“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”

― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

As they were escorted back down the stairs, they saw further along a corridor several of the mages that had accompanied the soldiers. They seemed to be unloading their baggage and chatting while some eyed them curiously. Mireille recognized a few of them, and a girl from ‘Sword One’ gestured in her direction, but then they were past.

“We have to hurry.” The young soldier, Gregor, the commander had called him, urged. He was probably in his twenties but looked a bit younger as he had taken the time to shave- unevenly- and the armor was meant for someone bulkier, so it looked a bit as if he had mistakenly put on the mail of his older brother.

“Mh,” Mireille grunted noncommittally, signaling Iseret with her eyes, but the latter seemed preoccupied with her own thinking.

Down the wooden staircase, they went. Small windows let in the pale winter sun. Neglect and disuse had put dust and dirt on the once-polished wooden steps.

Back again in the common room, they marched straight for the exit. Just as they reached and unlatched it, the door was pushed open, and they heard the tail end of an argument from the sentry outside. “...not supposed to simply barge in! Hey! I was talking to you!”

White, a whole lot of white, was the first impression Mireille had as the big man shouldered into the room, bowing his head a bit to avoid banging it on the door frame. Stumbling back, she saw the symbol of the candle on his tabard, white, and the plate mail- painted white- as well as his cloak- Still white. A heavy Warhammer hung at his hip with a stylized flame engraved in the blunt hammerhead. Small flames billowed around the engraving marking it as more than an ornament. The face was emotionless beneath the open-faced helmet and clean-shaven. Nevertheless, she would guess him to be at least in his thirties.

“Out of the way.” The voice was deep and rumbling. Standing beside the door, he vigilantly eyed the room before waving with his hand to someone outside. “Please come inside, your holiness.”

Iseret pulled Mireille to the side, and one hand lightly stroked her khopesh, which caused the white-clad warrior to narrow his eyes.

Gregor stood between them with a helpless look on his face. “What...who?”

A slim figure entered, attired in a white robe bordered with gold stitching, the candle of Ielenia on her breast. A veil hid her face safe for her eyes but hinted at finely carved features. The hair was blonde laced with strands of white. Eyes of a pale grey gazed at them with indifference. A faint scent of incense accompanied her entrance. Sparks of light shone from her eyes that were not simply reflections from the windows and mage-lights.

The warrior took a step forward and forced Gregor back with his sheer bulk. “Make way for the priestess.”

“But!” Gregor’s somewhat weak protests did not deter the duo from walking further into the room and then toward the stairs. The woman nodded shallowly in greeting, and one hand formed the symbol of blessing. The index and middle fingers raised the thumb spread to symbolize the flame.

Iseret whispered softly to Mireille, startling her from her reverie. “We have to go. We don’t have much time, I fear.”

“Ah- Yes, let’s.” Mireille shrugged and turned to go. Gregor hastened to keep up.

“Hey! Don’t run off!”

The cold, clean air was comfortable after the stuffy interior and the intimidating temple warrior. Mireille rotated her arms and stretched, stepping a bit closer to Iseret. “Do we really let them arrest Alyssa? If something goes wrong…”

“No. At least, I don’t think so. It would be best if we could all work together, and there are enemies enough for all of us and more besides, but if I know one thing. Religious reasons need no logic.”

“Should you say that as a religious person?” Mireille quipped.

“What are you talking about?” Gregor interjected as he finally caught up to them.

“I did not have lunch yet and was thinking about going to fetch some food.” Mireille lied blithely and grinned.

The soldier blushed as he saw the girl smiling mischievously and scratched a left-over patch of beard.

Mireille raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers, making small bolts of lightning flicker over her hand. “Come on. We have to hurry.”

Together they walked through the still mostly empty town. With a spit-take, the young soldier jumped back and drew his short sword. “What the hell!” Pointing the weapon- tip wobbling a bit from nerves- at the corpse of a dog that had raised its eyeless head at them, making as if to sniff. Greenish flames lit the empty eyesockets, and the flesh and fur not eaten by the rats were frozen and greenish looking.

Iseret surveyed their surroundings and then nodded to herself. “It’s here.” She pointed at a small, relatively well-kept house, probably once housing a few families of workers. “Go on in.”

The soldier seemed still frightened. “And this abomination?”

“Will be there when we come back out. Did you not see the undead on your way here.”

