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Clockwork Poison

Chapter Twenty-Three:

Fragments

Taking a sharp, deep breath, Adelia remembered the night guard and she straightened, roughly wiping her hands over her face and she quickly gave her horse, her... nightmare, a once-over.

She reached out hesitantly and her darling companion only stood still, face as sweet and trusting as she remembered even if it had changed a little, too. The features were a little sharper, the eyes glowing a dark, ominous red and she remembered those sharp teeth she had seen on other nightmares all too well.

He wasn't warm anymore, but strangely enough, neither did he feel cold, just a little cool. Much like Rowan. And he had healed up just fine indeed, the fur healthy and the flesh and muscle strong beneath.

"Baron," she whispered and watched his ears perk, attention zeroing in on her. She almost asked him how he was alive, but even changed as he was, he was still an animal and would not be able to answer her.

Taking a deep breath she gave his neck a gentle pat and glanced past him to the rather mangled looking corpse of Alexzander, before she turned away and began to search for the night guard vampire.

Her heart gave a sharp lurch when she found what was left of the night guard scattered across the snow around the corner. A piece of a leg and their hands was all that remained and even those remains slowly crumbled away into gray flakes, as though they had turned to nothing but ash. Not even bone was left behind.

She could only stare, numbness creeping in along the edges of her senses. She hadn't even known their name.

Baron, who had followed behind Adelia, all calm sweetness, lifted his nose and scented the air, snorting like he had smelled something unpleasant and Adelia set a careful, soothing hand to his neck. His attention returned to her, as trusting in her and her guidance as he had been all his life.

And for a moment she couldn't help but wonder if he had been this trusting around others, too. If he had followed guiding hands, all sweetness and calm steadiness, when they had led him out of her father's castle to bring him to his death.

She briefly wondered why his passing had been so terrible that he had returned a monster, but that thought made her gut churn and she carefully set that aside for now.

She stood a silent vigil as the last pieces of the night guard got scattered by a frosty breeze and all that was left was the brooch they had had pinned to their chest. A raven and bat circling each other, the back engraved with a little circle of runes. She stepped forward to pick it up, a sudden surge of grief gripping her, tightly followed by anger.

Pocketing the brooch she turned on her heels and marched back around the ruined temple, intend on taking hold of Alexzander's body and dragging him back to the Grim Keep. To find out what they possibly could about why he could not be killed, but when she laid eyes on him, she stopped short with a sharp little inhale.

His chest was a cracked open, mangled mess of crystal and glass jutting out, his once soft, decadent robes turned into hard spikes of dark blue with shimmering silver, while his head reminded her of the inside of a geode, all glittering, tiny shards and spikes.

He looked like the inside of the sun temple, only more colorful, though, that feeling of corruption that rose from the temple's crystals also rose from him now.

Even the parts of him that hadn't turned a miniature crater shimmered like hard, smooth surfaces. Like stained glass and polished gems. There was no soft flesh or fabric left, there wasn't even the weeping wetness of an open wound. Just hard and cold surfaces.

Hissing out a curse, feeling overwhelmed and enraged and helpless all at once, Adelia hurriedly stomped forward to lean over his corpse.

The inside of his chest and head were lined with glowing runes and sigils across his remains and slowly, bit by bit, they began to fade. Adelia had nothing to properly draw on, but she hurriedly sketched what she could into the snow.

The moment the last glowing light was gone the body began to crack and fall apart until it had crumbled away to nothing like the night guard had.

Inhaling in a deep, harsh breath, Adelia bit down on the helpless, downright grieving rage that boiled up in her, hot enough to chase away the chill of winter. Then she noticed the dull glow deep in the snow and remembered the large sunstone.

She made sure not to disturb her sketches as she got a handkerchief from her pocket and reached into the snow to retrieve the sunstone. It was warm in her palm and she wrapped the cloth around it as much as possible before she pulled it free and quickly secured the handkerchief properly.

There was still a dull glow that got past the cloth and Baron pulled his ears pack and bared his teeth, all sharp and predatory and none of the flight left that would have been present in his past self. Though, even back then he had been willing to be brave for her whenever she had asked him to.

She hurriedly pocketed the stone, its weight heavy in her pocket but its glow no longer a threat.

When she glanced at Baron, her heart ached, grief and relief mingling together and at last tangling with a bit of a hesitancy. It was clear that death had done something to him and she was not yet sure what exactly these changes meant.

Then she met his gaze and his ears perked anew. He looked at her exactly the same way he had done when he had been alive and she decided that... it didn't matter.

He was hers, her dearest companion and it was a gift beyond measure that he had chosen to come back. That he had fought the clutches of death, had torn the mortality from his bones and had darkened his soul just to walk this earth again.

They had found each other again and this time Adelia would not let him die a second time. She would guard him from those who would wish him ill and that began with Alexzander and ended with her father.

