Valeria followed Elyan closely, and looked at Mathuriel with little to no expression on her face. "The King let us go...whether or not he means it or not, remains to be seen."

Elyan nodded at Valeria's answer.
"Yeah, that's the short version of it. The long version involves a blood mage, a desert and a secret, forbidden power that could potentially wipe out an entire city. I think. My memory's still a little blurry. Wait...blood mage..."
A little more of memory started to become clear and his eyes went wide.
"...Allora. Where is--?!"
He cut himself short when Allora arrived on the scene.
"Oh, there you are. Good to see you again."
He then looked back to Mathuriel with a dark expression.
"So, we're all here. At least...as many as we started with. The king still has Ella."
Then he suddenly clutched his head, trying hard to remember something.
"Wait...the king. There was something different about him. When I was Awakened, I saw...something. I never even noticed it until now."
His voice started trailing off as he was lost in his thought.
"What was that...?"

The king closed his eyes tight, and pressed a hand to her head.
Darkness flowed over it, and Ella slumped in a dead faint.
The king lifted her in his arms, took her to his chambers. He placed her on his bed, tucked her in, planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he walked over to the corner, sat in the shadows, and wept.

Mathuriel still wasn't exactly awake, but managed to absorb what was being said. "O...kay, then. Do we... have anything resembling a new plan?"

"Sounds...great."
Mathuriel closed his eyes. "I'm just... gonna take five. Just a quick..."
Then he was unconscious once more on Elyan's shoulder.

The king dried his eyes and sat on the bed.
"You took ill. I brought you to my chambers so you may rest and recover," he said, sounding choked up.

Elyan's concentration was thoroughly broken when Mathuriel fell asleep again, laying his head on Elyan's shoulder. He let out a small sigh.
"And he's out again. If he starts drooling, I'm gonna have to hit him."
He gave Allora a curious look.
"To the north? Who told you that? I've heard there's a lot of people there who want the king's head almost as much as we do, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll fall in line with us. First, we'd have to get them away from each others' throats. It's risky, but I guess we're starting to run out of options, so..."
He folded his arms in thought, going over the idea in his head.
"...Yeah, I think we could make it work. I guess we'll have to. But still, who told you that this would be a good idea? And for that matter, where have you been this whole time?"

Elyan carefully put Mathuriel down on Spirit and gave Spirit a light pat on the head, his small way of saying thanks. He then turned back to Allora.
"Well, it sounds like you made the right call. We already had our hands full dealing with the king and Ella, if that blood mage turned against us too...things might have ended a lot worse than they did. Thanks for keeping him busy."
He glanced back and forth to Valeria and Allora.
"It's already pretty late. I don't think we'll get much else accomplished today, so we should probably just find a place to rest up for the night. I guess an inn wouldn't be out of the question, especially if we're in a part of town where people aren't exactly on good terms with his royal highness. Of course, if anyone's got a better idea, I'm all ears."

Valeria nodded her head. "I agree. The King can very easily send agents to the inns and have us killed in our sleep." She looked at Elyan, then to Allora. "At least in a barn or cabin, we'll be able to better defend ourselves from attack."