The woman calls herself Maria.

“After the Battlefront?” Cathra asks.

“After my mother,” answers Maria. “Call it… a family name.”

At first, Cathra is sure that she’ll be bound and gagged and dragged to the Battlefront kicking. But it turns out the commander of the Wall has other plans. After making sure the hole in the floor is properly sealed with wooden planks then more wooden planks, Maria orders fresh clothes, food, and a seat by the fire.

For only one of them though.

“Beasts stay in cages,” is the woman's curt answer when Cathra raises her concern that Ae’ran should maybe have a bite to eat as well. “Don’t pretend like you care for him, Captain Stelias. Or is that really the case here?”

“Of course not,” Cathra answers quickly. "I took him as my prisoner."

"Why?"

"Because... I thought I might get hungry inside the tunnels."

Cathra sits with Maria by the fire, sharing a bottle of old mead between them. As she talks with Maria, Cathra keeps an eye on their surroundings. Even though she is warm and fed after what feels like a lifetime, Cathra cannot shake the feeling of unease crawling inside her stomach. Simply put, this is too strange a place to meet the commander of the Battlefront, too far deep into uncontrolled territory for someone as important as Maria to be. Sure, the men with her are clearly battle-hardened and armed, but there isn’t nearly enough to fend off an enemy assault.

Plus, they all look like they're about to collapse.

Cathra studies the men closely. Some are sitting against the stone walls staring off into nothing, while others are staggering around, dragging their feet like they’re wearing iron shoes.

Almost like they’re dead, like the monsters we escaped from...

Cathra hears cheering off to one side. Towards the northern section of the common area, a group of men is seated around a wooden crate. They seem to be throwing dice, and to Cathra’s relief, talking with each other.

I'm thinking too much about it. I must be tired.

Maria takes a slow swig of ale, her throat working as she swallows. Then she lets out a belch that will make a dwarf blush. “Let’s get one thing clear,” she says towards Cathra’s direction without really looking at her. “I did not come all the way out here to look for you. But now that you’re here, you will answer to me and only me. Whatever you were doing before, you can forget about it.” She hands Cathra the bottle. "Understand?"

“That’s a friendly way of taking prisoners,” Cathra says, sipping the cold ale. It's too bitter for her tastes, but she makes a point of swallowing it without grimacing. Below her feet, she thinks she can feel the humanoid monsters creeping in the tunnels. She shudders at remembering how close she had been to losing her life down there.

"Not an ale person?" Maria asks, probably taking Cathra's troubled expression to mean she doesn't like the drink.

"I prefer wine."

"Then give it 'er." Maria snatches the bottle from Cathra and drains in. “I am a friendly person,” she says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Unless you take that amiableness for granted. A woman like you should know no good comes to those who challenge their commanders.” A smear of blood is left across the dark skin. Cathra stares at it, thinking she sees wrong. Maria catches her looking and flips her hand over, hiding whatever was smeared on the back. "You understand, Cathra?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." Cathra nods. “You do know a lot about me, as expected from the great Maria of the north.” She chuckles dryly. “Then you should also know how terrible I am at following orders.”

Maria smiles. It doesn't reach her pale blue eyes. “I’m counting on it, Stelias.”

Another bottle of ale later, Maria stands up and announces it is time to assign Cathra her post.

“Usually prisoners don’t get work,” Cathra says.

Maria answers, “We’re short on hands.”

“What about the yaojin?”

“What about it?”

Cathra follows Maria into the western wing of the dungeons, down a brick corridor, and into one of the opened cells along the walls. Cathra almost expects to be shut into it, but to her surprise, sees that a man has already taken up residence. He’s dressed in the grey of the Battlefront, and is busy sewing two pieces of leather together with thick string.

“Toryn.”

At Maria's call, the man looks up. “Yeah.” His eyes are deep-set and watery, just like all the other men Cathra has seen so far down here.

Is it the lighting?

“Got a new addition to the cause,” Maria answers, slapping Cathra on the back. “Get her fixed up, yea? Anything that can block a blow will do.”

The man goes back to his work. “I'll just scoop up some shit from the corner and slather her with it. Will offer more protection than the rusted crap here.”

“Just get it done,” Maria says before dragging Cathra back out into the corridor.

As they pass by flickering torches jutting out from the brick walls, Cathra is struck with how familiar this all looks. She is quite certain they are underneath Castle Ice, but she doesn't remember her home ever having such an expansive dungeon below it.

Unless Father had more secrets he never shared.

Cathra considers confirming her suspicions with Maria, but that will likely mean she’ll need to divulge her own reasons for coming so far north beyond the Wall, and that is something no one but her should know.

