Valleus snorted, a sound of mocking amusement.<br/>"Maybe you should have killed us, and relished the feeling of taking life," he looked over each one of them, regarding them all equally, "for if you intend to meet the Shade King at his castle, you will all die.  The gods may have blessed my escape but I'm sure that they no longer hold any sway over that place."<br/><br/>The look in his eyes would likely tell them all that he was not joking.  He had been on night patrol when it happened, when the dark energy shook the stone walls that had stood up to the battering of invading armies for over a century.<br/>"Come in and eat, for the sake of not wasting food that may not be available during the winter.  If you die, I'd at least see you off with full bellies," he invited them in with no love or compassion in his voice, only a detached sense of sorrow for their direction and a fate he was certain they would meet.