"I'll keep you safe this time, I promise," she whispered, before her hand fell to the sunstone in her pocket, her fingertips brushing over the large, hard lump. Baron had survived being exposed to its warm glow, while the night guard hadn't.

Rowan had mentioned before that the vampire spawn were not as powerful, but if one died this fast when exposed to a sunstone of this size, then Adelia didn't doubt that Rowan would find a similar fate if there was an even larger stone. The question was if Alexzander had a stone of that size in his possession, though it wouldn't surprise her if he did.

Why had he come here? Why show himself like this, why risk whatever he was planning in order to go after her?

She stared at the crushed snow where Alexzander had fallen and a terrible feeling began to coil through her gut. Whatever he was planning he must be close enough to succeeding for him to make a move like this. Or...

She stilled and looked over her shoulder to the crushed temple. Or she had been about to discover something he really didn't want her to, something that could risk everything he had worked for. Perhaps even both.

Taking a calming and centering breath, she glanced towards where the carriage had been, only to see an empty spot, the nightmares and the carriage long gone. She did spot a few broken splinters of wood in the snow, likely remnants of when Baron had broken free to come to her aid.

She had no idea how long it took for Alexzander to reassemble himself and to rise from whatever semi-death being trampled by her horse had put him into. How much time she might have before he'd come for her again, this time with enough sunlight to kill her horse anew.

She briefly entertained the idea of seeing if Baron would let her ride him again, before discarding that idea, as well.

While she was a good rider, he had no saddle and was, also, no longer a mortal creature. She highly doubted she'd be able to stay on his back without aid if he ran as fast as the nightmares always pulled the carriage. She had nothing to write on either, or she might have tried to send him back to the Grim Keep with a message tied up in his mane.

All she could do right now was wait and hope that her friends came here before Alexzander did.

She pulled her cloak tighter around herself, grimness and anger still clouding her heart and her mind raced while her horse stood patiently at her side, as he had done while alive.

After a moment she turned towards the temple, considering the gaps between the crystal and the stone walls. If she was careful she might be able to squeeze in there. It would, at the very least, keep her shielded from the icy winds.

A glance down showed what she already suspected, namely that the lantern light was extinguished and the only way for her to see something still was to unwrap the sunstone in her pocket.

She gave Baron's neck a pat to get his attention and a little gesture that had always been his signal to walk with her. And he hadn't forgotten anything, it seemed, for he remained at her side. She took him to the front of the temple and gave him the signal to wait.

For a moment it looked like he wouldn't listen, but in the end he stayed where he was, allowing Adelia to walk to the back of the temple by herself again. Now she could take out the sunstone without harming him and she held the glowing, warm crystal out in front of herself as she approached the shattered windows.

Peering inside, she had to admit that while there was space to wriggle in, she doubted she'd be able to do so without touching any of the crystals. Shielding her free hand with her cloak, she braced herself against the windowsill and leaned forward a little more, carefully moving the sunstone around to try and see more inside.

She saw no human remains anywhere, but there were crushed artifacts and relics, the crystals speared through a plain chandelier, pinning it against the ceiling. She paused then, squinting up and she held the light higher, angling it until the reflections off the stone revealed something she hadn't noticed before.

The stone towards the ceiling looked a little cracked and splintered. As though someone had broken them open. Or carved through them.

Settling back on her heels she exhaled with soft relief to no longer be so close to the sickly crystals, but her mind was still focused on what looked like a hole someone had made in the ceiling. But why? And for what reason?

Her hold on the sunstone tightened and she glanced down at it, things connecting and she was rather certain she knew now what had happened here. And if Alexzander had tried to spell her into becoming his puppet now of all times, then there were remnants of his misdeeds still left behind.

She wrapped the sunstone up, pocketing it, before she whistled for Baron. He came right away, nickering softly at her in greeting and she smiled at him, blinking away tears that rose anew.

"You sweet boy," she told him quietly and she reached for the half destroyed tack that still hung from his head.

She had everything removed, leaving the snapped and broken leather with its metal bits lying in the snow, when a sudden sunshine glow appeared at the side of the temple, a shower of sparks swirling through the air and a moment later, Ivan and Lady Miriam appeared.

All at once Adelia felt her knees grow a little shaky, a rushing sweep of relief filling her chest and a trembling exhale escaped her. To no longer be alone out here, fearing the return of Alexzander or that the cold would seep into her to a dangerous degree if no one came to her in time.

Baron's ears pinned back and he snorted sharply, head lowering and lips parting to reveal sharp teeth in warning. She placed a hand on his neck and he paused, just as Ivan and Lady Miriam glanced towards them, both of them looking briefly surprised.

"Would you look at that," Lady Miriam said. "It seems the night is truly fond of you, my dear."

