Lena conjured up a light to combat the pressing darkness, and they all worked their way out of the dungeon throne room. As they shuffled through the doorway they’d originally come in through, they were greeted by a friendly sight.

Rork was sitting in a cross-legged position in the destroyed hallway. His eyes were closed, and he was loudly humming. Faro smiled at this. He could see the last of Rork’s blast damage healing up, glowing red with whatever regenerative magic he was blessed with. Faro secretly wished he had that ability, but then again he wasn’t even sure what abilities he had now, what with the blessing from Solana.

Another dark thought creeped into his mind. What about the dark magic that had overtaken Jarl? The wolverine’s dark magic had been removed by Umbra, but Faro felt a suspicion that something dark still lurked deep inside of himself. He pushed the thought from his mind, something he’d have to deal with later.

Thora ran over and gave Rork a big hug. Faro saw the whistle swinging around her neck, but apparently she didn’t need it to have a good relationship with the sentient bog troll. “You saved us! I mean, it would have been good to have you in that other fight too, but you got us there!”

Rork just simply nodded. “Glad you live,” he said, the last of his wounds healed. He stood up and looked at all of them. “We can go now?”

Thora’s face broke out into the biggest smile. “Yes, Rork! We all can go now.”

He seemed to think about this for a second, and then spoke again, “And…I must go with you?”

Thora seemed taken aback by the question. “You are as free as any of the rest of us now, Rork. You are welcome to stay with us on our journey, but it seems to have gotten a lot longer than returning Veronica home.”

Rork thought for a moment. “I will stay with you…for now,” he added.

“Great!” exclaimed Thora. “Let’s get out of here. Lena, do you think we’re safe to head back up through the castle?”

“Yes,” she said, “but I think I have a better way.”

A short walk down the hall and they were at Rork’s old cage. They walked through the entry where the bars used to be, and on up the ramp that led up to the training arena where Mathias, Faro, and Tobi had fought Rork some days before. Upon reaching the top of the ramp they came upon the other set of bars that had kept the bog troll locked in the space between.

Seemingly without effort, Lena placed her hand on the bars, and without talking, a quick yellow light evaporated the bars to dust. Mathias shot a look at Faro, who nodded at the marked improvement in Lena’s magical abilities.

The sight that greeted them when they stepped outside was jarring. Where the seemingly beautiful castle keep of Mireholm once stood, was now a crumbling, desolate ruin. The facade that had stood there mere hours before was now busted, and all that was left was the true Mireholm now that Umbra’s Veil was gone. Not only that, but there was a massive chill in the air.

“So… cold,” said Thora, using her hands to rub her opposite arms.

It was true, Faro could see his own breath. It was odd, given that the weather had been very temperate last they had been outside. Finally glad to be a lion, covered in fur and likely warmer than the others, Faro wrote the cold off to some magic spell they had broken. Did magic produce cold when it shattered? He pulled Veronica close to him as he could see her shaking.

They all took a few steps into the arena, taking in the grim sight. They made their way out of the outer arena wall, and were about to cross through an archway that would lead them around to the front of the castle when Thora turned around and noticed that Rork wasn’t with them. The bog troll had stopped at the outer wall of the arena.

He was staring at the wall, a single tear running down his cheek. “It’s okay, buddy,” Thora said to him, still shaking from the cold, and taking his gigantic hand and leading him past the wall. None of them knew how long Rork had been held prisoner inside Mireholm, but it was apparently overwhelming to him to be free of his captor.

“You are kind,” he said to Thora when they caught up to the others.

She just smiled at him. “There’s really no other way to be that is good for the world,” she said, letting go of his hand and letting him walk on his own.

As they wandered the streets of the city on their way back to the front gates, the contrast of the beauty that had been there before was stark. Where they had just seen shops and happy elves working within them, now stood the dilapidated ruins of those same shops. Even the bridge they had entered on was barely traversable, made up of crumbling rock and missing segments.

