Thanks: Sandry, ladyknight, ShadowFox, The Rain Child, Lady Wild Rose,
ihl, Fanty, Stacey

*whimpers* The end. The end, it's so close, it's so close I can taste it!
Oh wait, that's just the spicy chicken sandwich I just had.

This is so sad. I wanted to reach the end so badly because I had a good
idea, but now that the end's approaching...*sigh* I just don't want it to
end. The only thing is, I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head.
In fact, I was thinking about having an experiment. I'll write my next fic
(after Love Stinks meets its end) entirely, then post a chapter a day or
every other day, that way it won't be so sporadic between my updates.

By the way, would anyone read it if I wrote a Circle fic about Tris? I had
this really good idea for a Circle fic, and I was just wondering if anyone
(besides Sandry, obviously) would read it. If not, then...too bad. I'll write
it anyway, and you'll just have to wait for my next Tortallverse fic (which,
by the way, may include the Court of the Rogue, Neal, and Kel, if that will
tantalize you any).

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched. They must be felt with the heart."

**Chapter 27: Somewhere Cold**

The palace was in complete chaos. It was as if Princess Lianne has simply
vanished from her quarters, bed untouched. The only indication anything
had happened and that Lianne had been in her room the night before was
a shattered glass and the remnants of a puddle of water. No scrap of the
nightgown she had worn remained, no suggestion that a struggle had taken
place...

A little bit of the water could be collected from the stone floor, and the
sample was taken to Neal and Alanna.

Both Neal and Alanna came to the conclusion that the water had, indeed,
been contaminated with a clear, odorless drug. Highly potent, extremely
effective, and fast-acting.

"Virgin princess," Neal muttered, leaving Alanna's room and heading to the
stables. When he got there, he found that Kel had packed their things and
saddled their horses. "Love?"

"Merric left this morning," Kel offered as explanation.

Suddenly, Neal felt a need to go somewhere so strongly that it nearly brought
him to his knees. "He went to...to..."

"To?" Kel prompted.

"Olau," Neal breathed and gasped as another pull like a magnet drew him to
his knees this time. "We...we have to go. *Now*."

Kel nodded and finished loading up their packmule. Gingerly, she helped Neal
to his feet and mounted her horse. "So, let's go to Olau."

"Not so loud," Neal hissed, rubbing his wrist. The bracelet seemed to throb,
contracting and releasing, against his arm. "Gods...what's going on? How did
I get into this mess? Why do you hate me so much?"

Trying to ignore the uncomfortably varying pressure on his wrist, Neal mounted
his horse and led Kel out of the stables towards the south gate. "Be thankful
you don't have one of these gods-cursed things, Kel," he said through gritted
teeth.

"Thankful," Kel promised. "It looks painful."

"You have no," he sucked in a breath, "idea."

***

The next morning, Alanna heard a rumor floating around about a bunch of
knights suddenly leaving for Barony Olau and decided she should check it out.
Jon offered to watch over Acacia while Alanna went to Olau, but she declined.
Something told her that she would need to bring her daughter for one reason
or another.

"I'm sorry, Jon," Alanna apologized as she packed up the things she had brought
for Acacia.

"Don't...don't let her get hurt," Jonathan requested. "Please. I...I don't know if
I could handle it if anything happened to her. We made her for a reason, so..."

Alanna hugged Jonathan. "I promise she won't get hurt."

Jonathan hugged her back. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Lioness."

Rolling her eyes, she swatted him and put the finishing touches on her bags.
"Well, I'm off to make sure some of your knights and my fellow colleagues aren't
vandalizing my barony."

"Safe journey, Alanna. You and Acacia come back, understand? That's a royal order,"
Jonathan told her seriously.

She nodded. "Yes, my lord." She lifted Acacia from her cradle and strode down the
hallway. Since the trip was spur of the moment, she was leaving her trunk in Corus.
However, Jon had ordered one of the palace drivers to take her to Olau in a carriage,
which Alanna was more than happy to accept. Truth be told, she didn't think she
could carry a baby and ride a horse at the same time. She may have been skilled,
but not skilled enough to ride like that.

Jonathan waved as she rode off, and Alanna couldn't help but feel that she may be
riding into uncertain doom.

