Campaign Log: Confessions of a Forked Tongue

[coronatiger]

Xipil asked if I wanted to come along so I could talk to Keri. I didn’t think he was angling to get me alone, so I said I would have plenty of time to talk to Keri while he and Wolfram were out. Wolfram transformed into the giant bear and Xipil climbed up on his back. Then they were gone.

While I waited for Keri to arrive, Yana came out of the tent. Hylda had heard one of the corpses moving. I promised to investigate. I asked Yana to help with Magda and the camels; we could see Keri cresting a dune with the three animals. Having grown up on a horse ranch, Yana knew her way around horses better than anyone I had ever met, except perhaps for the Moon Shadows. Yana went to prepare fodder and blankets for the animals.

Hylda was talking inside the tent. I stood just too far away to hear, but I did discern Your name. Curious, I put my head inside to see what was going on. Grogg was awake, but still prone, and Hylda sat leaning over him to talk in a surprisingly soft voice. Grogg said to her that he had nothing against You, and that Kraa had told him to help us, but he thought I was acting dishonorably when I pretended to want to negotiate with the enemy, when I really wanted to stab them in the back. What a strange thing for Grogg to say! He had never seemed to value honor that much before. I pulled my head out of the tent before I was seen. Yana saw me spying and raised an eyebrow. I gave her the thumbs-up sign and a smile. Grogg and Hylda might have been putting on an act for me to see, or they might not. I decided I didn’t want to know. At least, Grogg was making an effort.

We welcomed Keri. Yana took care of the animals while I offered food and water to our dwarven friend. Keri asked for ale. Since I don’t particularly care for ale myself, I hadn’t paid attention to our supply of the stuff, so I asked Hylda. She pointed to a sack, and I found ale there.

Haros was sleeping peacefully when I checked on him, and I didn’t want to wake him. Hylda asked if I had looked into the issue from earlier, which I hadn’t, so I went out to study the corpses. They were all still dead, but the one from the body bag had cracked an eyelid. Hylda couldn’t possibly have heard that, but it didn’t look like any of them had moved, so I knelt and prayed.

Something interfered with my connection to You, so I studied the corpses again. The eye was still slightly open, and nothing else had changed in the last couple of minutes. On a whim, I drew a knife. After verifying that Yana wasn’t watching, I plunged the knife into the corpse’s heart, and You gave me the feeling that I was right to do so. I noticed that this corpse didn’t smell. The two mages were starting to give off a distinct odor after lying in the desert heat all day, and they looked absolutely ancient. I checked their ritual knives, which looked like they might break if I stared too hard at them.

I took one last circle around our camp while Yana finished up with the animals, and then we went inside. I asked Hylda to take over the watch. I brushed my teeth and prepared for bed.

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.


25th of Tityra, year 412

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

Hylda tapped Yana for a change of guards after a few hours. I was tempted to hold on, but I forced my arm to remain relaxed so Yana could get up.

I woke again when Yana came back inside the tent. She wanted to know when we had to wake Keri. It was about an hour until sunrise, so I asked Yana to wake me in half an hour, and I would take care of Keri.

Yana was also concerned for the animals. If Keri ran them as hard as he had so far, they wouldn’t survive more than four or five days. Keri hadn’t said anything, but Yana believed he was aware of this. I said I’d prefer if we avoided killing the animals, but I would sacrifice them if it became necessary. The expression on Yana’s face told me she had wanted my assurances that we would save the animals, but she also knew that people were more important.

Half an hour later, Yana woke me again. Through the tent opening, I could just see the spirit cloud approaching. I got up and alerted Keri. I prepared food and water, and as soon as he had eaten, Keri left for his next jaunt into the desert. I didn’t pack away the food, for I expected Xipil and Wolfram to be hungry.

When Xipil and Wolfram started eating, I went outside to check on the corpses. The one from the body bag had discolored around the chest wound. It was as if it had been in some suspended state until I stabbed it and finally allowed it to die properly.

I explained to Xipil and Wolfram about the corpse. Wolfram wanted to chop it up before we buried it. Xipil said there was nothing magical about the corpse, so I told them that Yana and I could see to the burial, if the two of them would like to sleep.

Wolfram asked if I had learned anything from Haros. I apologized that Haros needed more rest. He could use the needle’s healing, if Grogg was well. Wolfram went inside to move the needle from Grogg to Haros.

Xipil wanted to know if I’d noticed anything about the ship during the night, but I said that I hadn’t paid much attention to it. It was still far away. Xipil had the same bad feeling as yesterday. He couldn’t tell if the feeling had remained while he was away from camp, for the mental pressure exerted on him by the spirit cloud far overwhelmed this itch. Xipil also asked if Pak had been in touch, but he hadn’t.

Yana and I carried the three corpses to the hole I dug yesterday. The grave wasn’t very wide, but it was deep enough that desert critters wouldn’t unearth it easily after we’d gone. Once we had tossed in the corpses, I noticed a spirit shimmering over the grave. I warned Yana that it was there and that I was about to be violent.

Yana pulled back a few steps. The spirit hovered over the edge of the grave, and I stayed on the other side of it, so I could see both it and Yana. When Yana turned away briefly, I drew a knife and stabbed the spirit. The distorted body that manifested lacked arms and legs, but it had two noses on its gaunt face. I rammed my knife into the abomination a few times and pushed it into the grave.

Xipil had spotted what was happening, so he and Wolfram came running. Wolfram started talking about chopping up the corpses again, so I said we’d leave it to them; Yana and I weren’t needed for this. Wolfram called for Grogg to come and help. If there’s one thing Grogg is good at, it’s making a mess. He could certainly mess up the corpses to Wolfram’s satisfaction.

Yana and I went inside the tent, so we didn’t have to witness the grisly work, but Yana confessed that it didn’t bother her as much when the violence was done to something that was already dead. Knowing how badly she reacts to violence against someone living, I still thought it was best to shield her from what Grogg and Wolfram were doing. It was bad enough that we had to listen.

To distract her, I asked Yana if she could do anything with the body bags. “They seemed quite sturdy to us lay persons, so I wondered if you could make new and better armor for me with one of them.” I explained that “better” in this case meant that I wanted my new armor to provide better protection while ideally weighing less than my old one. I hadn’t even thought it might be an issue, but Yana assured me she had no qualms about what the material had been used for earlier. She made no promises, other than looking into whether the cloth had the required properties. “Do you need to take my measurements again?” I asked hopefully. Yana winked at me and said it would be best if she did.

[coronatiger]

There was a pause in the noise from outside, and then some talk, before shoveling commenced. When the others returned to the tent, I left with Yana to perform the funeral rites. Even ill-informed infidels must pass through Death’s Door. The fact that we had to help them on their way didn’t change anything.

Xipil was already asleep when we got back to the tent. I asked Grogg and Wolfram to help me remember to ask him to camouflage the grave when he woke up again. “And Grogg, could I ask you to take guard duty while the rest of us rest?” Grogg nodded. I was a little behind on my sleep, and Wolfram had run all night, so we followed Xipil’s example and found our blankets. I found it hard to relax without Yana beside me under the blanket, but her soft humming rocked me to sleep.

