Jerold watched the Judgment Ring empty and the spectators leave. He knew the fight would be close between the mage and warlock. But Gavor had been smart enough to keep forcing the mage to use up his magical energies during the fight. It was just as Jerold had hoped. If the warlock couldn't beat him, then make him use up all of his magic at least. Now the elf couldn't portal them away right away. He waited until no one was within earshot before speaking quietly to Lara. "No one saw you leave or return during the fight. Did find his room?"

"Yes."

"Good." He then addressed Mason, the rogue they had hired in Undercity. "Were you successful in your endeavor?"

"I was. I found three who could be bought and told them what to do."

"Good. Go to Gavor and Balire, the priest. As soon as they are ready, implement the plan." Without another word, Lara and Mason turned and walked away.

…

Kirlothenin eased himself onto the bed and let himself relax. He was very tired, but still felt compelled to look at Adam with a smirk. "Was that good enough for you?"

The rogue grinned and shook his head. "Nah. You cut it too close. You should have just stabbed him from the get go."

"Then I wouldn't have been able to put on such a show and gotten all this praise." Kirlothenin grinned genuinely now. Then his smile faded a little as he looked at the three people in the room with him. A year ago he would never have thought he would be the father of a three-month-old baby, whose mother was a kaldorei. Nor would he have thought he would genuinely call her brother and a human friends. But as odd as it may seem, especially as both had wanted to beat him to a pulp when they first met, he truly did consider them friends.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Ugh! Jelune, we gotta do something about that ego of his!"

In an uncharacteristic show of amusement, Jelune raised a long eyebrow. Throwing Adam a sidelong glance, he asked, "Think we can take him now?"

"I dunno." Adam rubbed his chin "We'll have to disarm him, first. That sword arm of his is much more intimidating than his magic." Kirlothenin laughed.

"Okay. That's enough, you three." Ileeya eyed them. "Kir still needs some more healing and some rest. I'll meet you in Lord Aron's room when I'm done here."

Smiling, Jelune followed Adam to Lord Aron's room. The noble was sitting up now, holding Adorei. Kristie was telling him, Amy, and Dormir about the events of the morning and that they were free to go home as soon as Kirlothenin was rested enough.

Adam jumped in and began to go into more detail about the fight than Kristie had. Jelune saw Kristie frown a little at the talk of the fight and noticed her glance at Amy. She obviously didn't approve of his talking in detail about the fight in front of the child. "Amy? Are you hungry?" Kristie asked. The girl nodded. "Would you like to go with me to the dining hall for some food? Maybe we can bring something back for everyone else?"

Adam and Dormir nodded their heads, but Jelune saw Adam's brows furrow a little in concern. Jelune guessed the rogue didn't want them going off by themselves. "I'll go with you," Jelune offered. He wanted to give Adam the opportunity to talk to his father some more, now that they were on speaking terms again.

Adam gave Jelune a nod and the three left the room. Finding the dining room was easy. There were some staff coming and going and apparently, snack foods were left out for the various guests. They asked one of the people who worked there if it was okay to take the food or would they need to pay for it first. The servant said there was no charge for Ravenholdt's special guests, then offered to send some up to their rooms. Kristie thanked her and then chose some grapes for her and Amy to snack on for now.

Because Amy hadn't been outside yet today, they decided to stroll out around the garden that Kristie and Jelune had spotted earlier. It was a lovely garden with various vegetables, mushrooms and some fruits growing in it. It was cared for by Simone Cantrell, who called herself a landscape architect. They complimented her on the garden.

The three stepped up to what looked like a target area where the rogues practiced their aim with throwing knives. Master Kang was there with one of his students and upon seeing the group, he approached. "Excuse me, I believe I had seen you come in here with a pet," he addressed Jelune. "You are a hunter?"

Jelune nodded and the orc smiled. "I have a student who has asked how to use a bow. As we generally focus on throwing weapons here, we aren't experts with the bow and arrow. I was wondering, could give him a few tips?"

"I would be willing. Unfortunately, I have no weapons with me."

"I can give you a bow and a quiver of arrows as payment for your services. It is not of high quality. It's just an old bow left here by someone a long time ago."

