It had not, Prince Wales thought, been the most successful operation in his career. Wading from the knee high waters onto the banks of the Tyne, the Prince Valliant took stock of his senses and his surroundings, stifling a grunt of pain as he probed at his tender side. Nothing broken, just bruises, some water magic and he would at least be able to move unhindered, for a while anyways. Beside him, Kino was struggling ashore still dressed in his sodden winter jacket along with a large, red haired fairy named Lukes.

"Kino, are you hurt?" Wales asked.

"I'll . . . live." Kino panted before glancing over to Lukes. "What about you?"

The larger Faerie gave a small nod. "I've been better, but I don't think I got hit or anything. Glad we all decided to ditch the heavy armor for this mission though, otherwise I'd probably be sitting at the bottom of the Tyne right now."

Wales agreed with the sentiment, glancing over his shoulder, the Tyne had deposited them some distance from where they had started. The castle was nowhere in sight . . . No, that wasn't quite right, the previous site of the castle could be seen in the distance, plumes of smoke and dust rising from the remains. Of the former strong point, nothing but broken masonry remained. A trio of dragon's were circling high above the ruins but there were no others in sight. The explosion had either forced them down, or else their riders were busy attempting to rescue their comrades from the rubble.

It truly was a miracle that they had made it out, in part thanks to Lukes delivering a fatal blow to their assailant's fire dragon. As the castle had begun to come apart with the detonation of the first of its powder stores, they had taken shelter once more in the river. Though Wales had been loath to return to the Tyne's chill embrace so quickly. He was starting to feel this was becoming a habit.

"If we can all move, we should get going, the others wont wait long for us at the rendezvous." Wales said. And the Dragon Knights would not wait long before they returned to the skies in search of the people who had destroyed the mill, time was of the essence.

"Wait, what's that?" Kino pointed out into the smooth waters of the Tyne where where a small shape was traveling quickly, producing a thin wake at its back. A head, two heads, were held just above the surface of the water. Both were known to Wales.

Careful to remain sheltered along the shoreline, Wales took aim with his wand and threw a whistle to the swimmers. They came to a stop, traveling with the flow of the river, one head looked about, and then spotting the source of the call, started to make its way towards shore. Stumbling onto the banks, looking slightly less dignified than a drowned rate, Caramella set a bloody and unconscious Sir Justin Lydel down gently on a soft patch of ground.

"Caramella!" Kino cried, racing up to embrace the swordswoman as she sank to her knees. The woman returned her partner's gentle embrace, looking tired, but relieved to see him well.

"Well, I've got a suggestion . . . Let's not do that again." Caramella said. "Any chance that'll become policy?"

The Prince shook his head as he looked over the unconscious Royal Engineer. "I'll take it under advisement. Did you see how Lydel was hurt?" Wales began to tenderly probe the man's forehead. He was breathing, that much at least was a good sign.

"Don't know. I think it was debris from the mill. We were still inside when the place started going off." Caramella suddenly grew sober, her arms constricting slowly around Kino. "Wales." She said quietly.

"Caramella." Kino whispered. "You're hurting me." The Faerie woman's embrace stopped growing tighter, but it didn't loosen either.

"What is it?" Wales asked, speaking as he worked on Lydel. His first aid expertise wasn't the best, but he had been trained as a soldier, that meant being able to deal with minor battlefield injuries. Concussion, fracture shoulder, some serious bruising along the chest, Caramella was right, the man had most likely taken a glancing blow from some piece of masonry.

"Reconquista . . . The Rebels . . . Those bastards . . ." It was a enough to make the Prince look up.

This low, dangerous growl wasn't something that Wales had ever expected to hear from the Faerie woman. Caramella was a girl who wore her heart on her sleeve, but it was a fiery heart as brave as that of any Knight. Her anger was always hot and bright, but this, this was cold hatred, vengeful hatred.

Wales stopped in his work on Lydel. He had already done what he could for the man, stabilizing him so that he could be carried to safety.

"What is it Caramella." Wales asked, a hint of concern creeping into his voice. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Caramella spat, "Those fuckers took a friend of mine, killed her, and then turned her corpse into a propaganda spewing killing machine! That's what happened!"

