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First Draft

19th Luis 2045

The city of Kells occupied the far side of the River Tagellin, south of the confluence with the River Kells. The near side of the River Tagellin had a pair of towns that would have been substantial on their own; so near Kells, they were small satellites. Another sizeable town filled the land between the two rivers as well.

Before the Fall of Camelough, Kells had been a sprawling city that surrounded the confluence of the two rivers. Enormous bridges, marvels of engineering, had spanned the river in dozens of places, connecting the three districts of the city. When the orc hoards attacked, they razed the city, destroying bridges and buildings alike. Nothing of the original city of Kells survived to the present.

After the war, people returned to the birthplace of the Church of Kells. They rebuilt the city, but the city was far more modest than it had been. No bridges spanned the rivers, for no one could figure out how to build bridges spanning the five hundred pace wide flows without magickal assistance. Where once were bridges, now were ferries.

The party boarded one such ferry in the town of Fork's End, between the two rivers. The ferry master and his seven stout assistants started pulling the large rope, slowly dragging the boat across the wide River Kells. After an interminable time, the ferry slowed to a stop at the pier on the Kells side of the river. The party disembarked and rode into Kells.

The city was startlingly clean, with no litter or rubbish to be found. The buildings looked to be freshly painted, or, at the least, well cleaned. Bright colors, less subdued than Tagellin's colors, greeted the viewer in every direction. Most of the buildings were little more than three stories in height, save for the cathedral near the river bank. Its spire, well over a hundred paces tall, dominated the town with its golden orb near the top.

The air was cool, well above freezing. A calm breeze did little to contribute to the chill. The grass in the town was brown, and the trees bare. The ground was dry -- there had been no snow or rain for several days, at the least.

Kells was a bustling city, with hundreds of people moving to and fro. Wagons loaded with goods creaked along the wide roads, and people on foot or astride horses weaved past the slow moving wagons.

Bilbus sighed contentedly at the bustle of a large city. He watched all the traffic, mentally picking out people who would be easy marks for a purse cutting. He did not intend to actually rob anyone, not in the center of the Church's power, but it was nice being able to mentally rehearse his old habits.

He realized his fellow riders had slowed now that they were near the Church complex. Dozens of smaller buildings surrounded the cathedral, and a castle belonging to the Knights of Kells faced the cathedral from opposite a large park.

"We should find an inn near here," Bilbus suggested.

"There's one," Adria said. She pointed towards an inn that faced the park.

"Good enough," Bilbus said as he followed her towards the Holy Ash Inn.

"I need to find Father Gillifin," Kasey said as he looked at the cathedral.

"I can get everyone checked in to the inn," Adria offered. "I'll be in my room."

"Okay," Kasey said. "If that's not a problem for you."

"I did offer," Adria patiently reminded the Church Knight.

In front of the inn, most of the party turned their horses over to stable hands. Kasey kept Farran -- "to put him up in the Church Knights' stables" -- but the rest were stabled in the inn's outbuilding.

As Kasey led Farran towards the castle, Sturm suggested to Eric, "Maybe we should go with him to translate his report."

Eric nodded. "That is a good idea."

The two followed Kasey towards the Castle Kells.

"I'm heading to the library," Bilbus announced to no one in particular. "I want to find some interesting books."

"Library?" Breanna blurted, excited. "Do you think they will have books on herbs?"

"Are you kidding me?" Bilbus asked. "This is a Church library. You can find books on anything. Believe me, I have found them."

Breanna hurried after the mountebank. Rishala rubbed his chin for a moment, then followed those two towards the buildings near the cathedral.

Kasey stopped at the open gates of the castle. Sturm and Eric had caught up with the knight, and they waited as Kasey turned Farran over to one of the poor pages who had the misfortune of being nearby. Farran laid his ears back and snapped at the page, snorting as he did so, as Kasey led his two friends towards the cathedral, two hundred and fifty paces away on the far side of the park.

Kasey walked up the long, low steps to the entrance of the cathedral. The tall bronze portals were closed, but smaller, normal-sized doors in the portals stood open, beckoning to the visitors.

Kasey circled around the wide prayer labyrinth inset in the atrium of the church, below the towering spire. In the main temple room, the Church Knight approached one of the priests.

The knight kneeled before the priest. "Father, I seek a blessing. I also need to find Father Gillifin. Do you know his whereabouts?"

"A blessing is always freely given to the Shield of the Church," the priest said before he delivered the blessing. "Father Gillifin, you say?" Kasey nodded. "I believe he is in his day offices, in the castle."

Kasey furrowed his brows. Priests never had offices in the military facilities of the Church, just as knights did not keep office in the religious facilities. Centuries ago, when some high priests had political ambitions, they had tried to use the Knights of Kells as their personal army. The commanders of the order had refused the priests, and in the chaos that had followed, the knights had insisted on a sharp division between the military and religious orders.

Still, Kasey thanked the priest and walked back across the park to the castle, Eric and Sturm still following him.

At the gates of the castle, Kasey flagged down a page. "I need to see Father Gillifin. I was told his office is in the castle. I am Sir Kasey Bittrand, from the Castle Treasa in Londoun. The matter is urgent."

The page bowed. "Wait here, please, Sir Knight. I will inform Father Gillifin, then come back to escort you to his offices."

The page ran off towards buildings on the far side of the outer bailey of the castle. He returned a few minutes later, winded.

"Follow me, Sirs Knight and guest." He bowed deeply towards the knights, then turned and led them towards one of the buildings at a fast pace.

Within the building, the page led the visitors to a ground floor office. The young man rapped on the door, waited for a response, then swung it open.