A little half laugh escaped her, her sight blurring and Adelia had to press a palm over her mouth, looking away as she tried to reign herself back in. There were so many messy emotions and she needed to get a hold of herself when so much was on the line.

"What happened?" Lady Miriam asked, that gently joking tone from before gone from her voice and she sounded far more serious, a darkness edged into her words. "May we approach?"

Adelia nodded, taking a deep breath and with a little gesture on her end Baron stepped back, settling down again, her hand lingering on his neck. Cool but not warm, alive and yet still dead. But at least he had returned. That was worth everything and she was not going to let him get killed again.

"Alexzander came here," Adelia began to explain as the two warlords approached her, Ivan keeping a bit more distance to Baron, likely due to the powers granted to him by his goddess. "He tried to spell me, I believe. Said I would make a good puppet."

She was quick to recount the tale and her voice wobbled only slightly twice, but neither Ivan nor Lady Miriam made fun of her for it. If anything, they looked rather angry on her behalf.

"Baron killed him," she said, giving her horse's neck a pat and took a fortifying breath. "I left to try and find the night guard but it... it was too late for them. When I returned he had turned into crystal and his chest and head looked like something had exploded outward."

She gestured to where she had drawn into the snow. "I tried to copy what I saw before the sigils vanished."

Both Ivan and Lady Miriam stepped forward to eye her drawings, his expression a puzzled frown, but Lady Miriam closed her eyes, the green, pulsing glow beneath her skin growing brighter.

When she opened her eyes, they glowed an unsettling, unnatural green, a depth to them that reminded Adelia of the endless deep of the ocean, of a being that lurked within, older and more powerful than she could fathom.

"Looks like a teleportation spell," Lady Miriam mused after a moment. "I've seen something similar to this in a spellbook once and this arrangement of sigils is rarely used for something else."

"He had that inside of him?" Adelia couldn't quite hide her surprise. "I had no idea that was possible."

"It wasn't, at least not to my knowledge. It seems Alexzander has been destroying a lot of impossibilities lately," Ivan mused darkly, his gaze falling to the ruined sun temple. "We need to stop him."

"Obviously," Lady Miriam murmured, the deep green glow fading from her eyes again and she glanced at Adelia. "Why did you ask us to come here? Did you find out anything new?"

"It's just a hunch," Adelia admitted. "But since Alexzander tried to stop me, I think I'm on to something." She turned towards the building. "I think the sunstones come from clerics of the sun goddess." She gestured towards the roof. "And it looks like someone dug into the crystals from above."

She then motioned at the wilderness around them. "And if all other attacked sun temples are this remote, it certainly explains how he was able to move unnoticed for so long."

Away from prying eyes, all he had to do was place whatever spell had turned these people into crystal and no one would be around to notice what had happened for at least a couple of hours, giving him enough time to retrieve any created sunstones.

"Would you like to check out the roof, then?" Lady Miriam asked and Adelia hesitated.

The roof and the hole up there were likely covered in snow and even then they could hardly climb down without touching the crystal. Alexzander had likely either used magic to retrieve any created sunstone or he was immune to their effects. After what she had seen his ruined body turn into, it would not surprise her if that was the case.

Could they create their own opening at the side of the temple and carve away at the crystal? Only, to what end? There would be no sunstones left in here, but... no, something had to be here. If Alexzander had shown his hand to this degree then he still had something to hide. Something he hadn't been able to destroy yet.

It must be the spell he had used to kill everyone within the temple and turn the cleric's faith and soul into a piece of the sun itself. And if he was worried that she would find it, the traces left behind were enough to pose a problem.

But where would one best lay a trap like this? No one had been able to find any purchased devices that would have stored a spell, so it was something else.

He must have placed it and somewhere the clerics were certain to use, no matter what they did. Something that was part of every prayer, every sermon, every gathering.

She turned to Ivan. "You had a codex at your altar, is that the case for every cleric?"

"Yes," he answered, a furrow appearing between his brows. "The codex is part of everything we do, it holds all the teachings and advice our goddess gave us."

"Alexzander must have hidden his trap within the codex," Adelia mused, her mind piecing things together more and more. "And he only targeted remote places because no one would see him and no one would guard these temples." Not like the large one in the city Ivan had taken her to, where there had also been numerous clerics and clerics in training. "And unless I'm mistaken, if we're careful, we'll find leftover bits of his spell in there."

Both Ivan and Lady Miriam paused, before they glanced at each other, then at her.

"If Rowan ever makes the mistake of devaluing you, let me know, I'll ask Cynar if he's willing to add another person to our relationship," Ivan said. "I didn't even think of that."

"The severity of these tragedies and the corruption of the crystals certainly distracted from all this," Lady Miriam mused darkly. "Alright, allow me to be of service."

