Ravenscourt's crypts were filled with the bones of the previous lords and ladies of house Darke that had presided over the city for the last two thousand winters. Their rooms were damp and dark, but the rows of illustrious monuments created an eerie yet magnificent aura deep underneath the city's keep.

Erdudvyl rubbed away the dust off a monument. It was initially difficult to tell that a woman lay here due to the stone's corrosion. Still, as the candle flickered sporadically, the name Lady Jasmine Grey Darke could be briefly visible.

There was no way to tell of the life of this woman, except for the two roses in her hand. As Erdudvyl examined it closely, she imagined the woman experiencing grand tales of love and loss; however, notions of this fantasy were quickly broken away when recalling the immediate task at hand.

Hearing voices further down in the crypt, Erdudvyl let her fingers brush against the cold, harsh surface of the monument, leaving a brief tingling fear that one day her memory would end like this. Cold hard stone, with little to no recollection of what feats she had performed in life.

Following the voices, Erdudvyl slalomed her way through the other monuments, contemplating whether people would remember her as a heroine or a traitor. As the faint glimmer of candles could be seen in the distance, as the voices grew louder, she straightened her gown and prepared her smile. History, she thought to herself, is created by the victors.

"What are you doing here, elf?" Aryya responded bluntly as she watched Erdudvyl come into view.

A small frown flickered across Erdudvyl's face before she forced herself to smile once more. "I've come to assist with the closing of the tunnel."

A chuckle came from behind Aryya as two men watched the small elf in her flowing gown standing in an eerie crypt.

"Is this a joke?" Aryya replied the flickering of the candle didn't hide her displeasure at the statement.

Erdudvyl looked towards the two men who stood behind Aryya. It was difficult to tell in the low-level light, but the first man appeared slightly tanned with a well-trimmed beard and slicked back black hair tied in a ponytail. His build seemed to be nimble and the scimitar curved sword strapped to his side created a tone of mysteriousness about him.  His confident posture suggested that he was familiar with the use of the weapon.

The second man was the complete opposite. As he stood tall, he was head and shoulders above the tall Amazonian, Aryya. To Erdudvyl, therefore, he was like a giant. As he reached for his gigantic two-handed hammer, his muscular chiselled frame flexed angrily towards the tiny woman.

He may have been an ally, but he was daunting nonetheless.

Forcing a gulp down her throat, Erdudvyl replied, "This is no joke; I believe I can offer you help."

Aryya laugh sounded more malicious as it echoed ferociously in the confines of the crypt. "Mute, Saffron, do we need any help?"

The tanned man responded negatively, while the huge muscular man just grunted. Erdudvyl assumed he must be 'Mute'.

Aryya continued, "We need to collapse the tunnel; I'm not sure how you can help."

As the other men laughed with her, Erdudvyl's smile quickly switched to a frown. She was not prepared to be laughed at. "You can't just collapse a tunnel without fear of it falling on top of you; I'm offering up my intelligence to assist with collapsing it in the safest way possible."

Aryya's face scrunched up into anger, "You believe yourself to be of superior intelligence? Mute doesn't speak, but even he knows that is absurd!"

Mute grunted.

Erdudvyl watched as the tall, muscular woman edge her way around the monument to confront the small elf. As she towered over Erdudvyl, the elf felt that disarming the confrontation would be the ideal way forward.

That was until she remembered being laughed at by a human.

"Of cause I am, " Erdudvyl boasted, "and we don't have time to argue the finer points of your inferiority," as she looked away from Aryya's gaze, she realised that, once again, her temper had got the best of her.

Aryya seemed at first as if she would launch a full-scale attack at Erdudvyl, but then at the last moment, backed off. "So be it, come with us, but keep up. If you are too far behind when the tunnel collapses, there will be no one to save you," she replied bluntly.

Erdudvyl breathed a sigh of relief as the intimidating Aryya stepped away. Perhaps on another day, the conversation could have ended quite differently.

