---

Elise set one foot in front of the other, making her way slowly into the icy cave. Every time fear or uncertainty crept up within her, she reminded herself what her target had done, and her resolve was strengthened. She would not turn back now.

She was thankful her amulet even warded against the cold, for she wasn't wearing enough layers for this far into the mountains. The fragment of the teleportation rune in her leather-gloved hand hummed softly now, a sure sign she was getting close. This had to be it. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of what lay ahead for her, but she reminded herself again. This wicked man, Valence, had murdered her mother, the Queen of the Vale, after her father refused to go to war. After he showed up in person, after slitting the Queen's throat in her bed, and demanded they throw themselves in a war they had no part in. He was a vile, despicable man, and Elise was determined to force him into conflict, a fight he couldn't flee from. She told herself he would not be so sure of himself, fighting an opponent who had her eyes open.

Repeatedly she'd been warned. Her father's advisors cautioned her against reckless action, but she would not sit idly by while the King was wracked with grief. The wizard she took the rune fragment to knew what she planned, and warned not to risk herself. But how could she not? After what he'd done? She was skilled. She had to try. The wizard gave her the key, the knowledge that these such runes could be magically charged even after their use and destruction, and that the fragment would seek out the whole that it came from. With luck, it would lead her right to him.

He had hidden himself away in the mountains, where barbarian clans roamed, beyond the safe territory controlled by Vale's armies. Elise had enlisted twenty of the Vale's best knights, to hunt and kill the murderer of their Queen, but by some accident, a narrow ravine pass had been subjected to a collapse of ice and rock, separating Elise from her allies. With no way back, her only option was forward, and she would not give up this chance. When she didn't so much as come across a single clansman of the mountains, she began to suspected that Valence had intended this. That he'd killed her mother to draw her into action, so he might find an easier time of dispatching her next. The way was too clear, too easy. She felt eyes upon her for much of the journey, which began at dawn but ended near dusk. Her legs were weary from travel and climbing, but she refused to turn back. She would have justice.

And finally, the rune fragment led her into the cave, and she cast it aside, wanting her hand free for combat on a moment's notice. He would be here somewhere. He'd intended to meet in this place. The footing was slick in places under her boots; Elise tried to stick to the snow, where she sank in better, had less chance of slipping. Light filtered down through holes in the ceiling, reflecting off icy formations, giving the entire cave a crystalline appearance in places. Elise might've remarked on its beauty, were she in a state of mind to care for such things.

Around the next corner, below a bridge of ice that had to have been formed with magic at some point, knelt the man she sought, his back turned to her. His armor, his hair, they were unmistakable to her, as she had remembered each and every detail of the man when he'd appeared in their great hall, and demanded their support after murdering her mother. She could not forget if she wanted, the moments when he'd locked eyes with her. She did not know she was capable of the hatred she'd felt, and some part of it frightened her. But if she could harness it to bring him to justice, it would be worth it.

She knew this for a trick, as she had recognized the other steps along the way. Elise would strike down at the illusion, recognize it as such, but not soon enough to avoid the blow that came from elsewhere. She was only willing to play his game to a certain point, and this was the end of it. He would face her, here and now, and she would kill him if she could. Her sword gleamed in the reflected light of the cave.

"I've come to face you, murderer!" she called, her voice echoing off the walls, as she looked around for where Valence might be hiding. "You wanted me alone, here I am. You may find I am more challenging to defeat than a sleeping woman, defenseless in her own bed!" Elise huffed a steadying breath. She could almost hear her sword instructor, reminding her to keep her composure, keep a level head. It was nearly impossible in this moment.

Elise had never killed anyone before. But if she could defeat her mother's murderer, she would not think twice about it.

---

Valence Valentine of Valryk had been watching her for some time, yes. She was quite intelligent, this one, she saw everything for what it was. A shame, though, that she knew the illusion for what it was. It would've been disappointing, if she had believed the illusion of himself to be real, but still- it would've been easier for everyone for her to have fallen into the trap.

He stood, from a ledge overlooking the cave- halfway up the walls and out of the light's reach, and even the fractured, reflected light didn't land here. He didn't need that much light to see, with Delphyne, his Wyvern, sitting behind him. He could see through her eyes, and her eyes saw much, much better than his. He had to step carefully- mithril boots had a tendency to ring rather beautifully if it hit something solid too hard, especially ice or metal.

Delphyne involuntarily growled, an instinctual response at the sight of someone threatening her bonded. Valentine raised his hand, shushing her, but he didn't mind it- it made for a dramatic entrance.

"Hush, now, Delphyne. We have a guest."

He sighed, and pulled the gloves off both of his hands, shoving them into a pocket. The cold bit into his hands a bit more than before, but was nonetheless harmless for a few hours. The benefits of the gloves versus bare hand and rune always favored his bare hands- he needed access to the power he had.

"Welcome, Princess Elise," he greeted, his voice tugging with weariness at the mere thought of why she was here. "I am truly sorry for the circumstances as to why we have met. I would have liked to think that, under more favorable circumstances, we could have been friends, or allies, at the least. Your mother was- is- an unfortunate necessary. Evil, nonetheless. And now you are here, undoubtedly to leave with me dead, or not at all."

He took a step off the edge of his little alcove, and slid down the slope to the ice shelf that Princess Elise was standing on, not more than twenty or thirty feet away- and now in the light.

"Well, I suppose I shan't disappoint," he stated, staring at Elise with a certain sadness. "I have my people to save, and you have your Queen to avenge."

He drew one of his throwing axes, and clenched his right fist- triggering the rune on the back of his hand, which flared bright blue and formed a transparent blue, shimmering shield three feet in diameter. He dropped into a ready position, Mithril and leather boots gripping, more or less, in the ice. His grip wasn't that great, but he wouldn't let Elise know that.

Staring off the fight, he drew his throwing axe back, and, quick as a whip, slung it end-over-end at Elise, hoping for a quick end- even though he knew otherwise.

A voice was whispering in Elise's ear, seeding doubts. She didn't know hardly anything about her opponent, and yet he had probably studied her extensively. He had a multitude of weapons, and she just her sword, and a small knife in her boot. He seemed utterly relaxed, sad even, as though he knew the outcome of this already, and it would be tiresome work to reach. Elise on the other hand struggled to stay steady, now that she was looking Valence in the eye, and knew that each intended the death of the other. She couldn't do this...

