Arraxia dodged aside from the dagger, but Tanith was on her, duel swords in hand. Her tail lashed out and dodged one of Tanith's blades. The demoness' bosom heaved with the movement. Arraxia grabbed Tanith by one hand as Tanith's blonde hair flew around her. The blade was held in place. Tanith brought around her blade to strike at her neck. Arraxia stepped back before Tanith kicked Arraxia in the chest. As her steel boot hit the demoness, her enemy returned to smash against a tree. As she recovered, Tanith went at her with duel swords.

Arraxia ducked under the blades that would have beheaded her. The blades cut clean into the bark of the trees without slowing. The demoness slashed with a claw at Tanith, but the girl leaped back, stance ready. For a moment, they stood in place, gazing at one another. Arraxia smiled as they circled.

"As violent as ever, I see," said Arraxia. "You really should listen to your master's words on this. I'd hate for you to choke on your leash."

"Let me show you just how violent I can be, demoness," said Tanith in a tone of bloodlust.

"Enough," said William, who had not expected her to show up again sooner or later. This fight was wholly pointless and served to achieve nothing. So he rose in his armor with a hand on his sword. "Tanith, step back. She may have something of value to say."

Tanith stepped back but did not sheathe her swords. "Whatever you say, William."

"Arraxia," said William. "What do you want?"

"Why, to provide you a means by which you can free your precious Dreaming Goddess, of course," said Arraxia. She was leaning forward and cupping his cheek.

"From you, you mean," said William, shifting from her grip.

"But of course," said Arraxia, tail flicking around her waist. "In truth, you should thank me. Our wills are combined through Baltoth's Retribution. Since I am wholly immune to the pillars, some of that immunity passes to her."

William didn't believe it for a second. "And I suppose that makes you wholly blameless in all things. And that you have only the best intentions. Shall I ignore your blatant ambitions while you ready the knife to drive into my back?"

"I would ever so appreciate it if you could," said Arraxia, walking past him with swaying hips. The crescent tip of her tail moved past his throat. "It will be just like that wonderful trip you made to Gel Carn."

"I will not," said William, keeping his gaze on her. "What are you proposing, and how do you mean to achieve it?"

"The source of the power of the pillars is an artifact known as the Void Stone. It fell from the stars many centuries ago and lies deep within the palace of the Iron King," said Arraxia. She leaped onto a branch, lay on one side, sticking a hip out, head supported on a claw. "Destroy it, and you will break the spell over the Iron Kingdom. Your gods will be able to enter it once more. They can do their insufferable godly things in all their hypocritical glory." Her tail flipped.

"Ah," said William. "And what do you gain out of all this?"

"Wouldn't you like to know that?" asked Arraxia mockingly.

William had had enough. "No. I will not cooperate until you tell me what you intend to gain from all this?"

"Oh, very well," said Arraxia. "It isn't as though my will can be thwarted. I hope you will create enough distraction for me to achieve my true agenda. More than that, I will not tell you. And if you don't cooperate after that, I'll set the Iron Kingdom on Felix and Massacre and find another way."

"You know where they are?" said William.

"But, of course," said Arraxia. "And if you help me, I'll bring you to them. Really, have I ever once broken my word?"

"You seem to have pledged loyalty to the Iron Kingdom," noted William. "And you've certainly broken that."

"Ah, but I never pledged loyalty," said Arraxia. "I merely agreed to serve until such a time as it was no longer convenient. It is not my responsibility if they assume my loyalty is farther than that."

"Lead me to Felix and Massacre first," said William. "As a show of good faith."

"Well, you do drive a hard bargain, don't you?" asked Arraxia. "So be it. Follow me."

Arraxia walked into the trees and motioned. William looked to Tanith, whose blades were resting on her shoulders. She nodded, and they pressed on after her.

"So this Void Stone," said Tanith. "Where does it come from?"

"Oh, I'm not entirely sure," admitted Arraxia. "I'm only glad it isn't called the Iron Stone. It is rather unpleasant looking. It fell from the sky hundreds of years ago and emanates disbelief."

"Disbelief?" asked Tanith, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, gods draw their power from belief," said Arraxia. "They cannot act without worshippers."

"Not true at all," said William. "Gods don't gain power from worship. Rather worship gives them the authority to use their power to perform miracles. There is a difference."

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"Not really. If you cannot enact your will upon the universe, then you have no power," said Arraxia. And she summoned a black flame into one hand for emphasis. "A single mortal can have more power than the most triumphant gods. Assuming more people listen to what he says and his will is done."

"I didn't know you had such a high opinion of mortals," mused William.

"I don't," said Arraxia, crushing the flame in one hand. "Mortals are like a blank canvas. Or a block of wood. Some of them are made into one thing. Some of them are made into another. Still, others become unusable for anything and must be thrown away.

"Of course, the Iron Kingdom doesn't regard it like that. In their ideal world, all the painters would be locked out of their workrooms."

"How unexpectedly contemplative of you," said William. "At any rate, I assume you want the Iron Kingdom intact at the end of this?"

"But, of course," said Arraxia. "There isn't much point in ruling if everyone else is dead."

William suspected that to be a lie as well. Arraxia could probably get on perfectly well talking o a mirror for a few years. It seemed her ideal companion.

