Camilla did not like how things were going. At all. She should have known things were not all right; well to be fair, she'd had an inkling since she stumbled upon the murder scene at the manor, but she hadn't expected something of this magnitude. The Grand Ward had failed, razatches and their ilk filled the island, and the stupid group of soldiers she and Maeser Alver had gathered had abandoned them. The young lady was going mad with desperation. She didn't know what she would do if Ellen had been subsumed by chaos vapour.

She walked shoulder to shoulder with Gabriel and Alver, trying hard not to look at the corpses for too long. They were headed toward the port in search of Ellen at Gabriel's suggestion and were getting pretty close to their destination. Luckily, there were not many razatches on the outer fringes of the island since they had all rushed inland at the start of everything. Camilla guessed that they were lured by the scent of essence being used by those deeper within the city. That didn't mean that there weren't stragglers of course, it was just that instead of being swarmed by dozens of the creatures, they were picking them off one at a time.

And then there was white.

Energy roared through the air, slamming into the three teenagers but also going around and through them in a way that didn't quite make sense. It whined and groaned and scratched at Camilla's ears and made her vision turn white and her eyes water. The girl instantly began to panic. And then when she couldn't hear even her own breath, she panicked hard. Spots danced in her vision, going red and black, and a couple different colours in between that she just didn't have the mental capacity to recognize or process.

Whatever it was, it burned and screamed and wailed, howling as it rushed ahead, promising to strip skin from skin and tendon from bone in an all-consuming blaze of morbid glory.

Soon it was gone, barreling onward and leaving Camilla disturbed and reeling from something she could not understand. Splotches and whorls of colour streaked across her vision, and for the umpteenth time that day, her stomach threatened to empty its content onto the floor. And for the umpteenth time that day Camilla clamped down on the feeling which only made everything get worse and her vision messed up.

She didn't know when it happened but she was on her hands and knees, and razatches were leaping through buildings, and Alver was clutching his ears too, and Gabriel was the only one standing, but somehow he was two. Camilla shook her head - which only made it hurt - and shut her eyes. She was clearly seeing things for some reason. People didn't just become double for any reason whatsoever, and neither did they suddenly become able to dispatch three razatches in seconds.

When eventually she felt stable enough to open her eyes, she saw Gabriel on one knee grasping his head, no second him, Alver kneeling too, and a hulking grey thing with bloody claws and spikes of bone jutting out of its shoulder blades shambling toward her. Camilla panicked and sent a shrapnel of metal streaking toward it. The metal lodged in its chest, pushing it back a bit. The creature paused, and for a second Camilla had the vague hope that it was dead until it snapped its mouth open and gave a feral snarl. Then it went on all fours and bounded toward her, its previous shambling gait all but gone.

Desperately, Camilla felt for metal around her, using her gift to reach out to her environment to find a weapon. Something. Anything.

A wall to her right exploded and wooden splinters rained on her. Next thing she knew, a figure slammed into the hulking abomination - but the razatche wasn't slammed into per se; more like it was pushed away from the figure - and the creature struck out with its arm, pulling whatever had slammed into it with it to the floor. Both figures went down, rolling over each other and snarling fiercely as they both tried to gain the upper hand. Then the razatche suddenly went flying - and this time Camilla was certain air manipulation or something similar was involved - and the second figure sprang at it, some metal in its hands. Blood spilt into the air as the two fighters met, obscuring the two figures from Camilla's sight. Barely two seconds later the razatche fell to the ground a few feet before Camilla, still snarling with all it had while a foot wrapped in rags kept its head sideways and pressed to the ground.

Camilla's eyes flicked upward in time to catch Ellen casually putting a blackened fire poker through the razatche's eye. Before she could think through what she was doing she had already kicked off from the ground and was slamming into the silver-haired princess, her arms coming around to grip her in a tight hug as relief washed through her in waves. Ellen hissed in pain even as she hugged her back and Camilla quickly pulled away to look the girl over properly.

"Gods," Camilla managed to gasp before words began to flow out of her mouth in a single, unbroken chain. "I... I thought for sure... It was, I was, oh gods, what... how... you're injured! Ellen who, how, what the hell... which wretched..."

Ellen placed a palm over her mouth and Camilla paused to look at her friend and their gazes met. Ellen was smiling in that bittersweet way that made Camilla somehow know that the girl was aware of just what she was feeling at the moment.