“I was with the baggage train.” He said sheepishly.

“Then you will get some practice.” Mireille grinned, but a bit of confusion lingered in her eyes as she mouthed a question at Iseret behind Gregor’s back.

Stepping sideways without losing sight of the undead hound, Gregor began to turn as Iseret gave him a sudden chop to the side of the neck. Stumbling and with a betrayed look, the soldier tried to say something before falling to the ground. The sword tumbled into a snowdrift.

After stripping the glove from her left hand with her teeth, Iseret deeply scratched her wrist and murmured a prayer. The black blood welling up burned for a moment in dark flames and then turned into a viscous colorless fluid which she dripped into his still-open mouth.

“What are you doing?”

Not stopping or slowing down, she answered. “We have to finish Alyssa’s enchantment. They will look for us at the inn and with Gregor...occupied. No, he is not dead.” She turned her head slightly to give Mireille an exasperated look. “We will have a bit of a headstart.”

“To where?” Mireille was frustrated being led around by the nose.

“I think we should use the Astral plane.”

“Ah, one of the things that is flat but not.” Mireille nodded sagely. “And how will that help us?”

“Now, you will help me get him into the house. We don’t want him freezing, do we?”

“Aye, aye.”

Together they pulled him into the entrance and then into the building, leaving him under some old blankets found in one of the deserted rooms.

“And now?” Mireille asked.

“We hurry.”

“Why did they only send Gregor with us?” Crunching through the snow, the redhead walked quickly after Iseret, who strode down the road with long strides keeping to the shadowed parts but otherwise not very concerned with stealth.

“Because they did not want to make a big commotion. Sending a dozen soldiers would mean that the temple would realize something is wrong. Sending one soldier is not conspicuous.”

“So they wanted to help us?”

“Seems that way, but it would still not be in our best interests to let Alyssa be incarcerated. What would they even do to keep her from casting magic? No. Even with good intentions, the way they were doing it would have made everything much harder.”

Alyssa gazed at the simple diadem made of a dark metal inscribed with runes. “Could you have made it a bit more…delicate?”

“More of the magical metal means we have more room for errors in the runic array. The sturdy construction is also a plus. If someone hits it in the heat of battle, for example, it will not simply break.” Vanessa frowned. “I have been up in the daylight to help Alea complete the enchantment. The least you could do is not get in the way.”

Alea looked a bit uncomfortable at that and then swallowed what she was about to say.

“I will leave you to it then.” Alyssa turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door gently with an exertion of willpower she did not realize she had.

‘I know I am a burden at the moment, but I saved her too.’ Grumbling internally, she walked down the now more familiar corridors and went up the stairs to the platform overlooking the town.

‘Vampires suffer from the sun more than most undead.’ Asandria said conversationally.

“I know.”

‘How are you holding up.’

Alyssa raised her face toward the floating specter, and her eyes widened a bit in at least partly overdone surprise. “Oh! So you care for me after all.”

‘Don’t do that. I was asking seriously.’

“Not good.” Alyssa bit out the answer. “I wish Mireille was here. Vanessa is a good friend, and Alea is fantastic, but both are not who I would want to talk to about feelings.”

Asandria seemed a bit taken aback. ‘And you think me a better prospect for such a talk?’

“No. But with how you are always present, I can no longer muster any sense of shame or outrage when you know about my faults.”

‘Mh. True enough. And? Why are you feeling bad?’

“You have to ask?” Alyssa clambered up the set of stairs to the attic and exited through the window. She then settled down on the platform, her back to the gently sloping roof, still within the shadow cast by a large cluster of chimneys. Her eyes roamed over the town and then toward the distant mountains. As a gust of wind moaned across the roof, she pulled her coat closer, more out of habit than need.

‘Without asking, I can not know for sure.’ Asandria sounded a bit defensive.

Cyrus forced himself through the same open window and hopped onto Alyssa’s lap, covering her legs completely.

“Hey! You are too heavy for this!” Arranging his wings and tail more comfortably, he stubbed her cheek with his forehead. Laughing, she pushed him back a bit, looking at his green-yellow eyes. “You have nearly the same eye color as Iseret.” Petting the wyvern, she leaned back against the low railing. “I’m still holding on.” She murmured. “But it’s like hanging from a rope, and it’s getting harder to keep on holding. It would be so much easier to simply let go.”