I heard Grogg and Xipil talking outside the tent, and I couldn’t immediately tell if I was dreaming. Grogg said he had found a book – who would leave a book in the middle of the desert? – and someone wanted him to destroy them. Xipil said he’d get one of the Kabal staffs, so he could look for spirits.

Wolfram woke when Xipil returned after his investigation and entered the tent. Xipil had found a spirit, he informed Wolfram, who scrambled to his feet. Wolfram started towards me, but I met his eyes and got up.

When I got outside, I immediately noticed that Kraa was about one hundred and fifty meters away, near a spirit kneeling on the ground. I pointed and explained, for the benefit of those without the gift. Walking towards Kraa and the strange spirit, I mentioned to Xipil that it would be good if he could camouflage the grave. It wasn’t urgent, but he should do it before we left.

The spirit remained kneeling as we approached. Xipil asked who it was, and the spirit struggled visibly to look up at us. It asked us to destroy it. Xipil continued the interrogation with a question of whether the spirit came from the Kings’ Crypt, but he got no more answers. I asked my companions if I should manifest the spirit so we could destroy it, but Wolfram wanted to treat it as kindly as possible. His rituals could allow the spirit to pass on. Since the spirit clearly wasn’t hostile, I walked with him back to camp when he went to retrieve his totem pole. I still felt I needed more sleep.

It was afternoon when I woke again. I checked on Haros, and it seemed the healing needle had done as much as it possibly could; Haros’s jaw would never be rebuilt. I pulled out the needle and called Yana over as she had to translate what I said into Arani so Haros could understand. I held out the needle so Grogg could take it.

Haros startled awake and immediately tried to speak, but moving his mouth so was painful. I asked Yana to tell him that his jaw was injured when we saved him from an evil spirit. It was clear that Haros wanted to say something, so I had Yana find writing utensils for him. Haros’s hand trembled, and I had to help him sit up. He wrote that he was grateful and that he wanted to serve us, so I had Yana ask if he could take us to his people. It would take five days to get there, Haros informed us.

I foresaw that Haros would need a way of communicating his needs. It would be cumbersome to get him to write a message if he simply was hungry, thirsty or in pain. I tasked Yana with instructing him in some simple gestures for the most common needs he might have.

The talking woke Xipil, who sat up. He had studied Grogg’s book, he informed me. The book had come from the leader of the foreign mages, who saluted us for “defeating his living aspect.” The leader was going to “the eternal land,” and we could find him in “the winged tower.” Xipil asked if I thought this was Your domain. I didn’t think so, but since I wasn’t sure, I said I would ask You about it.

As soon as I closed my eyes, You showed me a man seated before me, waiting to die. I felt that this was right and proper. The seated man’s attitude was one I never saw before in an infidel. Nobody who isn’t one of Your adherents is so accepting of death, not without being in great pain, either physically or mentally. I relayed my vision to my companions and added that Haros was ready to take us to his people.

We discussed for a while how to travel through the desert while keeping away from the spirits. We wouldn’t be able to outrun them since the spirit cloud seemed tethered to Groman’s stone and was pulled after it. When we inevitably had to stop and rest, the spirits would overtake us. Therefore, we had to keep up the circle-running to occupy the spirits. Grogg said he could carry Groman while outrunning the spirits, so we decided to divide the day into three eight-hour shifts. Keri would take one shift as before, using the animals to carry Groman and his stone, Wolfram and I would take one shift, and Grogg and Xipil would take one. Wolfram and I would take the night shift, since I have the best night eyes, and we would travel during Grogg’s and Xipil’s shift, since Xipil is our best tracker and would have the easiest time of finding the new camp.

While Xipil showed Haros Grogg’s book, Wolfram asked me to come with him and Xipil before their last shift together, so I could cast my physician’s eyes on Groman. With him unconscious for all intents and purposes, we didn’t know how all this running around in the desert had affected the dwarf scholar. I thought this was a good idea, but I reminded Wolfram that I would be the one riding on his back through the desert this time. I asked Yana to take good care of Haros while I was away.

When the spirit cloud approached, I said goodbye to Yana. Wolfram turned into a giant bear, and I climbed up on his back and pointed him towards the approaching spirit cloud. When we met Keri in front of the cloud, Keri and I started to transfer Groman over to Wolfram’s back, but Wolfram turned back to a human to remind me to examine Groman. I thought that was unnecessary of him, seeing as I would have all night to poke and pry at the dwarf. Short of him being dead, which he clearly wasn’t, nothing I might discover would change the fact that we had to run all night.

Still, we had some time before the spirit cloud caught up, so I satisfied Wolfram and checked Groman. Being carried around in big circles in the desert hadn’t improved Groman’s condition, but he had deteriorated more slowly than I had expected. Maybe I had underestimated the dwarven constitution.

I informed Keri briefly that we would be leaving when Wolfram and I returned. We were going to Haros’s home. We would also be shortening the desert runs. Xipil could fill him in on the details. Once Groman and I were installed on Wolfram’s back, the giant bear loped off.

We started off towards the south, parallel to the cliff overlooking the lake. I planned to have Wolfram turn east after a while, then north and finally west, so we’d get back to camp. After a couple of hours, I saw a streak of light on the northern sky. The light seemed to come in our direction, so I actually paid attention to it, unlike the rest of the night sky, which I usually ignore. It turned out the light had nothing to do with us, and it passed over us and continued south. Wolfram kept running.

[coronatiger]

26th of Tityra, year 412

We finished the circle, but I couldn’t see any signs of the camp nearby. Looking around, I saw a light low to the ground north of us, so I directed Wolfram to turn that way. It wasn’t long before Xipil and Grogg came into view, coming to meet us before we brought the spirit cloud into the camp.

Xipil believed the light we had seen streaking past us was someone traveling from Guling to Anabel along the star road. I had been right to think it had nothing to do with us.

Xipil said that Haros hadn’t revealed where we were going, so he would have to guess where the new camp was to be set up. Yana had the daylight stone, Xipil said, and I promised to leave clear signs if we changed directions. We transferred Groman, and I wished Grogg and Xipil a pleasant run before climbing up on Wolfram’s back again.

The camp was packed down and everyone stood ready to travel, but Yana ran to meet us, so I jumped off Wolfram and gave her a hug. Yana repeated what Xipil had said, that it wasn’t clear where we were going. Haros had to look for something, she added.

We loaded the luggage up on Wolfram and started moving towards the east. Yana and Haros rode the camels in front while Haros looked around for signs. Yana fell back to explain that he was looking for “the guardian.” I smiled and told her not to worry.

After a couple of hours, Yana informed the party that Haros asked to borrow a dagger or a knife. A raised eyebrow made it a question of whether I allowed this. I nodded to Yana, and she lent Haros her small knife. Haros drew lines in the sand and measured the shadow cast by the knife. His experiment took a while, but afterwards, he was more confident about where to go, and the pace increased.

We traveled for eight hours and set up the light. It wouldn’t be as visible with the sun still up, but the spirit cloud was going to pass us well to the east. Xipil must have thought we’d travel farther. Wolfram asked Yana and Hylda if they could keep watch since they were the only ones who didn’t do running shifts, except for Haros, but he was in no condition to exert himself more than strictly necessary.