The lush, grass field that had been full of gardenias was now a burnt, barren field. There was no more life here, only death. They all remained quiet the entire walk, the sound of their footsteps now echoing strangely in the empty wasteland. Faro looked at Lena from time to time to judge her reaction to the nothingness, but her face remained blank, stern and unreadable.

When they were getting close to the wall that had been the edge of the veil, they were greeted with a peculiar sight. Short little Jarl was trying to scale the wall, but with no luck. Faro assumed the Shadruul had helped him over when they had entered the veil, and now he was having trouble getting out. Faro also noted the brown leather satchel that was slung over the wolverine’s shoulders that wasn’t there before. He knew Jarl had been sent to Mireholm to look for information. Faro was now curious if he had found what he was looking for during his days of absence.

Lena reached for her bow to knock an arrow, and then realized it was no longer there. “Too many elf archers…” she muttered under her breath, looking angry. As a substitute for her bow and arrow she threw both hands out to the side and lit balls of yellow light with them. “Jarl!” she yelled at the wolverine. Startled, he wheeled around, flinching like he expected a punch to already be aimed at him.

“Hello, friends!” he exclaimed, trying to look innocent. “Crazy what went on back there, huh? This whole place was an illusion! As I was running for the door, even the night elf was gone. All fake! That Umbra was insane. Such a…”

“Enough!” yelled Lena. “Why are you trying to get out in such a hurry?”

“What?” Jarl said, looking offended. “I’m in no hurry, really. Just trying to get out of here so I can go see my father in Underoth. Haven’t been home since before the war started, you know?”

Lena stared at him a moment, not seeming to want to trust him, but she put out the balls of light and walked towards the wall, motioning for the others to proceed forward as well. They all gathered by the wall, and Faro took one last look back at the ruins of Mireholm. The kingdom now looked as it had from outside the veil, broken down ruins cast against a gloomy gray sky. He was glad to be rid of the place.

Looking back to the wall, he saw the others gathered there. They were all looking up at Rork who was staring over the wall that he cleared head and shoulders.

“What’s happening here?” he asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

They all turned to look at him, but no one spoke.

Finally Rork broke the cold silence. “Snow,” he said, though he looked as if he couldn’t believe it.

Faro laughed. “I mean, I know it’s cold, but snow? It’s summer!”

Lena shook her head. “Somehow, it’s not anymore.”

“But…” he stammered, “we were only here for a fortnight at the most. There’s no way it’s winter.”

“Let me up to see!” Thora called, coming over to Rork. Obediently the bog troll obliged, lifting her up to stand on the wall.

Jarl scurried over to Faro. “Time seems to work funny here. You arrived about an hour after I got here, and yet you all said you were at least four days behind. That doesn’t add up. It’s been gnawing at me since.”

Faro crinkled his eyes in thought. He remembered Jarl had been caught off guard that they had somehow caught up with him. He’d put it out of his mind out of his concern for finding Veronica, but now it did seem very odd. Did time work differently in the veil? Had they really missed the entire summer and autumn season while they were here? He dreaded the thought, as that would have given their enemies extra time to prepare to work against them.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

His line of thought was cut off by Thora yelling from the wall. “Holy Solana above!” she exclaimed. “Snow! Snow everywhere!” She looked back down at the others. “How?”

Before they could answer, Thora spoke again. “Hey, everyone. You may want to come see this.”

Looking at each other in concern, they all rushed to Rork who threw them up onto the wall, and then easily hefted himself onto the wall in one swift move. Once up, they all stood along the wall staring out into the snow-covered scene before them, but it wasn’t the snow she was talking about anymore. Coming out from behind a large rock formation in the distance were several dots. Some kind of beings on the horizon.

Before long, the beings were close enough to make out. “Vorath Shadruul,” said Mathias, swallowing hard and sounding nervous. “At least a whole battalion of them. And…” he adjusted his glasses on his nose to make sure he was seeing clearly, “...and what appears to be… elephants?”

“Yes,” Lena added quickly, using her keen elf eyes to see better at a distance. “Elephants fitted with a rider and large ballistas on top.”

Tobi scoffed. “Great, more fuckin’ Shadruul already. I mean, I like having berserker powers, but I kinda wanted to sit on them awhile before having to use them.”

