I fell back into my body hard, kicking my legs and gasping when I landed.

  "Mmm..." Tristan tightened her arm around my chest, then murmured into my neck. "Are you okay, love?"

  Goddess, I felt terrible. "Yeah." What the hell had Devon done to me?

  She stroked my chest with her fingertips. "Want to talk about it?"

  "It was just a bad dream. Let's talk about it in the morning." I pulled her close and kissed her forehead, but even that little movement was terribly straining.

  "Mkay..." She kissed my jaw and settled back into me.

  Once she was breathing softly again, I rubbed my face and looked up at the sky. For a few minutes, I just sat there, trying to catch my breath and get my bearings. A lot had just happened. I'd finally gotten undeniable confirmation that Devon was alive and here in Reial. That was something. I'd also learned that she had some benefactor in Istaera, and by the sound of it, it was someone in Calvareth. Someone with significant power and wealth, considering they were able to help her and her people avoid Kasimir's notice. That was big, too. Lastly, I'd learned that most of the problems in my life here in Reial were caused by her, either indirectly or directly.

  That pissed me off.

  More than anything, though, I got the sense that something had happened to her. Something bad. Little glimmers of the old Devon were in there, like her wit and the way she liked to dance around problems and verbally spar rather than deal with problems head-on. But surrounding those glimmers was someone who was fundamentally broken. It was as if her inherent selfishness and self-righteousness were dialed up to eleven and mixed with a deep-seated pain that seemed to have eaten away at her. Now, all that was left was a bitter, vindictive shell of who she used to be. And I still had no idea what her motivations were.

  Damn it... If I were only more cunning... But that just wasn't me.

  I sighed.

  It was so dumb. Now that we weren't face-to-face any longer, I couldn't help but feel for her. I felt for her, even though I wanted to beat her face in for what she'd done to us. To me.

  Stupid big heart of mine.

  I wanted to know what had made her into what she was now, almost as much as I wanted to stop her.

  Almost.

  Maybe, just maybe, by doing the latter, I'd be able to do the former, too. Now that I knew she was targeting Istaera, it was inevitable that we'd run into one another again. I wasn't going anywhere. This was my home now, and I wasn't about to let anything happen to it. All I could do was pray that we'd run into one another before whatever bad shit she had planned happened. The problem was, as things were now, I had a feeling I'd need to be quite a bit stronger if I were to have any hope of stopping her when the time came. I had no idea how strong she actually was, but if she could casually enter the dreams the Dark Lord crafted, she had to be strong.

  I had to work harder.

  Shaking my head, I forced myself to take a deep, slow breath, but it was hard. Everything was always hard. All I ever did was train and work hard. And all I'd ever wanted was to kick back and enjoy life with my loved ones. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, it was. Maybe, if I took Devon down, my life might just slow down enough for me to enjoy it. At least, I hoped it would.

  Still, it felt heavy. Far, far too heavy. So heavy that it was hard to breathe.

  Wait.

  Why did I feel so heavy?

  I tried to shift, but it was like an entire mountain was weighing me down. Again.

  "Uh, Tris?" I gently pushed her off my chest and pulled myself up into a seated position.

  "Yes?" She wiped her eyes and yawned. "How can I help?"

  "I think I might be getting sick." I tried to suck in another deep breath, but it kind of hurt.

  Her sapphire eyes sparkled in the moonlight. "Well, you did work pretty hard a little while ago. You might just be tired."

  "Yeah." I teetered up into a cross-legged position, but the movement took everything I had. "Okay, no, something's definitely wrong."

  She sat up straight, reached toward me, and placed her hands on my body. Closing her eyes, she began speaking under her breath. For a time, she was quiet. Then, "Your corpus is strained to the limit." Opening her eyes again, she asked, "Why would that be?"

  "Well, I—" Before I could tell her about my dream, I realized what it was. "Shit."

  "What?" She shifted closer. "Are you okay?"

  Rubbing my hands over my face, I let out a laugh and said, "Remember how I put Ark's cages in my inventory?"

  For a moment, her eyes searched mine. Then, the awareness of what I meant washed over her. "Goddess..." She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. "A lot happened yesterday. I completely forgot about that."

