Book 5.2

12 Esterealan (continued), Strand’s Shadows

Well, this certainly was quite a mess. Dead bodies all over the streets and flaming snake creatures running amok – what was Istur coming to? Still, even though we’d already dropped Affe off at her home, I presumed there were enough of us to deal with the situation. Most of the town guards lying still and blackened on the ground were clearly beyond our aid, but we could save the man trapped under his horse and the two guards who were battling the fiery snake creatures.
“Estereal’s Light, help us!” the man trapped under his horse repeated. (Given the obvious pain he was in, his impatience was excusable.) He was a man in his early twenties, with dark hair and plain, blunt features. He looked oddly familiar. Wasn’t he one of Duke D’Menici’s distant relatives who’d been appointed to some obscure, meaningless government position so he could sit idly at home and collect fees? What was he doing out here in the street, battling fire creatures?
“That’s Ellis Lorinar,” said Bianca. I blinked at her in surprise. How did she know his name?
“Gore, help him!” Bianca pointed at Lorinar. Gore scowled at her. “It certainly would be good for you diplomatically.”
Gore nodded at this. Apparently, he takes his dubious position as diplomatic envoy (or envelope, as Ester would have it) for the Red Lice clan (or whatever they’re called) very seriously.
“By the Light! What a disgrace!” Lorinar yelled. Surely he wasn’t talking about us. I looked at his men lying dead on the ground and gathered that Ellis Lorinar didn’t take defeat well. I hoped he wasn’t referring to the dead men either; that would have been rather callous of him.
Lorinar pounded the ground with a gloved fist. “Damn you faceless bastard! I’ll hunt you down like the dog that you are.”
Hmm. Whatever Lorinar had been doing, he appeared to have acquired an enemy whom he was taking very much to heart. Young Ellis appeared to have misunderstood the intention of his new position; he was actually trying to do his duty, whatever he perceived that to be. How cute.
Well, it would be a shame to just let the poor man die. I leaped out of the carriage, shape-shifted to human form, and ran toward him. As I did, a big, hulking figure charged past me. Gore reached Lorinar, picked up the dead, burned horse, and hauled it off of him. The poor man screamed in pain and spouted a stream of impolite adjectives as the movement dragged his shattered leg across the ground. Good grief, didn’t the stupid barbarian know how to be gentle with an injured person?
Meanwhile, two of the ophidian flame creatures hefted wicked looking spears and stabbed the two guards who stood trembling before them. Both men fell to the ground dead. Well, that was a shame. They’d look so young.
One of the other snake creatures leaped up onto a pile of crates, looking up at the roof-tops even as the crates around it caught fire. Its companion looked around, hissing as it searched for a way to reach us.
“I am Ellis Lorinar,” Lorinar said to Gore through gritted teeth. “I am the administrator for Mysterious Meteorology, Levies and Fees.” Mysterious Meteorology? Graft and nepotism were established Istur traditions, but weren’t they pushing things just a little? Surely a few of the duke’s distant relatives were capable of finding gainful employment?
Lorinar pointed to Gore. “I deputize you to help me. In the name of Duke D’Menici. Get them!”
Oh for heaven’s sake. Deputy Gore. Now this was just getting ridiculous.
While all this was going on, Ester managed to extricate her large body from the carriage. “Blade of ice” she cried, then snarled at the ophidians as her sword steamed in the fire-heated air. Bianca slipped out of the carriage behind her. She raced over to “Deputy” Gore and cast a spell on his weapon. The stupid barbarian frowned suspiciously at her.
“That should make your sword work better,” Bianca told him. “Now get in there.”
Climbing out of the carriage was too blasé for Val. She climbed onto the roof of the carriage, then leaped onto the nearest stack of crates, drawing her sword with a flourish. She certainly looked stylish, but I had to wonder who she was trying to impress? Surely she had better taste than to go after Gore, and Canliss is only impressed by wealth. Maybe Val had her eye on the Administrator of Mysterious Meteorology? Canliss looked meaningfully at his cat, and Corey ran off. “I’ve sent for help from Sal,” Canliss told me. I suppose help from Sal’s boys would have been nice, but I had to wonder how Sal was going to figure that out from a cat showing up at the Port o’ Call and meowing at him. Perhaps there was some other step to that plan that I’d missed.
I reached Lorinar; the poor man was very badly wounded. I held up my holy symbol to begin casting.
“Woman,” snapped Gore, “put away your unnatural magics. I have a healing kit.”
A healing kit? No doubt it contained salves made from dead worms and berries. “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” I said. Ignoring Gore, I cast a curing spell on Lorinar, fixing most of the damage. We’d have to drag him to the Soltanites later to have that broken leg fixed. I paused to introduce myself to him, then I studied the snake creatures. They had to be Ignan in origin; it just so happened that Torodin had granted me that language. I never imagined I’d be using it.
“What is your purpose?” I yelled in the strange, sibilant tongue. “Who summoned you here?”
“Manlings who are here must die!” the ophidians hissed. “Manlings make it cold. Manlings are wrong.”
Well, if they were here looking for vengeance, perhaps I could point them in a more appropriate direction? “We are not the ones who make it cold!” I yelled. “The Ismirans make it cold. We have a common enemy.”
“Manlings' world is always cold,” they hissed back.
Well, there was obviously no reasoning with them. I stopped wasting my breath. I probably had a better chance of talking sense into Gore.
The creatures didn’t allow my attempt at communication to interfere with their aggressive tendencies. The one perched on the crates near Val lunged with his spear. She dodged nimbly aside, all the while keeping her balance on her own pile of crates. Meanwhile, a second creature started scaling the stone building on our left. My, the creatures certainly did move fast. The two in the back came charging over the rubble. One headed for the horses, who shied away and screamed in terror. The poor carriage driver was looking rather distressed. Oh dear, that just couldn’t be good. Not that I couldn’t afford to pay for the horses, but allowing the destruction of a carriage I’d rented would probably earn me another lecture from Rachel. Destroying public property is more the Azkalite venue.
“Get out of the way!” The driver yelled. There was a rather large barbarian blocking his egress. And a much smaller Bianca.
“Thank you for healing me, Sister,” Lorinar said graciously. He reached out and took my hand. “I deputize you in the name of Duke D’Menici. Thank you for your help, Sister.”
Well, he certainly had a strange way of expressing his gratitude. What did he think he was doing, deputizing me? Didn’t he know who I was?
“You’re welcome, Administrator Lorinar,” I said. I even managed to sound sincere. And Rachel says I’m not diplomatic.
“Make way for the Deputy Minister of Fees!” yelled Gore, who apparently liked his new position so much that he’d decided to promote himself. He charged between Bianca and me to swing his spell-sharpened blade at the nearest ophidian.
“Aaarrrrrrrrgh!” Gore shouted. He started foaming at the mouth like some sort of rabid wolf. He slashed at the ophidian, cutting into its side. The creature hissed angrily at him.
“I don’t really know him,” I said hastily to Lorinar. The man looked confused, but then he was still in a lot of pain.
