Heron and Hundurr brought back a couple of deer-like animals, one of which Heron swiftly drained of blood into a large pitcher. With three metal cups in one hand and the loaded pitcher in the other, Heron settled by the fire next to Avril, while Hundurr licked his bloodied lips and sat close to me at the foot of the sofa.

Patrik held me close as I took long sips from my blood cup. Heron and Avril fed, while Arrah caught us up with her activities prior to reaching the mountains.

“Once I got my brother, Demios, to safety, I had to come back,” she said, giving me a warm half smile. “I promised you I’d come back, and only death will stop me from keeping my word.”

“You got there just in time, though!” I replied, chuckling softly. “Had it not been for you, we might not have made it out. Not with Blaze under Rewa’s influence, anyway. Where is Demios now?”

“There is a village a hundred miles south of the Valley of Screams, on the ocean shore.” She sighed. “It’s far from any daemon hole or tunnel, perched on top of a cliff above the water. There are mostly sailors and gatherers there, peaceful folk. I left him there with the village elders. They might be able to scrub his mind clean of all the Mara mind-bending that he was subjected to. At least I hope so. He’s safer there than here, anyway.”

“How did that whole debacle in Azure Heights end?” I asked. “I wasn’t sure you’d make it out of there.”

Arrah grinned, the fire casting its amber glow over her soft cheeks and turning her jade eyes into golden pools. “I’m resourceful and resilient, I guess,” she replied. “As soon as you were all out, I pretended to be mind-bent and rolled with the crowd. Made my way out as we descended upon the main road into the plain, looking for you. The Maras were so riled up and confused about you, that they didn’t pay attention to me. To them, I was just a simple Iman, easily manipulated through mind-bending.”

“Little did they know you’re immune to that, huh?” Heron smirked, occasionally stealing glances at Avril. There was tension between them, though I wasn’t sure where it came from. Part of me wanted to point the finger at Nevis, prince of Dhaxanians, for this. “Speaking of which, you haven’t figured out why you can’t be mind-bent, have you?”

Arrah shook her head slowly. “No idea whatsoever,” she replied, shrugging.

“I wonder…” Avril murmured, narrowing her eyes at Arrah as she scanned her face.

“What? What do you wonder?” Arrah asked, slightly confused.

“Well, don’t hate me, but I’ve been thinking about this since I last saw you,” Avril said, then took another sip of blood. “What if you’ve got Mara blood in you?”

A couple of seconds went by in uncomfortable silence as the hypothesis sank in.

“My mother and father were both Imen,” Arrah replied, her brow furrowed. There was a glimmer of doubt in her eye, though, enough to make me think that Avril’s suggestion wasn’t all that crazy after all.

“Are you sure, though?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, I am,” she shot back, visibly offended.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you in any way,” Avril replied. “It’s the only scenario that makes sense to me. Maybe you only have one Iman parent, and the other helped keep the truth from you.”

“Have there been instances of Imen and Maras getting together?” Heron asked, watching Arrah intently as she grew restless, her gaze darting nervously between Avril, me, and the Imen boys in the kitchen.

“Not that I know of,” she finally replied. “I’m not sure it matters, anyway. What matters is they can’t manipulate me.”

“What do you know about their alliance with the daemons, then?” I asked, changing the subject. Clearly, Arrah wasn’t ready to consider the potential truth of her Mara origins. Not that I could blame her, given the current climate on Neraka.

“I thought you were told everything about this wretched partnership back in Vesta’s village,” Arrah muttered, then lit up when Dion brought over a plate of nuts and dried fruit from outside. “Thank you. You boys eat, too. And take turns with the others. Half of you inside, the other half outside, every two hours.”

Dion nodded, then took Alles out with him, leaving five Imen to settle inside by the windows. They all kept an eye out while eating their food and washing it down with fresh spring water.

“We know plenty, yes,” I replied. “But we don’t know where they’re holding the swamp witch, and we’ve yet to figure out how they’re using her magic to keep our people out. There is no way in hell that GASP isn’t somewhere outside Neraka right now, trying to get in.”

“Oh, I’m sure the Maras are employing a variety of tricks to keep you guys here and reinforcements out. The moment whatever shield they put up comes down, they’ll be done for,” Arrah said, wearing a bitter smile. “Assuming, of course, that Blaze isn’t the only dragon.”

“He most certainly is not. If we gather everyone in The Shade, alone, we’ll wipe the Exiled Maras and the daemons off the face of Neraka,” Avril muttered.

