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him, and he struggled with his eyelids, fighting to keep them open. The line of questioning was providing entertainment enough to stave off the desire for sleep, but he was wearying of it.
    “Elsewhere,” she answered.
    “If it’s not to do with the war, I’d ask if they were in the Dwarven Alliance, the Goblin—”
    “Not there.”
    “Where in Arkaria?” Cyrus asked.
    Arydni pursed her lips. “Not in Arkaria.”
    “Now you’re just tormenting me for fun,” Cyrus said. “A different land? Because I don’t think we possess the means to go across the Torrid Sea, or anywhere much beyond a few weeks’ travel of one of the portals—”
    “No,” Arydni said. “Not terribly far.”
    “All right, I give up,” Cyrus said. “Where?”
    Arydni hesitated and stood up, taking a few tentative steps around the bed to the window, where she drew the curtain shut, shrouding the room in darkness. The lamps lit around him of their own accord, giving him enough light to see her by. “I am looking for someone … who has vanished from her home. Someone that some would not even have dared believe existed until recently.” She turned her head. “And yet I always knew it was true, even before I met her. Now she is gone, and I feel lost without her light.”
    Cyrus waited, saying nothing, and after a pause Arydni continued. “I need you to find Vidara.”
    Cyrus felt the dull, slow sense of a joke being played on him coming to rest in his mind. “This is perhaps the oddest attempt at converting me to a life-worshipper that I’ve ever heard. You want to pay me—and my guild—to ‘Find Vidara’?” His hand came up to his face and he rubbed his temples. “Look, not that I don’t appreciate your religion, I just don’t think it’s for me—”
    “The priestesses have been making regular pilgrimages to the Realm of Life since the gateways to the higher realms opened four years ago,” Arydni said, calm and slow. “We have been greeted by her servants, ushered into her presence, been given wisdom and fellowship and guidance by the Goddess herself over the last years.” Arydni turned and clutched at the seam of her robes.
    “Wait,” Cyrus said, “this isn’t metaphorical, is it?”
    “No,” Arydni said with a slight shudder, “it is quite literal.” She took a step closer to the bed and fell to her knees. “We went on an expedition only weeks ago to the Realm of Life. Every other time we have gone, the atmosphere has been serene. There are guards, there are servants. There is respect. There are greetings and pleasantries.” Her face looked suddenly lined, as though she were aging before his eyes. “This time, they were in disarray. They threatened us, and it was only when we were about to leave that one of the servants who knew us well stopped the guards from throwing us out unceremoniously. He took us aside.” She shook her head. “The realm was in turmoil, that much was obvious from just looking around. It was …” her voice trailed off. “No matter. The servant told us one crucial thing, though. Vidara is gone. No one has seen her enter or exit the realm, but she has vanished as surely as the bread we leave outside for the poor disappears after morning worship.”
    “She’s a goddess,” Cyrus said. “Surely she can leave her realm anytime she wishes—”
    “She has never left her realm in such a way before,” Arydni said with a strong shake of her head. “Her servant was most emphatic. She does not leave in this way—and to disappear for weeks now? Out of the question. She is missing.”
    A dull certainty settled in Cyrus’s stomach. “So you want me … my guild … to …”
    “Find the Goddess of Life,” Arydni said, bowing her head. “Find Vidara, and restore her to her place in her realm—before the very balance of life itself is disrupted in our world.”

Chapter 6
    “Oh, good, involving ourselves once more in the affairs of gods and monsters,” Longwell said, leaning back in