“Get out of the way!” yelled the carriage driver. Bianca dodged as the horses pulled the carriage right over Lorinar’s dead mount. There was an unpleasant crunching noise as things broke on the carriage, and the horses galloped away.
“Hey, my horses!” The driver yelled. “Somebody get my horses.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t he see we were busy? Still, I knew I had to do something. If some beggars ate his horses, I’d never be able to hire a decent carriage again. I mentally reviewed the creatures I was still able to summon. Sadly, the likes of giant owls, black bears and dire bats were likely to panic the horses.
“Canliss, can you get the horses?” I asked hopefully.
“Sorry. I’m out of spells!” he called. I glanced over my shoulder. The six-fingered mage was still sitting in the carriage. Was he planning to sit back and watch the whole battle? Honestly, just because there was no loot to be had, that was no excuse for laziness.
Meanwhile, Administrator Ellis Lorinar tried to get to his feet. He shrieked in pain and fell back to the ground.
“Don’t do that, sir,” I said. “Your leg is still broken.” I had to work very hard at it, but I managed not to sound condescending. Honestly, he was a grown man; couldn’t he figure out that one shouldn’t walk on a broken leg?
“Perhaps you should stay here?” I suggested.
Lorinar began another stream of adjectives which I won’t repeat here. I frowned at him. I was willing to grant him some leniency because of his injury, but couldn’t he see that there were ladies present? Even Gore didn’t curse like that.
Well, at least Ester was having a good time. She bellowed an Azkalite war cry and charged the nearest ophidian. Her ice blade sizzled and steamed as it cut through the creature’s fiery tail. The creature hissed and snarled something insulting in Ignan. Ester, unaware of what she’d just been called, beamed with pleasure.
Bianca cast a summoning spell and a giant eagle appeared. She directed it in Celestial, and it swooped down upon the creature climbing the wall. The snake creature dodged the eagle’s beak, but one claw ripped a bloody hole in the thing’s arm. The creature responded by lashing out at the eagle and wrapping the celestial bird in its flaming tail. The eagle shrieked and beat its wings, struggling to get free.
Meanwhile, Val was looking rather frustrated. Her perch on top of the pile of crates made it impossible for her to leap and dodge in her usual stylish fashion; nor was it likely that the creature hovering at the base of her crates was going to step aside while she maneuvered into a better position. With a sigh of resignation, Val stabbed the creature below her in the head. Perhaps it wasn’t as impressive as Val would have liked, but the attack was certainly effective. The creature snarled as blood streamed into its eyes.
At this point, Canliss finally decided to get out of the carriage. He examined Lorinar’s leg and managed to get a field dressing on it. It wasn’t perfect, but it would allow us to transport the poor man to the Soltanite temple without causing him too much more discomfort.
I must say, Lorinar could have been a little more grateful for Canliss’s aid. He spat another stream of invectives. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“I’m setting your leg,” Canliss said calmly. I could have told Administrator Lorinar to save his breath; some people just can’t be insulted.
Realizing that the wounded man certainly didn’t need two of us fussing over him, I decided to help out with the battle. I didn’t want to get too close, mind you; I might get soot on my new coat. Fortunately, the summoning spells Torodin had granted me created an easy way to get around this problem. I summoned a dire wolf in to attack the one unoccupied creature, thus preventing it from adding to Val’s problems. I know Rachel and Donar asked me not to summon Fiendish creatures, but this battle was clearly a perfect exception. Creatures that live in hell are resistant to fire damage, and we Torodinites are trained to be practical.
It looked like more help might be in order. The ophidians lashed Gore and Ester with spear and flaming tail. Our two large warriors were getting rather badly hurt. I do wish Ester would be more careful. At least her magical Azkalite armor was protecting her from the flames. Even poor Val yelped as she failed to dodge the lash of a fiery tail; her awkward crate-bound position was making it difficult for her to leap aside as she did earlier in the evening.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely their fault that they were getting injured. Even my dire wolf was taking a beating out there. Those Ignans certainly were upset about the cold weather. I mean, I don’t like it either, but was that any excuse to go stabbing a bunch of complete strangers?
While Val, Ester and Gore battled bravely on, the Administrator with the shattered leg pulled out a hand crossbow. “We can’t let them get away!” he yelled. Then the foolish man, ignoring Canliss’s attempt to restrain him, started dragging his broken body along the ground, closer to the battle. He shrieked in pain, but I felt little sympathy for him. What a complete and utter idiot. No wonder his uncle had been forced to create a useless government post for him.
“What are these creatures?” Canliss asked him, while casually getting in between Lorinar and the fight.
“They’re fiends!” he spat. Quite erroneously, I might add. The only thing Fiendish out there was my wolf, but I didn’t think I should point that out.
“No, they’re Ignan,” I corrected him. “From the plan of fire. They’re quite upset about the cold weather, for which, for some strange reason, they blame us.”
“We believe they were summoned by The Flame Brotherhood,” said Lorinar.
“Who?” asked Canliss, Bianca and I in unison.
“He said The Flame Brotherhood” Gore shouted over his shoulder, while parrying a blow from an ophidian’s spear. That barbarian thinks he’s so smart.
“My horses!” yelled the carriage driver. I confess, I’d forgotten about him. “They’re getting away.”
“Then go catch them,” Canliss advised. Well, he had a point. Who was better equipped to handle the nervous animals than their owner?
Still, I didn’t want the Carriage Drivers’ Guild getting angry at me. I’d have to walk everywhere. I looked hopefully at Ester. She sliced through an ophidian with her steaming blade of ice. The creature exploded in a shower of sparks and ash that rained all over Ester and Gore. Ester leaped forth gleefully to aid the barbarian. Hmm, she was really enjoying herself. I didn’t think she’d be willing to retreat so she could chase down the horses.
Val and Gore were likewise occupied. Val was slashing and parrying (or whatever those rapier moves are called) with her usual elegance, while Gore hacked at the creatures and foamed at the mouth. Neither one was in a position to run after the carriage horses.
I looked hopefully at Bianca, who was busily casting a spell. She sent an acid arrow flying into the melee. It missed the ophidian and struck her celestial eagle, which squawked in pain. Bianca slapped her forehead in dismay.
“Sorry,” she said in Celestial. “Just trying to help.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “They’re very forgiving.”
Meanwhile, I saw Canliss climb the wall to our left. “Canliss, dear, that’s not where the horses went.”
Bianca rolled her eyes. “I’ll get the horses.”
“Oh, would you? That’s so nice of you.”
Bianca conjured a mount, then galloped after the team. I watched enviously, wondering why Torodin didn’t give me the ability to summon something so practical. Not that I would complain, or anything; I’m not an ungrateful priestess.
I summoned a Fiendish dire bat to help out the Celestial eagle, which was still trapped inside an ophidian tail. The bat sunk its claws into the snake creature, which went crashing to the ground. Both snake and eagle cried out in pain, and the eagle vanished back to its home plane. Oh dear. Well, I’m sure the next time Bianca summons it, we’ll have a chance to apologize. Now that I think about it, there’s another advantage to summoning Fiendish creatures; I don’t really care if they get hurt.
