"What happened to the a.s.sa.s.sin?" asked Killeen, her hand still covering her mouth in disbelief. "Did he get away with it?"

Ember shook her head. "Imperator Ironstrike himself throated the coward on the spot. The Flame Legion imperator went to his reward before Scorchrazor did."

"And tomorrow," said Dougal, "we're off to find the weapon that an early Flame Legion imperator dropped during the Foefire, years before that."

Ember nodded. "We seek the Claw to bring peace between your people and mine. For the sake of my people, I will wear your chains-but I will think of Kalla Scorchrazor every moment they restrain me."

She rallied for a moment, and her face grew sharp and feral once more. "My orders are to complete this mission by any means necessary, and I will do just that. Know, however, that if any of you get in my way-if you become more of a hindrance than a help-I will not hesitate to strike you down on the spot and leave you to die."

With that, she spun on her heel and left.

Riona rolled her eyes, then slumped in her chair with a hand on her forehead. Dougal reached again for the wine. Killeen smiled with delight as the servants brought in a chilled custard for their dessert.

The sylvari raised her gla.s.s of wine. "An inspirational beginning. We may not be a guild, or a warband, or a krewe, or even a family. But we are a company, adventurers gathered together to a single purpose. For the moment, that is enough. I drink to our success!"

Dougal felt warm and full as he returned to his room. He checked behind the door as he entered and made sure that the night shutters on the window were secure, on the off chance that Gyda had any more irate relatives lurking about. Determining that all was clear, he sat down on the bed and thought about his new companions.

All of them were more determined than he was. Riona seemed dedicated to the Vigil cause. The charr crusader was going to follow her orders to the letter. And Killeen would not be dissuaded from visiting a city filled with ghosts.

The problem, thought Dougal, was that none of them had any idea of what lay waiting for them in Ascalon City. He had been there, at horrendous cost. They didn't seem too interested in listening to his warnings here in the safety of Lion's Arch; would they listen to him when they were surrounded by the howling ma.s.ses of spirits?

Dougal leaned back and looked at the ceiling, and the next thing he knew there was a loud thumping on the door. He blinked himself awake and noticed that the room's single oil lamp was still lit and no light peeked through the night shutters. He could not have been asleep more than two hours.

Staggering to the door, he found the hylek, Naugatl, standing there, his wide amphibian orbs equally bleary. "Gather your things," the hylek said. "You are leaving."

Dougal stared at the creature, who repeated his message, then waddled down the hall. The creature thumped on the next door and was greeted by a feminine curse.

Realizing that Riona was just as irritated as he was, Dougal almost smiled as he put together his meager belongings. He splashed some ice-cold water from a pitcher on his face to brace himself awake, briefly considered changing out of the clothes he had slept in, decided it was not worth the time, and shambled down to the meeting room.

He got there before Riona, which pleased him in some perverse manner. Killeen had arrived early, but even she seemed bleary-eyed and worn-out. Only Ember seemed unaffected by the early hour, picking at the remains of the moa platter from dinner.

They sat there for a few long minutes. Servants brought in a platter of cheese and a new ewer of wine. Dougal helped himself to the cheese but abjured the wine.

"Riona's late. Perhaps we will have to leave without her," Killeen said, yawning.

Dougal smiled at the thought of Riona chasing after them as they left the safe house. "Perhaps we should."

Killeen stared at Dougal with her wide green eyes. After a moment he decided he'd become uncomfortable with it.

"What?" he asked.

"Just wondering what your bones will look like."

Dougal frowned at her. Ember stopped picking the moa and glared at the sylvari.

"What are your wishes in the event of your demise?" she added, smiling at Dougal.

"What?" he responded.

Killeen shrugged. "There's a possibility that some of us will not survive this mission. It's only wise that we make each other aware of our last wishes. Would you prefer a burial, a burning, or something else entirely?"

Dougal shrugged. "Do whatever you like. At that point, I'll be beyond caring."

"Really?" Killeen's eyes lit up like the rising sun glaring off the sea. "That's refres.h.i.+ng. Most humans prefer to be buried, but with all the undead streaming out of Orr these days, a growing number are choosing to be burned instead. Just to make sure that they don't end up as some sort of zombie or skeleton in the service of the dragon Zhaitan, of course. Not that it's really them: their spirit should have fled by that point, after all. Most people either can't or don't bother to make the distinction."

She looked him up and down as if she were sizing up a side of beef. "You would make an excellent undead servant." She circled around him, checking him out from every angle. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

Despite himself, Dougal shuddered. "Riona's right," he said, "you are are creepy sometimes." creepy sometimes."

Killeen showed all her bright teeth as she smiled at him. "I am who I am."

A deep voice booming from the hallway interrupted the conversation. "Hail, my new friends! This shall be a saga our grandchildren will sing with pride!"

At first Dougal had felt relieved to be spared any more of Killeen's curiosity, but then he turned to see the norn walking toward them with a wide grin on his tremendous face. Dougal's muscles bunched in case Gullik was prepared to finish the job he had started the day before.

