They slowly ascended the porch and followed Ashley under the archway of the gate, through a corridor toward a direction where daylight was clearly visible. Roger walked last, and Kairu noticed that he hadn’t closed the doors— they shut themselves smoothly with a melodious chime of tiny bells. On the walls, beside tapestries in gilded frames, most of which depicted landscapes of Aktida and Vaimar, lamps with white lampshades glowed, lighting their path. Boots thudded on the crimson carpet and belts jingled, disturbing the sleepy silence of Estogil.

  The corridor, passing by turns, room doors, and staircases, brought them into a huge circular living room, where tall walls were lined with windows. Through the clear glass, sunlight streamed down, illuminating a round dining table draped with a tablecloth, sideboards, countertops arranged around the room's perimeter, an extinguished fireplace with an ornate grate nestled against a white wall. At the table in the center, surrounded by about a dozen velvet-upholstered chairs with gilded curved legs, sat another man. He too wore a simple red silk robe and sandals, lounging as he sipped wine from a goblet. A mane of black, graying hair reached nearly to his shoulders at the back, and his face was framed by sideburns and a short beard on his chin. His pale face was deeply wrinkled; beneath high black eyebrows rested narrow eyes that looked calm and confident. Those eyes, the dark hair, and fair skin marked him unmistakably as a pure-blooded Kald.

  Lifting his head, he glanced at the newcomers, suddenly smirked, set down the goblet, and said:

  "Well now, we have some interesting guests today, Ashley?"

  "Oh, you bet," the sorceress quickly confirmed. "And take your boots off before you trample my carpets! They’re from Mainor, darling. With news from the wide world, and from Petros."

  "No doubt." The man nodded. As they approached the table, he scrutinized each of the travelers with a piercing gaze, lingering especially long on Woody for some reason. He was the first to extend a hand to Kairu:

  "My name is Atgard. I’m a guest here, like you… and, like you, I consider myself a friend of Petros. Though I didn’t come nearly as far… and frankly, I’m surprised you’ve come such a distance. So, the reason must be serious?"

  "More than serious," Kairu said dryly, shaking his hand. "I’m Kairu Kenai." He waited for the others to introduce themselves, accepted Ashley’s invitation to sit, and immediately slumped into a chair—after the long ride at a trot through rough terrain, his whole body ached. "To begin with, we need to learn a few things about each other. Talk. And try to come to an agreement, because we came here counting on your help."

  "This is getting interesting," said Roger, who had joined them at the table. Judging by the smells and setup, they had arrived just in time for lunch: eggs and bacon sizzled on a small stove, several unopened bottles of wine stood on the table, along with a bowl of salad. Ashley bustled about, hurriedly setting out fresh tableware. "A few young people arrive from Mainor, which is at least a good month’s journey from here, solely to talk to us about the mysterious Professor Petros. It’s been a while since something like this happened to me… Well, considering that I’m the host of this house—while Ashley’s fussing over the cooking—I’ll be the one asking questions, alright?"

  "We’re ready," Rita confirmed after a swallow. "That’s fair. We need to learn more about you, and you need to learn more about us. Go ahead. What do you want to know?"

  "Who are you?" Atgard cut in, leaning forward. "And where did your paths cross with the incredibly winding roads of Petros?"

  "By chance," said Kairu. "I’m a deserter from the Aktida army, formerly part of Professor Nubel’s expedition, one of those who, in 1452, retrieved the ‘Lake of Aktida’ from the Olmaer Ridge. These—" he gestured to Rita, Viggo, and Remiz, "—are also members of that expedition, hired by Nubel just like me. All of us, indirectly, are partly responsible for the war that broke out. This is my brother Norton. The rest are friends and companions who, one way or another, got drawn into the story of the Lake of Aktida and decided to support me in my quest for answers."

  "I’m a former captain of the Fighters' Guild of Vaimar," Viggo said grimly. Atgard and Roger looked at him simultaneously. "A delegate from Arctarium."

  "I was the expedition’s guide," said Rita. "And I’m Axel’s daughter. You, Lady Nielder, should have known my father."

  "You’re the spitting image of him," Ashley nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. "I saw it immediately. But I couldn’t believe it. Of course I knew him."

  Remiz spoke quietly:

  "And I’m a delegate of the Nocturn people, formerly the chief healer of the island Orinde, junior assistant to Archmage of Rikutiam, and a member of the lower Chapter."

