Thanks: Stacey, Lady Sandrilene, veralidaine, Lucinia of Masbolle, The Inkblot Faery,
clarylissa, Keita, Lady Mage Dragoness, Lady Wild Rose, Xelena, Mizuki, A Strand of
Golden Chocolate, Chibi Angel

Wow, you guys. Look at all the reviewers! Keep it up! I love it. It makes me want
to write! Also, don't forget to check out the new chapter of Love Stinks. I've decided
to allow voting for pairings over there, so don't forget to cast your vote if you think a
certain pairing suits that fic! (/end blatant self-promotion)

As a reminder, things in -- -- are memories.

**Chapter 23: Die Another Day**

He threw open the door.

Panting, chest heaving, Neal scanned the restaurant, desperately seeking the blond
man whom the Sword at his side was meant for. His bones felt weak, almost like
jelly, and he felt like he would collapse any moment. The seconds ticked by faster
than normal, and the restaurant was *crowded*. Every blond head could have
belonged to Joren...

Finally, his emerald gaze landed on a shock of light hair and piercing ice blue eyes.
"Joren," he whispered and blundered through the crowded tables and chairs. He
almost fell over a vacant chair on his way to the table Joren waited at. With three
minutes left, Neal fell into the chair across from the Master and slammed the
scabbarded Sword of Abscador on the table. "There."

A cruel smile turned up the corners of Joren's mouth as a velvet-gloved hand
reached for the jewel-pommeled Sword. "Very well."

Neal rested his arm with the bracelet on it on the table's surface, watching Joren
curiously. The blond man studied the Sword for a moment then stood, attaching
it around his waist. With that, he started off towards the door.

"Hey, bastard."

Joren stopped and tilted his head forward and to the side. "Pardon?"

Neal's chair scraped on the floor behind him as he rose. He grabbed Joren's elbow
and said softly into his ear, "Well? Will you let me go?"

"Queenscove, I believe you have your identities confused. You have your grip on
*me*, not the other way around."

Neal jostled Joren's arm. "Do you think I'm playing around, Stone Mountain? I'm
not talking about the physical hold. I'm talking about the fucking bracelet you have
on me. I did what you asked me to--now take it off!"

A smirk curled Joren's mouth again. "No. If I take it off of you, you'll go running to
Jonathan. Can't have that, can we?"

"Why doesn't Kel have one?" he demanded, aware of the patrons of the restaurant
now watching them with intent curiosity.

Joren ripped his elbow away from Neal's hold and brushed his shirt off. Without
answering, he left.

"Dammitall," Neal muttered and made his way through the sea of tables out to the
front of the restaurant. Joren had already disappeared.

***

Merric, Kel, Udaan, Owen, Justice, and Mace all waited in the stables for Neal to
return. "I wonder where he went?" Kel asked.

Merric shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I feel kind of sorry for him though. For *Neal*
to be so secretive, he must have really had something big on his mind."

The others nodded. Udaan had returned from his excursion only two days before the
three knights did. He squatted and scratched Justice behind the ears. Her tail thumped
appreciatively but she scuttled closer to Kel for body heat.

Suddenly, the knight in question appeared in the fields. He didn't look happy, either,
they noted as he neared the stables. When he reached the stables, he didn't even
speak to his friends, simply took care of his horse and stormed into the palace.
Worried, the others trailed him, Kel in the lead.

"Neal?" Kel asked, concern coloring her voice.

He stopped and turned to face her. Frowning, she raised an eyebrow in question.
"Come here," he said. Without wondering why, Kel obeyed and Neal gathered her in
his arms. "Have I told you I love you lately?"

"Only a million times," she replied. "What's wrong?"

He wasn't sure whether he should tell her or not and looked at his bracelet. Although
he hated to admit it, Joren had a tight grip on him and his life. He wouldn't risk his life
with Kel after this horrible mess ended by saying he went to see Joren. Neal sighed
and buried his face in his love's shoulder. "Nothing. Everything. I don't know."

"Poor baby," she murmured soothingly, stroking his hair. "I'm here for you."

For a few moments, Neal lifted his head and kissed her, then noticed Owen, Merric, and
Udaan standing a little farther back and looking around, embarrassed at their friends'
display of affection. "Hey Owen," he called, taking Kel's hand instead of remaining in
her embrace. She gave it an encouraging squeeze. "How's it feel to be a knight
finally?"

Owen grinned. "Jolly great, I'll tell you!"

