I had the kid on one side of me and the dwarf on the other. The kid was talking nonstop. “I climbed that tree.” “I’m tired.” “Can I have ice cream?”

The new mage was walking right behind me and making me feel nervous all over.

Every tine I said something to her she’d just laugh in this throaty way…. It was weird.

I’m not a reformed rogue for nothing, though. I slipped away as we approached Vhalantru’s house. We were pretty close to the Pelorian temple anyway. I stayed in the shadows, conscious of my precious cargo — Indira’s finger and the 10,000 gp that I’d need for the resurrection spell.

Like all churches in Cauldron, the temple was awash with refugees. The first people I recognized were a couple of the goblins we’d taken in. “Hey Graddtz! Remember me? It’s Buzz.” He looked at me for a moment and then broke into a smile. “Where is the shining one? She is not with you? She should be with us now.”

“Yeah, about Indira….” The grief flooded into me in a fresh wave. Other goblins joined us, eager to hear about Indira. I looked at their mostly clean faces. They were trying to be good and helpful and it was because Indira had come into their lives. Just like she’d done in my life.

“Where’s Kristoff, guys? I need to report in.”
I found him deep in the temple. He was directing several clerics who were creating water. I knew from Indira that their last meeting had ended badly.

Without stopping to think, I knelt at his feet . “Bless me, Father. For I have sinned.”
“Buzz?!? Where’s Indira? Where have you been? Sins? You want to confess? I’m not surprised.”
I ignored his comments. “Indira’s dead. She died trying to save Cauldron and I want you, I pray that you will resurrect her. ”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the other clerics. “Trying to save Cauldron? Right. From Hollow Sky? From Sasserine? Where have you been?! The city is burning, Buzz. The people, the people need us and I was blind before. Stupid, stupid, stupid! The fight with the Jasidians. I understand it all now. I didn’t then. But I do now.” His voice changed: “Where is Indira?”

“Under the city there is an unholy sanctuary.” I grabbed his hands to get his attention. “The Fiery Sanctum is real. I have been there; we fought evil there and I need Indira back to finish the job.”
He laughed. “You fought evil? Indira fought evil? Really? Indira is evil. She filled my mind with hatred. She burned the temple. She killed Ike. She left her goblin spies here. If she’s really dead, if this isn’t one of her games, then she got what she deserved. Pelor have mercy on her soul.” He spat on the ground and walked away.

I was out playing with some of the other guys in the rougher areas that surrounded my solar home. We were riding some of the smaller, safer, solar waves and having a good time.

We got to showing off and I jumped a huge swell and the next thing I knew, I was being swept thousands of miles into space. It wasn’t great and I was probably going to get into a lot of trouble, but at least I didn’t get caught in some planet’s atmosphere.

Until, of course, I did. It was a small planet with some really primitive natives and I figured they weren’t going to be able to help me get home. So I decided to wander around a bit and wait for the natives to grow up a bit and learn enough magic to help me get home. At least I hadn’t run afoul of any of the native spirits around the place. Until, of course, I did.

So, long story short, not too long ago there was a lot of upheaval and the cage the magma elementals had trapped me in finally broke and I managed to escape. And wow–a lot had changed. The natives were all talking with big words and everything, they didn’t live in caves anymore, and they had far less hair than they used to. I was pretty weak and insubstantial after all that time underground, so I was able to move about and observe them without being noticed. And then I saw it–a doorway home. It had to be–it shone brightly with the sun’s energy and it even smelled a bit like home. Excited, I dashed towards it and leaped through.

Only… it wasn’t a door. It was one of the natives. It turns out that I had entered a priestess of my great great great grandfather, whom these people called Pelor. And when I jumped into her I sort of, well… dislodged her. A little bit. So I figured I’d just pretend to be her for a while until she got back. What could go wrong with that? I did an awesome job of it too. Nobody, and I mean nobody caught on at first. For example–people kept looking at her and using this word, “Indira,” so I quickly searched her mind and figured out how to respond completely appropriately. I even fooled the little Ian named Gnome and something called a “Myntilly.”