The page stepped across the threshold smartly. "Sir Kasey Bittrand from Castle Treasa. Sir Knight from the Order of the Knights of the Sun. And Guest." He blushed afterwards, embarrassed that he had failed to obtain names from the two other men. Once the three visitors were in the office, he backed out, closing the door quickly.

Father Gillifin was gray of hair. His shoulders slumped from age, but he still had a spark in his eyes. He rose and walked around his desk to meet his visitors.

"Kasey Bittrand," he greeted the Church Knight. He eyes Sturm. "And you are?"

"Sir Sturm Sunblade, of the Sunkeep."

"Well met, Sun Knight," Father Gillifin said. He eyed Eric.

"I am Lord Eric Ithell of Armagh," the Azirian said.

"Well, what urgent business brings you to my office, Kasey?" Gillifin asked as he returned to his desk.

"Oh, um, we found this," Kasey unfolded the note he and his companions had recovered from the ambushed Church Knight caravan. As Father Gillifin looked at the note, Kasey explained, "See, we were on our way to Arabel Cinlu, and we found this wagon that had been smashed, and some horses and men. And the men were all Church Knights, and something very big and very bad must have killed them all, and the prisoner escaped, and things were burned, like his books."

Sturm rubbed his temples. "What Kasey is trying to say is that we found a Church Knight column that had been ambushed by something really nasty. The knights were all dead, and the prisoner, Franz Stalgraf, had escaped. Stalgraf was working with the Anlor Balsil Agralem. He was summoning demons in Londoun until we found out about him."

Father Gillifin set the paper aside. "So this Stalgraf has escaped."

Sturm nodded.

"Oh, and here are the personal effects," Kasey said. He set a sack on Gillifin's desk. Father Gillifin opened the sack and looked through the contents. "They need to be returned to the knights' families," Kasey advised the priest.

Father Gillifin looked at Kasey. "That is an interesting sword you have, Kasey. Do you like the Caledonian great swords?"

"Oh, this?" Kasey drew Caladbolg. "The dwarves told me to take it. We were at their citadel, and the orcs had it surrounded, but they were trying to break into the citadel. The dwarven king told me to take it, and I did. And he didn't tell me that everyone else who had taken it had been killed. But I wasn't killed."

"Dwarven kingdom? You got that sword from the throne room of the dwarven kingdom?"

"Oh, yeah. The dwarves had really poor defenses. I am surprised the orcs waited so long to attack."

"That sword is Caladbolg... Kasey, could you bring your friends to a meeting in two hours? It will be in the Riverside Hall. I think some of my associates would like to meet you." Father Gillifin provided directions to the hall.

"Okay."

"You may leave, Kasey," Gillifin instructed.

Kasey nodded and left, returning Caladbolg to its scabbard on his back.

In the hallway, he nearly ran into Meridaun Byddir. Kasey let out a small "eep" and bowed deeply towards her.

"Rise, Kasey," Meridaun said gently.

Kasey stood again, looking at her nervously.

"How is the amulet serving you?" she asked as she touched the protective amulet she had left with the Church Knight. Her finger traced along the silvery strands of its intricate markings.

"Ummm, well, it has worked well, I guess."

"So, what have you been doing?"

"Oh, we went to the dwarves and got this sword." Kasey drew it and offered it to Meridaun. "Oh, except that it killed everyone else who touched it, so maybe you shouldn't..."

Meridaun took the sword from Kasey and examined it closely. "Caladbolg..."

"Yeah," Kasey said. "And then we went to a dragon and got another sword. Or, two swords, now. But I didn't see the dragon."

"Trust me, Kasey," Sturm said. "There was a dragon in the cave."

"And then we decided to go to the Academy to get the prophecy translated."

Meridaun nodded, confused.

Sturm provided an interpretation: "We went to Clemendeev. The dwarven kingdom has fallen, but we recovered Caladbolg. We're now on our way to Hellenas. We stopped in Kells to check in with Father Gillifin, since a prisoner who was supposed to go to him escaped."

"Yeah, and we have to be back in two hours," Kasey said. "Or, actually, at the Riverside Hall."

"Oh," Meridaun said. "Perhaps you should go, then."

"Yeah," Kasey said. He bowed again and hurried towards the outer bailey.

Bilbus wandered through the church's library in a haphazard manner. There was a system of organization to the books -- he had lost Breanna in the herbal section -- but there was no obvious system of organization to the sections. Minutes of searching had revealed nothing of the books he wanted to find.

As Bilbus stared down another hallway lined with books, a man approached him. "Good sir, is there something I can help you find?"

"Actually, yes," Bilbus said. "I was trying to find some old books dealing with magicks and the like, you know. Books from the Golden Age of Camelough or thereabouts."

"Oh," the man said. "Sir, those books are in the forbidden stacks."

"Really?" Bilbus feigned surprise. "Where are the forbidden stacks?"

"Those are in the castle, where they can be guarded. Why would you want any of those books?"

"Just doing some research," Bilbus said noncommittally. "Thank you."

The mountebank quickly went to the Holy Ash Inn. After checking with the innkeeper, he found the room Adria had checked them into. She was resting on the bed when Bilbus walked into the room.

"Back already?" Adria asked as she propped herself on her elbows.

Bilbus giggled. "Church types are so trusting." He opened his saddle bags and rummaged around within them.

"What are you doing?" Adria queried her husband.

Bilbus found what he sought. He unfolded a priestly robe and pulled it on over his armor. "I'm going to the forbidden section of the library. It's in the castle, 'where it can be guarded'." Bilbus removed his sword scabbard and readjusted its belt so he could hide it under the robes. "You know, Bree found a lot of books on herbalism. She said there were some books that she thought you would like..."

