The arrow barely missed him, zipping past his face and embedding itself into a tree. Kaitos ducked back behind his own tree – a thick, gnarled thing with low twisting branches that were naked of leaf or flower – breathing rapidly and thanking the gods the pursuers were poor shots. Though, when you could feel the wind of the arrow against your cheek and hear the whistle of the fletchings loudly in your ear, you couldn’t really call it a poor shot, could you? 

Angry voices drew nearer, shouting in a language Kaitos couldn’t understand even as more arrows whizzed by his hiding place, speaking a tongue he could understand. Dogs barked and growled. Large, ferocious things with bulging muscular haunches and razor-sharp teeth. Thick saliva dripped from powerful muzzles. If one of them managed to clamp their jaws around your arm there was no doubt you would lose it in a flash of searing agony. 

‘Kaitos?’

‘Over here!’ 

He peered through the trees and watched with a grin as his travelling companion and betrothed jumped onto and then off a fallen tree, twisting and releasing an arrow of her own as she reached the apex of her leap. As she landed, she skidded on a patch of wet leaves, her feet slipping out from under her. She fell to the ground with a pained grunt but was on her feet an instant later, hurrying down the slopes, slaloming from tree to tree for cover. Kaitos slipped from his own cover, grinning as he nocked an arrow to force his pursuers into hiding so he could flee.

‘I thought they would have given up by now,’ Dorvatesh laughed as they ran side by side, vaulting fallen logs or leaping narrow ravines in the hillside. Her hair – as black as Kaitos’ and with a pair of feathered braids hanging down on either side – streamed out behind her, accentuating the beauty of her face: the arresting eyes, the dimples of her smile, the soft cheekbones. Kaitos had spent many a night staring into that face, caressing the tanned skin, kissing every inch of it when allowed. ‘They are stubborn bastards.’

Kaitos grunted, peering over his shoulder. A dozen red-faced men were weaving through the forest, some with arrows nocked to their short bows whilst the others wrestled with the chains of their giant dogs. They wore leather jerkins over red and green tunics, and long fur-lined cloaks covered their broad shoulders even despite the heat of the day.

Dorvatesh laughed at Kaitos’ non-committal response. Gods he loved that sound. ‘What is the plan, then?’ She scrambled up the narrow trunk of a tree that had collapsed into its neighbour and began running through the coverless canopy. ‘If they will not give up, we may have to fight.’

‘A little further,’ Kaitos instructed. He ran a few paces behind his beloved, stepping where she stood. ‘If we have to fight them then we need to pick our battlefield. This is their land, after all. We need someplace we can use to our advantage.’ 

The treetop route came to an end. Kaitos drew on the power inside his Moonstone – that gods-given power that allowed him to defy the laws that bound ordinary humans – and threw himself out of the canopy, landing between a pair of exposed roots in a puff of emerald light. He allowed his feet to slip from under him and slid down the steep embankment of exposed stone, Moonsbreath hardening his skin to protect it from being torn to shreds. At the bottom, he leapt to his feet, released his connection to the Stone at his throat, and continued his flight. There were no paths this far down the hillside. The ground was instead littered with large leaves of russet brown, deep red, and burned orange, and here and there thick green bushes dotted the forest floor. Fallen trees or broken branches added to the natural maze Kaitos had to navigate. 

‘This way,’ he called to Dorvatesh. He vaulted a pair of trees that had collapsed into one another to make a large X and stepped lightly around a long stretch of waist-high foliage.

Dorvatesh quickly caught up and then overtook him, flashing a victorious smile as she passed. Kaitos smirked and followed. How many times had they chased each other through the jungle of their homeland? He doubted today’s flight would end as pleasurably, though a man could dream. They passed a wide brook that cut through the heart of the remarkable forest and away to the northeast. They vaulted dells, slipped under low-hanging branches, and raced between the close-standing trees. All the while the snarling dogs and angry human voices pursued them, quieter now they had increased their lead.