But Myntillies, as it turns out, are pretty smart. This one sent a pale little grub-thing to get a piece of paper and when it returned, she used it to look at me. I mean really look at me. Luckily, she was pretty impressed, which just goes to show that Myntillies aren’t too smart. I mean–if she thoughts I was impressive–she should get a load of my big sister! Anyway, this Indira I was inhabiting and her friends were really worked up about something called a Drakthar and some demons that were going to open a portal, or something. I suggested we just wait a few thousand years and let it all pass, but they didn’t much care for that idea. So, I offered to help. I figured anything the Indira could do, I could do too–probably better. I mean, Pelor is my great great great, etc.

The Myntilly asked me if I knew the difference between good and evil. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but I covered pretty well and reassured her I knew all about good and evil. I wondered if this was some new thing the natives had come up with. Anyway, convinced that I’d be super-helpful, they started making plans. As they researched caves and debated about their next step, I got to thinking about the grub-things and portals. The grub-things were good at running errands, evidently, and a portal wouldn’t be a bad way to get home. So I sent four of them off to fetch me some sand. I figured if I could make a big enough glass lens, I might be able to project myself home. If I could safely get out of this Indira, that is. I could tell her mind was still in here, but it felt pretty far away still.

We decided to go to someplace called the Fiery Sanctum by swimming to the bottom of a lake… well, no we didn’t. We decided to have a grub-thing swim to the bottom of a lake first, so we could skip the swimming and just teleport in. We cast a lot of spells on him first–so many that he was barely recognizable as a grub-thing anymore–and off he swam. Something happened while he was swimming and everybody was gathered around the scrying bowl watching intently. I didn’t pay much attention because I was a little nervous about going underground again. What if the magma elementals were waiting for me?

The rest was a bit of a blur. The grub-thing reached an underground cavern, we teleported in, there was a big door that Gnome used some little chime-thing on to open it and the next thing I knew, we were fighting some big and terrible thing in a room that made my face hurt.

When I saw this thing–I suddenly knew what Myntilly meant by evil. You see, most things–like me and the Divas–consume some light, but we turn it into more light that we release back into the world. I do this literally (when I’m not trapped in an Indira), but for the Divas and the other natives, they did it more… um, metaphorically. This thing, however, consumed light and kept it. There was no light emanating out of this thing at all. It was dark and more than little creepy. And I knew we had to free the light it had consumed by cracking it open in any way we could.

The Divas were already at it–shooting it with arrows and such. They didn’t seem to be slowing it down much. So I commanded it to stop. I’m related to a god, after all, it’s rude to rush me when I’m still getting the hang of being mortal.

It didn’t listen to me, unfortunately, but kept rushing across the room.

Now I was mad. So I made it stop. And it did. Completely.

The Divas tied it up and took its weapon away. They also took away some jewelry and little round bits of metal it had. They seemed to know this creature and were debating about whether to kill it, or talk to it once it was able to move again. I watched it and realized that there was only going to be one way of setting its light free. I was going to have to bash it open. So I took this heavy bit of metal the Indira carried and hit it in the head. Several times.

It didn’t work. No light came out–just lots of red liquid and little chunks of pale meat. Was it possible that this thing was so corrupted that it could no longer even consume light? I couldn’t bear to think of it. When it finally slumped over onto the floor, I had a terrible ache inside me. It was like someone had been hitting me in the stomach while I hit the thing in the head. I turned and was violently ill, spitting up something from deep inside the Indira. It would be a while before I could bring myself to do that again–if I was even going to have the time. I could tell the shock of the experience had weakened my connection to the Indira and she was rising rapidly. Maybe she could take over for a while and I could rest. I imagined she was much more used to this sort of thing than I was.

She’s still undecided about Alek. I understand that. It would be hard to choose to resurrect someone you love. Perhaps the deceased is satisfied with the way his life ended and bringing him back is absolutely, positively the wrong thing to do.

When I got there, she put some water on for tea. The afternoon sun turned her hair a reddish-gold. I felt content for the first time in weeks.

