I am Lena Wolf, Lena's life as it happens Options

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 4E204 - Strands in a web

It took many weeks collecting every little piece of information they could find - both about Battahl and Queen Regent's past and present connections there, and about anyone with designs to remove Her Majesty's personal guard, that is, Scorpio. Between Lena, Rook and Sven they figured out that it was all connected, but were still uncertain about the particulars. The three of them could not be seen together, so Lena acted as a link, courting both of them. The rumours of her liason with Sven were growing stronger with every passing day, and people were openly speculating when their engagement would be announced.

"They will allow it to mature for a year or two," some were saying. "It is a matter of wealth. Is the Arisen wealthy? She is, as our Sovran, but was she wealthy before she was crowned? That needs to be assessed."

"No, they won't wait that long," others disagreed. "Just look at her armour and that of her pawns! Of course she was wealthy! She owns a mansion in the Noble Quarter, besides. And a house in town. There is no question of wealth!"

"Does she still command pawns?" Yet others wondered. "With the dragon slain, does that power wane? They want to make sure she remains in control, dragon or no dragon."

But the most salacious remarks were about her and Sven, as could be expected. That was on purpose, for people were most likely to focus on something saucy. Sven would visit Lena's chamber on a regular bases, noises would be heard, and some would swear to have seen action, too... What they really heard and saw however, was a performance not unlike the performance that Lena and Ser Maximilian put on back in Gransys so many years ago. The peephole in Lena's chamber had been securely blocked, and glimpses through a half-opened door could be easily manipulated.

"Why do you not put on a performance with Rook?" Sven asked one evening.

"We meet at The Rose, it has to be real. Too many experts would know the difference," Lena shrugged. "Rook never stays here."

Sven thought there was more to it, but didn't ask. They still weren't friends.

"Here, have a look at this," Lena and Sven were sitting in a blind corner of her chamber, certain not to be seen or heard. She put an old letter on the table. "That's a Battahli crest."

"The letter speaks of a 'service' to be rendered to mother," Sven read. "But the person to render it is only named as 'His Lordship'," he sighed. "That doesn't help at all... Although... The service appears to be of intimate nature."

"There is no date on the letter, although it is old. But is it old enough?" Lena thought that the 'service' might have been that of ensuring that the Sovran of Vermund had a child.

"Hmm..." Sven wasn't sure. "But look at this," he produced another old letter from his pocket. "This is quite intimate, and it is signed."

"Lord Allard," Lena read. "But not nearly old enough... the paper isn't discoloured. Lord Chancellor mentioned something... that he never intervened. The 'service' might have been repeated. Lord Allard still lives in this very castle."

"I wonder if father married mother for love or was it... Hmm..."

"Only she can tell us that now, I fear." Lena sat back in her chair. "And I am not about to ask."

This was a typical conversation between Lena and Sven, with each of them producing one or the other letter of more or less intimate nature and trying to figure out whether it was of any importance at all. The royal court seemed to have an infinite number of such letters, and everyone of the gentry seemed to have been involved with everyone else at some point in the past. Considering how easy it was to find these letters, just left behind in desks and drawers, unlocked and unguarded, they didn't seem important. Unless of course one of them was...

"If someone wanted to hide an important letter in this castle, they would just put it in some old drawer along with all the nonsense," Lena shook her head. "To find what we seek among all of this... seems nigh impossible."

"We need to start discounting people," Sven looked up. "Like this Lord Allard, for instance. He's been around the court for ages, well before I was born. But this letter is recent, and means probably nothing... We need to know more about him. And who is this 'Lordship' from Battahl? Keep every Battahli letter, as there are not many of those..."

Considering such goings on, Lena's visits to The Rose hardly attracted gossip - it was, after all, a common thing to do.

"Her Majesty is still frequenting one and the same escort," people would say. "One of the pawns she used to walk with... I wonder if there's anything more to that."

"Her Majesty likes a man with experience," others would shrug. "She found one she likes, and that's that. Mayhap she knew his worth from before he joined The Rose..."

People would grin and move on to more juicy news of the day.

Rook was doing well at The Rose. He was in constant demand. His fee rose above most others. As such, he was assigned a room of his own, with all the luxuries and conveniences of that. But with all this, alas, information was still not forthcoming. Instead, he was being asked more than he was told.

"What does Her Majesty like?" His clients would ask. "Show me, I want to know."

"Your Ladyship would not want me to show Your Ladyship's likes to others," he would decline with a smile. "The Rose guarantees the clients' privacy."

One day as the maid was serving coffee and the door stood open, they heard loud voices from the lobby.

"I want the Sovran's escort! He is not in this book!"

"These are all the escorts that answer Your Lordship's preference," a much quieter voice of the receptionist tried to calm down the client.

"Nonsense! I just said what I wanted!"

"That's Lord Allard," Rook's client sat up, listening in. "Wanting you... I would not recommend it."

"Lord Allard seems to have quite a temper," Rook noted, also listening in.

"A temper and a name in the court..." the lady nodded. "Everyone avoids him now. Everyone. Even Queen Regent... and they were close once."

"He served the court for many years, I hear."

"Since he was young..." She got up to look at him from behind the door. "He isn't what he used to be any longer... There's been talk that he fathered Queen's child, Sven. If you can father a child after it's born!" She chuckled. "No, he was with me when the Queen... you know. She'd been away for a time, then Sven was born half a year later."

She stepped back into the room as Wilhemina walked past the door towards the lobby.

"I must ask Your Lordship to keep your voice down," she said firmly. "The Rose is a peaceful retreat. Kindly select your escort from the ledger."

"The Sovran's escort isn't in it!" Lord Allard replied angrily, but in a lowered voice. "What game are you playing?!"

"You are confusing us with similar houses in the Lower Town," Wilhemina answered evenly, but with an undercurrent of disdain. "Our agents determine what services they provide. The Sovran's escort does not cater for your preference."

"Whores! All of you!!!" Lord Allard bellowed, there was a sound of steel against steel, then all went quiet.

"Escort His Lordship outside," Wilhemina said to someone in the lobby. "His membership is thus revoked."

"You are lucky to work here," Rook's client accepted coffee that he handed her. "Wilhemina understands what makes for good service... for pleasant times... unlike Lord Allard down below."

...

"So Lord Allard isn't your sire," Lena related this information to Sven next time they met. "The lady said your mother had been away, then you were born. Away to Battahl, perhaps?"

"It certainly looks that way," Sven agreed. "But to meet whom? And could Lord Allard still be involved in your pawn's disappearance?"

"I think not," Lena shook her head. "He seems out of control. It isn't easy to abduct a fighter such as Scorpio... They failed at the coronation, so they planned better this time. This job was served cold."

...

The next piece of the puzzle also came from Rook. He had a new client, and as soon as she entered, he felt dizzy and somewhat confused. He felt compelled to do what she asked, going far beyond his normal bounds. When she left, his head cleared. His body was scarred and burned in places, a practice not endorsed by The Rose.

"What happened to you?!" Lena gasped when she saw it. "I thought The Rose didn't allow..."

"It doesn't," Rook nodded. "I don't understand it myself... It is as if I was in a haze..."

"We have to tell Wilhemina," Lena was adamant.

"Godsway," Wilhemina concluded with disgust. "A substance that controls pawns. There's been talk of it in recent years... but this is the first time we had it in our house!" She added with anger. "You are off duty for the rest of the week! I won't stand for this! We have a lot of pawns!" She stormed off.

"Godsway," Lena repeated, examining Rook's bruises closely. "Tell me what you remember."

Godsway appeared to have clouded Rook's judgement and suppressed his will but not affected his memory much. He knew exactly how he got every bruise, yet could not oppose the hand that inflicted them.

"I do remember resisting somewhat," he looked apologetic. "Perhaps that's what she wanted..."

"I wonder if the dose you got was only little," Lena mused. "Since you could resist. But what if it was increased? May be that's what they used on Scorpio?"

...

"Godsway is prohibited in our Kingdom!" Sven exclaimed with indignation when Lena told him about the incident at The Rose. "Exactly because it affects pawns in this way, and pawns are welcome here. It is imported... I don't know how it is made. It's used... well... the way it was used on Rook. He got a standard dose. We'll catch the smugglers, but I wonder... What if the dose was increased? What then?"

The smugglers were caught, a quantity of godsway was recovered.

"This was a medium size operation, Your Majesty," Captain Brandt was delivering his report at the Chancery. "The substance will be incinerated."

When he finished, Lena quietly followed him out of the Chancery office.

"Captain," she spoke softly. "I wonder if I could have a word."

It wasn't too hard to convince the Captain to hand over godsway to her. She wanted to know its effects when given in larger doses, and Rook reluctantly agreed to test it. The Captain too wanted to see the effects. It required some preparation, but eventually guard training was arranged out in the fields, thus leaving the barracks free.

"Don't make me fight you, I am not that bad of a mage," Rook joked nervously as they were getting ready to start. "There is no telling what it will do..."

The effects were astounding. Rook remained conscious throughout, he could walk and talk, and indeed fight, and he executed every order to the letter, even though they had agreed that he would try to resist. But as soon as the crystal was moved a distance away, he regained full control of his will.

"It's strong but of limited range," the Captain concluded. "Dangerous stuff. This will be incinerated. I shudder to think what it could do if it was refined..." He gathered up the crystals. "And you should know... it is imported from Battahl."

The pattern was becoming clear. The strands of the web led to Battahl.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 21 2024, 05:54 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 4E204 - A grain of sand in a desert

"This is like finding a grain of sand in a desert!" Sven shook his head when Lena told him they had to look for clues in Battahl. "How to tell which one is the right one? We have a stack of letters from Battahl, intimate and otherwise, signed and unsigned, old and new... Which one would point to 'His Lordship' that is my sire? Which one would lead us to your captured pawn? Is the same person behind both? Twenty years apart? That seems unlikely..." Sven sighed. "Yet at the same time I sense it is exactly the case... But why..?"

"There is something else at work here," Lena mused, looking through the letters on the table again. "Something that we are yet to uncover. I too feel that the same person may be behind both... I just hope that Scorpio is still alive..."

"I haven't considered that," Sven looked up with sadness. "It's been... what? Four, five months? If he is being tortured... strong as he is, that's a long time... assuming they didn't kill him directly..." He stopped talking, noticing Lena's heartache, but she got the distinct feeling that he said those things on purpose. Perhaps in order to see her response.

"Yes, I miss him, if that's what you wanted to know," she said with rebuke and Sven blushed slightly. "It isn't an act."

"But you have Rook now..."

"Rook is my friend. Scorpio is... more." She kept her eyes on Sven trying to figure out why he was asking these questions, and what it was that he wasn't asking but wanted to know.

"I've watched you and Rook," Sven met her gaze without blushing. "You seem completely at ease with each other. He's not guarded with you as he's guarded with his other clients, you are not a client to him. I do not understand... And you say there can be more?"

"Rook is married, did you know that?" Lena smiled. "Not to me, that is. But we are old friends, we've been through so much, I trust him with my life and more... But yes, there is another level... more than one level, in fact..."

"But if he's married... Why did he become an escort?"

"To help me find Scorpio." Lena paused, watching the puzzled look on Sven's face. "Or do you mean to ask why Rook is such an excellent escort? Because that's Rook. When he decides to do something, he does it right. He doesn't skimp, doesn't shirk, doesn't try to fake it. He took the job for a different reason, but it is now his job, and he does it well. His clients can sense it, which is why he is in demand. Not just because he's the Sovran's escort."

"I never imagined that slaying the dragon could bring people together like that," Sven said softly, still puzzled.

"It wasn't the dragon..." Lena thought of the times she would lose a battle in order to save her pawns, of the times her pawns would keep fighting for her and die when she could not save them, the times she really lost a pawn, not merely sent them back to the Rift... "Pawns are not completely immortal," she smiled at Sven. "Yet they do not falter, and not all of it is driven by duty or their magical bonds to the master... I've had pawns that..." She stopped talking, suddenly realising that speaking of that would be betraying their trust. Not all pawns were equally loyal, despite the common belief. "It wasn't the dragon that brought us together," she closed the topic. "But it is between me and them."

...

One evening Lena slipped into The Rose from a particularly boring soiree - there seemed to have been secret passages from every part of the castle. She didn't know whether Rook was with a client, and didn't want to go barging in. She linguered in the corridor, trying to make up her mind.

"Your Majesty," she heard Wilhemina's voice behind her. "Your escort will finish shortly," she smiled. "But until then, please come with me."

Wilhemina led Lena into an empty room, closed the door and kissed her.

"Not interested?" She stood back, surprised. "Not many clients get my attention."

"Forgive me, Lady Wilhemina," Lena smiled. "But..."

"Say no more," Wilhemina smiled back. "It is unusual, but not unheard of. But may be I can still please you with something else..."

She walked to a framed picture on the wall and flipped it aside, revealing a peephole. Lena looked in.

The room on the other side seemed empty, but then she noticed movement in the curtains. A masked man silently stepped forward, and a masked woman appeared from another corner of the room. Lena recognised Queen Regent, because, let's face it, masks didn't work for people who knew each other well, such as members of the same court. The man, however, was unknown to Lena, and his mask would indeed prevent her from remembering his face.

"Disa..." he said, taking Queen Regent into his arms. "You wanted me to stay away, and I did. It's been a long wait... but you look just like you did twenty years ago."

"You flatter me, Phaz," she smiled. "But the wait is nearly over. Sven will marry the Arisen and then..."

"How long do you plan to let her live?"

"Just long enough to calm the waters," she shrugged. "Her pawn does complicate matters, though."

"Her pawn? But we removed him, surely?"

"Her other pawn... her escort here at The Rose. We cannot touch him here."

"That is most unfortunate."

"But equally... he's just an escort," Queen Regent made a gesture of brushing off an annoying fly. "Not a bodyguard, as was the one before him. And he's just a mage... Not a match for you, Phaz."

"You want that I kill him myself..?" The man she called 'Phaz' sounded surprised.

"If need be..." She sighed. "Just send him back to the Rift, that will do."

"Easier than killing him outright," Phaz agreed. "Her main pawn is still alive... somehow... we've done all we could think of... it's been five months."

"Alive?" Disa pulled back, surprised and worried.

"We could have sent him back to the Rift, but that would have served no purpose," Phaz explained. "She'd get him back right away. No, he needs to die a proper death, there are ways... he seems unconsious and his body is ailing, yet he still lives..."

"That is enough," Wilhemina covered the peephole with the picture again. "Your escort awaits you, Your Majesty."

Lena followed her to Rook's chamber and didn't come out until the following afternoon.

...

"Sven has been watching us," Lena told Rook when she finally stopped crying. "He's been asking me about your... skills," she grinned. "Whether all pawns are like you."

"And what did you say?" Rook smirked, pouring coffee.

"That all pawns are exactly the same, of course, powered by secret magic, just like golems," she laughed. "What did you think I said? There's no one quite like you, Rook."

"I wonder why Wilhemina lets him watch," he mused, settling down in a large plush armchair with his cream-laden coffee. "I didn't think it was a part of a standard service."

"Education? His mother does want him to marry me."

"For political reasons, yes," Rook objected. "Besides, he's been running around brothels long enough now not to require any further training..."

They didn't know what to make of it, but ultimately it wasn't important and they didn't care, so they spoke of it no more.

...

Hearing about Scorpio's condition gave an increased sense of urgency to their investigation, but still they could not move any faster than they did. The man named 'Phaz' was in the centre of it all, but his identity was unknown, and although they surmised that he must be the mysterious 'His Lordship' from the old correspondence, it didn't actually help them to figure out who he was. Lena thought he was a sorcerer, but Rook pointed out that Queen Regent's words would have worked just as well if the man was a knight.

"Any vocation is stronger than a mage when it comes to battle," Rook objected. "He could even be an archer, for all we know. Although I would probably be able to deal with an archer..."

"I still think a sorcerer is most likely," Lena was being stubborn. "And anyhow, we have a register of noteworthy sorcerers, and there are exactly three of them in the whole kingdom, as opposed to literally hundreds of knights."

"Let's start with sorcerers then," Rook grinned. "Except... aren't you looking in the wrong kindom? He's supposed to be from Battahl."

"With so few sorcerers around, they all are bound to know each other," Lena was pouring over the map of Vermund. "We have a court sorcerer here at the castle... An old man with his nose in books. I don't think he's involved in any plots - too busy reading. There's an Elven sorceress up in the Sacred Arbour..."

"As if Elves ever minged in human affairs!" Rook shook his head.

"True. Then there's Magister Myrrdin living in a small town near the border with Battahl. I think I shall pay him a visit."

"Hold it - hold it!" Rook pulled the map out of Lena's hands. "Your Majesty cannot go visiting some random sorcerers in small border towns. I'll go. You stay put."

...

"Magister Myrrdin is not receiving visitors," a stern-looking maid answered the door. "State your business."

"I thought he wasn't receiving visitors?" Rook smiled at her. "I heard much about Magister Myrrdin's learning and was hoping to discuss ways to improve my battle spells... I am but a mage, you see, battle is not my speciality."

"Then you've come to the wrong house!" The maid barked at him. "Magister Myrrdin does not teach dilettantes!"

She slammed the door in Rook's face. This matter required a different approach.

...

"I saw you trying to get into Myrrdin's house," a shady character in dirty leather armour sat next to Rook at the tavern that evening. "We've been trying it for weeks. Best give it up, mate, that house is a fortress."

"I wasn't actually..." Rook started saying when another unsavoury character interrupted him.

"You lot will never get in!" He said to the other thief. "You ain't got class. Stick out as a sore thumb... This fellah on the other hand, he stands a chance... If dressed right... I reckon... may be..." He took a step back, eyeing Rook head to toe. "I'll tell you what you need to do, but we take half the cut."

"There won't be any cuts, so there's nothing to take," Rook said firmly. "I daresay I don't need your help."

"You won't get past that door without us!" The thief retorted angrily. "And I have a rush order on an opal orb from that house, so you WILL go in!"

