//Happens in Porshen, a city on the desert continent of Saribek on the world of Valkspar. //

The ceremonial dagger dripped with blood.

The Sl"kaprii (sull"kapree) could be described as a weapon wrought by Dark Gods to be wielded by their godlings and flesh-born children. It was over seven inches long and the weight of it was solid. Along the top if it, where a ground edge was not meant to be, jutted out metallic thorns along its spine. These barbs were meant to do more damage when the attacker pulled out the weapon from its victim. The blade of the dagger itself was mottled a grayish blue, named after Valkspar's smallest of its three moons: the Isforaə (Isz"fore-ah).

This one had black and brown leather firmly braided at the grip and the symbol of the three moons at the pummel. It did not lie on the table in the Hall of Strife where wars were remembered through artifacts and tomes collected, but in the fist of Aegus Stonecreed.

Aegus of Stonecreed was a name spoken in the Hall of Strife, and had been since he was old enough to saddle a horse. He was a hardened man to look on with scars on his face, a nose that had been broken decades earlier, and a manner about him the disallowed anyone to get close unless it was something he allowed. His dark hair was starting to mix with white and lines at the corners of his eyes had deepened in the last few years. He was a hard man that had seen plenty of hardships. Those of Stonecreed were an honorable but hard line of men and Aegus was no different in keeping The Rift Oaths. But in the Hall of Strife, where blades were laid to rest, except for on the days of tradition and ceremony to remember those who had died, one had been picked up and put to certain and deadly purpose.

Lord of Stonecreed heard the clamor of voices at his sides and behind him. There were arguments breaking out between the Great Stays* of Porshen, belonging to the desert continent of Saribek. He could hear a couple of his younger brothers fiercely defending the act that had left one of the scribes dead. Aegus stared at the man that lay dead on the heavy black stones. The youth was half Aegus" age, at best, with his head shaved cleaned like the rest of scribes. Tattoos were pattered on the boy's face to mark him in his place among the scribes. The dead, young man had only been a scribe for a few years, by the scarcity of those marks.

Aegus reached over to the robe the boy wore and turned over the large, inverted leather pendant to see what name was there: Moen Ril. Blood from the knife's wound crept slowly from the body to eventually start pooling around the base of a stone and tiled stanchion. The warhawk's eyes followed it away from the horrific hole he had left in the man's belly. Then he stood straight again and stepped over the path of blood to reach down to pick up a small object.

"What is it you've found, Aegus?"

His back was turned to the one asking, but he knew it was his brother, Kaes. Kaes was shorter than Aegus, but only by about an inch. His build was brawny and where Aegus was leaner. And his hair was red by the starkest of contrast. To look upon them, it was not obvious that they were brothers at all.

Aegus" hand was still in its thick glove when he handed the thin tube of metal out to Kaes. The item was in-ornate, approximately six inches, and had a large splinter of wood in it that was ended with a tuft of something to keep it in flight long enough to make its mark. Kaes frowned and narrowed a blue eye at it, then at his brother. "Poison?? They both had the sense about them to know it to be the case without the communication, but one voiced it and the other nodded.

*Stays: Houses

(Cont.)

Bails audibly gasped and put that earlier, animated hand of his to his neck. His eyes widened and tones sounded strangled. "What are you going to do about it?"

Aegus looked back at the dead, young scribe as attendants were starting to cover him with a long, black cloth pulled from one of the many displayed in the hall of mourning. "What would you have me do, Magistrate" You have the ear of the king himself, and the prelate."

The Magistrate seemed beside himself with frustration, fear, and anger. "But you are a Graycloak! Is he not?" Imploring at the other lords and such, then glared at Aegus. "You must do something!"

Aegus stepped over the small stream of drying blood. His long, gray and very heavy cloak fell just short of the floor and did not drag through it. He stopped before Bails and looked to the others, then down at the fat, gaudily dressed man.

"I am not in your service, Magistrate." Intentionally, he left off the man's name, as he pointedly reminded Bails. "I am in the service of the king and the High Lady. You will do good to remember that. As for what I, or any other Graycloak will do, will be up to His Majesty when all presently known facts are brought to him." Aegus smiled, but it was tight and dark. "Do not forget to pass that message to your friend, the Prelate Sars. I would not wish him to be left uninformed." He said, without saying specifically, that it was known Bails ran to Sar with everything like a child tattling on a playmate.

Then Aegus looked downwards, quiet a long moment so that Bails would be compelled to do that same, at the bloody ceremonial dagger. "And I will personally apologize to the king and high-lady for using this to stave an attack on anyone." It troubled Aegus that he had used the sacred blade at all for such a purpose, more than the blood and entrails that had been spilled from it. It was something heavily steeped in tradition for longer than he could remembered. The man had meant to kill and he had to move quickly. Already holding the knife during the ceremony, he had simply made use of it.