  "Well, you’re all quite prominent figures, then," Roger summarized, looking at them with interest. "Nubel had a rather unusual way of picking expedition members… Tell me, how do we know you’re not lying?"

  "Oh, they’re the ones, Roger, it’s them," Ashley said reproachfully, bringing over plates of eggs. "I remember perfectly, I still have the December issue of “The Saturday Guild” where their engravings were on the cover, and Nubel too, may he rest in peace. Very finely done engravings, I must say… I took note of those three back then, was sure they'd be snapped up right away and soon shining on covers as the country’s top archaeologists, maybe even outshining Nubel. And that diamond… I remember talking to Nubel shortly before that. I advised him not to get involved in that business, not to stir up the past, not to wake trouble while it lies still—otherwise, disaster would follow… No matter how I begged, of course, he didn’t listen. And what came of it? Nothing good. Look—" she nodded toward the window. Kairu turned his head and suddenly saw a dense, motionless cloud darkening the horizon beyond the treetops. "That’s what the old bastard’s ideas led to!"

  Kairu was struck by the familiarity with which she spoke of the deceased Nubel, but there was no time for surprise.

  "That’s exactly why we came," he said quickly. "To fix what was done. And we’re trying to find out how the story we ended up in connects to your expedition, the crossroads of time, and everything else…"

  Roger shuddered. The room suddenly seemed to grow cold, and a deathly silence fell. Ashley nearly dropped her fork.

  "How do you know about the Crossroads?" Atgard asked insistently. "That’s ancient history..."

  "Let it go, Atgard," Ashley waved hopelessly. "They really did speak with Petros, and he told them everything… or else we don’t know how far the information has spread. These kids are smart, they figured out quickly that if Nubel is dead, and Saelin has locked himself up in his castle, then the only accessible member of the expedition left to ask for help is me. What I don’t understand is—where did Petros go?"

  "Kairu, tell them," Woody nudged him. Kairu took a deep breath.

  "He found it. The Crossroad of Times. Somewhere north of Nalvin. I was there with him, and he went through… but before he left, he asked me to try and untangle the whole thing myself. He had urgent business in another time, and since then—this was just before the Battle of Nalvin, at the end of last August—no one has heard from him."

  "Atgard said you defeated the pirates near Mainor," Roger noted quietly. "But the Southern Province is still not under our control. If he came back, he couldn’t have just left again… Most likely, he either completed his task and stayed there, or… died. In any case, you’re right. Ashley is the last one who remembers that expedition. But she doesn’t know much. She was the only member not scheming some secret agenda."

  "I joined because I needed field practice," Ashley recalled, gazing dreamily into the distance. "The Archmage summoned me and said: ‘Ashley, you're a brilliant alchemist, but you’ll remain a desk-bound scholar forever unless you gain real-world experience. You need to go on an expedition.’ I picked the First Derelz Expedition simply because it was the soonest. And Petros was ecstatic, thrilled to have a young sorceress break up their all-male crowd… Besides, I personally procured a batch of my Elixir and several pharmaceutical kits for the expedition, from the medical center I was running. I was essential to them. If only I’d known they weren’t actually looking for the Crossroads of Time. I had no idea. I only found out when things started spiraling. But by then I was far from Petros, Saelin, and Nubel. I still don’t know what made them fall out so bitterly."

  "What were they looking for?" Kairu asked sharply. "Why did they go there? What is this object of which the Lake of Aktida is supposedly one half?"

  Ashley spread her hands helplessly.

  "I don’t know. I can’t help you there. I swear."

  Kairu lowered his head gloomily.

  "So what do we do? Petros asked us—us, not someone else—to finish what was started. And we have to act fast, while there’s still a lull in the war. It’s already June. I’m sure the sound of cannons will soon reach Onklag… They’re coming. I don’t think Lainter can hold them off much longer."

  "Lainter?" Atgard lifted his head. "Yuffilis? Another old friend. So he’s in Mainor?"

  "Most likely," said Kairu. "He’s probably on his way here. He promised to catch up with us and asked us to wait in Onklag for a couple of weeks."

  "Excellent," Atgard rubbed his hands. "Haven’t heard from him in ages… I’d love a good chat with old Lainter. How’s his revolution coming along?"

