The gunner took notice of the suns coming up in the east, "Captain. The light has returned."

"And so it has," The Englishman said backing up towards his cabin. He stopped briefly looking at the Shield Maiden, "I must remain here until I appear normal, young lady. I do not want to give the princess any more of a reason to execute me for what I am. She is addled as is and so I must respect her judgement."

"I doubt Princess Cauladra would try and kill you, Captain Lion," Serna explained, "She knows that you are here to help them not to hurt them--regardless of your appearance."

"It matters not, nor will I tempt fate, Serna." He said stepping back out of the sunlight in the safety of his cabin.

Maxim and the others returned with their wounded to the airship. Coming to the captain's quarters he knocked.

"All men survived, Captain. Mostly vampires, spawn and two goliaths who carved a bloody path to get to the prince and the platinum knight." The first officer sat down wiping the sweat off his brow.

"We have a worse problem, Maxim. One of them is a Blood Mage and unless the sky clouds over I will be unable to drive the rage out of Alyson."

He gasped, "A Blood Mage, sir? Damn."

Captain Lion looked over towards Serna, "It is very imperative that you remain on the airship, young lady. Vampires are one thing but a single blood mage can manipulate the very blood in your veins turning you into a living puppet to which you have no control whatsoever."

******

The platinum knight and Quake headed for the throne room once more while the hunters returned to the airship to regroup and report their findings from the night to Captain Lion.

Quake let out an audible, "Huh," as they entered the throne room which made Lazheros look over and he stepped back from Alyson.

Madeous gave the princess a courtly nod and was glad that things were far better in here than outside. He looked at the bronze man, "We ran into one of two goliaths we saw back at the Dandy Muse."

"And we ran into the other one!" Irzen stormed into the room with a quick bow with Prince Birch not far behind. Once Prince Birch arrived, Princess Cauladra ran to her husband, gave him a hug and checked him out, "Are you hurt, my love? Are you injured?"

"Nay!" Prince Birch responded with pride, "Thanks to Lord Drow I am well. Some of our allies have fallen but our clerics are tending to their wounds."

"We need to finish what we started and we need to finish it now!" Irzen said to the assembled company, "We've got the vampires on their heels and they know it. We took their best shot and we're still standing. NOW is the time for us to take the offensive! NOW is the time for us to press our attack! NOW is the time for us to end them!"

The elementalist turned around and walked right up to the swordsman silently. She cocked her head sideways again and seized him by the throat slamming him to the floor with incredible force.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Irzen snapped though he was barely able to breathe.

Princess Cauladra visibly gasped.

"Release him at once!" Prince Birch commanded, "At the very least, we should hear his strategm out before we accept it or reject it! I order you! Unhand him NOW!"

Madeous slowly walked over to his niece and slowly talked to her, "Alyson? Stop this madness. You need to stop. He's not worth your rage. Let go...please."

"ALYSON...LET GO...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The Swordsman gasped between breathes as he grabbed her arm in an attempt to release the pressure on his windpipe.

All Quake could do was hold her breath. Even she had never seen the Lady act like this and it scared her. Lazheros knew of blood mages through the stories of adventurers he had met in his travels. None of the stories were good ones. He also knew that the elementalist was continually annoyed with the swordsman's decisions of battle.

Slowly Alyson released her vice grip from Irzen's throat and backed away but never taking her eyes off of him. The helm of the red dragon burned brightly as she spoke, "You're insane strategies for attacking an enemy we know little of will get some of us killed. We DON'T even know where their nest is! While you were staking vamps up here on the surface, Quake, Sir Gonagle and myself ran into a Blood Mage. According to him, they've been expecting us to arrive here in East Port. That they've been here longer than the elves, and from the look on your face, you've never encountered a blood mage before. They make necromancers look like amateurs. They don't just dabble in necromancy, they can manipulate the blood in your veins as if you were a puppet, and three, their magic often turns them into abominations. In other words, they are possessed by demons speaking in multiple voices. The one we encountered down in the cavern, was unlike anything I've ever heard about them. He could literally become one with blood itself and that, Irzen, scares me. It chills me to the bone that he knew exactly who I was and who we all are."

"AND YOU HAD TO GRAB ME BY MY THROAT AND DAMN NEAR CHOKE ME TO DEATH TO TELL ME THAT?!" The Swordsman snapped as he scrambled to his feet, "WELL SCREW YOU, WOMAN!"

Irzen half-stumbled and half-stormed his way out of the throne room all the while fighting to catch his full breath.

Madeous could feel the rage emanating off his niece. It was raw and primordial. He had seen once before, a long time ago. When her parents abandoned her after a failed bank robbery. "Stay here. I'll go and talk to him. Everyone else, keep your distance from Alyson. For your safety."

Alyson closed her eyes, her balance off and she collapsed to the floor. Everything was spinning when Lazheros came over and helped her to feet. She felt sick to her stomach and suddenly threw up on the floor.

"Quake, go and get Captain Lion." The bronze man said.

"Ah, sir." She held up her hand and finished in draconic, *captain aishnak isn' t jaciar sva wer klewar. wux vucot charir saurivic vur jeskic re vin issue.*

**Translation: "Captain Lion isn't himself at the moment. You know red eyes and fangs are an issue."**

Lazheros let an audible groan. Well that is going to make things a lot harder now. Much harder.

******

A pair of royal guards were cleaning up the remains of fallen vampires in the hallway as the swordsman came stumbling out. They paused briefly and then went back to work. One of the servants, an elf girl came over to him cautiously, "My lord? Are you alright?"

"Leave me be...child...I just need...some air!" Irzen coughed as his airway began to fully clear. The Swordsman leaned up against the wall and took in as many deep breaths as he could.

The servant girl frowned and did as he asked backing up to give him space.

Madeous came out of the throne room to finding Irzen wheezing from Alyson's assault. He also noticed a servant standing nearby and walked over. "Go on about your duties. This matter does not concern you."

She blinked and looked up to him, "Nay sir I would stay to offer him something to drink. For he seems he could use something to moisten his throat after what transpired."

"And what would that be?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously and advanced towards her.

"The vampires sir. It was terrible having to hide from all fighting. It was scary and my..my" Her words began to slur and her movements became animated as if they were on strings. The eyes closed as she convulsed violently and when they opened they were glazed over, blank.

Her mouth grinned and in a mix of tangled voices a song came out, "I had strings but now I'm free. I've got no strings on me! Teehee! Isn't that such a wonderful song? I enjoyed watching the Elementalist taking her rage out on you, Swordsman! It was such delightful carnage. It's a shame that she's still strong enough to resist me. That won't last long."

The puppet turned to the platinum knight, "And you! YOU! I curse your interference!"

"Take a number and get to the back of the line! Unless you beat the curse Venger placed on me, you're out of luck!" Madeous snarled and steadily pushed the puppet away from Irzen.