The three of us had been travelling for the best part of the afternoon, and the daylight was gradually ceding to the evening. Eggs was already able to glide like a bird, flapping their wings here and there to stay in the air before returning to my shoulder. I’d gotten used to the impact of their landing quickly, and I could now walk without suddenly stumbling forward when I became a temporary roost. Gertha and I had spent most of the time talking about our lives in Avandun, seeking commonalities we shared. We had none aside from the fact that we both had been in the care of the Physic’s monks at one time or another. Her's was due to an incident involving her magic, mine for the scrapes and bruises you’d expect from training and tavern brawls.

  The forest was just more of the same, if I’m completely honest. I’d always been told that life between the safe places of capital cities, towns and well fortified villages was dangerous beyond measure but it was oddly peaceful. If you didn’t count today's earlier escapade. I wondered if the Hunter had deemed us worthy quarry and was giving us time to prepare before unleashing one of his chosen hunters to earn a trophy worthy of mounting in his endless halls. I doubted it, I doubt a God would care about a face with a bit of ink below the eye. We saw little sign of life apart from a few squirrels and one Stag. The spines along its back stood on end as it saw Eggs, and it darted away in blinding speed, bellowing as it ran to warn the others in its herd.

  One thing had been rubbing me the wrong way, though, and the more I dwelled on it, the more my anxiety festered.

  Where were the Wyrms? The Drakes or even the damned Dragons? I could see the odd footprint, a claw mark here or there, but it looked like this section of the forest had seen relative peace for quite a long time. With no one to enforce that peace, that meant that there was something either more dangerous or enough of a pain in the arse to those big bastard lizards that they’d give it a wide berth. Bloody typical, whatever we came across, I just hoped it was on our side. Although in my years I’ve found that the enemy of your enemy is often just another asshole.

  Gertha caught on to it first, as she would be as sensitive as she is to the strange forces at her command. She held up her hand, stalling Eggs and me; immediately alert, I had my spear ready and slowly turned on the spot, checking the treelines for any sign of a bastard lizard.

  “My tongue is tingling, Tullen, there’s something powerful near to us.” She said, her coin clinking against her teeth. It was curious how much time Fizzmouth’s spent with a coin in their mouth and yet their teeth always seemed in remarkably good condition. It’s how I knew Ulther wasn’t magic.

  “Do we head closer to it or further away?” I asked. I kept my spear at the ready, but it’d be about as much use as a thimble full of piss to put out a housefire if we came up against something Gertha considered far in excess of her own power.

  “Closer, of course! It’s a good tingle!” Gertha turned to me with a wild grin. Eggs nibbled on my hair as I resigned myself to following her on her mad course.

  “If we all get killed, it’s your bloody fault,” I said, half jokingly.

  “We’ve done okay so far,” Gertha said, hurrying through the bushes and trees so fast it was difficult to keep pace with her. I was large and in leather armour, Gertha was slight of build and only in robes. She snagged on less foliage and had a nimbleness to her that was surprising. I reminded myself I should stop judging her based on age. Like I said before, Magi age weird.

  After a few minutes of clambering through the forest, making far too much noise for my liking, we opened up into a small clearing. It was half the size of the one we’d fought the Lindwyrm in, and my heart immediately sank when I saw that it was perfectly circular. That does not occur naturally and either comes down to some seriously dedicated gardeners or some kind of magical effect. I wished to all the Gods it was gardeners, they had the best Hasteroot and swore more than I did, but nobody is paying those green-fingered growers to be in the midst of the most dangerous forest known to humankind.

  This clearing, as I said, was perfectly circular, the grass was barely beyond ankle length, and it was a luscious, uniform green that I immediately did not trust. It was too neat, too perfect. Like a painting of an ideal rather than the messy imperfection that told you things were real and alive.

  “Gertha…I don’t like this.”

  “Oh, don’t be a baby, Tullen, you afraid of a little turf?” Gertha chuckled.

  “You see how unnatural this is, right? It’s so perfect it’s wrong.” I gestured around to the space as Eggs suddenly took flight, taking advantage of the open space to spread their wings and glide about the clearing.

  “That’s what tells me we’ve found something very special indeed, Tullen!” Gertha smiled and put another coin in her mouth. Then, to my astonishment, she gulped hard, swallowing it whole.

  “What are you doing!?” I approached her, worried she’d choke.

  “Shut up.” She said, clamping her eyes shut and holding her hands in front of her as they shook.

  I knew something big was happening when I felt my own mouth start to tingle, the taste of copper filling my mouth like I’d taken a huge bite out of a coin purse. I spat on the ground, trying to rid myself of the taste, but it only got more potent as whatever Gertha was casting progressed. Eggs squawked and landed on the ground about twenty feet from me. They turned away from the middle of the clearing and galloped toward me, the digits at the tips of their wings digging into the ground. I ran toward Eggs and instinctively moved in front of them, sticking my spear in the ground and drawing my sword, ready for a fight.

  It was then that my intended opponent suddenly shimmered into existence, larger and harder than anything I had ever faced in my life. On seeing it, I knew any weapon I had would be futile against its armoured hide. Victory was hopeless here, and so I laughed out loud.

  Out of all the things to pop out of an unnervingly perfect grass circle, the last thing I expected was a bloody dark stone tower. I turned to Gertha and jerked my thumb over my shoulder toward the tower.

  “You could just conjure one of these the whole time, but you let us sleep on the ground last night?” I kept as straight a face as possible.

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  “I didn’t conjure it, idiot, I removed the glamour.” She huffed before hurling a pebble at me when I burst out laughing.

