Chapter Seven

Once they were in Kryta, Selena looked over the green forests and frowned. The two Kurzicks also frowned as they looked at her swollen belly. A few months had passed since she had been stolen from Ascalon and they were long enough away to now see that before leaving Ascalon she was again to be a mother. Rurik should be pleased, she mused although worry again sank onto her thoughts. Now what? The White Mantle will steal the child and kill me… will Rurik's child now be his enemy?

She lowered her head and sighed. The elder Kurzick looked over and then looked at his colleague who could only shrug as he asked in his own language something she was obviously not meant to hear. The elder frowned, but nodded his agreement. "My lady Ambassador," he said thoughtfully, as if considering each word carefully. "Before we are to turn you over to our contract holder, we wish to take you before the House Elder, the Count of House zu Heltzer. It… may change things if you will but act the Ambassador for a while longer yet."

She blinked in surprise. "Of course. It would be an honor."

The next time he opened his eyes he was standing in New Ascalon and, strangely, he knew that this time he was simply observing as a ghost would.

He walked around, slightly lost at first, until finally he saw Selena as she walked from the keep on the hill with Salamar in arms. An even odder sensation was watching his own vanguard carry his unconscious form down the path in a litter. Selena opened the door to the house and held it as they disappeared inside.

"Funny feeling, isn't it?" asked the Shadow. "Being dead, that is."

"I'm not dead," he answered.

"But you were and so you know the feeling, and are familiar with it. Now you live again and I remain dead," answered the Shadow. "But that is all right. I am not angry."

It almost sounded like the Shadow chuckled.

"What is the point of this?" asked Rurik.

"The point is to show you that you have strength even if you don't see it. You have been raised to believe that you must be the strong one alone and not to accept help from outside sources. This—and nothing else—was your downfall in the first place, Rurik," explained the Shadow. "And it will continue to be your one glaring fault, as well as your best feature. This is your double-edged sword and it gives you balance if you would know it for what it is. But, alas, you see it simply as an advantage and ignore the fault."

Rurik looked at the Shadow, "How is it that you know so much about me?"

The Shadow coalesced into a definite form. Rurik sucked in a breath and he felt the tears begin to fall. "Althea…"

It was a long hard road to recovery, one would say. And so it was with even Akruan Soulblesser. As it was, recovering was the farthest from his mind once he heard about the events unfolding in Ascalon and the palace city of Rin. He lay there in bed as the ranger, Terrence La Rune, relayed the latest, "And so they say Arya betrayed the King. They are holding her. What's your take on this?"

"Arya would not betray King Rurik," maintained Akruan. "It's absurd. I'm sure it's just a big misunderstanding."

He tried to sit up but gasped in pain as he fell back into his bed, clutching his ribs. "Terrence, I need to ask something of you."

"Anything," said Terrence, nodding, suddenly concerned.

"In the fight, and flight, from the Guild Hall I was mortally wounded. The dwarves have take care of me the best they could, but it won't matter soon," Akruan gritted his teeth.

"Can't you heal yourself?" asked Terrence in confusion. "You are a monk…"

"I'm a boon and protect monk, not a healer. I don't have the same skills as others who have specialized in Healing all their lives," Akruan saw Terrence open his mouth again, about to ask another confused question. "Oh sure, the occasional bruise or cuts I can heal. They're simple and usually on the surface. But this… this is inside. I can feel it. The dwarves have very little in the way of healing as all their healers were sent to the front lines with the war with the Stone Summit. I need you to find Arya, find out the truth… and take care of her for me."

Terrence's eyes opened wide in surprise as he began to shake his head, "Me? No way, Akruan. She doesn't need my help."

"Yes, she does. She's…" Akruan stopped for a moment. "She won't take the fact that half her guild was killed in one fell swoop in the main battle, and then another half of those died on the way to survive. No, out of the two hundred strong we had that were active, we have been cut down to a mere thirty or so survivors. She will need your support, and that of those who have survived. I need you to do what I cannot."

