Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [51]
“So what’s so special about the blade?” Even as he said the words, Dougal realized he didn’t care. This sword felt perfect, as if he’d been looking for it his entire life and not even realized he was missing it until now.
“It kills,” said Soulkeeper. The hylek let loose a throaty laugh that, had he been human, would have sounded as though he were about to vomit. “It kills very, very well. Isn’t that what a sword’s for?”
Dougal could not argue with that. He glanced over at Ember, who was losing the battle to consume the roast moa with the norn. The charr casually pitched a moa leg bone toward Dougal, and Dougal swung the sword at it effortlessly as if merely pointing at it. The remnants of the bone fell into two neat halves at his feet.
Dougal looked at it and nodded his approval at Soulkeeper. “It’s a good start,” he said as he sheathed the blade. He looked at the general long and hard. “Why are we up at this gods-forsaken hour?”
“You need to get to Ebonhawke,” said Soulkeeper.
“If we are traveling by asura gate, we have to go through Divinity’s Reach,” said Dougal. “No one will be up at this hour.”
“You’re right about the last part,” said the general, “but you’re not going back to Divinity’s Reach. You’re going straight through to Ebonhawke.”
Now Riona finally spoke up: “That’s impossible. The only solid gate to Ebonhawke is from Divinity’s Reach.”
“Did I say you were using an established asura gate?” said Soulkeeper, her jaw open with amusement. “We can tune the Lion’s Arch gate to Ebonhawke’s aetheric frequency. We have a very talented man on the other side to do the same. From what I understand, we can bring the two gates into alignment briefly and send you through. But we have to be quick about it: we have a very slender window in time.”
Riona’s voice rose now. “You mean there is a flaw in the asura gate system? Could the charr use this to break into Ebonhawke?”
“You would need an agent on the Ebonhawke side,” said Soulkeeper. “And even if they had one, the charr leadership would be reticent to try it. They are distrustful of asuran magic.”
“They aren’t the only ones,” said Dougal softly.
“So if anyone asks, we didn’t do this,” Soulkeeper said sternly, looking at Ember and then at Gullik. The big norn shrugged, comfortable in the fact that he didn’t understand what was going on in the first place. “Further, you won’t want to mention the Vigil at all. Good fortune to you all. Now, dismissed!”
Soulkeeper placed her fist over her heart and Naugatl, Riona, and Ember returned the salute. Dougal just hoisted his bag and followed the hylek out of the room. They wound through passages and emerged at the same nondescript entrance by which they had entered the safe house.
They stumbled out into the empty streets of Lion’s Arch. A lamplighter moved slowly down the street from them, but it was otherwise empty. The breeze was at their backs, pouring back into the sea, but Dougal still tasted salt.
“This is never going to work,” said Dougal to Riona. “We’ve got too many people to be stealthy, and too few to be effective.”
“I know,” Riona said quietly. “But we will do as best as we can. My goal is to get you to Ascalon City. We may have to pay a heavy price for that.”
“You talked our way past the Seraph,” said Killeen. “I’m sure you and your purple-stamped orders can do the same here.”
“The Ebon Vanguard is a different order entirely from the Seraph,” said Dougal. “They are not so easily swayed.”
“Don’t they answer to your Queen Jennah?” asked Killeen.
“The Ebon Vanguard? Yes and no. Back before the Searing, they started out as the Ascalon Vanguard, an elite unit that fought alongside Prince Rurik and later ventured into the charr lands to take the battle to them. Many of the human slaves they rescued from the charr joined them and swelled their ranks. Since they weren’t part of the Ascalonian army anymore, they changed their name to the Ebon Vanguard. Later, Adelbern recalled those soldiers and asked them to fortify Ebonhawke in an attempt to solidify the capital’s supply lines and establish a last-ditch