A few days and neither Arthur nor William arrived.
Al was starting to worry, though he and Dany remained firm, trusting the mad spearman's judgement.
"He knows the land better than me," Dany said, swinging her greatsword slowly in practice.
"So does she," Al muttered, looking up, bow out with and arrow in hand. "Her shadows are everywhere, even now I can feel them looking at us…"
He didn't want to admit it, but no matter how familiar he was with the darkness, there was an odd chill.
His fail was still a bit heavier than usual, and while he had confidence in his armor, he knew there was more to slaying vampyres than bloody ironite. The power of Eldreth was real, a living breathing monster itself. Fire in his veins settled from slaughtering the bloodhounds a few days ago, and he was getting cold.
It was late in the night when they couldn't sleep most, all of them taking turns to keep watch.
Yet on the early morning when there was a slight fog in the air, none of them could sleep.
Light shined within the woods, something like the sun. He almost thought it would rise, but it wasn't the white blazing star of the fabled Light Lord.
Just a young father with a mad spearman.
And a young master close behind them.
"Fuck's she doing here?!" He spat, on his feet, raising his war hammer.
Arthur shrugged, pointing his spear at the sky. "She was insistent. Last Nathan tried to burn her and Allison alive, he caught sight of her, heard her scream, then pulled his wyvern up."
He growled, looking at Al.
She sighed, "It might be for the best. He really did seem to recognize her, and it very well spared her life and hundreds others. Besides, we can't just leave her in the village can we?"
He stared Larosa down.
William put a firm hand on him, the young father's determination with a fiery bright palm.
"We will need her," the young father declared. "Trust in me, and the eight lords."
"Your lords seem to be doing such a wonderful job keeping good folk alive."
William raised an eyebrow. "You're still here, are not? You came back, yet again, all the way from-."
"I said good people, boy," he grunted, turning away to ready his weapons.
Stay alive, he wanted to tell her.
Don't do anything stupid, don't be a hero, don't try to same him until we skewer the First Sword, he needed to shout in Larosa's ears. Those words would fall on deaf ears, as they'd gone through the trouble of dragging her out there.
He wanted her for Nathan's sake, but not if it meant bringing her to Eldreth's doorstep.
Then again the bitch was playing dirty, as what reason would the First Sword have for Nathan that she couldn't do herself?
As the party walked along the wall towards the sealed tunnel entrance, he spoke to Larosa alone, a few paces behind everyone.
"If it's between you and killing the First Sword, I-."
"I understand," she muttered coldly. "I'd do the same if I were you."
His eyes widened. "Y-you do now? Well good on you lass, you've got a better grip on the world than most."
She shook her head. "Fuck the world. Fuck the king, fuck the war, fuck everything that took him, and me, from the valley, four years ago."
She wiped her eyes, and kept a firm hand on something beneath her collar.
"I vow to free him no matter what. He's a good, honest, loving man. He deserves better."
"He said something similar about you," he said as they arrived at the entrance.
She said nothing to that, but tugged at whatever it was within her under her collar.
William spoke in old elvish, trying to command some sort of counterspell to the seal on the tunnel. An hour passed, then the lad's palms grew bright like the sun. Everyone covered their eyes, and he almost believed he'd go blind before it was over. Yet the seal remained unscathed.
Smoke withered from the engravings and nothing more.
"Curses!" William griped. "I'd have better luck taking a pickaxe to this."
He stepped up to the seal, eyes steaming.
"Stand back," he said, raising his war hammer.
Ironite, almost fifty kegs, with spikes on the ends and a hilt engraved with bitter silver for Marryvia's worst hordes. He struck, the hammer's head against rock so loud it rang his own ears.
Not even a scratch.
"What the fuck?!" Al said, as he swung again, and again.
He couldn't have agreed more.
After at least several dozen swings, he caught his breath. He offered Dany a try, though she shrugged, figuring it'd make little difference.
"We've no choice," Arthur said. "Only other way in is the dog pits, but…"
"Fine," he said, wiping down his hammer head. "Nothing like bashing a few dogs open to make meself feel better."
