Well! Posting while trying to beat cheesecake batter (by hand, no mixer) is hard.

This chapter… huhhhhh… I hated writing the demon battle. Battles are hard for me. Everyone’s doing interesting things at once, except that the English language doesn’t have THAT many words to describe the sorts of repetitive actions I want to put down.

Also Illinia is a whiny emo brat. There, I said it. But yes, she does get a little OOC this chapter… I think I found a reason for it, but she’s… a bit odd in this one.

Back to slow character-driven psychological emotional descriptive stuff next chapter.

Hope the cheesecakes turn out. It was still a little lumpy when I put it in.

Chapter 8

Kellan barked a laugh. “You have to be joking. Us, surrender to you?”
“Well, we do have you outnumbered three to four,” the guard quipped back. “You have three seconds.”
“I don’t think it’ll take that long,” Torrigan said. “Charge!”
The charge did not take their enemies by surprise, but with their momentum, they had the advantage for a few moments.
“Hey, Torrigan!” Mira called. “Are we planning to capture these ones?”
“Might as well,” Torrigan said. “They can tell us things.”
“I don’t want to kill them,” Illinia said softly, even as she had to draw her sword to defend herself from the tallest. “Please, let’s not.”
“We can totally hear you, you know,” the one she was facing said. “And you won’t take us alive. But we’re not worried for ourselves.” He feinted and stabbed, and Illinia, unused to fighting against halberds, flinched as she took a slice on her shin.
Kellan, working behind the shield of Torrigan and Mira, had improvised a bola, and was now attempting to catch one of the others with it.
Torrigan’s opponent turned to take advantage of a bollard in the street for cover, but as he did so, Torrigan bulled into him with his shield. The bollard splintered, and the guard fell and cracked his head on the ground.
“One down!” Mira cried, redoubling her efforts on the other. This one did not try to hide behind bollards, but looking around and not liking the odds, turned to run. Mira, faster than Torrigan, sprinted after him and tackled him to the ground. He thrashed, but she slammed the pommel of her sword into his skull and he fell unconscious.
Kellan turned to Illinia’s opponent with his bola. Their enemy gritted his teeth.
“You’re better than I thought. But you think you can take me with that toy?” He pounced on Illinia, avoiding her sword, and pinning her to the ground with his blade at her throat. “Let me go, and-“
Illinia’s hawk divebombed his head, and he reeled back in pain, shielding his eyes. Kellan’s work was made much easier.
They dragged their three prisoners back to the guardhouse.
The leader was still conscious. He was glaring around at them all.
“What are you doing here?” Torrigan demanded. “Who are you people?”
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Because we’ll let him loose on you if you don’t say,” Mira said, gesturing to Kellan, who decided to trim his nails with his knife at that moment.
The leader rolled his eyes. “That’s not much of a threat. You guys fight like goody-two-shoes. Even him.”
“You’ll tell us, or I’ll kill you right now,” Mira said. “I’m only a cleric. I can kill prisoners if I want to.”
Illinia knelt in front of him to be on his own level. “Please, won’t you even tell us your name?”
“You attack me and my companions, and now you’re playing all polite and saccharine? Or is this your good-cop, bad-cop routine?” He paused, and she looked ever more earnestly into his eyes. He looked away from their intensity. “…My name is… Michael.”
“Careful, Illinia,” Mira said. “Shapeshifters never give their real name.”
“Really?” Illinia said, turning to her. “But at least we can call him by a name, now. That will help a lot.” She looked back to the man. “What were you doing here?”
“Patrolled… pretended to be guards… fool all the stupid people living on the other side of the wall.”
“Did you hurt anyone doing so?”
His eyes shifted. “What kind of stupid question is that?”
“What happened to the nobles, the humans who lived here? Please tell us.”
“Heh, well, you can’t save them now.” He shuddered. “They’ll be fed to the demon sooner or later.”
“Demon?” Torrigan cried.
Illinia gave the prisoner her best anxious look. “Is it a strong demon?”
“Very strong.” He grimaced, and she could see genuine fear behind his eyes. “You’ll never defeat it.”
“Are you working for it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you tell us how to defeat it, then you’ll be free of it too, won’t you?”
He frowned. “What? What kind of silly argument is that?”
She pressed her hands together. “You’re afraid of it. Your life under its command is not safe; you’re expendable. If Torrigan and Mira changed their minds and killed you – which they wouldn’t do! – but you wouldn’t be missed.” Her eyes became mournful. “That’s sad. No one should live like that.”
“In case you didn’t notice, miss elf, we are rather on opposite sides here. I’m not just going to ship along with a bunch of prissy humans and you.”
“Michael,” she said anxiously, “if you help us, we can help you. I know it.”
“Hey, Illinia, he’s right,” Mira said. “You come here for a minute.”
“You’re so naive,” the shapeshifter said. “It’s sickening.”
“Okay, so look,” Mira whispered to Illinia, draping an arm over her shoulders. “Shapeshifters are evil. They’re totally self-centred. No one trusts them. They’re usually assassins and stuff. These ones must be particularly young or pathetic, because they’re just acting as guards to keep the rest of the city from being suspicious. But you know, you can’t just make deals with them! Their words are about as secure as the wind. What are you trying to do here?”
“Well, maybe they’re just misunderstood!” Illinia argued back. “I can see he’s afraid. Maybe he would be an ally if only we mistrusted them less!”
“Yeah, and maybe there would be a lot more knives in people’s backs,” Mira snorted. “And isn’t he just afraid of us?”
“I don’t think so,” Illinia said. “Please, just trust me. I think I can get him to help us.”
“Well, I don’t trust him,” Mira said. “And there’s your problem.”
Illinia turned away, back to the shapeshifter. “Michael, please tell us how to kill the demon.”
“You’ll need a cleric. A light-wielding cleric.”
“Dang,” Mira said. “I’m an elf-oriented cleric.”
Michael grinned tightly, mirthlessly. “And the demon ate all the clerics in the town. That was his first target.”
Illinia shuddered, her stomach turning. Michael noted her discomfort and made sloppy chewing noises. She covered her mouth with her hand. “Please don’t. That’s so horrifying.”
“Silly little girl. How old are you, anyway? Fifty?”
“Er… a lot older than that.” She wasn’t going to tell him she was not far from her second millennium. Elves here didn’t seem to live indefinitely.
“You act like an infant. Grow up.”
“Hey, leave her alone,” Torrigan said.
“All right, I told you how to defeat the demon. Will you let me go at some point?”
“I will try my best to arrange that,” Illinia said, ignoring the others’ disapproving frown. “After we defeat the demon, perhaps?”
Michael licked his lips nervously. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I really do want to be let go. I hate you, but if that’s your bargain, I can’t tell you lies. The demon’s in the castle. It’s not very magic strong. Like I said, light magic would work best, but any magic would help.”
Mira brightened again. “That’s super! If it’s true.”
“I’m not lying to you,” Michael said earnestly.
“Right now,” Kellan said, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Right now,” Michael agreed, with a bit of an inhuman leer. “But your elf made an offer, and I’m doing my best to help you out. You have the upper hand, after all.”
“That we do,” Torrigan said. “All right. When we return, we will decide. For now, we must stop that demon from eating any more townspeople. Come!”
Illinia sighed anxiously, but got up and followed the others.
They met no more guards in the streets, and the castle was not far. It was protected by a wall and gate, but no moat.
“I’ll just do the same thing as last time,” Kellan said, rubbing his hands together. He began to scale the wall nimbly.
“Man, I get so wierded out by Kellan,” Mira said to Illinia. “He’s not exactly on the straight and narrow, if you know what I mean.”
Illinia nodded. “He says he’s a circus performer, but he’d be a good burglar if he set his mind to it.” When Mira looked at her with alarm and confirmation, Illinia hastily amended her answer. “One of our heroes is a burglar. He’s a halfling from a far-away land, and he helped kill a dragon. They aren’t evil! Necessarily. Perhaps some are. But not all.”
“Oh,” Mira said, appeased.
There was a crash from behind the wall, and a yelp from Kellan. “Ah!” A pause. “I’m all right! The gate wheel was rigged to explode!”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Torrigan muttered. But the gate swung open, and there was Kellan, more or less unscathed.
“Shall we?” he said breezily. “Now, before we go into the main castle, I think I should check for other traps. You never know how front doors are going to respond.”
“We don’t really have time to check very much, do we?” Illinia began.
“Oh, if you say so,” Kellan said, throwing open the front door of the castle.
“Wait! I didn’t mean-“ poor Illinia tried to stop him, but she was too late. Kellan froze in place, a living statue in the doorway.
“Oh, a holding spell,” Mira said in disgust. “Triggered by those who step on the threshold. Jump over it!”
They did so, and found the front hall empty. But statues glittered around them.
Then the statues moved, and they found themselves surrounded by kobolds, big vicious ones. One of them, however, stepped on the threshold and was caught as fast as Kellan was.
The fight was short and tense. Illinia resorted to her sword in the close quarters. Halfway through, Kellan began to move again, slowly at first. They tried to protect him as much as they could.
The room cleared, Kellan began to look around. “So, I’ll just check for more traps now.”
“I really didn’t mean not to check at all!” Illinia said, blushing from ear to ear. “I just meant not to take too much time about it?”
“Whatever. I’m not dead!” He found no more traps of any kind in the hall, though, and they moved onward.
The corridor to the throne room was long, straight, and fairly narrow. It stank.
“All right, we need some kind of strategy,” Torrigan said. “Do we believe that villain that magic will harm the creature, particularly light magic?”
“Light magic is known to deal damage to demons,” Mira said. “It’s totally true. Aren’t you a paladin?”
Torrigan nodded. “That’s true. I can request Pelor’s assistance in this fight. That will make it easier.”
“I have some caltrops,” Kellan offered. “And some acid bombs.”
“What good would caltrops be?” Mira asked. “They’re little spiky things. A demon won’t even feel that.”
“Well, look who’s a demon-fighting expert,” Kellan snorted. “Fine. But I’m still using the acid bombs.”
“Where did you get those?” Mira asked.
“Circus,” Kellan said, but Illinia thought she could detect a slight hesitation before he said it.
“Why would a circus need acid bombs?” she asked.
Kellan rolled his eyes at her. “The same reason we might now. Fend off super-tough monsters.”
“And you didn’t mention this before now because?” Mira demanded.
“We can discuss that later,” Torrigan said. “Focus. We can use them now, and there is no need to pry into Kellan’s privacy, not even his tools, even if they are useful. I suggest that Illinia, you shoot from the door. I believe your silver arrows may help slightly. Mira and I shall charge; I shall call upon Pelor, and you can use your lightening sword. Kellan, try to flank it, depending on how large it is, and use your acid – but cautiously, because we don’t want to be hit.”
“I’m not stupid,” Kellan answered. “I’ll do it right.”
“Let’s do this!” Mira said, pumping the air with her fist.
“Go!” Torrigan shouted, and slammed his shoulder into the door of the throne room.
The creature there was unrecognizable as a living thing; it was a pulsing sack of flesh-coloured membranes, with long flailing arms and a large mouth with sharp teeth. It writhed in anticipation as Torrigan charged it, his sword glowing with white fire. A long arm darted out towards him and jerked back, stung by Illinia’s arrow.
Kellan tumbled acrobatically around the outside of the room, small vials in his hands. He flung one down towards the other end of the creature, and it smashed on the stone floor, creating a small fuming puddle of clear acid that began to nibble at the creature.
Mira planted her feet firmly on the floor and chopped at an arm that came swinging her way with her sword. There was a crack and a hiss, and the arm came away shorter.
Torrigan charged up to the hideous mouth fearlessly, his whole body seeming to glow in white light now. He slashed with his sword at it, always guarding his off side with his great shield. It seemed to cringe away from him, but then gathered itself and seemed to grow larger, looming over them all. More arms sprouted out of it, darting every way, seeking them out. There were too many to dodge, too many to attack. Kellan flung another vial, and it caught it and hurled it back; he dodged out of the way just in time. A rusting suit of armour against the wall turned into slag from the direct hit.
Mira was caught by an arm; her blazing sword was too slow to counter them all. She screamed as she was slowly dragged towards it, and swung her sword, jetting a yellow bolt of lightening at its body. It quivered from the blow, and smoked from the wound. But she screamed again; the power from her attack was channelled back down to the arms grabbing at her, and she was as injured as it was.
Illinia, too, gasped as she was attacked. She had to put her bow away and draw her sword, all too slowly, she felt, and it sensed she was easier prey. She gritted her teeth and called on the magic of nature – but very little responded. This room had been under the sway of the evil thing for too long. She was weak and light and helpless; her sword arm pinned to her side.
Her hawk saved her for a while; its talons were sharp, and it tore at the arms holding her. She managed to free her arm just as her hawk was batted casually across the room. It struck a rotting tapestry and fell to the floor with a tiny thump. She swung her sword desperately, without coordination or force, and it was torn from her hand and cast to the ground by the monster.
Kellan was not doing any better; forced to flee from point to point, he could not attack, and his silver rapier did not do much damage. His last vial of acid was well placed, however, and the monster’s skin began to hiss as it burnt away.
Torrigan ducked flailing arms, too solid to drag. The needle-like teeth snapped at him, but he was too far away to be eaten. He stood his ground, fending off attacks from all directions.
Kellan was tiring; he couldn’t dodge forever. Even as he cartwheeled across the floor, a limb reached out to trip him, and the seized him by the ankle, hauling him bodily across the room and closer to the chomping teeth.
Mira was reeling where she stood, the heaviness of her armour the only thing protecting her from getting pulled in as easily as Kellan and Illinia. Illinia called to her with her knife in hand, and Mira started a bit, as if waking up, and then gathered light energy around her and released it in a healing spell that lit up the room.
That helped the humans and the elf, but the monster seemed to quiver.
Torrigan lunged forward and stabbed it up to the hilt of his burning white blade, almost in the teeth of the thing, and it screeched – the first real sound it had made – and melted into nothingness, as if it was being pulled backwards through an invisible hose.
They looked at each other, gooky and dazed and victorious, and relaxed.
“Let’s free the prisoners!” Mira cried, seemingly not short on energy at all anymore after the power she had just spent. “To the dungeons! And anywhere else you might find prisoners!”
All the citizens of the north end of the city were there, less the clerics and some unfortunate few. They were grateful to be released, and promised the travellers great riches. Only Kellan accepted outright, however.
They were escorted in a great procession out of the castle. Outside, they made the slip from the crowd and gathered in a back alley.
“Well,” Torrigan said. “That went better than we could have expected!”
“You mean how no one’s dead, despite all that?” Mira asked.
“Exactly. Now, what are we going to do about those three shapeshifters? I think we should turn them over to the city guard and let them deal with them.”
Illinia looked up, worried. “Will they get a fair trial?”
“I don’t know,” Torrigan said honestly. “Shapeshifters are evil. It’s quite likely that they will simply be given a quick death.”
She frowned unhappily. “But…”
“It’s normal, Illinia,” Mira said comfortingly. “I don’t see why you care so much.”
“But he helped us…”
“Not that much,” Kellan said.
“Still! I feel… so bad about them.”
“Don’t even think about them,” Torrigan said.
“Can’t we just let them go and tell them not to hurt people, or else we’ll really kill them next time?”
Torrigan frowned. “As a paladin, I cannot let the forces of evil simply walk away.”
Illinia sighed. “I guess not. I’m sorry.”
He patted her head. “I’m trying to understand. But you don’t know these creatures.”
She didn’t answer. What if they didn’t know these people either? What if they really could be redeemed? If someone was distrusted and hated all their life for an ability they couldn’t get rid of, of course they would do wicked things! It would still be their responsibility, their choices, but if they never got any help from anyone else, she wondered if she wouldn’t end up the same way.
“So, let’s go get David,” Torrigan was saying. Illinia got up and walked the wrong way.
“Where’re you going?” Mira asked in concern. “City centre is this way.”
“I know… I have to go do something…”
“She’s probably going to meditate,” Torrigan said. “It can’t be easy to disagree with your friends.”
That struck her heart, although they were walking away and didn’t see it. They were friends. And she did disagree.
And for once in her life, she was going to walk her talk. Lives hung on it. Perhaps they weren’t lives she should be worrying about. But they were lives, and having lost her own once already, she was coming to see that it was even more precious than she had thought before. She couldn’t let these people be executed without what she felt to be just cause. And even then…
But she was going to… she couldn’t say the word, not even to herself.
As she walked softly towards the guardhouse, she didn’t notice Kellan following her.
As she came into the guardhouse, the three shapeshifters were all awake.
“You came back,” Michael said, surprised. “Are the others dead or something?”
“No,” Illinia said. “We killed the demon. The others want to turn you over to the city guard.” Her voice came out in a pathetic cry. “But that isn’t right! So I’m going to let you go.”
He looked at her with grudging respect. “You’re going to betray your friends for us, who would as soon kill you?”
She flinched miserably at the word, kneeling to untie the bonds of the other two. “You helped us.”
“Not that much. …I’m not trying to stop you! Just to understand.”
“I know. No, you helped us, and you shouldn’t die for that. I don’t think they understand you.”
“And you do?”
She sat back on her heels and looked at him. The two untied shapeshifters rubbed their sore wrists, but made no move to attack her yet, though they looked at her with hungry eyes. She looked back, too emotionally drained to be afraid.
“Yeah, Illinia, what are you doing?” Kellan said from behind her. “You stop this foolishness.” With a swift move, he knocked Michael out where he sat.
“Kellan!” she cried. “Stay out of this. I have to do this.”
“What binds you to these worthless people?” Kellan pressed, looming over her. “I don’t care for the paladin’s prissiness myself, but he’s a thousand times better than this scum.”
“Kellan!”
“Maybe you’ve just been working with them all along, waiting until we trusted you good and proper-!” He tried to grab her wrist and she almost slapped him, but they both missed each other.
“Kellan! No! I just don’t think it’s right-“
“What do these things know of right?” Kellan growled. “They know less than you, I know that.”
Taking advantage of the distraction, the two free shapeshifters bolted from the chamber.
Kellan gave a shout and chased after them. “You stay there, Illinia! You and your pet shapeshifter! We’ll be back!”
Illinia sat stunned for a brief second, her plan crashing down around her ears.
Then she picked herself up. She still had to go through with what she could, or she would always reproach herself. She dragged the unconscious Michael away. She was stronger than her build suggested, and it did not take her long to get him outside the outer wall of the city; the gate was completely abandoned.
She untied him, and left a note: “Dear Michael – please take this chance I have given you and use it wisely. I hope you will not harm innocents, or else I will be forced to hunt you down myself. Live in peace, and good fortune be with you as long as you honour my request. Illinia.”
Then she went back to town to await judgement.
Kellan had captured the two shapeshifters in the nearest church. Mira had been furious at first when she thought she caught him mistreating an old man and a young boy, but then when he pointed out that they were the shapeshifters, she became confused. David took the two into custody anyway.
Then Illinia came back, looking resigned and sorrowful.
Even Torrigan couldn’t be as stern as he wanted to be. But to her, that was stern enough. “Illinia, how could you do this? We trusted you. You kept saying “trust me, trust me”. Now you’ve let dangerous criminals loose!”
“I-I…”
“I’m sorry if you felt your views were not being reflected, but it’s not right to just let people go.”
“I couldn’t let them be killed…”
“Well, you only saved one of three, so that’s something,” Kellan said.
Her mouth twitched. But she had saved the one who had helped the most.
Torrigan sighed. “Illinia, I hate to do this, but we can’t trust you anymore, not even as much as we trust Kellan.”
“Hey!”
“Kellan, you’re practically a professional thief,” Mira said, and he glowered and rolled his eyes.
“So, I am going to have to say you can’t be on your own anymore. You won’t be on watch, and one of us will always be with you, until you prove that you can be trusted again.”
“Hey, if I’m bad, will I get out of keeping watch?” Kellan asked. Mira shushed him.
“I understand,” Illinia said, desperately calm. “I take responsibility for my actions. I will do as you say.”
“I’m sorry, Illinia,” Mira said. “I don’t get it, but I’m glad you’re not going to fight us on this.”
Illinia looked at the ground. “I knew you would be angry…”
After an awkward silence, Torrigan cleared his throat. “Well, the town wants to celebrate again, but I think we just need to go to bed.”
Mira nodded. “Yep, too much excitement for one day. Hey, where did you leave that other guy?”
“Probably took him out of town,” Kellan said. “I already told David. He’ll check it out.”
“He won’t find anything,” Torrigan said. “Even if you knocked him out. He’ll be long gone by now.”

