[coronatiger]

14th of Mitra’s Second Month, year 412 (continued)

Lunari noticed two Amrosh soldiers watching us from a hundred meters away, and started walking towards them while I was helping Rhuk set up the canopy for the cart. Grogg followed him. Lunari talked with them for a few minutes before coming back. I asked what they had discussed, and Lunari told us they had “investigated the conditions towards Ur”, and warned him not to check into any inns on the way there. Rhuk snorted. We both knew that the inns held no danger. There were two inns, just before and after a cross in the road, the Cross Lodge and the Bizarre Bean, and Rhuk intended to stop at the Cross Lodge. Because of our late start, it would be dark when we arrived, but that should present no difficulties, for the Cross Lodge was run by a family of Ashtarites, a couple with two teenage children. The owner of the Bean was a good friend of Rhuk’s, and affiliated with the Farmers’ Republic. Hilde shouldn’t be a danger to us, either. The next inn, once we truly entered the stone desert, was the Watering Hole. Both Rhuk and I have been there several times, and couldn’t figure out why we should stay away from there. Recalling that Batto had recognized me somehow, I lay down in the cart, hiding behind Grogg while we passed the Amrosh soldiers so they wouldn’t get a good look at me.

Xipil asked me if it was all right for him to ask Rhuk about the grey men they met in the crater. I told him to go ahead. His culture must be very peculiar, for he seems extraordinarily careful not to offend anyone. From his description of the grey men, Rhuk recognized them, but only as figures of stories and legends, and called them “dead men” and “ghost men”. Lunari wanted to know what my religion thought about undead. “Sacrilege!” I responded. “But what if those you kill come back to haunt you?” he wanted to know. I told him they didn’t, for whenever I take a life, I send the soul to You.

The cart wheeled on. Lunari recounted the places he’d visited, and complained that it’s so expensive to travel in Arland, what with all the toll posts. Speaking of which, Rhuk asked if he could pay when we reached the next one. Lunari agreed to pay for his party, including me as his guide, but not Rhuk or Talo.

The toll post was crowded with Loyalist soldiers. Rhuk told them she only carried passengers, and that we were going to Ur. We paid the required price, but I got the impression that they held us back so the wagon in front of us could get a head start. I found it very suspicious, and thought to myself that I wanted to overtake that wagon to see why, but then I noticed that the wagon behind us was held back too, once they let us proceed. Rhuk grumbled about the Loyalists having a toll post here. It was harassment, and they only pretended to protect the road! Lunari thought they were looking for someone, which apparently wasn’t any of us.

Lunari commented on the terrain. The sharp distinction between swamps on the left side of the road and stony desert on the right seemed unnatural to him. He wondered what kind of city Ur might be, and I explained that it was a small one, located in an oasis in the desert. Ratanu, the god of laws and philosophy, has a large temple there that has mostly fallen out of use.

After a couple of hours, we left the swamp behind. Talo engaged Grogg in conversation, but needed some time to get the troll to open up. Lunari wasn’t as heroic in Grogg’s version of the story of Gromgar.

Rhuk pointed out that there was less traffic on the road than usual, which played into Lunari’s concern for the warning about the inns. I repeated that there was no danger from the staff at the Cross Lodge and promised to question them about it. Lunari declared that he was going to lock the door to his room. I teased him, asking if he was afraid that I’d come for a late-night visit. In that case, he said with a meaningful look at me, he didn’t have to lock up. I responded that while I thought of him as a decent enough fellow, I just didn’t find myself drawn to him in that way.

The sun went down and the sky darkened. Lunari had us stop and remove the canopy so he could watch the stars. He pointed out his star sign, the Fox, which Xipil knew under the name of the Slurping Toad. Elves are mystically connected to their star signs. We stayed longer than necessary while Lunari and Xipil did their stargazing, and they had apparently seen enough, for they lay down to sleep when we continued, as did Talo.

Suddenly, Grogg started sniffing in the air. He had caught the wind of something he couldn’t quite identify the source of, it seemed, for he smelled the rest of us. “Yuk, soap!” he deduced when he pulled in my scent. I asked what he was doing, and he told me he smelled a burnt odor. I tried to detect what he had, but smelled nothing out of the ordinary. “Kraa, kraa! Where’s the fire?” he asked his spirit raven. Rhuk looked at him with disgust and I nodded agreement. Unseen wings flapped in the air and faded as the raven scouted ahead. “Grogg, now that it’s gone, know that this is a messenger you can’t trust,” Rhuk told the troll, “You need to think for yourself.” Grogg retorted that if he was thinking for himself, he didn’t have to listen to her either. Rhuk agreed, but Grogg made a badly veiled threat. He doesn’t like it when people speak ill of the raven.

Twenty minutes passed in silence and then the raven returned. Grogg watched it through the magic ring, and the raven gave him something, which he poked at Lunari’s neck. Lunari woke, screaming in pain, for the something was a hot piece of burnt wood. Lunari examined the wood and determined it had been a part of a plank of decent quality, so it wasn’t likely retrieved from a campfire. I suspected that the Cross Lodge had burned down, for that’s the nearest building in the area. It’s a good twenty-minute walk from there to the Bizarre Bean. Rhuk declared that she was convinced the inn still stood, but I knew her well enough to recognize signs of distress. Grogg and Lunari tried to get information out of the raven, but it only replied “Kraa!” Xipil asked what we should do if the inn had burned down, and I responded calmly that we’d just move on to the Bean and stay there.

Xipil jumped off the cart and ran forward, saying he could smell burning. Rhuk sped up the cart with a curse, and Grogg grabbed Xipil and put him back inside when we passed him. Lunari expressed concern for the cart, going this fast in the dark, but Rhuk told him it’s her wagon. “Shut up and hold on!” Talo nearly fell off when we made a sharp turn, but Grogg caught him in time. Abruptly, Rhuk turned the cart off the road and leapt off, running towards the Cross Lodge. I followed at once, but Talo took the time to unfasten the lantern from the cart.

The Cross Lodge lay in ruins, thin plumes of smoke still rising from charred timbers. It must have burned down last night. I started searching for bones among the ruins, hoping to find none. Rhuk fell on her knees, bursting into tears. She knew the family that ran this place much better than I did. I tried telling Talo to shine his lantern where I was searching, but he kept running back to Rhuk. Lunari lighted another lantern and searched for tracks with Grogg and Xipil.

Xipil found tracks of four horses that had been present recently. They hadn’t stayed long, and had fancy shoes, so they weren’t owned by the proprietors. I suspected the arsonists had ridden them.

I discovered the charred remains of the inn’s cat in the food cellar, and Rhuk told me the daughter of the house had been very attached to it. I paused my search to listen to Rhuk’s stories about the people who used to live here. Lunari seemed cold and uncaring, and went to sleep on the cart, but I started digging up the chapel afterwards, with Xipil’s help. Rhuk came over to lend a hand once she calmed down. We discovered human bones, and it became obvious that the poor family had perished.