[coronatiger]

18th of Mitra’s Second Month, year 412

O Ashtar, Mother of Snakes, Keeper of Death’s Door, hear my confession!

Grogg woke me to ask how to get high on God. Light was streaming through the windows, but I rolled over and told him grumpily to go back to bed. Lunari brought Xipil and Grogg outside. How thoughtful of him. Unless they were going to discuss secrets, in which case I’d rather they did it in my hearing.

Ander shook my shoulder carefully some time later. “Guling!” he declared. I got up and we joined the others in the sun. Xipil was concerned that the orcs might not be dead, and wanted to go back to check. Admittedly, I had been swept up in the others’ rush to get away, but two of the orcs has tasted my venom, and those two absolutely wouldn’t be getting up again. The third one, I was uncertain about. Grogg had landed at least three solid blows on him, so I was pretty certain he was dead, too. Ander was satisfied with our work on that island, and in the end, that was what mattered.

To my surprise, Ander didn’t lead us back to the raft; he took us in the other direction. I pulled him aside. Lunari tried to listen in, but Xipil prevented him. I asked Ander who or what had sent us to the island to kill the orcs. Of course, I was already convinced that ultimately, it was You who had issued the kill order, but I wanted to know more, if only to stop Lunari’s complaining. I failed to get anything out of Ander, though. He only replied “Kill!” and “Guling!”

After a couple of minutes, we arrived at a clearing in the orchard, with a few, small buildings. A dwarf was sitting on the steps before one of the houses, merrily playing a mouth harp. Next to him stood a half-elf, who Lunari and Grogg knew from before; Lunari called him Lunas. There were two humans there as well. I guessed they were hunters from their attire, and they seemed like unimportant underlings from the way Lunas ignored them.

Lunas tried talking Lunari into coming to the Evening Fort outside Guling to take missions for his family. That made him a scion of the Aldera family, I thought to myself. Lunari told the half-elf that we were already on our way there.

It didn’t matter that Ander wasn’t very talkative, for it became clear that Lunas and his crew of hunters had been chasing a band of outlaws, including the orcs we killed and a troll that Keri, the dwarf, shot through the eye with his crossbow. Ander must have made an agreement with Lunas or his representative, to have us help with the orcs in return for transportation to Guling.

Keri seemed half drunk, but roused when Lunas asked if he was ready to go. He went inside to get his pack and said goodbye to whoever was in there. Lunas asked Lunari what he’d been up to lately. Had he saved any more nobles? It turned out Lunas was one of those who Grogg and Lunari had saved from Gromgar and his orcs. Lunari was uncharacteristically vague about his exploits, but said he was ready to go on another adventure. Lunas needed half an hour to get ready himself; we were going to take a raft through the swampy delta for a couple of days, before taking their boat upriver towards Guling. I sat down in the shade, leaning against one of the houses, trying to get some more sleep.

Grogg picked me up when it was time to go. I pretended to sleep; I once heard the expression, “Fake it till you make it,” and I gave it a try. Kraa stood on Grogg’s shoulder, uncomfortably close to my head, but I tried to ignore the spirit raven. Suddenly, Grogg tilted my head down, for someone to take a look at my face. I prepared to burst into action, but then a woman’s voice said one of Your prayers over me. My hand twitched in Your greeting, and I felt the woman put something down my dress, between my breasts. She whispered in my ear, “For those who won’t die.”

I woke at the river bank, to the sound of Keri’s mouth harp and Lunari’s violin. Grogg told Lunari that a woman had come and touched me “inside the shirt” and gave him money. “Did you pimp out Nuur-Karif?” Lunari exclaimed skeptically. He lowered his voice and explained to Grogg what a pimp was. “I only got one copper,” Grogg muttered defensively.

Lunas asked who the best rafters were among us, and Xipil volunteered for pole duty. I told the noble that Grogg was very strong and very capable, so he got a pole, too. This raft was slightly smaller than the one we used earlier, and floated treacherously low in the water, once everyone was aboard. I was sure we were going to get our feet wet.

