Author's Note: Look at me coming in at two months between updates! Cherish it, because I've no idea how long the muse is going to continue to work with me, haha
My undying gratitude goes to spartanguard for beat-reading this story and putting up with me as a writer. I'd still be worrying about flow and transitions if it weren't for her.
As always, enjoy, and reviews keep the muse going!
Chapter 9: Searching for Answers
Emma sat at the War Table, her eyes fixed on the mug of hot cocoa in front of her. She'd yet to take a sip of it since a member of the castle staff had brought it to her nearly thirty minutes ago. Instead, she had watched the whip cream slowly melt into a runny consistency, the spoonful of cinnamon that topped every hot cocoa she drank mixing with the broken down cream as the liquid beneath it continued to grow colder.
She didn't need hot cocoa, or any of the copious amounts of food Granny had been sending from the kitchen. What she needed was her daughter, and that was the one thing that no one could give her. Blinking back tears, Emma forced herself to look away from the mug of now-cold cocoa and turn her attention to the others in the War Room.
Sitting to her left and mindlessly wrapping then unwrapping a hair ribbon around her hand, her mother stared at the coat of arms in front of her that marked her seat at the War Table with an unfocused and hollow gaze. Her father and Killian stood across the room in front of one of the large windows that dotted the semicircular room's walls, the mid-afternoon sun streaming through its stained glass to paint both men in hues of gold and red while they conversed quietly with tense looks on their faces. Will was a barely restrained ball of anger two seats down from Emma's right, his leg bouncing rapidly as he took short, constant gulps from his goblet. Elsa sat with her hands clasped tightly on the table, the elbow-length gloves that covered her arms a clear indication that her own emotions were barely controlled. There were at least twenty books strewn across the War Table within Belle's easy reach and the librarian was currently reading a large, leather bound tome, her lips thinned in concentration and eyes methodically sweeping across the old ink.
Emma's eyes swung towards her sons, and her heart instantly ached for them. They were in their normal seats with Elizabeth and Alice between them in chairs that had been brought in, the girls holding the hand of their respective husband and fiance to offer what little support they could. Her sons looked exhausted. They'd rode for nearly ten hours the day before to reach the portal, and until Snow ordered them to rest that morning shortly after eight o'clock neither of them had slept for almost twenty-four hours. Not that they had managed a restful sleep according to Elizabeth and Alice, which was physically evident. Henry's eyes were half-lidded and unfocused while Liam's face was drawn tight, the facial hair that hadn't been properly trimmed in four days now adding to her youngest son's haggard look.
She knew Liam was blaming himself for what had happened, even though there had been nothing he could have done to stop it. Henry was undoubtedly doing the same thing, but it wouldn't be nearly to the same level as his brother who tried to control everything—including the things no human could. They'd certainly done everything within their power to alert the family as quickly as possible after Erin and Eric disappeared.
With no magic between them or at a viable distance—Camelot had been another ten hour ride from the Battle of Camlann Memorial if they didn't stop for rest and went through the Broceliande—Liam had had no choice but to use Jefferson's token. It had taken two hours to reach the Mad Hatter, however. The portal had taken Erin and Eric shortly after midnight, and Jefferson had been sound asleep as Liam attempted to reach him. Eventually the frantic shouts of his name had broken through the dreamworld and, after retrieving the boys, the three of them had gone to Wonderland.
That was the one drawback to using Jefferson as their means of traveling. His hat could easily transport him between realms, but the magical laws that governed its existence didn't allow for him to travel from one place to another within the same realm. In order to get them back to Misthaven, he first had to take them to Wonderland and then bring them home. They'd also had to appear outside Misthaven's protection barrier since the magic from Jefferson's hat wasn't a part of its creation, and because of that, the boys hadn't reached the castle and woken their grandparents with the news until nearly eight that morning.
Emma still couldn't fully wrap her mind around what had happened, or the fact that Erin was missing. Even thinking those three words in the depths of her own mind caused a trembling sigh to escape her barely parted lips.
It seemed like a lifetime ago since she'd awoken that morning on the Jolly Roger with the world as it should be. Three nights of uninterrupted sleep had left her feeling the most rested she'd felt in months, and because of that she'd been able to rise with the sun and enjoy a relaxing breakfast with her husband. Afterward, as Killian went up top to make sure the storm from the previous night hadn't damaged anything, Emma had grabbed one of the books lining their cabin's windowsill—some tale about an elf falling in love with a mermaid—and settled into the dark red bed sheets to read. She'd only gotten a few chapters in, however, when Killian's startled yelp reached her through the open hatch.
The story of forbidden love overcoming all obstacles had been forgotten as she translocated herself onto the ship's deck without hesitation, white light flaring hotly in the palms of her hands as she prepared to strike down whoever was attacking her husband. Her magic had instantly dissipated when she saw the familiar form standing next to Killian, however. Regina had obviously translocated herself right behind Killian as he was checking the rigging and gave him a shock when he turned around to find her there, and Emma had been unable to hold back her chuckle at the realization.
It had died instantly in her throat when the former Evil Queen turned to face her.
"Regina? What's wrong?"
"Erin and Eric fell into a portal last night while in Camelot and we don't know where it took them."
Cold dread settled at the base of Emma's spine, and she saw Killian go absolutely still from the corner of her eye.
"What—How… Why were they in Camelot—and together? The last I knew they were still avoiding each other like the plague!"
"Apparently they, along with Henry and Liam, went there to investigate a portal that had been open for five days."
Emma made a noise of confusion. "Portals don't stay open for that long, Regina."
"This one apparently did, which is why the kids were there trying to determine who had opened it."
Sitting down on the stairs that lead from the ship's main deck to the bridge, she ran a hand through her hair as she attempted to order her chaotic thoughts. A portal—which seemingly defied all known laws of magic—had been opened in Camelot, and her children had gone to determine who was behind it. In the process, Erin and Eric had fallen into the portal which meant they could be anywhere. Wonderland, Stormhold, The Shadow Realm, Neverland, Oz, The Land of Untold Stories, Atlantica, Nottingham, Agrabah, The Land without Color, The Mirror World—the list was endless, and not all of them were safe places to end up. Even the safe ones weren't without their dangers depending on where they landed, not to mention the fact that her daughter and the younger pirate had no way of returning home on their own.
Not every realm had an abundant supply of magic beans, after all.