Keri had to take over from Grogg and Xipil, but he couldn’t see the spirit cloud, so I had to go with him to find them. I aimed us in front of the spirit cloud, and we rode off. A distance south-east of camp, we intercepted Grogg and Xipil and moved Groman over to one of the camels. Keri needed all the animals, so I had to walk back to camp with Grogg and Xipil.

Haros was looking for the guardian again when we got back, and Yana and Hylda were trailing him. Yana translated that this guardian was one we had to stay away from. Xipil and Wolfram had seen the tracks of a giant burrowing monster on one of their desert runs; could this have been the guardian? Yana asked Xipil to weigh his words carefully when asking Haros about the guardian. Since he could speak Arani, Xipil didn’t need Yana to translate. I went to bed, for it wouldn’t be many hours before I was going out with Wolfram again.

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.

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

I had hoped to be able to sleep until it was time to leave, but Hylda woke me and complained that the Kabal staff was making her too dizzy to watch out for an approaching spirit cloud. It was still some time before I had to wake Wolfram, so I prepared a meal first. While we were eating, Hylda said that Xipil thought he knew where we were going. Wolfram wanted to discuss this with Xipil, but I said to let him sleep. We didn’t need to know this while we were out running.

When we had finished eating, I guided Wolfram towards the front of the spirit cloud, and we met up with Keri. We moved Groman and his stone and I wished Keri good night. Wolfram sped off in the direction I pointed, towards the north-east.


27th of Tityra, year 412

While Wolfram was running, my dark vision evaporated along with my ability to see spirits. To distract me from my loss, my nether region started cramping up. There was nothing we could do about it, so I chose not to worry Wolfram with my problems. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too insulted if I bled on his fur.

I did my best to navigate in a circle. As long as we kept moving, the spirits wouldn’t catch us, and having moved inland, there was no cliff we could fall down, just sand dunes, all around. I navigated well, despite my limitations, and in the early morning we could see the light from the daylight stone. If it was a little off to the side, who cares?

Xipil and Grogg came to meet us. Xipil confirmed that the guardian was the monster that he and Wolfram had found. We unloaded Groman off Wolfram and arranged for Grogg and Xipil to meet us in five hours at the place where Xipil and Wolfram saw the guardian’s tracks. Wolfram and I watched in silence for a few seconds while Xipil and Grogg carried Groman away.

We walked towards the camp, and I apologized for bleeding all over Wolfram’s back. He just shrugged his shoulders, taking it in stride. In my experience, most men and quite a few women are squeamish about menstrual blood, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Wolfram’s reaction.

[coronatiger]

27th of Tityra, year 412 (continued)

Everyone was awake when we got back to camp. Yana said Haros couldn’t find the way until the sun came up, but Wolfram said he knew where we were going. We packed up and left. I asked Wolfram if I could sleep on his back while we traveled, since it was so long since I slept properly. He didn’t mind, and Yana helped strap me down so I wouldn’t fall off.

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.

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

Despite being tired, I didn’t sleep very well on Wolfram’s back, and I woke up every time Wolfram stopped for a short break. After sunrise, we made a longer stop, and Wolfram lay down to rest. Yana didn’t come to wake me, so I assumed that I could go back to sleep. We had probably arrived at the place we were to meet Grogg and Xipil.

Hylda woke us, panicking. Even without my gift, I could see that the spirit cloud was bearing down on us. After shooting his mouth off, Keri leaped onto Magda and rode off with one of the camels in tow. I didn’t react in time to tell him it wasn’t his turn to go into the desert, yet. Had we forgotten to tell him our plan?

Keri returned after talking to Grogg and Xipil, who were going to take another, smaller circle. They agreed to meet again in the same place in three hours. Keri insisted I told him when the spirit cloud was approaching again.

Wolfram stood up and shook, clearly trying to dislodge me, so I untied myself and climbed down. Wolfram transformed and suggested that we set up the tent, since it didn’t look like we were getting any further today.

Once the tent was up, I fetched one of the Kabal staffs. Having watched Xipil hold these, I knew something of what to expect, but the reality still hit me hard. I felt dizzy and off-balance, and my senses perceived things that weren’t there. I could clearly see the spirit cloud retreating towards the south, though, and that was what was important.

After a while, Haros ran up to Yana and started scribbling eagerly. Yana came to tell me that he had seen a sign, and that we had to pack up so we could get moving again. I put down the Kabal staff and helped take down the tent. Wolfram prepared his crocodile tail as an arrow to point in the direction Haros said we should go. Yana informed everyone that if Haros lifted both fists, we all had to stop right where we were. Yana didn’t think it was very far to where we were going, and she believed we already were breaking some of the rules of Haros’s people. We shouldn’t bring death and misfortune there. Keri decided to stay behind so he could meet Grogg and Xipil as planned.

We traveled east for about two hours, and then Haros stopped to look for more signs. I sat down and prayed until Yana told me he had found one. Wolfram asked her to talk to Haros and see if we could camp until tomorrow, for he worried that we were getting spread out. Yana conferred with Haros and learned that the signs didn’t last forever. Haros thought that if we weren’t planning to finish the trip today, we should go back. I think he was afraid of the guardian.

Wolfram was more afraid that we might not be able to keep up the desert runs. I suggested that he and Hylda made camp while Yana and I went on with Haros. We would find the solution to the spirit catastrophe and come back, I told Wolfram, feeling not quite as confident as I let on.

Xipil needed to take my shifts on Wolfram’s back until we were back. He should be fine since there was no need to move camp, and he could rest during Keri’s shifts. We decided to leave the second camel for Keri to use. If his horse or the camel he had with him now went lame, he’d need a replacement beast, or he couldn’t do his shifts anymore.

While Yana and I filled our backpacks with food and water, Grogg and Xipil trotted into camp. I explained our plan to them, and Yana added that Haros thought smart people wouldn’t camp this close to the guardian. Everyone agreed that it would be safer to make camp back where we last pitched the big tent. We didn’t have food and water for many more days, so I promised to arrange for supplies to be sent back if negotiations with Haros’s people dragged on.

Yana, Haros and I started walking. Haros was unsteady, so Yana and I took turns supporting him. There were some cliffs in front of us, which I thought might be where we were going, but Haros aimed just south of them. After three hours, when the cliffs were due north, Haros indicated that we should stop.

In the distance before us, and slightly to the right, I could just make out something darker than the sand. More cliffs, I assumed. I noticed Haros cocking his head to listen for something. Even with a mangled jaw, it shone through that he was smiling. He took my arm and pointed towards a dune just to the south.

The sand here gave more way under our feet, so walking was more tiring, but we didn’t have to walk far. When we passed the dune, a valley opened up before us, green and lush and vibrant. A sound I hadn’t heard in a long time was very welcome. Somewhere nearby, there was running water. I smiled and gestured that we should proceed.

Haros wanted Yana and me to walk a few steps behind him. It would probably be for the best if the locals saw a familiar face first. The slope was almost so steep we had to climb down, but that wasn’t why I sensed Haros tensing up. Something was wrong. Where were all the people?

Haros stopped us when we had come half-way down the slope and continued alone. After a few minutes, he vanished into the greenery. While I had watched Haros, Yana had looked around. “Caves nearby?” she signed. “We may be watched,” I signed back.

