The moment of silence that hung over the Throne Room was broken as Elat ran to his friends side. He urged the guards to release him and helped him to his feet. Teyva and the others moved in shortly after. Hakal looked terrible, his body soaked in sweat and deep bags under his eyes. He’d run as fast as he could across the Wildlands to get to Osan, there was no doubt about it. Tiisha moved in past Teyva and looked him over before glancing back at the king. “Majesty!”

“Do what you need to,” He said, nodding to her.

“Here, lay him down, gently now,” Tiisha said, helping Elat ease Hakal to the ground. The weakened orc groaned and grasped at Elat’s chest, fingernails digging into skin as he tried to get his leader’s attention. “You’ll be alright, but I need to treat you good sir, now,” Tiisha said, pulling his hand away from Elat.

“Let me speak!” Hakal grunted, trying to shove her away but finding her strength to be considerably greater than his own. She pulled back anyway, reaching into the air and drawing out a vial of liquid as if from nowhere. Teyva glanced at Azrael who returned the look. That was why Azrael had thought Teyva’s ability to produce items had been an Aspect Power back when they’d first met. Tiisha possessed a similar ability. 

“Drink this, then speak,” She hissed, “Hurry now.”

The big orc took the vial and poured it down his throat, shuddering at the taste. He swallowed anyway and began to cough as color quickly returned to his skin. He let out a breath and began to relax against the floor, staring up at Elat and gripping his arm. “That Knight, he came back,” Hakal said, “He took Elder Yol hostage. He wants to see Teyva and won’t let the elder go until he does!” He leaned forward, “He’s dangerous! Something has changed about him, his eyes are wrong and those things following him around…” Hakal shuddered. “...the wolves can’t come close to help, it’s like something is driving them away!”

“Is anyone hurt?” Elat pressed.

“Not yet,” Hakal said, shaking his head, “But Elder Yol said not to send Teyva back. It’s too dangerous. He said something about the man having taken ‘the stone’.”

Teyva’s blood ran cold and she took in a sharp breath, “The Aspect Stone of the Unspeakable,” She said aloud, drawing the eyes of the others. “Azrael and I found it when we were dealing with the Bound One underneath the Great Tree. Elder Yol was hiding it so that no one would use it. In a peaceful village it wouldn’t be exposed to something that would react to it either. Or so I thought.”

“We have to go,” Azrael said, “I know we need answers but-” 

“Absolutely not,” Yaga said, stepping in. “Your job is to go into that library.”

Teyva whipped her head in the woman’s direction. Yaga Yftha gave her a stern eye and crossed her arms. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, on top of that as from what the man has said, the Elder of that Village has forbade your return. We will respect his wishes,” Yaga continued. 

Teyva stormed forward and narrowed her eyes, “Listen, I need to go help them! They are good people! I can’t just abandon-”

“You aren’t abandoning them,” Yaga said, shaking her head and turned to the king. “Majesty.”

“That village is in the Green Sea, the Katal think it’s their territory,” He said, “Do you plan on bringing your Wardens?”

“Volunteers only,” Yaga said, “As well as myself.”

Teyva blinked at her, “Why?”

Yaga turned to look Elat up and down and then smiled, “I would not be able to live with myself if Azrael’s mate went into such danger alone. Not only that, it is a warden’s duty to deal with threats to the Wildlands and Osan. Whoever this is will come to Osan next in search of you if that is what he’s after. Best see it done away from here,” She said, crossing her arms behind her back. “I will accompany Elat with my men and we’ll deal with this man.”

Elat bowed his head to the woman, “Thank you.”

“Thank me when we deal with this pest. As far as I am concerned you are family, and by extension your people. We will see this done,” She clipped. 

Teyva glanced down at Hakal who had tears in his eyes, he blubbered something incoherent and Elat crouched to a knee and placed a hand on his chest. “You can rest now, we have it from here my friend.”

Tiisha gestured to a pair of guards. “Get this man to an infirmary, gently!”

The two men rushed over and began to ease Hakal up before carrying him out the open doors. Elat turned to Azrael, a mixed expression on his face. She smiled up at him and reached out to put a hand on his chest. “Do what you have to do, we’ll be fine,” she said.

He glanced over at Teyva who frowned, “I should be coming with you.”

“My father does not say things like that lightly,” Elat said grimly, “If he believes its best you stay away. Stay away.”

“If we don’t hear from you, I’m coming anyway,” Teyva shot, clenching her fists. “And take The Marble with you, just in case.”

Elat frowned but nodded, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Thank you Teyva.”

Yaga cleared her throat and gestured to the door, “No time to waste. We should go and get your weapons before we depart. I’ll have a mount prepared for you.” 

He nodded to her and glanced one more time at Azrael before firming his resolve and hurrying out the door. Teyva, Azrael, Tiisha, Argus, and Barin stood there as the two of them left. Teyva wrung her hands anxiously and let out a breath before glancing at Azrael. “We should get ready too.”

Azrael stood there for a while, staring after Elat, she caught her breath and nodded to Teyva. “Right, suppose we could just equip them, yes?”

Teyva forced a laugh, “Sure, show off a bit,” Teyva opened her inventory and her new gear disappeared into the squares floating in the air before her. She looked the items over one more time before selecting them again from the menu. She selected ‘equip’ and in a flash, she felt the weight of the armor on her body. She looked down at herself, the all-white gear making her look almost like a ghost. The coat tail was a nice touch. She looked at her hands and was pleased to see that the slits on the fingertips were just large enough to fit her claws through. She flexed her fingers and appreciated the creak of new material. Then there was the rush of sensation that came from the enchantments. She pulled up her character sheet and checked her attributes to see where she was.

Leaps and bounds over where she had been when she’d started! It was crazy to think she had only 10 in each stat when she’d first arrived. She wondered if she could take on something like the Bound One on her own at this point. She frowned at the thought, while she had the stats she still had a long way to go on the experience front. She’d learned a lot in the Wildlands but she was going to have to get even better than she was now. She glanced over at Azrael who appeared to be doing the same as she was and turned her attention to the others.

“Now that’s a neat trick,” Tiisha crooned, cocking an eyebrow at Teyva. “It looks good on you dear.”

“A little blinding if you ask me,” Barin muttered. 

“Oh hush, you wouldn’t know style if it crawled out of one of your books and bit you on the nose!” Tiisha reprimanded him.

“As long as they’re functional,” Argus said, “Barin mentioned he put a strength enchantment on yours,” He said to Teyva. “I’d like to see just what that means.”

“Another time, Argus! Their friend just went off into who knows what kind of danger so they can accomplish their own mission! Let’s not waste time!” Tiisha scolded. 

Argus let out a huff and shrugged his shoulders, marching past Teyva and Azrael to the door, “Well since you’re all suited up, let’s go.”

Azrael checked her gear one more time, a grim look on her face as she made sure every strap was set properly. Teyva opened her mouth to remind her that the equip ability usually made things fit perfectly but she decided not to. Azrael was only trying to distract herself from her worries. With Elat running off back to the Settlement there was no way of knowing what his status was until they got back. Even so, Teyva had a sinking feeling that they were going to be down there for a while. With it being about ten days travel by foot to the Settlement and about a week if they took horses; at least they’d be able to know about when Elat had arrived.

“Come on,” Teyva urged her friend, “Master Tiisha’s right.”

Azrael stared at the ground and took a deep breath before turning to look at her father. The King gave her a solemn nod and she returned the expression before facing Teyva. “Alright, I’m ready, let’s go.”