"Just wait until you have to serve border patrol," Neal replied. All four of the knights
laughed, and as they did, they formed a loose little circle. Udaan trailed behind Justice
and Mace, feeling awkward.

Suddenly, Merric tilted his head to the side. "Neal, where did your other sword go?"

"I, ah, had to give it back to the person I got it for," he said evasively, hoping that
Merric would let it drop. Fortunately, he did. However, Owen recovered it.

"Sword?" the freshly knighted boy asked.

"We had to go and get a sword for somebody I knew--know," Neal explained. *Mithros,
let the boy drop it.*

Owen shrugged. "All right. Well, you lot must be tired, so I'll leave you to it. See you
around."

With that said, Owen wandered off. Merric stretched, nodding to the remaining four,
excused himself, picked up Mace, and walked off to his quarters, leaving Udaan, Neal,
and Kel alone. "Well," Neal said. "I think Kel and I will be going n--"

"Kel, kin I speak wit' ye alone fer a minute?" Udaan broke in, eyes intently on the
lady knight.

For a moment, Kel looked at Neal, then nodded and followed Udaan a little further down
the hall. "Kel," Udaan said quietly. "What happened?"

She knew what he meant. "I love him, Udaan. I...normally, I wouldn't believe in this
sort of thing, but...I think he's my soulmate."

Udaan let out a breath, watching it turn white in the frigid winter air. "Ye know, the
Master ain't gonna take kindly t' this."

"I don't care," she whispered. "Let him come. Neal and I will face him together."

Clucking his tongue, Udaan shook his head. "Awright. Off wit' ye. Go t' yer man."

Kel smiled. "Take care, Udaan," and trotted back over to Neal, where they promptly
went to his quarters and had her things moved to his.

***

Merric lied on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with Mace purring on his lap. A million
thoughts raced through his head, mostly about Abscador things and Jeraldine, who he
hadn't seen for months. *She probably found another lover by now,* he thought
bitterly. *She probably married the other lover too. Why do bad things always happen
to me? Granted, not as bad as Neal or Kel's problems...*

Then, his thought train jumped the tracks. *Wait a second. The Master got to Neal...
and...sent him to get a sword. Didn't Garvey say something about a Sword of Abscador?
I think he did...*

--Garvey and Merric sat under their tent, eating their supper. Peculiarly, Garvey was
muttering to himself about something.

"Garvey?" Merric questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

The man from Runnerspring shook his head. "No."

Merric shrugged. "If you say so." He went back to picking at his supper. "So, you
were saying something about a virgin princess or something earlier?"

Slowly, Garvey pushed through some of his food and finally nodded. "Yes, I did say
that. The Aescili--the ascension to godhood--requires a blood sacrifice of a princess.
But the catch is, the princess has to be sacrificed using the Sword of Abscador..."--

Merric bolted up, scaring Mace into extending his claw to hold onto his owner's shirt.
The knight let out a shaky breath, brushing his cat off of his chest, and swung his feet
over onto the ground. Resting his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands
and groaned. "I need more information," he muttered. "More information...where
can I get it though?"

He rose and began to pace around his quarters, Mace watching him from his perch on
Merric's bed. As the cat began to wash himself, Merric chewed on his lip and thought
aloud. "Maybe I can go to Myles? Maybe he knows something from sending out his
spies..." he wondered. "No. The Master's very careful about that sort of thing. If he
doesn't want any information leaked out, it won't become anything more than a thought
in his head." He paced some more. "Let's see...who else...maybe there's something in
the library about Abscador?"

Decisively, Merric pulled on his boots and stalked off to the library, obviously deep in
thought. Nobody bothered him on his way there, fortunately, and he walked into the
library. A brief, unconnected thought flittered through his head. *The aisle I need to
look in is the same aisle I found Neal and Kel making out in.* He approached the row,
thinking of simpler times, and searched the rows. "Abscador...Abscador..." he
murmured. Suddenly, his finger landed on a book. "'The Legend of Abscador,'" he
read. "Perfect!"

He yanked the book from the shelf and hurried over to one of the more comfortable
chairs, settling quickly and opening the thin volume. It read:

"The legend of Abscador is a tale handed down from generation to generation,
originating in the fief of Stone Mountain. It was said that long ago, back centuries
before, when the Ancient people of Tortall roamed the territory, that among the gods
was a man born Abscador.

Abscador, they said, would become as strong as his father, Mithros, and as intelligent
as his mother. It was said that Abscador even caught the eye of the goddess of love
frequently, and oft took advantage of that fact.

