Loremaster of the Amaranthine lands

“How?”

“Oh, you know, we were watching the show from the side. I have to say, it was quite something. A lot of fighting and screaming, and of course, dying. Still. I was a bit disappointed that none of you figured out your role as ‘sacrifices’ in the court’s plan.”

“I told you they were not as smart as they thought themselves to be.” Etienne remarked as he appeared on his left side.

“You... left.” The paralysed dark elf muttered, making the siblings realise what he meant when he asked how.

“Oh, I guess I owe you a short explanation of sorts. You see, we only left Ecragurne for a day or so before heading back here.”

“You lied to us.” Regis said with a slowly increasing anger.

“Not at all,” Natalie said with a charming smile. “It’s just that I didn’t tell you the ‘whole’ truth. The funny thing about the ‘truth-seeker’ domain is that unless you ask a specific question, it leaves quite a bit of wiggle room.”

“The part about us being forced to do things was true,” Etienne stated with a disdainful expression. “It was also true that we were bound by the council. And we really did manage to break said bond before escaping.”

“What was only half of the truth is that we only planned to stay in Menelrond unless our plan failed.”

“Plan?”

“Aw, you’re so cute when you give me that confused puppy look,” the dark elf woman teased him. “I’m sure you have already found out the truth about what happened during the previous archdemon war. The hero of the dark elves failed to kill Ulgrath, so she decided to make a deal with her. And to honour that deal, the current Exiled Court did as their ancestor promised. However, she had other plans.”

“And this is where we come in.” Etienne remarked with a smirk.

“While grandfather and the others were busy trying to take control of the nobility, Ulgrath reached out to us.”

“She was quite angry with the older generation for their repeated failures and their continuous bargains for more power so she decided that it was time for... a house cleaning.” Her brother cut to the chase.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised. She isn’t an archdemon of deals and scheming for nothing,” Natalie chuckled. “Lady Ulgrath tricked her rival into being summoned by the court in the name of offering him a lush new hunting ground and you were kind enough to kill the idiot for her.”

“She’s coming over here.” Etienne said after looking toward the crater.

“She’ll probably want to...” Natalie tried to say something but had to throw herself back as a flaming whip’s tail flashed towards her head, exploding the air in front of her face, sending her flying backwards.

“You...” Etienne reacted too late.

An armoured figure rushed by Regis to crash into the dark elf knight, sending him flying as well.

“We have to get out of here,” he heard Valerie’s voice as he felt someone grabbing him from the left. “We don’t have the means to fight another archdemon.”

“I know,” the armoured figure applied as he turned around, revealing himself to be Quentin. “The old man seems to be opening a gateway already.”

The paladin grabbed Regis on his right side, helping the infernal woman drag him away and through the arcane portal the elderly spellcaster opened. They were already somewhere else by the time the dark elf had gotten over his surprise and shock. His body was still slow to respond as the paralysis faded while his friends helped him up onto his feet.

“How in the Saints could this have happened?” Bishop Emil asked with a shaky voice.

“What was that thing down in... there?” Someone else asked from the side.

“It was another archdemon.” Felix stated, making everyone stop in their tracks to turn toward him with horrified expressions carved onto their faces.

“That is possible.” A nobleman argued as the surviving mages and soldiers tried to help their injured comrades.

“He’s right,” Regis said while taking a look around, seeing that they were in a small fort that had wooden walls and barely a couple of guards protecting it. “That... woman was the real Ulgrath. The one we managed to blow up was called Bergaldeen.”

“And how do you know that?” Emil asked with an accusing tone.

“When it died, the Heart informed me that I gained renown for killing it,” the dark elf answered. “When I saw the name, I knew something was wrong. Then I got zapped from behind. How the hell did that happen? Weren't you right behind me?”

“We ran as you told us with two of the guards dragging Quentin along,” Valerie explained. “And after the explosion when he woke up, we noticed two soldiers walking toward you and thought that they wanted to help you but then their looks changed. By the time we realized who they were, you were already on the ground with Natalie crouching next to you.”

“What did she say exactly?” Quentin asked the important question with everyone else hanging on his words.

“She told me that Ulgrath reached out to them during the time the court was busy converting the nobility.”

“The archdemon reached out to them personally?” Felix looked at the dark elf baffled.

“Apparently, she was angry at the court and the older generation of the Argent family due to their incompetence and insatiable hunger for power, so she decided that it was time to change leadership. She somehow reached out to Natalie and the others, most likely to make them feed false information to the court in order to make them summon one of Ulgrath’s rivals instead her.”

“I don’t understand,” Quentin muttered with a confused expression. “We have interrogated her under the ‘truth-seeker’ domain. She shouldn’t have been able to lie to us about it.”

“She didn’t,” Regis sighed. “As it turns out, unless you ask very specific questions, the one talking under its influence has some wiggle room. She told us just enough of the truth to make us act without revealing their true part in the scheme.”

“So we were used to initiating the whole thing,” Valerie scoffed. “That bitch.”

“I don’t know,” the dark elf shook his head as he sat down on a rickety wooden bench beside the fort’s wall. “I mean, even if we didn’t play our part, things would have pretty much played out the same way. The church would have been informed of the plans of the Exiled Court all the same but through another channel.”

“Then why did they involve us in the first place if they didn’t need us to do anything?” The infernal woman kept asking with a quickly rising annoyance.

“Most likely to keep us in the loop and out of their way,” Quentin theorised. “This way we were focusing on what they wanted us to focus on instead of keeping an eye on them. I guess you were right. Something was indeed wrong with this whole thing.”