***

Neal and Kel arrived at the barony to find Merric pacing outside of it. He looked up
at Neal and Kel with wild eyes. "I don't know where to go, you two. I feel like I'm
being pulled apart in twenty different directions."

As soon as Merric said that, Neal felt it too. "It's...it's these damn bracelets..."

He actually whimpered, holding his wrist. "Gods..." he muttered, squeezing his eyes
shut. "It's not passing...it usually passes..."

"I've been like this since last night." Merric scratched at his wrist. "I tried to take it
off..."

"And you're still alive?" Neal asked incredulously.

"But not without a trophy." Gingerly, Merric moved the bracelet up his arm a little
and showed off a burn mark in a perfect circle around the base of his hand. An ugly
yellow and purple bruise had begun to form at the edges of the burn mark.

"Shit," Neal breathed. "That looks like it hurts like a bitch."

"...Thank you for putting it so eloquently," Merric said sarcastically.

Neal managed a strained grin. He had a feeling that his bracelet was hurting him
more than Merric, burn mark and all. "Well, you still have your sarcasm, so you
can't be in that much pain."

"I don't think we can all stand here forever," Kel said, "because the guards are
bound to notice three knights with very noticeable horses just lurking about over
here. Maybe we could go to the trees or something?"

Nodding, Neal and Merric led their horses over to a patch of trees nearby.

"Shade," Merric sighed.

"Gods, even *in* the shade you can feel the heat," Neal complained, playing with
his bracelet that suddenly seemed ten times tighter.

"That's why you should cut your hair, Neal." Yawning, Kel dug around in one of
her bags and produced a hairtie. "Here."

"Thank you, love." Quickly, Neal tied his hair back. "Much better." He kissed her
on the cheek.

Merric groaned. "Don't do that. I'm a newly married man myself, and you're just
flaunting what I left behind at Hollyrose in front of me."

Neal raised an eyebrow. "Kel looks nothing like Jeraldine, thank Mithros."

Eyes narrowing, Merric asked, "Are you calling my wife ugly?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Neal replied playfully.

Merric punched Neal in the arm. "Someone's going to kill you for that mouth one
day."

"Boys," Kel said.

"Yes, Mother Kel?" Merric and Neal answered in unison. They looked at each other
and started to laugh, Kel trying to ignore them but her lips twitched into a smile and
she found herself laughing too.

***

Around three in the afternoon the next day, Alanna arrived at Olau. She spotted the
trio of knights that always seemed to be together lately and called up to the driver
to stop the carriage.

"Kel? Neal? Merric?" Alanna called out of the window.

Three heads turned her way. "Alanna!" shouted Neal, waving.

"What are you three doing out there?" she wanted to know.

The three stopped and looked at each other.'

"What do we say?" Neal whispered hurriedly to his wife and friend.

"Waiting for her," Merric answered.

"Why do we have to lie?" Kel asked. Her answer was Merric showing her his bruised
and burned wrist, and Neal showing her his raw wrist where he had been scratching
at it for fear of being burned or killed if he took it off. "Oh. Carry on then."

"We were waiting for you, Alanna! What *else* would we have been doing?" Neal
told her.

Shaking her head, Alanna turned her gaze to Kel. "Kel? Would you and your two
miscreant companions like to join me in the carriage?"

"Miscreants?" Neal huffed indignantly. "Well, I *never*."

"Do I have a husband or a wife? Get moving, Nealan. Come on, Merric." Kel
turned them towards Alanna. "Alanna, should we bring our things with us?"

"I'll send a servant out to get them," Alanna promised. The three then ran for the
carriage and clambered in. "How long were you out there?"

"Since yesterday," all three answered.

Alanna sighed. "I'm sorry this carriage takes so long."

"It's not a problem, now that we're here," Merric said, waving it off.

"Why were you three waiting for me?" Alanna wanted to know.

Neal and Merric looked expectantly at Kel, who looked startled. Then she realized
she was the only one who could speak without dying. She proceeded to tell Alanna
the whole sordid tale, starting from when she had been kidnapped down until the
day before, and finished with saying, "We think that the Aescili will be held here, and
that Princess Lianne was taken here."

Alanna let out a low whistle. "I see. Where, specifically, here?"