These bastards are relentless, Kaitos thought as the forest began to open up and a lake appeared through the gaps. He had hoped it wouldn’t come to fighting – he was running low on Moonsbreath and did not relish wasting any – but if it came to it … well, the gods would decide.

Kaitos broke through the treeline and stepped into a wide glade. He scanned the area quickly, eyes narrowed as he searched for enemy or ambush. He found neither. The meadow was silent and deserted, dying leaves that had blown from the treetops behind lying strewn across the knee-high grass. A wide lake spanned the far side of the enclosed field, and beyond that the forest took over again. In the centre of the lake was an elongated island, upon which stood a solitary obelisk surrounded by grey stone walls long crumbled to ruin. What such a monument was doing out here in the middle of gods-knew-where, Kaitos did not know. It was such a juxtaposition that it took him a moment to focus. 

‘Is that it?’ he asked, voice slow and far away. ‘’Tesh?’

‘I think so,’ Dorvatesh replied uncertainly. As Kaitos watched, her eyes changed from natural violet to a deep slate grey. ‘It must be. I know Kaarakaga said we would recognise it when we found it, but …’

Kaitos had to agree. He stared at the strange pillar with an uncomfortable itch between his shoulder blades. This place – the forest, the plains beyond, the strange stone settlements or wooden villages dotted here and there – was so different to his homeland and yet he had a strange feeling he had been here before, that he had seen an obelisk like the one ahead on numerous occasions. In another life perhaps? 

He brushed the feelings away. Now wasn’t the time. He could discuss it with Kaarakaga once home. ‘Shall we?’

‘After you.’ 

Dorvatesh flashed Kaitos another of her wicked grins. Her eyes blazed a yellow to match the sun that hung high above them before flashing pink. They then returned to their usual violet. Kaitos returned the grin. Gods he wanted to kiss her, to wrap her in his arms and collapse into the grass together. Despite having been far from home for many months, despite hunting something that may or may not actually exist, despite being pursued by the pale-faces – Kaitos could hear them crashing through the underbrush, closing the distance even as he and Dorvatesh stopped to admire the glade – he wouldn’t exchange this experience for anything. Here he was, a young man far from home and on an important mission for his clan chief, with his beloved Dorvatesh at his side. Together, there was nothing they couldn’t do, no obstacle they couldn’t overcome, no ––

A volley of arrows broke through the treeline, raining down on the two trespassers. Kaitos drew on the power trapped within the emerald rune at his neck even as a flash of amber told him Dorvatesh had done likewise. The hail of arrows bounced off their invisible shields and shattered, falling uselessly into the long grass. 

‘Avadé maitol mielethi!’ screamed one of the men as he scrambled down the last incline. He wrestled with one of the dogs as he yelled again, ‘Avadé maitol!’ 

Mielethi? It was the only word of the man’s garbled cry Kaitos recognised. They know who we are? He glanced at Dorvatesh, whose eyes had flashed azure. He broke into a run. ‘Hurry,’ he called over his shoulder. 

‘You hurry!’ There was no playful grin this time as she overtook him. ‘If we can make it to the lake we can –– eugh!’ 

‘DORVATESH!’ 

Kaitos’ voice broke as he watched her fall into the long grass, blood spurting from her thigh. He hurried over to her, deflecting the next volley of arrows instinctively. Dorvatesh lay in the grass, her face – usually a beautiful bronze hue – draining of colour. Her eyes flashed between deep blue and dark red several times as she winced, both hands encircling her bulging thigh muscles. The arrow had missed the bone, coming clean out the leg just above the kneecap. Kaitos knelt down and reached out, drawing on his Moonsbreath as he did so. He had never been skilled at healing, but perhaps if he could get the arrow out …

‘No,’ Dorvatesh panted as Kaitos reached for the arrow. ‘There is … eugh … no time.’

Kaitos glanced over his shoulder. The pursuing men had reached the threshold of the forest and had released their vicious dogs. The beasts raced across the meadow towards their prey.

