Author's Note: Oops. I guess I messed up with the desire for druid magic in the last chapter. I think I fixed that with an explanation in the first few paragraphs in this chapter. If it's still unbelievable, I'll go back and edit both chapters to just have Kir ordering them out because he didn't want them to see him in his current state.

Kirlothenin wanted to leave the room. He clenched and unclenched his hands as he tried hard to think beyond this desire to take in more magic. His heart felt as though it was going to pound right through his chest. He had barely noticed that Gavor had been in the room. Now that he was no longer locked in the mind-link, he could tell that he had been absorbing the more addictive fel-tainted magic of the warlock.

He wiped the perspiration off his forehead as Mathias Shaw suggested moving to the architect's room to make him more comfortable. Kirlothenin nodded and moved towards the door immediately. He had to get this done fast. Anger mingled with his desires, making him irritable and impatient. As he stepped out of the room, he turned, wondering which room Ileeya and Dormir were in. He knew he was in trouble when he wanted to tap into any magic whether it was arcane in nature or not. The mage shook his head as Shaw firmly took his arm as though to make sure Kirlothenin didn't go off in search of a fix to his addiction.

Baros sat down in a chair and Kirlothenin had to pause as he fought back the desire to leave once more. Soon, the mage told himself. Soon, the desires will be displaced. A small voice in the back of his head seemed to whisper to him, telling him to forget the band aid fix. It told him to go find the real thing- that it was what he really wanted. Kirlothenin tried his best to ignore the voice. Under no circumstance could he allow himself to listen to that voice.

Another thought occurred to him. The last time he had mind-linked had been with Lara. And it was the mind-link that started his downfall into renewing his desires for the arcane. He set those thoughts aside. This was different. Baros was not a wielder of magic. The mage lifted his hand to start the mind-link when Baros stopped him. "Wait a second. Will I become addicted to this magic through this...mind-link...thing?"

Kirlothenin closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, his breath coming heavily through his nose. "No." He took a few more breaths as he forced his desires and anger down. "You'll feel the desire for something, but not know what it is, since your body doesn't know magic." He paced away from Baros, and noted Shaw standing in front of the door. A part of him was glad to have Shaw on his side in this. "The desire will go away when the link is broken."

He paced back to Baros. "Ready?" Kirlothenin wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on to his sanity.

"Yeah."

He put his hand to the man's temple and said the spell to connect their minds. "There," he mentally told Baros, "I can communicate telepathically with you now." He didn't wait for Baros to respond as he used all his effort to open the empathic link. As soon as it completed, he poured forth some his addiction desires into Baros. The human gasped at the shared feeling. Kirlothenin sensed Baros automatically asserting his will over the desires and he drew that will into his own self and finally was able to push those desires for the arcane down enough to think more clearly. His own body relaxed visibly. The shaking stopped.

Kirlothenin let out a slow breath as his heart calmed and the perspiration stopped. "Thank you, Baros. I owe you for this."

Shaw shook his head. "You're going to regret saying that," he mumbled.

A knock at the door interrupted whatever Baros was going to retort. Shaw turned, pulling out one of his short swords and opened the door slowly. After seeing who was on the other side, he opened the door wider. Lord Jorach Ravenholdt entered with Narine.

Shaw had an angry look on his face. "I warned you."

"And I had sent people to watch the forsaken. Mr. Grimmort had been talking to them. The men I sent had unfortunately assumed the others were inside the room the whole time. They have been reprimanded, I assure you." Lord Jorach didn't seem to be very happy, either. "I have every available agent searching for the children, Shaw. However, I very much doubt they are still here. The forsaken have disappeared."

Kirlothenin narrowed his eyes as he heard this news. "For your sake, Lord Ravenholdt, you had better hope they are returned to us safe and sound." He kept his voice calm, but laced it with steel.

Ravenholdt stared right back, unintimidated. "You forget, mage, that this was not my fight. I could have turned both groups out of my land instead of giving you the opportunity to be freed of those shackles." He didn't sound angry, but seemed adamant about his role in this. "As Baros and Shaw can tell you, I must put my guild first. I agreed to let you leave. I did not agree to provide you with extra protection. Doing so was an extra- a freebee, if you will. However, I am more determined to help you find your missing children, as they are the true innocents in this nasty business we are in."

As much as Kirlothenin wanted to disagree with him, he knew he couldn't. And a part of him had to acknowledge he was as much to blame as Ravenholdt. Had he not allowed Lara access to his mind, there would not have been an opportunity for the children to have been kidnapped.

