AN: Hello again. Okay, it seems it's going to be maybe one or two more chapters before they get to Valdemar, but they will get there, I promise. Again, I own nothing. Also, since this is the first crossover of this kind, let me know what you guys think. I'd like to think everything I write is genious, but my muse tells me not all of it is feasable. Just give me a heads up if this is too far out there.

Lost

Chapter One

The Maoh swallowed back his grief as he entered the Former Tomb of the Great One. Just inside its sacred walls he and his small party gathered in the courtyard amidst the solemn temple guards. One of them, an older woman with dark hair, stepped forward. "Your Majesties." She addressed him and the blonde atop the white stallion beside him. "The Lady Ulrikё has left instructions that you are to be escorted to her as soon as you arrive."

"Thank you." The dark haired king acknowledged dismounting from his own midnight steed. Without a word, Wolfram and his older brother dismounted as well. "Has she located their souls yet?"

The older demoness frowned. "I'm afraid there's been a complication. I don't know all of the details, but, well… Perhaps lady Ulrikё should explain it to all of you. She's in the inner shrine."

The three noblemen frowned, but it was the oldest one that spoke. "Thank you." Conrart said softly. "We know the way if you have other duties that need to be attended to."

She nodded at his subtle hint and motioned for the other guards to follow her out of the courtyard. "What did she mean 'complications?'?" Wolfram growled in frustrated grief.

"Only one way to find out." Yuri sighed. Having to navigate the tomb often in the past, it took little time for the King and his family to locate the sylph-like priestess.

"Your Majesty." She greeted them formally. "Your Highness, Lord Weller." Ulrikё nodded to the others.

"Have you found anything yet? The young Maoh asked abruptly.

The child-like girl frowned. "I've found Lord Linfred's soul." She said softly. "I can send someone to retrieve it whenever you like."

"And Arvin?" Wolfram asked slowly.

She shook her head. "I can't find him." She almost cried. "Even Lady Andine can't find him. It's like he's hiding from us."

Conrart frowned. "Hiding? But souls don't hide."

"No." The priestess admitted. "And Linfred's soul was not where it ought to have been." She worried nervously at her lower lip. "It's quite far away. I think, perhaps, Arvin's soul realized the danger they were in and opened a portal to try to save them."

"But Arvin would have had to have survived the attack of that's the case." Conrart whispered.

"Yes." Ulrikё nodded. "I think he is alive, somewhere. Linfred's soul is far enough away that if it is still on this world it would have to be on the far side of our world, but there's only water there. Perhaps he's on a world very near to ours."

"But there are only two souls in the world capable of opening a portal to another world." Wolf said suspiciously. "Yuri sure didn't send them to another world."

The maiden flushed. "The Great One commanded me not to tell you, but yes, he chose to be reborn into Yuri's family.

Conrart and his second in command, Josak, emerged from the pool of water gasping for air and spluttering in the darkness. "Where do you think we are? The red-headed soldier asked as they paddled toward the sound of water lapping against a stony shoreline. His voice echoed in the darkness, bounding off the damp walls of a cave.

The brunette waited until they had reached the earthen shore before answering. "I'd guess underground." He said with softly bitter sarcasm. "I don't suppose you have a flint on you?" He asked with a sigh.

Josak laughed. "Of course I do, Captain, but we'll have to wait for it to dry."

"Perhaps you should have let Wolfram come." Conrart teased lightly.

"Would you really want him here?" The taller man asked. "You know how he is."

"You're right." He admitted. "He's gotten a lot better thanks to his Majesty, but he still wouldn't react well to landing in a 'stagnant underground lake with Great One knows what kind of creatures lurking, waiting to swallow me whole.'" He finished with a perfect imitation of his younger brother's aristocratic inflections.

Josak's laughter filled the cave. "I can hear his cries of outrage."

"You should have heard them the first time Yuri took Greta swimming in that little fishing hole near Blood Pledge. I'm sure they heard him all the way in Caloria."

They fell silent for a moment before Josak started moving around searching for some dryer driftwood with which to make a torch. "Ah!" He yelped suddenly.

