The Prince's Palace in Zelkor was an obstinately durable structure.

During the siege, the Sedonians had tried to destroy it with their 
trebuchets. Later, when he realized his city was doomed, Prince Ean 
Arracht had tried to destroy it, along with the rest of his city. But 
the core of the palace still stood, protected by ancient and powerful 
magics woven into its fabric by the Mir who originally built it over 
1500 years ago.

In the throne room, the doors had been taken off their hinges and set on 
trestles as a long table. Around it sat the officers commanding the 
Sedonian Legions that had taken the city and the Blockade Squadron that 
now anchored just outside the harbor.

At the head of the table sat General Lord Valen Martros, Baron Martros, 
commander of all Sedonian forces in the Zelkori theater. 59 years old, 
the second-highest ranking officer in the Legions, and a veteran of 
every Sedonian war from the Sinari War on. It was whispered in the ranks 
that soon he would be recalled to Thalsedon, to replace the elderly 
General Worrell Yann as head of the Imperial General Staff.

To his right sat Legate-General Roger Varrozh, the general commanding 
the Army of the South and Legio I. Two years younger than Martros, he, 
too, was a veteran of Sedonia's wars.

To Martros' left sat Vice Admiral Lord Georg gyo Inibar, Duke of Inibar, 
commander of the Blockade Squadron. Very young for his rank at 44, he 
was one of the few senior Sedonian naval officers to have escaped the 
diastrous Battle of Zelkor with distinction. With nearly all the 
officers senior to him either dead or in disgrace, gyo Inibar had been 
given flag rank and squadron command.

Down the length of the table sat various subordinate Legion and naval 
officers. At the far end sat Patriarch Edwin, Priest of Coron and senior 
Priest with the Legions, with Archpriestess Elena, senior Priestess of 
Demerhaze, to his right, and a nondiscript man in gray to his left.

General Martros said, "Before we here anyone else's report, I want 
Legate Varim of Legio IV's damage assessment. Legate?"

Legio IV's legate glanced at his fellow officers before saying, "Between 
us and the Zelkori, Zelkor City's pretty thoroughly wrecked. The poorer 
residential neighborhoods were hit the worst, but the damage is so 
extensive that it would be faster to say what's still standing.

"Aside from the central core of the Palace, most government buildings 
are wrecked. The city walls are intact, apart from the breach we used to 
enter the city. Destruction is patchy in the Harbor District--it was the 
last part of the city to be fired, and lead elements of my legion got to 
the harbor in time to save most of the piers. The building slips in the 
shipyards were damaged, but not irreparably, but all the shipbuilding 
stores and the construction in the yards were either destroyed or removed.

"There are places in the richer parts of town which survived for one 
reason or another; in particular, a group of offices and warehouses 
being used by a Kaeiran trading house. In some of the burnt-out parts of 
the market district, we've recovered solidified pools of mixed copper, 
silver, and gold--melted coins, it seems."

"A Kaeiran trading house?" asked Admiral gyo Inibar. "I thought they'd 
all evacuated before the siege."

"These Kaeirans apparently didn't get the word," replied Legate Varim. 
"House Von Kiviri, I think it was. Odd folks, ugly tattoos. Very evasive 
about how their buildings survived the fire and why they'd stayed in 
Zelkor. I had them detained and their buildings seized pending 
deportation to Kaeir. Anyway, our efforts to clear the damage and begin 
rebuilding the critical infrastructure are severely hampered by the 
Prince's Curse."

Martros looked over at the inscription on the wall above the Prince's 
throne. "Yes, the Curse. I've asked Patriarch Edwin and Archpriestess 
Elena to investigate that." He looked down the table to the two clerics. 
"Do you have anything to report?"

The Coronite patriarch adjusted his spectacles and peered at some 
parchements on the table before him. "The Prince's Curse reads: 'By my 
oath, may the ghosts haunt the ruins of Zelkor for all except a leader 
who will resist the rule of Sedonia. I, Prince Ean Arracht of Zelkor, do 
swear this.' As you all know, since we took Zelkor City, there have been 
multiple encounters with ghosts every night--indeed, every ruined 
building seems to be haunted.

"Ghosts cannot do physical harm to a living human, but they are capable 
of frightening a human to death, especially if the victim does not 
*know* that a ghost cannot do him actual harm. There have been at least 
4 deaths already caused by ghosts.

"As for the mechanics of the curse, the Prince seems to have used his 
Authority as ruler of Zelkor to bind every ghost in the city to haunt 
the city until such time as his condition is met." Edwin paused and 
looked up at Martros. "The problem is that the Prince made his curse in 
Zelkori. And in Zelkori, the word that is usually translated as 'ghost' 
should really be translated as 'spirit of the dead'."

"But aren't those the same?" asked one of the ship captains. "That 
doesn't seem like a problem."

Edwin laughed without humor. "The problem is that a ghost is the spirit 
of a dead person which, due to either extreme death trauma, rapidity of 
death, or strength of will, has delayed crossing over from Celandra to 
the Dreaming. 'Spirit of the dead' includes ghosts, *and* the spirits of 
people who died in ways that don't normally cause people to become 
ghosts. The way the curse is worded, the spirit of anyone who dies 
within its bounds will be trapped in the ruins of Zelkor until the 
conditions for ending the curse are met. Now, think how many people died 
  in the last days of the siege. You see the problem?"

Archpriestess Elena interjected, "It ordinarily would not have been 
possible for the Prince to lay such a curse, but given the 
circumstances, and particularly his desire for revenge, Demerhaze 
intervened. The goddess answers such pleas without partiality."

"So what can we do?" asked General Martros. "Is there a solution, short 
of giving up what we fought so hard to take?"

"There are a few options," said Edwin. "First, as a temporary measure, I 
and my Order can put up temporary wards around the palace and the harbor 
to fence out the ghosts. Second, unlike the Zelkori word for 'ghost', 
the word 'ruins' is quite precise. Remove all the ruins, rebuild the 
city, and you remove the anchors holding the ghosts, releasing them. And 
all else failing, my Order can release individual ghosts from the curse 
as we encounter them.

The Coronite priest looked grimly at the Sedonian officers. "I should 
add that the Church considers what Prince Ean Arracht has done here to 
be a mortal sin. We will do whatever is necessary to release the 
unfortunately trapped spirits of Zelkor to the Dreaming. We will also 
take whatever steps are needed to show the Prince the folly of his 
action." He stared particularly hard at the sole civilian sitting to his 
left. "Tell your masters in the Ministry of Special Projects that we 
will brook no interference. Ah-ah," he said as the young man began to 
protest, "Everyone here knows you're the connection between this army 
and Imperial Intelligence, so don't waste time claiming you're a 
'civilian supply agent'."

The civilian sighed. "All right, I'll tell my superiors in the Ministry. 
You realize, though, that once Kaeir and the Shanari find out about the 
Curse, Nightbrothers are going to be going after the Prince, too?"

Edwin smiled. "We can work with the Night Brothers, but Imperial 
Intelligence doesn't always have the requisite understanding of the 
moral issues needed for dealing with cases like the Prince's. In 
particular, they would feel the need to judge the Prince, when in fact, 
he must face a Higher Judgment."

Andrew
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