Adelia took a few steps back as Lady Miriam began to carefully break away the remaining walls at the back of the temple, along with part of the roof to keep it from falling down on their heads. Her magic heavy in the air and a taste of salt and brine lingered on Adelia's tongue.

All that was left now were jagged and uneven, thick masses of crystal, radiating the same sickly feeling as always. Just like the piece Adelia had securely put away in a small container back home.

"Can we get through the crystal?" Adelia asked and a moment later part of the crystal cracked and chipped beneath Lady Miriam's magic.

"Ugh, it's far tougher than I thought," she grumbled. "That's going to be tiring eventually. What are we looking for, Adelia?"

"Remnants of a trap, most likely," Adelia answered. "I know too little about enchantments to be able to tell you what it will look like, but it should be at the starting point of the explosion of crystal."

"We can work with that," Ivan said and stepped forward to join Lady Miriam. The crystal splintered like dry wood beneath their combined might and they got to work, carving through the it.

Adelia noticed that they very carefully didn't touch even the smallest piece, Lady Miriam conjuring sweeping waves of water to wash the broken pieces to messy piles to the left and right. Everything froze into uneven banks in no time, creating quite the slick surface at the sides of the temple.

Ivan was illuminating the place with some dancing globules of golden light when they finally got through the sickly crystal enough to make out the remnants of people. People that had completely turned to crystal, as well, just like the ones that had escaped outside the temple, though they hadn't managed to escape the spell entirely.

It told Adelia that they had had enough time to see what was happening, but not enough to get away. They shimmered the littlest bit golden, as though tiny, glittering flecks of their souls and faith had scattered through them. There wasn't enough to create a sunstone, but they still made the sickly crystal glimmer all the same.

No words were exchanged, but both Ivan and Lady Miriam carefully tried to avoid damaging the people, though the sickly crystal broke and cracked and shattered as it liked, at times causing damage where they didn't intend to.

And then they came upon a sudden hole in the middle of the crystals, one that descended from the roof down to the altar, where the leftover outline of a crystallized person was visible, melded into the surrounding crystal. The cleric, most likely.

The chest was cracked open and she could see the small, fingernail-sized, smooth indent where a sunstone had been. Alexzander had known exactly what he had been looking for when he came here.

"You were right," Ivan whispered, voice heavy with something dark and aching and he reached up to clutch the amulet around his throat, clinging to it as though drawing strength from his goddess. "Does that mean every ruined temple produced one of those stones?"

"I don't know," Adelia murmured and inched forward a little more, glancing away from the cracked-open chest of the crystalline figure, glancing over its surroundings more, trying to find – there. "Look where the hands are."

The codex was largely destroyed, where hands had touched it it had turned partially into crystal as well, but Adelia spotted some faintly glimmering remnants of a black piece of paper, white, glowing scrawling visible on it. Those remains held a strange, lightless darkness, ominous in a way that mere pieces of shredded paper shouldn't have been.

"Can you retrieve them?" she asked and Lady Miriam stepped forward, the green heartbeat within her chest growing deeper and darker, as though it was sucking in and absorbing light, rather than shedding it.

"Let me try," she murmured and her voice came out strange, as though Adelia was suddenly submerged and heard things only from afar, muffled and waterlogged.

The crystal began to erode away, as though large waves were washing it down, sanding the edges to dust and then carving further within. Adelia found herself carefully not moving, Ivan beside her doing the same, until at last, what felt like an hour later, the four leftover bits of paper floated free.

Lady Miriam reached out, allowing them to hover over her palm as she examined them, before taking hold of them. As soon as she did, the downright oppressive pressure and presence of the ocean vanished, leaving Adelia blinking and reeling as her ears almost seemed to pop, sound and sensation rushing back in.

"They are no longer dangerous," Lady Miriam said, holding the pieces out to her, before she sighed. "But I hate to be the bearer of bad news, not even the most brilliant enchanter on the entire world would be able to work with this much."

"Then we'll find more," Ivan said, a dark determination lacing through his words. "There are more temples, after all. We'll recover as much as we can from the others. Alexzander should have used the same spell for all of them, after all."

"In theory, yes," Lady Miriam mused before she added, "I'll reach out to my people. We have three of those ruined temples and I can get any leftover remnants from them by the end of the night."

"Five are in my lands and two in Cynar's," Ivan murmured and they both glanced at her. "Would you take them? If you don't mind dedicating part of your workshop to this project for now."

"Not at all, this concerns me too, after all" Adelia answered and accepted the pieces of paper. Even through her gloves they gave off a foreboding feeling that made her shiver instinctively. "Thank you, for your trust."

A hint of a genuine smile graced Ivan's face. "You are well deserving of it. I'll do my best to recover more pieces as quickly as possible." He glanced at Lady Miriam. "If we work together it will be faster."