"The dogs won't be the issue," Arthur said, rubbing his forehead. "There is, according to Edgar gods rest him, a new altar just past the hounds' gate. A church, where Qaurrath's most powerful shade makes offerings to their Dark Lord."
"Perfect," he said, twirling his hammer. "Bashing a crone choir boy'll feel better."
"You've seen him before," Arthur said, looking back and forth between he and Al. "He's the one who brought Nathan to Quarrath's throne, and killed that massive gargoyle."
He scowled at the seal, then looked up at the wall.
"Even better," he decided, then looked at William. "We've a means of dealing with dark matters."
They made for the fountain, a bit more haste in their step.
Stars were glimmering by the time they arrived, and the young father blessed all their weapons.
With what little was left in the fountain, William laid his hands inside. A few chants of ancient elvish, and water flowed with a faint white spark. Al dipped in her arrows, Dany her greatsword, Arthur his spear and short sword, and he at last his hammer, flailhead, and longsword.
They sheathed their weapons, and though he could only sheath his word, the blessing would only activate when the moment they wielded their weapons.
"From the moment you pull them out again, you'll only have so much time," the young father explained. "I'd say at least a few minutes, but don't push your luck. Put down the dark paladin fast."
They set out, every one of them, for what used to be a shattered wall.
The walk seemed longer, and colder, and even the stars above started to dim. Each head of the three pointed star, round the priceless stones of Elderth's walls, seemed to darken.
Shadows cast farther, tree along the wall looking like lashing arms of a forest giant.
They found no hole in the wall, yet there was a darker slab of granite, covering what must've been a stampeding hellhound's fury.
"There," he said, pointing with his hammer.
No growls, snarls, or barks.
It was silent.
For all they knew, nothing was on the other side of the wall, and Quarrath herself may have been in the Burning Lands all along.
Arthur tapped the dark granite, shaking his head. "Sloppy. Almost like they didn't even care t-."
He shattered the wall in one swing, carving in a dozen meter high hole.
Another swing, and the top of the walls shook. Arthur and Al were uneasy, but Dany was silent, arms folded as if she were waiting for such a moment. The wall tumbled down after a few more swings, and he covered both Larosa and William.
A few boulder sized chunks pinged off his armor. Nothing ironite couldn't handle.
Beyond the dust, and a pile of black rubble they scaled over, the pits were no pits whatsoever.
It was a field of black grass, with several fountains and statues, and a black marble path curving in an around every monument. One path, larger than the others, led to the church Arthur spoke of.
They walled the marble path, shadows shifting round them, cast from the black fountains and deadliest of Marryvia's royalty.
A few names William dared not speak, but one he recalled as 'Dravksar the Black Death.' Even as a statue, Drav was at least twice the height of anyone in the party. His fangs were long as swords, wings like bats, a massive greatsword resting beneath clasped clawed hands, and a hood covered his long bony face.
"He cast a shadow over all the kingdoms at once point," William whispered, daring himself to look upon the statue. "He wasn't even the most terrifying of his clansmen."
He spat on the statue, and everyone, even Dany, looked at him in horror.
"And he's dead," he muttered, "enough storytelling good father."
Larosa at least came to her senses, shaking her head. "Agreed. Good riddance to the rest of these lot."
The church itself wasn't so large, but he had to admit, the most impressive looking building he'd ever seen.
It was as if one took a chunk of Eldreth's palace and shaped it into a smaller sibling. The roof was shingled black, windows tinted mosaic with engravings of the Dark Lord's star, and their were lanterns, if one could call them lanterns at all, glowing on all four corners of the roof with a low blue light.
The door opened to the church, and winds howled form the inside.
Dany drew her greatsword first, and it glowed bright as any of William's blessings.
He unslung his flail, Arthur stayed back with Al, spear out and glowing. Al's bowstring glowed white, and his flail sparked with the light of the lords.
William's eyes glowed, and he knew the young father and master would be safe outside.
With the Embers he stepped in, to Eldreth's great church of Cerebus.