"The Dunamons, a pair of upper demons from the fourth plane of hell, masquerading as mortals hellbent on sacrificing the entire population of Storm Haven to summon the Nameless One. They were gonna use the Eye of Saffron too until the Lady and I stole it. Then she made a long distance phone call, left a message, and well...umm that's when Venger showed up." Quake told them.

"The Dark Lord of The Realm?" The princess gasped, "Was your peril so great that you needed his aid?"

Quake shook her head in agreement, "Yeah, I've asked the lady the same question myself."

The prince sat there completely aghast while the Swordsman continued to devour his meal.

"Anyway, the lady knew she was out of her league going up against not one but TWO greater demons, so the next best thing was fight fire with fire. I mean Willow was there and so was the druid, Gareth." Quake waved her hands about.

"But you were still out-classed and out-powered," The prince surmised thoughtfully, "Under the circumstances, I can see why Lady Alyson did what she did."

"But you did not make the mistake of trusting The Dark Lord, did you?" The princess asked Quake, "He has a reputation for turning on those who serve him."

"Nope. I most certainly did not trust'em. He's a creep and bad to the bone." Quake nodded.

"Tell me about it." Irzen grumbled as he continued to eat.

A deep male voice with a thick accent yet familiar to Quake and Irzen entered the dining room, "Yes, comrade. The Force of Evil is most assuredly not to be trusted."

Quake turned to see Mermidon walking over to her, "Brother? You're back but, but the lady said you..."

"I sacrificed my life, yes. It was necessary to begin evolution." The platinum dragonian said, "Soon, I shed this to become mithril draconian, and so will dark brother become steel."

"Mermidon!" Irzen rose from his seat and turned to face the Draconic Elemental, "It's great to see you again. Thank you for all that you did for us during the battle. Your sacrifice was not in vain. And if you're here, then I suspect Dragolem is not far behind eh?"

"Dragolem, my dark twin is here and not here. He knows all too well there's a true dragon close by. City life does not suit his tastes either." Mermidon stated.

"Dragolem has nothing to fear from Lazheros. The Bronze Man is no doubt sleeping, and even if he was awake, Alyson would not allow Lazheros to harm one of her creations." Irzen smiled, "I can understand his trepidation about city life. So, where is he, if you don't mind my asking? I long for his company! If he won't come here, then I will go out to meet him wherever he might be."

"You'll find him outside the city walls," Mermidon huffed, "most likely hunting something or someone. He has taking to bounty hunting north of here. I know the night favors you, Irzen but the shadows are brother's domain. He is master. Mostly likely he will find you."

"We'll see," Irzen laughed before he rose from his chair and gave both the prince and princess a courtly bow, "Your Majesties, I shall take my leave of you this evening. I am going to seek out an old friend."

"As you wish, Lord Drow," Prince Birch smiled in turn, "And go with our blessings."

Mermidon's form shifted into a dragonborn in the presence of Birch and Cauladra. "My apologies for abrupt appearance. I am accustomed to dealing with dwarves and deurgar. They are used to my presence."

The prince and princess marveled at Mermidon before Birch spoke, "You can change your form too! You're quite malleable aren't you? What else pray tell can you do?"

Mermidon pulled two chairs and moved them together before taking a seat, "Hmph. To alter ones appearance takes little magic. Magic is something new for us to master and learn, er new abilities."

Quake got and gave her brother a long over due hug. "I'm glad you're back."

"Well at least your first time with magic didn't randomly teleport the others to random places all over the realm, or back in time." Quake huffed.

"Hehehe!" Mermidon chuckled, "You tried to polymorph? How did it go, sister?"

"Umm," Quake took a deep breath, "would of gone better if War Scribe wasn't radiating Wild magic off her person."

"Lord Irzen's kinfolk is quite...odd." The princess confessed, "I wonder how such a chaotic creature as Lady War Scribe ever found herself in the service of such an orderly god as Validor?"

"It does boggle the mind." The prince admitted half in thought.

******

The Swordsman departed the room, left the castle, headed out into the city and soon left the city walls behind in search of his friend, Dragolem.

