Laryn followed Mat into the woods on the other side of the Townshold road. The figure in the distance had not come running in their direction. They detected no sign that they had been spotted in their passage.

  They crept through the shadows of the trees along the north side of the Townshold Road. As they moved, they stayed just close enough to the road to see if anyone passed along road, but far enough back to easily hide.

  Mat had two short spears and a bow strapped to his back. He also had a small dagger, and a pair of knives. Laryn, with just his sword, felt under equipped. Then he recalled his core buffs, and his spells. He didn’t need anything else beside his sword.

  They traveled through the trees for a short time when Mat pointed up through the foliage. "See that big boulder up there?" he said. "That's where we're headed."

  They continued on toward the base of the cliffs, slowly picking their way through the undergrowth. Suddenly their passage through grew markedly more challenging. The ground seemed to shift unhelpfully under their feet, and branches resisted being pushed out of the way more strongly.

  "We've crossed into a claimed tile," Laryn said, checking his system interface. "It says Fort Envin, claimed, and 1.2 influence."

  "They've claimed tiles all the way down here?" Mat said. "So they've definitely spread to the pass by now.”

  “Bad news for Hober," Laryn said.

  "Why would they spread down here like this?" Mat asked.

  "Maybe they're trying to claim the gold mines," Laryn suggested.

  "Could be."

  They pressed forward, quickly growing used to the added resistance that the Fort Envin claimed tiles offered.

  The trees thinned as they reached the foot of the cliff. Boulders littered the ground where they had fallen from the cliffs, perhaps millennia ago. A large heap of overgrown rubble rose out of the ground before them, a huge boulder resting on top. Various clumps of plants and small trees held the scree together.

  They climbed up to the top of the mound, trying to keep to the areas with more concealment from anyone who might be watching from atop the cliffs.

  When they reached the top, Mat led Laryn into a gap in the boulder. It had split apart into two massive pieces, each larger than a house, leaving a crevasse about a meter wide through the middle.

  "Here we're totally sheltered," Mat said. "Nobody looking down from the top can see in here. If you slide along to that end, you'll get a good view of the road and the pass."

  Laryn slid to the far end of the crack and peered out the gap. The elevated position allowed him to see portions of the Townshold Road running off to the west. To the east, he had an excellent view of the pass.

  Here, in ages forgotten, the towering cliff wall had crumbled dramatically, leaving massive boulders littered around huge sloping scree fields. The Townshold Road wound between these boulders and up through the rubble at a very steep angle, switching back and forth more than a dozen times before finally reaching the top.

  Laryn scanned the path but saw no signs of movement. He searched the top of the cliffs, looking for any sort of guard, temporary watchtower, or patrol, but again found nothing.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Laryn said. “I’d have no idea there was something up there if not for these claimed tiles.”

  “They haven’t taken a defensive posture, then,” Mat said. “So that’s good.”

  Then something moving on the face of the cliff caught Laryn’s attention. He looked more closely, and picked out several dark objects about two-thirds of the way up the cliff. The objects moved slowly, shifting this way and that. They didn’t seem to belong.

  He squeezed past Mat, gesturing for Mat to examine the cliff.

  Mat looked around the rock. "What are those?" he asked.

  "Not sure," Laryn said. He moved to the other end of the crevasse and examined the cliff more closely. As he watched, small signs of movement gave away around fifteen more dark objects at varying heights on the cliff. They seemed to all be slowly moving upwards, out from a common origin point.

  "Are those voidlings?" Mat asked.

  Laryn watched them for a moment longer. "Probably. I can't think of anything else that would be climbing up a cliff wall like that."

  He scanned along the base of the cliff and spotted a dark hole. "Is that one of the mines you were talking about?" Laryn asked.

  Mat moved around to see what Laryn indicated. “Yes,” he said.

  The hole was clearly infested with void. Voidbloom flora, vines, and other buds twisted out of the hole in the side of the cliff. All nearby plants wilted and crumbled with blight. As Laryn watched, another voidling crawled out of the hole and began scuttling up the cliff.