  “Careful, you’ll hit Eggs!” I called.

  “Not likely, that creature’s faster than you.” She laughed.

  She sidled up to me and we gazed up at the tower, which was easily over two hundred feet tall. It was dark, like it had been carved from shadows and was formed of many large blocks stacked on top of each other. While I could make out the outlines of different blocks, as we edged closer, we could see it would be nearly impossible to feel an outline between them. Whatever had built this tower had done an obscenely good job.

  From the middle of the tower, all the way to the top, I could see impressions of windows covered with black glass, almost as dark as the tower. I realised this was to stop daylight glare; it would be a poor tower indeed for Magi if a sunny day summoned every glint frenzied lizard from leagues around.

  “We’re going to have to go inside, aren’t we?” I asked.

  “Yes! It’s not the Arcuzane’s Hold, but it’s definitely one of their towers. It will have something useful inside, I’m sure.” Gertha popped an arrowhead into her mouth. I noticed this time she didn’t roll it around, but instead clenched the tip of it between her teeth.

  “You used that coin up that fast?” I was surprised. I knew coins gradually dissolved as powers were used, but it normally took a lot longer in my brief experience.

  “It’s a big tower, Tull. I’m going to save the coins for troubled times, though. I don’t want to swallow an arrow tip mid-fight.”

  “That would be a poor strategy.” I agreed.

  The tower had steps that led straight down to the grass. I slowly climbed them with Gertha just behind me, and we approached the tall iron gates. They were black as midnight and I felt nauseous when I looked at them. In the centre of the doors was a large round indentation with the impression of a splayed handprint within it. It was clear, even to someone as dull to magic as I, that to enter, you had to put your hand into it.

  “Ok, Tullen, put your hand in that handprint impression, and no matter what happens, keep it in there.” She patted me on the shoulder, clearly trying to be reassuring but that in itself put me on edge.

  “What do you mean, no matter what happens?” I was wary now. What had I signed myself up for?

  “This will likely be a test. The Arcuzane were a frustrating lot, let me tell you.” Gertha said.

  “You knew them then?” I asked.

  “Hand, handprint, now! Let’s get inside.” Gertha said, clicking and pointing at the impression.

  I sighed and, with my off hand, touched the palm print. The stone was cold to the touch, and I could feel the heat leeching from my hand. Gradually, a dull blue glow spread from the impression, tracing lines and intricate symbols across the entire surface of the door. My mouth was tingling like I’d had a glass of Sparkling Orlish but refused to swallow.

  “Should I take it off yet?”

  “Keep it there until I tell you, Tull.” Gertha was focused on the area around the door, watching the glow. I didn’t want to distract her further, so I just kept my hand in place, glancing around the clearing for any sign of potential danger. There was none.

  A sharp, sudden pain exploded from my hand, and I screamed in pain. A thin metal spike had punctured through the middle of my palm and out the back of my hand. I tried to ease my ruined hand from the spike, but I felt a tearing inside. Barbs. Damn it all to hell.

  “FUCK! SHIT! OH FUCK!” I screamed; it wasn't my most eloquent of moments, but let's see how clever you sound when you’re impaled.

  “Tullen. DO. NOT. REMOVE. YOUR. HAND!” Gertha commanded, her voice firm.

  “IT’S BARBED, I’M STUCK TO IT,” I yelled. Why wasn’t she helping me? Couldn’t she magic it off?

  Eggs roared, hovering by the spike and attacking it with their claws. It had no effect, but if I’d had the presence of mind, I’d have loved Eggs even more in that moment. They were trying at least.

  “Look at your hand.” She said in a monotone voice.

  “GERTHA. HELP ME.” I yelled.

  “LOOK AT IT. SEE YOUR HAND.” She slapped me across the face, and I was shocked at the force of it. It felt like being hit by a rock.

  Unable to do much else but curse Gertha, I looked at my hand. The spike protruded from it like the tower from the clearing. It was at that moment that I noticed the spike's strange quality.

  There was no blood anywhere. By all rights, it should be flowing out like piss from an old man halfway through his night's sleep. Instead, my hand was bone dry.

  Just as that realisation took root in my mind, I was able to pull my hand back.

  “See?” Gertha said, as I inspected both sides and saw no sign of injury. I wiggled my fingers, and my hand worked just as I expected it to. What in the Mummer’s arse was going on?

  “It was a trick? That fucking hurt, Gertha.” I gasped, the shock of my not injury slowly easing. Eggs cried out and licked my hand with their rough, forked tongue. I held my hand out for them to see, and after several sniffs and one final squawk, Eggs rubbed their head into my hand and chirruped.

  “I’m ok, little one,” I whispered, my heart still pounding.

  The door slowly and silently swung open, revealing a dimly lit corridor with a singular stone stairwell curling upward at the very end.

  “Let’s go, Tullen, we have answers to seek!” Gertha announced, squeezing my shoulder.

  “If you knew it was a trick, why didn’t you use your hand? Or tell me at least?” I was relieved to be okay, and the calmer I got, the more my indignant anger reared its head.

  “I could have been wrong.” She said and stepped inside.

  “You fucker.” I spat as I followed after the Magi, Eggs clinging to my shoulder.

  As the door shut behind us, blue flames lit sconces along the corridor, and my mouth started fizzing once more.

  “I think a little light reading first, don’t you?” Gertha asked, her eyes alive with energy as she strode toward the stairs.

  I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light or not, but she seemed taller and her voice richer.

  Eggs nipped my ear, and I began heading toward the stairs as well.

  We wanted answers, and the tower would yield them.