Terrence thought for a moment. "I swear I will do what you ask of me."

Akruan nodded.

Siuil La Rune walked into the port city of Lion's Arch with a sigh as Sadsa Asd followed behind him with Alesia Baptiste, Stefan and Little Thom. So much had changed as more refugees, this time from the mysterious continent of Cantha, had begun to populate Northern Kryta.

However, these refugees had brought with them their war and now they had two factions, the Luxons and the Kurzicks, who were constantly fighting over the new territory. Unfortunately, Little Thom had discovered a grisly problem as the Ascalons in the Settlement not too far from either camp who had been part of the soldiering population had become sell swords and had taken part in a all out faction war in Kryta by selling out to the highest bidder on either side.

The Lion guard had been rightfully angered by this and had told Captain Greywind that he either find a way to solve this new problem or that all three groups of refugees could go back to where they came from. Even Queen Salma was angered.

And so Duke Siuil, a newly minted noble thanks to his eldest daughter's marriage to King Rurik, had been called in to both smooth over the strained relations between Ascalon and Kryta.

After all no one wanted another war between Ascalon and Kryta and so Rurik had sent Siuil and Sadsa.

"Well, that was interesting," pointed out Sadsa. "Do you think either side will ever get over what they are fighting over?"

"I seriously doubt it," admitted Siuil.

A Lionguard came running over and saluted them, "Duke Siuil La Rune, Lady Sadsa Asd, and companions, I have grave news."

"Let me guess, now there's bloodshed," said Little Thom.

"No, actually, Queen Salma is sending the Luxons and Kurzicks, as well as those who partook in the Faction Battles in the Northern Kryta, back to Cantha," said the Lionguard, as he pulled a scroll out of his tunic. "No, this is by far directly affecting you. Ahem… it reads… 'Duke Siuil La Rune, your presence is immediately required back in Rin. The king is deathly ill and the new Queen has gone missing'…"

He looked up in concern. "Are you all right?"

"That new Queen is his daughter," answered Sadsa gravely. "And, until I was called here I was one of her handmaidens and bodyguards."

The Lionguard compressed his lips into a thin line and pointed out, "There is more—the whole reason the King is ill. Evidently your former Guild Leader may have betrayed you all by exposing him to whatever it was that made him ill. He now fights for his life in Rin."

"That's the last thing we need," Little Thom pointed out. "Great. Just great. Now what do we do, your Grace?"

Siuil thought for a moment, "And my daughter?"

"Well, considering a Kurzick assassin was killed while trying to assassinate King Rurik at the time the Queen went missing, you can well guess the implications…" the Lion guard trailed off as Siuil flushed an angry red. "I know. It would appear that they are an insidious bunch, aren't they?"

"How long ago?"

"Well, let's see," the Lionguard read the letter again. "Dated just a few weeks ago. If those Kurzicks make good time and haven't been caught yet they would be on a river barge to Amnoon Oasis. From there they could catch a ship back to Cantha, but it will be a few weeks until they can get to the Oasis."

"Then we head that way and cut them off," said Little Thom.

"No, there is still a pirate's town to the North, where the river mouth is still in Kryta and across the river to the ruined Orr," Siuil pointed out. "Mind you, the undead could have over run it, but I don't think so. We should send two ships. One to where this pirate port is and the other to the Oasis to cut them off."

"Agreed," said the Lionguard. "Her majesty, Queen Salma, suspected you would come to that conclusion and has lent you two warships to take to either location. Given the piracy that runs in that area, she thought it would be a smart idea."

"Remind me to thank your Queen," smiled Siuil. "As usual, she thinks one step ahead of even me."

"Indeed," said the Lionguard. "The Gods speed your way, Duke Siuil La Rune. You'll need all the help you can get. Just in case they have decided not to take the sea route we will be waiting for them in the old Kurzick encampment with the help of your own people."

"Thank you!" yelled back Sadsa as she followed Siuil down to the docks.

When she caught up with him, she asked, "So, what do you think of this?"

