In the Rogue encampment, tensions were high. They had been gone a good three hours, and there was no word from them. Nobody was ready to say anything yet, but the outlook was not good. Then, a portal opened in the middle of the camp. Everybody rushed to see who had made it back.
The first thing to come through was a heaping bag of treasure. Then, Kara and Rashaban stepped through together, Kara supporting him so he could walk, his arm around her shoulder. A great cheer went up, for they knew Andariel was no more.
The cheer died, however, when the portal closed behind them. Kayasha was the first to break the silence. "I don't mean to be critical at a time like this, but is anyone else coming?"
Rashaban tried to speak, but his voice broke and he stumbled, his burns getting the better of him. Kara spoke up, "Were it not for them, we would not be coming back at all." Rashaban nodded.
Kayasha bowed her head. "I see."
There was a silence, while the Rogues bowed their heads as one.
Warriv looked around. He, along with some others, had been planning on having a feast for the returning heroes, and this mood wouldn't do. After letting the silence linger, he spoke up at just the right moment, "Well, I know that's terrible, but we need to congratulate our heroes! A feast is in order!"
His proposal brought a second cheer from all those assembled, and they all rushed off to prepare, and to hurriedly put from their minds all those who had died. That night would be a great celebration; their fortunes were finally tuning around. They pushed the thoughts of the dead from their minds, the mourning would be put aside until the right time.
Everybody rushed off to prepare and forget, leaving the two of them standing alone in the middle of the camp. Rashaban was fading fast, and now that no one was looking, Kara could see that he was ready to collapse.
"Come on," she said, "Let's go find Akara…" But, Akara was already on her way. She stepped up to them, and bade them come to her tent. She fixed them up as well as she could, with her healing magic and potions, but they were still worn out even magical healing could only do so much. This had been the hardest endeavor of their lives. "Rest here", she said when she was finished. "The feast should be ready by sundown. Everyone has been storing up for it, but they didn't want to say anything. All will be prepared for you."
They both nodded gratefully. As she stepped out, they were both in disbelief of what they had just done. Kara could see that Rashaban was still in bad shape, despite Akara's care. She was about to suggest that he get some sleep before the feast, but he was already dozing on the floor. Kara realized that, she too, was a lot more worn out than she had originally thought, and followed his example.
Outside Akara's tent, everything was proceeding quickly. Messengers were sent out to bring the Rogues who were out on patrol back to the camp. Charsi's forge did oven duty. Everything that everyone had been hoarding for this moment, now was being prepared.
The camp was bustling with activity, but it was more than that. The camp had been busy before, but there was always a sort of pall hanging over the camp, and the work was being done just to get through another day. Now, there was not only activity, but something else was there. Hope. The work had a purpose now; they were actually going to celebrate! The pall over the camp had been lifted, to be replaced by a glimmer of happiness. After all the ceaseless toil and death, things were finally starting to turn around.
Kara and Rashaban slowly awoke to a warm feeling of relief; they had won. Everything up until now, their training, their trials…had culminated in this. They had banished one of the Greater Demons, and lived to tell the tale. They slowly rose from their seats, looking at each other, the glow of victory permeating the very air. Despite their weariness, they left the tent; their quick rest had done them good.
The first thing they noticed as they left the tent was the time; night had fallen, and the camp was ablaze with torches. Rogues were running everywhere, finishing up the food. Kayasha noticed that the two had emerged, and yelled, so the entire camp heard: "OUR HEROES HAVE AWAKENED!" Her announcement was met with a roar of applause and a stream of Rogues. The two were practically carried across the camp to the bonfire in the center, where a great table had been set up, laden with food. It was not exotic, but Rashaban and Kara had no idea that the Rogues ever had this much food.
They were seated at the head of the table. The story was retold once, by the both of them. The Rogues listened to it all with rapt attention. They winced and shouted when they heard how Andariel had stabbed their comrades in the back. They listened in amazement as the heroes recounted how each direct attempt to kill her was met with failure. They clapped at Kara's heroic diversion. They listened to the tale of the lake of the dead, but they did not truly understand, because they had not witnessed it. They cheered when they heard how Rashaban had brought the fifteen back from the grave to strike one last time at Andariel; they listened in awe and looked at Rashaban with new respect when they heard how he had given the Rogues their last chance. After they finished relating how Andariel had been banished, a cheer went up that could be heard for miles around.
After that, things became a blur. Once the feast had begun, the two heroes floated on a wave of victory, retelling the story countless times over, as the Rouges broke open kegs of mead and bottles of stronger stuff. They were shown to a tent with all their treasures piled high, and Cain sitting in the corner with a slight smile on his face, happy to tell them whatever they wished to know about the magical items. They were given whatever they could carry out, and one name in particular caught Kara's attention.
"A Pelta Lunata Buckler." she said in awe, strapping in on. These are legend among the Amazons." "Fitting that you should have it", replied Cain.
