[coronatiger]

Xipil got out his starlight coin, and I resumed my storytelling. Wolfram prayed to Tiri, and Xipil meditated. Nujan had found a corner and watched from there. Yana began to sing a lullaby, softly so as not to disturb my story. She was afraid, but I held her hand, so she shouldn’t be.

Grogg was really getting into the mood, stomping and bellowing louder and louder. Suddenly, we heard a bang, and not long after, lightning struck the chicken coop, and Grogg quieted. Wolfram shouted for him, but got no reply. Nujan stammered that we had to get Grogg down to the cellar, and began moving towards the hatch. Wolfram told the cat that he didn’t think he’d be able to fetch the large troll. Xipil joined Nujan and they began fumbling with the hatch, but Wolfram stopped them. The boy started crying, wailing that he didn’t want the troll to die. I set about relaxing him, and Grogg resumed his chant, more frantically than before, after bellowing a challenge to Palo, the dragon who is his god’s nemesis.

Wolfram held back Xipil and Nujan from going out into the storm, and shouted for Grogg to come inside, but the troll wouldn’t listen. Nujan told Wolfram that if he was willing to let Grogg die, he should let Xipil and him die too, if they wanted to. Wolfram tried to find words to convince the others to stay, but Nujan kicked my leg to get my assistance. Unfortunately for him, I was busy calming the eight-year-old, and anyway, I agreed with Wolfram that we shouldn’t go out into the storm. I realized I possessed no means of convincing Grogg to join us, so I chose to do some good elsewhere. In this case, chasing away the terror that reigned over the tight-packed cellar.

The farmer waved me closer, and I leaned past his wife to learn that I needed to get Wolfram to stop shouting. The loud noise didn’t help his boy, and it was only by Your blessing that the girl still slept, clutched close to her mother’s bosom. I asked Wolfram to quit roaring. I was fine with him hindering people from going out into danger, but if he didn’t mind, I’d prefer him to do it quietly.

I opened my backpack and dug into the medicine kit, retrieving an empty poison vial. I gave it to the boy, explaining that the reason I was so calm in the face of this whole situation, when everyone else was panicking, was that I possessed Your essence. I indicated that it was stored in the small glass bottle. The boy held the vial close, and relaxed remarkably fast. Perhaps it wasn’t as empty as I believed it to be?

The house began to shake, and Wolfram shouted for Grogg to come down, again. I glared at him, but I don’t think he noticed. The cellar was quite dark, at least to those not blessed with night vision. Grogg roared and charged off towards the east. Xipil touched the hatch and declared that it wasn’t any warmer than before. His calm demeanor convinced Wolfram to let him up. Above the open hatch, light and shadow battled against each other in sickening swirls. The farm wife withdrew her earlier sentiment, and begged me to speak of any god I wished, as long as they could save us.

I began another story to convey Your greatness. Nujan climbed up and joined Xipil above, and another lightning bolt struck down nearby. Wolfram said that this was the last storm we would let Grogg be outside in.

Xipil and Nujan returned to the cellar, and Xipil closed the hatch after them. Nujan sat down in his corner despondently. Xipil warned us that we needed to be ready to quench the fire, if it spread from the chicken coop to the main house. Wolfram opened the hatch and peeked out to keep an eye on the fire. After a moment, he decided to put the fire out, and Xipil followed him outside. Nujan did too, hesitantly. The farmwife wanted to hold hands with Yana and me. As we had one hand free, each, that was all right. The sleeping girl lay in her mother’s lap.

The firefighters succeeded at their task, and decided to follow Grogg. They brought him back after a while, and Wolfram had needed to transform into a bear to carry the troll, for he had been struck by lightning, and was barely able to move on his own.

Once we got Grogg down into the basement, I told him to prick himself to sleep. Wolfram and Nujan remained upstairs while I worked on Grogg, but Xipil came down, and both he and Yana offered to help. I chose Yana, of course. The lightning had struck Grogg’s upraised solid-metal maul, shattered and burned his left arm, and continued through his body to the ground. Grogg had bad burns over his torso, but his legs weren’t damaged too badly. The wounds there were superficial.

I applied salves to Grogg’s burns and earth around them, and while I couldn’t save his arm, I could at least prevent infection. Mundane skills depleted, I had one more weapon up my sleeve. I prayed over Grogg’s arm, and it seemed dead, as if You had taken it through Death’s Door. I hadn’t heard of You granting healing in this way before, but if anyone could give Grogg’s arm back, it would be You. If You gave Grogg the use of his arm, he could no longer deny Your power.

A final, powerful flash of light raced over the sky, and then it was dark. Wolfram summoned Yana, Xipil and me for a talk out of hearing of the farmers. He informed us that Nujan had spoken earlier, as if in a trance, saying that if we delivered the spear to Lord Mir, we could help him defend the city. Xipil added that Nujan had said something about keeping Lord Mir grounded. There wasn’t anything we could do yet; Grogg needed to heal up before we could leave the cellar.

Wolfram and Xipil debated sending Xipil to scout on the burning city to find out who controlled it now, but Nujan was convinced it was Larma. Also, sending Xipil alone would be dangerous. If he needed help, we’d be hours away. We had better go to sleep. Xipil offered to take the first watch, and I volunteered for the second.

The farmer’s family emerged from the cellar and found their beds. There was some crying, but they fell asleep quickly. Xipil climbed up on the roof to keep watch from there, but the rest of us climbed down to the cellar. I spoke my new evening prayer with Yana; we each held one palm to the ground and clasped each other with the other.

O Ashtar! We surrender our lives to Your coils. Take us while we sleep, or grant us another day in Your service, as You will.

Xipil woke me for my watch after a few hours, and I climbed out of the cellar and took up position inside the door, leaving occasionally to take a look around the house. I also spent an hour or so cleaning my teeth thoroughly; I even extended my fangs as far as they would go. I stayed up for three or four hours and woke Nujan before returning to my Yana pillow.