“What’s going on?” Lorinar bellowed ungraciously. I was standing in his line of sight, not entirely by accident.
“We’re winning the battle,” I assured him.
“Good work, my deputies.”
I cringed. Deputy, indeed. Well, we’d sort that out later. For now, our three brave warriors, with conjured help both hellish and divine, had their hands full dealing with the Ignan ophidians. The one battling Val lashed out with its tail, knocking the stack of crates out from underneath her. Poor Val fell to the ground among the crashing wood and was smacked hard in the side by the beast’s flaming tail. Val was looking rather badly injured, but she didn’t back down.
“Damn it,” she swore. Pushing broken pieces of crate off of her, she got to her feet, blade in hand. Sadly there was a large barbarian and an even larger Ester in her way. She looked frustrated. These close quarters seemed to be cramping her style.
Despite my assurances that our warriors were doing well, Lorinar refused to sit still and rest like a sensible injured person. He dragged himself closer to the battle and withdrew a tiny hand crossbow from the folds of his cloak. For heaven’s sake, what did the man think he was doing? Recalling our last battle together, I deliberately stood in the man’s way. I might dislike Gore, but I didn’t think he deserved to be shot in the back twice in one night by some well-meaning idiot.
“Perhaps you could stay here, and call out orders?” I suggested sweetly. “Clearly our group needs leadership.”
“Right,” he said, nodding in approval. Honestly, some men are so easily manipulated.
At any rate, our warriors clearly didn’t need additional help. Ester struck with her ice blade and killed her second ophidian. The creature exploded, covering the already soot-covered Ester and Gore with more ash. Funny how Val had managed to stay relatively clean. Gore and Ester looked worse than chimney sweeps.
Gore growled in frustration and used some snow to wipe soot from his eyes. Apparently, there was a limit to the filth he was willing to tolerate.
Poor Ester got stabbed again. Then she managed to dodge as the ophidian with the wolf trapped in its tail tried to club her with it. The wolf was looking rather startled; I don’t suppose it was used to being used as a weapon.
Apparently deciding that he didn’t much care for the idea of being clubbed by a captive wolf, Gore stabbed the ophidian in question with his magic-sharpened blade. The creature exploded, dropping the wolf, and sending sparks and ashes showering over the barbarian, blinding him.
“Gods damn it!” snapped Gore as he wiped soot from his eyes for the third time that night.
“Kick Ass!” Ester yelled approvingly. Gore had blocked most of the soot from reaching her.
“That’s the way!” called Lorinar. “Now get the last one. Get it!” Apparently, this was his idea of leadership. I had a new understanding of the reason for all the dead bodies on the ground.
“That’s leadership, sir,” I said, rolling my eyes. His directives might be useless, but they were preferable to watching the man torture himself by dragging his broken leg all over the alley.
“I’m hungry!” Ester called as she dodged an ophidian tail. “I’m hungry.”
For heaven’s sake, we’d just had a huge meal. Surely even Ester couldn’t be hungry already?
There was only one flaming ophidian remaining. It hissed at Gore and Ester, seemingly unconcerned with the fate of its companions. Suddenly, four magic missiles came soaring down from the six-fingered mage on the roof-top. (Funny, he’d claimed to be out of spells when I asked him to get the horses.) The creature exploded, showering Gore with ashes.
“That’s it!” called Val in a rather decent impression of Ellis Lorinar. “Kill him!”
The barbarian sighed and wiped soot from his face. I dismissed my summoned creatures, while Bianca returned with the escaped horses.
Naturally the important question now facing us was where those creatures had come from. But Ester and Gore were unconcerned with the reason for creatures from the plane of Fire swarming all over Ester. They clasped each other’s hands, congratulating each other in some sort of primitive warrior ritual.
“I’m hungry,” said Ester.
Gore nodded. “Let’s get the meat from that horse.” That horse, mind you, was the one owned by Administrator Lorinar. In case the man had any special attachment to the animal, I moved to block his view as the two warriors started carving the animal into jerky.
“Ew,” muttered Val, and moved over to join me. My, she was badly hurt. I healed her, then moved on to Gore and Ester (while keeping my gaze carefully averted from the bloody horse). I healed Ester, but Gore snarled and backed away when I turned to him.
“You should let her heal you,” Ester said.
Gore frowned. “It’s unnatural.”
Unnatural indeed. Well, I certainly wasn’t about to beg for the privilege of healing the big oaf.
“Suit yourself,” I said. I turned my attention to the carriage. I cast a spell to repair the broken axle. It’s a new spell granted me by Torodin, and my personal favorite; I’ve had a great deal of misfortune in the past where my personal possessions are concerned. (In fact, the first spell I cast when my powers returned was to restore the black and silver cloak Rhavin had made for me. I can’t wait to show it to him.)
While I fixed the carriage, Bianca ran around casting clean cantrips on everyone who needed them. She paused when she saw Gore smearing some foul-smelling paste from his so-called healing kit over his injuries. Bianca sighed.
“For heaven’s sake,” she said, echoing my sentiments precisely. She cast some clean cantrips, banishing both the soot and the nasty salve.
“Hey,” said Gore. Ungrateful brute.
“What were those things?” Val asked Lorinar. “What were they doing here?”
“They were summoned by somebody,” Canliss called from his perch on the roof-top.
“No,” I said, rolling my eyes at the six-fingered mage. What, did he think creatures from other planes of existence just wandered over to Istur under their own power? It doesn’t work that way. (For which we can all be enormously grateful.)
“It was the Flame Brotherhood,” said Lorinar.
“Who are they?” asked Val.
Lorinar didn’t answer her. I had the sneaking suspicion that his information about this ‘Flame Brotherhood’ came from scant evidence and wild assumptions. Some people just don’t know how to conduct a proper investigation.
Taking off his glove, Lorinar held out his right hand, sporting a signet ring. “Hands,” he said. From the deep, authoritative tone, I assumed this to be an order, but it was rather a vague one. Did he want us to hold hands? Put our hands in the air? Really, he should learn to be more specific in his directions, especially for the sake of those unfamiliar with quaint, bureaucratic customs.
“I have two now,” said Ester.
“Paper, rock, scissors,” Val muttered.
Gore was the first to place his right hand on Lorinar’s. Ester tried with her left hand, until Bianca helped her sort it out. The rest of us followed suit with varying degrees of reluctance (except for Canliss, who mysteriously was taking an awfully long time to climb down from the roof).
“What a bizarre ritual,” I whispered to Val. She smiled and rolled her eyes in agreement.
“In the name of the authority vested in me by Duke D’Menici, I pronounce you deputies of the Administration of Mysterious Meteorology.”
I stared at the man in dismay as we all pulled our hands away. Deputy, indeed. I fully intended to be rid of Ellis Lorinar as soon as we dropped him off at Our Lady of the Dove. Let him deputize some Soltanites; maybe he’ll be the first to get some real use out of them outside the bedroom.