"Do you have any place here that has an armory guarded by some sort of magical
creature? An immortal, perhaps? Something?" Kel suggested.

It took Alanna a moment, but she nodded. "When I came here as a page with my
father, he showed me the ruins down there." Alanna motioned to them out of Merric's
window. "There was an armory down there guarded by some sort of creature. I
think it was guarding my sword, Lightning."

Both Merric and Neal gasped at the same moment, clutching at their wrists. "Stop the
carriage," Neal ground out, fumbling for the door.

Alanna flung forth the order to stop as Merric and Neal wrestled their doors open and
tumbled out onto the ground. Trading glances, Alanna, with Acacia, and Kel climbed
out of the carriage and followed the men down into the ruins.

"My hand's going to fall off," Neal said to Merric, trying to spread some humor even
though he actually did feel as if his hand would simply drop off of his wrist.

Merric gave a bitter laugh. "This is pain unimagineable, my friend."

"I'll have to," Neal sucked in a breath, "agree. Worse than being stabbed in the
gut."

"When were you ever stabbed in the gut?" Merric asked.

They continued to talk, letting their feet take them wherever the bracelets were
calling them. So wrapped up in trying to distract themselves from their pain were
they that they nearly ran into one of the buildings. The pain abruptly stopped from
their bracelets, and they warily traded expressions, looking at the building in front
of them.

It was shoddy, crumbling and one wall had almost completely eroded away. The
roof barely stayed on it, and it was faint, but Neal saw a soft red sheen around the
building, a red the color of blood. He let out a shaky breath and looked behind
him at Kel and Alanna. "It's here," Neal said. He looked to Alanna. "Do you see
the magic around it?"

Alanna shook her head. "There's no Gift on that building, Neal. I would have
known..."

Frowning, Neal looked at Merric. "Do you see it? It's pretty pale, but it's there."

Carefully, Merric peeked at the building and nodded. "I see it."

"Kel?"

Helplessly, she shook her head. "I've never seen magic. Neal, what are you--hey,
why are you making me touch your brace--oh. Now I see it. It's red, isn't it?"

"It's the bracelets," Neal announced to the group. "Come on. We're going in."

"Shouldn't you take the baby inside, Alanna?" Kel inquired, frowning. "I don't
think places like this are baby-safe."

Frowning, Alanna shook her head. "I don't think I should take her inside.
Something tells me that I'll need to bring her inside..."

"All right..." Kel trailed off. Neal, Kel, Merric, and Alanna all stood there, waiting
around listlessly. "Do you think you need to come?" she asked finally. "If just
the baby needs to come in..."

"I don't understand what's going on, but something tells me that the gods are
meddling in this. They don't want me in there...but they want Acacia. Kel...take
care of Acacia, please." Was it Kel's imagination, or was there a slight tremor to
Alanna's voice as she handed over the child? "Good luck, you three...you four.
Make it back alive...please..."

Alanna turned and walked away with as much composure as she could muster.

"Is anyone else scared?" Neal asked. Merric raised his hand and Kel nodded.

"Witless," Kel replied.

"Shitless," Merric corrected.

"As long as that's established. Shall we?" he motioned to the building and to the
slightly ajar door inside.

Without answering, Merric went in first, followed by Kel and Acacia, with Neal
bringing up the rear, sword drawn and nerves taut.

***

Inside the room of the slightly ajar door was darkness. Suddenly, torches flared
to life on either side of the room, illuminating that it wasn't truly a room but a
hallway. As a precaution, Neal flung a magical barrier around Kel and Acacia,
not wanting to unnecessarily endanger his wife and his former knight-master's
daughter.

"Hello?" Neal said softly. Just that soft statement echoed down the nearly empty
hallway.

Merric turned around, gave him a dirty look, and held a finger to his lips, telling
Neal to quiet silently. Embarrassed, Neal looked away and around them.

Something rumbled nearby. All three of them froze and Acacia chose that
moment to burst out in tears. In vain, Kel struggled to silence the baby girl but
whatever it was had heard them. It rumbled again, the sound of rocks crashing
onto the ground and skidding against other stones.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we're found out creature," Merric told them.