She handed me a cup. “I still haven’t decided about Alek.”
“Actually, I didn’t come here to talk about Alek.” I put the cup aside. “Jenya, can I be frank with you?”
She smiled and cocked her head. “Of course. Do you need to confess?”
“Oh! No. Nothing like that. You see, I heard about the Jasidin plan to expand their temple –”
She put her hand over mine and squeezed. “I know. Kristoff is beside himself. I can’t take sides though. Come flood season, we all have to band together.”

I paused, wanting to choose my words carefully. “I know, beyond a doubt, that Embril Aloustani is responsible for the death of our lead clerics.”
Before Jenya could protest, I laid out the facts and in the end, she had to agree that it was more than a little strange that Embril could mistake wolfs’ bane for lemon balm. She would not however, she told me, cause a rift between Wee Jas and St Cuthbert.

I left there not feeling any better. But I’d put off visiting the temple long enough. I was anxious to see Buzz and not very anxious to see Kristoff. Pelor was good to me: Buzz was in the side yard in the garden. When he saw me his face lit up.
“You’re home! Welcome back!” He wrapped his arms around me and since he’s so tall, I had my face in his armpit.

“When did you get in? Kristoff will want to see you. Have you heard about the ‘Jas? Kristoff is going to have a goat, he’s so pissed!”
I nodded. “Today. I know. Yes. And yeah, me too.”
Buzz broke into a smile. “Funny. Hey, I’m up to third tier spells! Not bad for a rogue, eh?”
“You’ve been busy while we were gone. That’s wonderful. So, fill me in before Kristoff finds us.”

“Oh man. Where to start? So, OK, first Kristoff got this invite to the Mayor’s. All the head clerics were invited to tea or something. And when Kristoff gets back, his face was as red as his hair! He barely gets through the door before he’s yelling about the Wee Jas temple expansion. Crazy.”
“Did he say anything about the meeting? Was Lord Vahlantru there?”
“Nah. He didn’t say. I bet he was. Does anything happen without that guy? I can’t believe I worked for people who worked for him.”

I patted his shoulder. “Follies of youth. God spared you and that’s what matters. Now, has Kristoff shared any plans with you? Or have you heard any rumors?”
Buzz shook his head. “He’s behind closed doors a lot, but I haven’t heard anything.”
‘Then let’s go make some plans ourselves. The rest of the group is at the Brass Trumpet. It’s time you joined us.”

We were talking about healing spells and the use of fear. When we realized that the others were awake and talking beside the purple fountain.
It makes sense now, thinking back to Alek’s antics with his friends at the Lucky Monkey — lifting one friend on each arm and bending bars of metal like they were twigs. He must have taken a drink from this fountain of strength. It’s tempting — who wouldn’t want to be stronger? But what if his derangement is also a result of that purple drink?
Because, to my mind, there is no doubt, Alek is crazy. Deluded with visions of heroism. He was fooled by the hags disguised as angels. Not even Ragnara would have been fooled by those “angels.” I just don’t see why Jenya wastes her time with him. I’m sure he means well, but she spends her time worrying about him.

Sadi was tempted by the strength potion. I gave her my empty flask so she could take some with her. I didn’t even want to touch the liquid. She summoned a rat and asked the rat to drink from the fountain. We then watched the rat jump six feet straight up on to a ledge. Impressive. But I’m still not going to drink.

The rat was pretty energetic, so he stuck around, walking with Cinder down the corridors. We came to a room with a raised platform. The rat went up the platform and the first set of doors opened up! I guess he’s a smart rat, since the doors are keyed to open when an intelligent creature gets close enough. He told Sadi that he saw a hallway. She asked him to go to the other door. The doors opened and he said “Beds! You want me to go in?”

And then nothing. Myntilly messaged him. “Are you OK?” She asked.
“Big creatures. Bony. Tall.”
“Hide!”

