The wind was still howling, and it carried a familiar scent with it. A moment later, Jorvan landed in front of them and folded his wings behind his back. He was drenched, but smiling.

“You couldn’t time your arrival five minutes earlier?” Zandrue said.

Jorvan tilted his head. “I do not...”

Zandrue rolled her eyes. “It’s a joke. I’m already free. If you’d gotten here five minutes ago, you could have rescued me. Get it? No? Never mind.”

Jorvan looked at her blankly. “I thought—”

“This is Darm by the way. That’s Darm, not Darn. I promised him we wouldn’t harm him if he cooperated. Where’s Rudiger?”

“The beach,” Jorvan replied. “With other Darkers.”

Zandrue began walking towards the beach. “Let’s go then.”

Jorvan sighed and stood to the side to let her pass.

She stopped beside him. “Oh, and Jorvan, thank you. If you and Rudiger hadn’t arrived when you did, I wouldn’t have gotten free so easily. So really. Thank you.”

“You are...welcome,” Jorvan said.

“Come on.”

When they emerged from the woods, Rudiger was standing over two motionless bodies on the shore, the waves washing up over one’s legs.

Seeing them, Rudiger limped over and hugged her. “Thank the gods you’re all right.” Although his armour pressing against her was cold and slick, there was warmth in his arms and his scent flooded her senses. It felt good.

“Of course I’m fine,” she replied, clinging to him. “What about you? Your leg...”

“It’s nothing. Twisted my ankle. The beach is rocky. And the water is freezing!” He let go of her.

“How many were there?”

Rudiger shrugged. “Six or seven, I think. Maybe more. A couple ran off. Jorvan?”

“There were ten,” the Isyar said.

Rudiger shrugged again. “There you go. Ten. Who’s this?”

“Darm. He surrendered. Did you see their leader? Bald guy named Greb. Big scar on his face.”

Rudiger shook his head. “Don’t think so.”

“He is this way,” Jorvan said, pointing to a cove of trees a short way up the beach.

As they followed Jorvan, Zandrue touched Rudiger’s arm. “Thanks for not listening to me and coming after me.”

“No problem,” Rudiger said.

“Don’t make a habit out of it, though,” she added with a smirk.

“Hey! We just followed the beach like you told us to. It’s not our fault you took so long that we caught up to you.”

“Oh, is that all you did?”

He shrugged. “Well, maybe Jorvan flew ahead a bit, and happened to notice that they’d taken you. But that was just minor.”

Zandrue laughed. “If the words, I told you so escape your lips, I will tear out your throat, got it?”

Rudiger raised his hands and laughed. “Got it.”

Greb stood against a tree, bands of ice wrapped around his legs, chest and arms holding him pinned there.

Zandrue grinned. “Ooh, karma! Nice one, Jorvan! Hello, Greb.”

He spat at her.

“We’ll ignore that one,” she said. “Looks like it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

“Fuck you.”

“Watch yourself, buster,” Rudiger growled.

“It’s all right, Rudiger,” Zandrue said. “He’ll come round. Darm, do you know where my stuff is? Particularly my sword. I don’t want to lose that.”

“Uh...yeah,” the boy said. “It’s over that way.”

“Could you go get it?”

“Uh, sure.”

She looked to Rudiger and Jorvan. “Would one of you go with him? Not that I don’t trust you, Darm, but...I don’t trust you.”

Darm gulped.

“I will go,” Jorvan said.

Darm pointed. “This way.” He led Jorvan back towards the beach.

“Traitor!” Greb yelled. “You’re dead, Darm! Dead!”

Zandrue held Darm’s knife to Greb’s throat. “That’s enough of that.”

Greb fell silent.

“Better,” Zandrue said.

Greb growled. “You won’t get anything out of me.”

Zandrue smiled. “Oh, I’ll get something. Words or blood. Your choice.”

When Greb remained silent, she pushed the dagger against his skin just enough to nick it.

“All right,” he said. “Just remove the dagger and I’ll speak.”

“Speak first and then I’ll remove the dagger.”

“Fine, what do you want to know?”

“What’s my name?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“You said it was Annai.”

“And you didn’t believe me because you already knew my name. I want to know how you knew who I am and that I was coming.”

“We were warned to be on the lookout for you.”

“Me specifically?”

“You and your friends. The three of you.”

“Who told you?”

“Don’t know exactly. We received a message saying you were on the way here and that we should take care of you.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Didn’t do a very good job of that, did you?” Zandrue said. “Why didn’t you kill me as soon as you caught me?”

Greb sighed. “Because I wanted to know why you were so important.”