‘And then?’

“I could scream, shout and try to cry.” She forced a grin. “Maybe I would never stop.”

‘Would that make you feel better?’ Asandria seemed honestly curious.

“I’m so tired of keeping myself together.” Propping her chin on the back of Cyrus's neck, she stared at the mountains.

‘The enchantment should help.’

“With staying sane?”

‘Yes. It will change the mana your spirit and mind will use, and that will change your emotions.’

“So, which is my ‘natural’ state? The depressed, nearly insane Alyssa, or the one we will have then?”

‘I find emotions to be distracting and mostly useless. They are fine for giving direction and fomenting ambition. But most often, they simply cloud the mind.’

“You were a dancer and an artist? And you find emotions so useless?”

‘Not useless. I used emotions all the time, but I will not be used by them. I would recommend this to you too.’

“You know. That does not help at all.”

‘I may not be the best at talking about emotional matters.’

“But if you want to manipulate someone, you should know something about them?”

‘Do you want to be manipulated? I can accommodate you if that is the case.’ Empty, dark gaps in the beautiful but ethereal face turned to regard Alyssa.

“I think I will trust in what Alea and Vanessa can come up with.”

‘That might be for the best.’

“Wait! Is that Mireille and Iseret?” Standing up to get a better look, she saw her friends hurry down a side road toward the back entrance of the mansion. “It seems there has been some trouble.” Narrowing her eyes, she took in the furtive way in which Mireille kept to the side of the street and the cautious look she sporadically gave her surroundings. “Come, we have to inform Vanessa.”

‘As if I had a choice in the matter.’ Asandria laughed a tinkling silver laugh that seemed to reverberate through the air, and the snow twinkled with the light of a thousand stars.

Alyssa forgot to breathe, and then the moment was gone, and she realized she would not have had to breathe either way. “What was that?”

‘What?’

“Ah, forget it.” Hurrying back into the attic, she clambered down the stairs and ripped open the door to the laboratory.

“Don’t simply barge in. You could have interrupted something important.” Vanessa gazed at her reproachfully. At that moment, the small vampire seemed to be bigger than her, even if that were physically impossible, but somehow she managed.

The metal band floated above the runic circle Vanessa had spent the night forming, and Alea was gathering energy before infusing it in some of the runes. Streamers of brilliant light lit the room in a kaleidoscope of colors.

“Mireille and Iseret are coming back; I think the news is not good! They were running and trying to be stealthy.”

“Mh. Nothing I did not expect.” Vanessa rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I lost any trust in the temples when they captured me under the banner of truce.”

“Why did they do something like that? The flag of truce is sacred.” Alyssa was taken aback. “That’s so...villainous.” She groped for an appropriate word.

Vanessa laughed at that, her expression lightening a bit. “I think they thought of me not as a person to be treated with respect but as a monster that wanted to deceive them anyway. My perception was still that of an elf and not a vampire. I have since then rectified my mistake.” She looked tired as she said that.

“The only vampire I have talked to that did not want to kill or eat me is you, so I might be biased. But I find you a perfectly normal person. Or at least as normal as it gets around here.” Alyssa looked at the blindfolded Alea with Cecily on her shoulder and shrugged at her point being made for her.

“I don’t think dwelling on it will make it better, so you are right. But that means we have to be ready to flee at a moment's notice, or at least as soon as the enchantment settles.”

…

Vanessa cast some spells of her own. Her fingers contorted to form the necessary glyphs while she bit her lips in concentration. Alea was off in a trance brought by the dreamspell and freely conversed with her grandfather.

Steps from the stairs below came closer, and then the door was wrenched open, and a breathless Mireille caught herself on the doorframe before drawing a deep breath. “We have to leave! They want to arrest you, Alyssa!”

“I thought as much.” Alyssa slumped a bit. “Who is ‘they’?”

“All of them!”

Iseret entered behind the girl and gently pushed her aside. “The temple is probably still thinking the Nordmarks raised the undead. And it’s not completely wrong, so that is that. But the army commander and the academy want to apprehend you, ostensibly for your own protection against the temple troops but mostly as a measure of control. I think they are worried out of their minds.” She smirked. “After your display here, they might have some concerns over what you will do next.”

