Author's Note: I missed another update, but here's the next chapter. Another atrocious chapter title, I'm afraid, I'm really bad at naming them.


Currently I'm struggling with the whole idea of writing a much shorter story, I'm used to writing long ones, but this one was only ever designed to be about twelve chapters. How I'll pull it off with a satisfying climax I'm not too sure yet, but hopefully I'll come up with something. Still finding it quite hard to keep the plot flowing, so I might have to stick to updating every two days, we'll see. I'm glad people don't mind the slower updates, although I do feel a bit bad about it, like I'm letting you all down. I'm glad to see Phabrizoe got Guild Wars at least! I hope he's enjoying it. Remember, whisper me if anybody plays the game and wants to find me (which, admiringly, is unlikely). I'm Leine Chuth, but you can whisper any of the other characters in this story too, since they're real (that being Maialin Roth and Vahlahn Ote). Okay, we're not exactly like our story counterparts, but you can still find us if you want!

Anyway, here's the chapter. I actually want to say something else, but I'll wait until afterwards.

A SWIFT DECISION

The thin trail of smoke rising from the burnt out fire was all but invisible against the night's sky. Leine was curled up asleep by the smouldering ashes, Maialin on the other side slept peacefully. Vahlahn was propped up against a rock some distance away, appearing to be more in a trance than asleep.

His eyes jolted open at a faint sound in the distance, one so quiet it could easily go ignored or unheard by anybody who had even been informed of its presence. He stood quickly, wasting no time, and lifted his staff.
"Leine. Maialin." He stated simply. Neither responded, both soundly asleep. "Leine! Maialin!" He snapped. The two jolted awake.

"What is it?" Maialin asked groggily.

"I don't want to get up yet." Leine moaned, in a sleepy trance.

"We've got a problem." He explained.

"Problem?" Maialin yawned, sitting up and rolling her neck, it aching from the solid floor. Vahlahn had told them not to bother with the tent again, which meant sleeping without any cover. Leine had still slept on the mat she had brought along, so she was a little more comfortable than her necromancer companion.

"Charr. Approaching from the East. Lots of them." Vahlahn told them. Leine bolted up.

"Charr? Are you sure?" She cried hysterically.

"Yes, now be quiet." He snarled. "Listen. Hear that?"

"I don't hear anything!" Leine replied, clearly panicked.

"That low beat in the background. Almost like a hum." The two women listened carefully.

"Wait. I hear it." Maialin said with a gulp.

"That's the sound of marching Charr. Unmistakable." Vahlahn paused. "Judging by their pace-"

"How can you hear their pace?" Leine asked, confused.

"Shut up." He replied simply, knowing that they didn't have time to talk. "Judging by their pace, they're retreating. I think they must be the failed assault force on Pikken Square." He paused. "If I know the Charr, and I do, they'll be eager for a victory after being forced to retreat."

"How come you're such an expert on the Charr, anyway?" Maialin decided to ask, still seeking information on who Vahlahn really was.

"There's no time for idle chatter." Vahlahn dismissed her question with a wave of his hand. "We need to get prepared."

"I think there was a cave back there!" Leine suggested. "If we put out the last of the fire, and get in the cave, they should march straight by."

"They've already seen the fire, I'm certain." Vahlahn told her. "But that's not a problem. Fires are common in these parts. The cave will provide shelter-" He paused. "-If we were running."

"Wait. What are you saying?" Maialin asked curiously.

"No more running." He smiled slightly. "We fight!"

"Fight?" Leine screamed. "What can we do against them? They're an invasion force!"

"Yeah, there's only two of us. We can't do anything against that many." Maialin found herself agreeing with Leine, but apparently making some mistake.

"There's three of us, Maia." Leine pointed out.

"Oh, I meant 'two who can fight'." She said with a mocking grin towards Leine. Leine folded her arms and muttered something angrily.

"The Charr are powerful, but only if we allow them to get close." Vahlahn explained. "Leine? Can you cast Chaos Storm?"

"Urm, yes." She answered. "I mean, I've never tried, but somebody in Pikken Square showed me how." She paused. "But that's not going to work! It can only hit three targets at best, it's a tiny area, and they'd have to be right next to each other. Not to mention it'll only sting the Charr, not kill them!"

"Leave that to me." Smiled Vahlahn smugly. "Maialin, we need you to work on the corpses."

"What corpses?" Maialin asked in confusion.

"After Leine's first attack, they'll be plenty." Vahlahn assured, confusing both Leine and Maialin. "Resurrect them into your own bone horrors."

"Oh, gross!" Leine exclaimed. "I hate it when she does that!"

"This has to be done." Vahlahn explained with a slight sigh. "From there, the bone horrors will engage the Charr. While they're distracted, I'll rain fire down on them." He smiled slightly at the irony. "We should then be able to mop up any survivors easily."

