"My lord?"

Stephon Kalister, Anahill's most talented surgeon, cracked the door of his house open. The man was in his late fifties, dark hair streaked with grey, but his eyes looked at Audren inquisitively from behind his glasses. There was an intelligent light in them that even the end of the world they knew couldn't dim.

"Master Kalister," Audren began quickly, "forgive me for showing up unannounced so suddenly under such dire circumstances. As you might know, we're pressed for time. The Cursed are coming and it's of grave importance that I speak to your daughter. Is Terreia here?"

Kalister frowned. Audren saw him shuffling on his feet almost uncomfortably.

"She is," the surgeon confirmed. "What do you want from Terry, my lord?"

"I know you're very proud of her, Master Kalister," Audren told him. "You never tire of telling all your patients about your daughter, top student at the Chekshaw Institute for the Magical Arts. Or at least, you told me all about it when you treated my shoulder injury last year. I'm developing a plan to save us all from the Cursed as we speak, but if I want it to succeed, I could use help from someone as talented as Terry. The survival of the Mountainfolk depends on it."

If that wasn't convincing, Audren didn't know what was. Indeed, Stephon Kalister seemed persuaded, for he opened his door wider and stepped aside, allowing Audren to come in. His concerned expression, however, didn't leave his face.

"You can find Terry in her room, my lord. But you must know that interacting with her is entirely at your own risk. I won't be held responsible for any damage done to your person, and should you find yourself in need of surgery, you shall not be entitled to request my services for free. Have I made myself clear?"

Now it was Audren's turn to frown. He bit back a gulp as Kalister shut the door behind him. "Clear as day. But… Will I be speaking to your daughter or a flesh-eating goat?"

He'd encountered a herd of those creatures once. It had been a memorable day of the worst kind.

"At your own risk," Kalister simply repeated. The words were paired with a half-hearted shrug, as if to answer what's the difference?

"Is there also a chance I won't be, um… Maimed?"

"Can you count, my lord? Then by all means, don't count on it." The surgeon nodded to the small staircase leading to the first floor; the Kalisters were wealthy enough to be able to afford a multiple-story home. Stephon moved back to the chair he had apparently been reading in. He picked his book up and sat down. "You were pressed for time, weren't you?"

Actually, Audren thought to himself, I'm suddenly not in a hurry anymore. Still, he swallowed the new nerves the surgeon had instilled in him and made his way up the stairs. He had his sword with him. Surely he'd be fine. He would soon leave the safety of Anahill and be mingling with the Cursed, damn it. What was scarier? The undead or a magical woman?

When he found himself on the landing, he faced a closed bedroom door and figured it belonged to Terry. Taking a deep breath, he knocked. "Miss Terreia? Terry? This is Audren speaking. You know, Lord of the Mountains? Dyna's brother? You were friends with her for so long, I'm certain you remember me."

There was a silence that lasted for a good ten seconds. Audren saw no indication at all that Terry might open the door. Then, a muffled voice came from inside the room.

"Go away!"

Well, then. That was inconvenient.

Audren had no time for this kind of ridiculousness. What he wanted to do was kick the door in, drag the mage downstairs, sit her down and explain to her what he needed. He'd even make her a cup of tea if that would get her to comply. But it would be highly improper to invade a woman's bedroom so brusquely. Even with civilisation as he knew it ending, he was a lord, not a swine. Audren would mind his manners.

He decided to try again.

"Had the circumstances been different, I'd have left upon hearing that request immediately," he explained. "But the circumstances as they are now are nothing short of extraordinary. It really is important I speak with you, Miss Terreia. It's quite literally a matter of life and death. More specifically, whether anyone in the Mountains survives the coming of the Cursed depends on my actions, and I must ask for your help."

More silence. Audren expected a second comment telling him to leave, but it didn't come. What happened instead came as a total surprise.

A terrifying one.

The bedroom door flew open so hard and fast Audren jumped back in shock with an undignified squeak. His hand shot to the hilt of his sword on instinct. The woman in front of him didn't look much like the little girl his sister had played with anymore; in fact, he briefly wondered if she wasn't secretly a wraith.

Terreia Kalister's skin was a ghostly shade of pale, the bags under her eyes dark. How long had it been since she'd last left her room to spend time in the sun? She'd apparently dyed her blonde hair black, but didn't appear to have given it much attention lately: it looked unkempt and the roots were starting to grow out. The worst, however, were her eyes: dark brown, but positively blazing with fury.