“Important?”

“There’s been talk that a group including Princess Felitïa and an Isyar have been drawing attention from the high-ups in the Servants. The message said you had an Isyar with you and you were coming from the palace. I figured you had to be part of the same group. Look, can you let me free now? I won’t run. I don’t stand a chance against the Isyar. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“I suppose,” Zandrue said and backed up. Now that he was talking, a bit of comfort might coax him to talk even more—and she was very interested in learning more about these “high-ups” who were so interested in her, Felitïa, and the others. “We’ll need Jorvan to release you though.”

A few minutes later, Jorvan returned, carrying Zandrue’s bow and sheathed sword in one hand, and her pack and quiver in the other. Darm was trundling along beside him, looking about furtively.

Zandrue took the items from Jorvan. “Thanks.” She leaned the bow, quiver, and pack against a tree away from the one Greb was bound to. She then strapped the sword to her belt and turned to face Darm. “Get lost.”

The boy looked at her blankly. “Huh?”

“I don’t need you anymore.” She nodded towards Greb. “And I don’t want him killing you. So get the fuck out of here. Go somewhere far away.”

Darm glanced at Greb, then nodded to her.

“Go on!”

The boy took off, stumbling through the mud and wet snow.

“Is that wise?” Rudiger asked.

Zandrue shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“He could go straight to more Darkers.”

“So? We’d be gone by the time they got here.”

“I guess,” Rudiger said.

“He’s just a kid, Rudiger.”

“He’s also a Darker.”

Zandrue lowered her head to stare at the ground. “True, but not all Darkers join by choice. Some are forced. Especially when they join young.”

Rudiger frowned. “Really?”

Zandrue nodded. “Really.” She knew all too well what it was like to be forced to join something at an age too young to resist. “So let’s give the kid the benefit of the doubt.”

“You said you were going to release me,” Greb said.

Zandrue nodded. “Jorvan, release him, but keep an eye on him. If he tries to run, bind him again.”

Jorvan nodded, and with a wave of his hand, the ice holding Greb to the tree melted away.

“Talk,” Zandrue said. “You say people have taken an interest in us, but you don’t know why?”

Greb looked around him and then back at Zandrue. “Yeah, like I said, I was hoping I could find that out from you.”

“And you were willing to disobey orders?”

Greb smirked. “I figured we’d kill you in the end. Didn’t realise just what an Isyar can do. I’d heard stories, but I mean... I guess I never really believed them.”

“So, what do you know?” Zandrue asked. “Any other stories being told? Gossip? Rumours? What are you Darkers up to these days?”

Greb shrugged. “There’s something big going on. Only the high-ups know exactly what. The rest of us just follow orders. Recently, we’ve had to send a couple of important shipments south, and before you ask, I don’t know what was in them. I just know they were important and they had to get out of Arnor City without any chance of being found in an inspection.”

“Where to?”

“Ninifin eventually, though my job was just to make sure they were on a ship to Lockanith.”

“Ninifin?” Lockanith made sense for Darkers, but Ninifin was the last place she expected.

“That’s what I was told,” Greb said. “Word is, the order came straight from the Dusk Supreme.”

“Why?”

“Something about some kid or other. But I don’t really know.”

“Fuck.” Zandrue paused for a moment to think. She wasn’t liking this at all.

“Could that be Corvinian?” Rudiger said.

“Maybe.” Zandrue turned back to Greb. “Why ship to Lockanith if they’re going to Ninifin? Why not to Bever?”

“We have a way into Ninifin from the south,” he said.

“What do you know of Volgs?”

The scarred man was already shivering from the sleet, but the mention of Volgs made him shiver even more. “There were Volgs here a while back. They were doing something in one of the caves.”

“You saw them?”

“A few from time to time. One spoke to me once.” He gulped.

“What did he say?”

“Just to stay out of their way. I didn’t need telling twice.”

“Are they still around?”

He shook his head. “No. Word is they were discovered by Prince Garet and cleared out after he killed a bunch of them.”

“Can you show us the cave?”

“I could, but there’s nothing left there. They were careful to remove everything.”

“You can take us anyway.”

“Then you’ll let me go?”

Zandrue shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” She motioned to the others. “Jorvan, Rudiger, a word. Oh, and Jorvan, can you make certain our friend here can’t run away?”

Jorvan waved his hand and the muddy ground rose up around Greb’s feet, then froze in place.

“Oh, come on!” Greb said. “I won’t run.”

“Just being certain.” She led Rudiger and Jorvan aside.

“But the ground’s cold!”