"Not for you, I won't."

"We'll see about that!!"

Daggers flashed from several directions, an arrow flew past Rook's ear, someone even tried to stab him, but Rook was completely unharmed.

"That does it, really!" He pushed away one of his attackers and quickly cast a spell. A lightning bolt hit in the middle of the fighting crowd, the sparks latched onto the weapons, jumping from fighter to figher, some people fell to the ground, others were still standing, shaking. Either way, the fight was over, and the barman was quick to throw them all outside. The crowd dispersed as quickly as it had assembled, out of sight and out of reach of the city guard.

"It's always the same here," a guard addressed Rook and spit. "They start the brawl, but they are too quick for us. You, on the other hand... In the name of Her Majesty the Sovran, I arrest you for disturbing the peace in this town." He put wrist irons on Rook who didn't resist. "It's this way to the gaol..."

...

Stripped of his coat and staff and dressed in prison garb, Rook woke up in the morning on a pile of dirty straw in a rat-infested gaol of a small border town. His head didn't hurt and he remembered everything that happened, but he felt empty and hollow. The wrist irons - they sapped his strength and magicka, leaving him defenseless.

"How do I get out of here?" He asked the guard who brought him bread and water. "If it's money you want..."

"Aye, there's a fee to pay," the guard grinned. "But not yet. You are a pawn, are you not? You pawns get a different treatment."

He checked the lock on the bars and walked off, leaving Rook with a feeling of foreboding. His trip was not going according to plan.

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 4E204 - Pawns

"That's enough, this cargo is worth more than your lives taken together!" A sorcerer with an unusual staff barked at the guards beating up prisoners. "Count them and load them into the cart! And if any of them is seriously injured... I'll have your heads!"

A dozen or so prisoners were manhandled into a covered cart, but the beating stopped. The back of the cart was barred and the ox resumed pulling it up a mountain road.

Rooked looked at the prisoners, they were all pawns. All cuffed in wrist irons like his own, all wearing prison garb in various states of disrepair. "So, we're to be slaves... But what kind?"

The cart slowed as the ox was struggling to pull it over rocks, and the sorcerer overseer walked past the cart. A splitting headache pierced Rook's brain, he squeezed his temples... and saw the other pawns do the same. He felt empty and hollow, more so than ever before... he felt his will drain away... "Godsway," he thought. "But stronger..." The headache was overpowering, making him faint.

...

"Well, which of you was it?" He heard an angry voice. "Which of you started the rebellion?" The overseer stomped his staff on the ground. "I'll know who it was, you cannot hide it from me, pawns!"

Rook opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground in a cavernous cell, occupied by several pawns; he saw more such cells along the corridor, each with several people inside. He could not remember how he got there; he could only remember the cart and the splitting headache from the overseer's staff. And yes, he could remember the gaol in a small border town, then being beaten and loaded onto the cart. Why was he in that town? To visit a sorcerer... with the purpose of finding a man named 'Phaz' in Battahl. Yes, his memory was intact.

"Which of you was it?!!" The overseer bellowed, stomping his staff again, but Rook did not get a headache from it. Instead, he felt compelled to get up. "Ah, so it was you!" The overseer stared at Rook. "Have I seen you before? Hmm... You do seem familiar... I never forget a face! Follow me!" He signalled the guards to unlock the door and let Rook out, locking the other pawns in. He led him through some corridors, and guards pushed him up every time he stumbled. He felt weak... the wrist irons were sapping his strength.

The overseer led him to a large pit where half a dozen prisoners were moving stones from a freshly blasted cavity. "Get to work!" He barked. "I shall not stand for another rebellion!" The guards pushed him on. Manual labour. It could be worse.

Miners were opening up a new passage, blasts were heard every minute or so. That alone was making Rook ill, but he focused on moving stones and tried to avoid getting hit by debries and rocks. Another blast, and the whole side of the pit came crushing down, burying pawns and guards alike. Puddles of bluish light appeared under the rubble - pawns killed by falling rock were returning to the Rift.

"Idiots!!!" The overseer bellowed at the miners. "Their lives are worth more than yours! You let them escape!!!" He did not care for the guards that were killed along with the pawns, for their lives weren't worth as much.

"I must not be killed by falling rock," Rook told himself. "That would return me to the Rift, but I must stay here and learn what is to be learned. That staff has a godsway crystal. This is a pawn labour camp. This is the same labour camp where I found the current Arisen oh so long ago... The Arisen that is now waiting for me in Vermund. The difference is... last time I was here on purpose. This time I am just a slave."

Operating without the protection of the Legion was infinitely more difficult than guiding a new Arisen. Rook didn't lack a will of his own, but it wasn't a matter of will. With only the overall goal being clear - to rescue Scorpio - the immediate goals of what to do next were up to him to set and pursue. "This is a lot harder than hunting down the dragon," he thought, carrying rocks from one corner of the excavation site to another. "Where do I go from here? I cannot see a clear path... is it because I am a pawn?" He wondered. The Legion had always claimed that pawns needed an Arisen to give them direction. Rook never believed it, until that moment at the labour camp when he started doubting himself. "Wolf would know what to do, she is an Arisen," he thought. But then... "Have you forgotten something, Arisen? You're looking rather lost..." "You're staring, Arisen!" "Shouldn't we get going, master?" "What are you doing, Arisen? The path is that way!" All those times when pawns had to remind an Arisen what needed doing; all those times when he or the others had to lead an Arisen to their goal; all those times when... "...when an Arisen had no clue what to do," Rook smirked at the memories. "No, there's nothing wrong with us pawns. I just need to focus."

He tried to think what Lena would do when she was unsure how to proceed... "She would do nothing..." he thought. "Sleep on it... Perhaps I'll see things clearer tomorrow."

It had been several days, all the same, all filled with labour of moving rocks from one side of the pit to another. Rook wondered what the purpose of the excavation was, as the miners seemed to be blasting tunnels in every direction. So many explosions often caused cave-ins that had to be cleared with more explosions... There didn't seem to be a plan. "They are searching for something," he finally realised. "They don't know in which direction to proceed. Perhaps it's time for me to look around."

And so, instead of just carrying rocks from one spot to another, he started paying attention to the rock formations, noting different structures, veins of ore, slabs of basalt, pieces of polished marble... "Pieces of polished marble?" He grinned. "Oh yes, it's this way." It didn't take long for the miners to notice polished marble too, and they redoubled their blasts in that direction. After a few days, they blasted through a wall of an arena.

"Inform Lord Phaseus!" The overseer was excited by the discovery.

A day later several richly dressed mages came to the site, examined the arena, talking excitedly among themselves. If anything, they looked like tourists visiting an ancient site. "Perhaps that's exactly what they are," Rook wondered, watching them. "Their spells are so weak... These are mages in name only, nothing more."

More mages came the following day and the day after that, and Rook stopped paying them much attention. Then the tours stopped and a single mage with a half a dozen guards came to the site. He commanded the overseer to clear the site, moving the pawns and the camp guards back into the caverns. Rook hid among the rubble, resisting the headache caused by the overseer's godsway staff, just hoping to wait it out until the staff was out of range... He persevered. He could now watch the mage in the arena.

"Come forth, I command you!" The mage - or rather, the sorcerer, as Rook noted - raised his staff that sent a beam of light into the sky causing a vortex to form. A dragon descended from the vortex, circled the arena and hovered over the mage - or may be the mage's staff. "I command you to land!" The mage proclaimed and the dragon landed, waiting for further orders. "Ha!" The mage looked smug. "It worked. So far, anyway. Now kill it!" He shouted to his guards who started attacking the dragon.

It didn't take long and the dragon lay dead. It didn't resist, it didn't fight back, the mage's staff was controlling its will, it appeared. "Collect all the crystals, we'll need them for later," the mage told the guards. "Now to get to the heart..." He put away the staff and drew a long dagger, walked up to the dragon's chest and cut it open. Foul viscous liquid erupted from the cavity, but the mage continued widening the cut until the dragon's chest lay wide open. "But... it has no heart!" He was taken aback. "How..?" He walked around the dragon several times, made several more cuts but alas, there was no heart to be found.

"This is a lesser dragon," Rook noted to himself watching the mage's disappointment. "They have no hearts... It would have been more amusing to watch him summon a drake and find three hearts inside," he smirked. "This isn't THE dragon. That dragon cannot be controlled with a godsway staff."

Just as the mage was ready to leave the arena, another mage walked in. He had a commanding aura about him. He examined the dragon, lamented the lack of a heart, exchanged a few words with the other mage, then proceeded collecting the viscous liquid oozing from the dragon's chest.

"Take these vials to the lab," he told the guards. "Perhaps this foul slime will finally kill that pawn..." He watched the guards fill a chest full of vials. "Whatever keeps him alive... Never had a subject quite like him."

"Are you certain that he is no longer bound to his Arisen?" The other mage asked.

"She killed the dragon, that always breaks the bond..." he mused. "Unless there is another bond between them? But no matter, she hasn't long to live. Once she is dead, the pawn will surely perish. And even if not... He will no longer be a threat to us. Pawns have no will or purpose of their own."

...

When the mages and the guards left the arena, Rook cautiously climbed out of his hiding spot and approached the dragon's body.

"Lesser dragons have no hearts but they are not entirely useless," he smirked. He reached deep into the dragon's liver and pulled out a blueish stone. "Vernworth!" He said, throwing it into the sky. There was a flash of light and Rook vanished.

...

"What was that?!" The overseer saw the flash of a ferrystone being deployed on the newly unearthed arena. "Who did that?! Who escaped?!! Ooh, it's that pawn from the latest shipment! The one that escaped a year ago as well, and with another pawn! Don't think I don't remember! I never forget a face!" He ran to the arena but there was nothing to see there apart from a dead dragon covered in foul slime.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 23 2024, 05:50 PM

[Lena Wolf]

First Seed, 4E204 - Her Majesty's escort

Rook's teleportation to Vernworth did not go unnoticed. The porticrystal stood next to the Pawn Guild on a major thoroughfare, and an arrival of a single pawn covered in foul slime and dressed in prison garb, immediately got him arrested.

"In the name of Her Majesty the Sovran, I am arresting you for disturbing the peace in this city!" The guard proclaimed, trying to cuff Rook in wrist irons, only to realise that he was wearing wrist irons already... "Which prison did you escape from?" The guard squinted suspiciously. "Well, never mind, the Captain will soon get it all out of you! This way to the gaol..."

...

The gaol in Vernworth was exactly the same as any other gaol, with its dirty straw for bedding and rats for company. The cell doors had sturdy locks and the guards were patrolling the corridors. Rook could do nothing but wait for someone to let him out, one way or the other...

"You are Her Majesty's escort, are you not?" A night guard spoke in a hushed voice through the bars of Rook's cell. "I saw you with her around town a few times... What did you do to end up here?"

"I arrived at the porticrystal wearing this..." Rook shrugged.

"Disturbing the peace," the guard nodded. "Sometimes I think they do go too far with it... We're no fashion police... And if Her Majesty likes games of that sort, arresting the escort seems counter-productive."

He stared at Rook for a while expecting an answer with juicy details, but Rook remained silent, his face impassable.

"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" The guard sighed with disappointment. "They do say that The Rose guards their clients' secrets well... But the fact of your appearance here already speaks volumes. We'll just have to fill in the details ourselves..."

"You are fishing," Rook thought but again said nothing, and the guard eventually walked away.

A few days passed with no change, then another guard came in with a jug of hot water and a bundle of clothes.

"Wash up and get dressed, you are being released," he set the jug down and tossed the bundle at Rook's feet. "Your fee's been paid... must be nice to be Her Majesty's escort." He scowled and locked the door behind him, not removing Rook's wrist irons. One could never be too careful with convicts.

When Rook was ready, the guard escorted him to the exit, only then removing his cuffs. Wilhemina stood at the door.

"If he's been injured... If there's a single bruise upon his body..." She stood quite close to the guard speaking in her languid voice that carried a clear menace, "...if he has to recover afore he can work... well... let's hope it isn't the case."

The guard backed off, saluted and vanished.

"Come with me," Wilhemina turned to Rook. "There's a prize on your head. And not every guard will be as gullable as this one..."

...

"They can't actually cut off my head, the pawn magic would have me return to the Rift before it was done..." Rook was perplexed to hear that indeed there was a prize on his head payable upon presenting said head to the Captain of the Guard. "Since when?"

"Since this morning," Wilhemina sighed. "Which is why I had to hurry as the night guard would not have had the brief as yet..."

She led Rook into the basement of The Rose, pushed a false wall panel and revealed a small but tidy room behind it.

"You will stay here for now. Her Majesty will be informed. Her engagement to Regentkin Sven was announced two weeks ago, making him her escort instead of you. But you served The Rose without fail, and I don't abandon my agents. When this is all over... I hope you will return to The Rose..." She looked into his eyes and sighed. "But I have no illusions that you won't."

Wilhemina left. The basement room had everything needed for a long stay, including books. Rook picked one and prepared to wait.

...

"It is time to announce your engagement," Lord Chancellor was saying to Lena and Sven, having summonned them to his office a couple of weeks previously. "There's talk..." he grinned. "Your Majesty will have to abandon your escort at The Rose, it is unbecoming a sovran engaged to be married," he looked at her sternly. "As you are as of now."

"This is rather sudden," Sven seemed genuinly surprised. "We were never told..."

"Your Grace's behaviour left no doubt," Lord Chancellor objected. "When your mother Queen Regent learned of the goings on in the Royal Chamber... well..." he rolled his eyes. "Any further delay would have been nothing short of a scandal." He puffed his cheeks as if stopping himself from saying more. "The date for the wedding ceremony has not yet been set, there are preparations to be made, you understand... But fear not, the Chancery is known for its expedience."

He ushered them out, as only Lord Chancellor could do.

"Congratulations," Sven said with anger. "It was your plan to put on a show. And now look where it got us!"

"Shhh... Keep your voice down," Lena hushed him. "We don't want talk about the first royal squabble, do we?" She pulled him towards her chamber. "We talk there."

The guards grinned seeing them enter the Royal Chamber flushed and slightly disheveled, the rumours being thus confirmed.

"Rook is still away, and even if he returns with new information, the game has changed," Lena was saying when they were sitting in the blind corner of her chamber again. "I don't like it either... But say... what are you going to do when you finally learn who is your sire?"

"Confront mother," Sven shrugged.

"And..?"

"What for..? Yeah... I never thought of that," he rubbed his chin in a second surprise of the morning, and Lena thought that perhaps indeed he never thought it through. "I guess I just wanted to know." He paused, then looked up at Lena. "What are you going to do once you learn who captured your pawn?"

"I'll go after him, of course," Lena shrugged. "Sovran or no Sovran."

They fell silent, and Lena thought that although Sven was still not a friend... he was coming close to it. He so far hadn't betrayed her... so far... still, something was keeping her on her guard. With Rook still out of town and with her new status of being engaged to be married, Sven was to be her only company, whether she liked it or not.

"Once we're married, you can have another escort," Sven suddenly said. "Royal couples are not expected to... you know. Especially since you couldn't bear children anyway."

Lena stared at Sven - his statement sounded out of place and out of character somehow, so cold and brutal the way he said it. Was that the real Sven speaking? Or was that something he was told to say?

"Arisen cannot sire or bear children, that's true," she nodded. "So, how is your royal line to continue, then? Just when exactly shall I be executed?"

Sven paled.

"Executed..? But that would be treason..."

"Oh Sven, you are not that naive," Lena smirked, her eyes growing cold. "Games seem to be over. My life is safe until the wedding and for a little while after that, but then I shall be nothing but a hindrance. Arisen are not immortal."

There didn't seem to be anything else to say. They sat in silence for a while, then Sven got up and left. Games were really over.

...

It was hard to tell night from day in the back room of the basement under The Rose. Rook thought that perhaps two or three days had passed, yet no one came to see him. Then suddenly the door opened and closed, but no one seemed to come in.

"Wilhemina told me how to find you," Lena said softly, dispelling her shadow veil. She wore her assassin's armour and had a sizable pack under her arm. "Get dressed," she passed it to Rook. "We are leaving."

"Where to?" He asked, finding his coat and staff in the pack, along with other bits. "What have you learned?"

"That there's a prize on your head..." she watched him, trying to assess his condition. "You seem weaker than normal... what happened?"

"Wrist irons," Rook scowled. "They leave permanent damage, as you found out. I was imprisoned for too long..." Lena gasped, but he shook his head. "No matter. I shall regain my form ere long. I have new leads... we need to go to Battahl."

"I figured as much," Lena nodded. "Come. We'll talk on the road."

...

To Rook's surprise, they didn't go very far. Lena led him out of the city, then turned East instead of West towards Battahl.

"This isn't the path to our destination..." Rook found himself saying. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe," Lena smiled. "I am not done in the city as yet, but you cannot stay there. We need to talk and prepare, I need to work on Sven..." she sighed. "Then we shall leave for real. But until then... You will be safe among thieves and assassins."

She took him to the village where they'd been before - the seat of the local thieves and assassins guild, for in that world there was no quarrel between them. Lena didn't like the thieving part, but had to accept it. "You don't have to pilfer if you don't want to," the leader shrugged his shoulders. "It isn't an obligation. But you're still one of us." This was the only place where Rook was safe from assassination attempts because the thieves understood very well that no prize would be paid for a pawn's head as the pawn would vanish into the Rift as soon as he is killed, with his head still attached to his shoulders... "It is a ploy for the gullible," the leader nodded. "There is nothing left when you kill a pawn."

Leaving Rook in the Nameless Village, Lena returned to Vernworth and to her place as the Sovran of Vermund. She was only gone for a couple of days, and no one thought anything of it, except Sven.

"He wasn't just your escort, was he?" He asked during a morning walk in the Castle Gardens. "I know you said he was your friend... But I think there's more to it still."

"What does it matter, Sven?" Lena shrugged. "Rook is now out of the picture. You and I shall be married soon, and you will be Regent King."

