sorry! Seemed better than being hit by whatever that thing is though.’

It was circling around again, wings spread wide, hard to see against the surrounding darkness. Metal clinked and clattered, stone groaning again, chain links snapping and breaking, whistling through the air before splashing down into the liquid, far below. Stathis beat her wings, trying to gain height, not wanting to get clipped by something falling down. The flesh of the giant was changing, taking on an oily and multi-coloured sheen, some of the wires popping out as it started to heal.

‘Shit!’ Pajaran and Stathis both exclaimed in unison, as Stathis jinked to avoid the bird again. Poratia was incanting, vivid yellow lighting up around her, looking like she was preparing for something large and powerful. A chain rattled close by, Semari jumping back into view, vaulting between the over-sized links, dodging as things fell past her.

‘Bitch froze me with something!’

‘I saw! There’s no other no other way out though. And I don’t like the look of what’s going on with the big thing either.’

‘Sure it was, like, a good idea to not let Janaxia run around?’

‘I didn’t know this would happen! And that’s probably going to cause even more problems.’

A deep, booming sigh came from behind them, cool air rushing away from the giant, metal groaning and snapping again.

Sickly-yellow lightning seared out, the chains attracting most of the power, Semari jumping clear just as it sparked beneath where she had been standing, landing on Stathis for a moment before leaping away, sending her into a crazed spiral, until she could kick off the wall and fly properly again. The lightning continued to spark and flare around the chains, Stathis trying to steer clear, looping back upwards again.

‘Ready?’

‘This plan sucks!’ Semari jumped again, landing on the head of the giant before taking a running jump and grabbing hold of a wire. Stathis swooped forward herself, as Pajaran managed to twist around and hold her own shield up.

‘I didn’t want to say it, but I agree with Semari!’

Stathis ducked her head and flapped her wings, moving as fast as she could, hoping to simply batter Poratia out of the way. If they could get onto solid ground, then she and Pajaran could both fight properly! The shadow-bird swooped towards her, talons extended, and she couldn’t evade without checking her speed. It raked down her back, inflicting wounds even through her armour, before they passed each other.

Poratia was ahead of them, her staff held high, the head flaring with red light. A burst of light flared, making Stathis blink, feeling a force try and grab hold of her spirit, which she repelled with an effort. Pajaran stiffened in her arms but didn’t say anything, as they reached Poratia. She ducked to the side, Stathis managing to land an awkward backfisted strike as she shot passed, tucking her wings in to make it through the crack that Poratia had created.

The fissure had been torn from the ground, a crack made into the ground, directly into the underground chamber – she was back in one corner of the courtyard, the deep darkness barely faded. She let Pajaran go and the other woman managed to stand, holy light flickering around her armour, curing whatever Poratia had cast.

‘Ready?’ Stathis drew her sword, glad to be able to fight again.

‘Let’s do this! Although that bloody stung.’

Around them, other fights swirled in and out of vision – undead, Sethans and soldiers, dozens of individual fights, without any way of telling how the overall battle was going. Thin streams of darkness wound from the surrounding haze, all focused on Poratia. Stathis’ wings still shone, pushing back the shadows a little.

Experimentally, Stathis swung her sword at one, letting holy light wash along the blade. It snapped, vanishing in an instant. Was that doing anything useful? It was impossible to tell.

A fireball exploded in the blasted-open passage, Semari getting propelled forward, rolling when she hit the ground, her clothing smoking from the blast of heat. She groaned, but managed to stand up, twisting her shoulders and getting ready to fight again.

‘We ready?’

‘Could do with a heal!’

Pajaran prayed, pointing her mace at Semari. Some of her burn marks faded away as the spell cured her injuries.

A sword flashed out, catching what little light there was as it flew downwards into the gap. Zarazonnia followed it, all of her blades drawn, spinning and slashing at any enemies within range. Her blade flashed back into her hand, some magical effect letting it boomerang back. Poratia’s bird was still flying around, swooping towards Zarazonnia who sliced it from the air, the thing fading away.

‘We still attacking? Snakey-lady might be able to deal with it?’

‘Yes! I don’t trust either of them, but she probably won’t try to kill us until later, while Poratia’s already tried to kill us all. Me especially!’