This was what Eithan had been after. He’d been toying with them all along, just to see their reactions.

The difference between Underlord and Archlord was like the distance between the lowest valley and the highest stars. There was no Archlord in all the Blackflame Empire.

Even in Sacred Valley, where Eithan would be closer to mortal than anywhere else, Jai Long couldn’t antagonize him any further. Who knew what an Archlord could do?

“Archlord, I apologize for any disrespect. I was ignorant and unaware.”

“Aren’t we all?” Eithan didn’t seem to have reacted much to Jai Long’s panic, though even Jai Chen had curled up and was holding Fingerling protectively in her hands.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I have nothing but fondness for the both of you, don’t worry. However, if it’s not too much to ask, I would love to know one thing: after you leave the valley, where are you headed?”

This time, Jai Chen was the one to answer.

“We’re not sure, Archlord.”

“As a mighty Archlord, I command you to call me Eithan. Titles change too often.”

“I still have contacts in the Desolate Wilds,” Jai Long said, as much to take his attention away from Jai Chen as to demonstrate compliance. “They will shelter us for a time, but after that…wherever the heavens lead us.”

He felt it was wise to give Eithan a vague answer, but it was also the truth. Their immediate plans were simply to get away from the Dreadgod.

“If by whatever twist of fate you find yourselves without a roof over your heads, I’m certain we can find space for you. We’re quite in favor at the moment.”

“Lindon already invited us,” Jai Chen said. “But we can’t commit to anyone with our futures so uncertain.” She dipped her head, but Eithan looked surprised.

“Lindon invited you? Good for him! But I hate that I didn’t know that already. I’m used to eavesdropping on him all the time, you see.”

Jai Long felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for Lindon.

“Well, if either or both of you change your mind, I’m certain you can find a way to contact us. We’d be happy to have you.”

The conversation ended there, which left Jai Long wondering…

Why?

Why had Lindon and Eithan both independently decided to recruit them? If Eithan was an Archlord, Lindon a Sage—which Jai Long still didn’t believe—and Yerin a…whatever...then someone who hadn’t even reached Underlord would be far beneath them.

They wouldn’t be impressed by his advancement, so what was it? Jai Chen’s bonded spirit and unique madra? Was this some kind of elaborate revenge, like taking a trophy?

By the time the fleet of clouds landed in the Heaven’s Glory School, Jai Long still hadn’t decided.

While the Akura clan unloaded refugees and Eithan established his leadership of Heaven’s Glory, Jai Long and Jai Chen left.

They marched straight east, out of Sacred Valley the same way they came in. At first, he was certain that the dirty looks from Heaven’s Glory would result in drawn weapons, but the presence of the Akura servants meant they didn’t have to deal with anything more than glares.

Finally, more easily than he had ever imagined possible, they stood in the passage leading out of Sacred Valley.

As the ring of light glared down on him from overhead, he stared at the forest beneath and the mountains ahead. Beyond them lay the Desolate Wilds, and even further, the Blackflame Empire.

Their past.

Jai Chen hitched a pack on her back, Fingerling trilled excitement, and she gave him a wide smile. “It’s been a while since we’ve made a camp!”

He waited too long, lost in thought. When he realized she was waiting on a response, he grunted agreement.

They had spent the better part of two years here. Now, it was like that time had never happened.

In the end, there had been no point to anything they’d done. The long journey to get here, the home they’d built. The people they’d traded with.

Fighting side-by-side with Orthos and Wei Shi Kelsa. Learning to work with them. Rescuing Kelsa’s mother. All the lives they’d taken from Heaven’s Glory.

It all felt like such a waste.

They could have just stayed in hiding, then left when the Dreadgod grew close. Kelsa would have found another way to rescue her mother, with Orthos’ help. She hadn’t really needed his power in the first place.

Jai Chen leaned in, watching his face.

“They still need help with the evacuation,” she pointed out.

Jai Long shook himself out of his own thoughts. “They can handle it. We need to put distance between us and the Titan.”

He still wasn’t sure if the Desolate Wilds would be far enough away to escape a Dreadgod, and the sooner they left, the safer they’d be.

“We’d make it a lot further on a cloudship,” she pointed out.

Jai Long looked over all the large, passenger cloudships perched everywhere in view. They had been sent here for the mass exodus from Sacred Valley.

But they’d been sent by the Akura clan, which Jai Long only knew as a dark, distant force. He couldn’t trust them.

“I don’t want to take chances on strangers with a Dreadgod coming,” he said.

“What chance? It’s better to wait for the ships to leave than to walk. And in the meantime, we can help other people get out.”

“That’s true…” he murmured.

While he was still thinking, his sister led him back inside.

10

The walls of the Wei clan had seemed taller when Lindon was younger.

In his mind’s eye, he saw the gates into the main clan territory as an ancient edifice that scraped the sky. He remembered when they had changed out the doors for freshly carved and decorated ones, in honor of the last Seven-Year Festival. But now, as an Underlord, he saw the plain wood used to make them. The peeling paint. And the walls were only about thirty feet tall.

He could leap over them with a flat-footed jump.

At least Elder Whisper’s tower was as tall as he remembered it. It stood out like a spear from behind the wall. He wondered what the snowfox would say about Lindon’s advancement.

He took another breath, more nervous than he should have been. He couldn’t put a name to his mix of feelings.

Yerin took his left hand in hers. “Try your hardest not to burn the whole place down.”

The Iron guard took a tight grip on his spear. “What?”

“Wouldn’t judge if you had to kill one or two.”

Foxfire gathered on the end of the Iron’s weapon. He levered it at Yerin, but addressed Lindon. “Give me your name, Unsouled.”

Lindon had not missed that title. But he couldn’t blame the Iron for being on edge; there were forty Akura clan Golds behind them, after all, each hovering a foot or two off the ground on the back of a Thousand-Mile Cloud or other floating construct.

A Truegold man with gray in his hair stepped forward before Lindon could say anything. “The Akura clan presents the Sage of Twin Stars and the reigning champion of the Uncrowned King tournament. Present the leader of your clan or we will find them ourselves.”

Lindon dipped his head. “Apologies, older brother. We intended no threats. My name is Wei Shi Lindon, and I am here to see the First Elder about the recent earthquakes.”