Adria perked. "Really? Maybe I will need to go visit this library."

Bilbus finished hiding his adamantine sword under the priestly robes. "You should, my child," he said in a mockingly-holy voice.

Adria threw a pillow at the false priest as she sat up. Bilbus chuckled and left, keeping his hands folded together and his robe closed.

Bilbus stood at the entrance to the Castle Kells. Pages standing watch studied him disinterestedly as he waited.

"Yes, father?" one asked.

"I seek to visit Sir Bittrand. I understand he is at the castle. He is a tall fellow with blond hair. Please bring him to the gates."

"Yes, father," one of the pages replied. The page ran across the outer bailey, towards what Bilbus assumed was the barracks building.

The page ran through the barracks, looking for any tall, blond knights. "Sir Bittrand?" he asked of anyone who roughly matched the description, but to no avail. Afterwards, the page ran through various training halls, still calling for "Sir Bittrand". It was not until he ran into the office building that he found Sir Bittrand.

The page jumped through the open door of the office building and nearly slammed into Kasey. The tall blond knight lightly brushed the boy back a pace.

The boy's head craned upwards until he saw Kasey's face. "Sir Bittrand?" he asked. Kasey nodded. "There is a father who wishes to speak to you. He is at the front gatehouse."

"Who is the father?" Kasey asked.

The boy cringed when he realized that he had not asked for a name from the priest. "I am sorry, Sir Knight. I did not ask."

"That seems to be a common problem around here," Sturm groused.

"Please, Sir Knight." The page gestured towards the bailey.

Kasey, Sturm, and Eric followed the boy back to the gatehouse. A man in priestly robes stood in the gatehouse, looking pious while a smoking tabac stick hung from his mouth.

"Bilbus?" Kasey asked when he recognized the mountebank. "You've heard the calling! Congratulations! I didn't know you were going to join the priesthood!"

Sturm groaned.

"Yeah, Kase," Bilbus said. "That's it."

"Hey, we have to meet some priests in about two hours. Over in that building." Kasey pointed at a building near the riverbank.

"No problem. I'll be there. You might want to get Bree and Adria. They're in the library. And I think Rishala is there, too."

"Okay. I'll go get them. Come on, Eric."

The Church Knight and the explorer walked towards the library across the park. Sturm stood near Bilbus, waiting.

"Aren't you going with them?" Bilbus asked.

"I want to see what you're up to, Bilbus."

"Oh." Bilbus turned to one of the pages. "Take me to the stacks."

The boy started to walk out of the gatehouse towards the library.

"Not those stacks. The ones in the castle."

"Oh," the page said. He turned back and led Bilbus and Sturm into the castle.

Into a tower and down spiraling stairs Bilbus and Sturm followed the page. The boy carried a lantern, held in front of him as he led the two men into the dungeons of the castle. At long last, in a dank corridor somewhere below the River Kells' waterline, the boy stopped in front of a dark wooden door. A large lock hung on the door, barring entry.

"Well, open it," Bilbus instructed.

"I am sorry, father. I can not. I do not have the key."

Bilbus sighed. "Very well. Count to sixty one hundred times."

Bilbus slipped lock picks from their leather carrying case strapped to his forearm.

"One..."

Grumbling to himself about his unwillingness to use Heka, which would have made entry trivial, Bilbus kneeled in front of the lock.

"Two..."

Bilbus slipped the picks into the lock, using one to put pressure on the side of the key slot while he felt for the pins of the tumbler with the other pick.

"Three..."

"Count quietly," Bilbus ordered.

"Sorry, father."

Bilbus felt the lock give way easily. He opened it and pushed the door open. The smell of old books rolled out of the room.

"Give me the lantern," Bilbus told the page. The page offered the lantern to the false priest.

Bilbus and Sturm entered the forbidden library, leaving the page alone in the dark corridor.

Adria chuckled to herself. She had found the herbalist's section of the library by following the giggles of Breanna that echoed through the vast building. Even better, for Adria, was that an entire section of bookshelves was dedicated to toxins and antitoxins. The assassin had already grabbed half a dozen old books, all of them older than anyone she had ever met. The books were stacked on a table near the toxins section. Adria leafed through each of them, looking for new and unusual mixtures she might want to add to her repertoire.

Breanna's giggles echoed through the hallways again. She was nearby, probably just around the corner.

Another voice came from where Breanna was. It was a young voice, probably another of the pages assigned to library duty. "My Lady. May I help you find any other books?"

"Yes," Breanna replied. "I want to find books on old cures for old ailments. Things that may not have been seen for a long time, like the effects of dark magicks or dweomercraefting."

"Hmmmm. I don't think any books like that are going to be in the regular library. If there are works like that, they are in the forbidden stacks, which are off limits to anyone outside the priesthood."

"Oh. That's too bad. I was hoping to focus my studies on old ailments..." It's mostly true, Breanna told herself. If I can cure Bilbus of the effects of the magicks he's using.

"I'm sorry, My Lady."

"No, that's all right."

Breanna looked up and smiled. Eric was walking towards her from down the corridor. Kasey was walking with him.

"Hi, Eric," Breanna greeted cheerfully. "Hi, Kasey."

"Hi, Bree," Eric replied. "We need to go to some sort of meeting with some priests. They want to meet all of us."

"But... I found some good books!" Breanna protested. "We won't be here that long, and I don't want to waste time in a meeting."

"I know, Bree. This may be important. Where is Adria?"

"Around the corner in the toxins section, I think." Breanna looked despairingly at the stack of books she had pulled from the shelves.