  "Not bad," muttered Rita. "By the time we left, he’d already recruited a bunch of people, including half the ruling elite of Aktida."

  "What I always liked about that boy is that he finishes what he starts," Atgard chuckled. "His dedication to the cause is truly enviable."

  "Or pitiable," Kairu said darkly. "Ashley, do these objects mean anything to you? They belonged to Rita’s mother, Amalia…"

  He pulled the brooch, the coin, and the parchment from his travel bag and laid them on the table.

  "Hmm..." The sorceress turned the brooch over in her hands. "The sun and the Kraken. Kairu, I’m not much of a historian. Petros would have explained this far better… As far as I remember, the brooch was likely part of the traditional ritual attire of a priest, along with bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry. This thing could be several thousand years old, they used to forge these kinds of trinkets for temples back then. The ancient Nocturns were deeply religious. But who it belonged to, or how it ended up with Rita’s mother, I have no idea… Now the parchment—that’s more interesting. Definitely the language of the ancient Nocturns. But I can’t read it..."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "It says ‘Meditation on the Sun and the Kraken,’" Kairu nodded. "That much we’ve figured out."

  "That’s how I translated those three glyphs," Rita said. "But honestly, there could be dozens of combinations. Short inscriptions in that language are incredibly hard to decode because there’s no context."

  "Combinations?" Atgard asked. "Sorry, but I know nothing about that language..."

  "The ancient Nocturn language has only twelve glyphs," Rita explained. "They’re used by simple rules, but each symbol has several meanings. Depending on its position, what comes before and after it, any single glyph can be read in multiple ways. And since this dialect is dead, we don’t know all the words. For example, the word ‘Vaimar’ is made of the glyphs vai (‘star’) and mar (‘night’), meaning ‘starry night.’ But the same glyphs, read differently, could mean eudirith (‘everfrost’), gertrum (‘blue moth’), or niflnordil (‘icy wind’). Those are just the ones I remember, the dictionary lists more. And each of those translations is correct only in certain contexts. So I’m not confident. We can look up alternative translations later. But I thought ‘Sun and Kraken’ made sense, because it matches the brooch’s symbol."

  "Where did you get all this?" Ashley asked.

  "Stole it," Joanna said lazily—until now she'd been silently studying the tapestries on the walls. "From a house owned by a man named Lord Garamant. That name ring any bells?"

  Ashley shook her head. Her expression was one of genuine confusion, and for some reason, Kairu felt inclined to believe her.

  "What about the coin?" Kairu asked.

  "Very strange minting," Ashley said, peering at the images. "I’ve never seen anything like this in circulation. I doubt it was legally minted at Mainor’s royal mint. Though the craftsmanship is professional, size and weight are right. Maybe some talented amateur jeweler built his own press at home? Notice, it wasn’t minted more than a year ago."

  "My mother was murdered six years ago," Rita said, as if suddenly realizing something. She and Kairu exchanged puzzled glances.

  "So either Garamant put the coin in the box..."

  "Or it was minted much earlier, and someone purposely stamped a false year on it," Ashley finished.

  A silence fell, broken only by Roger Nielder’s soft cough.

  "So, as I understand it, you’re planning to wait for Lainter?" he asked.

  "Maybe," Kairu scratched his head. "And in the meantime, figure out where to go next."

  Roger and Ashley exchanged looks, and then Ashley was the first to speak:

  "Stay. Let’s think things through together. I never thought I’d have to dig up the past again, but sometimes it happens… ghosts return bearing news from old friends… Stay."

  "Thank you," Kairu bowed.

  Roger stood.

  "In that case, come along—I’ll show you to the guest rooms."

  ***

  They accepted Ashley’s invitation, and after changing into casual clothes in the guest rooms, each of them took turns enjoying the enormous luxurious bathroom. Then, slightly overwhelmed by such hospitality, they returned to the living room, where Lady Nielder led them on a short tour of the house. As she herself explained, it was solely for the purpose of ensuring the guests didn’t wander where they shouldn’t. Off-limits areas included the laboratory, the master’s study, the observatory at the very top of the tower spire, and the greenhouse filled with incredibly rare and unimaginably dangerous plants.

  The tower itself was enormous inside. In addition to several dozen bedrooms, the kitchen, and the living room, it also featured a two-story library, a cellar where wines, starters, and emulsions for new potions and alchemical experiments were stored, and several rooms where Ashley and Roger each worked in their own field.