"Good idea," the warlord agreed and turned back to Adelia. "We'll work as fast as we can and we'll send any fragments your way as soon as we have them. I'll also inform Iris so she'll send us the locations of her temples. I'm also on reasonably good terms with June, she'll hear me out."

"I'll speak with Cynar and Kazuki, the latter I'll visit personally or we can wait until next week for his response at the earliest. He spends his winters inventing and rarely takes the time to chat with others." Ivan stared at the fragments and then at the temple. "But why the sun goddess? There are many other gods, after all, and plenty of them have clerics that believe in them just as much as my lot do."

"The Deep is an exception, it's incredibly hard to get into one of the old temples, if you can find their locations in the first place," Lady Miriam mused. "But the moon goddess would make a similarly easy goal, as would others, you are right about that."

Adelia closed her fingers around the pieces of paper. "How many people could be harmed with sunlight, compared to moonlight?"

"Night creatures," Lady Miriam answered easily enough. "But that's kind of it. If you look at us warlords, for example, out of all eight of us, only Rowan would die if exposed to daylight and I certainly pissed Alexzander off more than he did, so I don't think he was targeting vampires specifically."

There must be a bigger picture, then. She looked down at the paper pieces, carefully keeping hold of them.

"Maybe we'll find some answers once we have enough pieces collected to figure out what magicks he used," she mused and then huddled a little further into her cloak when a cold wind whistled around the corner. Her mood grew grimmer. "I need to go back and let the night guard know I lost one of their own."

"Do not take the blame for another's actions," Lady Miriam said firmly, reaching out to place a calming hand on Adelia's shoulder. "Don't make light of his sentence by making it yours."

"I still feel responsible," Adelia answered after a moment. "We were only here because of me."

"It was Alexzander who came with the means to kill," Lady Miriam said, voice gentling a little but there was still something steady and solid about her. "And we will have him answer for his crimes."

That she very much agreed with. "We shall."

"Let's bring you back home," Ivan volunteered. "And then Miriam and I will start on retrieving more fragments."

"Be careful, Alexzander might have more tricks up his sleeve," Adelia warned them. "And we don't know how long he will stay dead."

"We'll stay together," Lady Miriam promised and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "And I killed him once before, I shall do so again if he is foolish enough to come after us."

She was likely right, Adelia hoped. Still, it was good to know that they would be careful. Ivan took a step closer, a golden glow already appearing around him, when Adelia's free hand shot out to grab his arm. "Wait, my horse."

"The nightmare?" Ivan asked and at her hurried nod, his lips pressed together for a moment. "I fear my magic is harmful to night creatures. I would hate to burn him with my light."

"He'll find you," Lady Miriam told her with a small, calming smile. "Nightmares that recognize their people always find their way back to them."

Adelia looked past them to see Baron near the woods, a dead hare clenched between his teeth. Oh. It seemed he had been hungry. His ears perked when he noticed her and he approached at a trot.

Adelia stepped away from her friends for a moment to reach out to him. He dropped the hare at her feet with all the proud aplomb of a successful cat having brought home mice and pressed his bloody nose to her palm.

"I'm heading back," she told him gently. "Home. I will see you there, yes?" If not she would ask for another carriage to be made ready and for him to be retrieved.

He exhaled softly, his breath as cool as his skin. That he wasn't even a little bit warm would take some getting used to, she had to admit. In her memory he had been nothing but warm, from his fur to his kind soul. But he was back and that was all that mattered, even if she had to adjust her expectations.

She gave his nose one more pat and stepped away. Ivan and Miriam had waited patiently for her and as soon as she was within reach, her world turned into a swirl of golden and amber sparks, like all the shades of sunshine, before the light scattered away and she found herself standing in the courtyard of the Grim Keep.

"We'll return as soon as we can," Miriam promised and Adelia found herself hesitant to let them go. As though she could keep them safe, somehow, so long as they remained within sight.

But they were powerful people in their own right and this was too important. So she gave them a nod and stepped back, watching as they were enveloped in glowing sparks, which collapsed a moment later, leaving nothing behind.

Swallowing, she took a deep breath and ensured her posture was impeccable as she turned towards her home, grimness in her heart.

"Captain Ever?" she asked as soon as she slipped inside, welcoming warmth greeting her after the icy coldness of winter.

There was a beat, before she heard a knock against one of the entrances of the great hall and the captain appeared before her a moment later.

"I come bearing grim news," Adelia said, her mouth dry and her heart heavy. She reached into her pocket to pull out the brooch of the night guard. It was all that was left of them. "Warlord Alexzander ambushed us and this member of the night guard gave their life in defense of mine. I... I am sorry."

Captain Ever took the brooch from her with careful fingertips, staring down at it silently before closing their fingers around it, clutching it close. "What now, my lady?" they asked, their voice sounding heavier and darker than before.

