Chapter 28: Woodland Solitude

Seeing as the forest around them held nothing but giant spiders and ettercaps, the old temple ruins kind of stood out like a sore thumb. I'd have sooner expected to see a giant cobweb, Imoen thought. Even more out of place were the four people assembled between the temple pillars; all of them were dressed in red mage robes - much like Edwin, Imoen noted - and the looks they gave herself and her friends were far from friendly.

"Good day, travellers," one of the four wizards, a middle aged guy with a light brown beard, said in an overly polite voice. He squinted against the bright sunlight as he regarded them. "Mmmm... Edwin, I did not expect to see you so soon," he said, his eyebrows raised in either surprise or amusement. "I hope your... business has been attended to, Edwin, for if it hasn't, then you should do so soon."

"Of course! I have -" Edwin said, but stopped abruptly when the other wizard raised a hand.

"I think that Zulkir Nevron would be most disappointed if he were to hear that you failed," the other wizard said. "That is all that really needs to be said. Good day again, and goodbye." With that, the wizard gathered his robes around him in a manner that had become very familiar to Imoen and turned his back on the group.

"What was that about?" Imoen asked quietly.

"That is none of your business. Now, may we leave before yet another spider attempts to foul my robe? (I knew I should have suggested another way!)" Edwin said in a slightly higher tone of voice than usual.

"Scared, Eddie?" Imoen asked.

"Me? Never!" Edwin said even as he hurriedly walked away from the ruined temple. Kivan quietly led the others after the obviously nervous red wizard, and Imoen let the matter lie until they had put quite some distance between themselves and the red wizards at the temple.

When they stopped at a creek for a small break, she broached the subject again. "So, when are you going to tell me what this important business of yours is?" she asked Edwin.

"My business is exactly that..." Edwin replied sourly, "mine! (I knew she'd be unable to resist prying, but she'll get nothing out of me!)"

"Oh come on, Eddie; maybe we can even help you with it!"

"Do not call me that! (Oh, what is the use?) And I am not about to trust a task of such delicacy to anyone but my magnificent self!"

"He is up to something sinister, I am certain," Ajantis told Imoen.

Edwin huffily straightened himself and glared at Ajantis. "Whatever I may be 'up to', I assure you that it has not the slightest to do with you, great paladin. (Great buffoon, more like.)"

"Edwin, will your task hamper us, and will our task hamper yours?" Ember asked.

"Not in the slightest," Edwin said.

"Then I suggest we let the matter lie," Ember said, looking straight at Imoen and Ajantis. Edwin grinned smugly.

"If you insist, miss," Ajantis said.

"Fine," Imoen said. "Spoilsport," she muttered under her breath.

-.-.-

"Aren't you even curious?" Imoen asked Ember later as they followed a forest path under a lush canopy of branches. Ember and Imoen were in the rear of the group, and had deliberately put some distance between themselves and the men in order to speak more freely.

"Of course I am," Ember replied, "but even I know he won't speak of anything he's decided is beneath him to share with us. He said that the task won't get in our way, and I'm willing to settle with that. I don't think he'd lie to us."

"Yeah," Imoen said, "Eddie's not the lying type, whatever bad things Ajantis says about him. Hey, looks like Kivan is stopping."

When Ember and Imoen caught up with the rest of the group, they saw that the path opened up into a large clearing in the woods. A partial circle of standing stones, some of them toppled and many of them showing scorch marks, stood in the middle of the clearing. The ground had been torn and trampled to dust between the stones.

"A druid grove," Kivan said. "Defiled, by the look of it."

"Who would do such a thing?" Ember asked, aghast at the devastation.

"You know very well who!" A man in a tattered and torn robe hobbled towards them. "Arrogant fools!" he cried. "You return to the very slaughter for which you were responsible. Your blood will soak the ground before I allow any of you to leave! I will avenge the deaths of my brothers!"

"Wait a minute, we've killed no one. We just got here!" Ember protested.

"Calm down, good sir, perhaps we can help you," Ajantis said.

"You think your excuses can work on me! I know what you are, what all of you are! Especially you and you!" he said, pointing accusingly at Ember and Imoen.

"I believe the word he is looking for is 'women'," Edwin muttered. "(He probably never saw one before, much less two.)"

"Let the wrath of Malar destroy you and your faithless companions! Come, my friends!" the man screamed. He whistled shrilly, and was answered with a rumbling roar. Two large, emaciated bears appeared at the east side of the clearing, their eyes all but glowing with rage. Kivan and Minsc turned towards the bears and tried to calm them, but to no avail.

"They are raging just like Minsc does sometimes!" Minsc said.

"Then we must kill them," Kivan replied.

The Malarite dropped all pretense of a limp, and charged with his oaken staff raised high. His first blow struck Imoen hard in the belly, knocking her to the ground. Ajantis immediately stepped up to prevent him from striking Imoen again. He did manage to get between the two, but the man was skilled enough with his staff that Ajantis couldn't land a single blow.