They went back to the inn and waited long enough for David, his face full of concern, to come and tell them they had found no trace of anyone outside the north side of the city. He looked confused when he looked at Illinia. Probably wondering how someone could be so naive, or stupid, or deceitful.
Illinia was glad to escape into memories that night.
Memories within memories; there were the long months of waiting during the War, the long year of separation, waiting in her house in the tree, listening to the rain patter down outside. When her husband had gone to fight, she had clung to him desperately on the road, his horse waiting patiently nearby. The parting wrenched her heart; even more so as, while he rode out of sight, he blew a final kiss to her. The very sky felt heavy to her that day, though the sun shone; his golden hair and her crimson dress shone.
And then, all the time spent in her house – their house – did nothing but remind her of him. The double bed, the table set for two, the portrait on the wall; she did not want to let go of a single thing that would bring him back to her, no matter how nebulously, no matter how much she ached with worry for him.
But the rain did not fall all the time. And she would climb up to the top of her tree and sing, looking at the stars and wondering if he looked at them too and thought of her.
Then there were the desperate, painful memories of her journey south along Anduin… the rather inadvertent journey, as it turned out. And when she reached Minas Tirith, a few days after the lands had breathed a collective sigh of relief, they took her in and kept her there, until her husband came.
But that was the best moment of that year. She had been living in suspense, wondering if he still lived, but the joy and wonder in the city newly free from fear tugged at her, lifting her up almost in spite of herself, and she would sit in the window and sing, out of sight of the curious humans.
And then, one day, singing to the blue blue sky, the door was flung open behind her, and with a rush and a whirl she was swept into strong arms and held so tightly she could hardly breathe, tender blue eyes looking down into her startled brown ones.
He spoke no word of reproach, gave no hint that he had been worried, only praised her for being brave enough to venture out to find him. But the way he held her told her – he had been sick with worry. And he knew she knew it. That was why he didn’t say anything.
But he kissed her, and crushed her against him as if he would never let her go, and her arms were flung around his neck, never wanting to let go either.

