Denton poured green tea into Marney's wooden cup, and then picked up his own. Marney looked out of the shelter into the rain beating down onto the forest.

'It's hard to imagine there's a war going on.' she said. 'This is such a beautiful House. So peaceful.'

'Ah, but don't be fooled by its beauty, Marney,' said Denton. 'The Trees of the Many Queen is not a House you want to cross. There is old, powerful magic here. The souls of the dead do not journey on to Mother Earth, you see – they stay and nourish the trees, keep this forest strong and young.' He sipped his tea and winked at Marney. 'The Genii's armies would have no easy time fighting the spirits of this House, no matter what weaponry and monstrous technologies they brought with them.'

'I hate the idea of the war coming here,' she said, watching the rain. 'I can't believe Spiral could find anything he needs in this forest.'

'Don't be quick to assume such things,' said the Aelfirian guide.

Startled, Marney looked around to see her standing in the opening of the shelter, no more than four feet away, carrying an armful of firewood. How had she moved that silently? Marney hadn't detected the approach of her emotions.

'We've got one thing Spiral wants,' the Aelf continued, 'and that's a doorway leading straight to you and your House. The Great Labyrinth is high treasure to the Genii Lord.'

That was indisputable, Marney decided. If Spiral gained control of the Labyrinth, his cruel fist could punch out at all the Houses that still opposed him. Before the war with Spiral, the Labyrinth had been the one realm that was connected to every Aelfirian House via doorways leading to portals that cut through the Nothing of Far and Deep. But the Houses that had fallen to Spiral had had their doorways removed, severing their connection to the Nothing of Far and Deep, and the Timewatcher ensured that no creature of higher magic could use the doorways that remained. However, that did not prevent the army of Aelfir who followed Spiral from using them. Gaining control of a doorway to the Great Labyrinth was high treasure indeed.

The guide dumped the wood on the floor of the shelter and crouched before the fire, warming her hands. 'And then, of course, there's us.'

She looked from one empath to the other, her large eyes narrowed and calculating. 'I've no interest in what you're doing, but I trust to the Thaumaturgists, and I choose to believe it's for a good cause.' She took a breath and exhaled heavily. 'If you don't mind me telling you, we let messengers come through our House from time to time, carrying news of the war. I've heard terrible things about what's going on out there. About where you two are headed.'

Marney felt a chill.

Denton leant forward. 'Really? We receive little news in the Labyrinth.'

The Aelf's eyes glazed as she stared into the flames. 'If Spiral leads his army to the Trees of the Many Queen – oh, we'd fight them, we'd fight them to the death. But I've heard you don't get a choice. The Genii, they have ways of making you want to join them. They have ways of ... turning your thoughts, driving you mad, making you hate your fellow kind.' She sniffed. 'That's what I've heard, anyway.'

Marney could sense that the Aelf believed the rumours. She was a brave woman, truthful, and her words were meant as a warning to the agents of the Relic Guild. There was fear inside her, a fear that the Genii would one day come and subjugate her House as they had subjugated many others in this war.

Marney looked at Denton, hoping to find reassurance in his cheery face, but the old empath was lost in thought, staring out into the rain, his emotions closed.

'Right then,' the Aelf said, rising to her feet. 'The portal's not far now, and we should be moving before the light's gone altogether.' She looked at Marney, saw the worry on her face, and gave her a friendly smile. 'Can't very well let the old man go tripping up in the dark now, can we?'

Denton snapped out of his reverie and scoffed. 'That's a fair point.' He got to his feet with a groan. 'As much as it pains me to admit it. Shall we?'

As Marney and Denton slung on their rucksacks and damp travelling cloaks, the Aelf extinguished the fire and then laid it with fresh wood as a courtesy to the next traveller. Once again, she led the empaths out into the rain and the depths of the Trees of the Many Queen.

By the time they reached their destination, it was twilight and the rain had stopped. The forest smelled fresher and earthier than ever, and was shrouded in a thickening mist.

The portal was an archway formed from two bent and twisted trees, ancient and leafless. Fixed to the apex of the archway, a bronze plate had turned green over time. The symbol engraved into it depicted two rectangles standing upright and connected by a straight line.

I don't recognise the House symbol, Marney thought to Denton.

The Union of Twins, Denton replied.

Marney had never heard of it.

It's a very different House to the Trees of the Many Queen, Marney.

'You should know,' the Aelfirian guide said, standing before the archway, 'that the only thing standing between the Genii and this House is the Timewatcher's army. The war is being fought in the Union of Twins.'

Marney's gut twisted as the Aelf pressed a knot on the old and twisted tree-frame. With a low hum, a dark, liquid portal began churning within the archway.

Denton laid a reassuring hand on Marney's shoulder.

'Good luck to you both,' the Aelf said. 'And take the blessings of the Many Queen with you.'

Giving thanks to their guide, Denton took Marney's hand and led her forward. Together they entered the portal.

Marney expected to find herself in a ghostly tunnel that cut a path through primordial mists to their destination. But this was no doorway, and the portal did not snake and twist through the Nothing of Far and Deep connecting an Aelfirian House to the Great Labyrinth; it was an inter-House portal, and it delivered Marney to the Union of Twins instantly.

A flash of light blinded her eyes, a roar like thunder deafened her ears, and a shockwave punched Marney from her feet. Before she could call for Denton, or make sense of her surroundings, she was sent spiralling down into unconsciousness.