Border Crossing

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"You're late." Baralai Fairchild despised the rain, almost as much as he despised mages. He was waiting at one of the bridges that crossed the river that in turn divided the two largest kingdoms in their land. It was the same bridge where he had waited countless times. Templar or no, gold was gold, and this gold also got rid of troublesome mages.
"You want the gold or not?" A black clad man snarled as he jumped down gracefully from his equally black steed.
Baralai muttered something rather unbecoming of a Templar, then held a gloved hand out. "Gold first, then the cargo. Try anything..." He words were cut off as the mage he was transporting broke free of his restraints. It all happened so quickly that he didn't see the flash of lightning and the proud Templar was crashing into the raging river below.
Six months. It had been six months and the fallen Templar still woke in a cold sweat after dreaming of that night. The mage had rendered him immobile, though wide awake when he had plunged into the river, his heavy armour weighing him down until a pig farmer had dragged him from the river several miles away. It had taken months to get back to health and pay back the farmer for his kindness. In that time word had gotten out that Fairchild the Templar was a deserter.

Alice Gormanghast was scowling into the mirror. She hated this world she had been born into, even now as her maid pulled tightly on the laces of her dress she thought of nothing but a way to escape. Her brother's were all war heroes, famous to everyone in the kingdom for their brave deeds and triumph in defeating several of the dragons. But Alice... All she was known for was to be the prize her father handed over to the man he deemed brave enough to end the war altogether. She was the proverbial Princess in the tower, useful only for luring in prospective suitors. The young brunette didn't even realise her rose coloured lips were quirked into a slight smile 'if only they knew'. Indeed, her father would have a literal heart attack if he knew his prized daughter had secretly been learning how to shoot a bow and handle a sword. She lost herself for hours at an end in books that told of the thieves guild, and their mysterious leader who was sometimes known to have a higher moral code than the knights of their kingdom.

"What makes you think I am only human?" Alice retorted without missing a beat.

"You're a stupid... silly... useless... little girl!" Bear breathed, kissing Yena several more times. "Why didn't you just kill Kane?!"

"What you are matters little to me." The elf said, shaking her head at a tree near her. "I will not offer my people on a suicide mission to aide the monster in bringing that realm into our own. My son knows better than to even ask." 

"I can't. He has my heart." Yena breathed, leaving out the part that with her lover now truly dead she had no reason to fight.

"If you don't help me, that monster, as you so rightly put it, will be here regardless." Alice replied. "But as a dragon tongue, I imagine I'll just have to ask someone a little more powerful than you."

"Not all of it." The gruff looking man breathed, taking Yena's hand and holding it over his chest.

"Are you saying you can speak dragon?" The white eyed elf looked Alice over once again, still not turning her gaze toward her son. "Are you aware that there is only one powerful enough to open the realm of the dead? Rumor has it he is dead." 

Yena knees shook and she could barely remain standing. "How...i...I don't understand." She whispered, her eyes never leaving his face.

Alice wasn't looking at Garrik either, as she hadn't actually told him about her lineage. "Rumours are just that." She replied rather coolly.

"I don't understand it either." Bear confessed. "I was in the Black City...Well, here, I guess." He added with a chuckle. "Then next thing I knew there was ash everywhere and everyone was dead or gone."

"Does my child know the truth about you?" The dalish queen asked. " I get the feeling you lie to him like you do everyone else." Finally her eyes rested on Garrik. "I will call forth the dragon's mate, if it will please my child. But you must do something in return for me."

Yena blushed deeply. It didn't take her long to figure out what had happened. "Yeah...i...lost control when you died and started killing and burning  everything. I didn't come back to my senses until I was chained and the kings pet inside the mountain. I'm sorry..." she whispered, unable to meet his eyes.

"Knowing the truth would have put Garrik in danger." Alice replied. "I would never hurt him needlessly, but Kane has changed everything. Whatever you want from me, I'll do it."

Bear gently tipped Yena's chin up and shook his head. "You did good, knife ear." He breathed, a rough thumb lightly tracing her lower lip. "You slowed Kane down. You've given his sister time to strike back."

