The broken runes thrummed in Kasyn’s mind, each one drawing him towards them as though they yearned to be repaired. It was more than just a vague direction, though. Instead, he knew the path he’d need to follow to find each one. Pairing that knowledge with the rough map they’d taken from the Tower of Light soldiers, finding their way through the otherwise labyrinthine complex of Nemuri no Shiro wouldn’t be a problem. What would be a problem was how they were going to deal with the soldiers themselves.

“They’ve been in here for months,” Damarys said with wonder in her voice as they spied on the next group of soldiers who were stationed in a two tiered library. “How are they still fighting?”

“A lot of them aren’t,” Kasyn pointed out.

Inside the room were several makeshift beds with wounded soldiers on them being tended to by a handful of healers.

“We’ve lost contact with our rear guard,” a soldier was saying and Kasyn and Damarys listened.

They couldn’t see the speaker but he couldn’t have been very far and was coming closer.

“We won’t last long without the kitchens,” a second voice replied. “Send a scout to check on the situation.”

Damarys motioned for them to back away from the door and they took up hidden positions back along the bridge that connected this section of Nemuri no Shiro with the one they’d entered in through. Kasyn made them invisible and a short time later, a soldier slipped out of the spiral staircase and began moving along the bridge. Before she could get more than a few steps past them, Kasyn caught her with the chain. He wasn’t sure if it would work on people but figured it was worth a shot. The soldier resisted only for a moment before Kasyn felt the chain bite into her. There was a brief struggle of wills but the soldier succumbed quickly.

“Did it work?” Damarys asked as the invisibility spell faded.

For her part, the scout grimaced at Kasyn but made no other overtly hostile actions towards either him or Damarys. He nodded to Damarys and couldn’t suppress a relieved smile.

“How many soldiers are left in Nemuri no Shiro?” Kasyn asked.

“There’s a few hundred of us,” the scout replied. “I don’t know the exact numbers.”

“Were the kitchens your only source of food?” Damarys asked.

The scout just scowled at her.

“Answer her like you would me,” Kasyn ordered.

“Yes,” she grunted. “We ran out of our own food supplies weeks ago.”

“What if we had the golums just keep serving poisoned food?” Kasyn asked Damarys. “We could deal with all of the soldiers in one fell swoop.”

“It can’t be that easy,” Damarys said. “Someone would catch onto what’s going on before everyone could be poisoned.”

“My wife was something of an alchemist,” Kasyn replied. “She told me of some poisons that took a full day before any symptoms would appear, but killed you quickly once you started feeling sick.”

“Would Akumu have that here in his castle?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to see.”

The three of them made their way up to the kitchens where, to Kasyn’s relief and surprise, the golums were indeed able to procure a poison as he’d described.

“Begin delivering food to the library with the Tower of Light,” Kasyn instructed the golums. “And you,” he turned to the scout, “go back and tell them that everyone here was gone, vanished. There’s no trace of them but that the golums were still preparing food as instructed and that you’ve updated their instructions to bring the food to you in the library.”

“Understood,” the scout replied, even giving Kasyn a halfhearted salute.

“You won’t tell them about any of our plans or warn them about Damarys and myself.”

The scout nodded and left with the golums in tow.

“Now we wait,” Kasyn said, and made himself comfortable on one of the chairs he’d had brought into the kitchens.

“Are there any private quarters we can wait in?” Damarys asked. “I don’t want to be caught here unprepared in case the soldiers decide to come here and check things out.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kasyn agreed, “and I should have those dead soldiers taken away for the same reason.”

In his mind he could feel more servants than just the few kitchen golums and he instructed a few to come and begin cleaning up the dead bodies. A moment later, a small imp flew into the kitchen.

“We have the bodies being taken care of now, master,” it hissed. “I can take you to your rooms now if you would like.”

They followed the imp out of the kitchens and up the spiral stairs, past the room they’d first teleported into, and finally coming out onto a grand balcony connected to a well furnished set of rooms. The view from the balcony was not of Yomichi, but of some strange space filled with stars, multicolored clouds, and ethereal music just on the edge of hearing.

“There’s refreshment inside on the table if you are hungry,” the imp gestured towards the interior. “I’ll wait here in case there’s anything else you desire.”

Although the view was spectacular, it was also unnerving and alien so neither Kasyn nor Damarys lingered there. Inside they indeed found a wide spread of fruits, meats, cheeses, and breads, though Kasyn had no appetite just now. Damarys picked at a few pieces of cheese but didn’t eat much.

“It’s about midday, right?” Damarys asked.

Kasyn hadn’t given the time of day much thought until now but he figured that was about as good of an approximation as either of them could make without a view of outside.

“Once the poison begins to take effect, how much longer do we have to wait before they’re…not a problem anymore?”

“Another hour or two, I’d guess,” Kasyn replied. “If I recall correctly, it takes so long not because it isn’t doing much but because the damage it’s doing goes unnoticed until it reaches a critical level and than everything just sort of breaks down.”

“Sound miserable.”

Kasyn agreed but this needed to be done. The rest of the day passed slowly but without incident. They went to bed when they figured it was nighttime outside and in the morning Kasyn called for an update from the imp.

“The soldiers have all had at least one poisoned meal,” it informed them. “The first are beginning to show signs of fever.”

“Is this something their healers could treat?” Damarys asked suddenly. “This would be a waste of time if they can just –

“No,” the imp cut her off. “Their healers ran out of most neutralizing reagents weeks ago since many of Akumu’s defenses implement poisons and diseases.”

The next few hours crawled by but at last the imp came with the news they’d been waiting for.

“The soldiers are dying,” it said with glee. “The way to Lord Akumu should be clear for you now. I can lead you there if you like.”

They followed the imp, stopping along the way to repair each of the runes the Tower of Light had damaged, until they reached the large doors that lead into Akumu’s throne room. Hundreds of dead and dying soldiers marred the way but there were other servants of the castle already clearing them away. Eventually, the soldiers began to rise as undead and move out of their way.

“Lord Akumu is hungry,” the imp warned, “and perhaps not entirely himself.”

“I figured that would be the case,” Kasyn nodded. “And I came prepared.”

From behind them, the scout arrived, sweating and looking terrible but alive.

“I made it,” she gasped.

“Good,” Kasyn sighed, “now go in there and offer your soul to Akumu.”