The rest of the day’s journey was a battle against thicker and increasingly alien forest, a place where vines slithered raspily against jagged tree bark, glowing faintly with an eerie bioluminescence that pulsed to an unheard beat. The occasional young sapling uprooted itself and slinked away from our approach.

Occasionally I caught glimpses of Brandosyeus trailing our party, and I wondered at the possible meaning of it.

Was he going to slip in while I slept and try to slit my throat?

Jeldorain chuckled at the thought, replacing it with one of him braining the satyr with a giant meaty fist, then breaking his body against the trunks of razorwood that stood about us. I sent him my disapproval, and he surprised me with an ounce of guilt mixed in with his natural indignance.

Continuing forward, Kevinar stopped us numerous times, redirecting our trail around unseen pitfalls and swampy holes of quicksand, or the rare den of carnivorous ambush predators. We tiptoed past, on irregular beamlike roots and arc and swirled over the increasingly mulchy ground, the moss on them soft like eiderdown.

As darkness fell, we continued, following a faint glow in the distance. It was unlike anything I was used to—powerful like the glaring streetlights of my own world, but soft and friendly, beams that beckoned, rays that refracted around the deadly trunks of the forest to gently coax us forward.

I knew it was a charm. It felt like the words of Brandosyeus in song. Pangs of guilt filtered through the thought from both of us as we caught his shadow in our distant rear.

The light grew stronger and nearer, more singular. Kevinar paused, signaling us around one more great obstacle, before leading us out from the clutches of the forest and into a grassless, gravel-filled clearing. Here the air was thick with the scent of old magic, a scent like that of the temple.

Across the clearing lay a small stone bridge, its architecture plain. But the lights it emitted were anything but. An aura of warmth and safety misted around it, flashing pastel colors from pink to white, the flits of tiny glowing fairies dancing within it.

“What is this place?” I asked. I sensed Jeldorain’s spirit hover near, watching with unmasked rapture. I could understand it—even with the beauties of CGI, I’d never seen anything quite like it.

“The Sylvaneth Arcanum Crossing,” Kevinar replied, staring into the light of it. “An ancient construct, not visible to any until the illusion surrounding it has been successfully disbelieved—or else someone is brought to it by another who can see it. At the cost of half of our mana, we can traverse from these darkened woods to the frosty heights of Dongol Mountain.”

“Does Schustak know about this?” I asked.

Ike shook his head. “The charm was relatively recent. So he’d have to find this the old fashioned way. But he knows of its existence.”

“Is there anyway to shut it down?”

“Only in its destruction, I’m afraid,” Kevinar answered.

“A good thing too,” Ike added, staring at the bridge, “cuz I’m not too big on climbing.”

“Is that a size joke?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Ike shrugged. “Only if it was funny!”

We walked towards the bridge, the magical energies sighing around and through us, the tiny fairies giggling as the twirled in the midst of rapturous flying dance. Jeldorain watched them fly as a cat might watch a mouse scamper, small pans of hunger sliding through his veins. An imagined taste of strawberry scream filled my mouth and I growled.

No eating the fairies, I commanded. His anger rose but just as quickly fell, replaced by confused guilt.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I’m just looking, he sulked.

We reached the foot of the structure and I peered around, seeing Brandosyeus hovered at our rear, Kevinar and Ike on my flanks. They apparated their weapons, I apparated mine, and we steps onto the bridge.

The teleportation was cinematic, the spells laid here obviously meant to impress. The mist thickened, a kaleidoscope of lights strobing through as ghostly tendrils wrapped themselves around my wrists and elbows. There was an increasing tension to the mist as we walked, and just as it felt that we might not be able to stride forward any further, I felt the sensation of being yanked hard and flung.

The fog dissipated, and I clubbed my head against the stony ceiling, the blow of it shoving me to my rear. As I rubbed my head I saw that we stood now in a narrow cave, the mouth of it peeking out into the dead of night. The floor was gravelly, sharp bits of which had dug lightly into my icy thighs, and it all smelled of mold.