"Alexzander will answer for what he did," she answered and was almost surprised by how firm and downright fierce her voice came out. Captain Ever glanced up to meet her gaze, their eyes a gleaming, bloody red. "I will have him pay."

"Good." Captain Ever's voice was a low growl that seemed to rumble deep in their chest. They pressed the fist with the brooch over their undead heart. "My lady, if that is all, please excuse me, I will have to tell the others. But please, don't hesitate to call upon us if you have need of us. We will gladly aid you in seeing to Alexzander's downfall."

"Thank you," Adelia answered, her voice softening a little. "And please, take as much time as you need to grieve. If any of you would like to take time off, please let me know and I'll see to it."

Captain Ever gave her a curt nod before vanishing, a bit of displaced air, brushing across Adelia and she exhaled long and slow. Grimness still filled her heart when she headed into her workroom and grabbed two planes of glass, putting the page fragments between them for both safekeeping and easy examination. The large sunstone she put into a box at the side, ensuring that its glow was properly sealed away for the moment.

Afterwards she asked that both Sorceress Iva and Steward Lambrecht be brought to her and as soon as they appeared, both looking rather like they had been settling down for the day, she got the caught up on the newest findings. She also realized then that it had gotten rather late.

Sorceress Iva was bent over the fragments with a frown, while Steward Lambrecht had left to see if any living family or lovers of the night guard needed to be informed of their passing, promising Adelia that he would take care of any necessary payments and arrangements.

"I'll need more pieces before I can say anything for certain," Sorceress Iva admitted with a sigh and she straightened, turning towards Adelia. "But if he figured out how to combine magicks with alchemy then we might have an unusual situation at our hands. Just like we did when we combined our magic with your clockwork art."

Something that hadn't been done before. "We'll deal with it," Adelia said and Sorceress Iva gave her a crooked little grin.

"Of course we will and once we have Alexzander either imprisoned or dead on the ground I will call dibs on raiding his personal library." Sorceress Iva stepped back from the table. "I'll reach out to some friends in the meantime, I would like their insight on some of the theories I have."

Adelia accompanied Sorceress Iva to the door and said her goodbyes, for now. Then she was left with nothing but silence and her thoughts. Returning to her workroom, she stared down at the fragments that still gave off an ominous feeling. Looking at them felt like staring at a bad premonition, as though misfortune waited just around the corner.

After a moment she stepped away and decided to check up on the nightmares. A night guard arrived when she asked for aid and the man told her that the carriage with the nightmares had returned long ago and that, just moments prior, a lone nightmare had arrived, as well.

When she was brought to the stable where the creatures were kept, each stall heavily reinforced and with plenty of space to each other, Baron neighed in greeting. He had made it back.

Adelia found herself unwilling to leave again and instead did what she had dreamed about doing again for months after he had been taken from her. She brushed him down, checked his hooves, combed out his mane and tail and after a bit she noticed that he was half asleep, as he had been when alive. Just enjoying being pampered.

It made her smile, even as her eyes filled with tears again, which she was quick to blink away. Even if not all of him had survived the trip to the afterlife, enough of him had returned that she knew he was still her sweet darling horse. He was just a little more bloodthirsty now.

She had just put everything away when someone knocked on the door to the stable, one of the servants stepping in, but her face was tense and worried.

"Warlord Alexzander has just arrived," she said and Adelia felt a jolt of something icy go through her, before she forced herself to remain calm. "He says he has some urgent matters to discuss."

"I will see him," Adelia decided after a moment. "Please tell the night guard to keep their distance and for everyone else to be careful and see to it that Sorceress Iva and Steward Lambrecht are immediately informed."

She would prefer to have the assistance of a mage at her side when confronted with the vile warlord.

"He's in the entrance hall," the servant was quick to add and stepped aside with a quick bow. "I will let everyone know."

The woman hurried into the keep through a servant's entrance at the side and Adelia took a deep, bracing breath before she made her way to the entrance doors of the Grim Keep.

Her heart was beating faster when she pushed one half of the doors open far enough to let her enter and she saw Alexzander right away. Dressed in robes of black and gold, he leisurely turned to her, a smile on his face that was as ominous as the page fragments Adelia and her friends had found.

"I did not expect you to return so soon," Adelia said as she stepped away from the entrance, letting the door fall shut behind her again. She politely folded her hands in front of herself and took steady, measured steps to the side, not approaching the man but circling him until she stood between him and the rest of the keep. "You are not welcome here, please leave."

"I think you'll want to hear what I have to say," Alexzander answered, entirely ignoring what she had to say, his smile a haughty thing that she found she loathed. "And we both know that trying to kill me is a futile thing at best."