When Abscador become of age, he came to walk amongst the Ancients for a month, and
found a man he grew very fond of. To make matters more complicated, Abscador fell
in love with the man's wife--a woman he called as beautiful as the sky and deep as the
ocean, with twice the capacity for love.

Abscador made a proposal to the man:

'Young man,' he said, 'my peer. I have fallen in love with your wife, and your wife
with me. You are my friend, my acquaintance, my companion and comrade. I fear I
have kept an important secret from you.' He stepped back from the young man with
the beautiful wife and removed a medallion that made him appear mortal amongst the
Ancients. 'I am actually a god. My name is Abscador, son of Mithros.' The young
man looked upon Abscador with shock and disbelief. Abscador replaced the medallion,
once more appearing mortal. 'I have a proposition for you, my friend.' He paused for
a moment and looked once at the man's wife, off playing with one of the neighboring
children, then looked back at the man. 'I want to trade places with you.'

The young man asked, 'You want to become mortal while I become a god?'

'Yes,' replied Abscador. 'I will go back to the Realms of the Gods and return on the
vernal equinox. I will bring with me a Sword, a magical Sword. While I am here, I
will create a magical Scroll with which you can go to the palace and find a virgin
princess and take her unnoticed. At the bottom of this Scroll I will place words for
a ritual, and when I return with the Sword, we will sacrifice the virgin princess with
Sword and read aloud the ritual from the Scroll. When the last drop of blood leaves
the princess's body, you will become a god and I will be a mortal.'

The young man nodded. 'I understand. I agree.'

Abscador worked for three days without rest and finally produced a magical Scroll.
It was said that the Scroll could make the young man disappear from all vision, and
even the vision of animals, who could detect magic of any kind. The day after the
Scroll's completion, Abscador returned to the Realms of the Gods to forge a Sword
with enough magic to filter lives through a princess's blood.

On the vernal equinox, Abscador returned to the young man, who had found
the god a virgin princess by using the Scroll he had written.

'I have found you a princess, Abscador,' the young man told him, showing him the
unconscious woman. 'Have you brought me the Sword?'

Abscador handed the young man the Sword. 'Come,' the god said. He lifted the
princess up and said, 'Follow me.'

Swiftly, Abscador led the young man down into the man's armory. With a snap of
his fingers, the armory disappeared, becoming a catacombs. 'I have altered this
realm,' he said. 'This realm belongs to the gods now, and one of Uusoae's fearful
creatures is guarding the door. We will not be disturbed.'

The ritual proceeded, and as the last drop of the princess's blood fell to the floor,
the medallion around Abscador's neck fell down the ground and transformed into
a sword, storing his immortality. The young man became a god and, before he
ascended to the Realms of the Gods, he picked up the sword and pierced it through
the princess's ribcage.

'From this day forth,' Abscador said, 'I will not be known as Abscador, but as
Aescili.'

Legend says that the descendants of Abscador, or his mortal name Aescili,
eventually claimed the fiefs of Stone Mountain and Olau, but that is just a legend.
There has been no written proof that Aescili existed, nor was he a god. However,
it is accounted by Sir Alanna of Olau and Pirate's Swoop that a creature of fierce
magnitude does exist in an armory at Olau, and she did find a sword down there."

Merric shut the book and looked up at the ceiling. "Well," he said to himself.
"That certainly explains a lot." He brought the volume back to its proper shelf and
retook his spot on chair. "Who else would know something..."

Then he remembered that Roald had been the person to ask him to look for the
Scroll of Abscador in the first place. *Maybe he knows something more?*

Merric walked out of the library, in no particular hurry, and found Roald speaking
with Lord Wyldon by the courtyard. Not exactly wanting to face the wrath of
Wyldon for an interrupted conversation, Merric stayed back until he saw Wyldon
look up at him, tap Roald on the shoulder, and point. Instead of Roald motioning
Merric up, Roald came to him.

"Merric? Do you need something?" the prince asked.

"I was just wondering if you knew anything more about the Scroll of Abscador
or the Sword of Abscador besides what they have in the library," Merric explained.
"I've just heard a lot of people talk about it lately--you know how rumors fly around
this place."

"Well, I know what you know then." Roald shrugged. "Sorry. But I do know that,
for certain, the ceremony or ritual will take place somewhere around one of the
Ancient ruins. Probably around Olau."

*I knew that already,* Merric thought frustratedly. "Did you hide Kalasin?"