Conrart turned in the direction of his yelp. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." The red-head said darkly. "I just cut myself."

"On what?"

"A lamp I think." Josak muttered loudly. "It feels like one, and I think I found a small flint box too." A moment later a spark flared to life in the darkness revealing the brawny soldier bent over what was indeed a small lantern. "The glass shade is broken." He advised. "We'll have to be careful to keep it away from drafts."

"At least we know someone has been here." Conrart grimaced.

"True." His comrade agreed. "Shall we?" He asked gesturing to what was an exit if the forgotten debris was any hint.

As they explored they found a series of caves. Forgotten belongings, wasted supplies, and other useless refuse was strewn about most of the cave system's floors, broken and buried. "It looks like a bandit hideout." Josak stated grimly. "A raided bandit's hideout."

"I agree." Came the younger man's equally grim reply. "We know Lord Linfred's body is here somewhere. Let's just hope Lady Greta had a kinder fate."

"It would have been better for her if she drown," Josak said coldly, "rather than being caught by whoever this lot was."

It took the two men quite a while before they located the simple graves in a small chamber off of the main passage. The plain markers had no names, only dates and a small line of writing in an unfamiliar language. Conrart caught his comrade's wince when he spoke. "Do you think one of these is Lord Linfred?" Josak's hushed voice queried.

"Only one way to find out." His captain frowned.

"Right." Josak nodded. "I'll see if I can't find something to use as a shovel." Nearly an hour later he returned with a bowl and what looked like a hollowed out instrument of some kind. "These are the best I could do on such short notice." He sighed handing the strange guitar-like-instrument-turned-spade to the other man and keeping the bowl for himself. "I figured the dirt is fresh enough that we can probably manage with these."

Conrart nodded. "I just hope these graves aren't more than a day or two old." He said softly. "If this is Greta and Linfred, Yuri will want them brought back for a proper funeral."

The two graves did prove to be fairly fresh, perhaps less than a week old judging by the odor of the recently exhumed corpses. Silently the brawnier man held out a lightly scented handkerchief "I thought we might need this." He said, stuffing the oil rag that had protected it back into some hidden pocket.

"Thanks." Conrart nodded. Then he frowned. "Why didn't you put your flint in that wrap?" He asked after a moment.

"I didn't think we'd need it so soon." Josak smiled.

His smile quickly faded as Conrart covered his mouth and nose with the cloth and began to pull back the coarse tarp to reveal the body within. "The body was carefully garbed in the simple yellow gown Greta had worn the fateful day the Silver Lady had set sail. Her wild curls were flaccid, and her face was empty in death, but it was unmistakably the Princess Greta.

"So I guess that makes this Lord Linfred." Josak mourned.

"Yes." The brunette agreed. "But where is little Arvin?"

"He could hardly have walked away on his own." Came his second's exasperated reply.

"Perhaps whoever buried these two took him." Conrart suggested. "It's what his Majesty would do."

"Perhaps." The red-head nodded. "What do you want to do now?"

For a few moments his captain didn't speak. Then finally he sighed. "We can't take them back like this." He frowned. "Go gather as much wood as you can find while I retrieve Linfred's soul. We'll burn the bodies and carry back the ashes. Then we can come back to look for his Highness. As long as he's still alive we can look for him."

Josak nodded and went to do as he had been asked. He'd just reached the first bend that would lead him to the main passage when Conrart's violent oath sent him sprinting back. ""What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Their amulets." The half-breed swore. "The amulets that protect their souls are gone."

AN: One last note, the amulet that Conrart mentions is an amulet that is made when a real Maoh is crowned. They're are only a handful made- one for each member of the imediate family only. We got to wondering why, and what if the amulets are a failsafe so that if the monarch dies and there's no priestess nearby to collect the soul, the amulet collects it and saves it until it can be retrieved... well it made sense to me considering how much effort they go to to cultivate and perfect certain souls. They don't really tell you what the amulet is in the series, only that they are only made for the Maoh and his family, and that they are impossible to duplicate, a fake amulet would be more that obvious.