  "Yeah, me too." I sighed. Then, I tried to stand. Every single joint in my body cracked as I teetered to my feet. The stone beneath my toes crumbled away when I finally managed to stand up. That nearly sent me tumbling back onto my ass.

  "I've got you." Tristan shot up and hooked an arm under my shoulders. Heaving, her face turned red, visible even in the moonlight, as she did her best to help me stand. "Goddess... grant me... the strength..." She said through heavy puffs.

  "Don't hurt... yourself..." I said, puffing just as hard as she was.

  "How are you... alive..." She twisted and wrapped both arms around my chest. "This is... insane..."

  I had no idea how strong I was at this point, but it felt like I was carrying an entire truck filled with lead. "I'm... a... badass..." I let out a single chuckle and nearly fell. Sweat was pouring from every single pore in my body.

  "Vral!" Tristan shouted. "We need help!"

  "Are you two finally done?" She called back.

  "Vral!" Tristan snapped. "Alex needs help!"

  "Oh, I'm sure he does." Her voice was getting closer. "Did he break a hip or something?"

  "Damn woman..." Tristan shook her head. "The magic keeping those cages in Alex's inventory small wore off. He can't move."

  "Shit," Vral said from the edge of the water. "Can he talk?"

  "Yeah," I breathed. "A little."

  "That's good. I think." I heard her click her thumb on her teeth. "What do you want me to do?"

  "You're stronger than I am." Tristan's hands were starting to slip on my sweaty skin. "Help me drag him to shore."

  "Hell no!" She shouted. "I'm not that much stronger than you anymore. Do you want me to drown?"

  I shook my head. "I don't want to hurt either of you."

  Tristan was shaking now. "Can you stand on your own?"

  "Yeah." I ground my toes into the stone and took a deeper stance. "Let go."

  Immediately, she let go of me. The weight bearing down on me increased by a good third.

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  "What about the ropes?" Vral asked. "We could pull him to shore!"

  Tristan looked at me, asking the question with her eyes.

  I was pretty confident they couldn't pull me to shore on their own. "Are Ro and Na-Ya back?"

  "We're here," Na-Ya said.

  "How can we help?" Ro asked.

  "Did you find Ark and the others by chance?" It sure would be nice if they had. I had no idea if Ark's wand would work if I tried to use it in my inventory, but I sure as shit would try to make the attempt.

  "We found their tracks, but not them," Ro responded. "As far as we could tell based on their tracks, though, they made it to the big tree. There's a light visible high up in the branches."

  I groaned. Damn it. "What about Dhurak?"

  "Uh..." Vral hesitated. "You'll have to see him to understand."

  Goddess, what now?

  "Alright, rope it is." With a quivering hand, I reached into my inventory. Willing one of the ropes to come to me, I felt something else brush against my hand as the woven material fell into my hand.

  That was new.

  "Here." I handed the rope to Tristan. "Do what you gotta do."

  Tristan took the rope and started tying it around my waist. When she finished, she dove into the water and swam to shore. A few moments later, there was some tugging on the rope, and the line went taut. "Alex?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you ready?"

  No. "Sure."

  "Okay, team. On three."

  They all muttered affirmations to her.

  "One."

  This was going to suck.

  "Two."

  I took a deep breath and stepped to the edge of the rock.

  "Three!"

  Before I could do anything, the line snapped, and I was yoinked into the water, where I then sank like a ton of bricks. Before I could get my bearings, I slorped into the muck coating the bottom of the marsh, felt something slither against my thigh, and immediately regretted every decision I'd ever made.

  ***

  "Pull!" I shouted as one of the cages, the empty one, shuddered through the largest portal I'd ever opened into my inventory. It took me over an hour to figure out how to open a portal wide enough for the cages to fit through. Even after figuring out how, I still couldn't quite open it up wide enough for the cage to comfortably slide through, so the thing scraped terribly at something deep within my soul with every pull. It was absolutely the worst pain I'd felt since I endured Aerell's "training" sessions.

  "Come... on!" Tristan said through clenched teeth.

  "We've got this!" Na-Ya breathed.

  "It's moving!" Vral shouted beside her.

