Helnion watched as the two Knights slowly approached the door. The Knight that reached the door first paused, looked back to everyone, then slowly opened it.

"I do not see or hear anyone." He said, though Helnion could barely hear him.

"It could be a trap," Loih said.

The guard nodded. Helnion wondered if he would be okay.

Helnion watched anxiously as the Knight entered the house, Loih and the other Knight close behind.

"It is safe." Helnion heard Loih say after a moment.

Etam looked at her, nodded, and entered the house.

Helnion did not even look at Nie and followed Etam. She hoped the inside was interesting, at least more so than the bare yard outside.

As soon as Helnion was inside she saw that the room they had entered was an ordinary antechamber. It was well lit with open windows facing the front yard and the open plaza that took up the center of the house. There were vases, a few furnishings, and a painting in the room. Compared to her house it was bare.

"Where to next?" Nie said as soon as he stepped in and closed the door.

Everyone looked at Helnion as if she knew the answer.

Helnion thought for a bit but could never remember Tiosa telling her where to go.

Helnion shrugged.

"I guess this means we have to rely on luck," Nie said.

"You would think that that woman does not want us to succeed," Etam said.

"No, I think she just does not care if us extras survive," Loih said.

"I would not be surprised if she has it planned for us to die," Etam said.

Helnion was tired of all the hate for Triosa so she started looking.

"Hold on there, Helny," Nie said, grabbing her shoulder. "You will be behind everybody but me."

Helnion scowled at Nie and put out her lower lip.

"Do not give me that look. I just want to make sure you do not get hurt."

"Boring," Helnion said and sat on a nearby chair.

"Good girl."

Thankfully Helnion saw that the men had stopped complaining and were heading towards the door on the left side of the room.

"Watch the plaza," Loih said to one of the Knights. "If we are going to be seen it will be through one of the other windows."

The Knight nodded and Helnion saw him crouch next to the window and peer out to the large plaza was in the center of the house.

"To the next room," Loih said to everyone else.

The men nodded.

"Come Helny," Nie said, grabbing her arm.

Helnion was not happy, especially because Nie would not let her look into the plaza.

"The hall appears to be clear." Helnion heard the Knight that had gone through the door say, bringing her attention back just in time to exit the antechamber and go into a hall.

"Where are all the servants?" Nie said. "We should have seen one by now in an estate this size."

"We can worry about that later," Etam said.

"As much as I want to join in," Loih said. "It would be a good idea to stop talking from now on."

Etam and Nie nodded at Loih.

Helnion looked from the men and down the hallway. It was even more bare than the antechamber and the only thing she could see were two doors on the left and three large windows to her right that most likely showed the plaza.

Helnion strained to see if she could see outside the nearest window but Nie had a firm hold on her and she could not stand to see out of it.

Helnion heard a door open. She looked just in time to see the remaining Knight slip into the room, closely followed by Loih. She strained to hear anything and soon heard what sounded like someone getting stabbed.

Helnion shivered.

Soon after she saw Loih poke his head back out and motion for them to come in.

Helnion had to immediately look away from the two beds inside. She had never seen this much blood before and it made her stomach churn. If only it was black dust, like on Korron. Black dust she could handle, blood she could not.

"Are you all right, Helny?" Nie said, looking at her with concern.

Helnion nodded. She needed to not let this get to her or she could do nothing. She had already killed the guard and she could do it again. Or so she hoped.

"I have some presents for you," Loih said, standing next to an open chest.

Helnion immediately forgot about the bloody and bodies on the bed and pulled Nie towards the chest.

"How fortunate," Etam said, reaching the chest first.

Helnion finally got to the chest and peered inside. She saw two sets of crystal forged swords and shields.

"How fortunate indeed," Nie said, reaching in and pulling out a shield.

Helnion knew that Etam and Nie already had their own crystal forged swords, which were better than what she saw in the chest, but still not as good as Salis'.

Helnion reached into the chest. She was completely unarmed and wanted a sword of her own.

"Helny…" Nie said, stopping her. "You know how you are with swords."

"I practiced a lot with Salis and Martu." She said. "I do not drop it as much anymore."

"Martu?" She heard Etam say.

Nie looked at Loih and Etam. Etam ignored Nie and looked to be thinking about something. Loih shrugged.

Nie shook his head. "I am sorry Helny, but I cannot let you have one."

Helnion took one more look into the chest and at the swords. Those wonderful sparkly swords…

Oh Salis… How I miss you.

"We have trouble!" The Knight they had left to watch the plaza said as he rushed into the room.

Helnion, and everyone else, jumped when he came in. Loih and Etam had even nearly attacked him too.

"What is it?" Loih asked as he motioned the Knight to him.

"A group of five men came out from a back room and are heading towards the front of the estate."

Helnion wondered what this group of men were like. Were they all dressed in black and sneaky like or did they dress normally?

"If they do not know we are here, we should be fine until they see the guard is missing. As soon as they exit the manor, we will make our move to the rear of the house." Loih said.

Helnion was not sure what was going to happen. Was there even anything in the house? She wished she could take her time to explore everywhere.

"We should leave Helnion here," Etam said. "That woman is not here so we might be able to…"

Suddenly Helnion saw Etam get picked up into the air. She was half expecting him to get flung against the wall or ceiling, but he floated there.