"You may want your guild to remain neutral, Jorach, but some of your own seem to think otherwise. One of your men betrayed you. We have him secured in another room," said Mathias. "I'm headed there now to question him. When I'm done, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I need you to send a couple of your most trustworthy men to stand watch over Baros and his daughter while we plan and go after the forsaken and the children."

"You're expecting trouble for them?"

"Not really, but Baros is helping our friend here." Mathias nodded towards Kirlothenin. "It's important during this mission that he remains safe." Shaw glanced at Baros briefly as he spoke to Jorach. "At least two of your own have been bought by the forsaken. There may be more."

"Two?" Jorach was not pleased with this news. Although many rogues are out for themselves and willing to take jobs on the side, Jorach tended to look the other way as long as it didn't affect his guild negatively. And this was very negative to his guild.

Mathias kept his voice low, presumably to keep Baros from hearing the next words. Kirlothenin only heard them because he was standing next to Shaw. "Kristie was attacked by Stavron. He told her he was paid to do so." Lord Jorach clearly bristled at this news. " I've already taken care of him, myself." Mathias added. "I'll send her over here when Kirlothenin and I get back to the other room."

Jorach nodded. "I'll watch them myself. Narine here will help me."

Kirlothenin poured himself some water from a pitcher on the table. He then spied some parchment and a quill on a desk and had an idea. He quickly walked over to the desk and wrote something down on the parchment. Saying a simple spell, he lit the candle on the desk. Another spell muttered under his breath, and he held the letter over the candle's flame, letting it catch fire.

"What was that all about?" Mathias asked.

"Just preparing for the future," was all Kirlothenin said as he drank the water.

...

Ileeya shifted back to her elven form once she and her father got back to the hallway where the rest of their group was located. She could barely contain her emotions. Their search for Adorei and Amy was fruitless. There was no sign of them or the forsaken. It was obvious that the rest of the Assassin's League guild was looking for them as well. Dormir insisted on returning to the others and suggested that they were probably already planning something.

As they rounded the corner, they saw Shaw and Kirlothenin emerge from Baros' room. She paused as they locked eyes, unsure if she should approach. He had pushed her away from him earlier, and it had hurt. A part of her understood he was struggling with something, but she had only wanted to help.

Kirlothenin motioned for her to approach and she did so, slowly. She reached out to touch him, and he winced, stepping back. "My addiction is displaced for the moment. But I dare not tempt it, Ileeya. Do not touch me. Even though yours is not arcane magic, my desires have been magnified. It would be too easy to try and tap you." She saw regret in his eyes. How did this happen? How could they have reactivated his addiction to magic? And why did he allow it?

Mathias Shaw spoke up. "The sooner we join the others, the sooner we can start planning how to get those kids back."

…

Kristie held her arms close to her as she watched Adam pace back and forth. She knew he was upset with her for not telling him what had happened to her, but she also knew it would only make him even more upset. He didn't need that right now. All she let him know was that she was attacked and that Shaw had helped her. She'll fill in the details later when everyone was safe back home.

Once again, she turned her thoughts to Amy. Where was she? Was she scared? Kristie remembered Jerold's interest in Amy and shivered. She silently told Amy to hold on. The child had to know they would rescue her.

Shaw, Kirlothenin, Ileeya, and Dormir entered the room. Kristie looked at them expectantly, hoping they had found Amy and Adorei. But it was clear from the looks on their faces that her hope was unfounded. Adam's arms reached around her and she felt her eyes burn as she leaned back against him. Hope wasn't all lost. If anyone could find the children, SI:7 could. And the agency's leader is here along with two of its best agents in her opinion.

"Adam, please escort Kristie to Baros' room. Ms. Whitestar, go with them and heal Kristie's injuries, please. Stay there until we call for you." Shaw was all business, his eyes on the captured rogue.

Kristie knew he was getting ready to interrogate the blood elf. She felt conflicted. She wanted to be there when they found out where Amy and Adorei were. "Mathias, I want-" The look on his face stopped her cold. She realized it wasn't a request, it was an order. A part of her was incensed. She wasn't one of his agents to order around! But she also quickly reasoned that it was because of the very fact she wasn't an agent that she was to leave the room.

However, there was another reason to go to her father's room as Mathias told her, "Your father needs your support right now. Go." Adam pulled on her arm and she allowed herself to be taken out of the room.