Thora placed a hand down onto his shoulder. “We can slip down the wall and escape before they get here. My birth parents were weapons experts. There’s no way a ballista can reach us yet. We’re too far out of…”

“Move!” yelled Lena, sending a quick shield spell into Faro, and knocking him out of the way. He fell down hard onto the wall. A large bolt flew through the air where Faro had been standing a moment before.

“What the hell?” asked Thora, putting out her hand to help Faro up. “Weapons shouldn’t be able to reach this far. Not unless they were powered by…” she trailed off, and her mouth fell open. “No…” she said. She looked horrified, as if she’d seen another undead elf pop out of a lake.

“What is it, dear?” Tobi asked her, looking concerned, but also keeping an eye on the approaching army in case they needed to take defensive action.

“The only way they could reach us that far away would be if they had subfluore-powered weapons. And the only way they have subfluore-powered weapons…” she looked like she was going to be sick. Tobi gave her an encouraging look and a nod to get her to finish. “They’re using my parents’ technology. From the notes that Cosimir stole when I was a girl, the night my parents were murdered.”

There was a moment of silence as they all stared at the ground, not knowing what to say to the girl who had lost so much. The chill wind whipped between them, and the army was in full view now.

“We need to move,” said Faro, not happy about feeling so exposed on the wall. They all nodded and began to move along, when a fell voice hit them through the air, almost a hiss.

“Don’t move… or we’ll fire another,” hissed the voice.

“Fuck that!” said Tobi, looking back to the side of the wall they came from. “I say we jump back down and run along the wall till we get somewhere safe.

Thora shook her head. “No, Andre. That weapon can pierce through the wall. We’ve got nowhere to run.”

“Dammit!” roared Faro. Just when it seemed they were done with danger for the time being, they couldn’t even make it out of Mireholm without more trouble. He grabbed Veronica and pulled her in close to himself. She was just a poor, defenseless little girl caught up in something she would have never been involved in. Especially without her magic, she was more vulnerable now than ever. Faro didn’t remember having any children, but he was prepared to protect Veronica as if she was his own.

When the army of Shadruul were close enough, one figure began to stand out from among the others. It was a tall, sleek, black panther. They were wearing a dark green long vest and green trousers underneath. In the panther’s hands was a longsword. As they got closer, the panther pounced to the front to make sure they were the first to directly confront the party on the wall.

“Sister! Everyone thought you were dead, or in hiding! You’re not dead, so you must be in hiding,” the panther said in a woman’s voice.

The party all looked at one another in confusion, and then Faro noticed the look of disdain on Lena’s face.

“Sable? Is that you?” she asked incredulously.

“In the fur!” she laughed heartily. “What have you been doing all this time?” The Shadruul were slowly falling into rank behind her as she spoke.

Lena looked confused. “We were on a two week rescue mission to save this girl,” said Lena, pointing to Veronica. “It appears we’ve somehow misplaced a few months, as it wasn’t snowing when we entered.”

Sable shook her head. “I was sent here to find and kill you all, and take over Umbra’s Veil. I get to be a Dungeon Lord!” she exclaimed. “The thing is,” she seemed to be looking at them to judge their reactions and seeing if they were messing with her, “You left on your famed mission over three years ago.”

Faro’s eyes grew wide. Judging by the looks on the other’s faces, they thought they were being played. “That’s impossible,” Faro spoke up for everyone. “We traveled for less than a week and we couldn’t have been in the veil for more than two weeks. You lie.”

The panther laughed a booming laugh. “Lie! You think I wanted to be camped out here in this wasteland for three years? We were assigned to take Umbra’s Veil and discover its secrets. That was three long, miserable years ago. This morning we heard a loud crashing sound, and lo and behold, the veil is finally down! You all and that little wolverine just waltzed right in. Nothing worked for us. It wouldn’t let us pass through. Where is that little devil dog Jarl anyways?” she added, looking around the party standing on the wall.

Faro quickly looked among the group and realized that Jarl was no longer with them. The little coward must have taken off in all the commotion. He sighed. Would anything ever go right?

