Kalyah set Diana gently onto the earth a dozen feet from the manhole. When Warren came rushing out of it, he slid the steel disk over it, ordering Rose to seal it up. With a look from her, the steel meshed together into one solid mass. The Paladin nodded “Good job.” Pointing to Ash Makers and Aiko, he told her to make beds out of their chains and manacles.

Sweat was coursing down the Sorceress’s pale face, drenching her black shirt. At one time she would fly all day long and perform great displays of magical power. Diana hadn't seen her airborne since Luann died, and she knew Rose wasn’t recovering since she left. The king was worried about her joining them, as she might be more of a risk than a benefit.

Rose got as far as turning the metal to sand before floating down to the ground, breathing heavily, face blushed from the strain. “I need to ruddy rest,” she said, stretching out.

Warren sighed, scratching his face as his helm vanished. “Take your rest, ya did good,” he said with a smirk.

Rose hid her face behind her arm.

He turned over Chiru as Aiko the cat escaped from under her, shaking off the sand from its fur. The Wanshi’s face was covered in mud and her nostrils were leaking blood. He took some water from his canteen and cleaned off the grime. “Well, this one ain’t doing well. Green up to the gills,” he remarked.

Swallowing a draught of water, Diana handed it back to Jonah, then peered over and around Kalyah and the other two clergy, at the twins. “Ah, they're swamp sick,” she said, wiping her mouth.

“They all are,” Kalyah said, looking over Susan.

The Wood elf Priestess, the other a Priest (probably her brother), brought more water from a crate they had with them. She tried to hand it to Warren, but he got out of her way.

Warren rose up from his knee. “I can’t compare to you, pretty lady,” he said with a wink.

The Wood elf flushed a deeper yellow, and tended to Chiru. With steady fingers she set the Wanshi’s nose. Though painless through prayer, it didn’t matter as she was hardly conscious. Removing the young woman’s gray coat, she revealed a host of scratches and bruises beneath her long sleeved shirt. Some were close to festering, a nasty red around them. She spoke elvish to Kalyah.

“Yeah, I don’t know what they were doing. Maybe they were trying to escape and had to climb through some tight bends…” Kalyah stated, shaking her head. Her small fingers traced along the cuts and scrapes of Susan.

Jonah gathered the three Ash Makers coats, grimacing at their wretched stench. At some point, the three had soiled themselves into the outer wear. He made a comment about burning them, but Kalyah said they couldn’t really replace them. Warren told them both he could clean them with a spell when he got the chance.

“Here, an elixir for swamp sickness,” Diana said, plucking a small vial from a pouch on her belt.

“Thanks, honey, this will certainly help,” Kalyah said. “Lucky you had it, huh?”

Diana nodded. “Yes, I made it myself… my first bit of potion work,” she said. “And my last so far.”

The Priestess shook it in her fingers. “Well, these don’t really expire.” From her bag she brought out a dropper and popped the cork to the vial. Susan made a disgusted face from the medicine, waking from her stupor.

Susan gazed around, forgetting the taste. “Mages?” she asked, looking particularly at Diana.

The Druid smiled at her.

“Yes, baby, we’re all Mages and we’re here to help you,” Kalyah said softly.

“Okay…” The young girl sighed.

“Diana, anymore heather seeds?” the Priestess asked.

“Sadly no, I was planning on harvesting a fresh batch from what I planted,” Diana lamented.

Rose lifted her head, placing her hand on the soil. The sand around the Ash Makers sank into the ground. All around them came grass, simple bluegrass, not heather. Still it was much softer than the hard packed dirt. Rose laid on her accomplishment, it would fade within an hour or so. It was part of the balance for a Sorcerer, living matter wasn’t permanent.

“Much better, thank you Miss Court Mage,” Kalyah said with a smile, pointing her out for Susan.

“I’m retired,” Rose mumbled.

“She’s having a rough time. You understand that, though, don’t you, baby?” Kalyah said with a brighter smile. Handing the potion off to her fellow. “Let’s get you some water to wash that down, huh?” The small teenager was nearly limp from hunger and exhaustion in the Priestess’s arms. She squinted at the glare, then her brother as he reacted to the foul tasting medicine. She reached out for Ed, and at Kalyah’s command, they slid the two together so they could hold hands.

“There we are!” Warren declared. All around the group came six golden poles made of Psyin’s patterns. At ten feet up they stopped and out bloomed a mystical tarpaulin. On all sides the magical sheen shielded them from the shine with a welcoming shadow. “Better?”

