They had been riding for about fifteen or twenty minutes when Arturyn motioned to Kirchel, and they both slowed their soris to a stop.

“I think this is where we leave the river,” Arturyn said, gesturing toward it. Erin, following his hand, saw that the river began curving gradually away to their right not much further ahead of them. “Looks like rough country to the north, though. We won’t be able to move as fast.”

They set off again, Arturyn in the lead. After a short time, the ground began to slope upwards. It also became covered with rocks and shrubs, which forced them to slow their soris down to a walk. The slower pace made it much easier for them to talk while they rode.

“So what did happen the other night?” Kirchel asked, glancing over her shoulder at Erin. “After I left to deliver the flowers? I know you wouldn’t have deliberately gone into the cave after I told you not to. And even if you would, there’s no reason why you would have chosen to go that late at night and in the middle of a thunderstorm. What happened to make you go?”

“It was Wraith,” Erin explained. “He showed up in my bedroom just after I’d gone to bed and forced me out of the house and into the cave.”

She told Kirchel in detail about Wraith appearing in her room and driving her out into the backyard and through the cave. Arturyn steered his sori close to theirs to listen too.

“…so then I was on my way back to the cave,” Erin said in conclusion. “But I got out on the edge of the forest, and a minute later Arturyn came along with the sethien chasing him. It saw me when they went past and decided to go after me instead. It tore open my shoulder and was about to finish me off when Arturyn came back and pulled me onto his paskjy. Then we hightailed it off across the meadow.”

Kirchel shivered slightly. “Well, I know the story from there. Arturyn told me last night what happened to the two of you after the sethien.” She was silent for a moment, apparently thinking. “You know, you probably couldn’t have gotten back to the house even if you had made it back to the cave. There are dozens of different paths, and if you didn’t know how to use the portal or have someone there to guide you, you’d have a very small chance of finding the right one. You could have ended up anywhere. And I meant it when I said the cave was dangerous. You could have easily been hurt or even killed by falling or having rock fall on you. It was having Wraith there with you that allowed you to get through so easily the first time.” She shook her head distractedly, frowning. “But I couldn’t begin to guess why he wanted you to come to this world. Or why this particular exit, of all places….”

“Well, it was quite provident, in a way,” Arturyn put in. “I mean, she’s had to go through a lot the last couple of days, and I certainly wouldn’t have wished that on her. But on the other hand, if she hadn’t come here, you wouldn’t have come after her. And you wouldn’t have been rescuing anyone from the Mataiths last night, which would mean….” He gave a grim smile. “Well, I’d rather not think about where I might be in that case.”

Kirchel was looking at him with an odd expression on her face. “I hadn’t really thought about it like that,” she said quietly.

They looked at each other for a moment. Then Kirchel swallowed and stared down at the flickering mane of their sori.

There was a long silence.

“Do you think he knew?” Erin asked tentatively. “Wraith, I mean. Do you think he deliberately brought me here in order to help Arturyn?”

“I have no idea what Wraith knows or what he wants,” Kirchel said with a sigh. “But it seems more important than ever that we figure out who and what he is. Appearing out of nowhere and frightening you is bad enough, but if he has the power to control your actions and wants you to do something for him….” She shook her head distractedly. “I find that pretty disturbing.”

Erin didn’t reply. She was having a hard time working out exactly how she felt about Wraith. He frightened her, and she resented very much him showing up to complicate her life on top of everything she had gone through with her leg. She supposed she ought to hate him for what he had done and was still doing to her. And yet...somehow she couldn’t. Even though he appeared on the whole to be dark and menacing, there had been a few times—just a few—when she had had a glimpse of him as being vulnerable, in pain, even gentle. If he hadn’t made her go through the cave when he did, Arturyn would probably be dead now. Was that merely coincidence? Or was it something more?

“You don’t have any ideas, do you?” Kirchel asked Arturyn. “It seems that he’s connected to Isil-Gal somehow, but I don’t know of any races here that match his description.”

Arturyn frowned thoughtfully. “Describe him to me again,” he said to Erin. “With as much detail as you can remember.”

He listened carefully while Erin described Wraith’s appearance as thoroughly as she could. When she had finished, he sat in silence for a moment, staring at the back of his sori’s head. Then he slowly shook his own head.

“The closest match I can think of is the Tahng. That's a race that lives in the desert far to the southeast. They’re generally very thin and have grey skin and long ears. Not to mention an uncanny sort of personality. But they also have four legs. And you described Wraith as being human-like, which I assume means he only has two.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes,” Erin said, feeling rather disappointed. “Definitely only two legs.”

Arturyn shook his head again. “Then I don’t know. You might try asking around at Zeiryn—that’s the university in Katan Jyrat.” He looked at Kirchel. “Have you asked Legan, for instance? He might have some ideas. Or maybe Nethien.”

“I talked to Myria, and she asked everyone she thought might be able to help. But none of them knew who or what Wraith was or why Erin was seeing him. Especially why she’s still seeing him, when it’s been so long since she stopped taking the medication that seems to have started the whole thing.” Kirchel sighed. “But I might be able to find out something more by going there and researching myself. Maybe I can go spend a little time at Zeiryn when we get to Katan Jyrat.”