"Are Henry and Liam okay?" Killian asked, breaking through Emma's thoughts and ending the silence that had uncharacteristically rendered him speechless at Regina's news.
"They're shaken up but other than that they're fine. Snow was forcing them to get some rest as I translocated here."
"They shouldn't have even been investigating the portal in the first place!" Emma snapped, her worry for Erin and Eric momentarily giving way to anger. "A portal breaking every known law of magic is our wheelhouse, Regina. Not theirs."
Killian visibly flinched at her outburst while Regina sighed.
"I agree, but from what I was told there was no one else. A messenger arrived in Misthaven a few days ago alerting Arthur to the portal's existence and its highly unusual life span. With Merlin, Rumple, you, and myself unreachable, David asked Erin to investigate it as a favor to Arthur."
It was her husband's turn to make a noise of confusion, but before Emma could fully focus on it Regina was continuing in that ever collected tone of hers.
"The four of them traveled to Camelot and arrived at the portal around midnight last night. According to Liam and Henry, they were there less than five minutes when all hell broke loose. The portal pulsated, knocking everyone to the ground except Henry who just happened to be holding on to a saddle horn when it happened, and then they were being pulled towards it."
Emma frowned as Killian, who had begun to pace while Regina talked, came to an abrupt stop.
"Pulled?"
"Who was bloody pulling our kids towards a portal?"
"Not who—what. They felt it to differing degrees, but both Liam and Henry reported the same feeling and were adamant about it." Glancing at Emma with a knowing look, the former Evil Queen's lips fell into a thin line. "It was a tugging sensation."
All the air left Emma's lungs on a painful exhale. She knew what that meant. She'd used magic for nearly thirty years now, was even one of the most knowledgeable magical users in any realm, and there was only one thing in all of magic that gave off that type of sensation.
"Swan?"
"A tethering spell," she whispered in horror. "Someone tethered our kids to a portal."
The sudden feeling of warm skin and cold metal yanked Emma's attention from the memory and back to her present surroundings to find Killian now sitting next to her, his hand touching her own and blue eyes filled with concern.
"Where did you go, love?"
"I… I was just thinking about this morning when Regina showed up on the Jolly Roger," she replied, twisting her right hand to gently grasp his. It was a comfort move, his physical presence an anchor in a sea of despair that was threatening to overwhelm her. "What were you and Dad talking about so intently over there?"
His eyes flickered to the movement of her hand before coming back to her face. "Retribution measures."
There was something in his voice that niggled at her sixth sense, but Emma chalked it up to being that old habit Killian had of worrying that his natural reaction in this type of circumstance—the instinctual need to lash out with violence against whoever had hurt a loved one—made him more villain than hero. To many it might have, but not to her. Never to her.
"You aren't the only one who wants to plan those," she whispered. After all, someone out there was responsible for whatever danger Erin might be in, and every maternal instinct within Emma was also screaming for them to be punished.
Relief and a tinge of guilt flashed across Killian's face, and he wordlessly squeezed her hand before letting go and settling back into his chair.
"I bloody hate waiting around like this," Will muttered suddenly.
"They shouldn't be much longer," David promised as he sat down. Emma could tell that even her usually patient father was getting restless for Regina and Merlin's arrival, though. He wanted to act—hell, they all did—but nothing could be done or discussed until they knew who was behind Erin and Eric's disappearance.
Will grunted in irritation. "She contacted you half an hour ago and said she'd finally reached Merlin."
"They were also going to stop at the Battle of Camlann Memorial and try to see if the person who opened the portal left a magical fingerprint behind," Belle gently reminded her ex-husband without looking up from her book. "That takes time."
"Erin and Eric may not have time!" the White King snapped, his fist coming down on the wooden table so hard that his half empty goblet shook with the force of it and startled most of the tables' occupants.
Belle, however, was not one of them. She calmly looked up from her book to fix her ex-husband with a hard stare. "Do you think I don't know that?" she quietly hissed. "Getting angry over the situation isn't going to help matters though, William. It's certainly not going to help Erin and Eric in the long run."
"Sitting here twiddling our thumbs instead of taking action isn't helping them in the short term, either!" Will barked, his accent becoming thicker the more his anger rose.
Belle's eyes flashed. "And what do you propose we should be doing, hm? We don't know where Erin and Eric are, or even who is responsible for this situation. You can't just unleash your army on a blind hunt."
"Please," he scoffed, "We all know very well who's behind this."
"We're actually not sureshe is," David interjected. "I received a report from Blue only yesterday that there was still no sign of movement from Maleficent's fortress, as well as one the day Percival was alerted to the portal's presence. That's the only reason I felt safe sending the kids to Camelot in the first place."
"The protection spell on the twins also means no type of magic from the Dark Fairy—be it a direct hit, spell, potion, or enchantment—can work on them," Belle added. "It's why she had to use the bracelets enchanted by Medusa when she tried to suppress Emma's past self and Erin's magic six months ago."
Picking up his goblet, Will took a large gulp before slamming the metal item back onto the table. "You act like the bloody Dark Fairy has never had someone else do her dirty work while she sat in her fortress and pulled the strings."
The librarian's lips thinned into a hard line. "Not when there were platoons of Misthaven, Camelot, Arrendale, and Wonderland soldiers surrounding the entirety of the Dark Forest. No one has entered or left that forest without our knowledge for the last six months."
"Mistakes happen, and instead of doing something we're just sitting here."
"Because we'd be acting without accurate information!" Belle snapped, her own anger rising to flush her chest and cheeks red. "I hate this as much as you do, but we can't storm the Dark Fortress under the assumption Maleficent is involved. If it's someone else, we would be wasting our time and resources, as well as hurling straight to our deaths. Or did it slip your mind that she can't be killed?"
The former spouses continued to glare at each other across the table for a long minute, the tension that had been building in the War Room as they waited for Regina and Merlin thickening until it became almost palpable.
Emma understood Will's anger all too well. She had only been worried when she thought Erin's fall into the portal was an accident. It didn't matter that her daughter was an adult and more than capable of protecting herself, or that she wasn't alone and had Eric with her. She was still Emma's child and in a possibly dangerous environment, and any mother would be worried no matter how well that child could take care of themselves. Finding out the fall was on purpose from Regina—that someone had purposefully tethered her children to maximize the chance of them falling in—had caused anger to mix with that worry until she wasn't even sure which one was her primary emotion anymore.