  "It all started with my acquaintance with Inderin, may he rest in peace," Ashley said as they wandered through the tower’s staircases and corridors. "Since you’ve found yourselves caught up in this story too, you should know how I ended up involved in it. I always loved alchemy at school—I adored everything to do with herbs and potions, picked up things instantly in class, and devoured extra reading. I don’t even know what fascinated me so much about that most complex of sciences...

  "But one day, I went to the Mages’ Guild Library in Surrell—I'd been sent there on an assignment—and came across a very ancient manuscript containing an intriguing alchemical puzzle. I won’t bother giving you the exact formulation, you wouldn’t understand it anyway. But I grasped it instantly and became obsessed with solving it.

  I didn’t sleep for days, poring over books, running experiments. One of my friends helped, and so did Roger—he first met me in Surrell and started courting me even then. And the closer I came to solving it, the deeper I got entangled in something very unpleasant. Around that time, in 1416, the Guild issued a manifesto officially banning necromancy, and many mages researching the connection between the soul and body were declared outlaws.

  Well, it just so happened that I uncovered a conspiracy aiming to destroy the Guild and the entire Academy of Sciences. I had to carry out a long investigation on my own to track down a mad necromancer and hand him over to justice.

  And it all ended with me solving Inderin’s puzzle, the first to do so in six hundred years. I don’t know why, but the solution came to me rather quickly, unlike the many professors who wrote entire dissertations on the subject and still couldn’t produce the required potion in lab conditions. I took a completely unorthodox approach, brewed the elixir, and brought it to Asternia for the Academy’s contest. I won. Became the youngest ever laureate, received a huge monetary prize, and got a recommendation straight to the Mainor Institute.

  You were probably wondering how a simple dean of the alchemy faculty could hold a countess title and live in such an estate? Look up the official chronicle from 1416 in any archive. Read it. It’s enlightening."

  "And then?" Rita asked eagerly.

  "Then... oh, dear! Those were magical years at the Institute, from the moment I won the prize to when I earned my degree, defended my doctorate, and emerged into life as a countess, with an estate, money, and a loving husband. All that, though I’d started life as a peasant girl, an orphan raised in a convent. That’s how you go from rags to riches. Nine magical years. Honestly, I wish I could relive them.

  "I met Nubel at the Institute. He lectured on history and had a gift for captivating an audience, despite the fact that history had always put me to sleep before. Naturally, he was curious to speak with a fellow laureate of the top scientific prize, though he’d won his for work in archaeology. I met Petros a bit later, during my final year. He’d come to Mainor, probably to dig through some archives, and agreed to give a guest lecture to the students. His lectures were packed, people sat anywhere they could, scribbling notes. Naturally, he went to see his old friend Nubel, and Nubel invited me, and we were introduced. And as for Saelin, I saw him only after Petros invited me to join the expedition. He and Petros were best friends, inseparable.

  "I needed fieldwork and wanted to see the world, and with Petros and Nubel, I could combine the useful with the enjoyable. So we gathered our things and set off. Funded by a grant from the Academy. We reached Petista, where we hired a guide to cross the Folkar Pass and reach Vairad, and from there the Tornir’s Temple. Rita, that guide was Axel, your father."

  "I know," Rita whispered.

  "And the man who awaited us in the Tornir’s Temple and was to lead us further north across Regerlim towards the Duanmar Plateau was Brother Konrad, your grandfather."

  Rita nodded silently.

  "At the time, he wasn’t a monk yet, just an interpreter at the temple, translating manuscripts and welcoming foreign guests. He was also working on excavating the Nocturns’ library, where he and Petros found something. From those finds, they pieced together a tentative route to search for places where Crossroads of Time existed in the past. The plan was to study the origins of the Crossroads.

  "We headed north from the temple. Visited several shrines, trekked through forests, reached what felt like the end of the world. And there, we split up. It just happened. Petros had a serious falling out with Saelin. Saelin, Nubel, and Petros went to one shrine, and we... we had to leave them. Then our transport broke—it was a huge hot-air balloon—so we continued north on foot.

