Tad woke up when his cot hit the floor. "Wake up, Kid. We have work to do. The other vampires are awake. Let's go get some answers, " said Jack as he pushed his wagon door open and trotted down the ramp.

Tad could see the sun was up, he didn't think it was very late in the morning, and he had only gotten to bed as the sun was brightening the sky. He sighed and rolled over, looking for his boots which were now pinned under the fallen cot. He put them on, shouldered his staff, and went to the World Egg. Jack was already standing in front of the open artifact. He was shining, really, he was shining in the light.

Tad shook his head, frowning, "Jack, explain to me what is going on, please. What's is with this, Aea and you? "

Jack turned back to look at Tad, "Tad, have you ever wondered why I worked at a carnival for over fifty years. Just standing there and drinking dregs every night? "

Tad thought about that. He did know Jack had some trauma or something in his past, and he had never asked about it. "No, I figured it was the easiest job you could find that got you the alcohol you liked. "

Jack snorted and stomped a hoof, "Kid, I'm going to tell you something. I expect you not to repeat it to anyone, do you understand? "

Tad was at the wagon now and entered the World Egg, followed by Jack.

"Kettle close the door, please, " said Tad. The small chamber sealed with the typical ear-popping pressure.

"Jack, is it ok if Kettle knows? I don't think I could keep him out even if I wanted to," said Tad as he formed his soulspace cathedral.

Jack appeared, then Kettle, "Yes, I'm sure your little friend would find out anyway." He paused for a moment looking at the stained glass image of Gweleth. "Long ago, when I was young, I fell in love with a woman. I courted her, and we had soul bonded as all unicorns do, and we were to leave for the Fey Lands, where all unicorns go once they find a mate. "

Tad coughed, "Jack, umm…. Mate? What? Your kind of an equine? "

"Both of us would change Tad. It's complex magic, and unicorns can morph. Once in the Fey Lands, either of us would be able to change. It's part of the magic of unicorns. It is also the only way we persist. There are not many of us, and this is one of the reasons why. My new bride, " Jack paused here.

Tad could feel this was hard for Jack to talk about. "She wanted to see her family one last time, and I let her go inside alone because I don't fit through human doors very well. She was from a family of merchants, and they lived in one of those small merchant castle compounds near her home city. I had sensed the whole compound and buildings, and everything seemed quiet. I didn't think anyone was there, so Asthea, the woman of my dreams, went inside to gather a couple of things and wait for her parents. It happened so fast after that. It was quiet inside because everyone was dead, Tad. When she went in, the orc assassin, who had been hired to kill her family and had magical wards blocking my sensing him, killed her. " He stopped then. There was a long pause. Tad didn't know what to say. He just patted his friend's shoulder.

"I caught him, the orc, but it was too late. She was already dead. I caught him, and I did horrible things to that orc till he told me who paid him to kill her and her family. It was a competitor in some business deal her father was involved in, I went there. It was in another city, I went there Tad, and I killed every last one of them. Then I set the whole place on fire with a cyclone of magic so large it destroyed half that city. But I was already far from there by then, I had already left the plane. Do you know what happens to Unicorns that lose their soul-bonded mates?" Jack paused again, remembering. "

Then he continued in a quieter projection," They die or kill themselves, or stop eating, many things, but it always ends up with the unicorn being dead. But something different happened to me. I had jumped several planes, I didn't even keep track at the time. Every portal I found I took, it didn't matter anyway. Then something I didn't expect happened. I ended up in a very low magic plane. When I say low, I mean nothing really. It was like a desert except for mana instead of water. I had spent most of my mana and while I stood there trying to figure out what I had done. There was this old man, and he was a human. He had been sitting next to the portal I'd come through in the middle of this city. He was sitting there drinking a clear bottle of alcohol, and he was three sheets to the wind drunk. I couldn't understand him, but he didn't seem to care. He started to talk to this smudged grey unicorn like I was someone he had known for ages. He even poured me a couple of bowls of liquor and found another bottle somewhere. That was the first time I'd ever drank alcohol, and truthfully at that point in my existence, it saved me. It also trapped me in a cycle of behavior I'd prefer to forget. When I woke up the next day, I was no longer a unicorn. I was also not human in a human world. I looked human and could fit in, but my ears were not the same, so to make up for this, I wore many hats and kept long shaggy hair. The man I'd been drinking with I never saw again, but I knew at that point that I wanted to live, and I had found a way to do that. I spent almost two centuries on that low magic plane. I had an inn which I kept well stocked, and I spent my days tending bar, greeting customers half-drunk, and playing drinking games with anyone that would sit at the counter. The Inn did ok, but never great, of course."