They couldn't confirm if Erin had been tethered as well, not until they found her at least, but Regina had quickly theorized that morning on the Jolly Roger she must have been. If both Henry and Liam felt the tugging sensation then whatever ingredient was used in the spell to lock onto them had to connect the two men, and the one biological element that all three of Emma's children shared was her blood.
She also understood and agreed with Belle's reasoning for a cautious approach. Maleficent had been at the top of her own suspect list—she'd even considered Will's point that the Dark Fairy could have used someone else—but every point Belle had made was true. While Maleficent was the prime culprit behind her daughter and Eric being missing, they had no proof of it and even had ample evidence that she wasn't involved. She still might very well be, but they couldn't put all their focus on that assumption.
Will's anger suddenly deflated as quickly as it had flared, and he slumped in his chair with a ragged sigh.
"Sorry," he murmured. "I just—"
"Dad, we all understand," Elizabeth said, her voice filled with sympathy.
Belle's shoulders relaxed as her own anger abated, and she sighed. "We're all worried and angry over what happened, and we want to do something but can't right now. Not without crucial facts."
Will nodded, and silence fell around the table once again. Emma forced herself to take a sip of her chilled cocoa, the rich chocolate Granny used to make the concoction barely registering with her taste buds as her mind wandered back to that morning aboard the Jolly Roger.
They'd all agreed that their first priority had to be in locating where Erin and Eric were. It was a task that would require them to come at it from multiple angles and plans had been swiftly made. Regina would retrieve Merlin and then the two of them would go to the Battle of Camlann Memorial to determine who had opened the portal while Emma scryed for Erin and Eric's presence as Killian sailed them home. It would require Regina to translocate outside Atlantica's protection barrier and make her way to where the wizard was staying, but the length of time it would take her to do so worked in their favor. Translocating themselves and the entirety of the Jolly Roger back to Misthaven had been out of the question. Even with the amount of rest she'd received over the last three days, translocating the sheer mass of the ship over that great a distance would have completely drained Emma to the point of rendering her unconscious.
A cloud of purple smoke had no sooner started to engulf Regina when the Jolly Roger's rigging, heeding the telepathetic commands of her captain, began to ready itself. Emma had watched Killian stride across the deck towards the helm with his eyes downcast and shoulders tense, as if the weight of what had happened to their daughter rested heavily there. It wasn't his fault, though. She was the one who had been so exhausted from the nightmares that she needed a physical escape to combat them. If she had been in Misthaven when Percival's message arrived Erin never would have went to Camelot and been pulled into a portal.
After creating a magical wind to fill the Jolly Roger's sails for the duration of their return trip, she'd gone to their cabin and dug out the scrying materials she kept onboard for just such an occasion….
Tossing the ornate hand mirror onto her husband's previously neat desk, Emma fell into the chair behind it with a frustrated sigh.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Three hours spent scrying for Erin and Eric and she was no closer to discovering their location than when she had started. She'd held a crystal over a variety of maps that were of other realms—from vast Middle-Earth to the single island of Gallifrey—yet the amethyst stone hadn't once stilled its perpetual swinging motion to indicate their presence. After she'd went through every map Killian owned she'd spent at least an hour staring into her enchanted mirror until her eyes strained and blurred. The mirror world that lay beyond the glass surface, however, had given her no hint of where they were either.
She didn't want to even think about what it meant. Killian had one of the largest collections of maps ever to exist, and if Erin and Eric had ended up in any of those places she would have found them through scrying. The fact that she picked nothing up could only mean one thing—they were somewhere not even Killian Jones had seen or heard of before, and that was a terrifying thought for Emma. She worried every time Erin went on a retrieval, and those were always to places she and Killian had been. They knew, even before she left the castle, what Erin was most likely to encounter in those areas and the dangers associated with them. But someplace that was unknown, where they had no idea what the dangers were or what she'd come up against?
It was a terrifying thought for a mother to accept.
"There has to be another way to locate them," she muttered to herself, her eyes almost absent-mindedly glancing around the cabin that was covered with hundreds of unrolled maps.
She knew she couldn't use a locator potion or spell. Those only worked when the person you were trying to find was in the same realm as you. But there had to be some other way…
The sound of something hitting the floor startled her from her thoughts, and focusing to find the source of the noise she saw a familiar object lying in two pieces on the cabin's floor. It was a coconut, but not just any coconut. It was the coconut they'd used to trap Pan's shadow all those years ago, and like a bolt of lightening it hit her. She'd already scryed a map of Neverland and knew Erin and Eric weren't there, but the coconut reminded her that this wasn't the first time a child of hers was missing in an unknown realm. More importantly, it reminded her how they'd discovered where Tamara and Greg had taken Henry.
The scrying globe!
"Thanks old girl," she murmured while waving her hand, the sudden sway of the ship from side to side the sentient ship's only response to the heartfelt thanks.
A cloud of white smoke appeared on the cluttered desk in front of her, and once it dissipated the scrying globe from Rumple's personal vault sat before her. She'd gladly deal with the former Dark One's irritation at the breach in privacy once he returned from Stormhold if this worked. Pricking her index finger on the needle that sat at its apex, she let a few drops of blood fall onto the globe's surface and watched intently as its pearl like color instantly turned to a light red one that reminded her of watercolor paint. Emma held her breath as the haze cleared, but unlike when Rumple had used it thirty years ago, it didn't give her a clear image. Instead, the entire globe went dark for a full minute before returning to its original state.
Brows furrowing in confusion, Emma repeated the process a number of times, yet each one resulted in that same darkness that seemed to be more endless than the night sky. After her sixth attempt she stared at the scrying globe in despair.
Wherever her daughter and Eric were, it couldn't be good.
Between her magical wind and Killian's skill as a captain, they'd arrived at the castle docks eight hours after setting sail and within ten minutes of Regina contacting David to let him know her and Merlin would be arriving shortly.
Seeming to startle with a thought next to Emma, Snow looked around the table. "Who's watching the children?"
"Ana, Robin, and Oliver are," Elsa replied. "Oliver and Robin took Bae and Jefferson down to the docks to fish, and Ana is keeping Hope entertained in the library."
It had been a unanimous decision amongst the family not to tell Hope what had happened. For all they knew, Erin would be back today somehow, and the last thing they wanted was to worry the six-year-old unnecessarily.