"You can have it," said Tanith. "This place is a hellhole. Getting set on fire could only improve it."

"Now that is uncalled for," said Arraxia. "Hell has a great deal more agony and impaled corpses."

"Tanith," said William, "the Iron Kingdom is keeping the Withering King in check. If they were wiped out, the undead could spread to the surface. In which case, the Withering Might become a threat once again. And even if they didn't, I'd rather the Viokins not dispose of one of their major enemies. They may find Harlenor an ideal secondary target."

"Oh right," said Tanith. "Let's find Felix then."

There was a feral screeching noise at that moment, and William felt a sudden presence. Out of the trees surged many snake-like creatures with the heads of beetles and arms like scythes. William drew out his sword, warded off a scythe, and lowered his blade to cleave the skull. Tanith cut two in half while stepping past their attacks. Arraxia's tail slashed several to ribbons in moments.

William had several gobs of acid spew toward him. Stepping aside, he caught the spatters on his shield and cleaved a neck. The blade sank deep and cut full through. Another he ran through as it lunged, nearly losing his footing. More came, and soon the ground was riddled with the monsters' corpses. At last, no more were there.

William sighed and kneeled to wipe the blood from his sword on the grass. "Not again. What are raishans doing here?"

"Dying from the looks of things," said Arraxia. "The barrier between the worlds must weaken if these things can wander in."

"How could it break so quickly?" asked William.

"A lack of support from the gods goes a long way," said Arraxia.

Suddenly they heard a roar and a sound like thunder. They made for it at once. They came through a clearing and found many raishans ripped to shreds by claws and teeth. Others had been burned to ashes. Yet there was no sign of what did this. A lion ripped these things to shreds, and some of these things were burned. They could be heard snarling some ways off and made for it.

Suddenly Massacre leaped out of the trees and bowled over Arraxia. Chimera and demoness tumbled over in a tangle of limbs as they clawed at each other.

"Unhand me, cretin!" snarled Arraxia.

"Massacre, get off her," said William. "We still need her."

At that moment, Felix emerged from the trees. His sword was in his hand and bloodied, but the box containing the Axe of Fortenex was nowhere to be seen. "Why?"

"No reason," said Tanith. "Go ahead and eat her Massacre."

"She led us to Felix," said William.

"And to the raishans," noted Tanith.

"If she had, she wouldn't have helped us fight them," said William.

"Well, if the dark lord himself hasn't taken the field," muttered Felix, eyeing his armor. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Traveling," said William, noticing that Felix was covered in dirt. His clothes were in rags, and he had several cuts on his hands. "You look terrible, Felix."

"I've been hiding in the woods and sleeping in ditches," said Felix. "I've only had one set of clothes; my only company has been a chimera." He halted for a moment. "The Axe of Fortenex is gone."

"Why?" asked William. "What happened?"

"The damn thing was radiating unholy energy constantly. Every five minutes, we'd be chased down by some new demon," said Felix. "I kept it out of their hands as long as I could. But there came the point: either get rid of it and escape, or die and have it fall into enemy hands."

"What point?!" asked William. "Felix, do you know what could happen if someone gets their hands on that Axe!?"

"Yes, but I thought that if I was still alive, I could tell someone who had it," said Felix.

William calmed himself. Felix was right, as he usually was about these things. "Who was it, then?"

Felix looked around, expecting to see eyes staring at him from the trees. "The Iron King."

"What did he look like?" asked William.

"He wore armor similar to yours, actually," said Felix. "He was a giant, and I ended up dodging him for days. But no matter how far he chased me, he never tired, and his minions always got closer. Eventually, we were cornered, and Massacre was taken hostage.

"So I gave it up. I knew I'd stand no chance even if I let Massacre die without her. He let Massacre live, laughed, and left."

Massacre was abruptly thrown back with a roar to land against a tree. Arraxia stood and made her way forward. William caught her by the shoulder before the fight could continue. "We don't have time for this. We have to get it back," said William. "Who knows what the Iron King intends to do with the Axe?"

"Why do you think he wants it in the first place," said Tanith. "I thought it could only be wielded by the chosen of Fortenex."

"So it can never be used against him, I expect," guessed Arraxia. "He delights in taking things which he'll never have a chance to use. He's one of those dog-in-the-manger types.

"Alright, let me think," said William. "Arraxia, what was your original plan for getting into the Iron Kingdom?"

"Well, I had originally hoped to use the Axe to negotiate for a meeting with the Iron King," said Arraxia. "I'd want to present it to him in person. Then when I was in front of him, I'd cut off his head."

"Yes, but that doesn't answer my question," said William.

"Oh right, I suppose you do exist in this hypothetical," mused Arraxia. "I was planning to bring you into the palace by a secret passage I found years ago."

"This passage, where is it?" asked Tanith.

"I could lead you to it," said Arraxia. "Though I can't remember what the area is called."

"Is it guarded?" asked William.

"Oh, gracious, no. Not by mortals anyway," said Arraxia. "If anyone knew to guard it, they would have to be killed for security reasons. But there are defenses of another sort. It works just as well on demons as humans, and I was hoping to use the Axe of Fortenex to break the spell."

"Well, we'll have to change it," said William. "Take us to the passage. At once."

"As you wish," said Arraxia. "I shall indulge you. Follow me."

At last, things were picking up.