A tentacle reached out of the wall on their left, mere millimeters above Kel's
head. She yelped and jumped away as Neal came forward and chopped off the
offending appendage. It allowed his sword through with surprising ease, and
as it fell to the ground, white goose feathers sprayed from the inside. Frowning,
Neal hacked at the wall, finding two people hiding inside a compartment, one
scraping a rock against two others and one controlling goose-feather-stuffed
tentacles.

Merric poked Tentacle Man with his sword. "What are you doing?"

Tentacle Man looked at Merric, his face pale. "I...I no speak Common."

"What's your excuse, Rocky?" Neal poked the man with the rocks in the back
with his sword.

"I...am following orders?" Rocky suggested.

"Nope, sorry. Play again some other day," Neal said. Rocky, apparently, had
other ideas and jumped up with his stone, nearly bringing it down on Neal's
head. He missed and fell over. "Hey! That was unprovoked!" he cried, kicking
the rock out of the man's hand. The man reached for a dagger at his waist and
stabbed Neal's shin with it. "That was *certainly* uncalled for!" with a swift
motion, Neal killed the man. "Pain..."

Merric, meanwhile, had almost been beheaded by Tentacle Man and had killed
him. "You okay, Neal?"

"Do I *look* like I'm okay?!" Neal demanded, turning around so Merric could
see the blood stain forming on his breeches. "These were new breeches too!"
Grumbling, Neal tore off a clean piece of his tunic and made a crude bandage
out of it, applying some of his Gift to the affected area. "Ow."

"We should go back," Kel said worriedly. "I feel so helpless with this baby in
my arms." Acacia had stopped crying. "I couldn't even protect you when that
man stabbed you..."

"Love, you didn't even see him. Neither did I. There was nothing you could
have done, baby or no. Now, we're going on and that's that. I feel fine." Neal
limped for a few paces and corrected his step, walking in a semblance of
normal gait. "Let's go."

***

When they reached the end of the hallway, they found a cast iron gate in their
way. "What the hell is this?" Neal demanded, grabbing one of the bars with his
free hand and shaking it. The gate just rattled.

Kel shrugged. "Don't look at me."

"Hello?" Merric called. All it did was echo further down the hallway. "This..."
he started to say, but an envelope on a string was lowered in front of his
face. "...seems to be addressed to us." He pulled it off of the string and
opened it up. "'Merric, Kel, Neal, Acacia--you've made it to the first gate.
Answer my question and you may pass. Correctly answer it within the
allotted time, and you may escape with your lives. Answer incorrectly, and
pay the price. When you have finished and want to answer, write it in the
back of this paper and attach it to the string. How many letters are in the
alphabet?'"

Neal frowned. "What kind of question is that? Everyone knows there's
twenty-six letters in the alphabet."

Kel nodded. "Twenty-six letters in the alphabet."

Shaking his head, Merric reread the note. "I don't think that's what it's asking,
you two."

"It says, 'how many letters are in the alphabet?'!" Neal insisted. "It's twenty-
six. Write it down."

"Gods, you're bossy. Do you honestly think the Master would ask us something
that simple?" Merric asked.

Kel bit her lip. "He's right, Neal. He wouldn't ask us something so simple."

Neal sat down. "Fine."

Rolling her eyes, Kel handed Acacia to Neal and looked over Merric's shoulder
at the note. "How many letters are in the alphabet..." she murmured. "How
many letters...are in the alphabet..."

"That's it!" Merric cried. "How many letters are in the alphabet!"

Realization dawned on Kel's face. "Yeah!" she looked down at the note. "Neal,
do you understand?"

He was too busy playing with Acacia to listen to them.

"Merric, write down eleven. There's eleven letters in 'the alphabet,'" Kel
grinned.

"There's twenty-six," Neal muttered obstinately.

"Not in the words 'the alphabet,'" Kel countered. "There's eleven."

Feeling like an idiot, Neal went back to playing with Acacia.

Merric pulled a quill pen out of the envelope, finding it already inked, and
wrote down the number eleven on the sheet of paper. He reattached it to
the string, tugged on it twice, and the string was reeled up. A few tense
moments passed, then the gate swung open. "Let's go!"