The party set off the next day, with accolades and praise and as much as they wanted or could carry in the way of reward. They smiled, though Torrigan’s smile was a little graver than usual, and Illinia’s was tremulous. Mira smiled widely enough for two, though, and as for Kellan, the money that was his reward was more than enough to cheer him up.
They travelled west that day, having no plan more certain than that perhaps they should find some elves and ask about Illinia’s vision.
When night fell, Mira was on watch second. It had been fairly uneventful. Kellan had joked that perhaps they’d killed all the trolls in the area and had no need to set a watch. But that would have been foolish.
But partway through her watch, Mira began to hear something odd.
“Illinia… Illinia, are you crying?”
“What? No…” But she knew it as she said it – it was impossible for her to lie. She gave herself away every time. And her hawk was pacing in distress, instead of sleeping. It didn’t help.
“Awww, don’t cry. It’ll only be for a short while. You’ll be a full member of our group again real soon.” Mira smiled at her. “You still have to teach me more about being an elf, you know! Did you know, even though I was raised by elves, they didn’t act like you. They didn’t teach me a whole lot… probably thought I was too dumb, as a human, to really learn. But you’re trying, you know? Even though it looks now like I’m a dumb human and can’t actually learn. I guess they knew what they were doing. But you don’t give up! You’re so patient. I still think I could be like an elf… thanks to you!”
“Mira…” Illinia interrupted her friend’s cheerful chatter miserably. “Thank you for your kind words, but it isn’t really helping. I-I’m so sorry for the whole mess…”
“Well, you said you needed to back up your convictions. I don’t get why you did it in this case, but it’s good that you’re strong enough to do that! Just… you should really do it on a more convenient topic, one that we’ll agree on.”
“I was thinking,” the elf-maiden ploughed recklessly onward, “that maybe I should go. I know it will look like I’m running away, that I can’t take responsibility for my own actions like I said I would… Maybe that’s true. I can’t bear it how everything’s different now… And it’s all my fault – I can’t possibly blame you for anything you’ve done! So I should go… I’ll just look for my husband on my own… that’s all I wanted to do…”
“Whaaaaat!?” Mira cried, waking the others. “You never told me that!”
“I-I didn’t want to bother you until I didn’t feel like a burden…”
“Illinia,” Torrigan said, sitting up and shuffling closer to her. “Illinia, you were never a burden. You should have told us! We’re happy to help.”
“I know,” she said miserably, tears coming up again. “I’m so sorry. I’m so stupid…”
“You sure are,” Kellan muttered, rolling over to go back to sleep again.
“Never mind him, he’s just grouchy,” Mira said, kicking the tall prone man. “You’re not stupid, Illinia, just naive and not used to people. Right?”
“That’s no excuse.”
“It’s plenty of excuse! I used to be the same way.”
“Really?” Illinia looked curiously at her outgoing friend.
“Yep! And now look at me – flirting with handsome half-elf captains in random cities! I still think he likes me. I hope I can visit again soon, maybe get him to court me or something. I wonder how he fights?”
The lump that was Kellan groaned.
“Go to sleep,” Torrigan told the lump firmly.
“I would if you didn’t make so much racket. Can’t you have your soul-searching discussions tomorrow?”
“No, this needs to be taken care of now,” Torrigan said. “We can’t let poor Illinia weep at all hours.”
“I’m not poor,” she said, getting up and gathering her things. “Just… out of place. I shouldn’t have joined you at all… But I thought I could help, and you’re all so kind…”
“Wait!” Mira said. “Where are you going? You can’t just leave now?”
“I really should… You will get along better without me.”
“But who will be around to keep Kellan entertained? It’ll just be him and us two straight-laced types!”
Illinia paused for a second. “He doesn’t really like me anyway…”
“That’s not true,” Torrigan said, clasping her hand. His hand dwarfed hers.
Kellan made no answer; whether he was asleep or just pretending, Illinia couldn’t tell and didn’t care.
“At least tell us what your husband looks like!” Mira cried. “Then we can tell him we saw you!”
“Oh…” Illinia paused and stood up straight, looking up at the stars. “He is tall… almost as tall as Torrigan… with long, golden hair, and a sculpted, handsome face… his brows are dark, but his eyes are light blue… very keen and beautiful. He is an archer, but much better than me. He goes- His name is Mith’las.”
“What’s he doing out here?”
“I don’t even know if he’s here. I met one person on this continent who had seen him, so I know he’s in this world, and I’ve always known he’s alive. The last thing I heard… he was fleeing from some people. That’s why he didn’t come back for me… So I must follow him, so I can protect him.”
“But we can protect you, until you meet him,” Torrigan said, still holding her hand. “Please stay. I can’t go back on my word as a paladin, meaning I have to wait until you prove yourself trustworthy…”
“Well, she did just confide her reason for being here,” Mira said. “She’s putting her trust in us by telling us that. Wait, did you say in this world? How would he be in another world? Do you mean, like, the spiritual world? Another plane of existance?”
Illinia hesitated, and then blurted out. “No, he and I are from another world, the world of Middle Earth.”
And while they started back, dumbstruck, she snatched up the rest of her things and fled into the dark night. Mira called her name, but she didn’t stop.

Here you are! The very ultimate cheesiest part of my story! All the cheese is in this chapter. ALL OF IT.

Hope you like it.

Why won’t my towels rinse or dry? What a pain. Oh well. Time to clean the kitchen.

