Toward the north, the great swathe of contested land between the dominion of the Light and the Dark Lord’s holdings tapered and narrowed until they were separated by only the width of a jagged and inhospitable mountain range. There was one pass across this range that any significant number of feet could cross, a handful of miles of high road to stand between Light and Dark. This choke point was known—by both sides—as the Bone Vice, for no other stretch of land had been so fought over. On the far side loomed the haunted fortress of Cad Usgath, where an army of Ghants dwelt beneath the cold tyranny of ghastly necrotic wardens. On the side of the Light was the stronghold of Cad Nereg.

When the great tide of Darkness came, here was the anvil for its hammer. Cad Nereg was a nest of fortifications, rings of walls, emplaced engines, killing zones, and deadfalls. It had been besieged before, by Darvezian’s forces and by the hosts of those Dark Lords who had come before him. Never had it fallen, though often it had come close. More than once it had been the actions of a band of heroes such as Dion’s people who had cast down the Dark Lord just as his forces had been on the very point of triumph. Dion fervently hoped matters would not run so close to the wire this time round, but it seemed certain that the forces at Cad Nereg were on high alert, anticipating a grand assault in the near future.

They were held in the gatehouse when they arrived, while the commander was sent for. Travelers seeking access to the lands of the Dark were seldom and suspect, after all. Lord Commandership of the Order of the Guardians of Dawn currently fell to a heavyset, crease-faced woman who gave her name as Estellan the Fair.

Seeing the looks on at least some of their faces, her eyes narrowed. “Yes, well, no doubt when Lord Commander Barench gifted me with such a coveted title he was expecting me to die nobly and young, and not be so awkward as to live to replace him,” she snapped. “Forgive me for being competent. What do you want?” Her gaze twitched to Enth’s hooded shape, standing at the back like someone burlesquing an evil magician.

“We need passage through the gates,” Dion told her. “We are about the business of the Light.” Hearing her own voice, she sounded as though she were trying to convince herself, desperately unsure.

“That right?” Estellan shrugged. “It’s a hornet’s nest out there right now. We’re sending scouts out all the time. Some of them even come back. Same for the enemy. Place is lousy with weaselly little Ghants and enchanted Mire Bats and Spectral Eyes. But you just want to march out and, what? Knock at the door of Cad Usgath?”