I slowed to a halt. “Shall we get down to business, then?”

Stopping beside me, the huntmistress studied me gravely for a second, then shook her head. “No.”

I stared at her in surprise. “No?”

“No,” she repeated firmly. “I will not deal with someone whose intentions I do not understand, and who by all appearances knows nothing of the brotherhood, what we are capable of, or what we do.”

My lips drew into a thin line. “I assure you I know everything I need to about your brotherhood.”

Kartara raised one delicate eyebrow. “You do? Tell me then.”

The request caught me off guard, but I forged ahead anyway, “I know the brotherhood is not beholden to any faction or Power. I know you are the foremost experts on the void. I also know you have a near monopoly on stygian artifacts. And finally, I know you are not above capturing and binding nether creatures for your own use.”

The huntmistress’ eyes darkened. “‘For our own use’ and what use do you suppose that may be?”

“Profit,” I said, seeing no reason not to be transparent about it.

This time there was no mistaking the anger clouding Kartara’s expression. “Profit,” she spat. “You know nothing of us at all!”

I opened my mouth in protest.

The huntmistress held up a hand. “Quiet!” Spinning on her heel, and not waiting to see if I followed, she headed for the nearest castle entrance. “If you wish to learn the truth about the brotherhood, come with me. Otherwise, you may leave the same way you came in.”

Left with no other choice, I hurried after her.

✵ ✵ ✵

Kartara led me through what I thought to be the castle’s east wing. The passages were small and dark with no doors leading off them. Nor did I sense any watchers, nor spy any guards. It left me to speculate as to the purpose of the wing.

I wasn’t left wondering long, though.

Turning a corner, we entered a windowless hall, one large enough to house the hundreds of stygians inside.

All roaming feely.

On catching sight of me, the creatures hissed in anger. My hands dropped to my waist, ready to disengage the chameleon belt’s enchantments and draw my blades.

“There’s no need for that,” Kartara said.

I glanced warily from the huntmistress to the stygians drawing closer to me. Already, some two dozen of the creatures were within striking range, hydras and serpents mostly, but also a few weavers too. “Why? Are they tame?”

“Tame?” Kartara’s lips curved upward in another smile, her earlier anger seemingly forgotten. “Definitely not, but they are leashed.”

Suddenly, all three hundred odd stygians in the hall froze—near simultaneously.

My tension did not ease. “How did you do that?” I demanded tersely. That the huntmistress had done something was obvious, but what? It couldn’t have been a charm spell she had used, there were too many stygians for that.

Kartara tapped the back of her gauntlets. “I used these.”

Glancing at the objects in question, I noticed that the silver medallions inset in them were glowing gently. “The medallions? I’ve used one of those before. I thought all they are good for is summoning stygians?”

The huntmistress tilted her head to the side. “You have? How curious. But it was not the medallions I was referring to, but the gauntlets themselves. They’re soulbound—so don’t get any ideas—and they allow me to control any brotherhood-collared stygian.”

I finally relaxed. Whatever was on Kartara’s mind, it didn’t appear to include murder. “Collared? What do you mean by that?”

She jerked her head in the direction of the closest stygian. “Have a look for yourself.”

I studied the serpent in question but failed to see what the huntmistress was referring to.

Kartara rolled her eyes. “Go closer. It won’t bite—promise.”

Not amused by her tone, I stepped up the stygian serpent, nonetheless.

“Look between the head and the torso,” Kartara instructed. “Beneath the surface.”

I leaned forward. The void’s creatures—the lesser ones especially—were not truly solid, which was how I’d missed the thin strip of black metal in the first place. Like the huntmistress had said, it was buried inside the serpent’s shadowy form.

Reaching out with my will, I inspected the device.

The target is a tier 4 obedience collar crafted by Orwel, an enchanter from the stygian brotherhood. The artifact is embedded with a netherstone fragment and allows members of the brotherhood to impose their will on the collar’s subject. This item may only be employed on a nether creature below level 150.

I straightened. “Are all the stygians in the hall similarly leashed?”

“Yes.”

“How did you manage to collar so many?”

Kartara shrugged. “We outsource most of the work, offering bounties and the like to any player who cares to try.”

At the mention of bounties, I recalled the bounty I myself had taken up—but never fulfilled—during my first trip to Nexus. It was a small, but important, confirmation of the huntmistress’ words.

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“I still don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. “You’ve used a netherstone fragment in the collar’s making, which means the device itself must cost a pretty penny. Not to mention the cost involved in capturing and subduing a stygian.” The bounty in question had been for one hundred and fifty gold, I recalled. “Why go through all that trouble? Are you building an army here?”

“An army? Not at all. These stygians are only a tiny fraction of the creatures the brotherhood has captured over the years.”

I frowned. “A fraction? Where are the rest?”

“Back in the void.”

My eyes widened. “Back in the—?” I broke off, my gaze darting between the collar, gauntlet, and medallion, as I finally made the connection.

I inhaled sharply. “You recall them at need from the void using the medallion. The netherstone fragment in the collar allows a summoning portal to lock on the creature. And the gauntlet ensures their obedience once they answer the call.”

The huntmistress smiled in genuine pleasure. “Exactly right. Congratulations, you’ve worked it out much faster than most do.”

I rubbed my chin. “It still sounds like a lot of trouble to go through for what at the end of the day is still a rank three creature.”

Kartara nodded. “I won’t argue with you on that point. And you haven’t even factored in the training the creatures must undergo before we return them to the void.” She stepped closer. “But what value would you place on a scout who is able to move unseen through the void and see through the nether’s mists as if it weren’t there?”

I stilled, for a moment thinking it was me she was speaking about before realizing it was the collared stygians she referred to. “Your pets can do all that?”

