So it began. The pattern the Shining One had allowed Emmett to perceive, the pattern Emmett had shared with Brian and Justin, the pattern Brian wished to reject had revealed itself to all. Inside of Brian was a precariously balanced violence, a violence only Justin could temper. Justin gave Brian an honorable purpose, and the forces of evil knew that. They must, or they would not have continually attacked Justin. Of the five in their party, there were better targets. Emmett and Ted were representatives of powerful allies. And Brian was the true king. He and he alone could unite the downtrodden. But the forces of evil would not simply eliminate Brian. Unbeknownst to Brian's father, and to Brian, they desired to have him as their new king, but, of course, only after they had corrupted him. Emmett knew without understanding how that this was the case. Justin was the key to unleashing the demon inside Brian. Justin was Brian's greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Justin's being by Brian's side brought out the best in Brian. Threatening Justin would tease out the violence, the darkness, and killing him would bring out the worst. Power without a worthy purpose was tyranny, slavery, and genocide. And the forces of evil knew that. Emmett had not stood idly by as the battle proceeded. He'd been watching, taking everything in. And he'd learned much. Clearly, to whomever had sent them, the attackers had been expendable. They had focused all but one of their attacks on Justin. Clearly, someone else had been watching. Someone else wanted to see what Brian would do, the lengths to which he would go to protect his lover. Emmett surmised that whoever had engineered the attack was quite pleased. In a matter of seconds, Brian had killed three of the five attackers. And in a manner that most would consider grisly. The fifth attacker was the only one who had assaulted Brian. Emmett couldn't be positive, but he felt strongly that that had been an act of desperation. The mage's survival instincts kicking in. Emmett was convinced that the mage had disobeyed orders. Emmett huffed a laugh. That was one of the weaknesses of those cloaked in darkness. They were selfish. They cooperated only so long as it was in their best interest to do so. The five had been surprised by Brian's abilities. Emmett had seen it in their eyes and on their faces. Emmett was sure that they been told that they would face children, children with no magical powers. Doubtless, the surviving attacker would confirm this.

Of the five, Ted, Brian, and Emmett spoke the language of the Keep best. It had been decided that Ted would question the man, who was sitting on a tree stump near where the attackers had begun their assault. Emmett needed to observe the man's reactions, so he deferred to Ted and Brian. And Brian was as surprised by his actions during the battle as everyone (everyone but Emmett) had been. He was afraid of what he would do to get answers.

Ted asked softly, in the language of the Keep, "Who sent you?"

The question was met with silence and a sneer.

Ted was not thrown in the least. He'd expected the man to be resistant. He continued, "What were your orders?"

The man spit in Ted's face. Ted frowned and wiped his face with his sleeve. Ted sighed and turned to the rest of the party. In Vigan, he said, "This is going nowhere. If only I knew a spell that would force him to tell the truth…"

Emmett's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh! I have something that could help. I forgot that I brought it with me." Emmett immediately ran to fetch his bag. When he returned, he rummaged through it until he found what he had been looking for, a glass case with something lumpy inside. He opened the case and pulled out a stone. A triumphant look on his face, Emmett handed it to Ted. It appeared to be a normal stone, small, round, and grey. Emmett urged him on. "Place it a foot in front of him. Everyone else needs to be a few feet away from it."

"Uh, ok." Ted complied. Then he looked back at Emmett. "What now?"

Emmett smiled. "Just wait."

Everyone (but Emmett) looked on anxiously. After a few minutes of tense silence, the stone started to emit something, something that appeared to be smoke. Ted, Daphne, Brian, and Justin gaped. Soon the smoke took the form of an older woman. The shape smiled at the man and breathed, in a mellifluous voice, "Frank…"

The man's eyes widened. He asked hesitantly, "Mother?"

Emmett smiled. "Ask your questions again."

Ted did so, but hesitantly. "Who sent you?" The voice exiting Ted's throat was not Ted's, but that of the smoke shape. Justin smiled, and Brian raised an eyebrow.

The man looked down. "I can't answer that. If I do, they'll kill me."

The smoke shape frowned. Ted improvised, "You can trust me, can't you?"

"Well, yes, of course, but…they'll know if I tell you."

Ted relented, "If you can't tell me, I understand. The last thing I would want is for you to be harmed. But surely you can tell me what they asked you to do."

The man tilted his head to the right and to the left. He seemed to be struggling, as though he wanted to answer the question, but was afraid. Finally, he choked out, "To kill the blond boy."

Justin froze. Brian took Justin's hand in his and squeezed it, but he clenched his jaw, too. He had been afraid that that had been the attackers' intent.

Suddenly, the man began to shake. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell off of the stump. The shaking continued, but became more intense as the seconds passed. The party watched in a stunned silence. Then the man's body turned black, as though it had been burned, and, a few seconds later, he turned into dust, or, rather, ash. No one moved or said anything at first. They were puzzled and afraid. Emmett recovered first. He walked over to the pile of ash and retrieved the stone, placing it back into the glass case. Then he said, "We should continue our journey. We are expected today."

Brian nodded and cleared his throat. "Yeah, it will be too dark to travel soon."

The members of the party gathered their belongings, shook their heads in turn at the pile of ash, and then headed toward the ridge.