Kelda put her hands on her hips, surveying the metal monstrosity in the throne room. It had taken her and the wolves a full day to find the Dwarven ruins again, and another for Giblet to build her a working portal. She'd spent hours scrambling over fallen buildings and grubbing through old junk, but she'd finally retrieved...well, something.

She hoped it was something worthwhile. She'd seen the same rough shape etched over and over again in the witch-boy's dusty books, in a strange, sharp-angled script she couldn't read. Whatever it was, it had obviously been very important to the Dwarves. It looked quite wicked, too, all curving blades and rusted gears.

"Oh, gods below." Gnarl stopped short at the sight of the thing, goggling up at it. "Mistress Kelda, where did you find this?"

"We found it in the ruins," she told him eagerly. "You know what it is?"

"It's...it's a beard-trimmer," he said at last. "It can shave seven dwarves at once, but I doubt it will do much against the Empire."

"Oh," she said, crest-fallen. "I saw the blades on it, and I thought...well. Hells." They stared up at it. "I worked so hard bringing it up here! Isn't there something we could us it for?"

Gnarl stroked his own beard dubiously.

"I know for a fact that the Master's not going to let anything like that near any bit of his anatomy, and I'm a bit too old for that sort of experimentation."

"Are we still talking about the same thing?"

"I'll send it down to Giblet. Maybe he can make something out of it."

"Damn." Kelda pulled a worn book from her pack, paging through it. "I thought this was a book about dwarf weapons. Are these all just for beards, then?"

"Oh, I'd wondered where that had gotten off to!" The ancient creature took the book, flipped through the pages. "Over the years, the boy- er, I mean, the Master- has made off with almost half my collection. I'm missing a few volumes on the art of torture, maybe you could take a look around for them when you've got the chance." He paused, laid a bony claw on an odd-looking contraption. "Hmm. Speaking of which. This nasty piece of workmanship is a Flenser. It can skin a man in minutes."

"Those don't look like blades," Kelda said dubiously.

The creature giggled unpleasantly.

"Oh, no, Mistress. Those are pliers. Very enterprising fellows, those dwarves. Too enterprising for their own good. If you happen to find one, do bring it up, won't you? Here, I'll mark a few other odds and ends that might be useful, too."

Privately, Kelda resolved that if she found the device in the depths, she'd leave it there. Siege engines were one thing, she thought, but flaying machines were quite another. In any case, pliers like that were liable to tear a hide, and then the skin would be no use to anyone.

"Right," she said aloud. "I'm going back down.

Fay had drifted into the throne room, unnoticed. She cocked her head, studying the peasant girl.

"Where are you off to?" she asked curiously.

"None of your bloody business, fairy," Kelda said absently, stepped onto the portal, flanked by a trio of wolves.

Fay followed after her, landed delicately, hovering for a moment over the stones. Kelda gave her a dirty look. Around the elf, she felt about as graceful as a seal on snow. Fay just gave her a chilly smile in return, and Kelda sniffed and turned on her heel, stomping off into the ruins.

To her surprise, the elf kept pace with her and the wolves. She supposed she couldn't really do anything to make her leave. She'd float away on her own, most likely, once Kelda asked her to do any heavy lifting.

"Can I ask you a question?" the fairy woman said, startling her.

"What?"

Fay fell silent. Kelda glanced at her, and to her astonishment she saw that the one-time queen seemed to have a bit of color in her cheeks.

"The Scourge," she said at last. "You...you said you knew him when you were a child, yes?"

"Yeah, we were kids together. Why?"

"How many summers do you have, girl?"

"If you're asking me what I think you're asking me, I've got twenty years under my belt, as I reckon it."

Fay looked stricken.

"Twenty summers," she said faintly. "The Dark One, then, he's the same age as you?"

"A bit younger, actually, I think!"

"Oh Goddess above," the fairy woman muttered, shocked. "I'm a cradle-robber."

"I thought all you fairies were cradle robbers."

Kelda glanced at the elf. She was astonished to see that the elf woman was blushing. She took a closer look, saw what was quite clearly a fading bite mark on the woman's neck. Fay flushed even redder at her stare, turned her head away.

"Well, then." Kelda smirked. "I was wondering when he was going to get around to it."