"You don't trust me."

"Should I?"

"No."

"Well then..."

They walked in silence, waving and nodding to lords and ladies in the garden.

"You no longer command the pawns," Sven suddenly said. "Once you've killed the dragon, the magic is broken, I know, I read it. You can go into the Rift but you cannot summon or lead them out. Such are the rules! So why are they still flocking to Vernworth and follow you around?" He frowned and stopped, facing her. "What manner of magic is this?!"

"It's no magic, Sven," Lena shook her head. "Pawns are able to traverse the worlds on their own. They just need a reason to do it... Perhaps they sense that I am still here? There's always another dragon lying in wait, and who is to say how long it will be before it appears? Is fifty years a rule? Or are we in fact already expecting another?"

"You are leading me on," Sven said with scorn. "There is no dragon... You just... I don't believe you." He pouted his lips and didn't speak to Lena for the rest of the morning.

...

"What are you doing?" Someone was looking into a crystal ball. "She is about to slip away! They are preparing her execution just after the wedding, and of course she figured it out! That's blatantly obvious, that! Is that your idea of giving her something to do?!" The person flung the crystal ball off the table.

"We didn't plan it this way..." someone replied in a rather shaky voice. "It's their free will, you see... the plot is entirely of their own design..."

"But you could have opposed it! Confused it! Altered it!!" The first voice was growing angrier by the minute. "When her life is in danger, she finds ways to evade the threat - we shall lose track of her again, and where will we be then?!"

"Ah, but she still has not regained her heart," the second voice objected. "Whatever she does, she won't leave this world without it. She'll hide, she'll settle down for a time, but she won't leave. It is as you ordered, Sire."

...

A day or two passed, and Lena felt it was time for her to leave. Yet she didn't want to just disappear turning into a fugitive and then a recluse. She wanted her freedom, including the freedom of living in Vernworth and not being its sovran. The key to that was Sven.

"We need to talk," she said to him in a rare moment when they were out of earshot of everyone else. "Come to my chamber tonight." Sven squinted at her but agreed.

...

"I want to leave," Lena said without a preamble when Sven appeared in her chamber. "This cannot wait till the wedding. You can be Regent King even without that."

"I suppose it could be arranged..." Sven looked her over, noting armour and daggers under her royal cloack. "What will you do?"

"You know."

"Well, I guess..."

"Here, take this." She took off the crown from her head and put it on Sven's. "It suits you. Enjoy."

Sven looked uncertain, he touched the crown, setting it into his hair.

"I guess I can get used to this," he grinned. "What do you want in exchange?"

"My freedom," Lena said simply. "Sign this..."

She handed him a scroll with a royal seal. It proclaimed that Her Majesty the Arisen the Sovran of Vermund abdicated her throne in favour of her fiancee His Grace Regentkin Sven, henceforth to be known as His Majesty Regent King, thus annulling their engagement in favour of the Arisen's escort known as Rook, a pawn of the Pawn Legion, thus annulling the prize on his head in any and all persecutions that may be pending in the Kingdom of Vermund... etcetera, etcetera... granting the Arisen and any of her pawns the freedom of movement and residence in the Kingdom without limitations... Signed: Her Majesty the Arisen the Sovran of Vermund, henceforth to be known as the Arisen.

"I knew it!" Sven was jubilant when he finally got to the end of the scroll. "Annulling the engagement in favour of your escort! The way he behaved with you!"

"Just sign the scroll," Lena rolled her eyes. "Your Majesty."

...

Lena reached the Nameless Village by the morning, leaving goblins roam the plains and sneaking past cyclopi and ogres. "You cannot do it with pawns around," she smirked. "They cannot pass up a fight... or may be I cannot... but not tonight." Her pack was heavy with extra equipment for Rook, with vials of medicine for the road, with several bows, sets of daggers, a sorcerer's staff, a robe, and a collection of poisoned arrows for those special moments...

"What's with the robe and the sorcerer's staff?" Rook looked up at her in surprise. "Isn't that Scorpio's?"

"I didn't want to leave it behind," Lena smiled. "We'll find him. Battahl awaits."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 23 2024, 05:34 PM

[Lena Wolf]

First Seed, 4E204 - Still here, Arisen?

"I thought I would find you here, Arisen! And it appears that I was right!"

"I knew you'd still be lingering here, Arisen!"

"As ever, I am yours to command, master!"

"Arisen! You need my help."

As Lena and Rook set off on their long journey to the Kingdom of Battahl, they were being stopped by wandering pawns wanting to join their party. The greetings ranged from neutral to friendly, to subservient or even to slightly aggressive... But Lena refused them all.

"We shall need someone with us when we get to Battahl," Rook was shaking his head every time Lena turned down another offer. "That one looked like a capable fighter... why did you refuse?"

"I didn't like the attitude," was the usual Lena's response. "The road is still long, we'll manage for now."

One evening they were camping in an out of the way spot as there was really no reason to put themselves in additional danger by trying to walk at night. As Lena was tending to the roast and Rook was chopping some logs for the fire, a voice from the darkness made them jump.

"Fancy meeting you here! The Arisen and her pawn." A warrior in chainmail armour walked into their circle of light. "So the rumours are true."

"Mason!" Lena nearly sent the frying pan flying. "What are you doing here? Good to see you!"

"I am walking the roads like any other pawn, and the aroma of your roast led me here," he chuckled. "You obviously need my help."

"Eating the roast, for sure," Rook brought the logs to the fire. "As usual she had to roast the entire pig."

"Waste not, want not, is it, Arisen?" Mason picked up a half-cooked chop. "This isn't done yet. As always." That didn't stop him devouring it in just a few bites. "I've heard what's gone on, Your Majesty," he was serious now. "Or is it - Your Majesty no longer? By the looks of things... Talk is, your pawn had run off only to be replaced by an escort... Sitting here, I presume," he looked at Rook who nodded. "What have you found out?"

"That Scorpio did not run off," Lena shrugged. "But I supposed you figured as much. He's being held somewhere in Battahl, and that's where we're headed."

"Battahl..." Mason whistled. "That's a large kingdom, too large if you don't know where to look. Too harsh for just the two of you... You'll get yourself into trouble again. I am not the strongest warrior, I know, but my all is yours to shape, master..."

Lena looked up - she hadn't heard that phrase in a long time, a phrase normally spoken by the main pawn alone. A phrase so uncharacteristic of the usual slightly mocking tone that Mason preferred.

"You are free..?" Lena sat up. She no longer could bind pawns as that magic had been destroyed with the dragon, and any pawn that offered her help, could be recalled at any moment. "What about your master?"

"Got bored, got tired, lost interest... what do I know," Mason shrugged as if it were a trifle, but they all knew how devastating such abandonment was for pawns. "Which is why I am stuck at this level, not able to progress. I may not be much use to you in Battahl, depending where you go... The dragon's roost is beyond my skill, I fear. But if you want me... why, yes, I am free." He smiled, regaining his self-assured look.

"Have some roast," Lena piled a stack of well cooked chops onto his plate. "We've got a long road ahead."

...

"There's a shrine to the Sphinx somewhere around here," Mason said when they were picking their way through the mists of a dense forest. "Somewhere North West... My master wanted to go there but the Sphinx wasn't at home."

"The Sphinx doesn't just talk to anyone," Rook nodded. "She only appears if the contender stands a chance to win... either with steel or in a battle of wits."

"How can she know whether the contender is good enough?" Lena mused. "This seems fishy."

"Nothing fishy about it," Mason shook his head. "Say is, the Sphinx is always there. She just doesn't come out most of the time. Can't blame her, really. Getting constant assaults is annoying, and talking to idiots is may be even worse..."

"Say, what are we doing in this forest?" Rook suddenly stopped. They were standing in the middle of a small settlement, completely abandoned. "There's naught here but corpses and skeletons..." He choked on his words as a walking corpse grabbed him around the neck.

"ROOK!!" Lena screamed, dashing towards him, daggers blazing.

"Corpses are hard to kill!" Mason seconded, sweeping several of them with his greatsword, without much effect. "I hope you weren't expecting mercy!!!" The corpses fell to the ground, only to promptly rise again.

By the time Lena managed to extricate Rook out of the undead clutches, she was surrounded by half a dozen new walking corpses and a small army of skeletons armed to the teeth, which, too, were still intact. "Arrghhh!!!!" She twirled, her daggers extended, but even the fire enchantment could not do much damage to the undead.

"This battle will take everything we've got!" Rook noted matter-of-factly. "Hold nothing back! We have to suppress them or else they'll keep coming!" He stood still for a moment preparing a spell, releasing it just in time to avoid another grab at his neck. "Back off!" He told the corpse, nocking it off its feet with his staff and following up with a gout of fire. "I need to focus."

Staying on the ground was clearly dangerous, but if there was one thing that corpses could not do, it was climbing, not that they wouldn't try. "Rotten brains make for little intelligence," Rook muttered, climbing up on the well in the centre of the settlement and just out of reach of the corpses. "Leave me alone." He froze again, incanting another spell. A sparkling ball was growing in his hands, hovering atop the crystal on his staff, then rising into the air above him and finally exploding into a shower of golden stars shooting down on the undead.

"Wow, what fireworks!" Lena stopped for a moment - she'd never seen such a dazzling display. The corpses stopped too, some fell, but most recovered after a pause. The battle continued.

"Bring them to me, the spell does not reach far enough!" Rook shouted to Lena and Mason engaged at the opposite corners from him. "Don't let them lead you away! This is how you perish!" From his elevated position he could see them vanishing into the mist, with more and more undead rising before them. "Just turn around and come this way!!" He shouted. "Allow them to follow!" He had to stop talking and focus on incanting his next spell. He could only hope that Lena and Mason would heed his advice, as unlikely as it seemed from their perspective.

"Are we ignoring the enemy today?" Mason scowled, but seeing Lena making signs to him to retreat, he obeyed. "Being chased is not my idea of fun!" The corpses and skeletons followed, now forming a dense angry crowd around the three living beings gathered by the well...

"Behold the Holy Star rising!!" Rook finished his incantation, releasing another golden orb, much larger than the first. The orb exploded with blinding light, arresting all movement, permeating every object, every living thing, every bit of undead bone or flesh...

When the light finally faded, the ground of the abandoned settlement was littered with shattered bones and lifeless corpses, and one of them was Rook.

"Rook!!" Lena dropped to her knees when her eyes could see again. "What did you do..?"

She turned him over. He was pale, almost white, as if all of his blood had been drained away. His eyes were open, staring at her without seeing. His staff lay by his side, still sparkling with the Holy enchantment. But no, he wasn't dead... he could not be dead! It was never meant to be like that! A pawn could not die while his body still lingered...

"I've heard of that," Mason stood behind her. "He gave all his strength to the spell, not just his magicka, but his very essence... He is not dead, but only just. Let's hope it worked, for if we have to fight again... Every little thing would kill him now."

They made camp, placing Rook inside a make-shift barricade of broken crates, rocks and rubble. If anything were to attack them, they needed a chance to respond...

Several hours passed, but all was quiet and eventually Rook stirred.

"You gave us a fright!" Lena helped him sit up, clearing the debris around him. "Don't do this again."

"I will if I have to," Rook stubbornly shook his head. "We were getting overwhelmed."

"That could have killed you," Mason said quietly. "For good."

"But it didn't," Rook stretched his shoulders. "The Arisen faces such threats every day. This is what it means to be mortal." He brushed off some dirt from his coat. "But to continue our conversation from before the attack..." He looked at the puzzled faces of his companions, as neither of them could remember what they were talking about before the rise of the corpses. "I was asking what we were doing in these woods? Apart from fighting corpses, that is..."

"I cannot explain..." Lena said in a small voice, blushing slightly. "I hadn't thought of the danger... the undead... But something's been calling me here, there is something I need to find..." She looked around the campsite, but there wasn't anything there but old abandoned houses fading into the mist. "This village looks familiar somehow..."

She got up, walked around. All was peaceful, and nothing seemed to jog her memory.

"A cottage in Witchwood in Gransys," she looked at Rook. "Remember? An Arisen and her pawn used to live there. The Arisen had died, and the pawn became human... Or rather... that girl had always been human, only now she no longer bore the curse..."

"Yes, I remember," Rook nodded. "But she still could not make up her mind about aught," he smirked. "So, what about her?"

"Not her... but her bond to her Arisen... or may be the bond of her Arisen to her... which is not the same thing," she looked at Mason as if expecting him to object, but he didn't. "I wonder..." She stopped talking.

"We'll stay for as long as it takes," Rook concluded, adding some logs to the fire. "You got your Arisen's Bond there. Perhaps there's aught you will learn here as well."

...

The mist in that forest was everlasting, blotting out both the sun and the stars; time seemed to abandon its flow and merely float without direction. It was unnerving at first, but soon they thought nothing of it. Perhaps a few days had passed, but the undead remained under ground, and all was quiet. One night - they thought it was night but couldn't tell for sure - Lena started thrashing in her sleep.

"A nightmare," Rook tried to calm her. "Wake up - wake up!" But she wouldn't.

"Perhaps it is a vision," Mason watched her eyes move under her closed eyelids, her chest heave with heavy breathing, her hands jerk. "Leave her to it."

When Lena finally woke up, she was bathed in cold sweat.

"You would not believe the dreams I had..." she shook herself awake. "That's it, today we're leaving. Did you say the Sphinx was nearby? I've got a favour to ask."

"The Sphinx is not known for granting favours..." Rook looked uncertain.

"She will grant a favour to this Arisen," Mason asserted firmly. "Because this Arisen has the audacity to simply go and ask. It's this way to the Sphinx!" He jumped up, wrapping up the camping gear. "Follow me! You can trust my sense of direction! This way..!"

Lena and Rook ran after him, not wanting to be left behind.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 25 2024, 09:48 PM

[Lena Wolf]

First Seed, 4E204 - The Sphinx

"Another challenger stands before me," the Sphinx flew into the shrine and landed in front of Lena. Rook and Mason took several steps back. "Are you here to temper your steel or do you choose a battle of wits?" She towered over Lena but her eyes were not unkind... if a bit mad... The shrine was littered with bones, presumably of those who chose to temper their steel.

"I have a favour to ask of you," Lena said. "A riddle, if you like."

"A riddle? A battle of wits then!" The Sphinx smiled radiantly. "But it is I who gives riddles, riddles for you to solve. Yon chests have prizes to win... prizes fit for the one like you."

"I wish no prize that fits in a chest," Lena shook her head. "If I solve your riddle, I wish to ask one of you in return."

"Exciting!" The Sphinx flapped her wings. "You wish to forgo the worldly gifts for the gifts of the mind? I accept! Then listen to my riddle. Venture into yon cave and bring me that which you've given once but which was taken thrice... Bring that which is missing yet which binds your will... That which races while standing still."

The Sphinx closed her wings and Lena heard a door open behind her. She descended into the cave with Rook and Mason following.

"Well, this is pretty obvious as riddles go," Lena smirked. "Let's hope the cave's got goblins."

The cave did have goblins, lots of them. An ogre too. An assortment of chests in out of reach places... Lena opened one - it had a rotten apple inside.

"What are you going to bring her?" Rook asked when all the fighting was done. Instead of answering, Lena walked over to a pile of goblin bodies, prodded it with her dagger with shock enchantment and pulled out the one goblin that was still alive.

"She did say it had to race," she looked at the goblin that started breathing fast. "I am taking no chances with the likes of her. Give me fire, Rook." She waited for Rook to enchant her dagger with fire, then thrust it into the goblin's chest opening it from top to bottom - the carterised wound did not bleed much. She reached inside and pulled out the heart. "This is what she wanted."

...

Lena stood in front of the Sphinx, a goblin heart in her hand, still beating.

"Your riddle," she said. "I could not bring you the real thing because it is missing. But I hope this proxy will do."

"Indeed!" The Sphinx smiled the most radiant of smiles, twisting her head to look at the heart in Lena's hand from every angle. "A beating heart... How clever of you not to fall for my trick! It had to be beating, indeed... although I would not exactly call it racing." She pouted her lips.

"I now give you my riddle." Lena placed the heart on a stand in front of the Sphinx and touched it with her dagger. The shock enchantment spurred it into rapid convulsions. "Behold that which was taken from me." She added a long clear crystal. "That which I gave but still hold." She put her hand on the stand and the Arisen's Bond sparkled, then dimmed. "Behold my quest. Answer me: where lies the end of my road?"

The Sphinx cocked her head, looked at the stand, then looked straight into Lena's eyes. The Sphinx' irises seemed to be spinning...

"Your road is long, into the land of red rock you will go," the Sphinx said with her hypnotic voice. "You will not reach the end afore you collect the strands... The grains of sand in the desert... A crystal ball, a cold flame and a sword of sorrow... Your brother will aid you along the way... Then you will reach the end when you find the beginning."

She closed her wings and moved back, releasing Lena from the hold of her gaze. Her words seemed to have etched in Lena's mind as a carving is etched into stone.

"A worthy reward," Lena smiled. "I thank you for granting me your favour."

"Come back any time," the Sphinx smiled. "It was rather fun... The veil of insanity is but an illusion that hides an inquisitive mind..."

She took a few steps, then soared into the cloudless sky. Lena stood there for a few moments, then rejoined her companions.

"The Sphinx is right - we still have a long way to go," she sighed. "But at least it is clear where we are going."

"It is..?" Mason squinted in disbelief. "Well, if you say so. Lead on, Arisen."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 30 2024, 04:00 PM

[Lena Wolf]

First Seed, 4E204 - The oracle

"Let's do the obvious thing first," Lena pointed South when they reached the border checkpoint with Battahl. "Although I am not sure it would be of use..."

"Stop talking in riddles, we are no longer at the shrine of the Sphinx!" Mason scowled. "What obvious thing?"

"The oracle," Lena shrugged. "She did say to find a crystal ball. Oracles are obsessed with those things... And there's a particularly annoying oracle hiding in a tomb South of here. I know, we met her before."

