The walls around the Candor manor were tall and looked sturdy but Ellen found it hard to put her trust in it. As the gates closed shut behind her, she found that the feeling of being exposed and under extreme danger did not fade.

Her eyes scanned the yard within which she stood, taking in the people huddled together in groups before her. Most were natives of Sealarios, judging from their attire, but quite a few were dressed in the contemporary style of Nireavat. Tournament contestants who had survived, she guessed.

Goosebumps crawled down her arm as the feeling of danger intensified and she pulled the coarse coat draped over her shoulders tighter as her eyes roamed upward, scanning the battlements around her. Someone approached her but she disregarded him as the palpitations of her heart rose sharply. She vaguely registered Camilla stepping forward to talk in her place but paid it little mind. Her eyes turned to the manor itself and froze upon one of the windows.

Two men were at the window, seemingly talking, and one of them was looking down at the yard with a cold stare.

No; Ellen was certain he wasn't looking at the yard. He was looking at her. And she knew who it was.

"Galdis," she whispered to herself. The man at the window smiled at her and offered a little bow.

Ellen lowered her eyes and pulled her senses back to her immediate surroundings. She saw Camilla speaking with prince Raoul but grabbed her arm, demanding the girl's attention, regardless.

"I'm terribly sorry but we need to get going," she told the prince, interrupting their conversation, and pulling Camilla after her without waiting for a reply. It was terribly rude, yes, but the Maeser hardly cared.

She left the prince to his company and power walked toward the entrance of the mansion dragging Camilla along behind her.

"You," she called, singling out a random footman from a gaggle of servants rushing past.

"I am Maeser Ellen Livrosun Frandus Sjon Rantiavum. Show me to my quarters. Barring that, get me someone who can without delay."

The footman blinked at her and dithered about in confusion for a second before running off quickly and disappearing back into the manor.

"What's wrong? What's gotten into you?" Camilla asked.

"Bad feeling," Ellen replied curtly. She looked up at the window where Galdis had stood a moment ago and found him gone.

"Bad feeling?" Camilla queried, nonplussed.

"Galdis was the one who kidnapped me last night."

"What?!"

"Hush!" Ellen chided.

"You did not tell me this before?!" Camilla whispered harshly.

"I forgot," Ellen said simply. "More importantly, I just saw him right now."

"You think he would try something?"

"I am certain."

"Change of plans I take it? I think we should leave..."

Camilla faltered as she glanced at the sky beyond the walls. Moonlit or not, nighttime was infinitely more dangerous than daytime, not to forget the fact that they were now closer to the center of the city and the likelihood of encountering a razatche - powerful or not - was now greater. Between she and Ellen, none of them were fighters. Ellen could hold her own in a fight but was heavily reliant on her manipulation for that while Camilla was, politely put, scholarly in disposition.

"We would leave, certainly, however..." Ellen began but cut herself short when a portly man in a valet's livery emerged from the manor with the footman she had sent away trailing behind him.

He approached the girls and bowed reverently.

"Dispense with the formalities," Ellen said before he spoke. "I tire. Carry me to where I shall rest."

"Certainly."

The valet gave another bow, dismissed the footman, and led the way into the building silently.

Ellen and Camilla put their conversation aside as they followed him, neither of them trusting the man not to eavesdrop - a highmaid at the city lord's manor had done so afterall.

In little time they approached a door situated at the end of a corridor and Ellen ordered the man to wait while she and Camilla stepped inside.

"I've got a plan," Ellen declared as soon as the door shut close behind them.

"Let's hear it then, because what I have barely qualifies as a plan," Camilla replied.

Ellen strode to the bed, pushed aside the clothes that had been set on it, and took a seat, gesturing for Camilla to do the same.

"We would still see whoever is in charge of Candor manor as we had planned. We still need to get a general sense of what is going on afterall," the princess said and Camilla nodded. On the way to the manor, they had talked extensively on what to do in order to get people anxious and moving so they could get to the portal before it was destroyed - if it had yet to be, that is.

"You would be going alone however," Ellen continued and Camilla reflexively nodded but froze in horror a moment later.

"What?!" The girl hissed. "That's not what we agreed on! What if they had gotten news about the lord Kimmel? What if they are convinced I had killed him? I can't get myself out of that!"

"Calm down, Camilla. If they knew that then someone would have come to get you immediately we stepped through the gates. Also, I would rather avoid Galdis if I can. Bumping into him in the hallway would be a disaster." She neglected mentioning that it was probable whoever was in charge would rather lure her in with a genial summons than cause a scene. Some risks just had to be taken.