With the eventual discovery of the secret entrance, based on Ethelston's directions,  the four adventurers took to the long tunnel that would end in the middle of the forest far outside the city.

Erdudvyl puffed and panted as she desperately tried to keep up with the long strides of her three temporary companions. The speed of their walking meant that she had to break into a small jog sporadically to keep up, and as the stone tunnel started to turn to soil, she became frustrated and irritated, realising that her attire was not best suited for the task at hand.

Erdudvyl scolded herself as she realised her vanity had overridden her judgment, made worse by Aryya's occasional chuckle as she turned to see how well the elf was keeping up.

As the tunnel became more claustrophobic, Erdudvyl was relieved when Aryya eventually stopped, preparing to work on weakening the supports.

"Here, " Aryya eventually commanded as they had walked surrounded by only soil and wooden supports for a few minutes. "Mute, get a start on the supports."

The large-framed man immediately set to task with a saw in one hand and his enormous hammer in the other.

"Saffron, make sure he gets the light he needs, Erdudvyl you stay with me," Aryya demanded. Her words urged immediate submission, and, instinctively, Erdudvyl found herself sitting beside her as Aryya placed the torch in a hook on the wall and prepared some arrows with her recurve bow.

As Aryya played with the string on her bow, Erdudvyl looked up to the fierce woman. She sighed, finding herself to be anxious by her current surroundings; she needed to take her mind off the dreadful situation of being underground and the constant feeling that the walls were pushing themselves in on her.

"You don't like me, do you?" Erdudvyl asked candidly, "I know you were watching me as I healed."

Aryya smiled; her dark eyes turned slowly towards Erdudvyl. As if it was an invitation, Aryya sat comfortably beside the elf, smiling at her question. "In my profession, liking people is not common."

"So why do you observe me so?" Erdudvyl asked while studying the men as they worked on the supports.

"I have known the Manticore Hunter since he received his moniker. This is a man who cares not for responsibility, love or stability. He longs for adventure, for death-defying feats and the opportunity to further his reputation. Yet when he requested my mercenaries to support his work here at Ravenscourt, the man I knew had matured, had become something else, and I had to know why." Aryya explained.

"He does it for Loldirr, for her claim to the throne," Erdudvyl argued.

Aryya giggled at Erdudvyl's response, "For someone so intelligent, you are rather foolish. Perhaps that was his initial intention, yet I think it has mutated into something else."

"How can you be so sure?" Erdudvyl asked.

"We have both been through so much together; he is not a friend, he is not a brother, he is something else entirely different to me, a bond closer than blood," explained Aryya.

"You love him?"

"Love is such a simplistic word in the sense that you speak. It is a bond forged of blood, sweat and tears. We have seen humanity at it's worst and, through our protection of each other, barely survived through it. Our relationship is not one of love, but through the absolute desire for the other to survive in this cruel world, by any means necessary."

Erdudvyl nodded. It was difficult to comprehend such a bond existed when elves soul purpose in life was to improve the collective rather than the individual. Such a friendship was something she had always desired but never felt capable of achieving.

"Saffron and Mute I have known for many winters," explained Aryya, "we have fought together many times. They are my men, and I love them, but to me, they are mere pawns compared to the Duke of Ravenscourt." a grin then gradually spread across her face, "Don't get me wrong, my relationship with Ethelston is sometimes carnal, but that's because he satisfies an urge that many men fail to achieve," she commented almost flippantly.

Erdudvyl was glad for the low light; otherwise, Aryya would have noticed her bright red, embarrassed cheeks.

"Ethelston lusts for life, yet what I see is a man who is willing to throw that all away." Aryya explained, "I've never seen him so frustrated with his current existence, yet never before have I seen him so satisfied and alive, and I believe it's because of you."

Erdudvyl couldn't look at the dark-skinned warrior at that moment. Instead, she looked towards Mute as he continued to work on the beams. While her face displayed reflection, it betrayed the true feeling of joy after hearing the words so dear to her heart.

