Rasmus stared at the picture, he could see a slight resemblance but not really. For one thing, he had darker eyes than the portrait, and even before he was drained by the fog his face was thinner than Leroung's. Also it was still a picture, and didn't capture the little things, like Leroung's voice was more gravelly, and his master's hands would often shake. To Rasmus, there was very little resemblance at all.

Sylgja on the other hand, took a step back from Rasmus as if he had mummy rot or some other such disease that paladins were not immune to. "Are you the true master of this tower?" she asked with her hand hovering on her hilt. "Have you been playing me for a fool?"

Rasmus rolled his eyes. "No, of course not. Look, it's just a passing resemblance okay. There's no need for you to work yourself up over it. I mean, you resemble my maid Vandia but you don't see me squawking in fear."

Sylgja glared at him with a withering stare.

"Err… squawking maybe too strong of a word. I meant to say suspicious. Yeah, that's it. I meant to say you and my maid could pratically be sisters, but you don't see me treat you suspiciously. "

"Why are your features so similar to his? Are you his son? A nephew? A brother?"

Rasmus shook his head vigorously but then paused. "No, err I mean maybe. Actually I don't know. I just know I'm not some crazy wizard mastermind. I've already told you that my memory has been very spotty after the fog drained my life. I suppose there is a possibility we are related, which would explain our similar features, but honestly I couldn't tell you. To be honest though, he doesn't feel like a relative. It's hard to explain, but I don't get the same feeling from him as I do, let's say my sister."

"You said you don't recall your sister."

Rasmus shrugged."I can't recall her name , her appearance, or her mannerisms, but I do recall her. I remember her tenderness, her love. I feel like we have a bond."

"That makes no sense! You're talking nonsense."

Rasmus considered his own statement and reluctantly bobbed his head in agreement. "Look, I'm sure the picture looks like me simply because of the angle. Let's take it down and you can do a side by side comparison."

Sylgja agreed and moved her hand away from the hilt of her sword. She then moved the largest chair underneath the portrait in an attempt to reach it. Rasmus was slightly taller than her, but even he couldn't reach it from the vantage of the chair.

"I bet Reinhardt could reach it with his spear, " commented Rasmus as he puzzled over how to get the portrait down. Could they throw books at it to dislodge it, or maybe he could shoot it with a spell.

"Oh please, we don't need him to get a mere picture off the wall. I'll stand on the chair, you sit on my shoulders, and then try to strike it down with my scabbard. "

Rasmus was dubious of the whole idea. What if the chair breaks, what if she loses her balance, what if the portrait was nailed to the wall? Still, the idea of sitting Sylgja's shoulders appealed to him, though he would rather have it the other way around.

With a heft, and then a hop on the chair, Sylgja manoeuvered Rasmus beneath the portrait. She was more agile then he gave her credit for. The mage then attempted to poke and prod the picture down with the paladin's scabbard.

"Stop wiggling up there, just give that picture a good whack!" gasped Sylgja as she struggled with her balance.

"Hey, it's not as easy as it looks. I can barely reach the thing and…." Rasmus stretched to poke the portrait but as soon as he made contact with the frame, the entire library began to shake and glow with a bright light.

That was it for Sylgja. Given the weight on her shoulders, the disorientating light, and the precarious way she was balanced on the chair, it was not surprising that she quivered before pitching forward off the chair. Though not as graceful as she could have been, the paladin managed to roll through the fall and onto her feet, avoiding serious damage. Rasmus on the other hand, landed face first with a thud, hurting his jaw, a few ribs, and both his knees. All he could do was moan and curl up in a fetal position even as five glowing coat of arms appeared floating in the middle of the room, facing outwards.