However, in the hallway, she stopped, looking at Ileeya. "Could you heal me here? I don't want to worry my dad." The druid nodded and said her healing spells. The cuts on her face and neck disappeared, but the bruising was still there along with the aches. She reached up to feel the short bits of hair sticking out of her head. A half an inch over and Stavron would have scalped her. Kristie closed her eyes and tried to push back the thought of what could have happened had Shaw not arrived.

When they entered her father's room, she paused as she observed her dad pacing back and forth, perspiration on his forehead, his hands clenching and unclenching. Lord Jorach Ravenholdt was standing there along with a female dwarf. "Dad? What's wrong?"

"You didn't say it would be this strong, elf!" He didn't seem to see her or hear her.

Kristie glanced at Ravenholdt who only shrugged and said, "He's been like this since I got here." She detected a slight look of concern on his face.

"Aren't you gonna answer me?" Baros stopped his pacing and looked towards the door. Kristie glanced at Ileeya and the two approached her dad who finally seemed to notice them. He muttered a curse and said, "Mage talks to me in my head, but doesn't tell me how to talk back!"

"A mind-link?" Ileeya asked.

At Baros' nod, Ileeya said, "Think the words to him as if you were talking to him, but don't use your voice."

…

Kirlothenin forced his attention from thoughts of Ileeya to the situation at hand. Mathias had just finished telling him and Dormir what he expected of them during the interrogation, which wasn't much. He took another sip of water from his glass and almost spit it out as Baros' voice invaded his head.

"Hello? Mage? Can you hear me now?"

"What do you need, Mr. Alexston?"

"Fine mage you are! Telling me we can talk ...Talk? ...Think? This way and not tell me how to do it! I was looking like an idiot talking to myself in front of Jorach and the dwarf."

Kirlothenin had to quickly curb his rebuttal to this.

"Wake him," Mathias told Maggie. She approached the traitorous rogue, Sornor, and lightly tapped his cheek with her palm. "Wake up, sleepy head. Come on, I didn't hit you that hard."

"We are starting the interrogation now, Mr. Alexston. Please refrain from conversing with me unless it is important."

"Eh? Interrogation?" A moment later, he heard, "What the fel is a shimmering wyrmling?"

Kirlothenin bristled at this. "Mr. Alexston, I asked you to stay out of my personal thoughts."

"Well, then stop thinking of it! It's all I seem to be able to think about. Does it have something to do with this addiction?"

The mage had to pause as the blood elf rogue came around. The rogue looked at where he was and who was in the room with him. His facial expression told them he knew he was in trouble. Kirlothenin kept his face masked as he realized Baros was right. He did seem to be thinking more and more about the wyrmlings that were made of ninety percent magical energies. "I will try to stop thinking of it."

Shaw nodded at Maggie to start the interrogation. Maggie grinned, and her green eyes flashed. Kirlothenin didn't know the woman very well, but he got the impression that the human was going to enjoy the interrogation.

"Okay, pretty boy." Maggie smiled at him. "Let's make this as painless as possible. We know the forsaken hired you." She drew out her dagger, but did nothing with it, yet. "Who else did they hire from Ravenholdt, and where are the children?"

Sornor gave her a smirk. "I have no idea. Maybe they ran off somewhere. It was stupid to bring the brats to an assassin's guild in the first place."

"We didn't have any choice." Kirlothenin's voice was flat as he stared hard at the elf. A wave of concern quickly fell over him and Kirlothenin had to pause as he realized it was concern for Amy. "Mr. Alexston, please control your emotions! Your concern for the child is seeping into me." He threw Shaw a glance. This architect may have a strong will, but his mind is undisciplined.

"Hrumph! Maybe it'll hurry you up and get her back here!"

Sornor grinned slyly at the mage's facial expression, misinterpreting it. "What's the matter, mage? Longing for something, maybe?"

Kirlothenin kept himself in check as he answered, "Yes, as a matter of fact. I long to have my daughter back in my arms ...now." He then switched his thoughts to Baros. "Mr. Alexston, please ask Ileeya to show you how to meditate! Discipline your mind!"

"I can't help with that," Sornor said, looking away. "As I said, they probably ran off to play hide and seek or something."

Mathias looked hard at the rogue. "It seems to me that you're the one who is playing games."

Maggie grinned at this, but her eyes were hard as stone. "I'll tell you a little secret, Sornor." She stepped closer to the rogue. "When I play games, I cheat."