"There is a man in the southern isles. A pirate like yourselves. I believe your people call him Blackbeard. Bring him here to me and I will bring forth your portal and your dragon's mate." The dalish queen said. 
"Blackbeard? Mother, have you lost your mind?!" Garrik hissed. "You do not know what you're asking!"

"I don't care about any of them. I care about..." yena couldn't bring herself to say it. The truth brought with it only shame.

"No one has business with Blackbeard." Alice agreed, though she remained somewhat calmer than Garrik. "At least no one who is of sound mind."

"Care about what?" Bear pressed. "Yena, haven't we been through enough that you shouldn't be afraid to speak your mind to me?"

"If you are planning to insult me, we are done." The white elf said, turning away from them. "Good day, shem." 

"You." Yena croaked out. "I only care for you. But you are gone. You have been lost in the fade for so long."

"You need me." Alice replied rather bluntly. "And you need something from Blackbeard. You know I'm the only one brave, or stupid enough, to go to him."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Bear breathed, stroking Yena's cheek lightly. "Do I feel like I'm not real?"

The elf stopped in her tracks, her lips set in a deep frown. The strange woman had her there and she didn't seem to like it. "And yet you don't seem interested in making a bargain with me." She pointed out.

"The fade plays with my mind. I do not know what is real." Yena confessed. "I want you to be real but...I do not know..."

"I never said that." Alice retorted. "You just didn't like me being here, or..." She glanced to Garrik now. "Is it that you don't like Pirates for corrupting one of your own?"

"How about we worry about that when we're out of here? Kane is most certainly here, and wont stop until he find you." Bear replied in a gruff whisper.

The snowy elf smirked, Alice's words bringing laughter from the trees around them. "Perhaps." She said as if it were that simple. "Or perhaps it is more complicated than that. "

"A little late for that." Kane appeared behind Yena and grabed a handful of her hair, yanking her head back. "You are going to get it now." He snarled.

"Then perhaps you owe me some answers, you know before I go offering my neck to Blackbeard." Alice replied thinly.

"Hurt her, and you're stuck here forever." Bear quickly told Kane. "You can take the Black Throne, but it would be useless to you!"

"You are the one wanting help. I owe you nothing." The woman said. After a long moment of staring the two of them down she sighed. "Your crew has expressed hunger. In honor of my son's return we shall feed you. At the end of the meal you will decide whether you want my magic or not."
"I feel so honored, mother." Garrik snorted. "I apologize for not listening to you, my love. This was a stupid idea."

Eyes now as black as death itself turned on Bear. Kane began to smile as the ragged rope slide around the larger man's neck. "Oh there are plenty of other ways to hurt her." He purred.

Alice was squeezing Garrik's hand again. "Don't worry, I'm no pushover, if you recall." She breathed against his ear.

Bear was gasping and clawing at the rope around his neck, though he kept his steady gaze on Yena. They were in the black City, was she right? Was any of this even real?

"She is not your type, boy." The white elf said darkly, turning her head with a dark sneer. "Come now. Both of you. It is time to enjoy yourselves." She swept her hand toward a growing group of pale dalish elves. 

"Okay. Okay. Im sorry." Yena was quick to hold up her hands. "Please, your majesty. I'll do anything."
Kane gave her a wolfish grin, allowing Bear to drop to the ground. "That's my girl." He purred. "Now, let's talk about you killing that Rage demon on my throne."

Alice would find it rather difficult to enjoy herself after that remark. The words were silently eating away at her, making her wonder whether the other woman simply didn't approve of her... or that Garrik had perhaps been intended for someone else.

It took Bear a few gasping moments to catch his breath before he was back on his feet. "Why can't you kill it yourself?" He asked hoarsely. "I thought you were all powerful?"

The white elf sat down across from her later that evening, her hands on an ornate glass. "We were never properly introduced. My name is Aranthi. My son is not one for introductions it would seem."