No. She refused to think that way. Even with the growling wyvern up above. She very much doubted they could ever have been friends. This man was capable of horrible, wretched things. Allies, perhaps, as Elise was willing to go to great lengths to maintain peace, as her father had taught her. Their kingdom was the most sought after and beautiful in the world, and they could not be drawn into senseless violence, lest they weaken themselves and allow what they'd cultivated to be destroyed.

This violence, Elise had to believe, was not without sense.

She ducked and evaded sideways away from the throwing axe that was flung in her direction. It might've still clipped her shoulder normally, but the amulet resting on her chest flared a soft shade of gold, as did small emblems upon her pauldrons, and the axe was redirected away from her body, bending its course in the air. Elise skidded to a stop, sliding a foot across the icy surface, and lowering her free right hand, touching fingers to the ground to steady herself.

"How could you save your people by murdering mine?!" she demanded to know. Anger, grief, and confusion melded in the expression written on her features. "Why would we help a cruel people such as yours?" She rushed forward, steeling herself as she eyed Valence's shield. It looked strong, but enchantments upon her armor would help her strength somewhat. There was no easy way around him, and she refused to let him throw more axes at her while she couldn't respond.

Shouting with the effort, Elise brought her sword in a heavy two-handed downward arc at Valence when she reached him, trying to break his defense. She intended to see if anger really could make her stronger.

Valence waited, gently digging his feet in as Elise crossed the distance, raising her sword with a cry. She had good reflexes- Vale trained its people well, as per usual. He pushed the respect out of mind- he was required. Delphyne didn't intervene, but the two-legged winged beast leaned out of its perch, taking a couple steps forward, to dip her head into the lip, watching Elise.

"A new Empire threatens everyone in the South. My people will be subject to their conquerers soon if I do not have reinforcements, and the Vale is the only people close enough with the available, unused manpower. My people will be murdered while defending at or cowering in their homes, because there was no one to come to our aid."

He seemed to freeze, just a moment, as her blade started to come down, and then he jerked himself to the left, bringing up his right-hand shield just in case. The sword flared against the magical barrier, but it was a glancing blow- he hardly felt the drain as a result. She was fast, but that was a little predictable. She should've feinted, or somesuch. All she had was that blade- if he knocked that blade away, she would be next to defenseless. Knives wouldn't be enough to take him down.

However, she just rushed straight towards him, while he was standing on ice. He found snow with his left-hand foot, and his slide ended abruptly. Taking advantage of the unbalance from rushing forward with such a strike, onto ice, he lashed out with his right foot, aiming to kick the side of her knee, hopefully to bring her crashing down.

Elise's attack did indeed carry her further than she intended, when the ice proved difficult to halt on. Her enchantments strained to redirect his kick, but ultimately couldn't do so, and his boot found the side of her right leg, forcing her down onto one knee. She winced, as the limb twisted somewhat painfully, but no serious damage had been done, and she managed to act quickly, tucking her shoulder and rolling forward, coming quickly back to her feet, albeit with enough time for him to turn and face her again, effectively resetting the fight.

"So you would murder our people in their homes instead?" she spat, maintaining her ready stance. She tried to ignore the wyvern peering down at her; she couldn't afford to be distracted by it. Valence had strong control of magic, making his attacks difficult for her amulet and gear to intercept. She couldn't afford any mistakes, either. "You're no better than those who intend to conquer you. We will not be intimidated into submission!"

She rushed forward again, this time kicking up a cloud of soft snow towards Valence, hoping to obscure her approach, giving her a better chance at breaking through. She broke off, through the cloud, trying to get around his right side, not risking a feinted step for fear of slipping on the ice. As she came around, Elise attempted to slash high with her sword, aiming for his exposed head.

Delphyne watched, restless to join in and finish the fight, despite Valence's insistence on finishing it himself. Through her eyes, Valence saw her kick up the snow and try to use it as cover- a decent strategy if Valence didn't have two pairs of eyes on either side of her.

Either way, he pointed his right index finger, channeling enough power into it to burst into flames. The snow evaporated, and the flames parted rather harmlessly around the offending Princess, with her sword raised high. She made a mistake, however- she ran for his shield side. He brought up his arm, and her sword slashed through the upper edge, where the magic wasn't as strong, and stopped dead a couple inches away from his head, mana suddenly thrumming throughout the room as it radiated through the glowing red runes on his collar to stop the sword.

This near-death sort of thing brought Val into the game, with no turning back. He growled, and whipped out his sheathed mithril sword, the blade itself humming with energy down its half dozen runes.

"I am a monster so my people don't have to be!" he roared, genuinely insulted and stinging from the accusation, however true it may be. He had his shield at the ready to block whatever next attack she tried, as she withdrew her sword, but he didn't get her the moment to do so.

As her sword came back from the sudden magical halt, he brought his own to bear, swinging brutally fast and strong, powered by rune and training. And after that, came another strike, from another angle, and then a feint and another strike, greaves and vambraces shining with runic light as they powered his movements. He felt the mana leaving him, but he knew that he'd have to burn off substantially more to be left defenseless.

He didn't let her counterattack- he kept her on her guard, moving faster and more confidently than she, with speed learned in combat rather than in practice.

Abruptly, he leapt backwards, unclenching his fist- and dropping his shield- in favor of raising his hand. The moment he did so, he channeled more mana through, and a bolt of crackling lightning thundered from his hand, crossing the short distance he had put between them and smiting the warded Princess.

He didn't wait to see if she recovered- he let loose another bolt, the icy confines of the cave sending the thunder echoing endlessly around them, the ice reacting with cracks and pops as the thunder rumbled against it.

All the while, his teeth were clenched and he hoped, prayed, even, that she would slip and she would die, that she would be done. There is no joy in a prolonged fight, and if she did so happen to beat him, then his people were well and truly doomed.

She'd almost had him, and it gave Elise a momentary burst of hope. But her blade was forced away by his defenses, and almost proved in the end to be nothing. Worse, her efforts had convinced him to increase his attack, and Elise soon found herself entirely on the defensive.

A brief moment she spent recovering her footing was a moment too long, and there were sword blows raining upon her before she could move. The first was deflected entirely by her wards, but she felt them significantly weaken in the process, given the strength of his attack. She had to defend against them herself. The second clashed loudly off her sword, driving her a step back and rattling her arms painfully all the way up to the shoulder.