Rashaban, his head still fuzzy, simply grabbed for the first thing he could find that looked useful. "Nice boots", he muttered, stowing them in his pack, barely listening to Cain telling him about their powers of speed. Then, it was back out to the feast. About halfway through, the Rogues began to notice the heroes dropping off; their actions were beginning to catch up with them. Though the Rogues were not even close to finished with their celebration, the heroes were led off to a tent amid thundering congratulations.
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\
Their guide led them through the camp to a tent that had not been there the day before. She handed Rashaban the lantern. "We cannot express our gratitude…", she began.
Rashaban cut her off, "You don't need to. We merely did what was right. Right Kara?"
He turned to her, and she nodded back. "Right. We were just doing the right thing."
Rashaban turned back to her, but she was gone. He thought that was odd, but shook it off. He needed his sleep. They both plowed through the flap, completely exhausted.
As soon as they entered, and the lantern light spilled over the contents, Kara stopped short. Rashaban pushed past her, and sat down on the bed. He had no idea the Rogue camp possessed a real bed. It would be good to sleep in something other than a bedroll. He sighed in exhaustion, and began to untie his boots.
"I'm completely had it." He said. "This whole killing greater demons thing has worn me out. I can't wait to get to sleep. How about y…"
As he turned, he saw the look on her face. The instant he saw that look, he ducked, drew his dagger, and stabbed behind him, hitting nothing but air. He whirled around, every sense on alert, expecting to see a demon behind him. He saw absolutely nothing. He looked back over at Kara, who still had the same look on her face. It was a look of shock. Shock and dread. Such shock and dread that he knew something bad had happened. But, whatever it was, it wasn't here.
"What? What's with that look? You scared me half to death with it. I thought I was going to be assassinated. What is it? There's nothing here."
Kara seemed to be at a loss for words. "Do you…notice anything…different about this tent? Anything off?"
"As in, evil aura off? No. It's fine."
Kara managed to gulp. "That's not what I meant."
"Well, let's see. After being scared out of my wits, I suppose I could manage to examine a tent. It has a solid cloth roof, which is a rarity around here, a table, which is common, a bed, which I didn't even know the Rogues had, it's rather roomy, and-"He cut off in mid-sentence. A strange expression formed on his face. "..I'm going to assume there's a second tent next to his one."
Kara looked slightly relieved at his reaction.
"There must be some mistake.", he muttered reassuringly, grabbing the lantern, and heading outside, mumbling about a second tent. He came back a few seconds later.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Kara shook her head, the look still on her face.
Rashaban sighed. "Ok…umm…this is awkward."
Kara was silent.
Then Rashaban said, "Look, you know what? I don't need a bed. I like bedrolls. I like them a lot. You just stay here, and-"
"How could they think that?", Kara blurted out. "What have we done to give them that idea?"
"I don't know." replied Rashaban, embarrassed both by the Rogues' proposal and the thoughts that had suddenly taken root in this own head. "Maybe it's a local custom or something."
"Local custom be damned! How could they even think that?! Have they no decency?!"
Kara began pacing the tent, while Rashaban sat back down and rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to think of some way to get this to blow over so he could go to sleep.
Kara was getting mad. "I mean, sure, we go on missions together, and sure, we're both outsiders, but that doesn't mean that we…"
"Look, just forget it."
"No, I won't forget it. I'm going to go out there and give them a piece of my mind. Coming?"
Rashaban did his best to look tired.
"Agh!" and with that, she was gone.
Rashaban laid down heavily, his mind racing.
'This is not happening. I just isn't. It's against the laws of nature for me to have to put up with this now. I just banished a Greater Demon, not six hours ago. I risked my life, performed a spell that was far beyond me, and lived to tell the tale. That's above and beyond breaking several ribs and burning my entire body. That still isn't entirely healed. And now, I'm in the middle of this mess. What did we do to give them that idea?'
'Well, now that you mention it, she is rather-'
'Oh, shut up.'
'Who cares about any of this? I'm burnt out, and I'm going to sleep. If Kara has such a hard time with those stupid, gossiping Rogues, then let her deal with them.'
Part of him was ready to accept that, but another part wasn't. 'I appreciate the sentiment, but she's pissed. Her pride's been hurt. Do you have any idea how much trouble she's going to cause? She's going to go make a fool of herself.'
'Hmmmm….either way, I'm not getting any. Off to bed, then.'
'Will you shut up?! Look, remember, back before you left, how old what's-his-name-uuhh, Mortec or something, slithered out of that accusation that he'd-?'
'Yes, yes, I remember. He never did it. So what?'
'Remember how he slipped out of it?'
'Heh. Yeah, that took some-oh, you're not serious. You're not seriously considering getting out of this soft, comfortable bed to go screw around and pull what he did? Just for the sake of some stupid gossip?'
'Hey, she saved you back there. Again. The least you can do is go and do this. It's not even that complicated.'
'What's the point of helping a sexy Amazon if I'm not even going to get-'
'That's not the point; you owe her for saving you. You owe her anyway. Besides, you weren't even thinking of her that way until these stupid Rogues set it up.'
'…kind of dumb of me, huh? Have even seen her-'
'I'm going to ignore that. We don't even have to do his whole stunt, just that last part. Remember? It worked back then. This won't even take ten minutes. Now get out there and do it.'