"An annoying oracle does not seem useful," Rook squinted. "But I suppose you are right. If the Sphinx mentioned her, we should go see."

They reached the ancient tomb without much trouble, discounting the trouble in the tomb itself. Tombs weren't meant to be disturbed, there were sentries and traps to dissuade casual adventurers from entering. That particular tomb housed a powerful lich that kept summoning skeletons by the dozen.

"By half a dozen," Lena corrected them when the fight was over. "But yes. Pretty bad, that. Oh look - he left us a gift!" The lich fell onto one of the sarcophagi, shifting its lid. There was something inside. They opened it and retrieved an ancient robe embroidered with arcane symbols, some of them glowing in the dark. It was clearly heavily enchanted and was completely intact, so Lena offered it to Rook. "That's one fancy mage's robe. Want to try it on?"

"No, thank you!" Rook shook his head vigorously. "I cannot read the enchantments... There's no knowing what it will do! I am not that adventurous... I say we sell it. My coat could use some patching up... or enhancing... if you are so inclined..."

"And here I was hoping to see you turn into a frog," Mason pouted his lips in mock disappointment. "But I suppose I should have known better."

Lena rolled up the robe and stuffed it into her pack.

"Right. Now to find the oracle. Let's hope it wasn't the lich."

"I thought you met her before..?" Mason squinted again. "But you don't know what she looks like..?"

"I know what she looked like last time around," Lena mused, scanning the tomb. "There's no knowing how she'll appear this time... I did say she was annoying..."

"That is no way to greet the host of a house that you just ransacked!" An irritated female voice sounded from the darkness. "You again! Still not dead, I see?" A ghost floated into their midst, a ghost of an older woman.

"Ah, hello!" Lena scowled at her. "Your advice wasn't much use last time... 'You'll find the dragon when your feet take you to it.' Indeed! I didn't need an oracle to figure that one out!"

"Ask a stupid question, get an answer in kind," the oracle shrugged. "And you're about to ask another stupid question."

"The Sphinx said I should find you, so here I am. Where is Scorpio?"

"Your map will answer that better than I," the oracle raised her eyes towards the ceiling in a mock trance.

"Useless," Rook shook his head.

"No, hang on..." Lena rubbed her chin. "Let's try another question. Does he still live?"

"Reach inside you and see... but do not get complacent, for life is a transient state."

"Meaning that yes, he is alive, but only just," Lena translated. "Alright. What ails him?"

This time the oracle actually produced a crystal ball and gazed upon it. It was foggy at first, then the fog cleared and they saw a man chained to a wall, beaten almost beyond recognition, with scant rags on his body, wounds, bruises and warts covering much of his skin. A dark patch was spreading on the side of his abdomen.

"What ails him not would be an easier question to answer," the oracle looked up. "See for yourself. The wounds and bruises he can survive, but the warts were inflicted by a learned hand with a particular purpose... I cannot speak of it. As for the darkened patch... it will surely kill him. Your pawn is lost, Arisen, there is no way back."

Lena swallowed hard, watching the crystal ball.

"Tell me about the warts and that patch," she looked at the oracle with a hard stare. "Why can you not speak of it?"

"Your pawn is lost," the oracle repeated. "I said all you need to know."

"Very well," Lena took a few steps forward and now stood so close to the ghost, they nearly touched. The cold made her shiver. "I shall find what keeps you here, make no mistake," she said in a low, menacing voice. "And I shall make sure that you will never find a release."

She turned around and left the tomb, with Rook and Mason following.

...

They walked quickly, with Lena leading; they did not speak. The mood was heavy and overbearing, and even the fights along the way did nothing to let out the steam. They faced a golem and felled it, then another and another... It took its toll, they were tired and their wounds needed treatment, but Lena still marched on.

"I cannot take on another golem," Mason said quietly, walking next to Lena. "This is madness. We must stop and rest. Your death will serve no purpose."

"I am not trying to kill myself," Lena shook her head, but kept walking. "We must hurry."

"No. We stop and rest." Mason stood right in front of Lena, so she bumped into him, then stopped. "Camp. Now."

A campsite was just behind him, and he pointed at that. Rook started gathering logs for the fire. Lena had to give in.

It was Rook who was tending to the roast that night.

"You must eat," Mason wasn't giving up on Lena. "You must recover your strength... and your wits, too. That oracle was leading you on."

"Was she?" Lena squinted. "I thought the picture in the crystal ball was pretty vivid."

"Aye, that it was," Mason nodded. "But I don't believe he's lost, and neither do you, deep down."

"Which is why we have to hurry!"

"But not before we gather the other strands... the other grains of sand in the desert," Rook spoke quietly. "Trust the Sphinx more than the oracle. It seems that learning what the oracle wouldn't say was the real message here."

"Perhaps..." Lena's voice trailed off, she paused, then let out a long held sigh. "You are right, of course... But what to do next? Where to go?"

"Well, what else did the Sphinx say?" Mason started on the roast, nodding to Lena who also finally started eating. "Something about your brother? I didn't know you had a brother..?"

"I do have a brother, but he is in another world, and I don't think she meant him," Lena mused. "No... it is more of a symbol. I think she meant another Arisen. But which one? We met several so far, and I don't see any of them being helpful... The Dragonforged, perhaps? He can enhance our gear... but it seems petty, somehow..."

"I don't think she meant the Dragonforged," Rook agreed. "It will be someone who can help with advice more than anything else... The old man by the sea, perhaps?"

"He tells stories, yes... He can explain aught of the dragon... But nothing that I've not discovered myself," Lena looked up. "He cares not for what occurs in this world, he wants to know what lies beyond it."

"In a word, he will be of no help to us," Mason summarised. "Move on to the next one."

"The fighter who is obsessed with killing the dragon," Lena smiled. "No drake is safe from him! Ha! But what's the point? He missed his chance, he'll just keep fighting until some monster finally kills him. No, it isn't he, either."

"Lamond, perhaps?" Rook suggested with a twinkle in his eye. "You did seem to get on quite well with that brother."

"A drunk?" Mason laughed. "I never met him myself, but word does get around!"

"Lamond..?" Lena looked up and smiled. "Perhaps you're right, there's more to the man than just his Newt Liqueur. Which we should bring to him. Yes..." She paused, thinking. "What else did the Sphinx say?"

"Something about a cold flame and a sword of sorrow," Rook reminded her.

"I think we've seen the cold flame already," Mason fixed Lena with his gaze, watching her eyes. "I knew you could be cold and ruthless if need be, but that... a vow to spite a ghost? That went rather far."

"She isn't just a peaceful ghost," Lena shook her head. "She isn't a ghost at all. She is an old Arisen transcended onto another plane. She is gone but not quite, something is keeping her here. And I do believe it is by choice, and it is that choice that I want to deny her. Out of spite, perhaps. I am no angel."

"Leave it for now," Rook raised his voice slightly above Lena's and Mason's. "I have a feeling this vow will pale in comparison with what's yet to come. What about the sword of sorrow?"

"Fairy," Lena shrugged. "That's another obvious clue. Fairy or someone like her."

"Who's Fairy?" Mason looked up with interest. "Don't tell me you had a woman walking with you?" He grinned.

"We did, in fact," Lena nodded. "A damned good fighter. Her Arisen had given her a Ring of Disfavour to wear... She was taking all the heat! Not that she couldn't handle it, mind... but it weighed on her. So when I noticed it and rid her of it, she really came to life!"

"Is that all? A fighter? The Sphinx went out of her way to tell you you needed a fighter? That seems trivial," Mason wasn't convinced.

"Perhaps there's more to it..." Lena agreed. "But I can't see it just now."

They talked a bit longer, weighing up the different aspects that the Sphinx had brought up, but they couldn't come up with anything more definitive than what they had said already. The only clear clue so far was to go see Lamond and hopefully learn something there.

"And if you did want to find Fairy..." Rook said pensively. "Just how exactly would you do it? You can no longer lead pawns out of the Rift."

"Fairy would have to find us instead," Lena nodded. "Which rather complicates things, granted... And I don't see what we can do about that." She paused. "My head is spinning from all the talk. Let's sleep, then continue South tomorrow. Lamond will be easy to find, then we'll see from there..."

It was perhaps the most sound suggestion all night, and they took it to heart, even though they just had a few hours left until dawn.

[Lena Wolf]

Rain's Hand, 4E204 - The sword of sorrow

When Lena said that finding Lamond would be easy, she meant that she knew where to find him - at the Volcanic Springs spa in the South East of Battahl. Actually getting there was nothing like easy. They had to traverse the entire Battahli kingdom along its crescent-shaped valley with so many twists and turns, that it made it three or four times longer than one would imagine. The journey alone would take weeks, not accounting for monsters. It was a major undertaking.

"We are in no shape for such a journey," she declared in the morning after the trip to the oracle. "We need better gear... and since the nearest shop ahead is at the other end of the road, we are going back to the border checkpoint. Better to lose three days retracing our steps than to lose our lives to the monsters."

She turned around and marched back with the same speed and determination as she was marching forward the day before. Rook and Mason exchanged glances but followed without an argument, at least this new strategy made sense.

The trip back was much quicker and a lot less bloody than the way forward as they were careful to take the same roads, freshly cleared of monsters. The smithy in the small border town welcomed them with the reverence and hospitality fit for a Sovran as Lena spent in one day more than the smithy normally made in a year...

"I was only suggesting to add a few reinforced leather patches to my existing coat, not to buy a whole new robe!" Rook tried to protest but Lena would hear none of it. "Have you gone mad?!" His jaw dropped when the shopkeeper laid out a mage's robe made of the skin of a medusa, complete with a braided neckguard, jewelled belts and Fuligin ore bracers.

"I want you to stay alive," Lena was adamant. "I sold the mansion in Vernsworth, so we have the funds."

"I bet this robe costs more than an average house..."

"It does. Try it on."

The new gear was in fact worth it, as the armourer in Vernworth used to say, "Quality is what you need in order to stay alive. So when you look at the price, just remember: misers die early deaths." Wiser words had never been spoken.

They left Scorpio's robe and staff with the inn, and Lena changed out of her assassin's armour into a silver thread lorica - a piece of armour of Elven design, so old that not even the Elves could remember the maker.

"This isn't just a modern reproduction..." the Elves were whispering between themselves throwing envious glances towards Lena. "This is the real thing... argent of old - just look how it shimmers. To think that a dh'oine should wear it... Sacrilege!"

Mason however refused an armour upgrade.

"Don't waste your money on me," he categorically shook his head. "If a golem crushes me, no armour will save my life. But I wouldn't say no to a better weapon - my greatsword is pretty basic..."

Thus outfitted, they set out for the second time.

...

They've been traveling for five or six days and were now surrounded by the red rock country of Battahl from all sides, with grey granit mountains of Vermund completely out of view. Ancient ruins littered the landscape, shallow rivers were teaming with poisonous saurians, harpies and succubi of various grades were hiding on every cliff... or at least this was what it felt like to an adventurer that was too absorbed in studying the ruins and forgot to keep track of the environment. More often than not Lena, Rook and Mason found themselves rushing to aid traveling merchants beset by wolves or goblins or help wandering pawns who got into a fight with a golem. With all the goings on, their progress had been slow and Lena's mood had been growing steadily more and more somber.

"Talk to us," Rook spoke softly as he walked next to Lena. "That oracle really got to you, it's plain to see. Talking about it tends to help."

"What's there to say?" Lena shrugged. "You saw the same thing as I did... Assuming that was in fact Scorpio and not someone else... his face was swallen and bruised so badly, it could have been almost anyone."

"It probably was Scorpio..." Rook admitted with a sigh. "The same build, the same tattoos..."

"May be it doesn't really matter whether it was a real image or not, because the effect on you is very real," Mason joined in. "And dangerous."

"The oracle's goal was to disturb. It worked," Rook nodded.

Lena sighed and didn't say anything else for the rest of the day.

...

Two or three days passed in the same way. Rook and Mason were exchanging glances noticing Lena's reflexes slowing, her bow no longer aimed true, her daggers barely connected with enemies, she fell in battle often and needed emergency healing. In a word, she appeared to have given up. Yet, she kept marching, kept leading them to their goal to find Lamond at the Volcanic Springs.

"We won't make it to the Volcanic Springs at this rate," Mason said to Rook when they were out of Lena's earshot. "We won't make it to the next turn in the road, for that matter. She needs help, but she's too stubborn to ask for it."

"Too stubborn, or may be... may be there is something else..." Rook rubbed his chin.

When they set up camp for the night, Lena was absent-minded, more so than even in the recent days. Something glinted in her eyes... She was crying.

"Don't be surprised at what you're about to see," Rook said into Mason's ear. He got up and walked over to Lena, sitting down next to her and hugging her around the shoulders. He pulled her closer and kissed her neck, her temple, her eyes, tasting the tears that kept running down her face. She made no sound, no attempt to resist, she gave no reaction at all. Rook turned her around, nestling her in his embrace, with more caresses and kisses to follow. Mason added logs to the fire. Still, Lena remained inert. Rook didn't give up, they had all night.

...

"Don't judge me too harshly, Mason," Lena gave a weak smile, pouring coffee in the morning. Some colour had returned to her cheeks and she was no longer crying, but she still sounded very subdued.

"I do not judge you at all," Mason shook his head. "We each carry our past in our hearts and not on our sleeves..."

"The last half a year..." Rook looked at her, taking the coffee she handed him. "It was never an act... Sven was right all along," he smiled. "I am your escort no longer, but in truth it was never the case. I did not stop just because I didn't have to do it any more..."

Lena nodded and focused on her coffee. She wasn't ready to talk yet.

...

A few days later the situation was still largely unchanged, although Lena's tears had stopped. She was still weak and slow in battle, and Mason took more than his fair share of hits. Even Rook had to resort to battle spells instead of his usual healing, shielding and weapon enchantment. Their progress towards the Volcanic Springs had slowed too.

"Sincere affection has been rare in my life, affection sincerely shared even more so," Lena said one morning over coffee. "And thus when it does come along... I take it without holding back."

"No judgement is being passed here," Mason looked up. "You really don't need to explain."

"Oh, but I do," Lena objected. "The sword of sorrow... that isn't Fairy. It is my pesonal Godsbane." She opened her pack and pulled out a short silver sword, or perhaps a long dagger, shimmering with some unknown enchantment. "I keep destroying it, but it keeps returning to my pack."

"You cannot destroy it," Rook shook his head. "That sword exists with a single purpose: for you to commit suicide. When did it apper?"

"When we came close to fighting the dragon," Lena looked up. "But I ignored it, locked it up in a chest, and it stayed there until... why, until we met with the oracle."

"She summoned it!" Mason exclaimed with anger.

"No, your grief summoned it," Rook was watching Lena. "What did the oracle say? 'Your pawn is lost.' And you believed her. The Godsbane is the way out that they want you to take. You must not fall for that trap."

Lena flung the Godsbane blade as far away as possible, and it disappeared between the rocks.

"It will be back, of course," she sighed. "If anyone tells you that grief has stages, do not believe them," she smirked. "It just has one stage: an incredible sense of loss. You're right, I've been grieving for Scorpio but in fact he is not yet dead. We must see to it that it doesn't happen. Thank you." She walked over and sat next to Rook, hugging him tightly.

"Glad to see you're back, Arisen!" Mason exclaimed in an upbeat voice. "I was starting to worry... Can we get a fighter now, that Fairy is no longer a thing? Get a man, if you must, I won't even insist on a woman!" He rolled his eyes in a mock disappointment. "The beasts are getting fiercer the further in we go, and if we want to survive..."

"We need help," Lena concluded. "The next pawn that offers to join us, if they are half way alright, we accept."

...

Several pawns came and went in the course of the next few days, and Rook and Mason started to agree with Lena's original reluctancy to accept just anybody.

"I never imagined that so many of us could be so completely useless as well as insufferable!" Mason shook his head turning over the roast. "It is a real shock to me, I must admit!"

"They weren't useless as such, they just didn't fit in our party," Lena shrugged. "Not every fighter is the same in terms of skills, and then there are personal tendencies to consider... That's why I normally ask about their Arisen. If the Arisen is anything like me, chances are the pawn will suit us."

"Which explains why we still haven't found one," Mason smirked. "An Arisen like you... why, I do not believe such one exists!"

...

"My master... why do you ask, Arisen?" A fighter with a mighty mace stared at Lena. "But if you must know... He tends to use the bow."

"An archer?" Lena smiled. "But why didn't you say so?"

"Not an archer, a jack of all trades," the pawn shook his head. "He can handle any weapon and any armour, use any vocation... but with that he is a master of none. Not something to be proud of, if you ask my opinion..."

"I see. You are hired." Lena handed him a bundle of potions. "Try not to die." She turned to continue their march, then stopped abruptly, facing the pawn again. "Err... I am sorry... I forgot. I no longer have the power to command pawns. So let's start again. Would you like to join our party? We are going South."

"Lead on, master," the pawn grinned. "Your power never waned... I've heard of you, Arisen. There's a rumour among pawns - that of a devastating illness that turns us willful and unruly. Say is, it is all your fault."

"Well... it rather depends what illness you mean," Lena smiled. "I've heard a rumour as well - about an illness that turns pawns into monsters, and that one is sadly true. It kills the pawn in the end - kills them outright, but not before they cause devastation... But that one isn't my fault."

"It's a dangerous world that we live in. Let's go."

[Lena Wolf]

Rain's Hand, 4E204 - Grains of sand

"Forgive me, I didn't see you there..." Someone walked right into Lena in the middle of a road. The man's eyes were almost white.

"Not a problem..." Lena steadied him as he seemed a bit shaky. "Where are you headed?"

"That way..." He pointed forward absent-mindedly. "Or that... does it really matter?"

"It depends where you want to arrive," Lena said slowly, watching him.

"Arrive? But I just left... I've got to find them... Arriving will come then."

"Come with us," Lena suddenly said. "There is a campsite nearby and we were just going to stop for the night anyway." She glared at her companions and they understood - say nothing. It was only about midday and they had not intended to make camp just then...