I know three Dutch words! : D

Chapter 7

The skirmish was fierce. It was going to be very difficult to escape without being followed or without hurting any of the people.
Illinia, nowhere near the solid support of Torrigan or the slightly less solid support of Mira, frantically got her back to the wall and was surrounded. Kellan vaulted over some, although he tripped and landed on his face. Their enemies were swarming.
Illinia cried out as one of them bit her in the left arm. That was a different tactic… She lashed out with her knife and tore the creature in the shoulder; it bled ordinary red blood, despite the grey skin.
Sudden horror seized her, and, thrashing, burst free of the ones that surrounded her. She ran to Torrigan’s side and turned to defend herself, trembling.
Torrigan peered over his shoulder at her. “You all right?”
“I-I don’t know. I think so? Please, can we go?”
He saw her shaking and nodded. “Lina! Which way do we go?”
“This way,” Lina said, gesturing. She saw Illinia’s bite-mark. “Oh no, did you get bitten?”
“Is that bad?” Illinia asked timidly.
“I don’t know,” Lina said. “I haven’t been bitten.” She looked at it in such fascination that Illinia felt uncomfortable and began to shuffle in place.
Suddenly, the plaguewalkers scrambled away from them, disappearing into the side-streets.
“That… was odd,” Torrigan muttered. “Are you sure you’re all right, Illinia?”
She passed a hand over her brow. “Y-yes. I will be better as soon as we are out of town. Just… the shock…”
“I understand,” he said. “Shall I carry you?”
“N-no! No, that’s all right.”
“I’ll carry you,” Mira offered.
“No, really, I’m all right. Let’s just go quickly.”
They followed Lina to the city wall, where at a certain point, she touched a stone in the wall and a portion of it swung open, showing them the wide plains to the west.
“Good luck,” she said, as they filed through, and closed it after them.
“Oh, drat, how do we get back?” Kellan muttered. “We forgot to ask.”
“We’ll figure that out when we get to it,” Mira said. “For now, let’s look at that wound, Illinia.”
“It’s not bad,” Illinia said, inspecting it herself. “If we could just wash it and bandage it, it won’t slow me down at all.”
They did so, and set out.
“This would be perfect for horses,” Kellan said. “Wish we’d bought some. Do we have enough money to buy horses?”
“I think we might?” Mira said, peeking in the Bag of Holding. “But let’s worry about that later. Besides, I’m gonna ride a gryphon.”
“And until it’s old enough to be ridden?”
“I’ll… ride with Illinia! Unless she takes one of those pretty little elven horses that only carries one person. Yeah.”
Kellan didn’t continue the conversation, and they journeyed rather quietly until Torrigan pointed out that there were trolls in the area.
There were two of them, big lumbering beasts with tree-trunk clubs, and they had seen the adventurers and were hurrying towards them.
“Stand back!” Torrigan said. “I will take the first one.”
“By yourself?” Illinia squeaked. “I’m helping at least!”
“Me too!” Mira said, getting out her crossbow. “This dang thing never works for me, but… we’ll see.”
True to form, her first arrow missed. The second one hit, but they were too close, and once again she had to fling her weapon to the ground to draw her sword. “Daaangit.”
Torrigan planted his feet firmly on the ground, timed carefully, and let loose a mighty magic-powered slice that tore the first troll almost in half. Illinia’s arrow in its eye was extraneous.
She gasped. “That was amazing!”
“Little help here?” Kellan called, stabbing the other troll in the back and not doing much damage. Mira ducked a swing from the club, but got kicked in the stomach.
Illinia’s arrows helped more this time, and together they all brought down the other troll.
“Well, where’d you learn to do that, Torrigan?” Mira asked. “And how come you haven’t been using it more?”
“Oh, er, well…” Torrigan began. “It never really fit the occasion. Too cramped. Never want to hit one of you. It just worked out this time.”
They continued marching, discussing strategy and tactics, and camped in the plain, close to a low range of rocky hills. Nothing attacked them that night, and the next day, they got to the dwarven fortress after only a couple hours more travel.
It was beautiful, Illinia mused, from a certain point of view. It was well formed, well proportioned, and decorated with strong symbols. They were weathered, but they were still there.
The door was wide open and inviting, although all was dark inside.
They entered cautiously, and smelled something bad.
“Smells like goblins,” Mira said. “Watch out, everyone.”
A roar echoed through the antechamber they stood in, and another troll strode towards them, club swinging purposefully.
“Why do they always have clubs?” Torrigan quipped. “All right, not sure I can do that attack in here…” An arrow pinged off his pauldron. “Arrows!?”
“Look out!” Mira pointed. “Goblins, just like I thought!” Above them was a ledge from which guards could shoot intruders, which was exactly what the goblins were doing.
Illinia’s bow snapped up, and she pegged off several arrows, most of which hit their targets. The goblins were a little more cautious after that.
“I’ll help you with the troll, Torrigan!” Mira called, hefting her crossbow again. A bolt punched into the troll’s leg, and it bellowed.
Kellan snorted. “You do what you want. Watch this!”
He tumbled acrobatically around the troll, sprang up behind it… and got thumped firmly in the head with its club. He fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
“Uh oh,” Torrigan said. “Mira, I’ll take the troll. Can you get Kellan to cover?”
She groaned. “Of course I can.” Dodging arrows, she holstered her bow and sprinted across the room, avoiding the troll, and dragged Kellan to cover in the next doorway by his armpits. “Aah! More goblins!”
“Hold on!” Illinia cried, sidestepping an arrow and firing one in return. The goblin screeched as she hit it in the stomach, and she winced in semi-sympathy.
Torrigan danced around the troll, hefting his heavy broadsword with practiced grace. He wasn’t taking it by surprise at all, but it had yet to land a hit on him.
Illinia took out the last visible goblin on the ledge and followed Mira, skittering around the troll as it took a step backwards away from Torrigan, who followed it, stabbing forwards at its vulnerable soft belly. Her hawk attacked the less visible goblins, with success judging from the cries.
In the next room, there were only a few goblins; Mira was attacking them all ferociously with her sword, though an arrow stood out from her off arm.
Illinia turned back to Torrigan’s fight, wondering where she would be most useful, since Mira seemed to be doing quite all right, but suddenly that fight was also over. The troll bellowed again and fell on its face with a thud that made the ground shake.
Then they waited for Kellan to wake up, while Illinia healed Mira’s arm. He did so after not very long, with a mumbled “Where am I? What was I doing?” They fed him lunch and a healing potion, and continued.
The main path of the fortress led deep underground, down into dark narrow mazes. Mira and Torrigan carried torches, and Kellan marked their path on a scrap of paper. Illinia was their guide; she thought she could feel something coming from ahead of them, something magical. She was grateful to Tharash for showing her magic.
They rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a statue of dwarf; a female dwarf, beardless and curvaceous – and hefting a large heavy hammer. The statue moved.
Illinia cried out in fear, and Torrigan shouldered swiftly past her, his heavy armour blocking her from its blows. She set an arrow on the string, but what could arrows do against stone?
Apparently Mira was thinking the same thing, because she was rummaging around in the Bag of Holding. “Hey, is anyone particularly attached to any of these swords?”
“Not at all,” Kellan said. “What are we fighting?”
“Golem,” Torrigan barked briefly. “Stay back. Only my armour can hope to withstand these attacks.”
“Right!” Mira said. “Duck, Illinia! …Good thing you’re so short…”
A cheap broadsword flew over her head and struck the statue, chipping it slightly.
“Yeah, that did a lot,” Kellan said sarcastically.
“Shut up,” Mira snarked back, flinging another one.
Illinia kept shooting, although her arrows made only little chips. But hopefully they were damaging the spell that animated the statue. And even as she thought that, one of Mira’s wildly-flung swords struck the statue and shattered it.
“Yes!” Mira cheered. “That was awesome!”
“Was it?” Torrigan asked doubtfully, helping to pick up the swords. Some of them were damaged beyond repair.
Mira fixed him with a look, then chuckled. “You and your wry humour. I think it was!”
“Then that’s all that’s important, yes?”
They continued, a bit more carefully now, but they did not find any more statues.
Instead, at the end of a particularly twisty bit, they found a large hall, carved to look like it was pillared with smooth trees. There were pews in it, and at one end, an altar and some bookcases.
“Hey, what’s the shining thing?” Kellan asked.
“Looks like the goblins never made it down here,” Torrigan commented.
“It’s lovely!” Illinia said, reaching out to stroke one of the pillars.
Kellan bounded up to the altar and reached out to touch the little phial sitting on top. He ducked just as a ten-foot long flame belched out of the altar and singed the air he had been standing in. “Whoa! Now that’s nifty.”
“What’s the phial?” Mira asked. “Is it what we came for?”
“I think so,” Illinia said, sitting in one of the benches.
“Are you all right?” Torrigan asked.
She nodded. “Just a little tired, that’s all. I’m all right.”
He patted her shoulder and went to deal with Kellan
After a little convincing, Kellan managed to pluck the phial off the altar and handed it to Torrigan. Then the rogue went right back to touching the altar and dodging the gout of flame. “I’m practicing my dodging,” he explained.
“Is it practicing when it does it the exact same way each time?” Mira commented.
“Perhaps? What’s it to you?”
“Heh, nothing. Just wondering if we’ll have to sweep up your ashes afterwards. That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it!”
After a while, Kellan was tired of this, and they began the trek back out of the fortress and to the city. Torrigan had found an orange-glowing sword with a magically keen edge, and Mira had found one that crackled with yellow lightening when she swung it. Kellan had picked up a magic staff labelled “For Finding Secret Doors”, which, he remarked, was suspiciously convenient. Illinia had at first refused treasure, for she liked her weapons and honoured those who gave them to her, but was persuaded to take a ring that may or may not have had the power to freeze a creature in ice with a simple command.
Illinia didn’t want to admit it, but she was more than tired. The bite in her shoulder was troubling her. It wasn’t bleeding, but it was painful and did not seem to be healing as it should. When no one was looking, she gave it a little pulse of magic. It helped a little, but not much. What’s more, she felt slightly feverish and cold. Even when they stopped for the night she didn’t feel any better.
She tried to hide it, though, and hoped that Aleic would be able to help her when they got back. No sense in worrying her friends until then.
They tramped across the plains in the morning. After a while, Kellan said to them: “Hey, how about I go on ahead? I can take the phial, find the secret door, and get back to Aleic so he can get to work quicker on fixing the problem.”
“Oh, you bored with us slowpokes?” Mira asked suspiciously. “Or you just trying to ditch us and get more treasure?”
“The former,” Kellan replied, annoyed. “I’m much faster than the rest of you.”
“Let him go,” Torrigan said. “It’s not like we could keep him behind. Go on, Kellan.”
The tall man took off running, and went out of their sight rather quickly.
Illinia sighed. She wished she had that energy. But right now, she simply didn’t. It was all she could do to keep walking normally.
By the time they had reached town, Kellan was still looking for the doorway.
“Having trouble?” Illinia asked, smiling.
“Hush,” he said, bent over the wall. “I’m certain it’s here. I was just waiting for you.” And he opened the door in front of their eyes.
“Are you all right?” Torrigan said again to Illinia. “You don’t look all right.”
“Yeah, you look really pale!” Mira chimed in. “Have we been going too fast for you? Oh, no, I know, it’s that dratted wound you took yesterday! You should have said something!”
“I was waiting to tell Aleic about it,” Illinia objected. “I didn’t want to distract you until then.”
“Come on,” Kellan said. “We can argue about it closer!”
He led them through the secret door – closing it after them – and to the chapel.
When they knocked, there was no answer. “Aleic? Lina? Are you in there?”
Torrigan broke down the door anxiously, and they piled inside.
In the centre of the chapel, Aleic lay unconscious.
“Aleic!” Torrigan cried. “What happened?”
They sat him up and gave him water. He blinked and looked around. “You are back so soon? That was very fast.” Then his hands clenched. “Lina! She is the one behind everything!”
“Everything?” Kellan asked. “Pretty elaborate for just a cleric…”
“No, she’s a cleric of Gordram, the God of Shadows. She knocked me out… only a short while ago… We must stop her!”
“We have an artefact,” Torrigan said. “Is it what you seek? Also Illinia is ill. Can you cure her?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Aleic said. “That will do fine. Miss Illinia? Ah, you have been bitten. I’m really not sure what to do. Perhaps…” He touched the phial to the wound, and it vanished. “Ah! How do you feel?”
Illinia blinked. “Like waking up from deep sleep. Much better. Thank you, sir!” She bowed, her long black hair falling around her face and shoulders.
“Well, let’s go!” Mira cried. “Thanks for healing Illinia. Now to heal all the others!”
They hurried through the streets, trying to avoid plaguewalkers. There seemed to be a lack of them, although they caught sight of a large group outside of an inn. When they were spotted, Kellan threw down a smoke bomb and they made an escape.
“Where did you get that?” Mira whispered.
“Circus,” Kellan whispered back. “Past job. Very handy.”
“I’ll say…”
They arrived at a graveyard. When it was tended, it looked pleasant. But it had not been tended in months, and the source of the darkness, Aleic said, was nearby. It was overgrown with weeds and thorns, brown and grey.
A strange light flickered from within one of the more house-like tombs, and they hurried closer.
When they set foot inside the door, they saw they were too late.
“She has been summoning a devil!” Aleic cried.
Lina turned to face them, now dressed in black armour with the emblem of her god splashed across it. Her pleasant face was contorted in a fierce smile. “You are only too correct, old Aleic. Have a pleasant death!”
From the summoning circle beside her, red and green smoke and flames burst up, and a human-like creature with a long tail, leathery wings, and spikes from every joint materialized, brandishing a spear in their direction.
Lina smiled again, smugly, and dropped a small twig she had been holding so that it broke the summoning circle. The devil was released, and Lina vanished under some invisibility spell.
Kellan ran blindly towards where she had been, his arms outstretched to his sides. “I’ll find her- Oof!” He was knocked down by the invisible cleric, who ran lightly past him towards the door.
Torrigan and Mira charged at the devil. Illinia looked back and forth, trying to decide which fight to join. Aleic was blocking the door. “She shall not pass easily,” he said, and conjured a wall of flame in front of him. So Illinia shot at the devil, piercing one of his wings.
Lina appeared in front of the wall of flames, and walked through quite calmly. She knocked Aleic aside casually and continued out of the tomb.
“Kellan, Illinia, stop her!” Torrigan cried, ducking the devil’s spear with startling adeptness. “We’ll handle the devil!”
“Right!” Illinia cried, and darted up the stairs, Kellan behind her. Aleic had already gone, summoning a hovering sphere of fire against their opponent.
She turned with a look of fury, reached out, and touched Aleic’s shoulder.
The old man collapsed, clutching his chest, wheezing.
“Stop!” Illinia cried, firing a hasty arrow at the cleric.
Lina turned, saw small Illinia trying to threaten her, and smiled wickedly. She darted forwards and seized the elf by the throat. Illinia only had a chance to look pleadingly up at her with her big brown eyes…
Torrigan and Mira were startled by a sudden piercing shriek and a soft thud from outside.
Mira turned and decapitated the devil in a rage, and both rushed outside.
They froze in horror at what they saw.
Aleic was out cold again. But Illinia was on her feet, her skin white as paper, her eyes closed – and reaching out to attack Kellan with her sword.
Kellan, of course, dodged her easily and attempted to attack Lina, who was controlling Illinia like a puppet. But his rapier did not even pierce her armour.
“You!” Mira raged. “How dare you turn our friend into a zombie? Aren’t you the weakest, most despicable of all evil people! We defeated that devil sooo easily even though he was so strong! Now you think we’re going to let you go because you killed our friend? Nooo, we’re going to kill with you extreme prejudice! And not even turning her into a zombie – which is the sickest thing you could do – is going to stop us!”
“All right, Mira,” Torrigan said. “Let’s just do it.”
They dodged the animated corpse of their friend quite easily and attacked Lina, who drew her own weapon to defend herself against them. But it made no difference – Mira’s lightening sword pierced her armour, and she blazed with electricity and magic for a few seconds before falling lifeless. As lifeless as Illinia, who also collapsed to the ground and did not move.
Mira knelt at her friend’s side. “Illinia! Illinia, she’s dead now, you can wake up!”
They paused. Illinia was not breathing.
“You’re not… dead-dead, are you?” Mira asked, tears starting to come to her eyes.
“I’m afraid she is,” Aleic said, coming up behind them. “But do not fear.” He bent and lifted the light body of the elf and carried it back into the tomb.
There, he laid her down and held out his hand. Torrigan fumbled for a moment, and handed him the elven phial.
“The Tears of Illora,” Aleic said. “They are a powerful cure. They will cure this town and your friend.” And he unstopped the phial.
With the single drop, Illinia’s colour returned to her face, and her anxiously watching friends thought they saw her chest move.
She blinked, opening her large brown eyes and looking dazedly at them all.
“Illinia?” Mira asked. “Can you hear us?”
“I-I can h-hear you…” She blinked some more, and reached up to touch her face. “What happened?”
“You… you died,” Torrigan said in a low voice. “Lina killed you. Then she used your body to attack us. But we killed her, and Aleic brought you back with the… the artefact.”
“The Tears of Illora,” Aleic said. “They are a powerful potion wrought of the tears of the very goddess of life. If anything would bring you back, this would be it.”
Illinia reached out, and Torrigan helped her sit up. “I feel so strange… I had a vision that I was in clouds and I met a beautiful woman, who asked me to help her children… I don’t know who she was, though.”
“Could it be Illora herself?” Aleic muttered. “It’s said that the elves are the first-born, and so they call themselves the Children of Illora on occasion. Whatever it was, it must be important, and you should hold onto that memory.”
Illinia nodded. “I feel very weak. Are the townspeople all right?”
“They will be in a moment,” Aleic said, and as they supported Illinia, he strode out of the graveyard and to the well in the square nearby. He dripped in a few drops of the water in the phial, and immediately there was a change.
There was a boiling sound from in the well, and a bright flash of light that shot up into the sky. A wave of power swept over them. When they could see again, they saw people drawing closer, uncertainly – but healthy looking normal people.
“Sir!” one of them called to Aleic. “Who are you, and what has happened to us?”
Aleic told them the story, and Torrigan led the group to the gate, where they hailed the guards. “We were successful! Please go and get David.”
David arrived quickly, and peered over the barrier. “You look exhausted. But you are done so quickly!”
“Well, no sense in wasting time,” Mira said, giggling a little.
David raised an eyebrow at her choice of words, and continued. “Are you sure the plague is gone? How did you do it? Is Aleic in there?”
“I am right here,” Aleic said, coming up at the head of a crowd of ordinary people. “The plague is gone, and the people healed. The darkness that had taken root under the city has been cleansed. You may open the gates now.”
“Understood,” David answered. “Guards! Get this gate open immediately! John, go tell the mayor at once.”
“This will be cause for celebration,” Kellan said, rubbing his hands together. “This once, I’m feeling generous. How much money do we have?”
Mira told him.
Kellan clutched his chest in amazement. “So much? David, how much would it be to buy the whole town a round of drinks?” Torrigan snorted, but smiled. Mira gaped, and Illinia put her head on one side curiously.
David blinked in surprise. “The whole town?” He began to calculate, and eventually named a figure.
“Yes, we can afford that,” Kellan said. “Bring out the wine!”
David chuckled. “You speak my language, sir.”
The rest of the day was plunged in celebration. The free round of drinks further endeared them to the town, and they couldn’t take so much as a step without being hailed and toasted by everyone in sight. Illinia found it all very novel and embarrassing. Food and drink vendors brought out their good and set up tables in the square, and the town really made a party of it, and merchants, inspired by the travellers’ generosity, put their wares on sale. There was a lot of happy activity that day in Thaxted.
After a while, Illinia retreated to the inn, her senses overwhelmed in every way. Not even in Gondor had she seen such merrymaking, at least not in such a rustic way. Gondor was too proud and noble to serve alcohol in the streets like that, she supposed. Perhaps in the fabled Shire they would be like this. But so much noise, and the sights, sounds, smells, they were too much for her all at once. Especially since she had been dead in the morning. Dead. It was so strange to think about.
She went to check on Mira’s egg, and found it warm and safe. Coming back downstairs, she saw Torrigan sitting by himself, watching something with a smile playing on his face.
“What are you looking at?” she asked innocently, coming to sit beside him.
He gestured. “Don’t disturb them. It’s cute.”
She looked, and saw David obviously flirting with Mira. She giggled. “You’re absolutely right.” She thought a little more seriously. “I hope he’s not too flighty… I think he was flirting with me too at one point? Perhaps he’s decided to like the girl who’s not already married.”
Torrigan nodded serenely. “That would make perfect sense to me.”
Kellan staggered in, a half-glass of beer still in his hand. “This is the best day everrrrr.”
Illinia giggled again, immediately looking away from Mira and David. There was no need to let Kellan know about that, especially not when he was drunk.
“What? It issss.” He leaned closer to her; she leaned away from his scary beard and mustache. “Did you drink anything?”
“A little…”
“Here, you can have the rest of mine.” With an unsteady flourish, he proffered his glass to her. She shook her head, smiling.
“No, sir, I couldn’t possibly.”
“Oh, I insist, fair maiden.”
“And I absolutely refuse, though with thanks.”
“Oh, well, in that case, I’ll have to make Torrigan drink it.”
The knight took the glass and looked into it suspiciously. “It’s not bad beer, is it?”
“No, no. Jus’ don’t want any more of it.” He patted his head and shook it. “Had plenty!”
Torrigan sniffed it. Illinia got the feeling he didn’t drink a lot of beer. But he tossed it back with a quick motion. “I hope I don’t regret this.”
“Half a cup won’t do things you regret,” Kellan said cheerfully. “Try half a barrel.”
Illinia’s eyes grew wide. “Did you really-?”
“No, but my buddy did…”
Illinia shook her head. “I don’t think I want to know, actually.”
“But it’s awesome!” Kellan thought for a moment. “Actually, it was incredibly stupid. You’re right.”
Mira came flouncing over, her cheeks red and her eyes shining. “Hey, guys, what’s up? Are we going to have dinner yet?”
“Are you going to eat with us?” Torrigan asked slyly.
Mira punched him in the arm. “Of course I am, silly paladin. What kind of question is that?”
“I checked your egg,” Illinia said, forestalling any kind of awkward conversation. “It’s perfectly safe.”
“I checked it too, but thanks, Illinia! That’s very thoughtful of you.”
Illinia smiled. “You’re welcome!”
There was a croak from beside her, and she looked down to see a tiny, bent, wizened old woman, leaning on a cane. “You are the heroes who saved the town?”
“Yes, Grandmother,” Torrigan answered.
“And you…” she touched Illinia’s sleeve with dirty fingers. Illinia sat very still, unsure of what to do. “You are the elf?”
“Y-yes?”
The old woman’s eyes suddenly glowed with literal inner light; Illinia stifled a squeak and clenched her hands on the table.
“You are the Twice-Born! The one long-foretold! You will be the one to lead the Children of Illora to victory over their dark adversary! Heed my words, elf-maiden, for I am a seer of truth!”
She turned and hobbled away. She was out of the door before Mira could stop her, and the cleric returned to the table alone. “She disappeared into the crowd. Who was she?”
“That was the most cliche’d fortune telling I ever heard,” Kellan grunted, with great disdain. “I bet she says that to all the people.”
“But the vision-“ Torrigan began.
“Still. So cliche’d. I bet she just says it to all the people. It’s probably a local phenomenon or something.”
Illinia nodded. “I’m no hero. I’m just looking for someone. I wish I could have told her.”
“Chosen One,” Kellan snorted at the table.
Illinia sat quietly for the rest of dinner; she was very unsettled. The prophecy – if that was what it was – was unnerving. She wasn’t a leader; she was barely a fighter. She was a simple maiden from the forest looking for her tall strong husband. The less fighting she had to do on the way, the better.
But if there was a people looking for her help… who was she to deny it?
No, no, no. If there was a people looking for her help, let them find her, first. And then they would be disappointed when they found her, so they could go looking for their real Twice-Born or whatever.
Mira cast her a concerned eye, but Illinia smiled disarmingly at her, and Mira retreated, satisfied.