Myntilly turned to us –”There are creatures in the bedroom!” It was nice to have a moment to plan strategy and cast a few spells. I offered to stand by the door and keep it open so that others could use ranged weapons. I should have remembered to cast fire shield on myself before I opened the door.

I assumed the rat was describing undead creatures but we were not sure. I stepped to the door and as they opened, two six-armed creatures attacked me. Undead spellweavers! Lucky for me, their attacks were pretty weak. Their bony hands flailed at me without doing much damage. The others were able to fire arrow after arrow at the four creatures. And Myntilly fired several spells at them, doing serious damage to them. I tried to turn them, but I was not successful. Their eye sockets glowed a bit, but they did not try to run away. We realized that the best attack is a bludgeon, so I moved into the room with Acgar and we began to hit at them.

Myntilly messaged the rat that he should run out of the room and to her. As he was leaving the bed, one of the creatures stepped on him. He was not badly hurt and Myntilly was able to practice her healing spell on him.

After the last creature had crumbled to bones and dust, we had a moment to look around the room. This was what the prophecy spoke of! Somewhere nearby was Alakast, the famed quarterstaff! Cinder had no trouble finding the hidden drawer. She pulled out a staff wrapped in cloth. I cast detect magic to see if it was Alakast. Before I had spoken the final words, the power of the staff knocked me back on to one of the beds. The smell of hags quickly brought me to my feet. The bed clothes were none too fresh.

We journeyed on, looking for the silver mirror and Alek. We found him, sort of. We entered a room with a design on the floor and a silver mirror on the wall. We could see Alek sitting in a gray room. He looked exhausted. Myntilly got close to the mirror and called his name. He perked up and began rambling on about colored rooms and how he couldn’t get out. He and Myntilly, Cinder and Acgar talked for awhile about the colored rooms and the gray room. Then they decided to step through the mirror. Sadi and I stayed behind. Soon, we could see all four of them in the gray room. Acgar knelt beside Alek and gave him food and water.

Sadi and I were unsure what to do. I decided to try something I’d only read about — I decided to try to commune with Pelor. If I was successful, I would be able to speak with Him and ask a few questions. I quickly jotted questions on a piece of paper. “Should we go through the mirror?” “Can we open the gray door?” “Should we help Alek?”
The answers were “Yes.” “Yes.” And “Yes.”
It was the greatest act of faith for me to step through that mirror. May Pelor guide my steps.

We don’t hide in the shadows like assassins and cowards. Well, I used to feel that way. And then when Ragnara fell, I realized that some fights are too big. So when I heard the Giant’s booming voice again, I panicked. And obscuring mist was the first spell that popped into my head.

I was kneeling beside Myntilly, surrounded by the white mist and hearing this voice, this grumbling, rumbling voice coming from my left, it was shocking. The voice was saying something like “Moles and giants and now humans? I can’t get anything done!” Myntilly and I locked eyes. She shrugged, struggled to her feet and called out, “Hail, friend!”
A pair of green eyes attached to a large body seemed to appear from the mist. It was a large creature, but it opened its mouth and said, “Friend? Who said I’m your friend?”

Myntilly opened and closed her mouth, seeming unsure how to answer the creature.
“We need your help,” I said. “Please. Help us kill this Giant. You are an answer to my prayer. Pelor shines his face upon us both, that we should meet here and now.”

The creature snorted. “Pelorian sun freak, huh?” It paused. “OK, let’s do this.” And it moved past us towards the Giant. In that moment we heard a strangled cry. I wasn’t sure who it was. It didn’t sound like Cinder, but it might have been Sadi. I moved up beside the creature, heading toward the scream.

****

I’d had second watch. A change for me. I usually take first watch and invariably something bad happens during my watch. I think Cinder wanted to spare me, so she took first watch. I hadn’t slept, though. I lay on my roll, thinking about Ragnara. I was responsible for her death. I thought through our battle with the Fire Giant, picking apart each moment to find the key that would have changed the outcome.

So when Cinder came to rouse me, I was quickly outside the hut, making the round. When I heard a door open, and heard the booming voice of the Giant, I almost dropped to my knees in despair. And then the mist spell popped into my head and out of my mouth almost before I knew it.