"Is it evening already?" The man turned to Lena, and she thought that perhaps he had gone completely blind. "Well, then I shall spend the night by your fire."

They set up camp, roasted some meat and had a long, leisury meal. Truth be told, they could all use half a day of rest. When the sun was setting, the man got up and watched it set.

"This is their campfire, I'll find them there!" He said with joy, pointing at the sun. "Thank you for letting me stay! Now I know which way to go!"

He picked up his pack and was ready to set off towards the setting sun, but Lena convinced him to rest with them till the morning.

"I shall show you the way, I've seen it now," she repeated. "It is too dangerous to travel at night."

The man finally agreed and sat down again. Coffee was brewed, figs and quinces laid out for supper.

"A quince! I need a ripe quince!" The man picked one up. "May I? This is what has been lacking! This will restore my sight!"

He bit into the fruit, it was juicy and tasty. Having eaten it, he opened his pack and retrieved an old tome - an ancient arcane book that was glowing with black light. Lena breathed in sharply - that was not a benevolent tome.

"This!" The man stroke the book with reverence. "On the Transference of Souls it is called. It teaches a spell that allows to bring objects from beyond the Rift. I have been reading it, see... But every time I turn a page, my eyes grow dimmer and dimmer. May I have another quince?"

"By all means, help yourself to the fruit," Lena smiled. "But what do you want to bring from beyond the Rift, if I may be so bold?"

"Exotic wares, furnishings, spices... I am a merchant, you see. But I have failed to provide enough for my wife and daughter, and so they left me... It is them that I seek. As well as the second part of this book."

"The second part?"

"There is a note here, on the last page..." He turned over the book. "To be continued... It means there's more. The spell in this tome doesn't bring any goods, I tried... my wife and daugher were right, of course, I am but a failure... I used this spell, but all I got was a handful of grains of sand... It was then that my wife and daughter left me."

"How sad!" Lena exclaimed. "What did they say?"

"Nothing, nothing at all..." The man shook his head. "They never said anything, in fact. They kept repeating they were happy with the life that we had, but our house was common, they had no jewels, no rich garments that they should have had... Oh, we never lacked food, but they deserved so much more... I failed to provide it."

A heavy silence fell as no one knew what to say. After a while the man continued.

"They never asked for any riches... It was I who wanted to provide, but could not. They begged me to throw away this book because it was hurting my sight. But how could I? This is my chance for the life I always wanted to build..." He leafed through the book. "If only I had the second tome... I could then bring wonderous goods from beyond the Rift and make us rich! Then find my wife and daughter... or find them first, then cast the spell... whichever way..."

"Did they say where they went?" Lena asked softly.

"They didn't..." The man looked up in surprise. "In fact, I didn't see them go... They didn't take a single thing for the road... How odd... I was trying to cast this spell... They kept saying don't do it... then... all I got was a handful of sand, and they were gone..." He paused, reliving the scene in his memory. "But now I've seen the way. I'll set off in the morning, you'll show me which way to go. I've seen their campfire, it isn't that far... I'll find them. And then I shall only need the second tome..."

[Lena Wolf]

Rain's Hand, 4E204 - Brother

"The throne has got a new crowned head, but the sun is still the same," Lamond smiled when Lena sat next to him at the Volcanic Springs. "To your health, cos." He took a swig of the Newt Liqueur that she brought him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Need to talk to you, brother," Lena said, not looking at him. "Need some advice. Life's been tough lately."

"And you think I've got anything useful to say?" He smiled thinly. "No one even remembers I used to be an Arisen."

"You did a pretty good job disguising your scar with tattoos," Lena smirked, her own chest tattoo catching the sun.

"Well, you know how it is, sis..." He took another swig of Newt Liqueur. "I missed the chance to kill my dragon, but you killed yours, yet here you are... It's not what it's been hyped up to be, is it?"

"My pawn's been taken," Lena forced herself to say, still not looking at Lamond. "Abducted. Imprisoned, tortured, if the oracle is to be believed. He's got warts on his body and a dark patch which the oracle refused to talk about. 'Inflicted by a learned hand with a particular purpose,' she said. She also said he's lost and there is no way back..."

"You're quite attached to that pawn, aren't you?" Lamond looked at Lena sideways. "That's why he's been taken, but I imagine you figured that... Well, what can I say... Don't kill yourself, cos, for that's what they are trying to achieve."

"I figured that out," Lena nodded. "Well... someone helped me to figure it out," she blushed. "I want my pawn back though. The Sphinx thought you could help..."

"The Sphinx!" Lamond laughed. "You got her to do you a favour! Well, well! Just what would you not do for your pawn?"

"Not much," Lena agreed. "May be nothing."

"You know who got him?"

"A certain Lord Phaesus," Lena shrugged. "We've got the name, but the man is a mystery."

"Lord Phaesus!" Lamond whistled. "That figures. Oh yes, I do know him. Your pawn is in real danger."

He fell silent and just sat there, sipping his liqueur. Lena waited for him to continue.

"He should have been dead long ago, Lord Phaesus is very thorough," Lamond finally spoke. "What sustains him?"

"What do I know?" Lena looked at him in surprise. "I don't even understand what they are trying to do... or why... Kill him outright to get to me? They could have just killed me, why torture him?" A tear glistned in her eye but she brushed it away.

"You know the answer to all of that," Lamond said softly. "Stop hiding and say it."

Lena said nothing. She pulled another bottle of Newt Liqueur out of her pack, uncorked it and took a swig. She'd never tasted the stuff before. It was sharp on the tongue, it tickled her throat and gave her a buzz which settled after a while. It also gave her courage.

"He's a part of me as I am a part of him," she said pulling out a pendant from under her clothes - a hand with the mark of a pawn. "Last time around... in Gransys... he left me... and I jumped off a cliff. But this time, I feel, my suicide would be just that - it would be death, not an escape."

"An Arisen isn't much without his pawn," Lamond said softly. "I was never the same after mine perished..."

"What happened?"

"Petrification." His face looked gaunt as the memory filled his mind. "But I refused to give a piece of my soul for a pawn. That spelled my undoing."

"How did you know?"

"About you? I've seen you together," he smirked. "And also - what's that on your finger? I know the signs."

"So, what do I do? I have to get him back." Lena drew herself up and turned to look at Lamond, but he didn't speak straight away.

"Relax, cos... Enjoy the hotsprings," he smiled at her. "Recover your strength. Reshuffle your party. Whatever works for you. Take stock of what really counts..." He fell silent, looking at Lena's pawns waiting for her at a distance. "The sun will rise again tomorrow, also for your pawn."

The volcanic spa was getting busy with people coming and going, taking a soak in the pool, then rushing out again, back to the buzz of their lives. Lamond moved to a quiet corner and resumed watching bubbles rise up through the water sipping his liqueur as he had been doing for ages before that day.

...

"Come with me, cos," Lamond said to Lena the following morning. "Bring your pawns... monsters got fierce of late. There's someone I want you to meet."

He walked out of the Volcanic Springs spa and into the road leading North, and Lena noticed just then that his body wasn't that of a man idling his days away. Lamond was a warrior, she realised, still carrying his greatsword as if it were but a feather. "I wonder what he does in between watching the bubbles rise in the pool?" Lena mused.

Lamond led them to a rocky beach with a structure rising from the sea. The view was nice but Lena couldn't see anything of importance. "Go talk to that mage," Lamond pointed at a person in richly embroidered robes standing on an elevation. It was only then that Lena noticed a dozen masked guards spread out throughout the beach looking for something in the shallow waters.

As soon as Lena came close to the mage, he called out to her.

"Hey, you! Who are you and why are you here?" He scowled. But then, without waiting for Lena's response, he continued. "In fact, never mind. I care not who you are. Join the search and find me blue crystals, the larger the better. I'll pay you, of course."

"Err..." Lena was taken aback, but the mage would not say anything else until she brought him some crystals. Sensing that it was important, she looked around, and sure enough, blue crystal shards were strewn all over the beach. She picked up a few.

"That's no good, these are too small!" The mage flung the shards that she brought into the water. "I need big ones! Lord Phaesus will stand for nothing else!"

The mention of Lord Phaesus' name grabbed her attention and she asked politely what those shards were good for.

"The small ones are good for nothing," he sighed. "It's Godsway... but these are too small." When Lena did not respond, he continued. "Oh, that's right, you would not know. Godsway is a substance made from such shards. It allows to control the pawns. The power of an Arisen on the end of a staff! Lord Phaesus is really close now. He means to control the dragon and put an end to the never ending Dragon-Arisen cycle! Our world will be rid of the Dragon's Dogma, free to pursue a destiny of its own making!" The excitement in his words was unmistakable. It made his face look even gaunter than it did at first, with his eyes burning with fever. "But to achieve it we need larger shards than these here. We are not sure what they are, exactly... or where they come from... why here... all this is a mystery still, but what does it matter if we can find larger shards! Lord Phaesus achieved so much already! With every pawn that he studied, he made advances towards his goal. The death of a pawn is a sight to behold! Pawns can be killed, I bet you didn't know that! Not merely sent back to the Rift! And pawns are linked to the dragon, if we can master killing pawns, the dragon will surely follow!" He stopped talking, casting his eyes around the beach, as if looking for pawns to kill. "The damnable creatures are hard to capture, but we have ways... Godsway is the key."

"Godsway is used in brothels to compel pawns behave in ways they would normally not behave," Lena said with disgust. "It is smuggled across the country... Is it your doing?"

"That was a part of Lord Phaesus' plan!" The mage laughed. "Capturing pawns for experimentation is hard, you see, but they live in Vermund quite freely, and often earn coin as escorts. And everyone wants a compliant escort, n'est pas? There's endless demand for Godsway, endless ways for us to observe the effects and refine and improve the product. It is our luck that here in Battahl pawns count for naught, so me telling you this puts me in no danger." He grinned smugly. "You can make good coin with larger blue crystals, so bring me what you can find, as long as they are bigger than these. You will find us under the Flamebearer Palace."

Completely bewildered, Lena walked off.

"I see Ambrosius was talkative as usual," Lamond grinned when she rejoined her companions. "Learned something nice?"

"Nice? No. Useful - yes." Lena shook her head as if trying to rid herself of the dirt that'd been poured over her person. "They are making Godsway from such shards, they are located under the Imperial Palace of Battahl, and they capture pawns for experimentation and murder! Which is where we are going!"

Fuming, Lena turned to march in that direction.

"To do what?" Lamond cried after her, but didn't move. "What is your plan?"

"To have a song and a dance!" She yelled back at him. "What did you think?!"

"Come back here, sis," Lamond said without shouting. "There's more."

But Lena shook her head and continued walking. Their fighter ran after her, Mason hesitated but Rook remained with Lamond.

"I've seen them at the excavation site," he said. "I've seen Ambrosius summon a lesser dragon and control it with a Godsway staff... at least to a degree. They expected to find a heart inside..." He smirked. "Makes you wonder... they can't tell one dragon from another. They took noxious dragonblood back to the lab, and I suspect that's the source of the dark patch on Scorpio's body. That is bound to kill him."

"Normally, yes," Lamond was watching Lena slow her march as Mason caught up with her. "It depends what she is willing to do for her pawn this time around."

Noticing that Rook wasn't following her, Lena stopped. Perhaps she should be more careful. "Rushing head on into danger unprepared is inviting an early grave!" Scorpio's voice echoed in her mind. She could not afford an early grave, she had a job to do. She turned around and walked back to Lamond.

"I don't think your pawn is held on the premises," Lamond said quietly when Lena came close. "He is not just another subject. They would have given him a special treatment. And then there's a matter of the warts - you need to find out what they are, and, more importantly, how to remove them."

"And the dark patch," Lena reminded him.

"And the patch... well... start with the warts," he smiled.

...

The Flamebearer Palace was the name of the Imperial Palace of Battahl. It consisted of a temple, royal chambers, servants' chambers, guest chambers and a guarded passage going into the depths. The passage led to well equipped laboratories housing several dragon specimens, magical, chemical and alchemical experiment rooms, torture rooms, a library, mages' quarters and a dark corridor leading further into the depths of the red rock. As expected, that corridor connected to the city gaol ensuring a never ending supply of subjects.

To Lena's surprise, she could walk freely in most of these rooms with no one questioning her presence. It appeared that the Forbidden Magic Laboratory had a reputation of a place of no return, which was sufficient to discourage anyone from visiting. She found notes on Godsway experiments detailing the methods of inserting it under the skin of a subject so as to keep them under perpetual control. While the surgical technique appeared to be perfected, the results were mixed: the pawns usually suffered such a severe headache induced by Godsway being on their person, that they were physically unable to execute any commands. "Get to Scorpio and cut open all the warts," she decided. "Remove every last bit of Godsway. That's easy."

As Lamond expected, Scorpio was not in the cells of the Forbidden Magic Laboratory, and eventually Lena stopped looking for more cells but focused on searching for documents. She found a letter from Queen Regent of Vermund promising continued shipments of "helping hands" in exchange for a quantity of Godsway sufficient to command thirty or fourty pawns... The coronation rose in Lena's memory, pawns kneeling to her command without her commanding them... That would have been Godsway... but why..?

That, however, was no longer important. The important part was to find Scorpio, and here was proof that pawns working at the excavation site were there on Lord Phaesus' orders. "Scorpio must be there," she decided. "That is the beginning that the Sphinx wanted me to find... the prison to which I got teleported from Vaermina's shrine, the place where Rook found me... We have to return to the beginning. The next chapter will play out there."

[Renee]

Goodness, you're prolific with these chapters. I'm never gonna catch up!

[Lena Wolf]

Goodness, you're prolific with these chapters. I'm never gonna catch up!

There's no rush... I post them as they are written. When the story is going, it can be once a day, but then there will be a pause with hardly a post every two to three weeks... Especially when I'm busy modding. But at the moment I am taking a break from modding and plunging into writing again!

[Renee]

Yeah I know, I'm just messing with ya hon! It is pretty astounding though, how many chapter's you've got. How many hours (on average) is each new chapter?

[Lena Wolf]

Yeah I know, I'm just messing with ya hon! It is pretty astounding though, how many chapter's you've got. How many hours (on average) is each new chapter?

Hours of reading or hours of writing? I try to keep them around 2000 words each, or shorter, if that makes sense story-wise, but not longer (although there are a few exceptions). So that's 10-15 minutes to read each.

As for writing... it depends how it goes. I typically write "in circles", that is I'd write a rough draft, then keep editing it until it reads well. But I do other things in between, I don't just write in one sitting. It normally takes a day to write a chapter, but there've been aberrations, both shorter and longer!

[Lena Wolf]

Rain's Hand, 4E204 - Showdown

"We are going to the excavation site," Lena turned to her pawns. "They keep pawns as slave labour there, they have Godsway all over the place, I shall try to shield you but cannot guarantee it. You will get headaches at best or you will fall under their control at worst. There is no telling what will come to pass... If you'd rather not go, leave now."

Rook and Mason didn't move but their fighter shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"I'd rather not go there, master," he said, blushing. "My will isn't that strong... I prefer to return to my own master instead."

"Good luck in your future endevours then, and thank you," Lena nodded and smiled. "No hard feelings at all. After all, we are going into the jaws of hell... No pawn should be going there."

He dithered a little, then turned and walked away.

"Into the jaws of hell, then," Mason looked resolved. "I am not quitting. If I die there... it's been an honour."

"Don't say that," Lena shook her head, hugging him. "I hope no one will die... that's not the plan, anyway..."

"I am ready," Rook straightened his back. "Do you want me to lead? I know the way."

Lamond was standing slightly behind them, watching.

"Two pawns, two Arisens," he rubbed his chin. "I wonder... You may find yourself torn." He looked at Mason and Rook. "I heard that Godsway amplifies an Arisen's power as well... So that even mine may come through. It will be up to you to try and evade danger. And then there are all those other pawns there..."

"Enough deliberations," Lena put her hand on the hilt of her dagger. "We cannot predict what will happen. Let's go."

...

They approached the excavation site without an incident. They entered the camp and did not get challenged, and neither Rook nor Mason noticed any influence of Godsway.

"It is through those gates," Rook pointed at a sturdy gate leading up the hill. "The pawn camp and the works are there. This is it."

They entered the pawn camp. It brought a flood of memories for Lena, but she steadied herself, trying to focus on the scene at hand. A lot had changed since last time, after all, the excavations continued.

"The cells were that way, were they not?" She turned to Rook, pointing at a tunnel entrance. "Scorpio must be there."

They entered the mine. The dimly lit corridor made a few turns, then opened up to a long hall, cells lining the walls. Two guards stood looking bored, the pawns inside the cells barely looked up. The cell at the back was curtained off on the inside. Lena rattled the door, but it was sturdy, and it was locked, she could not see through the curtain.

"Hey, what are you doing?" One of the guards snapped at her angrily. "That cell is off limits!"

"Just that one?" Lena squinted at him. "What about the others?"

"The others as well," the guard fingered his sword. "Get lost! You have no business here."

"Let's go," Rook said in Lena's ear, taking her by the arm. "We should find the key."

She scowled at the guard but followed her companions out.

"I feel no Godsway," Rook said quietly, having pulled them into an alcove without torches. "It only has a limited range, so if we stay clear, it won't affect us."

"Clear of what?" Mason looked around nervously. "I don't like it."

"The overseer has a staff with a Godsway crystal," Rook explained. "A great big crystal glowing red. Unless they've got more of them now... I wouldn't know."

"The overseer probably also has the key to the cells," Lena noted. "Which means you stay back and I'll go alone."

"You stay back and keep watch," Lamond looked at Rook and Mason. "Keep your heads clear, if you can. We'll go about getting the key."

...

"He's in that house," Lamond peeked into an open window of one of the stone houses on the site. "I can see his staff, too. It's Godsway but it will cast any other spell as well, make no mistake."

