Author note: since in the movie Ulric's last name is never revealed, I made up one for him and considering that his first name is of German origin, I chose 'klinge', which is the German word for 'blade'. I think it suits him. Also, the next chapter will be the epilogue!

If any of you is a fan of lord Darcia III from "Wolf's rain", you may be interested in my super fluffy two-chapter story "Darcia's pup".

oxoxoxoxoxo

Fitting two people in a cage built to contain only one was not easy by any means, at least not if you cared for their comfort and wellbeing. Luckily, or unluckily, neither Ulric nor his men gave a single snap about it, so Dalywag happily shoved both Langiva and Hobb in the iron-maiden-shaped cage, squeezing them inside the tight space and giggling at their shouts of pain as they were pressed against each other so closely that they could barely breathe.

"You will regret this!", she yelled, trying to be intimidating, but they all could see the sheer terror in her eyes as she threatened them, "You will pay for this, I will make you pay for this!". "And with what, your magic?", Swire mocked her with a smirk, "Because it looks like your magic isn't working right now, wh**e. Iron blocks the magic of witches, doesn't it?". She fell silent and averted her gaze, knowing that nothing she could say would save her and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Meg felt a small shred of pity for the prisoners, but then remembered what Osmund had said about the corpses he found and her sympathy flew out of the window pretty quickly: no, these two deserved everything that would come to them. They were no better than real necromancers, or those evil servants of Bhaal, Bane, Llolth and Loviathar.

Before the group could leave the village, Ulric approached Sekhmet, a hard look in his steely blue eyes. "What did you do?", he asked sharply. The Thayan blinked, confused, "Pardon?". He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a more secluded place so that nobody could eavesdrop on them, "Fire rained down from the sky just then. It only happened once since the creation of the world and much as I am devoted to the Lord, I doubt He would bother to do something like this only for our sake", he said, "So now I ask you again: what did you do?".

"I-I prayed to my Lord and He answered my call, that's all", she stammered, feeling afraid of him for the first time since they met. His grip tightened to the point of being painful, "What is His name?". "Ulric, please…". "What is His name?", he growled, giving her a rough shake. "Kossuth! His name is Kossuth, okay? I am devoted to Him, I've been since I was a child". "Is he a demon?".

"Wha-no! Of course not!", she snapped indignantly, "He's one of the most powerful subjects of lord Ao, the Overgod…The creator of the world and the one you call simply God. I do pay homage to him, make no mistake: without him, neither us nor any of our patrons would exist. Lord Kossuth is basically what you here call an archangel, only where I come from we don't use that term", she explained, trying to keep her tone calm even when faced with his glare.

"Archangels do not rain fire upon the earth". "They do, if you ask them the right way". "You mean a spell? Do you…Do you use magic?", he asked, looking as if the question was physically painful for him. She sighed, but nodded, "Yes. Divine magic, but I suppose it doesn't make a difference to you, does it?". He gritted his teeth and avoided her eyes, "By all accounts, you sound like a witch and I should have you burned at the stake for this".

"Arcane magic and divine magic are completely different: the one witches and wizards use is arcane magic, but the one I use comes from a…". "An archangel?". "Yes". "Anomen and his wife, do they wield divine magic as well?". "They do, but it comes from a different source: Anomen is devoted to Helm, the patron of law and Meg is devoted to Ilmater, the patron of mercy". "And Kossuth? What is he the patron of?". "Of fire", she said softly, "And before you accuse Him of being the Devil, rest assured that He's not.

He may not be the kindest patron out there, but there are far worse patrons than my lord, that's for sure. Cyric, for example, or Talos, or even Loviatar and Llolth. Those are what you would call demons, but we just call them evil-aligned patrons. I'm not a witch, nor am I evil, I just…I'm a priestess of Kossuth, that's all. He gives me the power to heal people, to save lives and when I need it, also to, well, rain fire from the sky on some bitch and her cronies", she added, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

Judging from the look on Ulric's face, it didn't work.

He was silent for what seemed like an eternity, then released her arm, "Leave. I do not want to see you again, none of you", he said, his voice barely above a whisper yet hard as steel. Sekhmet bit her lower lip and forced back her tears, "Okay", she nodded and rejoined her companions, feeling as if her heart had been torn from her chest with a rusty knife.

Imoen was the first to notice her distress and worried immediately, "Sek, what's wrong?". "We must leave. Now. We're not welcome in this group anymore", the Firewalker replied as her voice cracked slightly. "What? Why? Ooooh, wait a minute, did that bufflehead reject you?! I'm gonna…", the younger woman began threateningly, but the Thayan shook her head. "It's okay, Imoen. It's time to go home anyway, isn't it?", she added, turning to shoot Meg an imploring gaze.

The Ilmatari nodded, "Sekhmet is right, we must go home. Jan, do you have what you need for the travel?". Jan sighed sadly, he had a guess on what had transpired between Sekhmet and Ulric, "I do, I managed to find most of it while we were coming here and the rest in the witch's home". "Good. We'll take our leave then and I want you to 'show us the way' as soon as we are far enough into the woods". "Yes madam".

Wolfstan shot them a sad smile, "It's a shame that we have to part ways so soon, but I'm glad we met. May your travels be safe, friends", he said, clasping Anomen's and Sarevok's forearms. Mold, Swire, Ivo and Griff followed suit, the latter also kissing the hand of the ladies like the gentleman he was.

From where he sat on the cart with a sleeping Averill, Osmund cleared his throat sheepishly, "I will never be able to thank you enough for returning Averill back to me. I will always remember you in my prayers". "It was our pleasure", Meg nodded, "And take good care of her, she has suffered more than enough for a lifetime". "I will. Farewell".