Kirlothenin saw Sornor's face pale as he heard Baros' thoughts in his head say, "How am I supposed to sit still when all I'm doing is shaking?" He tuned the architect out and glanced downward at where Maggie's dagger was pressed. What is it with women and threatening a man's anatomy to get answers?

"Look, I was just told to keep you guys in your rooms so no one would interrupt whatever was going on in one of them." Sornor glanced in Kirlothenin's direction. The mage glared back at him. "And, as you can see, he's fine. So if you'll just let me go-"

He started to moved, but froze when Maggie pressed harder with the dagger. "You know more than that. You knew just who they were after in the room, and what was happening to him. You know what they did with the kids. Tell us."

Sornor remained silent. Mathias Shaw stepped forward now, looking the elf in the eyes. "I have to admit, you've got guts." The SI:7 leader stopped just inches from the blood elf. "Either that, or you're really, really stupid. I tend to think the latter." Shaw ignored the elf's glare. "You're willing to risk your family jewels? Fine. After Maggie here is done with you, you'll have the leader of Stormwind's Assassins to answer to. If that isn't enough, I'm sure Kirlothenin here will have no problem forcing entry into your head and retrieving the information we want- most likely doing some brain damage along the way. Mind you, if you think you have a stronger will than him, think what he just went through and look at him. Does he look like someone who's given in to his addictions?"

Shaw paused to let the elf look at Kirlothenin. The mage gave Sornor a confident smirk. Of course, with his current connection and empathic link to Baros, he couldn't possibly link to Sornor. But the rogue didn't need to know that.

"And, then after going through all that," Shaw continued, "We'll be handing you over to Ravenholdt himself to let him pass judgment on you for betraying him and your guild." Kirlothenin didn't think the blood elf could look any paler. "Of course," Shaw said, "if you just answer our questions, we'll help you out." He paused for dramatic effect. "We'll let you get a head start out of here before we tell Lord Jorach what you did."

Sornor swallowed as perspiration dotted his forehead. "I- I don't know where they are going to take the kids, I swear. But-" He tried to back up as Maggie made a movement with her dagger. Sornor's voice was a little higher than usual when he spoke again. "I was supposed to meet them at Tarren Mill afterwards for the rest of my payment. The forsaken rogue, Mason, took the baby. And a troll rogue, Zolvorn, nabbed the other kid when everyone went into the mage's room." Sornor pointed at Kirlothenin. "He was supposed to be a Wretched by then and no one would have noticed, because they would be fighting him."

The mage kept his voice quiet, but full of ice. "They underestimated me- A dangerous thing to do."

"What are they going to do with the children?" Shaw backed off one step.

"Something about an auction..."

Kirlothenin closed his eyes and fought the urge to sit down. An auction. What goes around, comes around. Regret filled him as he recalled taking Ileeya to Booty Bay to be auctioned off. Mathias Shaw stepped back with a nod to Maggie who removed her dagger and sheathed it. Sornor looked from one to the other with uncertainty as Shaw waved towards the door. "Your head start begins now."

The blood elf hesitated, then burst forward past all of them, disappearing out of the room. Shaw looked Kirlothenin in the eyes. One minute passed before he spoke again. "Okay. Tell Baros to let Jorach know. One minute is all the head start he deserves."

Kirlothenin realized he hadn't heard from Baros in awhile. He reached out with his mind, searching for Baros' thoughts and was suddenly inundated with images of drawings and buildings. The architect was mentally muttering to himself as he made mental notes about this or that concerning the Ravenholdt Manor. "Mr. Alexston?"

"Hm?" The images and muttering continued and Kirlothenin had to retract his earlier opinion about the man's mental discipline. Apparently when it came to work, he was very focused.

"Mr. Alexston. What are you doing?"

"Huh? Doing?" There was some more muttering about dimensions and measurements. "Oh, I'm working. I can't do that meditation stuff. Kristie told me to get to work. It helps get my mind off this damn addiction of yours. What do you want?"

"Please let Lord Ravenholdt know that Sornor was released and if he wants to talk to the man, he'd better send someone after him."

A few expletives streamed into his head followed by, "First I'm leech food, and now I'm a messenger boy!" A moment later, as though an afterthought, or perhaps not really meant to be heard, Kirlothenin could hear, "Huh, this mind-link thing could be useful after all." The mage covered his face with his palm.