Tears welled up unbidden. Ellen gave a curt shake of her head and Camilla pushed down the sob that threatened to rise past her throat, wiped her eyes, and took a step back.

Gabriel and Alver approached and Ellen turned to them, her smile widening to look more natural.

"Maeser Ellen," Prince Alver greeted. "It is a relief to see that you are alright."

"Ah, you have no idea how relieved I am that I'm still alive too. Waking up to find razatches crawling everywhere certainly doesn't guarantee that one would live past the next few minutes. I must say though, you were the last people I expected to see here," Ellen chirped.

Alver frowned slightly, unable to fathom how she could manage to sound so carefree in the situation they found themselves in. The only reason he was here was because he had given Camilla his word and, well, he'd had no idea how dangerous treading through a swarm of razatches could be before he had reached this deep in.

"Maeser Ellen," Gabriel nodded in greeting. "I must say, you have a good friend."

"It's only so-so..." Ellen shrugged dismissively.

For a short, paradoxically eternal moment, Gabriel was stumped. He blinked twice in confusion, trying to work out whether Ellen couldn't appreciate what Camilla had done for her or if she was just plain stupid. Eventually he simply stopped thinking of it, shoving it to the back of his mind and letting it rest there.

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"Do you have any idea what happened further out? Not the razatches, the thing that happened recently," he decided to ask.

Ellen pursed her lips in thought for a moment before speaking. "I believe the ships moored at the docks just burst into flames," she said softly.

Everyone frowned. Camilla looked outright terrified.

"But I thought they were Divine ships. There is no way to..." Alver began.

Gabriel interrupted him. "There is, actually. Save ancient powers, I know of two Oldflames that can do such a thing." Gabriel's brows furrowed even more as he pulled up knowledge from an obscure part of his mind. "The Emerald Everburn, and the Withering Wisp..."

Ellen suddenly raised a hand and motioned for him to shut up. When he did, she cocked her head and listened to the wind for a bit.

"Razatches," she said after some time. "Fellbeasts, I think. Heading this way. We need to move."

"Let us go back," Alver said immediately. "Since the ships at the port were destroyed, the city lord's portal is the only way we can leave."

"Not all the way back," Camilla interjected. "We need to get out of sight in one of the buildings farther down and wait for them to pass us by before we continue to move. It is likely they would catch up with us if we don't."

"Good enough," Alver agreed and they quickly made their way back, away from the spot they had used their manipulation. They still weren't as far as they'd have liked from the spot before Ellen signalled that the razatches were almost upon them. They ducked into the nearest building - a bungalow that seemed to have been someone's home before the Grand Ward snapped - and tried to ignore, as best they could, the entrails scattered on the porch but still couldn't stop themselves from gagging.

Well, most of them gagged. Ellen walked right over it as though it wasn't there and threw open the front door. They filed in one after the other before closing the door and pulling over a few chairs and a desk to barricade the entrance. After that they sat silently in the sitting room, Alver looking out the window nervously, Gabriel lounging on a barely comfortable couch, and Ellen sitting on the ground with her back to the wall as they waited for the razatches to pass.

Camilla left the room and came back a while later with a cup of water. She went over to Ellen, slid down to the floor next to her, and offered her the cup. The silver head took it with a muttered thanks and downed the cup in one go. Camilla rested her head on the wall and looked up at the ceiling.

"There's a problem," she whispered to Ellen.

Ellen gave her a look. "Apart from the obvious?" She asked.

Camilla gave a slow nod. "We may not... it is likely that we would find the portal destroyed by the time we get back to the lord's manor," she said.

Camilla swallowed. "I went to the other Maesers for help because the..." she huffed, trying to gather her strength. "The city lord is dead."

Ellen slowly turned to face her, horror evident on her features.

"Nobody else knows... knew," Camilla hurried to add. "Nobody else knew, but I am certain the servants at the manor have found out by now. He and his wife were murdered in their study. When I found out, I barred them from entering so we could find you first. I then somehow managed to get the Maesers to help though I'm not even sure how, and here we are. Prince Voscov and his aide, I am unsure where they are though." Camilla sagged. "I... I'm not sure I made the right call."

Ellen chewed on the piece of information for a bit. She understood the reasoning behind Camilla's action. With how she had reacted though, it was more than likely that the murder would be pinned on her. Normal people just didn't walk into a murder scene and decide not to raise an alarm. That must be what Camilla was really worried about. Godsdamned piece of bullshit. Normal people and their expectations.