“Are we getting paid for this?” Val asked suspiciously.
“Does this mean you’re going to tell us about The Brotherhood of the Flame?” Bianca added.
“You can remove your hand now,” Lorinar told Gore and Ester.
“I mean,” Val persisted, “I’m happy to help out this once, but uh…”
“These are dire times,” interrupted Lorinar, not answering either of them. He pulled a scroll from his cloak and started quoting some lengthy passage involving martial law and ducal authority.
“So what do you need?” Val demanded.
“These are dire times,” Ellis repeated. Honestly, if he used that word one more time, I was going to summon something ‘dire’ to shut him up. “The Duke has declared Marshal Law.” (And I’m certain our beloved Duke has been dying for that opportunity.)
While Lorinar talked in circles, we gathered him up and got him into the carriage. “You should take me to Our Lady of the Dove,” he ordered. Apparently, he was used to deputies who were completely unable to discern that which was painfully obvious.
“Oh, I like it there,” Ester said happily. I blinked at her in surprise. What could Ester possibly have in common with those fluffy, doily-making clerics?
Honestly, this was all just too much to bear. Some evening this had turned out to be: nobleman, an irritating bureaucrat, and now Soltanites. I looked up at the roof where Canliss still stood. Damned if I was going to suffer alone.
“Oh, Deputy Canliss,” I called sweetly. “Would you care to join us?”
“Canliss, it’s safe,” Gore called. “You can come down now.” We all laughed except for Lorinar, who seemed rather lacking in humor (and wit, and style, etc., etc.).
“You guys take him to the Soltanites,” Canliss called. “I’m going to go find out where these things came from.” Oh, sure. It was just like Canliss to take on the task of sneaking through dark, filthy alleys in the bitter cold night and leave me to deal with Soltanites.
“Perhaps we could all meet for lunch tomorrow at The Oasis?” I suggested to the others. “We can skip the drunken nobleman shooting people in the back this time.”
“Great idea,” said Val, smiling.
“We can meet at the Customs House tomorrow,” said Lorinar. I frowned. Did he think that invitation had included him?
“The Customs House, when?” asked Val, who didn’t look any happier about the situation than I was.
“First thing in the morning,” Lorinar replied.
Val grimaced. “How early is that?”
“Just after dawn,” he responded, as if this should have been obvious.
“I don’t get up that early,” I informed him.
“Tomorrow you do.”
I scowled at Lorinar. I didn’t care how many ridiculous titles were given to him by his uncle the Duke. He was sadly deluded if he thought he could order me around like that.
“Isn’t dawn time to go to bed?” Canliss complained.
Bianca grinned. “Oh, just stay up, sweetie.”
“Who can write?” Lorinar asked.
“I can! I can!” said Ester.
“I need you to pen a letter…”
“Uh, Ester is really just learning,” I said.
“She taught me,” Ester said, pointing to me and smiling.
Val chuckled. “I can write.”
“Hmm, right.” Lorinar was having trouble keeping up. “You and you.” He pointed rudely to Val and me. “I need you to pen off letters (Pen off? Who taught this man to speak?) to the Customs House.”
“Aren’t you going to the Customs House in the morning?” I asked reasonably. It was well after midnight; nobody would be awake to read his letters before he got there to explain things in person.
“Right,” said Val. “Why don’t we just…”
“It can not wait,” Lorinar insisted. He pointed to the burned bodies lying all around us. “I need you to write down the badge numbers of these men here.”
“Ew,” Val and I said in unison.
“I need you to record those and write up a report.”
I looked at the barbarian. “Deputy Gore, get the badges off those men.”
“Yeah,” Val said happily. “And then we’ll write down the numbers.”
Gore scowled at me. “Get them yourself, woman.”
“I beg your pardon?” Somebody really needs to teach that boy a lesson in manners.
Fortunately, Ester was more accommodating. She collected the soot-stained badges and handed them to Val and me. Pausing only to exchange a glance of shared irritation at being handed such a menial task at two in the morning, Val started reading the numbers while I wrote them down.
“We should also get word to the temple of Azkal,” said Lorinar. “They were killed in combat.”
“Not it,” I muttered. Val chuckled.
“Oh, I can do that,” Ester said. “That’s where I’m staying.”
“Very good,” said Lorinar. “You should get word to them this night, so the Azkalites can arrange for proper burial.”
“When?” asked Ester.
“This night,” said Lorinar.
“He means now,” Val explained.
Ester persuaded Gore to accompany her. The two of them marched off, happily munching on horse meat.
Lorinar took our names and gave us directions to his office at the Customs House, then we handed him over to the Soltanites. I haven’t been so pleased to part company with someone since we left Doctor Mordenheim’s realm.
Determined to get out of this ridiculous deputy fiasco, I tried to see Donar or Rachel as soon as I got to Strand’s Shadows. Sadly, Donar was sleeping and Rachel was out, so I had to settle for leaving them a note explaining what had happened. Then I joined Seregil, Dante, Nysander and Salvador for a game of poker. Predictably, when I complained about the events of the event, they laughed and started calling me Deputy Nikita.
Deputy of Mysterious Meteorology. Good grief. Praying that Rachel would have a way to get me out of this (after all, it’s all her fault), I penned my journal entry and sought my bed.

13 Esterealan, Strand’s Shadows


I woke up around eight in the morning, which I felt was a reasonable compromise between dawn and a sensible hour to get out of bed. As usual, only Becca and Donar were awake at this hour. Donar was busy, and I didn’t want to disturb him, so I left a message advising him that I would participate in Lorinar’s investigation unless he directed otherwise. Granted, I have more important matters on my agenda, but I didn’t want to offend the local authorities without Donar’s blessing. Besides, I must admit to a certain curiosity in the matter.
After I finished bathing, dressing, and arranging hair and make-up, a few others were beginning to stir. I asked Becca and some of the novices to see if to help me search the library for information about the strange creatures I’d seen last night; our best guess what that the ophidians were some form of salamander. We didn’t find anything on the panther-like beasts, but Becca believed they probably came from the Dark Wood.
It was after nine, then, so I settled down to my morning prayers. I was almost finished when someone knocked at the door. This startled me; we never disturb one another at prayer. I opened the door to find a troubled looking Carmen Longfellow.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, troubled. Carmen is among the most cheerful and easy-going of our novices, and she’s not easily upset.
“There’s, uh, city watch at the door, Sister Nikita” she said. “They’re here for you.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize Lorinar was sending an escort,” I said. Well, that was nice of him. It almost made me forgive him for setting our meeting at such a ridiculous hour.
I told Carmen to have the guards sit in the visitor’s waiting room, then I finished my prayers and donned my coat. I emerged to find four guards waiting for me; that was quite an escort. They were young, probably junior members of the watch, and two were rather handsome. All four stood politely and returned my smile of greeting.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Your presence is requested at the customs house,” said the eldest of the four, a dark-haired Isturian with beautiful, black eyes. “By Administrator, uh… Lorinar.”