  "Well, that explains why they've claimed these tiles," Laryn said. "That is a challenging void position to assault. Claiming adjacent the tiles would help keep it from spreading."

  "That makes sense," Mat said. "If there is anyone up there watching, they're probably keeping their eyes on the void. I doubt they're expecting enemies along the Townshold Road."

  "It might be a good thing for us," Laryn said. "It might help keep them distracted. I'm nervous about climbing up that road, though. It's so exposed. The coast might look clear, but when you get halfway up, what do you do if a company starts coming down to meet you? There aren't many places to hide."

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  “From the top you can clearly see the whole kingdom,” Mat said. “What did you call it? Envin?”

  “Fort Envin,” Laryn said. “That’s what it’s called according to my interface.”

  “If we slip up there once it’s dark, you’ll be able to get a good view of it.”

  They waited for the sun to set while continuing to watch the cliff and the trail. Nothing moved as they watched, which did not, for some reason, reassure Laryn. He felt, perhaps because of the nearness of the void, the sinking suspicion that something was just waiting for him to make a move.

  Eventually, it was dark enough that they slipped back across the road to the south. The moon had not yet risen, and a layer of clouds overhead blocked out most of the stars. They met back up with Hober and Ollen, who had concealed themselves and the horses in a thicket of trees.

  The Fort Envin claimed tiles ended north of the road, and did not extend to Hober and Ollen’s hiding place.

  Laryn gave a brief report on what they’d seen. No movement on the road, void to the north. Claimed tiles. Then, they mounted their horses and began the trot up the steep incline of the pass.

  As they rode, Laryn watched the clifftops, anxiously monitoring the ridgeline for any signs that they may have been spotted.

  A short time later, they reached the top. The moon was just rising in the east. Mat led them off the north side of the path, where they dismounted. The ground here sloped gently away from the tall cliffs, and the Townshold trail angled off to the southeast. In the distance Laryn made out the place where the trail curved around directly south. Then it would run straight down to cross the Ebil river. The same place Laryn and Keldin had been attacked by voidlings on that fateful day.

  Fewer trees grew atop the plateau, clumped like people huddling together for warmth. The night was cool, but not cold.

  Laryn and Hober hiked up the ridge behind them. They reached the top and peered over the edge of the cliff. Laryn took a half step back from the precipice.

  Darkness obscured the face of the cliff, but he knew there were voidlings down there. He could feel it.

  To the south lay Fort Envin. Campfires blossomed across a large swath of land there, and Laryn counted them.

  "I think your estimates are right, Hober. I would guess maybe three thousand men there. Perhaps two full banners of soldiers, and then laborers and support."

  “A banner is 864 soldiers?”

  “Yes,” Laryn said. “And they generally have a few hundred more non-fighters, for cleaning, cooking, and other kinds of support.”

  "I wonder what they're looking for?" Hober said, shaking his head. “What brought them all out here?”

  "I hope we don't find out.”

  The coast seemed to be largely clear, save for a smaller campfire much closer to where they hid. Perhaps a hundred meters on down, the fire shone from just south of the road. The shapes of several people moved around, intermittently blocking out the flames. Distant snippets of conversation drifted in the wind.

  "I bet those are guards watching the trail," Laryn said. "You're not going to be able to ride your horse on the trail past them."

  Hober shook his head. "I'll have to go off the trail. I can probably make my way down through that gully and then across and meet up with the path where it turns to the south. I can skirt around their camp by going on the other side of that hill. I’ll still be out of sight from the main camp."

  The hill Hober indicated was more of a gentle rise in the terrain than a hill.

  "That seems dangerous," Laryn said. "In the dark, on that loose scree, you're more likely to break a horse's leg and draw attention than you are to get through safely."

  "I can walk the horse," Hober said. "We'll take it slow."

  “Why not loop around on the north side?”

  “As I recall, that terrain is much rockier. That’s probably on reason why they’re camped to the south. I’d have to go way around, and I’m not confident of my directions that way. To the south, I just have to keep going until I hit the road.”

