“I’ll go,” said Laromendis. “You were always the better scholar. See what you can make of this with what little light is left.”

They quickly got the door back on its hinges and closed it to ensure it was secure. Then Laromendis left, closing the door behind and Gulamendis latched it shut. He looked at the many volumes on the shelves, wondering where to start, then he found his gaze drifting to one at the top, large and covered in leather. He reached up and when his fingertips touched it, he jerked his hand back. “Demon,” he whispered. “Could this be—?” He pulled the book down and opened it. At once his vision swam and he recognized the writing, the arcane runic symbols of demon control. “Oh, my,” he whispered as he sat down and began to read.

A short time later his brother returned with a sack full of food and said, “It’s a good thing we vacated that shed. When I got there some dwarves were leaving with food for the prisoners.”

“Why didn’t they find us last night?”

Laromendis shrugged and tossed an apple to his brother. “Perhaps they don’t feed them every day.” He started eating an apple as well and after a juicy bite, asked, “Find anything?”

“Yes,” said his brother. “I think I may have found several important things.”

“Such as?”

“Where the Demon Gate is that lets them into this realm.”

“Really?” he seemed impressed. “What else?”

“Who or what may be at the heart of this madness.”

Laromendis let out a slow sigh. “It’s almost too dark to read. Finish that tomorrow.” Elves were capable of seeing things on the darkest of nights, even if only starlight was the source, but without some light, reading ancient ink on parchment was beyond even their gifts.

“One other thing,” said Gulamendis.

“What?”

With a broad smile he said, “I think I have found a way for us to get home.”

Night dragged on and Laromendis repeated back what he had just been told to be certain he understood it. “So, this lair was the study of a human magician, by name Makras—”

“Macros.”

“Macros, and he was the magician advisor to the local ruler.”

“The King of Des.”

“The King of Des. He discovered a portal, built by some unknown people in ages past.”

“Yes.”

Laromendis said, “So while experimenting with this device, he opened the portal.”

“Yes, to a world…well, I will have to reread that part when the light returns.”

Laromendis sat silently in the darkness a moment, then he said, “I’ll skip the other parts. It’s not the portal we came through to get here?”

“No, for he described its location as being in a nearby vale; I assume he meant nearby from where he was writing and I assume he was writing here.”

“Well, let us say we can find this portal. How are we to operate it?”