The humans in the party slept rather late the next morning, and they went to see David at noon.
“How can we ever thank you enough for what you’ve done for us?” he told them. “The south quarter is already almost back to normal. Friends and families are reunited. It’s wonderful.”
“Well, one way would be to tell us about your problem in the north quarter,” Torrigan said, smiling. “You had more than one problem, yes?”
“Well, yes. But this one’s a little more tricky. It seems that the nobles all barricaded themselves inside their section of the city, and they won’t come out. Even when we went to tell them yesterday that the plague was over, there was no answer.” The half-elf grimaced. “It’s almost spooky, to tell you the truth.”
“I see,” Torrigan said. “May we investigate?”
David spread his hands. “By all means. Please find some way to tell the nobles that everything is all right.”
Torrigan saluted the paladin way, and led them out of the office. “How shall we go about doing this?”
There were some whistles from new fans in the street; Mira waved at some people as they passed to the north side of the city.
“Well,” Kellan said. “I could climb the wall and unlock the gate for you. Then we could walk right in.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Torrigan said. “Mind you, that’s all you are to do. Even that seems a little underhanded…”
“It’s public property,” Mira reminded him. “It’s not like we’re breaking into someone’s house. Besides, what choice do we have?”
The paladin nodded. “Absolutely. Kellan, if you would, please.”
The former clown nodded and darted off. They came to a large heavy gate, and waited, trying to look casual. It helped that there were not many people around, either.
After about ten minutes, the gate creaked, and the portcullis began to go up. Illinia slipped underneath first, followed by Mira, and lastly by Torrigan. They ran to the gatehouse door and looked inside to see Kellan winding up the gate. The chamber was quite bare, and surprisingly large.
Kellan was bleeding from the head. “What happened to you?” Mira asked, letting her hands glow with healing magic.
“I fell down, all right?” he snapped, securing the gate.
“You fell off the wall? On your head?”
Kellan glared at her, shuffling. She repressed a grin. “Oh, dear, Kellan, sometimes you are the most worst.”
“All right,” Torrigan said. “Good work.” He turned to look at the street. “How shall we go about it? Shall we go to the castle?”
“Castles are a good place to start,” Mira said. “Let’s do that. Hey, look, there’s even a noble guard.” She snickered a little. “Nice uniform.”
“Don’t laugh, Mira,” Torrigan chastised. “It’s not their fault purple and yellow and red don’t go in that combination.”
Mira shrugged. “Let’s go talk to him. Hey, you!”
The guard turned, startled, and brought his halberd to bear on them.
“Uh oh,” Kellan said, and Illinia had to agree. The guard did not look friendly at all.
The halberd made their opponent a difficult match, although Illinia felt three to one was vastly unfair.
“I’m not sure we should kill him,” Torrigan said. “Why are you attacking us, sir? We only wish to see what has become of the people here.”
“You swine!” exclaimed the guard, and Kellan stabbed him in the gut.
“Kellan!” Mira scolded. “Bad!”
Kellan glared. “Well, what was I going to do? He was too difficult to knock out.”
The body twitched, and the face and build changed. They were looking at a lightly-built human-like creature with dark blue skin, black eyes, and pale hair.
“A shapeshifter!” Mira cried in horror. “What does that mean?”
“It means that things are very wrong,” Torrigan said.
“It certainly does,” said a voice from behind them, and they turned to see three more ‘guards’, in red and brown, pointing their weapons at them. “Lay down your arms and we won’t kill you on the spot.”

