“My eyes!” yelled Friedrich as sunlight filled them for the first time in many months. He shut them tightly and dropped to his knees while Teleri released him and Marina.

“Agh, my eyes!” howled Pheston, arriving back seconds later and using his arm to shield himself from the sun that had not touched his skin in decades.

“Is that all of you?” asked Grephor, straining to speak.

“Yes, close it!” answered Marina.

There was a sudden whoosh and the rumbling of the portal increased for a second before vanishing into nothing. It was followed by a tinkling sound as cracks appeared in the Orb of Valskythe before it burst apart, sending shards of glass onto the sandy ground in front of the Temple of Sand and Stone.

Friedrich blinked and rubbed his eyes, which were slowing adjusting to the harsh daylight of Kai’roh. His vision was blurry at first, but it was not long before he could see clearly once again. The mages surrounding him were a very welcome sight and he arose to greet Grephor, who he owed his life to.

“Grephor, I don’t know where to begin,” said Friedrich, bowing his head. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome,” said the wise earth mage with a small smile. “I am glad that you have returned safely. You are well?”

“All things considered,” said Friedrich. “I doubt I would have lasted long without my friend here.”

“Ah,” said Grephor. “Pheston, I presume.”

“That’s me,” said the smith, still not daring to remove his arm from his eyes. “I take it I’m back in Kai’roh again? Nowhere in Eradrel is the sun as bright as this, unless things have changed drastically.”

“We will speak later,” said Grephor to Marina, who gave him a nod. “I am glad that things went well.”

Friedrich gave Pheston a nudge. “Oh, right,” he muttered before calling to the mages as they walked away. “Thanks for the rescue, gentlemen.”

“Gentlemen?” asked Friedrich.

“You forget how to address people,” shrugged Pheston. “I’m sure that won’t be the last of my social mishaps…or the worst of them.”

“How did you survive for so long in a hell?” asked Teleri bluntly of Pheston.

“By being one of the strongest men there are, both physically and mentally,” said the old man, giving her a wink at which Teleri scoffed. “But I have to say, I’ve never felt more sane in Keldracht than when I had the lad with me. Glad that ol’ minotaur around his neck forced his hand.”

“The minotaur!” exclaimed Friedrich, taking the mask from around his neck and flipping it around so that he could stare into the aura-emitting turquoise gem within its forehead. “Darkan, I made good on my end of the deal. Now it’s time that you did the same.”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Marina, looking to Pheston.

“Killed a demon,” said Pheston.

“Oh,” said Marina, still confused about what was happening.

“Keep your word,” demanded Friedrich. “The Lord of Horns is dead and you killed him with his own horn. We had an agreement.”

Almost reluctantly, the turquoise gemstone started to glow and the minotaur mask trembled in Friedrich’s hands. It grew more vigorous before suddenly cracking and shattering, letting the wood fall to the ground as the stone hovered in the air. It released an ethereal wave from within it that floated into the sky and assumed the form of Darkan, the minotaur.

It snarled at Friedrich before holding out his hand, which Friedrich accepted. The vapour flowed up his arm before encircling him. Once he was enshrined in the soulful aura, the gem floated over to Friedrich’s head, upon which is vanished within him and the vapour faded. The deal was done and the minotaur’s soul was now one with Friedrich, leaving only the goblin mask hanging around his neck, hidden by his tunic.

“We missed a lot, didn’t we?” asked Marina, walking up to Friedrich. “The minotaur can be trusted now?”

“I don’t know if trusted is the right word, but we came to an arrangement,” said Friedrich. “I assured him the death of the one who killed his clan and he agreed to serve me without trying to take control of me. For all of our sakes, I hope he continues to honour that deal.”

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“It would be too late for you now if he did not,” said Teleri, pushing her tongue into the side of her mouth. “Without the mask, you cannot rid yourself of him…not that you could anyway. How many times did you try to throw him away?”

“Only a couple of times,” said Friedrich with a shrug.

The young man stepped back from Marina and willed himself to change into the Darkan’s form, as he had mastered doing with Kitt’s form, but nothing happened. He let out a sigh and shook his head, afraid this would happen.

“What?” asked Pheston. “Is he broken?”

“No,” replied Friedrich, “but I can’t control my transformations in the same way I can with the fox. No doubt, it’ll happen instinctively rather through my own force of will.”

“Alright,” said Marina. “Enough about these masks. I want you to tell us everything from start to finish about what happened to you?”

“What about the pair of you?” asked Friedrich.

“We have barely left the temple,” said Teleri. “It’s been dreadfully boring. A couple of times I went to that town where I pretended to be your wife.”

“Pretended to be his wife?” asked Marina. “You mentioned this before and never elaborated.”