"I-what?"

Kelda snorted.

"Don't play coy, fairy. I saw the way he's been staring at your arse the past few weeks."

The elf woman was bright red, and for the first time, she looked flustered.

"And you've got red hair, too. I know what he likes." Kelda grinned at her, amused. "Gods, you're blushing like a maiden. I thought elves were all about free love."

"My..." Fay took a breath, recovering. "My people are, yes, but-"

"But not you?"

"I am- was- their Queen. I couldn't lose myself in the pleasures of wine and flesh the way they could. But I encouraged them, actually. Before my rule, we were such a somber, sober people. But there were so few of us left. I hoped if we had, well, 'free love', as you've called it, we'd be able to repopulate." The elf woman looked briefly sad. "But there hasn't been an elvish child born in over fifty years."

"And now there's even less of you, right?"

Kelda found it hard to be concerned. Once, an elf warrior had tried to stop her from killing a walrus she'd been stalking for hours- something about the balance of nature, man. She'd punted him into the ocean.

Fay shrugged.

"Yes. We are the last of a dying race."

She didn't sound concerned, either. Kelda glanced at her. She supposed that, as Fay had said, she wasn't a particularly good queen.

"So." Kelda gave her a sly smile, wanting to fluster her again. "How'd you like it?"

"Like what?"

"Being tumbled by an Overlord."

"I-" Fay blinked at her. "You're not angry?"

Kelda studied her.

"Were you trying to make me mad? Was that why you fucked him?"

"Your feelings are of no concern to me," the elf woman said, recovering. "I'm merely surprised, is all. You seemed to guard him so jealously."

"I...I'm protective." For a second, Kelda looked vulnerable. "He was my best friend, when we were kids, but now...he knows how to be an Overlord, but he doesn't always quite know how to be a person, and...well. I worry about him." She gave Fay a hard look. "Don't you dare laugh at me, fairy."

Fay just stared back at her, impassive.

"You're not afraid I'll steal him away from you?" she asked.

Kelda bared her teeth in something that was almost a smile.

"You can try, pixie."

"Hmm." Fay smiled faintly. "You know, calling me those things- 'fairy', 'pixie'...it's very insulting."

"Yes, I know."

"You're a very rude girl. Very common." Fay cocked her head. "I wonder what he sees in you?"

Kelda just smiled back at her.

"Someone that he can trust." A black wolf barked, racing ahead into the ruins. Kelda frowned after it. "What's he got, then?"

She quickened her pace, trotting after it, rounded the corner of a ruined building and found herself staring at a queer stone circle. The wolf was nowhere to be seen. Kelda let her mind reach for it, worried, felt nothing.

"Mischief?" she called.

Fay had stopped walking, was staring at the circle.

"A portal," she breathed.

"That's never a portal," Kelda scoffed. "It's just a bunch of old rocks and a circle on the ground. Not very impressive."

"A very old portal," Fay amended. "From before the Cataclysm."

A white-coated wolf at Kelda's side whined, plunged towards the stones.

"Damn it! Mayhem! Get back!"

The wolf bounded onto the stone circle and vanished. Kelda caught her breath. After an instant, the wolves reappeared, Mayhem dragging Mischief by the scruff of his black mane. He shook sand from his dark fur, grinning cheerfully up at Kelda, something clamped in his jaws.

"Arsehole," Kelda snapped. "You scared me half to death. What've you got there? Give it here."

The wolf dropped the thing at her feet. It twitched faintly. She stepped back. It was chitinous and segmented, covered with a mottled, sandy-colored carapace.

"What the hells?" She crouched down, poking gingerly at it with her spear. "Fay, have you ever seen anything like this?"

To her surprise, the fairy woman reached down and picked up the twitching thing.

"No," Fay said curiously. "Never. It looks like it's from some sort of insect, maybe."

Kelda reached out and touched the wolves' minds. She caught a jumbled impression of endless sands, of something huge and dark and sinuous.

"I wonder what's through there?" Fay mused.

"Only one way to find out!"

Kelda pushed her, hard. Fay gave a startled, undignified squeak and vanished. Kelda stepped after her, spear at the ready, followed by her wolves.