Okay! Going to post, then going to watch violinist play his Friday-night pub-rock gig. Going to bring my lappy so’s I can write more story. I think this bit is going much better. Should I try writing with alcohol? I don’t think I should risk it.

This chapter is rather long, but it has the famous part where my brother was looking for a false name and grabbed the first one he could think of – which is the name of a pianist who WE knew… but he didn’t know. So it was pretty hilarious to imagine this pianist friend in this setting.

SPOILERS: I took some rather large liberties with parts of this; like the fact that David seems to be a bit of a skirt-chaser. There’s no way David in our game would hit on Mira, because her player and the DM are siblings. So I added that. Now that will ruin that part of the story for you to know that. : P Also Mira and Torrigan are not involved in any way. If anything, I myself had a crush on Torrigan (though Illinia doesn’t). The mechanics of the plague and Aleic and all that other stuff kind of elude me at the moment, so I’m really making stuff up in there.

It got cold again today. A few flakes around lunchtime (and by a few, I mean a very few). Need to wear my scarf. The crimson cashmere one.

My Dreigiau Book 2 came today! : D

Chapter 6

The weather was good, and the mountains to the north were full of easy passes. They walked steadily, making good time, yet not hurrying.
Three days after they had left Derek’s town, Mira pointed to the sky. “Look! Gryphons!”
Far overhead, two long winged shapes were circling, prowling the sky on the hunt for food.
Mira sighed happily. “You know, I always wanted a pet gryphon. Perhaps one I could train to ride…”
“Well, why not get one now?” Torrigan said. “We’re a match for the parents; if we can find you an egg, you can get that trained when it grows up.”
“How fast do they grow?” Illinia asked sweetly.
“Pretty darn fast,” Mira said. “They’ll be full-sized in a year, although it takes four years for them to become adults. Anyway, do you think…”
“Yes, I think we can get you a gryphon egg,” Torrigan said. “Come on. It’s your dream, is it not? Why should we not deal with it now?”
“Because I have no place to put it? I’m not putting it in the Bag of Holding. That’s where all our collective shared junk goes. And the treasure we find. I’m not putting an egg, no matter how undelicate it may be, in there!”
“Yeah, I might just grab it by accident and turn it into an omelette…” Kellan said.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Mira said. “I’d thump you six ways from Sunday.”
“Oh, stop fighting,” Illinia said. “Let’s go! I’d like to see these gryphons up close.”
“Oh, you will that,” Kellan said.
“Besides, we weren’t fighting,” Mira protested. “You want to see fighting, just let us get going.”
“I don’t like it when you fight,” Illinia said. “Kellan does make me uncomfortable with the things he does; the things that seem dangerous or pointless or maybe kind of unkind, but I’d really rather you didn’t fight.”
“You think I’m sometimes unkind?” Kellan asked indignantly. “Gee, lady, you haven’t seen anything. I’m not unkind at all.”
“Well…” Illinia blushed heavily. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to be critical. It’s just… sometimes, the things you do seem like things that would get you in trouble with… with the authorities…”
“Ah, but only if they found out.”
“But… well, besides the fact that we’re travelling with a Paladin and a cleric, what if they do find out? I always assume that it will be found out.”
“That’s because you’re really bad at keeping secrets,” Kellan said snidely, and went on ahead of the group.
There was a whoosh, a shadow, and a piercing shriek – not from Kellan, but from the gryphon that aimed its body at him. He flung himself to the side just in time, and Mira came up behind, swinging a little club she had bought in the village.
“Let’s see how you like a beating, you poor feather-dusters!” she exclaimed, throwing it at one. It missed. “Dang!”
Torrigan stepped in front of her as the second gryphon landed beside the first in a cloud of dust and feathers and flashing eyes. Mira’s sap-club was flung back in her direction irately, and she ducked it, red braid whipping behind her head.
Illinia’s arrows flashed by them all, striking the gryphons in what she hoped were sensitive spots. It seemed like it, from the way they screeched. One of them lunged forward and snapped at Torrigan’s newly-mended armour (mended by Derek, of course) and he took a step backwards to save himself and nearly fell down the mountainside.
Kellan bounded to a higher ledge to use his flanking move, and nearly got taken out by a lashing tail. But he dodged it, and charged in, striking hits on the gryphon’s hip.
Torrigan recovered and swung his mighty broadsword. His swing was a little slow, and the gryphon dodged it with relative ease, but it did not dodge Illinia’s arrow that followed it, nor his back-swing. That gryphon fell, slain.
The other gryphon gave a shriek of grief and ploughed headlong at them, snapping and clawing. Torrigan fell back under the onslaught, even his heavy armour taking damage. Kellan was hit by a wing and was sent flying down a small cliff. Mira sprang up, her little club back in her hand, and she bopped the gryphon directly on the head. It fell unconscious.
Torrigan leaned on one knee. “Whew. Now what do we do?”
Mira looked at the unconscious adult. “It’s a pity. This one’s out cold, but it’s probably not going to be trainable. It’ll hate us for killing its mate, and it’s too old to be impressionable.”
“We can’t just kill it, though, now that it’s unconscious…” Illinia began.
“Of course we can,” Kellan said.
“Otherwise, it will follow us, looking for revenge,” Mira explained. “I hate to kill it, too, but…”
“I’ll do it,” Kellan said, and before anyone could react, he stepped forward and stabbed the gryphon to the heart.
Illinia gasped. “That was mean!”
“So?” he asked, genuinely confused.
Illinia pouted, equally genuine. “That’s sad… to be knocked unconscious and then killed… just after your mate’s been killed…”
“Ah, Illinia…” Torrigan said gently. “You might have wanted to think about that before we started fighting them. Don’t worry. It’s all right. Mira, do you see a nest anywhere?”
“I think so?” Mira said, shading her eyes with a hand and peering up the mountain. “Let’s go check that out.”
They came across a nest fairly quickly, with one single head-sized beautiful blue-green egg in it. Mira gasped in girlish delight as she touched it. “Oh, I’m so happy! I’m so excited!”
“Good,” Kellan said. “That means this whole thing wasn’t for nothing.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course it wasn’t, silly. I just had an idea. How about we make gryphon-feather cloaks? That would be so snazzy!”
“Oh!” said Illinia. “I do like that idea.”
“Aha,” Kellan said, smirking. “I think we’ve found Illinia’s weakness – pretty clothes!”
She gave him a coyly disapproving look over her shoulder. “It is not.”
“Oh? Then how about this red dress you’re always wearing? You do have other clothes, don’t you?”
“Well… I do now! But… this one’s my favourite. And if I meet the one I’m looking for, I want him to see me in this. I’ll be the most recognizable that way.”
“Why, would he forget what you looked like otherwise?” Kellan asked, teasing.
A troubled look crossed Illinia’s face. “No. Certainly not. But… I want him to know that I haven’t changed.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Torrigan said. “I do hope that you find this person.”
“Is he your sweetheart?” Mira asked. “No, don’t tell me now. Tell me later! When we’re snug around the campfire, just you and me.”
Illinia smiled, though not in complete comprehension. Mira was so insistent on being her ‘best friend’, and while she enjoyed talking with her very much, she didn’t understand the secrecy and the girlish topics. She had talked that way with her elder sister back home, but she told all the same things to her friends, whether they were girlish or not.
But she could indulge her on this.
They stripped the long feathers from the dead gryphons’ wings; they couldn’t take much else. Illinia began making plans for how she could turn them into two cloaks, one for her and one for Mira. The colours were slightly different. One was more reddish, and one more tawny. She would ask Mira which one she wanted. She didn’t think they would look so good mixed.
They camped early that night, and while the others settled down to sleep and Illinia put away the feathers, which she had been examining more closely, they felt a chill wind from the north.
“I wonder what that was,” Torrigan said. “That was not exactly natural…”
“Sure it was,” Kellan said, already half-asleep. “It’s getting late in the year. Soon the trees will lose their leaves.”
“Well…” Torrigan said, unconvinced.
“Just go to sleep, already!” Mira said, curled up in her bedroll, nice and warm beside the gently glowing fire.
“Yeah, so you can have your girl-talk,” Kellan teased, and rolled over.
“Of course!”
Illinia waited patiently. But it seemed that Mira had fallen asleep along with the other three.
When it was time for Torrigan’s watch, she woke him and went to her place by the fire; before she settled down, she took out her locket and looked at it for a long time, tracing her husband’s face with her eyes. He was entirely beautiful; strong and handsome, and when he was with her she felt keenly his wit and joy, and his wisdom. She was so incredibly blessed to have married him, she, a little dancing girl who barely had the courage to speak to people without fear, a little girl without wisdom or wit or strength; a girl who could dance and sing, hiding away from everyone else.
She wasn’t sure why she was so afraid of talking to people, particularly strangers, but she had always been that way.
At least she had her joy. There were few, even among the child-like elves, who could sustain her innocent, full-hearted delight in the world. Everything was beautiful to her, or at least most things that she cared to acknowledge. Perhaps that was what drew her husband to her; her happiness and contentment that at least rivalled his.
But he was gone, and her contentment was disturbed. She longed to have him beside her, to put his arms around her shoulders and let her lean against him; she longed to dance with him, to sing with him, to play harp while he played flute… even, if she dared, to kiss him – although he would probably be the one to kiss her, and many times.
She slipped into memory after memory. There was the time when she was singing at night, and he passed by, some time after they had become betrothed, and he had climbed up to her little balcony, and she had climbed down to her little balcony from the branch she had been singing from, and he had embraced her and looked into her eyes while she sang, while she sang to him…
When she was done – but not before – he kissed her for a long time.
She thought of her family, and wondered how they were doing. Her older sister, placid and wise, was surely biding her time in the forest, assisting the kingdom in administration when they had need of her. Her parents were the same; dearly devoted to each other and tranquil in all things.
Her brother was almost as wonderful as her husband… they were both archers, and served in the military together. Her brother’s hair was dark, like her own, but he was tall and masterful, not like her. She wondered what he had been doing in Gondor when she left; if it was to see her. She wondered how he was doing now, and whether he had accepted her running away yet. Well, there was no way he could follow her, with her being in a different world and Tharash’s rift closed.
She remembered the time that her flighty, wild, almost rebellious younger sister had become caught up with a band of wicked men, willingly, and they had tried to take Esgalwen with them. Her brother and husband had come to her rescue that time. Her sister had become disowned after that stunt, and Esgalwen wondered sorrowfully if she was still alive.
But she could only focus on finding her husband. Her sister had made her own choices; had proclaimed herself in love with one of the wild men, and she must take the consequences as Esgalwen was taking the consequences of her own. Of course, at first Esgalwen’s choice had not been nearly so dangerous, and her sister was far better at taking care of herself than Esgalwen was.
Her new companions were sweet. They were good, and funny, and supportive. But she had not yet told them why she was travelling. She supposed she should do that soon, so that they could help her. But they were so strong; she would be ashamed to travel with them and not seem like she could do as well for herself as they could for themselves. It wasn’t like the people in the villages, where she would leave them soon. They would feel pity for her, and while fragile, Esgalwen wanted no pity.
She would tell them soon. When she was more comfortable with them.
One way or another, she would find her husband. She put the locket away and looked around; it was almost morning.