Bails cringed and backed off from the horrendous looking blade, cowering off to the side as if he was afraid Aegus might use it on him, or worse get his robes dirty.

The girls in their black silkpanels were looked at. Tears were just starting to dry on the face of one of them and the other's head was so lowly bent that he could not see her face, but he could tell by the bowing of her slender shoulders that she was just as upset as the girl beside her. The two would have been in a corner if it had been allowed. Aegus looked away from them and ultimately ignored the Magistrate and looked to Kaes. "We should go. There are matters to meet on with our Brothers." Brothers was said with a meaning of the Graycloaks.

Kaes nodded and stepped over the blood and passed Bails without a look at him and his attendants, to follow his brother. Behind them, other Graycloaks and those of the Great Stay of Stonecreed followed as one, large group.

Aegus of Stonecreed watched them all for over an hour as talks continued to heated levels throughout the ranks of the Graycloaks. They were not usually emotional men, but ire was stirred that the assassin could have meant his poison for any of them, another revered scribe, any of the lords, or even the king. He heard a gloved fist hit the table again and Aegus turned to look at the pennants hung at one side of the enormous fireplace.

"But you heard Gamen of Meir! They searched the scribe's quarters and found maps, more of the darts, and enough poison for him to kill everyone in this room!" The Graycloak was Tien and he been among his Brother in service of the king for over a decade. He shoved his seat back and got up to walk the hall, brooding.

The faces of the others in the room were no so dissimilar.

"Tien of Vista," The aged leader, the High Constable Pyke of Iriad, of the Grays did not speak loud but it quieted everyone there. His was a thin man and was old enough that all of his hair had gone complete white.

Long faced and weather worn, he turned to look at the King to see if it was overstepping, then continued when it was apparent he wasn't. "We must keep our eyes unveiled and our swords sheathed." It was a Graycloak's way of saying things must be though through clearly and a great length.

Tien frowned and relented but took a seat a table away. His face broiled and he was trying hard to cool his blood.

"There were other things found," The High Constable continued. "Several items found in the scribe's chamber are from places beyond our borders. Any of our borders." Again the entire Hall was quiet and attention was on Pyke. "Three Garrisons will be leaving us to track down where the items came from while the others will disperse her and to the continents to root out anyone that knows the symbols found on the dagger, maps, strong box and other he had in his possession."

Talk of leaving Valkspar entirely set everyone's teeth on edge and talk rose immediately after. The High Constable motioned for them to quiet again. When they had, he continued by repeating. "Only three, I said. The rest of you are needed here."

(Cont.)

Aegus shook his head and leaned forward in the same manner as his mentor. "I don't understand. Do you think this is a ruse or a distraction?"

Pyke nodded a couple of times, and then continued. "Yes, I do. There is evidence of more than one group involved. Perhaps some of the Great Stays have coin in this, too. I know too little yet to be certain."

"What has been found?" Aegus" scarred face hardened and his jaw tightened at the hinge. He hated the thought of anyone from the great houses being dishonorable and corrupt.

"I cannot even tell you, my old friend." Pyke was regretful of whatever it was weighing on his mind and the need to tell no more than he had to. "You also did not give me assignment."

The High Constable nodded. "That is because you are not going where the others are traveling. I am sending you into lands that might thing the others have gone mad. The scholars tell me in whispers that it is a place where there are real dragons, Elves, and people with purple eyes." When he saw Aegus" look of scolding disbelief, he sighed and carried on. "Yes, yes. Dragons, Elves and purple eyes." Pyke pulled a slender book that was bound in leather and edged in catgut. "This is from Taviaen. It has maps of places to seek out more of the information you will need."

Aegus reached out and took the book, then started to thumb through it.

A couple of the map folded out in tri-formed sections. "How long?"

"I do not have that answer either, Aegus. What you find, I need communicated back to me. I will send my own page to travel the distance once every fortnight. Before you leave, I will give you more details on what to look for while you are there."

The warhawk stood made his way around the table. "Then I will go. What is the name of the place that I go to?" The book that he had barely glanced at was tucked away into an inner pocket of his cloak.

Pyke stood and headed with Aegus towards the doors. "RhyDin."

The Ingress was what those on the continent of Saribek called the gateway that lead from their world to others. Some found it purely exciting to be able to step through the enormous, stone archway and be transported almost instantaneously elsewhere. But those who were intrigued or excited about it were rarely ones that had ever, actually made the journey. The people that had and returned from it usually mentioned the portal as if it were the worst kind of cure. It might cure what was needed, but it wasn't anything good.