“In any case, I bought some new enchanted fire arrows,” said the high elf, ignoring Marina. “It made it much easier to take down that wyvern that was chasing you, Friedrich.”

“So I noticed,” said Friedrich. “And how about you, Marina?”

“I’ve been working on my magic and helping research how to bring you back home,” she said. “But none of that is interesting compared to spending three months in a hell plane. Get talking, Mister.”

“Before any of that,” said Pheston, looking around. “Where’s a good place to relieve myself? I could go anywhere I felt like in Keldracht and I don’t want to go and piss on the temple when those robed fellas were kind enough to open up that portal.”

Teleri wrinkled her nose in disgust as Marina led Pheston inside.

*

“I’m fine wearing this,” grumbled Pheston as Marina looked through the market for suitable clothing for him. “I replace it when I find a body to loot.”

The last comment drew a couple of uneasy glances from a couple of women browsing the wares nearby.

“Nonsense,” said Marina, tutting and shaking her head. “Trust me, I will find you something both stylish and practical.”

“Does Friedrich and the elf let you dress them?”

“No,” admitted Marina, “but they’re too stubborn to come along with me. You have already taken the first step and that means you’ll follow me the rest of the way.”

“Confident, aren’t you, young lady?”

“You haven’t worn something clean for most of your life, so you will be quiet and let me sort you out. Alright?”

Pheston muttered something under his breath and twirled his hammer in his hands, again making a few more shoppers look uncomfortable. The smith glanced towards the pier of Port Bastia where he could see Friedrich and Teleri sitting on a wall waiting for Captain Alden to finish loading his boat.

The old man relented. “Fine,” he said. “If I’m to see my children, I would like them to not see me in a filthy state. You win.”

“Good,” said Marina merrily. “Will you wear purple?”

“No.”

“Lilac?”

“No.”

“I thought you said that I win.”

Pheston looked at her grumpily. “That was before you started making idiotic suggestions. Pick a normal colour that a proud Corobathian like myself would wear. Or do you not know how the people of the north dress?”

Marina looked at him with an open mouth. “We’re in Kai’roh! Do you think we’ll find thick animal furs here? We’ll find you something respectable and get you a cloak when we arrive in Corobath, alright?”

In the distance, Teleri was watching Marina scolding the old man. Friedrich, who could only see their vague shapes from this distance decided his time was better spent watching the waves melting away as they reached the shore over which the wooden walkways were built.

“I do not like him,” said Teleri, shaking her head. “He is much too…crude.”

“He kept me alive for three months,” said Friedrich, raising an eyebrow at the high elf. “He’s coming with us and that’s that.”

“I did not say that he could not come, I simply said that I do not like him.”

“You said that about Marina and I when we first met you. You said time and time again that you could not wait to be rid of us when we reached Akatfall. In fact, I remember you ditching us within a minute or two of stepping inside the city.”

“I had grown…fond of both of you by that point,” said Teleri awkwardly. “It is not the same. And need I remind you that I left the pair of you in Akatfall so that you would not get involved in my hunt for the Butcher of the Bay.”

“You will get used to Pheston, the same way you got used to us,” said Friedrich, looking back towards the waves. “I doubt he will want to leave Corobath again once he returns home. When he’s given us the gifts he insists on giving us, I’m sure that he will opt to stay at home with his children.”

“Ah yes, the children he has not met since they were infants,” said Teleri. “I am sure that they will not resent him for that.”

“Don’t be sarcastic, it doesn’t suit you,” said Friedrich, frowning at her. “I like it more when you say exactly what’s on your mind.”

“Apologies. It is a habit I picked up having spent too much time with Marina. It was strange not having you with us. I missed your company, Friedrich.”

“I missed yours too, ex-wife,” chuckled the Mercian.

Teleri rolled her eyes. “Marina will not stop asking about that,” she grumbled. “It is rather annoying and I wish she would stop.”

Captain Alden waved to Friedrich and called out. “Ready to set sail?” he asked.

“Ready whenever our intrepid shoppers have finished,” Friedrich shouted back. “Shouldn’t be long now.”

“Aye aye,” said the captain as he approached. “In that case, I might treat myself to a drink. You say it won’t be long, my friend, but I suspect it’ll be another hour before we leave. If it goes much beyond that, we leave without them.”

“If only,” muttered Teleri, making Friedrich laugh.

“You would leave Marina behind?” he asked.

“To get rid of that old man, I would leave both of you behind.”

“You’re free to leave at any time,” said Friedrich, gesturing towards the town.

Teleri said nothing for a few seconds. “No,” she said at last, making Friedrich laugh once more.

“I thought not,” he chuckled. “Just wait and see. When we’ve got snow beneath our feet instead of sand, you’ll feel much better about this whole situation.”