"That's why I am king and you two are worthless slaves. I know how to get things done without getting my hands dirty." Kane said proudly.

"Alice." The other woman replied simply. Sitting at a banquet like this one was making her somewhat uncomfortable. It reminded her of her old life, and of the times Kane would be sat next to her, forever trying to slide his fingers under the layers of her dress. "I gather you are more than just a mage then, you are the ruler of these people?"

"Funny, seems like you wont get anything done without Yena." Bear snorted. "And it only took two little girls you halt you last time."

Aranthi nodded her head, her silken hair sliding over her shoulder. "I've been with the forest dalish for hundreds of years." She paused when one of Alice's men crashed into the center of the table and sent food flying. One of the other elves scrambled to try and clean it up without being noticed, only to be gathered up and kissed by one of the brawnier men. The slender male squirmed, his face filled with horror and disgust. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kane snapped. "You know nothing, fool. Now shut up and get out your sword."

Alice couldn't help but smirk when she saw what her man had done, knowing he had made a mistake without even realising it. "I thought wisdom would have followed such a long rule. The kind of wisdom to nurture your son instead of casting him out."

"Gladly." Bear sneered. "But I stand by what I originally told you; your sister and her army will crush you the second you leave the Black City."

"The dalish do not nuture. And what's more, the boy is mainly human. He has no place here. He is lucky I did not allow them to leave him out when the weather grew cols and the snows arrived." 

"Her army? Kane laughed. "You mean that pathetic band of pirates? If you're banking on them, boy, you are going to lose."

Alice snorted and rolled her eyes. "You would have enjoyed my father's company then." She remarked. "It would seem a human child in your world is worth the same as a female offspring in his."

"You think it is just one ship she commands?" Bear sneered. "And you seem to be forgetting... She controls the thieves guild you watched your father marry her into." He was keeping Kane talking in hopes that Yena would simply run. "Two crowns to your one... what an embarrassment."

"I did my best by the boy. You do not see his father around do you?" The white haired creature asked darkly. "Besides, he seems to have turned out better than I could have hoped. I was worried he would be like the human who helped create him. He is a good man...despite the company he keeps." She said, watching Garrik catch one of the pirates as he stumbled toward a burning fire pit. He deftly caught the little elf wit his free hand who was nearly trampled underfoot.

Kane balled his fists, once again choking Bear. "You are pissing me off." He snarled,flipping his hands so that the other man was forced to stumble to the ground. "You, elf. Let's go. We are fighting a demon. He's wasting my time."

"I agree." Alice replied, most likely surprising the ancient elf. "That is why I want you to help me, and in return I will go to Blackbeard like you asked, and then I will leave without Garrik. He belongs here, with family. Just being loved by me is enough to put him in danger anywhere else."

Bear was once again left gasping for breath. In a fair fight he could most likely have bested Kane without even breaking a sweat, but with the other man in such a monstrous form... it was rather an uneven match.

"He isn't happy here, girl. He'll leave the moment he is able." She tapped her fingers and the little elf Garrik held onto turned into a snake. Despite his surprise he did his best not to drop the poor creature. The pirate near him burst out laughing and then began to throw up. "My son is not an elf. I cannot keep him here. Besides, he will not like what I plan for...Blackbeard."

Yena was quick to obey, hoping this was enough. She changed her form, returning to her dragon state. It was an immediate drawing card for example every demon close to them and enough of a distraction for Kane to let go of Bear.

"If he doesn't belong, why didn't you just send him to be with his father?" Alice asked, pausing to watch Garrik deposit the snake somewhere.

Bear was glad of the reaction the demons were showing. He needing to kill something. He needed to pretend that each demon was in fact Kane.

"I wouldn't send a nug to live with that shem." Aranthi said bitterly. She was blessedly kept from explaining more as Garrik came to the table and yanked Alive to her feet. 
"You promised me a dance, Captain." He purred. "I've waited long enough."


Before long Kane was settling his deformed frame into the throne of the black city and laughing maniacally. "I look like the Maker here." He announced. "This couldn't be a more perfect fit!"