Dorvatesh pushed Kaitos away and threw the knife she kept at her hip at the nearest dog. It went down with a yelp. As Kaitos rolled upright a barbed, silvery net appeared between his raised hands, rushing towards more of the advancing mongrels. It curled around three of them and dragged them back several feet. They yelped and whimpered as the net tightened, the barbs digging into their hides. The remainder of the pack came to a halt, heads lowered, saliva dripping from growing muzzles. 

‘Take it,’ Dorvatesh commanded when Kaitos looked back to her. She shoved a small amber runestone into his hand. ‘You know our laws, Kaitos. This cannot fall into enemy hands.’

‘No,’ Kaitos whimpered. ‘I cannot leave you.’ He glanced over his shoulder again to see the enemy hurrying across the glade to meet the surviving dogs. The beasts themselves had begun to circle their prey, keeping their distance now one of the pack was dead and more were trapped beneath the still-tightening net. 

‘You have to.’ Dorvatesh’s mouth pulled into a grimace of pain. ‘To live or to die, Kaitos,’ she said, as if this should mean something to him. ‘You cannot save everyone. Why risk both of us when you can flee and live another day? I will either die at the hands of these pale-faces or else they will take me prisoner to interrogate me. If the latter, you will find me again in this life. If the former ––’ she reached up and caressed his face, ‘–– then I will wait for you beyond the moons and stars.’ She pressed her Moonstone harder into his hand and folded his fingers around it, kissing the digits gently. ‘Now go,’ she said, releasing him, her arm flopping down to her side. ‘Go!’

Kaitos swallowed hard then rose, hands loose at his sides. He was momentarily torn between protecting his beloved and completing the mission their clan chief had set them. Mielethi did not fail in their duties – indeed, failure was not a word used lightly – but to leave Dorvatesh to these pale-faces … well that was a failure, too. He tried to fathom which was the lesser of two evils as he wiped his eyes on the back of his arm, before glaring at the enemy that stood before him in a single line, mind made up. Those who had bows had them nocked and drawn and trained on him. The dogs had ceased their circling but still surrounded him, snarling and growling, jaws snapping, saliva dripping. 

He grinned at the enemy, thought it was humourless, defiant. He knew his eyes must have changed to a violent red; the single step backwards of his foes told him so. He used the moment of uncertainty to flee, drawing on his Moonsbreath to accelerate his movements. He turned and raced towards the lake, twisting his body like a dancer to avoid the arrows that flew after him and the snapping jaws of the mongrels.

‘Avadaé maitol!’ screamed one of the pale-faces. ‘Sutash! Sutash!’

Kaitos threw himself into a dive and disappeared beneath the murky waters, kicking hard to propel himself deeper. Arrows span about him, one scraping against his arm and drawing blood as it passed. He swam deeper still, Dorvatesh’s Moonstone clasped tightly in his hand. 

A full minute passed, then another. Kaitos swam in circles around the island, counting the seconds of the third and fourth minute as meticulously as he’d counted the first two. He had always been able to hold his breath for an unusually long time. Many of the Mielethi put it down to harnessing Moonsbreath, though Kaitos knew different. He never drew on his precious and limited Moonsbreath when holding his breath like this. He didn’t need to; it was as if there was some other power at work. 

As the fifth minute concluded, he swam for the surface, careful to avoid disturbing the water too much in case his adversaries remained watchful. He came up on the far side of the island and scrambled onto the cool grass, keeping his dripping body close to the ground. He manoeuvred up to peer over the top of the rise and down onto the glade.

It was empty except for a single dead dog.

Kaitos’ heart ached as he looked at the bent and broken blades of grass where Dorvatesh had fallen. The bastards had evidently taken her body. For what purpose? Rape? Torture? To haul through the streets like some trophy? For the second time in less than ten minutes he was torn between his duty to his clan chief and his desire to hunt the enemy and reclaim the woman he would one day wed. His training took over – it always did in the end – and he reluctantly forced himself to stand, storing Dorvatesh’s Moonstone in one of the pouches at his waist as he turned his attention to the island itself.

