“Did you see that? The Farpeak girl took me down! And she called me a wraith!” The sorcerer jumped back to his feet with unnatural grace, his cloak of shadows turning into a cloak of ordinary dark cloth.

“Oh, I saw it.” Said his fellow-traveler. The soldier removed his helmet, and then he too flickered and flashed... revealing a woman. With an experimental cough, her voice changed back to normal. “I didn't think she'd have it in her, after what we were told.”

“Wraiths... Hah!” Laughed the sorcerer, turning away and lowering his hood. Quickly, the woman handed him a helmet of a design he'd never seen before, something all-enclosing. Lîetôs only caught a glimpse of sickly skin on the back of the sorcerer's head before it was hidden again. With his own helmet's visor locked down, Lîetôs could see very little at all. “Although, I suppose I am something of a ghost. A vengeful spirit of the past, returned to the world of the living!”

“They should be terrified.” Said the woman dryly, fumbling with the ill-fitting armor she wore. She gave up quickly, and used one of the motionless soldier's knife to cut her way out of it. Lîetôs knew he should have never have let those two into his fortress. He should have ordered his men to open fire the minute the tall one named himself Âûm. We should have seen that sign of madness! The Captain reprimanded himself. Three times in their history, a man took that name, and three times the realms of men had bled. And yet, he had ignored it. Why?!

But even with the strange armor, strange height, and strange name; it didn't matter, they'd just been happy for visitors. Desperate, even, after months in solitude. His female companion was of more interest to the garrison, a dark-haired and dark-eyed woman from the south, by the name of Avenîl. How quickly they had dropped their guard to the two visitors, how quickly the slaughter had begun. Those few who survived had been locked in their own minds presumably, just like Lîetôs now was, masquerading as a common soldier, pawns of the two invaders.

“Well, they should be terrified. The alicorns feared our power once, and look where they are now!” Boisterously remarked the sorcerer calling himself Âûm. Whoever was in that armor was certainly the tallest human in the world, there was no doubt of that. Six and a half feet! That was a full foot taller than the average man... His companion, Avenîl, didn't even come up to his shoulders. Âûm knelt, and picked up his dagger, before handing it to the woman. “Confirm that this was Tempest Blackwind here. I took some blood from her.”

“Let's see...” A spark of purple light went from Avenîl's hand to the tip of the blade. “Yes, this is Tempest Blackwind. It's close enough to Maelstrom's- Hold on.” The woman brought the dagger closer to her face, and sent another purple spark into it. “Âûm, take a look at this.” The tall one approached, and added his own spark to it.

“Hmm... Yes, we've seen this blood before. Now we know who her father is.” Stated the sorcerer, putting one armored fist into his other palm.

“Does it matter?” Avenîl asked.

“Not in the long run. Oh, but if we had known that, Avenîl! If only we had kept her for an hour, we could have drained her, just a little, and had enough power for months!” Âûm sighed. “Alas, the road not taken. We'll have to make do with these.” He spoke with some distaste, gesturing to the silent soldiers.

“We could go after the Equestrians.” Suggested the woman, handing the dagger back to Âûm.

“No, the pieces are in motion. They're going exactly where we need them to go, it's too late to interfere. If all goes as planned, we won't need her blood anyway.” Âûm folded his arms behind his back.

“And if it doesn't? Like mother, like daughter, you said... Tempest could prove as unable to fulfill the debt as Maelstrom was.”

“I have faith in her. She'd have to be more incompetent than even I thought to mess this up now. Though we'll need to keep an eye on them after this new revelation; if they pass too close to Thîran, they might draw his attention...” Said the sorcerer.

“Then there's nothing else we can do here, except prepare for Aharôs's arrival.” Stated Avenîl. “Do you think he's the one we need?”

“Definitely.” Âûm affirmed. “But they're not needed anymore.” He waved at Lîetôs and the others. “King Aharôs is already set on war, and our friends out yonder report it's the same in Equestria. We could not have chosen better timing! Oh, this was meant to be!" Laughed the sorcerer. He must be mad, he must! "Perhaps Maelstrom's early death was a boon to our cause after all, even if we have to deal with her far less capable daughter... But, that's enough reveling in success. We need to get rid of these onlookers.” Âûm pointed at the soldiers.

“How are we going to do that?” Asked the woman.

“You could try Sidâl's trick.” Suggested the tall one.

“No, the Sîitrîm thing is his signature, it doesn't feel right to use it.” Avenîl replied, putting a hand on her chin. “I suppose we could do it the old-fashioned way, and just collect their blood for later.” The sorcerer shrugged.

“Why not? Let's do it.” Âûm walked forward, twirling his dagger around. He walked straight to Lîetôs, who could only stare at the blank mask of the sorcerer's face in silence. Whoever you really are, I hope you're on a one-way path to Hell, fumed Lîetôs, wishing he could spit on this sorcerer who wore that hated name which only one other surpassed in vileness. “Sorry, Captain, but justice must be done. I'd say it's nothing personal, but it really is!”

But I never did anything, you wretched- The blade plunged between his helmet and chestplate, and the last thing Sir Lîetôs saw was the night sky as he fell backwards.

Author's Notes:

Enter party three. Can't believe I finished this, give me a medal or a cookie, or something!

>>>Across the Sea, Part II