Once Irzen was outside the city walls, he saw only a thick wooded area and the sounds of someone running hard. The figure stopped long enough to check its surroundings before the shadows came up from underneath. It screeched once and then the sound of wood slicing through flesh ending in a growl.

"Well, well, well. Took you long enough, Irzen." Came a sinister and sarcastic reply as Dragolem's form materialized in front of him, "Vampire remnants. Leftovers trying to set up shop and build up their numbers."

"Good to see you too, you nasty piece of work!" The Swordsman smiled at Dragolem, "How the hell have you been? I heard you're taking up bounty hunting these days. What brought this about?"

"Meh," Dragolem snapped the neck of another apprentice blood mage without even thinking about it, "The Lady did the hard part, it's my job to clean up the rest. I will be straight with you, if the blood mage convinced the Lady to turn, I would be public enemy number one leaving a trail of blood and death everywhere."

"Because of your connection to Alyson, I understand." Irzen nodded his head in agreement, "But that did NOT happen. Still, you ran off and left us during the middle of a battle after Mermidon fell? Why?"

******

"Everyone knows its best to let a sleeping dragon alone." The platinum knight added.

"APOLOGIZE FIRST, YOU RAT!" Serna screeched, "AND GET THIS STUFF OFF OF MY FACE!"

"I GIVE! I GIVE!" Caliaphy admitted defeat. "You got me cuz' he distracted me but as for the paint, well that can be washed off."

"I WANT AN APOLOGY FIRST!" The Shield Maiden snapped, "THEN I WILL LET YOU GO! AND THEN YOU'RE GOING TO GET THIS STUFF OFF OF MY FACE, GOT IT?" And to emphasize her point, Serna pressed down with her knuckles harder than before on Caliaphy's head.

Caliaphy wriggled out of Serna's grip holding both hands up, "I said I surrender. You got me cuz' I was distracted but I will not apologize for the prank. It was fun painting your face like a flower and all I had to do was wait and see how long it took someone else besides Captain Lion to say something."

"Fine!" Serna calmed down a little, "Don't apologize! Just wipe this stuff off of my face and we'll call it even, okay?"

The elementalist got up and wandered out into the hallway from the shield maiden's screeching. Taking in the scene, she replied, "I did warn you, Serna about Caliaphy. She pranks all of her friends and now if you don't mind take it back outside if you want to scream."

"Fair enough!" Serna hung her head low at the admonition.

Alyson looked down at the kurori, "And you know better than to run into a palace of our hosts in the first place. Not everyone here appreciates your shenanigans, Caliaphy. I'd wager some of the elven guards here might want to use you for target practice, so watch yourself and what you say. Got it?"

Caliaphy let out a pout, "Oh man. You're no fun anymore, Alyson."

"This isn't Asylum. This is East Port. Different city, rulers and people live here. We are visitors here." The elementalist glanced over to her uncle and then went back into the guest room closing the door.

Madeous nodded in kind, "I can honestly say I am impressed about my niece. And you two go outside or join Irzen and the rulers in the dining room. That wasn't a request."

"Yes, sir!" Serna turned to leave but made sure the Kurori was with her, "You still need to wash this stuff off of my face, Caliaphy."

Caliaphy smirked, "Me wash your face off, nah! There's plenty of places for you to wash off the paint yourself. I don't know, a bucket of water will do it."

Serna pulled a War Scribe maneuver and stuck her tongue out at Caliaphy.

Madeous followed quietly behind them to make sure they were exiting the palace, "Talk less, walk faster. You two are starting to get dagger eyes from the servants."

"Yes sir!" Serna picked up the pace as they were escorted from the palace.

Caliaphy glanced behind her and Serna to see the platinum knight still following. She picked up her pace a little and whispered to the girl, "He's following us. Why is he following us?"

"I can hear you, kurori." Madeous replied.

Serna just shook her head and said not a word as she continued her march from the palace.

Madeous ushered the two of them back outside of the palace walls and pointed to a nearby fountain, "Serna. Over there is where you can wash your face."

"Thank you." The Shield Maiden replied meekly before she walked over to the fountain and began to wash her face off.