Weeks have past since the Arisens arrival in Gran Soren. Most had the up most respect for her, some swirled ill rumors about her and the duchess on that night. Mason had made her acquaintence and was feeding her intel about the dukes past. Lady Aelinore has grown fond of having the Arisen around, though the duke has not. Since that night he has been reluctant to ask for the Arisens aid in certain matters, and would send either Aldous or ser Mercedes. He no longer wanted her near the castle for a while.
She essentially parted ways with two of her pawns, leaving just Riven. Although he did not question it, he was worried for his masters safety in such small numbers. Ser Mercedes and the Arisen had grown a bond, and the two traveled frequently together. Ser Mercedes even convinced the duke to allow the Arisen access to the castle once more, and become a knight of the court. Although the Arisens only intent was to spy on the duke, and avoid Lady Aelinore at any and all costs. She did not want the duke to hate her even more.
Her and Riven made their way through Venery to pick up some new armor she had ordered from the Black Cat scrivener, to go along with her newly acquired knighthood. An abandon shop caught her attention as they passed by going towards the Black Cat.
"So why did you send Mellyssa and Duccio away, master?" Riven asked out of the blue.
"I just work better in smaller numbers. Although I will need their help again one day, but for now it's better they stay in the rift."
They walked up to the Black Cat, and the owner smiled and greeted them.
"Looking lovely as ever, dear Arisen."
She smiled. "Good evening Mountebank. You got my special order?"
He placed a box on the counter and she looked inside it.
"Its beautiful! Excellent work Mountebank, as usual." She tossed him a coin purse and handed the box to Riven.
"Anything for you, my lady. Pray, call again if you need me."
"Actually I was curious as to who owns the shop next to you."
"No one. It's been abandon for a good year now."
"Well then who did own it?"
"Ah, a beautiful young woman by the name of Madeleine."
"Where is she now?"
He thought for a moment. "I know not. She disappeared right before the duke had slain the dragon."
She chuckled. "Funny how the duke ties into this. Thanks again."
Her and Riven headed back to the inn.
"You think the duke has something to do with that womans disappearance?" Riven wondered.
"How could he not? Something doesn't add up Riven, and I'm going to find out whats really going on."
It was dark by the time they arrived back at the inn. The Arisen put her new armor in a chest and Riven went to find something for supper. Opening her books, she was knee deep in her research, copying down anything that caught her attention. There was a knock at the open inn door. A knight and his guard stood abroad.
"Lord Julien, you're back early. We weren't expecting you for another month."
"I have business to attend to here in the capital. I see you are doing well. A now honored knight of the court, no? And you dyed your hair."
"You noticed." She felt her face get a little hot and she continued with her notes. "I thought a darker tone aught to match my bitter personality, according to Feste." She looked up. "So why not just go black?"
He grinned. "I like this better then the mousey brown before."
She raised as eyebrow, "I'll try to take that as a compliment. Is there something you need Julien?"
The guard shot her a nasty look and she rolled her eyes.
"Is there anything I can assist you with, Lord Julien."
"No. Pray, just call me Julien."
"Try telling that to your little puppy dog," she scoffed pointing at the guard with her pencil.
Julien nodded at the guard and he walked out of the inn. Julien stood nervously alone and the Arisen took notice.
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to say something?" she wondered.
Julien cleared his throat and sat across from her. "Have you heard of the dukes annual ball?"
She didn't look up from her notes. "I got an invitation, yes. Sounds like a riot."
"So I should expect to see you there?"
She stopped in the middle of her notes and laughed. "Oh most defiantly not, I was kidding. I don't dance. Ever."
"Has no one offered to be an escort to you?"
She noticed a peculiar look on his face. "Ser Julien, are you trying to ask me to the dukes ball?"
His face turned bright red. "I, uh. I just was thinking.. Pray, I had."
"As kind as your offer is," she interrupted, "I have to decline ser. I really do not dance, especially in front of strangers."
Julien quickly got up, "I bid you good day." And he quickly left as Riven walked back into the inn.
"What was ser Julien doing here?" he asked.
"Just.. Checking up on a fellow knight," she lied. "Thats all."
"Really? Because from what I heard, he was trying to ask you to the dukes ball and you declined."
She stared at Riven. "You know that thing you do, where you seem to hear everything?"
"Yes?"
"Stop that."
The two laughed and carried on with their night. The next morning, the Arisen asked around the Fountain Square while Riven took a look around the abandon shop.
"Greedy, self-reliant, cunning. Madeleine only looked out for herself and her goals first, though she does display some limited degree of loyalty," Caxton told her. "She got around quite a bit too."
"Thank you Caxton."
The Arisen turned to see Riven walking back to the inn with a stack of books, setting them next to the others.
"These were all left in that shop," he informed her. "People seem to know a lot of this Madeleine woman. Devyn told me that Madeleine was raised as an orphan by the sisters, but in complete contrast to her gentle guardians, she came to hate being poor and to hate modest living. While she was grateful to the sisters for raising her, she also vowed that she would never serve the Faith as they did."
"Wait, this is too good!" She laughed. "She was raised by sisters, yet the armorer Caxton just told me she was a whore." She couldn't contain her laughter, nearly fell over.
She contained herself as ser Mercedes walked in.
"I gather something was funny?" she observed.
"Just a lark between Riven in I. All in good fun. Is everything okay Mercedes?"
"The duke wants you to attend the ball tonight. He is ordering all knights to be there, even I."
Her shoulders sunk. "Do I have too?"