Roald shook his head. "Father and Mother don't see any reason for it. If we hid
Kally, that would just tip off whoever this man is who has the Scroll of Abscador
right now. All we really can do is pray he doesn't prey on Kally and pray that he
hasn't found the Sword of Abscador yet." The prince looked sadly wistful for a
moment, then shook his head again as if to clear his thoughts. "A lot of good
praying would do if someone decided to sneak in, undetected, and snatch Kally
right from under our noses." Roald kicked at the snow with a loose pebble with
the toe of his boot. "Oh...another thing I know that I overheard Mother and
Father talking about. Apparently, this ritual thing needs a child of some sort of
something to store immortality in. With Abscador, it was supposedly Lady Alanna's
sword. The medallion Abscador wore could hold that sort of power, since it did
already. Father guesses it would probably take two people to store that much
immortality, so he said this man who has the Scroll probably has selected Kel and
some poor child to be the recipients of the immortality."

"That makes sense," Merric murmured. *It's all coming together now.*

"Well, Wyldon's starting to look a bit impatient. I'll talk to you later, Merric,"
Roald told him and ran back to the former training master.

Absorbing this information, Merric went back to his quarters to take a nap.

***

Neal left Kel taking a nap in their quarters to check and see if anyone had sent him
any messages. He also collected Kel's mail and trotted back to their quarters.
After he situated himself at the desk, he began to open his letters. The first one
was from Seaver, the second from his cousin in the desert who made sure to stay
clear of any topic relating to Kel or Yuki, and the third from his mother.

"Mithros," he breathed. He had practically ripped the envelope open when he
realized that his mother had sent word to him. "What could Mother want from me at
this point in time? She just about told me to classify her as dead, even though I
have all of those healers working on her..."

"'Dear Nealan,'" he read. He groaned. "Ah, Mother, why can't you call me 'Neal'
like everyone else does? 'It has been a while since I last heard from you. I have
heard from your cousin Domitan that you had to leave suddenly on royal business.
Alas, that is the fate of a knight who serves the crown, such as you and your father.
Only your father found a more convenient role acting as chief healer. Why don't
*you* take that position, rather than go gallivanting around the worlrd like you do?'
Mother...just get on with it. I don't want hear your lecture about me not taking
Father's position as chief healer. I've heard it in your other letters. 'But enough
about that.' Oh, good. You listened. 'The reason I wrote to you was not because
I wanted to berate you about your career decision.' I should hope not. 'The reason
I decided to write was because I wanted to ask you to take a short leave of absence.
I would like you to get married, Nealan, or at the very least bring young Keladry
back to Queenscove so she can have a little time to get to know her dying mother-
in-law.' Mother...somehow I don't think Kel would be very fond of being forced to
get married at Queenscove. 'Allow me this last, small pleasure. Humor your
mother.' All right, all right, I'll talk to her. 'Thank you, Nealan. All my love,
Mother.'"

Shaking his head, Neal looked over at Kel, who blinked sleepily at him from the
bed. "Why are you way over there?" she asked of him.

"I have a letter from Mother." Neal waved it in Kel's direction.

"And?" she prompted, yawning and walking over to the desk.

"She wants me to go back to Queenscove for a little while," he said. *I won't tell
her about the getting married part until later,* he decided. "Also, she wants to
get to know you a little bit. In one of her letters before she told me that she
likes you more than she liked Yuki."

"Your mother met Yuki?" Kel sounded surprised.

"Well, not exactly *met*. More like...heard a lot about her in my letters and they
even traded letters a few times. Father used to say a lot about Yuki in his letters,
too," he explained. "So, she wants you and me to go back to Queenscove and
maybe spend the spring there and a little bit of summer. Personally, I say it's a
welcome vacation from Invisible-Things-That-Bite-You-In-the-Ass, Tortall. Even
if we're going to Hell, Tortall to escape it."

Kel stiffled a laugh. "Well, I suppose we'll have to ask King Jonathan if he needs
us for anything first, though I doubt he'd begrudge you time with your mother."

"I know he won't. Remember, he came to Father's funeral too. He knows that
Mother tried to get me to kill her," he reminded her. His mother's gaunt face asking
him for certain death still haunted his dreams sometimes. He didn't think he would
ever forget that voice, pleading with him. "So, will you come?"

"I don't see why not," Kel agreed.

"Perfect. I'll go find Jonathan and tell him not to assign us anywhere until we get
back and we'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Good."

"Better than good."

He leaned forward and kissed her. After a few moments, Kel broke away and
murmured, "You have to go tell Jonathan, remember?"

Neal tossed the letter aside. "Jonathan can wait."