That day they travelled until night, and stopped in the evening for food, though not for rest. Mira had managed to improvise a little wooden box lined with fur for her egg, and carried it tenderly in her arms most of the day.
“We’ll be there in an hour or two,” Mira said. “But I really can’t go on without food right now! I’m so hungry! Man, I wish I was an elf.”
Illinia nodded, sympathizing. It was not nice to be hungry for too long. The elf comment took her by surprise; she often forgot that technically she was capable of going without food for longer than her companions.
They were half-done cooking when they heard a low growl in the forest around them, a menacing growl that was taken up in all directions. They froze and looked around.
“What was that?” Mira breathed.
Torrigan began strapping his greaves back on. “Not good, whatever it was.” He had only just started taking off his armour, so that was all he had to put back on.
Kellan twitched where he sat tending the fire and the cooking food. “Why do we have to get attacked now? What a pain! I’m not going anywhere. You guys take care of it, all right?”
“I don’t think we’ll be able to do it without you,” Illinia said, her voice trembling. “There are so many! What are they?”
They were animals the likes of which she had never seen before; they oozed with slime and mud so that she could hardly make out which end was the head. They seemed to be vaguely bipedal, but with large hulking shoulders.
Mira spat out a word Illinia had never heard before, presumably the name of the creatures. “What are they doing on the main road? They’re supposed to live in the deepest darkest swamps and the backs of slimy caves.”
“I think we found out why trade from Thaxted stopped,” Torrigan said, slamming his shield into one of them and following it up with a short, sharp thrust of his sword. “I wonder if this is what Aleic the Wise went to look into.”
“I am sooo hungry, but these things are making me lose my appetite,” Mira complained. “Let’s just retreat to Thaxted.”
“Good plan,” Kellan said. “Hey!” He turned and stabbed one in the chest with his instantly-drawn rapier. “Don’t spill the food, buddy!”
The creature grinned at him, seemingly unfazed by the sword in its chest.
Illinia screamed – quietly – and shot an arrow into its skull. Now it fell, thumping into the fire and splattering mud everywhere. Kellan barked in annoyance – his pants were muddy now. He had saved the half-cooked food, and was wrapping it up as quickly as he could.
“There’s not that many,” Torrigan said, bashing another in the head with both sword and shield until it lay still, its head pretty much unrecognizable as a head. “There’s only… five more.”
“But I’m not hungry anymore,” Mira wailed.
“That’s all right,” Illinia said softly. “It’ll let us catch our breath.”
Kellan hacked at one with one of his many extra daggers until it collapsed; he sprang away nimbly and avoided the mud this time.
Mira growled back at the creature she was facing. “By all the stars and suns! You’ll wish you’d never bothered me!” And she sliced its head off with one stroke. “Is that all? Because I’m still hungry and we’re still an hour away from town. Let’s go!”
They marched until they could see the walls in the distance. It was a medium-sized city, very square, with wide open bare plains on the west and a rocky forest on the east. Behind it, to the north, there was another mountain range.
“Well, there’s Thaxted,” Kellan said. “Would you wait a moment, please? I have an idea.”
They stopped and watched him as he rummaged around in his pack, drawing out cloth and odd accoutrements, and putting some of them on.
When he was done, he was dressed in a white and yellow robe, with a very strange pointy hat on his head and a golden medallion hanging off his neck down to the centre of his chest.
They stared. “What are you supposed to be?” Illinia asked curiously.
“I think we’d gain access to the city much better if we were travelling with a Bishop of Pelor, wouldn’t we?” Kellan said cheerfully.
Torrigan’s face darkened. Illinia shivered. He looked angry, although one corner of his mouth was twitching as if he was desperately holding back a laugh. But he looked angry.
“Um.” Mira’s face was almost as irritated. “In case I need to iterate it AGAIN, you’re travelling with a Paladin of Pelor AND a Cleric. How by all the gods did you think you were getting away with that one?”
Kellan shrugged, an uneasy grin on his face. “I… thought the ends might justify the means?”
“No! Absolutely not!” she lectured, shaking her finger in his face. “Now you take that off right now before I-“
Kellan made a move to take the things off, and then turned and bolted, his tall figure helping him greatly to escape down the road before Torrigan or Mira could react.
“Hey! Come back!” Mira cried, chasing him down the road.
Illinia could hold back her giggles no longer, and as the three humans raced down the road towards the castle, she followed with her hawk and the egg-box, peals of laughter ringing out behind them.
They came to the gate of the city and found it heavily barricaded. Kellan pounded on it rather desperately. “Help! Help!”
“What’s the matter, sir?” asked the guards, immediately popping up from behind the wooden barricade.
“I’m being attacked by my companions! Please let me in before we all get eaten by the creatures in the swamp!”
“Er.” One of them looked ready to laugh as well.
“Who are you, sir?” asked the first one, courteously.
“I… I’m…” Kellan stammered, before drawing himself up proudly. “I am Derek Stanyer!”
Torrigan and Mira halted in their pursuit, identical expressions of dumbfounded shock, horror, disbelief, and suppressed laughter on their faces.
Illinia could not help herself, and paused behind a tree to finish laughing. It didn’t take her too long, and came hurrying up just in time to be let in with the others.
“Really?” Torrigan hissed to Kellan. “Derek Stanyer? Who’s Derek Stanyer? Not the blacksmith?”
“I don’t know,” Kellan whispered back. “I didn’t want to give my real name! I just grabbed that one out of the air! I think I heard that name mentioned somewhere. It’s not the blacksmith.”
Torrigan rolled his eyes heavenward, asking his god for patience.
“Why don’t you want to give your real name?” Mira asked suspiciously. “Have you been here before? Afraid you might be traced?”
“Well,” Kellan murmured. “I don’t like going into cities with my real name. Once inside I can use my real name. But I’m just cautious, that’s all! You don’t know what border guards might do with your name!”
“Oh, really?” She did not appear convinced.
“So what are you here for?” asked the guard, coming back from the barricade to open the inner gate for them. “Besides escaping from the swamp-monsters.”
“We’re here to investigate the lack of trade going south, and also to see Aleic the Wise. We were told we might find him here.”
The guard grimaced. “You might. Look, go see David. He’s the captain of the guard. You’ll find him in the chief guardhouse; it’s in the main street, you can’t miss it.”
“Thank you for your assistance,” Torrigan said. “We shall certainly do that.”
The guardhouse was indeed difficult to miss, with a sign comprising a halberd and a shield outside. They walked in, and the captain rose to greet them.
“Good evening! What can I do for you?” he asked, and then caught sight of Illinia, who was looking around curiously. She turned to look at him and found him staring, and she could only stare herself, for this man was half-elven in a way she’d never seen before. The elves of this land, she decided, must be considerably more exotic looking than in Middle-Earth, for he had a human build but delicate, slanted, pointed features and hair that shimmered beyond that of normal humans in this land.
“You are David?” Mira asked. “Look, we’re travellers from the south, and we’re… well, we’re looking for Aleic the Wise. Is he here?”
David tore his eyes away from Illinia and back to Mira. “Yes, he is. But things aren’t so easy. Shall we go sit down somewhere? It’s a bit of a story.”
“That sounds like a fantastic idea,” Mira said, prodding her empty stomach.
He took them to the closest tavern and ordered ‘the usual’ as they sat down. Mira asked for a whole chicken and beer; Torrigan asked for steak and potatoes and water; Kellan asked for a blue-cheese salad with apples and ale; and Illinia asked for bread and wine. The very friendly waitress brought it all with alacrity. Kellan squirmed until Mira threatened to chain him to the chair. He snarked back at her that it wouldn’t be any trouble to slip out of a chain, but sat more quietly.
“So,” David began, speaking mostly to Mira – apparently he thought she was the leader of their group. “We’ve been having a series of problems. First… we had a plague in the southern quarter a couple months ago. A month ago, the nobles barricaded themselves in the northern quarter and refused to let anyone in or out. It’s a mystery as to what they’re doing in there, but we’ve just left them to their own devices. We’re far more concerned about the poor in the southern quarter, anyway.”
“What kind of plague was it?” Mira asked, feeding bits of her chicken to Illinia’s hawk.
“That’s just it – we don’t know. People started getting sick, and we don’t think any of them have died… but they are certainly lifeless and diseased looking. We’ve barricaded them in; we don’t want that coming out into the rest of the city. Aleic the Wise went in there to help before we put up the barricades, and we haven’t seen him since.”
“Oh dear,” Torrigan said. “Well, that explains our problems!”
“That doesn’t explain the swamp monsters,” Kellan said.
David nodded. “They started getting more vicious about the same time. We thought it might be something in the water, so we’ve been boiling all the water we use. But if you have anything that can help us, we’d be most grateful.”
Illinia kept her eyes on her food, and missed how he tried to smile at her. Unable to smile at her, he gave his smile to Mira instead.
“Yes,” Torrigan mused. “We’d love to help. But we have no idea how. We’d have to talk to Aleic to find out, I think.”
David’s face fell. “Then you’d have to go into the plague quarter, and we can’t let you back out again. And we haven’t heard anything from him since he went in.”
“We’ll handle it,” Torrigan said. “We work well together. If we can at least find him, perhaps we can shout to you what is needed over the barricade.”
David nodded. “We could make that work. But you won’t go in until tomorrow, of course? You’ll stay and rest the night?”
Mira nodded. “Yes, I’d like that. Guys?”
Kellan nodded, his mouth full of ale. Torrigan nodded more calmly, and Illinia nodded almost imperceptibly.
“Also, if we could arrange a room at the inn for some of our stuff while we’re gone,” Mira said, “I’d appreciate it, because I have this gryphon egg that I want to hatch, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to take it with me into a plague area.”
David nodded. “Most certainly that can be arranged. I’ll even pay for it myself.”
“No need,” Torrigan said. “We have plenty for rooms. Don’t trouble yourself.”
David shrugged. “If that is the way you want it. I can at least arrange you a discount, though. Now, tell me, what is the news from the south?”
They told him of the werewolf, and how they saved the blacksmith at the cost of the councillor. He listened carefully. “The council here will be most interested in that. Thank you for telling me.”
As Mira and Torrigan arranged the rooms, and Kellan slipped off somewhere, Illinia went out to the street for some more fresh air (the air in the tavern was a little close for her) and found David beside her.
“Good evening, miss. You were very quiet. I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“Oh, n-no, not at all,” Illinia managed to stammer out, blushing.
He smiled, a very charismatic smile. “I’m glad of that, then. What’s your name again? I don’t think your group introduced you.
“I-Illinia…”
“Illinia. What a pretty name. We get elves here, but not too often, and not recently. What is it that brings you here with the others?”
“Well… Th-they seem to know where they’re going, and so I follow them…”
“But what about yourself? How are the elven nations?”
“I-I really couldn’t say… I haven’t been there ye- er, recently.”
He nodded understandingly. “I know what you mean. My father is an elf, and he spends a great deal of his time wandering the world. He visits now and again, and tells me what he’s been doing… But what are you doing? I really would like to know.” He flashed her that smile again.
She twisted her hands together, flustered. “I- well, it’s a long story… but- I- that is… I’m looking for my husband. He disappeared some years ago… But I know he’s still alive. So I need to find him.”
David nodded, though she thought she could sense some disappointment in his movement. “You’re a very dedicated woman, ma’am. I hope I am lucky enough to marry a woman with your devotion.”
She shrugged awkwardly. “I-it’s all I can do… I hope you are lucky in marriage, too!”
He put one hand on her shoulder. “I was wondering, though, if you were lonely… if you wanted company… even just to talk to…”
The hand made her flinch, but she didn’t dare move. “I-I’m all right… Mira is good company. She wants to be an elf… it’s very flattering how sh-she looks up to me. But if y-you are saying y-you a-are lonely…”
“Well, yes… I am, a bit. I really would like to get to know you better, Miss Illinia.”
She looked at the ground, dirty cobblestones scattered with hay and horse dung, and hoped desperately that she didn’t break this boy’s heart.
“Illinia!” Mira came out as David took his hand from her shoulder again. “There you are! Come see our room, it’s really big.”
David nodded. “I hope it will suit. Miss Mira, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”
“Yes,” Mira said cheerfully, and dragged Illinia inside by the hand.
When they got to the room, Illinia found herself cornered. “What was that all about?”
Illinia gaped blankly. “What was… what…?”
“You talking to him. He was standing awfully close to you! Was he hitting on you?” Mira began taking off her heavy armour.
“Hitting…?”
“Flirting. Asking you out. Asking you over. Asking if you’d share his b-“
“Oh!” Illinia blushed as red as her dress. “N-n- well, yes, just if I was lonely and wanted someone to talk to. I said I had you, but I asked if he was lonely and he said yes…”
“Humph,” Mira huffed, crossing her arms. “I’m sure he is.” Then she sighed and smiled. “He’s pretty dreamy, isn’t he?”
“Wh-wh-wha…!” Illinia was flatfooted. “I… I guess? You do know I’m married, right?”
“Yes, but- wait, you’re married?”
“Y-yes…”
“I so did not know that!” She thought for a bit. “Did I? Well, if I did, I forgot. I know now, right? Anyway, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think David’s dreamy, right?”
“Actually…”
“Oh, come on. Well, I think he’s dreamy. I wonder if he’ll hit on me? What do elves do when flirting?”
“I-I-I really don’t know! Certainly not in these parts! But you should just go talk to him. Although…”
“Although?”
“I… ah… thought you liked… er… Torrigan.”
Mira laughed. “Yes, Torrigan’s handsome, and his goals fit into mine, and he’s surprisingly a paladin without a stick up his butt, but… just… David! Dreamy!”
“Okay, okay! Well, go talk to him! Ask if he knows any gryphon trainers, or something.”
“Oh! Perfect! I’ll be back, or not, as the case may be. Have a good night!” And Mira was gone, red braid flipping behind her.
She was back in a couple hours, slightly tipsy. “Well, that was fun.”
“What happened?” Illinia asked in some concern.
“We went out for drinks! Clerics are allowed to drink if we want. Not too much. I don’t think I had too much. It was fun. He’s sooo cuuuute.”
Illinia giggled. “That sounds nice.”
“He flirted with me. He even gave me a hug. Now my stomach is full of fuzzies.” The girl shook her head to clear it. “Or maybe that’s just the wine.”
“Oh dear, I hope it’s the flirting…”
“You’re so adorable, Illinia,” Mira slurred, and fell into bed and began to snore.
Illinia chuckled in bemusement for a while, then covered Mira with a blanket and got into her own bed.

