“I mean, it could be considered that was largely successful . . .”

Savage yowled and jumped down from Kirsten’s shoulder, making her way towards the safety of the undergrowth. The parts of it that were not on fire, at any event. Kirsten took a moment to ensure the kitten was okay before turning to Eliud, eyes ablaze.

“Which parts, specifically, were ‘successful’ there?”

“Well,” the Pendragon began, “it would be fair to say that we are all still alive following experimentation with powers far beyond our ken. In those circumstances, it is pretty remarkable that we are all actually in one piece. I think we should be very pleased that . . .”

Kirsten shot him in the chest.

Of course, this was essentially a pointless exercise. Eliud simply waved his hand, and the arrow changed into a daffodil, bouncing ineffectively against his robes.

“I have to say, my dear, that seems ever so slightly an overreaction. It’s not like any of us were hurt . . .”

Kirsten shot him again.

For the life of her, the Celestial Harbinger could not conceive of how her life had changed over the last few months. It would be wrong to say that she looked back on her time in Keep Trellec — alongside Jak, Drunnoc and the rest — with any degree of affection, but at least there had been a degree of normality to that existence. Yes, she would wake up each morning with a sense of gnawing unease and spend the day trying to grind out a living in a world that, very much, was committed to keeping her down.

But at least no one ever suggested she stepped through a poorly prepared portal to the realm of the Dark God. So, there had been some upsides.

Eliud had left her second arrow simply pass through him, where it had struck the tree behind him with a loud crack, startling Josul, who barked his displeasure. A mewled, “Oh, do be quiet, you idiot,” emerged from a bush to their right.

“Right,” the Pendragon said brightly, clapping his hands together in — what Kirsten assumed — he considered a ‘take charge’ manner. “How about we review and plan out the next steps?”

*

Eliud’s conversation with King Rendell had been brief. Far more so than Kirsten would have assumed such a meeting between two of the great powers in the Kingdom would have been, especially considering how their last meeting had gone . . .

After overcoming his initial shock at being transported outside his palace walls, the King rallied quite impressively.

“El, this is crazy. Do you have any idea what they will do to you for this?”

“I’m not sure. Might they, for example, knock me out, transport my unconscious form to a secretly constructed Sky Keep — built, particularly — to deal with someone of my Skillset and then launch said Keep in the general direction of the northern wastelands, hoping for me to either starve to death or else be eaten by Wyverns.”

The King frowned. “I assume you are being oddly specific because . . .”

“Because that is precisely what your little group of advisors, hangers-on and social climbers tried when I attempted to do the right thing and seek to approach you by the front door. Are you seriously suggesting you had nothing to do with it?”

Rendell did not answer, turning his attention to the giant lap dog that was, once again, attempting to lick his face. “Josul, not now.” The hurt expression on the dog’s face was so comically human that the tension in the clearing eased. Slightly. Rendell nodded towards Kirsten. “And you are?”

Eliud stepped in front of her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “She is none of your business, Your Majesty. You have shown yourself to be wholly incapable of acting appropriately around those I care about. As soon as you answer my question, we will take our leave. Given my druthers, you will never see either of us again.”

“And what is your question?

“Where would the Dark God keep someone he wanted to hide? Specifically, hide from me.”

*

The two had retired a short distance away, leaving Kirsten, Savage and Josul to kick their heels for a while. This had seemed a good time for the Celestial Harbinger to find out more about the man who had taken on the role of her protector — not least his relationship with the King.

“They were friends,” Savage had said in her strange — almost purring — voice. “Well, as much as that odd man can have friends. He and Rendell spent a lot of time together in their youth, but we had places to go, worlds to explore and he stepped away from the life of the Kingdom. Then — after the Stonehand was put out to pasture — Eliud was asked to return to court life to take over the Mentor role. We lived in the palace for a time. And then the bad things happened.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

That was as much information as Kirsten had ever heard about Eliud’s life before the Darkhelm had led them to his cottage. “The bad things?”

The cat shook her head and began cleaning her paw. “No, that’s not for me. If he had wanted to tell you, he would have done.” Josul whimpered and pressed himself against Kirsten’s side. “Pet the dog. He’s sad.”

From the little Kirsten had been able to piece together, Eliud had owned three such massive dogs when he had been persuaded to return to the Capital. She bent and vigorously rubbed Josul’s hide, eliciting a whuffle of pleasure. “Did something happen to the other dogs?”

“Not something. Someone.”

And that was all Savage would say on the matter. Half a bell later, Eliud had returned — leaving the King stood, with a thoughtful expression, at the edge of the woods — announcing the “hunt for Genoes is on!”

*

Eliud was frustrated. And from his experience, he rarely made his best decisions when in that state. For most people, such emotional roiling might lead to unwise arguments, consuming too much alcohol, or making impulsive purchases.

