At some point, as he stared a hole into the skull that had befriended his young ward, Alayne fell asleep. It can't have been for more than a second as he bashed himself awake against the corner of the window hole he'd been seated on. Despite being sure it was the briefest of naps the scene in front of him had changed considerably. AJ who had been talking to the charred remains of the long dead but also not now had his back against the wall looking frantically in Alaynes direction and then back to the doorway where 2 figures now stood.

His lute had been resting limply, stood upright in between his knees whilst he sat, but in a second he was up and the instrument was in his hands as a fighter would ready their sword.

With barely a glance at the boy or a care for the, attempted, intimidating stance Alayne was taking, the two figures stepped forward from the shadows of the stairs and doorway and into the slight light of the moon that decorated the tattered room they had claimed.

The two were similar in many ways, both stepped forward in long black robes that hung to their calves and were cut off at the shoulder, neither of them had any hair to speak of not on their heads or exposed arms or even their eyebrows which confused Alayne as he couldn't tell if they were angry or excited as they strode towards him. What stood out most, even more than being balder than a new-born babes bottom, was their skin; they both had sickly grey skin that looked dry and withered, they looked ageless and ancient all at once and the skin was so tight to their bones it looked almost painful.

One figure was larger, broader and stopped just outside the doorway clearly blocking the exit for everyone, clearly a male he had a square jaw, a broad nose to match his frame and almost square head , he was tall and intimidating but his partner more so, she stopped in the centre of the room as Alayne had managed to get AJ and shimmy slowly backwards and place his back against the dent the skull had made in the wall earlier.

She was much smaller than her companion and Alayne, she was slender of frame much like himself and her features were softer with an almost perfectly round head and small mouth and nose but this somehow was offset by her dead eyes and decrepit flesh making her look threatening without doing anything, she had no expression on her face and there was no emotion when she spoke but Alaynes body was covered in goosebumps, even in places he didn't realise you could get goose bumps, when she did.

"We have been watching you for some time Alayne Ducard"

His mouth was dry, his fingers numb and his mind blank but somehow he found words;

"Al-always nice to meet a fan, but I do like to keep audiences to business hours..."

She smiled and as she did the blood drained from Alaynes face, it only touched the corners of her mouth, not revealing her teeth and her eyes and cheeks remained untouched by the expression. There was something menacing about every movement she made and Alayne felt like breaking down and crying.

"My companion believed you merely a fool, a trickster or illusionist, but I knew-" her eyes were filled with thin black veins that criss-crossed each other leaving the slenderest of pale green rings surrounding her pupil which darted to the skull AJ held just at the very edge of Alaynes vision. "- and finally you revealed yourself, all doubt gone when you found what even we thought lost"

Alayne had no idea what was going on, a rare feeling and one he didn't enjoy. He followed her gaze to where AJ stood to his side, holding his new friend under one arm.

"The head? Do you want it? Just take it, we make no claim to it"

He reached down for it without looking not wanting to take his eyes off the two in front of him but AJ was moving the skull out of his reach.

"AJ, give me the skull please, we can find a new friend, a rabbit or a cabbage or something less in demand"

AJ grunted, Friend, the boy was going to get him killed over a dismembered head he'd grown attached to over an evening.

"We do not want Surrich. You have played your hand bard and now you need to be removed from the game"

That didn't sound like a metaphor that meant he gets to walk away with a slap on the wrist for whatever they think he's done.

"Surely there is a way I can talk you out of this, there is always a way to talk my way out of...whatever this is"

Speaking his thoughts out loud probably wouldn't help but you never know.

"You have sought and uncovered things that should have remained buried. Maybe you meant only good intentions and if that is the case I am sorry for what comes next."

Still no emotion or regret in her words or actions but, oddly, Alayne believed her as she motioned for her so far silent partner to step forward and draw two small daggers from his waist.