"I don't like it. It's far to convenient to have everything happen at once," answered Siuil. "First, Selena is kidnapped, then Rurik falls ill. Too many coincidences. No, something is going on but I can't put my finger on it yet."

"Let's review what we know," Alesia stopped and, putting a finger on her chin as she thought about it once they were on board the ship. "First, at least two Kurzicks, maybe more, broke into the Palace City of Rin and kidnapped Selena, and then tried to kill Rurik. They planted a Charr carving and so knew about the war with the Charr and Ascalon. But why plant something like that if not to cause a war again? And what would they have to gain?"

Sadsa and Siuil looked at each other, and it was Siuil, who as he looked over to the empty town of D'Allessio Seaboard, said, "The White Mantle."

"Of course," agreed Reyna. "The Kurzicks were practically in their backdoor, and, fallen or not, they would still have the platinum to interest the Kurzicks in that contract. Kill the King and then bring his Queen as a trophy. Meanwhile, pin the blame on the Charr and cause a war all over again to bring shame."

Sadsa nodded, "Yeah, but we're going to prove that how?"

"We're going to capture the Kurzicks who took Selena and force it out of them," mused Little Thom. "Aren't we?"

"That would be it," Siuil lifted a brow. "But we have to find them first or we won't be able to. The Lionguard will execute them in the name of Queen Salma and ask questions later."

By now the dream, if that was what it indeed was, had turned into a frozen tableau of what Rin looked like. Green trees grew out of bare earth and were barely knee high but the Rangers of Ascalon were determined to make them grow. Lakes were actually beginning to look like lakes of blue again, although many were still toxic. It would take years, maybe generations to fully recover. But it was a start.

Now that war no longer took its toll, things could begin to recover.

Rurik looked behind him to the Shadow of Althea de Barradin. "You said that you could help me defeat the specter of Khilbron once and for all. How?"

"By making you let go."

"Let go?"

"Yes," the Shadow lost its definition as it moved around him to stand in front of him as it again took the form of Althea. "You hang on to him out of your guilt that you even allowed your soul to be bound to that undead body. You also hang on to my memory out of guilt because you feel that you let me die."

Rurik lowered his head. "Althea…"

A low laugh met him. "Rurik…"

He looked up into the one feature that he knew was hers, those blue eyes that now allowed him to see her as she had been in life. Reaching out he touched her hand and he grasped it. "I don't want to lose you."

"Ah, the indecision so out of character with you," she smiled. "But you must let me go. You are now married and have one son as handsome as you. Soon, you will have two daughters."

"Daughters?" his eyes widened as suddenly he was in the Shiverpeaks and he could see his beloved Selena in the company of two Kurzick men as they walked from one last snowy pass into warmer climes.

Soon, they exited the cave and he could see the sands of Kryta under their feet. But these details were as nothing compared to the now obviously swollen belly of Selena. He felt a strange feeling of his heart dropping in sorrow and fear, as well as the exultation that this time he would be there for the birth of this child. "Selena!" he called as he walked towards her.

She stopped as if she heard something, but the two men called her, one insistent although he could not hear any noise from the world she walked in.

It was at that moment Rurik realized the precarious position he was in. "I'm dying—I stand at the doorstep of the Rift and that of the living world," he murmured, and he turned to Althea in alarm. "But if I die then so does she…"

"Yes," Althea smiled sadly. "That was the price she paid for your life."

"I can't allow that."

"No, you can't," Althea stepped by him and the scene froze again as all he seen was Selena's profile in Kryta. "How much do you love her?"

"With everything I have," he answered.

"Then why do you hang on to me?"

"Because…" he blinked at looked down at his feet. "Because I love… I loved you as well with my whole being. I can't forget you or what you meant to me."

"But what was I to you?" she asked harshly. "We never even had much choice in the matter! The marriage was arranged by our fathers."

"That's not necessarily true," he whispered.

She blinked in surprise, "What was that?"