He feinted, and she fell for it entirely, the next strike coming at her unguarded side, and she would've been split open were it not for the wards, still barely holding. Some of the force was coming through now, and the blow felt like a brutal punch to her ribs, knocking her breath from her and leaving her reeling. Elise stumbled back, her features contorted in pain.

Her back hit an icy wall, radiating cold, and she shuddered. No sooner had she hit it than a lightning bolt shot forward from Valence, on target to hit her in the chest, but her ward saved her from it. Her defenses shattered with a loud ringing, and the amulet upon her chest immediately darkened. The force of the lightning bolt still carried mostly through, smacking Elise back against the icy wall, the burst of energy in front of her kicking up another cloud of snow.

Only her fall to her side saved her from the next lightning bolt, which blasted apart a chunk of the wall behind her, sending icy pieces raining down around her. More than anything, Elise felt the cold, now that her amulet was spent, leaving her exposed to the elements. It was a stark reminder of her vulnerability, the air cutting like knives through her clothes and armor. She couldn't hide the fear from her eyes. Who wouldn't feel fear, when assaulted with terrifying force like this?

But Elise wouldn't give up, not until she could go no longer, and she forced herself back to her feet as quickly as she could, beating down her uncertainty with anger. "I am a daughter of the Vale," she said, as she charged forward again. "And I will have justice!" That was unlikely at this point, but saying the words gave her the courage she needed for another attack.

She was slowed somewhat now, making her movement easy to read, as she rushed forward and made an aggressive lunge now that Valence was shieldless. It would leave her entirely exposed if she missed, however, and the protection of her warding amulet was now gone.

Valence grimly eyed the desperate angry soul that survived his attack. She was tough, but that might be attributed to the amulet that kept flaring up. No, she was courageous- she knew who she was searching for, and came anyways. Not as if he blamed her. He'd probably do the same thing, if someone murdered his mother.

He waited for her, letting her come at him. He wouldn't strike her while she was down, not if he wasn't close enough to make sure it all ended. But she was moving slower now, easier to predict, and she is fueled by anger, not steely determination. Her attacks are a little too wild, and she's a little too impulsive. She should've come at him slowly, carefully. Charging is never a good idea.

It seems putting down his shield gave him an advantage, in more ways than one.

As she charged forward, he let her reach maybe a foot outside her sword's tip, before he fired off another bolt of lightning- a much less powerful one, one that wouldn't kill. She was practically point blank and there is no way to dodge lightning. Her wards are down and she's charged straight into his hand. The bolt arced through her sword and into her body, likely fusing her hand to the sword and locking her muscles.

He spun, swiping aside the sword with his left mithril-coated wrist, turning fully about and using the momentum to drive the hilt of his sword into her face. To add to it, he simultaneously slipped his left foot under her right, and tugged forward. With her head being snapped back and her leg being pushed forward, she dropped to the ground, hard.

He stared down at her for a moment, knowing that she's incapacitated from the surge of electricity, bleeding from the punch to the nose, and hurting from dropping on her back. Quickly kneeling down next to her, he set his sword down by her fizzy blond hair. Cupping his right hand over her cheek, he drew a knife with his left. He stared down, compassionate, wide-eyed, and sorrowful, whispering in a foreign language- a chant, a death rite, of sorts.

"Princess Elise of the Vale, you fought well. May you see your loved ones again, and rest in peace. You fought admirably; your mother would be proud."

He stroked her cheek, knowing that her father will never do it again. In his own way, he mourned the loss of Elise, the Princess of the Vale. He admired and respected her- she was out of her league and kept going anyways, spurred on by something he had long lost the right to. And he truly, truly cared about this woman, who gave her life to bringing a monster to justice.

"If you have anything you want to say, any message at all, I will deliver it. I swear it, Princess. But you do not have time anymore, so I suggest you hurry with it."

Delphyne growled from above; without breaking his gaze on the fair maiden, he shushed her. The Wyvern responded by opening her wings and sort of gently dropping to the ground before the fallen princess and her to-be killer. From behind Valence's head came Delphyne's great scaly head, peering curiously at the creature who wished her bonded harm.

Elise had never truly been injured before, not in a life-threatening way, nor had she been subjected to the force of offensive magic the likes of which Valence had thrown at her. There was nothing she could to dodge the lightning, and it aggressively jumped from her sword's blade into her arm, proceeding to course through her entire body. She shook violently, as every piece of her erupted in pain unlike anything she'd ever felt. The tightening of her muscles prevented her even from screaming; she merely stood still, the agonizing magic sapping all the strength she had left in her.

When it ended, she was left with just a brief moment to gulp in a breath, and blink the unbidden tears from her eyes. She wavered in place, her sword easily slapped from her hand, and it flew to the ground, clattering against the ice. Her limbs trembled from the surging of energy still reverberating through her, making it almost impossible to control herself. Elise would have fallen quickly enough regardless of Valence's next attack, but it came anyway, and she could only watch.

The hilt of the sword smacked into her face, bloodying her nose and wrenching her head back. For an instant she blacked out, unable to see or feel anything, but when her senses returned, she felt herself falling, her legs having been swept out from under her. Her back collided painfully with the ice, and she cried out, arching her back away from the ice and trying to brace herself with a gloved hand. One of her ribs had most certainly cracked, leaving rippling agony throughout her torso. She couldn't even move her hand well enough to clutch herself, however.

Her breath came in gasps as she writhed on her back on the ice, the chill of it cutting through her. She was still clearly trying to resist, trying to roll over or get up or strike at him, but her body wouldn't obey her. She could only lie upon her back, her limbs twitching this way and that, spasms shaking her body every few seconds. Blood ran in lines down the side of her face.

Elise's imminent death began to set in fully. Somehow she'd known this would be the outcome, with her lying defeated under her mother's killer, soon to be her killer as well. But she had to try. If she hadn't, Valence would've disappeared, surely. He could not show his face in Vale again without being attacked by any soldier in sight. He would've retreated to his home or somewhere else. This was her one chance for justice.

And she had failed, costing her own life, and further damaging the future of her kingdom.

He knelt down by her, setting his sword down by her head and reaching out to touch her face. She recoiled from him as best she could, tried to reach for his sword, but her arms refused to obey her, and she grimaced with the effort. She heard the drawing of a knife, and struggled harder, managing to almost roll over slightly, but the move put weight directly upon her broken rib, and she choked on a gasp, forced to roll back. Tears streamed from her eyes, from pain and grief in equal measure. She ceased her struggling, now only twitching from the jolts still going through her limbs and body from the electricity's after-effects.