He envied most people.

When Eliud Vila, known by the commonfolk as the Duskstrider, and the holder of the Mythic Class of Pendragon, became frustrated, there was a slight chance the nature of reality might be imperilled.

Taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders in a way he had seen others do to dispel tension — that it had never worked for him thus far was no reason to abandon the ritual — Eliud tried to bring his considerable resources to bear on the problem before them.

The King had, eventually, been willing to share a little of what he knew about the location of the stable-boy Eliud had sworn to locate. One of the inherited Skills of the Rendell line was the ability to track the position of any subject of the Kingdom to a reasonably accurate degree. Eliud had long argued that was a broken Skill, and it was rather gauche for a King to keep such a close eye on those he suspected of treason, but his advice — as in so many cases — had been largely ignored. Rendell had argued it was a Skill he used incredibly rarely and that scruples were a fine thing, right until the moment an unexpected army arrived at your gates. Spymistress Stein had supported the King in this and, well, by that stage, Eliud was fighting — and losing — on so many political fronts, it seemed pointless to keep arguing.

But now he had found the perfect use for the Skill and a King who, pleasingly, was willing to try to make amends for the past . . . ‘indiscretions’, as he had wanted to call them.

“Indiscretions?” Eliud had said, as brightly as he could manage, his mind being dragged back to an evening of fire, blood and betrayal.

Rendell had sensed he was stepping on dangerous ground and had quickly returned attention to the proposed use of .

It had taken the King no time at all to find Genoes. The challenge, however, was where he had found him. This was why Eliud, Savage, Josul, and Kirsten were currently standing in front of a darkly shimmering portal that was resolutely refusing to allow them access.

Indeed, it has been extremely – some may say, explosively – resistant to attempts to cross it.

Eliud’s frustration at the situation momentarily got the best of him, and he channelled at the doorway for a few seconds.

“Feeling better?” Kirsten asked, cocking her head at the cone of devastation that the Pendragon had caused to the vegetation around the ethereal doorway.

“Oddly, yes.” With no ceremony, he suddenly sat down on the ground before the portal and flexed his fingers, seeking to dispel the tingling that his Skill had caused. “So, where are we at? We know that Genoes is, somewhere, on the other side of that portal.”

Kirsten sat down next to him. Savage emerged from the bushes and, with a couple of little jumps, took up her customary position on the Celestial Harbinger’s left shoulder. Josul wandered over and plonked himself across Eliud’s legs, trapping him with his great weight.

We would make quite a scene for anyone wandering past, Kirsten thought. Woe betide the bandits that thought we were easy pickings.“But do we know that?” She asked Eliud. “We only have the King’s word for it. He could be lying.”

“He could,” Eliud acknowledged. “However, there is a long — and dare I say — horrifically colourful history of what happens to people who lie to me. I sensed that Rendell was keen to attempt a rapprochement. . .”

“You know, it doesn’t impress me when you use long words like that. It just reminds me how very old you are.”

Eliud continued as if Kirsten hadn’t spoken. “ . . . and it would be poor politics for him to send me on a wild goose chase. I do not think he knew what Logan Twilight intended with his Sky Keep.”

Kirsten nodded at that. “So, we think we’re in the right place then. Genoes is just the other side of that portal.”

Eliud opened his hands in an uncertain gesture. “Well, ‘yes’ and ‘no’. The realms of the gods are not quite like the geography of our own world. Genoes is in the land of the Dark God. The King was able to him there and identified that this portal was the closest to him. However, that is as far as he was able to go. Now, it might be that the lad is sat just on the other side of this doorway. On the other hand —” he let his voice trail off.

“On the other hand?”

“We may find ourselves with a fairly difficult search ahead of us. From what I know of the Dark God, his realm is not dissimilar to that of the Goddess, Herself. And Her world is vast in the extreme. Not to mention that it plays rather fast and loose with the rules of time and space.”

Kirsten’s eyebrows raised at that. “You’ve been to the Goddess’s realm?”

“Of course. What sort of quasi-divine being would I be if I had not been invited round for tea and crumpets by a few of the Gods.” He watched her face briefly before breaking out into a huge grin. “I’m joking. In my youth, the Goddess made several unsubtle efforts to recruit me to Her cause. One of them involved taking me to Her realm and showing me various . . . . delights. You will be pleased to hear I resisted."

"Delighted."

"I'm hungry," Savage yowled. "Is there going to be anything, or anyone, I can eat so?"

Eliud did not speak for a moment, staring at the portal. Then, lifting Josul into the air by activating one of his Skills, he stood and walked towards it. "Okay, so this is not a problem that can be solved through overwhelming power, which is annoying. Let us, therefore, try something sneakier."

"Such as?"

Eliud winked at her. "This is your time to shine!"