"I'll get the key." Lena slipped to the front of the house and pushed the door, but it was locked or barred from inside.

"Who's there?" The overseer shouted, looking out the window. Lamond moved back into the darkness. "Guards! Who's rattling my door?" Guards from several directions ran towards the house, but Lena already moved back too. This was not going to be easy.

"Wait until he falls asleep," Lena whispered to Lamond when the guards resumed their posts. "I'll go through the window and get the key."

"Will he still be alive after that?" Lamond grinned.

"No, he won't."

There was nothing else for it but wait.

...

"Guard!" The overseer stood in the door frame with a scroll in his hand. "Take this to the lab with all haste. I feel trouble brewing..." A guard took the scroll and sped off. The overseer peered into the darkness around the house, shut the door and bolted it from inside. He looked out the window again, then finally lay on his cot without undressing, still clutching his staff.

"He's nervous alright," Lena breathed to Lamond. "I doubt he'll fall asleep. Watch the guards. There's no point in waiting any longer." She pulled down her hood and leapt through the window. There was a scream, noise of a struggle, then a bang of metal against stone and a heavy crush. All that commotion did not go unnoticed and several guards set off towards the house. Lamond readied his sword, but still kept to the shadows. Finally, Lena emerged from the window and they dashed from the scene just as the guards surrounded the house. The door was still barred, and it took a few moments before one of them leapt through the window and discovered what had occurred. By then Lena and Lamond were near the tunnel to the cells, with Rook and Mason joining them.

"Quick, before the word gets around!" Lena motioned them to follow.

It wasn't hard to overpower the guards. She unlocked the door of the curtained off cell and pulled back the cloth to let in the torch light from the hall. Then she froze. Scorpio was chained to a crucifix on the back wall, held off the ground with cuffs around his ankles and wrists, a collar around his neck pulling his body back. His breathing was laboured, his eyes half open, with only the sclera showing through, bloodshot and yellowed. His body was covered in cuts, bruises and warts and a large dark patch was spreading on the side of his abdomen... It was exactly what she had seen in the crystal ball. She felt all life drain from her, and if Lamond hadn't caught her, she would have collapsed.

"It's bad, very bad... but he is alive," Lamond said in her ear. "We are not done yet, Arisen. Your pawn needs you now."

A moment later loud noises were heard from the entrance as guards were rushing in.

Hearing Mason engaging the guards and Rook casting a shield, Lena jolted back to life, her anger turning to rage. She tore through the guards as a flaming fury even before Rook enchanted her daggers. Seconds later the guards were merely corpses.

Several more waves of guards tried to enter the cavern, all to meet the same fate.

Finally the camp was quiet. The pawns in the cells were shaking off the stupor of Godsway.

"Let us out, we'll help," one of them called out to Lena. "That key should unlock all the cells... Whatever you did, lifted the haze... somewhat... We're yours to command, Arisen!" He smiled. Lamond picked up the key and started unlocking the doors.

"Stay alive," Lena said to all the pawns. "Or return to the Rift. No pawn must die outright tonight. Trouble is coming." The fight was far from done, it was merely a pause before reinforcements arrived, summonned by the overseer's scroll sent just before his demise.

Not wasting a moment, they released Scorpio's cuffs and chains and laid him down. He was still unconscious but his eyes were moving behind the eyelids.

"Keep him alive," Lena nodded to Rook who was already incanting a spell. "This will hurt." Unflinching, she cut open one of the warts on Scorpio's body ignoring the blood and puss jetting out. The pain made Scorpio twitch, but there was no time to waste. Another cut revealed a crystal embedded into the flesh, she dug it out with the tip of her dagger. The cavity filled with blood. The crystal fell to the floor and she crushed it. One down. Dozens more to go.

...

They heard noises coming from the camp - reinforcements were on the approach. Lena had cleared most of the warts on Scorpio's body but some still remained. Rook's healing was enough to close his wounds, and he seemed stable for now.

"If Ambrosius or Phaesus come here, make sure to keep them alive!" Lena addressed the pawns in the camp. "I have need of them. Everyone else - do as you see fit."

Two or three waves of guards and soldiers stormed the prison compound, but the narrow tunnel leading to it allowed for easy defence. The pile of bodies was forming a barricade of its own. With the situation under control, Lena resumed squashing warts on Scorpio's body. Finally, she was done.

With the last bit of Godsway crystal crushed and the pawns breathing a sigh of relief, she knelt over him looking into his face. Yet no miracle occurred and he remained unconscious.

"That was to be expected," Rook said softly. "But he is alive, and that's the best you can hope for now."

Lena was just going to say that there was still the matter of the dark patch on his abdomen, but battle noises made her look up - another wave of reinforcements was upon them, greater than before. She joined the battle, her daggers blazing.

"There! That's the Arisen!!" Someone shouted further ahead. "Get her!!!"

She twisted and turned, evading the onslaught of heavily armed guards, having no illusions that a single hit of such a sword or a spear would kill her. She wanted to get to whoever gave the command, the voice seemed familiar. And then she saw him - Ambrosius was casting a spell. She lunged but was too far away, her throwing knife nicked his skin and interrupted his casting, but he moved and two heavily armoured guards were now blocking her way...

"Formless Feint," she thought - a master maneuvre she picked up from the local assassins. "Now's the time!" She rarely found herself in such a tight spot and hoped that the lack of practice would not cost her her life this time. A twist, a lunge, a puff of smoke - and the guards missed their mark. Jumping between them, her daggers extended, she cut two throats at once. "Phew!" She landed in a crouch, watching the guards slump to the ground. She looked up - Ambrosius was just ahead, casting his spell... Searing pain hit her chest, and for a moment she blacked out.

...

"It's done, you got him," Lamond helped her up. "We've defeated all the guards. Ambrosius is ready for you."

Slightly bewildered, Lena decided not to argue. Battle statistics could always be handled later, and it really didn't matter who delivered the final blow. Ambrosius had been captured and she needed a chat.

"You found your pawn but you're too late," Ambrosius scowled at her. "Strong as he is, no pawn can withstand the spread of Dragonplague. That patch will consume him."

"Dragonplague?" Lena was taken aback. "The disease that jumps from pawn to pawn and brings death and devastation in the end?"

"That's the one," Ambrosius grinned. "Pawns contract it from drakes and dragons through contact with dragon blood. They are related, you see... or at least Lord Phaesus thinks so. May be. But regardless... Your pawn has had enough dragon blood pumped into him to kill an army! You lost, Arisen." He glared at her, watching Lena's face turning gaunt. "But tell me..." he looked puzzled now, a scholar in pursuit of knowledge above all else. "Why do you care? He is but a pawn... And how it is that he still lives?"

Lena glared back down at Ambrosius and said nothing. She walked over to Scorpio and knelt over him again. His wounds were no longer bleeding and his pain must have lightened up in Rook's care. His breathing improved, his face, although still heavily bruised, looked calm. She pressed her cheek to his and whispered in his ear: "I came for you... Forgive me that it took so long... Stay with me and I'll stay with you till the end of times..."

[Lena Wolf]

Rain's Hand, 4E204 - Cold flame

"Enough of that!" A mage with a Godsway staff walked into the prison block of the excavation site. He slammed the end of his staff against the floor and every pawn collapsed in agony. "You found your poor pawn, I see," he turned to Lena. "Well, you are too late! There is no cure for the Dragonsplague."

"That isn't actually true, Phaesus," Lamond stepped forward.

"Nonsense!" Lord Phaesus scowled. "Yes, Dragonsplague can be passed on to another person, thus curing the original carrier... even such an advanced form as this one. But in all our trials, passing on infected blood killed the recipient, whether human or pawn." He paused, looking at Lamond quizzically, then turned to Lena. "So if you wish to cure your pawn, all it takes is for you to take over his infection. All of it. All the dark blood in that patch. Trouble is, you will die before you are even half way... So go on. Both of you will be dead then." He smirked with disdain. "And if you think you can force anyone else to take it on... Dragonsplague is a peculiar illness. It has to be passed on in its entirety, you cannot spread it between several subjects. We've tried. Your pawn has been exemplary... so very long lived. You've got a bond beyond the basics, I suspect that's what sustains him. Perhaps he even has a piece of your soul..." Lord Phaesus paused, watching Lena who could not help flinching. "Ah... indeed. Well, no matter. He will die, and so will you."

Lena's first impulse was to kill him. It must have reflected on her face because Lord Phaesus quickly cast a shield around himself, he was an exceptional mage. Lena's blood was boiling with rage and despair, her judgement was clouded... what to do? She ran out of the cavern... was Godsway affecting her too? How could it? She was no pawn... "Godsway affects the Arisen as well as the pawns," she recalled Lamond's words earlier. Why did he know so much about the matter? He never explained how he knew Lord Phaesus... Whose side was he on? Was there still a side to be taken? Or was everything really already lost..?

Lena shook her head - that wouldn't do. The situation called for a cold, calculated response, not her usual hot-headed impulse.

"I know about it because I crossed paths with Phaesus before," she heard Lamond's voice behind her. "As did the oracle that you consulted. As did most other Arisen. He seeks us out, one way or the other... us or our pawns."

"Is it true, what he said about the Dragonsplague?" Lena asked cautiously. She so wanted to trust Lamond... but she was also cooling off, with her judgement becoming guarded. "Is it true that all is really lost?"

"It is true what he said about needing to pass it on fully," Lamond spoke slowly, watching Lena. "You can trust his research, he values knowledge above all else. It is also true that no mere mortal... not even an Arisen, and no pawn can take it all and not die before it's done. The size of that patch... it's beyond belief." He stopped talking. Lena turned away.

She paced the pit of the excavation site, looked at the sun just visible behind the high cliffs... Was that the end that the Sphinx spoke of? "You will reach the end when you find the beginning," she had said. "You will not reach the end until you collect all the strands." Had she collected them all? She thought she did... the crystal ball was the oracle, the brother was Lamond, the sword of sorrow was her Godsbane, the grains of sand in the desert... She recalled the man blinded by his drive to provide what his loved ones did not want... "Take stock of what really counts..." Was she still going after her missing heart? Was that even important any longer? She felt emptiness and pain in her chest... It's been so long since she felt a heartbeat... She used to press her ear to Scorpio's chest and listen to his heart... Would one heart be enough for them both?

"The cold flames..." She suddenly realised that one strand was still missing. "If that's what it takes... very well."

She straightened her back, determination returning to her features. Lamond watched, nodded and smiled. "You've made up your mind, sis," he came up behind her. "I'll be watching your back." Lena returned to the cavern.

...

The scene there was the same as before, it appeared that Lord Phaesus had been waiting for her, not expecting to be attacked. He still had his shield up, but otherwise seemed relaxed. Ambrosius looked nervous in his cell, especially since Lord Phaesus made no attempt to free him. The pawns were cowering with pain, unable to move. Scorpio was still lying on his cot, unconscious as before.

Lena took it all in as she entered and walked straight over to Scorpio, not even glancing at Phaesus. Lamond blocked the entrance to the hall. No one would go in or out.

With a flick of her dagger, Lena opened the wound in Scorpio's side and dark, viscous liquid started oozing out. She knelt over it and drank.

...

"Have to drink it all..." she thought, watching the patch shrinking as she ingested more and more of the dark blood. "But that's a lot... That indeed will kill me... unless..."

"I can help you, Dragonborn!" A voice spoke in her head. "Just say the word... You can have it all, and it will only make you stronger! Or die, like cattle..."

She hesitated. Was it indeed the only way?

"You can now transform at will," a voice of a memory spoke. "Just think it... All you need is blood."

She stood up. She had drunk perhaps half of what had to be drunk, but her head was spinning and she was loosing feeling in her legs... She saw Lord Phaesus watching her with interest, expecting her to collapse. She removed her lorica exposing her upper body... "Just think it..." She'd never done it before, not to that extent. "Transform..."

She felt warmth drain away from her, replaced by cold fever. Her fingertips started to tingle with a familiar feeling, growing long, rounded claws... her fangs re-emerged... her eyes, she had no doubt, turned red... and something else... something new... her skin pulled tight and hardened, like armour... there was a sharp pain in her back... and her feet no longer felt the ground...

She heard a gasp. She opened her eyes.

"What..?!" Lord Phaesus backed off, a flash of panic in his eyes. "How..?" He pointed his staff at her, ready to fire a spell...

It took but a moment. She leapt at him, her wings carried her high, away from Phaesus's magic bolt. One swing, and she smashed his staff, the Godsway crystal cracking in two, Lamond crushing the rest into dust. Phaesus' magic shield fizzled out and he backed against the wall. A higher vampire in its winged form was hovering over Phaesus, its cold breath forming icicles on the wall. "All you need is blood..." a memory kept pulsing in Lena's mind - she was famished.

With the Godsway crystal destroyed, pawns started to regain consciousness, but seeing a vampire in its full glory, many backed off into the depths of their cells - it wasn't really their fight, after all.

"Behold the cold flame," Rook said to no one in particular. He shot a glance at Lamond who was still barring the exit, they exchanged nods and Rook unlocked Ambrosius' cell. Ambrosius backed into the furtherst corner.

"Blood..." the thought kept pulsing in Lena's mind. "All you need is blood..." Her senses led her to the one victim with pure, untainted human blood... Ambrosius.

...

Nourishment brought some warmth to Lena's limbs and cleared her head. Pale as a sheet, Ambrosius collapsed in his cell. He wasn't dead, but wouldn't even make for a modest breakfast, Lena thought. Without a word, she returned to Scorpio's side and continued drinking the dark dragon blood from the patch.

"You disappoint me, Dragonborn," she heard a voice in her head. "But have it your way... embrace my gift! It saved your life today."

"Go away, Molag Bal," Lena thought lazily. "I am busy."

...

"What are you going to do now, vampire?" Lord Phaesus was looking at Lena in disgust as her features were turning gaunt again with all the infected dragon blood that she had consumed. "It won't kill you, granted... But where will you go? You are now a monster just like all the others in this world, there to be hunted and killed... I win again, methinks."

"Perhaps..." Lena folded her wings and walked over to him. "Would you like to give me some of your blood? Tainted with Godsway as it is, but I'll accept it. What say you, Lord Phaesus?"

"Have you gone mad?!" He cried out, backing off. "No!!"

"Ahhh... We'll see." She smiled and cast a spell. Lord Phaesus dropped to his knees, his robe slipped down his shoulder revealing his neck.

"Mistress..."

...

Once fed, Lena regained her human form. Her eyes were still red and she still had the fangs, but her claws became nails and her skin looked pink, if a bit pale. Her wings retracted completely. Her vampirism was receding, all she needed was a little more blood... a few more feedings would make it completely recessive. It was time to leave. Lamond unblocked the entrance and the pawns walked out in search of the nearest riftstone to take them back to the Rift. Only Mason and Rook remained. Ambrosius was still alive in his cell, pale as a sheet. Lord Phaesus too was alive, and not much worse for wear; he was making notes in his little book, looking at Lena with a newly found fondness. Then finally Scorpio regained consciousness.

Sitting up with difficulty, he looked around the room.

"What have you done..?" He stroke Lena's cheek as she sat next to him. "You can't go biting necks, you'll get arrested," he smiled.

"Ah, but I have a thrall," she smirked, jerking her head towards Lord Phaesus. "You survived. Forgive me that it took me so long."

Although Scorpio was conscious, he could not walk, so rather than trying to teleport to the city, they decided to move to the main camp and occupy the buildings there. Lena also had to stay out of sunlight for as long as her vampirism was active. Then everyone realised that it had been two days since their last meal... what with all the goings on they had no chance to eat, and so mundane activities took over. Corpses of all the guards killed in the past few days started to smell, too, and had to be thrown into the sea. In a word, there was a lot to be getting on with.

A few days later Scorpio was well enough to walk and Lena's vampirism finally went in remission, her eyes turning amber again and her fangs receding. A slight gauntness in her face still reminded them of all that came to pass... that, and Lord Phaesus still looking at her with fondness.

"What did you do to him?" Lamond asked watching him once again sliding his robe back to reveal the neck with many bite marks on it. "It looks like he's craving you feeding on him."

"That's exactly how it is," Lena nodded. "A strain of vampirism I picked up in Skyrim... He is not a vampire himself but he is infected nonetheless. He craves being fed on. It is so useful to have a compliant thrall."

"Just like having a compliant escort," Rook grimaced with a shudder. "Don't remind me."

"How come you know so much about Godsway, Lamond?" Lena realised that she never asked him that question. "It's almost like you tried it yourself..."

"I have," he nodded. "When I lost my pawn..." He paused, watching Phaesus make notes about something. "The Legion gave me another, but we didn't connect... The pawn would follow my commands and fight without reproach, but his heart wasn't in it... Perhaps it is a common thing, I do not know, but my first one was not like that."

"It's common enough..." Mason nodded. "I've seen it many a time."

"Well then..." Lamond looked at him and smiled. "Perhaps it wasn't my fault. But I thought that it was... that my will wasn't enough... and I heard that Godsway could amplify an Arisen's will. And so I sought out Phaesus... who was all too happy to give me a steady supply..." He paused, then took a sip of his Newt Liqueur. "You can imagine the rest. A nice bit of research. My dragon came and I failed to slay it. My pawn returned to the Rift. I am now but a drunk..."

"I am sorry..." Lena hugged him around the shoulders. "That's tough."

"Don't cry for me, sis," Lamond patted her hand. "I could help you, and thus it was not all for naught. What do you plan to do with him now?" He looked at Lord Phaesus.

"Kill him," Lena shrugged. "What else? That's the merciful thing to do. But first... there is another loose end."

She walked over to him.

"Tell me, Lord Phaesus," she spoke quietly. "Why would the oracle not speak about Godsway?"

"Because that's what keeps her away on her plane," he shrugged. "The insense she burns - that's what makes her appear as a ghost. Deny her that, and she'll regain her human form, whatever left of her... withdrawal can be severe... Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Lena smiled and walked away.

