The mages were inside the hall. Inside her home. And [i]Ruli…[/i] Rage boiled inside her. “[i[Cut them down[/i],” she hissed, raising her scarred hand. With a flash, her portals transported half of the hostages out. The Ring burned out in her finger, but she ignored the pain as she rushed forward, towards Ruli. As soon as she stepped into the rune circle, she felt the ground tremble. Around them, both the captives and the mages started shrieking as Ysaryn fought the guards. [i]The hostages.[/i]. She cut down the nearest mages and stood guard over Ruli, summoning another portal to transport the remaining captives away. She hissed aloud in pain from transporting so many, her scarred hand aching. She could hear the sounds of shouting and battle from the hall they had just left; the Wyvern army was close by, and any minute now they would burst into the hall. But the runes… Kire bent over Ruli, touching his brow, forgetting everything else for a moment. “I’m here, I’m sorry, please hold on.” Gods, his skin felt hot, and pain twisted his features. “I’m sending you to Elva’s. [i]Don’t you die on me.[/i]” She straightened up again, summoning a portal for Ruli. In a flash, he was gone, and Kire prayed Elva knew what to do with the poison in his blood. The runes, feeling the portal in the middle of the circle, pulsed in response. For some reason, Kire sensed she shouldn’t step out of the circle. The last of the mages knelt in front of Ysaryn’s blades. “[i]Mercy![/i]” he cried. “He’s asking for your mercy,” Kire said to Ysaryn, her voice cold. The door opened, and Ed, Narda, and Gavin were the first inside, followed by the [i[Wenches[/i] and, behind them, the Wyvern soldiers. “Everyone, don’t step into the circle!” “Where the fuck is Gael?” Narda growled. “Our soldiers are already scouring the grounds. The Capital is ours,” Ed said. “What do we do with this? How do we stop it?” “Kire! Don’t move!” Gavin yelled, his eyes focused on the runes on the ground as he pointedly ignored the dead mages and guards around them. He shuddered. This. This was what Ikegai had wanted him to do. What they had been trying to do. It was more advanced than the one Ikegai had tried teaching him, but he knew what to do. Everyone could feel the tremors. The wards he and Ruli had set were fighting with deep Amrian magic tied to the bones of the land. “W-we need to stabilize this. The magic, it’s tied to you, that’s probably why it got activated somehow.” “[i]You![/i]” Kire barked at the mage. “[i]Tell us how to stop it.[/i]” “[i]We can’t. If we try, the Tower will take us as sacrifice. If we let it continue like this, it will destroy this hill. He’s right. You need to see it through.[/i]” “Fuck.” Kire looked at Gavin. “Can you do it?” Gavin unsheathed the knife she had given him. “When I tell you to, open a portal in front of you.” “Nard, Ed, tell everyone to move out of the Palace,” Kire ordered. “Ysaryn, [i]claim your blood payment.[i]” Kire gathered her strength as she watched Gavin circle the hall, anointing the ground with his own blood, scratching at runes here and there, etching new ones into the floor, until he had made a full circle around the one already laid down by the Gemini. “The mages should have gems on them,” Gavin said, looking down at the ones Ysaryn had killed. He steeled himself, and began searching. “When you find one, you lay it down along the edges, where I had marked them. Hurry!” Everyone else left in the hall with them inspected the dead, finding a carnelian hidden in their clothes. They found the marks Gavin had indicated and laid a stone on each. “Kire, now!” The Paladin nodded, and a portal opened in front of her. She let out a cry, a surge of power coursing from her Ring throughout her body. The rune circle lit up, and Kire could see an illusion—a glimpse, more like, of some other place: a familiar hill, with brightly colored homes. [i]Uvano[/i]. The smell of the sea filled the Great Hall. “How much longer, Gavin?” Kire yelled, feeling the strain of keeping the portal open. “Almost!” His right hand was stained with his blood, and he pressed it against the floor. The Great Hall exploded with white light, blinding everyone, and then everything faded. The runes stopped glowing, and the portal had closed, with Kire slumped on the floor, blue smoke similar to the aftermath of her destruction of the gate rising from the center of the rune circle. After a moment, she coughed, rising to her feet. The ground had stopped trembling. “Where’s the gate? Is it over?” Narda asked. Kire nodded. “It’s over. And—I think I know where the gate is. But, could you give me a moment?” She walked over to Gavin, who looked pale but triumphant. “Are you alright?” Gavin was shaking as she placed her hand on his shoulder. “Can’t believe we did it, honestly,” he confessed. He wanted to both lie down for a whole week and run around the hills in elation. The blood magic part he didn’t have much taste for, but seeing that he could help, that he had a hand in winning a war against blood mages—he liked that. “You should get that hand looked at. You’ve given a lot of blood today. And—could you help Elva look after Ruli? Would you know how to treat poison?” Gavin squared his shoulders. The work wasn’t over, though he didn’t expect it to, anyway. “Yeah. I can do that.” “I’ll go see you both in the evening.” Kire summoned another portal, glad it was only one person she needed to transport this time. She had spent the Ring’s energy for today. She turned to the others, ignoring her body’s plea for rest. “The gate is at the Tower.” -- Her soldiers and the [i]Wenches[/i] had secured the rest of the Palace grounds by the time she found Gael in front of the Red Tower. Kire gaped at what she saw: the stones glowed red, but the windows around the Seer’s Chamber shone blue. Around them were statues of crystal—no. Not statues. Mages, twisted in agony, standing on remnants of rune circles. From the look of things, none of them had been successful in getting to open the Red Tower. Her soldiers were pointing blades at Gael, though not too close, afraid that he would contaminate them with blood magic. “You’ve opened the gate,” he said, his expression blank. “And now you’ll finally get to annihilate us like you wanted.” Kire glared at him, but didn’t speak to him. There would be time enough for that when his execution day comes. “Take him prisoner.” “Ysaryn,” she called to her friend. “Much of the work left right now is to make sure the Capital is safe, and to tie up loose ends. I don’t know if you’d want to stay for that, but Ruli and Gavin are both at Elva’s. You can stay here, with the [i]Wench[/i] crew, or you could join them.” -- Elva hadn’t been able to sleep at all since the start of the campaign. Jan had sent word that the army had started the march. That was a day ago. Two days? Gods, she was tense. But just as she thought she had gotten a handle on her nerves, her attendants called for her, telling them that Ruli was in the Great Hall, and in pain. “Gods above.” It took as many hands as were available to get him to the infirmary, he had been struggling so bad, almost as badly as Kire when Ruli brought her back from the battlefield. “Test his blood for poisons,” she ordered. “Ruli! Ruli, can you hear me? It’s Elva!” By the time Gavin had reappeared later, Ruli had just managed to go limp. “By the gods, what happened?” Elva said, as soon as he entered the infirmary. She spotted his bleeding hand. “And what happened to [i]you[/i]?” “Nevermind that, Ruli was poisoned by the Gemini,” Gavin said, still running on adrenaline, even as another healer started attending to him. “We figured as much. I have an idea what kind it is; Kire had suffered through a similar one, but this one’s stronger.”