The next day, they got up early. Mira didn’t seem to have a hangover, and in fact was perfectly chipper, as far as Illinia could tell. She whispered “I’ll tell you more, now that my head’s clear, but later,” in the elf’s ear as they went down for breakfast.
After breakfast, David himself led them to the southern quarter barricade, not without some regret. “I’m sorry you four are going in… I hope you come out again alive.”
“So do we,” Kellan grunted.
“Do not worry,” Torrigan said. “We will succeed one way or another. Farewell!”
“It’s I should be bidding you farewell,” David said ruefully. “Good fortune!” He bowed to the women. Illinia blushed, but tried not to look away – it would be rude.
The guards opened the gate, and they walked through. They heard it shut behind them, and the fastening of the barricade. They were trapped in this place.
They walked forward. It looked pretty deserted so far.
Then there was a shriek to their left. “Who are you?”
They turned to see a dishevelled old woman leaning out the window. “We are here to help,” Torrigan said. “How may we help?”
The old woman calmed down a bit. “Have you seen the old sage yet?”
“No. Can you tell us where he is?”
She thought. “He’ll be at the chapel. Just avoid the plaguewalkers. Go by the back streets, where they’re less likely to gather.”
“What are plaguewalkers?” Kellan asked.
Instead of answering, the woman screamed again and slammed the shutters of her window.
They looked at each other, confused, and then looked behind them and stiffened. Shuffling towards them were people, people with grey skin and black eyes. They were dressed in ordinary clothing, some of it brightly coloured as anyone’s might be, although it was dirty and dusty as if they had just rolled in the road.
“Do you think they mean to attack?” Torrigan asked, hefting his shield. “I don’t think we should hurt them…”
“They look like zombies to me,” Kellan said. “Zombies are fair game.”
“No they’re not,” Torrigan argued. “Not if they might still be alive.”
“You don’t know that,” Kellan said.
“Actually, I’m getting a funny feeling from them too,” Mira said. “I don’t think they’re dead. So don’t kill them!”
Then the people ran towards them, their arms outstretched and clawing.
“Huh,” Kellan said. “You think that’s easy?”
“Easier said than done, but do it anyway,” Torrigan ordered. “Come on. Let’s go by the back way.”
“How do you know where you’re going?” Kellan asked, awkwardly parrying grey-skinned hands.
“I looked at a map,” the paladin answered, beating them off with his shield.
Illinia had no shield; she used her knife, since she was less likely to kill anyone that way. And she kept her back close to the silver-armoured paladin. But she was getting extremely nervous – these people might have been civilians in normal life, but they seemed to have the knowledge to kill her if she let them.
Torrigan, mindful of her small form at his back, moved cautiously to the nearby buildings. When they reached it, they turned and ran, following the loudly clanking knight. The people behind them weren’t too slow, either.
Illinia gritted her teeth. She had no idea where they were going, but she hoped they’d get there in time… One of them tried to trip Kellan, and he leapt nimbly over their arms and kicked them in the face.
“There!” Torrigan cried, pointing at a marble structure with boarded up windows. “I don’t know how to get in, but that’s our destination.”
“All right!” Mira said. “Hey, anyone home?”
The groans of the plaguewalkers was her only answer.
“Hey!” she shouted, even louder. “We could use some assistance out here, Aleic, if you’re even still alive!”
“All right!” someone hissed from nearby. “Stop shouting! It’ll just attract more!”
“Oh!” Mira said, startled, and stopped. “Where are you?”
“Come quickly!” A board in the nearby building shifted, and an old man in brown robes, with a long white beard, beckoned them inside.
They tumbled inside, panting, and the old man shut the door behind them. He picked up a lantern and led them along a narrow passage. “Quietly, now. They don’t know where the door is yet.”
Torrigan nodded and moved as quietly as his armour would let him.
They passed through a marble archway and found themselves inside the chapel. The windows were carefully covered with nailed-on boards, and light came from only the dome in the roof.
A woman with chin-length black hair and a plain white robe sat in the centre of the chapel, apparently praying. When the old man entered, she got up and came towards them.
“Lina, these are the heroes who have come to help us,” the old man said. “Heroes, I am Aleic, whom some call The Wise, and this is Lina, the cleric of this chapel.” The woman bowed to them with a pleasant smile.
“I am Torrigan, and this is Mira and Kellan and Illinia,” Torrigan introduced them. “We are indeed here to help you. How did you know?”
“I bet that’s why they call you the Wise,” Kellan said.
Aleic nodded with a half-smile. “Perhaps. I can see some things normal people cannot.”
“How can we be of service?” Torrigan asked. “We really do not know how to help, and no one will be let out into the rest of town – though if you could tell us what you need, we could go and tell the captain of the guard and he will help in any way he can.”
“Well, let me start at the beginning,” Aleic said. “You see, this plague began a couple of months ago, but no one thought much of it until they began to turn grey. That was when we were barricaded in. By my research, this plague is caused by some corrupt artefact contained within this section of the city, possibly near the fountain, and the best way to purify it would be to sprinkle it with holy Elven water.”
“Ooh!” Mira cried. “How do we get that?”
Aleic turned to her. “Not by being an elf, my dear young lady. I have been trying to remember where the closest place is one can find a thing like that, and I think I know where you should look. Outside the city, about a day’s journey west, there is an ancient Dwarven fortress. Once upon a time, those Dwarves were friendly with Elves, and they will almost certainly retain some artefact within their fortress. The fortress has been in ruins for centuries, but I still think you will find something.”
Torrigan nodded. “There is only one problem. How will we get out of the city?”
“Ah, that is no problem. There is a secret gate in the west wall. Did you think I would try to send you back out into the city? No, they would be too afraid.”
“If you know about the secret gate and everything,” Kellan said suspiciously, “how come you haven’t gone yourself?”
Aleic sighed. “I am old, and my power is needed here to stall the plague as long as possible. The evil power is growing, and soon it will spread to the rest of the town, whether it is barricaded or not. I cannot go, and not alone. Nor can Lina go. I need her. She will show you where the gate is, though.”
The woman nodded. “If you are rested, I can take you immediately.”
“Yes, immediately is good,” Torrigan said. “The sooner we can break the curse, the better.”
“And the sooner to getting good treasure,” Kellan said to himself. “Ancient Dwarven fortress, eh?”
Mira swatted him. “Respect the old places!”
“I will! But you can’t just leave that stuff lying around unused! That would be bad!”
Illinia giggled. “Kellan, I’m sure there will be something for you without disturbing anyone.”
“Thanks, Illi.” Kellan glared at the other two. “At least someone understands me.”
“I don’t understand you at all!” she protested. “I just… I hope there is something! Because I don’t want you to get in trouble!”
“To get in trouble?” Kellan snorted. “What are you, twelve?”
She hesitated, and then put on her best child-like smile. “Yes!”
Kellan rolled his eyes and went to stand on the other side of the circle of conversation.
“It’s all right, Illinia!” Mira chirped. “I’m your friend even if that nasty clown doesn’t want to be!”
Illinia shrugged, quite embarrassed. “I’m ready to go…”
“Then good luck,” Aleic said. “Return as swiftly as you may. The darkness is growing strong.”
“We will,” Torrigan assured him.
“Follow me,” Lina said to them, her eyes travelling over them, and lingering on Illinia with curiousity.
They left out a different secret door in the chapel, and found the same plaguewalkers waiting for them. With a howl, the creatures dove at them.