But Gullik seemed sober today, and not immediately bent on Dougal's murder, so there were those points in his favor. The norn walked up to Ember's place, nodded at the charr, examined the remains of the sadly depleted moa, let out a sigh, and contented himself with a handful of cheese.

Riona trotted up behind the norn, and Soulkeeper strode after them, unhurried.

"Wait!" Riona said to Gullik. "The general only asked if you might be interested in joining us. We haven't agreed on anything."

Gullik shrugged as he pulled his long, loose hair back behind him and wrapped a leather strip through it, binding it in place. "It's an adventure for the ages," he said. "It's exactly the challenge I've been needing. Life in these lowlands has bored me to tears of late, and I can think of nothing I'd rather do than make another mark upon history."

He stopped in front of Dougal, leaned forward, and gave him a conspiratorial wink. "After all, even I I can't keep at this forever, and I have an image to burnish. The bards shall sing our names in the same chorus alongside those of Destiny's Edge and the other great heroes of our age!" can't keep at this forever, and I have an image to burnish. The bards shall sing our names in the same chorus alongside those of Destiny's Edge and the other great heroes of our age!"

"And how are you feeling this morning?" Dougal asked, smiling wanly.

"Like a hedgehog got loose in my skull and fouled itself between my ears," the norn said with a knowing smile. "Never better!"

Gullik leaned down and spoke to Dougal in a confidential tone. "My regrets for yesterday," he said. "Bear's tongue, I haven't drunk that much since I had to barricade myself inside the Busted Flagon tavern in Divinity's Reach. They threatened to banish me forever."

"And when was that?"

The norn rubbed his stubble-dotted chin as he thought about this. "A month ago. No, maybe last year. It's been a while. In any case, I hope I didn't do anything earlier that I might regret."

"You pa.s.sed out right after you failed to kill me," Dougal said.

"Excellent!" Gullik placed a ma.s.sive hand on Dougal's shoulder, and for a moment Dougal wondered if he were about to be strangled to death. "I remember every bit of that. Well, most of it. Enough to know I was being hasty and happy to give you a chance to make amends on our way to Ascalon City."

Riona breathed in and out through her nose to compose herself, then explained. "When Gullik finally woke up, he was brought to General Soulkeeper. She asked him personally to not interfere further with you, as you are on a vital mission for the Vigil. When he learned that, he insisted on joining us." From Riona's expression, she did not approve of this new addition at all, and was seriously looking to Dougal for support in rejecting his offer.

Soulkeeper said calmly, "You could use some more muscle." She looked up at the norn, who gave her a little laugh. "Even with Doomforge along as your guide, you're sure to have plenty of fighting ahead of you."

"I do not need his help," Ember said, but did not press the point. It was clear that the charr had been fully cowed and would not challenge the general further. Riona didn't say anything, but glared at Dougal again.

Dougal, for his part, held his tongue. Even on best behavior, a charr in the party would be problematic, and the presence of a norn, even a norn like Gullik, would work to their advantage. Riona saw he was not going to enter into the discussion and let out a deep, frustrated sigh.

"You need more help than even a single norn can provide," Soulkeeper said, "but you will make do with his. At the very least, Gullik Oddsson here should be able to provide you with an excellent distraction for your foes."

"Hey-ho!" the norn shouted in response, raising his fist into the ceiling. "I am nothing if not distracting."

Soulkeeper caught Dougal's eye and gave a very human-looking shrug. "I was going to offer him his freedom in return for joining your mission, but he volunteered before I could get that far."

"Speaking of offers," Dougal said, "we were talking about a sword earlier. Among other things."

"Indeed." Soulkeeper scratched the side of her muzzle and glanced at the empty scabbard still hanging from Dougal's belt. "You're like a declawed charr. We can't send a human out into the world without a proper blade, can we?"

Dougal shook his head. Riona said, "A proper blade that he won't break, I hope."

Soulkeeper gestured for Naugatl, who was lurking in the shadows of the hallway. The frog-man hopped forward on long, rubbery legs, bearing a long bundle in his thin arms.

"You made a good choice, dryskin!" the hylek boomed in a gravelly voice. "This blade, she is too good for you!"

"But the mission isn't?" said Dougal, scowling at the hylek.

"No." The hylek winked a transparent eyelid at Dougal as he unwrapped the sword and handed it over. "That is too bad for you."

Dougal took the blade and unsheathed it in a single movement. It leaped silently from its scabbard as if on springs. The blade glistened in the firelight, black and oily. The ebony color seemed to have not been applied to the metal but to run straight through it.

"What does it do?" Dougal asked as he hefted it and gave it a few swings to test its balance. It felt natural, like an extension of his arm.

"What? You mean, does it shoot lightning or burst into flame or something like that?" General Soulkeeper bared her teeth in a smile.

"Something like that."

"I am afraid not," said the general.

"So what's so special about the blade?" Even as he said the words, Dougal realized he didn't care. This sword felt perfect, as if he'd been looking for it his entire life and not even realized he was missing it until now.

"It kills," said Soulkeeper. The hylek let loose a throaty laugh that, had he been human, would have sounded as though he were about to vomit. "It kills very, very well. Isn't that what a sword's for?"