"Yes. Your pawn is even allowed to come, as long as you too are dressed properly. I will see you two tonight. And don't forget your masks."
Mercedes left and Riven looked at his master.
"Should we head for the shops?" he asked.
"I guess so."
Riven escorted his master by arm through the castle gates. She wore a white dress and a black feather mask. Riven contrasted with a black surcoat and white mask. They walked through the open castle doors to join the festivities. A woman ran up to Riven and grabbed his arm.
"Oh Rinox! So glad you could make it!" she said. Her breathe reeked of wine. "Come, dance with me!"
He looked at his master, horrified when she let go of his arm.
"Have fun.. Rinox," she grinned, waving.
Uncomfortable as she was, she stood on the sideline and watched the people dance. A man came up next to her.
"I thought you said you don't do balls," he said.
She recognized his voice instantly. "I said I don't dance, ser."
Julien held our his had. "Would you make an exception just this once?"
Taking a deep breathe she placed her hand atop his, and he led her to the dance floor. Swinging her out to face him, he brought her in close. Siding and arming to her left. Siding left, begin by facing her and then doubled forward so that their left shoulders met and then doubling back again. And then siding right, only with right shoulders meeting. Hooking his arm at the elbow with hers and walking in a full circle. Arming left, and went in a circle counter-clockwise. And then went right. As the song ended they faced each other, he bowed and she curtsied. He led her back to the side.
"I though you said you don't dance," he mocked.
She smiled. "Never said I didn't know how to." She bit her bottom lip as she turned away, seeing Julien smile before looking away.
There was a large crash behind them and the glass above the throne shattered. A thick gas filled the room. Patrons screamed and ran for the door as the gas began to burn their throats. Someone came up behind the Arisen and grabbed her. Riven cast a spell to disspell the fog and aided his master. Neither of them could see the attackers face, for her wore a dark hood. Riven assisted his master out of the castle. Julien and Mercedes stood next to the duke and his wife. Lady Aelinore was very shaken up.
"Pray, ser," the Arisen spoke, "Are you okay?"
"Yes," the duke replied. "Although now I need a new window."
"Party's over I guess," Aelinore sighed.
"We best be own our way," Riven suggested. "Good night."
Riven led his master back to the inn and healed her wounds. She put on her armor and they left for Venery to gather more books from Madeleine's abandon shop.
"What do you think happened tonight?" Riven asked.
"I think the duke has a few unnamed enemies out there. He didn't even try to figure out what happened. Just brushed it off like it was nothing."
They turned the corner and the Arisen quickly stepped back behind the wall and pulled Riven back. The two of them peeked around the bend.
A man in a long dark robe stood alone in the middle of the way.
"I thought Salvation died with the last Arisen."
"They did," Riven replied.
"Then what are they doing in Gran Soren?" Someone approached from the darkness, The Arisen was taken aghast. "Julien?"
Riven quickly took his masters arm and booked it for the inn and shut the doors.
"This can't be right," she said. "That couldn't have been Julien!"
"How could it not have been?" Riven replied angrily. "You saw what I saw!"
"Julien doesn't wear a full faced mask, Riven! Only a half mask, you saw him!"
"We need to find out if Salvation is still active."
"Obviously they are." She sighed and sat at her books. "Go talk to Mason in the Slums, maybe he'll have information. I'll look in the books."
She fumbled for the books Mason had lent her and opened then. They were all hand written.
"It took the dragon only seconds to wipe entire nations from the map of the world. One of the nations which the dragon had utterly destroyed had been large and powerful, enough so that if not for the dragon's attacks it may well have come out the victor of the Endless Strife. But it was not a tragedy without survivors and among those few who lived through the horrors of that attack was the son of the king, the prince of this lost country. One of his eyes, wounded in his flight from the dragon's attack, began to fester and, before long, the pestilence would claim his life. He took his rage and regret and transmitted them to the page via ink and quill.
"As the racking fever and pain gripped his body, he came to one conclusion: humans deserved to be destroyed. The world and its people clearly needed to be purged by the dragon's claws in order to be reborn anew. He titled his writings "The Testament of Hopeless Regret" . The existence of this text eventually led to the creation a continent-wide secret society named Salvation. The Testament came to be blazoned always with the mark of a single eye: the Remaining Eye. This is most likely why Salvation favors the use of the cyclops, which they call 'the beasts that beckon the destruction.'
"Then, many years later, one young man performed an unheard act: before a large gathering of his Salvation brethren, he tore out his own right eye. Where he came from or what brought him to the doors of Salvation is unknown. What is known is that he believed that in giving up his eye, he remade himself in the image of Salvation's creator and impressed upon his brethren that this was the man who could lead their cause to success. Just as he had desired, the young man quickly rose through the ranks and eventually became their Great Leader, the one who guided them, and was given the name Elysion to refer to the paradise that they expect to follow death."
"You take your research very seriously," Juliens voice came.
The Arisen quickly shut her book and stood. He was wearing his armor. "Julien!" She gulped. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"The duke wants us to take patrol," he explained. "Keep watch for the party crasher. We are to take Venery."
"We?"
Riven ran back into the inn. "Master, I know where they roost!"
Julien looked over at her, "Where who takes roost?"
She hesitated. "Harpies! A flock of snow harpies. We need their.. feathers! To enhance some of our equipment."
"Makes sense. Pray, lets be off."
Riven watched as his masted walked passed him and mouthed, 'We'll talk later.' And they disappeared into Venery.