Rendon Dreskoe stared at the Wanderer, but Ratcoats cowered in fear, desperately whispering an old Pheffist prayer.

"Where are we? What is this place?" Dreskoe demanded of the Spider, as he found his voice slowly returning.

"The wellspring of nightmares," rasped the Spider, "...and home to me and he..." it said, pointing at the hunched figure on the throne, "and no one else," it shouted at the Wanderer.

"Why have you brought us here?" sobbed Ratcoats.

"Because of him, of that one there, that thief, usurper, liar," the Spider replied, quaking with rage.

"Thief?" came a soft, sonorous voice that sounded as deep as thunder, but as light as breaking glass, "not a thief," the voice reiterated.

"He lies, don't listen to him. He takes what doesn't belong to him and gives it to others. Gives it to the master of Neem. You must warn him of this one's tricks, it's the only way to stop him."

Dreskoe attempted to process what he was hearing but nothing in his experience before had prepared him for the situation he now found himself in. A lesser man would have pleaded to be released but not Dreskoe. A lesser man at his side, Ratcoats, was doing exactly that.  Dreskoe kicked him in the ribs to silence him and then turned to the Spider.

"You and this wretch" he said, pointing to Ratcoats, "...came to kill me, why should I help you?"

Spider shook its head.

"No, not kill, just hurt. I heal those who are desperate, then they belong to me, they do as I say."

A heavy sob from Ratcoats told Dreskoe all he needed to know about how he had come into the Spider's service.

"I was burned, at the dock, I had no choice," he said, his voice full of despair.

"I saw what became of your friends," Dreskoe replied. He then turned to the Spider and spoke.

"You haven't healed me of anything, creature, so I am neither in your debt or under your spell. I already have a master."

"One you'll never see again," snarled Spider, "...here is a long way from there. I can take you back but you do what I say..."

Spider's words were cut short, however. The creature seemed to be struck by an invisible wave of force, even causing the mist around it to swirl.

The Wanderer, floating silently above Dreskoe, Ratcoats and the Spider, reached out with his hand. As he clenched his fist, drawing it into his body, the Spider shuddered and shook; droplets of acrid black blood spewed forth from the corners of its eyes and mouth and its body cracked under an immense force. As the Wanderer released it grasp the Spider collapsed lifeless to the floor. The Wanderer floated to the ground effortlessly.

"Now you have a master who will give you safe passage home from this place, the Grey Kingdom," he said.

Ratcoats threw himself to the ground, shaking with a combination of fear and awe. Dreskoe stood, impassive.

"That thing, it said that this place was its home, home for it and the one who slumbers away over there. He said you weren't meant to be here, called you a thief, what did you steal?"

"The only thing to steal from here, life itself. He's right, there were always two, first they were master and servant, then bitter enemies, one sleeping, the other awake. They balanced each other, one cancelling out the schemes of the other. Now that balance is over, the woken one is no more. His nemesis will soon stir."

Ratcoats looked at the huge figure on the throne, his eyes wild with imagined possibilities.

"Take us back, please" he begged. Dreskoe, unaccustomed to pleading remained silent but a growing terror engulfed him.

"What have you done?"

"I have given you change, nothing more, just as I did with Valis when I channeled the potent waters of this world to him, giving him a power he is still unaware of. You have power too Rendon Dreskoe. The power to choose, your life or your death, and there is still so much to live for."

Dreskoe stared at the Wanderer, suspicious and fearful as to what would follow next. The grey green fog swirled again as the Wanderer gestured with his hand and as the mists parted an opaque portal manifested. Dreskoe peered into the gloom, unable to discern much to begin with. The mist started to take solid form, creating trees, a woodland clearing, a road. Bodies.

"The House Varren has failed Rendon Dreskoe...."

"Haali..." he gasped in relief and renewed fear.

"The squire of Dran lives. Do my bidding, there is much for you to live for too."

Dreskoe took a moment to consider his fate and that if his son. He considered the oaths that had bound his life together as a soldier since childhood. He considered his men, comrades and brothers in arms. All this ran through his mind in that briefest of pauses before he slowly lowered to his knees, bowed his head and accepted his new master.

"Let us begin," said the Wanderer, waving away the mist that hid the journey back to the crack in reality that had led them to this place. A blue nimbus of light leapt from the Wanderer's hand, dancing ahead of Dreskoe and Ratcoats to guide them back to their own world. The Wanderer remained where he was, Dreskoe and Ratcoats took faltering steps into the corridor in the mist, knowing that they had little choice than to trust the Wanderer. When they had gone, the Wanderer walked over to the body of the Spider, looking down as if silently reflecting on the creature's fate. He floated next to the figure on the throne, the Wanderer stared at it from the shifting cloud that served as his face.

"Change..." he whispered to himself, running a finger along the dark grey stone of the throne. Finally the Wanderer looked upwards into the roiling grey clouds above. As he did, a long low booming wail shattered the silence of the Grey Kingdom. Something huge yet indistinct stirred in the clouds far above the Wanderer, vast and alive. Another sleeping giant awoken by his actions.