"I said that was not necessarily true, Althea," Rurik took a breath. "I chose you and asked for my father to arrange it. Then, once it was arranged… I always thought you wanted it for all it being arranged. It never occurred to me that Duke Barradin would simply tell you that you were to marry me and that would be that. I tried to court you… even went so far as to worry about finding that perfect gift…"

Her expression softened as she touched his face, "At first I hated you for that, you know. I had this crush on another man and he had been courting me. But once my father announced my betrothal to you that fell flat. But," she sighed, "You were so charming, so warm to me. I knew you liked me and that it wasn't just an arrangement by two fathers seeking to cement political power. It was you I thought of and felt nothing at the moment of my death. And it is for you that I still protect you now from the Rift."

He put his hand over hers as it rested on his cheek, and she kissed him chastely on the cheek and then whispered, "But you have to let me go. Remember what we were, yes, but you must be Selena's now or you will fail against what comes up against you in the battle for your soul. Allow me to help you one last time to fully bond with your wife's soul."

Selena turned, sure that she had heard name being called. Izumo turned to see her looking back, and noting the confused look on her face, asked, "What is it, Lady Ambassador?"

"I am sure it was nothing, but I thought I heard my name being called," she answered, knowing that with them, honesty was best if she wished to gain their trust.

"Interesting," said Ise. "I heard nothing. Perhaps it was the wind."

"Perhaps," she agreed noncommittally. "But I have heard no wind clearly call the name Selena…"

The dwarf was a surly barrel of a man, and he walked behind the tree and off the path as he could see plants bent over as if someone had walked through recently, although the prints had likely snowed over last night sometime. He looked up at the tree and sucked in a breath, "Great God of the Hammer!" he swore. "Ragnar, take a look at this."

Another dwarven ranger came around and looked up at the carved tree. "What do you make of that?" he asked.

Ragnar huffed, "Well, judging by the height it was done by a human hand. But the symbols are familiar. One moment… Hey… Minaar! C'mere and take a look at what Dagget found!"

A bit of grumbling later and Minaar looked up, and stopped in shock, "Glint's eyes and the beard of the Great Forger…"

"What is it?" asked Ragnar. "I think it's human."

"It is, by the Gods, it is," answered Minaar. "It's the sign of King Rurik's Vanguard on the top, and the old Keepers of the Shadow Empire guild crest below… and that, if I'm not mistaken, is the personal crest of the La Rune family beside that of the de Drascir family. Can you track the person who made these?"

"Aye, their path is not hard to follow, Minaar," answered the puzzled Ragnar, then his eyes widened in the realization at the same time as the other dwarf, Dagget, as they both swore, "By the Hammer…!"

"Yes, we just picked up the Queen of Ascalon's trail. Tell King Jalis to send a missive to Ascalon. We know where they are going and will pursue them ourselves," decided Minaar. "Go on, Dagget, you're the fastest runner of us all."

With a nod, Dagget took off running back up the mountain trail as Minaar turned to Ragnar. "Come on, we are two days behind them but they are not familiar with this territory, we can catch up to them through the passes."

Armin Saberlin turned as the Dwarven Ranger, now out of breath, ran into camp and, seeing him, ran straight over. Huffing as he was out of breath, "Sir, I will tell you first but then I am to find King Jalis and tell him. Two miles south by south west of here we found four symbols recently carved into a tree and a trail. Your Queen, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow, made it. If you show me your map I can mark it for you so you can find it and pick up Minaar and Ragnar's trail. They decided to go on and intercept the Queen's captors."

Warmaster Grast and Duke Gabin, who walked out during the last half of the dwarf's report watched as the dwarf ran off to find the King of the Dwarves. Gabin turned to Saberlin and Grast, "So… our King was right after all. She is still alive. This is good news."

"And the break we were waiting for," pointed out Master Saberlin. "I will organize a party of rangers. Aidan can give chase much faster than we can and will mark a trail. By your leave, your Grace."

Gabin nodded, "And tell him Gods speed. Bring Queen Selena back to us."