- Ansgar -

Ansgar stalked down the hall, livid. It had been a very long time since he had felt anger this deeply. He had sensed Inanis' assault on Siena, but could do nothing with Günay and Kato watching him. When he finally left the great hall, he started towards Inanis' hall. Long before he reached the palace wing where 'he who is empty' lived, Ansgar crossed the daemon's path.

           "Inanis! What exactly were you planning?" Ansgar looked around and added, "I don't see your vitii here with you."

           Inanis blinked his bright blue eyes once, but did not respond.

           "Well? Answer me," snarled Ansgar.

           Without shifting his gaze, Inanis said, "We are an extension of Grand Master Günay's will. It was his magic which fed us. We are bound to him, not to you."

           Inside the sleeves of his robe, Ansgar's hands clenched. In a flurry of movement, he dropped his arms and his crystal anatase dagger appeared in his hand. Inanis had little time to react before Ansgar rushed at him, slamming Inanis against the wall. If the daemon felt any emotion at the attack, it did not show on his face. He did not struggle even when Ansgar brought his dagger, double-edged and with a menacingly sharp tip, to the daemon's throat.

           "Don't think you're impervious to my magic," Ansgar warned. "I can run you through as easily as any sanscoeur."

           "But we are not just any sanscoeur. It would take much more damage than that little blade to kill us here. And the Grand Master needs us for his plans. Lacerta cannot do what we do. No other daemon shares our special ability."

           "I don't intend to kill you, Inanis. Not here. I'm only curious if a daemon like you can feel pain."

           "We feel physical pain, yes," Inanis said as if casually explaining a basic concept. "But the sort of pain you refer to, no. We feel nothing."

           Inanis' sapphire gaze regarded Ansgar coolly. The Élu did not look away. The daemon's marks were glowing blue, and Ansgar knew the magic was building up inside the demon's body. Without missing a beat, the Élu mage jumped backwards as a small explosion jolted the air around them, causing limestone and crystal from the palace wall to crumble. Through the smoke, a bright blue claw came speeding towards Ansgar. The Battlemage's eyes widened and he brought his sword up to block Inanis' claws. Ansgar held his sword against the daemon, whose clawtips were glowing more brightly than the rest of his body.

           'Ansgar,' warned Osi, 'too close!'

           I know!

With a grunt, Ansgar pushed the daemon back, slamming him against the wall a second time, causing debris and dust to obscure them again. When the smoke cleared, Ansgar's free hand closed around Inanis' throat, and his dagger was at the daemon's eye. They glared at each other, but neither seemed to push the skirmish further.

           "What is the female to you?" Inanis asked.

           Ansgar knew his face betrayed some of his emotion, but he pulled it back under his control. He answered, "She is my heart. You would do well to remember that the next time you find yourself bored with nothing to do."

           Inanis' pupils dilated briefly and his ears twitched. His marks cooled to white. Ansgar released Inanis and took a step back, slipping his dagger inside the sleeve of his robe again.

           "Don't think you can do whatever you please because you're one of the Equites. Your uniqueness won't last forever. Eventually you won't be as valuable to Günay, and at that point, I'll collect whatever debt I feel you owe."

           Ansgar started to leave, but Inanis spoke to him, halting him with a few short words. "Günay plans to send that woman into the Wilds. He thinks she still does not understand her place here. He intends to have Lacerta take her on the next mission into the deep places."

           "You're lying," Ansgar said, turning back around to face the daemon. His fists clenched, and he was shaking again with rage.

           "We do not tell untruths. We do not know how."

           Ansgar grimaced. None of the daemonis were capable of speaking beyond truth, it simply was not part of their skill. They lived and spoke so wholly truthful, as monstrous as they were. Ansgar's fist relaxed.

           "Why with Lacerta? Why not with you?"

           "Because we do not fall to our magiclust. Lacerta does. If Lacerta transforms while in the Wilds, she will forget herself. Lacerta is more dangerous than us. Günay does not like that She Who Shreds and Tears is becoming close with that woman. It was not part of his plan."

           "His plan," mumbled Ansgar. "What plan?"

           Inanis did not answer this. Ansgar's mind raced. Had Siena somehow been involved from the beginning? That could not have been possible. Ansgar wanted to scream. Why had he let her hold on for so long? He should have thrown her off of him, a simple shove was all it would have taken; she had not been holding him so tightly. Ansgar forced himself to relax. He had no one to blame but himself. He had always been a selfish person, and letting her hold on, bringing her here, was a small selfish move.

           "Günay is always a step ahead of his enemies," Inanis said cryptically.

