"Why didn't you stop her?" He hadn't meant the words to come out. Somewhere, in the deep recesses of his mind, a small voice of reason was screaming at him to stop. The anger overrode it.

Jeb looked at him coldly. "How was I supposed to stop her?"

He redirected the tirade. "She should have known better."

"What did you want her to do?" Jeb's voice was angry now, too. "Sit around and wait? She wasn't built like that, Dad."

"That's right," Cain was pacing the dirt floor of the tent now. "Couldn't sit still could she? She had one job. That was to keep herself and you alive."

"Until when?" Jeb yelled. "We thought you were dead. No one was coming to rescue us. We had to take care of ourselves."

He turned to glare at his son. "She did a damned fine job, didn't she?"

"She was a good fighter, a good leader." Jeb shot back, not willing to lose ground in this fight. "You should be proud of her."

"Proud?" He told himself to stop. It didn't work. "I don't want to be proud. I want my wife!"

And with that, he left the tent, leaving his son to stare at his back, leaving the guilt and anger that he felt every time he looked at the boy.

But he couldn't outrun those eyes, full of hurt and pain. Or his son's voice. You want her alive? Why weren't you there? Why weren't you there when I had to bury my mother? Why didn't you stop them? That was your responsibility and you failed. Why weren't you stronger?

Jeb had never said such things. He didn't have to. Cain knew that's what he was feeling.

"Stop it." He said aloud to the empty room. It was getting worse. He wasn't even asleep and the visions were coming. His fight with Jeb, Adora's hurt face, bloodied and wounded mouthing the soundless "Why?" were almost constantly on his mind now, only pushed away when he could distract himself with some facet of his current situation.

But when he was alone, the visions would come and he was quickly losing the resolve to keep them at bay.

He rolled over on the bed, coughing, as he watched the twin suns setting. They would move soon. It had been too late last night. Both Glitch and Azkadellia had been dead on their feet. They had stayed the night in the LaRue's apartment, and spent the day as well. Rigmar was a ghost town in the daylight hours and moving five people out of town was bound to draw attention. They had agreed to wait until nightfall and slip out as the city began to come to life.

There was a gentle knock on the door. "Mr. Cain?"

"Come in, Princess." He sat up on the edge of the bed as Azkadellia came into the room, mug in hand.

There was a minor explosion from the kitchen followed by a "Woo-hoo-hoo!" from Glitch. Azkadellia didn't flinch, but Cain turned to make sure there were no casualties. "What are they doing?"

"I stopped asking." Azkadellia replied.

Glitch and LaRue had hit it off famously. When Cain had stumbled out to the kitchen in search of coffee (which had been more of a quest than he had bargained for) he had found the two seated at the cluttered table, pouring over hasty blueprints for some sort of device. Since they hadn't even acknowledged his presence, he decided they were too involved to explain it and he wasn't going to understand it, anyway.

Speaking of coffee, the princess handed him the cup. He sipped gratefully, praying caffeine would be enough to keep him alive until they returned to Finaqua.

Without an invitation, she sat down beside him. "I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine, Highness." He mentally noted to stop asking DG if she was all right every twelve seconds. He was beginning to see it got old, quickly. "It's just a bug."

"No, it's not. Mr. Cain, I think you've been cursed."

He sputtered in his coffee. "Oh, really?"

Her look was disapproving. "Just hear me out, please? Have you ever heard of a Reminiscence Curse?"

"Can't say as I have."

"It's simple magic." Azkadellia continued. "It restricts the victim's ability to deal with their own personal tortures. They become obsessed with the object causing them pain or guilt. It begins with nightmares and gradually makes its way into the victim's every waking moment."

Cain didn't respond, so she went on.

"You dream about your wife's death, don't you?" She asked softly and carefully. "And now you're starting to see her when you're awake. That's what happened on the street last night. You thought that woman you grabbed was Adora."

"It's none of your business." He said dangerously.

Azkadellia wasn't scared off. "Oh, but it is. I'm trusting you with my safety and the fate of my mother's entire kingdom. If you aren't fit for that job, then it is most definitely my problem."

He was duly impressed by her candor. "I'm capable."

"For now, you'll do." Azkadellia's armor dented a bit as she began to speak on a more personal level. "But you need to understand the effects of this curse. It will not only poison your mind, but your body as well. This could kill you."

He looked to her. "So lift the curse."

"I can't."

"Here we go again." Cain said into his coffee.

"You have a lot to learn about magic."

"I'll pass."

"That may not be wise of you're going to continue to hang around with my family." Azkadellia said. Her smile faded as she continued. "This is simple, but powerful magic. The only one who can defeat it, is you."

"I'm working on it, Princess."

"Perhaps, you should consider another plan of attack."

Any clarification was cut short when Cain looked up. The world had gone dark. When last he had looked, he had estimated another hour or so before total darkness enveloped the city. Overhead, heavy black clouds hung over the roofs. Then, with a rushing like an oncoming train, he heard the wind race down the street and hit the building, bringing with it a wall of white. It was snow.

Glitch yelled from the kitchen. "Cain! Azkadellia!"

The princess gave him a concerned look before they both hurried from the room. Cain could feel the temperature in the apartment dropping.

