"End of the line." Briarstone’s voice carried easily through the misty morning, and the rowboat bumped against the muddy shoreline with a squelching sound.

The island was covered in thick crawling grass that was spongy under Konrad's feet, and he slapped at his neck again as another of the small insects tried to bite him.

"I hate swamps," Renau complained, slapping at his own neck.

"I told you I could help with that," Serena said. The witch had applied some kind of paste to her skin that made Konrad's eyes water. Spirit had taken one tentative sniff and had to lay down for an hour.

"If we encounter this Witch King perhaps that smell will drive him away," Renau replied.

The mist was so thick that Konrad could barely see ten feet in front of him, but it was clear that under the grass and mud was some kind of road. The empty shells of tall grey buildings stood either side of them, slowly being consumed by the creeping vines.

Fragments of bird calls and animal howls could be heard in the distant jungle, and Konrad spotted a monkey-like creature squatting on the roof of a building in front of them. As he watched, the monkey gave him a very rude gesture.

"Did you see that?" Konrad hissed.

"What?" Renau replied.

"It was a monkey."

"We are on the island of the Witch King, and you want to look at wildlife?"

"No, don’t worry."

"Has anyone noticed this whole place is on an angle?" Briarstone asked.

"Perhaps that’s why everyone left, the island is sinking," Renau replied.

The road wound through the island and delivered them into a grand square bordered by towering buildings on three sides that were shrouded in mist. The far end of the square was open, and Konrad could see far out over the canopy of the jungle on the mainland. Large birds were taking flight into the morning sun.

In the center of the square was a thick stone column about ten feet high and three feet wide. It was roughly hewn and didn’t fit in at all with the perfect construction of the rest of the island.

"Someone is playing with magic somewhere close by," Serena muttered.

Konrad studied the white tendrils of mist around him; at first glance, they looked normal enough, but there was a breeze that blew across the island, and the tendrils were flowing against it.

He pointed this out to Serena, and her eyes narrowed. She made a sharp gesture with her hand, as if she were trying to flick something unpleasant from her fingers, and the mists around them vanished.

"It was an illusion. Be on your guard," Serena warned them.

"I think you’ll want to see this," Renau called.

The tall stone column in the center of the square had vanished, and in its place was a dark hole where a stone staircase descended into the ground.

"Champions first?" Renau suggested.

"Spirit, stay out here and warn us if you see anything," Konrad said before stepping down into the gloom.

The chamber was a huge underground dome, its curved walls and floor decorated with glass shards that had been carefully placed to form an image of a vast ocean. Images of ships and great sea creatures decorated the borders, and a huge land mass picked out in green glass sat in the middle. On the western edge of the map was a glittering island citadel.

At one time, the space would have been glorious, but now the effect was slightly ruined by the stagnant water that had flooded a full foot of the chamber. As Konrad sloshed through, he saw something long and slimy slither away into a crack in the wall.

In the center of the chamber stood three tall, carved stone columns, around five feet high and two feet wide. Two of them were dull and lifeless, but the third was illuminated from the inside, and the light glowed out through the cracks in the stone.

"You think the idol is in there?" Briarstone asked as his companions filed into the chamber.

Konrad had imagined the idol would be a simple golden statue of some kind, but knowing the small gods, it could be some object that rang the doorbell to the abyssal plane.

Serena approached the glowing column and held out her hands as if she were warming them by a fire. "I don’t know what it is, but it’s powerful."

"I can’t feel anything," Konrad said, looking at Briarstone, who shrugged.

"It’s a magical effect of some kind," Serena clarified.

Konrad investigated one of the other columns and spotted the catch of an intricately hinged door.

Inside was a carved-out space that held a glass ball with dozens of flat sides. The inside was dull and blackened.

"There’s something in here; it looks broken, though," he said.

"Gods, that’s a Hedron, and a powerful one too," Serena said.

Konrad recalled their conversation about the containers filled with Linium that the arcanists used to power their flying cities.

"Is it dangerous?" Konrad asked.

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"No, you can see it’s all burned inside; you can take it out."

Each flat section was made of thick glass, held together by gold along its edges. Inside, some kind of metal that he guessed was Linium had melted and now sat at the bottom in a blackened pool where it had hardened.

"I’ve never seen one so large or complex," Serena said, peering through the blackened glass.

"What are they doing here?" Konrad asked.

"They pushed a city across the ocean," Renau said in a quiet voice, looking around at the glass murals on the wall and floor. He let out a laugh of astonishment. "Ye gods, do you know where we are?"

He took in the blank looks around him, an incredulous smile on his face. "I think this is the citadel of Mir."

"It’s not possible; it’s a myth," Briarstone replied, studying the glass images in the torch light.

"Why not? I heard that dozens of them were made at the start, but most of them sank. Only three ever really flew: Volos, Siantir and Thenova. But Mir was never supposed to fly."

"If all of these Hedrons were working, then they would certainly be powerful enough." Serena bent close to the glare of the working Hedron, but she was forced to back away, her face a tight grimace. "It’s too powerful for me. Whoever put it there must be a formidable magic user."

"The Witch King?" Konrad wondered aloud.

"Perhaps the answers are in these images," Reanu said.

While Serena and Renau turned their attention to the glass murals, Briarstone rummaged around in the filthy water in the chamber and pulled out a thick metal rod about three feet long.

The old sailor caught Konrad watching him, and he gave him a sly wink. "Those two get their brains from books, but I’ll tell you, lad, you can often learn more just by looking around."