“How nice of you to escort me. Shall we be going then?” The four guards seemed rather reticent at first, but I soon had them chatting away as we walked through the snowy streets. They were surprisingly pleasant companions. Really, we Torodinites haven’t done enough to promote good relations with the city guard. I made a mental note to introduce their charming, dark-eyed leader, Constable Renzo to Erisa. And Kristofer, the witty, muscular blond from Reggis, simply must meet Becca; he shares her interest in history.
None of the four men knew much about Lorinar. They answered to Constable Leono and had little interest in the latest new bureaucrat. All they knew of his department was that they were supposedly in charge of stopping The Great Storm. Right, Administrator Lorinar was going to stop The Great Storm – right after Dougal Wentworth puts a stop to all the criminal activity in Istur.
I said good-bye to my new friends after turning down invitations for drinks and finding out where they live for match-making purposes. Ellis Lorinar was waiting just inside the door of the Customs House, tapping his foot with impatience.
“Good morning, Administrator,” I said cheerily, ignoring his evident irritation. If he’d set the meeting for a more civilized hour, he wouldn’t have had to wait.
“Greetings. Follow me.”
Lorinar led me to a room that was small, boring, and filled with uncomfortable furniture. Bianca and Canliss had apparently just walked in and were putting Corey and Rigoletto down so they could roam around. Val, Gore and Ester were seated. Gore and Ester were chewing on strips of something that smelled suspiciously like horse meat. Poor Val was looking irritated and holding her head in her hands. She looked up and scowled when we walked in.
Gore looked at Lorinar and held out a hunk of the horse jerky. “Want some meat?” he asked. Mind you, he was offering the man the charred flesh from his own mount. It was tacky in the extreme.
“Um, I have had breakfast,” said Lorinar. “No thank you.”
“Good morning, everyone,” I said, taking the seat between Val and Canliss. The chair was as uncomfortable as it looked.
“Good morning,” said Canliss and Bianca without enthusiasm. Ester greeted me cheerfully, while Gore scowled and grunted.
“I’ve been sitting in this damn chair for two hours,” Val muttered. She rolled her eyes in the direction of Ester and Gore. Oh dear, she’d probably been listening to what passed for conversation among those two all morning. Next time, we’ll have to warn Val not to show up on time.
Lorinar pointed at Canliss. “Put your hand out.”
Canliss blinked at him in surprise. This was a rather disturbing command for any thief to hear from a government official.
“You disappeared before the swearing in last night,” Lorinar explained. Canliss looked relieve, but he made no move to obey.
“It’s your right hand,” Ester offered sagely.
“What swearing in?” Canliss asked. Oh for heaven sakes, did he really think feigning ignorance was going to work?
“You will be a Deputy Minister of Mysterious Magics and Fees,” said Gore. He chances the name of the department regularly, but since it’s all completely meaningless it hardly mattered.
“Oh, just give him five out of six fingers,” said Bianca.
With resignation, Canliss put out his hand. Lorinar read some lengthy bureaucratic form to which nobody listened except Canliss. (I don’t know why he bothered; even most of us Torodinites don’t speak Hurvan Bureaucrat.)
Lorinar handed out some rather familiar-looking badges. Ester squealed with delight and promptly pinned hers on upside down. I frowned at mine; it was ugly and clashed with my outfit, and my middle names had been left off. I put it in the pocket of my dress.
“These are just for identification purposes, in case… well, just in case.” In case we all ended up lying burned and blackened in the street like the unfortunate souls he’d already led to their deaths. He needn’t have worried; I, for one, had no intention of taking direction from him.
“These look an awful lot like the ones we collected last night,” Val whispered to me with a grin.
“Will these make it easier on us if we get stopped late at night?” asked Canliss, who was anxious to find ways to abuse his new office. If he weren’t so cheap, he wouldn’t have to worry about the new curfew; the guards don’t stop carriages.
“Yes,” said Lorinar. “Provided you are on official business.”
“Why would we not be on official business at that hour?” asked Bianca with an innocent expression. I wonder if she’s had any training as a thespian?
“Exactly,” said Lorinar. “There is much to do. I was in need of new recruits.” Of course he was; he got the old ones killed. “Make sure you wear these at all times, until the mission for which you’ve been deputized is completed.”
He looked pointedly at me, but I did not remove the badge from my pocket. I would not be intimidated by some small-time government official.
“We’ll keep that in mind,” said Bianca. Her badge was also in her pocket, but she’d withdrawn a journal and was pretending to take notes.
“We are looking for someone who calls himself The Lord of Fire,” Lorinar informed us.
“How quaint,” I said.
“Azkal?” Ester asked excitedly.
“Uh, no. But there might be a renegade Azkalite involved; we’re not sure.”
I frowned at him. He was awfully quick to accuse a priest of wrong-doing, apparently with little or no evidence. I didn’t care for that. I made a mental note to mention this to Donar and Rachel.
“What do you know about him?” asked Val.
“He goes by a name that a sage told me is Ignatic in nature.” (I chose not to correct him; the proper term is 'Ignan.')When I explained that I speak Ignatic, Lorinar showed me the name. It was Huhueteotul, which translates roughly to ‘The Lord of Flame.’ A rather dramatic-sounding title, and one that would yield no information via a personal reading spell; the true and complete name is required for such divination.
“All we know,” said Lorinar, “is that this Lord of Flame has a bunch of initiates or servants running around, calling themselves The Bloody Flame Brotherhood.”
“Is ‘Bloody’ part of their name, or just a colorful adjective that you inserted?” I asked with false sincerity. I found Administrator Lorinar’s blunt language rather offensive.
“Please try to be precise,” said Val, correcting the notes in her journal.
Lorinar scowled at us both.
“Last night,” Canliss asked, “those creatures… Were you there when they were summoned, or did you stumble across them.”
“We came across them,” said Lorinar. “I believe we were closing in the whereabouts of The Flame Brotherhood. We must have been close, for those creatures to be nearby.”
Well, that was quite a leap of logic. I realized with dismay that we couldn’t rely on any of Lorinar’s information; too much of it was based on supposition. We would have to start our investigation from scratch.
“What exactly has The Flame Brotherhood been doing?” asked Val.
“They’ve been burning down buildings. Guard outposts. Various government buildings, including a granary.”
“Why are they burning down buildings?” asked Ester. “We’ve burned down buildings before, but it was all for a good cause.”
“And never in Istur,” I added hastily. Lorinar was looking rather alarmed.
“We also received a threatening letter.” Lorinar scowled and ground his teeth.
“Do you have this letter?” I asked hopefully. A physical document would greatly facilitate divination.
“It is filed in the Archives. But I saw the letter. It was delivered by… a flying mouse.” He said this as if a mouse were something distasteful. “The letter said to expect more devastation from The Flame Brotherhood. It was signed by Huhueteotul. I’ve been hunting him for days; last night was my closest success.”