Besides, what can I even say? That I was once a princess of the Dragonspines and now I’m returning home to my abandoned kingdom? Might as well drag me into an asylum.

“It's down here,” Maria says, pushing through an iron door to reveal stone steps descending into darkness. “We don’t have many torches to spare so you’ll have to feel along the walls.”

Cathra follows Maria down the stairs, their echoing footsteps the only sounds made between them. Neither of them speak, as if the quiet is too loud for voices. Soon, Cathra feels the ground leveling and she spots light coming from the end of another corridor.

And at the end of this corridor, is another door with a single torch illuminating its metallic surface. Iron beams clamp across the door frame, their edges worn round. Cathra leans closer. This door is strange, built in a way she's never seen before. It's too thick, too metal.

We wouldn't have been able to spare the materials for this kind of work back then.

There is a strange symbol carved into the face of the door. It's almost worn away completely, but Cathra can just make out the shape of a tree.

Could it have been from a house in ancient times? But why would it be down here?

“Before I open this door,” says Maria, her voice a lot harder than when she was drinking with Cathra upstairs. “There’s something I want you to promise me, Cathra.”

“Sure,” says Cathra. “But my heart belongs only to my sword.”

Maria’s expression does not soften at Cathra's lame attempt at a joke. “I want you to promise you will not jump in.”

"Jump?" echoes Cathra. "Into where?”

“Just do it.”

“… Sure.”

Maria nods once, then pushes on the door. Rusty hinges scream as darkness floods from the opened room, washing over Cathra with the stench of the dead. She takes a step back and turns away from the smell but a flash of light covers her eyes.

For a single heartbeat, Cathra sees her father.

She almost doesn't recognize him with his beard so short. The man is standing with his back to a bed, holding up a bundle of cloth to the sky.

“My little Cat,” he whispers into the bundle. “My fire. My blood.”

When Cathra opens her eyes again, she is faced with a large but empty room. No. She blinks and stares at the moving darkness. The room isn’t empty and we are not alone.

One of the walls is missing, replaced by a barrier of pure blackness that seems to be undulating with a consistency of slime. Thin glowing vines crawl along the length of the remaining walls, digging through the brickwork to disappear into the shadowy barrier.

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Something clicks inside Cathra. This room. This wall. This is what has been calling to her.

This is what I was looking for. But…

“What is this place, really?”

“Have a guess,” says Maria, stepping into the room. “That’s why I brought you here.” She’s almost swallowed by the dark and Cathra has to follow close. The torch Maria is holding seems to do almost nothing.

They both stop a few feet away from the barrier. Cathra is aware that Maria is watching her now as if gauging her reactions, but the truth is she has nothing to hide because,

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cathra tells the Battlefront commander. “Is this made by man?”

“Could be,” Maria answers, still studying Cathra. “We think this is what the beast-folk have been using to attack us so frequently these past few moons.” Her voice seems to be bouncing from everywhere except the moving shadows in front of her. “Some sort of vertical transportation circle, probably into Jinyu. Our scouts reported seeing monsters coming out of it, but they were all dead before we could ask for clarifications.”

“Why don’t you go through to check?” Cathra asks. She wants to touch the wall. It’s dangerous, she knows, but the draw is so strong.

“I’ve lost nearly my entire force in these mountains,” Maria answers matter-of-factly. “There’s no one left to send.”

“Oh. So… am I supposed to be the next sacrifice?”

“You seem to be taking this rather well,” Maria remarks. “Sure you’ve never seen this portal before?”

“No,” Cathra says, keeping her tone light when what she really wants to do is scream and throw herself into the void. “I’ve come across a lot of crazy things during my time as an outrider knight. Things from the Ancient civilizations.”

That seems to be explanation enough for Maria. She turns to look at the wall and questions Cathra no further.

While not false, what Cathra said is not entirely true either. She has seen this wall of shadows before, she’s sure. But however deep she digs into her mind, she cannot remember when that was.

Did Father take me down here before? While I was too young to make memories?

Maria turns to the door suddenly. “Let’s go then, if you don’t have anyfinn…”

Cathra glances over to see Maria massaging her jaw. To her shock, she notices a line of clear drool curving down the woman’s chin. Maria wipes it away quickly and clears her throat.

“Anything to add,” she clarifies, “is what I meant to say. Anyway, let's go.”

Cathra follows Maria back towards the door, grateful to be away from the barrier even though a part of her continues to yearn for it.

“You lead your team quite well,” Cathra says as she and Maria walk back up the stairs. “You know, I never thought Maria’s Battlefront actually had a Maria.” She's trying hard to make conversation with the commander because she can feel heat coursing inside her body. Her legs quiver as if she’s just sprinted around the mountain. And she attributes it to the portal.

