As Mithiel came barrelling around the front of the house he saw the young man from St. Crispin's League that he had talked to earlier running into the house followed by some men with a fallen column.


Looking frantically about he scanned the area for his daughter. Finally he saw her. Standing against a fence post and holding onto her young husband. He began walking to her, thinking of what he was going to say to the daughter he had never met. Then suddenly a young man wearing the cloak of the Order of the Red Lions ran up and grabbed Mithiel.


"Mithiel...Mithiel...." the man panted from exhaustion.


"Take a breath lad, what you be tryin' to tell me?" asked the Armsman.


"It's Arguyle...we...we....can't find him." said the soldier.


Mithiel's mind was racing. Can't find Arguyle? He had to be around here somewhere.


"Calm down. He's around somewhere. Did you check the King's Guard?" asked Mithiel.


"Aye. We looked there. We've looked everywhere. Everywhere but the house. Surely he wouldn't still be in there. It's an inferno." said the Red Lion.


Before the man had finished his sentence Mithiel was sprinting for the front door of the manor house. The flames were shooting from the windows and the entire roof was consumed now. The heat was as intense as any he had ever felt and he could feel his skin blistering under his armor. Then he burst into the house and began searching the rooms. Finally down the hall he saw something. It was a sword laying on the ground. Glowing red. Held by a gauntleted hand.

Jaelyan was deadly silent in the company of the King's men, her eyes spitting venomous blades at Mithiel's back. She would bide her time as her options seemed a bit scarce at the moment. She turned to look behind her, watching her home burn to the ground.


Then she watched as the fool highlander barreled back into the house, screaming for Arguyle. "Perhaps tis nae a complete loss after all," she whispered to herself with a soft chuckle.


Meanwhile, Moryan saw the armsman dash back into the house. She clutched Carrington's hand and pointed. "Where the bloody hell is he going? Isna that Arguyle's brother?" As Carrington nodded, the two looked at one another, and immediately bolted into the inferno themselves and chased after Mithiel.


At the same moment, they all spied the great sword, and the gauntleted hand. The room ablaze with searing heat and there was little time left!


"We've got ta get him out o' there!" she yelled, and immediatly set to digging out her friend.

/bump

Mithiel and Moryan frantically pulled burning timber from on top of Arguyle. Mithiel could feel the blisters on his hand bursting open as he grabbed red hot board after red hot board. Sweat dropped from his forehead and he could see the soot gathering on the corners of Moryan's mouth and in her eyes.


Arguyle had not moved since they began digging and Mithiel was becoming more and more worried that they were too late. Finally they made it to the huge beam that had pinned Arguyle to the ground. It had come down right across his back and his armor had been dented as him hammered by a battering ram. Mithiel tried to lift the beam but it was too heavy. He and Moryan tried to pull Arguyle from beneath it but the weight of the beam was too much. He was pinned and the only way to get him out was to get the beam off of him.


Knowing that his brother's life depended on the next few moments he bent over and grabbed the beam. Then in a feat of Herculean strength he let out a bellow and lifted the beam up and over his head.


"G..G..Get him out!!" cried Mithiel to Moryan.


Moryan just nodded. She lifted Arguyle onto her shoulder and carried him out of the house. Just as Mithiel saw her clear the hallway he dropped the beam onto the floor. Then he heard a creaking sound beneath him and as he began to move the floor gave way. Mithiel and the floor both crashed 10 feet below into the cellar. As he lay there dazed he saw the rafters from the ceiling above give way. Then there was bright sunlight shining through the gaping whole in the roof. A sharp pain in his chest. A gasp for air. Wet liquid spraying upward. Red liquid. Blood. Mithiel looked down toward his feet and he saw a one of the burning rafters sticking out of his chest.


His mind wandered to Ravyin. A tear ran down his cheek and he took his last breath. Finally at peace.

The four men swung the partial column and it smashed into the door. Sparks cascaded down around them. Crispian urged them on. They swung again.


Arguyle paced frantically a few feet away, heedless of the raging blaze. He muttered and gestured, great sword still in hand. "Damn it, lad, get that door down!" he snapped, emotions and command instinct raging at war with each other. Didn't the boy know tha D'Vena HAD to be caught now and this all ended?


There was a snapping sound, slightly louder than any before. Then a renting of timbers. In a shower, the ceiling gave along a ten foot length between the doorway and the far wall.


In a cascade, timbers, plaster, lathe, and pegs fell to the ground. The four workers cried in panic as the wall teetered toward them and then gave way. With a sickly ripping, it seperated from foundation and ceiling, falling forward.