Camilla hesitated, biting her lip nervously. Ultimately, however, she nodded and gestured for Ellen to continue.

"If we are unable to convince whoever is in charge to make a move for the city lord's manor then we leave. But with Maeser Gabriel."

"Maeser Gabriel?" Camilla asked with a frown. "For the uncanny ability to avoid razatches?"

"Indeed."

"I have brought to your notice that he is suspect, right? He displayed none of that capability while on the way to you."

"I know, but that hardly makes a difference. His ability to replicate it is all that matters."

Camilla nodded, her lips thinned in thought.

"I think the second plan is too simple," she said pensively. "We need some element of chaos or else Galdis might as well simply track us down."

"We don't have the time for anything elaborate," Ellen cautioned.

"Oh nothing like that," Camilla replied. "Prince Raoul had borrowed a griffin from the Candor stable in search of you and ended up leading a group of contestants who had survived back here. Even if lord Candor refuses to move, I doubt they especially wouldn't if they find out the city lord is dead."

"That seems simple enough. Now get a move on and begin the first part while I change clothes."

Camilla nodded, walked quickly out of the room, and commanded the servant waiting outside to lead her to whoever commandeered the Candor residence.

Ellen discarded her original clothes and changed into the long milky white dress that had been provided for her. The dress had long sleeves and came with a set of detachable wide sleeves but the Maeser decided to forego those entirely and instead occupied herself with pacing about the room.

Pangs of hunger lanced through her gut periodically but she ignored them. While she had not eaten a thing throughout the day, it was not the first time it had happened and so she could endure.

Minutes later Camilla came running into the room, her features pensive.

"What happened?" Ellen asked.

"Lord Candor has refused to move based only on the conjecture that someone has orchestrated all this. He decided to have a much longer talk with you tomorrow morning." Camilla replied. She had conveniently left out the fact that the city lord had been murdered when speaking with the man.

"Is there even a sliver of a chance for me to convince him personally?" Ellen asked.

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"I doubt it. He, along with three other holdouts on the island, have received a missive from the city lord to simply defend their position. Help would arrive tomorrow morning according to the same source."

"But the city lord is dead!" Ellen exclaimed.

"Without a doubt. While he could have arranged the missive to be sent before his death, I would believe more that someone had taken his seal after killing him. Galdis was the one who delivered the message and he had only arrived an hour or so before we did."

Ellen sucked in a cold breath. Striding over to the door, she threw it open with a heavy sigh.

"Let us go find Maeser Gabriel then," she declared, scrutinizing the portly valet still standing outside. "Lead the way, servant."

"Yes, milady." The man bowed without question and began to walk away while Ellen and Camilla trailed behind.

They found the Alusian Maeser admiring the moon in a courtyard adjacent to his assigned quarters. The servant was dismissed, Camilla went out to the side yard, and Ellen strode up to the Maeser in the courtyard and stood beside him.

"Hey," she called, nudging him with her elbow.

The prince's head turned a fraction and he sighed tiredly when he realised who it was.

"Maeser Ellen," he greeted. "I wonder, to-"

"I want to leave," Ellen stated, cutting him off.

Gabriel forced a smile.

"It is hardly my place to-"

"Absolute bollocks," Ellen interrupted. "You want to leave, I want to leave; a rather straightforward situation if ever there has been any-"

"No," Gabriel replied, turning back to the sky distractedly. "I have little need to-"

"You are curious why I lied and almost got us killed earlier today," the princess stated. "The city lord is dead. He died this morning at the crack of dawn."

Gabriel turned to her with a frown. "That's a rather serious claim."

"Hardly matters. What is happening is no coincidence - you know this and so I would not harp on it. Stay behind and you would regret it; I assure you."

Gabriel kept silent, his blue eyes staring into her purple ones as he pondered. Then he looked away, a wry smile surfacing on his lips.

"You..." He paused and his smile suddenly turned into a genuine one, oozing mirth and warmth. "I believe I have been persuaded. However, I have a condition."

"Yes, I know; you lead. That was my intention all along. You would lead us away from the path of razatches, as you've done before?"

"That is only a matter of course," Gabriel replied with a smile that seemed to grow. With Vit away he would be leading them blind, as it were, but he went along with the lie either way.

"That's good, let's go."

