Matt Forbeck - Ghosts of Ascalon

"Are you sure you people weren't looking at my little surprise when it went off?" Kranxx said with a nasty chuckle. "Because you all seem blind. Look at her armor. Look at her mannerisms. She's from the Ash Legion, or I'm a skritt."

"Are you sure?" Riona asked. "I thought they were all assassins and spies."

Ember shot Riona a withering look, but Dougal stared at Ember. Now that he thought about it, she did look like an Ash legionnaire. Her dark clothing, her wiry build, her style of killing-it all added up.

"Not all of them are spies and assassins," Dougal said. "Just the more successful ones. Iron Legion tends to attract warbands with a flair for explosives and weapons. Blood Legion gathers the stronger, more violent types. Flame Legion still has the most spellcasters and shamans of any group."

Riona strode over to confront the charr. "Then tell us who you're really working for, Crusader Doomforge."

Dougal expected the charr to react typically, leaping to her feet and snarling threats. Instead she remained seated and just looked up at Riona. "My orders come from General Soulkeeper. Those orders are to find the Claw of the Khan-Ur and return it to her."

"But who is your real master?"

"I have no 'master,' " Ember growled. "Yes, the asura is correct: I am part of the Ash Legion. Doom Warband. My imperator is Malice Swordshadow. She personally sent me to serve with the Vigil. She knew that I would prove valuable there."

"To who?" asked Riona.

Ember shifted uncomfortably. "To Soulkeeper, of course, and-and to the Ash Legion as well."

"So you've been spying on the Vigil for the Ash Legion?" Dougal asked.

Ember paused for a moment, then nodded. "General Soulkeeper knew this from the moment I reported to her. She is no fool."

"And she let you go on with your charade despite this?" Riona's tone betrayed her disbelief.

Ember nodded. "She got what she wanted: an effective soldier ready to do her bidding. And she gave Imperator Swordshadow what she wanted: a direct report on the Vigil's activities from someone she could trust. Their interests do not conflict. No harm is done."

"But if it had been, would you have cared?" said Killeen.

"I don't much care to work with spies," observed Gullik. "Only a fool trusts someone who lies for a living."

Riona shook her head. "It is impossible to keep many masters. Eventually you must decide where your loyalty lies."

Ember responded: "Then we are fortunate we have not reached that stage yet."

There was a long moment of silence then. Dougal broke it. "Swordshadow is part of the truce faction. That's it, isn't it? That's why there is no conflict."

"I could not say," said Ember. "We did not discuss the matter."

"Because if it were known that Swordshadow supported it, there would be direct opposition from the other legions," continued Dougal.

Ember nodded and said, "There are many, among all the legions, who would accept a truce, if couched in the proper terms. But at the same time, there are many who would seek to reconcile with the Flame Legion." The rising bile in her voice indicated where she stood on the issue.

Dougal nodded. "There are those among the humans who would see us succeed, and those who prefer to see us fail as well."

Kranxx coughed and said, "Which brings up something I've been thinking about."

The gathered group looked at the asura. He was frowning and turning his hat in his hands as he spoke.

"When you lot came through the gate from Divinity's Reach, the Vanguard wasn't supposed to be there. It was supposed to be Seraph guards who were manning the post this morning, and I had an… arrangement, if you want to call it that, with their officer of the day. I didn't notice that the Vanguard were on the walls until after you came through and all fresh hell broke loose." He looked around at the group and his eyes eventually fell on Riona. "Somehow word of your arrival preceded you."

Riona's back stiffened. "Are you saying we have a spy among us?"

"I thought we determined that," said Killeen. "That would be Ember." Dougal shushed her.

"That would be a conclusion to which I would not immediately jump," said Kranxx, "but since you broached the matter, let us have at it. Who else knows about your recent activities?"

Riona sat down and thought about it. "Almorra, of course."

"A clam," said Kranxx. "A veritable stone. She barely gives enough information to her subordinates, much less some outside forces."

"Others in the Vigil, then," said Riona, and Ember slowly nodded in agreement.

"A good possibility," said Kranxx, "but Almorra also tends to recruit driven, dedicated men and women." He looked at Ember, then at Riona, then said, "You snuck out this morning, Riona. Where did you go?"

"You don't think…" Riona started, her voice rising.

"Riona went scouting," said Dougal quickly. He didn't want the others to know about her doubts and second thoughts in this matter-not at this time, on top of everything else. "She thought there was some way down off the walls. That is where we found her, not five minutes from your door. She was… concerned… that you might not return."

"Or that I might buy my own safety for your own," said Kranxx sharply. "Don't be shy. I know asura that would sell their own birth parents for a safe bunk and a solid sinecure. I could have brought the Vanguard back with me, if that had been my intention, and spared us all a stroll through the sewers."

"I could have done the same, I suppose," said Riona. "And then there is this shared dream the sylvari has."

Killeen started, "It doesn't…"

"Work like that," finished Dougal, his brow furrowed. "Agreed. But we've been moving around so much, on little sleep, that I haven't thought much about what is bothering me about all this." He turned to Gullik, who was resting against a large boulder, watching the others talk. "How did you find me?"

The norn blanched visibly, as if Dougal had struck him. "What do you mean?"

"In Divinity's Reach," said Dougal. "I arrive there, and within the day you were in my room, drunk and loaded for bear."

Gullik smiled weakly. "I thought we had gotten beyond all that. Surely our experiences since have convinced you of my good intentions."

"How did you know?" Dougal asked, pressing hard now.

Gullik's lips disappeared as the norn obviously thought about how to phrase things. Then abandoned any hope for dissembling and said, "The asura."

"Me?" said Kranxx, surprised.

"The other one," said Gullik, "the one that was with you and Gyda when she died."

"Clagg," said Killeen, and she made the name sound like a curse.

"Clagg?" said Kranxx.

"Clagg," said Gullik, snapping his fingers as the memory settled in. "He came to me. I had been drinking. The Salty Dog was the tavern, I think. He bought me a few drinks. Told me what a wretch and a scoundrel you were and that you claimed all the credit in the battle that cost my dear cousin her life. That you denied her her story. And then he told me where to find you."

"He wound you up and let you loose," said Kranxx. "Sounds like an asura to me."

"I did say I was sorry about all that," said Gullik. "That is one reason I wanted to help you, after I sobered up."

"Did Clagg tell you how he knew where I was?" said Dougal.

"At that moment, I was not concerned with such details," said Gullik.

"And yet he knew," said Riona. "If Clagg knew where Dougal was, what else did he know about the Vigil safe house?"

"Yeah," Dougal said. "And did he get to Ebonhawke before us?"

"Asura come through the gate all the time," said Kranxx. "None of them were named Clagg, but that means nothing. He could have walked in right under my nose."

"All this is meaningless now," said Ember. "Assuming that this asura was hunting you, we probably lost him back in Ebonhawke. I would like to see him follow us through those sewers and down that cliff."