"Good, good," Snow murmured, reaching for her husband's hand as if the feel of it alone could somehow quiet the worry and anger she felt over her granddaughter's disappearance. "And Neal's dealing with state matters, I presume?"
David nodded. "If he needs help with anything, he said he'd send for Robin or Ana," he said as a purple cloud of smoke suddenly appeared behind Elsa.
"About time!" Will exclaimed, though his relief quickly turned to confusion when the cloud dissipated to reveal only Regina. "What the bloody hell?"
"Good evening to you too, Scarlet."
Emma frowned at her friend. "Where's Merlin?"
"He needed to look at something in his vault," Regina replied as she took her seat between Elsa and Will. "He'll be along shortly."
"Were you able to find a magical fingerprint of whoever opened the portal?"
Regina nodded at Henry's question. "We were, though neither of us recognized the magic left behind."
"So it definitely wasn't Maleficent?" Emma asked, leaning forward.
"It wasn't the Dark Fairy's magic."
A relieved sigh escaped Emma as she settled back in her chair. It wasn't concrete proof that the Dark Fairy wasn't somehow involved, but at least it momentarily scratched her off the potential list of people who were.
"Merlin thought he might have encountered it before though, which is why he went to his vault to investigate."
"Let me guess. He didn't mention who it might be before going there, did he?" Will quipped.
"Unfortunately, no. He translocated fairly quickly once we'd found the faint residue of magic."
"Of course he wouldn't," Killian seethed, his voice dripping with bitterness. "He doesn't have a child possibly in jeopardy and potentially stuck in some godforsaken, unknown realm."
Grasping her husband's arm above where his brace ended to both calm his rising anger and show her support for that particular thought, Emma asked, "What can you tell us about the magic, Regina?"
"Whoever opened the portal and tethered the kids to it was powerful. I mean extremely powerful," she replied, and Emma's worry only grew at the apprehensive look in the former Evil Queen's eyes. "I… I've never encountered magic that strong, Emma. Whoever did this is more powerful than me, you, Merlin, my mother, and Rumple while he was the Dark One combined."
A heavy sense of dread filled the War Room as the implication of Regina's words settled around them.
"And Merlin, the great and all knowing wizard of countless generations, didn't immediately know who this extremely powerful magic belonged to?" Liam asked, his tired eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Not without further investigation, no," Regina said, her hand coming up to her mouth once she was finished to stifle a yawn.
Regina, much like Liam and Henry but to a slightly lesser degree, looked exhausted. She'd only returned from Nottingham the night before, and had barely gotten five hours of sleep when someone had awoken her at the boys arrival. From that moment to this one, she had constantly been on the move—first translocating to Emma and Killian, then to Atlantica where she'd continued on foot for eight hours to reach Merlin—and as far as Emma knew, this was the first time the former Evil Queen had actually been able to sit down since waking up.
"Any luck on finding Erin and Eric's location?" she asked once she'd finished yawning, directing her own tired eyes to Emma.
Shaking her head, Emma quickly filled her in on what had happened during her scrying attempts.
"Well that's not good," Regina muttered. "It means they are somewhere none of us have been before. Which also means whoever created the portal and tethered the kids to it didn't want them going to a random realm. They wanted them to go somewhere very specific."
Killian nodded. "Emma came to the same conclusion."
"What about what I saw in the scrying globe? Could I have been doing something wrong to get that result?"
Regina's nail tapped the wooden table for a few seconds as she stared at the vaulted ceiling in thought. "No," she said at length, "I don't think you did anything wrong. My guess would be that wherever Erin and Eric are, it's shielded by powerful magic and that's why you saw what you did."
"Is that good or bad?" Snow interjected..
"Unfortunately, it could go either way. Although it does lean towards bad if magic is shielding us from seeing whatever realm they're in. You don't tend to do that if it's an idyllic and nonthreatening place." Noticing the books strewn across the War Table for the first time, Regina added, "Belle, what could you possibly be researching at a time like this?"
"Trying to find an explanation for why Liam and Henry felt a burning sensation before the tethering spell took affect," the librarian replied while once again not looking up from her book.
The former Evil Queen blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, what?"
Henry and Liam both flinched at her uncharacteristically high and shrill tone.
"We… kind of forgot to mention it this morning when we were relaying what happened. But we told Aunt Belle about it as soon as we woke up," Liam murmured, and Emma didn't miss the guilt that flashed across her son's face. Her children had to learn fairly early on that no detail was too small during an incident like this, but before she could open her mouth to tell him it was okay Elizabeth was speaking.
"Hey, none of that," the brunette whispered, her left hand coming up to gently caress his jaw. "You were running on fumes by the time you got here, and it wasn't the most important detail you needed to convey to us."
"She's right, lad."
He nodded at his father and fiance's assertion, but Emma could still see tinges of guilt creasing Liam's face.
"After the shockwave knocked me down," he began, "My stomach started to burn. It was like someone had stabbed me there with a hot poker and it was excruciating. I almost vomited it hurt so bad."
"I felt it as well, though much differently," Henry confirmed, "It didn't feel like a hot poker stabbing me. More… like I had somehow gotten a really bad sunburn and I was a little sick to my stomach while it was going on."
"And I've scoured every book I can think of to explain it and have come up with nothing," Belle replied with a defeated sigh as she closed the leather bound tomb.
"I'd never heard of any spell or magic causing that before. Have you?" Emma asked her friend.
"Never," Regina replied, her brows now furrowed in thought. "My guess would be it's somehow related to the tethering spell, but like I said, I've never heard of one doing that in my entire time using magic. Now, as for why the two of you felt it at varying levels, my only guess would be Liam's blood was the one used in the spell."
"Because the pain was worse for me?"
Regina nodded. "All it takes is one drop of blood to perform the spell. It could have come from something as small as a paper cut."
Emma sighed in frustration. "I still don't understand how someone could have gotten Liam's blood to do this."
"Probably the same way Ursula was able to kidnap and poison me with Dreamshade—you weren't paying attention."
Emma's breath hitched and tears burned her eyes at the vicious yet truthful words. It had been her fault that Ursula was able to kidnap the twins. She'd been watching them play on the deck of the Jolly Roger and looked away to talk to her mother for just a second, which was when the sea witch had struck. If she had only kept an eye on them…
A weak apology was on the tip of Emma's tongue as her eyes swung towards her youngest son, but the words died instantly in her throat once she saw him. Liam was quietly talking to Elizabeth across the table, a small smile on his lips and face devoid of the harshness that accompanied his words, and realization slammed into Emma.
