The shadows washed over me in a breathless crush, only for them to pull back a moment later. I refilled my forcibly emptied lungs and watched as they retreated back the way they’d come. Elmidath and I shared a look once we’d recovered enough to speak, and she uttered exactly what I’d been thinking.

“What just happened?”

“I have no idea. Did the crystal work or not?”

The shadows around the rift were unchanged, shouldn’t they have disappeared?

“I don’t know. It must have done something at least.”

Leaning close to the shifting dark, Elmidath tried to peer through to the rift on the other side only to freeze in place. I was going over to ask what was wrong, when I ran into something.

Confused, I put my hand out to find what I’d hit and touched an invisible barrier of some kind. I tried to get around it, but we were surrounded by it on all sides. Lashing out with my fist failed to make any impression on it and I was about to try my aura when a familiar demon lord emerged from the darkness below.

Lord Biustarn’s lips were curled back in a grotesque smile as he approached the prison of his making. “You’ve done well to come this far, or at least Soarister’s pawn has. From what I saw you two were of very little value in the endeavour.”

“Biustarn? I thought you were dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but your beasts weren’t quite up to the task. My new masters are more than capable of protecting themselves and their loyal servants. Far more than I can say of either of you. How many have you led to their deaths now? I’m sure the number must be close to a hundred by now. Quite a feat, given your limited means.”

With an almost serene expression on her face, Elmidath moved closer to the barrier. “You don’t have to do this. If you let us go, we can free all of us from this nightmare, then we can all go back to our lives like nothing ever happened. Your daughter and all your subjects are waiting for you on the surface.”

I thought it was a surprisingly moving appeal, but Biustarn only sneered at her. “You can’t expect me to abandon this opportunity simply to return to the way things were. I’ve languished under Lord Azuren’s rule long enough, it’s time that we had new rulers in his place. Myself for example.”

Elmidath’s pleasant façade faded, leaving only loathing for the demon before her. “The Ortisfel will give you nothing. They will use you and then discard you at the first opportunity, you are nothing to them.”

The demon lord simply shrugged, unconcerned. “Perhaps, but I’m willing to take the risk. The potential rewards are more than worth it.”

Seeing that Elmidath was clearly running short of arguments, I took over. “And who will you share them with? The Ortisfel? Their other minions? Or do you intend to spend the rest of your life alone?”

“Of course not. I will demonstrate to both my daughter and my former subjects the error of their ways. Those that can admit their mistakes and redeem themselves will be raised high in my service.”

“That’ll be hard to do if your daughter is dead. We thought we might encounter you down here, so we left orders that Miusin was to be killed if we failed to return.”

Biustarn opened his mouth, only to reconsider and instead look me over. “No, I don’t believe you. Neither of you would have had that forethought. But even if it were the case, it would not be enough to stay my hand. I have no need of a legacy anymore; the curse of time is nothing before the Ortisfel’s power.”

Crap, I really thought that might’ve worked. He had seemed fond of his daughter in the past, but clearly the Ortisfel had poisoned his mind. Or maybe he was just always this way, it was hard to say for sure.

“Well if you’re so convinced about all this, why are we still talking? Or let me guess, are you going to give us one final chance to see sense and join you?”

“I did give it a little consideration, but your transparent attempts at manipulation are rather annoying. As such I’ve decided to forgo the formality of an offer and proceed with your deaths.”

The invisible walls drew steadily inward around us, forcing us back.

Licking her lips nervously, Elmidath banged on the barrier. “Wait, we actually do want to join the Ortisfel’s cause.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m sure neither of us are happy about it, but it’s still preferable to death.”

“How strange.” Biustarn stroked his chin theatrically, and stopped the walls from shrinking any further. “I feel something I haven’t felt in a long time.”

I gave him a hopeful faux grin. “Compassion?”

“No, not quite. It’s astonishment that someone could so thoroughly insult my intelligence and yet expect me to show them any mercy.”

The walls around us abruptly closed in, forcing Elmidath and I uncomfortably close together. But it didn’t stop there as we were crushed slowly but surely between the two invisible surfaces.

Desperate, I just said the first thing that came to mind. “Don’t you at least want to hear our last words?”

“No, not particularly. I’ve heard more than enough from both of you for one day.”

Struggling within the tiny space that remained to us, Elmidath managed to turn her head roughly in Biustarn’s direction. “Wait! We really do have something to offer you; I swear.”

Our compression continued at pace and Elmidath took a deep breath, before letting it out in one shout. “Please! You need to know this!”

Biustarn sighed and the walls stopped their relentless adance, though they didn’t pull back. “Fine, speak. But if you’re wasting my time, I will ensure your deaths are both slow and painful.”

“There’s a way you can disrupt the Ortisfel’s power.”

