From the depths of my slumber, I heard someone repeating my name within my own head. As my consciousness returned, I realised it was Elmidath. I opened my eyes to find that it was daylight. When had I fallen asleep? It must have been quite a while ago but I felt exhausted. There was a terrible taste in my mouth and my head ached; I’d much rather go back to bed but Elmidath was relentless. “What do you want?”

“Finally. What have you been doing?”

“I was asleep.”

“Whatever, just get over here already.”

Much as I’d rather stay, her tone brooked no argument and I appeared beside her. But I didn’t end up in her room as I would have expected, instead I found myself in the darkness of the tunnels again. I stumbled and caught myself on the wall. Elmidath spared just enough attention to glare at me before turning back to Tagath. He was holding a thin steel plate covered in strange designs. Hands tightly clasped, Elmidath took a deep breath. “You can really use this to find my father?” It sounded like it wasn’t the first time she’d asked, presumably she was seeking confirmation partially for my benefit.

“I haven’t had much opportunity to test it as I thought you’d want to hear about it the moment I’d finished it, but I believe it should work.”

“Why didn’t you mention this sooner? There was really no reason to keep it a secret.” She sounded both outraged and hopeful.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d actually be able to make it or not, so I thought it best not to get your hopes up under false pretences. But that time has passed, here.” He handed her the metal plate and pointed toward a blue-grey dot. “I’m afraid the actual navigation system is rather complex but this should indicate his current location.”

She stared hard at the device, seemingly frozen in place. I was opening my mouth to ask if she was okay when she spoke. “Then…” She maintained a stern visage but her voice was choked and she sounded on the verge of tears. “He’s still alive?”

“It’s difficult to say for certain at this stage, but I believe there’s a strong possibility.”

Elmidath frowned, her brows furrowed in confusion. “This makes it look like he’s down here somewhere. Or am I not reading it correctly?”

“No, that’s right. He appears to be somewhere within the network of tunnels, though a long way from here.”

“I see.” Elmidath blinked. “And we can use this to find him?”

“That’s right.”

She hugged the thin metallic slate to her chest and jabbed a finger in my direction. “Run back to the manor and tell Korzan that we’ll be leaving for a while. She’s to have the servants prepare our provisions immediately. Then bring them down here and make sure there’s enough for Tagath.”

“But-“

“Now!”

I jogged out of the workroom, trying to remember the way back to the surface through the haze of sleep that still enveloped my mind. Why did this have to happen now? The tension and exercise were making me feel even more ill. It’s not like we had to leave now anyway. He’d been gone a long time already; he could wait a while longer. Not that there was the slightest chance of Elmidath listening to that; I knew her well enough to realise that much.

She didn’t talk about it often but her father’s disappearance was clearly something that had deeply affected her. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I also couldn’t deny the reality of it. Well, there was no sense keeping her waiting. Hurrying back into the manor I sought out Korzan and explained what was happening. She looked a little annoyed that I was giving her yet more work, but she organised the servants and got our travelling provisions ready in short order while I got myself ready to go. She handed me a bag. “Any idea how long you’ll be gone this time?”

“Nope, but it sounds like it’ll be quite a while.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks.” I took Elmidath and Tagath’s bags as well, nodded at Korzan and teleported back down.

The Demon Lord stopped her pacing and stuck out her hand. “Took you long enough.”

“I came as quickly as I could.” She didn’t look like she believed me, but I handed her the bag and she took it without further comment.

Tagath eyed his, then glanced at the large satchel he already had slung over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose I could ask you to carry mine for me, I’ve already got quite a load of my own supplies.”

Though his satchel didn’t look all that heavy, he was old. “Sure.” I wasn’t eager to take on the additional burden on top of my own provisions and equipment, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Elmidath probably would have ordered me to do so anyway. As we set out, I was still feeling dismal but Elmidath didn’t look a whole lot happier. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. There’s…” She looked away. “There’s just a lot to take in. What if my father really is still alive, you know? I know Tagath said his map-thing said he was, but I can’t really believe it. Not until I see him for myself.”

I didn’t really care about any of that but I supposed this was where I was meant to be supportive. Even if it didn’t personally involve me, Elmidath was still my ally, or something close to it. “I really hope that he is.”

Much as I would have liked to have said she should trust Tagath’s device, that felt a bit deceptive. It’s not like I had any idea how reliable it actually was. Waiting until we could confirm if he was alive with our own eyes seemed like the much safer option rather than getting her hopes up now.

I kind of wished that Tagath had been more non-committal, if he was wrong… It was hard to say what exactly Elmidath would do, but it was sure to be something negative. At best she’d probably have a bit of a breakdown. Now, I’m not one to judge someone for crying but it was somewhat of a luxury when you were responsible for other people’s lives. Especially if they were responsible for my life.

Deeper and deeper into the tunnels we went and the terrain around us gradually shifted. The spikes growing from the walls became smaller and less frequent the further we went, until they were gone all together. After that the walls were just smooth stone which made for something of a welcome sight. I still didn’t really like being underground but at least this was a less unpleasant area within it. Not quite what I would have expected, I would have assumed it would get worse rather than better as we went on.

Maybe Elmidath’s father wasn’t in such a bad place after all. Though I’ve no idea how he could have ended up deep underground in the first place, I thought he’d died fighting up on the surface. But hey, if that’s what the map said, who was I to argue? Elmidath was staring intently ahead, I doubted she much wanted to discuss something relatively unimportant like that either.

With little to occupy me, I just tried to focus on walking. There was no point dwelling on what may or may not happen. Though, if something did happen it was bound to be horrible. That was the most reasonable thing to expect far below the ground of this world. What would be keeping Elmidath’s father down here anyway, was he caught in some sort of awful trap? Or… No, definitely better not to think about it. There was practically no chance I’d be able to guess anyway; I’d just be making myself feel worse for no reason. And I felt more than bad enough already.

We walked and walked for what felt like a day with minimal conversation until Elmidath finally called for a rest. Tagath slumped down where he was and tried to get his breath back. I could have kept going but I was hardly going to complain about taking a break. Looking over Elmidath’s shoulder at the map, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “Are we getting close?”

“I think so, though it’s hard to say exactly how close. This thing doesn’t seem too precise.”

I stared up into darkness, trying to think of something else to say but nothing much came to mind. Which meant it was time to fall back on inane questions. “Did you know the tunnels extended this far? They must go on for days.” We’d passed plenty of other branches, the underground network must be absolutely massive.

Elmidath shrugged. “Sort of. My father spent quite a bit of time exploring them. He always seemed to be heading off below the manor when he had some free time. Not that he had a lot of that. I can really understand that now, being the lord of the manor is a lot more work than I thought.”

Now that she mentioned it, there was something about her father’s potential return I was unsure of. “Assuming your father is alive, what happens to the manor and the surrounding lands if he comes back? Will he just go back to ruling them?” It would mean my own social standing would decrease but maybe that would also result in less work.

“I hadn’t really thought about it, but I guess so. I’m happy to give the title back to him unless he feels like retiring or something. Also, even if he is alive there’s no knowing what kind of condition he’s in.”

She didn’t elaborate on what state he might be in, which was probably for the best. I doubt thinking about it would do her any good and I didn’t really want to talk about it. It barely felt like we’d sat down before Elmidath wanted to get moving again. I felt a little bad for Tagath but he’d just have to manage, it’s not like I wanted to be here either.