"How is this possible?" asked Riona. "I thought all of the ghosts in Ascalon City had been driven mad by the Foefire?"
"Remember the story I told," said Ember. "This is the Savione I spoke of. He was dead before Adelbern had used Magdaer to ignite the Foefire. I assume that this man certainly had unfinished business to attend to."
"This reunion is all very touching," Kranxx said, his voice rising to a furious stage whisper, "but we have bigger problems right now!"
"As long as they do not hear or see you, the soldiers will not enter here," said Savione. "They fear the king's wrath more than anything."
"Is he here?" Dougal's head snapped around as he looked for any sign of Adelbern.
"Oh, dear, no," said Savione. "He patrols the battlements of the North Wall night and day, waiting for any sign of another charr assault." At this, the ghost gave Ember a sidelong glance.
The wailing of the ghosts outside grew louder as these thoughts spun through Dougal's head. "Those ghosts seem like they're still hungry for blood," he said.
Savione grimaced with regret. "I've rarely seen them this agitated. No outsiders have ever gotten this close to the royal chambers since the Foefire. It is possible that they will eventually choose to ignore my orders and charge the tower on their own initiative if they realize you are here."
Riona frowned. "I wonder if they would be so quick to follow your commands if they knew you betrayed your king. If the charr's story is true, you fought against him, with the charr at the very gates."
"Untrue and unkind." Savione looked down his nose at Riona, offended. "I was doing my best to save the soldiers His Majesty was determined to murder! Adelbern was desperate to keep the charr from taking Ascalon City, and he was prepared to do anything to stop it. He was furious at our soldiers for failing to stop the charr advance, and thought them cowards."
"But they weren't cowards," said Dougal.
"Hardly! They were the bravest men and women I ever knew. But we were arrayed against an implacable foe with seemingly endless resources and arms."
Savione scowled at Riona. "The Searing drove us from Rin, and the shame of that imbalanced His Majesty. He began to argue with Prince Rurik, his only child, who advocated making peace with Adelbern's old enemies in Kryta and taking shelter within its borders. Then Rurik broke with the king and perished while leading a faction of Ascalonians into Kryta."
The ghost sighed at the ancient loss. "His Majesty was devastated by his son's death, but he became more determined than ever to stand up against the charr and prove his son wrong-that he could save the kingdom, single-handedly if need be. When it became clear that Ascalon City would fall and that he could not stop it, he… I think he went mad."
"I don't know," said Kranxx, his voice ragged and worn. "Looks to me like he got exactly what he wanted."
The others, including the ghost, gaped at him.
Dougal looked at Kranxx and could have sworn the asura had been crying. Still, he was an asura, and his logic outran his feelings. "What? Haven't any of you ever studied game theory? If you can't win, you do the next best thing: you make sure your enemy can't win, either. It works more often than you'd think, because it changes the parameters of the game without your opponent's permission. Often even without their knowledge. You're not playing to win any longer. You just want to keep them from winning, and that's a lot harder to stop."
The ghostly courtier blinked. "What sort of creature are you?" he said.
"I am asura," said Kranxx. "I am after your time."
"Indeed, but you impute a great deal of rationalism to a man who had clearly gone mad." Savione's chilly glare froze Kranxx solid on the spot. "I was there with him. I heard his rants. I saw the insanity dancing in his eyes, by the way, as he drove this dagger into my chest!"
As he spoke, Savione advanced on the asura, the ghostly dagger embedded in his vest. Kranxx shrank behind Dougal rather than face the ghost's naked wrath. "Point taken," he squeaked.
"Death has done nothing to improve His Majesty's condition." Savione crossed his arms over his middle, resting just under the blade in his chest. "In death, his madness grows. He speaks as if Ascalon City were not in ruins, as if the charr have been pushed back, and as if his son still lived."
Dougal knew they needed to get moving fast. If Adelbern found them, Savione wouldn't be able to protect them. To the ghostly courtier he said, "We came here for a great treasure mentioned on an ancient map. Do you know where such a treasure would be?"
"Ah," said Savione, and now the ghost allowed himself a grim smile, "you got my note."
" 'Your note'?" said Dougal.
"During the first few years of my… undeath, I thought I could gain my revenge on Adelbern. I created maps and notes describing the city and the treasures in the vault. I cast them loose on the winds and watched them carry beyond the battlements. My hopes were that someone would arrive and dispatch Adlebern's ghost. There were those who came, driven by avarice and promised gold, but the army of ghosts and the mad king repelled them. Eventually I ran out of ink and patience, and I abandoned the effort."
Riona said quietly, "Dak's map." Dougal nodded. One of Savione's missives had ended up in the old archives and from there fell into Dak's hands.
But Dougal noted that, although Savione claimed disinterest in the matter, he still seemed to be very interested in some form of vengeance against the king.
"I doubt we can slay a dead king," he said, "but we do seek one of his treasures. The weapon borne by the charr leader-an ungue set with gems. It is called the Claw of the Khan-Ur."
Savione nodded. "I know of such a weapon. His Majesty stripped it from the corpse of the imperator who brought it here. For many years His Majesty prowled through the city, salvaging armor, weapons, and anything of value. He sealed it in the vault of the royal treasury."
"So your ancient maps were correct," said Riona.
"Mostly," said Savione. "Most of the entrances to the palace itself were shattered in the Foefire, and those that survived have collapsed as the ruined buildings have settled. If you want to get to the royal vault, you would have to descend down the pit where the Heart of the Foefire lies."
Dougal overlaid the image of the current ruins with what he had memorized from the map. Yes, if he lowered himself into that pit, he should be relatively close.
"Will you help us?" asked Dougal.
"I already have," said the ghost. "And I think removing one of Adelbern's prizes will vex him greatly. If you can discomfort him in the process, I would be much obliged. While I cannot send the king's ghost to the Mists, I can still take some comfort in petty vengeance. Perhaps I can get him mad enough-" He would have said more, but Riona interrupted.
"He's here," said Riona, who had moved back from the tower's entrance. She had dropped her voice to a whisper.
"What do you mean, 'He's here'?" asked Ember, matching her tone.
"I mean he's here," said Riona. "Adelbern. On the parapet right above us." She pointed to the ceiling, and everyone looked up and listened. Dougal heard nothing.
"He usually remains on the North Wall or under the castle, in the catacombs," said Savione. "What would he be doing above us?"
"How often do you get living visitors?" Dougal asked.
"Almost never," Savione admitted.
"He must have heard his soldiers chasing us," said Dougal. "He's up there looking for us."
A great voice that chilled Dougal to his bones rang out throughout the city.
"Guards!" bellowed King Adelbern. "I have found our invaders! Come to me, and we shall mete out our justice for their crimes!"
Responding to their king's command, a roar went up among the soldiers outside.
"We don't have much time," Savione said. "You must flee."
"I have a plan," said Riona. "The Claw of the Khan-Ur is in the catacombs, right? And we can get to it from the Heart of the Foefire, correct?"
"And between us and it stand scores of angry ghosts," said Ember. "I think we covered that part already."
"So we can't just walk up and grab it," Riona said, "unless someone can draw the ghosts away while the rest of us find the Claw."