[Lena Wolf]

Second Seed, 4E204 - An Arisen and her pawn

"There she goes - the current Arisen and her pawn," people would say seeing Lena and Scorpio around town in Bakbattahl. Pawns had all but disappeared from the city streets to the delight of the locals, still mistrustful of them. People would watch her for a few moments, then return to their lives and their affairs. The dragon was gone, and the people were even prepared to tolerate one pawn in their city - that of the current Arisen.

...

Once Scorpio could walk well enough, it was time to leave the camp at the excavation site and go somewhere more suitable for habitation.

"We'll see you to Bakbattahl," Rook said when Lena suggested that he and Mason head for the nearest riftstone. "In case there's any trouble... not that I would expect any. But Lord Phaesus will need escorting, unless you want to end his life here? And Ambrosius? Isn't he still alive?"

He was. Still collapsed in his cell, pale, but clinging to life.

"He will need care and treatment," Lena turned to Lord Phaesus. "He lost a lot of blood. He is your subject, he is here on your orders. You decide."

"He outlived his usefulness," Lord Phaesus looked down at Ambrosius. "Leave him here to die."

Lena put a dagger through his heart. "He deserves better."

They teleported to Bakbattahl all together, causing a little stir at the oxcart station porticrystal. Lamond vounteered to escort Lord Phaesus back to the Forbidden Magic Laboratory under the Imperial Palace. "Are you sure he won't escape?" Mason squinted at Lena when she announced her decision to let him go.

"Escape? And go where?" She smiled. "Besides, if I ever wanted another sip of his blood, that's where I'd go to find him..."

"Until we meet again," Lord Phaesus smiled, kissing her hand - he could be such a charmer when he wanted to. "My Lady."

With Lamond and Phaesus gone, Mason, Rook, Lena and Scorpio reached Lena's house without any trouble.

"Go home," Lena hugged Rook. "Benita is waiting." She kissed him, one last time.

"Don't let me catch you causing trouble again," he smiled. "Be well. And see you around..."

"It's time for me to leave as well, Arisen," Mason said his goodbyes. "I'll be walking the roads, so if you need any help with your roast, just call... you never know."

...

"Stop fussing over me, those cuts will heal in time!" Scorpio was protesting when Lena once again went about putting ointment on each and every cut and bruise on his body. "I am a pawn, I'm used to this..." Lena gave him a look. "Well, may be not in such quantities, granted... Oh alright, if you must..."

One day he ventured another question: "What are we going to do about your heart?"

"I don't know..." Lena sighed. "The dragon didn't have it... I wonder who does?"

"The Legion, who else? That's why the old Arisen here still live after the dragon is slain."

Lena nodded, it did make sense. But how to get it back from the Legion? And after that, how to return to Tamriel? She didn't dare to think that far.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said decisively and shook her head. "We're out of danger and you are alive, that will suffice for now."

Scorpio didn't press the matter.

"Come here," he pulled her close. "I may not be capable of much else as yet, but I can still kiss you." He took her in his embrace and she knew there was not a trace of the wall around his heart left. "My heart is yours. I know your heart isn't mine, but I've got something else... and that's more than enough. I may not understand how you deal with multiple bonds... but I shall not question ours again."

"You are a part of me as I am a part of you," Lena repeated what Lamond made her understand. "The bond only deepens with every trial..." She pressed her ear to Scorpio's chest and listened to his heart.

...

The following few weeks were peaceful. Scorpio was recovering from his ordeal, but it was going to take time, ointments notwithstanding. He retained a deep scar on his abdomen where the dragon blood had been injected as some of the tissue had perished. Lena never went back to the Forbidden Magic Laboratory to check on Lord Phaesus, she was sure he would still be there, making notes about everything he'd learned. She wondered sometimes just how much he suffered from his cravings to be fed on, but it wasn't important enough for her to go and check.

"You could have just killed me, you know," Scorpio said one day. "I mean, sent me back to the Rift. That would have cured the Dragonsplague. That's what every Arisen does: throw their pawn off a cliff."

"It was too much of a risk," Lena shook her head. "You didn't just catch it from another pawn... I think you would have really died if I had killed you."

"So what happens if I catch it again?" Scorpio gave her a long look.

"Then... you tell me about it," Lena smiled. "Before it takes you over. And I shall probably have to throw you off a cliff..."

"I wonder what the nature of it is," Scorpio mused. "I was unconscious of course, yet I remember visions... I remember flying... like if I had wings."

"Like a dragon?"

"I don't remember turning into a dragon," he smirked. "But may be a bat? No, I jest - I couldn't tell. The visions weren't very clear."

"Visions never are," Lena nodded. "We'll just have to deal with it if you do get infected." She paused, then asked looking away: "Do you get called for pawn duty much these days?"

"Not now, no, not in my current condition," Scorpio answered slowly. "Also, I think, since I am not bound to an Arisen by the Legion... I would not be their first choice."

"That's good," Lena perked up. "I'd miss you."

"But you aren't supposed to even notice..."

"Oh but I do."

"Then why did you ask?" He looked at her with a penetrating gaze. "I wouldn't lie."

"I wondered..." Lena looked down, avoiding Scorpio's gaze. "I wondered if I stopped sensing it... You haven't been called since we slayed the dragon, correct?"

"That's right," Scorpio nodded. "Since my Legion bond to you was released."

"Hmm... The bond was released..." She repeated pensively. "So if you were to return to the Rift, would I even be able to get you back?"

"Of course, I would answer your call at once."

"Answer my call... So this is then how, back in Gransys, you were able not to answer my call which made me jump off a cliff in despair?" She looked up at him sharply.

"That's right... that's the one choice we get. And I did it on purpose - to send you back home."

"Well, don't do it again!" Lena exclaimed hotly. "We return to Tamriel together or we don't return. I meant what I said: I shall stay with you till the end of times... because unless I am killed, my life will have no end. I am not a regular mortal."

"I heard you say that..." Scorpio smiled. "Wasn't sure if I simply imagined it... it seems I did not."

They stood on the edge of a cliff, the scenery of Battahl spreading before them.

[Lena Wolf]

Second Seed, 4E204 - A trail of shards

A scene of lovemaking met Lamond's eyes when he entered Lena's house in Bakbattahl. Perhaps he should have knocked. He shook his head and busied himself brewing coffee in the front room.

"You have no shame, do you?" He grinned, passing Lena and Scorpio coffee once they were finished, as they didn't stop on his account.

"What's there to be ashamed of?" Lena shrugged. "It's a perfectly natural thing to do... Everyone does it..."

"And yet everyone is ashamed when someone else catches them at it," Lamond objected.

"So, what's your point?" Lena looked at him quizzically.

"You've been around pawns for too long, sister," Lamond smirked. "Their ways are rubbing off on you."

"Not my fault!" Scorpio protested. "She was like this already before we met!"

Lamond grinned but didn't say anything, just refilled everyone's coffee.

"Pawns are unfazed by pretty much anything, of course, be it intimate intercourse or vampire transformations alike," he finally spoke, sitting down again. "Perhaps my own journey as an Arisen was too short to understand them. Perhaps I didn't care enough... was too focused on the dragon... which I failed to slay in the end."

"And I slayed mine, yet here we are," Lena said softly. "I don't think the dragon matters, Lamond. Didn't you say yourself that an Arisen is nothing without the pawn?"

"I came to realise it much later," he nodded. "I've seen many Arisen come and go, having failed to slay their dragon for whatever reason... They never cared enough about their pawns... Not the way you two..." He looked at them and smiled. "Perhaps that's what the Legion wants... telling us that pawns are only there to serve, that the Arisen is all the hype... I don't think you're supposed to actually care for each other."

"It isn't common," Scorpio said softly. "The Arisen normally treat us as slaves, and the fact that we have to call them 'master' only makes things worse... Just look at the garments they have us wear so often... 'It's enchanted, it offers protection,' is the usual argument, while you would never catch a human mage or knight wearing that sort of bondage... more suitable for a brothel than a battlefield."

"I never made you wear that rubbish!" Lena protested.

"I am not talking about you," Scorpio smiled at her. "But when we are called for duty, the Arisen can have us wear whatever they want... give us any command... and we must obey the wishes of the Arisen. Sometimes I think it's the women that get the worst of it, but other times..." His voice trailed off and he looked away.

"I'll let you wash up and get dressed," Lamond took their coffee cups breaking the awkward silence. "Put on some armour, there's something I want to show you up on the beach. After we've cleared the harpies and rattlers, that is..." He paused, taking in the state of Scorpio's body, still covered in scars and remnants of wounds. "You will manage, it's not too hard," he nodded to himself.

...

Clearing the beach of monsters didn't present any problems. Between Scorpio's frost and fire, Lena's bow and daggers and Lamond's greatsword they managed it easy enough. When all was quiet, Lamond pointed at a structure out at sea.

"That tower wasn't there before, I could swear it!" Lena exclaimed in surprise. "And there seems to be a path to it, too..."

"That tower rises and sinks back into the depths from time to time," Lamond nodded, holding Lena from rushing off. "And there's more. Look around - all those Godsway crystals."

Indeed, this was the very beach where Ambrosius had asked Lena to collect blue crystals for him, then lamented that the shards were too small.

"Not Godsway yet, but shards used to make it," Lena nodded. "They seem to float in from that tower... Oh and look - there are some big ones!"

She turned to him in surprise but he only smiled.

"We must explore the tower," Lena concluded, marching off, Lamond tried to say something, then shook his head and remained on the beach.

...

"The way is blocked, we have to try it from the other side," Scorpio finally gave up attempting to destroy boulders blocking their way. "I am not even sure we're supposed to destroy it. May be there's a trick... a mechanism of some kind..."

"Which is why Lamond is still on the beach," Lena realised. "He knew it all along, yet let me find out for myself..."

"As if you would have it any other way, Arisen!" Scorpio grinned. "Let's hear what he's got to say for himself."

Lamond was sitting on the beach, waiting for them to return.

"There is a way, but it's from the other side," he said when they approached. "I tried to tell you..."

"Well, never mind," Lena shrugged. "But I sense that there's more..."

"Indeed," Lamond got up and pointed North. "The cavern of the Dragonforged is that way, I suppose you know it?"

"He can enhance our gear with dragon blood crystals," Lena nodded. "But... don't tell me - there's more?"

Lamond smiled and started walking North.

...

"How long I've been here? I honestly could not tell..." The Dragonforged looked at Lena in surprise. "Does it matter? I used the time to learn aught of the dragon blood."

"And where is your pawn?"

"My pawn?" A long forgotten memory seemed to have risen in his mind, and he smiled, looking into the distance. "Oh yes, my pawn... He remained in the other world... The man on the hill, having come there in the fullness of time... Say..." He looked at Lena as if seeing her for the first time. "Have we not met before? You and your pawn... The Arisen's Bond... yes, I remember," he smiled, looking at them both. "You slayed the dragon and my heart was forfeit with it... I perished, along with every old Arisen in that world. Then I woke up in this cavern... not unlike the one on the hill... but my pawn wasn't with me, I had to continue my existence alone..." He paused, looking around him as if seeing his cavern anew, too. "I miss him, you know. He was a good friend... We used to talk... reflect on the world and the goings on... I never felt lonely with him around..." His voice trailed off and he turned away. "And since I lost him, my soul has frayed... small shards are being torn off and carried away on the waves of time... or solitude... or regret..."

He walked out onto a platform overlooking the sea and just stood there, staring into the distance. Lena decided to leave him alone.

...

"Tell me what's inside that tower," Lena turned to Lamond when they stood outside again. "I have a feeling you know exactly what we shall find."

"The same as what I found, no doubt," he nodded. "The Mad Sovran."

"Rothias?!" Lena spinned in surprise. She had read old tomes in long forgotten archives telling of the very first Arisen of that world - Rothias. He defeated his dragon and established the law that the current Arisen should be crowned as the Sovran of Vermund, to reign until another Arisen slays his or her own dragon. There was no mention of Battahl in those tomes, it appeared that both kingdoms were in fact one, known as Vermund. That was eons ago. How and when Battahl became its own kingdom, remained unclear. Rothias turned out to be a cruel ruler, executing his subjects by the dozen for any slightest misstep... but again, just how he was removed from power and what became of him, remained unclear. To hear that he indeed still lived... well... that was no small wonder.

Lena walked up and down the beach, visibly distraught. If Rothias was still alive, confined to a tower that rose and sank from time to time, with the blue crystal shards floating from it... with larger shards appearing when the tower came up... "...small shards are being torn off and carried away on the waves of time..." Did she not put a crystal shard on the stand before the Sphinx to represent a piece of her soul? What made her choose a shard? An impluse, an intuition... or may be something she'd seen before, a long, long time ago.

"How do we get into the tower?" She returned to her companions.

"There is a path from Harve - a village on the other side of the bay," Lamond replied. "Have you ever wondered why a small fishing village should have its own porticrystal?"

Lena pulled out a ferrystone and whisked them to the other side of the bay.

...

"And who are you?" A ghostly figure was sitting on a crumbling throne in the middle of an arena. "What do you want? Speak up! I get tired of waiting!"

"Rothias?" Lena approached the figure. He wasn't a ghost, exactly, but rather his shape was surrounded by a cloud of mist. "I was told I'd find you here."

"Well, thanks for your visit, and now be off!" Rothias scowled at her. "I have no time for your kind..."

"My kind..?" Lena was taken aback.

"The current Arisen, is it?" Rothias squinted at her. "Slayed your dragon and got my throne! I know you've done it, or you wouldn't be standing here, smug as you are! What do you want?!" He nearly shouted, growing angry and impatient.

"I want a lot of things," Lena answered in an even and cold voice. "Is that your soul bleeding out? It poisons this world."

"And it deserves it!!" Rothias bellowed. "I've been dethroned by an inferior pleb!!"

"And where is your pawn?"

"My pawn?!!!" Rothias almost exploded with anger. "I had no pawn! I had to defeat my dragon alone!! It was the strength of my will and that of my sword that slayed that beast! Pawns..!" He glared at Lena, then looked further and finally noticed Scorpio standing behind her. "They ruined it all!!" He screamed, pointing at Scorpio. "The pawns!! The Legion!!! I could have ruled the world entire, were it not for the pawns!!"

This outburst seemed to have exhausted his strength and he collapsed onto his throne.

"Begone, Arisen!" He hissed, breathing heavily.

...

"Went to see the Mad Sovran, did you?" An old man on the beach in Harve was stirring a pot over a campfire. "Yeah, I know what's in that tower... what floats from it as well... Rule the world entire, indeed! This IS the world entire, there is nothing more... There is naught beyond the horizon..."

Lena realised with a start that she kept forgetting that the old man was in fact an old Arisen. Indeed, the scar was still visible on his chest.

"Did you slay your dragon?" She asked him.

"Aye," he nodded. "'Tis not that hard, as you well know..."

"And you ruled over Vermund?"

"Nay, not I," he shook his head vigorously and spit. "I want no throne. They found another soon enough."

"Why do you sail out to sea each day?"

"Why not?" He shrugged. "Lived in this village my whole life before that stupid dragon saw it fit to make me immortal... Fished in this bay all my life, so why would I stop?" He gave Lena a long look, his eyes were clear, alive, like those of a young man.

"Your soul isn't fraying," Lena concluded.

He gave a short laugh.

"Why would it? I found my peace. I came home and am happy here."

They didn't speak for a while, Lena sat by his fire looking out to sea.

"But you are not of this world," the old man said quietly. "I know there are other worlds out there, some like ours, others not... You are from a world that isn't bound by the Dragon's Dogma."

"How can you tell?" Lena asked quietly, still looking out to sea.

"You slayed your dragon, you got the throne, but that wasn't your goal... You keep company of pawns, not people... pawns and old Arisen..." he nodded towards Lamond and Scorpio standing a few steps away. "You are still searching for your heart, and for a way home..." His voice trailed off and he resumed stirring in the pot over the fire. "I've never seen an Arisen quite like you."

Lena didn't answer. The waves were rolling in and fizzling out on the rocky beach. The seagulls were circling over the water, occasionally diving for fish, their cries were the only sounds for miles, it seemed. A vision of Cassardis rose in Lena's mind, the fishing village in Gransys where everyone called her "cousin"... she missed it, it felt like home. She was once prepared to spend an eternity there, provided Scorpio stayed with her... it was so long ago. Then she saw the shores of the Niben, the bluebell meadows and the modest house where she grew up. Her Argonian grandmother was stirring in a pot over the fire. "Hi, grandma," she smiled at the memory. That was so long ago...

[Lena Wolf]

Second Seed, 4E204 - Sweet dreams are made of this

Lena sat on a rocky beach in Harve looking out to sea. With her mind's eye she saw in the haze before her every place she once called home. The shores of the Niben. The mists of Dementia. The banks of the Pontar. The beaches of Cassardis... Perhaps she should find a home in this world, too. Scorpio watched her for a bit, then walked over and sat next to her, pulling her close. He unclipped his wolven wrap and draped it over her shoulders more than his. "I am here," he said in her ear. She could feel his heartbeat. She closed her eyes and allowed the day to fizzle out.

...

"Do you think she'll do it?" The old man by the sea looked quizzically at Lamond.

"Sacrifice our world?" Lamond looked up from the fire. "Nah, not she... She'll find another way."

"Are you not tired of the endless cycle?" The old man resumed stirring in the pot. "Every time it is the same."

"You've got your Godsbane, you can end it any time," Lamond objected. "Yet here you are."

"The choice when to die is rarely given, granted," the old man agreed. "All in all, it's not a bad place to live."

The stew was ready and they shared a meal, gazing at the stars above.

...

"Tell me about your research, Lord Phaesus," Lena stood in the Forbidden Magic Laboratory. "Why are you making Godsway?"

"To control the dragon and break the Dragon's Dogma. To free our world," he shrugged.

"Free it..." Lena nodded. "And what, pray, do you know about this world?"

"It is vast... There must be lands beyond the horizon... lands beyond the mountain ridges... This whole world must be made free." Lord Phaesus looked at her and smiled, and Lena thought that instead of her standing there, he saw new lands beyond the horizon.