"We'll deal with it as it comes," Ellen whispered back. "Say though, why would the portal be destroyed?"

"Someone started this. The Grand Ward collapsing after lord Kimmel was murdered was no accident, and neither was the ships going up in flames. Someone wants to keep us here, and the city lord's portal is the only other way out of this place as far as I know."

"Shit," Ellen said, rubbing her eyes. Camilla agreed.

"How are you holding up?" She asked suddenly. "The corpses in the study were mostly intact, I presume."

Camilla shut her eyes tight and frowned. "I can't get their eyes out of my head," she told Ellen. "The despair, their horr... in fact, you know what? I don't even know." She turned her head to look out the window. "Night falls, and I am scared that if I try to sleep, they would be the only things I'll see for eternity. I... I want to forget."

"The eyes are always the hard part," Ellen said. "At the very least I know you wouldn't sleep in this city tonight. And after that, well... you'll forget alright. For a length of time. That I can promise you."

Camilla turned to face her and took the time to actually look at the Maeser. Ellen was in bad shape. She was wearing a dirty torn dress that stopped at her knees and her eyes were red and raw as though she had been crying. A dozen little scrapes and gashes littered her arms and legs and her feet were bound in rags.

"You're bleeding," Camilla noted absentmindedly.

"Just scratches," Ellen assured her, waving aside her concern. The cogs in her head were beginning to turn, her priorities making themselves clear. "More importantly..." The silver head got to her feet. "The beasts are gone far enough now. Let us keep on heading back," she said, addressing the boys in the room.

Camilla sucked in a stuttering gasp. She wasn't sure why, but something in the way Ellen stood told her the princess was lying. Alver turned from the window.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "It has barely been a dozen minutes." He was on the fence, Ellen realised. He wanted certainty.

Ellen nodded. "Yes, I am certain." She made sure to look both of them in the eye as she said so, and that was the only reason she didn't miss Gabriel's contemplative squint, as though he somehow knew that she was bullshitting.

In the end, he shrugged and said: "If you say so."

He pulled himself off the couch while Camilla stood from the ground where she sat and they walked out of the house.

"I'll take the lead," Gabriel suddenly announced as they stepped out beneath the midday sun and proceeded to position himself vaguely at the head of the group.

"But Princess Ellen is an air manipulator," Alver objected. "Since she is able to sense the winds, she is best equipped to lead us and avoid prowling razatches."

"She is very much tired," Gabriel countered immediately. "A simple glance would tell you so."

Alver frowned slightly and turned his focus from Gabriel to give Ellen a once-over. During that interval though, Gabriel gave Ellen a stare that dared her to refute him.

Ellen pursed her lips. He knew.

"I am afraid I am unable to do as required," she told Alver. "Having run from the razatches since morn today, I am rather exhausted and find that my attention is fleeting."

Alver accepted the excuse reluctantly and they continue to move, Camilla and Ellen walking slightly behind the boys.

"Were you lying?" Camilla whispered to Ellen.

To her dismay, Ellen nodded. "We need to get to the portal before it is destroyed," she whispered back.

Camilla was smart enough to figure out that she hadn't given them that particular reason because if she had then they would have to explain why they thought the portal would be destroyed. That would lead to exposing Lord Kimmel's death though which would, in turn, make Gabriel and Alver realise that they had been lied to and used by Camilla. They could interprete Camilla's actions in about a dozen different ways and none of them would be good.

"I don't understand why Prince Gabriel didn't call me out though," Ellen mused. "He certainly knows that the fellbeasts are somewhere nearby."

"Probably realised that the portal is in danger of being destroyed too," Camilla said almost absentmindedly. "He knows of what the Withering Wisp and the Emerald Everburn are capable of so he probably suspects something is up, no matter how improbable someone getting their hands on those Old flames are."

"So he may know the portals are being targeted huh? Why would he stay silent then?"

"The more important question, I think, is why he decided to take point." Camilla ran a hand through her hair. "The most obvious answer is that he wants to take us somewhere. But where? I bet he doesn't know why you lied, only that you did, so it is... maybe, hmm..."

The girl devolved to muttering half-finished thoughts as she walked and would have remained that way if Ellen didn't shake her out of it.