It had been a long time since Jasper had visited Aphora’s manor, but the place looked much the same as he remembered it. While it may have been abandoned, it didn’t look like it would be falling into ruin any time soon. I guess that’s elven craftsmanship for you.

The one thing that had changed, however, was the doors. While the manor hadn't had any visible doors when they visited, the walls had opened up to let them enter, but they had no such luck now. It seemed that when the elves had left, they had sealed the entrances shut.

The two circled around the manor, looking for another point of entry, but the enclave's walls were unbroken by door or window. They were about ready to give up, and simply wait for Tsia and Erin to emerge, when Ihra noticed a small group of young boys watching them from across the streets.

These were no orphans. Though they were probably not more than seven or eight, the lads were dressed in fine silks and velvets, and their little outfits came complete with wooden swords that dangled at their sides.

The bloody noses, the black eyes, and the angry glares they shot at each other made it clear they’d been caught in a scuffle, but the capricious youths had forgotten the fight in order to watch the strange man and woman jog around the elven enclave, knocking on the walls in the hopes of triggering a doorway. “You’re not going to get in that way!” One of them jeered.

Jasper ignored their laughter, still focused on tracking down Tsia, but Ihra abandoned their fruitless efforts and walked toward the group of children. Two of the boys took off as she approached, but most remained, eyeing her with a mixture of curiosity and defiance. As she drew near, she pulled of the cap she was wearing, allowing the boys to see her sharp ears and small antlers. “I think you’re right,” she said amiably, addressing the boy who had called out to them. “And I also think you might know a way in. Do you?”

The boy held his ground, but he stared at her antlers with undisguised awe. “Maybe.”

“And can you tell me,” she prodded carefully.

The boy shot a quick glance at his peers and, finding the courage he needed to proceed, stuck out his chin. “For a price,” he said, with a touch of defiance.

“For a price?” Ihra repeated with an exasperated sigh. “We just want to find our friends. A girl with curly, brown hair and green eyes and a rather small man-” She frowned, realizing she couldn’t think of anything particularly noteworthy about Erin, and continued lamely, “carrying a bow. Did you see them come through here?”

“Maybe,” the boy responded again with a shrug.

She rolled her eyes but gave in. “Fine. What do you want?”

The boy didn’t seem to have expected to get that far, so it took a second for him to come with a demand. After a whispered convocation with his friends, he pointed at Keresh, who was tied up near the front of the enclave. “We want your mount!”

Ihra burst out laughing. “Well, aren’t you greedy little boys? The information isn’t that valuable.” She stood up and started to walk away.

“Wait,” a small hand slipped around hers and tugged. “Can we just take a ride on the stag,” he pleaded.

“That might be possible,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye, “but only if you tell me where you saw my friends, and how to follow them.”

With the deal struck, they wasted half an hour guiding the young boys up and down the street on Keresh’s back, and when every boy had had the chance to ride, the children led them to the alley. “We saw ‘em go down there,” the ringleader explained. “The man split the bushes with a wave of his hand and then they disappeared!”

“And that’s all you saw,” Ihra questioned. “You didn’t see them come out?”

The boy shook his head, and Ihra let them go. The children retreated to the far side of the road again, where they watched as Jasper and Ihra began beating at the bushes.

“You sure they weren’t just pulling your leg,” Jasper griped as they reached the halfway point without finding a hint of the supposed hidden entrance. “They might have just conned us out of some free rides.”

His friend shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. Did you see the way that boy was looking at me?”

“He was looking at you with puppy-dog eyes,” Jasper agreed. “I guess it’s that famous elf charm at work. But still, I think he saw a sucker…actually,” he paused a moment as he pried the bush he was currently manhandling far enough to one side to catch a glimpse of light behind it. “There's something here.”

Though they lacked Erin’s wood magic, between the two of them, it was easy enough to hack through the dense foliage and emerge into the small clearing beyond, where a trapdoor was propped open above a narrow shaft.

“I guess the boys were telling the truth after all,” he admitted.

“I told you they were – how could you doubt my charms,” Ihra replied, with mock hurt.

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“I’ll never doubt you again,” he vowed lightheartedly, “but you are a bit of a softie when it comes to kids. They could probably rob you blind as long as they can pull on your heartstrings.”

“Maybe,” she allowed with a smile, “but I was right this time.”

“You were,” he agreed distractedly, eyeing the dark shaft with a distaste. He wasn’t claustrophobic, but that didn’t mean he was fond of tight squeezes in the bowels of the earth. No point in putting it off, though.

Fortunately, the narrow passage rapidly opened up into the tunnel Tsia and Erin had walked through. The tunnel sprung into view as Jasper let a trickle of flame run down his hand. The place looked like a war scene. The walls and floor were scorched, the statues lay shattered in pieces, and nearly all of the green lanterns had been damaged beyond repair.

“Looks like Tsia was in a hurry. Typical,” he added with a chuckle, pointing to the open door on the far side. “But there's no blood and no bodies, so I guess they got through alright.”

“Yeah, but…” A shadow of worry flickered across her face, “those are some pretty serious traps, and they’ve been in the manor quite a while. Do you think something further in got them?”

