"As with the Claw," said Riona.
"As with the Claw," agreed Dougal. "It is a tenuous link, but the most likely one."
"Mysteries upon mysteries," yawned Gullik. "I know I have spent a hard night walking, and more in sight. Let us think more of this later, after a good sleep."
Kranxx volunteered for the first watch. Dougal offered to join him. Riona didn't say anything to him, but she was less frosty and more relaxed as she laid out her bedroll. The shock of the previous night had washed over her, Dougal decided, and she had come to terms with it. That did not surprise him. If Riona was anything, she was resilient.
Putting his back against one of the feed barn's walls, Dougal pulled out the locket with Vala's cameo. It felt warm and reassuring in the darkness. Dougal removed the Golem's Eye as well and saw a warm red spark dancing at its heart. He wondered if he could use it to see the cameo.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kranxx was suddenly at his side. "How did you get your hands on a vintage ambient thaumaturgic construct like that? They don't enchant them like that anymore."
Dougal wanted to hide the gem, to keep it a secret. Yet, hadn't keeping secrets done nothing but hurt him and the others? Slowly he held it up and let it catch the moonlight shining through the slots of the barn wall.
"I… recovered it," Dougal said, "with Killeen's help. From the tomb of an asura named Blimm."
At the mention of Blimm's name, Kranxx choked. Dougal smacked him on the back to help him clear his throat.
"May I… see it?" said the asura, with the voice of a child asking for a third piece of candy.
Dougal's mouth was a thin line, but hesitantly he handed the gem over.
The asura examined the gem closely. "It's been deactivated," he said. "That's standby illumination in the heart. That is old magic, from just after my ancestors emerged on the surface." The asura blinked at it, turned it over in his hands, whistled softly, then handed it back. Dougal noticed that Kranxx seemed to have the same problem returning it that he had had giving it.
"It did that automatically after we left the crypts beneath Divinity's Reach," said Dougal.
Kranxx grinned as Dougal pocketed the gem. "It's an archaic spell matrix, but I think I know just how to recharge it. If you're interested, of course."
Dougal felt uncomfortable. The Golem's Eye was a victory, messy and bought at a high price, but a victory nonetheless. And should everything go south, it would bring a pretty gold piece in Lion's Arch, or even Rata Sum.
And the sudden avarice in Kranxx's eye reminded him of Clagg.
"I think we have other things to worry about," said Dougal, and, to his surprise, the asura did not argue or offer any retort. Instead he just nodded and crossed to the far side of the barn and sat by the other entrance.
Yet, through the rest of their watch, Dougal felt that the asura was watching him, not the outside world. And when, after a few uneventful hours, Ember and Gullik took their watch, Dougal shifted the gem to another pocket, buttoned it, and then slept on that side for the rest of the evening.
It was almost morning when Dougal awoke, refreshed. His hand went to his pocket, but the gem was still there, and he cursed his own distrust. He looked around: Riona, Ember, and Kranxx were all asleep in the soft hay. Gullik was alone and awake by one of the barn doors.
"Couldn't sleep?" Dougal asked.
Gullik shook his head. "Normally I sleep like Bear herself, but sleep was a prey I could not catch this evening."
Dougal sat down next to the norn. Because of their difference in size, he felt like a child sitting with a parent.
"Thinking about Killeen?"
Gullik nodded.
"It's not your fault."
"Of course it is! If I had not charged into battle against that minion, we might have escaped from the Dragonbrand clean!"
"Or it might have run us down and killed us all."
"I would like to believe you are right."
Dougal thought about this for a moment, then spoke. "Gullik, you charge into battle. That's who you are, and we all know it. Killeen, she stuck by her friends, and we all knew that too. What happened was inevitable."
"You mean she had to die?"
"Not at all. I mean you had to fight the creature, and she had to help you."
"And you had to join us too!"
Dougal smiled a bit at this, the first time he'd managed it since Killeen had been killed. "Apparently. Either way, you can't fault yourself for being yourself. The rest of us don't."
Gullik let out a deep sigh. "It is a painful thing when friends perish. It is a worse thing when they die because of your choices."
"I understand," said Dougal. "And I've often thought that you should never adventure with people you like, because it is difficult to lose them. But having friends with you makes the journey so much better."
The norn reached out and slapped Dougal on the back with a surprisingly soft blow. "You would make a good norn. And I don't toss around such an honor without reason!"
Gullik's loud voice woke the others up, and they pulled themselves awake. Already the sun was cresting the far horizon, throwing prison-bar shadows through the barn. They breakfasted on cold rations, and even Riona seemed the better for a good sleep.
"We should burrow in for the day," said Riona. "It is too dangerous to be out in daylight."
"No," said Ember, and for once her voice was subdued, almost worried. "There will be herdsmen out for the cattle. I doubt there will be any patrols, but the charr are very good at reporting trespassers."
"What do you recommend?" asked Dougal.
The charr took a deep breath and let the air out in a slow growl. "Gullik," she said, "do you still have those manacles?"
Gullik smiled and said, "Of course! You gave them to me, and I have held them for you!"
Riona's eyes went wide. "No," she said. "No, that is not what's going to happen."
"I'm afraid so," said Ember, hiding whatever delight she might be feeling behind a concerned exterior. "The only way you two humans can enter the Ascalon Basin is as my prisoners."
You have to be kidding," said Riona, flushing.
"I wish I were," said Ember. "We have been fortunate so far, but we are moving into areas occupied by charr settlers, warbands, and small patrols. We can travel by day as a charr and her captured human renegades."
Dougal nodded at the idea, but Riona said, "You cannot expect us to be unarmed and defenseless in the midst of charr territory."
"Remind me," said Gullik, "have we had this discussion before? It seems oddly familiar."
"Give me a moment," said Dougal, and steered Riona away from the others. She resisted stiffly but finally went with him. "You realize you sound like Ember when we were in Ebonhawke."