Despite his brain having the constitution of weak gravy for the majority of this encounter, seeing the man step forward and feeling AJ's small hand on his wrist twisted something in Alayne, and without really thinking his hands started moving along his strings as he had when he first met the Flock in 'The Nest' many nights ago, an extension of a simple trick to entertain and convince fools of his power now turned into something filled with malice and desperation. He dragged his hand down his face as the notes hung in the air and the larger of the two fell against the wall just short of falling out the window entirely, his face was completely blank, no eyes, nose or mouth. Despite his stoic nature he clawed at himself and slowly slumped down the stone brickwork whilst his companion watched on seemingly unmoved.

"We leave or he dies."

Another humourless, terrifying smile from her.

"You cannot kill him and you cannot escape us, there is no bargain to be made here."

The faceless man was starting to writhe a little less as the last of his air was used up and he suffocated. Alayne hadn't killed a man in a long, long time but she was wrong; he could kill him, and her if needed and move forward with his life.

He continued playing, readying something different as she watched him move towards the window as if to skirt past her and over her now presumably dead companion. She jumped towards him, her own hands occupied by daggers similar to the other and sliced through nothing and toppled forward forcing herself off balance.

Alayne ran from the position he'd remained in at the back of the room as the illusion of himself dissipated and smacked into her back with his shoulder, using all his minimal weight. He held AJ at arms length as he stepped towards the window ledge and peaked over to see the figure cracked and broken amongst the mud and rubble at the base of the tower.

"Perhaps we stay with Raven tonight"

AJ seemed unperturbed by the body at his feet or the near death they'd experienced, he simply grunted and held up the skull, or Surrich as it was apparently called.

"Yes, they can come, I think they have a story to tell us."

"You are de..de..de..."

"Dead? Lovely, can't wait to hear more from you."

He grabbed AJ and ran down the broken stairs, he felt urgency but couldn't say why, the danger had passed and his assailants had been killed and a story had found him for once, which was an interesting and largely unwelcome change of pace.

This should be causing good feelings, but for some reason his stomach still turned and his goosebumps stayed...bumpy.

When considering that he'd destroyed his reputation and thrown his life away to protect people he begrudgingly cared for; the fact that Raven was feeling slightly down of late seemed like a reasonable response, perhaps even a positive response compared to how he expected he would feel.

Maybe it was the fact that he was surrounded by despair and misery constantly it had forced his mind to utilise his sub par leadership experience and push him into a not quite depressed state so he could put on a brave face for the untrained, and he was hesitant to use the word, soldiers that made up the rest of the camp.

Maybe it was the fact that after been taken in as an orphaned youth he'd been trained to be a beacon of hope for people and had proudly climbed the peaks of the Oathbinder mountain to cave his oaths amongst all those who had fought under the Stoneoath name, and now he cast all that aside and would be forgotten as nothing more than an a oathbreaker once he died in this horrible marsh.

There was also the case for his conversations with the bard that had kept his spirits...well not quite up but slightly above rock bottom.

He'd spent nights on the march and nights in the camp picking the bard's brains for stories and histories of the empire his people had shut themselves off from. He found it was a great help to lower the impact of his actions if he could make himself seem as small and pointless as possible when compared to the impossibly large world he doubted he would ever experience.

A terrifying place full of forgotten magics and other skills, subjugated races and broken spirits of any who could still call themselves 'free'. Life was hard at times in Rha'vander but nothing like the empire.

He decided that this day had been long enough, he could do it all again tomorrow: walk amongst soldiers who were hanging on by the slightest of threads, attend meetings with those arrogant lords who ignored his presence like he was a child in his fathers study, and share a drink with the bard and the boy, and maybe even Jaycob the only three who treated him as a man and nothing more or less.

He stared at the long piece of hanging canvas that made up his bed and gently placed his longsword against the small wooden chest he'd stolen from the quartermaster on the second day.

He paused before blowing out the half burnt candle, he didn't really want to sleep, that's when his mood really sunk, when his vision was filled with the faces of those who he'd left behind, betrayed really, his reasons had been sound and he knew that; but guilt and blame was still sat on his shoulders like a vulture pecking at him at all times and he knew from the looks on their faces as he'd left them that they'd curse his name for as long as they lived.