She didn't doubt that he had more sunstones on him and she would not sacrifice more night guards to him and she worried what other magic he had up his sleeves. Until Sorceress Iva appeared, it was best to placate him, unless he attacked first.

She was about to answer when he cut her off, "Rowan hasn't returned yet, has he." It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

Adelia carefully kept her composure, not allowing her face or her body to give away any hints. Rowan had indeed not returned yet, but then again King Harold could be a rather chatty man and it would not surprise her if he had invited Rowan along to a glass of wine.

But Alexzander made it sound like something had happened.

"There is no need to try and deny it or spout any other pretty nonsense," Alexzander continued, gesturing flippantly at her. "I know he's not coming back." A terrible feeling gripped her gut when his smile took on a truly ugly edge, like victorious and arrogant and self-congratulatory. "Harold might have heard from one of his lords that your dear husband isn't quite... human."

Her mind jumped to Emmertal and she clung to her composure with her fingertips. But years of keeping secrets from her father and placating him and never letting anything slip allowed her to keep hold of her calm facade. On the inside, however, she was caught between fear and a growing, seething rage.

This worm of a person truly only destroyed whatever he touched and now he wanted to destroy her beloved and even more beyond that, she didn't doubt that for a second. He would start with Rowan and stop nowhere.

"I suppose you spoke to that lord sometime recently," Adelia answered. "Emmertal did sport a truly interesting ring."

"I just gave him a friendly nudge and gave him a little gift to foster good relations," Alexzander answered with such fake innocence that it set her teeth on edge. "Your vampire isn't the only one who can make friends with kingdom folk, you know."

If Harold heard and, even worse, believed that Rowan wasn't human, then what would he do? Things clicked together rapidly in Adelia's mind. Harold had always coveted the Wilds, he had made no secret of that and if Rowan could be proven to be non-human, he could either keep him captive and force Rowan's lands to become his, too, and Adelia would have no choice but to comply – at first.

But she knew what Harold thought of noble ladies and their loyalties. He would surely expect her to bend the knee even without Rowan, that he would spin a tale of liberating the Wilds from a monstrous warlord, would dig up tales of people being thralled – of Adelia being thralled.

He would have the lords and ladies on his side and if Adelia didn't agree to let him take what he wanted, he would declare war and would be supported by his nobility. Especially when other nobles thought they had something to gain.

"I recommended a trial by sunlight," Alexzander continued and Adelia felt herself still. His smile gained an edge now that he had gotten a reaction out of her and he took a step forward. "When does the sun rise in the kingdom again? Oh, yes, in seven to eight hours, something like that."

Adelia resisted the urge to swallow. "If you are speaking to me about this matter, then I suppose you want something."

If all he had wanted was to see Rowan dead, all he had to do was sit back and watch chaos unfold. There was no reason to seek her out before dawn and give her time to at least try and figure out a solution.

Alexzander's smile told her that she was right. "I can stop this, you see," he mused. "But Rowan has been a bit of a thorn in my side for some time and after I was building such lovely connections with your old home, I fear my help has a price."

What could he possibly want from her? Adelia had nothing to give that he couldn't easily get himself. Aside from clockwork creations, but she had kept her skills such a secret that she doubted he knew anything about it.

"My means are limited," she began to talk and he cut her off with a sharp gesture.

"Please, spare me your simpering platitutes," he downright sneered as he stared her down, all his pretenses at genial smiling gone and it left his true self behind. An ugly mind and heart, vile and contemptuous of everyone around him. "I know you forged some friendships recently. Bring me Ivan and I will ensure your dear little husband survives."

Until when? Alexzander was exactly the type of person to keep Rowan alive just long enough to get what he wanted and then her beloved would perish regardless. Unless she figured out a solution first and got him out.

She didn't even have to wonder why he wanted Ivan after he had targeted so many sun temples and their clerics, though she still wondered, why the sun goddess and not one of the others? There had to be an answer somewhere that she didn't see yet.

"I can't bring him here tonight," Adelia answered after a second, her hands still folded in front of herself but now her body was tense. "He left with Miriam and I don't know where they went."

It wasn't a lie either. She knew they went to one of the other ruined sun temples, but who knew which one or in whose lands.

Alexzander stared her down, his head tipping to the side. "A shame," he said, downright tonelessly now. "At least your dear Rowan will see the sun again after, what, four hundred years? I'm sure I can arrange for his ashes to be brought to you, if any remain at all."

Adelia thought of the night guard and how nothing was left of them, aside from the enchanted brooch. Her heart was beating fast and heavy in her chest now and she realized that Alexzander was not going to negotiate.

"But," Alexzander continued. "If you are willing to sacrifice Rowan, are you willing to sacrifice your lands, as well? If you are lucky you will be accepted as the new warlord and then what will you do when war comes to you? Will you fight?"

