Eldric Shadowchaser

'Shit,' Nissa said. 'This isn't ideal.'

In truth, it was far from ideal—following a month of storms, pirates, and the insufferable societal proceeds of Yi-Ti, the stone entrance of Yi Ti's Tomb of Heroes being cracked open and absent of the one person they'd hoped to find was slightly more than "not ideal."

Shit.

Eldric sat on the boulder nearest to the entrance, the unconscious guards at his feet. By now, it had been a few moons since he'd returned, and if Yin-Tar was able to break out of the tomb in time to stave off starvation, Eldric and Nissa had essentially lost their only lead.

Nissa crouched down next to him. 'What now?'

He sighed and looked toward the rising sun. 'I…I don't know. I suppose I'd pinned all my hopes on this, and now that it's failed to pan out it would seem that we're fucked. Utterly, completely fucked.' He shot her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Eldric may have been many things, but an optimist certainly wasn't one of them. 'I don't suppose you have any ideas?'

'As a matter of fact, I do. A fact you would have known if you'd decided to ask me at any point over the last moon or so,' she responded, her snarky tone jarring against the smirk she was trying to stifle. 'If we know one thing about Yin, it's the fact that if there's any distraction, and kind of fun or entertainment, duty will go straight out the window.'

Eldric simply stared. 'Go on.'

'And then, I was thinking, if there's one thing we know about Yi Ti, it's that that they're so far up their own arse in terms of tradition that if they even have an inkling that someone is important historically, they won't hesitate to shower them with everything the YiTish empire has to offer.'

Realisation dawned on Eldric. 'Of course. Rather than scouring every brothel, tavern, and fighting pit in Yin, we only need look at the exclusive establishments, for aristocrats and such. We'll have to pose as nobility until we find Yin, I suppose.'

Nissa laughed. 'Y-you think that you'd pass as a noble?' She doubled over, her cackling ringing around the valley. 'If that were the case, you should have asked the red priests for clothing other than leathers and an eight-thousand-year-old set of armour.'

'What's wrong with my armour? I'll have you know this saw me through the Long Night.' He looked down. Sure, it may not be the height of modern fashion, but as suits of armour went it really was something special.

'Not to mention,' Nissa continued, 'you don't exactly have the manners to fit into high society.'

Any counter argument from Eldric may have held more weight were he not about to throw a large rock at the entrance to the tomb. He hastily dropped the stone, his face contorting slightly into one of offence. 'My apologies, princess. This common street urchin offers his deepest regrets for claiming to be on the same level as Princess Nissa, daughter of the great king Megor Medai. I beg you, your highness, accept my head by way of apology.'

She smacked him round the back of the head. 'Don't be an idiot, Eldric. You know I didn't mean it like that. It's just…you know what the YiTish are like. You'd be the first to admit you don't have a clue as to how to act in high society. I'll pose as the noblewoman, and you can be my bodyguard. It's a win-win—it'll get us closer to Yin, I won't draw too much attention to us, and you can be as surly as you please, with the opportunity to break a few noses in the meantime.' She gave him a smile, which he reciprocated.

So there they were after three days of trawling through various establishments, slowly getting closer to the heart of Yin, crossing into the threshold of the Jasmine Dragon, an upper-class tea-shop that appeared to descend further into depravity the further it was from the entrance—by the door, a young couple sipped demurely from porcelain cups under the watchful eyes of their chaperone; in the darkest corner, a group of men laughed raucously as one of them slammed down a hand of cards, taking a swig from an opaque bottle as they did so. All, however, had one thing in common: the expensive silks that adorned their bodies, and the soft flesh of their hands showing they'd never done a day's work in their lives.

In short, Eldric had never felt more out of place.

Still, all those in the room had been raised well enough that not a single head turned as they entered, save for a portly man that rushed over to them, clearly thrilled at the prospect of increased trade and apparently unconcerned with the presence of foreigners in his establishment.

'Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, the finest tea-shop in Yin—no, in the entirety of the Golden Empire. Allow me to show you to a tab—'

'We're here on business, sir,' Nissa interrupted, her YiTish impeccable and her tone haughty. Had he not known her for many years by now, Eldric surely would've thought her to be the shallow royal he'd met all that time ago in the court of King Megor. 'I am willing to offer the weight of your head in gold in exchange for any information regarding the recent destruction of the Tomb of Heroes.'

Whilst the gold they'd been gifted by the red priests was still plentiful, they were by no means as rich as Nissa claimed them to be, and the man in all likelihood would be going home disappointed when they could not give the stipend they'd promised. Still, she was convincing enough, with a broad grin spreading across his face.