           "His enemies," Ansgar repeated. "Was bringing Siena here some part of Günay's plan? Can't be." Ansgar thought back to that day, and realized his memory was growing fuzzy.

           "Master Kato is what you call an Illusionist?" Inanis inquired. "That means he can create images, make things seem different."

           Ansgar's breath caught in his throat. He tried to remember when they escaped Lutèce. "Siena grabbed on to me. I tried to push her away!"

           "Or is that what Günay hoped you would think?"

           Ansgar's already pale features drained of all color. His head ached. He had always thought himself smarter than Günay. He was more cunning; he could calculate outcomes of situations much faster than Günay ever seemed capable. The question was why? Why would Günay bring Siena, what would he want with her? Once she was here, why was he keeping her here?

           "Is it so difficult to understand?" Inanis' voice cut into Ansgar's thoughts.

           "She's a hostage," Ansgar realized. "He orchestrated her kidnapping on purpose? Why?" The answer came to him far too easily. Ansgar stared at Inanis. "He doesn't trust me."

           Inanis blinked. "The Grand Master trusts no one."

           "He didn't bring leverage for Kato!"

           "He did not need to do so."

           Ansgar let out a roar of irritation and punched the wall near Inanis' head. Inanis did not flinch, but the daemon turned to look at Ansgar's fist next to his ear. In Ansgar's mind, he heard his anima Osi speak softly.

'He must have suspected a failed coup from the beginning,' the spirit said. 'And the coup did fail, as you hoped. If he suspected you, he could have given the illusionist the order any time to execute the kidnapping.'

Ansgar felt sick. "I was loyal to him. I never gave him reason to doubt that."

           "As we said. He trusts no one. Not even us daemonis. The Grand Master is a genius at exploiting weakness." Inanis began to walk away, to enter his chambers. "If you will excuse us, we have grown bored with this conversation."

           "Wait," Ansgar called. "Why would you tell me this?"

           If possible, Inanis' expression became more bored than usual. "It does not go against Günay's will to speak of it to you. He did not expressly forbid this knowledge."

           "You can't lie," Ansgar scoffed, "but you can navigate truth. A dangerous talent."

           Inanis left Ansgar standing there without another word. For the first time in decades Ansgar was unsure of everything. What could he do? Defy Günay? He was too deep within Günay's schemes to climb out now, and even if he could, he would not have wanted to. Günay's vision of a free world for Élu was something Ansgar wholeheartedly shared. If he acted against Günay, there would be no second chance, and he would not ever see this world of which he dreamed.

           He would have to wait for the right moment, but he was good at waiting. Ansgar had never been as rash as other Battlemages. Rashness killed even the best, most skilled fighters. Ansgar took a deep breath. At the very least he needed to try and warn Siena, to help prepare her. A dead hostage was no use to Günay, so Ansgar could at least be certain Siena was in no real danger. He hoped.

- Siena -

"Hello, Siena!"

           Ansgar swept into the room with no other warning. Siena looked up; her auburn hair messy around her face and her eyes glazed over as if not really seeing him. For a few seconds, Ansgar's smiling façade faded as he approached. As he crouched in front of her, he hoped she could see the concern and regret on his face. Siena had always been able to see through him. Ansgar placed a hand on her shoulder, his touch light.

           "Si," he began, "don't you ever sleep anymore? Seems like that's all you did before! I was always finding you dozed off in a tree somewhere." He ended his sentence with a chuckle. Siena merely shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

           "If I'd been asleep you would have woken me anyway," she grumbled.

           "Now, don't be like that," Ansgar said softly.

           "What do you want with me? How long are you going to keep me here?" Her voice was hoarse and he noticed the quiver in her words as she spoke.

           Ansgar sighed. "I don't know, Si. Günay won't let you go as easily as that. And you can't get back to Lutèce on your own."

           Siena was silent for a long time before she spoke again.

           "But what about you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "You could get us home, if you wanted to. Why won't you?"

           He knew he could not risk an escape attempt, not yet. It's out of my hands. Instead, he smiled warmly. "I rather enjoy your company, Si," the man answered with a cheerfulness in his voice he did not feel. "How about some lunch?" He stood and left the room for a moment, returning with a tray of food.

           "The atmosphere here changes our physiology a little," he told her, "but we still have to eat sometimes. You've not touched anything I've brought you. You should eat, if you want to keep your strength up!"

           He placed the tray on the floor beside her, and in a swirl of white fabric, crossed his legs and sat down facing her.

           "Something happened," Ansgar stated. "With Inanis again. I'm sorry I wasn't the one to come to your rescue this time."