The irony of course is that if his sacrifice had been worthwhile it would be a long time.

Raven drew in a long breath and hesitated once more as he watched the small flame flicker quickly and he turned in an instant to the makeshift entrance to his tent as it opened.

AJ ran in first, something small and dark in his hands as he darted between Raven's legs and under the low hanging bed to squat in the shadows, Alayne was a moment behind eyes wide and hands shaking as he dropped his lute next to Raven's longsword.

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"Bard?"

Raven didn't move, but as he spoke the bard seemed to see him, as if he hadn't realised where he had arrived at.

"I just killed 2 people..." he smirked but it was hollow and the corner of his mouth quivered slightly "not done that for a while."

Raven had seen the many performing faces of the bard, the wit, the smile was all masking the fear, although he wouldn't admit it.

Alayne wasn't always as good an actor as he thought.

It took less than 2 strides to bridge the gap between them and Raven quickly grabbed the bard by his always pristine white button up shirt, how did he manage to keep white clothes looking nice whilst squatting in a marsh.

"What? Who? Why?"

This wasn't his first time in a situation like this, first thing was to gather all the facts before moving forward, draw them out of the bard, it shouldn't be hard he loved to talk.

"I don't...I don't know, they knew me and they were so-" he had his hand flapping at his face "they looked so...O...O dear"

Alayne gulped so hard Raven could hear it as he stepped back and almost fell against the only solid wall of his hovel.

"We need to leave. AJ come, we need to go"

He looked over Raven's shoulder as he spoke and somehow his eyes widened still and he took a sharp jump to his left, towards his dropped lute.

"I would not pick that up Master Bard."

Raven turned on his heels to see a black robed figure with sickly grey skin and a hairless head standing behind his bed holding AJ by the scruff of the neck dangling the child high above the ground.

Without thinking he stepped forward, his goal was to find a way to get between the intruder and the boy but he was rocked heavily by something hitting him in the side of the head, he didn't realise he was on the ground until he opened his eyes to see the world on it's side.

Before he could even think about righting himself he began to choke as a heavy boot was pressed against his throat, assumedly belonging to whatever had hit him.

"I'll admit your little display was impressive..." The woman holding AJ began talking without paying any mind to Raven on the ground. "and I hope it helped you realise the situation you have found yourself in."

The boot continued on Raven's neck, not enough for him to pass out but enough to keep him down and his head focused solely on the grey woman; he had no idea how Alayne was reacting.

"I've heard tales, like any self respecting bard. But I assumed them just that, tales, or twisted legends of people long turned to dust. Yet they're right aren't they, you are the Greymen from the old myths"

The bard sounded out of sorts, he put on a good show of masking it for the most part but some of the life had gone from his voice and Raven could tell without sight that he had lost the spring and animation he had when speaking.

"Soul-less or Shadow-souled was always my preferred distinction but they are one and the same and I imagine new names will come in the centuries ahead."

Raven was losing track of the conversation slightly, and he didn't believe it was down to the lack of air the boot was causing. Unless he was mistaken, the creatures in the tent with them were claiming to be Greymen, fairy-tales passed down by families for hundreds of years to scare disobedient children, tales of undead monsters millennia old who kill the over curious and leave as soft and silent as a shadow. How could there possibly be truth to this.

"And now I am condemned because I found an abandoned skull; in an abandoned tower; in an abandoned marshland. I feel I could have escaped my execution if you covered your tracks better, maybe I judged too quickly? Where you short on time, I imagine it's hard to cover one's tracks when you've only a few hundred years to do it."

The mirth returned to the bard's voice and it had a harder edge to it, similar to when he called out the nobles in the early war room meetings.

The overconfidence of a dead man Raven likened it to and that did not make him feel confident in the situation.

"You overstep seeker. I-"

"Overstep? What, should I beg for my life instead? How many of the presumably thousands or corpses you've left have begged for their life? And how many have you spared? No thank you, I will not be a cliche in my final moments"

Why had she called him a Seeker? Had Raven misheard, the bard seemed not to have noticed in his fear and anger.