Alyssa turned her wrist, and the jewel glimmered, embedded in her flesh. It had grown into, and with her, the deep purple color, nearly black, was somewhat reminiscent of her own amethyst eyes, at least before her death. She should really take the time to remove the illusion and have a good look at what she had done to herself. Lost in her inner musings, she gave a start as Mireille put her face directly before her own, waving at her.

“Hey! No sleeping!”

“As if I could.” Shrugging uncomfortably at her lapse in attention, she cleared her throat. “So we have to flee?”

“Yes. And I think it best we take a shortcut through the astral plane.”

Vanessa tensed a bit as she heard that but continued her spellcasting.

“What’s with her?” Mireille followed Iseret’s gaze to Vanessa and realized her taut posture.

“We had some troubles when last we used this plane to escape the royal knights.”

“The knights!? With Gryffins and all?”

“Yes. With Gryffins. But they did not get us.” She smiled and brushed along her lips in remembrance.

“Does not seem to be a bad memory?”

“Where is Mireille, and what did you do with our airheaded friend?” Alyssa joked. “Since when did you become so perceptive?”

Time passed. Vanessa and Alea worked tirelessly while the rest of the group made themselves comfortable- after packing their belongings, stacking them beside the door.

The sun slowly sank toward the horizon as a white light flared somewhere toward the mountains in the east, still inside the town.

“Mireille, could you take a look? You have the best eyes, and you are near the window.”

“Mh.” Mireille pulled back the curtains, careful not to spill the sunlight on Vanessa. “Don’t see anything.”

Some time passed, and another flare, this time closer, rose from a square to the north.

“Whatever it is, it is coming closer. Don’t know if it has got something to do with us, but I have a bad feeling about this.” Mireille commented from her position at the window. “I could go to the platform. There, I would have a better point of view?”

“Don’t. Iseret shook her head. They will come when they come; going there will only make you more visible. There is nothing you can do to slow them down other than perhaps fighting them, which I do not...” She paused for effect, “...recommend.”

“Was only an offer.” Mireille scowled.

“And you were curious.” Alyssa raised her arms to hug her friend and saw the deep wound in her thumb, exposing sinews that moved with her gestures. Coming to a halt, she stared at the cut and began to shiver.

“Hey, what’s up? Oh! What did you do now!” Mireille grabbed her hand, but Alyssa pulled back violently, hugging the arm and hand close to her chest.

Iseret frowned and then made a calming gesture toward Mireille, motioning her toward Alyssa.

“Hey,” Mireille said quietly. The chanting of spells and the discharge of energy mere background noise. Sitting down beside her friend, she stretched her neck to better see what had Alyssa in such a panic. “You know, there are always more solutions than problems. At least, that is what my grandmother used to say. And Nirileth would support her, I think.”

Alyssa raised her head and looked at Mireille without speaking, and Mireille knew without a doubt that her friend was crying, but there were no tears.

With a very gentle movement, not at all like her usual, a bit boisterous self Mireille took the injured hand and slowly petted it. “Why is it that when I finally get my head wrapped around it, you begin to panic? When I first knew that you were not...alive. I was panicked and sad and did not want to accept it. But then you were so cool and collected, and everyone was- no, that’s not a big deal, and she would have gone over anyway. And now I have finally realized that you are...still you, but you are beginning to lose it. I’m your friend, and I know you are still Alyssa, and you are not some flesh fiend with her memories. Even Charys agrees!” The last was spoken in a somewhat irreverent tone causing Alyssa to smile a bit in amusement.

“I don’t really know what my problem is,” Alyssa said in a small voice, her white hair cloaking her features. “I got over the whole dying thing. At least, I think so. I’m even a bit proud that I did it for all of you. But now that I can no longer heal, my body is falling to pieces. That makes me panic. Perhaps it is all of it- The temple troops, Ielenia. They remind me of Christina and how she took us prisoner. The days spend bound on horseback.” She shuddered. “Thank you.” Getting a hold of herself, she hugged Mireille before straightening her clothes and sitting a bit straighter. “I think I will hold on for a while longer.”

Iseret nodded at them and then walked to the window before raising the curtain a bit and looking outside. One hand shot up in a warning gesture as she stilled her movements. “They are here.”

A heavy impact shook the door some two stories below, and some dust rained from the ceiling.

A deep voice shouted. “Open up in the name of the goddess. The building is surrounded. Surrender yourself to the judgment of the White without Stain.”