"So, what do we all think?"

Daine looked back at Eliud, unsure what response he expected to his suggestion. She was just opening her mouth to speak, when Donal beat her to it.

"Let me get this straight. And, before I begin, I recognise that my new Class has a tendency to be a touch 'glass smashed down to fragments and all the liquid poured away' about it. Thus, we should all take what I have to add in that spirit. However, I do not think I will be speaking solely for myself when I say are you out of your Goddess-damned mind!"

The roar that came into the man's voice took them all by surprise: Josul bounded in front of a wide-eyed Genoes, barking and snapping; Savage puffed up to twice her normal size on Kirstin's shoulder, whose eyes flashed purple, summoning a Skill; and Daine's hand was immediately on her sword's hilt.

In fact, the only person who did not react was the focus of Donal's rage, who simply smiled back.

"Regularly, sir. But on this occasion, I do think I have the right of it."

The two stared at each other for a moment, and Daine was struck by the potential for a complete disaster brewing in front of her. It was a truism of life in the Kingdom that the Duskstrider, Eliud Vila, was a walking cataclysm. Daine had been on Tour at the time of the confrontation that resulted in his banishment from the Palace, but she doubted there was much embellishment in the stories she had heard. A Pendragon will do what a Pendragon will do, and the rest of us should keep out of his way, Old Gant had drummed into her; she had never seen anything to undermine that assessment.

Yet, to see Donal confront him like this . . . well, Daine was not certain that the outcome would be a foregone conclusion. And, judging by the slight creasing to the corner of Eliud's eyes, her friend shared that thought.

Donal broke the silence. "You propose using a boy - a boy with no Class and no Skills - to open a portal between the Dark God's realm and our own."

"I can do it!" Genoes said defiantly, trying to move past Josul.

The grim man's attention shifted, and a reassuring smile came to his face. Daine saw something of the old Donal in that. "I don't doubt your courage, Genoes. But it is reprehensible for you to be put in that position." He turned back to Eliud. "From what I have read of your Class - and I have read wildly and widely - you have all sorts of portal Skills at your disposal. If anyone should be sending us back, it is you!"

Eliud shrugged. "I was never a fan of some of the more elaborate legends that have bloomed around me."

Kirstin snorted. "That would be a lot more convincing if your Inventory was not full of well-thumbed scrolls called things like 'The Irresistible Rise of the Duskstrider' and 'Eliud: Hero of our Age.'"

Daine smiled at the blush that spread over the mage's face. "To be fair," she added, enjoying his discomfort, "he only commissioned about half of those."

Eliud cleared his throat. "I feel we are getting away from the point somewhat. What I would say to . . . I am sorry, how would you like me to address you?"

"Donal is fine."

"If you wish. Although that is quite the exotic Class you are currently inhabiting. Are you sure you would not like me to acknowledge you as . . . "

"Do not test me, Duskstrider."

Daine frowned. Was there something she was missing about Donal's warrior-aspected Class?

"As you say . . . Donal, as you say. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Portals. As you note, I am generally seen as an expert in such things. You need your army transported the length of the Kingdom? I am your man. An assassin needing dropping into a tricky, well-defended castle? Not a problem. However," and two points of light appeared in Eliud's hands, a thin tether of lightning connecting them, "my powers are largely realm dependent."

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As he spoke, the first sphere of light transformed into a miniature representation of their group. With amusement, Daine noted that the tiny version of Eliud was at least half a foot taller than he was in reality. For such a powerful man, he really was spectacularly insecure at times.

"In the normal run of things," the Duskstrider continued, "I would be able to blip us from Point A to Point B with a minimum of fuss." The group vanished from one hand and reappeared in the other. "However, within this realm, I find myself . . . geographically challenged."

Daine frowned at that. "Your Skills do not work?"

"They are 'working' just fine, my Lady." An explosion of lightning flared from his eyes to spark at Donal's feet. The other man did not so much as flinch. "However, I find myself unable to identify Point A, as it were."

"You don't know where we are?" Kirstin asked, and Daine noted the way she was cradling her new bow in a far more attentive way than previously. Something had changed there. However, before she had time to consider that, Eliud had continued.

"I know exactly where I am, my dear. A Pendragon is never lost; please do not worry about that for a moment. However, try as I might, I seem unable to plant an anchor point here. To tell the truth, I am beginning to think that 'here' might not exist in any meaningful way at all." He turned to Daine. "I don't suppose your patron has anything useful to add here?"

There was nothing but silence when Daine reached for the Goddess. That was becoming somewhat of a pattern. She shook her head, and Eliud grimaced.

"Well, I do not suppose it makes much difference. If I was a betting man - and, of course, I am not. I find it to be spectacularly unfair on everyone else - I would say that the Dark God's realm is loose in time."

Donal nodded. "That would fit with my understanding of such things, too. Whilst the manipulation of time's eddies may be more associated with the Goddess, it has been documented that the Lords of Misrule and the Dark God possess a similar capacity. Thus, it would seem appropriate for this realm to exist outside our normal perception of existence."

Daine thought Eliud looked less than delighted with the contribution. "Well, yes. Thank you for that. Well, what this means is that my myriad of portal Skills find themselves to be functionally useless without a stable point of origin. And if this realm is nothing else, it is certainly not stable."

As if in answer to Eliud's words, the Keep shivered, the stone corridors appearing to tremble.

"So where does Genoes come in?" Daine asked when the tremor passed.

"Well," and Eliud beamed, "this is where it all becomes very interesting. Whilst it appears that my Class and its attendant Skills are rather 'real world' dependent, our little powerhouse here seems to have no such restrictions."

"You said it yourself, he doesn't have any Skills!" Donal protested. "All he can do is copy what you are showing him!"

"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery I have always found, dear sir. And what better Skills for Genoes to recreate than one that will be able to get us home?"

"I understand how to do it," Genoes said, craning his neck to look up at Donal, eyes filled with innocent sincerity. "I don't know why, but I can see what Eliud wants me to do, and my . . . my mana mana just responds." His eyes flicked upwards, and a frown appeared on his face. "It wants me to create a Skill called ?"

Eliud nodded. "Yes, that's what I would be planning to use. And, forgive me, you can remember the shape of the Skill without needing to formalise it into your Core?"

"Yes," Genoes said simply. "It would be quicker to have a name for it, I think, but I can recreate the steps."

The boy's eyes glowed, and a swirling circle of yellow light appeared against the wall behind them. Through it, Daine could make out the peaks of the Bloodspires.

"And he doesn't need an anchor point?" Donal said, a note of wonder replacing the gruffness of his tone.

"Not as far as I can tell. Genoes seems to . . . to exist in this realm in a way the rest of us do not."

At those words, Daine saw a look pass between Donal and Eliud that she did not like much. She had spent nigh-on thirty years on Tour, and one of the first things she had learned - and had been reminded with regularity - was that nothing good came from secrets.

"What is it?" she asked. Another look was shared between the two men. "Sirs, I mean this was all due respect, but regardless of whatever esoteric powers you might both possess, I am firmly of the opinion that I am more than capable of boxing your collective ears. If there's something you think we need to know about this plan, then you need to speak it."

Surprisingly, it was Genoes who answered. "They're worried that although you will be able to pass through the portal, I might not. If I'm linked to the Dark God's realm in some way, they think I might be . . . I don't know how to describe it . . . "

The Goddess's voice suddenly chimed in Daine's head. Shadowbound. It may well be the boy has become Shadowbound. There was a pause, before she added. I am so sorry.