Edwin was quite suprised by this act and smiled when he was down.

"Tell me what I need to know,"

Edwin shaked his head.

"Depends on what do you want to know, but how should I begin.... You are in Palanthas in my family`s new and first house, which is located on a wealthy neighbour hood, I found you trying to stab me then you fell and I brought you here to recover.... and we have met before Ghyreian Nightsong... My name is Edwin and I`m pleased to meet you"

Edwin took his hood off and looked into Ghyreian`s eyes with a big smile on his face.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian nearly fell over in her astonishment. There was no denying it. He had seemed familiar. She would have laughed had not she been fumbling for her usually glib tongue to return to her.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, battling over whether to hug him or punch her friend in the face.

She decided the latter was a more dignified act.

A moment later she drew away her balled fist, grinning. Her attack had not done much harm, weak as she was at the moment, but the look of surprise on Edwin's face as her fist collided into his nose was almost worth it.

_________________

Edwin held his nose quite suprised of Ghyreians act, but she was a black robe so what could he expect and smiled widely.

"What am I doing here? Seein my parents in many years and perhaps laying low here after years of travelling, not to forget a particular travel with a black robe."

Edwin got Ghyreian up with his right hand and got her sitting on the bed, and then returned to his chair placing his left hand or what was left of it on his knee`s and began burning his pipe with his right hand.

"Well...is there anything you need right now?"

Edwin sat there looking out to the sun, but began speaking before Ghyreian could answer.

"Let me guess....Draconians attacked you?...They are getting closer to Palanthas...no place is safe soon and the dragonlords power grows every day..."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian propped herself up on the pillow and tossed Edwin her makeshift dagger. "I don't suppose I'll be needing this. Unless you plan to be hiding your identity anytime in the future?" She raised an eyebrow to show she was merely jesting.

She looked around with mild curiousity. "I suppose this house belongs to your parents? And I'm guessing that they aren't too pleased that you let me in here."

She edged nearer to her table and spooned up some broth, reveling in its warmth and substance. She ate daintily at first, but then her appetite overruled everything else and the broth was gone in seconds. She moved on to the plate.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked as she ate.

_________________

Edwin suddenly fell quiet and looked at Ghyreian with cold eyes like his eyes had no life in them, but still had seriousness and warning. He didn`t like to talk about the issue, but ecsepecially it would be most painful to talk about it to Ghyreian. She would undoutably mock him and that wouldn`t be a suprise.

Edwin suddenly brakes the silence "It was a punisment..."

Edwin looked at her still and put the pipe away.

"You can`t run....from the prize like I tried...finally it cathces you and you willingly suffer that punishment and you know why? Quilt, even you would have felt it..."

Edwin fell silent.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

**Fox can go ahead and join us right now if you like. and do you want to change it so that they're in Tarsis instead of Palanthas so they can catch some excitement?

Ghyreian raised a dubioius eyebrow, but catching the hard glint in Edwin's eye said nothing. She merely finished her meal, sat back dispassionately.

"You haven't changed. If fortune did not favor you, you would be dead by my unknowing hand. I would mourned your death most ruefully." A slight mocking tone in her voice contrasted oddly with her words.

She added with a pause, "I don't intend to linger long. Without any doubt your parents find that being my hosts is a most pleasant experience. I'd venture to guess that not a night has passed which they do not fear finding my dagger in their backs.

"I have already rented myself a comfortable dwelling here so you need not concern yourself over the issue. You also have my thanks for your hospitality."

_________________

*Fine by me that they are in Tarsis*

Edwn nodded.

"Sure... and it`s good to see you after sometime and if you need my help you will find me here..."

Edwin opened the door.

"Are you sure you don`t need help until you have fully recovered? This city isn`t always exactly the friendliest one...but knowing you I will have to stay here until trouble starts...."

Edwin brought Ghyreians equipment and left them on a chair next to her.

"If you now excuse me I have few matters attend to..."

Edwin left the room and passed few rooms arriving to a store full of all sorts of food and suuplies, few mages were around looking for their own supplies because Edwin`s father had always sold them. Edwin looked after that part now as his father had other business.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

She bound her wounds tighter and rummaged in her pouches for one of her scrolls. Unrolling it, she read a few words that would make herself heal faster. Red flames outlined the words as the scroll swiftly burned to ash.

Convinced that she should be well enough to travel by the next morning, she snuggled in deeper under the coverlet and closed her eyes.

It seemed as if something woke her only a few hours later. She sat up groggily, puzzled, and listened. When only eerie silence answered her, she frowned, thinking her imagination was overreacting.

It was still dark outside. Solinari's light shone through her bedside window. What could possibly be out stirring at this time of night? Yet her predator's instinct's were all alert and alive. Something was wrong.

And then she thought she heard it again. A faint whoosh as if of wings, a distant rumbling.

Climbing out of bed, she drew aside the curtains. She stared in horror at what she saw. Her elvensight detected huge shadows swooping over the city. Winged... enormous...

Dragons. There was no other explanation. As she had been around dragons before, she could fight the dragonfear that rapidly spread through her paralyzed body quite well. But even so she stood staring outside with rapt and terrible fascination, unable to move or breath.

That was when there was a distant boom as of a might siege engine and the first of the dragonfire swept across Tarsis.

Her trance was broken. Whipping around, Ghyreian wrenched open the door, limped outside towards Edwin's bedchambers to warn him.