“I hope not,” he replied with a grimace, “but there’s only one way to know. Ready?” He asked, nodding toward the devastated passage.

They proceeded through the tunnel cautiously, just in case any remaining traps hadn’t been triggered, but reached the other side safely. From there, they found a staircase that led up into the elven manor.

Jasper didn’t recognize the chamber the stairs opened into, but that was hardly surprising. Though he’d visited the manor a handful of times, it had been staffed at the time by a sizeable population of elves, and he’d been accompanied everywhere he went.

The chamber was a beautiful one, with high vaulted ceilings and giant windows that flooded the room with the slightly orange light of a waning day. But the floors were made of solid marble, and despite the lack of any maids to care for it, there was a complete absence of dust to indicate which way their friends had gone, nor were than any doors in the wall.

Pausing, he glanced at Ihra. “Any clue where they might have gone, O Mighty Ranger?”

She snorted. “I’m not a ranger, just an archer. And no, I don't see any tracks to follow. Maybe one of these walls will open up as we get close?” she offered.

As if the house was listening to her words, the wall on the left-hand side suddenly slid open, but no one walked through. Jasper took a half step forward and craned his head to see better. “Uh, Tsia? You out there?”

There was no reply, nor did Jasper spy anyone on the other side. The two exchanged a glance, and then he shrugged. “Maybe the house is enchanted?”

“Or haunted,” Ihra replied darkly, but with no other leads, there was nothing to do but investigate it.

As they passed through the wall, Jasper kept a spell handy, just in case someone was trying to lead them into a trap, but there was nothing on the other side except another empty room. They’d barely taken a few steps into the room before the wall on the opposite opened up. “Seems like someone’s trying to lead us somewhere. Hopefully, it’s trying to help, not kill us” he added darkly.

They passed through one room after the other, most of them stripped bare of whatever belongings they had had. It was a little sad, Jasper thought, to see the formerly enclave bereft of life, and his thoughts wandered to Aphora. He couldn’t understand the visceral fear Tsia had of the West, but he hoped the elves were safe. Despite what Aphora had done, he thought she was a mostly good person, just one had made a mistake and paid for it.

But his musings were interrupted as the wall in front of them slid open to reveal a large meadow with a lake in the background. An angry roar reverberated through the room, followed by the crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning hit something in the meadow. Much of the meadow was ravaged and torn, and the delicate bridge above the lake was partially collapsed, with one of its pillars somehow transported to the meadow.

It took a second for him to locate Tsia, her form little larger than an ant from this distance, and he squinted, struggling to discern what she was fighting against. It was only then he finally spied the monstrous beast crouching in the tall, browned grass, and a second to her right that was slowly circling her, occasionally pausing to lick a wounded paw. He didn’t see Erin.

The two sprung into action without a word, instinctively divvying up the targets; Jasper headed for the larger of the two beasts, while Ihra whipped out her bow and began targeting the wounded one.

He paused just long enough to press his hands against her shoulder, casting spectral wings on her, and then took off toward Tsia. As he ran, he cast the spell a second time and, stumbling briefly as the wings unfurled, soared into the air.

As he crossed the space between them in a flash, Jasper whipped his glaive out of his bag and, casting Seraph Burst, aimed himself toward the nearest of the cats. It didn’t see him coming, and he hit it with a thunderous crack as the armored carapace protecting its neck cracked beneath the icy frost of his glaive. He pulled it back, readying for a second blow, but he didn't get the chance. Given the size and bulk of the beast, Jasper wasn’t prepared for the lightning speed with which the creature spun and batted him aside, just like a cat tossing a toy.

A plume of dirt rose into the sky as he landed in the soft loam of the meadow, burying him a few inches into the ground. Lightning cracked again as the beast returned its attention to Tsia, and, rolling to his feet, Jasper darted back into the sky.

This time, the stone cat saw him coming and whirled to meet him. He deftly dodged beneath its paws and raked his glaive across its chest, but without the extra force provided by Seraph Burst, his blow did little more than scratch the carapace. The moment of distraction, though, had given Tsia an opportunity. Ascending into the air shakily, she targeted the cracked armor plate on its neck with a veritable pillar of wind. Her winds might not have been strong enough to crush the armored shell on their own, but they had no problem slicing through the fleshy husk below.

The beast froze as nerves and bone were snapped and, as its momentum drove it to the ground, Jasper dove for the kill. His spectral whip lashed out, slicing through the exposed wound. Howling screams filled the air as he passed, and Jasper left the hungry ghosts to their feast.

Soaring back into the sky, he paused above the field and searched for the second beast. It was easy enough to find, as it lay on its side whining, frantically licking at two severed front paws, which still glowed slightly with the burning light of Executioner’s Arrow. Ihra was crouched on top of the downed beast, hacking at its neck with Aphora’s old misericorde, each blow drawing a spray of blood. It wouldn't be a quick death, but it was a certain one, and Jasper left her to it, not wanting to steal a share of her experience. Besides, he had other things to worry about.

He staggered as a body hit him at full speed, and a pair of thin arms wrapped around him. “Thank Selene you came! How did you even find us?”

“I, uh, think the house helped us.”