***

They came to the next gate to find the note already attached to the bars with
the number two inscribed on the envelope. This time, Neal read the note.
"'Kel, Merric, Neal, Acacia--so, you made it to the second gate. This time, the
game will be a little harder to play. There are seven torches in the immediate
area. The key to this gate is hidden on the wall behind a certain torch. The wall
with four torches contains an unlit torch. The key is not behind this torch, and
the key is not behind the first torch on the wall with three torches. The first
torch on the wall with four torches is diagonally across from the torch that is
next to a torch that may or may not be directly across from the torch next to
the torch where the key is hidden. You have twenty minutes to find the key,
starting with the moment these words come out of Neal's mouth.' Shit. Come
on, you two, let's get started."

"Why can't we just go down the wall and see if it's there?" Merric asked.

"Because that will take more than twenty minutes, even with all three of us,"
Kel told him.

"Okay. This is the wall with three torches, because the wall across from it has
an unlit torch. It's not behind the unlit torch, and it's not behind this torch."
Neal touched the wall next to the torch behind him. It was the first torch on
the wall with three. "The first torch on the wall with four is diagonally across
from a torch..." Neal ran over to the first torch, and ran diagonally across to
the second torch on wall with three torches. "It may or may not be directly
across from the torch..." Neal ran directly across to the second torch on the
wall with four. "Next to the torch where the key is hidden. It must be behind
the third torch on this wall because the first one doesn't have it!"

Triumphantly, Neal pulled the key out from behind the torch and ran up to the
gate. "Come on, you two!" he called excitedly. He stuck the key into the lock
and turned, only to find it didn't move. "...What? Move!" he kicked the gate
and tried to unlock it again. "Shit. Don't tell me there's a key behind each
torch."

Merric turned and ran down to the last torch on the wall with four. It had to
be this key. He ran back up to Neal and handed over the key. "Here," he
panted.

Neal tried this key and sighed with relief when he felt the tumblers fall into
place. They wouldn't have had time to collect the other three keys and try
them, because it was already fifteen minutes into the allotted time. As he
pushed the gate open, he corralled Merric and Kel in before him and slipped
in behind them, dropping the gate shut.

***

"...Another gate. Why are there so many damned gates down here?" Neal
demanded, staring at the iron in front of him.

"This is the third one. At the fourth one you can start complaining," Kel told
him firmly.

"What does our clue say this time?" Merric wanted to know, taking Acacia
from Kel.

Kel walked over to the gate and looked around. "I don't see it here..." she
looked to the left and found it dangerously close to one of the torches.
"Whoa there." She picked it up. "'Merric, Neal, Kel, Acacia--this is the
third gate. I had hoped you would make it this far. For this gate, I have a
new word riddle for you to answer. You have six minutes to work this one
out, starting as soon as Kel reads the end of this riddle: a farmer and his
son were carrying grain to the barn. The farmer carried one sack of grain and
his son carried two sacks. Who carried the heavier load, and why? The clock
starts now.'"

"The son," Neal said. "He's carrying two sacks, so he obviously has the
heavier load."

"Stop thinking on the surface, Neal. There has to be a catch here somewhere.
It wouldn't be that obvious. Remember with the alphabet riddle? It's got to
be like this," Kel reminded him.

Chewing his lip, Merric looked at Acacia. "Do you know the answer, sweet-
heart?"

Acacia just waved her fist at him.

"The farmer carried one sack of grain and the son carried two sacks. I
don't get it. Who's carrying the heavier load? Maybe the sacks are different
sizes..." Merric thought aloud.

"One sack of grain and two sacks. One sack of grain and two sacks. One
sack..." Kel's face suddenly lit up. "That's the answer! The farmer's carrying
one sack of *grain* and the son is just carrying two *sacks*!"

Neal scratched his head. "How do you figure these things out so quickly?"

"I had a million brothers and sisters at Mindelan, plus Cricket and I used to
play these riddle games all the time when I was staying in the Yamani
Islands," Kel explained, quickly writing down the answer on the back of the
paper. "It didn't say where to put it..." as Kel put the answer back in the
envelope, it disappeared. A few moments later, the gates swung open.

"That was pretty good, Kel," Merric congratulated her, handing back Acacia.

"I wonder how many more gates we have to go through?" Neal wondered
as they wandered into the next hallway.

