Brothers reunited

"How do you know about what happened to my family?" Grace knew that asking such a question might give away too much information, but she didn't have any other bargaining chip. If this man knows what happened to Mother, Riker and Addalyn, maybe he knows who did it.

"Inside sources. Now you and Falael are in imminent danger if you both don't get out of here. Any idea where they took him?" The man asked, picking the lock of the iron-barred cell door.

"No, we got separated. Last I saw him was in some kind of fighting ring."

"I know the place. Stay close." The door swung open as the man trotted off down the hall.

"It's a shame really, she would have cost a fortune on the black market," Uzhor Tovis circled the cage like a hawk eyeing its prey.

"Envano employed you, did she not?" Falael breathed, the chains heavy against himself. The room outside the cage was dark, with the only light in the room coming from a skylight at the center of the iron cage.

"Now that, my dear fellow, is for me to know and for you to find out," The wizard said silkly. Falael could feel his insides turning, as if he had snakes for intestines. This feeling could only mean one thing. Rinomve was close, and may be in trouble. "All of the pieces are falling into place."

Okay Falael, he thought, trying not to panic. What do I know? I know that The Grey Tears are involved in the death of the Melarin family. I know that they only work for hire, so whomever wanted the Melarins dead either have a reputation to uphold or simply do not have the time to execute a crime themselves. Even so, the services of The Grey Tears aren't cheap, so this person or people has money. There are only a few who have such fortunes, and most of them live in Everhelm. So what's the connection? Did a middle man get pissed off at the Melarins and have too many 'friends' to worry about money? And what are these pieces?

The hallways leading down to the dungeon progressively got darker and darker as the strange man led Grace closer to where he thought Falael was. I do hope he is still in one piece Grace thought, though she doubted that his treatement had been better than hers. the darkness grew ever more pressing as they decended further into the castle. Eventually, after what felt like hours of carefully and quietly climbing up and down staircases, entering through heavy doors and artfully dodging servants, guards and other guests of the Uzhor Tovis, they approached a door that seemed to be larger and heavier than ones they had approached before now.

"He is here," The man whispered just loud enough for Grace to hear. "Your travelling companion."

"How do you know?"

"I just do," The man tried the door, which was stuck fast. He tried again. It did not budge. He shoved his shoulder against the door, and it finally gave way revealing six guards. faster than lightning, the guards decended on the pair of them.

The man that had lead Grace through the castle quickly handed her a blade, a short sword. Without thinking Grace slashed at a guard, managing to catch him off guard enough for her to severly injure his knees. The man however, appeared to be carving up an apple pie with how quickly he had dispatched the other guards, making swordfighting look effortless. Before too long, all six guards were little more than piles of limbs.

"Rinomve," a voice from the other end of the room called, making Grace and the man turn around.

"Falael, your okay," Grace breathed a sigh of relief, running to the cage.

"I'm here brother. Let's get you out of here," The man, whose name Grace concluded was Rinomve, unlocked the bars on Falael's cell.

"Grace, this is my friend Rinomve. I was hoping that you two would not have to meet, but here we are," Falael breathed as Rinomve unlocked his chains.

"Well we have met, and I for one agree with your friend. I do not want to stay here any longer," Grace put Falael's left arm around herself as the chains fell to the floor. "My goodness, and I thought I was treated poorly," Grace felt the blood form several open wounds stain her already dirty clothes. "Right, how do we get out of here?"

"Through the front door would be easiest, we just have to be sneaky," Rinomve put Falael's right arm around his shoulder. Together, the three of them made their way through the cavernous halls that were the skeleton of the vast fortress, dodging the many people servicing their sub-par host and the guests that he treated with more grace and courtesy.

Moving through the castle, it turned out, was the easy part. When the trio finally entered the front hall however, they were greeted by the very man they were trying to escape.

"Leaving so soon?" The wizard asked, a smirk dancing across his scarred face, making it more grotesque than it already was.

"We got what we came for, no need to stick around," Falael retorted, trying to stand on his own.

"That's a shame, I was going to treat you two," their host noticed Rinomve. "And your friend here to a fine meal before you left."

"We thank you for your hospitality," Grace murmerd throgh gritted teeth, "but we really must be going. Now, if you are not going to move then we will have to move you." Uzhor unsheathed a long, needle thin sword that looked so fragile that it could have been made of silver coloured glass.

"Try me, princess," It was as if that challenge was little more than a command. In an instant, Rinomve had unsheathed his own sword and lunged at the wizard, leaving Grace as Falael's only support. Rinomve slashed at Uzhor, managing to trim the fabric of the wizard's robes, but he was too fast to do any real damage to.

Okay Rinomve, time for a change a plan. Distract the idiot for long enough to let Grace and Falael escape, then escape your self. Does not matter whether or not you get captured, you can escape at a later point, just give the two of them long enough to escape.

"Get her out of here," he screamed at Falael as he parried a strike aimed at his head. Attacking again, he saw Falael and Grace moving around himself and the wizard.

"Block the door!" Uzhor bellowed, and the distinct clank of spears being crossed in an effort to prevent them from getting out. Damit, freedom was so close, Falael thought.

"Any more bright ideas brother?" Falael called to Rinomve.

"Just one!" Rinomve reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a clear glass vial containing a purple powder. He plans to use Hartfire, Falael realised, pulling Grace into a corner of the entrance hall.

Bang! The center of the room exploded, leaving Grace pinned against the wall, Falael covering her with himself and Rinomve trying to pull both of them through the purple mist filling the room, all three of them coughing.

"What was that?" Grace asked when they had ran a good two blocks east of the castle that had just been their prison.

"Hartfire," Falael wheezed, feeling the full effect of the torture that he had been subjected. "It's good to see you again brother," he pointed to Rinomve. "I do not suppose that you have been formally introduced to Miss Grace Melarin, have you?"

"Indeed not. It is absolutely wonderful to meet you Grace. I am very sorry to hear about what happened to your Mother and siblings."

"How do you know about what happened my family?" Grace questioned, as if expecting that he could give her all of the answers.

"Correspondence," Rinomve sighed, looking at Falael. He knows more than he is letting on, Grace realized. She decided that the only propper course of action was further interrogation.

"And how did you know that Falael and I were in Oakenspell?" She asked, growing more and more suspicious of this 'brother' of Falael's.

"Correspondence," Rinomve looked as if he had just admitted to his mother that he had eaten the last of the candies that she had been saving for a special occasion. Rinomve was the one who sent the note to Falael. It was as if Grace had just managed to star a fire with two pieces of wood.

"I want to ask so many more questions, but we had probably better get out of the open," Grace said.

"I agree, though let's find a spot further away from that dungeon. I did not like the look of that bartender at The Slippery River." Falael said.