"Why don't we just run?" Leine whimpered.

"The Charr are hungry for a victory. If they find any evidence of us existing, footprints in the ash, for example, they will hunt us down." Vahlahn gave in answer. "We have to fight. And we will win."

The Charr commander came to halt. He snarled slightly as he looked down. Footprints. Three sets. Fire in the distance, too weak to be created by one of the Charr altars. He paused, and let out a snarl to his group. Humans nearby, in their own territory. Angry at being repelled, this was a perfect opportunity for revenge. An opportunity to strike back against the pathetic humans. The fire was dwindling, they may not be there. But it was the place to start. He motioned for his comrades to follow him, and began to journey towards the smoke. They followed, letting out excited growls. The day would not be a failure, after all.

"Chaos Storm!" Came a nervous squeak from a hill. The Charr looked up curiously as a small purple storm appeared in the middle of them, lashing at one and hurting him slightly until he moved out of the way. The Charr group looked up to see a woman in green stood, shaking nervously. They smiled. This was the best the humans had to offer? A figure came up beside her. A different figure, dressed in grey clothes with-

No. It couldn't be him. Could it? The Charr let out frightened whispers to each other, but it was too late. Vahlahn's face became a smile, and with a flick of his wrist a mighty whirlwind formed in the centre of the group, the Chaos Storm becoming magnified by the whirlwind, growing to an incredible size as a whirling purple burst of energy caught up in the wind. It lashed and tore through the Charr as it spun, sending them flying through the air by its tremendous force and ripping into their flesh with its energy. Leine's mouth hung open in shock and Vahlahn smirked.

"Didn't know you had it in you, huh Leine?" He joked casually. Leine just looked at him in awe. The now mighty purple storm faded, leaving ripped apart Charr in its wake. Several survivors had made it to the outside of the powerful attack, and were now ready to charge. "Maia! Now!" Maialin ran to his side, and started casting spells quickly. The Charr stopped at the sickly sound of bone and flesh being reconstructed, and turned as one by one their dead comrades rose. The fleshy creatures limped oddly, before picking up into a scurry and attacking the Charr. The Charr began to fight back. The bone horrors were no match for fully trained Charr, but the attack was such a surprise that they were panicked, confused. And with him overlooking them, they were afraid. The Charr, the mighty beasts that towered over humans, the horrific monsters that tore through Ascalon leaving only corpses and ash, the army that had almost destroyed mankind in this part of the world, were afraid. Frightened. And for good reason.

Vahlahn was hovering in the air, his eyes burning with flames. He lifted his arms in the air, and from the sky fire rocketed down. It was a common elementalist spell; Fire Storm, but it seemed more powerful than normal. It crashed down, burning into the Charr and setting them alight. They squealed and roared, retreating as they burnt. Vahlahn landed with an evil chuckle before pulling his arm back and sending out a bolt of lightning, striking down one of the burning Charr. He fired another one, hitting yet another Charr. Maialin and Leine watched in awe as he tore apart the Charr invasion force, no match for his powerful magic. They would have cast something, but there was no point. The Charr scattered and retreated, howling in uncharacteristic panic. Leine didn't think that Charr were even capable of being afraid, but right now it was clear. They ran, they screamed, and they died, all at the hands of Vahlahn.

A roar from behind made Leine jump, emitting a small shriek. Maialin spun around to see one of the Charr had successfully snuck up behind the group. She quickly began to cast a spell to steal its life energy while Leine shook uselessly in fear.

"Do something!" Maialin snapped. Leine nodded, and quickly cast empathy on the beast. The Charr swung its tribal blade down at Maialin, who dove and rolled to the side. She brought up her staff as it slashed, but the hit carried such strength her staff clattered away. Unarmed, Maialin looked up, beginning to feel fear grip her. The Charr roared, enjoying watching her cower. Leine ran, hitting it with her staff.

"Leave her alone!" She snapped, but couldn't hit hard enough to so much as distract the Charr. She frowned, and stepped back, quickly casting Chaos Storm on the creature. The small purple storm lashed up, slicing into the Charr. This was enough to cause it to turn around, and face Leine. Of course, having now distracted it from Maialin, she had to handle it, and knew she couldn't. She stumbled back in fear, before tripping over a rock and landing painfully. The Charr now advanced on her, but was blast to the back by energy from Maialin's staff. The monster's face turned to grim resolve, it would refuse to change target again. It knew getting trapped between the two could doom it, so it decided to finish off Leine first, then target Maialin.

It never got the chance. Vahlahn, now satisfied with his work against the bulk of the Charr, had noticed the battle taking place behind him. As soon as Vahlahn turned, the Charr sensed it, and ran, leaving Leine and Maialin behind. Maialin placed her staff on her back, and Vahlahn sighed, obviously magically drained. Leine was still shaking on the ground, obviously frightened.