We were taken almost unaware. I was able to let out a yell that if not intelligible, was at least loud. The Fire Giant strode into the room and then into the hut as though it wasn’t there. The mist did not slow him down.
Myntilly was the first person he saw. The mist was swirling around but I could see his hammer rise and fall.
I didn’t know where Sadi, Cinder, Acgar or Submera were. Knowing Cinder she was on top of something, aiming an arrow at the Giant’s heart. Acgar was so weak from the hag’s curse, she could barely lift her head. And Submera, well, I figured she’d fight or stay out of the way. I couldn’t worry about her.

I heard Sadi hiss from behind me: “Indira? Where are you?”
“Here!” I called. And I felt her hands on my shoulders. “Here is protection from fire, my friend.” And the hands fell away.
A moment later I heard the “thwang” and “thump” of an arrow loosed and finding a target. The Fire Giant roared and suddenly he was passing five feet from me. I raised my mace to strike and then I heard Myntilly moan off to my left. I ran towards the sound. And of course the mist came with me because it is my spell. When I moved, Sadi lost her cover.

I found out from her later that, when the mist cleared, she saw the Giant was only ten feet away. His hammer caught her in an almost full blow. She was able to find her feet and run down the far hallway. Once she was out of his sight, the Giant seemed to forget about her.

I had reached Myntilly when again I heard arrows fly from a bow. This was higher and from the other direction. “Cinder,” I thought, “has found her spot!” The Giant bellowed with rage and turned around to find this new attacker. His steps brought him close to us. I raised my mace and swung down at his ankles. If I could get him off of his feet….. And although my mace did connect with him, he did not fall over. His hammer swung towards me and my left side went numb.
“Oh god!” I cried. And in that moment I again felt despair wash over me like cold water. I don’t know what would have happened if the Giant had swung a second time. But he moved away from us. Toward a new attack from Cinder or maybe Submera?

It was then as I knelt to heal Myntilly, that we heard the voice. And, perhaps it was a small miracle, but when I healed Myntilly, I felt better. The numbness in my arm seemed to ease. So when I heard the scream, I did not hesitate to follow my new friend back into the battle. Someone needed my help, and with Pelor’s grace, I would be there to bind the wounds.

As I moved toward the Giant, I heard the sound of wings and saw the mist swirl around my face. What fresh devilment is this? But as we got closer I realized it was Hamouk, Acgar’s dragon.

“Dragon. Friend.” I whispered to the creature beside me. And I said a silent “thank you” to Acgar for summoning him to battle.

Hamouk landed near the Giant and rushed at him. The Giant was nearly knocked off his feet. My new friend scooted to the side, taking me with it. For good reason. Hamouk rushed past us, unable to stop. We would have been trampled. I dismissed the mist spell. With two, no, counting the Giant, three large creatures, we needed to see.

We took advantage of the Giant’s unsteadiness. My friend swinging with his heavy tail. I heard a bone break and the giant clutched his calf. He straightened up and loped past us, away from the group. He was running away.

A victory cry tore from my throat and we ran after him. My injury forgotten with the chance to vanquish the Giant. Hamouk galloped behind us and then zoomed just over our heads in pursuit.

At the battle’s end, I finally had a chance to properly thank my new friend. I bowed. “I am Indira. And I am in your debt.”
Suddenly a naked dwarf woman was standing where the creature had been. She said “I am called Glonda.”

“Glonda. You are a warg?… Well, I don’t know how to thank you. You saved our lives.”

“Thank me? Well, I wouldn’t say no to some ale,” she said.
I laughed. “Let me see what I have in my pack.”

As we walked back into the room, I saw Cinder and Myntilly bending over someone.
Oh no. I started running. I was too late to save Submera. Cinder told me that she saw the killing blow. That must have been the scream I heard after I healed Myntilly. She died fighting with us. She will be honored as one of us.
I bowed my head. “Watch over her, Father. See her home, our fallen friend and comrade, Submera.”