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

Hope you like it.

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

I know three Dutch words! : D

EDIT: Illinia uses her ring, instead of acquiring it and then losing it before ever using it. Also, Lina now has a purpose. Not exactly revealed through a journal, or a letter, but close enough. : P

(Chapter 6)

Chapter 7

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

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

Chapter 8