“‘We?’” Arturyn looked at her questioningly. “You mean you’re coming with me?”

“Of course we are,” Kirchel said grimly. “After what you’ve been through during the last few days, I’m not leaving your side until we get to the palace doors. And with Wraith’s latest shenanigans, I don’t feel much like leaving Erin alone at my house while I escort you.” She smiled a little. “Besides, the city will be celebrating the start of the council meeting tomorrow. What better time could there be to visit?”

It had been nearly an hour since they had parted ways with the river. The terrain had become smoother again, and they were now on the edge of a grassy plain, which spread out in front of them to the north and east. Off to the west, Erin could see a line of forest, and there were mountains in the distance both north and south of them.

“Do either of you see the river yet?” Arturyn asked, studying the horizon to the north. “I can’t see that well with just this one eye, but we should be meeting up with it again soon.”

“There’s something dark up there,” Kirchel said, squinting slightly. “But I don’t know if that’s the river or just a dip in the ground.”

Erin followed Kirchel’s gaze, and after a minute, she too could see the dark strip running through the plain. It became darker as they approached, and there were glimmers of reflected light. Soon they were close enough to see blue water sparkling in the sunlight. They steered their soris up to the river bank and slowed to a stop.

“We’ve made good time so far,” Kirchel said, glancing up at the sun and patting the neck of their sori. “Let’s stop and stretch our legs for just a few minutes. Erin and I aren’t used to riding for long periods of time.”

Arturyn slid off his sori and helped Kirchel and Erin down from theirs. Erin’s legs were stiff from sitting on the sori for over an hour. She took some tentative steps, trying to loosen them up.

Arturyn pulled out some of the same pale blue liquid he had given Erin the day before and a cup for each of them. Erin took the cup he handed her gratefully. The warm sun and wind had made her very thirsty. She and Kirchel both sipped their lonom and walked back and forth along the river bank while Arturyn pulled out his map and consulted it.

“I think we’re about…here,” he said, touching the map with his finger. “So Celadrier is another ten or twelve miles up the river.”

“We don’t have to go back there, do we?” Erin asked in alarm. “Can’t we get to the cave without going through the village?”

She had absolutely no desire to visit that scene of horror again.

Arturyn shook his head. “No, we don’t have to go through it. We don’t even have to go near it. Here, look on the map. We follow the river a few more miles north until we see the forest you and I walked through yesterday. Then we’ll turn west—away from the river and Celadrier—and go along the edge of the forest until we reach the mountains.” He traced the route with his finger. “We should be able to make it to the cave entrance in about an hour.”

They finished their lonom and climbed back onto their soris. Since the ground was flat and free of obstacles now, they pushed the soris back into a run. The faster pace didn’t allow for much conversation, so Erin merely sat and watched the river moving past. After a while, a dark green line of forest appeared in front of them, growing gradually larger as they approached. When they were close enough for Erin to start picking out individual trees, Arturyn motioned to Kirchel, and she followed him as he steered his sori in an arc to the left. A few minutes later, they were moving along the edge of the forest, trees flashing past them.

Erin couldn’t repress a slight shudder when they neared the mountains a short time later and she recognized the meadow where she and Arturyn had escaped from the sethien. Even though she knew it had been killed by the Mataiths, she couldn’t help looking around nervously for a sign of the hulking black beast. They crossed the meadow diagonally, slowing their soris to a walk when they neared the rock cliffs. Kirchel and Erin took the lead as they moved slowly along the rock wall, weaving their way through the trees and shrubs. A few minutes later, they were in front of the cave Erin had come out of. Her two sticks were still standing in an X against the wall next to the entrance.

“We won’t be able to take the soris with us,” Kirchel said to Erin as she slid down from the back of theirs. “The magic of the caves will make them become unstable and disappear. But we don’t have too far to go after we get through, so we can manage without them.”

When Erin and Arturyn had both dismounted, Kirchel gestured at the soris as though she were brushing them away. They flickered and disappeared.

“Handy things, aren’t they?” Arturyn said, looking at the spot where the soris had vanished. “I may have to talk Legan into teaching me how to make them sometime.”

They went into the cave. The light was much dimmer inside, and it took Erin’s eyes a moment to adjust. The cave looked more or less the same as she remembered it except that the rocks in the stone pedestals were now burning with green flames. And the black curtain she had passed through before was gone. Now there was only a smooth stone wall with a pale white circle in the middle of it like the one Erin had seen when she first entered the cave behind Kirchel’s house.

Arturyn walked over to the wall between the pedestals and put his hand up a few inches away from the circle on the wall. He muttered something Erin couldn’t understand, and the green fires flared and turned bright blue. Arturyn then placed his hand on the circle. It glowed white, and then the wall faded away to reveal the black curtain. With a glance back to make sure they were following, he pulled up the curtain and ducked underneath it.

Kirchel put a hand on Erin’s arm, and the two of them went through together.