Duffy sat on his bum, knees up, and head in his hands. He took some time to piece together events before he began his account.

“We went to the Ice Henge, Ruby, Leopold and I. We destroyed it.”

Arden remained calm, but Duffy could see his blood boiling and his fists slowly balling.

“After everything Sei told you?”

“That was before I became a Thayne. Before I found out the truth.”

“Why didn’t you ask Lilith and I for help?” Arden’s façade cracked.

“It wasn’t that easy. You and Lilith aren’t like them. At the Ice Henge they could let their Old God heritage run riot. It was a hell of a battle, and two of them are dead and the rest freed.”

“Was it worth the sacrifice?” Arden pointed at Leopold’s reviving corpse. “He will have nightmares, at the very least.” He had seen the strongest men he had known fall into madness as the oni now bound to their hearts tore at their sanity.

“He’s a tough old goat. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into.”

“You came out pretty alright.”

Duffy looked himself over. He sniggered and unbuttoned his shirt. When Arden saw the extensive bruising on both shoulders and the deep, oozing cuts on his legs he felt a little more satisfied.

“Too deep for the spell song. You’ll have to suffer like a real boy.”

“It’s not about suffering, Arden.” Duffy frowned. He watched Leopold’s ribs snap back into place and his chest cavity rise and fall. Breath returned to his body and the blood around his mouth and ears drained back into his skull. “It’s about making changes for the people we promised to protect. Berevar can thrive again and if we deal a blow to the Thayne, all the better.”

Arden sat cross legged, lifting his sword to avoid running himself through.

“Did they try to stop you?”

“Yeah. Y’edda showed herself. Uglier than the statues show her.” He pictured her octopus like arms and unnatural bone structure and shuddered. “Ruby turned into Phoenix and burnt her from existence.”

“She really doesn’t like being upstaged, does she.” Arden smiled, realising his immediate response had been overblown. “Okay. So, Leopold’s okay. You’re going to be doing no dancing for a while, and Ruby’s in the Aria. Is there good news?”

Duffy beamed his own little victory smile, now that the worry of losing members of his family was gone.

“The Ice Henge is gone. There’s a mercury lake at its heart, as though the Tap has broken through and started to well on the surface again. You should see it, Arden. It’s beautiful!”

Arden would see it in due course. He watched Leopold’s leg click back into place and the blood magic begin to drain from his body. It collected into a black pool of ichor and when the liquid formed a small, scuttling spider the swordsman rose and squished it under his boot.

“This isn’t the last of it.” He breathed relief when Leopold opened his eyes and took a deep, pained breath. He scrabbled at the tails until he recognised where he was and the memories of death cleared enough for him to think.

“Why did I think that was a good idea?” he cried. Pain spiralling up and down his spine and revenants pulled at his tendons.