I was surprised at how well everyone was taking the change in plans, as well as the announcement that we were being hunted by both the Eldred Empire and Halenvar. Katrin and Errod were worried that we would say the wrong thing once we petitioned the Sahrger and end up cursed, and Mila was so scatterbrained that it was hard to say if she was worried about any part of it - she kept losing whatever project she was working on while we traveled and then digging through her bag until she forgot why.

The other three, though, seemed to be completely fine with everything. Sige looked almost eager for a fight, Aestrid was napping, and Cyne had just nodded and began looking for a good place to cross over. Sige had been the only one to comment on it at all. "Lost some money on you guys, I'd bet you stole the directions to wherever you're taking us and some other fuckers were going to be chasing us down to beat us there. Political bullshit like this war? I think that falls into Cyne's guess. Doesn't look like the gambling type, does he? Anyway, if I'm reading this right you want me to choke out the Eldred fuckers but let them live, and put down any Halenvar troops in a more permanent way. Right?"

We'd pulled the two wagons off the road to a clearing surrounded by trees where Cyne said it felt like there was more mana. Connie assured me that I would get a feel for that eventually, that I was in fact already feeling it to some extent and just not recognizing it. If she was right I couldn't tell. The problem with mana in general seemed to be that it built up over time and so you couldn't have a reliable source of it - if you found somewhere that had a lot of natural mana and started using it, you'd just drain the place. That also meant that cities by definition had very low ambient mana, which in turn made it harder for people to use magic and supposedly also slowed their growth in power.

That led to magic users traveling the countryside or going into deep forests or trackless deserts looking for high mana areas to train in, and those spots were the ones that were also filled with monsters. Between the monsters and wars, a lot of people who got Dumines immediately got themselves killed and that led to a big divide - you had the cautious types that worked in cities and you had the crazy ones that had honed their skills and survived. The two groups didn't always get along. Mila was the rare hybrid, she'd been a mercenary in her youth but only so that she could open her pottery and art studio - this was not a normal way to do things, and as far as I could gather was wholly unnecessary.

The Halenvar soldier was still circling overhead, too high for anyone to attack; with the segozertze able to reduce its density it could remain aloft all day without landing. Katrin had found a spell that she thought might reach him and pull him to the ground, but much like the razor-thin forcefield she had strung up across the street in Theramas it was beyond her current ability and would probably wipe her out for the day if it worked at all. The general consensus had been that it wouldn't help the situation much even if it worked, though once I was reminded of that devastating razor wire spell I did ask her to have it ready for the necropolis in case we had a huge wave of undead come at us - nobody seemed clear on how likely that was, but they all agreed it was a possibility if we went deep enough. She promised to have it fresh in her mind, but there was no way to practice it without straining herself. Instead she would just have to practice smaller spells and hope that her capacity increased.

Cyne was pacing around the clearing, nodding to himself. After a few minutes of this he seemed satisfied and had us bring the wagons in close.

"So is this going to be like when Sige took me into Itzele?"

"No. All the planes are different, though some are stranger than others. Do you understand how planar alignment works?"

"I saw a big orrey thing in Theramas, but... no."

"There's no physical representation that will quite be correct, but that's as good a place as any to start. The large central orb in that device represents this world, sometimes called the material world due to a misconception that matter isn't real on the other planes - that's true for some of them, but by no means all. There's a spot labeled on that orb, when the others line up with that spot they are more in tune with our world.

"For some, this means nearly nothing. For others, you can only cross back and forth on those days unless you're willing to expend far more mana. For a few, the alignment means effects or creatures can spontaneously cross over without anything guiding it. Itzele has a cycle of only one day, so in effect it is always in alignment - though it's strongest around midnight. Quebristun, on the other hand, only comes into alignment every five hundred and fifty-four thousand, four hundred days - that's more than one thousand two hundred and eighty-three years." And those years, I had to remind myself, were longer than Earth years which meant by my normal frame of reference it would be more like fifteen hundred years.

