Roland, Finn, Ezra, and Lysander drew closer to the city with a feeling of dread. There were no sounds of battle, which at first seemed hopeful, but Rhone soldiers appeared to have taken up stations around the city. The breach itself was not visible in the darkness of the moonless night.
"I think maybe, we should be cautious," Roland spoke softly. "Something has happened, but it doesn't look quite like peace."
"It looks like a siege," Lysander said.
"But why?" Finn asked. "The curse is broken, why would they have need for continued aggression towards Klain?"
"Let's try far from the breach, around the edge, and approach someone there for a report," Roland felt an ominous sort of aversion to heading towards the site where battle had been waged.
Though it was further than they had hoped to go, and Lysander was weak from his journey, the others took turns helping him along. The trek back towards Klain wound up taking much longer than the mad dash away from it.
Stashing Finn and Lysander a safe distance away where they would not be seen, Roland and Ezra ran toward two soldiers who were patrolling the perimeter of the city.
"Report!" demanded Roland with all the authority he could muster.
The two soldiers snapped to attention, unsure at first as to who was addressing them.
"Answer His Highness Prince Derek when he speaks to you!" Ezra put in, "He has been on a secret mission and now demands a report on the outcome of the battle!"
"Sir!" One looked unsure of how to explain. "The battle was going well when, suddenly, without explanation, the curse seemed to have broken. Prince Duncan commanded that we cease hostilities and surrender. He went through the breach into the city. Her Majesty..." He stuttered to a stop and looked to the other man for help.
"Her Majesty broke into pieces, like a clay cup cracking apart. Then she sort of blew up into a black cloud of Darkness and killed anyone who defied her orders to maintain a siege around Klain." He grimaced and looked around as if he wondered whether she was omnipresent.
Roland stared blankly. "Pardon me, could you repeat that?"
"It's just like he said, Your Highness," Put in the first soldier. "Is there... that is... whose side are you on, if that's not an insubordinate question?"
"I am on the side of the people," Roland answered vaguely. "I will do my best to make sure no one else is harmed. Where is she now?"
"The black cloud is blocking the hole in the wall. She can't cross it, but we don't know why. That's when she commanded the siege."
"Thank you. Your orders are to not let anyone out?" Roland asked.
"Or in..." The second tried to walk a delicate balance of not upsetting either the terrible creature threatening his life or the prince who might be able to do something about it. He didn't want to upset the man in front of him, but if he were caught disobeying the creature... he shuddered as he recalled the ease with which it had murdered.
"Understood. Keep up the good work." Roland said. The men saluted, and he returned the salute before walking away, Ezra on his heels.
"What in the world??" Ezra whispered anxiously at him as they gained some distance.
"I'm not sure." Roland replied.
"What do we do?" Ezra had been content not to ask questions until this point, but running from a battle to conduct a wedding was a far cry from potentially challenging an otherworldly darkness-monster.
Roland paused. He actually wasn't sure. He didn't think they could get into the city, but he had no idea how to defeat whatever now commanded the Rhone soldiers.
They came back to the place where Finn and Lysander sat in the cover of the night.
"What's the news?" Finn asked tentatively. "Did it work? Is the curse broken?"
"Yes, but now there's a bigger problem." Roland replied. "Titania has apparently cracked into pieces and become some sort of Darkness-cloud-monster."
"She didn't become that, she's been that," Lysander put in, causing the others to stare at him. "She would take that form in the Darkness to torture me. It delighted her, the fear."
"She couldn't have always been that," Finn said at last, trying to think through the logic of it. "a creature like that, surely it couldn't give birth to a human like Duncan... right?"
"What else do you know about this darkness creature?" Roland asked Lysander.
"Not much. She could dissipate into it, like an evil smoke, but could still strike at me, call my name, imitate voices and faces of others." He began to tremble slightly at the memories of the psychological games she played with him. It had been like a nightmare. He couldn't scream, or speak, or even see unless she brought light to let him. She had all but controlled his very existence.
More than once, he had almost given in and promised her his allegiance, but even when he had been a spy in Rhone's schemes, his loyalty had been to himself, and his family to a lesser extent. He regretted now that he had put himself first.
"What color were their eyes?" Finn asked Roland and Ezra suddenly. "The guards you just saw?"
"Dark brownish-grey, I suppose, but not black anymore," Ezra put in. His own eyes shone a brilliant green.
"Gwen talked repeatedly about the Rhone having to leave the curse behind. By following the void-monster now, are they in danger of falling back under the curse?" She turned to Roland with concern. "Maybe we've given them the chance at freedom, but they still have to turn away from her."
"Where is your Fae friend, anyway? We could use a lot of help right now." Roland was thrown into increasing indecision, and it was a terrible feeling not knowing the best thing to do.
"She said the Fae couldn't interfere any further 'until the appointed time,' whatever that means." Finn grumbled. On some level she trusted that Gwen was doing what was best, but at the same time she selfishly wanted a lot more help and guidance.
"Then we're on our own," Roland looked around at his young aide, the frail Lysander, and his incredibly brave new wife. He almost smiled as he thought the word, but now was not the time for that.
The collection of four people was hardly formidable in any sense of the word, but it was what they had.
"Will the others follow you, the Rhone?" Lysander had been reluctantly filled in on most of the important goings-on by Finn. She didn't fully trust the former traitor, but the fact that he had been held prisoner after trying to turn away from his treason had gained him some level of merit in her eyes. She saw no reason to withhold an overview of the current circumstances.
"Those two weren't openly hostile to me," Roland said, "but Ezra might know the feelings of the men better than I."
The young aide paled slightly, "I would follow you to death, Your Highness," he replied.
"But the army at large? Will they bend to tyranny or follow me, a virtual outsider, for death or freedom?" Roland looked at him carefully. It was impossible for Ezra to know the hearts of all, but he would have far more insight than any of the other three present.
"We have yearned for freedom from the curse for so long," Ezra's brow furrowed. "I think a chance at freedom would be worth the risk, if someone were to lead them. However, having not seen this... creature up close, I do not know what manner of fear may now invade their minds."
"Is depending on their help the wisest move?" Finn asked. "Do all follow the Void merely out of fear, or do some perhaps have actual loyalty to it?" She was sick of the concept of traitors, backstabbing, and subterfuge, and had no stomach for risking more of it just now.
"I cannot know from that conversation," Roland admitted. He wanted a lot more information but dare not chance another approach unless it became necessary. He did not know the extent of Titania's power to overhear or intervene in such things.
"I think we must coordinate with those inside the wall," Lysander said quietly.
"There is no way over or through the wall," Roland frowned at him. He wanted more than anything to get Finn inside to safety. "Do you know of tunnels under it?"
"We can't," Finn said. "Even if there are tunnels, I won't go back under there. There are a lot of collapsed places under the city after the explosion and I... I can't be trapped there again." Her voice shook and Roland put his arm around her.
Lysander shook his head, "The tunnels that we could have taken are older and more fragile. If anything's collapsed, they probably are, but we don't need them."
"Then how do we get inside?" Roland asked.
"I didn't say we had to go inside, just that we need to communicate with those in the city." Lysander replied. "Do you have anything shiny? Perhaps that plate off of which you ate that... meal?"