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?"

"The lady said that War Scribe is/was the evil reflection of a true chronicler of Validor. Don't know or why it happened but she records all the dark, twisted stuff for the man in the library." Quake replied.

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

Mermidon shook his head in agreement, "Oy. It does indeed."

"Well then, who was the true Chronicler of Validor that she is a reflection of?" The princess asked Quake. "My husband and I might have heard of this woman."

Quake pondered and pondered for several minutes before she replied, "Umm, let's see. I think her name is Zakyiah. She came to the Realm the same time Irzen did as well as a handful of others. Don't know anymore than that."

Merimdon reached over and poured himself a stein of ale then sat back. For a creature of his size, he was quite nimble at the table. Lots of experience dining with dwarves who are a rowdy bunch.

The prince and princess looked at each other and shook their head before the princess turned back to Quake, "We have never met a Chronicler by that name. But my sister-in-law, Princess Liliandra of Northaven, was trained by the Chroniclers of Validor. She is a Sage and I suspect she would have met this Zakiyah and, mayhaps, been trained by her as well.

******

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?"

The black draconian walked up into the space that was the swordsman, "It would be the same reason if you were severed from your other half, human. Yeah, I know about you hitching a ride in a body that's not your own. Thinking you wouldn't be able to survive in the Realm as a human, well you are wrong. Very wrong. We were created to evolve and grow. We were awakened the moment we came into being and allowed to think for ourselves. You hide in the shell of a drow, human. What are you afraid of that you need a suit of flesh armor when you can walk around without it."

"Irzen cannot live without me and I cannot live without Irzen," The Swordsman replied evenly, "He and I are one. Dungeon Master explained to me that Irzen's resurrection after his fall from the not-so good graces of The Dark Lord came with a heavy price! I was bound to him and he to me. If we were separated, neither of us would live very long without the other. His body, our souls, blended into one magical fusion that allows us to exist. Without that fusion, we would surely die."

"Hmph!" Dragolem crossed his massive arms. He wasn't impressed, "A symbiotic relationship doesn't give you the right to inform the Lady that she rents space for being an avatar. So can it, or I will. At least there's no illusion or pretense of her being something else because you don't like being a messily human."

Irzen smiled with an evil grin, "That's why I like you, Dragolem, you don't mince words. You're always direct and to the point. Fair enough, I'll give Alyson a break on the whole avatar thing. I confess this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. You have a deal!" The Swordsman extended his hand for Dragolem to shake it.

******

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.

The kurori sat on the edge of the fountain running her tiny hand through the liquid and occasionally flicked some water in Serna's direction.

The Shield Maiden gave The Kurori a hard look but said nothing.

Madeous came over and leaned down, "Don't."

Caliaphy looked up and lost her balance slipping over and into the fountain with a splash. She surfaced, spitting out water, "Ha ha ha! Very funny, your majesty."

Serna began to giggle at Caliaphy's predicament, "Serves you right, you little turd, now whose all wet?"

The kurori climbed up onto the edge of the fountain and shook out her wings like a dog in the girl's direction. "Ha! Right back at you!"

The platinum knight grumbled loudly again. "Perhaps I should inform Lazheros?"

"What? No! No! I'll be good!" Caliaphy stammered and jumped off the edge of the fountain onto the cobble stone street.

"Yeah, right!" Serna mumbled under her breath.