"You can tap into the line that is drawn from our world through the aligned planes to draw mana, much like you can pull ambient mana from around you, but on most days it gets you very little. If it was a week later, there would be six planes in alignment which would be enough to be worth taking the time to form that link, but today there are only three. Instead, we must do what we can to make the passage easier. This clearing has a little more ambient mana than the rest of the area, and the similarity of the environment to that of Xeyul will help as well. That is especially true of Nusos because of its nature, you will see that when we cross over after you retrieve whatever you're looking for in the necropolis. But the reason that I suggested Xeyul was the specific way that we enter - it's easier to get the wagons in than it would be for some of the other planes because it forms an actual door."

"Wait, a literal door?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, I misspoke. A gateway, an opening in the air. But in terms of cost, it is similar for a small gateway or one large enough to accommodate the wagons. There is a plane that manifests a physical door, but we won't be going there. The Queen of Candles wouldn't be helpful to visit."

"Okay I want to hear more about her later, but first... Sige gave you a funny look when you suggested Xeyul, like he was surprised. There's no... I don't know. There's nothing we should know that you haven't told us?"

"I suspect he assumed I would refuse to deal with the Sahrger. They are cruel, they have no regard for the lives of others. They have a concept of social obligations, and I suspect they care for their children or parents in a way - but if so it's the way you might care about a treasured possession rather than a living person. They are deeply incompatible with my personal beliefs. But the guidelines I live by are for me alone; I have never tried to force others to do the same. Besides, if I had ignored this option you would have just tried to sneak past the checkpoint and in all likelihood people would have died. There is never a path without pain, so we seek only to limit that which we cause directly."

Cyne's whole religious thing still didn't make a lot of sense to me. He wouldn't hurt anyone or eat meat or whatever, but he didn't object to us hunting as we traveled or fighting if we needed to. He wouldn't even fight undead which everyone else agreed were essentially like magical programs rather than people, but he didn't bat an eye when I was talking to Katrin about the pros and cons of taking life magic - surely creating these constructs only to have them fight or even just wear out over time would be a moral issue to him? With everything that was going on I didn't have the energy to get into it, but eventually I wanted to get some more details on what exactly his rules were.

Connie and Errod got the wagons lined up so they could go through as soon as the doorway opened, and I got Mila onto one of the wagons - three times. "Sorry dear, I saw an interesting rock I wanted to use and we weren't moving yet..."

Meanwhile Sige and Cyne were standing about fifteen feet apart at the very edge of the clearing under the trees. Cyne kept walking over and adjusting Sige slightly, and I caught him rolling his eyes but he didn't argue. I was watching, eager to see what it looked like when the portal opened, and so I didn't see the segozertze diving towards us. Cyne threw himself to the side as a line of grass blackened and shriveled where he had been standing. There'd been no visible beam, just an invisible ray of heat that had slashed across the ground. Somehow, the soldier must have realized we were planning to escape.

Everyone scrambled for cover except for Katrin, who leapt into the middle of the clearing and closed her eyes, reaching out with her hands and seeming to weave something invisible in the air. Just as the creature dove again a tiny ribbon of red light shot up out of the ground and rocketed towards the segozertze, wrapping around one of its back legs. Katrin made a yanking motion, and... nothing happened.

"Um. Hang on." The ribbon pulled tight as the thing veered away, spooked by the attack. As soon as all the slack was gone Katrin lurched and grunted despite not being visibly attached to the thing, and the beast faltered in the air - flapping frantically and then settling into a tight circle above us like it was a kite Katrin was flying.

She pulled again, and again, and looking up we could see it was having some effect but she just couldn't do very much - Katrin was reeling it in, slowly, but any fantasy of the attack slamming it down to the earth was gone. Worse, Katrin was shaking like she was shivering in a cold wind. "I've got it. It's fine," she said, though nobody had asked. I was regretting not bringing anyone with ranged expertise. We'd picked a pacifist, a wrestler, and someone who focused on standing in one spot and letting people hit her. There had been two with gravity magic, and two that summoned spirits that - well, I wasn't sure if they could fly or how high. Then again, the main focus of this expedition had been the parts where we would be underground so range hadn't been high on our list of priorities.

I reached out and tried to pull on the ribbon to help despite the fact that Katrin wasn't directly touching it when she made the yanking gesture, but my hand went right through. Katrin was still working, and the thing did seem to be getting closer - but I wasn't sure it would be fast enough. Suddenly the monster dove towards us again, and its rider pointed at Katrin. She fell backwards, flailing, and for an instant I thought she had been hit with something before I realized she had just been caught off guard by the sudden slack on her spell.