As Erdudvyl looked towards Aryya, she was immediately greeted with an arrow pointing directly at her face. "Though if you hurt him, I swear to the gods that I will tear you apart in ways that you can't imagine." threatened Aryya.

Erdudvyl nodded unwittingly, eager to encourage the dark-skinned warrior to ease down.

As if the previous conversation had not existed, Aryya flicked around towards Mute and Saffron. "How long before everything will be ready?"

"A few hours, chief, " Saffron responded quickly, followed by a positive grunt from Mute.

Pushing herself up against the wall, Aryya smiled towards Erdudvyl, her clean white teeth easily visible in the cloudy light produced by the candles. "Best get comfortable, my dear; we'll be staring at these walls for some time."

"How do you do it?" asked Erdudvyl, "How do you remain so calm in this claustrophobic environment?"

Aryya let out a small chuckle as she admired the dull, damp surroundings that they sat in. "The torches rage, the sound of Mute and Saffron echo. I can see, and I can hear. Death is all around us now, in the walls, in the ceiling, but I know it's there; I can face it and embrace it. It's the unknown that frightens me when I don't know what I need to confront."

Erdudvyl nodded. "I understand and relate."

With a small chuckle, Aryya flicked her head around to the two working men, "Don't tell them, though; they believe I am completely fearless."

Erdudvyl also chuckled to her recent companion until she recognised that Aryya had become rigid while staring down the tunnel. Turning towards where her focus pinpointed, Erdudvyl could see it too. Torches were flickering in the distance.

Without hesitation, Aryya stood upright, holding her bow tightly. Placing three arrows between her fingers, she urgently rushed towards Mute and Saffron just as the clanging of soldiers making their way down the tunnel, could be heard.

"Scouting party! Quick!" Aryya reacted, causing the two men to drop their tools instantly and reach for their weapons.

As they stood in preparation for what was about to come around the corner of the tunnel, the sound of men muttering turning into a crescendo of discontent was apparent. Like Aryya, they had seen the flickering torches of Ravenscourt's defence.

As a party of men turned around the corner, Aryya released two arrows quicker than it took for Erdudvyl to take a breath. The first arrow sank deep into the chest of the unsuspecting warrior, the other embedded itself within the wall.

A frustrated grunt came from Aryya, who was not used to missing, yet the dancing of flames around the walls made visibility hard to adjust to.

As if in response to Aryya's arrows, two men raised their crossbows and fired; as the bolts flew close to Aryya's face, it seemed to spur Saffron and Mute into action, causing them to drift into a trot towards the enemy.

Releasing another arrow, Aryya's accuracy was far better, with the arrow felling a crossbowman. As he fell, more men poured over the corpse, axes in hand, preparing to engage the Desert Viper's mercenaries.

The tunnel was only wide enough for two men to fight comfortably side by side, and as the two parties came into contact, Mute's hammer was released with devastating effect. He swang wildly as Saffron held back his assault, allowing the hammer to smash viciously into the first attacker. As the attacker was launched effortlessly into the wall, he crumpled to the floor, desperately trying to grasp any air he could grab hold of. With the man's eyes slowly closing, he looked to see that his chest plate had crumpled like paper and his rib cage had collapsed in on itself. The last thing he saw was the man by his side, having his head caved in by the same tool that created his demise.

"Get back to the castle, quick!" Aryya ordered Erdudvyl.

Just as the order was given, Aryya staggered back unconventionally before collapsing on the floor. Instinctively, Erdudvyl ran towards her, avoiding the bolts that were flying in her direction. Reaching the crumpled heap that was Aryya, she immediately noticed the two bolts protruding out of her body. One in the shoulder and one in the abdomen.

It was difficult to tell initially, but as Erdudvyl placed her hand on a darkened part of Aryya's skin, it was apparent that the blood oozing was life-threatening.