He didn't say it. The words from her time in the Netherworld and the ones that still haunted her nightmares hadn't actually been said—she'd only thought they had. Emma's entire body trembled under that realization. It hadn't happened in a week, and with the last three nights of nightmare free sleep, she had thought whatever had plagued her over the last six months had finally been broken.
"Emma?"
Startling at her name, Emma turned her attention to her mother's concerned face. "What?"
"I asked if you were alright," Snow replied with a frown. "You looked… stricken."
"No, I'm fine," she lied, forcing herself to smile despite the way her heart still beat erratically against her chest. "Just… concerned about how someone got close enough to get Liam's blood is all."
Her mother stared at her for another long second before nodding. "Okay, I just wanted to make sure."
Turning away from her mother and ignoring the all too knowing gaze of her husband, Emma reached for her cold cocoa with her left hand as she hid her trembling right one between her thigh and the armrest of the chair.
She'd been a fool to think this was over.
Anger and confusion swirled within Merlin in equal measure as he appeared behind an evergreen tree. Moving to peak around it's outermost needles, he took in the small, unassuming cottage that lay nestled within the forest of towering trees and noted, after gently probing with his mind, that one of its occupants was home yet not alone. Mortals were with her, and he sighed in frustration at having to delay this talk because of them.
Why she insisted on conducting her powers here instead of at another location he would never understand.
Making sure he was completely hidden from the mortal's line of sight when they inevitably came out, he let his thoughts wander back to the situation that had brought him, almost literally, to her doorstep.
He'd lied when he told Regina he couldn't place where he'd previously felt the magic that was left behind at the portal site. He hated deceiving her, but the magnitude of his realization had left the wizard careening and he'd needed time to get a firm grasp on his emotions before going to Misthaven. No, he'd instantly known who it belonged to when they found its lingering traces. The cold and shadow-infused magic was as well known to him as his own, despite having only encountered it a handful of times in the very distant past.
One didn't forget the feeling of divine power, after all.
Hades had opened the portal that Eric and Erin had fallen into, and what Merlin couldn't understand was why the God of the Dead had done it. As far as he knew, Erin nor Eric had ever crossed paths with the Unseen One, or remotely done anything that would incur his wrath. Even if they had, the act of opening a portal to an unknown realm and tethering people to it was not something the benevolent Hades would do to show his displeasure. Zeus, or even Hera, perhaps, but not Hades.
Knowing that this wasn't something Hades would normally do, however, did little to calm his anger over the situation. He might not have sired Eric as Killian Jones had Princess Erin, but Merlin had raised Eric after the death of the boy's parents and been a father to him in every way that counted. There was a bond there, one that ran deeper than even the young pirate knew of, and he was just as furious as the Savior and Captain were that anyone—even a god—had sent his adopted child to some unknown realm. Whatever reason or intent the Lord of the Underworld had for doing this was moot. Hades had opened the portal and was responsible for whatever danger Eric might be in, and as far as the wizard was concerned, that was simply something he could not forgive.
Not that a god would care about being forgiven, even by another immortal.
The door to the cottage opened suddenly, and Merlin watched from his concealed position as a couple exited the wooden home. They were no older than thirty, their manner of dress and physical appearances clearly denoting them as peasants—farmers or tradespeople, perhaps—and the female of the pair held a fist sized pouch protectively against her chest. Yet they weren't who the wizard's gaze focused on. That fell to the woman who followed the couple out of the cottage. She appeared to be around the same age as them, though Merlin knew in her case looks were quite deceiving. The woman was fair skinned and wore a simple, white gown with bell shaped sleeves and gold trim around its collar. Her blonde hair fell to her waist in a cascadement of waves and it, along with her entire being, seemed to radiate a presence of life.
She spoke to the couple briefly once they'd reached the edge of the gardens, her smile reassuring as she nodded towards the pouch the other woman held, and with gratefulness filling their faces the couple quickly departed. The blonde woman sighed once they were but mere shadows among the towering evergreens.
"I have never understood why you persist in hiding whenever mortals visit."
The feminine voice, tinged with a hint of humor, came not from spoken words but within the depths of Merlin's mind. He responded in the same fashion.
"To protect you and your sister. My face, unfortunately, is well known along the length and breadth of Camelot and has been for centuries."
The woman's gaze turned from where it had been watching the departing couple and landed unerringly where Merlin still stood half concealed. "I am more than certain that simple farmers wouldn't be able to recognize you." The thought came with a raised eyebrow from her, confirming the wizard's earlier observation of the couple.
"You'd be surprised, Circe," he replied dryly as he stepped from behind the tree and made his way towards her. When he came to a stop ten feet away the exasperation that had filled Circe's face at his response vanished and was replaced with concern.
"Something has happened," she said, speaking the words out loud rather than sending the thought to him. He wasn't surprised she could tell that by his facial expression alone. Even if he had been trying to hide it—not that the depth of his anger and confusion would have allowed that—Circe had always been able to read him in that same shrewd and perceptive way her mother could.
Merlin nodded. "Where is Agamede?"
"She's in Heimlock helping the farmers overcome a sickness of the land. Do we need—"
"No, that's alright. There's nothing she could do about it, and you can simply fill her in whenever she returns. Besides, you know your sister. Once she gets her hands in soil she has the tendency to ignore everything else, even an urgent summons."
"I seem to recall someone else doing that when his nose is in a book," Circe murmured under her breath before turning and heading towards the cottage. Ignoring the slight dig, Merlin quietly followed her.
He'd never stepped over the threshold of this particular cottage, yet a feeling of familiarity washed over the ancient wizard as he took in his surroundings. The common room was small and sparsely furnished with only a pair of plush chairs facing a fireplace, a bookcase brimming with tomes of various sizes, and two tables. One table sat at the center of the room with four wooden chairs surrounding it while the other, covered in a multitude of herbs and potion bottles, butted up against the far wall. An open doorway to the right of the bookcase gave a brief view to where the sisters prepared their meals and a set of stairs lay to the far left of the room, leading to Circe and Agamede's sleeping quarters.
He couldn't place why everything around him felt so familiar. It was as if he'd been here before, but Merlin knew that was impossible. He hadn't physically visited the sisters since they moved here ten years ago and this was the first time they had ever been in this location. There was a more pressing issue to attend to than a sense of deja vu, however.