"That was a little close." Maialin panted.

"It was under control." Vahlahn reassured.
"Care to explain why yet another Charr ran away from you?" Maialin asked, helping Leine to her feet. "And why you're so powerful?"

"You deserve part of an explanation, Maialin, so I'll give you that. A part." He said sternly, looking into her eyes. "I'm Ambassador Vahlahn Ote, of the Kingdom of Ascalon."

"Ambassador?" Leine repeated, still shaking.

"Yes. Ambassador. To the Charr." He stated. Leine and Maialin traded shocked glances.

"What?" Maialin asked in total disbelief.

"Before the Searing, during the height of the Guild Wars, we became aware of the Charr and the possibility they'd use our own war as the perfect time to attack." Vahlahn explained.

"We?" Maialin picked up on.

"Yes. Myself and a close friend." Vahlahn explained. "We took it upon ourselves to negotiate with the Charr, to stop the war. And soon we did. We learnt their language, they learnt ours, all was good. It seemed we could keep the peace."

"But you didn't." Maialin observed.

"No." Vahlahn stated. "Arziel and I became close friends shortly after I met her, and I stayed in the city more often with her, thinking that peace with the Charr would last." Vahlahn paused. "I was wrong."

"What about your friend?" Leine asked.

"He spent time with the Charr, more than he did with me." Vahlahn sighed. "But his influence wasn't enough. They betrayed and murdered him, just before beginning the assault on Ascalon."

"How do you know that?" Maialin questioned, still sounding suspicious.

"The day of the Searing wasn't an ordinary day, I became aware that the Charr were up to something. I went out to investigate, with Arziel. We saw what the Charr did to him, I tried to save him, but failed. I fought the Charr, but couldn't defeat them. Arziel and I became cut off." He sighed. "By the time we managed to meet up again, the Charr had begun the Searing. The sky burnt and the fires fell. There was nothing we could do but run from their wrath. We never managed to return to Ascalon again, but we escaped with our lives."

"You were out fighting as the Searing happened?" Leine questioned in awe.

"Look around you Vahlahn! Look at it happening right now! It's over! It's ended! The end of the human world by my hand!"

"Yes. Yes I was." Vahlahn said quietly. "That is who I am. That is what happened."

"Why are you so powerful, then?" Leine asked while Maialin contemplated what he had told her.

"Experience." He stated. "I've been through a lot, and seen everything. When I was younger, and bolder, I fought in the Guild Wars. After that, I fought just about everything, keeping the safety of Ascalon. We were both powerful magicians, us Ambassadors, which is why we knew we could do the job. I was the elementalist, obviously, and he was a necromancer." Vahlahn smiled. "Maialin, you once asked me what the other profession I had studied was. It was necromancer. I learnt everything I know from the friend the Charr betrayed." He sighed. "Hopefully now you realise why I don't like talking about it."

"Sorry." Maialin said quietly.

"It's okay. You deserve to know." He replied. "The Charr are afraid of me because they saw what I could do on the day of the Searing. I almost stopped it. They remember me from when I was an Ambassador, and they remember the power I showed. It frightens them." He laughed slightly. "I'm one of only two humans who ever could have." Leine and Maialin fell awkwardly silent. "Come on, we need to get moving." He decided, trying to change the mood that hung over the party.

"It's still the middle of the night." Leine moaned.

"Perhaps." Vahlahn smirked slightly. "But there will be no more Charr around. We can cover some ground without constant worry of attack. And you can't tell me that doesn't sound appealing." Leine yawned.

"Fine." She muttered. "But I want a nice long peaceful night's sleep in the tent afterwards."

"Okay." Vahlahn smiled. "You've got a deal. Now let's go gather up what we can from the tent and get moving." Vahlahn began to walk away. Leine followed, but Maialin stood still for a moment. She couldn't help feeling that there was something Vahlahn had left out from his story, but she had no idea what it was.

She sighed. There was nothing she could do. She followed with a shake of her head.

Other Author's Note: Just a point, that's most of Vahlahn's back story revealed, and I am aware the fact that he may not be telling the entire truth is fairly clear, and it's probably very predictable what happened with the flashback text from the last chapter (and anybody who's aware of the same theme I keep repeating in my writing, I'm crap like that). However, there is one plot twist there that you won't know! (Except Vahlahn, who I kinda told, sorry about that!). Or at least, only guess by luck!

Oh, and a note on an older review. Zin mentioned bible stories with Vahlahn parting the Charr. He's thinking of Moses parting the river, and yes, I thought that too. Was tempted to describe it 'like Moses parting the river', but released that there are no bible stories in the world of Guild Wars! But at least I wasn't the only one thinking that.