He narrowed his eyes at her “And why would I want to do that?”

“Because you could use it for leverage. The Ortisfel are hardly a united front, I’m sure your masters would welcome such an advantage.”

“True, I can see how that would be useful. If I were to desire that, what would you want in exchange? Assuming you’re even telling the truth.”

“All we want is our freedom.”

Biustarn let out a low chuckle. “That was never on the table, there is no freedom to be won here. But I applaud the effort and I will give you a quick death.”

The invisible prison sharply contracted and I felt something break, only for the pressure to abruptly lessen. For a moment I thought he was just toying with us, then I realized he was looking elsewhere. A lithe humanoid of solid shadow slid down the slope towards us, stopping near Biustarn.

“Apologies for the delay, I ran into a few unanticipated problems along the way.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all, I didn’t even know to expect you, Lady Tarith.”

“There’s no need for your silly titles.” She moved closer to Biustarn, touching him intimately on the arm before turning away. “Besides, I wasn’t talking to you.”

“What?”

The spot where she’d touched him darkened dramatically and that darkness began to spread across his body. Suddenly released from our imprisonment, Elmidath and I fell to the ground. I leapt to my feet, sword in hand, and summoned my aura to protect us from Tarith.

Staying right where she was, she raised her hands. “Relax. If I wanted you dead, I would’ve delayed a little longer.”

She gestured towards Biustarn, who was now writhing in agony on the ground.

“What do you want with us? We won’t join you.”

“I hadn’t imagined you would. All I wish is for you to do precisely what you came here to do.”

I blinked, trying to come to terms with what she’d just said. Glancing at Elmidath, I saw she was just as confused as I was.

“Um, why would you want us to do that?”

“I’m amazed that you would even ask that question right now.” She paused as one of Biustarn’s particularly loud screams cut her off, continuing after he’d subsided. “Both my time and patience are rather limited, so can you just put the damn crystal in the rift? Because if not, killing you both is still very much an option.”

When she put it like that, she had a good point. We could always question our good fortune once our task was complete. This certainly wasn’t the time to attempt an in-depth examination of her motivations. Elmidath and I skirted around Tarith and headed for the rift. The shadows parted before us, revealing the shifting stone that never seemed to be in one place that Erstanos had spoken of.

No one tried to stop us as Elmidath produced the crystal and, after a few attempts, correctly placed it within the rift’s confines. The unnaturally adamant shadows around us yielded to the light, all except for those that surrounded Tarith, who seemed unaffected by the change. Instead she gave us a round of brief, but rapid, applause.

“Well done, you’ve accomplished exactly what was promised. Give my thanks to Erstanos, would you? He has more than held up his end of the bargain.”

A chill went down my spine. “What bargain?”

“Perhaps you were not privy to the details, in which I will say no more of it.”

I sighed. Obviously Erstanos had been manipulating us, but I’d thought it was at least for the greater good of stopping the Ortisfel. However, given Tarith’s reaction, we’d clearly accomplished something else entirely.

“Can you at least tell us what manner of being Erstanos is?”

“He’s a wizard, obviously.”

Elmidath shook her head. “A wizard? That doesn’t make any sense. The wizards are humans, why would they help the Ortisfel?”

“Perhaps they were once human, but there’s little resemblance now. Especially for those like Erstanos. Now then, I think it’s about time I cut this short. I’ve been more than generous with answering your questions and I really do have more important things to do. Would you like me to take you back to the surface? Or can you make your own way out?”

Despite her jovial tone, I got the impression that Tarith was deadly serious about leaving us here and I decided not to press my luck. I wasn’t feeling much like asking questions anyway, our betrayal had left me too dejected for that. All that we’d done here had been for nothing.

“Fine, get us out of here.”

Elmidath extended her hand toward Tarith in an emphatic gesture. “Wait, there’s one thing I need to know first. What did we actually accomplish here? Obviously we didn’t get rid of the Ortisfel, but did we do any good at all?”

On the verge of tears, Elmidath was almost pleading with Tarith to tell her we’d actually done something useful.

“You’ve certainly helped me.”

“Is that it? Have we just traded one blight for another?”

“Not exactly. My goals are rather different from those responsible for the current state of your lands. You have nothing to worry about from me on that count, but now I have no more time to waste on you. It’s time to leave.”

A great mass of solid shadow poured forth from her body, pooling on the ground like liquid.

“I know we’re not in much of a position to ask for favours, but can you send Biustarn’s body back with us?”

“As you wish.”

The shadows flowed over the three of us, carrying us toward the ceiling. A hole, just large enough to fit one of us at a time, opened as we were approaching and we zipped through it. From there it was a straight shot back to the surface and we were soon standing on solid ground once more.