Meanwhile, Raviel and Saska started running towards the fortress as soon as they saw the first explosion. Inside, they found multiple harpies all crowding to a single doorway, completely oblivious to their presence.

Raviel didn't waste any time slaying them with his blade. By the time the creatures even noticed there was someone behind them half of them were dead already.

"I thought we'd be facing a little more...organized resistance," the elf commented to Saska once all had been dealt with.

"Nah, harpies are pretty simple-minded. Once they set their sights on some threat, they can't focus on anything else. Tessa must have riled them up good."

"Tessa?" Raviel called through the doorway into the darkness, now a little worried. They had agreed on this, but...

"I thought you'd trust my skills to survive a little more, Raviel," Tessa said with a charming smile as she stepped out of one of the rooms lining the corridor. Her sword was covered in crimson, but Tessa herself didn't seem much worse for the wear.

"Mostly," Raviel smiled back at her and gave her a brief kiss as she joined them back in the sunlight. "That went better than expected. Looks like we're on the clear now."

Saska shivered. There was a sudden chill running through him. "I think...it's just starting."

Immense power. Not quite as strong as the Lady of the Lake, but even darker. More bloodthirsty.

Tessa felt it too and shoved Raviel back inside just a moment before black lightning rained from the sky.

Saska tried to dodge to the opposite direction, but there was no shelter to be found. He grunted in pain as the sheer force of the dark magic pushed him down to the ground, sparks dancing on his skin. The spells carved on his skin must have protected him to some extent - that should have been deadly.

The Queen of Harpies rose from her throne room, accompanied by half a dozen more guards. Then she landed on the Outcast boy, one clawed foot firmly holding him in place even as the magic faded.

"You have a lot of audacity to invade my lair like this," she addressed Raviel and Tessa. "Come out now and I will grant you a swift death."

"Don't," Tessa spoke in hushed whisper as Raviel already moved to leave their hiding place.

"She will kill Saska if I don't," the elf replied.

"She will kill you both if you do!"

Raviel smiled reassuringly. "I still have some spells up my sleeve. Those should at least distract her. I'm counting on you to finish the job."

"Elven mage..." the Queen hissed as she laid her eyes on Raviel.

"That is correct." He drew his sword. "I am Raviel of Nightblade Clan. And I need that crystal you carry, even if it means taking your life."

As he spoke, he slowly moved away from the doorway to hopefully keep Tessa out of her sight.

She laughed. "You are welcome to try. You will fail."

With the Queen distracted with Raviel, Saska took his chances and slashed at the bird-foot with the cursed dagger he carried. Dark red, almost black, blood poured forth.

The Queen screamed in agony and flapped her wings to get away from the source of the pain.

Damn it. There went their chance to strike while she was close. "I'm sorry, Raviel," Saska tried to explain as he hurried back to the elf's side. "I couldn't think of anything else."

"It's fine. Your safety comes first." Then he closed his eyes briefly in concentration as he felt magic in the air. A transparent barrier appeared around them just in time to block another wave of black lightning.

Raviel staggered. Power of this magnitude was nothing like he'd had to fight this far. A fair battle was clearly completely out of question. "Any Outcast tricks you still have, Saska?" he asked, breathing heavily.

Saska gritted his teeth and bit back a sharp comment that he'd told the elf this was not a good idea. "Just give me an opening. I'll get her somehow if you can keep those other hags off me."

Raviel gathered his remaining magic and strength. All or nothing.

Saska bolted towards the queen the moment shimmering shackles wrapped around the harpies and bound them to the stones below them. Across the courtyard and up a broken wall. The moment he was high enough he threw all his enchanted knives at her wings and, as she staggered and dropped lower, leaped at her with the cursed dagger in hand.

Time seemed to slow down as he hit the queen's back, the blade sinking deep. She fell another few feet. Then another harpy tore him sharply away from her, long fingernails digging into his shoulders. She didn't waste the time to finish him off as a flurry of silver attacked the Queen the moment she hit the ground. Instead she tossed the boy away.

Saska closed his eyes. There was no way he'd survive a fall from this height.

Tessa had seen an opening for her when the Outcast boy forced their primary opponent to land heavily and she wasted no time taking it. A stab through the queen's throat was followed by several into her chest. As her black blood stained the silver fur - Tessa had no recollection when she had transformed -, the huntress carved out the blood crystal. It was beautiful. So very...beautiful.

Raviel only had a split second to decide whom to help, and in the end he picked Saska. A wind spell slowed the boy's descent to less lethal speed, and he fell on the elf's waiting arms. Exhausted, Raviel dropped to sit down on the ground at the sudden weight. "Are you alright?"

Saska carefully opened one eye - the one not covered by bandages -, then quickly scampered to his feet. "Just fine."

Tessa had expected the rest of the harpies to flee as their queen was slain, but instead they all shrieked in rage and attacked her. She could barely feel their claws as she slashed and bit back, the dagger in her hand just another extension of her. The crystal in her other hand made her feel so strong. Untouchable.

It wasn't until the rest of the creatures were dead that she changed back into human form and noticed blood flowing out of multiple injuries. Not claw marks, but deeper stab wounds. Her eyes slowly focused on the dagger one of the harpies was still clutching even in death. Saska's dagger...

The blood crystal dropped from her hand to glitter on the hard stone of the courtyard. She found herself falling back, slowly like a feather in flight.

Then Raviel was by her side, trying to stop the flow, emerald eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

"Raviel...Take the crystal and get out of here before the rest of the harpies return..."

"Don't talk," the elf shushed her. "I'll fix this."

"Raviel, just listen to me. These wounds won't heal. Not with my magic, not with yours." The curse in the daggers was strong, strong enough to kill a Dark Lord. Mortals like them couldn't do a thing about it. Maybe another Dark Lord well-versed in magic. Maybe the Viscount. But...he was not here.

"There has to be something-"

She was feeling surprisingly calm. "There is not. Nightshade would have already shown up if he wanted me to live. I've outlived my usefulness."

"Wait. How could Nightshade...?"

"Raviel. Nightshade -is- the Viscount of Shadows." She gasped in pain. Not yet. Please not yet. She had to tell this to Raviel. "Nightshade is a mask, an alter ego, he wears when interacting with people. It's just a game to him. Our very lives are just a game to him. Be very careful around him."

"I will." He had already suspected that whatever the bard learned, the Viscount would soon enough know. But he had not thought they might be the same person.

"He still wants something more from you. I don't know what, but...once he's gotten it, you'll become dispensable."

He had asked so little of her as the Viscount. As Nightshade he had been her companion just as he had said he'd be. Not just when he had wanted something done - simply to fool around and enjoy life more often than not. She had been a young, beautiful huntress and he a wandering minstrel. Sometimes they had ended up in the same bed after the revelries they joined together, sometimes in separate ones with others. Other times they had explored the wilderness together, spent the nights gazing at the stars. What would have killed mortal men had not dared even approach them.

Everything had changed after she had told Nightshade of Raviel. The Viscount had gained a new obsession, one he didn't share with her. Yet she couldn't bring herself to hate him for it. The days of a childish first love were long gone, but in the end...he had given her everything he had promised. Freedom to live her life as she wished.

The world was turning dark, images of her life flickering in her vision. No, wait...The Viscount's obsession had started a good while earlier, over a decade ago. There had been another elf before Raviel, one she had only briefly met.

Then she realized it, just as her vision completely faded.

Oh, Raviel. He fooled you from the start. Your brother died a long time ago...