Ember dodged past the pair of fighters and pulled Imoen to safety. "Are you all right?" she asked frantically.

Imoen coughed. "Pretty much," she croaked. "Don't think he broke anything - ow! Careful!" she said as Ember pulled her to her feet.

"Enough of this! (Why must I always do all the work...)" Edwin said. "Duck!" he shouted at Ajantis, and readied a spell. Ajantis glanced hesitantly at the wizard, but obediently threw himself sideways. As soon as Ajantis was clear of their foe, a bolt of lightning shot out of Edwin's hands. It shot through their attacker, knocking him to the ground before glancing off a stone and burning a hole in a tree. The Malarite screamed with rage and struggled to get up, still clutching his oaken staff. Edwin stepped closer and finished the man with a well-placed volley of magic missiles.

One of the bears roared in pain as Minsc slashed its shoulder open. The other bear was already dead, its chest pierced by half a dozen arrows. Ember and Imoen, the latter taking small swallows from a healing potion, watched as Kivan pulled his hammer from his belt and crushed the surviving bear's skull with a swift blow.

"Well done, all," Kivan said, panting.

"Minsc didn't want to kill the poor bears, but he had to," Minsc said somberly. "Boo thinks they are happier this way."

"I think Boo is right, Minsc," Ember said, patting the giant's shoulder. "They looked about as insane as the man was."

"Aye," Ajantis said. "I... I believe I have underestimated you, wizard."

"Of course you have. (I could have told you as much, if I had had any desire to do so.)"

"We have a visitor," Kivan said quietly.

A man dressed in raw leather and a ragged, filthy cloak appeared between two of the standing stones. "So, Osmadi is dead," he said, leaning on his gnarled staff. "I suppose he attacked you?"

"That he did," Ember said.

"I must apologize for his actions," the newcomer said. "He had lost his mind after what happened here some days past. A group of bandits, calling themselves the Chill, entered our camp as we worked upon this shrine. They killed and murdered everyone they came across, including some of Osmadi's close friends."

"I would have thought him a druid, but he invoked the Beastlord," Kivan said.

"Such is - or rather, was - the extent of his madness," the man said.

"Why did you leave him alone here, if you knew he was like that?" Imoen asked.

"There was nothing that could be done... he had lost his mind. I think you can understand that. Sometimes one doesn't have a choice."

"That's not what I asked. I asked why you left him alone if you knew he'd send rabid bears after any strangers that passed by," Imoen said.

"There was no other choice! Do I have to explain myself over and over?" the man cried, distinctly annoyed. "Please leave me be, so that I may bury my companion."

"Actually, you haven't even explained yourself once," Imoen said. "And how did you show up so fast, unless you were standing on the other side of the stones all along? You know, if I liked you, I might have thought you were afraid he'd try to kill you as well, but I don't like you. You look like a smelly weasel, and you act like one, too. So unless you do explain yourself, I'll just think you were waiting for us to kill him!"

The man opened his mouth, closed it again, and just glared at Imoen.

"(I must admit I am impressed,)" Edwin muttered.

"You... are correct," the man said coldly. "I did need your assistance to kill Osmadi. Thank you for the help."

"You scum! You are worse than a common killer!" Ajantis exclaimed.

"Ah, but I am no 'common killer'," the man said. "I am a shadow druid. I poisoned Osmadi and his companions, fed them plant toxins fit to drive any creature into insanity and fury, so that we could be rid of their weakling presence and make this land our own. They destroyed their own tainted grove and killed each other, and soon nature will rule alone in this place! There is no room for meddling city folk, of course. It is time for you to feel the fury of nature, as only I can administer it. Goodbye!" he shouted, and began casting an intricate spell.

Before the shadow druid could finish casting, Ember ran her sword through his chest. "Goodbye," she said in a casual tone as she pulled the blade from his dying body.

-.-.-

They dragged the body of the shadow druid out of the clearing and left it in a ditch along with the bear corpses. The druid Osmadi, on the other hand, was carefully buried in front of the largest of the standing stones. Imoen and Minsc gathered flowers and made a wreath for the grave; the only spot of bright colour in the entire grove.

As she carefully smoothed the dirt that covered the grave, Ember wondered what Osmadi had really been like, before the poison drove him mad. She wondered how he would have felt to have seen what became of his grove, and what the grove had looked like before this tragedy. It was beautiful, I am sure, she thought as she looked at the devastation around her. It feels like something wondrous has been lost and turned into a scar.

She wondered if there could have been any other way to save Osmadi.

The cracking sounds of bushes being trampled underfoot heralded the arrival of even more people. Now what? Ember thought irritably.

Half a dozen men entered the clearing. Four wore leather, two wore chainmail, and all of them wore red tabards embellished with a black, clawed hand across their chests. Most of them had bows in their hands.

"Drop ye weapons and and mayhaps ye outlive the day! I'll no be sayin' it twice!" one of the men in splintmail cried, waving a sword in what he clearly thought was a menacing fashion.

With an exasperated sigh, Ember got to her feet and drew her sword.