He was saying something to her, but Elise didn't understand, at least not at first. Perhaps the pain was causing that. Something about her mother. Proud, he said. He wanted a message, last words. Did he want her to beg? No, his eyes spoke otherwise. He was sorry to be killing her. He really believed he needed to. Elise desperately tried to get a decent breath, so she could speak, but her breathing was ragged, the taste of her blood thick on her tongue.

"My father," she managed. "I'm sorry..." It was all she could think to say, as her eyes wandered to the knife, and then up to his eyes again. Elise swallowed, trying pointlessly to steady her breathing. If she was to die, she wanted to die unafraid, as the daughter of a King should.

Valence nodded, silent in his acknowledgement. He didn't stray the knife from her throat- he knew that she was incapacitated, but... he didn't want to take any chances. He leaned over her, glancing up, so he could reach for her sword. Taking it in hand, he dragged it to her hand, forcing her to wrap around the weapon again.

"No one should die in combat without their weapon. Rest in peace, Princess Elise."

He drove the knife home, right under the ear, ending her life almost instantly. It was certainly painless, and unorthodox- many would drive a knife into the heart, or the throat. He and his people believed that by finishing off a worthy warrior in such a place, it let the soul of the warrior free easier, less likely to be trapped in the body or in the area where the warrior was killed. It was a clean kill, as well- one cannot usually drive a knife into the soft spot beneath one's ear without the person resisting at least a little.

He stared down at her suddenly lifeless face, oh-so-weary.

"Another one, Delphyne. Is this even how I'm supposed to force their hand? If I left her alive, I know she wouldn't stop until I was dead and gone, or until she was. And she is, now. What a waste of life. An honorable waste, but still a waste."

Delphyne just growled, and nudged past Valence's shoulder to sniff at the dead body of the Princess.

Valence leaned against her scaly neck, and withdrew the knife from the side of Elise's head. A damn shame, he couldn't help but think. There was potential there... a fire that would've led her people for ages. He felt the familiar kindling of hate- the self-hate for himself. Turning it away, he forced it at the enemy that started all this- the Southern Empire. The... speaking of which, it was odd that they'd call themselves the Southern Empire, as if they were already the sister nation to the Northern one.

He pushed the thought aside. It would have no gain, thinking about that. The Southern Empire is encroaching onto Valryk, and he needs reinforcements. Anything but sheer force and brutality would be too lengthy, and they have proven to be resistant to any sort of previous plea for help before.

Valence Valentine had a message to deliver.

---

---

Valence bowed his head with everyone else, a thick cloak covering his armor, its cowl hiding his face. It seemed that he was infamous- his name and a likeness of his face was on every wall, every board, every post. His head- just his head- was worth almost as much as a half-pound of mithril.

It was a funeral. More specifically, the Queen's funeral. He was one among thousands gathered in the green under the shadow of the Castle Vale- the place of the King, the Queen, and all the important Vale peoples work at. The City of the Vale- it didn't have a normal name, but was rather the city of the Vale, specifically- had been packed with people coming to mourn the loss of the Queen, and now, the Princess.

After the ten knights had returned, finding nothing more than bloodstains and the Princess's sword in the ice cave that they had fought, they concluded that she was dead. Too much blood to be certain of anything else, after all. Valence didn't know why he spirited away her body, or encased it in ice, for preservation, but he'd get to that here after he delivered the message.

He attended the Queen's funeral, and then sought out the King himself. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get to him by normal means, though. He ghosted through the crowd, no one really noticing the broad cloaked figure- it was oddly easy to hide his armor- or the charcoal-covered boots of his. He didn't appreciate a lack of armor, especially mithril. Cloaks over it was safer, to him.

Finally, he reached the edge of the crowd, watching the procession of the King and his Queen, in her casket, being taken back to the castle. He didn't know where royalty were buried- that was one secret he couldn't get from anybody- but it didn't matter. He had to get the King alone.

Four hours later, Valence managed just that. While the Royal Guard were busy elsewhere, he snuck into the King's rooms- again. Despite the extra security since, it was an easy matter to reach the roof, avoid the patrols and the walkways, parkour over to the guard-laden balcony above the King's suite, and use a runed amulet of invisibility to sneak past the half-dozen guards, and slip down onto the King's own balcony. His runes made up for a lack of experience or skill- muffling runes, gripping runes, and more gave him an inhuman advantage.

From there, it was just a matter of waiting. He took the time to break out some bread and his wineskin, to recover the strength, well, mana that he had used up, with all the runes being used today.

He was halfway through his loaf of bread and wineskin when he heard a commotion outside. Spiriting the wine and bread back into their places along his belt, he replaced the cowl over his head, and activated the invisibility rune. He was sitting in a chair, at the far corner of the room, and he was quite certain that the King would go straight to bed. Well, disrobe and such, and then to bed.

So he waited, and the double doors opened and a dozen guards marched in. They looked everywhere, checked under tables and behind curtains. A good thing they all took their jobs seriously, and didn't decide to take a momentary seat. Why check the chair sitting in plain sight, after all? It seemed that, despite the threat and the magic, they were still rather soft. None of them had magical detection runes, and it seemed that the King didn't quite trust wizards close around him. A wizard, after all, made any mortal man powerless- such as the King. Regardless of runes, of course.

Finally, the guards left, marching out and reporting back to their captain- "Room secure, sir!"

And the King strode in, sighing wearily. The guards shut the door behind him, and he passed through the anteroom into the bedroom, where Valence waited.

Valence watched passively as the King cautiously approached the wardrobe- likely where some amount of his Queen's clothes were stored. But he started undressing nonetheless, disrobing his great big fancy cape-thing, whatever they call it- Valence really didn't know- and started to hang it up.

Deactivating the rune, he crossed one of his legs. Throwing his cloak back, covering the chair, and revealing his armor, he whistled.

Alerted by the vibrating mithril-on-mithril, and the whistle, the King spun around, a jewel-encrusted knife already drawn.

Valence lazily raised his hands, on his comfortable perch across the room, and replied to his surprised and scared expression.

"Oops. Beat me on the draw- you got me." Valence tried for a smile, but fell a little short. "I know, I'm sorry. Bad habit to try and lighten the situation. Don't try to yell for the guards; then I'd really have to kill you and them, and I really don't want to do that. And no, I'm not going to do that. Just put the knife down, alright?"