  "That night, a terrible disaster occurred… The city was called Ardrai, nestled on a mountainside. We were lucky we hadn’t reached it yet. Smoke started pouring from the mountain, then fire, then flows of molten rock flooded the city. Thousands died. We knew Petros intended to go there, along with Nubel, Vergilius, Saelin, and his son Hector... So the next morning, when the devastation became clear, we believed they had all died. For a long time, that’s what we thought—me, Konrad, and Axel. Only many years later did we learn that Saelin and Nubel had survived, and each withdrew into his own castle, never reaching out. I wanted to visit Saelin several times, but he never answered letters, ignored magical messages, and seemed to avoid me completely.

  "Nubel was slightly more responsive, we met a few times. But every time I asked what had happened, he just said he ran as soon as the eruption began and didn’t know how it ended. He did say they were involved in the trial, and Petros had been accused in absentia of embezzling Academy funds. Nubel and Saelin testified against him, but since Petros disappeared, there was no one to punish.

  "Everyone assumed he was dead, longer even than Saelin and Nubel. Oddly enough, it was Yuffilis Lainter, his protégé, who told me he’d survived. He visited a couple of years ago. Asked the same things you’re asking now. And, just like with you, I couldn’t tell him anything."

  "It’s all so strange," Kairu and Rita exchanged glances. "What happened to Vergilius and Saelin’s son?"

  "No one knows," Ashley shook her head. "Vergilius had no family, so no one initiated an investigation. As for Saelin… Maybe he knows something, but he hasn’t told anyone. No bodies were found either, but the mountain was buried under a thick layer of lava."

  She looked at Kairu and Rita with sympathy.

  "This is a very dark story, and it happened a very long time ago… Forgive me, but I need to go finish the experiment, or the solution will spoil. If you see Roger, remind him to send a servant to water the horses..."

  Ashley nodded and went upstairs to her rooms. Kairu and Rita exchanged glances.

  "I'm going to my room," Kairu said wearily. "I want to think alone."

  He went to his chamber, collapsed onto the bed, and lay there for a long time, simply staring at the ceiling. Outside, it gradually grew darker, and the stuffy dusk with rare crystalline stars in the distant sky descended upon Estogil.

  It was around ten o'clock, and already completely dark, when Viggo looked in on him.

  "Everyone’s gathered downstairs," he said, cracking open the door. "A messenger arrived with a letter from Yuf."

  "And what does he write?" Kairu yawned desperately, sitting up on the bed.

  "That he's close now, currently staying in a village about a week's journey from Estogil... Are you coming down?"

  "I'll come." He got off the bed, and he and Viggo went down to the dining room, where voices could already be heard. Only the fireplace was lit below; seated at the table in the dimness were Rita, Atgard, Ashley, Roger, and Remiz. Rita was holding the letter in her hand. They were in the middle of a heated argument, and the raised voices were audible from the stairs.

  "...he thinks it's reckless, and frankly, I agree," Atgard was saying.

  "Do you have any better ideas?" Rita snapped. "Understand this, we can’t do it any other way! We just can’t!" She noticed Kairu, paused, frowned, and clenched the scrap of paper in her hand.

  "Do you want to read it?"

  "No." Kairu yawned. "Just tell me. Did he write anything else important?"

  "Only that he asked us not to rush into any decisions before he arrives, and that he has information that could help. He didn’t want to write it in the letter—he doesn’t trust the messenger."

  "You could’ve let me stay in bed, then..."

  "I'm going to sleep," Atgard muttered as he stood. "Sort this out yourselves."

  "We’re going too," Ashley said hastily, grabbing Roger by the hand and dragging him toward the stairs. Rita turned her gaze to Kairu.

  "It was at my request. When we met in Mainor, he told me more or less what you two talked about in the tavern near Asternia, back in the spring."

  "So what?"

  "Nothing. But after everything he's done, you could treat him a little more politely. You know... you really were unfair to him."

  "To Yuffilis?" Kairu felt anger start to boil inside him. "Why do you say that?"

  "Yes. He asked me to tell you... that anyone can be a hero, but there’s no need to shout it from every rooftop. It’s enough just to believe that your path is the right one. If you really are a hero, people will tell you so themselves."

  Kairu stared at her in amazement, and she added:

  "If only you knew what he had to go through while carrying out Petros’s orders… Between the two of you, he definitely had the harder road. It wasn’t fair to accuse him of cowardice."

  With those words, she stood up, stuffed the folded scrap of paper into her pocket, and silently walked up the stairs, leaving Kairu stunned and alone with his thoughts.