           Siena glared at him, and touched the stone pendant hanging around her neck. Ansgar's gaze rested there a moment.

           "You promised," she began in a regretful tone, "you promised we would take care of each other."

           "I know, Si." Ansgar sighed and rubbed his face.

An apology is not enough, this time, he thought. He wished it could be. How could he tell her that Günay planned to send her into the Wilds? Where to even begin preparing her for that?

           "Listen," he said at last, his tone uncharacteristically serious. "Don't trust the daemonis. None of them. Not even Lacerta, because Inanis and the others won't even mess with her. Do you know why there are so few of them right now? Günay doesn't let every daemon he creates live. Only the smartest and strongest remain alive."

           Siena looked at him. "What do you mean?"

           "More daemonis are evolving. But do you know what Günay does with them? Tosses them into an arena, to fight until only one survives and has evolved further by devouring the others. Then he sends in an Eques to finish it off. They're nothing but fodder for Lacerta and Inanis, until Günay has the four strongest, fiercest daemonis leading his army."

           "I don't understand why this matters to me," Siena said, crossing her arms and leaning away from Ansgar.

           "Because I need you to understand exactly what Lacerta is. She shows no mercy. Inanis at least gives his prey a chance to fight back. Lacerta does not. She shreds them to pieces without a thought, and absorbs them with a magiclust I've never seen before. Never let your guard down."

           "I can't stop them from barging in here! If you're so worried for my safety, let me have my staff back."

           "I can't do that. I can't risk Günay or Kato finding out. Then we'll both be in trouble and you don't yet understand the full weight of what's happening here. You don't understand the situation we're in or what Günay is capable of."

           Siena clenched her fists. "Then tell me! Tell, me Az! Help me understand what all this is!"

           "You'll find out soon," he told her.

           "How can you stand it, here?" she demanded. "How can you stand the air, pressing in around you? Doesn't it block your magic?"

           "It did, only a little, at first. Adepts aren't well suited to this environment, but eventually our training here made it possible. Adepts can survive," his sentence faded. "Günay had been bringing us, Kato and I, into Crystallos for a very long time. The first time we were left on our own, we were only Adepts. He told us, 'If you can't survive the Wilds, you will be of no use to me.' So, we learned how to survive."

           Siena could not believe what he was telling her. How had Günay managed this without the other Grand Masters knowing? No wonder Ansgar had become the first Armement Master not of the Chevalière family in Lutèce's history. He had trained here, in Crystallos.

           "What kind of torture was this for you?"

           "Nothing more terrifying than what I faced before Günay brought me to Lutèce," admitted Ansgar. "I wish I could explain the Wilds to you. It feels like you're drowning at first. Everything is silent. It feels like nothingness, even though you can see things around you. You're numb, you can't get air no matter how deep a breath you take. If you're near a daemon, their being washes over you, causes fear to overwhelm you. Eventually, you become numb to the fear, and you begin to understand what sanscoeur understand. Survival."

           "And you're telling me this why? What does it matter, if I can't leave the castle?"

           Ansgar looked at her. "You will be. Günay is having Lacerta take you to the Wilds on her next search. And I can't be there to protect you."

           Tears stung Siena's eyes. Ansgar reached a slender hand to her face and brushed a tear away. "Siena, please try to understand. I need you to know what it's like out there."

           Siena shoved at him. Out of instinct, she shouted a spell. "Conjuration: Barrière!"

           The push had more than physical force behind it. The small burst of magic created a wall between them and sent Ansgar sliding backwards a little more than a meter. The look of stunned surprise on Siena's face was mirrored in Ansgar's own expression. Then he smiled, standing gracefully and dusting himself off.

           "Interesting," he commented. "Don't forget what I said. Don't let your guard down, especially around Lacerta. Don't let them get too close. And whatever you do, don't let Kato or Günay know you can use magic."

           He turned for the door, but paused, as if remembering something. "If the opportunity presents itself, take the largest egg you can find, and only use small spells."

           It made no sense to Siena. Never losing his smile, he saluted her and then was out the door, leaving her once more alone. Still shocked from what had happened, Siena glanced at the food. She felt a wave of dizziness, and then the tickling of hunger after the magic had left her body. It was the first time she had felt any hunger here. It was the first time any spell had been so effective. She reached for the food, but her desire to eat melted away quickly as she thought of Ansgar. Being held captive was bad enough; being held by the one person she loved more than anything was worse.

           Siena wiped tears away, but she felt a little easier knowing Ihi was there.

           "I have to get out of here," she said.

'We will get out of here,' Ihi promised.

           Siena sighed and lay down on her cot. She slept deeply, exhaustion overcoming her at last.