I'm just thankful it's too dark for Maria to see me so flustered, like I'm falling in love or something equally foolish.

“It’s very simple actually,” Maria says. “You just need to have food and a very sharp knife.” She chuckles darkly and offers no more explanations, though Cathra isn't sure she wants any.

On their way back to the common section, they pass by the armorer again. By curiosity, Cathra peeks into the cell. What she sees is alarmingly strange. The man is still fiddling with the leather he’s trying to sew, but instead of threading the pieces with string, he’s licking at the seams as if trying to glue them together with his spit.

“What is he doing?” Cathra asks, going closer to the bars. “Hey, Maria-”

“Scoop shit,” moans the man. “Get it done. Just scoop. Done.” He seems to be utterly engrossed in the meaningless task. Snot runs down the leather sheets, dripping onto his filthy feet.

“Rusted crap. Just get. It done.”

Maria is suddenly by Cathra’s side. “It’s late. Come on.” With a firm hand, she guides Cathra down the corridor. “The monsters below get rowdy in the early mornings. You’ll want to sleep soon.”

“Wait,” Cathra says, straining to look. “What was Toryn doing?” She tries to go back but the hand behind her back is amazingly strong.

“You’ll want to sleep soon,” insists the woman. “Come on.”

The men are still in the exact same places they were when Cathra and Maria left, every single one of them. The ones sitting against the walls continue to sit, and the five men casting lots over by the entrance to the northern wing are still throwing. Cathra spots the dice this time. White and round. She immediately recognizes the bones of a human hand.

“They’re using the remains of their fallen comrades to play games,” she says, appalled. “How could you let them do that?”

“You can’t get rid of all vices,” Maria explains as she continues shepherding Cathra towards the east side of the dungeons. Cathra only feels one hand placed against the small of her back, but there's so much strength behind it she can barely keep upright as Maria pushes her along.

"That’s the same as pulling the claws off a toothless animal," the commander continues. "They might as well be dead.”

“It’s wrong,” Cathra argues. “It’s sick.”

“It’s reality, city girl.”

They reach a row of rusty iron doors almost completely hidden behind a long indentation in the wall. They are more like chambers than cells.

“We sleep in the jail guard’s quarters,” Maria says, pulling out a set of keys. They’ve corroded so much that when one is stuffed into a lock, Cathra is surprised the key doesn’t just snap off.

“My men won’t really harm you.” Maria gestures to the opened door. “But there’s no need to tempt fate. Even toothless lions can bite.”

Cathra doesn’t go in. Her instincts tell her that if she does, she may never leave again. “What about Ae’ran?” She asks.

“This again?” Maria frowns. "Why do you care so much about a beast-folk?"

“That beast-folk saved my life,” Cathra reminds her. “I should at least pay my dues. Where are you keeping him?”

Maria looks at Cathra like a parent trying to answer a child’s difficult question. “What are you saying, Cathra? They are our sworn foes. I thought you knew that, what with you bringing him intfff...”

Again, Maria's words seem to lose themselves inside her mouth. But this time she turns away from Cathra, so if she's drooling Cathra cannot tell.

Coughing a few times, Maria spits on the floor. "Bringing him down here," she finishes.

Cathra hesitates before answering. Whatever the reason between her and Ae'ran deciding to trust their lives in each other, it pales in comparison to what is happening in this dungeon, with Maria and her men.

I may only have met Ae'ran for a week, but I trust him more than anyone else here.

“The fact stands that he saved me,” Cathra says finally. “And though I may not be a knight anymore, I still have my honor as one.”

Maria scoffs but the sound is something like a gasp and a groan. For just a second, the left side of her face droops like a mask melting, but when Cathra blinks everything is fine again. “That’s the kind of horse shit I expect hearing from a child, Cathra, not you.”

“Shows how little you really know me,” Cathra says. The unease that's been rumbling inside her belly has spread into her chest, sending needles down her spine.

She wants to leave. Now. But Maria is blocking the door.

Moving suddenly, Cathra shoulders past the commander, saying, “It’s alright, I can search for him myself. This place is only so big.”

She puts her head down and marches back out into the common area, her feet picking up speed as she desperately wants to put as much distance between herself and Maria as possible. She breezes past the gambling men into the northern wing of the cells. Some of them look up, their eyes trailing after her. Cathra doesn’t sense maliciousness, only a dull sense of curiosity.

All you need is a very sharp knife…

Cathra shoves open the door to the north wing. It isn’t locked. A single torch flickers on one wall. The other side is lined with doors, all opened except one. Cathra makes a beeline for it and sure enough, the single closed cell houses the other prisoner down in this strange hell.

From his corner, Ae’ran looks up, his yellow eyes gleaming in the faint light.

“We are both outsiders, and yet you are taken in as one of them while I am here.”

