Sayed sat with his back against the wall, a second sword lying on the floor before him. His oily black hair was tied back on his head, the curls forced straight while he examined the blade. He reached up and scratched at his long beard as his hand hesitated.

It was not his usual blade, a khopesh that rested beside him in its sheathe. The blade in front of him was nothing like his own. Where his blade was curved with a heavy head, closer to an axe than a sword, the sword before him was more like a cross. Sayed grimaced as he looked down at the blade.

It felt wrong.

The blade was covered in markings and etched lines in many patterns. Sayed's hand reached for the hilt but stopped. He did not know why, but something was wrong with the blade. Using two swords was not always beneficial, but Sayed had made it part of his style. However, just picking up a second blade was not enough. That was not the problem.

"A dark creature has touched his blade," Sayed whispered. "But also one of light. A dark flame."

"What?"

Sayed looked up, remembering he wasn't alone in the room for the first time.

At a nearby bookshelf stood a darker-skinned man, though he was more bone than flesh. His white bone hands held a dusty tome. Though he wore a purple robe, he was only flesh from his neck and above. Most of his body was covered in a dark blue robe, but Sayed knew him well. He was Jean Baptiste, 'The Reanimator.'

"Sounds like he doesn't like the sword."

A woman in a long brown jacket was cleaning a handgun at a nearby table. Her wide-brimmed hat sat to the side as she ran a cloth over the long barrel. Nearby was a black cylinder encrusted in ice. She was Li Wen, the former bounty hunter 'Cold Shot.'

"You must know what it is like to use an unfamiliar weapon, Wen." Sayed pursed his lips. "A sword is not merely a sword."

"But you said more than that. You said it was touched by a dark flame." Jean sat down the tome.

"That is the other issue." Sayed shook his head. "I sense a flame has touched the blade, but it is not from the light of God."

"That's one of the Hell Knight blades, right?" Wen stood up, setting her gun aside to approach.

She knelt beside the sword, her hand running across the black blade and the markings. Sayed watched her but did not interrupt. Wen was a brother who could be trusted.

"There's a definite pattern to it," Wen said. "There's no recurring punctuation, though."

"It could be magick," Jean said, leaning over her. "I am no expert, but I know of someone who is on the island that would know."

"Who do you know?" Wen asked, looking up at him.

"An old frie—acquaintance." Jean smiled. "From the Academy. I thought our paths might cross again someday."

"You know," Wen whispered, tapping her chin. "Now that you mention it, I swear I recognized someone else too."

"A friend?"

"A bounty," Wen said. "I don't know why I would be surprised. With the message, a lot of outlaws are heading toward the Core."

"I have none of these." Sayed smiled. "None of my regular customers seemed like brigands."

"Maybe it was luck."

"No, it was fate," Jean said. "Just wait a moment, and you will see."

Thud.

The door to their room opened, and Alex stepped through. Although his physique was not the tallest or mightiest of the group, his dark visage commanded attention when he entered the room. His preference for his long jacket and long black hair gave him the entrance deserving of the hero of a story.

"Oh, good," he said, looking them over. "We're all here."

"Move, you're blocking the door." A pale woman with short, curly black hair pushed in behind Alex, bringing a small childlike figure in a red cloak behind her.

The woman wore a matching green cloak, and Sayed knew from experience that her cloak hid many secrets. She was Erin 'Thorn Queen' Leah. The smaller figure was Mari, a part of their ship's navigation system, with long white hair and strange lines across her face. However, appearance mattered little. She was a brother, the same as the rest of the crew.

The two of them sat down, and Sayed's ill-begotten sword was forgotten. In truth, he wasn't ready to use it. Someday, he would find a person able to forge him a new khopesh, which was by far the superior weapon.

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The others gathered around the small table, though only Wen, Mari, and Erin could sit. Jean leaned up against a nearby bookshelf, and Sayed crossed his arms as he stood nearby. Alex approached the table with a frown on his face.

That did not bode well.

Alex was always a man with a plan. He was the schemer, the one always in control. As Sayed looked at him now, though, he only saw doubt.

"Surely you cannot bring grim news?" Sayed opened his arms wide. "Now is the part where you rouse us with a daring plan to rescue Artur!"

Alex smirked, his frown disappearing, but he shook his head. Sayed eyed him with a long look, but Alex didn't falter. Sayed pursed his lips. It had to be very serious.

"Things are much more complicated than we thought," Alex said.

"Isn't it always?" Wen sighed. "Everything we do always hits some snags."

"I think it is our fate." Jean smiled. "But complications are just problems waiting for solutions. By now, I would say we were experts in solving problems."

"And we have to go through it either way," Erin said. "Right, Mari?"

"Right," Mari said, her glowing blue eyes looking around the room. "Alex will pull us through."

"Hah." Alex smiled. "I do have a plan, but I want you to all know the entire situation first."

"What about Bolton?" Sayed asked, looking around the room.