Tad watched as Jack turned and looked at the stained glass window depicting the goddess of the moon, Niucrelath. Jack continued, "I outlived several men I called friends, and I had grown tired of it at that point. That is when Samphire arrived. Well, he didn't really arrive. One night I was there cleaning the place up, putting stools on the tables so I could sweep before going to bed. And this normal height bald man walks in and sits down like he owns the place. He was wearing this unusual green robe. I knew he wasn't just a normal man right away, and Samphire confirmed it quickly. He discussed his carnival, and he already knew about me somehow. He said he would like to help me find an answer to my problem and help me. He was very convincing, I told him there was no way back to where I came from, and he stood up and opened a portal right in the middle of the Inn. Like it was nothing. He said I'd change if I went through, but the path was open if I wanted to take it. He just walked through, and after watching him leave, I stood there for a few minutes. I looked around at my Inn, said goodbye to the old place, and followed him through the portal. That is how I ended up in a carnival. The daily carnival show was something I did in hopes of finding another that I could soulbond with. I do not know why this Aea is this person. I have seen a million young ladies. "

Tad had his suspicions at this point about why Aea was the woman for Jack. He was actually quite certain of why.

Tad perked up, "Hey, is this where you found watermelon wine? " Tad had decided to change the subject.

This question seemed to snap Jack back to the present, half chuckling, "Yea Kid, that's exactly where I found it. "

"So Terri only stocked it because you liked it? See, good friends are hard to find, right? " asked Tad.

Jack turned his equine head towards Tad getting serious again. "I read that book on Vampires last night. It alludes to a cure, but it was mostly a biography of the one in this tube, Synethaes - Mistress of Vampires was the title. So I assume she is the one we will need to talk to. "

"Kettle can you make the tubes visible again? " asked Tad.

The front of the right two tubes became clear. At the same time, Tad saw them, the vampires saw him. The one on the right had her Tiara sitting in her hair like she owned the place. This was Synethaes. The other one started acting like she was trying to seduce Tad through the surface of the tube. Her fangs were showing, and Tad was pretty sure she was using some magic that was being stopped by opaque metal. Yea, he wasn't going to open that one.

"Kettle, can you let Synethaes hear us, please. Be ready in case she tries something, " projected Tad.

The surface of the opaque metal grayed in the middle near her face.

Tad spoke first, "Greetings, I am Thaddius Rockgrip, and this is Jack. We were hoping you would answer a few questions for us about Aea. Your Synethaes, correct? " He was using as polite a voice as he could muster while the feral vampire in the other tube was performing her overly sexual antics.

Synethaes spoke slowly as if her voice didn't work. It started gravelly then became more clear as she spoke more words, "I am Synethaes. You will let me out of here at once. "

Tad felt her trying to take control of his soulspace and mind as she stared at him. Her red eyes started to fluctuate in color. He resisted then the pressure ceased as Jack's magic slammed through the little vent in the tube, pinning Synethaes to the back of the tube.

Jack's projected voice thundered in Tad's mind, "Evil creature, your tricks will not work here!"

He held her there for a few moments, then let her drop back to the floor of the tube. Synethaes stood again, this time throwing her shoulders back and staring at Jack, then she looked at Tad.

Kettle closed the vent in front of the Tube, once again sealing the vampire inside where she could see but not hear or use magic on them.

Jack's projected voice came again, not as loudly this time, "Have Kettle open the second tube all the way. "

Tad had alarm in his voice, "Uhhh…. Jack, that vampire is feral. You want to let that out of the tube."

Jack's voice boomed again inside Tad's mind, "Open the TUBE!"

Tad winced in pain, then rolled his eyes and unslung his staff from his shoulder harness. "You heard him, Kettle, open the tube. " He had already formed the gauntlet on his hand and was pushing mana into Galadinidú.

Tad heard a pop, then a slight whooshing sound, and the cover of the tube moved to the side faster than Tad wanted.

Tad spoke first again, "Olylia, right? We have some questions if you could answer them, please. " Tad watched Olylia unwind from the pose she had taken against the opaque metal while trying to entice Tad. Now he could feel her magic. She was trying the same thing Synethaes tried, to command his mind. Tad shrugged the much weaker attempt off. When the vampire realized this wasn't working to draw Tad closer, she sprang out at him.