The old sailor jammed the metal bar into an ornate hole in the side of the column and leaned his weight against it.

The whole column turned on its axis, and the glow inside faded to about half its power. There was a rumbling sound, and the floor beneath them lurched downward and to the left, sending them all hurtling into the back wall.

The whole island seemed to groan as it sank, and a flood of water surged down the stairs and began to fill the chamber.

"Turn it back!" Konrad yelled.

Briarstone staggered to his feet, spluttering and spitting out water. He grasped the metal bar and gave it a great pull, sending the column back well past its original position. The Hedron inside flared like a miniature sun; light seared through the cracks in the stone and reflected off of the myriad of mirrored surfaces. It was like being inside a living crystal.

Konrad shielded his eyes against the glare and thudded into the wall as the floor surged upward and the island shuddered and emitted a torturous groan.

"Turn it down; you’ll break the whole island apart," Serena yelled.

Briarstone adjusted the column to its original position, and the light faded. The water level in the chamber was waist-high now, and the flood coming down the stairs slowed to a trickle.

Konrad struggled to his feet just as Spirit gave a loud bark of warning from outside. "Quickly, upstairs," he shouted.

Back in the square at the top of the stairs, they found that water had flooded the whole island and the mists had returned, enveloping the square once more in serpentine white tendrils.

"We should leave," Briarstone said.

"I expect you do want to leave, given that you almost sank the whole island," Renau replied.

"I’m taking the boat; we shouldn’t have come here," Briarstone replied, ignoring Renau, and he started back the way they had come.

"Briarstone, I was only joking; come on, be serious; what’s gotten into you?" Renau asked, pulling the old sailor by the arm.

"I didn’t ask to be here, and you shouldn’t be here either. We should be back in Portia. I’ll not let you run from your responsibilities any more."

An awkward silence descended, and Serena raised her eyebrows and gave Konrad a questioning look.

"What are you talking about? We agreed we would help Konrad."

"And then what? You’ll find another flight of fancy? We’re to join the circus or become traveling minstrels? It’s my fault; I’ve been too lenient with you. But no more. Go back and claim your seat on the council, stop being a coward."

Konrad expected anger from Renau, what he did not expect was the hurt expression on his companions face.

"Briarstone, come now. What’s this about?" Renau said softly.

"I never should have agreed to help you, your father trusted me to steer you right but I knew it was a lost cause," Briarstone spat.

Spirit was a ghostly presence next to him, and she growled quietly, her gaze locked on the mist ahead of them.

"Serena, get ready," Konrad said, looking around slowly and peering into the mist.

Briarstone and Renau’s argument had continued and they were now face-to-face, screaming at each other.

"The day your father died, you should have stepped up, but I let you run away. Well, no more! You will take up that council seat if I have to carry you there and put you on it myself," Briarstone roared.

"Konrad, have you seen anything strange since we arrived here?" Serena asked.

"I saw a monkey, it made a rude sign at me."

A flame flickered in the mist at the far side of the arena, and then several more, until a dozen small balls of flame flickered in the mist.

"Get down!" Serena cried and threw herself to the floor as a fireball screamed over her head and exploded on the stone seating behind them.

Briarstone drew his cutlass and advanced on Renau with a look of fury in his eyes.

"Briarstone’s being controlled by magic," Serena shouted. "You have to knock him out."

Konrad had spent the better part of three weeks training in sword fighting with Briarstone on the deck of the ship, and he knew for a fact that knocking the old sailor out was far beyond the capabilities of anyone here. He was like a piece of old hardwood.

A monkey shrieked behind them, and a smaller fireball spun out of the mists, rocketing towards Spirit. Shadows surged towards her, and she became a part of the darkness, growling and hurtling towards her attacker, trailing dark tendrils.

Serena hurled two fireballs, and their explosions illuminated a group of short figures scurrying around, robes flapping at their knees. It seemed that whoever their attackers were, they hadn’t expected this much resistance. They ran to and fro, screaming and throwing fireballs haphazardly around.

A clash of steel snapped Konrad's attention to Renau and Briarstone. He needed to control Briarstone before he could tackle what lurked in the mists. Drawing on the power of the Cold Bite, Konrad called the wind that rolled down the mountainside in the far north.

"Renau, get out of the way," he shouted, and the trouper dove to the side as the cold wind surged past Konrad and raged into Briarstone.

The old sailor sensed this new attack and began to stalk towards Konrad, cutlass in hand, battling against the icy wind that coated him with frost.

"Konrad!" Serena cried.

The small figures from the mists had regained their composure and were stalking towards her. One of them had a grossly deformed head and was loosening fireballs faster than she could deflect them. Behind him, Spirit's growls matched the furious howls of the monkey.

Konrad heard a whisper in the wind as it rushed past his ears. It spoke of the hidden potential of the Bite, promising power he had never imagined. He needed more power to help his friends, but the torrent quickly overwhelmed him. As much as he tried to hold the Cold Bite in, the wind was like a living thing that shredded through his defenses, exploding out from him in all directions. Freezing the entire area around him.

The howling wind in his ears gradually faded, and he fell to his knees. The Bite satisfied and retreating.

The huge square was covered in a fine layer of glistening ice crystals. The mists had been blasted away, and Konrad saw that their attackers were a group of a dozen short elves holding gnarled wooden staffs. Each of the elves and Konrad's companions were covered in a layer of ice, their lips blue, and their teeth chattering.

"Konrad," Renau croaked, his voice quaking. "Make a fire before we all freeze to death."