The King just stared at him, face slowly transforming into anger. His mouth opened, undoubtedly to call the guards.

Which forced Valence to act. He whipped out a runed coin and threw it onto the ground- and a moment later, there was a semitransparent bubble in the middle of the room, just large enough to contain both the King and Valence.

"Oh, stop it, no one's going to be coming to your aid. I just want to talk!" Valence snapped, frustration coming from his weariness and the fact that he had to wait too many hours just for this.

Then he rubbed his face, and apologized, "I'm sorry, mi'lord. Just been a long week, like it's been for both of us."

He stood up, walking placidly towards the King, who still had his knife drawn. Naturally, the King lunged forward with a shout, attempted to stab Valence's face.

Valence was quite surprised when the knife went straight through his wards- which stopped about half a foot from his body- and kept coming. Reacting quickly, he ducked to the side- but not before the King managed to graze the side of his cheek, opening up a bleeding line two inches long.

Moving, now, Valence whipped around before the King- who most definitely didn't have the same extent of training or enhancement- could recover from his own shock at actually managing to wound him. Knocking the knife from his hand with a strike, and then forcing the King back with his opposite hand's shove, Valentine pointed at the man.

"Dammit, I'm here to give you your daughter's last words!"

The King paused- heaving, yes, undoubtedly planning to try and kill Valence with the now-floored knife, but he did nonetheless.

"Your daughter found me, she did. Quite the tracker, very determined. She could have gotten me, had she had a sword that had whatever that knife has, too. But she didn't. Fought well, fought strong, and I daresay that she would've made you proud. I don't know the custom for a warrior's death, but I made sure that when I ended it, she had her sword in hand. She had an honorable death. And most of all... she said she was sorry. King of the Vale, your daughter made you and your wife proud, that day. Know that."

Valence stared at the shocked man's surprised O of a mouth, and gave the man a grim nod. He leaned down, and swiped the privacy bubble coin from the ground, deactivating it as he did so. The shield collapsed, and the King stared at him.

"Guards! HE'S HERE!"

Valence sighed, as the doors blasted open.

"Bullocks."

Two crossbows thwang'd, their bolts stopping abruptly in front of Valence's turned face and chest. He promptly swiped them from the air, and bolted for the balcony. The clanging of armor followed him, a half dozen Royal Guardsmen drawing their swords and preparing to run him through. He faintly heard the King's hysterical orders to kill him; he had other things to worry about.

High above, Delphyne, who had been watching through Valence's eyes, was already in a dive.

And down on the upper story balcony of the King, Valence skidded to a stop in front of the rail, turned about, and tore off his right hand's glove. He pointed a finger at the guardsmen, a torrent of fire suddenly erupting towards the soldiers. They cried and scrambled back, but they had enchanted armor- it was probably hot for them, but not terribly slow.

It bought him enough time for Delphyne to swoop out of the clouds and crash into the stone wall next to the open area of the King's suite. Valence turned towards her, hopped onto the balcony rail, and then leapt towards the saddle at the base of her neck. Grabbing hold of the saddle's horn, and his leg finding its perch in the leather loop, he secured himself. Delphyne launched herself away from the castle, and they made their get-away.

---

---

Valence stared at Princess Elise's very dead body. He had cleaned the blood off of her face before freezing her. She was quite dead. For some reason, he couldn't stop noting that she was very certainly dead. And he didn't know how he felt about that.

That was a lie. He hated that she was dead. Another person dead. A very important, special person, one that had a place in the Vale's people and their hearts. He sort of knew her, too. Not the normal way- he had watched her much of the time when she had been preparing to take him on, and when she was traveling to come kill him. Call him a stalker, and he wouldn't deny it. He had his reasons for stalking, though, but one might not call him a good man despite all of his actions. He didn't exactly try to stop the Princess, though on reflection, she probably would've recognized it to be his input and continued on, even more determined.

Valence didn't know what he was doing, at first. He was still in his detached daze, thinking deeply to recent events. He did it too often, now that he was alone. But he was already up and about, clearing an area on the ice in his backup ice cave hideout. This one was shaped like a crater- a hole in the ceiling, straight in the middle and heading out, constantly dripping in the summertime. The middle of the room was smooth, and sloped gently upwards until it reached the walls- in which it sloped gently upwards until it reached the hole in the middle. He had burned a hole in the side, leading out to the outside. He had frozen Elise in the ice a few feet away from the center of the cave, lying with her side to it. Delphyne was out and about, hunting- she couldn't fit in the room.

He wiped away the water gathering in the center of the bottom, pushing it towards the hole he had made and letting it drain out of the cave. Then he pulled out his sword, and channeled mana into two of the runes in the sword- the first one was the rune for Ignis, or fire. The second rune was Scriptum- text, or rune. Scriptum was the rune for making more powerful runes- and if you want a powerful rune, you carve it with a Scriptum-inscribed tool. Thus, he started carving into the ice, melting it slightly with the fire and imbuing more power into the rune with Scriptum.

An hour and six Primary runes- there are many runes for each, but Primary runes are THE rune of the element- later, he had the central Renascens rune- "Rising Again." The five runes surrounding it were the ones required for performing the rite- he could do it without them, but it was a great deal more stable and... well, the book he had learned it from had been written by a madman, and that section had ink spilled over it. It did something, but he knew that this was the surefire way to bring someone back, as if they never died. Vitae, Ignis, Terra, Aer, and Aqua runes radiated equidistant around the Renascens rune- Life, Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Finally, he took a step back, and draw a last rune behind the Vitae rune- Imperium, or Control.

Surveying his handiwork, he realized that the water had disappeared. He had more or less melted and carved the ice- but it was gone, nada. Such is the subtle way of runes, he supposed. Perhaps Aqua absorbed the water.

He approached the ice bubble that Elise was frozen in, and knelt by it. He had to wiggle a little, though, to dig in the edges of his armor in the ice so he wouldn't start sliding. He took off his right hand gloves, sheathed his sword, and placed his hand on the ice. A moment later, he trickled a very small amount of mana into his dragon finger, heating it up and starting a small fire on his hand. Due to the rune, the fire didn't hurt him- thank the lords. He took his time, melting the ice- again, the water just seemed to disappear as soon as the ice melted. As he worked, he began hearing a ringing sound, a pure, toneless sound. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that the water rune was already glowing- already absorbing the water, enhanced as-is by all the ice.