He beckoned to Nissa as he walked toward the back of the shop, unlocking a green door and stepping through it. 'Come with me so we might speak more…privately.' His voice quivered slightly as his gaze met Eldric's, giving him an inkling of just who he wanted privacy from.

'My bodyguard stays with me,' Nissa replied, taking a seat. 'Now, you said you had news about the, uh…the tomb?' her voice was now barely a murmur—no matter where in the world she was, she knew that the walls would always have eyes and ears.

'You are in luck, noble mistress, for I have had the pleasure of serving the god-prince Akira and his retinue barely a moon ago!' he said in a hushed whisper, clearly excited by his news. 'Any such occasion would be a great honour, but this was different—the prince was acting in deference to another, a hooded figure who did not speak.'

Yes, Eldric thought. We've got you now, you jammy little bastard.

'Do you know where they went after they left?' Nissa asked, smiling at the man who was becoming redder with every moment.

'To the prince's manse, of course. All the city knows it—a lavish ball is held once every moon, with drinks and merriment for all those invited, all in honour of his guest. To get an invitation, however…' The man's voice trailed off, clearly concerned about anything that might jeopardise the influx of money he was hoping for.

Shit. This certainly wasn't ideal—Eldric himself hated all kinds of social functions, having—as Nissa had once put it—all the grace of a boar, with none of the sharpness of its tusks. 'When,' he grunted in his coarse YiTish. Whilst fluent, he could by no means blend in as a native, and as such only spoke when strictly necessary. 'When is the party?'

The proprietor of the tea shop glanced at him briefly before once again focusing on Nissa. 'Tonight, my lady! Although,' he said, his face becoming somewhat crestfallen, 'it is by invitation only. And invitations are, well, hard to come by—purely at the prince's behest, you see.'

'That won't be a problem,' Nissa said. 'I have my…ways. It'll be like that Durrandon lord all those years ago, Eldric. We'll be in before the party's even in full swing.'

Eldric simply nodded. Few men could ever resist Nissa's charms, and he doubted that even all the millennia they'd been gone could change that. It was a sound plan, through and through.

'I, uh…' the man interrupted. 'If you mean what I think you mean about your, um, ways…you may not be as successful as you might think.'

'And why would that be?' Nissa asked.

'Well, you see…the prince is…well, he's—'

The Shadow Princess

'I bloody hate this.'

Having spent the last hour in a YiTish tailor and the hour before that in a local bathhouse, Eldric had—at least, as far as Nissa was concerned—never looked better. His hair was pomaded and his usual armour had been traded for silks and fine leathers, and his spear was, for once, not within an arm's reach.

In short, he'd never been less content.

'Stop whining, Eldric. By, R'hllor, you wouldn't have lasted a minute with my governess if you'd put up this much of a fuss. Now, do you know the plan.'

He continued to grumble, but the grumbling sounded vaguely like "seduce the prince", so Nissa was satisfied.

The proprietor of the Jasmine Dragon had been surprisingly insightful, having catered one of the parties before. He told them of the party stretching through the grounds, of the guards and their patterns of the drunken guests with their exotic tastes. He'd also told them, luckily, of the prince's inner circle-which Yin would surely be inhabiting—and of the prince's tastes: tall, dark, handsome, and—most importantly—male; a list which Eldric checked through and through.

So there they were, having bypassed the outermost security of the prince's palace—which was clearly designed for drunken partygoers as opposed to trained warriors—and stood amongst the throng, looking around for their target. The stairs were all guarded, Nissa could see, with no-one but weaselly-looking men and oiled-up young companions getting past them. That must be where the prince was.

'Eldric,' she said softly, nodding toward the entrance.

'Not a bloody chance,' he said.

Five minutes later he stood ready, stripped to his underclothes with a thick sheen of oil covering him, his glare filled with fury and his fists clenched. 'I swear to R'hllor, he muttered, 'I am going to smack Yin so hard for making me do this.'

'Again, stop acting like a child. It's almost as though you've never had to sacrifice your dignity to seduce someone for the good of many.'

'I…I haven't?'

'No? Welcome to the club. Don't forget to smile.' With that, she began to walk toward the steps with Eldric trailing in her wake. Her face was all business now, all the seductive charm she'd used with the tea merchant vanished; in its place was steely determination. 'I have the prince's…guest,' she said as they reached the guards.

The taller of the two gave Eldric a once-over. 'You're late.'

