Fear scraped at David. He watched Zoey sleep. She had slipped into a deep slumber since Huz’s magic. Her breathing was steady, yet he worried.

  Outside the tent he’d been given, Nima and Huz waited. David didn’t want to leave. He wanted to wait for his sister to wake, but he couldn’t. There was so much to do. And they had very little time. He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her forehead.

  She was warm. She carried the smell of their ordeals. David imagined he did too. There had not been time for them to take care of themselves.

  All they’d done since they stepped into Balek’s tower was survive.

  He shuffled out of the tent to meet Nima and Huz. The ranker had his two lower arms folded behind him. The glass at the tip of his scepter was dull again. But he still radiated that silent authority.

  “We should go,” Huz said. Some of the tendrils curled about his neck. Some writhed toward David, not quite long enough to reach him.

  “Kalon won’t be able to shield the gate, Lord Huz,” Nima reported.

  Huz shook his head as he turned around. His robe was as strange as Nima’s cloak. Both seemed enchanted and yet ordinary.

  “We don’t need the cover this time, Nima.” There was a note of mischief in his voice. The domain sparkled at the edges. Corona of light glowed brighter now. The domain was falling apart faster than David thought.

  “If you can’t get to Orphus before this place breaks down, what happens to your people?”

  “Orphus is not our destination, Lord Ruler,” Huz said. David frowned at the name. From Huz, especially in this domain where the ranker had absolute control, the title seemed worthless.

  “Where is?”

  “Anywhere but here,” Huz said. “Huz has cursed us. Without this domain, we would have been shells of ourselves like those you saw out there.”

  “I don’t think I can help you with that,” David said. “I can bestow gifts, nothing else. I can’t transport you to another place.”

  “No,” Huz said, leading them to the platform where David met him before. They climbed the steps until Huz was standing in the center of the small square. His robe shifted, rippling out evenly around him. “I don’t know what you can do right now, but I know what you can’t do. I will not request favors beyond your means. I am not unreasonable.”

  “Then what is your plan?” David asked, stopping a step below Huz and Nima. “You have seen how limited I am in power. My siblings are not stronger. How can we help you ascend to Orphus?”

  Huz’s lips perked at the edge. David didn’t know what to make of the smile. Nima sighed, folding her hands.

  “What if I tell you I can take out the restrictions?” Huz asked. David took in a sharp breath, shaking his head.

  “That is not possible.”

  “Not in the tower, yes,” Huz said. “And it won’t be forever. But you are in Tarthen. The city underneath Orphus. The waste site prison. The place where those who are unwanted are tossed to wander, emptied of every purpose and desire.”

  David climbed the last step to join them, thoughts spooling as he considered the possibility of his restrictions being removed. He would carry almost the same power as he did when he sat on his throne.

  “I need something else,” David said. Huz’s brows shot up, and he let the smile spread on his face. Ignis growled in David’s head. A wordless warning to be cautious.

  “First, we meet your brother,” Huz bargained. David shook his head.

  “No. First, we decide if you can help me.”

  The tendrils twitched. One first, then another. David couldn’t tell if that meant he was frustrated, but it didn’t matter to him.

  Huz nodded. “What can I do for you?”

  “First,” David began. “You will swear the oath of alliance.”

  Huz grinned, showing rows of tiny, shark-like dentition. “You must know that the oath of alliance can be undone by the strongest of us. And with your restrictions removed, that will be you.”

  “I know,” David conceded, nodding.

  A soul oath, Ignis suggested, and David told Huz about it.

  Huz’s gaze grew distant as he considered it. David knew the dangers of a soul oath. It was even more binding than the oath of alliance. It crushed the soul, ending in an agonizing death when one thinks of betraying it.

  “I accept,” Huz said. He put a hand up before Nima could say a word. “We need his help, Nima. We are desperate, he is not.”

  “You are wrong,” David said. “Before the oath, Huz. Tell me, do you know of a builder called Adelia?”

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  “A builder?” Huz asked, frowning. David’s hope plummeted. He’d hoped Huz could know the woman. He’d hoped she wasn’t one of the people walking about in Tarthen. And now he wondered if he’d been wrong.

  “It has been so long since they went by that name.” Huz chuckled, seeing the confused state of David’s face. “Sorry, I don’t know any builder called Adelia. But if she was called a builder, then she must be old.”

  “Then you can’t help me,” David muttered. “There is no point to an alliance with you.”

  Steel hissed in a flash, and Nima was holding her dagger again. Her eyes were fierce; none of the fear from before tainted the green now.

  “Hold, Nima,” Huz called, waving for her to step away from David. He lifted a finger to his beard-tendrils and two coiled about it, moving like tiny snakes. “I know someone who can tell you about the builders. And whatever else you want to know.”

  “Where?” David asked.

  “Up in Orphus,” Huz said, laughing lightly. “Odd, isn’t it? Suddenly, our fates are intertwined, Lord Ruler.”

  Or this could be a trap, Ignis rumbled. Let them die, David. Don’t you wonder what they did to be dealt this fate?

