The room was a mess. Bodies littered the floor and the single platform that supported the two magically imbued wooden arms between which the portal formed were so blood-spattered they looked as if they had been painted red. The stench was nearly overwhelming, despite the brothers having been subjected to demon carcasses for days.

The portal was inactive.

Gulamendis said, “Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

His brother let out a long sigh of exasperation and said, “No, it’s not. Those arrogant bastards in the Regent’s Meet think they have everything under control and we’re no longer useful. So, rather than trust us after all we’ve done…”

“Well, if I were inclined to give these poor souls the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they just didn’t try hard enough to make sure we’d get the recall. From the looks of things here, it was a quick and dirty fight.”

A sound behind caused them both to spin, daggers and swords at the ready, but instead of a demon, it was another elf, this one in the garb of a Sentinel. “I’m wounded,” he gasped as he clutched his left side with his left arm, leaning against the edge of the doorway.

Laromendis motioned for his brother to care for the Sentinel, and said, “I’ll see if he was followed.” He hurried down the hallway.

“Let me see,” said Gulamendis to the Sentinel. The brothers’ upbringing along the frontier had given them both a fundamental education in field dressings. The wound was long and deep. He had already lost a lot of blood. “Let me bind it,” said the Demon Master.

He cut at the bottom of the Sentinel’s tunic, then sliced away a long length of cloth, fashioning a rude bandage. The man lifted his arm above his head, obviously in pain, but seemed slightly more comfortable once the makeshift bandage was in place.

Laromendis returned and said, “Nothing followed.” He looked at the Sentinel. “They neglected to send you the recall, as well, I see.”

“There was no recall,” said the Sentinel. “The demons swarmed the hub and some of us counterattacked to hold them off while others ran to draw them away so the galasmancers could shut down the portals.” He pointed to blood and gore splattered on the walls. “We tried to reach this location, but I and two others were cut off. The rest of the Sentinels and one galasmancer came here to use this portal. My two companions perished, but I’ve been making my way here.” He paused. “I really didn’t think the portal would still be open. But…”

“You had to see,” finished Laromendis.

“I had to see,” agreed the Sentinel.

Gulamendis said, “It appears that those who got here also didn’t get through. That’s what’s left of them.”

The Sentinel said, “But they got the job done.” Catching his breath, he continued, “My name is Arosha.”