His tone told her that he didn't think she'd succeed. Adelia wasn't trained in warfare, she would have to rely on others to give her counsel and help her defend her home. But so many people would die, all because of the greed of a select few.

"The other warlords won't stand for this," she said and he laughed, a brief bark of amusement.

"And what will they do? Kill me?" he asked mockingly and sharply, spreading his arms as though to present himself. "Let them try. Again and again and again. As many times as it takes to get it through their stubborn skulls. It will do them no good in the end and I have plenty of ways to deal with them one after another."

His arms sank to his sides and he stared her down. "Make no mistake, my lady, I am inevitable. All I offer you, now, for myself more than you, is to speed things along. Make it a clean cut than a big, shattering break."

For perhaps the first time since she had first met the man, Alexzander was nothing but sincere. Darkly so, but he was speaking the honest truth all the same.

"They can't kill me," he added, voice almost soft now. "I made sure of that and so it is up to you, now, because you are not as prideful and foolish as the others. Because you know how to listen when your betters speak. So, will you bring me Ivan to save everyone else? A single man sacrificed is hardly a big price to pay."

He meant it, he meant every word and for just a moment her mind felt blank, heartbeat pulsing strongly in her throat. Time, she needed to buy time, to think, to figure something out.

She allowed her mask to slip, then, for some of the fear to bleed through, no matter how much it galled her. "I can try to call for Ivan, but I truly mean it, I have no idea where he is right now or where he will go next. I don't know how long it will take me to track him down."

An edge of desperation to her voice, her hands clenching, her eyes widening and her breathing growing shorter, she allowed herself to look every inch the frightened noble woman confronted with a terrible, unavoidable future.

"Please," she forced herself to whisper and Alexzander's lips curled into a mean little smile.

"Well, who can say no to someone begging so nicely?" he said, tone sweetly mocking. "Very well, I will help you protect your home and the other warlords, but I can only give you until sunset." He turned to leave and called over his shoulder, "If you reach Ivan soon enough, perhaps you can even save your dear little Rowan in time."

"Why do you want Ivan?" Adelia asked, her hands now in clenched fists at her sides. "Why go after the sun goddess at all?"

But Alexzander didn't answer, he merely waved at her without turning around and sauntered out of the Grim Keep, the entrance doors falling shut with a heavy noise behind him.

As soon as he was gone, a heavy, trembling exhale escaped her.

"My lady?" Captain Ever's voice came from behind her and she jumped in startled surprise. "You cannot allow this to happen. Please, my lady."

For the first time Captain Ever didn't sound composed and calm and steady. There was worry in their town and perhaps even something akin to a flicker of fear.

"I won't," Adelia answered, taking a deep, settling breath, her heart still beating too fast and too noticeable in her chest. "I'll think of something."

But what? What could she do? Attack the palace to try and rescue Rowan? She might as well declare war right on the spot and who knew where they were keeping her beloved? If King Harold was careful, if he was smart, he kept Rowan at a secluded place and had him brought in for his trial with the aid of his mage.

She had no string to pull back home and even offering to marry Emmertal on the spot wouldn't change anything. Not when the Wilds were a far bigger price than she could ever hope to be. King Harold wouldn't let a chance at grabbing the lands that had eluded being conquered for generations go so easily.

No, the best way to save Rowan and protect her home was to rescue him from his trial, but she had no idea how. Or how to find him. And if they managed to capture him in the first place, then the king was prepared for monsters and magic.

He had likely brought monster hunters to the table, had taken all the steps and measures necessary to trap a vampire. To keep him contained and chained up.

With chains that were likely made of silver.

She couldn't help but remember the night she had met Rowan, a cloaked, massive creature that had bled like no tomorrow, silver sticking out of his flesh. Was he hurt, right now? Was he merely held by silver or pierced by it?

Rowan bled red if cut, she knew that, and while silver poisoned him over time, there was no immediate reaction that would be visible. Sunlight was indeed the best trial and it would see him dead within moments.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress, a helpless, ugly, scared feeling clawing through her gut, similar to the way she had felt when Baron had vanished from his stable and her father had told her he was gone.

Her fingers curled around something small and hard in her left pocket. Emmertal's ring. Wait.

She inhaled sharply and turned to Captain Ever, "Please tell Sorceress Iva to meet me in my workroom right away."

Captain Ever vanished with a quick nod and Adelia rushed out of the entrance hall, a desperate, grim sort of hope taking hold of hear heart.

If her hunch was right, if she was on to something here, then she might be able to do something. She hoped so, because the only other way to, hopefully, postpone Rowan's death was to hand Ivan over to Alexzander – if the man intended to keep his word at all.

That was no option. Her grip on her skirts tightened and she quickened her pace. She had lost what she held most dear once before, she would not allow the same to happen again. This time she would do something. This time she would not be too late.

*.*.*

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