Battle training kicked in as Crispian brought his shield up and crouched down, shifting much of the flaming debris away from him. As he ducked his head, he saw Arguyle stagger as a beam struck him.


"GENERAL!" he screamed, hurling himself at the highlander and hitting square in the back. Arguyle flew forward, for despite being a small man, there was not a part of Crispian that was not solid muscle. With a grunt, the highlander slid on the floor. The beam continued its fall, landing solidly on Crispian's back.


The last thing he recalled was seeing a large section of plastered wall falling on Arguyle, sparks scattering forth and then a cool darkness.

 

-----signature-----

At the edge of the gaping hole, Crispian's sprawled body laid.


The blessings from Darnyk still gave some protection to him.


He dreamt of cool fields of winter wheat, a flaxen haired girl, running barefoot to the stream with Jashen and Asotrem, stealing apples, learning the sword from Oakleif, Mirashta teaching him his letters, and then the sun, bright, hot on a summer day.

 

-----signature-----

Constantine and his escort arrived at the scene near the tail end of the conflict. He had hoped that it would not come to this but it did and it appeared that for the moment at least the usurper had been defeated. He road past the armed guards escorting Jaelyn D'Vena and gave a quick order.


"She is to be taken to the dungeons straight away. She is to have no contact with anyone." said the King.


The soldier in command of the escort saluted crisply, "Aye Your Majesty. Straight away."


Then Constantine spurred his horse forward. The house was still burning and there was a large crash and a billow of smoke as part of the roof collapsed. He could see the mercenary Moryan coming out of the house covered with soot and skin pink from the intense heat. She was carrying a large Highlander. He was wearing the burned remains of a cloak bearing the emblem of the Order of the Red Lions. The King immediately recognized the man as his friend Arguyle MacFadden.


Constantine dismounted and ran to aid Moryan. They gently laid Arguyle down and called for a cleric. Lightly pulling his helm from his head they found his face and neck blistered and burned.


"Cleric!!" yelled Constantine. "Cleric!!"


Moryan stroked the red hair of her friend. Constantine thought for a moment that he saw a look of fear on her face or perhaps it was only deep concern.


Suddenly, Arguyle's eyes opened and his lips began to move. His words were nothing more than wisps of breath. Constantine leaned forward and placed his ear over Arguyle's mouth.


"What are you trying to say old friend?" asked the King.


"Cris.......pian.......still.....in....side." whispered the Highlander.


Constantine looked at the house, fires burning. More of the roof collapsing. Then a look of fierce determination came over him and he called for his personal guard. Together the King and his dozen guards entered the house.


"Crispian! Crispian!" shouted the men.


They made their way from room to room and from hallway to hallway. Finally they found themselves at the area where the large hole was in the roof. Coughing and trying to clear soot from their eyes the men waded through the rubble. Then they saw it. A gaping hole in the floor and on its edge lay Crispian. The King and his guards cleared the rubble and made a path to the Seneschal of St. Crispin's League. Then carefully lifting him onto their shoulders the guards carried Crispian from the burning house.


The King, however, saw something or someone at the bottom of the hole. He grabbed two fo the guard and they lowered themselves into the hole. There they found a man impaled by a beam that had falled. Constantine recognized him immediately as Arguyle's older brother, Mithiel. The King knew that there was no way Mithiel could have survived the impaling and he ordered the men to pull the beam from his chest. They did and were aghast at the sight of the gaping hole where chain mail had been. Flesh and bone torn and broken. Blood flowing from the wound still.


The men lifted Mithiel and then began moving some of the fallen beams to form a makeshift ramp up to the floor above. Then they pulled Mithiel from the basement and carried him outside as well. When they were outside the King gathered his men and he ordered them to take the MacFadden brothers and Crispian to the palace and to place them under the care of the Royal Surgeon. He also ordered them to awaken the Pope and bring him to pray over the bodies.


He watched as the three men were carried off and then he turned to find the others.

Ravyin saw the form of her father, looking lifeless and drenched in blood being brought out of the house. With a scream, she launched herself towards him, words of healing and prayer upon her lips.


"FATHER! NAE! Dun leave me!"


She was weak in skill, all her tutors said, but where she was weak in body, her heart and soul took over. Suddenly, a rush of gleaming light surrounded the young cleric. Whispers of wind and light arced around her young body ruffling her shimmering red hair, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she knelt at her father's side and pressed her hands to his chest. "Live," she mumured.


"Live" she whispered again.