Shin-high sections of shattered stone and crumbled rock marked out the buildings that were now nothing but a memory. Here was half a wall, there the remnants of what might have been a stone bench. As he looked out across the meadow, he saw more runs of stone interspersed within the long grass, along with more of the stunted stone pillars or lengths of well-rotted wood he had spotted on his first glance at the glade. It seemed the clan that had first occupied this region had lived both on the island and off it. Who had they been? Did any of them still live? He turned back to the dominating tower, pushing the questions from his mind. Duty first, history later.

The obelisk stood in the centre of the island foundations. It was made from black stone that looked like glass. It seemed to shimmer and shine, reflecting the early afternoon sun. Its surface was covered in large, twisting runes that Kaitos couldn’t read, though at the same time they seemed somehow familiar. He walked over and tentatively reached out, running trembling fingers over the strange surface. It was cold, but not due to the late autumn breeze. It seemed tainted somehow, touched by something other than Lunarmancy. Grimacing, he quickly retracted his fingers and wiped them on his baggy trousers.

As he withdrew his hand, the top of the obelisk pulsed and burst into blinding light. A beam rose high into the grey sky, breaking the clouds apart before it swung down and filled the interior of one of the more intact foundations on the island. Kaitos hurried to the marked spot. He would have to be quick. If anyone saw the light and came to investigate …

He drew on his Moonsbreath and began to pull earth out from the centre of the dilapidated building. Several feet down he found a large wooden chest. He pulled it out, straining at the weight, then filled the hole in even as he looked down at the box, curious and fearful at the same time. If Kaarakaga had spoken true, then what lay inside this chest had the power to change the world. Especially if it fell into the wrong hands.

Which is why we must obtain it first, the clan chief had told Kaitos and Dorvatesh prior to leaving on their quest. There are strange rumours abroad that have me troubled. Do not delay, Kaitosvaeridian, Dorvateshamiir. Yet do not be hasty either. Haste often causes more trouble that doing nothing at all. Do you understand?

No. Kaitos hadn’t understood. Just as he didn’t understand now. How had Kaarakaga known about this place? What even was this place come to that? He looked over his shoulder. How had this relic remained untouched, unweathered by the years like the buildings that had once stood around it? Who had built it? For what purpose? So many questions. No answers. Kaitos hoped the clan chief would answer some of them when he returned.

He licked his lips and looked down at the earth-covered chest, sweat running down his face. His mouth had gone dry and his chest was tight. He wiped the sweat away and tucked his dripping hair behind his ears, then ran his hands over the top of the box, clearing the smattering of soil to reveal another pair of the strange runes. Before his mind could betray him, he waved a hand over the lock as his Moonstone pulsed at his throat. The mechanism clicked and the lid popped up. He blinked once. He hadn’t expected that to work. He opened the lid fully.

An olive-green orb the size of a newborn’s head sat on deep scarlet padding. Its surface was translucent and inside it hovered an upright dagger that rotated like a pirouetting dancer. The blade was needle thin, twisted near the slender crossguard. The hilt had been carved into the form of a coiled snake, the pommel its head. 

What in the name of all the gods is this? Kaitos couldn’t take his eyes off the strange sphere. It was entrancing, intoxicating. The eyes of the snake seemed to pierce his own, boring deep into his mind. As it did, whispering voices sounded in Kaitos’ mind, telling ancient secrets he knew to be truths and yet impossibilities at the same time. Was it from the snake the voices came from, or the orb itself? Regardless, they spoke a language Kaitos both understood but didn’t. It took an incredible degree of willpower to force his eyes from the snake’s, to command the muscles in his arms to close the lid before he was driven insane.