Once they'd taken a seat on opposite sides of the table at the center of the common room, Merlin relayed everything that Regina had told him not even an hour ago along with what he'd discovered at the Battle of Camlann Memorial. When he was finished, Circe said nothing for a long moment, her blue eyes fixed on the table in deep thought. Then, without so much as a flick of her wrist, two cups and a tea kettle appeared in front of them amid a cloud of yellow smoke. Merlin could tell by the way she gripped her cup as she picked it up to take a sip of tea that she, too, was fighting to control her anger.
"I take it measures are being taken to locate Eric and the princess?" she asked, her tone strained.
"Regina told me that the Savior was going to scry for them while she and the Captain headed back to Misthaven."
"Good. Let me know what they find."
"Of course."
Taking another sip of tea, Circe seemed to be contemplating something before sighing in exasperation.
"None of this makes sense, Merlin."
"I know."
"No, you don't understand. It really doesn't," she stressed. "Hades knows about the prophecy Mother wrote and what role the Twice-Blessed Children play in it."
"How does he know that?!" the wizard asked in astonishment.
Pain flashed within Circe's blue eyes. "He was there when she wrote it. The night that…"
Understanding dawned upon Merlin as she trailed off, and he expelled a shaky breath. "The night that Avalon disappeared from the world of man," he finished in barely more than a whisper. Circe nodded, and the wizard took a long moment to collect his thoughts while fighting off the painful memory of that fateful night. "If he knew about the prophecy, then why did he tether Princess Erin and Prince Liam to the portal?"
"Do you see now why I say it doesn't make sense?"
Merlin grunted. "It didn't make sense before based on Hades' personality, but yes. It makes even less sense now that I know this." Furrowing his brow in thought, he added, "Why did you never mention this before?"
Circe gave him a sympathetic look over her teacup. "You don't like to be reminded about that night anymore than I do."
That was true, he thought while lowering his eyes to watch the steam rise off his still untouched cup of tea. He understood why it had to be done. The Darkness had amassed to the point that it was close to becoming a physical entity, and the first thing it would have done once it did was go straight for Avalon's magic. There had been no choice but to take the island from the world of man; he just wished he'd known it was going to happen before it did.
"There is a way that Hades' involvement makes sense now that I think about it."
Merlin looked up to find Circe staring somewhere over his right shoulder with a thoughtful look on her beautiful features.
"How so?"
"The prophecy does state that the Twice-Blessed Children will be tested before being allowed to find Avalon." Gesturing with her hand, she added, "Perhaps this is it and Hades was meant to be the one to bring it about as Mother foretold."
Frowning, Merlin stroked at his long, white beard as he turned the idea over in his head. "It would explain why Hades did something so uncharacteristic, but I always interpreted that passage as what the Children had to do in order to collect the Nine Items."
"Well, there's our interpretation of prophecy, and then there's what the prophecy actually means."
"Touche." Finally picking up his cup, Merlin took a long drink of the warm liquid. "There's one problem with that theory though."
"Oh?"
"Only one of the Twice-Blessed Children fell into that portal."
"Well, there is that," Circe murmured before taking another sip of tea. "If that isn't what the passage of the prophecy meant then there has to be another reason Hades did it. Too bad we can't just summonthe Lord of the Underworld and ask him what he was up to."
If only things were that simple.
"Whatever his reasons, Hades has put me in a tight spot with the Charmings and Joneses," Merlin said with a sigh. "I'm going to have to do an awful lot of lying and telling half truths as we mount a rescue mission for Erin and Eric. I already started it when Regina and I were at the portal site."
"And that's a problem because…"
The wizard threw her an annoyed look across the table. "Because contrary to what the White King of Wonderland believes, I don't like deceiving people."
Circe smiled softly. "I know you don't, but you've been having to do it for quite some time to ensure the prophecy is completed. A little more subterfuge won't kill you."
"Easy for you to say," he grumbled. "You don't have to answer for being the one to point Rumplestiltskin to the town where Killian Jones and Milah were."
"No, I don't. There is one lie I'm a part of that I will have to answer for though, and it has the power to destroy mine and Agamede's relationship with Eric." Standing, she inclined her head towards his barely touched tea. "I need to check in with a patient that's in the kitchen, but finish that and give yourself twenty minutes before you head to Misthaven. If you go there now your emotions are going to get the better of you and you'll let something slip that shouldn't be known at this stage of the game."
Merlin visibly startled. "Circe! You had someone in here while we were talking?!"
"Oh, calm down," she muttered with a flippant wave of her hand. "They aren't human."
He watched her disappear into the open doorway with narrowed eyes, a myriad of curses mumbled under his breath for extra measure. It took him two more gulps to finish the tea, but he dutifully continued to sit there afterward as Circe had suggested. She was right, of course. He was too close to the situation to keep his emotions hidden like he normally did when around the Charmings. Their own were going to be elevated with the missing princess, and all it would take was one slip of the tongue for everything to unravel.
Merlin once again let his eyes wander while he tried to erect that emotional barrier he'd been using for four years. The cottage had an inviting and homey atmosphere despite its minimal furnishings, no doubt because of the two women who lived there and all the little signs of life that were scattered around the common room. He was once again hit with that sense of deja vu, and the realization of why it felt so familiar despite him having never been there before smacked him full force in his bearded face as his eyes landed on a missing corner of the fireplace's wooden mantel.
It was like every cottage the sisters had resided in throughout the last four thousand years. They were all exact copies of each other, from the practical layout down to the little imperfections it had endured to make it a home.
"Circe."
"Yes, Ancient One?"
Oh how he loathed that nickname. Especially considering she was older than him by at least a few eons.
"This place is an exact replica of every one you and Agamede have lived in."
Circe appeared in the doorway that lead to her and Agamede's kitchen, a rather pregnant calico cat cradled safely in her arms. "Are you just now noticing that?"
"Well… yes."
Her eyes glinted with amusement. "I would have thought someone as all knowing as you would be more perceptive than that."
"I've had other things occupying my mind for the last four thousand years," he muttered. "Your penchant for the same architecture was not high on my list of things to be noticing."
"Ensuring the Twice-Blessed Children and their Companions were born didn't occupy every waking second of those four thousand years," she pointed out. "Besides, you lived with us for eight of them in fifteen different locations. You're honestly telling me you never noticed the similarities in all that time?"
"No."
