After some time searching, Rose found Arlen on his side in a grove along a highway. There were many broken trees nearby like something had smashed into them, but she wasn't sure what. One thing was for sure, Arlen was hurt and so was some other man she'd never seen before.

She knelt down behind Arlen and asked him, "What's hurt?"

"Rose is that you?" Arlen tried to turn his head to look at her, but gave up soon enough.

"Yes, it's me. Now what's hurt?"

"My back. I can't stand up without it hurting like nothing else."

Rose inspected his back and found a cut in the cloth and a poorly healed wound. The bleeding had stopped and the skin was mostly repaired, but it was shoddily done and as she felt the wound his spine was damaged. It was the work of a novice, and obviously that meant Lynde had done it—she wasn't that great at healing beyond scrapes, so Rose would have to teach her some more soon enough.

It was nothing she couldn't fix though, and after a brief spell and some physical straightening out it was fine. She'd learned a while ago that healing with magic was usually helped along with some traditional medicine as well, including the occasional spine straightening. The nerves, muscles, and bones were fixed so she declared, "Done. Now stand up."

Arlen slowly sat up and then Rose impatiently helped him up. She wasn't going to stand there all night waiting for him to get to his feet. "Thank you," he said. "Now help Herbst."

Rose pointed to the man across the road questioningly. "Herbst?"

"Yeah."

Rose sighed and walked over to the bearded man. "Who is this and how much does he know?"

"He's Lynde's father, and he knows about Artsanna and probably even more than you do," Arlen said.

"Does he know there's a second Shade running around?"

"Yep, and a third. They took Lynde and Artsanna."

Rose stopped in her tracks. This night was just getting worse and worse. She turned to look at Arlen. "Let me get this straight. There are three Shades, Raud, Tyra, and your third."

"Vras," Arlen noted.

"Vras," Rose repeated and then realized who that was. She knew the name, but she thought he was dead. Tyra had said the name, but she'd assumed it was a false name. She had to ask. "Did he look somewhat like an Elf?"

Arlen was unsure. "Something like that. He didn't look Human or Elf to be honest."

"He is an Elf, or was, but not one you know. He's unaffected by the pact between Dragon and Elves because he never was; he predates it."

Arlen had a look of confusion and shock. "What does this mean and how do you know this?"

Rose sighed, and explained. "During the war between Dragons and Elves—I won't explain it if you don't know it, but this was before Riders—there was an Elf who decided to do something drastic. He created a Shade—himself, Vras—and tried fighting the Dragons. He fought an entire army of Dragons before dying, or at least, that's how we thought it happened. If it's the same Vras, then we're fighting perhaps the oldest Shade to ever live. He's had thousands of years to plan and learn spells. He's been hiding for all that time from the Riders. I can't believe this big a failure exists."

"The Magicians," Arlen noted. "The story of Elva. The fact that perhaps a thousand Riders were killed by just a handful. If you haven't noticed, there have been some spectacular failures in just the last hundred years or so."

Rose nodded. "Good point, but that doesn't excuse this. The Riders should have done something."

Arlen shrugged. "Well we can't do much about it now. But you should treat Herbst."

Rose nodded. "Right." She took a look at him and there were tough spells that kept him from moving his limbs or speaking. The one on his vocal cords was the toughest, so she focused on his right arm first. She poured a good amount of energy, but kept enough so that she could track down Lynde soon enough.

When she finally broke through, he started drawing something in the dirt. First was Lynde's name and then the word Shade. He then drew an arrow from Lynde's name to Shade. Arlen asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Herbst drew a circle around the two words, and then wiped away the arrow. It took Rose a moment to realize what he meant. Still unsure—or hoping it wasn't true, she asked, "They're going to turn Lynde into a Shade?"

While he couldn't move his mouth, his neck seemed to work just fine as he nodded. That was it then; they were all dead. Riders were—if memory served her—forbidden from practicing sorcery for fear they would become a Shade. She didn't know much about the bond between Rider and Dragon, but she knew that they were tied in some way that probably meant that if one was turned into a Shade, the other would too. Shades and Dragon Rider pairs were plenty powerful on their own, so if a Shade was a Dragon Rider… She would definitely have to stop this, even if it meant all their lives.

"Vras told you?" Arlen asked. Herbst nodded. "We have to find her." Another nod.

Rose sighed. "I know how to track them, but we can't do much against them when we do." Arlen reached into his pack and drew out the magic arrow she'd entrusted to him. Rose would have smiled if the situation wasn't so grave. "Thanks, Arlen."

He nodded. "It's no trouble. Though it is kind of heavy at times."

Rose ignored the small joke as she took the arrow and put it in her quiver. "Now, time for some tracking spells." She turned to Herbst. "I hope you don't mind us leaving you here, Herbst."

Herbst shook his head. Arlen noted, "Vras said the spells would wear off in a few hours."

Rose sighed. "And since when did you start trusting the word of a Shade?"

Arlen nodded. "Good point. Now where are we going?"

"I don't know yet," Rose replied. "Give me a moment." She sat cross-legged on the ground as she began to meditate.

She opened her mind and sought the knowledge that the woodland creatures knew. Her mind wandered from animal to animal, looking around for the pale-faced strangers that wore death like fur and the animals feared. She almost lost herself among the simple minds of squirrels and voles and field mice.

Finally, she found her way into the mind of a hawk. It did not see the pale-faced strangers, but it did see a strange bird with scales and feathers that looked more like a bat than a bird. On its back was a not-Elf who looked dead but alive. Rose found herself again, and realized that this was how the hawk saw Lynde and Artsanna.

She turned to Arlen. For a moment she considered dismissing him and getting Lynde and Artsanna herself, but she realized how foolish that was. It would be suicide going up against two Shades alone, and Arlen was good enough to best an Elf with the sword, so she would just have to bring him along. How she was going to bring him didn't seem like a particularly good plan though, but it would have to do. "Arlen, I'm going to cast a spell that will make you run faster for a time," she said.

Arlen was surprised. "You can do that?"

"Briefly. As I run, you will run. Are you ready?"

Arlen shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good, now follow me." She cast the spell, and began to run with Arlen beside her. While it took quite a bit of energy to make him run as fast as her, it would be worth it if she stopped the Shades.

They were going to rescue Lynde, and if that didn't work… She didn't want to think about if it didn't work.