“How are we going to get through?” Fritz asked outright. Their horses had slowed to a walk as they stared at the ominous and impenetrable barrier.

 “I doubt they’ll just let us pass,” Elecia stated as she eyed Victor’s guards. She pointed to the small collection of structures built by and out of the crystal. “I also doubt that Victor would put just anyone here. They’re likely half-mad with taint, and even if they’re not, they’re certain to be the most loyal.”

 “It doesn’t look like the walls stop, either.” Vhalla raised a hand to her brow, squinting in both directions. Even if they could go around, it would take them days in either direction. Time they didn’t really have.

 “So what do we do, Emperor?” Jax asked.

 “We watch,” Aldrik decided, pulling his horse to a stop.

 They followed their sovereign’s orders, setting up on the edge of the road. They squinted in the distance, staying among the tall grasses of an unkempt field. Vhalla absentmindedly brushed out Lightning’s mane with her fingers.

 “Why did Victor even make a gate?” she said suddenly. Her comrades jumped at the sudden break in the silence. “He wants to keep the East and West from helping each other. I think we can be certain about that. Split up the continent, break it down one piece at a time until everyone kneels.” No one argued with her. “So why make a gate at all? Why not just a wall?”

 “That’s a good point,” Fritz agreed.

 “He needs to move his men as well,” Vhalla continued her logic. “If he crushes the East by pouring all his forces here, then he’ll need to get them to the West, which explains why it’s on the main road.”

 “Why wouldn’t he just destroy it when he needs to?” Fritz mused.

 “Management of troops, being able to control entry points; maybe it exhausted him too much to build the wall that he didn’t want to take it down.” Now that was an interesting thought, one she shelved to muse over later. “So if he wasn’t planning on returning, his forces would need to be able to move themselves.”

 Vhalla squinted at the gate, putting her thumb on the uneasy feeling that had surrounded her from the moment she saw it. It reminded her of the Crystal Caverns, the one Victor had forced her to open using Aldrik’s magic. Vhalla couldn’t keep herself from seeking out her Emperor, her heart aching dully at the thought of their lost Bond.

 Then another thought came to her. “Aldrik.” She waved him and Elecia over from where they had been talking. “I know how to get in.”

 “You do?” Elecia sounded surprised and impressed, but not skeptical.

 “He’s tuned the gate to his magic, to open and close it, like—” Vhalla swallowed hard. “Like the Crystal Caverns.”

 “It’s possible.” Aldrik’s jaw was taut at the mention of the caverns.

 “It’s the only way to open them; he’s the only one with enough power, immunity, and crystal knowledge to do it.” Vhalla couldn’t stop herself from wondering if she would’ve been able to help open the gate if she still had her magic. But she didn’t dwell. Her magic was gone, and there was no possibility of getting it back now.

 “So are you saying there’s no hope of opening them unless Victor decides to stroll by?” Jax asked.

 Vhalla shook her head. “That wouldn’t make sense. Because if he was going to come back and open them himself, why make a gate at all? Fritz is right, he could’ve just destroyed it then. He must’ve left a key, a crystal vessel with the essence of his magic in it that the gate will respond to, allowing the troops to move back and forth as needed.”

 “So what would this crystal look like?” Elecia asked.

 “It could be in any shape, but you wouldn’t find it with regular sight. If I—If I still had my magic sight, I’d look at the magic on the gate and then find a spare crystal that matches it. These men and women must be half mad with taint; Victor couldn’t have made it too hard for them, so I imagine it’s somewhere fairly obvious.”

 They were all silent for a long moment.

 “Fritter,” Elecia said suddenly.

 “Fritter?” That name was new.

 “I’m going to need illusions. And yours are just wonderful.” She flashed Fritz a brilliant, toothy smile.

 “Mine are all right,” Fritz replied with modesty.

 “Elecia?” A marked concern had set up shop in Aldrik’s voice.

 “What?” she sighed in exasperation, giving her cousin a hard look. “It’s not as though you can go. You’re our Emperor and you don’t have magic sight. You wouldn’t let her go—” Elecia motioned to Vhalla, “—even if she still had her magic sight.”

 “I have magic sight and am not the Emperor or Empress,” Jax said suddenly. “Let me go.”

 “No, the fewer people the better,” Elecia insisted. “Plus, you have your own obligations: you need to protect our Empress. Isn’t that your responsibility now?”

 Jax didn’t argue. He sidestepped closer to Vhalla.

 “Fritz will make an illusion just after nightfall to send them on a wild goose chase. I’ll use the confusion to sneak in and find this key. How do I make the gate open once I have it?”

 “You should just need to make contact with the gate.” Vhalla rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly.

 “Easy enough.”

 “I don’t like it,” Aldrik announced. “It’s too risky.”

 “Ah yes, and shall we sit here and wait for it to become less risky as the world is spiraling into chaos around us?” Elecia shot back in all her snarky glory. “Aldrik, I am going home. I want to see my mother and grandfather. I want letters on my father’s status.” In Aldrik’s silence, Elecia turned to Fritz. “Are you in?”

 “I, um . . .” His blue eyes darted between the two nobles.

 “You are,” Vhalla encouraged her friend, placing a palm on his shoulder. She addressed Aldrik, “It’s the best chance we have.”

 “Is this what you choose?” the Emperor asked her.

 Vhalla smiled tiredly at his sad eyes. He knew what he was doing. More training, more grooming, more assurances that she would be ready for the crown that he would place upon her brow in Norin. If she said no, her friends would remain safe for a while longer. Perhaps, with enough time, they could conceive a new plan.

 “It is.” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in her voice. No matter what turmoil brewed within her, she didn’t let it show. Aldrik never betrayed his uncertainty; she wouldn’t either. “We will move tonight.”

 Elecia gave her an approving nod before immediately launching into a conversation with Fritz about the type of illusions she needed. Vhalla tuned them out for a moment. She watched the sun set over the gate and knew it would set on their fates all too soon.

 Come nightfall, Elecia had almost completely changed and reequipped herself. Her father had not let her leave Hastan without a good set of leathers and an even better set of steel. She had two blades strapped inside her boots, a small dagger on her hip. The woman checked the weapons ten times over, militant that they were just so.