Five more minutes passed, and then three men emerged in the valley below us. One of them herded a large lizard with a metal cage for a muzzle around its mouth. The lizard was similar in size as the crocodiles we had fought on the beach, but it was bronze-colored. When the men caught sight of us, they started up the slope. The lizard wrangler moved faster than the others, one of whom was old and needed the other’s help climbing the path. The lizard wrangler stopped a few meters away and waited for his companions.

[coronatiger]

The last two men stopped behind the man with the lizard, and the younger of them said something in Arani, which Yana’s fingers indicated was a greeting. They exchanged a few more words before the local switched to Common. Yana must have asked if he could speak my language.

The man accused us of being unclean and said they didn’t like that we had come to their valley. I told him we had a guide, but they already knew that. They had taken care of Haros, but wanted to know what had happened to Farmir, his friend. I told the welcoming committee that we found Haros and Farmir in a cave. Farmir was already dead, but we nursed Haros back to life.

The men wanted to know why we had come. I explained about the spirit cloud and said we had information – vague, admittedly – that indicated that they might know how to solve our problem. Our temporary solution was to lead the spirit cloud around in circles in the desert, pulling it after Groman’s stone, but this wasn’t tenable in the long run.

The locals conferred privately, and Yana took the opportunity to sign that she had seen movement around us; there were more people nearby.

The men asked about Groman’s stone, and I described it as best I could. After conferring with his friends again, the man doing the talking asked if I was willing to give them the stone. I said I was, but I needed to convince the bearer of the stone.

Apparently, Haros’s people already had a similar stone, which bound the guardian. They couldn’t keep both stones and I thought perhaps they interfered with each other. If they were to take over the spirit stone, we had to deal with the guardian, which was an ancient Salask, a giant lizard. The guardian was several centuries old, and well past its ordinary lifespan. I tried to get more information about it, but the locals were hesitant; perhaps their magic held it at bay and they never had to interact with it. They were even vague about its size, saying both that it was as large as the valley and as large as one hundred camels. There was quite a gap between those sizes. It wouldn’t surprise me if the valley held a thousand camels, all hidden from view behind the overgrowth.

I got the impression that how we chose to deal with the Salask was up to us, as long as it never returned to the valley. I proposed to return to my friends, since they surely wanted to have a say in the matter, but the locals claimed we had to be cleansed before we could leave. They were happy to send a delegation to meet with my friends, if I could provide some token to send with them, to convince my friends to go along with the trade of stones.

It was an easy decision on my part to trade the spirit cloud for the guardian. The Salask, though large and fearsome, was a tangible opponent that anyone could try to attack, if they could work up the courage, although I didn’t think even Grogg was stupid enough to go toe-to-toe with it. We should put our heads together and come up with a plan of attack; maybe a trap of some kind would do the trick. The spirit cloud, on the other hand, was so vast that even though both Wolfram and I could deal with individual spirits from it easily enough, we’d never shrink the cloud noticeably. If we failed against the Salask, we might die and allow it to rampage, but if the spirits broke free, they would prevent anyone who died – possibly in the entire world – from reaching You.

I asked for writing implements so I could compose a message for the delegation to bring with them. I also asked if Haros could be fetched, but I was informed that we couldn’t meet until we had been cleansed. I wondered briefly if this need for cleansing had anything to do with the fact that both Yana and I were bleeding, although I couldn’t see how they would detect that, but I learned that even Haros had to go through the cleansing, and he certainly wasn’t on his period.

The quill looked rather old-fashioned, but it did what it was supposed to. I wrote a message on a sheet of paper, addressed to Wolfram, Xipil, Grogg, Hylda and Keri. I summarized what had transpired in the meeting with Haros’s people, described the proposed trade of stones and concluded with my recommendation that we accepted the deal. On a separate scrap of paper, I wrote, “This vial contains the essence of Ashtar, just like the vial I donated to the eight-year-old at the farm outside Ur.” I put the scrap into one of my empty vials and instructed the locals that it was to be given to the one named Xipil.

My vial and notes were sent off while the man who had done all the talking showed Yana and me a path into the greenery. In a small clearing, we were provided with water and dates. It seemed we were in for a bit of a wait, so I asked permission to set up our tent. The man left us to it.

I caught Yana’s eyes and spoke with my hands. “It’s so much easier to negotiate when I don’t have to watch for well-meaning friends to put their feet in their mouths!” Yana’s pealing laughter made my skin tingle delightfully. “Do you really think we can fit the tent in here?” she asked soberly. “Yeah, I know its larger than our previous one, but if we push aside that branch …”

Through the bushes, we could see the delegation moving out, five or six men with more of those bronze-colored lizards. It was only afternoon, but I was tired and suggested we went to bed. With my hands, I told Yana that there should be no hanky-panky, for we were on a diplomatic mission in a foreign culture, and we couldn’t know how the locals would react if they heard us. Yana came with me inside the tent and insisted on a hug, but she wasn’t tired enough to sleep, so she pulled her needlework out of her backpack and sat in the tent opening.

Yana touched my foot almost as soon as I lay down and I looked up at her. “The man stands outside the bushes,” she signed. “Guard?” I asked silently. “Maybe if we need something,” Yana signed back. She paused, thinking, before asking if she needed to stay awake, or if she could go to sleep when she grew tired. I replied that I thought we were safe, but I let Hope out of her pouch and told her to alert me if anyone other than Yana entered the tent. I hadn’t undressed either, and my knives were within easy reach. We might be safe, but there was no need to let all precautions go.

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.

[coronatiger]

28th of Tityra, year 412

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

I woke well refreshed this morning. It seemed like forever since I had a good night’s sleep. Yana was still dreaming peacefully, so I stayed where I was, unmoving, so as not to disturb her. I even left in place the hand that cupped her breast; if someone poked their head inside the tent, they still wouldn’t see what was hidden under the blanket.

Yana had stayed up sewing for about two hours after I went to sleep last night. She tried not to wake me, but with Your gifts it was impossible for me not to sense that someone drew near. I didn’t want Yana to feel guilty about waking me, so I kept my eyes shut and allowed her to slither in under the blanket and into my embrace.

I didn’t have to rely on Hope’s lack of warning to identify who was sneaking up on me. With the full moon up, I couldn’t detect the powerful mixture of emotions that oozed off my girlfriend whenever she looked at me, but there was still something indescribable that told me this was Yana. Maybe it was the way I heard her move, or maybe the scent of her found its way to tease my nostrils when she came close.

I could understand why Yana complained about me wearing armor. Even the fabric of her bodice seemed annoyingly thick, insulating the delicious softness beneath. Despite this protection, I could feel that Yana was waking up. As her breathing slowly changed, another part of her started to rise up against my palm. I pulled back, out from under the blanket, but Yana rolled around to follow and somehow ended up on top of me. She planted a kiss on my lips and trilled in her melodious voice, “Good morning!”

Yana’s eyes told me she was ready to get frisky, but mine told her of my reluctance, and she rolled onto her back again with a sigh. “Any plans for the day?” she asked. “We’ll just have to wait,” I told her. “The delegation that went out to meet our friends may have returned already, if everything went as I hope, and I expect we’ll hear from them shortly.”

The man standing guard outside the bushes provided a simple breakfast which Yana, Hope and I devoured in the tent. The valley was quiet, so I believed I had time to replenish at least some of the venom for my vial. I asked Yana and Hope to warn me if someone came near, and then I began to meditate.