Noldric looked as if he were going to pass out as he sat on the back of his horse. His pallor was like ash and he kept swallowing against nothing. The younger man, who was several inches shorter than Aegus but no less hearty, shifted a nervous look from The Ingress, to Aegus, then back again. Even the horses and two pack mules tied to them could not remain standing still and acted like they would bolt at any moment.

Magic within the ancient archway of stone crackles and sizzled. The men felt the hair on their arms rise from it. Their mounts snorted out puffs of breath and their eyes were wild with fear. Aegus" gaze moved over the archway and engravings that no longer held meaning to any of the people on the entire world of Valkspar, except for the handful that could read the dead language of the y"muaii.

The warhawk and his page sat there too long for his liking. If they remained too much longer, neither of them would brave the way that lead into RhyDin. He yanked his boots back and nudged his horse in the ribs with the heels and had him moving. Reluctantly, Noldric followed behind him. Aegus felt the hair on the back of his neck start to rise and his skin come alive with the magic on the air all around them as they started to enter the Ingress. Growling again the nausea that began to twist as his inside, he took the reins and used the ends as a quirt to send his horse to bolt forward and fully leave on realm and enter the next.

Approach of the City

From the vantage of the hill, as the warhawk and squire made their way down from the large archway of stone and all its symbols, the site of the enormous city of RhyDin was something to bring pause. The horses carried them and the pack mules followed but the attention of the two men were on the sprawling expanse of buildings below. Even at night, with only the cast of two half-moons, they could see the structures of stone, wood, and metal.

They took the road that winded lazily and no too steeply beyond the open gated walls that seemed to protect part of the city. Aegus noted that it was incomplete. Maybe there was a reason that only part of the city was fortified. Perhaps he could only see some of it in the shadows from the night. He would investigate that more in the days to come.

Some of the buildings were built shoulder-to shoulder. Opulence stood right next to poverty-stricken structures. Odd lanterns of light " of glass and metalwork " were just as prevalent as torches. The hood of his thick, ornate cloak of weather grey was still over his head to cover the top of it but didn't keep him from seeing what was blatantly there to be seen. Windows here and there were shuttered while others were wide open to the chill of the night.

Hooves of the horses and mule clunked noisily against the cobblestones that were damp with dew left over from the cool evening. Leather protested of the saddle, bags, cloaks, and boots they wore. Other than these, there were no other sounds in their immediate area. Aegus questioned it, mutely while his gaze gave a slow, steady speed from one side of the uneven street before them, not out of paranoia but the necessity of caution in a place utterly unknown to him and the squire.

When they took the next turn, they passed a band of troubadours who traipsed about and sang while smiling. It was a recognized bunch of entertainers that he nodded to the younger man who road nearby. The squire, Noldric, dug into a pouch and tossed a few coins to the grateful group. "M"lord! M"liege!" Someone caroled out and gave simpering smiles. Then they skipped and trotted off at haste to find the next ?victim' of wealth that would pay few precious forms of metal to hear them.

By the time the troupe was running off to their next destination, Aegus saw an old woman a bent and crooked back. Her hair was white and wiry and she was pulling something along on a strange-looking basket that someone had put two small, wooden wheels on the bottom of it.

Things of Dreams and Nightmares

Noldric stood and stared.

The young man's mouth hung open and he openly gawked. He was having trouble deciding where to look first. There was a tall beast that looked like a bull on two legs and Noldric was watching him speak to a much smaller, seemingly human woman. Then there were a couple of dragons, doing very much the same. Dragons. He was certain that's what they were except that they weren't currently flying about or belching fire.

Aegus pushed the thick gray hood of his cloak back and took a look about for himself. His other hand dropped several bags " cloth, fur and leather by the make of them " to a table that wasn't occupied. There was plenty of light in the Red Dragon Inn to see clearly enough. Had he been any younger, any less of a man, he would have gaped and stared as the squire was. He, himself, stared a long time at a woman that looked like no other he had seen before with shock-white hair and flesh but didn't seem to be beyond her fifth-and-twenty year of life. Maybe it was her demeanor or her eyes that unsettled him to look too long, as if he were seeing a ghost in the flesh.

He met a gloved hand to Noldric's shoulder and cast the young man a smile. "We'll both be needing a drink tonight, Noldric." The squire nodded a few times but kept staring until he felt Aegus nudge him with enough force and instance to get him moving towards the bar.

A shake of his head was given while he looked about again. It was not out of fear but he did watch some of the patrons a little longer than the others. Only a few looked and sounded as if they might have been human, but even there wore strange clothing and were talking into small, rectangular devices made of materials he was yet to discover for himself. One of the chairs at the table by the window was pulled out to sit in.