She felt like she was being yanked through solid stone, rock liquefying grudgingly to let her pass. She rose through the portal sluggishly and took a breath of scorching hot air.

She looked about her. She was on a rocky outcrop, standing on top of a rune-etched circle. Vast, sandy wastes stretched away on every side. Jagged rocks jutted out of the sands, and there, in the distance, were the bones of some impossibly massive creature. The sun was a furious eye, searing her pale skin. The wolves were already panting, red tongues lolling.

"I have killed people for less."

Fay stared at her, eyes hard and cold, power sparking over her fingers. Kelda just smirked at her.

"Oh, you're fine, fairy. The wolves came back alright, didn't they? I just didn't want you behind me, is all."

"Wise beyond your years," Fay said, voice clipped and chilly, but her power flickered, settling back into its luminous aura.

"What is this place?" Kelda wondered aloud.

Fay looked about her, and her eyes widened. She smiled, then, the first genuine smile that Kelda had seen cross her face. It made her look much softer, younger, and she found herself wondering what the fairy queen had been like when she'd been a girl.

"Oh, by the Goddess," Fay gasped. "I think we're in Ruboria!"

"Where?"

"A desert empire. Ruled by savage men, full of creatures still more savage." Her pale eyes were shining. "We'd thought it had been destroyed in the Cataclysm! All contact with Ruboria had been lost after the great Plague."

"Savage creatures?" Kelda grinned, testing the point of her spear. "I like the sound of that."

The elf woman was setting off over the sands, looking about her with all the eager intensity of a scholar. Kelda shrugged and followed after her.

"They say there are fearsome beetles here, whose ichor is even more flammable than oil! Oh, and great worms, beneath the sands-"

The ground began to shake. Fay turned even paler.

"Oh," she said faintly. "I knew there was something I was forgetting."

"Earthquake?"

"No. The worms...they sense motion through the sand."

"Shit!"

Kelda didn't think. She grabbed the elvish woman's arm and ran, pelting for the nearest pile of stones. She pulled Fay up after her, gesturing frantically to her wolves.

"Mischief, Nuisance, Mayhem! Hurry, babies!"

Something enormous exploded from the sands, catching Nuisance in its jaws. She heard a sickening crack and a horrible cry, felt the wolf die as its link with her mind was flayed, severed. The creature swallowed her wolf whole. Kelda screamed, falling to her knees, inches away from the sands. Mischief and Mayhem raced past her, seized her by her pack and pulled her away as a great worm slammed into the stone where she'd been only seconds before. It shook its head, dazed, ichor leaking from its vast jaws, and disappeared under the sands, leaving scarcely a ripple in its wake.

She felt cool, slim hands on her forehead and stirred faintly. If Fay wanted to, she thought, the elvish woman could just push her off into the sand and leave her to the worm...or she could simply slit her throat and leave her to bleed out, with the witch boy none the wiser. The wolves growled softly, sensing her fear.

"It hurts, feeling something die," Fay said softly. Kelda felt her hands hesitate. "You saved me. Why?"

Kelda opened her eyes, squinting, smiled weakly.

"Just seemed like the right thing to do," she said. "I didn't much think about it. That, and the witch boy would be awful mad if I let his new toy get eaten by some kind of horrible monster."

"I suppose you're good for something, after all."

The wolves growled again, tensing. Fay looked up, and her eyes narrowed.

"Oh," she said.

Kelda followed her gaze, found herself staring down the points of several wicked-looking crossbows held by black-shrouded figures. They were tall, almost as tall as the witch boy, and their glittering eyes were hard beneath their hoods. She swallowed hard.

"Well," she said weakly. "They seem friendly."

"There's too many to fight," Fay said tensely. "Let's hope you're right."

One of the shrouded figures said something in rapid, sibilant Ruborian, pulling back her hood to reveal jade-green eyes in a dark-skinned, sharp-boned face. Fay frowned. It had been decades since she'd last spoken the language, but it sounded like the woman was challenging them. She shook her head and rose, inclined her head, regal.

"I'm sorry," she said, and then, cautiously, she lied. "We don't speak your language."

The woman switched to Common.

"You are elvish," she said, in a thickly-accented, melodious voice. "Why?"