"Harut's handling informing him for me," Alex said. "Let's just get started."

He pulled out a folded sheet of paper and opened it, setting it on the table. Three drawings were on it, though the handwriting made them hard to tell apart. Sayed leaned over them and squinted his eyes.

In the center was a squared drawing labeled 'The Castle.' The picture to the left was a circle labeled 'The Shield.' A final triangle rested on the right, labeled 'The Gate.'

"This certainly does look more complicated," Jean whispered, leaning forward on the table so that his shadow fell over the pictures.

"Where there was one problem, there are actually three," Alex said. "I understand enough of it to explain it, but there are still some loose ends."

"Well, come out with it." Sayed gestured at the pictures. "There is no sense in delaying the start of a tale."

"Right," Alex said. "First, we should start with the basics. From what Harut's learned, the remaining Fingers have taken everyone they could from their operation into the castle."

Alex pointed at the center picture.

"That's all the Finger's we've encountered so far. Considering their name, there would be five Fingers to a Hand." Alex tapped his finger on the castle. "Mister Deadman, Mister Foley, Miss Brooke, Miss Glory, and Mister Tyson. With Deadman gone, that leaves only four."

"Why name them so that you can deduce that, though?" Erin asked. "Why not six, seven or eight?"

"That'll be a question for Miss Malone," Alex said. "That's the least of our concerns, though."

"Why?" Sayed asked. "Surely we can storm the keep and take them all down together. Where they have four fingers, we have five fighters to break those fingers."

"That's where this problem comes in." Alex tapped on the circular drawing.

"A shield?"

"Around the entire area," Alex said. "When in danger, anyone from the royal family can activate a shield around the castle, stronger than Artur's curse."

"Stronger than Artur's shield?" Wen looked up. "How's that possible if they use him to activate it?"

"An amplification device of some kind," Jean whispered. "One that was built into the castle itself, perhaps."

"I thought it might have been a core at first," Alex said. "But then Harut didn't describe it right."

"Maybe it is power similar to the swords," Sayed said, pointing his thumb back at where his stolen blade rested on the floor.

"It could be," Wen said. "Though I doubt it's exactly the same. You said that that sword was covered with fire, right?"

"Yes," Sayed said, miming the blade. "The knight cut a swath of fire with that sword."

"Regardless," Alex said. "There's a weakness to exploit there, but we'll get to that in a second."

He pointed at the final picture, the triangle marked 'The Gate.'

"This is the last problem. When we first got dragged down here, I'm sure you all noticed that there wasn't anyone around here on the first tier."

"Yes, it is oddly empty for an entire part of the city." Sayed nodded.

In his heart, Sayed knew that he had not noticed at all. However, Alex did not need to know that, nor did the rest of the crew. Sayed needed to present himself at the height of his wits.

"The people who are supposed to be down here, and the vast majority of the city's population is beyond this." Alex tapped at his drawing.

"What is this 'gate?'" Sayed asked, leaning forward.

"Part of the passage between the Core and a key island," Wen said. "The gates on key islands can tunnel between the outside to the interior."

"That's partially right," Alex said.

"No." Jean shook his head. "That's exactly right. That's what the gates do."

"So, here's where we hit the last snag," Alex said. "The gate doesn't have to be opened just to the normal route; it can go to other places, too."

"What?"

"What?"

Jean and Wen looked up, and Erin joined in with a sidelong glance at Alex. On the other hand, Sayed had no idea what they were talking about. All of these gates and paths were a little bit beyond him. However, he was not about to let on that he didn't know.

"Yes, brother, of course." Sayed rubbed at his beard. "As I suspected."

The entire crew looked up to Sayed, even Mari, but Sayed only smiled. He was not going to argue about the new information. It would make the boring parts go quicker.

"They're not using it to go to the Core except for shipments out," Alex said. "According to Harut, they're using it to go somewhere between the Core and Grim Aegis. That's where everyone on this tier is."

"But why?" Erin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Labor," Alex said. "They're using them to dig into a site there."

"That doesn't make sense," Erin said.

"Does it matter if it makes sense to us?" Alex asked. "Why not use us for it? Why not use their own underlings to dig? There are too many questions to ask, and I have no idea. All we know for sure is that Artur is in the keep, and the entire thing might not even be about controlling this island. They might be doing all this for whatever is in that in-between place."

"Then what do we do about it?" Sayed asked. "It does not matter what our foes bring to bear. All that matters is that we fight and overcome them at the tale's end."

"I'll agree with that, to a point," Alex said. "But we've faced off with all the guys before. We've gotten stronger, but that doesn't change how hard those fights were."

"And now our opponents are in a fortified position." Jean pursed his lips.

"Exactly." Alex nodded. "That's why I had to adjust the plan. It can't just be us in this. We need more than just us."

"That is why those soldiers are here," Erin whispered, her face a little paler than normal.

"Yeah, but they're not the end," Alex said. "We need help."

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