"Run now, ask questions later!" Solum exclaimed, nudging down an adjacent hall to avoid the daggers being thrown at them. The thief carefully guided them through the passages and it wasn't too long before Souban's minions lost sight of them.

Hemset and Melhet had descovered Souban's disappearance and doubled back to look for her, however they had no clue which way she could have gone until they heard her call. Soon Melhet was at Souban's side, "What happened?"

"They have all of them!" Souban squealed, glaring at Melhet. "Your heart, their hearts." She nodded towards the three men, who were staring blankly. "That Solum. You idiots! You fools! How could it take you so long to realize I wasn't there?"

Obediently, Asima fell silent and allowed herself to be guided. Once they had lost the group, she leaned against the wall, panting. "Questions....now?"

Melhet blinked, "... they have my heart?"

Set looked confused, "excuse me?"

Souban didn't bother with Set. "Yes they have it. They knew I had something in my bag worth value otherwise he wouldn't have tried so hard to get it. They have your heart. So get it back!" The female ended up spitting out between clenched teeth.

Melhet nodded and grabbed Set by the wrist, "Come brother" he urged, but the priest didn't move.

"What's going on here. What's this about your heart Melhet?" he turned to Souban, "what have you been neglecting to tell me? I demand to know before this goes any further."



Solum waited until he was sure they hadn't been followed before leading Asima down another path and into an obscure room to the side. "Alright. this should be safe for now" he began rummaging through Souban's bag.

Asima watched quietly, wrinkling her nose as Solum lifted out the items. She paused at the small jar, and lifted it, looking at the rapidly beating tiny hearts. "Woah...this is pretty nasty...What are they for?"

Souban glared at Set. "In order for your brother to live, his heart needed to be separate. Once gone, the soul needs a space to settle when it's called back to it's body. There's many many reasons for it being the heart. I tried various things, but the heart being removed gives the soul enough space, plus, the heart occasionally stops beating, and needs a little shock. But if they destroy or hurt your brother's heart, then I can't keep him alive, he'll die again. Happy? Let's go get it..."

"Not sure, but if Melhet wanted us to get them, there must be a reason. Maybe that's how she controls these things she brings back?" Solum wonder aloud. "The question is, what do we do with them now?"


Set frowned, eyeing Souban for a moment to try and determine if that really was everything. "Fine." he replied curtly, "but for future reference, I want to know all these details before something like this happens. I can't take measures to prevent what I don't know." he turned to go with his brother in search of the heart.

"Need to know basis!" Souban snapped. Her temper was showing, her hearts being taken made her extremely nervous.

Asima glanced at the tiny jar, then to the big one. "Um. Well, these look far too tiny to be human hearts, so maybe we should experiment with these first? And how would we know if something does happen?"

"I have no idea" Solum shook his head, "Maybe it's enough to just have them? Clearly they're important. We could always bluff that we know how to use them and if that fails, there's always the threat of destroying them."

Asima stared at them, then glanced at Solum. "Do you think that's their use? This keeps Melhet alive? I can't see any other explanation.... But yeah, lets hold unto them..."

"Hold onto what?" questioned a familiar voice in the dark, his voice a whisper, Malum was crouched in the doorway of their little hidden room, "and what in the name of the gods are you two doing here?"

Asima glanced over, jumping slightly. "Oh, thank the gods." She shook the tiny jar gently. "Hearts...they are shaped a little differently than human hearts, and are way too small, but there are more jars in her bag. There's sand in them, but I'm willing to bet it's human hearts. Malum, we need to go. Set took a necklace from Solum, and it's leading them towards you..."

Malum stood and gave Asima an embrace first thing. After hearing her explanation he turned to Solum a bit confused before realization crossed his face, "a completion spell." he lifted the chain of his own necklace from around his neck, "clever Set... very clever... I hadn't considered that."

"Nor had I" Solum sighed, "We'd better get rid of that charm." he nodded to it.

"Hmm... No, I think the game is finally on a more even playing field." a small grin played across Malum's face, "Time to have another face-off."

"Face off?" Asima echoed, paling. "But it's not just the three off them. There were three more. That's six to three, and I'm not a very good fighter. Are you sure that's a good idea, Malum?"

"I've been keeping an eye on them" Malum nodded, "They've had no clue how close I've been. Set doesn't seem to really trust this woman they're with so that's something we can use as well. Solum and I can handle the goons, they're not really much of a threat. Asima, do you think you can help us out fighting off their magic?" Malum asked, "I could help to if I have to, but it'd be better for them not to know which of us is me."

"Yes." Asima nodded slowly, "But...Set will be a problem. He's much stronger than me. As long as I don't have to fight him, I should do alright though..." She glanced at Malum sheepishly, "How close?"

"I've been watching them since they got to the cliffs" Malum replied, "I was trying to figure out how they seemed to be tracking me but this makes sense now. I probably shouldn't have stuck around." he frowned a little, "but it's too late for that now. We've got a chance, we need to take it."

"Agreed" solum nodded, "Set knows us though Malum. All our memories, he knows. There's no old tricks we can call upon this time. We can't rely on our instincts because he'll know what we're going to do before we do it. We need to get him to doubt this woman. He won't turn on his brother but he might turn on her."

Malum nodded slowly, "... it would help if we could get him alone somehow, to talk to."

"Oh!" Asima nodded. "That's easy. I'll just seperate them with a stone wall, then we can speak with him alone...I don't think he would attack us right away...Especially if you remain hidden, Malum..."

Malum nodded, "alright then, lets do it." he turned towards the exit but paused, "ah, but before I forget" he removed the necklace from around his neck, looking at the charm with a bit of a frown before tossing it away on the ground.

Solum patted him on the back and lead the way out, "shouldn't be too hard to double around them now"

Asima followed quietly. Hopefully he wouldn't attack her, but he was like a stranger now.

They approached stealthily, Malum with Asima on one side and Solum around at the other. Malum nodded to Asima to separate Set from the others, once she started then it was up to Solum to distract the rest of them the other way so Souban wouldn't tear the wall down right off the bat.

Asima turned from Malum when the signal was given, lifted her hands, along with dirt and rock up. It worked like a charm, splitting Set off from the other two in the group until it was almost halfway up.

Once the wall started coming up, Souban turned sharply, the crunching and grating enough of a warning. She fought back against the princess, pushing down on the rock wall.

As Asima rose the wall, Solum leaped into action, smacking down her guards to get to her. Melhet was more preocupied with Set being cut off so that he barely noticed Solum going for Souban.

"Brother!" Melhet called, in alarm.

"Melhet?!" Set exclaimed, but the wall had come up quickly and they were separate now, "I'm alright Melhet. Take care of yourself" he ordered before turning to see what was in store for himself. The rebellious high priest stood at the ready to cast any spell he might need.

Asima stepped forward slowly, her hands held out nervously. "S-Set, don't fight, okay? We just wanna talk with you..."

Souban's attention moved off the wall as her other guards were brushed aside. She turned to face the attacker, a shield shimmering around her.

Set frowned, still prepared to fight if need be, "we've talked already Asima. There's no more to it. I'm not betraying my brother, even if it means fighting you."