Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [44]
“At last King Adelbern faced the Flame Legion imperator, the leader of the charr forces, who himself bore the Claw of the Khan-Ur. When the two weapons met, the energies within both exploded in a great jet of power that was seen from the Shiverpeaks themselves.”
“The Foefire,” said Killeen.
Dougal fell silent then, picturing that terrible event in his mind, making it match up with the horrible images he’d witnessed on his own venture into the harrowed city.
“Tell me more about the Foefire,” Killeen said. “As a necromancer, that fascinates me.”
A gruff voice—Dougal recognized it as Doomforge’s—spoke from the darkness of the hallway. Dougal wondered how long the charr had been there and what she had heard.
“The Foefire destroyed every charr within Ascalon City, and for leagues around as well. The buildings, the farms, and the land were unharmed, but every charr within its reach was destroyed. The humans, however, suffered a different fate. Their souls were peeled loose from their shredded bodies, and they survive eternally as guardian ghosts to jealously protect the land. Adelbern, whom we call the Sorcerer-King, damned his people to destroy the charr. Adelbern did with cursed magic what his army had not been able to manage in years, and he cheated the charr of our triumph.”
Doomforge stood in the room’s arched entrance and waited for someone to gainsay her. Dougal resisted the temptation, and neither Riona nor Killeen seemed inclined to take the bait.
Doomforge grunted at the lack of any challenge. “General Soulkeeper sends me with her regrets. She cannot join us tonight.”
“ ‘Us’?” Dougal said.
Doomforge moved into the room and cast her eye over the ruins of the meal. She had taken off her armor and now wore just a set of simple rope and leather clothes that Dougal could only describe as a harness. Dougal supposed that with all her fur she didn’t need clothes for warmth, only charr standards of modesty. It covered just enough of her to manage that, although on a human it would have been considered scandalous. Despite her casual attire, she seemed far less relaxed than she had been in her armor.
“Soulkeeper asked me to dine with you so that we might become better acquainted.” She looked down at the table. “But I see you are nearly finished.”
Dougal waited for the charr to turn around and leave. He enjoyed watching her try to decide how long she would have to endure their company to fulfill her orders. Despite her actions against the norn, he wasn’t about to make her feel at home.
Killeen, on the other hand, had no trouble with that at all. She leaped to her feet and scurried over to take the charr by the paw and escort her to a seat at the table. “The general is as wise as she is generous,” she said. “I’m thrilled to have someone like you as a part of our guild.”
Dougal winced at that word and saw Doomforge do the same as she accepted the seat the much smaller sylvari shoved in behind her. “I have a warband already,” the charr said. “I do not need a guild.”
Dougal nodded at that, finally finding something he and Doomforge could agree upon. “We are in no way a guild,” he said. “Guilds are permanent organizations. They are created and maintained by their own membership, and are usually set up with long-term goals. We are four individuals gathered together for a single mission. We are a team, a company, maybe even what the asura call a krewe. And I don’t even like teams that much.” Riona failed to suppress a rude snort at that, but he ignored her. “It is often better to work alone.”
Killeen smiled at them both as if they were slow-headed children. “But you’re not working alone, are you? And you”—she turned back to Doomforge—“don’t have your warband with you. I suppose, in a way, we’re your warband.”
Dougal almost choked on his wine at