Time flew, and when I stoppered the vial and replaced it in my pouch, Yana declared that it was time for lunch. I yawned and stretched while she fetched our meal from the guard. Yana had spent the time with her needle and thread and she displayed the work excitedly. I grinned and complimented her on her skill.

“You really are devout, Nuur-Karif,” Yana commented. “I could never be so committed to any divinity. Don’t get me wrong, I do consider myself an Ashtarite,” she said with a smile, “but whenever I learn about a god or goddess, there is always something that puts me off. Take for instance the Ashtarite creed. Isn’t it a bit bleak?” I frowned at her. Bleak? Yana saw that I didn’t agree. She bade me listen – as if I couldn’t recite the creed both forwards and backwards already – and analyze the words objectively.

“I exalt Ashtar, the Holy Mother of Snakes, my mistress. I am Her child. Like my serpentine siblings slithering on the ground, I prostrate myself before Her.

The congregation is my family, brothers and sisters. We stand together in happiness as we do in grief. When I starve, I share my last bread with them. When I thirst, I offer them my water. I gladly give my life for my family.

As night follows day, death follows life. All creatures live their allotted time, then die. When Ashtar calls me home, that is my time to pass. I go willingly to meet the Keeper of Death’s Door, for in her welcoming coils is eternal bliss. I serve Ashtar in life, as I will in death.”

Instinctively, my hand moved in the wavy shape that is Your sign. “What’s so bleak about that?” I challenged. “Giving up your life for someone and not even being allowed rest in death?” Yana countered. “You’re looking at it the wrong way,” I explained. “I consider it the greatest honor to be allowed to serve Ashtar. If I can continue to serve after I die, why would I not sacrifice myself to further Her cause?”

“Then why didn’t you surrender to the authorities in Byblos? They would have released the priestess Audria if you did. Wouldn’t that have ‘furthered Her cause’?” “Don’t you remember, Yana? I asked Ashtar if I should give myself up, but She said no. Had She said yes, I would have.” Yana recalled that I had mentioned this before and gave me a slow nod. “I shall pray to Ashtar that She finds use for you on this side of Death’s Door.”

It was an hour or two later when we heard heavy footsteps on the path. Peering out from our hiding place, Yana and I saw a group of locals leading our friends towards us. One pointed at us, but Xipil spotted us first, of course. Since the tent took up all the space in the bushes, we went out to greet our friends.

The escort continued down the path to the valley floor. Only the single guard remained of the locals. He spoke Common, so I guarded my words and was ready to interrupt if someone started spouting secrets. I asked what had transpired between my friends and the delegation. Xipil said they had agreed to trade stones, and he had convinced Groman of letting go. Our stone was packed away in a magic box and carried out into the desert by some of the valley dwellers. We had yet to receive the other stone; I expected they would give it to us after the cleansing.

Xipil was tired after last night’s run in the desert, so I offered him a place to sleep in our tent, but he preferred to find a place in the bushes. I offered the tent to the others too, and everyone but Keri said they wanted to rest. The tent wasn’t big enough for so many big people, so Yana and I took it down to make space. Nobody lay down for quite a while, though.

Keri asked if he should return to the desert to look for Pak, and I explained to him that the locals wanted to perform some cleansing ceremony with us before we could leave. Keri then had me look over Groman to see if the unconscious dwarf needed to be taken back to Arland to be treated. I couldn’t see anything physically wrong with Groman, except for him being drained. His illness was that of the mind, or perhaps the soul. It was likely the spirits that had attacked him somehow. There was nothing I could fix with blood, dirt and bandages, in any case. Still, it would probably do him good to have some rest after being carried around in the desert non-stop for a week. I would make sure he was fed and watered properly.

Xipil studied Groman’s aura. There was definitely something wrong with it; Xipil described it as dark and murky. Wolfram thought Groman could use a mage or a priest to purify him. I offered that the cleansing that Haros’s people had mentioned perhaps would do the trick. Keri was skeptical and proposed to sneak off with Groman. I overruled him, saying that Groman needed to stay where he was for a while. We could take stock again in the morning.

Xipil cast a spell to find Pak, although I wasn’t quite sure why he decided to waste his energy now. Grogg still had the tooth Pak had lost, and Xipil used it to home in on the troll scholar, but he only got a vague impression that Pak was somewhere back in the direction we had come from. Since Keri worried so about Pak, Yana and I went out of the bushes to talk to the guard, but he was reluctant to forward the question of whether some of the locals could go out and look for Pak.

I had accepted that we had to wait for the locals. I was in no rush to go anywhere. Yana was there, and I felt at peace, confident that this was all according to Your plan. Even though he was tired and probably should go to sleep, Xipil was restless and wanted to know how long we had to wait before something happened. I took Yana with me to talk to the guard again.

The guard clearly didn’t know anything. He could go down into the valley and ask if we promised not to go anywhere. He wasn’t eager to go, but when Yana and I promised that we’d stay, he felt he had to. I don’t think he liked asking his superiors for anything, not even on our behalf, but this was just a question to clarify something of which we’d already been informed.

[coronatiger]

When the guard climbed up the path a quarter of an hour later, Yana and I went out to meet him. He asked if we were impatient to go through the cleansing, and I said there was no need to delay on our part. It seemed the cleansing wasn’t something he would look forward to, so I probed for details. The guard didn’t reveal much, except that it was an ordeal, and that it had to be completed while the sun was up. I said I was concerned for our sick friend. If the cleansing was so taxing, it might not be good for him to go through it. The guard didn’t know what to say about that, so instead he explained that he would take us down to the valley, one at a time, to prepare for the ceremony. I said we would ask our companions if they were ready.

Xipil worried that we would be thrown out to fight the Salask after the cleansing. Keri didn’t say anything, but I could tell he wasn’t eager. He would go along with whatever we decided, though. Everyone else had fallen asleep. Yana and I went back out and talked to the guard again. I said we preferred to wait until morning. Looking at the setting sun, the guard agreed that this was a good plan.

When it was full dark, Xipil went out from under the foliage so he could see the stars. “Glowing eyes,” I warned, just loudly enough for him to hear. I didn’t know how the guard would react if Xipil’s eyes started glowing, but I felt so at peace, I didn’t insist when Xipil ignored the warning.

I took Hope out of her pouch and asked her to tell me if any strangers came close. Grogg, Wolfram and Hylda took up most of the clear space where the tent had stood, but Yana found a snug little hole under some ferns. We brought a blanket and slithered into place.

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 came after a while to ask if he should study the necromancers’ staffs. I had no strong opinion on the matter, so I pretended to be asleep and hoped he wouldn’t disturb me again. If he would rather sate his curiosity than get some much-needed rest, that was up to him.


1st of Azura, year 412

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

I hadn’t slept for long when Hope whispered in my ear, “Strangers!” I sat bolt upright and shoved aside the ferns so I could see who was coming. Carrying an oil lamp, a woman climbed up the path from the valley. Our guard welcomed her arrival happily. After they had talked for a little while, the woman gave him the lamp, and he walked off down the path. I thanked Hope for alerting me and told her this woman was no threat unless she entered the bushes. “Let me know if she does, or if anyone else arrives,” I instructed. “What’s happening?” Yana asked when I lay down again. “Just a change of guards. We can go back to sleep. Hope’s still watching,” I whispered.