The orc gave Jelune the bow and introduced the student. As Kristie and Amy watched, the hunter gave a quick lesson on how to string the bow, how to aim, and how to compensate for wind and distance when aiming. It was a very basic lesson, but probably the most important one. He let loose one arrow, hitting the target in the center. It felt good to hold a bow again.

As the lesson ended, one of Ravenholdt's rogues approached and introduced himself before saying, "Ms. Alexston. Lord Ravenholdt would like a word with you in his office."

"What does he want?" Kristie asked.

The rogue only shrugged. "I didn't ask."

Kristie looked at Amy and Jelune spoke up. "If you want, I'll return with Amy to your father's room." With a nod, he watched her walk off with Stavron before slinging the quiver and bow over his shoulder and taking Amy's hand.

By the time they had gotten to the base of the stairs that lead to their rooms, they had run into Mathias Shaw. "Where's Kristie?" he asked after mentioning he had seen them earlier at the shooting range.

"Ravenholdt wanted a word with her. She's being escorted by Stavron, one of his men, a human."

Shaw furrowed his brow in thought. "Wait. Stavron, you said?" At Jelune's nod, Shaw's frown deepened. He was about to ask if something was wrong when Mathias gave him a no-questions-asked command. "Take Amy quickly back to Baros. I'm going to go see what Ravenholdt wanted with Kristie."

By the time they had gotten upstairs, there was another of Ravenholdt's rogues standing in the hallway, talking to Adam.

"-venholdt has asked that you stay in your rooms until you are ready to leave. He doesn't trust the forsaken. I was asked to patrol this corridor."

Jelune narrowed his eyes. He should have known the forsaken wouldn't just give up. But it was good to see Ravenholdt stop being neutral and actually do something to help them out...even if it was almost too late. Kir should be rested soon and they can teleport back home.

Adam finally saw Jelune and Amy. "Where's Kristie?"

"Ravenholdt wanted a word with her. We ran into Shaw who said he was going to talk to them." Adam nodded his head with a look of relief in his face upon hearing Shaw was going to check on her. With that done, Jelune and Amy entered Baros' room where the senior and Maggie were playing a game with cards.

…

Ileeya had kept her eyes closed, forcing herself to concentrate on her healing spells on Kirlothenin. She had wanted to cast her spells on Kirlothenin while he was in the ring. A part of her had figured that her healing him was not allowed during the fight. She found it to be true when she had actually attempted it. The same barrier that had prevented errant spells from leaving the ring, also prevented her spells from entering it.

As she finished her healing spells, Ileeya felt Kirlothenin's hand take hers. Looking down, her silver eyes locked onto his green ones. She could feel her chest constrict a little and tried to will herself to look away from him, but she couldn't. All she could think about was how close he had come to death. "You scared me in that ring, Kir." Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

The mage propped himself up on an elbow, despite how tired he was. "Not much confidence in me, hm?" His hand brushed her cheek, leaving a warm, tingling sensation. She had to keep herself from leaning into his caress.

"That's the first time I've ever had to stand aside and watch you fight." Just about any other time he had fought in her presence, he had been either fighting her, or alongside her. She finally was able to look away, but his hand gently guided her head to look in his direction again.

"You were worried."

"Yes."

His voice was barely audible when he asked, "Why?"

Ileeya suddenly found it hard to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest as she searched for just why she had been worried. She cared about him. She knew that. But now... She was discovering that this caring she had felt for him had broken through to something more at some point the past few days. However, she found herself unable to speak the words that she knew he longed to hear. Her eyes lowered to his lips and on impulse, she moved forward and kissed him. This wasn't the gentle kiss they had shared the previous night. She felt her heart pour out into the embrace. If she couldn't say that she loved him with her voice, then she could let him know how she felt through the passion of her kiss.

She had no idea how long the kiss lasted, but finally had to pull back, out of breath. Her eyes searched his for his reaction. There was a tired smile on his face as he pulled her closer. "Mm... I think I'll go back in that ring."

She didn't expect him to say this. Her long eyebrows came together as she frowned in confusion. "Why?"

"Well, if you're going to kiss me like that after a fight in the ring..."

