From the upper bailey, Dag and Terrence proceeded to an elevated courtyard blanketed in decay. Sunless grass bent down into mist-quenched mud. If it still grew, it should not be by much each year, long devoid of tending. Perhaps more likely was that it was the same length it has been when the Moor of Sleep first sank, replaced by the Furnace.

The courtyard was rutted by the wheels of ancient siege machines, uneven and unpleasant to walk on. In the centre, the mist had collected into a shallow, perennial pool, reflecting the dim shroud-gray of the distant cavern ceiling high above.

Terrence forged ahead over cracked, lifting flagstones, heading for the battered entrance to the keep. Dag saw him go—a dark shape on a dark background, silent, steadily shrinking—but the stagnant mirror of the pool in the corner of his eye gave him pause. He slowed near its spongy edges, hooves sinking halfway to the pastern.

In the pool, he saw the courtyard as it once was, the low sun an angry red bitten by the fangs of parapet merlons. Ruin already ravaged the garden. A haggard black tree was white, once, and burning. A statue still held onto its head—until the comet-fire of a trebuchet's fearsome payload screamed through its noble shoulders. All around, banners flapped between the heads of spears and halberds, tattered and singed. Coursers surged forward with riders of blood-splashed metal, and Coursers fell.

In the centre, Dag saw himself—or the omission of himself. A Dag-shaped nothingness, black. Heavy. This, too, was burning. He was an interloper. A wraith seeing things he should not see.

Suddenly, he heard the scrape-scuffle of their unseen pursuant again. His head lifted. Ears snapped to the sound. Again, nothing there—but in the pool, he swore he saw the flash of a ghastly, retreating tail.

"This fuckin' place," Dag breathed.

He tore himself away from the pool, rising to a trot to catch up with Terrence. Lizard abandoned his perch on the scorched tree, following on little leathery wings.

"Huh. So you kept up after all," Terrence grunted.

All Dag said was, "Yeah."

Haven't lost me. Yet.