“As for your swamp witch problem, I might have an idea as to where they’re keeping her,” Arrah said, prompting us all to hold our breaths for a moment. My heart skipped a beat, my fingers clenched around the tin cup as I lifted it up to my lips for another sip.

“On the edge of my seat here,” I breathed.

“She won’t be in a daemon city, for sure,” Arrah replied. “If the daemons had the witch in their possession, the Exiled Maras would be rotting in cells with the rest of my people. No, it’s the Maras who are keeping her, and I’m willing to bet she’s somewhere in Azure Heights.”

“Do you know where, exactly?” Avril asked.

Arrah shook her head. “No, but there are a few places that spring to mind. The city is riddled with fake doors and hidden chambers, especially on the upper levels, where the elite live. I know of at least three spots that are heavily guarded, at all times.”

“That’s fantastic news,” I gasped.

“How so? We don’t know if she’s in any of those places.” Heron frowned.

“No, but Arrah makes a valid point. The witch has to be in Azure Heights. It’s the only place where the Maras have full control,” I replied. “Once we get back to Ragnar Peak and reunite with the others, we can send out the signals for the Adlets and the Dhaxanians, and work with them on a plan to infiltrate Azure Heights and find the swamp witch!”

Avril, Heron, Arrah, and Patrik nodded in approval, while Hundurr nuzzled my knees, as if he, too, was up for the extraction operation. Even in his lying-down position, he was tall enough to be at eye level with me, his red eyes glimmering curiously whenever he looked at me.

“Oh, I look forward to seeing those sassy bastards again,” Avril said, wearing a devious grin. “I’ve yet to break their faces in properly.”

“Hah, you’ll have to take a number. I have a feeling Harper, Caia, and Fiona will call dibs. Vincent and Rewa are living and breathing, and Caspian is still under that horrible blood oath,” I replied, chuckling.

“Poor Lord Kifo,” Arrah sighed, seemingly saddened as she remembered him.

“Whoa, you knew?” Heron replied.

“Of course,” she said. “Remember, they all think I’m mind-bent back in Azure Heights. Which means they all feel comfortable to talk about everything in my presence, thinking they can just wipe my memory and not worry about me telling anyone. While it’s true that my tongue was tied while Demios was still in their prison, well… that’s changed now. I knew about Lord Kifo, yes. I’ve known about his plight ever since I was little. He’s always struggled against the Lords and the way they treated my people. The only reason they haven’t killed him is because their numbers are low, compared to the daemons. They force the non-compliant Maras into blood oaths instead of killing them.”

“Wait, you mean to tell us Caspian isn’t the only one under a blood oath?” I yelped, suddenly going through my memories of every Exiled Mara I’d met in Azure Heights, looking for signs of magical tampering.

“Some escaped and were impossible to track down,” Arrah replied with a nod. “Others stayed behind and complied with the blood oath, hoping the day would come when they would find the swamp witch and break free. Cadmus is one of them. I’m not sure who the others are, but Cadmus is definitely under the blood oath.”

“That makes so much sense,” Avril said. “What happened to him, after we left? And how come he didn’t burn up from the oath when he fought to help us?”

“He’s in the prison beneath the city now,” Arrah said. “As for the burning part, well, swamp witch magic can be a fickle thing.” She chuckled. “His blood oath didn’t say anything about protecting you guys. He was sworn to secrecy over the daemon alliance and the treatment of Imen. His duty was to protect the Lords, but it didn’t say anything about keeping them away from you. That’s only because you guys were trying to get out of Azure Heights. You weren’t poised to attack them, per se. All Cadmus did was intervene and keep the Correction Officers busy while you made your way out of the city.”

“That was smart,” I muttered, then poured myself another cup of blood, passing the pitcher back to Heron and Avril.

“Cadmus has been by Caspian’s side for a long time. He’s learned a few tricks from the Mara Lord,” Arrah added. “Oh, and speaking of pissed-off Exiled Maras, they’ve sent out search parties to come after you. They’re extremely nervous about the dragon being at large, in particular, though they’re also uncomfortable with the idea of you all out here, roaming freely. They’ve instructed the scouts to kill the dragon on sight.”

“Hah, good luck with that,” Heron chuckled. “We’ve fortified our strategy, and we’ve got some swamp witch magic tricks up our sleeves. The Maras don’t stand a chance against Blaze. On top of that, he’s with Fiona, Harper, Caia, and the rest of our team. They won’t be able to get anywhere near him. I doubt they’ll even find them!”

