It took only two nights for Arzak’s ever-growing network of informants to give us a lead. From the sounds of it, there were thousands of them out there, now. Thousands of people ready to put their lives at risk in the name of ridding the world of Players. Tokas—may she find rest—had been right; exposing the Players really was hundreds of times more powerful than killing them. Still, we had a long way to go. Until towns, cities and even nations began to turn against the Players, we were still fighting an uphill battle.

  The network’s information sent us west, towards the coast on the Sea of Terrors. Out here, it was said, we could find a man who had survived an encounter with Cleo. And who better to tell us of my mother’s weakness than a man who had lived to tell the tale?

  But finding him was easier said than done. We spent days on the coast, battling the bitter winds coming off the sea, and we spent nights camping by the road, fighting off more aggressive creatures than I would’ve expected from this part of the world. In all, it was almost a fortnight after leaving Lonely Hearth that we found our man.

  We were cowering from the cold winds under the shelter of a lush evergreen tree. For the past two days, it hadn’t just been the winds we’d needed to contend with. Now, rain pelted our faces as we travelled—rain so cold that it veered often into sleet—and I wondered if maybe the Sea of Terrors itself would be warmer. The locals said that on a clear day, you could see the Isle of the Old Ways over the sea. I very much doubted that, but today was anything but a clear day.

  We’d been assured that the man we were after lived here, exactly where we were crouching and eating damp, limp sandwiches.

  ‘Any chance we made a wrong turn?’ Lore asked, as thunder rumbled overhead.

  ‘Maybe we call it,’ I said, almost having to shout over the weather just to be heard. ‘Head back to town. Get a roof over our heads and some warm food in our stomachs.’

  ‘No,’ Arzak replied. ‘He here. I trust network. We just need look.’

  ‘Well maybe we can look after the storm passes?’ Val suggested. ‘Cos I’ve just got my hair looking nice, and—’

  Lightning burst from the heavens above and shot through a tree not thirty feet from where we were standing. Bark and branches exploded from the trunk, peppering us with small cuts and bruises. A second later, we heard an almighty cracking sound as the tree began crackling in two. I saved Lore and Corminar from being hit only by opening a portal between them and the falling tree, slicing the wood in half using my Portal Slice ability.

  Rain or no rain, nice-looking hair or no nice-looking hair, this was enough to force Val out from under the cover of the woods. The rest of the team followed, fleeing the trees for the beach, out of the danger of trees crashing down on us but now amongst the bitter winds once more.

  ‘Styk’s right!’ Val shouted. ‘Let’s head back! I need some food. And a bath, maybe.’

  ‘No!’ Arzak replied.

  ‘Arzak, they are correct,’ Corminar said. ‘We could not locate a mountain in this weather, let alone a man. We—’

  ‘No!’ the orc cried again, this time pointing down the beach, to the treeline. A man stood still, watching us. When Arzak took the first step towards him, even someone as strong as her struggling in these gales, the man turned around, and disappeared among the trees.

  ‘Arzak…’ I started, but didn’t bother; she was already a good twenty feet away, and wouldn’t hear me over the weather. Instead, I opened a portal in front of her, its partner over where the mysterious man had been moments earlier. As I stepped through it, back into the danger of the trees, the wind calmed some. My ears still stung from the cold, but I could hear a little, at least.

  The orc didn’t say anything, but pointed east, deeper into the woods. I nodded, opening another portal for us to cross the distance faster. It wasn’t just that I was worried about losing the stranger; I was worried about being in the midst of so many trees during a storm. We followed the man like this for maybe five minutes, before finally coming upon a small wooden shack in the centre of the woods.

  Though made only of wood, not stone, the building seemed stable; some artistry had gone into its construction. Out the front of the shack, two cows munched grass lazily under a small shelter, otherwise unbothered by the storm. A handful of chickens huddled mostly underneath the cattle, except for one that stood in the rain, fanning out its wings. There was a low wooden fence around the perimeter, but it would have done nothing to keep the hens here—they remained at the shack by choice.

  The man stood in the doorway, holding it open for us, beckoning us inside. ‘Come,’ he said. ‘The storm will be overhead for a while yet. Why not wait it out by the fire?’ When we appeared to hesitate, he added, ‘My name is Elfric.’

