We took turns keeping watch.

  The seven of us were camped well out of town, close to a nearby watering hole but not so close that anyone would have good reason to come near. Val and Lambkin took the first watch, as the last of the sun’s light left the sky, and I dreamed.

  I dreamed of a family. Not just Val and I—even after finding the strength to forgive her leaving, I still wasn’t there yet, I wasn’t dwelling of that. I dreamed of a family that included Arzak, and Corminar, and Lore. I’d never had a family before, beyond my father, and even that had been a… strained relationship. And my mother, the Player, I’d never met. So it was a family of choice, not of blood, of which I dreamed. Of course, one of this family of five were missing.

  When Val shook me awake for the second watch, I found myself coated in sweat.

  ‘Lore?’ she asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You were talking about Lore,’ she said. ‘In your sleep.’

  I shook my head. ‘It’s nothing,’ I replied, but it was anything but. I was only just becoming conscious of it, but while I’d slept, I’d realised what I had to do next. Over the past year and a bit, Lore and I had become close. Close enough, I thought, that I might still be able to reach him. And now I knew where he was staying.

  ‘Alright,’ Val replied, then looked over at Lambkin, who was waking Tokas at the other side of the camp. ‘You’re on. Your turn.’

  I nodded, and the witch began to leave, returning to the shoddy tent she was sharing with Arzak, but her eyes lingered on my own. I gestured to it. ‘You want to sleep here?’

  ‘Are we there, yet?’ Val asked.

  I shook my head. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Styk,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I said that before, did I? I’m sorry.’

  I nodded, which was perhaps not the reaction she was looking for. ‘At least stay here until my watch is over,’ I said, tapping the mass of fabric I’d pulled from my pocket world. ‘The bed’s warm. And Arzak snores.’

  Val raised her eyebrows in agreement. ‘Yeah, OK,’ she said. ‘We’ll talk some more in the morning?’

  ‘Oh, you bet we will,’ I replied. There was still a lot more to say, between us, before we could continue rebuilding this relationship. But I had a feeling that wouldn’t be what everyone wanted to talk about when I returned.

  Only when I saw sure Lambkin and Val had drifted off—it took neither of them particularly long—I approached Tokas. ‘You reckon you can keep watch by yourself?’

  ‘Would Arzak like that?’ the tiefling replied.

  ‘What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.’

  Tokas nodded. ‘Sure. I can do it alone. But… where are you going?’

  ‘To see a man about his destiny,’ I replied.

  ‘I don’t know what that means.’

  Of course she didn’t; Tokas was nothing if not literal. ‘I’m going to try to talk some sense into Lore.’

  ‘Alone? Is that a good idea? I could come with, if you—’

  I shook my head. ‘No, it’s best I do this alone. Less chance of raising the alarms. Will you tell the others?’

  ‘No,’ Tokas replied. ‘I can be trusted.’

  That, of course, remained to be seen.

  * * *

  I climbed the Tower of Hope in much the same way as we’d climbed the Tower of Elders only a few hours ago. Only now, I was obscured by the thick darkness of the Armadan night, and my Tamed Portal passive ability meant there was little chance of others spotting my portals. Without the others—particularly Arzak—this process was easy, calming even.

  As I hung from the edge of the balcony—I’d soon become comfortable with heights after mastering my portal abilities—I looked down upon the sprawling conical city of Zelas. Few lanterns remained lit at this late hour, and those few remaining were on the main thoroughfares. I watched small dots stagger home after quests that had stretched on longer than expected, or more likely, after drinking sessions that had stretched on longer than expected. I paused to close my eyes, just for a second, and breathe in the air.

  I was calm. I was ready to work.

  Keeping the calm in my heart, I continued the climb, counting the storeys until I finally arrived where Lore should have been staying, only a few storeys down from the top of the tower. I was painfully aware that Yusef would be sleeping nearby, and if I hadn’t thought he’d be far more guarded, I might have tried a cheeky assassination attempt. As cheeky as an assassination attempt could be, at least.