There was a rippling line in the air that swept past where she had been standing and almost hit me, heat instantly giving me a sunburn on my outstretched arm. Katrin hauled at the magic she had somehow managed to keep running and I saw the red ribbon pull taut again - the monstrosity tried to pull back up but found its leash significantly shorter, and jerked to a stop mid-air. Its rider nearly fell off, and in the process must have singed a wing with his heat attack because the thing howled in pain.

They were still a good forty feet up, and Katrin had gone pale. It didn't look like we were going to accomplish anything, although at least the segozertze was flying erratically now and preventing its rider from getting a clear shot at us. Katrin kept reeling it in, gaining a few feet at a time. One of the wagons suddenly burst into flames, and Errod ran over to start detaching the canvas to keep the rest of it from igniting. Sige helped, while Aestrid - who I had thought might still be sleeping before I noticed her - just stared at the bat-thing with a thoughtful expression. Finally she seemed to come to a decision, and ran towards the road. "I'm sorry," she yelled back, "I can't let them get the map!"

Connie and I shared a glance. "Map?" she mouthed silently, mirroring my thoughts. The segozertze swooped again, and Katrin yelped as the ribbon vanished. We all leapt back as a beam of heat swept across the clearing. "Run!" I yelled at Aestrid, not really sure of her plan but hoping she had one. And if she wasn't trying to lure it in, well then she was just abandoning us and I didn't mind if it attacked her anyway. It took the bait, and possibly because of the mention of a map the rider didn't try to burn her alive. Instead it lunged down to claw at her, and wrapped one meaty paw around Aestrid's arm before attempting to haul her into the air - and failing.

She lifted her legs and fell to the ground, taking the whole thing with with her. The rider tried to target her with his heat ray but she kept herself directly under the bear-like body. The segozertze bit at Aestrid again and again, clearly doing nothing, and the rider jumped down from his saddle but as he tried to point at Aestrid the beast suddenly launched into the air with her as if they both weighed nothing at all. Now if he aimed at her he would be hitting his mount as well, so he finally turned to face the rest of us - too late. Sige had been barreling towards the fight and reached the soldier just as the man's arm lifted to attack. Sige had him in an instant, twisting the arm backwards and spinning the shocked soldier around to face away from him with a huge orange forearm clamped across his neck. For a moment the air all around him began to shimmer with heat, and then he slumped down, unconscious.

The segozertze came crashing down nearby, its back snapping as it landed. Aestrid was perched on it, her silk dress spotless and just a few hairs out of place. "Well. That was fun. Did you kill the soldier?"

"Naw, knocked him the fuck out though. We can... oh, Cyne. Uh."

Aestrid glanced back towards the clearing. "We could kill him now, before Cyne comes back from the trees?"

"No." It was Errod, of all people, walking up from the damaged wagon. "We don't kill captured enemies. Just... I don't know, bring him with us. He won't be able to get back on his own anyway."

Sige and Aestrid looked at me, and I nodded. It was one of those days where I didn't really feel concerned about the idea of killing the guy that tried to burn us alive, but I had promised to try and be a good person - or at least fake it - even when I didn't feel it.

Wait, was that right? Who had I promised? A memory flitted out of my reach, like a dream once you wake up. I felt like there was something on the tip of my tongue, but...

"Sige! Let's go, I'm still ready." Cyne called, and Sige ran off with the unconscious man over his shoulder. Errod and Aestrid pulled the supplies off of the dead segozertze and I headed back to the wagons. As I reached them, a shimmering filled the air between Cyne and Sige and a square of space about fifteen feet to a side just... changed. It was like they had perched a giant mirror there, reflecting some other landscape behind me. There were still trees but they were a different kind, wider and with more empty space between them. The light was different, the reddish-gold you get just as the sun begins to set even though that should be hours away. And there were fireflies - purple, rather than the normal green. I hadn't seen fireflies for years, they didn't have anything like that in Phoenix.

The wagons rolled through, then Cyne and Sige followed. After one quick glance back and a headcount the gateway snapped shut, leaving us in an alien landscape.