The moment the lid clicked shut every cell in Kaitos’ body loosened. Every taut muscle began to relax. He let out a long, steady breath as sweat stung his eyes and ran down his chest. He shook all over. It was akin to the effects of Breathlessness. What, beyond the moons and stars, had that been?

Kaitos stood on shaking legs and looked around. The light that had come from the top of the obelisk had been extinguished whilst he’d been transfixed by the orb. Nothing moved in the meadow beyond the island. Offering a prayer of thanks, he stooped and grabbed the chest – gods it was heavy – before crossing the lake with a dash of Moonsbreath. It was time to be elsewhere before his luck ran out.

After retrieving Dorvatesh’s knife from the dog’s body, Kaitos began moving quickly through the forest, ears pricked for approaching enemies or creatures of the forest. He could feel the power of the strange sphere trying to reach him through the thick wooden slats. He wished he had enough Moonsbreath to simply return to Mieleth now, but he had been overzealous with his limited supply during his time in the land of the pale-faces. They both had; Dorvatesh’s Stone was less than half full. Even with both Stones, he did not have enough to Orbit even to the coast and then board a water-horse. No, he would need to wait a few more weeks until he could refill the almost depleted Stone. He did not like the idea of having to carry the chest all that time, however; there would be too many opportunities to peek at the orb, too many chances someone could try and steal it from him.

He had made it out of the forest and perhaps five miles to the west when shouts came from all around the land that had blended seamlessly from forest to rolling hills. An arrow whizzed past his head and another scored a chunk of flesh from his arm, just below where the first arrow had cut him as he’d dived into the lake. He grunted and almost dropped the chest as the force of the arrow spun him off balance. All around, bodies rose from behind rocky outcrops. Kaitos stood with far too many arrows trained upon him to count. And still more figures rose from hiding spots Kaitos’ keen eyes were only just now seeing. The setting sun reflected off burnished steel spearheads and helms.

Kaitos knew he would only have seconds to act. There was no chance of escape, not with numbers this large, so he did the only thing he could. He placed the chest on the ground – there was nothing he could do for that; he’d have to find a way to get it back later – and fished Dorvatesh’s Moonstone from his pouch, burying the amulet in the earth beneath a fallen tree with a portion of his Moonsbreath. He marked the spot in his mind for future reference, then focussed all his will on his own Stone. It grew warm against his chest. When he looked down, he watched the Stone fade and then disappear completely. It was still there, heavy around his neck and warm against his skin, but invisible (and untouchable) to anyone but himself. He wished he could do the same for Dorvatesh’s Stone, but he did not have a strong enough bond with her Stone to send it into the Spiritual Plain as he did his own. 

The ambushing force surrounded him. These men wore clothing of yellow, black, and white and their armour looked cleaned and oiled, well-tended. They bellowed at him in their foreign tongue, gesturing with spear or free hand. Kaitos could not understand the words but could guess at their meanings from the gestures. He raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. 

One of the warriors stepped forward at a brash command from another and forced Kaitos to his knees. He then reached forward and took Kaitos’ knives, bow, and half-a-dozen remaining arrows, looking anywhere but at the prisoner’s face as he did so. Kaitos had perceived the boy flinch, no-doubt seeing Kaitos’ eyes change colour. 

The warriors conferred briefly. One of them picked up the chest but could not open it; Kaitos had locked it with Moonsbreath that only another Lunarmancer would be able to see and undo. Like his weapons, it disappeared into the force of gathered men. Then, another of the warriors stepped forward. He spoke in a slow, deep voice, gesturing with his free hand as he did so. Kaitos picked out the word ‘mielethi’ and then something he figured was a name: Ruvin’dalawario. The man finished by saying something that Kaitos took to mean, ‘You will be coming with us,’ from the way the brutish man pointed first at Kaitos and then at the army. Sure enough, Kaitos was hauled to his feet and ropes were tied painfully around his wrists. A noose went around his neck while the other end was fastened to the pommel horn of a saddle.

Kaitos was taken away by the group of angry men, led like one of the dogs that had pursued him only hours before.