Azkadellia got the kitchen first. "What's happening?"

"The Suket have found us." LaRue stood at the window with Connalee, his voice clipped with tension. "They must be using the light of the younger princess to power Tempest."

"I thought you said they needed the bearer of the light to run the machine." Cain growled over the sounds of the assaulting storm.

"For an extended period of time, yes." LaRue replied, "but if they focused the magical energy, they could mount an attack such as this on a specific location."

They had been followed. Cain cursed himself for being so careless. "We've gotta get out of here."

"How?" Glitch asked. "We'll never survive that weather."

"Grab your snow boots, Glitch. We can't stay here." Cain ran from the room, gathering his gun belt.

Connalee raced for the back rooms to gather what she could. "I know of someplace we can hide until we can figure something out."

Cain slapped the release for the secret passage. "Let's move!"

Glitch ran in from the kitchen, stuffing something into his jacket pocket and with LaRue by the arm. Bren the crow leapt down from his perch and on to the old man's shoulder. "After you, Professor."

Connalee appeared next, loaded with blankets. Cain hustled her down the passage and turned towards Azkadellia. "C'mon, Princess!"

It happened so fast that Cain didn't have time to react. He was sent flying backwards, through the passageway entrance, the door swinging closed right behind him and surrounding him in darkness as he hit the back wall and fell to the floor. He was dazed, but recognized Glitch's hand on his chest. "Cain?"

"I hate magic." Cain was on his feet again and putting his shoulder to the door, pushing against it to open it back up. It was jammed. "There's something against it."

Cain pushed harder as the sounds of a skirmish started. From what he could hear, Azkadellia was taking the apartment apart. Walls splintering and furniture being destroyed were mingled with the cries of pain from the princess's would-be attackers.

"We must go." Connalee insisted.

"You're crazy, lady." Cain strained as he continued to push. "We're not leaving her here."

"She is trying to give us a chance to escape!"

"Yeah, well, she's crazy, too."

"They will not kill her." Connalee's brown eyes were intense. "But we are most certainly dead if we stay. We will be of no use to her."

She was right. He hated it, but she was right. What was done was done and he needed to work from where he stood. They needed to regroup. Cain grabbed Glitch's arm. "Let's go."

There was an intenseness that Cain had never seen before in the advisor's eyes. "No."

In that brief instant, Cain understood. "We'll get her back."

"I'm not leaving."

This was going to hurt Cain more than it was going to hurt Glitch. With the briefest of pauses, he sent a fist flying at Glitch's jaw. His aim was true and the man slumped, knocked unconscious by the blow. Quickly, Cain slung him over his shoulder and motioned for Connalee to lead the way down the corridor.

On the other side of the wall, Azkadellia directed a bolt of pure white light at the next Suketian to present himself. The cold, pale creature fell back against the door with a scream.

Energy coursed through her veins as she held a hand aloft and summoned the brightest light she could. It threw the room into a stark, blinding relief. The attackers fell back at its brilliance, hissing and shielding their eyes. She prayed the others had fled. There was no way she was going to be able to keep this up. Please, let them have gone.

"Keep it up, Princess." A sickeningly familiar voice called from just beyond the door. "How long do you think the residents of Rigmar can survive this weather? The temperature is dropping as we speak. This is usually such a warm, southern city. How do you think these people are dealing with the little nip in the air?"

The people were dying. Before they had fled, the room was already getting unbearably cold. Azkadellia new that exposure to this kind of harsh weather would kill in a matter of minutes. She stopped the flow of magic and lowered her hand.

She was the picture of relaxed poise when Zero entered the room. She had felt them coming as they had moved into the building. The evil had permeated the air as they had come, knowing exactly who they were looking for and where to find them. It was she alone that was guaranteed of survival. They needed her. Her friends needed to be protected. That's why she had used her magic to knock Cain back and seal the passage.

"Well, well. Princess Azkadellia." Zero smirked coldly as he entered. "You're looking well."

"I can't say the same for you. You're looking a bit peaked." Azkadellia replied smoothly as she spied the Ice Witch that had attacked DG saunter into the room. "Perhaps, it's the company you keep."

The woman sneered at her. "Watch your tongue, girl."

"Watch yours." Azkadellia shot back. "Because even if I vaporized you right now, Zero wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He still needs me for your machine."

She noted how Zero stepped in front of the Witch protectively. She smiled, knowingly. "All that time, I just thought you were a cretin. Turns out, you weren't even human."

"Get your shots in while you can, Princess." He snatched a glass jar from the Witch and held it in front of him. "Your Light, please."

She gestured with her chin towards the window where the snow still swirled. "Call it off."

"Keep in mind," Zero seethed. "That if you choose to attack again, I will have it returned, full-force."

The Witch held up what appeared to be a small, square mirror at first glance. Azkadellia knew it was enchanted ice, capable of relaying messages from Zero to whoever was controlling Tempest. She looked at him coldly. "You'll do that, anyway."

"On my honor, I won't." Even he couldn't keep a straight face at that.

Hoping she had given Ambrose and Cain enough time, she took the urn from Zero. Immediately, she felt it draw her power, sapping her strength. As everything faded to black, she saw Zero smile as he took the urn. "We have it. Find Cain and the Headcase. We're headed north."