The adventurers took their leave without another word, while Ulric watched them go with a dark look on his face, his heart screaming for him to speak up, to ask Sekhmet to stay…But his pride and his stubbornness got the best of him and he remained silent as the woman he loved walked out of his life for probably forever.

Wolfstan stared at him, frowning, "Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?", he asked in a quiet tone, but it was full of disapproval, "I thought you promised to love and cherish her for the rest of your life if she would have you". "She is not right for me", the knight replied firmly.

His old friend snorted, "Bullshit! She is right for you, actually I think she is the only one right for you and you're just letting her leave! Are you really that stubborn that you'd rather lose her forever, than apologize for your words?". Ulric's head whipped around to shoot him a withering glare, "How do you know it was my words that…". "I've known you for more than ten years now and I know all too well how harsh you can be", the older man cut him off, "Go after her. Your pride isn't worth losing love".

"But she…", the knight trailed off as he suddenly remembered something Sekhmet had said: that her patron granted her the power to heal people. His hand instinctively went to touch his side, where the black bubo had once been and his eyes widened as he connected the dots, "It was her. She saved me", he breathed, stunned. "Love can be a man's saving grace", Osmund commented, stroking his girlfriend's hair tenderly, "If you lose her now, you will regret it for the rest of your life".

Ulric thought about it: he hadn't known Sekhmet for a long time, but he felt deep in his chest that she was the one, as Wolfstan had said. On the other hand, she didn't believe in the sa-…No, wait. Wait a goddamned minute. She did mention the creator of the world, didn't she? Sure, where she came from, they called him Ao instead of God, but did it really make a difference? A name was just a name. And while she put her faith more in the archangel Kossuth, she still had faith in Ao, meaning they more or less shared the same faith.

Plus she had saved his life, not only from the plague but also from the witch and her followers, even if she knew that doing so would reveal her powers and put her at risk of ending up tied to a stake and burned alive, all for their sake. She wasn't evil, he was certain of this: he knew human nature well enough to be able to tell good people from bad people and Sekhmet was definitely of the former.

Exasperated, Ivo huffed and without a care for how dangerous his leader could be when pissed off, he gave Ulric a rough shove to push him forward, then pointed in the direction the adventurers had disappeared into. He couldn't speak because his tongue had been ripped off years prior by a group of enemies, but he didn't need to, the look on his face said clear as day 'move that ass already!'. Ulric glared at him, but then his gaze softened as he nodded, "Thank you", he just said before he took off running.

He followed the trail until he finally spotted the group not that far ahead, "Sekhmet, wait!", he called. The Thayan turned around and her breath hitched when she saw none other than Ulric running towards her, "Ulric? What…". He stopped just inches from her, "I…I did not mean what I said. I would never burn you at the stake", he admitted and she couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I appreciate that", she sobered and bit her lower lip, "I'm sorry for hiding the truth from you, but I was afraid that you would think me a witch and hate me for it".

"No need for apologies, I understand. And with the way I reacted to your confession, I would say you had good reasons to keep your peace". "I guess so". There was a brief silence. "Are you not going to yell at me, or slap me again?", he then asked, a bit surprised. She blushed, "Uh, yeah, about that, I'm really sorry for slapping you back then. I-I thought you considered me a prostitute and that you didn't care about me and I got mad. I'm sorry", she rambled, nervously wringing her hands.

"I forgive you, if you can forgive me for my harsh words". "Of course I do!", she smiled happily at him and without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He stood still for a second, then relaxed and hugged her back, "Thank you". "I may have a fiery personality, but I can be nice when I want to", she said and he laughed softly. "Fiery is probably an understatement", he joked. Sekhmet shrugged with a grin, "Well, what can I say? I'm an Odesseiron. By the way, you never told me your last name". "It is Klinge". "I like it. So...What will you do, now that you've found the witch and the necromancer?".

"I will bring them to the bishop for trial and then...I do not know yet. They may assign me another mission, or give me some days to rest", he answered, then cleared his throat, "What about you?". The Firewalker toyed with her necklace, "I don't know: I should go back home, but...Maybe I could stay. If I had a reason to", she added, looking at him hopefully. Ulric hesitated, "You said that your family is noble, rich and powerful". "It is, yes. So what?". "You are quite likely used to luxury and wealth". "Sort of".

He was silent for a long moment and when he spoke, his voice was hushed and heavy with pain, "When I was younger, I was committed to a girl of my same village. I loved her with all my heart and we were to get married in three weeks. But then a baron passed through our village on his way to the capital and he saw her. He courted her, showered her with jewels and beautiful dresses…I knew as soon as she smiled at him for the first time that I had lost her. She broke our engagement and went with him, leaving me with nothing but pain and ashes.

I…I am nothing but the son of a miller, Sekhmet. Even now that I hold the title of knight, I do not own anything more than a mill, a small house and an equally small garden", he confessed, looking down, but his head snapped up in surprise when Sekhmet stroked his cheek. "I don't give a damn about money, jewels and fancy dresses", she said softly, "All I want is to love and to be loved in return. Give me a reason to stay, Ulric. Please".

The terrestrial knight's heart skipped a beat and he took a deep breath, taking her hands in his, "Stay with me, Sekhmet. I cannot promise you riches and luxury, but I can promise you my heart, my love and my devotion for all the time that my Lord gives me". "That is all I need", she purred, then she leaned forward and pressed her lips on his and he returned the kiss and slipped his strong arms around her waist again, holding her close. It was a chaste kiss, but at the same time it was intense, tender and full of love and carried within itself the promise of a life together.

"Wooohooo! Get some, Sek!", Imoen cheered in the background, causing the new lovers to break apart with a blush before they burst out laughing.