  Something gave way deep in my soul, and the cage slid a good foot before getting stuck again.

  "Almost..." Fuck that hurt.

  Everyone heaved, and the cage nearly slid through the portal.

  "One more pull!" Na-Ya shouted.

  "Heave!" Ro called out.

  All five of us pulled, and the cage slid out of my inventory and into the real world.

  "Damn..." The instant the cage was through, so much relief washed over me. Not only did the strain in my soul vanish, but I immediately felt a lot lighter. Ark wasn't kidding when she said these things were heavy when they were full-size. No wonder Klart, Frik, and Lutz couldn't carry them.

  "Are you okay?" Tristan knelt beside me and rubbed my back. "Does it hurt?"

  "A little, yeah." And by a little, I actually meant it hurt terribly, beautiful woman who shared a life with me for some damn reason.

  She kissed the top of my head, stood, and whispered a prayer. "Great Goddess, bringer of light..."

  As she spoke, I tuned her out. Even though I could understand the words, listening to them made my head spin.

  [Healing Light]

  White light rippled from Tristan's hands and sank into my skin.

  So. Much. Relief.

  "So, on to the next one?" Ro asked.

  Wiping the thick sweat from my brow, I said, "Not yet. I need a breather." I sat on the ground and enjoyed the feeling of not being completely crushed by an invisible weight.

  "Fair enough." Ro turned and started inspecting the cage.

  "I sure wish Dhurak were awake right now." He'd have made this whole thing far easier.

  "Yeah, the asshole!" Vral plopped down beside me. "We were mid-conversation, and the big guy just went and shut his eyes on me. Then, poof! He was a bush-covered rock." Her red eyes trailed over to meet mine. She looked worried.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  "Am I really that boring?"

  I ran my fingers through her hair, then brushed my fingernails down her cheek and pinched her chin. "Of course not. He was just tired."

  She bit her lip. "I was having fun talking to him. We were starting to really get along." With a sigh, she lay her head in my lap and looked up at me expectantly. When I didn't do anything, she said, "You can keep doing that with my hair, by the way. I liked it." When she finished, she closed her eyes.

  I started massaging her scalp. "Shouldn't I be getting all the love right now?"

  Cracking one eye, she said, "Tch. Haven't you already gotten enough love tonight?"

  Tristan giggled behind me. "He certainly did."

  Laughing, I conceded. "Fair enough." Running my fingers down Vral's ears, I watched as her face completely relaxed.

  "Ooo..." She purred. "This is the best."

  Na-Ya pointed back at Dhurak and said, "I've never seen anything like that before. Sitting on the ground in front of me, she continued, "There are so many wonders in this world left for us to see." Smiling, she added, "I'm happy to see them with you all."

  "Aw!" Tristan sat behind me and began rubbing my shoulders.

  "I wonder if he'll be okay?" Tristan rubbed my back a final time before sitting on my other side. "Is it normal for wyrms to do that?"

  "Yeah. At least, I think so." Looking toward where the wyrm had been lying, I could just barely make out a massive, wyrm-shaped hedge at the edge of the firelight. "When dragons sleep, they turn into the elements they're linked to as a form of natural camouflage. Based on what we're seeing, I'm guessing wyrms are the same."

  "Even if it still makes me a little nervous, it really is fascinating." Ro sat down in front of me and rubbed his right shoulder with his left hand.

  "You alright?" I asked.

  "It's nothing. I just strained my shoulder, is all."

  Scooching closer to him, Na-Ya pulled his hand off. Then, her hands found his shoulders, and she started rubbing.

  "So good," He whispered.

  "Of course it is. These hands of mine are meant for healing." Na-Ya grinned, then started whispering a soft prayer.

  [Healing Light]

  As her light washed over him, the relief was clear on his face. "Thank you."

  She kissed his cheek and continued rubbing. "Of course, love."

  "Look at that." Ro pointed at the Dhurak's horns. On the side that he'd lopped off, there was a small branch growing that looked remarkably similar to a tiny horn. "It looks like his horn's already growing back."

  "It really does." It had only been four or five hours. I wondered how quickly he could heal.

