As the Night Deepens

"Neither have I," Irena admitted with a devilish grin. "But it should be fun. And it's not just any mind we're invading..."

"Very safe?" Irena smirked. "No, I suppose not. But that's why I dragged you out here in the dead hours of the night, to be as safe as possible. Just being a Vjorican right now isn't very safe, is it? I think we'll be just fine if you do as I say and follow my lead. Most of this stuff will seem like common witchery, anyway."

"Well, first, looky what I got," Irena giggled, reaching into her bundle of clothing outside the circle. She retrieved a tiny locket of pitch black hair.

"Hair from the very head of Castellan, indeed!" Irena beamed. "Don't even ask how I came by this, because it's too long of a story..."

"That's odd," Irena noted. "Woods have been quiet for a few weeks now, that's the first owl I've heard in some time."

Irena reached back into the bundle and withdrew a bag full of mysterious spell reagents and who knows what else. "Maybe. Okay, let's do this..."

Azure had fallen into the Realm of Chaos, but Dreamwalker still stalked her prey through the darkened hills, her sleek, black-clad figure moving through the moonlit night like a passing shadow. Moonbeams danced off the silky, silver strands of hair that flowed behind her as she effortlessly sprang up the side of a rock face, the light reflected in all sorts of colorful ways. Her eyes were like two pools of liquid shadow, giving no hint of her thoughts or emotions as she scanned the horizon. She had sensed the very moment when death had overtaken Azure, and it had pained her - if only briefly. Azure had been weak in a crucial moment in a conflict with her meddlesome brother, this she knew, and death was a deservant fate for those who failed their master. Still, she had been brave, and deserved to be remembered with honor.

She was close now, she could smell their reaking bodies, their human stench mingled with their horses' equally pungent odors. She would back off a little for the present, she decided, until they were just outside the bounds of Goldstadt, the time when they would be most relaxed and vulnerable. Then she would come like a thief in the night, killing them before they knew what had hit, as was her and her kindred's style... Then... she would suck them bone-dry, and drunk off their sweet, warm blood, she would dance under the fading light of the full moon! What joy the deepening night's shadows brought!

1. Meanwhile, Fred and his companions continue their trek to Goldstadt, becoming more carefree the closer they get...
2. Within the bounds of Goldstadt....

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