Cathra crouches down to get a better look at the yaojin. "Did they do anything to you? Are you hurt?"

“Yes,” answers the yaojin. "But only my pride." He shifts so that Cathra can see that his hands are once again bound against his back. His long scorpion tail is shackled to the wall behind him, with a rucksack covering the stinger.

“Listen,” Cathra says quickly. “I don’t plan on staying here any longer than I have to. Do you know who has your keys?”

Ae'ran's eyes widen. “You’re going back out there? With those things? Wait. Why are you asking about keys?”

“There's no time,” Cathra says, tugging at the bars. They may be rusted, but they are still strong. “I’ve found what I’m looking for but… it isn’t what I thought it was.”

“Oh. Then... you don't need me anymore.”

Through the bars, Cathra watches as Ae'ran's face darkens with pain. “Is that what you’re here to tell me?”

"No," Cathra answers quickly, then shuts her mouth. Wasn't that true? Does she still need him now that she's found what drew her across the mountains?

Cathra shakes her head. Why has she even come here? She can easily have gone to other wings in the dungeon, as long as it's away from Maria.

No, she wanted to come here. She wanted...

Him.

No, no, no. that’s not it. That can't be it.

“I just wanted to know you were alright.” Cathra settles on a white lie. “It wouldn’t be good on my conscience if you ended up dead because of me.”

The pain in Ae'ran's eyes lessen a bit. “But aren't you the one who forced me on this bloody death march?”

“Well, yes...” Cathra starts to explain but a hand grabs onto her arm, spinning her around to face a seething Maria.

“That was a mistake.” The woman tilts close, her breath smelling like decay. “I don’t know what sort of power you think you had back at the city, Cathra, but here you obey me.”

Cathra eyes the finger, feeling her lips twitch upon remembering the fate of the last man who tried to raise his hand against her. That was back on the lashing polls, back in her adopted home of Kesrock.

“The Dragonspines is my kingdom,” Maria hisses with so much rage Cathra almost expects to see venom dripping from her words. “There’s nothing here but snow and death. And I. Command. Both.”

Cathra does not think it possible, but the commander of the Battlefront looks even more disturbing in the short time they've been apart. The ends of the woman’s bleach-white hair have curled and blackened as if burned, and there is a wildness in her demeanor not there before. "You will listen, Cathra Stelias. Or you will face the wrath of the darkness."

Cathra bats Maria’s finger away. “Talk about childish things to say. Ae’ran is my captive, Maria, and I am responsible for his well-being, not you. Is this concept of honor so foreign to you that you cannot even comprehend it?”

Although she means it as a challenge, Cathra realizes from Maria's reaction that she may have gone too far.

Maria hunches low like an animal, her lips drawing back into a snarl that twists her face into something monstrous. Cathra takes an involuntary step back, alarmed by the complete transformation. Maria is gone, replaced by this half-human creature with eyes flashing like round disks.

“Last chance, Stelias,” the woman growls in a low voice. “Come back to the cells with me, or die here. With that beast you brought with you.” Off to their side, Cathra notices that the gambling men in the common area have all stopped playing. As one, they rise and turn to her with expressionless faces.

Then they start to stagger over.

Cathra’s heart starts pumping. It’s all too familiar, the way the men are moving. It’s exactly the same as the humanoid monsters she and Ae'ran faced inside the tunnels.

Something Maria said crashes into her mind then.

I’ve lost nearly my entire force in these mountains. There’s no one left to send.

Cathra wavers back into the iron bars of Ae’ran’s cell. It all makes sense. But it’s too late. She figured it out too late.

I was careless. It was because she was a human!

Maria, or the creature inhabiting the woman's body, lunges with her claws drawn. She crashes into Cathra’s midriff, snarling like a rabid animal. Cathra manages to grab ahold of the woman's arms but then she starts biting and tearing into Cathra's stomach with her teeth. Cathra jerks one knee up to smash into Maria’s chin but the woman seems to have barely felt it and continues to bite. Pain alights Cathra’s nerves, injecting power into her limbs. She lets go of Maria, clasps her hands together and brings them down hard across the woman's head.

Maria goes limp and collapses to the ground, but not before taking off a sliver of Cathra's flesh with her.

Cathra bites back a scream as pain spasms through her belly. She slides to the ground, clutching her gushing wound. She can hear Ae'ran shouting from within the cell behind her, but all she can hear is the sound of her own pounding heart, mixed with the soft calling of the portal below them.

“My daughter,” it whispers into her. “My little Cat. My blood. Has come home.”

“No,” Cathra groans, watching through blurred tears as Maria rises from the ground, a bloody smile tearing across black, twitching lips.

“Someone. Please. Help...”