  Val didn’t need to be told twice, and she led us up the three stairs to the shack’s door. We passed into a wave of heat, sustained by a fire in the corner of the room. Whatever kept the wooden chimney from burning had to have been magick in origin; this man had more power than he seemed.

  ‘You know Cleo?’ Arzak asked as she closed the door behind her.

  Elfric froze for just a moment, though it was enough for us to notice. ‘I heard that someone was looking for me. I figured you would find me sooner or later, so we may as well get it over with. We can get straight to business.’

  ‘You want us out of here that quickly?’ Val asked.

  ‘I prefer a solitary existence.’

  ‘What about the storm?’ Lore asked.

  ‘You said that name in this house. You are no longer welcome.’

  Arzak nodded. ‘This is right place then.’

  ‘Nice place you have here,’ I said, looking at the framed paintings on the walls, the decorated plates set out on the ornate dining table. If this man was an enemy to my mother, then maybe he was an ally in the battles to come. We’d just need to get him on side.

  ‘Straight to business,’ Elfric said again. When he looked at me this time, his eyes lingered.

  I sighed. ‘Fine. We want to know about Cleo. We want to know what she’s done, what she’s capable of, and…’ I added this last bit for my own sake; I had to know why she abandoned me. ‘And where she was for all those years.’

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The man turned his back on us, removed a metal kettle from a cupboard and set it upon a rune that began to turn the metal from dull grey to bright red. It wasn’t long before steam was billowing from the spout. ‘I’ll make you a deal,’ Elfric said. ‘I’ll tell you all I know, and in return, you let me live.’

  It seemed about as fair a deal as I’d ever heard. But maybe once I’d heard what he’d had to say, I would change my mind. Maybe I’d feel like letting this man live was too high a price. As the hermit looked at me once more, I realised he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at my eyes. He recognised them. He was close enough to my mother, once upon a time, to still remember her eyes even to this day. And then I understood.

  ‘Seems fair,’ Val said. ‘Why don’t you start with—’

  But I put out a hand to stop her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t you see?’ I asked. ‘He’s one of them. He’s a Player.’

  Corminar and Arzak drew their respective weapons before I’d even finished the word. Elfric didn’t visibly show any fear, but nor did he reach for a weapon. Was he strong enough not to need one? Or did he simply know it would make no difference?

  ‘It’s a fair deal,’ the man said again. ‘I just want to be left alone out here. I just want to live my life in peace.’

  ‘It’s a fair deal unless you’ve done something dreadful. And I think we all know now that you have.’

  The Player held my gaze, as though challenging me. I couldn’t say for sure—even now, months later—whether this was a bluff. Was Elfric daring me to spring the attack? ‘Do you know how close my old colleagues are to creating their new world? I never thought they’d get this far. Deep down, I always thought it impossible. But now it’s up to these famous Slayers to stop them.’

  ‘You want us to win?’ Lore asked.

  ‘And I’m guessing you want us to stop them out of the kindness of your own heart?’ Val asked. ‘You want us to believe there’s some honour in you?’

  The Player raised his eyebrows. ‘Honour? Heavens, no. I abandoned the Council. Do you really think there is a place for me in their new world? All I have is this one. That’s a pretty good reason for wanting to save it, don’t you think? They really are close. Letting me live my life—one that no longer hurts anyone—is a small price to pay for information that might help you.’

  I glanced to Val. After a moment of consideration, she nodded. ‘We’ve given others a second chance.’

  ‘We knew what the others had done, though.’ Still, I knew she was right. I turned back to Elfric and stuck out my hand. ‘I guess… you have a deal.’

  The Player took it, still staring into my eyes. ‘You look a lot like your mother, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ I took a seat by the fire—one of many small, rickety wooden chairs dotted around the small cabin. ‘Tell me the rest. The bits I don’t know.’

  Elfric nodded, then grabbed one of the chairs from around the dining table, placing it opposite me, at the other side of the fireplace.

  The danger now seeming to have passed, Corminar and Arzak lowered their weapons, but their tense body language told me they were remaining alert. Good. I wasn’t entirely fooled by Elfric either.

  ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Let’s begin.’