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Mathias tried to rise to his feet again, but the General kicked him again, this time sending him sprawling on his side.

"I'm sure you've had a fun time with the princess these last several years," the General sneered at him. He turned his attention to Chesnet. "And you. What a cozy little party I'm sure that must have made. But it seems you're not alone! And what have we here?"

The General stopped in front of Lin and smiled sadistically down at her. "Well, well. It seems we know now just why that prince keeps getting so angry when we ask him about that necklace of his."

He reached out and picked up her promise necklace. "This isn't the first I've seen of these, my dear," he told her, and there was genuine pleasure in his eyes and maliciousness in his smile. "And what relation is the foolish prince to you? Lover? You must be a very good one if he'll overlook your race for a good time."

The General blinked in surprise, and then he roared with laughter.

"Husband?" he repeated, chortling. "No wonder he wouldn't talk! Explains a few things, though. No taste, no taste at all." He dropped the necklace, leaned close to Lin, and grinned. "Hope you married him for more than just his looks," he winked at her. "Not much left of that."

"It may surprise you to know that most people don't care what their loved one looks like," Lancaeriel spoke up angrily, sounding much stronger than she looked. "True affection is from the heart, and it overcomes any boundary, be it race, or distance, or time, or even death."

At Lancaeriel's outburst, the General turned his attention to her instead.

"And what do we have here?" he mused. "I'd suggest a ghost, but you're a little less phantasmal." He poked her shoulder to make his point. "So what do you have to do with all of this?"

Lancaeriel pressed her lips together tautly to control herself. "The same thing any decent person would have to do with this," she replied. "The desire to free the people of your tyranny."

The General raised one hand to strike Lancaeriel, but even as he did so, the young man behind him protested. "My lord!" he called out, frowning. "Is this really necessary?"

"Perhaps not," the General acceded, "but then, perhaps so."

And he struck Lancaeriel across the face. She staggered from the force of the blow, but she kept her footing.

"Leave her alone!" the young man shouted at the General. He grabbed the General's arm to stop him, but the General pushed him aside.

"Stay out of this, Cael," he growled. "Step aside and watch and learn how to earn the fear of the people."

Cael stumbled, but as soon as he regained his balance, he grabbed the General's arm again. "Stop it," he said angrily. "There's no need to be violent."

A few of the guards looked like they wanted to intervene in the interaction, but they hesitated, as if they didn't know who to stop.

Mari looked sharply at Dae'er and Arphenion. Dae'er was crying freely now, and Arphenion had a sword at his back, which was the only thing keeping him from fighting his bonds.

The General was glaring at Cael. "Don't forget your place, boy," he told him quietly, his tone threatening. "It isn't about the need. It's about teaching a lesson."

He shoved the young man aside and turned back to Lancaeriel, who was glaring at him defiantly.

"General!" Cael shouted scrambling to his feet again.

The General reached for a knife that was sheathed at his waist.

"Quileth!" Cael tried again, his tone desperate.

The General unsheathed the blade.

Cael tried one last time. "Father!"

Dae'er fell to her knees, weeping, and the General raised his knife towards Lancaeriel.

Then, everything happened at once.

The General struck at Lancaeriel with the knife, but it never touched her. A bright light surrounded her, and the blade bounced off as if it had struck a stone wall. There were shouts from Mari, Mathias and Chesnet. A window shattered, sprinkling glass over the area. There was a burst of fire and lightning.

The soldiers around the room all reacted differently: some panicked and backed away from the chaos; some ran headlong towards it; some pulled their prisoners back from it; some cut their prisoners' bonds; some shoved their prisoners out of the way; a few dropped their weapons; and a few started to attack each other.

Andarien's guard was one of the ones who had opted for safety rather than fighting, and he had dragged Andarien back against the wall, away from whatever it was that was going on.

As the bright light faded, the situation became apparent. The only fighting that was still going on was between soldiers, though most had laid down their arms: the General was lying on the ground, his skin black and smoking in places; Mari was standing over him and glaring down at him; Mathias and Chesnet were untying each others' hands; Arphenion was untying his wife's hands; Wren was rubbing her wrists and talking with Kyrie, who had been the one to come in the window, breaking it in the process; the bald, one-armed man was still standing where he had been the whole time, though his eyes were closed and his face turned up to the ceiling; and Cael and Lancaeriel were locked in a tight embrace, with Lancaeriel weeping into his shoulder and Cael stroking her hair tenderly.

Andarien was sitting against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest, his eyes wide and staring straight ahead. He didn't seem to notice when Lin approached him. There wasn't even a flicker of recognition.

Kyrie spotted Lin out of the corner of her eye, and she followed her movement towards Andarien, and when she saw what condition he was in she headed towards him and Lin as well to see if she could help at all.

Andarien flinched at Lin's touch and hugged his knees tighter. Aside from that he showed no reaction at all.

Kyrie was soon standing behind Lin. "How is he doing?' she asked quietly, looking down at the two of them.