And then he was done. He had uncovered Elise, looking more peaceful than she ever has. The sight took his breath away, and he had to admit that to himself- she was beautiful. More so, now that she doesn't want to kill him. But then again, he had to kill her to get to that, and that sort of ruined it for him.

Taking care, he pried her from the makeshift coffin, wincing at the red ice, from where blood had been frozen with the normal ice. Digging his hands underneath her knees and shoulders, he lifted her up, gently, so as not to slip and fall. He didn't stand, but rather scooted himself around to avoid the slipperiness, and gently laid her back down, careful not to touch the Vitae rune that was right in front of him.

Now that Elise was laying on the Renascens, he moved around to sit cross-legged on the Imperium. Settling, he pulled off his left hand glove, and tossed it to the side with his right. Extending both hands out towards Elise, he used them as conduits for his mana. Chanting softly in the Runic language- because you can technically read the Runes, and some very old, very rare ruins have stories told with the runes- he moved substantial amounts of his mana through himself, out his hands, and to the waiting runes. Almost immediately, Renascens started sucking in his power, Imperium helping to keep it flowing steadily. From there, the other runes on the ice cave's floor began glowing, as they used the runic power of the Rising-Again rune.

He felt a twitch from Renascens; a little tug on his mana. Hurriedly, he clamped down on his power, using Imperium- but Renascens overpowered it, suddenly sucking mana out of him with terrifying speed. A lesser mage would already be dead; he just barely managed to stay awake as his vast reserves very suddenly- far too suddenly- were drained, completely emptied.

Barely conscious, he wavered, staring at Elise- who was glowing now, definitely glowing, taking the glow from all the other runes to pour into her.

That was all he managed before his mind went dark, and he fell backwards, very certainly unconscious.

Quite suddenly, the very dead princess gasped in a breath, arching her back instinctively and writhing around on her back.

Elise's heart was throbbing within her chest, and all of her limbs felt like they were on fire, like knives were stabbing into every inch of her skin. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she thought she might be choking, but it was entirely mental, and with a few more seconds, she managed to inhale, exhale, inhale again. The room above her was spinning rapidly. She blinked several times, trying to clear the sudden tears in her eyes, and focus, but it was nearly impossible.

It took her mind a long moment to get over the intense sensations she was feeling to remember what exactly had happened. She remembered... defeat, lying injured and incapacitated on the ice, her killer over her, trying to ease her into her death. She remembered closing her fingers around the hilt of her sword, and even then trying to stab it into Valence, even as the knife hovered by her head. A moment before it ended, she gave up the struggle, attempted to relax her body, and closed her eyes. And then... nothing, until the shock of awakening again.

The tingling in her limbs eventually subsided enough for Elise to control her body again, and she pushed herself with great effort onto her side. She felt at the spot where the knife had been driven in, not even finding a scar. Her side felt intact, all her ribs in place, no bone piece broken off and stabbing into her organs. She glanced down at her body, finding what skin she could see to be paler than usual. Not a ghostly white ivory, but certainly devoid of the sort of glow she'd had before. An effect of the cold, perhaps? Her amulet had only recently returned to life around her neck, shielding her from it. She could see the ice around her, knew she was still in the mountains somewhere.

Her vision started to clear up, focus returning to her, and Elise took in the shape of the cave, the runic carvings around her, and... there, on his back on the ice, was Valence. He looked to be unconscious, and Elise's first thought was a dark one. She reached to her hip, but grasped only air. Her sword was gone. Pushing herself to hands and knees, she reached for her boot, finding that the dagger there was taken as well. Valence had a sword sheathed, she could see.

She didn't know what he'd done to her, but it changed nothing. Her mother was still dead. Her killer was still within Elise's reach.

Figuratively. She slipped and fell upon first trying to stand, ending up on her side again with a cry. Ice was hard, and her limbs felt weak, heavy, sluggish, like her body had yet to fully wake up from a long, deep sleep that her mind was already clear of. She crawled to his side, checking to make sure that it was indeed him. He had a new scar across his cheek that hadn't been there before. She wondered how long she'd been out, what had happened in the meantime. Her father... he would think her dead, the entire Vale would think her slain.

Wrapping both gloves hands around Valence's sword, she tugged it free, the ringing of the steel echoing through the little cave. The effort tipped her over again onto her side, though she tried to right herself as quickly as she could, still remaining on her knees. Just one clean blow could end him, if she could manage it...

Valence came to at a familiar sound of his sword being drawn from his scabbard. But that wasn't right; couldn't be right. He was... alone. Except he wasn't. And there was only one reason why his sword was being drawn while he was unconscious.

Groggy and disoriented from the total lack of mana- which he leaned on more than he previously admitted, now that the freezing cold of the ice bit into him- Valence rolled away from the vague blur of color to his right side. A moment later, he heard the tell-tale ringing of his sword, when it struck something hard, and a couple ice shards landed on his face. Some blow that landed short, because of his roll?

Valence's mind cleared, and he felt his mana returning, slowly. It would be days before he'd be at full strength again, but enough mana returned that his body could recover itself- it seemed his body was too used to too much, and handled too little too badly. That was just too bad, he noted, as he rolled farther away, slipping and sliding as he went.

Shaking his head, his vision returned, blinking groggily at the sight of the Princess.

Hell. It worked.

Strength returning, he pushed himself up, unconsciously shutting off the flow of mana to his runes, which were already trying to restore themselves. He took in the unsteady Princess and her own disorientation, though by the way she glared at him, he figured that it was more physical and less mental.

"Hey now, don't try sticking me with my own sword. You ain't gonna be killing me anyways, nu-uh. I brought you back because... because of reasons, and you're sure as hell not gonna kill me and get yourself killed in the process."

He brought Elise back from the dead. He also brought someone else back- and he has a mental connection with her. He closed his eyes, searching his mind for something new- and found it. It felt distinctly like the bit of foreign-ness that resided in the back of his head that connected him to the Valryk Princess, except it was... stronger. Much stronger, and it felt powerful, thrumming with life. How much, he wondered, of his mana was absorbed and integrated into Princess Elise?

He opened his eyes, stared at Elise, and mentally tugged on the mental connection that he had with her. Might as well see what it'd do, right?

Elise groaned in frustration when Valence recovered in time to roll away from her attack, leaving her to slash at the ice beneath him, and she still lacked the strength and the balance to give chase. Her face quickly warped in grief again, as she expected her failure to be the end of her again. She braced herself against the ice with one gloved hand to keep herself from tipping over.