“We lost track of him several days ago,” he said to the panther, unsure why he was lying. For some reason he trusted Jarl more than this new enemy and her army.

She nodded. “Always a slippery little fella, that one. Anyways, once we realized the veil was broken, we broke camp and started this way.”

Faro didn’t know what to think or what to do. They were surrounded by the enemy. They had apparently lost over three years of time. There didn’t seem to be any way to escape this situation without a confrontation, and they were vastly outnumbered.

“You look old, sister,” Sable continued. “How was your visit with father?”

“He’s dead,” said Lena without missing a beat, or showing much sympathy. “You should have an easy march into the city. No one’s there. All dead.”

Sable simply nodded. “I assumed father was dead once the veil was down. No one to hold the magic spell anymore. Sad really. But after everything he did to our family, it’s kind of a fitting end.”

To Faro’s horror, after all the Shadruul came out from behind the rock formation, another group of beings made their way forth. They were way off in the distance, but from the haunting experience they’d had with them, he would recognize them anywhere. Undead elves came slowly out to join the ranks of the Shadruul. Since Sable and her army hadn’t been able to get into Mireholm and the elves there, Faro assumed she had brought them out of Mournfall Lake.

“Quite an army you have here Sable,” said Faro. “Why do you need this many fighters to take such a desolate kingdom? Eli doesn’t want to take any of the better kingdoms out there?”

“Yeah…” Sable said slowly. “You don’t know because you’ve been gone so long. Most of Evania is already under the control of Eli, lion-man. With the exceptions of Underoth and Dracaryn, now that The Veil is about to be mine, there’s little left that Eli and Eldryn don’t already control.”

Thora began to weep audibly. Mathias’ jaw dropped open. Faro didn’t want to believe it either. “The Dungeon Lords would never bow to another tyrant,” he said defiantly.

“No,” said Sable, sticking her sword into the snow and leaning on it, “they wouldn’t. You’re right. They are all either dead or captured. As I said, just a few holdouts left.”

Faro felt sick to his stomach. This wasn’t worth the powerful war hammer and new shield. It wasn’t worth missing three years of his life. Guiltily he looked down at Veronica. Okay, maybe it was worth it for her, but they had already lost so much, and now the world was coming crashing down around them all at once.

Sable locked eyes with Lena, whose face was unreadable. “Sister, please come down from the wall. I don’t want to kill you today. For the memory of our dear father and our life together, and for the sake of getting this girl back to what’s left of her home.” That phrase sent another pang of panic through Faro’s stomach, but it sounded like they were getting out of this alive, so he decided to unpack that with the others later.

“And what if we want to kill you?” asked Lena, and Faro closed his eyes. So close to escape.

The panther threw her arms wide, gesturing to the army surrounding her. “If you’re as smart as I think you are, you will take your out, dear sister. It’s a whole new world out there for you, and you’re not going to like it, but as I said, I don’t want to kill you. Not today. Today is about my victory in taking our father’s kingdom.”

Lena jumped down from the wall and walked slowly over to her sister. “We will meet again, dear sister. I will be more powerful, and you will be less fortunate on how this plays out.”

Sable’s mouth curled into a smirking half smile at this. “Looking forward to it, Lena. Take care now.”

Lena went back to the wall and helped the other’s down from the wall. Rork stepped off and looked like he wanted to step on Sable and smash her flat into the ground. Lena shook her head no at him, and his expression eased. They all started to walk along the wall to skirt the army blocking their path.

“Feel free to head south!” Sable called after them. “Mother’s been stuck in the dungeon and is no longer ruler of Zelira, so you’re free to roam there now.”

Lean shot one horrid look back at her sister before continuing on with the party along the wall.

When they’d left the army a ways behind, Veronica looked up at Faro with tears in her eyes. “What did she mean by ‘what’s left of home’?”

Faro wasn’t sure how to answer her. “We’ve been away,” he said finally, “for a very long time. None of us know what to expect anymore.”

Veronica broke down into full, sobbing tears.