Free Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon by Jeff Grubb, Matt Forbeck

piles.
    The two women were waiting but not talking. Killeen seemed interested in the construction of the clockwork in the orchestra, while Riona paced, her arms folded. The official representative of the Vigil had regained that hard professional look that she had had the day before. Dougal wondered how well she had slept the previous night, now that she knew for sure that the others were well and truly dead.
    “It’s time,” Riona said. “Let’s go.” She was just as sour as she’d been yesterday, a thundercloud on an otherwise clear morning. Killeen, of course, was the sun.
    “This should be exciting,” Killeen said. “The idea of a city filled with ghosts is just too intriguing. To my knowledge, no sylvari has ever ventured into Ascalon City. I will be the first of my people to see inside the city’s walls.”
    “It’s not that exciting,” said Dougal. “More like terrifying.”
    Riona grunted at him.
    “Surprised to find me here still?” Dougal asked Riona.
    She shook her head. “Thackeray’s people have had an eye on your place all night.”
    “And you don’t think I could slip past them if I wanted to?”
    She shrugged as if it didn’t make a difference. “You didn’t.”
    Dougal arched an eyebrow at her. “And you couldhave told Thackeray and his people that we had recovered something from the crypts after all.”
    “Captain Logan Thackeray only tolerates me at best,” Riona said. “Telling him you had this gem would only have forced him to toss you in prison again. I need you in Ascalon City.”
    Dougal slung his pack over his shoulder. “Then let’s move.”
    Dougal turned southward, to the main gates, but Riona instead moved north toward the Ascalonian district. Killeen was left in the middle, unsure which way to go.
    Dougal pointed. “Main gate to the city is this way.”
    “We aren’t using the main gate,” said Riona. “Time is of the essence. We’re going to use an asura gate.”
    Dougal walked back to Riona now, Killeen following and trying not to look like she was listening. “You didn’t say anything about using an asura gate,” he said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.
    “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of them,” said Riona, smiling slightly.
    “Of course not,” said Dougal. “It’s magic. I don’t particularly trust magic. Worse yet, it’s asuran magic. They operate at such a level that even human spellcasters are still lagging in their wake.”
    “You
are
afraid,” said Riona, with a tight smile. “You’ve faced a city full of ghosts and gods know what else, and you’re afraid of a magical gate.”
    “An
asuran
magical gate,” said Dougal. “There’s a difference. Half the time they are taking it apart and putting it back together. And have you ever had one ofthem explain how it works?”
    “It is a simple immobile-location dimensional transporter,” said Killeen, “that shortcuts normal reality by bringing together two fixed points with suitable equipment tuned to the same metavibrational aetheric frequency.” Dougal stared at her, and she added, “We have them in the Grove. The asura were one of the first peoples we met when we appeared.”
    “You have my sympathy,” said Riona, and led the way into the Ascalonian district.
    Divinity’s Reach was waking up. The people who worked for an honest living were shuffling off to their jobs, but laughing children still raced through the streets, darting from doorway to doorway in their carefree games. The Seraph patrolled the streets, alone and in pairs, always on the hunt for innocents to protect and lawbreakers to bring to justice. Merchants’ voices started to sound, hawking everything from apples to armor. Elders stood ready to train students in various specialties. Criers called out announcements from the queen and news from both inside the city and beyond its limits.
    They passed through another set of walls, built within the city itself to separate it from the asura gate. Dougal