_________________

Edwin was already up and had springed the door open as Ghyreian was coming towards it, on Edwin`s face anyone could clearly see exhaustion, disappoinment, but most of all sorrow. Behind his was a flaming room and there had been no one exiting the building lately so hos parents were killed by the flames or would be killed soon enough. Edwin didn`t look back and walked past Ghyreian to the back door, which was for emergency.

"This way..." Edwin whispered

Edwin opened a door actually well hidden in the floor, which would lead to an alley few houses away from there.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian limped behind Edwin into the trapdoor, which began in a long winding tunnel. Outside the screams of the civilians well confirmed her suspicions that the draconians had entered the city.

Ghyreian was forced to stop often along the tunnel, lean against the wall, and catch her breath while Edwin waited for her impatiently.

They were almost to the other end of the tunnel when she stopped for the fifth time, slumping against the wall and clutching her side.

"Go ahead," she gasped. "I can take care of myself."

_________________

Edwin sighed to Ghyreian stubborness and opened the door, which lefy them to a dark alley and Ghyreian followed Edwin after a while. Edwin looked around and nodded.

"We will make it for the gate soon when I say and the draconians have passed because the dragons are too concentrated at the city so we can escape trough it..."

Edwin began sneaking towards the end of the valley, but suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"well well boys come look what we have here..."

at least 5 draconians approached with their sword revealled and Edwin concentrated to a spell.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Out of the corner of her vision Ghyreian glimpsed about a dozen more draconians advancing. She roughly grabbed Edwin's shoulder. "Shut up and let me do the talking," she hissed.

She drew her hood over her head and stepped forward boldly with arms outstretched. "Greetings, brethren. A fine night, isn't it?"

The draconians stopped, hesitated to attack. They eyed her warily. Apparently the friendly greeting made them relax a bit, for the leader stepped forward and growled, "What business have you here, sister?"

"I would ask the same of you," Ghyreian replied with dexterity. "Nobody alerted me of any attack on this city."

"That's because it was top secret," the other retorted with some importance. "Our orders were to find a band of humans, elves, and a dwarf that have been thwarting our Queen's plans."

Ghyreian gave a start at this, though she was determined not to reveal any emotion. "And who ordered you to do so?"

"You don't know?" the draconian scowled. "Highlord Kitiara, of course. And now reveal your business, before I tell my boys to attack."

Ghyreian smiled pleasantly, though it was lost in the shadows of her hood. "I was escorting this Red Robe here to the Highlord. I too, have descriptions of the band of heroes. One of them, I believe, is a Red Robe."

"Hand him here, then."

"I apologize," she returned smoothly. "I must escort him directly to the Highlord. Those were my orders, were they not?"

The draconians leered and twisted their faces in displeasure.

"Oh look, brothers," Ghyreian pointed out with a casual wave of her hand. "The battle is beginning. And you're missing out."

The draconians shifted their hungy gazes to the street at the other end of the alley, where their comrades were looting and killing at their leisure.

"Come on, boys," the lead draconian snarled. He scowled at Ghyreian. "Make sure you get your prisoner to the Highlord all right. She wants him alive." He turned heel and ran towards the battle, his underlings loping along behind them.

Ghyreian, moderately pleased with herself, turned to Edwin. "Thank me later."

_________________

Edwin nodded and began walking towards the end of the alley and peeked behind the corner, the scaly draconians were robbing, killing and burning on the streets. People ran around in panic so it would be very easy to sneak out, but that band that they talked about really got his intrest. Not them again, not here because it seemed that trouble always followed that group.

"Let´s go.."

Edwin began almost running towards the next houses and from there they could see the gates, they passed few blocks of houses and from the alleys the burning buildings showed very sad. They stopped at the corner of a house, the gate was behind the corner and it would be a 40 feet trip there. They would have to run, if they weren`t to be discovered all tough Edwin didn`t believe that they would be seen at all because all the beasts were busy slaughtering and robbing the poor civilians.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian stumbled towards the gates, leaning on Edwin's arm. The gates they had chosen were one of the small ones, but nonetheless had draconians pouring into them.

That was when a blast of such magnitude hit them that they were both blown backward. That was also when there was a distant sounding shriek, both fierce and raucous. She looked back in amazement to see a small group of griffons alight on what was remained of one of the houses. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest. A gryphon, either Silvanesti or Qualinesti. In Tarsis? She had no time to ponder this phenomenon, for Edwin nudged her and pointed at the gates. They were unguarded.

They made a swift dash.

_________________

They ran and ran as fast as they could finally reaching the gates, Edwin stopped at the gates and looked back at the burning town allowing a small tear to run down on his face. Then he turned and ran with Ghyreian to the night.

After running they reached a small woods on a mountain`s roots, which seemed un used for the time being and Edwin sat down leaning on a tree. He just sat there looking into the sky with blank eyes and blank face. His family was gone, his fortune and property was gone all thanks to the dragonlords. Edwin looked at Ghyreian and sighed taking out his pipe, he took a deep breath of the pipe`s smoke and blew them out slowly trying to calm down.

"Where to now?"

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"How can you sit there smoking your pipe?" Ghyreian demanded, though she herself sagged against the tree exhausted. "When Kitiara finds that I didn't hand her my prisoner after all she'll raise the Abyss on us!"

She knelt down beside Edwin. Her wounds had not yet fully healed, and she winced at the pain. "Listen to me, Edwin. We have to get out of here. To Haven or Solace or the nearest town. There are things I must tell you on the way. About... the dragons."

_________________