Circe sighed in exasperation and looked down at the cat she still held. "Hard to believe the fate of the prophecy being completed rested on his shoulders, isn't it?"
Thirty minutes after Regina had arrived alone to the War Room, a familiar dark blue cloud appeared behind Neal's empty chair and quickly dissipated, revealing a stoney faced Merlin dressed in a dark gray robe.
"Were you able to confirm whose magic it was?" Regina asked, bypassing pleasantries while trying to stifle yet another yawn.
"It was Hades."
The occupants of the War Table stared at the wizard, shock and confusion filling the room at the growled name.
"Well, that explains why the portal was able to stay open for as long as it did," Regina murmured after a few seconds. "Divine power opened it, and divine power is limitless. Even the laws of magic can be bent to some degree if a god or goddess chooses."
Liam made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Hades, though? As in—"
"The God of the Dead, King of the Underworld and Judge of Souls? That very one," Merlin said with a clipped tone.
"This doesn't make sense," Emma said, shaking her head. "Why would a god, particularly that one, open a portal and tether our children to it? And how did he get Liam's blood to do so?"
"That I can't answer, Savior. I can tell you it's highly out of character for him. Hades is a reclusive god, partly due to the domain he was given to rule but overwhelmingly because it's just who he is. He was never one to toy with mortals as other divinity did, or insert himself into the course of any given event. He was perfectly fine being in his secluded kingdom away from the debauchery and mayhem the other gods and goddesses created. As for him getting Liam's blood..." Merlin spread his hands helplessly. "Again, I can't answer that. He obviously had to have help from someone up here to do it though."
Will gave the wizard a hard, appraising look over the rim of his goblet. "You seem to know the god of death awfully well."
"God of the dead, White King," Merlin corrected, seemingly at his wits end with Will's quips despite it being the first one. "The god of death is Thanatos—two entirely separate beings. As for your observation, in the days of old when the gods walked among mortals more openly, their personalities were well known to all."
"So what you're saying is that there is absolutely no reason for Hades to have done this," David summarized, to which Merlin nodded in agreement with.
"I can say with absolute conviction if someone had told me that a divine being was responsible for the situation Erin and Eric are in, Hades would be the last one I suspected to be involved with it."
"Yet he was the one who did it," Snow pointed out.
"I'm just as baffled about that as you, your Majesty."
Will looked across the circular table with a raised eyebrow at his ex-wife, and after a few seconds Belle sighed in exasperation.
"Could he have been asked to do it?"
"I don't quite follow that question, Lady Belle."
"Could someone, like Maleficent, have asked him to open the portal and tether the kids to it?"
Emma expected a myriad of responses, but the literal guffaw that escaped Merlin was not one of them.
"No, absolutely not."
"You just said that this wasn't something Hades would do," Will pointed out, the index finger of his right hand pointing towards the wizard. "That stands to reason that someone else put him up to it."
"No one puts the Lord of the Underworld up to something. He can not be blackmailed, coerced, or bought under any circumstance. It's what makes him the perfect entity to rule his domain; otherwise, the souls of the departed would be able to haggle their way back from the dead instead of going where they deserve to. I don't know why Hades did this, but someone else most assuredly didn't put him up to it."
Killian, who had been staring at Merlin intently since the wizard's arrival, leaned forward to place both forearms on the table. "So we know who opened the portal and that his intentions for doing so are murky, or at least unknown to any of us currently. That's splendid and all, but what I want to know now is where he sent my daughter and Eric."
Startled blue eyes swung to Emma. "I thought Regina said you were going to scry for them on your return trip?" Merlin asked.
"I did," she replied, "But I couldn't find them anywhere, even when I tried blood scrying."
In all the years she had known the wizard, Emma had never once seen emotion of any kind cross his aged face. He was always infuriatingly composed during situations like this, an incorportable force of calm in a turbulent sea no matter what was going on around them. Yet now he seemed to be unnerved by this development as he began to pace back and forth. There was something about his reaction that niggled at Emma's sixth sense, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
"You scryed with maps of every known realm?"
"Every one that Killian had and he has the most extensive collection that I know of."
"And you used an amethyst crystal for it?"
She wanted to snap back that this wasn't her first time scrying, but the worry seeping into the still pacing wizard's tone stayed the remark. "Yes."
"Nothing showed in the Mirror World either? What exactly did the scrying globe show you?"
When Emma had reported what she'd seen with every attempt she made and Regina had interjected with her theory as to why it happened, Merlin stopped pacing and nervously stroked his long beard. "I'm in agreement with your assessment," he stated towards the former Evil Queen. "Wherever Hades sent them, it's location is being protected by magic."
"Any idea as to where that might be?" Henry asked around a yawn of his own.
The wizard shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I can't think of a single realm that would have that level of protection around it."
"I hate to suggest it," Elsa murmured, "But could it have been the Underworld? It is his domain, after all."
Merlin was shaking his head before she'd even finished her thought. "No. Hades abhors, above everything else, living souls in the Underworld. It makes it hard to conduct the business of sorting the dead, and he'd never willingly bring two of them there."
"Aren't we overlooking the most simplistic solution to the problem of finding the kids?" Will asked while glancing around the table. "Why don't we just ask Hades where they are?"
Regina raised an eyebrow. "How do you propose we do that, exactly?"
Will shrugged. "Can't we summon him?"
"Divinity doesn't work that way," the former Evil Queen replied. "We can ask him to come forth, but there is no law that states he must do so. Otherwise every time someone called out or prayed to a god they'd appear and get nothing else done."
Killian banged his fist on the War Table in agitation. "Well there has to be something we can do!"
"There might be," Merlin murmured thoughtfully. "It was a long time ago, but at one point there were entrances here, in the Upper World, that lead to the Underworld. It's how Orpheus was able to descend to the Underworld and plead with Hades and Persephone to return his recently deceased wife, Eurydice, back to the land of the living. I'm not sure if those entrances still exist, however, and finding their location if they do won't be an easy task."
"I imagine contending with Hades won't be easy either, but right now it's the only solid lead we have," David replied. Turning to his wife, he added, "How do you want to delegate this?"
Snow tilted her head thoughtfully for a long second before squaring her shoulders and assuming the regal air that had made more than one king across the realms bow his head in submission when confronted with it.
"Belle, Elizabeth, Emma—the three of you start combing our library from end to end to see if you can find anything on these ancient entrances. Killian, it's normally a two day journey to Narnia. How fast can you make it with the Jolly Roger?"