"It appears she can hear us," Nie said.

"We should have expected as much," Loih said.

"You can put me down now," Etam said. "We will take Helnion with us."

Helnion could see the frustration on Etam's face. She wondered why he was trying so hard to get her out of this.

As soon as Etam was set back on his feet, Loih turned back towards the Knight that had come in.

"Can you hear them?" He said.

The Knight pressed his ear to the door and listened for a moment.

"I do not hear anything."

"See if you can see anyone nearby."

Helnion watched as the Knight cracked the door open. She could feel the tension in the room and half expected for someone to burst into the room.

"I do not see anyone nearby." The Knight said before opening the door wider and sticking his head through.

Helnion wondered if his head would be missing when he came back in.

Helnion shook her head. Why was she getting thoughts like this?

"Clear." The Knight said.

"We need to hurry!" Loih said as he motioned for everyone to leave.

Helnion watched as everyone nodded.

The Knight rushed out of the room, before stopping and peering both ways down the hall.

Helnion looked around the room one more time.

The dead men were still there. She stared at them. She knew she would see more bodies today and hoped that she could get over her shock by looking at these more.

"Come Helny," Nie said and began to pull her out of the room.

Helnion looked up at her brother. Would he be one of the dead bodies? Would she? If Salis were here, she was sure things would turn out well.

Helnion turned her attention to the men farther down the hall when she left the room. They had already stopped in front of the other door and were preparing to enter.

She then took one quick look around to see if she could see anything else. Nie was still holding her down so she still could not see through the windows into the plaza and there was nothing much to see in the empty hallway so she quickly looked back just in time to see the lead Knight motion them past the room.

Nie started pulling her down the hallway again. Helnion looked at the room as she passed it and wondered what was inside. Was it another bedroom but with no one in it or something else? She tried heading towards the door but Nie tugged at her and she kept moving down the hallway.

Just before they rounded the turn at the end of the hall, Loih motioned for them to stop. Helnion was curious to see if there was anything more interesting around the bend, but Nie stopped her and held her in place.

"There are two men talking outside of a door. One is wearing crystal forged armor." Loih said so quietly Helnion could barely hear him.

"I will take care of this," Etam said, just as quietly.

Everyone stepped back to give Etam room.

In moments shards of ice began to form over Etam's head. He glanced at Helnion then at the shards of ice as if he was doing this for her.

In more time than Helnion could have hoped to have done the same thing, Etam had formed six shards of ice. Each was small but long and looked very sharp.

No sooner had they formed than they shot off in the direction the men were heading. Helnion could not see the two men, but she soon heard some thumps and the shattering of ice.

Etam nodded back at Loih. "That should have killed them."

Loih nodded.

Loih and the lead Knight took off around the turn, their shields at the ready. A few moments later Etam motioned for the rest of them to follow.

Helnion could finally see the next section of the hallway. She saw three doors here, one of which had two bodies in front of it. To her excitement, she also saw that it completely exposed the entire hall to the plaza. The sad part was that the plaza was bare of any plants, except for a few trees.

"Check the room," Loih said to the Knight that was taking up the rear, pointing to the closest of the doors.

The Knight nodded and entered it as soon as the group began to pass it.

"Check the last room," Loih said to the other Knight, pointing to the third door.

Helnion looked back and forth at both of the men as they left, then to the door in the center they were now standing by. It was a large double door made of wood. It was plain and had no ornamentation like many of the doors in Helnion's estate. Even so, it looked important.

Helnion began to walk towards the door but nearly tripped on something. When she looked down, she saw that it was the bodies of one of the men that Etam had just killed.

It was the man without armor. Helnion saw three of the ice shards sticking out of him, beginning to melt. One was lodged squarely in his throat and it look like the man had been grabbing at it as he died.

She then looked at the other body. Only one shard had hit this man. It too had pierced the man in the neck, just between the bottom of his helmet and the top of his armor. She saw several melting pieces of ice lying around him from the shards that had shattered on his armor.

Helnion looked back up just in time to see one of the Knights come back. It was the one that had checked the door they had passed on their way here.

"I think I might have found what that woman sent us here for." He said.

Loih nodded. Etam and Nie looked relieved.

"One problem, Sir." The Knight said, continuing.

"What is it?" Loih said.

"There is too much of it for us to carry out at once."

"Does that mean we will have to kill everyone in this house?" Nie said, sounding none too happy at the thought.

"It appears that way," Loih said, not sounding happy either.

Loih turned to the double doors next to them. "First, we need to see what is in here." He said and approached the doors.

"What was in the room?" Nie asked the Knight.

"Lots of magic items. Never seen so much in one place." The Knight said.

Helnion looked away from Nie and the Knight. She now wanted very much to go see the room for herself. Surely there was something in there that rivaled Salis' sword?

"I found two more." Helnion heard the other Knight say.

She turned around to see the Knight taking place behind Loih. His sword had fresh blood on it.

Helnion was forced down onto the floor as she heard a loud cracking sound and felt stings all over her body as stuff slammed into her.

She quickly crawled onto her knees and looked around. The double doors had been blown away and fragments of wood littered the hallway and plaza.

She also saw that everyone else had been knocked down but had all recovered more quickly than she and were already getting on their feet. All had their shields at the ready.