The princess led the way out of the courtyard while Gabriel followed after her.

"Ah, say it again Vit, please," he whispered as they made their way through the corridors toward the front yard.

We are not too far away, Vit replied. Valerina is in trouble but is nearing you as we speak.

Gabriel thought it was pathetic that those words made him happy.

...

The two Maesers wound their way through the corridors in silence, heading toward the yard. When they finally arrived, they found the yard eerily silent, with everyone's head turned to the side, observing a conversation that had obviously been ongoing for a while.

"There is a perfectly good portal at the city lord's residence! The city lord has also been murdered! Staying here is just plain stupid!" Camilla's voice floated over on the wind, high pitched and a few notes short of shrill.

Standing within an open air passageway, the girl was speaking with Prince Raoul. She looked desperate and heartbreakingly pitiful. Even a ways from her, Gabriel and Ellen could see that her eyes were awash with unshed tears.

"Is that an act she's putting on?" Gabriel could not help but mutter. He knew that Ellen and Camilla were in a particular rush to get back hence he did not put any weight to Ellen's claim that lord Kimmel was dead.

"That is all real," Ellen refuted. "She tries, but Camilla is not deceitful."

"You did not see what I saw!" Camilla screamed. In the silent yard, her voice was haunting. "I know what I saw, Your Highness," she choked. "Believe me. Remaining here while there is a perfectly good portal at the city lord's manor is akin to waiting for death."

A murmur ran through the audience, hope and disbelief blossoming among them but that was all. Ellen's heart sank. No one was moving, all of them hesitant and content to watch the drama unfold.

The Maeser picked up the pace and strode across the yard to Camilla, pushing through the throng of people with a sense of desperation. She did not doubt that Galdis was keeping an eye on things and whatever window of opportunity they may have would close rather soon.

"Do understand Miss Camilla, that changes nothing," prince Raoul was saying as she and Gabriel neared. "Being out there is objectively more dangerous than in here."

"So you want me to convince you?" Camilla asked, her tone still unsteady.

The prince looked troubled, Gabriel noted, so he could certainly be swayed. Gabriel's mind spun. While they would not be stopped if they desired to leave, there was a better way to get things done than going through the gate. Considering that Raoul could ride a griffin, and Valerina was near, he was sure something beneficial could be made of it.

"Vit, I need details," he whispered to himself, reaching across their mental bond to speak to his avatar.

Valerina is currently rushing down a side street running parallel to the main thoroughfare leading to the city lord's residence, Vit replied after a while.

"Thanks," Gabriel muttered, and upon reaching the Mescarian prince, spoke; "there is a rather simple way to verify whether lady Camilla speaks truth or not."

Raoul turned his attention to him.

"What do you suggest, Maeser?" He asked.

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak when Vit suddenly screamed into his mind; What in the world did you guys do?! Razatches are gathered around the Candor manor in droves. I'm coming back right now - I'm not too far off!

Gabriel's mouth snapped shut with an audible clatter.

"Is something the matter?" Ellen asked him cautiously.

"Unfortunately so," Gabriel responded. "You see, it seems we may be surrounded."

"Surrounded?" Raoul echoed.

"By razatches. You know what I'm getting at," Gabriel replied.

Uneasy murmurs erupted around them.

"How..."

"I heard them from over the walls," Gabriel interrupted Raoul drily. "If you would indulge me, please do a sweep of the perimeter on your griffin."

Raoul dithered for a while, staring at Gabriel skeptically. Seeing that the Maeser refused to elaborate, he relented and marched off to the stables to mount his griffin.

"How sure are you of your statement?" Ellen asked Gabriel in a whisper.

Camilla leaned in to listen.

"About ninety percent," Gabriel whispered back. Camilla's face paled.

"Nether's hells, we're screwed," Ellen cursed, running a hand through her hair.

"Indubitably. I do not know the details of the situation, however, hence the need to have prince Raoul scout out the surrounding area from the sky." Gabriel's mind turned quickly, his mind racing to come up with a working solution of sorts. In retrospect, it was quite stupid of him to give away the fact that they were surrounded. He should have stuck with his original plan to have Raoul ferry them to the city lord's manor under the guise of verifying Camilla's claims. But he had already made the mistake, and so he moved on.

"Prince Raoul would need help," he stated. "He would hardly be able to spot anything under the night sky from high up so we would have to light things up for him."

"And how do we do that?" Camilla asked.