“Much, thank you, Warren,” Kalyah said, removing the canteen from Susan’s lips. “No, honey, you can’t drink too much, you’ll make yourself sicker.” She looked around. “Oh Goddess, I guess Niae isn’t having any luck with the Grands on the street. Their cleaning equipment is blocking the roads. We might have to set up camp here with this Tent. They need to be bathed, saline, and food…”

Aiko went up to Chiru, who was half awake in the arms of the Wood elf Priestess, sniffing at her. The familiar growled, walking away to its master. Diana stiffened at the discovery.

Jonah, who was trying to help wherever he could, came beside her, sitting in the grass. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

She spelled out U-n-d-e-a-d.

He gasped, swallowing. Which one?

“Aiko just sensed it, huh?” Kalyah said. She closed Susan’s eyes with a prayer for sleep, setting her back on the grass. “Simple sponge baths, arms and legs,” she told the other clergy.

“What’s wrong?” the Paladin asked, moving from his place by the Tent’s entrance.

“They have the stench of a Vampire on them,” Kalyah said. She looked through the crate they carried full of water, blessing one of them. She went to Diana, handing her it and a few towels. “Antiseptic, you need the swamp off you, baby.” Giving another to Jonah, she looked to the Paladin who was scanning the three with a glowing gauntlet. “They breathed in Thrall mist, but they weren’t turned. I should have known she’d hear about them somehow…”

“The Night Crew,” Jonah hissed.

“But how? I took every precaution!” Diana said loudly, then lowering her voice, she went on. “I did all I could to avoid them being discovered. How could Angelina have found them out?” She was seething with rage and Jonah held her hand in solidarity.

“Their wounds are two days old, honey,” Kalyah said with a frown. She sterilized her gloves and took up a sponge. “You told your mother today, I guess, well it was already too late.” Her voice was horribly stiff and professional. “We did all we could, but evil won that battle. The Goddess weeps for them, and I hope I’m wrong in thinking these are the only survivors, but I’m afraid they might be. That Vampire could easily take out an entire camp of people.” She wiped down Ed’s arms, picking out pebbles from his skin. “I think they had to crawl through some pretty tight places to escape. This boy seems to have led them, he’s got cuts on the back of his head, like he kept having to check where they were.” She closed her eyes, whispering a prayer.

“How did the monsters get past the Blinders?” Jonah asked, unable to hide the temper in his voice.

“I don’t know, maybe the undead are immune to it. Their magical leylines are much different to the living. Almost as strange as these poor souls, or yours,” the Pixie continued.

Warren clawed at his cheeks and the short stubble. “Angelina’s ship is swimming in army men, she ain't got the room to shit. They've even got Fia watched."

"Does she have a radio?" Jonah asked.

"I guess so," the Paladin said.

“The Night Crew have some way of coming and going on the ship without it docking. Like a teleportation thing or something," Jonah said with a sigh. "She might be able to have them appear almost anywhere."

Diana was twisting the rag around her finger until the skin turned red. What a horrible failure this all was. Seeing her self harm, Jonah snatched the item away from her.

"They did this, not us. And if it wasn't us who let it slip, then it was someone else they had contact with," he told her firmly. "We saved them, Angelina can't take that from us."

In the shadows, Rose raised her head and looked at Diana and her reddened finger. A strange expression was there, as if understanding. Diana turned away from the white stare.

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"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry, I just wish we could have done more," Diana said, working the circulation back into her fingers.

"We did this," he said simply, gesturing to the three haggard Ash Makers.

"A joyous occasion," said Niae as she entered the Tent. Passing Warren, she was only a few inches taller. The Arch Priestess bowed her head to the princess and them. "These three lives are saved, the Goddess weeps with a smile on her face.” She smiled ruefully at the three. “Kalyah, I cannot bring the Van in here, but we can bring food, blankets, clothing for them. This is a wonderful location now though. It is more than sufficient as a mobile clinic." She gestured at the grass and Tent.

"The Grands won't move?" Kalyah asked.

"They are being stubborn and I am not about to bring afflicted bodies past them on the streets," she said with a mild huff. She put her hands out in a scan. "Mr. Whittaker, could you section the Tent to give these bodies a private place to be washed of their intimate places? I fear they are at risk of infection."

"Yes, ma'am, no problem," he said, tapping his diadem at her.

"Ah, the joys of having a Psyin devout around," the High elf said with a smile. She turned to Diana. "Do not fret young miss, for your acts are wholly good today. When these dears wake, they will need bright faces to comfort them. So I recommend you only cry with them. I am safe in the fact that we did all we could and the past is no more. We have only the present. I have already sent people to investigate the camp, they will use the utmost caution. We will make sense of this, but your work and mine is here." She pointed to the ground.

"Will they document it?" Diana asked.

"They are armed with cameras, yes," Niae said. "Rest both of you, you have done enough for now."