"I'll get her," Kasey offered.

Eric and Breanna listened to Adria argue with the knight, almost pleading with him to leave her be. When Kasey returned to the table, he was almost dragging Adria along behind him.

"Adria, you can have pages transcribe the parts you want, you know," Kasey informed the assassin. "It is something they are good at." A page walked past one of the cross-passages. "Page!" the knight called.

The page ran up to the knight. "Yes, Sir Knight!"

"The lady needs some passages copied." To Adria, he said, "Show him what you need." Kasey released Adria so she could show the page which passages she wanted copied.

"Can you get me a page, too?" Breanna asked hopefully.

Kasey nodded. He tracked down a page and brought him to Breanna, who quickly started listing which sections of the books she wanted copied. The page looked at the long list with some apprehension, but rushed to get materials anyway.

"Aye, can ye make a wee bit more noise?" Rishala asked as he rounded a corner and approached his friends. "Gods, this is a library, ye know."

"Find anything?" Breanna asked.

"Aye, a few things. I may come back here after this meeting you mention to see what else I can find."

"Well, we need to get to the meeting, I think," Kasey said. "Oh, and Adria, you might be interested to know that Bilbus has taken up vows."

"Really?" It took Adria a second to realize that Kasey must have seen Bilbus in his robes. "What a surprise."

"Yeah. You never know when the gods will call on you."

Adria kept from laughing as she unwillingly followed the knight and her other companions towards the library entrance.

Breanna kept babbling to Eric about all the research materials she had found. Books on healing techniques from distant lands, and compendia of herbs and their uses, and so forth. Eric kept nodding to her, not really following most of her discussion, but unwilling to stifle her excitement.

Sturm looked at the books on the shelves. Many of them were in old, unused dialects; a few were in downright foreign tongues. Some of them were close enough to modern Kelltic to be readable. However, Bilbus kept the only lantern close to him as he pored through books of old magicks.

"Huh," Bilbus said for the twentieth time.

"Found what you needed?" Sturm asked.

"No. This library is not quite as organized as the one in Brallian. Weird, since this is a larger library. What about you?"

"It's hard to read in the dark."

"Oh. Here." Bilbus offered the lantern to the Sun Knight. "What are you looking for?"

"Books on prophecy. Somebody had to have seen some of these prophecies before."

"Good luck finding anything in here," Bilbus grumbled.

A few minutes later, Sturm finished searching. "We need to go to this meeting," the Sun Knight said.

The two left the library. Bilbus took the time to reaffix the lock, then gave the lantern back to the page, who was still counting slowly, mouthing the numbers but not giving them voice.

"Okay, page. Take us to the Riverside meeting hall."

Relieved to have light again, the page led the men back out of the dungeons, across the outer bailey, and on towards a building on the far side of the park.

Kasey and his entourage were at the entrance to the building that housed the meeting room. A page tugged on the knight's sleeve.

"Sir Knight? The lady asked me to give this to you." He held out a page of paper.

Kasey unfolded the paper and read it. All it said was "Bye."

Kasey turned to see Adria running across the park. "Lady Adria!" the Church Knight called after her, ineffectively. To the page, the knight commanded, "Chase her down and bring her back to the meeting."

Eric turned as well. "She's not heading back to the library. Not directly. But we know where she's going. I'll get her."

Eric ran towards the library as the page chased after Adria.

Eric had taken a seat next to the page who was transcribing passages for Adria. He had been waiting for nearly ten minutes when Adria glided around the corner, a smug grin on her face. The grin evaporated when she saw the explorer waiting for her.

"Please, Eric. Don't take me back there. I can't help any."

"That is not important. These priests want to meet us. They may be allies."

"Yes, but I am not part of this. You and Kasey and Sturm and Bilbus are, but I am not."

"You have been on the journeys with us, Adria. I think that makes you relevant."

"But it's a boring meeting. I can't contribute."

"Adria, why don't you take a book with you. If the meeting is as boring as you think, you can just sit in the back and read."

"I can do that?"

Eric looked at the page. "Can she borrow a book if she brings it back in a couple of hours? She will be in the Riverside meeting hall."

The page stopped writing. "Okay. That's still on the Church grounds. Please be careful with it."

Adria selected a book, then followed Eric back to the meeting.

The meeting hall was well-appointed, with rugs on the floors and wood paneling on the walls. Several paintings depicting pastoral scenes hung on the walls, and ornate lanterns provided ample illumination. A single table was in the room, close to one wall. Seven priests sat behind the table. The party sat in chairs near the middle of the room, facing the priests.

The party had been sitting there for several minutes before Eric escorted Adria into the room. None of the priests spoke, nor did they react, when the two late arrivals took seats.

Bilbus stood, untying the priestly robes he still wore, and walked to one of the lanterns. He took a tabac stick from a belt pouch and lit it from the warm flame. He took a couple of long draws on the stick, then sauntered back to his seat. He sat down, slouching, leaving the robe untied and open, exposing his adamantine sword.

"So, whatcha want?" Bilbus asked.

The priest in the center seat answered. "We wanted to meet you. We have seen some of Kasey's rather interesting reports, along with some additional notes from one of our fellow priestesses who traveled with you."

"And you are?"

"We are members of the Church's diplomatic council. Some of your exploits have international ramifications."

"What's your name? You have us at a disadvantage, Father Diplomat."

Kasey slapped Bilbus in the back of the head. "Stop being rude to the father!" the knight hissed.

Bilbus shifted in his chair to look at the Church Knight. "Give me a break, Kase. These guys want to meet with us, but they don't want to give us any info. I've been in police interrogations that are friendlier than this."

