“What?” cried Nicole. “What about the horde? Skies above, Argyll, he’s only just returned!”

“I’ll do it,” said Garth. “I can start making preparations right away.”

“Why me?” asked Fionn. “What good will I do?”

“You are the arcane advisor to the Triad,” said Argyll. “You are by far the most knowledgeable among us when it comes to the ways of magic. If there is anybody who can figure out how to fight the dead, it’s you.”

Fionn paused, narrowing his eyes as if struggling with his own thoughts. “Yes,” he said eventually. “I’ll go to Roseán.”

“Me too,” said Cormac. “I’m no fighter, but I’ll go. There are many debts I need to pay, and this may be the best time to start.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Argyll. “The horde is reported to be marching south on Ard Sidh. We have some reports that there is no trace of the dead in the Clifflands.”

Garth and Nicole were the first to exit the meeting room. Farris went to follow, but Cormac called out to him.

“Farris, is it?” said the man, reaching out for the Simian’s arm. “I wanted to thank you. I would have been in a bad way if I stayed there, in the camps. The fog of my mind is starting to clear now.”

“So, you’re finally sobering up?” said Farris. Immediately after he spoke, he regretted the words.

“No,” said Cormac. “I did not flee when the troll attacked my family. I was on our horse, and he dragged me away from my home. When I came to, I was too afraid to return, too afraid of what they would say. I’ve been blaming myself ever since. I still do, sometimes. But now I’ll make amends, in whatever way I can. Even if I can’t help, I’ll at least try. If you had never found me, Farris, I would have never wanted to try.”

“Thanks,” muttered Farris, not quite sure what to say. He was more aware of Fionn’s stare from across the room. The young mage stood with his arms crossed and had not moved since the beginning of the meeting. In an effort to avoid another confrontation, Farris promptly excused himself and walked out into the hallway.

“I won’t let anything happen to me,” said Garth. He and Nicole were both leaning against the marble banister of the Triad’s landing. With a sudden shock, Farris saw that his hands were clasped together with hers.

“That’s what you always say!” she snapped. “We both know what happened the last time you went to that damn village!”

Garth hushed her gently. “Yes, we both know, but nobody else does,” he whispered. “And they don’t need to.”

With that, he placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I won’t be long this time, I promise.”

Farris stood dumbfounded as Garth departed. Nicole didn’t move, seemingly unaware that Farris was there.

“What was that all about?” asked Farris, not trying to hide the anger in his voice.

“It was nothing,” said Nicole. “He just ran into trouble the last time he went into the Clifflands, and he didn’t want anyone to know about— “

“Not that,” said Farris. “You were all… together, and….”

Farris’s heart lunged in his chest. Each beat seemed like a strain on his whole body. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Fortunately, Nicole seemed to understand.

“Farris, Garth and I have been sharing a bed for the past year now. I thought you knew this.”

“Of course not!” he said, caught with surprise at how easily the words came out now. “I thought I was the only one.”

“Skies above,” swore Nicole. “What do I look like to you, a Human? You are not the only one. Garth is not the only one. There are plenty of others, too. That’s the way it’s always been!”

“But I thought this was different.”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from Farris Silvertongue. Is that what you tell your others, too?”

“No,” said Farris. “There hasn’t been anyone else but you—”

“Listen to yourself, Farris!” interrupted Nicole. “The whole world is breaking, and your brother just went out to investigate the cracks. Tell me, are you really so unconcerned about him that you’d rather worry yourself with me?”

She turned and left before Farris could respond. As he stood there in shock, he considered that it was probably best. It was clear that she wouldn’t have liked the answer.

Chapter 21:

The Rose of the Cliffs

Two nights ago, I received a wave from the Earl of Ardh Sidh, pleading with me to take our war on the undead out into the open field. I did not listen, but now, as I hear the walking corpses butchering and burning right outside my walls, I wish I had.

Fear was what drove me to do what I did. Both of my sons were once brave warriors, and the Gods have shown mercy in that neither of them lived to see their father become a coward. Aislinn begged me to open the gates, to take the townsfolk in while I lead the charge on the dead, but I refused. I claimed I was in no fit state to fight, that we would be safer barricaded deep in the Keep, but she would not see this coward’s reason. Instead, she donned her brother’s armour and rode out to meet the horde herself. I’m sure she’ll meet her death, too. But she shall die a hero.

Let it be known that when the dead came charging over the land, Aislinn Carríga did not yield. Aislinn Carríga did not hide.

Last entry into the journal of Earl Carríga of Rosca Umhir.

***

Fionn stared up at the rising cliffs as the tiny skiff rocked gently towards the coast, influenced by the soft waves of the Eternal Sea. Like a great curtain of grey stone, the cliffs seemed to hang from an iron-coloured sky, draping into the foaming waters below. Fionn took in the view with awe, though the knight’s voice in his head was a little less impressed.

Sure, you’ve seen them before, said Sir Bearach. The Lord knows I’d be happier to never see them again.

Fionn nodded, though it was fortunate that none of the others aboard the vessel noticed. Sir Bearach had a point. It was upon those cliffs that Slaíne the White had died, along with an engineer from The Glory of Penance. Fionn had never learned his name, and as the moons had drifted by one by one, he even struggled to picture his face.

Fionn stole a glance at the newcomer. The only other Human aboard, he seemed to be a lot more lucid than before. With a freshly trimmed beard and a set of new clothes, he was hardly recognisable as the old vagrant Farris has pulled out from the camps.

But his eyes, noted Sir Bearach. His eyes haven’t changed.

It was true. Both now, and on the day they first met, Cormac had the gaze of a man who had witnessed too much, and who regretted doing so little.

We owe him this, thought Fionn. We were the ones who brought the troll to his home. His wife would still be alive if it wasn’t for us.

True, said Sir Bearach. And perhaps the world wouldn’t be in the state of ruin it is now.

Fionn shuddered. It was a frightening thought, and perhaps one not worth dwelling on.

“There’s a pathway through the cliffs a hundred or so yards ahead,” said Garth, pointing at the rocks ahead. He rested his other hand on the shoulder of the boat’s pilot: a Simian larger than any Fionn had ever seen.

“Are you tellin’ me how to do my job now?” asked the Simian. Fionn had overheard the others call him Jacob the Blind, but he didn’t seem very blind at all. Simian names never made much sense.

“Of course,” said Garth. “I’ve been scouting this region for the past year now. Tell me, when was the last time the Humans of the Clifflands required your smuggled merchandise?”

“There could have been a market there,” said Jacob, barely taking his eyes away from the cliffs as he manoeuvred the skiff toward the coast.

The wooden vessel glided gently past the rocks. Only when the great cliff wall approached, could Fionn make out the pathway Garth had mentioned. It was less a pathway and more of a fissure, struck down the face of the cliffs and creating a tiny passage gently sloping upwards.