***

"I'm claiming my right to complain! This is the fourth gate! How many more
stupid gates do we have to go through to get to the stupid Master?!" Neal
demanded. He was getting tired of going through all of these hallways, and
it seemed so endless. That had always been one of the knight's fears. It
had been something he had faced in the Chamber of the Ordeal, running
down a hallway that seemed endless. The gates were a nice interval at
first, but now they were just irritating and part of the cycle.

"Shut up." Merric hit him upside the head and found the fourth note delivered
to them the same way the first one had, by a string. "Okay. This one says:
'You have made it to the final gate. Advance past this one and meet me in
my chambers. This rite of passage consists of two parts: first, the riddle, and
second, an inquisition with my personal spy. The riddle is at the bottom of the
page. You have no time limit for this one. Have I mentioned you may not go
back to the gates before and escape?' Okay, he says the riddle is, 'A lady
has nine cousins. Half of them are lords. How is this possible?'. How *is* that
possible indeed?"

"All of them are lords," Neal said suddenly. Kel and Merric turned and looked
at him.

"What do you mean?" Merric asked.

"All of them are lords," Neal repeated. "It's the only way you can have nine
cousins and have half of them be lords."

Kel shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Go ahead and write it down, Merric."

He did, placed the note back in the envelope, and put it on the string. The
string reeled up and the gate opened.

"I thought you said it consisted of two parts," Neal said to Merric suspiciously.

"That's what the note said," shrugged Merric.

"Boys?" Kel interrupted. "Look ahead."

Udaan stepped out of the shadows. "Hello," he crooned. "Nice t' see ye all
again."

"You have *got* to be kidding me," Neal groaned. "I knew you were a fake.
I knew it."

The one-armed man shrugged. "Ye're sharp is all. Now. If I understan' it,
ye've all been studyin' the Abscador legends. We'll see now if it paid off."
The three shifted uncomfortably. "We'll start wit' Merric. Merric, wha' was
the name of the man tha' Abscador traded lives wit'?"

"Cathos," Merric said easily.

Udaan nodded. "Righ'. Neal. Accordin' t' legend, where'd all the children
of Aescili go?"

"Olau and Stone Mountain," Neal replied after a moment of consideration.

"Righ'. Kel. Wha' color candle star's the Aescili ceremony, and wha' color
ends it?"

"White and black." Kel rearranged Acacia in her arms.

"Merric. Wha' was Cathos's wife's name?"

He blanched. "There's no mention of Cathos's wife's name."

Udaan smirked. "Ye'll need to brush up then. Sorry, ye'll have t' forfeit
something in order t' go on. Kel, Acacia if ye please."

"No!" Kel said, aghast. "I'm not going to give you a baby!" Suddenly, the
infant disappeared from Kel's arms. "What did you do with her?!"

"I took her t' the Master. Ye may proceed." Udaan moved aside. "Good
luck," he added sneeringly.

They hurried down the corridor, eager to get to the final stage of this
ridiculous confrontation and rescue Acacia. Alanna would never forgive
them if her daughter was harmed. As it was, they would be in trouble
for letting Udaan even *take* the child. It wasn't as if they could
necessarily stop him, though. He had used some sort of magic that could
be wielded by anyone, with or without the Gift. Udaan definitely did *not*
have the Gift, that much Neal could tell, but Udaan had glowed with the
same blood red sheen that had covered the building before they had
entered.

As they came to the end of the corridor, they found a dead end. Nothing
there but the same solid rock and dirt that was the walls as they had gone
down the hallway. However, the closer they came to the dead end, Neal
and Merric found that their bracelets began to throb and irritate them again.
It finally became so unbearable that they both dropped to their knees in
front of the wall, and suddenly, there was no pain. Bewildered, they looked
at each other, then down at their wrists. The golden bracelets were gone.
They had crumbled off of their wrists and now piled on the ground at their
feet. They backed up a step and looked at Kel, then at the wall, and wondered
just what the hell was going on.

A portion of the wall slid back and to the left, allowing them entrance to a
cavernous opening. Torchlight flickered and danced along the stone walls,
and seemed to stop their strobe light dance on a pedastal in the center.
The three of them found their attention drawn inexplicably there, and in
front of their very eyes materialized Joren.

A malicious smile spread across his statuesque face. "Welcome to my
domain."