Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [114]
Dougal blinked. “Keane. Dougal Keane.”
“Keane.” The ghost’s eyes lit up. “No relation to Lieutenant Dorion Keane?”
Dougal’s breath caught in his chest. “Ancestor.”
The ghost nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. I think I see some resemblance. A good man. We could have used him here, but other duties called.”
“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