'There was a mix-up. We could not have come any sooner. I'm sure the prince is waiting for us—might we pass?' Nissa said.

The two men murmured to each other for a moment before looking back to them. 'You may. But I've got my eye on you. On both of you.' Their quarterstaffs moved out of the way, and they were at last allowed access to the stairs, and hopefully with that Yin-Tar.

The stairs wound around a column, eerily like a snake slithering up a tree, gilded and resplendent on the torches lighting up the dusk. Two more guards stood at the top, uniform in their mannerisms, the quarterstaffs of those below replaced with deadly-looking swords, single edges honed to a deadly point.

And then they saw him. Or rather, he saw them.

Not Yin. No, Yin Tar was still nowhere to be seen, but the young man rapidly approaching Eldric with awe in his eyes must have been—based on the fine quality of his clothes and the sheer size of his retinue—that Prince Akira that everyone seemed to be going on about. He said nothing, merely trailing a finger down from Eldric's collarbone down to his navel, not removing his eyes from the uncomfortable face of Eldric (who was no doubt wishing that he had his spear handy).

'What do we have here?' the prince whispered, his elocution impeccable and his voice noble. 'You will entertain me. Please me. And then we can see to you getting rewarded.' A small smile was playing at his lips, confidence oozing from him as he was clearly in a position he'd been in a thousand times before.

'No.'

At this denial, the smile vanished.

'Eldric,' Nissa hissed. 'Just what in the name of R'hllor do you think you're doing?'

'The whore asked a question, and I am inclined to see an answer,' the prince continued. 'You dare to say no to your prince?'

'You are not my prince,' Eldric shot back, his tall stature suddenly more evident in the way he seemed to tower over the prince.

A look of fury seemed to take over the prince as his nostrils flared and his brows furrowed. 'Guards! Bring me this man's head!'

Within moments they were surrounded, the razor sharp swords Nissa had noticed barely minutes earlier pointed at their throats. Eldric lifted his fists, a smirk crossing his face at the vanishing of any pretence of high society.

'Come and get me, fuckers!' he spat in his coarse YiTish, prompting each guard to take a step forward.

'Don't, my prince! He's not worth it!' A voice rang out from the crowd, and Nissa was stunned to see the face of Yin Tar as they pushed through the throng and whispered something in the ear of the Prince.

By R'hllor, Nissa thought. That's a face I haven't seen in thousands of years

'You know this man?' the prince asked, his face incredulous at the interruption of his illustrious guest.

'I do,' Yin-Tar said, a tried smile spreading across her face. 'They…well, I suppose I'd call them old friends.'

The Third Companion

When Yin had awoken that morning, the last thing she'd have expected to see before the sun went down was, in all honestly, her old friends whoring each other out in the palace of a YiTish prince.

Then again, she'd seen far stranger things—usually at the hands of the same two people—so she wasn't particularly surprised. Still, she'd been halfway through a delicious goblet of premium rice-wine when the commotion began and its abandonment still stung.

'I suppose you think this is funny, don't you?' Eldric grumbled from his seat on the floor, the hunk of raw meat pressed firmly against the spread of purple on his cheekbone. He was clothed now, still in the same suit of dingy armour he'd worn during the Long Night, but Yin still couldn't get the image of him undressed and oiled-up out of her head. Despite her own reservations about men as a whole, she wasn't surprised that he'd immediately drawn the attention of the prince.

'As it happens, Ric, I do,' she shot back, a smug grin clashing with his grimace. 'You made quite the gigolo. And you as a madame, Niss. Honestly, it was truly excellent!' She blew a kiss into the air, legitimately impressed with the air of import and exclusivity that Nissa had exuded whilst undercover. That was also more evident at the present moment as well, with her old friend sat on an ornate chair, sipping tea from a porcelain cup. Then again, she hadn't been smacked in the face with the butt of a sword, so it was hardly surprising that Nissa was doing a far sight better than Eldric. After all, even if you were a friend of the prince's guest, you could not simply talk back to his highness without expecting some kind of retribution.

'Thank you, darling,' Nissa replied. 'So, Yin, what have you been up to over the past few moons?'

Yin yawned. 'Not much really. A guard spotted me breaking out of the tomb and took me to the prince immediately—they have this prophecy, you see, about a hero or some such that returns from the dead or something. I suppose they wanted to make sure that the prince was nearby when the heroism happened, so I've been stuck at his side since. It's been easy enough, but by R'hllor it's been boring.'