"With fair winds, calm seas, and sailing constantly I'd say a day if not less."
"It's probably good if you spent a few hours with Hope," Emma's mother mused, "But once you put her to bed, head there and see if there's anything in King Caspian's library."
"I'll go with you," David added. "We can trade off shifts with the sailing, and it'll give you another pair of eyes when it comes to research."
More alert than he had been in the last hour, Liam leaned forward in his seat. "I'll go too. I need to do something, and three of us combing through a royal library is better than only two."
"I'll head back to Camelot and go through the library there as well as my own private one," Merlin supplied. "It won't take me long to do either. I take it Arthur is still here?"
David nodded. "He and Guinevere decided to stay here until after Liam and Elizabeth's wedding, barring his subjects weren't in any danger from the portal."
"Which clearly they weren't," the wizard murmured. "Tell him I'll keep him appraised as well of what I find and if anything else should happen in Camelot while he's away."
As Merlin disappeared in a cloud of dark blue smoke, Regina yawned. "What do you want me to do?"
Snow gave the former Evil Queen a hard look. "Rest. You've been awake longer than any of us, and we need you in top form. Tomorrow morning you can translocate Henry, who is also going to rest tonight, to Glowerhaven so he can look through their library. It isn't extensive, but it needs to be checked. After you do that, go to Stormhold and get Rumple. He might have knowledge as a former Dark One that can help us, and this is more important than him searching for Avalonian artifacts."
"Ana and I will return to Wonderland, see what we can find," Will said before draining his goblet.
Elsa nodded. "I'll do the same with my own library, and I'll have Ana and Kristoff pay a visit to the rock trolls. Perhaps they know something."
As they all stood to carry out their different tasks, Killian gently grabbed Emma's arm. "We'll find them, Swan."
Emma nodded. She couldn't help but feel, however, that he was trying to reassure himself as much as he was reassuring her.
Maleficent watched in barely restrained glee from her dark throne as a black raven flew in through one of the room's high windows. She had been waiting with bated breath for days to hear the news that the first part of her plan had been executed, that the prophecy that had hung over head for nearly three decades was now meaningless. There were times she had contemplated going to where Hades had opened the portal to watch her sweet revenge unfold for herself. She would have given anything, perhaps even her own life, to look upon Princess Erin and Prince Liam's faces as they were pulled into the portal—completely ignorant to the horror she had bestowed upon one of them. The gaggle of insufferable and lesser fairies who were camped on the outskirts of the Dark Fortress would have sensed her departure instantly, however, and that was a tactical error the Dark Fairy couldn't afford.
Not when she still had the rest of her plan to unfold.
The raven quickly settled onto the floor in front of her throne, and a victorious grin pulled at her red lips as it began to shift.
"Is it done?"
Diablo, who was now in his human form, gave himself a good shake before falling to one knee with his head bowed low.
"Yes, Mistress."
Her smile instantly vanished. Something was wrong. Maleficent could sense it in the air, a slight wrongness that set her fairy blood afire and was only confirmed by her henchman's body language. He had been at odds with Prince Liam for over a decade now, a feud so steeped in hatred it almost rivaled her own with the Savior and Captain, and yet he was not joyful. He wasn't dancing with elation or describing the look of fear that had undoubtedly been etched onto his enemy's face as he fell into the portal. No, he looked almost… regretful.
Grasping the edges of her dark throne, Maleficent leaned forward. "What are you not telling me?" she growled, letting power fill her voice and expand the limits of its normal volume.
Diablo trembled beneath the sound, but he was smart enough to raise his head and address her question head on.
"The princess was pulled into the portal, Mistress, but… Prince Liam was not. Captain D'Harper was instead."
Maleficent jumped to her feet with blue eyes blazing gold. "How is that possible?!" she screamed, her magic flaring within the palm of her hands at the emotional outburst.
Her henchman quickly lowered his black eyes back to the stone floor. "I—I suspect it was because The Author was anchored by a horse and had a hold of of the prince, Mistress, whereas the princess and the Captain had no anchor and were much closer to the portal when the tethering spell took effect."
The Dark Fairy trembled as she resisted the instinctual urge to morph into her dragon state and roast the groveling minion alive. Doing so would give her great satisfaction, without a doubt, but she needed Diablo alive to see the rest of her plan to completion. Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, this wasn't his fault. He couldn't have foreseen the prince being held back from falling into the portal anymore than she could have. The tethering spell Hades would have used should have been too strong for even that to happen, but she'd seen stranger things happen when the Charmings were involved.
Forcing herself to take a deep, calming breath, Maleficent perched on the edge of her dark throne and looked at all aspects of her new problem. The plan wasn't entirely ruined now that she thought about it. The law of the Underworld was still in affect, which meant only one of Princess Erin and Captain D'Harper could return. As long as it wasn't the princess then the prophecy couldn't be fulfilled, and that was the most important thing.
There was no guarantee that would happen, however.
Hades had to let one of them go, but there was nothing in the law he had put into place about who it would be, and she'd certainly not foreseen this complication to add it into the deal that would fulfill his promise to her. He was free to choose who would return to the Upper World and, based on their conversation, the Dark Fairy was certain the God of the Dead wouldn't pick the princess.
Maleficent's red nails tapped impatiently against the arms of her dark throne. She needed to ensure that it was Captain D'Harper who left the Underworld, but how? She couldn't do it herself, and she had no way of communicating with anyone down there to see that it happened. Not that anyone who called the Underworld home would be sympathetic to her. They were all loyal to Hades, and anyone who might be loyal to her up here couldn't enter the Underworld without damning themselves to that realm for all eternity.
Unless….
The victorious grin that had slipped from her face once again pulled at her lips as the idea began to blossom fully.
"Do not fret, my dear Diablo," she practically purred, "For the plan is not ruined by this development. I have a way to ensure that."
Her henchman's head bowed even lower. "Of course you do, great Mistress. How may I aide you in this endeavor?"
"By continuing with the next phase as we discussed. Take your men in small groups to our target's border and hide them. When the time is right, I will meet you there and we will proceed with the assault."
Standing, Diablo nodded and quickly left the throne room. Once the large, obsidian doors were closed behind him, Maleficent leaned back in her throne and laughed menacingly.
"I have quite a surprise in store for you, Reul Ghorm."