“It’s not like any of us figured out that we were meant to be both the sacrifices for the summoning and the ones to do Ulgrath’s dirty work.”

“What are we going to do now?” A cleric asked from the side, his question forcing the already defeated and tired soldiers to shudder once again.

“We lost about two-thirds of our forces in the battle just to defeat one archdemon and now we have another one to face.”

“We might have lost most of our forces,” a knight spoke up as more portals opened in the back of the fort with the survivors being led through them by mages. “But our enemy should have lost all of theirs along with most of the Exiled Court. With only the archdemon and a few dark elves remaining...”

“It seems that you have forgotten how the king and his soldiers did not participate in the battle. Their numbers should still be above ours.” Another one argued.

“So this is it,” Cedric sighed disheartened. “Have we truly lost the battle?”

“The battle might have been lost,” a shaky yet firm voice resounded from behind them as Princess Helena stepped forward from the crowd. “But this is a war. It will not end with a single fight.”

“My lady,” one of the nobles cleared his throat. “We simply do not have the means to fight any more. Most of our soldiers are dead and we have lost several of our grand magi as well.”

“Our main priority should be to get further away and to regroup with everyone who managed to survive.” Bishop Emil spoke up.

“I have to agree,” a knight remarked. “We are still far close to the battlefield. If that... thing decides to follow us, it could get here any moment.”

“They will not follow us just yet,” Archbishop Philip stated. “I believe they will wait until this... Ulgrath regains her full strength before trying to hunt us down. That would mean we have at least a day or two.”

“And then what?” One of the surviving noblewomen asked as she desperately tried to wipe off the blood stains from her armour. “They can summon more demons to replenish their forces while we have lost most of ours.”

“We had to sacrifice so much just to defeat one archdemon that was still weakened. What hope do we have against one that has all its power regained?” A wounded nobleman winced as he was patched up by a healer.

“We’ll ask for help from Menelrond.” Princess Helena claimed with a firm tone.

“Why would they help?” Cedric questioned the princess, surprising everyone with his boldness. “They refused our previous call for aid. Now that our chances are even worse, the moment they receive word of our failure, they will close every path into their kingdom and do their best to leave across the sea.”

“The storms had already returned above the sea,” old Felix hummed. “It is unlikely that anyone would be able to safely cross to the other continents.”

“We are all trapped,” the princess nodded in agreement. “They know it just as well as we do. Now that we failed, they are next in line to be attacked.”

“Lord Regis could also make more of those special war golems the fight against the archdemon.” One of the nobles said in a matter-of-fact tone, however as he turned to look for the dark elf in question, he was nowhere to be found.

While the people were arguing about what to do after their obvious defeat in front of the capital, Regis and his people headed toward the nearby gateway.

“Are you sure we should just... leave like that?” Valerie asked nervously as she looked back at the arguing crowd.

“We barely got out from a battle that we weren’t even meant to be fighting in,” Quentin remarked. “It’s best for us to get away before they drag us into another suicide mission.”

“The others must be worried about us,” Regis pointed it out. “And besides. The army failed. We failed. It’s time for plan B.”

“Let’s just get back home before we decide on what to do next.” The infernal woman sighed as the trio and the guards stepped onto the gateway platform, the runes lighting up for a moment as they were teleported away.

As soon as they got back to Thornfell, Regis activated his far-caller to inform the others.

“We’re back.” Was all he said and all hell broke loose.

“What happened?” Osmond asked.

“Are you okay?” Amanda and Sophie both asked at the same time.

“Thank the Seven you’re back!” Letty spoke with a relieved tone while trying to hold back her sobbing.

“Should we meet in the manor?” Fabien asked, but the dark elf had another idea.

“Let’s meet in the inn. I could really use a drink right now.”

“We can all agree on that”. Grego said with a deep sigh that the other guards shared as well.

By the entire team arrived at the inn, Fabien and Mary had already prepared the strongest booze they could find in their storage.

“So what the hell happened?” Amanda asked after the returning members sent down the first round of drinks.

Regis went ahead and told the events that happened after they stepped through the portal gate, leaving out nothing. By the time he was done, a second round of shots was already poured and drank, this time the others joining in as well.

“I knew something was off about this whole thing,” Osmond scoffed while Cruz sent down another shot of booze. “But to think that they would use the battlefield for the summoning ceremony. Crazy bastards.”

“Forget that,” Cruz harrumphed. “I never imagined that Natalie would screw over her own people so seriously. I mean sure, she had some issues, but come on. They freaking rigged the ritual to summon the boss bitch’s rival and used the people of Ecragurne to get rid of him. No matter what, that is bloody genius.”

“It’s both ingenious and twisted as hell,” Fabien argued. “So many people got killed and we didn’t even get rid of the real problem, but one of the real problem’s personal problems. This is just... fucked up.”

“So what are we going to do now?” Sophie asked the important question.

“Princess Helena and most of the surviving people seem to be still thinking about fighting,” Quentin stated. “We didn’t stay long enough to hear the end of what they were planning but it was clear that they wanted to ask Menelrond for help.”

“Good luck with that,” Cruz scoffed. “Those bastards kept out of the fight so far. I doubt they would change their attitude now.”

“It’s not like they have a choice any more,” Valerie stated. “The allied army lost too many people. They won’t be able to fight another archdemon. Not without help.”

“And once Ecragurne falls, they are next.” Tristan deduced.