Bilbus felt a surge of Heka from one of the priests. His tabac stick went out with nary a puff, going cold in an instant. Bilbus turned back to the priests. One of them on the end had an arm extended, fingers together as if he were pinching something. Bilbus snarled to himself, but left the tabac stick in his mouth.

The priest in the middle started talking. "You have Caladbolg, we understand. That must be it. Right, Kasey?" The Church Knight nodded. "Interesting. Have you seen Gas Bulg? How about Fragarach?"

"We may have seen it," Bilbus replied. "What's it to you?"

"We are not the enemy," the priest said. "Some things we can not discuss with you, for reasons you may understand if we could tell you. You will have to trust us."

"Sure. You're our friends. That's why you won't tell us anything. The other side has been much more forthcoming. If it weren't for them, no one would have any idea what is happening."

"And what is happening?" the priest asked, interested.

"If you don't know, why are we here?"

"We need to know what you know if we are to help," the priest said.

Eric spoke before Bilbus could reply. "We are interested in help, but we have found it difficult to know who to trust. The Dark One's forces are very pervasive. We had no idea of how extensive they are until Bilbus learned how to travel through the Portals."

Bilbus felt a chill rip through his body. That Azirian just signed my death warrant. They must know what it takes to open the Portals. The priests all stared at Bilbus, who maintained a steely expression despite the near panic he felt.

"Oh, yeah," Kasey chimed in. "And he spent a few weeks with the orcs, too."

"Really?" the priest asked.

"Thanks, Kasey," Bilbus muttered quietly. Well, I may as well add to the rope on my neck. The best place to hide the truth is in the open. Flippantly, Bilbus added, "Yeah, and I caused the downfall of the dwarven kingdom while I was at it. Their kingdom fell, you know."

"Interesting."

"If you want to help us," Eric said, "you need to get us an army. We will have to get to the Dark One's castle to stop him, and I do not expect his forces to simply let us walk up to the front gates."

"No, I expect they won't," the questioning priest agreed. "You may leave."

"That's it?" Bilbus blurted. "We're here for five minutes, and now we can leave? Why did you waste our time?"

Eric stood up. "Give it a rest, Bilbus. This is not the place for that battle." To the priests, he said, "At the least, send Meridaun with us. That would give you one of your own with us, and she can help us as she watches over us."

The priest nodded as he considered the request. Eric turned to leave. Both women were already racing for the door, babbling about getting back to the library.

"Do you have any prophecy?" the priest suddenly asked.

Eric turned around to face them. All of his comrades had left, so he faced the priests alone. "We do. Why do you want to see it?"

"You don't trust us, and you may not believe that we are allies, but we have questions about the legitimacy of some of your comrades, as well. Please. What do you have?"

Eric approached the table. He took his travel journal from its carrying case and opened it. He flipped to the pages where he had sketched the orc prophecy. "These may not be exact. I do not know their language, so I drew the letters as best I could."

"You did well," one of the other priests said. He had produced a book of his own, as well as a pen and paper. He hurriedly copied the pages of orc prophecy while a third priest read it aloud, translating it as he did.

"Did you find other prophecies?" the chief questioner asked.

Eric nodded and flipped to the pages where he had copied the Shroeganus Balsil.

One of the priests gasped. "Where did you find these?"

"Some of it in a very old elemental temple in the Dales. The rest of it we got from the centaurs of the Steppes. Can you translate it?"

"No," the priest admitted. "The experts are in Hellenas."

"We are on our way to the Academy," Eric said. "We hope they can translate it, and we want to see if we can get what they have of the balsil, as well. Maybe there will be enough of it to make sense."

"Thank you for this information," the priest said.

Eric nodded. He took his journal, then went to look for his friends outside the building.

Bilbus was waiting for him. "You got some special interrogation?"

"They wanted to see the prophecy we have."

"And you let them see it?" Bilbus lit his tabac stick from a nearby lantern.

"Bilbus, they are the Church."

"Not very helpful," Bilbus groused. "Come on. I want you to see what I found."

Bilbus led Eric back to the castle. On the way, the mountebank tied off his robes and started carrying himself in a holy manner. Once past the pages at the gatehouse, Bilbus led Eric down into the depths of the castle's dungeons -- stopping long enough to get two lanterns.

Bilbus stopped at the door to the stacks. There was a new lock on the door. Sighing to himself, the thief kneeled and drew his picks once more. Within a few seconds, he had picked the lock. It clicked, but didn't open. Bilbus tried a second time, to no avail, before he sensed a weak flow of Heka near the lock.

"It's magickally set," Bilbus grumbled.

He looked down the dark corridor from where he and Eric had come. There was a small point of orange light flaring in the dark. Bilbus stood up, loosening the belt on his robe so he could get to his sword quickly.

"That's not really needed, is it?" a voice asked from the shadows.

The flaring orange glow got closer. It was a burning tabac stick hanging from the mouth of one of the priests from the meeting -- the one who had extinguished Bilbus's tabac stick.

"What is your interest in this part of the library?" the priest asked.

"We need a map to the Dark One's castle. I happened to see one in there."

"Really? Those are awfully old maps. The effects of the prison on the lands have changed things a lot. You are going to be better off with a current map, don't you think? There is one in the main library. Come, let us get you a copy."

Bilbus grumbled to himself, but reluctantly followed the priest out of the castle.

As soon as Sturm left the meeting, he went back to the main road through town. He thought he had seen another, smaller, keep in town. When he reached the main road, he confirmed that he had indeed. He knew the Knights of the Sun maintained a presence in Kells, and now he had spotted their hold.