Around midnight, shouting erupted from the valley, but our new guard ignored it, so I supposed it was nothing to worry about.

I had a strange dream. I relived the fight at the beach, against the mages and the crocodiles, and the dream was just as I remembered, right up until the moment I tried to stab one of the crocodiles in the eye. Then the crocodile laughed mockingly at me and whispered, “That’s no way to attack!” Yana wondered if the dream had special significance, or if I just was embarrassed by my failed eye-stabbing attempt. I shrugged, but the redness in my face told her I was inclined to believe the latter.

The new guard threw a leather bag to us in the bushes. Breakfast! While we ate, Xipil told us of his analysis of the necromancer staffs. They had room to carry something non-physical. Spirits, I presumed. I had seen one of the foreigners pull a spirit out of one of those staffs.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking, a deep, rumbling tremor. I grasped Yana’s hand, just as she reached out to grab mine. The guard outside the bushes just planted her feet widely and otherwise seemed to ignore the shaking. I smiled at Yana and said we were in no danger. The earthquake ended quickly enough, but it returned several times during the morning. Wolfram thought it might be the Salask moving about. That was quite possible.

As we finished breakfast, the original guard returned and the woman left. Grogg started smoking crow’s toes to protestations from Xipil and Hylda. While Grogg puffed away, the rest of us opened the necromancers’ pouches to see what they contained. There were some polished stone spheres and a few foreign coins. Keri thought the coins were made of false silver and thus worthless. One of the coins was magical, Xipil could inform us, as were two of the spheres. Most of the coins had recently been touched by spirits.

I asked Xipil if he had looked at the cloaks. They weren’t behaving like normal cloaks while we fought the necromancers, but I thought perhaps they had cast some spell of protection on the cloaks prior to the fight, and that the cloaks weren’t inherently magical. They were still as suspiciously light as they had been when I liberated them from their previous owners, and Xipil said they were indeed magical.

Xipil put on one of the cloaks and I asked if I should try to punch him. He agreed, so I had Yana turn away so she wouldn’t have to see. I wasn’t trying to be tricky; I just made a straight-forward punch at Xipil’s stomach. The cloak didn’t help him evade the blow, but I pulled the punch so I wouldn’t give him more than a bruise. Despite this failure, Xipil turned his back to me and asked me to hit him again. This experiment was much more informative. Xipil somehow detected when I struck, but he still wasn’t able to dodge out of the way. Feeling bad, I whispered to him that we could continue our tests another time, when Yana wasn’t around.

Xipil wondered if we should give away the necromancers’ staffs. I had no use for them and nor had anyone else. I would have preferred if we could send what spirits remained in them on to You, but if we found someone trustworthy, I wouldn’t mind relinquishing the staffs. Wolfram was reluctant to entrust objects holding spirits to someone outside his order. Xipil thought he might be able to extract the spirits using a Kabal staff, but we agreed that we wouldn’t try it in Haros’s valley.

At this time, the guard made us aware he wanted to talk to us, so Yana and I left the bushes. The guard asked if it suited us to commence the cleansing. We talked loudly enough to be heard by those waiting in the shrubbery, and Wolfram asked if we would be chased off as soon as the cleansing was done. The guard said we might be asked to leave, but we wouldn’t be chased away.

I offered to go first and asked Grogg if he preferred it that way. He said he didn’t mind, but he didn’t think this was dangerous, so it wasn’t important that I went first. The guard asked if I was certain I would be the first. He cautioned that he would need to “cast his eyes over me” and added that this meant I had to undress.

[coronatiger]

There is no part of my body of which I am ashamed. After all, growing up in Your temple, I was always close to You, and You could mold me into the woman You wanted me to be. I’ve never been afraid to let others see this precious gift, not that I go around flaunting myself, but today I felt a stab of anxiety at the thought of undressing. The compassion in Yana’s gaze did nothing to alleviate my unease, but I realized that there was no way around this. I could get the others to go before me, but I would still have to undress and let the guard inspect me. The instinct never to show weakness made the decision for me. I couldn’t back out after offering to go first. I removed my cloak and handed it to Yana.

My prompt action flustered the guard, who turned his back. I undid my belt and put it on top of the cloak, along with Hope’s pouch and my four steel fangs. “Take good care of this,” I signed, and Yana nodded reverently. One garment followed another, and I topped the stack in Yana’s hands with a blood-stained rag. I hadn’t bled much today even though there had been enough cramps to constantly remind me of my weakness, and I hoped I wouldn’t mess up the cleansing ceremony by suddenly starting to leak.

The guard was obviously attracted to me, and he was more uncomfortable with my nudity than I was. He asked me to turn around for the inspection and as soon as I completed the turn, he handed me a light beige robe that I put on before following him down into the valley. I was instructed to stay two meters behind him and not to speak unless spoken to.

He escorted me to a room carved out of the rock. I expected this to be a gloomy cavern, but the room was well lit and actually quite pleasant. There was water, both for drinking and for washing, if I needed that. My escort left. There was another guard outside, as if I hadn’t entered voluntarily and would try to escape. I knelt on the floor and prayed, foreseeing a bit of a wait.

My prayer was interrupted after only fifteen minutes. Two women entered the room as I stood up. They wore robes similar to the one I had been given, but they wore jewelry around the necks and in their ears. They rolled out a mat on the floor and gestured that I should lie down.

As the women opened my robe and started washing me, I caught myself assessing their features. The younger woman was probably about twice my age. She was rather plain, but the way her lips turned up slightly, hinting at a smile, surely turned some heads. No doubt, those lips had long since secured her a husband. It was hard to tell when she wore such a loose robe, but I thought I detected a baby bump.

The older woman might have been the younger’s mother based on their apparent ages, but she looked nothing like her younger companion. Her hair had long since gone pale with age, but oddly there were a few dark strands interspersed in all the white. Deep wrinkles concealed the beauty she once had, but I detected the faint traces of it that remained.

I felt strangely aroused by the two women touching me so intimately. It was extremely uncomfortable and in my infinite stupidity, I closed my eyes and imagined it was Yana washing me. I quickly realized my mistake and hoped the two strangers didn’t think too badly of me for responding so embarrassingly to their ministrations.

Luckily, someone knocked on the door and one of the women went to answer, opening the door slightly. I didn’t understand what was said in the local language, obviously, but I caught a glimpse of Wolfram over the woman’s head. I don’t think he saw me, but the thought that he would be more uncomfortable with my nudity than I was, bolstered me. I closed my eyes again and resumed my prayer.

When the washing was finished, the women instructed me to put on the robe and go sit outside. There was a long bench in the hallway where Wolfram sat beside Groman’s prone figure. Wolfram picked up the dwarf and carried him into the washroom.

Through a window, I had a good view of the path down from our hideaway in the bushes. Keri was the next to be escorted down by the guard. As he passed through the hallway on his way to another washroom, Keri gestured to ask if all would be well with our animals. I gave him the thumbs up.

When Yana passed through, I smiled encouragingly, and she blessed me with a smile of her own. “He didn’t try anything?” I signed, indicating the guard. “Too shy,” Yana signed back with a wink. She found his shyness amusing, apparently.