“So’s everywhere else!”

Once they were out of his earshot, she said, “Something’s not right.”

“You think he’s lying?” Rudiger asked, glancing back at the sorry-looking man, who was struggling to free himself.

Zandrue shrugged. “I don’t know. He might be. It’s just all too easy.”

“I agree,” Jorvan said. “First, I thought it was because you threaten him, but he speaks too easy.”

Zandrue nodded. “Before you two got here, he was completely different. It’s like he was just waiting for us all to be here so he could tell us everything. I mean, sure, fear for their lives can make people do all kinds of things, but he’s not behaving afraid of us. Not anymore”

“You think they’re laying a trap for us?” Rudiger said.

“What would be the point? They had me already. Why not kill me before you got here? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe he’s telling the truth then,” Rudiger said.

“Maybe. Let’s look at the cave first before we make any decisions.”

They returned to Greb, and after Jorvan released him again, followed him along the wet beach for another half mile before reaching a ridge like the one Garet had described. Inside led to a few caverns connected by short, natural passages that would have been uncomfortable for most Volgs to pass through because of their wings, but they would have been able to squeeze through.

After an hour of searching, the only thing they’d found other than rocks, stalactites, and stalagmites was a small wooden carving of a goat’s skull. “Looks like one of the Volgs was a budding artist,” Zandrue commented when Rudiger showed it to her. It was still rough around the edges and had not been sanded down. “Must have discarded it half-done when they abandoned the place. Or Garet killed him. Still, can’t harm to keep it.”

“Really?” Rudiger said.

“You never know,” she replied. “Maybe it’s important to someone.”

He shrugged and stuffed it in his pack.

“Can I go now?” Greb asked once they’d decided there was nothing more to be found in the cave.

Zandrue walked over and stood directly in front of him. He was the same height as her, so it was easy to look him directly in the eyes. She inhaled deeply and took careful note of his scent. The sleet was washing away most of his sweat and body oils, but it couldn’t mask his odour entirely. There was a cloying sweetness to it, and just a hint of sea salt. It ought to be enough to recognise him by.

“Yeah, you can go,” she told him. “But if I ever see you again, you won’t get off so lightly. Also, if I find out you killed Darm, I will hunt you down and give you a slow and extremely painful death. Trust me, you won’t be able to hide from me. Oh, and if you happen to know a fellow Darker named Dyle, tell him we know who he is now and that Princess Felitïa sends her regards.”

Greb gulped and nodded.

“Now get the fuck out of here.”

He ran off, stumbling several times in the mud as he went.

“Was it wise to tell him that?” Rudiger asked.

“What, to fuck off?”

“No, that we know about that Dyle character.”

“I’m pretty certain they know that already. They’ve been keeping tabs on us, remember?”

“Fair enough. So what now?”

“We get back to Arnor City. Where are the horses?”

“A couple miles back down the coast,” Rudiger said. “Borisin’s looking after them.”

“Do we go to Ninifin?” Jorvan asked as they began the trudge back.

“Not if we don’t need to,” Zandrue said. “Ninifin isn’t a place that’s easy to get in and out of. Generally, if you go past the wall in either direction, you have no intention of ever going back the other way. It’s hard to believe the Darkers have a way in and out.”

“Well, these Darkers knew we left the palace,” Rudiger said. “They obviously have ins with powerful people. Maybe it’s the same in Ninifin.”

Zandrue shrugged. “Maybe.” She turned to Jorvan. “But Ninifins also don’t like Isyar. The Book of Eleuia, their main religious text, calls Isyar the spawn of Nyx, their name for Night. Isyar basically fill the same role in Ninifin beliefs as Volgs fill in Arnorin beliefs.”

Jorvan seemed to take the revelation in his stride. “I see. And if we need to?”

“We’ll figure things out then. We’ll go to Lockanith first, and see if we can confirm the story.”

Zandrue wished they could get the news of what they’d learnt back to Felitïa, but Felitïa should be at sea already. They hadn’t been able to make any solid plans for how they would get back together, since nobody knew how long they would be. They had just assumed that Zandrue, Rudiger, and Jorvan would be able to return to Arnor City without much difficulty. But if they were going to have to go to Ninifin, things could get much more difficult.

Once again, she felt guilty about refusing to go with Felitïa, but it was for the best. She couldn’t risk the galdraif coming upon her on an enclosed ship with nowhere to go.

An abomination in the eyes of All-Father.

The Keeper of the Secrets’ words always haunted her.

For only the sun can abolish the creatures of Night.

And the Ninifins assigned Isyar that role.

How little they knew.