More than a dozen dead deputies was a close success? Oh no, we are definitely not taking direction from this man.
“I’d like to see the letter,” I said.
“We can put in a formal request to the Archival Department.” He dug a form from the stack of papers on his desk. I filled it out, but I had no intention of delivering the thing and waiting for the slow tides of bureaucracy to get me what I wanted. This called for a personal visit to the Archives; odds were good that at least one of the officials there was male and easily influenced. These government types don’t get out much.
“So you wish us to defeat this Flame Brotherhood?” asked Gore.
“Yes. That is our entire purpose right now.”
“Shall we discuss remuneration?” asked Gore. My, that was a big word for a barbarian. I’m starting to wonder if the whole barbarian thing isn’t just an act that Gore is putting on as an excuse to be rude and avoid bathing.
“How do we know that the Flame Brotherhood really sent this letter?” Ester asked.
Ignoring Gore’s question, Lorinar frowned at the giantess. “Who else would have sent it?”
Bianca and I rolled our eyes at each other. Apparently, all we need to do to get away with a crime in Istur is send a note to Administrator Lorinar and sign someone else’s name to it. No wonder the thieves in this town are getting soft; there’s no challenge in crime any more.
“But,” said Ester doubtfully, “anybody can write a letter. Once you know how to read, it’s not hard to write.” Bless her heart, even Ester thinks Lorinar is an idiot. I think the barbarian is way ahead of him, too.
Lorinar frowned at us. “The letter was analyzed by government officials,” he said defensively. Because everyone knows that minor Isturian bureaucrats are the great sages of our time.
“Great,” Canliss muttered.
“So do you know where these people are?” Val asked.
“We think they’re somewhere deep in the warehouse district. Somewhere west of the docks.”
“How do you recommend we find them?”
“We must patrol,” said Lorinar. “And then we can investigate.”
We all stared at him in shared astonishment. Patrol? He expected us to wander randomly around Istur, hoping to stumble across these people? At that rate, we’d find their base if operations because it would be the only building left standing.
Ester scratched her head. “So, we’ve never met any of them, we don’t know who they are, but you want us to arrest them?”
Lorinar nodded. Lovely. Given that Marshal Law permitted the arrest of Isturian citizens merely on the suspicion of a crime, it was rather frightening that Lorinar was encouraging six complete strangers to run around arresting people. We could just forge evidence against some people we didn’t like and be done with the whole thing.
I sighed. “I really don’t think that a random witch hunt is the most efficient way to go about this.”
“We are not hunting witches. We are hunting The Flame Brotherhood.”
“I was speaking metaphorically. Administrator, there are many ways to gain information. Wandering aimlessly around Istur is the least productive of them.”
“We can also collect fees and levies.”
I glared at him. “I am a priestess of Torodin. I do not collect fees and levies.”
“You do while you’re under my jurisdiction.” We glared at each other, neither one willing to back down.
“Surely you have other people who can collect the fees and levies,” Val said reasonably. “People who don’t have our ability to fight these creatures.”
“Of course. Searching for the Brotherhood is our priority, but we might come across fees and levies that need to be collected while we’re looking. It also gives us a reason to knock on doors.”
Canliss and I exchanged a puzzled look. Who was planning to knock? I glanced around at the others. Everyone was looking irritated and squirming in their seats. Clearly we’d gotten all the information out of Lorinar that we were going to get, and precious little that was. There was no reason to continue enduring his odious company.
I stood. “Well, I think we’ve wasted enough of your valuable time, Administrator. We’ll be off on our mission now.”
He frowned. “No. We will go together.”
“No we won’t,” Bianca and I said in unison.
“I’m with them,” Val added.
Deciding that flattery would be more effective than intimidation, I batted my eyes at Lorinar. “Surely you want to leave the menial details to us?”
“We’re here to be the front lines,” said Ester.
“And do the grunt work,” Val added.
“We need you here, Administrator,” I said. “To coordinate our efforts.”
Lorinar thought this over. “Very well. But I expect daily reports from you.”
“Oh, certainly,” we all lied. Everyone stood, anxious to get away as fast as possible.
“Wait. I’ll need to appoint one of you as sergeant,” said Lorinar. “To head up the group.”
Everyone stepped back except for Ester. She beamed happily. “Do I get another badge?”
Bianca gave Ester her badge.
“Congratulations, Sergeant Oxshoulders,” I said.
Lorinar pulled out a stack of forms and handed them to Ester. “You’ll need to fill these out, for your new position.”
“We’ll be about our investigation, then,” I said. “Sergeant Ester will report to you daily.”
We arranged to meet for lunch, then we split up. Canliss was going to investigate the Warehouse district, to locate the place in question. Gore left to.. I don’t know what Gore was doing. Val kindly stayed to help Ester, and Bianca accompanied me to the Archival Department.
I undid the top buttons of my dress and grudgingly put on the silly badge as we took the stairs down to the Archival Department. Manning a desk in the dark and dusty basement, we found a bored-looking young man in his late teens. He was adorable, with dark, curly hair; soft, brown eyes and a sweet, heart-shaped faced. I leaned over the desk, flashing cleavage, and smiled at him.
“Excuse me,” I handed over the form. “Can you assist us, kind sir?”
He blinked at us for a moment, then read the form. “Um, normally it takes several days for such a request…”
I pouted.
“Um, but, maybe… Why don’t you come down with me to the Archives and we’ll look for it?”
“Oh, really? That’s so kind of you.”
We followed him down another stair case to an even dustier basement. I let the young man help me down the stairs and we introduced ourselves. His name was Donatello Innocenzio, and he was distantly related to one of Istur’s minor merchant families.
I used a locate object spell to help find the letter; Donatello was unduly impressed. I don’t think the poor boy gets out much.
He was rather reluctant to let me borrow it. “Um…. I could get in a lot of trouble if someone else comes looking for it, and it’s not here.”
I hated to distress him; he really was awfully adorable. But I needed the letter. “Perhaps I could return it over dinner tonight?” I offered.
“Okay,” he said. We arranged to meet at the Dancing Dragons. As we departed, Bianca rolled her eyes at me and made snide remarks about needing more clean cantrips.
“Oh, it’s just dinner,” I said. “He’s very young.” Too young for me, even if I weren’t involved with Rhavin. Just right for Carmen, though. I was planning to introduce them if Donatello proved to be as sweet as he seemed. Carmen is a lovely girl; they’d look adorable together.

When we gathered at The Oasis, Alanna showed me her new bar stools: black dragon legs. She grinned. “They came with a letter from Temmer?”
“A letter?” I wondered there were one from Rhavin waiting for me at Strand’s Shadows; there’d better be. “Can I see it?”
She handed it over. The letter came from Amril, and was dated the 20th of Torodio. It was very brief:

Dear Alanna,

We picked up these souvenirs for you in Amril. Thought you could use some more stools. We’ll look for some blue ones next.
I accidentally turned the Azkalite’s hair green. Doesn’t that just suck? Other than that, the trip hasn’t been so bad. We did run into some of those frozen zombies everyone is talking about. They’re pretty nasty, and they cause frost-bite. Fire and holy water work well against them.