"Ahh shit!" Aryya cursed, "This is not a good way to go!"

Erdudvyl took hold of the bolt in her stomach, which instantly caused Aryya to glare at her angrily, causing the elf to stop in the process.

"What are you doing? Trying to make me die quicker?" Aryya complained as her voice and breathing was becoming more laboured.

Erdudvyl carefully placed her hand on her stomach to try and ease her suffering, "If I don't sort this immediately, you will die, and I can't move you until this is removed; otherwise, the bolt will cause more damage. You are going to have to trust me on this. Please!" she begged.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Aryya continued cursing. Looking around briefly for some other ideas, it was when no other option presented itself that she nodded fearfully.

Erdudyvl grabbed hold of the bolt with both hands, focusing on Aryya's eyes; she nodded before yanking it out with unconventional brutality. Aryya's scream was horrific, and the scowl she gave Erdudvyl was enough to cause the elf some discomfort.

With the blood now streaming from the wound, Erdudvyl had to act quickly. Placing her hands over the Desert Viper's abdomen, she called out "Anlêc."

There was so much blood, but the life draining from Aryya's body seemed to gradually return, causing her to smile with a grimace. "How?" she asked.

Erdudvyl smiled, knowing that she had done enough to keep her alive for a few more hours, but she still needed medical attention, especially with the bolt protruding from her shoulder.

Before Erdudvyl could respond, Saffron was kneeling by their side. His face showed concern as he spotted the pool of blood slowly slipping down Aryya's stomach. "Can she be moved?" he asked Erdudvyl.

As the elf nodded, Saffron took a look at his fighting companion, who was devastating with his hammer, leaving a pile of bodies all around him, but for each man he killed, two more were in his place.

"Get her out of here; we're collapsing the tunnel." commanded the silky smooth-skinned man.

"What do you mean? If we do it now, there's no chance that we can escape." concern flooded Aryya's eyes as she responded.

As Saffron stood, his scimitar was dripping in the blood of his victims, he replied, "We'll hold them for as long as we can while you get back to the castle." he looked directly at Aryya, "it's been an honour, chief, " before he returned to Mute's side waving his scimitar with grace and poise.

"What? No!" Aryya called out, but it was drowned out by the cries of the living and soon to be dead.

Erdudvyl quickly helped Aryya to her feet, much to the amazonian's pain and discomfort, before leading her away from the battle.

The clashing of metal, the screams and shouts of the men, the faint echo of the wind gradually dissipating in the distance; all were drowning out with only the sound of the two heavily breathing women using all their strength to edge further closer to the keep, were left. Each step was difficult, with Erdudvyl using all her power to keep the much heavier woman from falling from her injuries.

With each step, there was a strange feeling of peace and anxiety mixed. The raging battle was far behind, and the crypts of Ravenscourt were easing closer.

Just as the sound almost drowned out, a much stronger, more resonant noise rumbled in the distance. As the piercing screams of the soon to be buried gave one final cry, an almighty blast of wind pushed the two women helplessly to the floor.

With the torches all around burnt out, all Erdudvyl could hear was the sobs of the women next to her. Despite all her demonstrations of strength and power, the loss of her two men had hit her profoundly. With visibility seriously limited, Aryya had used it as an opportunity to release her emotions.

Once the only sound remaining was that of the heavy breathing each woman was enduring, Erdudvyl felt the hand of Aryya encouraging them both to stand, and with a torch still flickering in the far distance, it was time for the two of them to make a report of their victory.

Pushing herself off the floor, Erdudvyl tried to ignore the throbbing pains from cuts and bruises plastered all over her hands and face. Taking the Desert Viper's weight onto her shoulders, they continued forward to the light at the tunnel's end.

Briefly turning her head around to the darkness behind them, the thoughts of the battle to come plagued her mind. It may have been a victory, but the cost involved in achieving it felt like a crushing defeat. She did not know Saffron and Mute, but their heroic sacrifice would be one forever engrained in her memory.