What did he say? He brought her back? Elise stared at him in confusion. Nothing the man said ever seemed to make sense to her, and she was fairly confident she'd heard him correctly, both now and before. Had she... had she really died. Had he really somehow revived her? How was that even possible? And why would he do it to her, his enemy, a mere girl to be discarded so that her father and her kingdom would be weakened?

His eyes opened, locked with hers, and suddenly Elise sharply took in a breath, instinctively removing her right hand from the floor to press it against the side of her head, and immediately slipping onto her hip in the process. She could feel something... foreign, invading her mind, and suddenly Valence seemed to stand out to her like even the room they were in no longer existed. She could feel hints of his surprise, his... shame? Was it shame, or sadness, or perhaps both? Elise couldn't tell, but she could recognize the feeling as not her own.

At the same time, she felt immediately exposed, unable to hide her exhausted state, her confusion, her fear, overwhelming fear that she did everything she could to suppress visually. All of it was tinged with her despair, as everything had been since her mother was murdered. Valence's sword slipped from her hand and clattered onto the ice, as she brought her other hand to her head, as though cupping it would somehow hide her from him. With her right, she pushed herself back up into a sitting position, unconsciously sliding a foot away from him. Her eyes shot up to his, her anger and spirit clearly undiminished.

"What did you do to me?" she demanded to know. "Get out of my head!"

Valence hung his head, in response. That voice- it just punched him, it felt. He could hardly breath, and he knew what was about to happen.

"I'd say I saved you, but that's not entirely correct. I killed you. Quite thoroughly. You were dead for about three days."

He wrung his gloveless hands. Half because it was freezing cold, and he hadn't yet let his runes restore the protection over him, and half because he felt horrible. Unconsciously, he traced the disfiguring on his palm, of the lightning rune.

"And I used Renascens to bring you back. Renascens being the rune of 'rising again'."

He sighed, and dropped down, head lolling a bit as he tried to distract himself a little.

"You know, my own parents are dead. I never really knew them. They lived near the southern border of Valryk- just outside a fort. When the Southern Empire came knocking, they burst through the borders and surrounded those forts- slaughtered everyone outside them. Right now, they're trying to starve the soldiers in the forts out- I went out there as a messenger, for a short time."

He wiped his nose; it was running a bit, and he could feel the liquid starting to freeze on his skin. Unconsciously, he rubbed his eyes, as well, staring at the icy ceiling.

"We had too many runes on the walls, too many soldiers inside. They couldn't break through. So they resorted to using their trebuchets to sling the bodies of dead villagers inside the walls. That's how I knew they were dead. Teleported into a fort, and saw the piles of bodies, of body parts. Saw part of my dad. The upper half. My mom... I guess she hit real hard. Only a couple parts of her I recognized."

At this point, tears ran silently down his cheeks. Before they even got to his jaw, they were slowing, icing up. He wiped at them, absently.

"You haven't seen anything, until you've seen the Southern Empire. Imagine thousands upon thousands losing their mothers and fathers to fates worse than your mothers'. I guess I'm just total shit at plans, right?" He laughed, pitifully and weakly.

"Wanted to show you and your father and everyone else what it'd be like to lose a very dear loved one to an invasive outer force. Wanted him to understand. But no. He's not. Your father, the King, is going to sit in his walls and wait, collecting taxes and buying and selling, until the Southern Empire arrives. And at that point, all of us down South that refused to be assimilated into this new empire? We're all gonna be dead. All our mothers and fathers and cousins and sons and daughters, all our aunts and nieces, uncles and nephews. Our grandparents. Dead, to people who could care less."

He was crying, now. Sobbing, even, chest heaving in his armor, slowly freezing, slowly falling apart. He heaved in breath after breath, and continued.

"I am going to be a monster. I am going to force people to accept what's going on. I'm going to try my best to force your greedy father, counting coins, to come to our aid, to come to the mothers' and the daughters' aid, so that we won't be taken over and destroyed. Imagine soldiers marching over the bodies of your armies, and slaughtering your people in their homes. And then slinging your mother and your father at you as you try to resist."

"And if I fail here, if I fail to bring in aid to my people, then I won't have anything left. I grew up among the Royal Family and their protectors and advisers. People died to get me the powers I have now. All these runes, the knowledge I know. I could stop an army, given time. But I don't have the time. And there are too many armies. Once my people are dead, I will have nothing. None of the other Southern Conglomerate nations will come to our aid; foreign nations are attacking the coast, and the Southern Empire is chewing up the most powerful of us, if they haven't already taken it. The Northern Empire is too far away and already occupied with their northern defense. You're the only ones with idly manpower, and you won't move because you are all just gonna sit here and count your coin and wait for the Southern Empire to reach you, and then expect them to stop and trade with you peacefully! Look at what's already happening! The Vale doesn't stand a chance on its own! I got in and ruined so much so easily! What do you think they're going to do?!"

He shoved himself abruptly to his feet, forgetting he was on ice. His feet fell out from under him, and he faceplanted into the Renascens rune, sliding somewhat, sobbing and just generally grieving. His nose was bleeding, a splatter of blood covering the rune, and he kept his forehead to the ice, feeling it stab into him. It didn't matter anymore; there was no way to solve all this.

"Go ahead, Princess," he managed, thickly. "Cut me down and get your revenge, and go back to living in your palace until they come knocking, and then see if they're interested in negotiating! What do I have to lose, right?! My people are dead anyways. My family already is."

He turned over, sliding his back towards her, and curled up.

"At least your people know your name. At least you have a father."

Elise remained seated, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them in a futile attempt to keep the cold away. As she listened to him, foreign emotions tore at her, and collided with the ones she already felt. They shared sadness and loss, but his was of a different kind, for Valence was in a different stage of grief. Elise was still consumed by anger in the wake of the tragedy, anger that had only built when she had a target to direct her efforts at, doomed though they were, doomed as she had been.

His grief was more crushing, more destructive. Elise knew that she'd likely be able to recover. As he said, she still had her father, and she had a strong spirit. Compassion had driven her to violence, but in time it would drive her back. All assuming she hadn't met her end at Valence's hand, of course, which it seemed he had gone to great lengths to ensure she continued to exist.

She felt tears sliding down her own cheeks, but they felt invasive, and she wiped them away, frustrated. "You're right," she managed, with half-choked breath. "You are a monster."