Warren wouldn't sit down and kept helping, drawing curtains for the groups. After that, he went off to the Twinklings hotel and fetched some supplies and clothes, as well as a few plants of heather. About the time he returned, the bluegrass faded and Diana ripped the seeds from the plant and filled the Tent with the soft bedding of grass.

The Grands were wandering around the city, apparently they had found the damage done to Sil'va park. How long the group would have to spend in this back alley was unclear. Warren acted as guard, incurious about the specifics of the three, but determined to keep them safe. On her own bed of heather, Rose joined his watch around the corner of a building. Her pearl eyes and rounded face were harder for Diana to read, as she stayed silent on the matter. The depression was clear though, and Diana saw herself in that pallid face. She could hardly look at her.

Diana and Jonah had a section for themselves, soundproof and opaque. There had been bits of serpent in Jonah’s hair, and his jacket stank of the beast's blood--even when it was cleaned off. He had tried to tend to her, but she wanted to take care of him. While he was topless, she soothed his bruised shoulder with icy hands. A leaf of aloe vera gel, lit with a magical shine, made the deep red bruising shrink. She kissed his neck and he asked if that was part of his healing too.

"No, but it helps me," she said with a giggle.

"I'm glad you feel better," he said, meshing his hand with hers, holding it to his stomach.

"I did all I could," she said, setting her face against his back. She sent warmth coursing through her cheek.

"Yes, we did. We saved people's lives," he said in a tone of disbelief.

"Yes, we. I merely hope we didn’t put them in danger," she said softly. Aiko, who supported her back as a tiger, snorted. It sent her feelings of victory, pictures of Ike and the smugglers. They weren't interested in making friends. After how much of a threat Ike made, he was lucky they didn’t get ratted out to the Heroes earlier. She told Jonah her theory.

"Yeah, I bet it wasn’t easy for that guy to explain his injuries,” he said. “I don’t know who knew what, but it could be the Ash Makers asked for too much. Or the smugglers just saw more value in turning them in.”

"Yes, that would make sense." She wrapped both her arms around him, drawing him closer to her chest. She had cleaned out her hair and removed the blood and ichor from her dress. Now only her ankle ached from the twisting of it. She dared not remove her tights and the boot on her own, moving at all didn’t appeal to her.

She laid against him for several long minutes, trying to relax alongside his steady breathing, inhaling his wonderful rich smell. They had settled matters, not ideally, she would always want to do more for the Ash Makers and the children. In the mists, with their Blinders and plasma guns, it would have been suicide, even for army troopers. And if it wasn’t, the Heroes or Angelina’s accursed Night Crew would have attacked.

No, she couldn’t think about the past, she couldn’t change anything here. She had done all she could with this one. She felt now that if she left the Tent, then something else might spring up. If she left this small area with this amazing man and his beautiful skin, then there was a chance she would never be happy again. She sighed against his shoulder blades corded with functional muscle, and his hands were steel, but their grip and movement was as gentle as could be.

Her mind was seeking distraction through his body. Where had they left off last? Her hands slid down his stomach, his torso was as slick as could be. The torso she had helped to repair couldn’t grow hair again after all the burns. Which was fine, she never liked too much scruff, she had made her last boyfriend shave his…

“Diana?” Jonah said warily.

“What?” she mumbled.

“We gotta get you up and walking,” he said. “I think the others are ready to leave.”

“A Tent can stay up for hours on end,” she replied, pressing her chin into his back, her hands stopping their descent.

He drew aside the glittering curtain and in came the rustling sounds of the others. “Hey, are you leaving?”

“Yes, honey, Niae got the Grands to leave the roads,” Kalyah said. “We’re going to take these ones to the Twinklings. Warren and Rose will be staying to guard you, we’ll be fine, we have curtains on the Van windows.” She laughed. “Diana, do you want me to fix your leg up before I go?”

“My boots are dragonhide and I’m wearing wool tights,” she grumbled.

“All I need to remove is the boot then,” Kalyah said, stepping into their small area.

Broken from her flirting, Diana held the tiger Aiko beside her. Jonah swiftly put on a fresh shirt and held her other hand. Kalyah shucked off her long boot to a teeth gnashing whimper from the princess. Pressing her small hands into the swollen ankle, they shone with white fire and the limb took on a more normal shape. The healing made Diana’s eyes heavy and stomach growl. She would have to leave here no matter what.

Out of the smuggler's goods of Twinklings, Warren and Jonah found some patio furniture and with Rose’s help they set it up on the garden roof. It required some magic to bend it like a pastry to get it through the hatch. Below them the Ash Makers were nursed by the Corpine clergy. Their rooms were well warded, and so were all the ways to them, even the elevator. All the pine cones of the Sentinel were recalled and placed around the hotel, set to alert Diana at any undead or the Heroes. The smuggler’s goods from the other rooms had been left, all efforts to remove them stopped. For all intensive purposes, the hotel was locked down.

