William, after Lia was taken by gargoyles:

Captain du Chevalier is the least of our concerns now... What I wrote, I wrote because I could do no less. But the issue presently at hand is the life of our friend. With Lia goes our best chance to reach Montigue and be rid of this accursed letter. More people than I care to imagine have died to see this through and I refuse to admit defeat now. To do so would erase the meaning from their sacrifices. We WILL travel forward, maps be damned!

We mustn't stop until the cause for our delay is the very life itself fleeing our bodies. If we reach the lake, we follow it to the river. From the river we journey to the very heart of Ussura. From there, we find the general and are done with it... I've given my word more than once since this journey began, and as of yet I've been able to keep it. If possible I'd like to continue in that endeavor. I've come to value each of you as friends and companions. I'd go so far as to say that I'd be glad to raise my blade the final time with any one of you at my side.

Dying is the simplest thing a man can ever do in his lifetime. Choosing the ones he would do it with is not so simple. I have done so...

Renaldo, you are fine sword and an even better man. Your past is your own and I know that we all have things that we would best like to remain forgotten to time. If my thirst for vengeance dug up things that troubled you, I apologize. Now more than ever we need your levity and good humor.

Valliere, you and Laurent both bring patience and wit to a group often troubled by impatient foolishness. You are the conscience that keeps the rest of us true to our mission, and more importantly, our honor. Your loyalty is an example to us all. Never let the harshness of our lives take that from you, or all we do now is for naught.

Enrique, you keep to yourself more often than not, a man who wears your thoughts as our Montaigne friend does the latest fashions; in plain sight and for all to see. Try as you might to hide it, I see a noble soul underneath it all. I would trust my life to your sword-arm and few men I know could claim the same. Know that your anger toward those that would harm your country need not continue within our fine group of misfits.

Alas, Lia, our free-spirited newcomer may well lay dead even now. I don't believe any of us will ever truly realize just how much she could have brought to the lot of us. A bit of a softer edge to a band of fools with a few too many sharp blades between us. It is not our people's way nor do we have the luxury of a tearful farewell, and something tells me she wouldn't have wanted it so just the same. Prophets be willing; we may yet find her. We're all bound together in this venture, by word or by loyalty.

I'll be damned if we don't see it through...

William McCormick