Hope everything is well with you. Say hello to Hasaan. Don’t go out by yourself at night, and don’t forget to keep the wolfsbane on the window-sills.
Love, Temmer

P.S. There was a gods-be-damned vampire in the shrine. Hurvan made. We staked the bastard. I’m getting drunk.

“That’s all he wrote?” I complained. “What shrine? Where did they find the dragon?”
Alanna chuckled. “That’s all. Maybe Rhavin’s letter will provide more details? The wagon driver had a whole stack of letters from him.”
“I certainly hope so. I’ll let you know what I find out. At least we know they made it to Amril safely.”
Alanna agreed. We’d both been worried; this was not an ideal time for a cross-country trip across Hurva. I do hope Rhavin is okay.
Alanna obligingly provided a pot of water so I could cast Time Pool to view the writing of the letter. Ester was very excited.
“Are we gonna see Jacob again?”
“No, Ester.” I shuddered. “Never again.”
Inside, we saw a man in his mid forties, black hair dusted with gray. He wore black robes embroidered with a flame motif. He was surrounded by shelves full of books, and the room in which he worked was a large cave that was lit by a pool of lava.
That was very strange. There are no volcanoes anywhere near Istur. Was this man conjuring pools of lava just to have a light to read by? He must be rather wasteful of his magic.
As for Lord Salvatore Bertini, a personal reading spell yielded no information. I need his middle names. So I sent a letter to Bertini thanking him for dinner and offer to pray for his good fortune if he could send me his full and proper name. We’ll see what that turns up.
We shared the information we’d gathered over lunch. Canliss had located what he believed to be the correct warehouse; an abandoned building which apparently did not enjoy any Protection. Obviously, we’d wait until after nightfall to explore. Since I had a dinner engagement at six, we arranged to meet around seven. That would be a good time to check out the warehouse.
After lunch, I stopped by Strand’s. Rachel and Donar were unavailable, but there was a thank you note from Tore Bertini and a long letter from my darling Rhavin. Naturally, he told me how much he missed me, and he thanked me for the lovely portrait I’d given him. He assured me that he and Kariya were well. And, unlike the bard, he gave all the details of their adventurers, including horrifying battles against the black dragon and the vampire. This last was very disturbing. Rhavin expressed his concern that beings from Ravenloft are finding their way into Hurva. I suspect that he’s jumping to conclusions, but I don’t know how much of that suspicion is based on wishful thinking. I’ll have to discuss the details with Alanna, and see what she thinks.
Since Lorinar had dragged us all out of bed at an ungodly hour, I made sure to take a long nap before heading to dinner. Donatello turned out to be as sweet, intelligent and well-mannered as I’d hoped. He was rather disappointed when I gently turned down his advances, but he was amenable to a meeting with Carmen. (I couldn’t resist; he was far too adorable to let go to waste.) Young novice Longfellow is just going to adore him, and I’m sure they’ll get along. She’s very attractive (and far less eccentric than her second cousin, the pirate turned choirmaster).
We all met up at the Oasis shortly after dinner. Val, Bianca and I were the first to arrive. After I told Alanna about Rhavin’s letter (except the personal bits), the three of us fed Rigoletto table scraps and chatted amiably. Both women are unattached (I really need to introduce them to Seregil and Dante.), and Bianca owns that curiosity shop I like on Full Sails Street. (I asked her to save that broach in the window for me; must remember to send Fiona to pick it up later.)
Naturally, I told them all about Rhavin. “He’s on a mission right now,” I explained. “I just got a letter from him.”
Val frowned. “But how is that going to work? If you can’t marry, and he’s a paladin of Estereal…”
“It’s working just fine, thank you,” I snapped. I didn’t tell her about my plan to get Torodin to change His mind about the marriage rules. I think it’s best if I keep that to myself for a while.
“You must worry about him,” Bianca intervened. She’s a born diplomat, Bianca is.
“Yes, but he’s in good company. He’s traveling with a most impressive battle mage named Kariya, and Alanna’s friend, Temmer Longfellow, among others.”
“I’ve heard of him,” said Val. “Doesn’t he organize the music at The Word of Law?”
I nodded.
“Oh, they have such lovely services there,” said Bianca. “Sort of gone down hill lately, though.”
“Well, Marius is in charge temporarily.” I explained about Marius. They were quite sympathetic.
Ester arrived some time later. She had a black eye and informed us happily that she’d been playing poker with the Azkalites. Funny; at Strand’s we’ve been playing poker for years, and we haven’t bruised each other once. Trust the Azkalites to turn a simple card game into a free-for-all.
Gore and Canliss were the last to arrive. Canliss immediately took me aside.
“Guess who I ran into in the Warehouse district, pretending to be a Customs Inspector?”
I followed his gaze and gasped in horror. “Not the stupid barbarian?”
“The one and only. And Sal’s boys were watching the place – four members of the Snow Removal Guild. Gore introduced himself as the Deputy Minister of Mysteries, Meteorology, Levies and Fees and demanded to inspect the warehouse. I had to do some fast talking to get Gore away from there before he ended up in the harbor.”
I hesitated. Would Gore ending up in the harbor really be so bad? No, no, I couldn’t be that mean. He was rude and annoying, but he seemed mostly harmless. Besides, Ester would be upset if anything happened to him.
Canliss and I joined the others and sat down by Gore. “Hey, Nikita,” Canliss said loudly, “ Gore thinks it’s a good idea for us to investigate one of the warehouses being landscaped by members of the Snow Shoveling Guild.”
“Oh, no, dear,” I said to Gore. “You see, if there were anything untoward going on in any of those warehouses, the Guild members would have reported it by now. They report to our boss… indirectly. And Lorinar would have told us. So, automatically, you know that if there are snow shovelers in front of a warehouse, you can skip that one.”
“But it was a suspicious warehouse,” Gore insisted.
Ester frowned at him. “Nikita is always right.”
“So what does a suspicious warehouse look like?” I asked Gore. “Did it have shifty eyes?”
Gore scowled at me and refused to answer. But he stopped insisting on going back to that warehouse.
Corey wandered in as we were having dessert. The poor cat looked half frozen. “Canliss, what have you been doing to this poor cat?” I accused him. I put Corey in my lap and fed him some milk and table scraps. Poor, little thing. Canliss should really take better care of him.
We planned as we finished eating. Canliss wanted everyone else to charge in the front door while we sneaked in the back. Naturally, Val objected to this idea. I mean, it wasn’t very nice of Canliss to offer everyone else up as bait. We didn’t even know them that well.
“Formation is strong,” Ester insisted. “We should stick together.”
“She’s right,” I said. “Canliss and I will scout ahead while the rest of you stay hidden in the shadows. Val, if it’s all right with you, I can create a telepathic link between us. That way I can let you know when the rest of you should move forward.”
Canliss handed me a vial under the table. “Nikita, this is the antidote to my gaseous sleeping potion.”