"Caramella?" Kino looked frightened at the outburst.

"Aki, Kino, it was Aki. One of the people we lost at Skiesedge." Caramella's voice trembled as if her outburst had blown out the flames of her anger and now she was in danger of collapsing into despair. "Those Reconquista bastards used some sort of Necromancy to make her body dance to their tune."

Both Lukes and Kino stiffened up, growing looks of horror spreading across their faces. "Caramella, are you sure." Wales asked tensely. "Are you sure that it was this girl? And are you sure that she was truly an undead and not under some spell?"

Caramella glared at him, anger glinting brightly in her eyes. "I saw Bart put a hole half the size of my fist through her chest before she tore out his heart with her bare hands and a bad one liner!"

Wales bit off a curse, shaking his head slowly. "Cromwell, to think he would stoop so low as to use the forbidden arts. And he dares to accuse us of heresy! I thought my disdain for that man could sink no lower."

"Wales." Caramella said slowly. "Promise me something. Aki . . . She wasn't just some shambling freak, she looked so alive, and she still remembered us . . . She could still think, but she wasn't Aki any more, she was just some thing with Aki's brain trapped inside." Caramella stopped and shuddered. "Wales. You know fire magic, right?"

The Prince nodded solemnly. "If I see any of these abominations I will give their departed souls peace."

"No." Caramella said quietly. "Not just that. If they can make one, they can make more."

Wales felt his mouth going dry as he suddenly understood.

"Promise me, that if Kino of I go down, or if it looks like one of us is going to be captured." The swordswoman starred into his eyes. "You promise me you don't stop until there's nothing left of us. Do you understand? I will not become something like that!"

"I . . . Understand." Wales offered softly. "But first, lets try to avoid ever being in that situation. We need to start moving, the patrols will be searching this area before too long. Lukes, can you carry Lydel on your back?" The Faery was a large man and with his strength he would have no trouble with the slender mage.

Caramella released her hold on Kino but it was several moments before the boy did the same. "Yeah . . . Lets get going . . . Did everyone else get out okay?"

"We don't know." Kino confessed with a look of worry.

"Most of the men were on the far side of the warehouses when the gunpowder on the docks was set off. They should have been clear of the blast, and if they had the sense to follow orders they'll have retreated immediately. Kino and I simply had the misfortune of being spotted by the first Dragon Knights to arrive." Wales explained as he helped Caramella to her feet and they began to hike away from the shore. "But Lady Asuna . . ."

Caramella's eyes narrowed, "That happened to Asuna?!"

"She got into a fight with a Dragon Knight." Kino said anxiously and then quietly added. "It was the same one who fought Arguile."

The swordswoman's face paled and she began to walk faster, taking the lead of their small group. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

"Caramella, we simply have to have faith in Lady Asuna's abilities, she is an able fighter." Wales attempted to reassure her.

Caramella spun on him. "And Arguile was too! The big guy was almost as strong as Asuna and it didn't do him any good! And you just left her there to fight alone?"

"We didn't have a choice." Wales whispered as they began to parallel the roadway, staying within the shadowy concealment of the treeline for safety. "Asuna insisted on fighting him to give us time and we had our own opponent to deal with. We lost sight of her, and not long after that the powder magazines started to go off. It was all we could do to get clear ourselves." The response did little to placate Caramella, not so much as sparring Wales a second glance. "Caramella, I have not known her long, but I have faith in Lady . . . in Asuna. If anyone could escape in that confusion, it is her."

"Not good enough." Caramella bit out. "Not nearly good enough, not with the Rebel's taking a play from the frickin Army of Darkness!"

Wales blinked in confusion, some powerful force from that dream world of Aincrad?

"I'm not heading back to Newcastle until I know for sure that Asuna got away." Caramella growled and then stopped in her tracks. "And I think I know how to find out." The swordswoman lifted a hand to one of her long ears, as if listening carefully to the near distance. Sinking down low, she started to make her way towards the road.