In hindsight, Audren absolutely found magical women capable of murdering him scarier than the Cursed.

"What do I care if we all survive or not?" Terry boomed, stomping in Audren's direction. The lord stumbled back on the landing hastily. "I couldn't care less! Nothing in this world matters anymore! I've been slaving away at the Institute since I was twelve, my lord. For ten years I've worked harder than anyone else to achieve pure academic excellence. Ten! Years! And what do you think happens a few months before I graduate? What do you think happens?"

The noise Audren made could hardly be called a word, let alone a reply. That was fine. Terry didn't wait for him to supply one, anyway.

"The world ends!" The mage continued to fume. Audren feared she'd start frothing at the mouth soon. "Half of my life wasted for nothing! You can't graduate when your professors are undead monsters, can you? To whom do you present the thesis you've been working on for a year when everyone who gives the marks is gone? By the gods, I'll die without even getting that diploma I worked for. I'll never be a full-fledged mage and I'll always be a failure!"

I'm sorry to hear that, Audren wanted to say, but he shut his mouth upon seeing Terry's next move. She held a thick book in her hands, which she raised above her head in her rage. Audren's eyes widened as the tome came flying towards him, sailing through the air with force.

His reflexes kicked in. His hand, which he hadn't let stray from his sword, closed around the hilt of the weapon as he pulled it out. He used it to deflect the projectile being hurled towards him; the poor book slammed onto the floor with a loud thud, a few pages coming loose. Audren stood there with the sword in his hands, staring at it. Deep breaths. Stay calm.

The action shut Terry up. Audren watched the mage carefully. She was still as a statue now, eyes fixed on the book Audren had floored.

"I paid a lot for that book," she said slowly, incredulous.

"Nobody forced you to throw it," Audren reminded her.

Terry knelt down next to it, grumbling curses under her breath, gathering the loose pages. "I asked you to leave," she growled. "You should have left. I have things to do."

"Like moping in your bedroom?" Audren asked. He'd told himself he'd mind his manners, but being assaulted with a book had made him reconsider slightly. He could've broken his nose.

"Yes." At least Terry was honest. She stood up and straightened herself, clutching the book in her hands. "Whatever you want to do, do it, but do so without me. You have a duty to protect your people. I don't."

She was right. In the end, the Cursed coming to Anahill was Audren's problem to solve. But going out on his own meant certain doom. Without a mage to help him, leaving would serve no purpose at all.

"I want to break the curse," Audren blurted out. "I think I might be able to figure out how. But I don't know much about curses, so I'd need your help to do it. Please hear me out. I'd have to leave Anahill alone if you don't, and then my chances of success will be… Low at best. We'd all die."

Terry turned around, unfazed, ready to retreat into her room again. "I'm not listening. Leave."

Oh, this was not working out. Audren wouldn't get anywhere with her like this. He clenched his hands into fists subconsciously, frustrated. If he wanted her to join him, he had to motivate her. Fast.

Motivate her…

"Miss Terreia," he started again in a last, desperate attempt to convince her to listen. "Helping me break the curse benefits you directly. In doing so, we'd probably save not only Anahill, but also the rest of Avondor and quite possibly the surrounding regions as well. You'd go down in history as a hero, a mage as good as any there ever was, with or without a diploma. Even if the Chekshaw never recovers, I bet there'd be many professors at other schools all dying to read your thesis."

Terreia Kalister stopped dead in her tracks.

Got you.

"You… think so?"

"I know so." Audren smiled. If we succeed, that is. He couldn't care less what her motive for helping him would be. A person's selfish motivations didn't undo the good in their deeds. In fact, selfishness was productive if one wouldn't be motivated to do the right thing without it. Not even Audren's motivations were entirely pure: while driven by a desire to protect his home and the people in it, Dyna was right. He also wanted to break the curse for him. It would show everyone he was a capable leader, a worthy successor to his parents.

If Terry would join him solely to prove her own worth as a mage, to regain a sense of purpose in her life, he'd be the last to judge.

The mage turned to him again. The blazing fire in her eyes had died, but the embers still lay there, smouldering. "If you put it like that," she stated curtly, "I might be willing to listen to what you have to say. And if your plan isn't awful, there's a chance I'll postpone further moping in favour of joining you."

Audren's smile grew wider. "That's all I wanted to hear."