  I poked my head in through the nearby window to make sure that I was in the right place, and was answered not by the sight of Lore, but by his familiar snores.

  ‘Oi,’ I said, in as loud a voice as I dared, ‘sleepyhead. Wake up.’

  I waited for signs of Lore doing so, and was sorely disappointed. Fortunately, I’d prepared for this. I opened a portal to my pocket world at my side, reached in for my water flagon, and then upended it over Lore’s head.

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  He snapped bolt upright.

  ‘Woah, woah,’ I said, ‘It’s me, big guy.’

  Lore’s eyes widened. ‘Styk?’ he whispered. ‘You shouldn’t be here. There are guards all around this place. Especially after what you did to the Elders.’

  ‘Oh, you heard about that already?’

  ‘Yusef’s furious, he—’ Lore caught himself. ‘You scaled the tower again? Then he’s seen you. You better go, before—’

  OK, so that centre of calm was gone already. If I needed to act fast, then I wasn’t going to waste a moment. ‘Come with me, Lore,’ I said. ‘You shouldn’t have left us. Come with me now, and I’ll get you out of here. We’re camped just outside town. We—’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’

  Lore shook his head. Even in the low light, I could see the sadness in those eyes. ‘If I leave, Alenna dies. It’s foretold.’

  ‘Yusef’s a fraud, Lore,’ I said, getting straight to the point. ‘He doesn’t have the Divination skill at all, as far as we can tell. He does illusions. Illusions!’

  ‘I know,’ came the barbarian’s sad reply.

  ‘Cool, so let’s—’ I caught myself; he hadn’t replied what I’d expected him to. There was no “Oh, really, Styk? Well in that case let’s get the hells out of here”. ‘You know?’ I repeated.

  ‘I figured it out a few days ago,’ Lore said. ‘He only knows what his spies tell him. And what I tell him. I haven’t challenged him on it or anything, but—’

  ‘Then why in all of Tartarus are you staying here?’ I demanded. ‘I can get you out. I have a Saved Portal back to Coldharbour, if you want distance. I can get you away from him in an instant. So why stay?’

  ‘Because I’ve seen it,’ came the reply. That was a lot harder to argue with. All the Slayers had been acting weird lately, but Lore was the one of us with a good excuse; he was doing what he had to to keep us all alive. He was the one battling with the strings of fate. ‘If I leave Yusef, Alenna dies. I’ve tried everything I can to get out of it, but… there’s nothing.’

  Both our heads snapped to the door when we heard movement outside. But it was the casual cough of an uninformed guard, not one charging to kill me. They weren’t here yet.

  ‘We’re going to kill him, Lore,’ I said. ‘We have to.’

  ‘Good. I want him dead. I don’t wanna be here, Styk. I just… have to be.’

  ‘Then help.’

  The barbarian shook his head. ‘I can’t go with you. I really can’t.’

  I couldn’t believe I was about to say this. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but don’t come with me, then. You can tell help from here.’

  ‘How? He’s desperate. I think he knows you lot have seen through him. This man isn’t like Jacob or Niamh, he’s not actually strong. His power is in lying and making connections. And he’s realised that you lot aren’t falling for any of his traps. Now he knows that even the Towers of Zelas aren’t safe. He’ll lash out, Styk. You’re not safe. You’re not—’

  I grabbed Lore by his shoulders. The man was rambling, and needed snapping back to reality. Just what had he seen in those visions? Just how many of our deaths had he been forced to sit through? I could think of nothing else that would make him like this.

  ‘Use that,’ I told him. ‘Use his desperation against him. We need him away from Zelas, from his followers. They are his strength, as you say. If you can convince him that he’s in real trouble, if you can convince him to flee, then we might stand a chance. Get him away from his followers, and we’ll deal with him. Can you do that?’

  Lore nodded; this, he could do.