Around her the warriors took note, and suddenly it was deadly quiet. Moryan knelt nearby at Arguyle's side, cradling his head against her lap. Crispian lay near as well, his brother Jashen having found him. A bevy of clerics were closeby.


Drayton stood at his wife's shoulder, but at that moment, there was nothing in the world for Ravyin but the man that gave her life. His own life having been taken cruely from him.


Once more, she prayed, "Live."


With a jolt of healing energies and the touch of God's hand, her body stiffened and she gave herself to her faith.


And it was answered. Mithiel's eyes rolled under the lids, and he opened them slowly to gaze upon the face of his daughter.

Jashen half-ran and half-stumble to where the royal guardsmen were lowering Crispian to the ground. His brother's face was darkened with soot, eye-brows singed, and had it not been for the strap of his helm, his hair would have been too.


His armor, a great source of pride and always keep acid-cleaned to a high, shining finish, was scracthed, scraped and dented. His cloak was a ruin, as was the leather scabbard for swords and dagges. A ruined crossbow, souvenier from the Pygmy War in Lyonesse, hung from the remains of a frog at his right hip.


"Crisp?" Jashen croaked out, as his eyes filled with tears. He lifted Crispian's shoulder, but his head just rolled back on limp muscles. "C'mon, Crisp, brother," he whispered, fighting for control.


Tannir stood quietly watching, then stepped forward, resting hands on Jashen's shoudlers. "Tis a risk he knew, Sir Jashen," the boy said quietly. Jashen's wracking sobs errupted loudly as he buried his face against the squire's leg.


"Dear God, no!" he wailed, dispair tearing him apart. He exploded, suddenly, in deep rage, pounding fists into Crispian's breastplate of armor. "ou aren't supposed to do this!" he cried, fists hammer again and again into the marred platemail. "ou ass! You selfish ass! You can't die on me!" His clenched fists continued to thud against the armor, metal studs in Jashen's gauntlets ringing out on some blows.


Crispian coughed loudly, convulsing to a half-sitting position. "Then don't cave my chest in!" he gasped. He grunted as he laid back down, chest heaving deep breathes of fresh air into them, the burned and tortured throat convulsing.


Jashen, smiling around his tears, laughed suddenly, loudly, "ou ass!" he yelped again. "I should kill you myself for a scare like that!" He grabbed his brother into a rough, fierce embrace, which Crispian weakly returned, allowing Jashen to help him up.


"If you don't let go of me, people will think I might kiss YOU!" he quipped, hobbling as Jashen's helped him across the yard. "And I'd rather have to be reminded of that from all the things that have happened in the last day or two!"

 

-----signature-----

Mithiel found himself in a long, dark tunnel. At the end of the tunnel though there was a bright light. He felt himself being pulled to the light. He could hear voices, just beyond recognition, beckoning to him. Calling him to come to them. He wanted to go to them.


He felt at peace. So he walked toward the light. As he got closer he could see the flickering silhouettes of people standing in the light. They were waving to him and he felt compelled to wave back. He could not recognize them yet but he knew that he wanted to be with them.


"Mithy! Come home lad! Come home!" whispered the wind in the tunnel. A familiar voice.


"Come home!" called his mother.


"Ma? Ma!!!!" called Mithiel.


"Come to us son! Come home now lad!" said his father.


"Da!! I'm coming Da!" cried Mithiel. Tears streaming down his face. His heart pounded as he ran to his parents. He was home at last.


Then suddenly a slash of light shot in front of him and there was an Angelic Visage facing him.


"Mithiel. You have given your life so that your brother could live. Eternal happiness awaits you in the Kingdom of Heaven but you must choose. The Father will grant your entrance into his House and you can be with your parents for eternity. But there is another that needs and wants you to be with her. Your daughter Ravyin even now prays as she has never before. Will you enter Heaven or will you go to your daugther?"


Mithiel paused, torn between the pull of his parents and the love of the daughter he had never known.


"She needs me? She prays for me to come back to her? Why? I have never been there. I don't deserve her." asked Mithiel.


"I am sorry Mithiel. I cannot answer your questions. I am the gatekeeper and will open the gate of your choosing. Search your heart for your answer." answered the Angel.


Mithiel thought about his daughter and he thought about his parents. Then he knew what he must do.


"Ma! Da! I'm sorry. I'll be with you one day! I promise!" shouted Mithiel.


"our choice is made Mithiel. I think you will find things not quite the way they were when you return. Trust in God and obey his wishes." said the Angel.


Then there was another slash of light. A gasp for air. Then the vision of an red haired Angel looking down at him with tears in her eyes.


It was Ravyin. His daughter.