Go to the Gabled Garden

It does not take you long to decide. You have to know Ivona's role in everything that has happened and why she believes the Burning Rose is a lie. She may be wrong, she may even be evil, but you owe it to her to hear her out.

The Gabled Garden seems to sit precariously on one of the steep hills leading up to the high abbey and the high castle, as if it might tumble off at any moment. You step inside, down some stairs to a common area in a basement. The room is heavy with fire smoke and incense and several dwarves are snoring on bedrolls still. The old elf behind the counter is a handsome woman, perhaps centuries old, but with no wrinkle on her face. She smiles serenely at you.

"You must be Sabine," says the elf. "She is on the second floor. Just past the staircase on your left."

You nod your thanks to her and climb the stairs, your heart beating a fearsome rhythm in your chest. Your destiny, perhaps the destiny of many, lies behind the door to Ivona's room. You take a deep breath and knock.

"Come in, Sabine."

You step in to the small and homey room. There is a four poster bed and two chairs set facing each other. Ivona is seated in one and she gestures for you to take a seat in the other.

"I'll stand," you say, pushing open the naval coat and resting your hand on the grip of the sword.

"Ah, so if you don't like what you hear, you'll strike me down?"

"No. I only mean to protect myself." You jerk your head. "Tell me the truth, sister."

"I am not your sister any longer," begins Ivona. "I told you I meant to leave and I did. But I know what happened at the abbey. And I know that it was my doing."

She sees the shock and anger in your face and looks away, into the room's crackling fireplace. Her words are sad.

"I think I was meant to find the book in the library. I was asking Sister Constance about history, trying to find some way to connect with the Burning Rose the way you and most of the other sisters do. The spine of the book was not marked, but I could tell it was very old. Within its pages was an account of the battle between St. Magdalena and Hecata." She finally looks at you. "The other books have it all wrong, Sabine. The tapestries and the statues. All of them are lies. St. Magdalena wielded that sword, she killed Hecata, but not righteously. It was ****. She murdered the father of her child."

"What?" you say, taking a step back from the words you do not want to hear.

"Imagine it, Sabine. Magdalena, one of the greatest paladins of the Burning Rose, and Hecata, a succubus queen were lovers. Passionate lovers. When the Burning Rose lost her greatest paladin she made Magdalena extinguish the sin to regain her trust. She made her kill the woman she loved." Ivona stands up and saunters over to you. She rests her hand on yours and looks you in the eyes. "Magdalena killed Hecata, but not the child in her own belly. She hid me away through some magic. She hid me from her goddess."

Ivona's blue eyes deepen to purple. He curves become more accentuated.

"I am their daughter, Sabine. I think the War Mother knew it. I don't know how she came by me, but she thought she could change what I was." Sadness momentarily creases her face. "I weakened the safeguards at the abbey to communicate with a daemon from the abyss. She proved it to me and then betrayed me to her daemon lord. Thoros took advantage of the... well... you know what happened after that. I never intended for it to happen as it did, but it does not change the truth. The order lives on a lie."

"I don't... I can't... believe this, Ivona."

Your hands are shaking. You pull them away from her touch.

"Give me the sword," says Ivona with a hint of desperation. "The blade knows my blood. I will prove it to you."

You rest your hand on the grip and you can feel the anger of the sword. It wants you to draw it and strike Ivona down. It is practically screaming at you to be wielded. Inside you, in your open heart, you can feel the Burning Rose herself urging you to do the same.

Ivona holds out her hand expectantly.

"Give it to me. Trust me. Together we will stop Thoros and avenge what happened at the abbey."