Kihrin caught her arm. “Stop.” He pointed at the ground before them. Here Relos Var had created a defensive second portal, which acted like a moat. It opened onto bright teal sky. Nothing but bright teal sky, and Kihrin was sure dawn hadn’t yet arrived where they were.

So it was a long way away, with a long drop to the ground.

“There’s one other problem,” Kihrin said. He grabbed his cup from the bar and hurled it at Relos Var.

The cup passed right through Relos Var and fell through the second gate, which was still open on the figure’s other side.

“So now that we’ve established you can’t attack me, shall we talk like—” Relos Var said.

Kihrin turned to Janel. “I’m not seeing whatever you’re seeing. Trust me, Relos Var isn’t there. I assume he’s projecting some sort of illusion.”

Relos Var sighed and vanished.

The wizard reappeared. He didn’t use a gate this time. Between one second and the next, the wizard simply stood in the room as if he’d always been there.

“Satisfied?” Var said.

Instead of answering, Kihrin touched Urthaenriel to the edge of the portal on the ground, which fizzled out and vanished. Then Kihrin stepped forward, lunged with Urthaenriel—

Janel grabbed his hand and pulled Kihrin back before he fell through a giant gate—which had opened in the air directly in front of him. Urthaenriel could disrupt portals, but only if Kihrin touched the edges with her. Otherwise, the sword could travel through the center of a gate as well as anyone else.

“The wizard’s put some kind of gate in front of himself,” Dango called out. “Can’t get a shot.”

“Here too,” Ninavis said. “It must be wrapped around him.”

Ninavis’s people spread out through the tavern. Most of them had bows drawn, but all had the same problem as Dango: no clear shot.

The illusion of Relos Var appeared again to the side, outside the gate barrier, so suddenly Kihrin couldn’t stop himself from glancing in the wizard’s direction.

“Oh, you can see me now,” Var said.

“I could see you last time,” Kihrin admitted, “but I wanted to draw you out. There was no point in stabbing an illusion.”

Relos Var scowled before turning to Janel. “Do you want to play these games? Because I can easily leave, taking Khoreval with me too. I’ll be curious to see what you do when Morios shows up to ravage Atrine, but it won’t be my problem.”

Kihrin cocked his head. “Did you really vanish on Duke Kaen like that because I died? What were you going to do when you saw my murderers? Shake Gadrith’s hand or—?”