“Frankly, after what we’ve seen and experienced so far, I’ll admit, Exiled Maras do not scare me,” Avril replied. “They annoy the hell out of me. I just want to snap their necks.”

We all laughed. It was truly refreshing to hear that. We’d all thought about it, but we’d yet to say it out loud. Thankfully, Avril’s no-filter policy could not be stifled by our dire conditions, and certainly not by a bunch of sniveling Exiled Maras.

“So, we’ve got some idea as to where the swamp witch might be,” Patrik interjected, bringing the conversation back to our biggest challenge. “We know she’s in Azure Heights. How would we get back into the city now? They’re on the lookout for us, and I doubt we’ve got the strength in numbers, even with our new allies, to lay siege on the mountain. The daemons would be coming to the rescue at the first sound of alarm sirens blaring.”

“Of which there are plenty in Azure Heights, by the way,” Arrah replied, pursing her lips. “And they’re loud enough to be heard far and wide across the land, hundreds of miles past the Valley of Screams. Courtesy of the swamp witch they’ve been torturing for millennia, of course.”

“Therefore, a direct assault won’t work,” Patrik concluded.

“Nope,” Arrah said, shaking her head. “But! The Imen built Azure Heights in a similar fashion to Kerentrith. There are secret passageways that the rebels dug through the mountain, while the rest of my people toiled under the Maras’ influence.”

“Didn’t we seal those passages during the early days of our so-called investigation?” I asked, vividly remembering Lord Kifo ordering his Correction Officers to seal the tunnels, after we figured out how the daemons were sneaking up on the mountain. Boy, were we naïve then.

Arrah smirked. “Not all of them. There’s one that the Exiled Maras and the city’s Imen know nothing about. It’s padded with meranium, and it snakes all the way up to the top. It connects an abandoned red garnet mine north of the Valley of Screams to the city’s sixth level. That would be our way in.”

I felt hope blossoming in my chest, and I gradually relaxed against Patrik on the sofa. Not only was the blood replenishing my energy and sharpening my every sense, but the idea of a way back into Azure Heights filled me with much-needed additional strength. “So we have a way in,” I murmured, prompting Arrah to give me a brief nod.

“I would suggest a two-stage approach for Azure Heights, though,” she said. “You may not have the daemons’ numbers, but all of Neraka’s rebels and free people are now rallying behind you. Word travels fast, Scarlett. Every day, more creatures are hearing about the blows you’ve dealt to Infernis and Azure Heights. You’re not alone anymore. You have enough of us ready to fight with you on this, so you can launch one, very loud, downright blaring offensive with as many of us as possible to keep the Exiled Maras busy and distracted. And, while that happens, a small team can infiltrate the city through the tunnel I mentioned, find the witch, and get her out.”

Silence settled over the room as we mulled over her suggestion. There was virtually nothing to stop us from putting it into practice. “I agree,” Patrik replied. “We’ll have to talk it over with the rest of our team, once we get to Ragnar Peak, but I’m sure they, too, will be on board.”

“Provided we all make it there safely,” Avril said, gazing at the fire. “I can’t help but worry about Harper, Fiona, and the others. I wonder if they’re okay, if they’re already on their way back or fighting daemons in Draconis. It sucks not knowing what they’re up to.”

Heron gently squeezed her knee in a bid to comfort her. “Unfortunately, Telluris doesn’t work,” he said slowly. “But, like Arrah said, word travels fast around here, it seems. Chances are we would’ve heard something by now, if our worst-case scenario happened and they were captured. If anything, I bet they would’ve already mind-bent Blaze with the help of an Exiled Mara and sent him after us by now.”

“Yeah, maybe the silence is a good thing, in this instance,” I added, giving Avril a warm, reassuring smile.

She had every reason to be worried, though. The silence could also mean that Harper and the others had already been captured, and that the daemons were keeping it on the down low so we’d feel confident enough to get sloppy and leave a trail. Or worse, so we’d go after them and stumble into a trap.

Without any means of communication, all we had were guesses and worries. However, with plenty of work still cut out for us, we couldn’t let ourselves fall prey to concern or despair. We had to keep moving. We had to keep fighting, with or without the others, until the swamp witch was free and the obstructive shield was down.

Avril didn’t need to see me worry, too. No one needed that, not after everything we’d already been through. So, I put on a brave, confident smile and poured myself a third cup of blood, settling on the hope that Harper, Caspian, Jax, Hansa, Fiona, Blaze, Caia, and Vesta were all okay and on their way to Ragnar Peak, like us. It was the only thought that could help me get some sleep that night.