"Do you suffer much from your cravings to be fed on?" She suddenly changed the topic.

"Suffer?" He looked at her in surprise. "Does one suffer in between moments of ecstasy? Perhaps only by comparison..." He looked at her with a deep longing. "You lost your fangs, Mistress... But perhaps you could use a dagger..?" His hand was already pushing back the robe revealing his neck.

"These healed quite well," Lena touched the scars of the previous bite marks, barely visible now. "I don't need a dagger," she smiled. "All I have to do is will it..."

"The transformation..!" Lord Phaesus gasped, watching Lena's canines pull out turning into fangs, her face growing gaunt and eyes feverish at the same time.

"I am naught but a monster akin all others, here to be hunted and killed," she said in a low voice, paraphrasing Pheasus' own words back at the excavation site. "I have been for centuries..." She was looking into his eyes. "How do you kill the immortal? There are ways, of course... You have been trying to kill my pawn, yet you failed."

"Mistress..." Phaesus backed against the wall, the air in the room growing cold.

"What will you do once you've freed this world from the Dragon's Dogma?" Lena stood quite close to Phaesus now, speaking quietly. "The king in Vermund is your son, is he not? But I do not believe you care for him or his mother... Yes, I saw you there, at The Rose... their escorts show more warmth or conviction than you did taking her into your arms..." she smirked. "Is it the throne you want? The riches, the power?" She gently stroke his neck with her cold hand and he moaned, his knees growing weak. "Should I grant you your moment of ecstasy?"

"I do not wish to be king..." Lord Phaesus said in a hoarse voice. "Everything I want is here..." he looked around the room. "The Empress of Battahl is oblivious to my research, yet she's funding it... women are so easy to manipulate..." He returned Lena's gaze and for a few moments they stood locked in it, Phaesus' dark brown eyes and Lena's amber, with a hint of red... "Yes, Sven is my son," he nodded. "An investment I made twenty years ago. Disa simply wanted a child, I wanted the Arisen Sovran to have a heir. Break the pattern one step at a time... I had no definite plan then... I still don't. The Godsway we make will not control the dragon, it barely controls pawns..." His voice trailed off, he looked away, but remained standing before Lena.

"Ambrosius is dead," Lena walked around the room, picking up a few books and notes, quite a few in Ambrosius' hand. "He was your loyal assistant, yet you wouldn't care for him... He could have recovered."

"He lacked brilliance," Phaesus made an annoyed gesture. "He was collecting shards for years, yet still made no connection as to where they came from or what they were..."

"And you... you know it?" Lena looked up.

"They are fragments of an Arisen's soul," he nodded. "That of Rothias in the tower and the Dragonforged in the cavern..." He paused, thinking. "They are not all the same, and it isn't the size that matters but the substance... something that Ambrosius could never understand."

"You wanted to kill me for my soul," Lena suddenly realised.

"I thought to capture it through your pawn," Lord Phaesus walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out an old tome, handing it to Lena.

"On the Transference of Souls," she read.

"You know it, I take it?" He noticed a spark of recognition in Lena's face. "I am still searching for the second tome. This here is but the first half."

Lena put down the book.

"The easiest way to control the dragon and the pawns," she said in an even tone, "is to become an Arisen yourself, Lord Phaesus." She paused and he looked up sharply. "Oh come now, you know how it's done... The dragon chooses the challenger, always. Not the mage taking notes. Not the reseacher hidden deep inside the earth. Next time the dragon comes around, seek him out, he's easy to find. A good lightning bolt will make you lose your heart and gain the power... And then, when you face your dragon, stab him with your personal Godsbane."

Lord Phaesus stood transfixed as a long silver dagger, or a short silver sword, appeared in Lena's hand, shimmering with an unknown enchantment. She put it on the table before Phaesus.

"This one is mine," she said simply. "You can touch it but only I can wield it. This sword exists with a single purpose: for me to commit suicide. Every Arisen gets one when it comes near the time to face the dragon."

"But what is the point..?" Phaesus touched Lena's Godsbane and it gave him a powerful discharge.

"Interesting," Lena smiled. "It doesn't like you." She put it away. "Every Arisen can break the cycle, can lift the Dragon's Dogma. Very few choose to do it. I did it once in another world... But what came next was not worth it, and I worked hard to undo it. The same would happen here, I wager... Or something very much like it, at any rate..."

She walked around the room, glancing at the many tomes in Phaesus' library.

"The lands beyond the horizon that you speak of... How do you know that they exist?" She stopped close to him.

"I saw them... with my mind's eye..." Phaesus said softly, seeing them again. "Forests teeming with game... Deserts of warm sands so unlike Battahl... Frozen peakes of rugged mountains... An Elven city on an isle with a spire so white and so tall, it can be seen from every corner of the land... All of this... is beyond the horizon."

"All of this is not of this world," Lena smiled, pulling back the robe on Phaesus' shoulder to reveal his neck. "Let me give you another dream..."

...

Scorpio was sitting outside Lord Phaesus' chamber waiting for Lena. He had to resist the urge to charge in and just kill Phaesus where he stood, but Lena specifically instructed him to stay out and to keep everyone else from even approaching the door. All was quiet and no one came to Phaesus' chamber, and so Scorpio listened without interruptions.

When Lena came out, she looked completely human again, with all visible traces of vampirism fully receded.

"Phaesus?" Scorpio asked, checking her over, just to be sure.

"He'll be alright," Lena smiled. "I took more than a fair share, but he can handle it. He'll be craving it all the more next time we meet..."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just kill him?" Scorpio looked through the door opening - Lord Phaesus was slumped on the cushions, looking quite pale. "I mean, after some of the things he was saying..."

"He is no threat to us now," Lena shook her head. "And I still need a thrall sometimes..."

"Then take my blood instead..!"

"No, Scorpio, let's not make it into a habit," she kissed him on a cheek and motioned him to go. "In an emergency, if I have no other choice, I shall take your blood... But not if it can be avoided!"

...

They returned to Vermund, leaving behind the land of red rock and the stigma surrounding pawns. Here, among the green mountains, the air was both cooler and less toxic, which was a welcome change.

"The people in Gransys didn't like us pawns either," Scorpio observed as they were walking up a mountain path. "Yet in Battahl I experienced a whole different level of rejection... not hate, but distrust and disdain... I am glad to be out of there."

"Agreed," Lena nodded. "But here it is the reverse. I wonder what they will make of us now... I should be the Sovran but I abdicated... Some will see it as slander or even a provocation. We won't find many friendly hearts here, I think."

In Vernworth life continued as before. To Lena's surprise, most people appeared not to care that she wasn't fulfulling her duty of presiding over the throne. "It must be awfully dull," they would look at her with understanding. "All those laws and decrees... Hardly the stuff of dreams, now is it?"

Lena went to the Pawn Guild.

"Arisen!" The receptionist greeted her in his ever dispassionate tone. "You cannot summon pawns in times of peace like these. However, if you have need of assistance, the Guild can provide support for a fee."

"I had something else in mind," she shook her head. "I wish to travel the Rift."

"Only pawns can do that, Arisen."

"Not even for a fee?" She smiled, putting a small mountain of rift crystals on the table, with one small Godsway crystal just visible inside it.

"Well, since you put it like that..." The receptionist quickly extracted the Godsway crystal from the pile, stashing it in his belt. "Where would you like to go?"

"Today - nowhere," Lena smiled. "I am glad we've reached an understanding. That is premium purity, I am sure you will realise. Sweet dreams."

...

"What are you planning?" Scorpio waited to ask this question until they were inside Lena's house.

"A way home, an escape," Lena smiled. "You traveled to Tamriel through the Rift, we'll take the same route."

"I am a pawn, you are not," Scorpio looked sceptical. "The only reason I can do it is because the Legion needs the pawns to move between worlds... As long as they own me, I can do it... That's why I never let my mark vanish completely, lest I would not be able to find you again..." He rubbed the mark on his hand and it responded with a steady glow. "Besides, we cannot leave until you regain your heart."

"My heart..." Lena pressed a hand to her chest, the emptiness inside was almost palpable. "Vampires have hearts, but they don't beat. When I grow cold... my heart stops... yet I do not die. When I grow warm again, my heart once again starts beating, thanks to the cure I took. Vampires' hearts don't beat no matter what, I've been told. And yet I know it not to be true. All it takes is something to warm it..." She stopped talking, emotion making it difficult to breathe.

"Your first bond," Scorpio said softly. "Now I understand."

"In time," Lena nodded. "I shall return to him in time, but only once my soul is at peace..." She pressed her hand to Scorpio's chest, feeling his heartbeat. "My soul, which is also yours."

"And when your human bond runs its course, I shall still be there," he took her into his embrace. "And perhaps then it will be I who warms your heart."

The night had fallen while they were talking, a night of sweet dreams.

[Lena Wolf]

Second Seed, 4E204 - A matter of the heart

"Being a vampire weighs heavily upon you," Scorpio looked at Lena sideways as they were strolling through the wooded countryside in Vermund. "You have not been your usual self since you drank the dragon blood from the patch in my side." He twitched as the scar on his abdomen gave him a painful pull.

"That still hurts?" Lena looked up with worry, noticing Scorpio cringe.

"Yes," he nodded. "But don't avoid my question."

"Yes," she nodded back. "Yes, it does weigh heavily upon me. I got infected by accident when I was young, I've done everything I could to cure it, and yet every time I attempt to rid me of vampirism, I only find myself sinking deeper in... When the choice is between vampirism and death... I keep choosing vampirism..."

"Death is not the answer," Scorpio agreed. "For as long as you have something to live for, you will choose life, in whatever form."

"But then the times when my vampirism is in remission, are nothing but a lie..." Lena said in a small voice. "Since I do not want to be mortal."

"There's more to it than just mortality, isn't there?" Scorpio objected. "You could be permanently killed also as a vampire, there are always ways... Why is it then that every time you relapse, you insist on pushing it back in remission?"

"I like to feel warmth in my heart," Lena answered without hesitation. "Not just warmth in my body - a good feeding does that already. I like the heartbeat..." She pressed a hand to her chest but felt nothing. "When the dragon took my heart, it was like being forced into perpetual void without the chance of escape..."

"And that is why we must find your heart," Scorpio said firmly. "We cannot leave it behind. We cannot return to Tamriel without it."

...

When they returned to Vernworth, Lena noticed someone waiting for her near her house.

"Glyndwr," she stopped in her tracks. "He will want to go on a trip, no doubt. Show me how much his archery skill has improved since last we met... Why is it that people find it perfectly acceptable to wait for you at your house and then demand you depart with them the moment you return to the city? Like, may be, we'd want to rest and tend to our wounds first?" She turned to Scorpio, irritation clearly visible on her face.

"You could just refuse him, you know," Scorpio shrugged.

"Then he'd be upset," Lena sighed. "I have nothing against a trek, we are not exactly busy, and he's nice company. But - right now? As in - immediately this instant? That's insane."

"That's insolence," Scorpio nodded. "But they all do it. It's the way things work in this world."

"Well, then he can stand there and wait for a bit longer," Lena decided, turning on her heels. "It's too bad I sold the mansion, but there's always the inn. Come on."

...

"Welcome to my inn!" Shakir greeted them as they entered. "The best hospitality in Vermund is right here! Do you just want to rammage in your storage again or will you be actually renting a bed or two?"

"I'd like a private room," Lena got out her purse. "You've got one, don't you?"

"Ahh, someone is waiting by your house and you would rather prefer some rest first," he nodded. "We hear it all the time. Bath and breakfast as well?"

"Yes, please."

"There," he handed her a key. "Down the steps, then turn right. It's the last door along that hall. Better than The Rose," he grinned and winked, following Scorpio with his eyes.

...

"Something isn't right," Glyndwr said softly after they've been on the road for half a day and Lena didn't say a word. She targeted most foes from far with her bow, picking them off one by one long before they could come near. If any survived her arrows, Glyndwr finished them in turn. Scorpio didn't have to cast a single spell, hostile or healing. He too didn't speak. "You've been away for half a year... I've heard rumours, but I am not sure what to believe. I wanted to check on you, that is all. I apologise if this was just an intrusion..."

Lena stopped, turning to face him. The Malachite Forest around them rustled its leaves, muffling every sound. The clearing they were standing on, felt private.

"I am sorry, Glyndwr, it isn't your fault," Lena sighed. "You've done nothing wrong, and I do appreciate the attention, truly..." She paused, then sat down on a mossy log, her companions sitting down as well. "We've gone through hard times... We made sacrifices... It isn't true that anything that you manage to survive, makes you stronger."

"If you don't want to tell me, I understand," Glyndwr said softly. "I can see for myself that your pawn is not just your pawn... He disappeared first, then you went to his rescue, that much is clear. But I feel that isn't what is weighing on your heart."

"My heart..." Lena looked up. "That's just it. I haven't got it."

"After all you've gone through..?" Glyndwr was taken aback. "Slayed the dragon and all..? And... nothing?"

"And nothing," Lena nodded.

Glyndwr was visibly disturbed by this. He got up and paced around the clearing, clenching and unclenching his fists, muttering something under his breath in Elvish and shaking his head. After a little while he returned and sat down again.

"I am of course your junior in every way," he started cautiously. "Barely an adult... and I have no right to give advice..." He shook his head again and blushed, then looked up at Lena without raising his head. "But if I may? This might be of use to you."

"Glyndwr, please dispose with the formalities!" Lena exclaimed, blushing as well. "You seem to know rather more about me than most people... which should make it easier to talk! Years isn't everything."

"So it is as I thought, you are much older than me," he smiled. "Youthful looks notwithstanding. I daresay you have more experience too... But do you know Elves?" He looked at her with doubt.

"I know some elves..." Lena said without much conviction. "Dark Elves more than othes..." Glyndwr didn't seem to understand, and she hastened to clarify. "In my world there are three elven races, they differ in just about everything, from looks to beliefs to traditions... The only thing they have in common is their disdain for humans... Even those with elven roots... particularly those with elven roots... or those like myself whose race is considered to be a cross of man and mer."

"Then you know Elves," Glyndwr nodded. "When you come to Sacred Arbour, they are happy enough to take your money, yet none will speak your language," he smirked. "You think they cannot? They can... we've been living in this human land for generations... They understand everything you say, but will not speak it. I disapprove of that." He paused, considering how to say what he had to say. "This land isn't ours by right... It wasn't always ours," he corrected himself. "One day a group of elves arrived here from another world... They found this forest, wild and avoided by humans, so they settled here. The humans never made any attempts to evict them, yet the elves shunned humans nonetheless." He looked at the ancient trees around them as if asking forgiveness. "My point is this: those elves had traveled from another world. How they did it and whence they came, is written in old tomes, closely guarded from prying eyes..." he smirked. "But I read them. They came from a world where the dragon held the Arisens' hearts... They fled because the Arisen among them did not dare to slay the dragon... They sought to escape the fate that awaited all old Arisen in that world - they would perish when a new Arisen finally slays the dragon, slays it and regains his or her heart. You should retrace their steps," Glyndwr looked straight at Lena. "You should go to the world where slaying the dragon restores your heart."

"That old Arisen you spoke of..." Lena smiled. "I think I met her. She lives in a self-imposed exhile together with her ageing husband... Yet she does not seem to age herself."

"An elf and a dwarf, yes," Glyndwr nodded. "Another conundrum there. Just how many dwarves have you met in this world? Two, I wager. There's a smith in Bakbattahl as well. Two dwarves in an entire world?" He smiled and his eyes twinkled.

"I see," Lena grinned. "And they say it is only pawns who can travel across the Rift..."

...

"Good morning!" Lena greeted the receptionist at the Pawn Guild. "I trust you enjoyed my little gift from a few days ago?" A broad grin on the receptionist's face told her all she needed to know. "Well then... This..." she placed a larger Godsway crystal before him, "...is of the same purity, but look at the size. Take it all at once for a trip of a lifetime or split it up for several milder rides."

"What do you want for it?" He asked in a hoarse voice, not taking his eyes off the crystal.

"Gransys," Lena said. "You know it, I presume?"

...

It was another storm in Cassardis, and people huddled in their houses to wait it out.

"This isn't just a simple storm," Rook stood on the doorstep of his and Benita's house, pointing at the angry clouds that seemed to twist in a vortex.

"You think the dragon is coming?" Benita looked over his shoulder, hugging him from behind. "It hasn't been fifty years yet... I wonder what's brought it on."

"Not what - who," Rook smirked. "'Tis the wolven hour."

They went back into the house and barred the door. It the Rift was going to open over Cassardis, they would notice it soon enough, there was no need to get your house destroyed for it.

The vortex thickened, condensed and spit out a body. It fell onto the beach and remained still.

The storm continued to rage and anyone looking out the window, had the immediate urge to shut it and bar it from the inside. It is for this reason that no one besides Rook and Benita saw the dragon descend onto the beach. The dragon looked around, spotted the body and prodded it with his claw.

"You again!" He reeled, recognising a blond female that slayed him twice already. "What have I done to deserve it?!" The dragon's roar blended with the roar of the storm. "Oh very well, if I must!" He spit a mouthfull of fire. "But this time I'm taking your heart!"

He split Lena's chest in a much-practiced gesture... and reeled once again.

"No heart?!" He screamed in a high pitched voice, quite unexpected in a dragon. "What have you done with your heart?! I've got to have the heart for the magic to work!!!"

"You'll manage," Lena raised her head, pulling the wound together. "I will want it back when we meet again, so you better have it ready, Grigori," she smiled. "And nice to see you too. I rather prefer you to the other dragon."

"What have I done to deserve this?!" Grigori flapped his wings throwing a few fishing boats against the rocks, then rose into the air, circled the bay of Cassardis one last time and flew off, taking the storm with him as well.

"Here we go again," Lena shook her head, clutching her open chest. Although the wound wasn't deadly, it was still very painful and she blacked out, right there on the beach.