It looked little like a military facility -- it would hardly withstand a siege. It looked more like a walled residential compound. Sturm sauntered down the road past it, curious about the facility, but unwilling to approach it.

The crash of vigorous training -- both of wooden practice weapons and steel on target dummies -- rolled out of the open doors of the compound. The knights on guard duty wore the normal Sun Knight's tabard. Sturm had worried that there may be Inquisitors in the facility, but, if there were, they did not keep a visible presence.

Satisfied that the Inquisitors did not openly dominate the keep, Sturm wandered past it and gradually worked his way back to the Holy Ash Inn.

Rishala walked calmly back to the library. Breanna and Adria were racing one another to the building, but Rishala saw no need to rush. The books he wanted to look at would still be there.

20th Luis 2045

The following morning was warm for mid-winter. Frost had barely settled over night, and it was already melting in the sun's caress as the men made ready to leave.

"Adria never came back to the inn last night," Bilbus observed. "I guess the books were just too good to pass up."

"Neither did Breanna," Eric added. "Maybe we should go get them?"

Bilbus smirked. "Let's wait until we are leaving town, so they can't come running back to the inn to bathe and all that. We'll be stuck here another day if we don't herd them onto the road right away."

"Did you manage to find any useful books?" Eric asked the mountebank.

"We'll see."

The horses were ready to travel. With Adria's and Breanna's horses lashed to Bilbus's and Eric's, the party rode along the edge of the park to the library entrance. Bilbus jumped down and went inside. He found both women asleep at one of the tables, surrounded by haphazard stacks of books. A page snoozed at the end of the table with a sheaf of papers in front of him.

Bilbus fought the urge to wake them up rudely. Instead, he carefully prodded Adria's shoulder, remaining on guard in case she awoke suddenly.

"Adria," he said in a quiet singsong. "We're leaving. Time to get on your horse and ride."

Adria slowly woke up. She moved stiffly, and Bilbus carefully maintained a straight face, not wanting to risk a strike from a sore and tried Adria. Once Adria sat up, Bilbus walked around the table to prod Breanna awake.

Adria carefully took the stack of papers from under the sleeping page. She bound them carefully with a ribbon of cloth next to the stack, then followed Bilbus and Breanna outside.

When she saw the horses already prepared for the day's ride, Adria protested, "Can't we at least get a bath in? Or a chance to change clothes?"

Bilbus smirked. "We need to get underway. You're welcome to change here, if it's so important..."

Adria scowled at Bilbus, but climbed onto her horse without further comment.

The party got underway, and soon Kells was disappearing behind the riders.

High Father Gillifin arrived several minutes late to the meeting, but none of his junior officers were going to comment on his tardiness.

"They are underway," the priest said as he took his seat in the Riverside meeting hall.

"We should have been more forthcoming with them, I think," one of the officers said. The officer played with a rolled piece of paper -- no doubt filled with that smelly tabac weed, Gillifin suspected.

One of the other officers nodded. "Father Lahiff is right, High Father. They were very suspicious of us. We could have been more open with them about the help we are providing."

Gillifin shook his head. "No. The loyalty of one of them has not been decided. He could still be a betrayer."

"That Bilbus fellow?" Father Lahiff asked. He stuck the unlit tabac stick in the corner of his mouth. "He does have an unhealthy interest in the forbidden stacks."

Gillifin looked at Lahiff. "Mother Byddir reported that he was practicing black magicks, and he was almost gleefully open about it. Meridaun also said that he was showing none of the ill effects or deformations usually associated with a self-taught user of such magicks. One must wonder if he's taken a pact with the Dark One."

"Why don't we just remove him from the equation, Aeducan?" Lahiff asked as he leaned back in his chair and started twirling the tabac stick between his fingers.

Gillifin stared at Lahiff for a moment. "Are we getting informal, now? You ask such questions conversationally?"

Lahiff shrugged. "If he is in league with the Dark One, why do we still let him travel with Uther's blood? Do you think any of them could stop him if he decides to kill your little project?"

Father Gillifin wore a pained expression. "It was not an easy decision, Traolach Lahiff. We've known for over a thousand years that the prophecies would be played out, and the Sword has stood ready to do anything to stop the Dark One when the time came. Did any of us believe the prison would fail in our lifetime? I did not want to believe the prophecies, but no matter how I read them, they said that it would happen far too soon."

One of the other priests said quietly, "What needed to be done had to be done. The sacrifice of one for the world is not a costly sacrifice."

Gillifin shook his head slowly. "But it was not his decision, Father Banain. He had to be raised in ignorance, lest our enemies find him and kill him before he could complete his destiny."

Father Lahiff spoke next. "He may already know his fate. He was in the forbidden stacks with Bilbus before we changed the lock. And, if he does not know already, he will undoubtedly discover his fate during their trip to the Academy."

Father Banain paused for a moment. "Speaking of discovery, I have received a report from the team you dispatched to Erelhei Cinlu. They have established a safehouse in the city, and they are confident that no one there suspects them. They will deliver another report within a month."

Gillifin breathed a sigh of relief. He had sent agents into a hornets nest, a drow city under Arabel Cinlu that looked to be the base of operations for most, if not all, of the Anlor Balsil Agralem. Father Gillifin had a sinking suspicion that the safehouse would be needed before the current troubles were over.

Father Lahiff put the tabac stick back in his mouth. "Father Gillifin, we should help them. Even if we can not be obvious about it, we need to do something to ensure that they succeed. It is not in anyone's interest to let the Dark One win this battle."