Wales heard it not long after, the gallop of horses hooves, but only a single set. The Prince looked to Caramella, or more accurately, he looked at her eyes. A feeble, unnatural glow had filled them, the telltale sign that the Fae sworsdwoman was using her preternatural senses, the observation ability.

"Rebel Army soldier on horseback, coming this way, fast." Caramella said.

"A patrol?" Wales asked.

Caramella snorted. "No, unless they think so lowly of us that they'd only send one guy."

"Then a messenger." Wales decided. "He's probably been sent to alert the nearby towns and the siege forces. The Dragon Knights will be reserved for pursuit and to alert the Siege commander."

"So he might know what's going on . . ." Caramella trailed off.

Wales frowned, "Perhaps, but . . . " Before Wales could finish, the swordswoman stood up and stepped casually out onto the road. The horseman saw her but could do nothing to slow down as Caramella unhooked her scabbard from her back, and without removing the sword from its sheath, batted firmly for the oncoming man's stomach.

The Faerie skidded back a handful of paces, the messenger's horse continuing on a bit further before coming to a halt. The horse's rider was sent tumbling to the ground with a loud -ooph- as he was winded, only saved from the chance of death by Wales reaching out a levitation spell to cushion his fall. Even as he lay groaning on the ground, Caramella advanced, coming to stand over him, she grabbed the man and dragged him back off the road and into the dark of the forest, Kino hurrying to retrieve the messenger's horse before anyone else came along and spotted it.

By the time the man had recovered his senses enough to struggle, Caramella had him pinned, a knee against his chest and a hand over his mouth. A deranged little smile gracing her lips.

"Howdy!" Caramella said cheerfully. "You must be a Rebel Soldier, usually when I meet you guys it's the other way around, boy does it suck to be you tonight!" She said with mock cheer. "But I'll tell you what, here's a limited time offer. Tell me everything I want to know and I promise you'll be alive when the sun comes up. Do we have a deal?" She took her hand away from his mouth to allow the man to answer.

"And what reason do I have to believe anything said by stinking allies of the Royalists!" The man spat. Without a moment's hesitation, Wales reached down and cuffed the man across the jaw.

"Well if the carrot doesn't work, we also have a really big stick." Caramella said, hooking a thumb over her shoulder. "Back where we're from, 'stumpy' over their is apprenticed to the Royal Interrogator."

The man glanced over to Kino who was, admittedly, not the most intimidating sight. "You expect me to believe that?"

"We're really good at torturing folks back home. It's an art form, so we have to start them young. What do ya think all those different Knives are for?" Caramella asked with a vicious little smile. "Hey, Kino, why don't you show him?"

"O-oh." Kino stumbled, and then catching on, gave a shy little smile. "We use these flat ones to slice off thin layers of skin." The boy explained as he drew one of his throwing daggers. "And, this one here is good for getting at the deep tissues. Did you know it takes a long time to die from a stomach wound? Lots of people beg to be put down." Kino pulled a couple of his throwing needles from his jacket, tiny darts, less lethal and more incapacitating. "And these I'm really proud of. I can tap these into your spine and make it feel like you're in pain anyplace in your body. Since all the nerves run to the spine, I can even make you feel like you're losing a limb all over again!"

Even knowing it was all a ludicrous lie thrown together on the spot, Wales felt nauseous, judging from Caramella's expression she seemed mildly shocked herself. Of course, if that was how they were feeling . . .

The man shivered softly, legs kicking feebly as if trying to run from the boy who was still talking lovingly about his 'implements'. "P-please! I'm just a messenger, I don't know anything but what I'm told! I just deliver reports to the garrisons!" The man stumbled quickly, keeping his voice low.

"Well what do you know, that's exactly what we wanted to hear!" Caramella said.

"You just departed from Wallsend correct? You're delivering news to the other garrisons of the attack?" Wales stepped in.

"Y-yes. To put them on high alert. The dragon knights are all being directed by Sir Dunwell to take up chase of the fugitives . . ." Wale's cuffed the man again.

"I mean the Royalists!" The messenger corrected.

Wales leaned closer. "You said Sir Dunwell . . . There was a girl at the powder mill fighting him . . . Do you know anything about that?"