Ileeya felt her cheeks grow warm as she blushed, then smiled before he pulled her in again for another kiss. A minute later, she moved back and sighed. He had fallen asleep with a smile on his face. She covered him up with the blanket and stepped out of the room quietly. He needed his sleep. And she needed to check on her other patient.

...

A flash of light and the tell-tale sound of a magical portal in the room woke him. Kirlothenin wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but it must not have been very long, seeing as he didn't feel well rested. Opening his eyes, he quickly sat up, glaring at who was in his room. N'Lar- Lara. How did she get in here? "You're not welcome here, forsaken!" he growled out. He was still depleted of most of his magical energies. He stood up and his hand went for his sword, but it wasn't on him. It was on a table just out of reach.

"I'm not here to attack you, Kirlothenin." Lara raised her hands in a show of submissiveness.

Kirlothenin narrowed his eyes in distrust. "What do you want?"

"An exchange of information."

"No. Leave. Now."

Lara hesitated, then surprised Kirlothenin by kneeling in front of him. "I was wrong to leave you like I did. But, I didn't believe you when you said that I was your wife in life. But since then, I've had time to think about it and I realized that you were right. I- I do carry a dead baby within my womb."

Kirlothenin felt his head real at this revelation. His unborn son or daughter was here, not just N'Lar. Lara, he mentally corrected himself. And she was now admitting to being his former wife. He frowned. This woman, whoever she was, had betrayed him. He couldn't trust her. "What do you want, woman?"

"You are in danger. Jerold has plans...plans I can tell you about, but first..." She stood slowly. "First, I want a memory."

"A what?"

"A memory. If you were my husband in life, then you have many memories of me. I have no memories of who I was in life. You can mind link with me and share a memory or two with me." She paused, then as an afterthought said, "Please?"

"What are these plans that Jerold has?" Kirlothenin kept his voice hard and cold, but inside he knew he was mixed up emotionally. Thoughts of N'Lar as she once was resurfaced, and he could feel the pain of loss. At the same time, he knew N'Lar was standing before him. No. She wasn't N'Lar any longer. She was Lara, a forsaken mage. He couldn't trust her.

"I'll only tell you that it involves you, Ileeya, and your daughter. He wants to sell Adorei. I know how he plans to do it, but I'll tell you no more unless you share with me a memory of who I was in life! It's all I want right now. I beg of you..."

Kirlothenin was torn. He didn't trust her. But at the same time, he needed information from her to make sure Ileeya and Adorei were safe. With trepidation, he slowly nodded his head once. He would initiate the mind link in order to control it. He had regained some of his magical energies, but not a lot. Perhaps, he could try to search her mind for the truth while they were linked.

He reached up his hand and touched the cold dead skin of her temple. He closed his eyes and his mind touched hers. Once they were connected, he chose a memory of a time when they were at Dalaran, tossing a coin in the fountain there. N'Lar was laughing at a joke he had said. In the memory, he had smiled at her and said he loved her laugh.

Something felt odd with his connection and N'Lar in his memory spoke to him. "Don't fight it. I just want another memory." His mind began to sift through more memories and he realized that she was trying to take control of the mind link. He concentrated and regained control, but they were now sharing a different memory. This one was just before she had moved out of Dalaran and was packing their things to move back to Silvermoon.

"So, this is just before it happened." She was speaking to him through her dream image of N'Lar. "This was one of my last memories?" Inside his mind, he nodded as his heart constricted. Having this live-looking image of N'Lar speaking to him was tearing him apart. He had to remind himself that it wasn't her. It wasn't N'Lar he was speaking to. It was the undead woman, Lara.

He was about to break the connection when she spoke again inside the memory. "He's going to kill you and Ileeya. Then he plans to sell Adorei to the highest bidding apothecary."

Kirlothenin forgot he was still speaking inside this memory. "When? How?"

"Soon! You need to get them out of here now! Do you have enough magical energies to create a portal?"

"No. I will soon, though."

