Lazheros escorted Princess Cauladra back down into the palace itself and kept a eye out for trouble. To pass the time he began a conversation, "Your highness, I can only guess that something of this rarely happens in East Port?"

"It never happens in East Port, my good Cleric," Princess Cauladra corrected The Bronze Man, "While our corner of The Realm is relatively active due our status as a port and trading center, we are also relatively quiet. Neither pirates nor privateers attack us, storms are infrequent and dangers are far and few in between. From whence the vampires came I do not know. But it will be good to put our backs to them once and for all."

"Then East Port is a rare place to grow and learn without having to worry of troubles. Asylum isn't much different in that regard," The bronze man replied.

"Asylum?" The princess raised an eyebrow, "I have heard tales of this land but I have never visited it. Tell me, Grand Cleric, is it true what they say of your land? That you serve as the sole Guardian of Asylum? That Asylum is a refuge for all regardless of their alignment? That The Lord of The North Wind himself walks its streets by day? And that his father, Io, walks its streets by night?"

"Mmmhm. Asylum can only be found by those who wish to start over in life. As for the Lord of the North Wind, he does wander Asylum and Alyson quite frequently saw him as a child. Io, has too many duties to bother with Asylum since his domain is the Realm entire and beyond." Lazheros pulled out his holy symbol of Bahamut and began to mutter in draconic.

Spirit guardians appeared and surrounded Princess Cauladra. They looked like miniature dragons, all seven of them.

The Elven Princess stared at the spirit guardians before she reached her hand out to touch one of them. "Are these fairy dragons which you have summoned, Grand Cleric?"


*****

The gold dragon made sure everyone debarked including Quake who was literally hugging the ground again.

"Oh sweet earth! I missed you so!"

Sir Gonagle and his fellows let out a chuckle and turned to see the elementalist joining them. "Ah, I didn't know you could do that."

"Do what?" She asked.

"You know shapechange, er polymorph." The alchemist pointed out.

"Well, it all started with the Legion of Evil incident down in Storm Haven but that is another tale for another time." The elementalist reached down and helped Quake to her feet.

"Oh boy, lady. Thanks." Quake said sheepishly, "Right, we've got some vamp hunting to do."

The alchemist put on his goggles and surveyed the cavern, "This place has been here a long time. I see no evidence of vamps here but that doesn't mean they haven't passed through."

The rest of the gnomes fanned out by twos using hand signals when each area was clear. They set a series of flash bombs designed to go off in the presence of undead just in case.

A screech from a swarm of bats came blasting out the darkness of the cavern followed by a half dozen vampires. Sir Gonagle and his kin took up defensive positions armed with crossbows, while Quake readied her net gun and fired it over the opening.

Curses and screeches came from the vamps caught in the net. They were almost free of it until the gnomes unloaded their weapons on them.

******

Madeous followed Lazheros and the princess to the edge of the palace and departed with his company. The slayers that accompanied him were a blend of melee and ranged. All trained by Captain Lion and Maxim, the two veterans.

The platinum knight held up his hand suddenly and motioned two of the slayers to scout out a potential sighting. Suddenly a handful of vamps came out fangs and claws swinging. Madeous brought his greats word up and in one fluid motion smited the closest vamp leaving only ash behind. The other two vampires closed in on the slayers and met the business end of multiple wooden stakes.

"Only three vampires." One of the slayers said.

"Usually there are more," Another added.

Just then one of the smaller homes exploded with vampires. At least a dozen more.

"You just had to open your big mouth didn't you!" A third slayer grumbled.

The platinum knight charged head on towards the vampires and took three down with a great cleave of his sword.

*****

"Prince Birch, where would you suggest that the hunters set up?" Maxim said quietly surveying the area.

"You can use the main courtyard as your staging area," Prince Birch replied, "Once you are setup, the Clerics and Paladins I have summoned should arrive. They can bless our weapons and then we can begin our hunt throughout the palace in earnest."

Maxim pointed out the areas around the main gates, and side passages for his men set up ambushes.

Finally the clerics and paladins came at the request of their prince. The clerics came and blessed the entire crew and set about laying down protection circles at the main gates of the courtyard and palace gates.

Irzen bore the suspicious eyes of both the Clerics and Paladins with grace as they blessed his weapons. After the Clerics and Paladins paired off, the Swordsman began to lead his team as they began to spread out in an effort to flush out the vampires and drive them into the ambush points.

Maxim took notice of the swordsman contempt towards the holy warriors and walked over, "Not a fan of the Ones up top? Neither am I, however, its better to believe in something than nothing at all."

"Maxim, methinks they are not a fan of me more than I am not a fan of them!" Irzen replied with an evil grin, "The breach between Surface Elves and Dark Elves has never been sealed. Their anointing me as a "temporary" holy warrior must chafe them quite a bit. Still, I agree with you. It is better to believe in something than nothing at all."

The Swordsman drew forth Evenflow, "And it's good to have a friend to watch your back."

******

"There's food and drink and I have a small library if you're interested in my cabin." Captain Lion walked the perimeter of his ship.

"A library?" Serna beamed from ear to ear, "Thank you, Captain Lion. I'm quite full from dinner but I would love to see your library. I love to read."

Captain Lion walked the shield maiden to the door of his cabin and opened it for her. To the left was the library or rather a series of shelves containing the history of where he came from, the crew and his journey's across the Fire Sea. He himself sat down in a plush chair next to a table keeping his attention to both her and the open door to the outside.

Serna took one of the books about the history of nineteenth century Earth and began to read it in earnest. After a few minutes, she looked up at Captain Lion and asked, "Where are the dragons and elves and dwarves on your world? There is mention of Humans aplenty but not one word about the others."

"Elves and dragons are little more than fairy tales of myth and legend on Earth. As for dwarves, well, my dear there are some humans born incapable of looking like normal people. It's called dwarfism, or little people as they like to be called." He stood up from his chair and reached up on the higher shelves. There he pulled a photo album down for her to look through.

"No Elves? No dragons? No REAL dwarves?" Serna shook her head in disbelief, "You must come from a very sad and boring world, Captain Lion. I can see why you came to The Realm. No doubt to spruce up your life. Hey! How did you come to The Realm anyway?"