Father Gillifin rubbed his temples. "I agree. Someone fetch Meridaun. They trusted her in the past, and they specifically asked for her assistance." One of the priests left the meeting room.

Father Banain sat forward. "She is too inexperienced! You saw how she handled Caelioradh! Calling lightning!"

Gillifin put his hands up to silence the protest. "Yes, she is inexperienced. But she has a lot of potential, and they trust her. She is the only one of us whom they will trust."

Meridaun followed the priest across the park towards the meeting hall. The priest had been unforthcoming about the purpose of the meeting, but he had told her she was required to go immediately. Meridaun had hastily put away her armored jacket and sword blunt and followed the priest.

In the meeting room, Meridaun felt her pulse quicken. There were several of the officers of the Sword of the Church, as well as High Father Gillifin, the commander of the Sword. Whatever was going on, it was important.

The priests had stopped talking when Meridaun entered the room.

Meridaun curtsied, forgetting that she still wore thick leather pants, not a skirt. "I was summoned, High Father?"

Gillifin nodded. "Yes, Mother Meridaun. You have another assignment. You recall Lord Sir Bittrand and his companions?"

The slight grin on Meridaun's face was enough of an answer.

"You are to accompany them to Hellenas. They left this morning for Brallian. You will meet up with them after they arrive in the city, not before then. We suspect that they will stop at the main church facility. Instruct the staff at the church that they will allow the visitors in to the library."

"Why should I not meet them earlier?" Meridaun wondered aloud.

"It is important that you tell the priests at the church to give them full access to the library, without letting Bittrand and his friends know. We still do not know how much we should trust Bilbus. If he suspects we are assisting his companions, he may report to the Dark One. They may change tack, and then we would lose what advantage we have."

Meridaun considered her instructions. "What if I miss them? If they do not go to the church for some reason. They are traveling by sea to Hellenas, and I may not be able to find which ship they are using before it is too late."

"We will provide a letter of authorization for you to use one of our fast courier ships in that case. Meet them in Hellenas, at the Academy if need be."

"Yes, High Father. Is there anything else?"

"Make sure to dispatch a report to us when you can. They have already recovered two of the artifacts; they may be traveling to the Wasted Lands soon. Go with them if possible."

Meridaun fought to contain her excitement. "Yes, High Father. I need to prepare to travel right away."

"You may leave, Meridaun Byddir. May Edain smile upon you."

21st Luis 2045

The villages were becoming much more densely packed as the party got closer to the coast of the Brythomar. After a day of riding, they were close to the sprawling city of Brallian and its outlying towns. Bilbus had put on a disguise this morning, and he now appeared to be a minor noble. Bilbus had reasoned that the people looking for them were expecting them to dress down into commoner or peasant outfits to hide. Dressing as a noble would be unexpected, and lower peoples tended to avoid confronting nobles. His reasoning was sensible, and his fellow travelers had likewise changed into noble outfits.

"I am going to ride into Brallian and take a look around," Bilbus informed his companions.

Sturm scowled at the mountebank. "You are not going into town alone again to scout. You got into trouble last time."

Eric shook his head. "Great. That means I get to go in a dress again."

Eric clutched his necklace again. The pouch had gone cold, far colder than the air surrounding him. Ahead of the party, riding towards them on the paved road, was a pair of wagons with outriders on horseback. Eric drew his spyglass and studied the riders.

"What is it?" Breanna asked.

"The necklace just got cold." Eric saw that the caravan's riders were pointing at something above and behind the party.

The explorer twisted around in his saddle to look behind the party. Something large flew towards them, high above to the rear. Eric trained his spyglass on the thing to study it closer. It almost could have been mistaken for a horribly disfigured man. The creature was the thing of nightmares, hideously cruel and hateful, with a reddish-brown body that defied comprehension. The head of the thing was an afterthought on the body, with an impossible mouth. The thing might have been ten feet tall if it straightened the gnarled legs that trailed behind and underneath it. The three-pronged toes of the monster briefly reminded Eric of footprints he had seen in the snow north of Arabel Cinlu, where the party had found an ambushed Church Knight column.

Eric shouted a wordless warning.

Bilbus and Adria saw the Azirian staring skywards, slowly lowering his spyglass, and without another word, both kicked their horses to a canter, racing towards the merchant caravan and the city beyond. Rishala wheeled his horse about in the opposite direction, racing to the north to get under, then behind, the nightmare in the sky.

Both knights drew weapons and wheeled their horses about as Eric continued to shout incoherently.

"Come on, Eric," Breanna shouted to her fiance.

He kept yelling, ignoring her.

The apothecary took his horse's reins and lashed them to her own horse's saddle. She quickly raced her horse after Adria's horse, hoping to get away from the thing before it swooped into attack.

The thing dived towards the knights. As Farran wheeled about to rear at the thing, he finally saw what was attacking them. The kelpie reared, throwing Kasey to the ground, and ran immediately towards the River Tagellin, several hundred paces away. Kasey shouted invectives in both Kelltic and Javik as he got back to his feet.

The monster dove towards Sturm, belching sooty fire at the Sun Knight. Sturm ducked low, then rolled out of his saddle, landing on his feet. His horse took off after Breanna's horse. The Sun Knight shuffled towards Kasey, getting ready for a fight. After a sideways glance, Sturm realized that Eric was laying on the ground nearby, burbling meaninglessly. A very brief look towards his fleeing comrades showed Breanna leading Eric's horse still, unaware that her fiance was no longer on his horse.

A glance to his rear showed Sturm that Rishala's horse was being difficult, unwilling to hold still while the story teller readied his drow bow. Rishala had just steadied his horse when the demonbeast landed. Just before Sturm turned to face the creature, the Sun Knight saw Rishala turn about and race away in a panic.