Her blue eyes seemed to implore him. "You must gain more energy now. He's probably on his way! You can tap some of my magical energies." Outside his mind, he could feel her put her arm under his free hand. He frowned. He hadn't tapped anyone of their magical energies since before Ileeya had first trapped him at her house. He had gone through the withdrawal pains of his addiction to arcane magic and didn't want to deal with that again.

Inside the memory, N'Lar put a hand on his cheek. "Please, my love. I don't want to see you die. And you don't want to see Ileeya die. Nor do you want your child to become an apothecary's guinea pig!"

Kirlothenin looked into her eyes and decided that dealing with withdrawal pains again was worth saving Ileeya and Adorei. He said the spell to draw out the magical energies from N'Lar and absorb them into himself. He felt a small rush at the feeling of the energies entering his body. His blood seemed to flow a little faster and tingled a little, and he took just a moment to enjoy the feeling.

But something was wrong. Kirlothenin felt he should have more energy than he did. He mentioned this to N'Lar. "Did you do it right?" she asked inside the memory. "Maybe you made a mistake? It's been awhile, after all, hasn't it? Here, try again. I have plenty of energy for you."

She looked sincere inside the memory and seemed to truly desire to help him. But why? It had been so long since he had seen N'Lar. How long had he desired to have her back? No. Wait. This was just a memory. He no longer desired her, didn't he? Ileeya. He had to focus on her. She was the one he cared for now. And she was in danger. He had to get back some more of his magical energies. He tapped N'Lar's magical energies and drew it into himself, once more feeling the familiar tingling sensation within his blood as well as that old familiar feeling of wanting just a little bit more. He had to be careful. He couldn't take too much.

…

Lara kept her eyes closed, but she knew what she would see if she opened them. Gavor and Balire stood behind him. They had used invisibility potions when they had entered her portal to Kirlothenin's room so he wouldn't see them. She had found his room while the others were fighting so that she could create her portal here. Lara made sure to keep his interest inside their mind link. Jerold had said that forcing him to face her living image would serve to keep him off-balance and so far it was working. In fact, his conflicting emotions regarding her, or rather her living self, had kept him from noticing her subtle probes further into his mind. His strong concern for Ileeya and his daughter kept him from realizing that she had successfully been able to take control of the mind link.

And with all his attention on his sappy emotions within his mind, Kirlothenin didn't notice that it was Gavor's arm he was tapping the magic from. The warlock had an ability that converted his life energies to magic energies, thus providing a rather large amount of magic for the blood elf to tap into. And if Gavor's life energies get low, Balire could heal him to build those life energies back up. Balire was also crucial in making sure that as soon as Kirlothenin tapped into those magical energies, he drained them from him.

Jerold was a genius. This was like a super concentrated dose of magic that could prove to be quite addictive to the blood elf. And if things keep going as well as they have been, the mage would keep taking and taking those energies until he was overcome by the desire for them. He would then become a Wretched who was more willing to attack his magical friends than help them. And once a Wretched, always a Wretched.

Inside the memory, she used the image of what she had looked like in real life to continue to manipulate the elf's emotions, keeping him off-guard and confused. "You didn't tap me." Her image reached up her hand and caressed his face. He was so off-balance, he didn't even realize he no longer had control of the mind link. "Try again, my love." Those sappy terms of endearment seemed to just confuse him even more.

She took advantage of his lapse in judgment to explore other parts of his mind. She found to her extreme curiosity that he had many blocks within his mind, preventing her from exploring those memories and bits of knowledge. What was he hiding? She dared not touch them or else he would be immediately aware of what she was doing and would stop his magic tapping.

She could see from his expression inside the memory that he had paused a moment to enjoy the sensation of the magical tapping. Good. "There, you did it. But you didn't take enough, darling. Take more and this time draw it deeper."

"I can't. I don't-"

"You don't want Jerold to kill Ileeya. There isn't much time, Kir. You must get your magic back and fast!"

…

Kirlothenin tapped the magic again, worry for Ileeya and Adorei practically consuming him. He knew he was going to have to go through withdrawal pains again. But to get everyone out of danger, he was willing to suffer the consequences. He tapped into the magic, drawing it deeper into himself and felt almost light-headed from the large dose of magic. But he still didn't feel he had enough magical energy. It was almost as if it left him as soon as he drew it in. Why was that?