I frowned at him. “Canliss, we can’t put the others to sleep just so we can sneak in without them.”
“No, no. This is so we can escape if we get caught. We’ll be able to get the others to safety.”
I had my doubts about that. If the others fell asleep, I certainly wouldn’t be able to lift any of them. But it wasn’t as if I had any hope of preventing Canliss from causing havoc if things went wrong. I took the antidote and prayed I wouldn’t have to use it.
We stopped, hidden in the alley across the street, as we studied the warehouse Canliss had located and reviewed our plan. Unfortunately, Ester got bored and started playing with Hilt. The Blade of Ice was all well and fine, but did she have to taste it?
“Sthuck, sthuck, sthuck.” We all turned around to find Ester with her tongue stuck to the ice blade, her free arm flailing wildly.
“For heaven’s sake. Ester, what did you do?”
“Sthuuuuuck!” She looked at us with puppy dog eyes. Without her tongue, Ester couldn’t speak the command to release the blade.
Bianca rolled her eyes and cast a warm cantrip to free Ester’s tongue. Val looked uneasily from Ester to Gore, clearly wondering what sort of crowd she’d fallen in with.
“Sergeant Oxshoulders,” I said, “on whom should I cast the telepathy spell?”
“Uhhhhh….”
Val raised her hand. “I volunteer.”
“Excellent choice, Sergeant.” Ester beamed happily, and I cast the spell. “Try to keep Ester from playing with her sword,” I thought to Val. She promised to do her best.
Before we parted company, I handed Val a rock with ‘deeper darkness’ cast upon it so the others could hide. Then I cast shade’s sight, know the shadows, and creeping darkness on myself and Canliss. I cast a spell to check for traps before Canliss magically unlocked the door (Thank the gods Dougal Wentworth got rid of that cursed ring. I’d still like to know how Canliss talked him into it; he won’t tell.)
Before we opened it, I sent my shadow creeping under the door. The shadow found a long, dimly lit hallway with many doors off to either side. There was a door at the end of the corridor, with light and the sounds of battle coming from beyond. I let Val know what I was seeing as I sent the shadow toward that door.
There was a rumble of thunder and a crash of light that made me think fondly of Kariya. My shadow slipped beneath the door to find a man battling a large and angry fire elemental in a large room with crates of varying sizes piled in a haphazard fashion. The man was not the one I’d seen in the Time Pool, but he wore identical robes. He was short and stocky and seemed to be moving under the influence of a Haste spell. He cast something, and t he elemental screamed as green bands of glowing energy wrapped around it. That must be the dimensional anchor spell Donar told me about during our last discussion of the dangers of intraplanar travel.
Hmm. It was hard to tell whose side we wanted to be on, if any, but surely we’d have a better chance of getting information from the human, if we managed to capture him alive. Explaining the scene telepathically to Val, I advised her to encourage the others to attack the elemental and leave the mage to me.
As I heard Val assure me that the others were moving in. “Canliss, I’m mousing in.” I was delayed by some sort of wall of force blocking the entrance. I dispelled it, then scurried inside the big room and hid in the shadows to peer from behind the nearest crates.
“Aaaaaaaaaargh!” The dark-robed mage’s eyes widened as Gore came charging in, waving his sword. And no wonder; there was a wall of force blocking the entrance just seconds ago. I saw Bianca run in behind Gore (with considerably less bellowing) and hide behind some crates on the other side of the room.
Canliss didn’t bother to hide. He stood just inside the doorway and cast magic missiles at the elemental. They zipped inside the flame, and the creature hissed in annoyance. “Dibs on the staff,” Canliss whispered, glancing toward the one held by the mage. Honestly, he’s so greedy. Doesn’t he already have more than his share of the magical items we found in Ravenloft? (All they gave me was a magical dagger; as if that’s useful. I think Canliss and I are going to have to have a little talk about the equal division of spoils.)
“We’re here to help you!” Canliss yelled to the mage. Which might be credible, assuming the mage hadn’t heard the avaricious remark about his staff.
Val came running in and hid behind the crates next to me. “Don’t step on me,” I cautioned. It’s one of the hazards of being in mouse form.
Meanwhile, the mage’s bewildered gaze darted from Gore to Canliss. He was probably wondering why his secret warehouse was suddenly so popular. Given that Administrator Lorinar had been their only enemy up until know, The Brotherhood of the Flame has probably grown complacent.
Ester came charging in, catching up to Gore. The two slashed at the fire elemental. Ester certainly is getting a lot of use out of the blade of ice gambit. Both warriors hacked gleefully at the elemental.
Apparently opting to ignore us for the moment, the mage cast five magic missiles at the elemental. The creature writhed as they entered his glowing form and disappeared.
“Nice shot!” Canliss called.
What kind of compliment was that? Did Canliss think the mage was going to hand over his magical staff to a complete stranger who wandered into his warehouse and started licking his boots? Honestly, one should never forget one’s dignity for the sake of greed. Love maybe, and of course knowledge, but never greed.
The mage suddenly disappeared. Had he teleported? Was he invisible? I nearly cursed in frustration. We couldn’t question the man if we couldn’t find him.
With the mage gone, the fire elemental focused its unwholesome attention on our warriors. With lightning speed, it lashed a flaming maw at Gore. The barbarian screamed as fire licked along his side. Gore really is going to have to break down and beg for some healing soon (with an appropriate apology), or he’s not going to survive our mission.
After mauling gore, the fire elemental leaped gracefully back at least twenty feet. My, the creature is even more agile than Val in combat.
Assuming our warriors could handle the elemental, I cast ‘detect thoughts’ and started mousing around the room. If the mage was still here, I’d find him. I picked up nothing at first, other than violent thoughts from our warriors and some rather impolite phrases from our own mage; I had no idea that Bianca was capable of such language.
Bianca cleverly assisted my attempt to find the mage by casting glitterdust in the area near the door. Canliss glittered nicely in the shadow of the doorway, but there was no sign of the mage.
Canliss sighed heavily. “Nikita, I’m blind,” he called out. “Help, please.” If he hadn’t been so obstinate about tithing, perhaps I might have been more sympathetic to his predicament. As it was, I laughed a quiet, mousy laugh to myself; especially when I detected Bianca’s surface thought: that’ll keep him out of trouble.
Canliss felt his way to the shelter of the nearest crates. Since he was in no danger, there was no need to feel guilty about letting him suffer.
“Out of my way, Gore!” Ester yelled. The two were practically tripping over her in their zeal to reach the fire elemental. Ignoring Ester, the barbarian slashed at the elemental and missed.
Ester almost knocked Gore down as she charged past him to hack at the elemental. The ice blade steamed and hissed. (Between the Azkalite armor and the blade of ice, Ester really is ideally equipped for this mission.) As the blade cleaved the elemental, the creature vanished with a whoosh.
I spent a few more minutes looking for the mage, but I didn’t find him. He must have teleported to safety somehow. It looked like we’d have to find our answers the hard way, by searching this warehouse.