When Noldric returned, he was carrying four mugs by the handles and put the pints on the table in front of all of the travel bags. He had seen his liege's questioning look and muttered. "By my reasoning, we might be needing more than one drink tonight." The Graycloak chuckled and did not delay with picking up his. It was going to be a long night and he was not about to sleep until he had seen a little more of the inn and the steady stream of its dream and nightmare inspired beasts and beings.

They would not know offhand and forthright that any from the windows above might be watching. The two men were untying their packs and rolls from their horses. Aegus pressed coins into the palm of a man to see that the horses were cared for at a nearby livery with fresh hay, feed, and to be thoroughly washed and brushed down for them.

Noldric was not at all happy. The name of the place was enough to set his teeth on edge but what he saw heading into the establishment left him slack-jawed and wide-eyed for what must have been hours. A woman with swarthy flesh, pointed ears, and curves spilling out of the flimsy dress she was wearing almost detracted from the fact that she had pure, white hair and didn't look at all old to him. Several beasts were upright and talking with mythical qualities about them from glasses of drink or food suddenly appearing before them or to see them waving at others as if they were not food but friends.

It took some doing to get Noldric to move beyond the doorway of the inn but Aegus managed it with a nudge of him between the younger man's shoulder blades. The Graycloak lowered his voice to the man who had accompanied him into the lands. "I think we will see many strange sights before our time here is done, Noldric." With a jesting grin flashed at him, he shrugged. "Do not let them know you are afraid." It might be enough to get him moving and not looking as if he were a young page who was green and wet to the profession such as theirs.

He stood there nearly in the middle of the room and looked things over for himself. It smelled like most any good tavern or inn he had ever stepped foot in. The view of what there was to be seen, though, would have frightened his dear sister into running from the place with so many different beings. His stomach rumbled quietly to remind him that they were overdue for their evening meal.

Aside, he spoke to Noldric. "See that some rooms can be acquired for us. And baths for later. I will look into getting us some food and drink."

Starving was not quite the word for it, but he was more than hungry and realized that they had not eaten since before the light of dawn and their departure to come there. The heavy, gray cloak of leather was opened up at the level of his chest, unfastening the leather straps there. Leather protested when he laid it over the back of a chair. Gloves followed and dropped them into the seat of that same chair.

The egress from Porshen had a singular purpose: to return to the strange lands of Rhy'din, where Noldric and he had traveled almost three years earlier. Only pieces of information, connected to a few men and women in particular, had been gleaned. Its lands were as strange and deeply-layered, much like the people known to live and pass through it.

Those with the power and coin to have him and Noldric followed had done so, though the Graycloak was aware of most of them. Those with only the interest to know where he was easily found him at the iconic in bearing the red, outer walls and a sign of a dragon swinging on chains belonging to its sign post.

They might have been watched and followed, but none knew the reasons he had been there the first time or the cause for the warhawk's return. Aegus of Stonecreed did not hide, nor seemed to be trying to when horse and rider arrived at the building of food, drink, and rest.

The gray cloak was worn about him with its emblem clear for any onlooker to behold. Halfway down the length of it was mud and clay of at least three different shades, telling a story of a ride that had taken him a little further than any of the travel portals and arches stoutly marking dozens of areas throughout the known and unknown lands of Rhy'din. The cowl of the cloak rested against his back. A mantle at his shoulders had further helped keep rain and snow from him. The distinct graycloak leather veil or mask — known as a raehkun — that could be worn in a v-shape to cover a man's features from the bridge of his nose to his collarbone was worn, but hung like a scarf about his neck and below his chin and jaw.

Chainemaille, leather, guards, gloves, belt and swords worn were all that of his standing and his specific position. Every bit of it served him to protect from harm, against the elements or to carry what he needed. At the belt about his waist hung a short sword, a dagger, pouches, and a coil of fine-braid leather curled three times and the length of that man's arm. In his right boot a quirt was stuffed. In his left boot, the top of a knife could be seen when the light hit its metal just right.

Aegus of Stonecreed unremarkable next to the wizards, elves, and other creatures of the strange lands that wielded magic as easily as he breathed. He protected himself and took action in far more mundane ways. Only his way of travel had been touched by magic and that had not been his own; preferred.

After a cursory look about the area, to the buildings, alleyways, and the inn, Aegus looked back to Noldric who was standing patiently nearby. "The horses then, Noldric. See that you impress on the livery master that exemplary care is taken of them - to have them readied at any hour for our needs."

Noldric dropped his head with a nod towards Aegus and strolled off towards the livery. He was watched until he was out of sight, then a moment longer. Saddle bags, bedroll, and two large leather travel bags with flaps tooled with the guard's emblem were carried up the stairs of the Red Dragon. He intended to be resettled in some rooms at that establishment before the rise of Rhy'din's moons.