Rasmus ignored the pain as he stared at the floating ornate shields. Three were greater houses and he easily recognized them, Leroung (obviously) the house of learning, Arrionne the slavers house, and Henderthane the house of smiths. The other two were minor houses. One was Thule a house of soldiers, and the other was had some badger creature above a green field with flowers on its coat of arms. Rasmus was unsure what these strange shields meant, but suddenly had a good idea when blades materialized next to the shields , before they plunged down on him.

Sylgja shielded him in a flash. Despite her earlier mistrust, she was stalwart and brave in defense of the mage. The paladin easily batted away a blade from the Arrionne shield, even as she parried the swords from Thule and Leroung. The shield from Henderthane however managed to flank her and slammed itself into her side. With her armour she might been able to shrug off that blow, but wearing only leather and chain she felt the full brunt of the attack and pitched wildly to the side. As Sylgja attempted to recover from the blow, the nameless minor house's blade darted in for a killing strike to her back.

Though Rasmus was far from a battlemage, he was hardly defenseless. Several random beams of colour erupted from his fingers and sprayed into the nameless blade. While the mage wasn't sure if his attack would work on floating shields and swords, it seemed to do the trick as the blade veered widely away from the paladin as it missed its chance at a mortal blow.

Sylgja recovered from the attack as she turned to face the Henderthane shield. She kicked it to the side before hopping back as the Thule and Leroung blades slashed the position she had just been. The Arrione blade took this opportunity to dart towards her, but the paladin simply side stepped the strike as the floating sword embedded and trap itself into a thick embroidered silver book.

" 'The Rise and Fall of Taldor' ! That's a classic you barbarian! " shouted Rasmus. Though the sword and shield probably had no intention of harming any books, and Sylgja was mostly responsible for the vandalism, that was lost on Rasmus as he unleashed a volley of magical bolts at the trapped sword and shield. Two bolts hit the blade and it seemed to have no effect, while the other bolts struck the shield which made it jump and twist in a facsimile of pain.

Sylgja saw the effectiveness of Rasmus' attack and quickly did an overhead strike on the Thule shield. It cracked the shield, causing it and its blade to abruptly fall to the ground. Then as she recovered from her blow, she managed to clip the trapped Arrione shield, sending it catapulting over the library shelves into another aisle.

The three remaining shields and swords fell back under this onslaught, but quickly regrouped and attacked in a wedge with Leroung in the vanguard. Sylgja braced for the attack, but it quickly veered away from the paladin and all three drove straight towards Rasmus.

Sylgja managed to lash out and strike down the nameless shield in the back, cracking its middle and almost bisecting it as it spun away inert to the ground. Rasmus blasted the Leroung blade with another spray of colour causing it to swing wildly mere inches above his head. The Henderthane shield however, managed to complete its attack, and settled for a quick thrust into the mage's gut.

Rasmus' eyes bulged out from the deep stomach wound. He wanted to scream, but all he could do was grab his stomach as he fell back. He watched in slow motion as the Leroung blade exchanged blows with Sylgja even as the Henderthane sword prepared to dive down and finish him.

Not like this. I have to get out of here, rescue Misa, Vetta, Vandia, …..Sylgja. He recalled having similar thoughts before while being the prisoner of the fog, but this time he meant it. He wasn't thinking about himself this time, he had people to save, and he was powerless to do so.

As the Henderthane sword plummeted down at his head, it was struck to the side by a torrent of ice. The blade tumbled blade over hilt several times to the side, but it quickly recovered as it regained its floating equilibrium. Sylgja recovered quicker though as she sundered the last shield with a mighty strike from her blade.

"I leave you two for like five minutes, and you start a scrap in the library," sighed Reinhardt as he inspected the carnage.

Sylgja however was at Rasmus' side, placing her rough but oddly gentle hands on his stomach wound.

"Hang in there," she assured as she channeled her holy energy into the wound. Though the wound closed, Rasmus' insides still hurt like hell."You did well there thank you for covering my flank."

Rasmus smiled. "Not bad for an evil wizard mastermind eh?" he said with a wink before he passed out from the pain.