Fay couldn't help but smile.

"My mother and my father were elves, you see, and-"

The woman shook her head, looking impatient.

"It has been awhile since I have spoken Common. My apologies, I am out of practice. What I meant is, why is an elf in Ruboria?"

"We..." Fay stared at the slender woman, her mind racing. "We're lost. My...friend and I were traveling to visit my cousin. Something went wrong with the portal."

The woman tilted her head, brilliant eyes considering them. Fay found her skin prickling beneath the scrutiny. Kelda groaned faintly, holding her head, and Fay gestured to her.

"My friend needs a healer," she said. "Medical attention, do you understand?"

"I understand." The woman studied Kelda, curious. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," Fay lied again. "I think one of those worm creatures might have hurt her."

There was no sense, she reasoned, in telling the Ruborians about Kelda's magic link with her wolves...or about her own abilities.

"Huh." The woman snorted. "Only a fool walks on the sand of the desert." She stared at them, considering. "You are both too pale. Your creatures are...strange, with too much hair. And you...you shine, like a diamond. Why?"

"Ah...it's an elf thing," Fay ventured, hoping that the Ruborians hadn't had any contact with her people since the Cataclysm.

Her explanation seemed to satisfy the woman.

"Very well. We will take you to our Queen. You and your hairy creatures, and your unkempt friend."

Before Fay could blink, a rough hood was swept over her head. She heard Kelda make a muffled noise of protest, heard the wolves snarl as Kelda hushed them hurriedly.

"We will not harm you," the woman said. "Not yet. That is for the Queen to decide."

They were led, stumbling, over the sun-baked stones. Kelda felt her brow furrow as she tried to keep track of the twists and turns they were taking. The Ruborians were trying to confuse them, she thought. She couldn't keep track of where she was going over the unfamiliar terrain. Mayhem whined through a rough rope muzzle, bumping against her leg.

She could feel a dull ache in her chest where Nuisance had been. She shivered, despite the heat of the sun, heard Mischief whimper.

They stepped onto something metal that clanged beneath their feet.

"Hold on," the Ruborian woman told them.

There was a screech of gears, and then they began to move. Kelda felt her stomach plummet, clutched Fay's arm unconsciously. The wolves whimpered, crouching against her legs.

"What in the hells?" she cried. "Is this some kind of sorcery?"

She could hear the elf woman breathing very quickly. Fay's hand sought hers, fingers tightening against her own. She couldn't bring herself to pull away.

The Ruborian woman laughed.

"No, not sorcery," she said. "Technology."

"Techno-what?"

"We are in a gyrocopter."

"A gyro-what?"

"A flying machine!"

After what felt like an eternity, the machine landed with a sickening lurch. They staggered out dizzily after the Ruborians. Kelda could hear a flurry of voices, what sounded like merchants hawking their wares, unmistakable in any language. She heard a door creak open, and their captors helped them up a set of stairs. She could feel smooth stone pavement through the soles of her shoes, and the air was blessedly cool.

The woman pulled the hoods from their heads, pushing them forward.

"Her majesty, Queen Jewel," she said. "Lady of the Shifting Sands, Mistress of Thieves, Mother of Night."

A slender woman sat on gilded throne, toying idly with a jeweled dagger. Her face was lined, though still beautiful, and her dark hair was shot through with silver and bound into braids. She wore a golden headdress and white linen. Her eyes flickered over them, lingering on Fay. At last, she nodded to her daughter.

"Jade," she said, and then, in Ruborian, "Welcome home, my treasure. What in the desert did you drag home this time?"

"I'm not sure, mother. I think they might be spies. They came from the gate in the desert." She turned to the pair. "My mother does not speak Common," she said. "I will translate for her. She asks for the courtesy of your names."

"I am Fay. And this is Kelda." Fay raised an eyebrow. "Are you called Jade?"

"We are the ones asking the questions, elf."

Another rapid-fire spurt of Ruborian, too fast for Fay to follow. The woman nodded and said something in response, something about portals, and armies.

"The Queen asks why a human travels with an elf."

Fay had a feeling that there had been a lot more information in that exchange, and wished her grasp of Ruborian was better. The language was coming back to her, the more she heard it, but she was still rusty.

