Lowe and Arebella were portalled back to the ground floor of the Celestial Temple and took a moment to let the cold dread leak from their bones.

He had been pretty sure he'd been right about Mdamic's intention in sending the muscle Hel had slaughtered outside Lowe's building, but it was good to have it confirmed. It was as he had suspected: the Speaker had wanted to motivate him to keep his attention focused on the case - and had figured an ineffective murder attempt would do just that.

Lowe couldn't help but feel there were less potentially lethal ways to achieve that. If it hadn't been for Hel lingering around that night . . . well, he wasn't as confident as the Speaker of Yolgorth had been that he could handle four . The danger of being the avatar of a god is that you forgot that lesser beings were somewhat more squishy.

Without Hel, what had been intended as a little light motivational exercise would undoubtedly have been game over.

Speaking of Hel . . .

"Well, who would have believed it! You're still alive. Wonders will never cease. That's ten pieces of gold I owe Tenia that I won't be seeing again, I can tell you. Stage one is complete then, I guess?"

"You never mentioned you were betting on my likely demise when we were discussing this plan," he whispered to the .

"Well, you know, I didn't want to bum you out. You were all wide-eyed and enthusiastic about it. Delighted to see I was wrong, though. But, just so that you know, we've spotted your Mr Law."

Lowe's blood ran cold. That was earlier than he had hoped. He needed the answers to a few more outstanding questions before that - potentially fatal - confrontation. "Where?"

"Don't piss yourself yet. He's on the other side of the Temple, watching the crowds coming in. He looks royally pissed, though. You know," Hel continued, "when this is all over and done with, you might want to think about what it is about your personality that makes people so keen to kill you. I mean, I've got decades of blood on my hands, and I can pop to the corner shop without the expectation of being jumped and murdered—just something to think about."

"Cheers. I'll get right on that. Do you think he's noticed the missing yet?"

"Doubt it. I imagine he's got other things on his mind. As Tenia's poisoned the coffee he's drinking, I suspect he's not feeling too fresh right about now. Nothing lethal - although, I doubt she could pull that off, anyway - but he's staying close to the washroom if you know what I'm saying. Ah, there she blows. Poor diddums is on another trip to the porcelain throne."

Lowe gripped Arebella's elbow and manoeuvred her away from the portal stones. "Okay, this is as far as you go, Bella. Mr Law is here already, and I'm not prepared to risk you against him. I will have to get through the next bit on my own. You need to go home."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory, Jana. I mean, 'no, I'm not leaving.'"

"What makes you think you have a choice here? Do you not understand who is coming after me! He'll kill you."

Arebella put a hand on her hip and glared up at him. "It's been a year, Jana. A year of not knowing whether you were alive or dead. A year of waiting to hear you'd been found in an alley somewhere. A year of hearing people laugh when they mentioned your name: of listening to the jokes about the 'mighty falling'. If you think I've gone through all of that and then I'm not having your back, you have another thing coming. Stop worrying about me and get on with your ridiculous plan."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lowe was about to answer when bloody writing started appearing before his eyes. "If you don't want her, I'll be fucking her every which way and twice on Moon's day. The little lady has got some fire in her!"

He blinked Tenia's words away and opened his mouth to speak. However, before Lowe had a chance to answer Arebella, she was striding back towards the portal stones, moving past the long queue that built up during their stop on the Second Floor.

Chin in the air, Arebella marched straight up to the front and addressed the who stood before it.

"We," she glanced behind her to make sure Lowe had followed, "have an urgent message from the Security Services." Arebella brandished a scroll emblazoned with the seal of Commander Cenorth - "No, you absolutely may not 'borrow' my seal, which I will leave in the top drawer of my unlocked desk as I pop to see the officer next door. I won't be using it until tomorrow, by which time I expect to see it there again." - please stand aside so that we can deliver it."

The looked down at the diminutive lawyer, clearly unsure how to play things. Most people did their best to avoid the notice of , so someone actively being rude to them was quite a new experience. Indeed, part of the reason that Arebella insisted on coming along was how unlikely a was to punch her in the face. "Whereas," she had said to Lowe, "history would suggest that people simply cannot resist the opportunity where you are concerned."

He couldn't deny she had a point.

"That will be all, Eva," A familiar voice came from over Lowe's shoulder, and Latham strode forward to release the woman guarding the portal stones. Looking mightly relieved at the problem becoming someone else's, the slipped away, allowing Latham to take her place.

"What the fuck are you two doing here?" If Latham was pleased to see them, his brain had forgotten to tell his face.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Lowe said. "Had a bit of trouble literally seconds after you fucked off from having my back, but nothing some heavy psychotherapy shouldn't fix. I hear all the cool people have PTSD from epic torture sessions nowadays."

Something flashed across Latham's face. "I heard you were taken," he said softly. "But no one had any idea who by or where you were being held. I did ask." There was a pause. "Pretty persuasively, actually. But it was like you'd vanished off the face of Soar. No one knew anything. As it is, I'm glad to discover you appear to have more friends than just me. Astonished, to be honest, having spent some time with you." There was a pause. "I'm very glad to see you made it through."

"Unfortunately, it appears I have developed quite the capacity to absorb physical punishment. I'm still not sure whether I should be thanking you for that, by the way."

Latham shrugged. "Any day you wake up alive is better than the alternative. It sounds like you're in danger of becoming a whiny little bitch after a few love taps. Speaking of which, I hear you've been throwing your weight around on the Second Floor?"

"I wouldn't put it quite like that, Mr Latham," Arebella began.

But Lowe couldn't make out the rest of what she was saying because Hel was back in his ear. "Shit. Bad news, Lowe. Mr Law has successfully wiped his arse and has just spotted you. He's coming your way. And quickly. We'll do what we can to slow him down, but your plan suddenly has a fairly tight deadline."

There was a frustrated shout from behind him, but Lowe didn't turn to look around. He was not sure his nerve would hold if he saw that bland, nondescript face closing in on him.

"Fuck, he's already gone through Charl. I thought that would hold him for longer. Okay, I'm going to have to step in and help Tenia. We'll do our best, but . . . I wish you good luck, Mr Lowe."

The kerfuffle behind Lowe increased, and Hel's voice vanished from his head. In something approaching panic, Lowe stepped close to Latham, grabbing him by the front of his tunic.

"I need you to let us through and then lock this portal."

"I can't do that, little man. The standing orders for that particular Floor are very clear." Shouts of outrage and surprise increased behind him, and Lowe - once again - fought the urge to turn around.

"Latham, I think I know what's been going on. But if you don't let me through, I'm not going to get a chance to clear it all up. Please! I think you're as interested as I am in getting to the bottom of the High Priestess's murder. But if you don't let me through, right now, I'll never have the chance to solve it!"

A massive gust of wind blew through the ground floor, smashing windows and flinging doors open. Latham glanced up and over Lowe's shoulder at the commotion.

At that moment, Arebella darted forward and activated the portal stone, pulling Lowe through behind her. He just had the chance to meet the outraged expression and yell, "Lock it behind us!" as the light closed around them.