"Each of us may as well take to a wall. A rightly done flash of lightning from the battlements should drive the darkness back even if briefly."

"Okay. Okay, that should be doable," Ellen breathed. She rolled her eyes in thought and stepped out into the yard.

"Hey!" She barked. The murmurs and whispers that had been running through the crowd lessened almost immediately and a harsh glare from the silver haired Maeser silenced the rest. "Those with lightning manipulation, raise a hand."

There was a general lull and no one moved.

"Does it bear repeating twice?!"

A handful of people raised their hands, seeming almost hesitant, and Ellen quickly picked out three and called them to her. She turned to Gabriel and Camilla.

"I'll leave these two to the both of you," Ellen said and gestured for one of the three lightning manipulators - a native by his looks - to follow her as she sprinted off toward the west wall. She took the stairs up the watchtower three at a time and before long came out atop the wall.

There were a few guards milling about on the wall, staring off languidly into the night. Disregarding them, Ellen dragged the lightning manipulator who had come with her over to the vague center of the wall.

"Get ready," she told him. "You are going to release the brightest flash of lightning you can in a minute. Focus less on power and more on the light, understood?"

The man murmured something in the affirmative and Ellen looked away from him and stared out at the city cloaked in darkness as she waited for Raoul to rise into the sky with his griffin.

When he was yet to rise minutes later, the princess grew anxious and glanced toward the stables. While she could hardly see much of it from her position, she was able to make out brief flashes of orange light dancing across the walls.

Her stomach sank.

"Get ready," she whispered to the man beside her. Lips thinned, she watched as the flashes of orange stopped and a griffin began to ascend with Raoul perched on it. He had barely cleared the roof when a cyan coloured chain snaked into the sky and sank into the beast's head. The griffin spasmed, its body seizing, and it began to fall.

Galdis.

"Release," Ellen commanded and covered her ears. A bright blue bolt of lightning escaped both arms of the man, snaking across the sky. For a brief moment daylight descended, bringing to light the multitude of gray skinned killing machines - easily numbering in the hundreds - clustered beneath the wall.

"Fuck," Ellen cursed, her voice subsumed by the roar of thunder. She blinked away the sting in her eyes, and when that didn't work, rubbed at them roughly. She heard the bell on the wall begin to ring as well as another roar of thunder coming from the east side. Soon another bell began to ring and those in the manor were in a proper uproar now.

Strangely enough, there was little reaction from those on the wall. As a matter of fact, Ellen noticed quite a few people scowling subtly in her direction.

Movement to her left drew her attention and she turned to find Galdis striding toward her, his good eye gleaming with malevolence. Their eyes locked and she immediately darted in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?! Get her!!" Galdis yelled.

She jumped to the side and stepped off the battlement, jumping over three guards who had leapt to do Galdis' bidding. She pivoted, avoiding the grasping hands of another, and kicked a woman who had gotten too close in the face. The woman reeled and two more took her place but Ellen's manipulation surged, carrying her over their heads with a forward flip. A hand caught the hem of her gown as she went over their heads and she came crashing down.

She impacted the ground heavily, her forehead slamming into the gray stone. She heard Galdis scream something while her world rattled. With sheer force of will, she reasserted herself, rolled onto her back, and let loose an air pellet.

She felt the person let go and rolled to her feet. While her vision still wavered, and her forehead smarted, that didn't render her unable to move, and so she sprinted toward the nearest exit.

Sliding to the side to avoid a full body tackle, she quickly gauged the distance to the watchtower. There was little way to go but the path forward was blockaded by a more coordinated group of guards, seemingly waiting for her to arrive. Ellen sneered and ran at them, the balls of her feet pushing her off the ground. She leapt into the air meters away from them and flicked her wrists, sending two air pellets whistling into their midst. They disregarded the pellets - because everyone knew air pellets did not truly hurt - and kept their eyes on the airborne princess. Right up until the pellets slammed into their midst and the two people closest to the battlements immediately went down screaming as blood sprayed into the air.

Ellen landed on the battlement, immediately shot off, and skimmed over the tops of their heads to get to the other side.

With no time to waste, she darted for the exit. She spotted metal gleaming within the darkness of the tower and immediately backpedaled as a squad of guards - all clad in black cloaks - stepped out wielding pikes which were pointed her way.

The Maeser paused to scan the area. There were enemies before her and enemies behind, with at least a fifteen feet drop on each side of her. It was a split second decision. She ran toward the parapet facing the yard and jumped.