"She is my servant," she said.

Kelda made a strangled-sounding noise and started to say something. Jewel looked at her quizzically, and Kelda turned the words into a coughing fit.

"How did you come here?"

"I told you. We were traveling to visit my cousin, and the portal malfunctioned."

"Could we hurry this up?" Kelda groused. "We have somewhere we need to be, after all."

Jewel regarded her coolly.

"Who the fuck is this scrawny bint?" she asked.

"My mother says you have a very impudent servant."

Another strangled noise from Kelda.

"My serving girl is right. What do you intend to do with us?"

A Ruborian was digging through Kelda's pack, pulled out a book and handed it to Jewel. She paged through it, raised an eyebrow.

"What in the desert?" she demanded. "They've got a book about Dwarvish weapons!"

"My mother wants to know why an elf and her servant are carrying a book on Dwarvish weaponry."

"The Dwarves were our mortal enemies. I want to understand them better."

"Hmm."

Jade turned back to the Queen, and they began to speak rapidly to each other. Fay caught one word in three, something about spies, and Cataclysms, and dungeons. Things did not appear to be looking up for the two of them. Kelda glared daggers at the soldier going through her pack.

"You better not break any of that," she admonished him. "I spent a long time making those spear heads."

He just looked up at her and shrugged, uncomprehending. Kelda sighed.

"Lost my bloody spear in the sand, too," she grumbled. She winced, rubbing at the ache in her chest.

"How are you feeling?" Fay asked her softly.

"Why do you bloody care, fairy?" She snapped.

The elf woman hesitated.

"I...I know what it feels like. I felt my kingdom die," she said softly. "When the Overlord came to me-"

Jewel said something sharp and held up a hand, staring at Fay.

"What do you mean," she said furiously, "The Overlord?"

Kelda gaped at her, at her daughter.

"I thought you said she didn't speak Common!" she cried.

Jade shrugged.

"I lied."

"Answer me!" The Queen snarled.

"I..." Fay glanced at Kelda, who shook her head minutely. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"So..." Jewel hissed. "He's escaped the Abyss, then."

"The what?" Kelda asked her, confused.

"He murdered my poor Khan," Jewel snarled, suddenly furious. "He put me in a cage. He threatened to torture me." She rose, her eyes taking them in from head to toe. "You must be his latest whores."

"How dare you?" Fay asked, heard Kelda growl low in her throat. "Whatever are you talking about? We're lost, my servant was injured, and now you've taken us prisoner and insulted us-"

"Don't play coy." Jewel smirked. "Redheads, the pair of you. He's got a type, I know he does." She gestured to her guards. "Find that portal!" Her eyes kindled. "I'm going to have him dipped in solid gold- or, no- I'm going to have him torn apart by sand worms- no, I'm going to cut his ugly head off and feed his body to the beetles!"

Kelda surged forward, snarling, punched the Queen square in the face. The soldiers were on her in an instant, pulling her down to the ground. A spear butt hit her in the head, and she went limp. The wolves snarled against their muzzles, springing forward, as bright-feathered darts thumped into their flanks. They staggered, toppling beside their Mistress. Fay raised her hands, power crackling over her fingers.

"Stay back," she snapped. "I'm not afraid to hurt you."

Jewel scoffed and pulled something from beneath the cushions of her throne. It was a curious device, made up of interlocking gears of ivory, carved all over with jagged runes. She flipped a switch, and Fay felt her power draining as her aura flickered and died. She gaped at the Queen, suddenly powerless.

"I knew you were no ordinary elf," Jewel said. "Please, did you think I was stupid?" She tossed the device carelessly from hand to hand. "This handy little thing is some kind of magic canceling contraption. The Dwarves call it a Mage-Breaker."

"Dwarves?" Fay said slowly.

"Oh yes." Jewel smirked at her. "They made it for me. You know, I think they might love gold even more than I do?"

"The Dwarves are alive? I thought they'd all been wiped out in the Cataclysm!"

"You and everybody else outside Ruboria." Jewel shrugged. "Not that you'll ever leave Ruboria, of course." She gestured to her guards. "Stake them out for the scarabs. The Dwarves will want their bones for their Broken God."