  “I wonder too,” Aza added. “But we have very little choice here, dragon. We must go up to the city of gods.”

  “Yes,” David said to Huz. “If I am to believe you.”

  “If you don’t, the soul oath should assure you of my sincerity,” Huz said. “You should be careful, though. Builders are old tower gods. Those who have been defeated and broken. They are cursed, enslaved, or killed.”

  That is strange, Ignis added. I have never heard of this.

  “Nor have I,” Aza said. “Although fragments like us only learn about these things when we are awakened.”

  David pushed the fragment’s voice to the back of his mind. He could hear them discuss, but he was able to focus on Huz and Nima.

  “Will you help us?” Huz asked.

  David nodded, walking closer to them. Huz stretched out his upper right hand for a handshake. David took it.

  “Good,” Huz said. Nima’s dagger disappeared again.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” She asked Huz. He smiled. There was a flash of affection, a lingering connection between them. Uneasy, but present. Like an unrealized thing still budding.

  “Your fear is understandable, Nima. This will weaken me slightly, but you don’t have to worry.”

  “And it will hasten the destruction of this place,” Nima added.

  Huz chuckled and slammed the base of his scepter down on the platform. Essence sparked, and the air heated up. David felt it on his skin. A burst of power washed out of Huz, splashing them in scalding haze. The ranker’s influence spread, pushing past them, like waves brushing past rocks.

  The outer edges of the platform groaned and fractured. Stones shattered and rose above them, forming a ring of smooth black stones.

  In the middle of the ring, essence gathered, collecting into a filmy bubble. It squired, drooping like a viscous, blue-white snot. David looked up at it just as the ring fell and the bubble enveloped them.

  David tried to move away from the falling ring, but Huz grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the bubble.

  You have crossed a temporal gate!

  The sensation of drowning was overwhelming, but that soon faded. Replaced by the stale air. The darkness of the night was absolute. It covered the expanse of Tarthen. But even through that, David could see the people moving. They never stopped. As though cursed to journey without a destination.

  “There,” Nima said, pointing westward. David’s sight adjusted until he could see a deeper black within the darkness. Elisha’s dome.

  They walked in that direction of the dome. The dome was large enough to cover three. David waved for Nima and Huz to stop some paces behind while he approached alone.

  None of the wandering humans neared the dome. Two rows of shadow-crafted palisades ringed the dome, stopping any stray wanderers.

  “Elisha?” David called. He heard nothing. He called his brother again. A small pinch of panic grew to a ball of dread in his gut. He searched the stretch of black, hoping to catch a sign of life on the other side.

  “Chloe!” His voice vanished, muted by the barrier. Something moved to his left, and David swung at it only to stop when he saw the dull eyes of a staggering woman.

  Behind her, the space shivered, and the darkness shifted as if that part of the city moved slightly.

  Spell: Call of Wrath

  The spell formed quickly. Six orbs of flames folded, compressing the already dry air. They burned bright, lighting up the darkness. The heat touched David’s face and arm. They sailed up, high above him, so whatever was hidden was illuminated in the fierce orange glow.

  “That’s really David,” someone whispered to his left, farther from the dome. Carlos stumbled out of a tattered shadow shroud. It had been right in front of David, and he didn’t even sense the man. The rune underneath his left eye glowed a faint blue.

  “Carlos,” David called, taking a step forward. Carlos jumped back, hands up. David frowned.

  “If you are with these morons,” Elisha said from behind Nima and Huz. His shadow armor muted the light from the flames as though it blocked the colors from reaching it. And Elisha sounded almost as pissed as Zoey did when he stepped out of the portal to find her. “Then, this is a worrisome situation, David.”

  David felt the shroud lift from his little sister. He knew the moment she stepped out of the shadow and appeared behind him. Her fingers were on the strings of her lute, essence gathering to trigger a spell.

  “Is that really you?” She asked, her voice pleading.

  “Yeah, Chloe,” David whispered. He turned to Elisha, where his brother had daggers of deep black shadows floating in front of Huz and Nima. The ranker had all his arms up in surrender. Nima didn’t.

  Elisha’s helm turned David’s way. The tension stretched taut, and David knew they were moments away from a bloody fight or a reunion.

  “You know they took Gis?” Carlos asked.

  “I know,” David said. “And they healed Zoey, too. Have you noticed it yet, Elisha? This place is influencing you.”

  “We know,” Carlos said impatiently. “Have you seen Gis?”

  “Your friend is safe,” Huz said before David could answer. “I swear it by my soul. We need your help.”

  Elisha scoffed, his blades drawing threateningly close to Huz’s face. “And why should I help you?”

  “We need them too,” David answered. “To go to Orphus. We need their help, Elisha.”

  A long, breathless silence spread between all parties. David watched his brother, wondering if Elisha would lash out or listen to him.

  The blade faded into the night, and Elisha stepped away from behind them, walking over to David. Essence wrapped around him desperately, ready to explode. He stopped in front of David, who was taller due to his armor.

  “Once again, you are late.”

  David nodded. “I know,” he whispered.