"The winged girl?" The messenger asked, gasping as Caramella pressed down on his chest. "She fought with Sir Dunwell and was almost captured, but she escaped, fled in the confusion when the magazines went off! But she was wounded, possibly badly. I've orders to put the Garrisons on high alert, she has the highest priority to be killed on sight! Ahh!" The man struggled.

"Anything else we need to know?" Caramella hissed softly.

"I heard that at last sighting, she was fleeing south, a dragon was sent to pursue her from the sky, keep her from fleeing towards Newcastle. Sir Dunwell plans to take up the pursuit himself! Please! That's all I know!" The man begged pitifully.

"Yeah, I bet it is." Caramella sighed before pushing off from the man's chest and rolling him onto his side. The soldier struggled feebly as Caramella put him into a choke hold and began to apply pressure.

"What are you . . ." The man managed to gasp out before going still. Caramella waited a few seconds longer before releasing him and glancing to Wales, who after a brief search was able to find the man's pulse.

"Kino, tie him up and gag him." Wales instructed. "Then lead the horse a bit deeper into the forest. That should ensure they aren't found until morning." By then they would be long done with this place.

"Well." Caramella said. "What now?"

"I don't know." Wales confessed, mind racing.

Kino looked back and forth between the Prince and his partner. "It sounds like Asuna is in trouble. She's hurt, and the Knight that kill Arguile is after her."

"That guy. Every single time it's that guy! Who the hell is he?" Caramella stormed to and fro in a rage.

Wales placed his fingers together before him. "He is Sir Dunwell, Knight Captain of the 4th Dragon Knight Squadron and a traitor to the crown."

"Frickin figures." Caramella spat. "Damn it, he killed Arguile and now he's going after Asuna!"

"Caramella . . ."

"We have to do something! If they get their hands on her . . . " Caramella breathed heavily. " . . . If they do to her, what they did to Aki!"

"Caramella!" Wales said.

"What?!" The Faerie swordswoman turned on him.

"Going against Sir Dunwell hastily is a fools gambit. Believe me, I understand your hatred for him. I more than anyone would love nothing more than to see his traitorous head on a pike." Wales breathed.

"Oh? What'd he do, kill your dog?" Caramella snapped moodily.

"My Eldest Brother." Wales said flatly.

Caramella recoiled, blinking rapidly and then shook her head, never one to lose momentum. "Well I'm sorry!" She shouted angrily. "I'm still going. He said they're herding her south. If I can catch up, maybe I can lure them away, or help Asuna fight her way back. Look, I don't care if fighting this Dunwell guy is impossible." Caramella balled her fists. "Asuna has done everything to try and keep us all safe. She's been protecting three hundred of us! If I can't protect just one of her . . . How am I supposed to face the big guy in the next life?"

Behind her, Kino was looking up at the sky, and without further explanation had gone to examine one of the nearby tree's as if sizing it up.

Wales simply smiled softly, Caramella really was the sort of person who would fight even if her eyes were filled with tears. "I said it was a fools gambit. Luckily, we're three fine fools."

Caramella blinked in surprise and then gave Wales a wide eyed look. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm no fool." She grinned. "You in this with us?"

Wales stood and straightened out his clothes. "Of course, as you say, we must rescue Lady Asuna from a fate worse than death. I did after all promise you passage to the Continent, all of you. Though some have departed this world. A Prince of Air will keep his word to the last. "Lukes?" The prince turned to the large Faerie swordsman who had remained silent tending to Lydel throughout the discussion.

"Yes, Prince Wales?"

"It appears the Knights have been tasked mainly with hounding Lady Asuna and the others. Do you think you can get Lydel back to Newcastle on your own?"

The Faerie gave an uncertain nod and then answered more confidently. "Yes, Prince Wales, I think I remember how to make it to the passage we used to depart the city ruins."

"Good." Wales said simply. "Then that just leaves how we are to find Lady Asuna."

"That part's easy." The voice of Kino came from above them. Wales looked up to see that the knife user had climbed to the top of one of the tree's and was now silhouetted against a star filled sky, arm pointing to the south. "Like you said in York, we just have to follow the dragons."