It wasn't his fault, she supposed, what his history had turned him into. He saw no other choices, where Elise still saw many, with him settling on the most despicable course. Their experiences were wildly different, though, as were their upbringings. But she couldn't see his choice as anything other than selfish, petty, malicious, desperate. What happened to him was horrible, but it did not justify what he chose to do next. She did happen to think it was something of a foolish plan, too, more likely to align the Vale with his enemies than anything else.

"What would you have us do?" she questioned. "Throw our army against a superior enemy on foreign territory? I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I believe grief has twisted your mind. As it twisted mine." She ran her gloved hand through her hair, a golden mess at this point. "I never should have come here." Easy to see in hindsight, but part of her had known her death would be the result of trying to fight such a man, and hadn't cared.

"You may not have hope for the future, but I refuse to succumb to that. I suppose it doesn't matter what I think, though." For she was, for all intents and purposes, a dead princess, heir to the grave. Perhaps she was still dead. Elise hardly understood her current condition. She'd been dead, Valence said, but she felt alive. Her heart beat steadily, her lungs took in air, her limbs ached, and her belly cried out for food. Alive, but... not the same.

Valence couldn't help the little shrivel in his already darkened heart when he heard her agree with him. Because he was a monster; once, he saw the faces of the people he killed in dreams. Now, there were too many faces. It was a crowd around him, always suffocating him, any time he went to sleep. Demons, ghosts, trying to take what little revenge they could by haunting their murderer. He didn't blame them.

He couldn't answer for some time. Quietly sobbing as he was, he didn't think he could manage the words. He just ached, and wanted it out. But how could he ever get it out? He was cursed. Is cursed. And those who are cursed are doomed to horrid death and being ill-remembered by everyone. What possible hope was there?

There wasn't.

But he was the hope for his people, and that'd have to be enough.

It had been too long that he had lain here, maybe an hour at this point. Either way, the time to grieve for himself was over. His tears had already frozen over; he furiously wiped the icicles away, more annoyed and frustrated than anything.

Pushing himself up from his laying position, he quietly asked Elise a question.

"And when you were coming here to kill me. Was there a choice? When you thought about it, did you decide to come here to kill me, or think that it simply must be."

He paused, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

"Yes, you should have never come. But you did. I should never have attacked. But I did. We have made our choices, and whatever it may make us, there is nothing more to it than to carry on and hope that we can fix the mistakes of the past."

Wearily, he began pushing himself up, straightening no matter how much his shoulders slumped.

"Come, Elise. Let's get you home. There is nothing for you out here, nothing for you anywhere but at home."

Elise stood as Valence did, still shakily, but with more strength now, enough to keep herself upright. Her posture was still wary of him, unconsciously tense. She truly believed now that he would not hurt her again if she did not try to strike at him, but still, he was the man that had killed her mother, the man that had unleashed his magic upon Elise herself and ended her life. That she was only tense currently seemed a small miracle.

None of this made any sense to her still. Elise hardly thought their choices had been similar, as Valence's choice to attack had not been provoked by violence on her family's part, whereas Elise's futile efforts were driven by a desire for justice, or as many would see it, revenge. And now he wanted to take her home? Her confusion was evident on her face.

"Why have you done this?" she asked. "Not the murder, but... why am I alive again? I didn't even know such a thing was possible." It almost left her out of breath, the fact that something so rare and remarkable had happened to her.

"I could feel... something, thoughts, emotions, I don't know. In my head. Yours. What's the purpose of this? Why would you take my life, only to give it back, and then let me return?" There had to be some other motive, but she feared to learn what it was. She didn't trust Valence not to magically bind her to his will or something, or alter her mind without her knowledge, or whatever else his magic was capable of.

But just letting her go? She didn't intend to question the gift she was offered, but after being killed by the man, she was understandably skeptical.

Valence shrugged, mildly apathetic to her confusion and skepticism. Even if he could feel it wiggling around in his head... he automatically smacked the side of his head, half-expecting to have crushed a bug or something- which didn't make any sense at all, since few bugs survived the upper mountains. But then again, he had been trying to swat at the wiggling foreign emotions.

What has he done. This will get so annoying, so fast.

"I didn't know such a thing was possible either."

Weakly, he turned towards her, forcing a little smile and waving his hands a little, above his head.

"Surpriiiiise."

He shrugged again, dropping his hands.

"You think I know anything? I'm messed up in the head. You try being a human turned demigod, with too much blood on your hands to fully process simply by being alive. You know, maybe the mere act of killing your queen will be enough to tear into the Empire when they come to your doorstep. I'd probably be dead by then, and out of your head, so good things, all around."

He paused for a moment, before lowering his gaze.

"Except your mother, of course. My... nothing of mine is adequate for your loss."

He waited like that for a short time, before started to walk towards the entrance, slipping and sliding his way outside to where his Wyvern now waited.

"Come on, Princess. You're late enough as it is."

Part of her wanted to attack him again, but Elise drowned it out. All of this was so wrong, and she couldn't even pry a decent reason from him. Valence was starting to seem unstable to her, for lack of a better word. Unhinged. Could she blame him, after what he'd witnessed and done? No, but it hardly helped her sympathize.

Perhaps in time this would be a dark dream to her, a time that would fade, while she moved on to better things. Perhaps this... connection, or whatever it was she had, with Valence, would fade, with distance or time.

Elise followed him at a safe distance behind, reaching a hand up to rub at the amulet around her neck. It was slowly coming back to life, warming again now that her life energy had returned. The first thing it did was begin to shield her from the cold again, which Elise was immensely grateful for.

"What are you going to do, after you've taken me back?" she asked. She didn't know what she was going to do yet, but maybe that was best decided one moment at a time. Right now, her only choice was to follow Valence.

Valence paused for a moment, turning his head partway towards her. Facing away from her as he was, he couldn't really see her, but he kept his head where it was.

"I'm going to... I don't know. Maybe I should turn myself in to you people? Let you have your revenge after all. Maybe just try to delay the Empire. I'm not going to be able to stop them, so I don't know if I should bother. I don't want to see my people fall, whether in a week or in ten. One man cannot stop an empire."

With that, he reached up to grab ahold of some of the small, scaly spikes that ran every few feet down Delphyne's spine. Heaving himself up, he sat himself between the gap of spikes, enough room behind him for a person and a half. Shifting around a little, he settled himself, and then turned back to Elise.

Offering a hand out to her, he said, "Come on, it's a ways away. Nothing like traveling on a Wyvern, anyhow. And hold on."