"What...does...he...seek?"

Raven managed from the floor where apparently the woman had forgotten he lay. He saw a dangling thread in how she had used the word with disgust, a far cry from her flat empty tone used for everything else. If the bard would not pull something so obvious then he would do it instead.

She motioned with a very quick sharp jerk of her head and the figure pinning him down, which he now found out was a man as he dragged Raven up by his neck, set him on his knees and held a dagger, that looked like it had been made of a thorny vines twisted into the rough shape of a blade, to his throat. A wicked thing that he could feel catching on his flesh already and he had to fight not to wince.

"You are not a cliché and yet your companions play innocent, that is more common than begging in my experience."

She finally moved from around Raven's cot, still holding AJ up to her shoulder height without so much as a quiver in her arm.

"I name you Seeker because you seek what is forbidden to all..."

She paused, or stopped completely for a long time before Alayne interjected.

"Sorry are we supposed to as-"

"Never ending life."

She cut him off with words that caused more confusion than the awe Raven thought she may have been expecting.

There was more than one furrowed brow in the room, including AJ who hung like a lantern from a roof dangling limply in the air and grunting his hard language for the first time since his life had been threatened.

"He's right, surely that means all bards, poets, writers and rulers are to be killed? We all seek to be remembered for all time? That feels like a lot of killing even for your ilk."

The woman was getting frustrated and dropped her arm and AJ hung just off the ground, his long talon like nails scratched the mud as he dangled.

It amazed Raven how Alayne had managed to get under the skin of everyone he met, even a literal legend come to life, if that's indeed what these were.

"No, we don't mean in a metaphorical sense, we mean literally. You were literally seeking the ability to live forever, not in name but in body. You are making this very difficult."

"You think I came all the way out here to find a skull so I could live forever? I followed him-" he gestured to Raven "and this pathetic army, and we had no idea we would land here until we arrived. This all feels like a coincidence? And you asked for this difficulty by hosting an audience with us, you could have just stabbed me in the throat or something, your frustration is your own fault don't lay it at my feet, that area is reserved for flowers, coins and freshly worn underwear"

How far could the bard push this creature seemingly built for endless murder?

But there was a flash of doubt across her face, just for a split second.

He was breaking through to her.

Somehow the bard had provided a glimmer of hope.

"And your strange powers?"

Alayne shrugged.

"A gift from a God, karmic retribution for a shitty childhood, maybe I licked a magic toad or ate a cursed haddock. I've no idea...I've had a busy life."

He really didn't know, Raven was sure he was lying when he'd asked him himself, but now if he couldn't be honest in the face of death incarnate than he never would be and Raven had to assume he was completely ignorant to his gifts.

"Well that changes things, we are not in the habit of being wrong but it is nice to be surprised by something after all this time. Educai release him please" The grey man, Educai apparently, removed the barbed dagger from Raven's neck and pushed him forward where he fell onto all fours. The speaker still held AJ though as she continued. "I find myself trusting your words Alayne Ducard and I have grown very apt at reading lies in your kind."

Raven got to his feet as she spoke, she didn't spare him a glance and he kept his gaze on AJ contemplating making a move for the boy, but as he made to take a step forward he heard Educai behind him take one as well and he stopped in his tracks.

"Instead perhaps you could be of use to us.” She paused, letting an uncomfortable silence hang as she appeared to think to herself “I have a job in mind for you to make use of your talents, it may prove a better service to me than murdering you in this damp miserable field."

"Well I'm not really for hire, I work inns and taverns so if you have some sort of secret Greymen clubhouse I'd be happy to stop by and play some melodies for you. But until such a time maybe I could have my apprentice back."

Tension was rising now, Raven was free, she'd admitted an error in judgement but something more was coming and he and Alayne alike stood tense waiting.