A nearby attendant almost choked at Yin's mention of the Red God, given her YiTish look and accent—after all, few from the Azure Empire would ever consider even questioning the legitimacy of the Lion of Night or the Church of Starry Wisdom, let alone to swear by another deity entirely. Combined with the slight against the prince, it was a wonder that the attendant hadn't collapsed.

'So you've just been here…waiting?' Eldric asked.

'Yes.'

'For what?'

'Well, given the things that Az and Bran had been planning back in the Northerlands before we all went belly up, I assumed that I wouldn't be the only one to return. And it would seem that I was right. Is it just you two?'

'It is,' Nissa replied. ''We're off to Leng next to find Hyrkoon, if you fancy it?'

Yin took a moment to think. Sure, it was boring here, but it was safe. There were no daggers in the night, no ice demons, no scrounging for food all day whilst going to bed hungry, just to do it all again the next day. She was an important guest of the prince, and in all likelihood she could live out the rest of her life in luxury and die in a soft bed, fat and old without working a day in her life.

'Of course I'm in. You really think I'd stay here?'

'Not for a moment,' Nissa said, smiling.

'Do you…do you know anything about Azor?'

'Come on Yin, you know Az,' Eldric said, placing a hand onto her own and shooting her a reassuring smile. 'He's always done his own thing, and chances are he'll show up exactly when he's needed with absolutely no explanation. Any attempt to figure out how that bloody mind works will simply leave us further from the truth.'

'I suppose you're right, Ric,' Yin replied. 'So, shall we?' She placed her hands on her knees and pulled herself up. They strode toward the entrance, only to find their path blocked by two guards. The door swung open and the prince stepped through, flanked by three soldiers around each shoulder.

'So, this is how it's to be?' he spat, his gaze practically burning a hole in Yin. 'I treat you as an honoured guest, showering with every delight the empire has to offer and every entertainment under the skies, and you betray me like this? I planned to make you my wife!'

'You…did? R'hllor, this is, um, awkward. Honestly, your highness, I meant no such betrayal. But be truthful with yourself, do you really think you'd have been happy with me? You know, with your…tastes?' She inclined her head to the rising figure of Eldric, an uncomfortable smile flashing across his face as he slowly reached toward his spear.

At the mention of his preferences, however, the prince's face turned a furious red, his brows furrowing and his jaw dropping as he was filled with an all-encompassing rage. 'K-kill them!' he screeched.

As the guards charged and the attendants fell to the floor covering their heads, the three present members of the Last Heroes simply smirked at each other. After all, three-on-one wasn't particularly bad odds, and they had work to do.

'So, where to now?' Yin asked, running up the gangplank of a decent sized fishing vessel. It was by no means the respectable boat they'd left Asshai in, but as of the moment beggars most definitely could not be choosers. 'Leng, I think you said?'

'Yes, for Hyrkoon. Eldric, untie the ropes, would you? I think it would be best for all of us if we could get out of her as soon as possible.'

'Yes, princess,' Eldric grumbled, giving a swift kick to the closest guard before swinging his spear in a broad arc, slicing through the rigging ropes. As the boat began to bob away, they felt more hopeful than they had in a long time.

'At least we won't have to deal with any more of that royalty nonsense,' Eldric said as soon as the coastline had drifted out of sight. 'Knowing Hyrkoon, he'll be as far from civilisation as possible.'

'You're not wrong. Captain!' Yin shouted to Nissa. 'Direct us to the hear of the Lengii jungle. I…I have an inkling that I know exactly where our old friend is going to be.'

A/N: Another chapter done! I know the update isn't quite as speedy as they used to be, but still: baby steps. As always, feel free to follow, favpurite, and review, and a massive thanks to those who have already done so.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, with some of the heroes of the original Long Night making their return-next chapet will return to Westeros, so that's something to look forward to, I suppose (?).

Hope you're all staying safe in these pure shite times,

-Kinginthenorth1 xox

ficreader2011: As to his true identity, you'll have to wait and see, but cheers-it's great to be back!

Force Smuggler: To be honest I've been shitting myself at the prospect of adding Dany to mix given her importance as a character, but hopefully I can do it justice. As for 'Aegon', you'll have to wait and see.

Mister Laguardia: You're not wrong, but since when have people only pressed their claims at intelligent and sensible times in ASOIAF?

Kingmanaena: Cheers, will update as soon as I can.

alexaguamenti: Thank you! Really glad you're enjoying it.

The Jingo: Cheers!

Lord Maurya: Thank you!