Jonah had been tinkering around his radio, waiting for any kind of message from the Heroes. He figured that if they had actually captured the Ash Makers alive, then they were likely to brag about it. Diana tended to her plants, waiting on the Arch Priestess to return before she contacted her mother. She didn’t want to go to the Archdruid queen with anything short of hard evidence. She would have to go to sleep at the end of this long day, and she felt the many hours heavily on her.

Warren, who had spent his morning on the other side of the world, sat peaceably reading at the table. He had placed wards of warning around the roof and the children. Around the table was Rose, chowing away at a huge bag of crisps. Every time the Paladin glanced at her, she ate a little quieter than she had been before, remembering to keep her mouth closed. When she threw the crumpled bag on the floor, Diana (who hadn't said anything to her yet, not even a greeting) was about to say something about it. Warren instead picked up the bag and threw it at Rose’s head. The bit of trash had the stopping power of a feather, but it made Rose flinch.

“Either go throw it away, or burn the damn thing,” Warren grumbled, looking over his paperback as he settled back down.

Rose narrowed her eyes, her slovenly ways were well known about the palace. Her brother was the only one to stop her from littering all over the place. “Why are yah so ruddy rude to mah?” she asked now.

"As if littering isn't rude,” he said plainly, turning a page. “I’m only being firm, I thought you liked that…” He winked at her.

The Sorceress’s cheeks blushed. “I don’t need anyone to take mah bruther’s place!” she snapped.

The Paladin plucked a tissue from his coat and sat in front of her. “You’ve got some shit on your face,” is all he said.

Grumbling, Rose wiped her face and sent the soiled tissue and the bag up into flames. The ashes were carried on the wind. She glared at the snickering Diana.

The hatch of the garden roof opened and Niae came out, flanked by two of her children. All of them wore brilliant white armor, a sleek breast plate with shirts and skirts of a Weaver make, Druids often donated pieces of the mighty spider’s creations to the Corpine temples. There were bands around their foreheads set with their emblems, a warding helm. These were Corpine devouts ready for war, to sit on the sides at the very least, but their faces were soured with failure.

The High elf took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Jonah offered her some herbal tea from the pot on the table, some of Diana's old stash. Niae took a cup, sipping while her children were about to hand some developed photos out. She signaled to them and they stopped.

“We are not alone…” Niae’s eyes blazed. She whipped her hand in the air and it shone a half dozen white hawk moths, fluttering after orange insects around her head. “You cannot land, you will not establish a connection with your foul hearted maker, I will not let you. Fia is a mere three hundred, I was a High Priestess before she was born! I am one of the few in this world able to call themselves a Grand Cleric of Corpine…” She glared at a Fly being eaten by Moth. “Not a second of our conversation will be shared with her, I assure you.”

“We could move it inside, it’s easier to ward,” Warren suggested.

“Yes, let us do that,” Niae said with a nod.

The penthouse wasn’t in that horrible of a state, Diana thought as the lights were on. It was mostly the dust and aged furniture. They had plenty of furniture downstairs to replace it. Diana considered moving into it, as they couldn’t leave with the kids in such a sorry state. Teleportation wasn’t an option for them normally, much less now.

She cleaned off one of the large kitchen counters that ran along the south wall, real black marble with such a lovely shine. The sink, where she drew the water from, was polished brass. There was a place for a fridge and the stove was a hardy cast iron. The windows overlooked the entire city and it wasn’t a bad view. Jonah, unable to conduct the water around, was sweeping the floor, his face taking on the same neutral expression as when on the ship. Aiko sneezed at the dust, and Diana sent it out the window. For a moment, they were happy, then Niae sat down at the table Rose was still wiping off. The Sorceress had nearly ripped the top layer of the oak off, but Warren stopped her.

On the weathered dining table to the side of the kitchen, Niae spread out the photographs. Rose scoffed at them, while Warren sucked his teeth and puffed a sigh. All the windows and the door bore his wardings and the Arch Priestess’s, but they might as well be useless, Diana thought. She and Jonah saw the photos and held hands in anguish.

“It’s a bunch of fuckin’ pictures of an empty cave,” Rose said loudly.

Niae gave the Sorceress a wounded look, quieting her.

“Was there no trace of them?” Diana asked.

The High elf shook her head, blinking tears. “Nothing remained of them ever setting foot there. I saw them enter those caves, I know they had to have something in them. I smelled no trace of undead even. They were cleaned out completely. Even the sensors, which I saw this morning, were gone.”

“Your Dove?” Jonah wondered.

“Dispelled. I am not used to such secretive acts and I cannot tell what happened with no evidence. I suppose we must wait for those poor dears to be well again before we go forward with anything. I am afeard that Fia being so interested in this means that she does not know either.”