My friends joined me on the bench as their washing concluded. We were all there when a thunderclap resounded through the valley, coming from the direction of our bushes. Xipil peered out the window, but he couldn’t see all the way up there. Grogg started fidgeting nervously, his fear of lightning and thunder visible for all to see. “That may have sounded like thunder, but it was in fact an avalanche,” I told Yana, putting as much confidence in my voice as possible, for Grogg’s benefit. “Oh no! What if it was thunderstones?” the troll exclaimed.

Now that I had broken the silence, everyone started speaking, but I said we should respect the cleansing ceremony and be quiet. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that everyone shut up. Most people listen when I speak, but this bunch could be quite unruly and stubborn at times.

A good half hour passed in silence, and I was content with leaning against the wall opposite the bench and staring deeply into Yana’s eyes. Then a young man arrived, escorted by a pair of guards. He pointed at Xipil and waved for him to follow. The serene mellowness You had instilled in me to tell me everything was all right overruled any concern I might have had from not being able to detect the young man’s emotions. Xipil went willingly.

Five more minutes passed before agitation raised voices somewhere nearby. The locals were having a debate about Xipil, I guessed. They had probably never seen a lizard man before. It didn’t take long before the rest of us were fetched to a small platform raised by a fountain, to join Xipil. There were quite a few spectators nearby, including a group I judged to be priests.

One priest pushed aside the others and held an impassioned speech which none of us foreigners understood, but it seemed well enough received by the locals. He then descended into the fountain pool and beckoned me to join him. I took his hand and he led me to the middle of the pool. The water was waist-deep and my light robe floated on the surface around me. The priest had me lay back and float in place, a skill I worried not everyone in our group possessed. He supported my head with one hand and put the other on my forehead. He was going to push me under, I realized. First, though, he prayed to whatever divinity these folk revered.

Two assistants, young men perhaps around Yana’s age, joined us in the pool and removed my robe. Each grabbed one of my legs. I wasn’t too worried that they’d try something inappropriate, since I still had my arms free and fangs to bite. I held my breath when I saw the look the priest gave to the assistants, just before they pushed me down. I counted twenty heartbeats before my head was lifted out of the water and I could stand on my own again.

Someone brought a large sheet to wrap around me before I was guided out of the pool, opposite from Yana and the others. The priests there danced and sang around me, big smiles on their faces, to celebrate that I had completed the cleansing ceremony.

[coronatiger]

Xipil was the next to go into the water. The priests held him under much longer than they had held me, and I guessed that they somehow sensed how long each of us would be comfortable without breathing. Xipil could have stayed under even longer, had he needed to. I hadn’t been brought near to my limit either.

When it was Grogg’s turn, two men had to hold his head, but he could sit on the bottom and simply lean back, being so large and heavy. Still, the crow’s toes clouded his mind and he didn’t think to hold his breath, so when he came up, he was coughing water.

Hylda was held under even longer than Xipil, and she looked as if she wanted to punch someone when she finally came back up. Keri and Yana were only held under for about half again as long as me. Keri’s ceremony didn’t tell me much, but I knew Yana didn’t have my stamina, so my hypothesis that they held us under a certain fraction of what was safe for each of us was wrong.

Maybe the submersion duration was connected to how impure we were, how much cleansing we needed. That would mean I was the cleanest of all that had gone through so far. The priests sang and danced for everyone with as much happiness each time, so I couldn’t learn anything from their celebrations.

Wolfram’s ordeal was a strong indication that my new theory might be correct. When it was his turn, he lay Groman down on a mat on the platform. Wolfram would soon join us on the other side where he would be encircled by celebrating strangers. Xipil asked me if he should talk to the priests, but I tried myself first. Unfortunately, none of them understood Common. When I tried to explain Wolfram’s fear of crowds using gestures, Xipil stepped in with his ability to talk Arani. The priests said the ritual would help Wolfram conquer his fear, Xipil translated.

Wolfram was clearly uncomfortable, but he went into the water and was dunked under like the rest of us. Something was not as it should be, I could read on the priests’ faces. Xipil noticed too, and he asked if I thought the priests had detected the demon bear. “Possibly,” I nodded. Keri was concerned as well.

Three new priests joined those already in the pool around Wolfram. The oldest clearly knew what he was about. He spoke a prayer and pushed Wolfram back under. Suddenly, the priest’s voice grew louder, and the water around Wolfram started turning black. Xipil whispered that something certainly was being cleansed out of him.

A geyser of water and soot shot up from the blackness in the pool as Wolfram was purged of the demonic ashes. Grogg started towards the water, and Xipil cast about for something to distract him. “Look Grogg! A golden camel!”

The onlookers grew increasingly worried and some of them started to slip away. The priests stepped away from the pool and two of them ran off. Behind me, Yana stepped so close I could hear her breath. I glanced over my shoulder. Her nerves were as clear on her face as in her quickened breath. She wanted very much to hold me and to be held, but I could tell she didn’t want to restrict my mobility. My own tranquility was unperturbed, for I knew You wanted this to happen. “It is Ashtar’s plan,” I signed and gave Yana a reassuring smile. I got a smile back, but it was trembling with uncertainty.

Grogg looked for the golden camel that Xipil had invented, but of course, he couldn’t see it. He stuck his head into the pool, possibly to see if the camel was hiding in the darkening water.

Grogg stood up again. “Where’s the camels?!” he demanded with a roar. Xipil pointed to the rock wall behind which were the wash chambers. Grogg tried to pick Xipil up, but the lizard man ducked back so Grogg only seized his arm. Grogg lumbered towards the wall and Xipil had no choice but to run if he didn’t want to be dragged along. Two guards instinctively moved into Grogg’s path to block him, but they quickly thought the better of it and leaped out of the way of the charging troll.

Grogg looked around and sniffed the air. When he decided that there were no camels, he and Xipil came back to the pool.

I caught the occasional glimpse of Wolfram and noticed that he transformed to the spiky “dancing bear” shape. Grogg noticed too, and he scowled first at Wolfram and then at me, deep in thought. The old priest had to let go of Wolfram’s head to avoid the horns that protruded from the bear-like figure. Wolfram stayed under water, kept down by the force of the geyser. Keri whispered that if I gave the signal, we should run, and Hylda mumbled sarcastically about how wise it had been of Grogg to smoke the hallucinogenic crow’s toes.

Just as the priests in the pool climbed out, Wolfram stopped spewing ashes. He lifted his head out of the water and looked around calmly, as if he hadn’t been submerged for several minutes. He seemed quite pleased to remain in the water, where there was no crowd. The pool now smelled of ashes and death. I frowned at that. The holy scent of passing was not to be defiled by the demon of ash.

Two priests returned to the side of the pool to stare at Wolfram. One of them reached out a hand as if Wolfram needed it to climb out of the shallow pool. The other priests gave them a clear path back to Groman, where the two prepared a mat and asked Wolfram to sit on it.

Another group of priests gathered a little to the north. I thought they were less eager than the closer priests to see us safely through the cleansing. I was startled to find that the plants closest to the pool began to wither under the influence of the demonic ashes, but I could see why some of the locals objected to the proceedings.