"You don't get to just go free. You have a very unique gift and I aim to make use of it. Whilst you may not be seeking the forbidden, there is at least one other who is. One even we cannot get to... But maybe you can."

She'd expected a witty retort but Alayne was staring her dead in the eye not blinking or moving. His jaw was tight and fists clenched.

"I need you to kill the Emperor"

"Simple as that"

"Unlikely, you are still a wanted man: Alayne Ducard the Black marked bard, but it's either; attempt it and likely die in a few months time or die here, with your friend and the boy."

With barely an effort she tossed AJ across the small space and into Alaynes arms, it took him into a low squat to catch the lanky Goblin child.

"It's not really a choice obviously. I would leave via the southern passage and quickly, the opposing forces will be cresting the ridge by dawn." Raven shared a scared look with Alayne, war would be here in the morning, their scouts had not noticed and these strangers dropped that on them like it no more news than the baker changing his dough recipe.

"My name is Adeline and you may have picked up my companion is Educai. If you leave this camp we expect you to find passage back to the empire Alayne. We will be watching."

She placed a tattered skull in Raven's hand without speaking and they both left the tent in silence as the 3 of them stood in shock and fear over what was to happen next.

"Good eve..eve...eve..."

Raven cried out and launched the skull away from him, it hit a wooden tent post and spiralled off into the shadows of his makeshift hanging bed.

"You know I did the exact same thing-"

Alayne tried to smile at Raven but there was very little success in it and he had a far off look in his eye.

"AJ seems to have taken to him though, which is...concerning"

As he spoke AJ struggled from Alaynes grip and scampered off after the chunk of bone that had fallen silent in the darkness.

"Alayne I-"

"I know, it was a large dump of information at the end there, a lot to take in. But you're right we just need to move forward for now. Take the southern pass and I know a boat that will give us passage without question."

Alayne had been pacing as he spoke, but he stopped as he noticed the look in Raven's eyes. He had assumed what Raven had been about to say and got it very wrong.

"Alay-"

"Surely you don't mean to stay. It will be a bloodbath"

"Not if they were lying and not if I can rally the camp!" he sounded more desperate than optimistic, he couldn't leave and abandon more people.

"Rally the camp? Have you not been living here? They are untrained and unmotivated and their leaders do not care for your insight. They are going to die."

"Apology acc...ac....acc"

The skull was speaking again as AJ had joined the two of them back in the middle of the floor.

"And you are just happy to let all those innocent men and women die today? Is that ok with you?"

Alayne tilted his head slightly as he considered his words

"You helped lead them to war Raven? Are you truly so naïve? If you rally them people will still die, maybe more but never less. It's a tragedy, truly. But it is not my doing and not something I can undo. We need to leave now."

Raven was becoming angry, more at himself as he was swayed by the bard’s words. But that was his gift was it not, to sway people to his sides with his silver tongue and quick mind.

"We-"

"Are leaving"

"What-"

"Grab your things"

"There mu-"

"Start moving now!"

"Can we please just talk!"

Raven stamped his foot like a petulant child, which did not help his darkening mood. The bard was already halfway out the tent doorway when he looked over his shoulder to respond.

"Sure, as soon as we reach the southern passage." and he left.

Raven found himself dumbstruck as he silently grabbed his few belongings, donning his ringmail and longsword and left the tent.

Everything that the bard had said was true, he had tried to plan and strategize and had been knocked back. He was powerless, he chanted that to himself a few times to try and take the sting out of his actions, to push the guilt from his shoulders, but he knew that once again he was abandoning his duties.

He watched his feet as he stalked after the bard and AJ, he was too much of a coward to take a final glance at the camp, to see the shadowy figures squatting or lying beside dying embers who may not see many more hours of life.

He walked down the side of the abbey walls, knocking chunks of crumbled stone out of his path, cursing the names of those inside that were dooming all those poor souls to an untimely end.

But as he rounded the back of the old failing building and what remained of a long rusted gate swinging silently gently in the calm breeze of the night something came to him.

Maybe there was a way to save everyone.

Afterall what was one more act of treason?