He looked around inside the memory. Only, now it wasn't the room they had been staying in before N'Lar moved. It was a different memory. Which one was this? Was this a memory of when he was with N'Lar? It was dark and there were sparks of magical energy floating around. He reached out as one floated by and touched it. Immediately it was absorbed by him and he felt another rush as the magic spread inside his body. This was...potent. Regenerating magic through rest, water, and meditation did not bring such a feeling. Kirlothenin realized he had better not take in any more of these sparks. They were very addictive.

"Hurry! Jerold is coming!" N'Lar's voice came to him from...somewhere. "One more should do it!" Kirlothenin hesitated. If he let his desire for more magic overcome him, he would be of no use to his friends! But, one more? Surely he could handle one more of those magical sparks. A small one. He reached up his hand and touched another one and nearly gasped at the rush of magical energies inside his body. It still wasn't enough! He needed more. He reached up and took in another one, this time smiling at the feeling. He ignored the pounding of his heart and his breathlessness. Just one more. He felt he had more magic now. It felt good to be stronger. One more should do it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt a warning that something was very, very wrong and he needed to stop. Yes. Something was wrong. Ileeya was in trouble and needed him. He moved over towards another spark. It floated just out of reach. He was standing on a dark precipice. Looking around, he found that all of the magical sparks were just out of reach past the edge of the precipice. If he jumped he could reach it. He just needed to step over the edge... Alarms were going off somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind. He hesitated as his eyes stared at one of the sparks. It seemed to come closer to him, taunting him. Teasing him. He just needed to-

"By Elune! What are you doing-? GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Kirlothenin gasped as the mind link was forcibly severed and his precious magical supply was taken from him.

…

Kristie followed the rogue down another corridor. They had made so many turns, she was nearly lost. "Are we almost there, Stavron?"

"In here." He opened the door for her and bid her enter. She walked in and looked around with a frown. No one was in here. Wasn't she supposed to meet Jorach in his office? But, this room wasn't an office either. "You know, your father has a big mouth." She heard the door close behind her and she knew she was in trouble.

Her heart began to pound harder with a mix of fear and adrenaline. She turned stiffly around to see Stavron standing between her and the door with a malicious look on his face. Kristie forced herself to stay calm and not retreat. "He does tend to speak his mind. You shouldn't take it personally."

"Oh, it's too late for that." He took a step towards her and she involuntarily backed up. Kristie could see him grin at her fear. "Ravenholdt forbade me from doing anything to your father to teach him a lesson, but you?" He pulled out his dagger slowly. "He's put no restrictions on you. I can teach Daddy Dearest a lesson through you. And to think, I'm even getting paid to do it." He moved towards her again.

"Look, you don't want to do this. I've got some very powerful friends." She felt herself back up again.

To this, he chuckled. "You mean that mage?" He grinned, but his eyes remained hard. "He's going to be useless to anyone soon. The poor wretch."

She was immediately concerned about her newest friend. What were they going to do to Kir? She moved to the side, but he followed her, not letting her get past him to the door. She had to back up again, well aware of how close the wall behind her was getting. "Not just him. Adam. Ileeya. Dormir, Je-"

"None of which can help you, now! They will soon be incapacitated as well." He lunged forward and Kristie let her body fall to the floor, feeling the wind from his arms just missing her. She then immediately rolled towards the door, tripping Stavron as she did so. Kristie quickly stood and made it to the door, beginning to pull it open before it was slammed shut by Stavron.

She managed to let out a scream before she was shoved against the door, hitting her head on the wood. Her vision blurred for a second, and she expected his dagger to be buried in her back any second now. Instead, she was pulled away from the door, and then thrown across the room. She lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, letting out a groan of pain.

Adam had told her once not to let pain rule her mind. Her body told her to just stay down, but her mind knew it was a bad idea to do so. Kristie was on her side and pushed herself up only to be pushed against the floor and hitting her head again. Dazed, she could not fight as Stavron straddled her waist and held one of her arms as his other hand held his dagger against her throat. His eyes were almost wild as he looked down at her with a sneer. "Now for that revenge..."