They split into two groups. Vince, Angela, Sammi and Dastion went down into the mines, descending towards the crack in the world that emerged up on the hillside above the remains of Longford. Sammi carried the relics with her, wrapped securely in her jacket. She moved silently through the darkness, unfazed and unamazed. Her focus was internal, she let them guide her but took little part in the journey herself.

Vince walked at the rear of their group, carrying a torch and turning around every minute or two. He was jumpy and nervous, certain they were being followed, but he embraced those nerves, that level of alertness, and readied himself for the confrontation to come.

They had all armed themselves. Dastion carried a heavy metal pike that he used for mining, something that Vince was not sure he would have the strength to even pick up, let alone wield in anger. The dwarf carried it as though it was a wooden stick. Angela had fashioned spears for herself and Vince out of lengths of wood. Sammi carried the relics and had refused a weapon of any kind. If this all worked out, she would be their weapon.

What Angela had said up on the surface had been a lie. This really was all about Sammi.

Shashahanna had recruited another Kin from the Fold, a cat woman called Fellian. They would slink through the main portal and perform their own distraction. Fellian said there were more Kin from the Fold who might join them, but Vince couldn’t be certain whether any of the others would help. Perhaps some of them had already tried escaping through the portal, either joining Mallian or, if they refused, being put down. There was no time to wait because the clock kept ticking. Vince hoped they could do what Shashahanna claimed. This whole day was built on hope.

As they passed by the deep, dark crevasse down in the mines, Sammi stopped and stared downwards.

“What is it?” Angela asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Something not of our world, and not of the Fold. I think Grace would know.”

“I don’t want to know,” Vince said. “Let’s move on. We’re almost there.”

They reached the deep place, and Angela paused and stared at the expanse of nothingness ahead of them. Sammi seemed unperturbed.

“I’ve been through,” Vince said to Angela, pulling her close so that their heads touched. “It’s fine. It’s safe.”

“I’m worried about what happens on the other side,” she said. “We could just stay here, build a cabin, live naked in the woods.”

“Just the two of us,” he said, nodding. “I’ll grow my beard even longer and be Grizzly Adams.”

“I always liked you with a bit of stubble.”

“That dude had a hedgerow, not stubble.”

“You talking about me?” Dastion said. He glanced over his shoulder smiling.

“You, it suits,” Angela said.