Kartara stepped back. “They can. Our scryers can even see through their eyes. Sadly, though, we cannot pilot the creatures remotely.”

I nodded slowly. “What about the void trees? Can they sense the hold you have over their minions?”

My question caused Kartara to scrutinize me anew. “You are remarkably well informed about the stygians. First your casual mention of netherstones, and now your talk about void trees. What do you know of the void?”

“Enough to believe them a menace that’s been ignored for too long,” I replied vaguely.

Oddly, my answer caused another smile to brighten the huntmistress’ face, and she went on as if she hadn’t just interrupted me. “We don’t use the collars to dominate the stygians. There is no mind control involved, at all.”

My eyes narrowed. “You don’t? There isn’t? How do you control them then?”

“Through months of rigorous conditioning that involves inflicting pain for disobedience and pleasure for good behavior.”

“That works?” I asked, making no effort to mask my skepticism.

“Believe it or not, it does. And best of all, because we employ no mental trickery, the void trees cannot sense our hold over collared creatures.”

I pursed my lips. Despite my doubts, I didn’t fail to see the value in what the huntmistress was describing. “If your ‘scouts’ can do what you say, I agree, they would prove an invaluable resource in the nether.”

The huntmistress’ lips curved anew. “I’m glad you see it our way.”

I took another long slow look around the room. “And is this what you wanted to show me?”

“This? This is just the beginning. There is far more to what we do, and more importantly, why we do it.” Turning about, she strode toward the opposite end of the hall. “Follow me.”

✵ ✵ ✵

Kartara led me through another set of winding passages, before coming to a stop in front of a steel-clad door.

The chamber beyond was crammed with long lines of tables overflowing with implements whose use I could not fathom. There were players aplenty in the room too, using the strange instruments.

The far wall of the room was stacked with cages. My eyes narrowed as I beheld the occupants—stygians. As I watched, two brotherhood members dragged one out and dumped it on an empty steel table.

Then they proceeded to cut into it.

My lips twisted in disgust. This is what the huntmistress wanted me to see? Her people butchering stygians? “Why are they doing that?” I demanded

Hearing the revulsion in my tone, Kartara followed my gaze. “Dissecting it, you mean?” she asked mildly.

“Call it what it is—butchery.”

She shrugged. “Semantics.”

“I’d still like to know what in hells you think they—”

“Have you ever wondered how the void creates its minions?”

My eyes narrowed anew. “Creates? You don’t think the stygians are natural born creatures?”

The huntmistress laughed. “There’s nothing natural about the void nor its minions.”

My lips turned down. “A poor choice of words on my part. Still, you must know what I mean. What has spurred your… theory.”

“It’s not just theory.” She swung back to face me. “And we don’t dissect the stygians on mere whim. There is a whole host of evidence to support the assertion of our top scholars that the stygians are created, not born.”

“Such as?” I rasped.

“Such as the fact that despite us raiding thousands of nests over many decades, there has been no recorded sighting of a stygian young. Or the fact that the nether creatures bear an uncanny resemblance to ordinary beasts. Or the fact that at periodic, if rare, intervals ‘new’ stygians suddenly appear—and in such numbers, it beggars belief no one has encountered them before. And finally, if that were not enough, there are the chimeras to consider.” The huntmistress repressed a shudder. “They, undoubtedly, are not natural creatures.”

There was no arguing with that. Running my gaze over the far wall again, I rechecked the cages. But my initial assessment had been correct, there were no chimeras within.

Still, the very fact that the brotherhood made use of netherstone fragments in their collars meant they had run across the harbingers before.

I sighed. “So, how does dissecting lesser stygians help?”

“I’m not sure it does,” Kartara admitted, “but it’s an important step in learning more about our archenemies.”

I studied the huntmistress carefully. I’d known the brotherhood and stygians were not on friendly terms, of course. Everything I’d seen in the castle had only reinforced that notion. But labeling the stygians archenemies? It suggested the stygians were more than a means-to-an-end for the brotherhood.

“That’s a strong word,” I said finally. “What makes you call them that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kartara countered. “The void has plagued the Kingdom for millennia, since even before the— well, let’s just say forever and leave it at that. Over that time, the stygians have claimed millions of lives and hundreds of sectors, and yet the Powers don't seem to care.”

I opened my mouth to voice a question, but Kartara rushed on before I could do so. “Do you know how many sectors are lost to the nether annually? Or how many ordinary people die from nether poisoning ?”

I shook my head. I didn’t.

“The number of victims the nether claims every year runs into the thousands,” Kartara said. “In a good year, we lose one sector. In a bad, as many as five.” Her lips twisted. “And for all the Triumvirate’s efficiency in closing down rifts in Nexus, that does nothing to help the rest of the Kingdom.”

I could only nod wordlessly in response.

Kartara barely noticed as her words spewed out faster “Entire civilizations have been lost. Species eradicated. And what do we do when that happens? We move on, that’s what. We seal this dungeon. Close off that sector. And move on to the next. As if there will be an endless supply of ‘nexts.’” She shook her head sadly. “One day our inaction will catch up to us, and by then it will be too late.”

“So… the brotherhood is on a crusade to save the world?” I asked quietly.

Kartara’s eyes shone fiercely—and defiantly—as she leaned in closer. “Yes! From itself if needs be.”

I didn’t flinch from her gaze. “With all due respect, you cannot do it alone.”

Laughing hollowly, Kartara backed away. “Oh, I know that. But what choice do we have? Everyone else—players, Powers, and factions alike—seem bent on ignoring the threat.”

Now, seemed like the opportune moment to pledge my support for the brotherhood’s cause, and I opened my mouth to do just that, but the huntmistress was already striding away—again.

“This way,” she called over her shoulder.

Sighing, I hurried after her.