“You okay there?” Ike asked.

The lilt of Brandosyeus’s angry chuckle echoed through our environs. “Maybe this plane of existence isn’t to your sensibilities, Infernal?”

“Maybe not,” I answered, the tang of guilt in my mouth. “Not like either of us have any choice in the matter though.”

“Yeah,” Ike said. “Brandosyeus, they’re both wronged by the goblins. You’ve been too. Let’s stick together and take them out, then fight about it all later.”

Switching to infravision, the figures of Ike, Kevinar and Brandosyeus came to be in their red-orange glimmers. They stood facing the cave mouth, as I was, presumably pondering the craggy mountain slopes without.

“So now what?” I asked.

Kevinar made a ticking noise with his tongue. “I believe it would be best if we continued out to find camp envoys. But the mountainside is dangerous, and a single misstep could end us. I will scout the night, and see what I might find. The rest of you, it is paramount that you stay here and give me a place to retreat to should things be . . . undesirable.”

We assented to the plan, and Kevinar left the cave, a brief glimpse of red-orange that was already dwindling in its signature. Putting my weapons back into my inventory, I swept the area of loose rock and made a space for myself to lie on and sleep.

Closing my eyes, I heard low murmurs pass between Ike and Brandosyeus. Farther off, from outside of the cave mouth, came the clatter of rocks tumbling in a loose landslide. And from farther still I could just barely make out the startled squawk of some nighttime avian getting its comeuppance.

I opened my eyes. That bird could well be me if I stayed in camp. The way Brandosyeus was acting was unnerving. I wasn’t sure that he could kill me in my sleep—after all in a world with game physics we had hit points and the like. But I also wasn’t sure that there didn’t exist game mechanics against such helplessly unaware foes either. And despite Kevinar and Ike’s seeming acceptance of everything, I also couldn’t trust them right now. Not really. Not with everything that had happened.

“I’m going out on patrol,” I announced, standing to a hunch. Ike and Brandosyeus hushed their chatter at once, a waiting pause filling the air, begging for me to add more to it. I obliged. “I’m not tired, I need experience points, and I’d like to train my stealth, climbing, and whatever other skills might come into play.”

“No tricks,” Brandosyeus muttered. His voice was resigned now, an exhausted edge dragging along its underside.

“No tricks,” I promised, duck out the mouth of the cave and into the cold mountain night. Stars sparkled above, but the moon was less than before, an uncertain waxing gibbous that provided light decent enough formal normal vision. Scanning shadowed patches of snow and mud, I looked for something worth my while. In the distance I caught a brief spark of red-orange.

“Hey Ike, there is something out here,” I called over my shoulder. A few moments later, he was at my knee looking out over the gap between two mountains.

“It is in the direction of our headquarters. We have no way to reach it tonight, and no means to message it til morning.” He hesitated. “Ryan, I know why you’re out here. I’d be out here too if it were me. But I want to assure you that you are safe with us. At least for now. Brandosyeus is grieving. I have made him swear that he will not seek any revenge at least until after we reach the Shadowed Vanguard and understand how the land now lies. Even then, he is a good person. I doubt he will challenge you, though if he does we have respected and honor bound ways by which to do so.”

I grunted, though both my ids were trained in on his words.

“If he chooses to challenge you at the camp,” Ike continued, “then what happens after is between the two of you. Kevinar and I will accept the result as binding. Until then, we need to work as a team. There is no telling what the future holds, and I bet that whatever it is ain’t pretty. Hey?”

Acting of his own volition, I felt Jeldorain cast Sense Motive on Brandosyeus.

You couldn’t have done that before? I asked him.

His mind was in turmoil. Whatever motive he had might have been different minutes later. But his tone, his tiredness . . . He has come to a decision. And at this moment, if the spell has been successful, his decision is to work with us, then challenge us at the camp.

I nodded. “By your word,” I answered, turning and ducking back into the cave. Laying back in the place I had set for myself, my eyes closed and slumber claimed me.