Lunas asked Lunari how he had ended up here, in the middle of nowhere. Lunari explained that he received Lunas’s letter in Blekborg and decided to make the trek. He regaled how the Loyalists forced us to go through the Farmers’ Republic. “Loyalists! Hah, Betrayers are more like it!” Lunas interjected. I noticed that Lunari mixed up the Cross Lodge and the Bizarre Bean, but I didn’t bother to correct him. Lunas told Keri that “they” had set things in motion already, as if the dwarf couldn’t easily hear what Lunari was saying. Lunas said we had to get back to civilization as soon as possible; he needed to get the word out.

Grogg asked if the Betrayers and the Nightriders were one and the same, but Lunas and Lunari explained that the Betrayers, or Loyalists, depending on your point of view, were the Larma family and their adherents, while the Nightriders were elite cavalry from Amrosh’s ranks.

I stood in a corner with my back turned to the others, and fished out what the woman had stuffed into my cleavage. It was a small vial of yellowish liquid. I opened and sniffed it, identifying the liquid as holy venom. I have my own, of course, but the effect of this one might be wildly different, although the end result should be the same: Death. I suddenly regretted pretending to sleep, earlier. I very much wished to talk to the unseen, unnamed woman who had given me this gift, as precious as a piece of her soul, but I feared my path wouldn’t take me anywhere near her again.

Lunas and Lunari entertained themselves by comparing prostitution in different parts of the world. Lunas claimed that all the whores in Guling do it completely voluntarily. I found that hard to believe. Grogg told a story about Lunari being thrown out of a brothel in Sam, causing Lunas to bend over double with laughter.

We went ashore to have lunch. Lunari mentioned that he could make some more room for us on the raft if he had some timber to work with. There were two large, half-rotten logs lying in the water, and Grogg swam out to retrieve them. Lunas asked again about how we came to the Farmers’ Republic, and Lunari told him that I’m their guide, although we hired Rhuk in Sam, who knew plenty of people around here. Lunari mentioned that I’m an Ashtarite, and that Rhuk may be one, too. Three Fork-Tongues may have been too many to contemplate, for he said nothing about Xipil. Lunas claimed that he doesn’t care what people believe, but tried to question me about my faith anyway. I pulled an Ander, clamming up.

Lunari and Grogg went to work on the raft; Lunari used magic to attach the two logs to the raft while Grogg lifted it up. The raft rode slightly higher in the water when we continued. Grogg reeked of swamp from his swim, but that only made his scent fade into the background. Lunas told us about the public bath in a park in Guling, which we may want to visit when we get there.

Lunas continued his questioning, this time he wanted to know if I had been in the Republic before. I saw no reason to lie, and answered affirmatively. Lunas said he would like to hire all four of us, and for some of the tasks, having someone with knowledge of the area would come in handy.

Lunari was talking with Keri about taking lives. The dwarf claimed he was good at it, but that’s why he’s drinking. Lunari tried to find out more about the orcs we killed, but didn’t get much out of Keri that we hadn’t already learned. The dwarf went off on a tangent, saying that the Bush Rangers are solid people who pay a dear price to keep the Republic safe. That was a name I hadn’t heard before. Lunari produced a bottle of wine and shared it with Keri, and the topic changed to a discussion about alcoholic beverages. Keri preferred stout dwarven ale, the stronger, the better, and he made the strongest himself.

We put ashore when it was time to go to sleep. We’ve left the agricultural landscape behind us, and thinking back, I could only recall seeing three other people while we traveled, all fishermen. I erected my tent on a dry piece of land and had a bit of food before retiring. Xipil scraped at the tent flaps and asked if he could come inside. He wanted to know what the woman had wanted, earlier. I showed him the vial she gifted me, and retrieved the vial with my own venom, saying it was similar to that. I made sure not to say anything incriminating; the fabric of the tent only gave an illusion of privacy, after all. I showed Xipil my teeth and tapped on a fang with my nail, in case he didn’t understand my vague words. We prayed together before he left me to sleep.

O Ashtar! I surrender my life to Your coils. Take me while I sleep, or grant me another day in Your service, as You will.