This as it turned out, was a bad idea, a half-second later, Jack had her impaled and pinned to the side of Synethaes's opaque chamber. Olylia screamed, and her body deformed as her mouth enlarged, and several dozen teeth and fangs appeared, and her long beast-like arms tried to scratch at Jack's equine face, so close to her. Her attack deflected off Jack's soulmancy shields. The unicorn's shields were so thick Tad had to look at hem again to be sure they were real. They glowed as the vampire's claws burned where she touched the shields. This caused Olylia to shriek. The sound reverberated in the small World Egg chamber. It was an unearthly wail that caused all the hair on Tad's neck to stand straight up. There was some magic here, she was calling more undead to her. Tad could feel the call's magic, it wouldn't work in the World Egg and Tad watched as Jack poured energia into the creature. The magic's intensity reached a point where the feral vampire's body burst into flames which radiated out from Jack's horn which pinned her to the tube's surface. It was over in a few seconds, and Tad was struggling to breathe in the small chamber clouded with the smoke of an overly cooked vampire.

Tad coughed, "Kettle close the tubes and open the door, please, " he coughed again," I need some air. " Tad saw Synethaes was watching him now, brooding. She had seen what Jack had just done, Jack had made sure she had seen what he had done. Then she disappeared as the metal surface solidified, and the pop of air in Tad's ears was his queue to get out of the stench of magically burned vampire and back out into the sun.

Tad exited the World Egg as billows of the stench-filled smoke clung to him. He breathed in a bit too early, though, and took in a huge lung full of the stench again. Then he jumped down for the edge of the wagon and stood there a few feet away coughing.

"Damn Jack, what the hells man! Could you warn me or something, shees. That thing smells horrible and its in my mouth, " said Tad trying to spit.

Jack backed out of the World Egg, the sun was coming through the stained glass and his white coat shined in its light. His mane and tail were the purest white Tad had ever seen.

"Kid, you don't mess around with evil, especially not the undead kind. They are not your friends. They have no purpose in life other than to feed and destroy. Necromancers might be able to control them, but only after they have basically become them. Never trust them. This Synethaes needed to be shown what power is, she will only ever respect power. That is all she craves, and that is all she is, evil power. Don't forget that Kid. " He projected this, then he jumped down from the wagon and trotted out of the cathedral's open arched doorway into the sun coming down under the tree. He stood there in front of the Fey Tree. With his eyes closed. People started to gather around, keeping their distance from Jack but looking at him, just standing there shining.

Tad heard a female voice behind him. He thought he heard the disappointment in it, "He finally found the one he was looking for then?" Tad turned to find elf Terri standing there just as stunningly beautiful as ever. Her eyes tearing up, she half-smiled at Tad, then looked back at the glowing unicorn standing at the roots of the Giant Fey Tree just outside of the cathedral.

"You know he told me a hundred times it would never work with us, but you know, all these years, I guess I still hoped it would be me. You just never forget those things you dream of as a child. I'm happy for him, though, as odd as that sounds. He is a good person, even with all of this. I hope whoever she is, knows how lucky she is." Then Terri turned and walked back into the wagon they all shared.

Tad thought about that for a while, while Nico and Lamruil came over to stand near. Nico sniffed the air a few times, "Buddy, you need a bath, you reek. No your way past reek, your magic monkey level."

Tad smiled then, "Yea, you guys want to get some sun? I know a good place near the bridge to sit. " Tad thought about Jack as he grabbed some food off the cookfire table, and the three made their way out past the Fey Tree into the sun.

As they walked across the bridge, Tad saw one of the large circus tents set up near the ruined city and several dozen people working on buildings and going in and out of the tent.

He paused there, watching. Lamruil said, "They have many sleeping places set up in the tent, and most of the people are working on the buildings. Bernard has them all working to repair each building in order, some people cleaning, some repairing walls with sand mud, and others helping dwarves put up stone beams for the roofs. They even have a block and tackle hoist going in some of them. Bernard drew lots on which buildings would be first, but they have several of them livable now. Not much furniture, though. They are using tarps made from the other tent's cloth as roofs right now. I think the trees outside the valley will be grown soon. They will be able to start harvesting some of them to finish the roofs properly. "

Tad stopped, puzzled, "What? There are trees out there? "

"Oh, you haven't been up there yet. You should see all the changes going on. The goddess has really affected the lands around here. There are fields of grass and trees growing up all around the outside of the valley. In a few weeks, you might even have some new growth forests where there was once only sand and dunes," said Lamruil.

Tad definitely wanted to see that. Much had changed in just a few days, there was so much magic trapped in this valley, and the goddess was using it to regrow the land. "Let me wash this smell off first. My eyes are starting to sting. "

"What is that smell anyway, " asked Nico, who was busy standing upwind from Tad.

"umm…. charred vampire, " said Tad as he shook his hands through his hair, dislodging the dust. Nico looked at Lamruil, rolled his eyes, then shrugged. Nico flipped him another gold coin which Lamruil caught out of the air.

***