Quexos and I left soon after I said goodbye to Kathleen. We took a narrow mountain path to the bottom of the mountain range, and instead of taking one of the many horses The Order kept around, we concentrated on flying and darted across the landscape faster than any horse would. I looked at many of the old documents The Order kept on the old Black Shadow, and I read over the recent reports we had on the new Black Shadow, and from the recent reports I was able to learn the location of their base of operations, which was not far from their original base of operations. Whereas the old base was in an upkept castle, this one was at an older one that wasn't kept in good condition. I wasn't able to find out if the base was actually in the castle or elsewhere around it, but I led Quexos there nevertheless. We arrived, and landed softly by a small grove near the old castle. The castle was essentially a large box in the middle of the landscape. It had four high walls, and a large central tower, which looked like it was going to crumble. "We'll have to be careful not to get caught." Quexos said. I nodded slowly. We crept through the grove until we reached the outskirts of the plain around the castle. I ran across the plain as fast as I could, hoping not to be seen by whatever kinds of guards they kept. Turns out I wasn't, and Quexos joined me shortly afterwards. We scaled the wall quickly, and ducked onto the old ramparts. As we crouched, I noticed a lone guard roaming around the square courtyard below. "This shouldn't be too hard to get past." Quexos said cockily. "Don't get cocky. Sometimes guards will pull surprises that even take my by surprise." I said quietly. The guard's eyes darted up towards us, but we stayed still so we would look like parts of the ramparts. "What now?" Quexos asked. I picked up a stone the size of my palm and felt how heavy it was. I threw it as hard as I could high over the guard's head, and it crashed against the wall away from him with a loud noise. The guard darted after the noise like a distracted dog, and I hopped down from the ramparts. Quexos stayed in case more guards showed up, and he stayed silent as I ran after the distracted guard. "Must not have been anything." I heard the guard say as I got closer to him. When I stood behind him, I quickly wrapped my arm around his neck so his adam's apple was in the crook of my elbow. I applied pressure to the guard's neck until he became limp and sagged to the ground. I hid his unconscious form behind a ruined wall, and left him. Quexos joined me, and we scouted around the courtyard. He found a wooden door that looked years newer than the castle itself, and I gave it a light shove. It swung wide open, and led to a narrow ramp, which led downwards to a lit room. I put my back to the wall and crept down slowly, hoping not to get noticed by any guards. We reached the bottom, and there was a room full of guards, a pile of barrels, and other weapons, such as crossbows, and other barrels labelled "explosive". "Looks like we've found their stash of weapons." Quexos commented. I nodded slowly, and we heard someone creeping up behind us. I turned quickly, but the three guards there moved first. All three drew their swords and one shouted as loud as he could, prompting the other guards in the weaponry to come running towards us, their swords drawn as well. Quexos cursed loudly. I drew my sword and Quexos drew his, and we prepared to fight, when one of the guards stepped forward, holding a copper coloured sphere in his right hand. He threw the sphere against the ground in front of Quexos and I, which resulted in a bright flash, similar to the one I had seen when Kathleen had been captured all that time ago. The light was blinding, and my eyes felt as though they were burning. I felt my sword drop from my grasp, and I raised my hands in front of my face in a vain effort to block the light. The last thing I remembered was the feeling of the cold stone floor on my face as I dropped to the ground.