  "It's amazing how well they heal. No wonder they were such a problem in the Fourth Age." Ro shook his head. "Still, it makes me nervous knowing that he'll be out here unsupervised when he wakes up."

  "He made his oath earlier. Don't you think that's enough?" I thought it was.

  "Maybe." Ro's golden eyes met mine. "The thing is, he doesn't even know where to go when he wakes up."

  "Huh." I'd been thinking about that earlier. "You know, let me try something." I dug deep and focused my mind on the strand of whatever connected Dhurak to my soul. Once I'd focused in on it long enough to feel confident in what I was doing, I commanded in as strong and regal a tone as I could muster, "Dhurak, when you wake up, find the village of Goodfield to the southeast. Once there, you will meet the village chiefs, Nivan and Nel. You are to guard that village until I come to find you." When I finished speaking, I felt a small tugging through our bond, and a moment later, a light wind whipped at my hair.

  In response, the leaves covering the large hedge that was Dhurak rustled, then grew quiet.

  "There." I wiped fresh sweat from my brow. After that little stunt, my heart was pounding in my ears. "It's done."

  "Incredible," Ro said as he and Na-Ya studied me. "It's that easy?"

  I shook my head. "Not really. My head's actually pounding now."

  "Sorry." Looking at the ground, he added, "It does make me more confident, though. So thank you."

  "Don't worry about it." It was fine. In fact, it was probably better to send him somewhere I could find him, anyway. And there was no way either of us could know it would tax me to give him a command. Still, I couldn't help but moan when Tristan's hands found my temples.

  "Did that happen before? With Ark and the others, I mean?" Na-Ya asked. "The fatigue?"

  "No." I took a breath. "With the goblins, I always felt a tugging sensation, but it wasn't ever too hard." I wondered if that meant stronger servants... no, not servants. Definitely not slaves. Vassals? Vassals. I wondered if stronger vassals required more effort to command or if I was just tired. "Doing that just now was hard."

  She nodded. "Why Goodfield?"

  I shrugged. "I was already worried about what would happen if Dhurak showed up at the temple unannounced. With all of us leaving on quests soon, if he wakes up while we're gone, he'll have somewhere to go. Plus, if we don't find whatever it is that's been making the crystals, they can use his help over there to keep the village safe."

  She and Ro nodded to one another.

  "Ready for another round?" Ro asked.

  Based on how tired I was, how much pain my spirit was in after all the tugging, and how much that command I just gave Dhurak taxed me, I made a decision. "With that cage out, the weight's not so bad now. I'll be alright. Let's wait until morning."

  "You sure?" He asked. "It might be wiser to get them out now."

  "Yeah, I am." I clenched and unclenched my fists. "Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could handle another round right now." I didn't know what a torn spirit would do to me, but it couldn't be good, right?

  Slowly, he nodded. "Alright, team." Ro stood up, then pulled Na-Ya to her feet. "You three have first watch. Come get us in a few hours, and we'll switch, alright?"

  "Deal," I responded.

  They walked away, toward the small tent they'd set up before we'd started with the cages.

  "Well, looks like—"

  "Nah uh." Vral's eyes popped open. "Time for you to sleep too, mister. Your women have your back tonight."

  "But—"

  "No buts." Vral stood and pushed on my shoulders. "Sleepy time."

  I wanted to protest more, but my body had other ideas. As I slumped backward, Tristan caught me and lowered me to the ground. Rubbing my temples for a moment longer, she whispered, "Rest," and stood up.

  It would be a lie to say the ground didn't feel good. "You're sure?"

  Both of them nodded.

  "Okay." I hooked my hands under my head. "Fine." I closed my eyes. "Just this once."

  "Good boy," Vral murmured.

  "Sleep tight, love," Tristan said before walking away.

  I took a deep breath. I didn't even know if I could sleep. With everything that happened, there was just so much... to think... about...

  ***

  "Al-ex?" A soft, familiar voice asked above me.

  I knew that voice.

  Opening my eyes, I found Irileth looking down at me with her big hawk eyes. "Irileth?"

  "Hoo-man..." She lowered herself so that her face was nearly pressed to mine. Blood was visible on her lips. "I need... your help."