  Laryn nodded. "The important thing is to get through undetected. We'll keep an eye on the guards. We have a decent view of the path that way. Though in darkness, it might be hard to see you moving along."

  "The moon will come out soon," Hober said. "So I’d best be getting on before that happens, and you're easier to spot against those rocky landscapes."

  They slipped back down to Mat and Ollen. “Well?” Mat asked.

  “There’s a camp just south of the road,” Laryn said. “Hober’s going to try to slip past them to the south.”

  Hober saluted.

  “I’ll be back soon, leading an army of coresmiths,” he said.

  “We just need one,” Laryn said with a smile. “If you’re spotted, mount up and ride like the wind.”

  Hober took his leave, leading the horse away across the wild plateau following the path that he'd indicated.

  “What do we do if he’s spotted?” Mat asked.

  Laryn placed his hand on his blade. “It’s worth revealing ourselves to get him through, I think,” he said. “We have to distract them.”

  Mat and Laryn climbed back up onto the ridge to monitor Hober’s progress. They watched the dark shape of Hober and his horse moving in and out of shadows, picking his way slowly across the uneven terrain.

  They kept a careful watch on the guards. Snatches of song reached them. Clearly they were not expecting anything.

  Laryn’s attention was drawn to Fort Envin. The word ‘fort’ appeared to be aspirational. Details were difficult to make out, but the soft moonbeams aided him. He did not detect any large shapes that appeared like buildings. Everything seemed to be temporary—tents, lean-tos, etc. A few wooden breastworks had been erected in various places.

  The three kingdom cores glittered in the center of the camp, reflecting red firelight and silvery moonlight.

  “Three cores,” Laryn muttered.

  The sound clattered behind Laryn, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled and peered over the ledge behind him. Mat stumbled on a rock, sending it skipping out over the edge. A long time passed, then the echoes of it clattering down to the base of the cliff reached them.

  A voidling climbed up atop the cliff. Mat and Laryn froze.

  Laryn eased his blade from its scabbard.

  The voidling chittered softly, then scuttled away, climbing back down the cliff.

  Laryn turned his attention back to Hober's dark shape, which had appeared from a deep shadowy area for a moment, and then disappeared again.

  He looked back to the guards’ campfire.

  If something went wrong now, would using a time reset help? He didn't see what he—as an observer—could do to change things if they went wrong now. Sacrifice the whole kingdom to tell Hober not to attempt a crossing?

  Not worth it.

  He prayed that Hober would simply sneak through without catching the attention of the guards.

  Hober neared their camp, and Laryn’s heart began racing.

  “He’s off course,” Laryn whispered. “He was supposed to go around that hill, up the next vale there.”

  “You’re right,” Mat breathed. “He’s heading straight for the guard camp.”

  “Why doesn’t he go back?”

  “He probably doesn’t realize it. He won’t see them until it’s too late. They’ll catch him.

  “Maybe,” Laryn said, loosing sight of the man. “Maybe he’ll slip across through there.” He pointed to a dark ravine intersecting Hober’s route.

  Laryn watched anxiously, scanning the dark landscape where he expected Hober to emerge.

  Shouts sounded from the guard camp, followed by the crack of a bowstaff strike, and the thwack of fired bows.

  Hober had been spotted.

  “Wind and stones,” Laryn cursed.

  Horses whinnied from the guard camp, as the soldiers tried to mount up and pursue Hober.

  Laryn grabbed two large rocks, which he brought to the edge of the cliff. Peering over, he spotted voidlings scuttling around on the rocks.

  He shouted, then started tossing rocks down at them.

  “What are you doing?” Mat exclaimed, eyes wide with fear.

  “I’m creating a distraction!”

  He’d gotten the voidlings’ attention. They scrambled up the cliff, clacking their mandibles angrily.

  “Run!” Laryn said, dashing down the incline toward their horses. Mat followed close behind.

  A dozen angry voidlings swarmed after them.