Dougal could not argue with that. He glanced over at Ember, who was losing the battle to consume the roast moa with the norn. The charr casually pitched a moa leg bone toward Dougal, and Dougal swung the sword at it effortlessly as if merely pointing at it. The remnants of the bone fell into two neat halves at his feet.

Dougal looked at it and nodded his approval at Soulkeeper. "It's a good start," he said as he sheathed the blade. He looked at the general long and hard. "Why are we up at this G.o.ds-forsaken hour?"

"You need to get to Ebonhawke," said Soulkeeper.

"If we are traveling by asura gate, we have to go through Divinity's Reach," said Dougal. "No one will be up at this hour."

"You're right about the last part," said the general, "but you're not going back to Divinity's Reach. You're going straight through to Ebonhawke."

Now Riona finally spoke up: "That's impossible. The only solid gate to Ebonhawke is from Divinity's Reach."

"Did I say you were using an established asura gate?" said Soulkeeper, her jaw open with amus.e.m.e.nt. "We can tune the Lion's Arch gate to Ebonhawke's aetheric frequency. We have a very talented man on the other side to do the same. From what I understand, we can bring the two gates into alignment briefly and send you through. But we have to be quick about it: we have a very slender window in time."

Riona's voice rose now. "You mean there is a flaw in the asura gate system? Could the charr use this to break into Ebonhawke?"

"You would need an agent on the Ebonhawke side," said Soulkeeper. "And even if they had one, the charr leaders.h.i.+p would be reticent to try it. They are distrustful of asuran magic."

"They aren't the only ones," said Dougal softly.

"So if anyone asks, we didn't do this," Soulkeeper said sternly, looking at Ember and then at Gullik. The big norn shrugged, comfortable in the fact that he didn't understand what was going on in the first place. "Further, you won't want to mention the Vigil at all. Good fortune to you all. Now, dismissed!"

Soulkeeper placed her fist over her heart and Naugatl, Riona, and Ember returned the salute. Dougal just hoisted his bag and followed the hylek out of the room. They wound through pa.s.sages and emerged at the same nondescript entrance by which they had entered the safe house.

They stumbled out into the empty streets of Lion's Arch. A lamplighter moved slowly down the street from them, but it was otherwise empty. The breeze was at their backs, pouring back into the sea, but Dougal still tasted salt.

"This is never going to work," said Dougal to Riona. "We've got too many people to be stealthy, and too few to be effective."

"I know," Riona said quietly. "But we will do as best as we can. My goal is to get you to Ascalon City. We may have to pay a heavy price for that."

"You talked our way past the Seraph," said Killeen. "I'm sure you and your purple-stamped orders can do the same here."

"The Ebon Vanguard is a different order entirely from the Seraph," said Dougal. "They are not so easily swayed."

"Don't they answer to your Queen Jennah?" asked Killeen.

"The Ebon Vanguard? Yes and no. Back before the Searing, they started out as the Ascalon Vanguard, an elite unit that fought alongside Prince Rurik and later ventured into the charr lands to take the battle to them. Many of the human slaves they rescued from the charr joined them and swelled their ranks. Since they weren't part of the Ascalonian army anymore, they changed their name to the Ebon Vanguard. Later, Adelbern recalled those soldiers and asked them to fortify Ebonhawke in an attempt to solidify the capital's supply lines and establish a last-ditch holdout position."

"So Prince Rurik founded Ebonhawke?" Killeen showed real interest.

Dougal shook his head. "Rurik died while crossing the s.h.i.+verpeaks. By the time the Vanguard came to Ebonhawke, a hero named Gwen Thackeray was in charge. She forged the city into what it is today, and she led its defense during its darkest times, right after the Foefire, which-as you might imagine-sent every surviving charr in Tyria into a rage. Under her guidance, the walls of Ebonhawke stood strong-so strong that they remain unbroken to this day."

"Nothing lasts forever," Ember growled.

"She still sounds like an amazing woman," said Killeen.

"The greatest ever," Riona said. "She was the finest hero of her age. She was just a child at the time of the Searing, and she spent years as a charr slave before she escaped. She joined the Ebon Vanguard and climbed its ranks to become its leader. She turned Ebonhawke from an outpost into a fortress, which still remains as the last hope in the War of Ascalon Independence."

Ember snarled at this. "You mean the Ascalon Insurrection."

Dougal tried to bring the conversation back on track. "Gwen fought the charr. She hated them for what they'd done to her and her family, but she changed her mind about them after she worked with Pyre Fierceshot to help bring down the destroyers."

"Some woman," Ember growled.

"Did you know that Logan Thackeray is related to Gwen?" Dougal said to Killeen.

"That would make sense," said the sylvari. "He struck me as being very dedicated to his queen and country."

"I've read Gwen's journals," said Dougal. "They're kept in the Durmand Priory. She married a ranger in the Ebon Vanguard. His name was Kieran Thackeray. Logan is their direct descendant."

"Heroism must run in his blood."

"Oh, spare me," Ember said, her voice barely a low sneer.

"Pardon me?" said Riona.