Both knights attacked the massive thing. The stench of brimstone was strong as they closed with it, swinging their deadly swords. Sturm had remembered the old stories of Osmail Cunnick wielding Gretorixmar -- the founder of the Order of the Knights of the Sun always fought with both hands on his hand-and-a-half sword. Sturm decided to try it himself, even though he had rarely trained in two-handed swordplay. Gretorixmar was more responsive, almost lighter, as it moved.

Sturm slashed the demon. A wound opened across its abdomen, and the injury elicited a hellish scream from its craw. It slashed at Sturm with its horrid claws. The Sun Knight imagined for a moment that he could see the sharp claws of the beast tearing through the invisible magickal charms surrounding him. The claws slowed until they hit Sturm's chest, where they tore the surface of the hardened leather, but they failed to punch through.

With the beast concentrating on Sturm, Kasey struck it with a mighty swing as well. Sturm could hear the distant rumble of thunder as Caladbolg struck the beast. It shifted its attention to the Church Knight, as if it had forgotten Sturm entirely. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sturm swung his sword once more at the monster. As Gretorixmar cleaved through the demon, it exploded in a flaming, sulfurous smoke. When the smoke cleared, no trace of it remained.

"Are you okay?" Kasey asked as he fanned the smoke away from his own face.

Sturm nodded. He glanced at the ragged slash across the surface of his armor, then looked about for any signs of additional attackers.

Kasey jogged towards the river, calling out for Farran as he did. The rest of the party realized that the fight was over already, and they were regrouping towards Sturm.

Breanna hurried back to Eric. He lay on the paving stones, a nasty bruise already showing where he had landed after the fall from his horse. He was curled into a fetal position, whimpering to himself.

"Eric?" Breanna asked gently.

There was no response from the explorer.

"Eric, dearest. It's over. The thing is gone. It's okay."

Eric whimpered and tried to curl tighter.

Bilbus dismounted and approached the two. He looked at his friend, lying curled on the ground, and shook his head. "He must have gotten a good look at it. If it's the same thing I saw in Londoun..." He sniffed at the air. "It smells the same." He looked towards Brallian. The spire-and-globe of the church were easily visible on the skyline. "Let's get him back on his horse and take him to the church. They can heal him, I'm sure."

Breanna nodded uncertainly, but helped Bilbus lift Eric onto his horse nonetheless.

Kasey had returned with Farran. His voice, nearly growling, had been audible for several seconds as he chastised the wayward kelpie-horse. The steady trickle of water draining from the saddle bags turned into a spatter as Farran stood on the paving stones. Kasey busied himself removing as much of the contents of his saddle bags as he could.

"I want to put this stuff on Eric's horse to dry out," Kasey said. "It's going to take hours to clean all of this equipment and get it serviceable again. I don't know what that horse was thinking."

Breanna nodded and stood aside as Bilbus lashed Eric onto the horse.

The party was soon ready to keep riding. Sturm had retrieved his horse, and he was talking to the caravan, still two hundred paces away. Even at this distance, it was easy to see that the men of the caravan were shaken by what they had just seen.

Minutes later, the party was riding through one of the outlying villages.

"If it throws flame," Sturm commented, "maybe we should travel overland to Hellenas, not by boat. I am not too thrilled about the prospects of having to fight a demon while on board a boat that's burning to the waterline."

"Yeah," Bilbus agreed. "And the Anlor Balsil Agralem controls the docks by now."

"Aye," Rishala said. "But that means we travel overland through the Endless Swamp."

Bilbus nodded. "And that means dealing with giant serpents and who knows what else."

"No," Adria interjected. "We will go by boat."

"Okay," Sturm said. "If she says boat, then boat it is."

The party rode on a few more moments before Breanna wondered aloud, "How do they keep finding us? Are we being followed?"

"I did have that dream a few days ago," Sturm pointed out. "It seems the Dark One can find me."

"Aye, and it may be Bilbus who is being tracked." Rishala reminded the Sun Knight. "He has had dreams several times now."

The transition from the outlying towns to Brallian proper was invisible. The continual clutter of brightly-colored buildings on both sides of the street were not substantially different, but Bilbus seemed to know when the party crossed the city limits.

The mountebank sighed to himself. "Brallian. I didn't think I'd be back here again. I certainly don't plan to leave the same way I did last time..."

The mountebank became quiet as he reflected on his nearness with death years ago, when the Brallian Thieves' Guild tried to poison him for Heka use. His friends Twitchy and Pete had smuggled him out of the city and all the way to Londoun, where they still resided.

The main church in Brallian was smaller than the enormous cathedral in Kells, or the nearly as grandiose structure in Londoun, but it still was an ornate structure. Instead of concentrating the Church's power in one location in the city, the Church had decided to have more, smaller churches. There was still one main facility that housed schools, a library, and an orphanage in addition to the house of worship, but every district in the town had its own respectably sized church.

Bilbus led his companions into the church. Sturm and Kasey steadied Eric, who was barely staying on his own feet even with help. Breanna worriedly escorted the three men, and Adria and Rishala followed behind.

Bilbus crossed the atrium of the church, with its prayer labyrinth, and entered the main temple. He looked around the temple until he spotted the priests and priestesses.

"The priests are over there," the mountebank said as he pointed towards the two men and three women.

Breanna led Sturm and Kasey towards the priests as Bilbus looked around the church.

"It hasn't really changed," he said to no one. "Still as I remember it."

Bilbus felt a slight tug on his belt. He glanced down in time to see an urchin running away from him, coin purse in hand.