The priest Xipil had spoken to came over to us. He said it was uncertain what happened next, but our group had to come with him. He asked us to get Wolfram to come along, and Grogg to carry Groman. Xipil translated and he and Grogg fetched Wolfram and Groman. The priest left us at the bench where we had waited after the washing.

Xipil asked Wolfram’s permission to study his aura. Wolfram made no objections, so Xipil cast his spell. The priest returned and said it would be best if we hid in one of the wash rooms. We did so, and he closed the door behind us.

Xipil explained that Wolfram’s aura had changed, and he asked Wolfram to change into the spirit bear. Xipil said that form was far less demon-afflicted now. I nodded. The cleansing had worked on Wolfram, but at a heavy cost for the valley dwellers. I had expected their pool to be able to contain the pollution, but that was clearly not the case.

There were no windows in the wash room, so we couldn’t see what happened outside, but we could hear. Screaming, crying and running told of a valley in panic. I pondered what this meant for our stone-swapping agreement. In the worst-case scenario, we would have to fight our way out. Maybe Hylda could carry Yana, if it came to that, for I expected Yana to freeze up at the first blow.

Wolfram transformed back to his human form, so he’d be able to speak to us. Xipil was overcome by his curiosity to look outside, but the door was locked from the other side, so he couldn’t get out. Grogg and Wolfram could probably bash through the door if it became necessary, but so far, Xipil’s curiosity was kept in check.

“I’m going to sit down and pray,” I informed Wolfram quite calmly. I didn’t want to add to the rising unease in the room, but I thought we might be in for a wait. The stone floor was ideal to create a connection to You. My companions might worry, but I knew we would be all right.

[coronatiger]

1st of Azura, year 412 (continued)

A thunderclap, louder than before, echoed between the valley walls, then crackling which faded into the distance. Grogg took a deep breath and said it looked like we would be going soon. Wolfram reminded him that we would need to return to our little camp in the bushes to retrieve our belongings before we could leave. Xipil asserted that if we wanted to avoid fighting, we should remain where we were. I looked up at them and said, “It will all be fine. Ashtar says we’ll get through this.”

The noises from outside that had so upset my companions seemed to be moving away. Yana was still worried, so I reached out a hand and invited her to join me in my prayer. I don’t know what had the most calming effect on her: Praying, or doing it with me.

Ten more minutes passed while we prayed, and then I heard a whisper outside the door. I was on my feet in an instant, putting my ear to the door and whispering back. It was Hope, of course, coming to find me, and drawn by my prayer. She said everyone was leaving, which was nice to know, but hardly urgent. More dire was the fact that someone had come to our camp and taken the animals, Keri’s horse Magda and the two camels. Someone died there, Hope added, without saying how. Had she attacked the intruders? The venom of a blue-bellied river striker shouldn’t be deadly for an adult human, but Hope was no ordinary snake. There was a bond between us, and I wouldn’t be surprised if You had blessed her with more gifts. I told Hope to move aside; we were coming out.

Wolfram asked what was going on. Unable to understand Shamara, the others would only hear hisses when I talked to Hope. I explained what Hope had said, and Wolfram offered Grogg the honor of opening the door. The troll seized the door and ripped it off its hinges, then held it like a big, clumsy shield.

I threw my eyes over the room to see if there was anything that could be used as a weapon. There were some water crocks, but they didn’t look sturdy enough to be used more than once, so I let them be. By Your gift, I was almost as deadly without my steel fangs as with them, but some of my companions might prefer some kind of weapon. Grogg had the door, and while he held it in a defensive position at the moment, I had no doubt he could use it offensively as well. Wolfram transformed into the largest bear form. Based on Hope’s information, there couldn’t be that many left here to fight. Grogg and Wolfram could probably handle them without any help from the rest of us.

Xipil removed his robe and darted ahead up the path to our camp site, using his camouflage skin to great advantage, if anyone was still around. The ashes had devastated the vegetation on the valley floor, and a thin, dark fog spread out from the polluted pool. Five guards lay dead on the ground and someone had taken the time to slaughter a camel a little further away. There were no signs of life anywhere I could see.

I bent down and let Hope climb up my arm, then told her to wrap herself around my neck. Yana wasn’t too keen on the sight, but I didn’t have my pouch with me, and if I had to move quickly, Hope could be flung off if she tried to hold on to my arm or my leg.

Our campsite was a mess. Someone had emptied all our packs on the ground. The teleportation circle had been used, and Wolfram commented that it had caused us nothing but trouble. There were two corpses in the middle of the mess. One was the priest who had led the cleansing ceremony; he had been bleeding from his eyes and his ears, but the bleeding had stopped now. The other corpse had a drying pool of blood next to where he lay. He had vomited it up. Wolfram said they had sacrificed themselves to perform a great magical feat, presumably activating the teleportation circle. Grogg said this was where the star lightning struck. I didn’t know what he meant by that, but he was still high on the crow’s toes, so maybe he didn’t either.

Xipil called for me from deeper in the bushes. He had found our guard who had received a thorough thrashing with fists and clubs, but who still clung to life. I hurried over and told Yana to locate my medicine kit, which thankfully was intact.

While I gave first aid to the guard, the others sifted through the debris. Apart from the teleportation circle, which had a scorch mark covering one of the mystic symbols, nothing had been damaged, but someone had taken the necromancer staffs, the Kabal staffs and one of the necromancer pouches, but not the one containing the magical items.

From the tracks, there had been seven or eight intruders in our camp, which meant that most of the valley dwellers had left by mundane means. I asked Grogg if he could send Kraa up to see where they were going. I had to explain that it would be prudent to know where a potentially hostile force was headed, especially if we were going in the same direction. Xipil wanted to go and look for tracks, but I told him to wait until Kraa returned. “What if Kraa only makes noise?” he gestured behind Grogg’s back.

Hope’s opinion on the matter was that Kraa couldn’t actually speak. That was my impression too, but Grogg thought he could converse with the spirit raven and to keep him happy, I showed an interest and involved Kraa as a valued member of our group who could contribute meaningfully. It wouldn’t cost us much to have Xipil wait for a few minutes before he started tracking the exodus.

While Kraa was away, my patient woke and started coughing. He was happy to find us alive and well, and he eagerly explained that he tried to stop the invaders in our camp. It wasn’t good for him to exert himself by talking, but he couldn’t know that Hope already had informed me that he had taken our side and defended our interests.

Because of my weakness, I couldn’t see Kraa as it swooped into camp and landed on Grogg’s shoulder, so it was a surprise when it suddenly began chattering. Grogg pointed towards the west and “translated” that the valley people had gone that way to follow a golden camel. It wasn’t quite possible to say how tainted this information was by Grogg’s delusions, but seeing as the only other influence was the crow’s toes hallucinations, Xipil didn’t need my nod before he headed out to scout.

Yana and Hylda had done a good job of sorting through the mess left by the intruders. Yana had made a neat stack of the clothes I had worn before the cleansing. The sheaths of my two long knives were sticking out from under my folded dress, and the sight of them drew me close. I pulled out the belt and relaxed when I saw that all four of my knives were present. I let the robe drop to the ground and put on my own clothes, biting each knife ritually before putting on the belt. Hope’s pouch was undisturbed and still attached to the belt. I lifted her away from my neck. “You did well, little sister,” I hissed. “You can rest now.” I gave Hope a kiss and let her settle in the pouch.